Emery’s hands slid up to his shoulders. “Do you miss any part of your old life?”
Something about this position filled him with a sense of contentment. Her breast pressed against his chest and their bodies met, and he sank into her. The happiness shooting through him contrasted with the rough subject. For a second, guilt slammed into him. Whenever life smoothed out this feeling of not deserving, it rushed in behind. It had been that way his entire life.
But he didn’t want to stop with a partial story. Emery had the pieces, and he wanted her to understand the framework. To fully understand the man in front of her, the one who wanted to touch her, kiss her . . . be inside her. “I was filled with rage and desperate for revenge. I stalked my father, hunted him down. Tried twice to kill him.”
“And now I know you’re not exaggerating when you say that.”
“Not even a little.” Was ten seconds from firing the gun on the second try.
“Oh, Levi.”
He expected revulsion or at least a wave of wariness. She offered him empathy. Openness showed on her face. She listened and accepted and either ignored the reality of who he was then or didn’t notice the underlying evil that still ran through him as he stood right in front of her.
The need to make her understand punched him. “That’s the man you say you want to have sex with tonight.”
Her arms wound their way around his neck as her fingers slipped into his hair. “That’s the man I want. Period.”
Those words. “Be sure.”
She lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against his. A gentle kiss that promised so much more. “Where’s the bedroom?”
They barely made it upstairs. Lights clicked on around them as they moved, as if on some unseen timer. They tripped and fumbled their way up the steps through blinding kisses. They spun and their hands toured over each other as they tugged and pulled at each other’s clothes.
By the time they crossed the threshold to his bedroom she was ready to rip her pants off and jump on the bed. But she forced her breathing to slow, her body to calm down. She wanted to savor this. If the last time they got naked was any indication of the heat they had together, she planned to string it out. Not let go until the very end.
Then her back hit the oversized mattress. It spanned half of the large room. A super-king-sized bed, if there was such a thing. While she watched him undo his belt and whip it out of his pants, she saw bits of her surroundings. A small couch and a large television. It all blinked out when his shoulders blocked her but, oh, what a welcome view.
She slid her palms over his bare chest to his biceps. She wasn’t even sure when or how he stripped off his shirt, but she was not sorry. His muscles bulged under her fingertips. Not the kind that were pumped up from hours in the gym. No, he was sleek and lean.
He had the body of a runner and the hands of a genius. Right now he swept them down her stomach to the top of her jeans. She lifted her hips as he pulled them off. Down went the pants then her underwear, until she was naked and open to him.
Instead of diving in and taking pleasure, he gave it. His fingers skimmed over her sensitized skin. Her cells burst to life as first his hands then his lips traced over her. When he settled down with his shoulders between her thighs she almost lost her mind. Memories of his mouth and what he could do with it had plagued her all day.
Real time proved so much better. His tongue moved over the very tops of her inner thighs. He licked and sucked, teasing her skin and bringing her breathing to a stammering halt. When he finally shifted, dragging his mouth over until he feasted on her, she had to grab on to his shoulders then his head to keep from shimmying all around.
He kissed her there. Used his tongue and his fingers to ready her body for his. Plunged in and out, flicking and enticing, as her hips lifted on a steady beat.
“Levi, please.” She didn’t even know what she was begging for. She’d say anything, do anything, to reach release. But she wanted him inside her first, making love to her. Their bodies touching everywhere.
But he didn’t stop. Not until her hands dropped to her sides and her chest rose and fell on harsh breaths. Not until she groaned and chanted his name. Then he moved over her. She barely heard the rip of the condom wrapper. She knew she should find the strength to lift her arms and help get his pants the rest of the way off, but her muscles wouldn’t move. She hovered the fine line between tightening to the point of breaking and sensual lethargy. She craved both. Wanted it all.
She closed her eyes, just for a second. When she opened them again she could feel the rub of his bare legs against hers. The hair there tickled the backs of her thighs. “You got your pants off.”