He moves his mouth away to kiss the angle between my thigh and my pussy, softly sucking my skin and filling me with the sweetest drug.

“I want you inside me,” I tell him as my legs begin to quiver on their own.

“Not yet,” he says, sensing my proximity to a place I could only dream of these past few years.

My free hand leaves my own body and slithers again through his thick hair, and I lightly pull him toward me, the pressure of his mouth and fingers increasing at my command.

“Oh my god,” I whisper, feeling myself catapulting upward into a thick, warm something, and the only thought left on my mind as my whole body shakes is that I’ve been without this feeling far too long.

I moan with alternating heavy breaths, a hint of hyperventilation only giving rise to more pleasure as my mind is blotted out, and I grit my teeth again, unable to keep my mouth closed as a cry escapes my lips.

My body is hot and cold, rigid and loose as he guides me through the most powerful orgasm of my life.

My body jerks and releases with tiny movements as the crescendo dies down, and I can’t wait another moment.

“I want you inside me now,” I tell him, breaking the moment just long enough to grab a condom from my night stand.

I almost didn’t buy them, but the thought of meeting the man on the other end of the phone persuaded me.

In this moment, I can’t imagine it being anyone else.

I toss the condom to him unceremoniously, but he catches it and he quickly pulls the closed ring from its wrapper, placing it over himself.

“Are you ready?” he asks, and I’m far too eager to feign politeness.

“Now,” I tell him. “I want you inside me now.”

It’s been too long.

He climbs on top of me and kisses my neck as he slides his sheathed tip over my wetness before pushing himself into me.

My arms and legs close around his body, and he brushes the hair off of my face with his hand as he stares into my eyes now, desire and the promise of beautiful gratification written so clearly on his face that I can feel my own yearning reflected in him.

“Harder,” I tell him and he increases the tempo.

His skin moves over and against mine, the friction of the moment driving me out of my mind.

I pull his head down, his lips meeting mine, and I unwrap my legs from around his body, lifting one hip, letting him know without words that I want to be on top of him, looking down over his gorgeous body.

We rotate together, and in a moment, my knees are under me and he’s running the palm of his hand between my breasts and down my body, settling his hand opposite the other, both resting against my hips as I ride him.

With a quick motion, I pull the tie from my hair, letting every strand fall over my naked shoulders, teasing him with the threat of covering my breasts.

My hands are on his chest now, and I’m lifting myself straight up, feeling him against every part of the inside of me as I work myself up and down, pushing him deeper.

His hands move around my body and come to rest on my ass, the strength in his fingers now dormant, now active as we move together now, one with another.

His feet are flat against the bed, his knees raised, and I hook my own feet beneath his thighs, leaning forward to feel the warmth and firmness of his body as he penetrates me so fully.

“God you’re hot,” I tell him in a distant echo from the completely different existence of twenty minutes or more, and I kiss his chest, the wonderful taste of his salty sweat bringing new life to my body and I tilt my head downward so my hair covers my eyes as they well up with pure satisfaction, only the urge to keep every part of this moment as every part of my world for as long as possible.

I kiss his chest again and run my tongue over one of his nipples, eliciting a quick breath from him as he parts the dark curtains of my hair to find my smile as I look up at him expectantly.

He smiles back at me, and I slide my arms up his body and under the pillow supporting his head, my upper body content to remain pressed against his.

His hands move up my back with a feather touch, and my skin comes to a new level of awareness, tiny pinpricks of invisible energy at once consuming and yet exuding from my body.

With one hand on my shoulder, pulling me onto him and the other on my lower back, pulling me into him, our movement both opposite and perfectly aligned and he drops his knees, my ankles still beneath his thighs, only driving me farther onto him.

We kiss, and I cradle the back of his head with my hands now, my body stretched out and clasped by his.

“I want to taste you,” I tell him. “Tell me when you’re about to come.”

He nods and whispers, “It’s not going to be long.”

Like the right key unlocking me, his words propel me upward again, and I’m breathing heavily against him, my skin, my breasts, every part of me pulsing against him with every lungful of air.

I grind myself onto him greedily, feeling my own rising passion as I can feel the beating of his heart and the flexing of his muscles as he fills me faster and faster.

Breathless now, he mouths the word, “Okay,” and I’m instant to untangle my body from his.

Lifting my pulsing core from him, I turn my body around to straddle his head as I take the condom off of his member and seal my lips over him, my hand attending to what my mouth can’t cover and his warmth explodes into me, his own mouth sucking my clit between those perfect lips.

I swallow every drop and continue to suck him as he brings me again to that delicious fulfillment, stronger than before.

My mouth leaves him and I swallow again, feeling him everywhere on and inside of me and within a moment, I am beyond breath, only one question on my mind.

When the contractions cease, I use the last bit of energy I have left to turn around and crawl next to him, falling into his arms.

He turns his head and kisses me.

Still catching my breath, bathing in the afterglow, I can’t wait any longer.

I have to know.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

Chapter Fourteen

The Wrong Kind of Breath

Eric

“Tell you what?” I ask.

“You’re him,” she says and a new kind of adrenaline courses through me. “You’re the one that’s been sending me all those messages.”

Fuck. This isn’t going to be pleasant.

“I wanted to tell you,” I say. “I just didn’t know how you would react. We’ve only recently started to get back on good terms, and I wanted you to know that there’s more to me than disputes over our contract.”

“I get that,” she breathes, “but you should have told me.”

“I know,” I answer, looking up at the ceiling and holding her close against me.

“Can I just ask one question?”

“Anything,” I tell her.

“What the hell was that?” she asks.

I wheeze laughter, still far too exhausted to make much of a sound.

“I don’t know,” I tell her, “but it was incredible.”

“That,” she says, “it was.”

And with that, she pats me on the chest and sits up.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“I need some water,” she answers. “Do you want any?”

“I’ll come with you,” I tell her and sit up on the other half of the bed.

I put my pants back on, but don’t bother with anything else.

Jessica takes a bathrobe out of the closet and wraps herself inside it, pulling the flaps closed around her amazing naked body. She’s a fucking goddess.

“Are we okay?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she says. “After what just happened, it’s pretty hard to say no to that question.”

My knee-jerk thought is to say something about how sex fixes everything, but luckily I’m nowhere near that drunk and nowhere near that stupid.

We walk from the bedroom back to the kitchen where Jessica bends down to pick up her shirt and her bra.