‘Relax,’ he said.
Taking hold of the clothes she was using as a shield, he tugged them gently. She held fast for a moment then let them fall from her grasp. He glided his hands up her arms. And clasped her head. A shiver raced through her as her lips softened against his, the sigh deep and heartfelt. He massaged her scalp, drawing out the moment, licking and coaxing.
Dragging his mouth from hers with an effort, he led her back to the bed. She lay back, still wary as he climbed over her. He kissed her breasts, those perky nipples, then trailed down, absorbing the rapid rise and fall of her breathing, the sultry spice of her scent.
Hunger consumed him, hunger and an urge he hadn’t felt in far too long. To nurture and protect.
*
Ellie raised up on her elbows, shocked when Art parted her knees, his dark head ducking between her legs. She shuddered. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
Dan had always hated oral sex, unless she was the one doing the honours.
But all thoughts of Dan and her mediocre sex life flowed right out of her head when Art glanced up, the grin fierce and feral. ‘Are you kidding? I’ve been fantasising about this for weeks.’
She lost the ability to breathe let alone protest, as he separated her with his thumbs and blew on the swollen flesh.
‘Oh God.’
He explored gently, cautiously at first, as if learning her taste. The leisurely licks tantalising then maddening. Her own caution drifted away on the warm wave of pleasure. She relaxed back onto the bed. Slowly, gradually, letting the liquid warmth replace the tension. But then he lapped at the heart of her, and the rasp of sensation made her jerk.
‘Easy,’ he whispered against her flesh. Stroking her thighs, her hips, settling her back. Building the pleasure again, tightening the coil in long, incremental licks, moving back towards that beating pulse. She hovered, the vice becoming painful in its intensity as it tightened.
Was that her sobbing, begging, needing him to touch her there again? Then he lapped right over the heart of her, concentrating there, not retreating this time. She bucked off the bed, cried out as the coil released in a rush, detonating in a blissful surge of release.
He continued to lick and suck, squeezing the last drops of the climax out of her. Before rising above her. He licked her juices from bearded lips.
Goodness, was she going to have beard burn on her clit tomorrow?
‘No big deal,’ he said.
She laughed at the absurdity of how good she felt as she watched him sheath himself with the condom. No big deal, not any more.
He held her hips, and the laugh guttered out as he pressed into her.
She panted, stretched wide, the exquisite feeling so intense it was a little disorientating. He held her bottom to angle her hips, and slid the rest of the way in one slow, glorious thrust.
Her breathing sawed out of her lungs, as he held still for a moment, seated deep, allowing her to adjust to his size. Then he drew out, and rocked back, going deeper still.
‘Good?’ he asked.
Tenderness engulfed her at the note of uncertainty.
‘Yes, very.’
Touching his forehead to hers, he continued that slow, relentless rocking, drawing out, digging in, stroking a place deep inside.
Her whole body began to shake, the pleasure sublime and intense, the smell of turpentine and lake water that clung to him a potent aphrodisiac.
She dug her heels into his backside, clung to his shoulders, as the rocking lost that slow relentless rhythm, becoming fiercer, more frantic. He shuddered, muffling his hoarse shout of release against her neck.
They lay entwined for several moments, her fingers tangled in his damp hair, the shelf of his shoulder digging into her chest where he’d collapsed on top of her, the pulsing in her sex brutally tender.
Lifting up, he rolled off her and flopped back on the bed.
She let her mind drift, still fogged by the delirium of afterglow – and the glorious sense of achievement.
The tiny part of her that had always blamed herself for Dan’s infidelities – because she’d stopped being able to achieve orgasm with him the first time he’d cheated – finally gone for good.