Page 68 of Whisper of Love (Whisper Lake 1)

CHAPTER 25

Kade kissed Ali like he was drowning and she was air. He breathed her in with everything he had. He devoured her as his hands roamed up and down her body with a primal desperation. He wanted to touch every single inch of her all at once. Erotic tension was building inside of him with an intensity that was driving him to the brink.

“I love you.” He broke their kiss just long enough to say the words he’d been waiting to tell her for so long. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Ali repeated those words back to him as she did her own roaming. Her fingers threaded through his hair and traveled down the back of his neck, across his shoulders, and over his chest. She fisted the material of his shirt and started tugging it up.

“What about the boys?” he asked.

“What about them?” she asked breathlessly as her brow wrinkled.

“What if they wake up and come down here?”

She smiled, pulling at his shirt again. “I locked the door.”

“You did?”

“Habit. KJ worries, so I come down here if I’m feeling emotional.”

His heart squeezed in his chest thinking of her having to hide and disguise her grief to protect her nephew. “Like the onion.”

She smiled as she yanked harder at his shirt and confirmed, “Like the onion.”

He knew that she wanted this to be fast and furious but he needed to slow things down. As desperate as he was to feel her skin under his hands and as much as he wanted to be buried inside her again, he wasn’t going to let this be a “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” situation. No, this time he was going to explore every inch of her body before they came together.

Sitting up so his back was no longer pressed against the back cushions, he reached behind him and pulled his shirt up and over his head in a swift motion.

“Better?” he asked.

“We’re getting there,” she said as she started to remove her own shirt but Kade stopped her by covering her hands with his.

She stilled and looked at him with a questioning eye. He stared at her, silently communicating what he wanted to do. His steady gaze bore into her with muted expectation. If it was any other woman, he would’ve felt the need to explain to her that he wanted to be the one to do the undressing, but with Ali a look was all it took. They were that connected.

Her arms dropped to her sides, surrendering to his silent plea. He watched as her chest rose and fell in increasingly faster intervals and the skin on her neck flushed with anticipation.

The air between them crackled with desire. He could hear the base of his thudding heart as his fingers skimmed up her torso, still covered by her T-shirt. When they reached the rounded curve of her lower breast he stopped for a moment before outlining the crescent shape. Then, he let them travel up her mounds, brushing against the hardened tips of her nipples. They lingered there, circling, pressing, squeezing her nubs, teasing them with his barely-there touch.

As she sat straddling him in only a T-shirt and cutoff sweats her hips began to roll into him, and he felt the heat of her core pressing against his raging erection. It was screaming for him to rip off her clothes and bury himself in her tight, wet canal but he ignored it. Tonight was about delayed gratification. He wanted to bring them both to the edge and keep them there as he discovered each and every nuance of her body and soul.

She looked at him with a lust-filled gaze as he slid her shirt up. His heart beat a little faster with every new part of her body he uncovered. Her gently flared hips, the flat expanse of belly, her softly rounded breasts tipped by proud pink nipples, the elegant slope of her thin shoulders, all of it calling for his full attention.

When her shirt dropped beside his, he paused for a minute to take in her bare upper body, letting his gaze rove lazily over the creamy expanse.

She was truly breathtaking, and he was finding it difficult to inhale or exhale.

He couldn’t truly wrap his mind around how beautiful she was, both inside and out. As gorgeous as her body was, it paled in comparison to the shining beauty of her heart. And that heart had chosen to love him. Now he needed to make damn sure that he proved himself worthy.

His hands did a thorough job of trailing over every square inch of her exposed skin, including her thighs, which were settled on each side of him. Then he snaked his touch around her back and splayed his fingers out as he flattened his palms. Holding her firmly in place, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to her neck and shoulders, moving down her chest slowly but surely until he finally reached her nipples.

When he felt the soft skin of her areola under his lips he traced the outline of each with his tongue several times before he flicked the center buds. She buried her fingers in his hair, curling them up in fists and sending sharp little jolts of pain through his scalp that immediately translated into pleasure.

As he continued licking her flesh, he let his hands drift to her waist and moved his thumbs in slow circles over the tight skin of her belly. With each circle he made, his thumbs dared to dip a centimeter lower until they began slipping beneath the elastic of her waistline. She was moving closer and closer to oblivion with every lick, every caress, and he couldn’t wait to take her all the way. He could already hear it in the sharp little pants she let out; already feel it in the trembling of her skin under his fingers; already see it in a red flush covering her skin in patches.

Without warning, he gripped her hips, turned and laid her on the couch in one swift, smooth motion. Her heavy-lidded eyes looked up at him as he tugged her cutoff sweats and panties down and off of her toned legs.

When her feet lowered back down her legs fell open. The sight was tantalizing and erotic, causing flashes of anticipation lightning to burst in him like a sultry summer storm rolling in. At his blatant appraisal, she spread her thighs farther apart, revealing her arousal glistening on her sex.

He slid his hand smoothly down between her legs. His knuckles brushed her inner thighs and her muscles trembled like leaves in the wind. Before he reached the apex of her legs, he could feel heat radiating from her core. Lightly, he began to trace the folds of her skin, moving methodically up and down her seam. He rubbed her juices over her lips, massaging her intimately. Making sure to increase the pressure at the base of her opening. All the while, his thumb teased her clit. His dick pulsed painfully as she squirmed under his attentive motions.

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