Page 16 of Tide Touched

I take a shuddering breath, nearly weeping with need.

As he takes me in, disappointment shadows his eyes and I could cry. I might be his mate, but he loves someone else. ‘Distract me.’ A tear slides down my cheek, my body and heart wrapped up too tightly, desperate for release.

Carter places a single kiss on my cheek, over the track my tear left. He tugs my hair hard enough to pull a gasp from my lips. He leans forward and bites my earlobe, sending a little burst of pain straight to my core. Suddenly, he’s pushing me back onto the bed, and I fall.

Holy shit. My eyes go to his cock, bigger than I would have guessed. Can that even fit in me? A slightly panicked voice in my mind says.

As though sensing my rising nerves, Carter sets a hand on my belly. ‘Breathe,’ he says, his voice calming. Slowly, he trails his hand from my belly down, letting me watch, lower and lower until he reaches my throbbing mound.

I arch up at the barest touch and turn slightly into his chest. I need him so much I think I might explode or die if he doesn’t touch me. Or have a heart attack. I can feel my heart beat in my ears. I grasp his upper arm. ‘Please,’ I beg impatiently. I might be nervous, but my need is a thousand-fold stronger.

Carter presses a kiss to my lips as his finger finds my entrance, wet and throbbing for him. My hips buck, eager for him, as he pushes it in slowly, stretching me slightly.

My hand tightens on his arm, holding my breath, but he distracts me with kisses, still cool against my skin. My mind blurs into pleasure as he starts pumping in and out of me, soon adding a second finger, then a third.

In the back of my mind, I know he’s talking to me. He’s talking about my hair, tugging it every now and then to keep my thoughts from slipping away. As he stretches me with his fingers, he whispers something in my ear that I realise, a moment later, when he pulls back from me and positions himself on top of me, means he’s about to enter me.

This isn’t really how I imagined being with my fated mate, and certainly not who I expected, but need is driving me crazy. Just as he guides his large, throbbing cock to my entrance, a bolt of nerves grips my belly.

Carter sets a hand on my stomach, brushing his fingers over my skin to get me to relax, then slowly starts to press his cock into me. He takes his time, for which I’m both furious and glad, pressing in a little—I feel the slightly aching stretch, at once wanting more of it—and then the void of emptiness when he retreats. He does this a few times, then pushes in to the hilt in one steady thrust.

A moan escapes my lips as stars burst before my eyes, an electric thrum of pleasure ripping through my body. My hips arch, wanting to take in more of him.

Carter takes his time, moving in a slow rhythm above me, his hands on either side of my body. ‘You okay?’

I nod. Any nerves have evaporated. I open my eyes to look up at him, and I’m struck by the coldness of his gaze. He pulls me up until our chests are flush. He wraps his hand around my hair and, timing it with a thrust, yanks on my ponytail, making me whimper.

I lean back into it. I can’t decide if I like it or not, but I don’t ask him to stop. I want more. More of everything. My hands feel out his entire body, brushing over every surface. He feels like one, big cold muscle.

Carter pushes me back a little to thumb and pinch my nipples, little bolts which fizzle straight to my pussy. He thrusts back and forth, in and out of me. He’s going a little fast, not giving me time to build up my pleasure.

His hand fists the nape of my neck holding my hair tight. ‘You’re. So. Warm,’ he says with each thrust.

In the back of my mind, I know my own pleasure should be building. I’ve made myself come before with my own hands. But this is different. Where that kind of pleasure builds and rises like a wave, this like an ocean slamming down on me. I wish he would use his fingers on my clit to make the waves break with him, but he alternates between my nipples, nibbling and pinching until I’m biting down on my lip.

A voice in the back of my mind whispers that I always thought my mate would be warm. That he would hold me against his broad, warm chest, and I would feel his heart beat under my cheek. That he would smile at my red hair, and I would smile at his.

As my fingers wind into the blond, sandy mass, something stirs in my chest.

I wonder if Carter is wishing I were Courtney. Aching for her long, wheat-coloured locks and pale, porcelain skin.

His name rises to my lips. I don’t know what I need, or what I’m asking for, but he’s preoccupied, thrusting into me hard and fast, his own pleasure building.

I moan, his long, hard cock hammering into my fresh, sensitive walls. Instead of holding onto him, my hands fist in the blankets, seeking something steady, to ground me while he takes his pleasure, still tugging on my hair as I whimper, my scalp aching.

Carter slams into me one last time, then he stops with a jolt and a shudder, spilling his seed inside me. For a moment, I wait, still, as his orgasm spills and then subsides. He gives my hair one, final yank, making me wince, then pulls his cock out.

The moment he leaves me, I’m left feeling suddenly empty. Sad, even. My hand goes to my head, slightly sore, but nothing compared to the rest of my spent body.

Carter climbs off me and looks at me for a long moment. He pulls his clothes back on. Without meeting my gaze, he says, ‘You okay?’

I open my mouth, then close it. ‘I don’t know.’ Between my legs is sore and I feel… alone, somehow.

Carter passes me my dress. His gaze finds mine for a moment. He brushes a hand over my head, as though knowing about the sting of my scalp. He leans over me, searching.

‘What are you thinking?’ I ask, breathless.

Carter blinks and turns away. ‘Nothing.’

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