She blinks. “What about it?”
“Off.” I reach for the zipper. “It needs to come off now.”
Urgent need churns through me as I unzip the dress, push it from her shoulders and watch it pool into a heap of red and yellow at her feet. She stands there in tiny black panties and nothing else. A phoenix rising from the flames and ashes. So strong. So beautiful. So giving.
You don’t deserve her.
The thought whispers through me. But selfish bastard that I am, I ignore it.
“I need you.” I grab her hips, yank her against me. “Now.”
I slide my hands under her thighs, lift her up. She wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck as I carry her from the living room to my room. I need her, need to feel her wet heat, need to claim her in my bed.
I lay her down gently before ripping off my own tuxedo. I climb onto the bed, trailing kisses from her ankle up her leg to her thigh, stopping to drop a soft kiss on her core before I continue upward. I kiss each of her breasts, and then I’m nestled between her thighs, her heat nearly burning my cock.
“Seraphina.”
She reaches between us, wraps her fingers around me and guides me inside. I nearly come right then as her body tightens around me. She moves with me, matching me stroke for stroke as pleasure burns in her eyes. Her fingers roam up and down my back, leaving trails of fire burning across my skin.
Her breathing quickens. The thrust of her hips becomes more erratic as her fingernails dig into my shoulders.
“Yes.” I lean down and kiss her. “Come for me, Seraphina,” I murmur against her mouth. “Give me everything.”
She comes apart in my arms. I drink in her cries, glorify in her body shuddering beneath mine. Pressure builds at the base of my spine as my own pleasure intensifies. I groan as I come, pouring myself into her. As I drift down from my climax, I ease myself onto the bed next to her.
I don’t know how long we lay there, bodies slicked with sweat. I finally open my eyes. And stare. She’s lying on her stomach, her eyes close and her hair a golden tumble around her face. She has a faint smile on her face, like she knows a happy secret she’s not quite ready to share.
Slowly, she opens her eyes. Eyes I’ve met countless times over the last three years. Yet I feel like I’ve just started seeing her, truly seeing her, these last few days.
“I’m going to start a bath.” I reach over and tuck a golden strand behind her ear. I can’t get enough of touching her hair. “Would you like to join me?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I smile and move into the bathroom. I start the water and add a rose-scented bubble mix before dimming the lights. When I go back into the bedroom, Seraphina is almost half-asleep. I gently lift her into my arms again. But this time it’s tenderness that fills my chest as she curls into me and sighs happily.
I step into the tub, ease us both in. Once the water’s turned off we lie there, her body cushioned between my thighs, her back to my chest.
“This is nice,” she murmurs.
It is. I’m flirting dangerously close to the edge of that cliff. But I can’t seem to stay away.
We lounge in the tub for almost half an hour, dozing off and on until the water cools. I carry her back to my bed and lay her down. She wakes up enough to glance around and frown.
“This is your room.”
I pull back the sheets on the other side and slide under the covers. “It is.”
“But…” Her voice trails off. “You like to sleep alone.”
“I do. But I’d like to sleep with you tonight if you’re okay with it.”
Her sleepy smile hits like a punch to the chest. “I’d like that very much.”
I slide my arm around her waist and pull her close. Her naked body curves into mine, fitting as if she were meant to be there. As my eyes drift shut, I have the fleeting thought that I could get used to falling asleep to the sight of her face next to mine.
I wake to a stray sunbeam lighting up the room. Seraphina is still in my arms, her face peaceful. I watch her for a moment, smiling as she lets out a quiet snore.
I’ve never spent the night with a woman, never woken up next to her. I didn’t want to invite too much intimacy.
