Ember stepped backward and away from the skirt, standing before me in nothing but flushed cheeks and a nude lace thong. Her hair fell to just below her breasts, and she stood still, never breaking my stare.
Sitting back on my heels, I spoke again. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” My breath was fast and shallow as all of my clothes suddenly seemed ill-fitting.
Taking two steps forward, Ember held her hand out to me. As I stood, she spoke in the husky whisper I’d come to associate with the warmth of my tongue against her skin. “I need you, Bo. Make love to me.”
I lowered my head as she lifted slightly on her toes, clutching the fabric of my shirt as she pressed her swollen lips into mine. She lifted my shirt over my head, returning her lips to my collarbone, and worked her way slowly across my chest.
Unbuttoning my shorts as quickly as I could, I cast them to the floor along with my boxer briefs.
“Now you have too much clothing on,” I murmured against her skin as I ran my thumb along the elastic of her thong.
Like a dance, Ember took one step back toward the bed and I answered with one step forward. As she sat, I pulled her thong the rest of the way off. She responded by tossing her hair back over her shoulders, allowing me full access to her hardened nipples.
“Kiss me. Here.” She skimmed her fingers across her breasts as she scooted up the bed, laying back and pulling me on top of her.
I started at her neck, enjoying the restless squirming of her hips as my lips journeyed to their destination. As my tongue encircled the first nipple, Ember cried out and arched her back.
“God, Bo … I need you inside me.” She pressed the pads of her fingers into my shoulders, highlighting her urgency.
As I ran a hand up her inner thigh, connecting with the warm center of her desire, I felt the intensity of her need and couldn’t even pretend to hold back. Pushing her knees far enough apart to let me square myself between them, I paused for a moment, hovering over her as her hips continued their desperate movements.
Arresting her eyes in my gaze, I spoke softly but firmly. “November … I will never ever hurt you.”
Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes as she grabbed my hips and led me into her, throwing her head back as I filled her. As her tight space squeezed around me before relaxing and allowing me full access, I gritted my teeth, losing myself in the feeling.
I pulled out slowly and immediately pushed in. Harder this time. Needing to feel the pressure of her body around me.
“Shit,” I hissed as Ember drew her knees back, letting me fall deeper into her as she gripped the backs of my legs.
“Go slow. Just for a minute.” Her eyes opened and locked with mine, and I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t close my eyes.
I slowed down, pulling out slowly once more, and entering her just as slow, watching her eyes widen just slightly each time I entered her.
My heart raced and I felt lightheaded. “I can’t go slow anymore,” I pleaded.
“What do you want?” she whispered, running her hand along the outside of my face.
“I want to make you come.” I tried to slow my breathing by inhaling through my nose, trying not to lose it in that moment.
Ember lifted her head, setting her lips just to the side of my ear, and whispered, “Take what you want.”
As her head fell back to the pillow, I clenched my hands around the sheets and worked faster and harder, moaning as she screamed my name.
“God, Ember … I can’t hold on much longer.” My voice was a barely recognizable growl.
She cried out again as she released her hands from my back and found my hands on the bed, locking her fingers with mine. “Come with me, Bo. Now.”
The second I felt the swell of her orgasm crash around me, I let go. Pulsing deeply as we both called to each other from the depths of our ecstasy. Once our breathing slowed, I grabbed her chin, moving her face so she’d look at me.
“Never,” I repeated my promise from earlier. “Do you hear me? I’m never, ever going to make you feel one ounce of sorrow.”
With a quivering chin, Ember nodded, tears rising through her tired green eyes. “I trust you.”
Slowly I slid out of her, rolling to my side and pulling her still-warm body against my chest. Nuzzling through her hair, my lips found her neck. She responded by pressing her back even tighter against my body.
“Bo?” she asked in the smallest voice I’d heard from her in a long time.
“Yes, love?”
“Hold me until I fall asleep.”
I sighed, wanting more than anything to take away the raw pain that sat in her heart. “I’ll hold you while you sleep. Always.”
I kissed her temple once, and rested my head against the pillow, listening to the lush sound of her breath slow and even out until she was asleep. Planting my lips on her shoulder, I allowed sleep to take me, too. Praying that when we woke, her pain would miraculously be gone.