Page 24 of The Redemption of Alex Cade
“Alex? What’s wrong?” He placed his palm against my cheek.
“I’m not used to this.”
“To what? Being needed? Or maybeyouneeding someone?”
I sighed, and nodded. His words were an arrow, and they’d hit the bull’s eye. “Both. It kind of feels like a big responsibility.”
“I’m my own responsibility, not yours. Kelvin called me a nice boy. I hope I’m nice, but I’m neither innocent nor naive. And I’m not a boy. I’m a grown man. I know how the world works, and I make my own decisions. And my decision is thatIboth want and needyouright now.”
He surged forward, his mouth crashing back into mine, making clear his own wants and needs, leaving me in no doubt as to the decision he was making.
This time, the kiss wasn’t careful, it wasn’t slow, it wasn’t sweet. It was hungry and desperate, as something between us snapped and we were free falling.
His hands slipped beneath my shirt, pushing it up, and I barely had time to help him before it was gone, tossed somewhere behind us. The heat of his body against mine was a shock, skin to skin, chest to chest, he felt incredible, so real and solid, so different to anything that had gone before.
Kit’s hands roamed, exploring me the way I had him. His fingers dragged over my stomach, tracing the contours of muscle, then up, over my chest, his thumbs brushing my nipples. A sharp sound escaped me, and Kit froze, his breath uneven against my lips.
“Do that again,” I murmured, my voice rough.
Kit’s mouth curled upwards and he did do it again, his fingertips teasing as he rolled one hardened nub between them. I hissed, and grabbed at his hips, pulling him flush against me. He answered with a gasp, the sound breaking into something closer to a moan as our bodies aligned, the unmistakable press of his arousal making my head spin.
“Alex—”
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, anchoring him to me with both hands as I kissed him again, open mouthed and deep.
Kit’s hands were everywhere now, tracing my shoulders, my arms, my back. He dug his fingers into my skin as he shifted into my lap, pressing even closer. I groaned against his mouth, my fingers tightening on his waist.
I wanted him in a way I’d never wanted any other, and from the way Kit was moving, so restless and eager, his breath coming in short, unsteady gasps, he wanted this too. But this wouldn’t, couldn’t, be just another fast and furious fuck, nothing more than a way to scratch an itch. For the first time ever, I wanted to take my time, to explore and savour, to trulyfeel.
Dragging my lips down his jaw and across his throat, I scraped my teeth against the sensitive skin. Kit moaned as he let his head fall back, baring himself to me as I kissed and sucked at the hollow of his throat and along the line of his collarbone.
His hips shifted, pressing down against me, and I gritted my teeth as need sparked through me.
“Fucking hell, Kit?—”
He laughed, low and breathy, the sound sparking deep in my balls as my hands traced the waistband of his jeans. Where I stopped. I pulled back to meet his dark gaze, his pupils blown, showing only the thinnest ring of blue.
“Are you sure?” I asked, my voice rough, uneven. It was a question I’d never asked of any of the faceless men who’d passed through my life, because it had never mattered.
“I told you,” he whispered. “I make my own decisions.”
I exhaled, pressing my forehead against his for a beat and grounding us both, before I kissed him again, slower this time, my hands circling around him to map the curve of his spine and the dip of his waist. Kit shivered when my palms flattened against his lower back, his skin hot beneath my touch. He was warm everywhere, his body thrumming with the same restless energy that coursed through me.
Pressing my mouth to his throat, his pulse hammered against my lips. His hands glided down my back, fingernails drawing over my skin, before gripping me as I traced my tongue along the sensitive spot just beneath his jaw. His hips shifted, pushing hard into mine, making me gasp at the friction.
“Please” he said, his voice strained. “I need you to?—”
“I know what you need,” I murmured against the hot skin of his throat, as my hands moved lower, fingers curving over the jut of his hip bones. His hands slid up to my shoulders, tightening as I kissed a path towards his chest. I bucked, and pushed him onto his back, pulling a surprised gasp from him. He looked up at me as I hovered over him, and smiled.
My lips found him again. His skin was slick with sweat, and salty against my lips, as I kissed and licked my way down, through the light scattering of hair on his chest, on his belly. My chest thrilled at every subtle reaction: the tensing of lean muscles, the shivers that ran through him, his ragged breathing, and the way his fingers curled against my skin when I pressed my mouth against his hip bone.
I looked up at him and my heart clenched. His expression was so open, so unguarded, so trusting, it made my chestache. “Still with me?” I asked, my voice rough and barely steady.
Kit swallowed, then nodded. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Keep going.”
I pressed a kiss to his stomach before popping the button on the waistband of his jeans and lowering the zip. Kit shifted, lifting his hips slightly to help me slide them lower. Kissing along the ridge of his hip bone, he trembled beneath me as his fingers slipped into my hair, not pushing, just holding on. I could feel the anticipation in him, the way his body leant into every touch.
I closed my eyes. As much as my body demanded I surge forward, and race to the finish line, my heart was whispering to take my time, to savour and relish every single moment, to make sure I gave Kit everything he wanted and needed. To make sure he felt everything.
