Slowly, I moved towards the door, hoping to catch the intruder unawares. But when I burst out of the bathroom, all I found was Ember, eyes wide. “Hi,” she squeaked. “I was just checking on you. You’ve been tossing and turning for what feels like hours.”
“You can hear me?” I growled.
Her eyes locked on my bare chest, sliding down to my still-present erection. She wore nothing but a thin, white t-shirt that barely covered her hips, and as she stared at my cock, her nipples hardened.
“No,” she whispered. “But every time you toss or turn, you send a little vibration through the wall. My headboard shares a wall with yours.”
“Oh,” I replied, unsure about what to say or do next. Mycock was so hard it ached, made worse by the sight of her body through the thin fabric of the t-shirt.
“But… you’re fine. So, I’ll go.”
She said the words, but didn’t move. The HVAC in the Carlyle was shit, so the room was far colder than it might be otherwise, but my skin heated as she stared at me. It was like she was stuck. Her eyes were wide and desperate, but she didn’t move a muscle to leave.
I couldn’t stand this a moment longer. I took the three steps toward her that I regretted not taking in the kitchen and tipped her chin up towards my face. “What do you want, Ember?”
She pulled away from me, so much pain in her eyes that it nearly broke me. “Something no one can give me,” she said, finally backing away.
Ember sank onto the bed, cradling her head in her hands. All thoughts I’d had about what might happen next flew out of my head—she was upset. I pulled an upholstered stool from next to the wardrobe up to the edge of the bed and sat directly in front of her. Our knees touched.
“Talk to me,” I said, keeping my voice soft. This felt like a moment for gentleness, which was not my forte, but for her I would try. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Slowly, her eyes raised to mine. In the dim light from the bathroom, I could just make out the surprise written in the invisible lines of her face. “I am lonely.”
Those three words sank deep into every wound I had, right into my soul. It wasn’t just the words, but the hollow sound of each syllable, the ache in the silence between us. It was the knowledge that no matter what, or who, I wanted for myself, that I would always find myself alone at some point, making the decisions no one else would or could.
This had to be why I was so drawn to her. Maybe if I acknowledged it, it would have less power over me. So I nodded. “Me too.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “How could you be? You have your brother and Avaline.”
I sighed, resting my elbow on my knee, and my chin in my hand. Our faces were so close I might kiss her. It felt good to be close like this, but not touch. There was an intimacy in it better than fucking, though I was certain there were few things in the world that might feel better than burying my cock in her.
But this. This was something else. Her kaleidoscope eyes locked on mine, searching for the answer to my question. “They’re best friends,” I explained. “And I love them dearly… But I am always…” I trailed off, searching for the right words.
“On the outside,” she murmured, her breath grazing my face.
“Yes,” I answered.
She held my gaze for a long moment, her chin tipping upward, so slowly it hurt to watch. When her mouth grazed mine, she was hesitant, but I did not pull back. Nor did I rush in the way my body screamed at me to do. Instead, I opened for her slowly, letting her tongue drift into my mouth.
She tasted like fresh air and a long-forgotten mountain stream. My fingers grazed her jaw, and she moaned in my mouth as they trailed down the silken column of her neck. I deepened the kiss, pulling her forward so gently it gave her every opportunity to say no.
Ember slid, in one fluid motion, onto my lap. Her t-shirt went up above her hips as she straddled me. “Keep me company tonight, Ares,” she breathed as she pushed her shirt above her head, exposing those perfect breasts to the cool night air. “Help me not to be so lonely.”
All thoughts of lessening the power she seemed to have over me flew out of my head. I nodded, my lips closing around one of her nipples, my hands palming her breasts as she arched into me, her hips rocking slowly over the hard length of my erection.
Here, alone with her in the quiet of this bedroom, I could be honest with myself. There was almost no one in the world Iallowed to have power over me. As much as I loved my brother and Av, even they did not compel me the way that Ember did. For her, it seemed I would lose all my hard-won control. I slid my hands down her sides, luxuriating in every inch of her soft skin, then pulled her tight against me as I rose.
She clung to me so tightly I groaned with the pleasure of feeling her damp nipples press against my chest. Over the years, I’d refused to think of her, though every time I saw her, my cock twitched with this same pulsing need. And now, I had her in my arms. Had her in my grasp.
There was no way I would rush through this. I lowered her slowly to the bed. She pulled me down on her, her mouth meeting mine with desperation as she raised her hips, grinding against me.
Her need drove me, as I slid my hand between us, playing with the waistband of her panties as she worked herself against me. My cock strained against my pants, and the thin fabric between us felt like miles. I rolled off her, and she whimpered beneath me, arching her back off the bed, and spreading her legs just a little.
I stroked my fingers down the center of her panties, until I found the damp spot between her legs. Her legs spread wider as I circled her clit so lightly I hardly knew if I’d touched her until she moaned my name. Her arms went around my neck as she kissed me harder.
“Touch me,” she begged in my mouth. “Please touch me.”
My previous resolve to go slow shattered into a thousand pieces with those pleas. There was no mistaking what was between us now. Anything she wanted, I would have to give to her. And besides, I wanted to know how wet she was, to feel the evidence of how I affected her. I pulled her panties aside, exposing her pussy to the cool air of the bedroom.
