“Rosie?”
He chuckled; his breath ghosting over the flesh of her belly made her muscles clench in anticipation. “Your skin is turning the most beautiful color of rosy pink.” His fingertips drifted over her sternum and down between her breasts. “Now I won’t be able to say your name without thinking of how stunning you are when you’re about to come.”
Rose gasped as he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her center and she arched up, seeking his touch as he looked up to meet her gaze. “Do you feel safe with me, like this?
She nodded, releasing her death grip on the sheets to cup his cheeks. “I do. It’s strange… I feel a certain freedom being fully exposed to you. I can’t hide behind anything.”
He smiled and satisfaction spread through her, completely unrelated to what he had just done with his mouth. “I don’t think you’ve ever held your tongue in my presence.”
“Whereas you barely said a word.”
His lips curled into a devilish smile before he pressed an open-mouthed kiss just below her navel. The slight press of his tongue sent shivers racing down to her toes. “What about now? Do you like when I’m quiet?”
She sucked in a shaky breath as he slid lower, his breath ghosting over her intimate flesh. “Lord, no. Although I hope you don’t speak to anyone else like this.”
“Only you, Princess. But right now my mouth has better things to do.”
He dragged his tongue in a slow caress along the length of her crease and she bucked her hips with a shriek.
“Settle…” He draped his forearm across her hips, holding her in place and open for him. Yesterday he had rushed her to climax, overwhelming her with pleasure. Now he seemed intent on torture, exploring her folds with slow kisses and passes of his tongue, finally centering on the peak of her sex before backing off.
“Ben,” she groaned when he failed to take her over the edge once more. “Is this a punishment of some sort? Because I’ve learned my lesson, if you’d be kind enough to explain what I’ve done.”
He chuckled, and the vibrations brought her back to the brink. “It’s my responsibility to have you ready for your first time. And you’ll be grateful when I’ve finished.”
He swirled his tongue over and around her most sensitive place again and again, and she knew her release would be far more powerful than what she had experienced before, strong enough to destroy her. When he finally slid one finger, then two, into her channel, stroking rhythmically as he sucked, she broke and cried out as she pulsed around him, gripping his shoulders and wrapping her legs around his back.
Her hair stuck to her cheeks in damp tendrils, and she was dimly aware of tears falling down her temples.
Ben sat up with a start, his brow furrowed. “Rosie, did I—”
“Promise me you’ll do that again some time. Not now, because I don’t think I can move, but…” She released a low moan and threw her arms out to the side, and Ben chuckled as he moved to pull her close to his side.
“You want there to be another time?” His low voice held trepidation, the caution that Ben held when confronting everything in his world.
She wanted him to hold nothing back with her. “Yes, I do. In fact…” She shifted her hips, rubbing her thigh against his erection. Ben groaned and buried his head in her neck. “I suspect you’d be put out if I were to fall asleep now.”
“I wouldn’t,” he said, although he rocked his hips against her. His flesh was burning, even through the fabric of his trousers, and the aching emptiness returned. “I want you so badly it hurts, but I would never push you—”
“I know.” She held his gaze as she unbuttoned the fastenings in his trousers with trembling fingers. He watched her with wide, awestruck eyes, his muscles tensed in careful restraint.
This man was too wonderful for this world. Ben stood long enough for Rose to pull off his trousers and undergarments, then he hesitated at his bedside table. His cock jutted from the thatch of dark hair between his legs, and she reached out, eager to hold him, to give him the same pleasure he had delivered earlier.
Ben stepped back and turned to his bedside; he opened a small tin and removed one of the rubber condoms. His cheeks reddened as he held it in his palm. “I asked Cass for some… so I suppose she knows about us now.”
A quick laugh escaped Rose’s lips. “I think she has been manipulating us the entire time.”
He shook his head, kneeling on the bed beside her and cupping her cheek. “I didn’t need manipulation.”
Her lips parted. “You didn’t?”
“Something about you seemed inevitable.”
Rose wanted to hold on to those words and examine them, but Ben settled between her legs and guided the tip of his erection to her entrance, sliding through her folds and slicking himself with her arousal.
He met her gaze and held it, his eyes showing only the smallest circle of chocolate brown around wide black pupils. She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned over her, his arms bracketing her head as he slid into her.
Her breath caught as Ben groaned. Glorious sensations bubbled through her like the first sip of champagne, but headier, more potent and intoxicating. She lifted her hips, desperate to have him completely inside her, to hold him as close as possible.
