Page 68 of The Last Dance You Saved
He’d said he wouldn’t be gentle, and while his touch wasn’t soft or slow, it wasn’t cruel. Every stroke demanded a response. Every twirl, every brush, left a flaming trail behind it. I was writhing with want, the pressure and intensity inside my chest and loins growing second by second. My lungs felt like they’d stopped working, my heart was hammering against my rib cage, and my core felt like it was going to erupt.
It physically hurt. This torturous wanting. This absolute craving for release.
And when his fingers finally sank into me, it took nothing more than one single thrust before I was crying out.
He silenced the sound with his mouth as I rode out the waves on his palm.
When I opened my eyes, the cocky grin on his face about undid me all over again, sending another wave of release through me that he felt on his hand. His grin widened.
He rolled away, and I uttered a curse of objection.
I hadn’t gotten my turn. I hadn’t gotten to torment him.
He chuckled, a low, dark sound that rolled through me as strongly as his touch. “You have to stay quiet, Tennessee. Too many people around. Can you do that?”
“I’ll do my best,” I said with a hint of irritation making itself known.
But then, he dropped his sweats, and my annoyance disappeared. He’d called me beautiful, but he was utterly magnificent. Cut and grooved, corded muscles tensing and contracting gently with each movement of his body. I wanted to touch and bite and suck on every piece of him just like he’d done with me. When I started to drop my arms from over my head, he grunted out, “I didn’t say you could move those yet.”
My lips twitched, but I simply shifted to release the strain on my shoulders and waited.
He dug around in a bag and came back with a condom wrapper, and all I could do was stare, with a pounding heart and desperate desire creeping in again, as he slowly rolled it onto his impressive length. I swore my core shook when he landed between my legs again.
His mouth found mine in a punishing, breath-stealing kiss before he eased down my body one more time, tasting every inch all over again. Savoring me. When the coarse bristles of his beard landed on my thighs and his tongue flicked along my heat, I shuddered, hips arching. It was too much. Too much and not enough. I was going to shatter.
I couldn’t stop my reaction, lowering my hands and tangling my fingers into his bronzed locks. He looked up at me, stopping all the delightful licks and swirls.
“Hands off, Tennessee,” he growled.
“Please,” I begged in a tone I’d never heard myself use before, husky and deep and full of all the want I had flowing through me. “Please don’t stop, and please let me touch you.”
His gaze darkened, flames burning, and his mouth found mine once more, tongue lashing out a swirling answer. I couldn’t tell if it was punishment or acquiescence, but he didn’t stop me from touching him this time. My fingers dug into wide shoulders, nails slid along his back, and my back arched, molding every curve to his.
His eyes closed, hiding those dark flames from me. His jaw clenched, and then, without warning, he was inside me. Full and hard and perfect. I barely had a chance to inhale before we were moving. The pace was sure and steady and controlled at first. Completely Rafe. But in mere seconds, the restraint disappeared, breaking into frantic, chaotic thrusts. And if I’d thought I was going to shatter before, if I’d thought I’d already gone over the edge with his fingers stroking me, the mountain he took me up this time threatened to ruin me.
“Now, Sadie. Damnit, now.” The whispered demand, tangled with my name, sent me free-falling over the cliff, my body heeding his command, shivering and shaking and soaring.
He swallowed my cries before rolling us over so he was on his back, and I was on top. He fisted my hair, pulling my head back so he could look at me and said, “Your turn, beautiful. Take what you wanted. Make me yours.”
I didn’t hesitate. I straddled him, the shift of position causing a pleasured moan to escape my lips I tried to bite back. And then, I did what he told me to do, taking what I wanted, moving fast in an instinctive rhythm, one he met with every slide and thrust of his hips as his eyes turned black and his fingers dug into my hips.
The pressure built again. I’d never gone up and over so many times. Never had anyone demand I hand over every last piece of myself to them. I’d always held back a few morsels of myself in my other encounters. A few bits that meant I wouldn’t lose myself entirely. That I wouldn’t crumble after the onslaught as I’d seen each of my siblings do at different times. But even knowing the truth, even knowing I was going to be permanently marked in a new, unrecoverable way by Rafe once I left on Sunday, I still gave him every single part of me, including those last tentative pieces.
I watched his face as the roar built inside us and all but lost my breath when I saw him hand over pieces of himself in return. He opened the door to his soul and let me sneak inside just as he dove over the edge. And I did the only thing I could, which was to follow him into the abyss one more time.
Chapter Twenty-three
Rafe
LOSING SLEEP
Performed by Chris Young
I didn’t know what to think…to feel…as my arms banded around Sadie, pulling her tighter into my chest. The wild pounding of our hearts and the frantic breathing of our lungs made it impossible to grab hold of the restraint I normally craved. Instead of pushing her off and rolling away as I would have with any other woman, I buried my face in her neck and let her dark, silky strands surround me. I’d never lost myself like I had with her. Never given up those last few moments of control. My pleasure had always come in being the one to lead that final, frenzied drive. Instead, Sadie had taken it from me, ripped it out of my hold with her fevered plea and those damn blue siren eyes.
Liar, my devil screamed.You happily handed over the reins. You liked giving her the power in those final thrusts. You liked letting go.
Ever since she’d thrown out her dare to me in the bar, I’d tried to tell myself that once I had her, the craving I had for her would dissipate, even as my devil had laughed at me. And he’d been right once again, because we’d barely finished, and I was hungry to begin again.
