Page 55 of Alive and Wells

Austin:Don’t move a damn muscle

Right on cue, I hear him barge through the front door moments later. I can picture him sprinting across the lawn and down the path. He must’ve been moving at breakneck speed to get here so fast. His fist bangs on the door twice before it swings open, hitting the wall with a thud.

“Darlin’, I don’t know if you’re having fun messing with me lately, or if you’ve been drinking again. Please tell me if you’re being serious right now.”

I peer out from around the shower curtain at him. He’s flushed and looks mildly uncomfortable, but also like he’s struggling to contain unbridled excitement.

“Get in and find out.” My voice wavers, finding it way harder to be sexy and bold in person. But, goddamn, if there’s one thing I remember from last night, it’s how badly I wanted him. Austin was respectful and nice, of course—always the responsible one. I’m dying to see what happens when he finally lets himself have what he wants.

“Get out here. If you’re not bluffing, I’m taking you to bed and doing this right.”

Yeah, that sounds better, actually. This shower is hardly big enough for me to comfortably shave my legs. Sex would be difficult, at best. He thrusts a towel past the shower curtain, and I loosely wrap it over my body before stepping out. Austin’s hand snakes around my waist, pulling me into him, and resting his forehead against mine. I palm the already-hard bulge in his pants to let him know exactly how serious about this I am.

“Fuck.” He sucks in a sharp inhale. “Okay then.”

The towel falls in a puddle at our feet, and he takes a small step back, drinking me in from head to toe. I thought he made me feel sexy before, but the way he softly bites his lip, raking his eyes down my body, has me lightheaded.

“I’ve been trying to picture this for weeks but you’re more beautiful than I could’ve ever imagined.”

My chest heaves, desperate for him to quitlookingand start touching. I need his hands everywhere. Hooking my fingers into his belt loops, I step toward him with my desperate eyes meeting his. His hand holds me by the back of the neck, tugging my naked body to him, and I temporarily freeze up. We both feel it, and time stops. My heart sinks to the pit in my stomach, prepared for this to be the moment he pushes me away like a broken object.

“I need to hear you say this is what you want. That you have no doubts,” he murmurs, placing soft kisses on my neck between words. His body presses closer and I’m melting into him, full of desperate wanting. “Tell me to stop, or I’m going to get you into our bed and make love to you. I’m going to take my time savouring you, and drawing out every moment of your pleasure.”

Our bed.

Austin strokes my jaw with his knuckles, and I’m putty in his hands. “I’m going to do all the things I picture doing every time I look at you.”

“You like to look at me a lot,” I muse as he kisses my shoulder. Knowing he’s been thinking about this makes a wet heat pool between my legs.

“You’re all I want to look at. Only you.” His lips press to mine, and my mouth parts with a small sigh. “Tell me what you want.”

Already breathless from the tenderness of his lips as they move to my collarbone, I whisper, “I want this. I want you.”

Then I’m walking backward with his body against mine, kissing with all the pent-up sexual energy from last night, and from every day leading up to this. When my back crashes into the wall, his thick length presses into me through his pants. Familiar warmth knots up in my stomach, and I fumble frantically with the buttons on his shirt. I need to touch him. My hands drift across his chest and shoulders, pushing the shirt away. He soaks in my touch like a man starved, and drags his lips down the column of my neck. Stopping to nip and suck at my sensitive skin until I’m a whimpering mess in his arms.

“I’m going to be gentle with you”—he flicks a tongue across my nipple, and I tug his hair at the roots, rolling my hips against the hard outline of his cock—“until you don’t want me to be. You’re in control, darlin’.”

I feel anything but in control.

His hands run down my waist as his tongue follows a path to the curve of my breasts, then my stomach, and then the thin skin covering my hip bone. I suck cool air through my teeth, and he freezes in place.

Austin stands up and holds my face in his warm, calloused hands. “Are you okay? Want me to stop?”

“No.” I pull him into me. I never thought I would crave a man’s touch like I do at this moment, but I’m overwhelmed with a desire to have him everywhere all at once. “I want this. Just ignore the way I tense up sometimes, okay? The last thing I want is to feel broken.”

Crouching back down, he kisses the spot on my hip that made me flinch. “You’re not broken.”

My breath gets caught in my throat as his hardened hand delicately runs along my inner thigh, where arousal and shower water have blended. A low rumble resounds in his chest when his tongue drags across the wet skin.

“Bedroom, now.” He stands back up, grabbing my ass and lifting me into the air. In reaction, I cling to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his torso. The cold metal on his belt buckle rubs against me as he walks us to the room, making my thighs hold tighter with each jostling movement against my clit.

He smiles when he realizes what has me moaning quietly. “If my buckle’s enough to get you off, wait until you feel my tongue.”

The moment I’m placed carefully on the bed, his exploration continues. Aggressive kisses, gentle nips, and barely-there licks over practically every inch of my body. The juxtaposition of rough and sweet has me gasping for air, collapsing into the soft bedding like I’ve been drugged. A steamy haze washes over me.

“Do you trust me?” he asks, returning the attention of his mouth to my lips. It seems like an odd question, given the vulnerable position I’m currently in.

“Y-yes.” I rock my hips against him as he leans in to kiss my neck. “Why?”

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