Page 61 of His to Protect

Gently.

But fully and completely.

I mewled into his mouth as his tongue touched mine. Sparks ignited, running down my back.

But I didn’t push against him. I didn’t force anything to happen.

I trusted him. I trusted him completely, and somehow I knew that he needed this. He needed this time and he needed to know I was okay. So I let him continue sliding his tongue against mine, our kiss and our breaths mingling together, and I let him slowly pull away until our lips were barely touching.

And then I smiled.

“Do you understand what I said, Trina?”

I nodded, giving him that. “We can wait, Declan.”

His thumb slid along my cheekbone, his eyes dropping to watch the movement. “You taste as beautiful as you look. As beautiful as you are.”

I swallowed, fighting the emotion threatening to spill over. I never expected a man as large and intimidating and strong as Declan would be the guy to give me this, but he was. I knew in that moment, as I whispered my thank you in the shyest way possible, feeling like the strongest person in the world when his eyes sparkled in answer, that as much as Declan wanted to give me something good, something pure, I wanted to give him everything he’d ever wanted.

“Go to sleep,” he finally said, turning back to the television, but keeping one arm around my waist, the other hand on my cheek. “We’ve had a long day and we’ll have an even longer one tomorrow.”

I let him gently press my cheek against his shoulder and my eyes slid to the television.

My arm was draped all the way across his stomach, my fingers pressed into his side to hold him to me, like he was holding me to him.

Then I closed my eyes and inhaled his clean scent, with its hint of spice, as he settled on a baseball game.

I was asleep before the inning was over.


Morning pulled me from sleep, and I felt the heat beneath me. Before I opened my eyes, I knew where I was.

I was next to Declan, practically draped over his firm body. We had somehow shifted in our sleep, and I was once again under covers I didn’t remember crawling under. One of my legs was pressed up against Declan’s, my other draped over his thigh. My arm was over his stomach, where I remembered placing it before I fell asleep, my other hand was under his shoulder, and my head was resting on top of it.

I was essentially an octopus, my limbs all over him, attached as if by suction.

I had no desire to move, either.

I did, though, have an insatiable desire to somehow be closer to him. To taste him.

I hadn’t felt desire for anyone in years, and as it came at me that morning, my sex beginning to throb and pulse with heat and need, I succumbed to it.

I turned my head and pressed my lips to his exposed skin, running my hand along his stomach, through his short, coarse hair.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the way he’d looked last night when he exited the bathroom. A smattering of hair between his pecs, peppered down the center of his abs, thickening as it reached his waistband.

I had a sudden, overwhelming desire to see what rested beneath said waistband.

With my lips pressed to his chest, I tasted his masculinity. The hard muscles beneath his skin tightened as my hand continued slowly wandering across his abs.

I felt my nipples tighten beneath my tank top, and as my breath quickened, my tongue darted out, sliding along his skin.

His hand flexed on my lower back where he held me to him, his fingertips pressing into my skin.

“Trina?”

His voice was a deep, raspy murmur.