Page 111 of A Certain Step
He concurred, turning her with one swift move. It dawned on her again how absurd it was to once upon a time be so against dating someone in the same profession. Her reasoning made sense to a degree, but she fully understood now why everything clicked so faultlessly into place with Ethan.
He wasn’t delicate or even all that graceful in the traditional sense—yet he was deliberate and soft. Magnetic. Electric.
Ethan moved her hair forward and then kissed the nape of her neck. He traced her spine, lowering his fingers with tender caresses until he reached the zipper. He pulled it down carefully, then one strap after another.
His fingers grazed her skin as he slid the fabric down and helped her step out of it. Lowering himself, Ethan pressed a dizzying kiss to the back of her thigh, one after another, then stood back up. She peeled off her adhesive bra and set it aside with her dress before turning to face him. She heard him catch a breath.
“How are you so perfect?” he asked.
She smiled and placed her hands underneath his shirt. “You’re overdressed,” she mused, skating it over his head and off his body.
She placed it with herdress and kissed him languidly, fingers spread against his chest. “Happy birthday,” she drawled.
“The happiest,” he rasped, winding his fingers underneath the curve of her ass.
She looked toward the sheets tucked near the pillows. “We’re going to wash these sheets tonight and replace everything,” she said in between kisses.
Ethan lifted her and pushed up against the thick bark of wood surrounding them. “Yes, ma’am,” he affirmed.
She wrapped her legs around him, kissing him back hard. His fingers charged up and down her thighs. A man obsessed, and she knew it. She could feel it.
Willa almost laughed, momentarily thinking back at how upset she was when their relationship had been exposed to the public. People had been so fixed on the way his hand hovered over her face, but no one could see the fingers he had saddled to her thighs.
Sliding her legs down onto the floor, she moved her hands along the button on his jeans. She unzipped rapidly, brought them down, grabbed a pillow for comfort, and kneeled.
“Wills, you don’t have to,” he protested.
She looked up at him, his face flushed and gorgeous. Willa would take this image over a sunset any day. “Ssh, I’m tired of reminding you what day it is,” she countered, then yanked his boxer briefs down.
He tipped her chin up. “I know exactly what day it is. And as much as I want your pretty lips on me, I’d much rather be in between your thighs.”
She laughed. She couldn’t make this up. Willa put her mouth around him and was rewarded with a delicious groan catapulting from his throat. It was music to her ears, a surrender from his stubbornness.
Good.
She picked up her pace.
“I had different plans,” he rasped.
“What plans?” she asked after finishing him off.
Breathlessly, he answered. “As I said before, that’s between me and your thighs.”
He dropped down to his knees.
She laughed as his feverish lips inched up against her legs, gasping at the bites and licks and kisses that ruptured into something warm and enticing inside of her.
He pushed her toward the pillows and laid her down gently like she was something precious, not fragile or fractured, but worthy of worship. Ethan took his time with her, tasting every inch of her body as though it was the first time, making her scream with every move he made to cherish her.
“Best birthday ever,” he announced after bringing her to an earth-shattering orgasm.
They lay for a while afterward, flushed and naked, tangled in each other’s arms against wooden floors, a random sheet he’d snuck into the basket and pillows against their heads. “You’ve made this the best birthday ever,” he repeated into her hair.
“Was it taking the dress off that made it so? Or the fact that you basically forced me to steal your thunder?” she asked.
He kissed the side of her head, keeping his mouth there for a steady beat. “The whole damn thing, but the dress fulfilled some sort of an inexplicable fantasy I didn’t even know I had.”
She laughed, tipping her head to kiss his lips. “Well, good, because honestly, I’m not sure my gifts will do much now.”
