I froze and tightened and quaked and liquefied.
He might’ve only given me two fingers, but it felt like two pieces of his soul. Two pieces that Cassie had bemoaned she would never have. Two pieces that no one else would ever own.
Just me.
Only me.
My mouth fell wide as he sank deeper. He hooked his touch inside me, pressing, rubbing, igniting the fuse that would eventually explode into a toe-curling orgasm. He didn’t give me a moment to breathe, analyse, or decide if I wanted to fight back, submit, or melt into a puddle in his hand. All that mattered was I was his, and he was touching me in ways I’d always begged him to.
“Ren,” I breathed as he gathered me closer.
“Shush.” Never looking away from me, he studied my every twitch and sigh as if learning exactly what made me simmer.
And he found it with his thumb on my clit.
My back bowed, and a low moan spilled from me as he drove two fingers deeper.
He smiled, satisfaction glowing in his dark eyes. “You like that?”
“Uh huh.” I nodded with desire-lethargy, my head heavy and eyes struggling to focus.
“Good to know.” Pulling his touch from my body, he lathered yet more bubbles and dragged them over the sparse hair on his well-defined chest, swiftly washing himself before the soap disappeared to clean other areas.
I wobbled before him, shocked that he’d touched me so spectacularly, then acted as if nothing had happened.
“Oh, that’s just mean.” I pouted as ripples of pleasure still worked through my core, begging him to come back.
“It would be mean if I didn’t plan on doing more.” His hands finished washing, tossing the soap toward the shore. “But I do. An entire night of more.”
“I would’ve done that,” I said.
“What? Wash me?” He shook his head, jaw tight and eyes black. “Della, I’m seconds away from forcing you onto my lap. I couldn’t stand you washing me. I barely have any control left as it is.”
“I don’t care. It’s about time you let go of that lifetime of control. You just teased me. It’s only fair I tease you.” Wanting to make him as wound up as me, I pushed off the pebble-littered riverbed and floated onto his lap. “I need you, Ren.” Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, he was too slow to push me away.
My core connected to his cock, and we stiffened.
“You’re making me insane.” He growled around a cough.
“All you have to do is give in.” I ran my tongue around the shell of his ear, adoring the way he trembled. “You want me? Then take me. Right here.”
My heart thrummed as his possessive hands splayed over my back like panther paws—velvet and heavy with a touch of claw. “You’re a minx.”
“And you’re a martyr.” Pulling back a little, I kissed his cheek and chin and finally sought his lips. “Please, Ren. Just a tiny thrust and you’d be inside—”
His hands shot to my hips, angling me perfectly so the tip of him hovered over my entrance. “Such a demanding little thing.” He breathed as if he’d run for days, his eyes hotter than I’d ever seen. “Ruining all my plans.”
I didn’t know who made the first move—me with a quest of my hips or him with a probe of his, but somehow, we went from two people to the precipice of becoming one.
Nothing else mattered.
No other thoughts entered.
The world had vanished, and it was just us in our forest like always, on our own like forever, fighting the undying need to merge into one.
“You want this?” Ren strangled, slipping another inch inside me.
My forehead slammed to his wet, cool shoulder, unable to stop my teeth from latching into his skin. “Yes!”
“Goddammit, Della.” He surged deep. “Fuck, you feel incredible.”
Hard.
Fast.
Consuming.
My legs spread wider as my feet rubbed on pebbles and flotsam, not caring about anything but his hard length slamming inside me.
My hips rocked back, driving him deeper to that wondrous place.
“Don’t move,” he snapped.
Prickles of rejection kissed over my skin. “Why not?”
“Because I’m so fucking close to coming, and I forgot to put a condom on. You feel far too amazing bare.”
His fist wrapped in my hair, pulling my head back until he could meet my eyes. I expected him to kiss me hard, to drive into me harder, but his face blackened with self-control. “I can’t believe I broke that rule.”
“What rule?”
“Never have sex without protection.”
My shoulders fell. I knew enough from sexual education at school and what Ren had taught me that STIs were a big reason rubbers were important.
But we’d been safe with others. Surely, we could be free with each other. “You’re inside me. It’s already too late.”
He swore under his breath as I rocked on him.
“Stop, Della.” His hand landed heavily on my hip. “It’s never too late.” The hardness of him throbbed inside me, his heartbeat matching the thick craving of my own.
Pushing me, his length slipped out torturously slow. Once we were two people again, he burrowed his face into his hands and yelled into his palms. “Fuck!”
I gave him a moment, hating the separation but familiar enough with Ren to know he followed rules—especially ones that protected me—religiously.
He stood upright, and the river went from lapping around his shoulders to barely covering his proud erection. “Let’s get inside the tent. I’m assuming you have more condoms with you?”
I stood on lust-wobbly legs as Ren swept me into his arms. His eyes softened with regret. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin the moment.”
“You didn’t.”
Kissing me softly, he whispered, “I’m just so terrified of hurting you. It would kill me, Little Ribbon. If I ever did anything to—”
“You won’t.” I wrapped my arms around him, sucking in a breath as he swung me into a horizontal position like a groom would his bride and carried me from the river. “You never will.”
Pressing his nose to mine, he chuckled. “You always manage to bring out the best and worst in me. One moment, I don’t care about anything but fucking you; the next, I want to lay you on a throne and pledge everything I can.” He carried me toward our bags with hardened feet used to walking on twigs and prickly things. “Being in love really is a disease.”
Placing me reverently by my backpack, I got my balance by clutching his biceps. “Love’s a disease?”
He nodded, brushing aside my wet hair and palming off excess droplets from the river. Even brusque, having his hands on me was pure cashmere and desire. “When I’m with you, I have the cure. I feel stronger, happier, invincible. But when I’m not, I feel as if life itself could delete me, and I wouldn’t care.”
The intensity of such a strong moment infected both of us, and our eyes locked with oaths and vows. “I’m never leaving you, Ren.”
“And I’m never walking away again. No matter what happens. We stick together.”
Our lips sought each other, sealing our promises with silky sweeps of our tongues.
The heat of our skin helped dry us a little, but we didn’t care about the rest as we pulled apart and I bent to unzip my bag. The sound of the zipper in the gloom made Ren wince, his senses on high alert.
Dropping my hand into the dark rucksack, I rummaged for a second before pulling out a box.
A familiar box with a familiar note stuck to the top.
“What the—” Ren snatched it from my hands. Squinting to read in the final threads of light, his basic handwriting decorated the top: If you’re going to do things outside my control, please be safe. Use these. At all times. “Is-is this the box I bought you?”
My cheeks glowed pink. “Yes.”
“But…how?”