Page 85 of Sliding Into Love
Ivy blinked a few times, then turned around, shoulders shaking. “Ivy?”
She turned back to face him, tears streaming down her face.
She waslaughingat him.
“I don’t need flowers. I just wantyou.” She wiped her eyes, then pressed her body into his and reached her face back up to his. His heart took flight, soaring in his chest.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I promised you flowers.”
“Later,” she said, her voice husky. “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough?”
Tired of waiting,Ivy stepped back from Ethan, easing their bodies apart. She wanted this; had wanted it for so long, and she was warring with herself. Did she want to go slow, savoring each lingering touch? Or did she want to feed the fire he’d fueled inside her, to let that inferno take over?
She held up a hand between them when he began to follow her and with her free hand, untied the ribbon holding the dress together. Ethan’s breathing paused. The two halves of the dress remained together, despite being untied. Frustrated, Ivy tried to reach up to push the two pieces apart, but Ethan’s hands stopped her. He took half a step closer, and with agonizing slowness, slid his hands beneath the fabric to trace his fingers over her ribs and chest to her shoulders, where he gently pushed the sleeves of the dress down, finally making it fall open to reveal her body. Ethan let out a breath and pushed the dress the rest of the way off her arms.
Standing before him in nothing but scraps of lace, Ivy finally dragged her eyes up to meet Ethan’s.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her, but the moment was heavier, weighted with something she couldn’t quite name as his dark eyes roamed over her like he didn’t know where to start. Her earlier reaction had been silly, she knew, caused by nerves and insecurity more than anything he’d shown, and every ounce of trepidation left her body as Ethan stared at her. The light pink, barely-there lace of the bra did nothing to hide the darker pink of her nipples. Ivy saw the moment Ethan noticed they were already pebbled and waiting for him to draw them into his mouth because his eyes went nearly black.
“Ethan?”
“Mmm?” He pulled her closer, lowering his mouth to hers.
“You remember the first time you slept over and you had too many clothes on?”
His eyes were still on her as he murmured his assent.
“You’re doing it again.”
Ivy reached between them to unbutton his shirt, exposing the exquisitely muscled planes of his chest. Slowly, she pushed the sleeves down his arms, enjoying the feel of hard muscle beneath her fingertips. Ethan remained surprisingly still, and when she looked up at him, he was studying her as if she were prey. When their eyes met, Ivy’s fingers trailed down the notches of Ethan’s abdominal muscles, through the line of dark hair disappearing beneath his jeans, and further to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his jeans. He groaned as she pushed his jeans past his hips, and he quickly kicked them off.
For a few moments, they each stared at the other’s mostly naked state, then something between them snapped into place, and Ethan pulled Ivy to him, threading one hand into her hair and placing the other on the juncture of her neck and shoulder, staring into her eyes. Their heartbeats thrummed in unison as she rose on her toes, pressing her body against the hardness of him and slanting her lips to fit his. His hand at her neck gripped tighter, and he used the hand in her hair to tug her tightly against him. She marveled at this, at him, how much he made herfeelfrom just a kiss. His hands were barely on her, and she was already melting at his touch. His tongue flicked over the seam of her lips, and she gladly opened to him, letting him in, needing to be closer. He pushed a thigh between her legs, and she ground against him, little sparks of pleasure blooming as she moved. He made a sound deep in his chest and moved his hands from her neck to reach behind her and unhook her bra.
Before she could make a quip about how easy it was for him, Ethan kissed his way down to a nipple and bit down, hard, harder than he ever had before, and all thoughts left her head as his tongue swirled over the stinging, reddening skin to ease the slight pain. Then his other hand left her hair and trailed down between her breasts before splaying out over her belly and dipping beneath the pink lace covering her sex.
Ethan let out a satisfied growl against her skin when he found Ivy drenched for him. One finger slipped between her folds and sank into the wetness there, and Ivy nearly keened at how good he felt.
She gasped his name as he pressed the pad of his thumb over the hidden bundle of nerves there and slowly curled his finger inside her. Ivy’s hips bucked as he moved his mouth to her previously neglected nipple and bit down again. “More,” she panted, grinding against his hand.
He obliged, slowly pressing another finger into her, stretching her inner muscles. Ivy reached between them to wrap a hand around his length, slowly pumping her fist.
“Now feels like a good time to mention that I have a birth control implant, and—oh—” Ethan’s body jerked, his fingers sliding deeper, and she gasped, “my last blood test was clear. So if yours was too, we can…”
“Fuck,yes, Ivy. I’m clear, too.”
She’d able to feel him,allof him.
“I need you. Now,” she hissed against his skin. Ethangrowledand stalked forward until the backs of her thighs touched the softness of his bed, and she crashed down, bringing him with her. His body caged her in, and for a moment, the darkness of his eyes and his body towering over hers made her feel, and oh, how she needed him to devour her. Slowly, with a final twist of his fingers inside her, Ethan moved both of his hands to her hips to draw the lace down over her hips, flinging the scrap of fabric behind him. Hooking her fingers into his boxer briefs, Ivy tugged the waistband down to free him. And she hummed in delight at the sight of him staring down at her, chest heaving and hair wild.
Hooking an arm beneath Ivy’s knee, Ethan slowly pulled her leg up until it pressed into her chest, resting his hand beside her head. She felt him at her entrance, so she flexed her hips to brush herself over him. The hand gripping her hip flexed, pushing her back down into the mattress, and his eyes closed as he leisurely rocked his hips.
“Ethan,” she pleaded, aching with how much she needed him. “Tease me later, for fuck’s sake.”
“Such a dirty mouth, Ivy,” he said. “Don’t you want me to take it slow?” He pushed a single inch into her waiting warmth.
Not enough.More.
“I want you,” she said through gritted teeth, “tofuck me.”Wrapping her free leg behind his hips, she used it for leverage to pull herself up, impaling herself on his cock.
