Page 51 of Slow Kind of Love

Chapter Eighteen

They didn’t say one goodbye. Not to Boone or Poppy or any of the folks at the gala.

Link walked Elise back inside, and she grabbed her back from the table while he picked up her jacket from the coat check. There were a line of cabs waiting near the entrance, and they grabbed the first one.

Shadows covered the backseat whole as he settled Elise against him, holding her in the crux of his arms for the entire ride home. They didn’t say a word, and though they were blanketed in silence, the air was thick with something he didn’t quite understand. Whatever it was, it was dark and exciting. He’d never felt more alive. His body literally hummed with the intoxicating energy fed by the woman in his arms.

“What about Pancake?” he murmured when they pulled into the driveway of his stone cottage.

“My neighbor knows to let her out.”

The air was biting, and mist fell from his mouth as he thanked the cabbie and then followed Elise up the steps to his home. He thought about the little black box and the delicate ring inside and decided he couldn’t wait. He needed to make her his before he claimed her with his body.

She pushed open the door and strode into his home, shedding the dress coat as she did so. Elise turned to him, and his chest tightened at her expression. She was so damn fierce and wild that it took his breath away.

Link followed her into the great room at the back of the cottage. He’d left a lamp on, though the light was muted and most of the room was filled with shadows.

“Elise,” he began, licking suddenly dry lips.

“Don’t talk,” she replied, her voice husky.

“But I—”

Then she was there, gazing up at him with a look in her eyes that set his blood on fire. “No talking,” she commanded.

“I want to talk to you before we—”

Her hands were on his shirt, and she ripped it open, trailing her nails down his chest, sharply, so that he felt every single one. She undid his belt and pushed him back up against the wall and then—

Good Lord, she dropped to her knees and yanked on his pants until they pooled around his ankles.

“Elise,” he groaned, looking down at the goddess on her knees. She reached for his boxers and gently tugged them down, his already hard cock springing free and standing at attention.

Elise looked up at him and held her forefinger to her lips before smiling wickedly and reaching for him. She ran her palm up his shaft, gripping him firmly as she stroked him. Up and down. And then again. And again.

When her mouth closed over him, Link nearly lost his mind. Her tongue was warm and wet, and she began to suck and squeeze, and he couldn’t help himself. His hands found their way to all that glorious hair, and he sank his fingers into its thickness, holding her steady as his hips began to slowly move.

She increased the pressure, taking in all of him, and his head slammed back onto the wall because it felt that good. Her nails dug into his butt, sharp little pincers that held him the same way he held her.

“Christ, Elle,” he whispered, eyes closed, awash in the sensations of her hot, wet mouth on his dick. Sweat broke out along his forehead, and he clamped his jaw tight as he fought to hold back when everything inside him screamed for more. Harder.Faster. But he wanted this to last, and he wanted…damn, but he wanted everything.

Elise made a noise, a guttural growl that nearly drove him over the edge. He held on for as long as he could, until he felt that tension in his gut, the one that traveled down to his balls. It was fire and ecstasy and desire and need.

“Hold on,” he said hoarsely.

“Make me.”

He grinned and yanked on her hair, gently, but enough to make her look up at him. She pulled away and licked the head of his dick, and when she would have gone back for more, Link pulled her up and claimed that mouth with his own.

She tasted like whiskey and cherries, and he kissed her with all the passion that flowed inside him. Until it was too much. Until he needed to bury himself so deep inside her, it was painful.

Link broke the kiss, stepped out of his shoes, and tossed his clothes so that he was completely naked. He trailed a line of kisses down her body, sliding her dress off as he did so. Next came the panties, and then he carried Elise over to the sofa. By this time, his entire body was shaking with need.

He laid her down, and immediately, her legs opened, and he sank inside her, groaning at the feel of her as she tightened around him. He began to move, slowly at first, holding her hands above her head with his own as he increased their rhythm.

“Elise, I…” God, he couldn’t speak.

Her eyes shone as she stared at him, “I know,” he thought she whispered, but by then, his body quaked and he was there, right on the edge. He held her close and brought it home, pounding into her softness with a ferocity he’d never felt before. It was as if he were consumed by a need to connect with her on the most basic level a man and woman could. Hell, he bent down and bit her shoulder as he came, like an animal, and nearly lost his mind when she screamed and bucked and came as hard as he did.

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