“No,” she argued. “It’s time and dedication. It’s focus. Commitment and hard work. But it’s not just your body, Ian. It’s your heart, your goodness, every part of you. That’s what’s beautiful.”
From someone like Joan—who valued determination and devotion—that was quite the compliment.
I unfolded my arms and brought my hands to her thighs, ghosting up and down, scared to press too hard, to squeeze too tight. All I wanted to do was hold on, but I worried it would be too much.
Her hands found purchase on my chest, and she circled her hips. She ground down on my erection, making my hands shake from the effort to keep myself in check. She was slick, and the tip of my dick was dangerously close to sliding home.
As if she knew exactly what she was doing to me, Joan smiled and leaned down to capture my lips. The kiss was hot and intent, zero to sixty in an instant, her tongue slipping easily into my mouth. Her hips worked up and down my length in these little pulses of torture, steady and demanding.
I groaned into the kiss, my hands reaching around to cup her ass. I squeezed, urging her body against mine. She could come like this, I knew. She had before. No matter how desperately I wanted to be inside her, I didn’t want to rush. I needed her to feel good, here in my bed.
But Joan broke our kiss and pushed herself up, gasping and impatient. She produced a condom from somewhere and rolled it on before I could protest, my hands fisting the sheets as she squeezed my length, pumping once, twice, a third time before guiding my cock to her entrance.
She sank down slowly, her eyes closing on a sigh.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted this moment to last forever.
But Joan started to shift, a slow and steady rise and fall that made me ache to move—to thrust from underneath, to chase the pleasure gathering at the base of my spine. It was a slow simmer, this fire between us, and I had to fight the urge to pour fuel on it, to set us both ablaze.
I let her lead. Let her set the pace.
So much of our relationship had been me stoking the flames, demanding more. But in this, I could follow, give up control, and trust that Joan knew exactly what she wanted and that it included me.
Shifting one hand, I brought my thumb around to her clit. I matched her rhythm, applying pressure and circling as she moved. When her speed increased, so did mine.
In the end, it became a race. Joan’s focused gaze, her panting breaths, and my dedicated touch, determined to keep pace and give her whatever she needed.
She came with a broken cry, her hips jerking, burying me deep as her pussy clenched over and over.
When I thought she might slump forward, rest a minute on my chest, she took me by surprise and urged us to roll sideways on my giant bed.
Joan’s back hit the mattress, and I settled between her spread thighs, still inside her. She grabbed the globes of my ass and pulled me in tight, grinding against me, and making us both moan.
When I still hesitated, Joan’s eyes searched my face.
“You don’t need to be gentle with me,” she said softly. “I thought you knew that.”
Propped on my elbows, I used one hand to brush the damp hair away from her face. The woman who didn’t need me to be gentle leaned into my touch and closed her eyes.
I smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek, her chin, the corner of her mouth. Maybe Joan truly didn’t believe she needed softness. She’d spent her lifetaking care of other people, being the one who sacrificed, who made concessions, who worked hard so her loved ones didn’t have to.
But maybe, with me, she could let her guard down, accept the way I wanted to wrap her up in my heart and protect her from the world. Would she let me love her like that? Like a partner, a friend, someone with the best of intentions?
My lips moved down to her jaw, lingering beneath her ear when she drew in a shaky breath.
“Maybe.” I breathed the words into her sensitive skin. “I just want to give you what you need.”
She didn’t say anything, but I felt her swallow against my mouth.
So I started to move, a steady, thorough roll of my hips that pushed her body into the plush mattress and nudged her clit over and over.
The hands on my ass loosened their impatient hold and smoothed up my back to hook around the tops of my shoulders.
She felt so good like this, close enough to sense her heartbeat, to smell my soap on her skin.
I continued moving, thrusting in shallow strokes until Joan became impatient, worked up all over again. I could detect the urgency in her touch, the quickness of her breaths, the way she met every roll of my hips with the push and pull of her own.
When her heels dug into the backs of my thighs, I grinned and placed a hot kiss on her lips. Then I lifted onto my hands and started to move.
