Page 77 of Strangers in Love

A change in the texture of skin on his right side made me pause, and I felt him tense as I ran my thumb over it. I didn’t need to see it to know it was a scar similar to the one on his right shoulder. My guess was a bullet, but I wasn’t going to ask for confirmation. It didn’t matter. It was simply a part of who he was.

I kept going, smiling when his legs jerked as I gave his knees a gentle squeeze.

“Careful.” His voice was low, dark. “Turnabout’s fair play. I’m sure you have some…extra-sensitive parts.”

A shiver ran down my spine.

“Your nipples went all hard and tight.” He sounded quite pleased with himself. “Can I take that to mean you like the idea?”

“Perhaps,” I said, making the word as prim as I could.

I wanted this, I realized suddenly. This light teasing around all the heat and intensity. Smiles and laughter mixed in with all the moans and gasps. I would forever find a relationship lacking if it didn’t offer this.

Butthiswasn’t a relationship. And he didn’t know that I was collecting all these little things and tucking them away. That what I could only hope he would think of on occasion as a couple fun nights were shaping into experiences I doubted another man could ever match.

Before I could ruin the moment with my always-too-busy mind, I returned my attention to something that managed to be both complex and simple at the same time. My degree was in education, but I’d taken enough biology and anatomy to appreciate all that went into making his strong thighs and narrow hips. And all the goodness between.

Tempted as I was, I moved past that particular part of him to his abs. He had scars on his torso too, but it wasn’t the first time I’d seen them. It was, however, the first time I’d really paid much attention to them. Before, I’d been distracted by the huge bruise from where a bullet had hit his vest. Well, that and the fact that he’d been in just a towel, and I would dare anyone to not be distracted by the sight of him in so little.

Now, I traced each scar’s shape with my fingertip, then moved to the bruise. There, I pressed a light kiss, something inside me tightening in a way that had little to do with desire. He’d taken a bullet for me. More than one, actually.

I didn’t mess with the bandage on his arm, though. He’d taken care of the graze himself and hadn’t seemed to appreciate my suggestions for treatment. Instead, I concentrated on his pecs, fascinated by the way his nipples grew hard as I teased them with my fingernails.

By the time I finally raised my head to meet his eyes, I could see very little of his vivid green irises, and even that appeared darker than normal. He didn’t say a word and didn’t try to touch me, but I could feel the energy coming off him in waves. All that contained power, restrained only by his immense self-control…I couldn’t have looked away, even if I’d wanted.

I moved back down his body until I was able to settle on my knees between his legs. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, but I refused to let my nerves get the best of me. I’d never done this before, but I was going to trust my instincts and hope that he’d direct me if I did anything wrong.

The angle I needed to take him into my mouth while still watching his face would hurt my neck if I kept it up too long, but my need to see at least the first few moments overrode any discomfort. My choice was rewarded when I wrapped my lips around the tip of him, and his entire expression transformed into something primal and hungry.

I wrapped my hand around his base and took as much of him as I could until I had to shift my position. He was heavy and hot as he slid across my tongue and filled my mouth. I tasted salt and something undeniably male, making me wonder if each man would taste different and if he had thought something similar when he’d gone down on me.

“Fuck,” he groaned as I came up again, using a slow drag with as much suction as I could manage.

Pleased at the response, I repeated the movements over and over, until his hands were tangled in the covers and he stopped saying actual words. A part of me wanted to keep going, suck harder, tease more, make him beg for release. I wanted to know what it was like to have him come in my mouth.

But the low throb between my legs insisted on something else, and I didn’t have the courage to take the risk that, once he came, he’d leave. If right now was all we’d ever have, I needed to have him inside me again. This time, however, I wanted him beneath me as well.

As I rose up onto my knees, he started to sit up, reaching for me. I put my hand in the center of his chest and shook my head.

“I want to be on top.”

He swallowed hard, jaw clenching as I gripped his cock again. Thick and flushed with blood, it practically pulsed in my hand. Slick from my mouth, my hand moved easily over the soft skin, and I took a moment to enjoy the way his eyes rolled back when I squeezed him.

I gave him a little shove, and he fell back on the bed. When I moved to straddle him, he stayed where he was but reached out to grasp my hips. Not for the first time, I thought of how much larger he was than me, how easy it would be for him to take control. He was definitely an alpha male, but one who was clearly comfortable allowing others to take the wheel, so to speak.

His fingers dug into my flesh as I lowered myself to take the first couple inches of him. I let out a shuddering breath as my body remembered and adjusted. I eased down, little by little, savoring the sensations of him filling me, the slight burn from still unaccustomed stretching, the pleasure from the friction of skin on skin. By the time we were as close together as two people could possibly be, my muscles were trembling and my breathing ragged.

“Aline.” Eoin’s voice was rough. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

I rocked my hips and gasped at the different sensations that came from this type of movement. A rise and fall sent another kind of pleasure through me. I combined the two into a single smooth motion and began to ride his body. One of my hands went to my breast, squeezing and tugging at the nipple until I had little jolts of near-pain mixing with the rest of the pleasure washing over and through me.

Time stood still.

Everything else ceased to exist.

Here, I was in charge. Capable. Sensual. A woman and not a girl. I didn’t need to apologize for what I wanted. I wasn’t inadequate.

No. Here, I could shed everything that came with my family name and money, my IQ, my obligations, and others’ expectations. I could just be me and fly with the man I chose.

---