And then I was naked and stretched out on my back.
She frowned as she looked down at me, her expression serious, almost clinical, as she brushed her fingers across the dark, purplish bruise on my ribs.
“I didn’t realize you’d hit the railing so hard,” she whispered. “How—?”
I grabbed her fingers and pulled them to my lips. She resisted, but I tugged until both her fingers and her gaze came to my face. “It’s nothing, Ellie. And I’d do it again.”
Her eyes misted. “I know you would. And I ought to be scared for you, but I just think you’re amazing.”
Heat speared through me. I was no stranger to praise from friends, the media, and even the random stranger on the street. But this felt real. As if I’d finally become the hero everyone said I was. Because she thought it.
“I have feet of clay,” I warned her.
She snorted. “Don’t we all?” Then her gaze dropped back down to the ugly bruise. “And a body that will break.”
“Not today,” I said as I tugged her face back up to mine. “Today I’m—” My breath was suddenly cut off as I felt her hand, warm and electric, stroke up my shaft. My hips surged off the bed, and she tightened her caress into a fist. Delicious heat exploded through me, bolting through my balls and up my spine.
She grinned at my reaction, then tortured me by softening her stroke. No longer a fist, but a gentle brush as she outlined the shape of the stalk, the ridge beneath the head. Then she touched the moisture at the tip. It was maddening, this too-gentle caress. I wanted pressure. I wanted tight friction. But I also wanted to see her face as she watched mine. Hers was lit with delight while my breath hitched and my hips thrust.
“What do you want?” she asked.
I answered without thought. “To say yes to you. Whatever. However. Yes, Ellie.Yes.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Whatever pain happened would be well worth it. But I’d already said what I needed to. Still, I mouthed it without sound just for emphasis. “Yes.”
She sat there looking at me, obviously considering her options. Then abruptly, her hand fisted hard, and I jerked in response. It was shocking. And wonderful. So wonderful that when she abruptly let me go, I moaned in despair.
Then while I watched, she stood up from the bed and unbuttoned her jeans. She slipped them down to reveal simple white cotton panties. Boring. Chaste. And yet on her, it made me think of every debauched fantasy I’d ever had about a good girl.
“Straddle me,” I said, the words blurting out of my mouth.
Her gaze grew coy. “I was about to look for condoms—”
“No. My face.”
She blinked. “Really?”
I practically rolled my eyes. “Of course, really. I was pretty good last night, wasn’t I?”
Her cheeks pinkened, then she leaned forward slowly, using her breath and her breasts to stroke my chest. My hands went up immediately, touching her body wherever I could, but she pushed me away. Then she pressed her mouth to mine, not to kiss, but to breathe her words into me.
“Impress me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie
I like sex as much as the next red-blooded woman, but I’d always had a keen sense of my priorities. Sex was fun, but my future depended on my education and then afterward, my job. My high school boyfriend wasn’t experienced, so we were both searching around in the dark and we never went all the way. My first college boyfriend was a jerk. My mistake. The second tried hard, but it never quite worked out. And the third was just bad at it.
So all in all, my expectations were low, but I was willing to give it a shot. Jake turned me on like no one else had in a very long time. So I suppose I was primed and ready. How bad could he be?
It started out fun. I leaned over and teased him. Lips. Tongue. Even teeth. I nipped at his mouth and playfully nibbled his neck. When his penis jerked in hunger, I was filled with a sense of my own power.
And then at his urging, I continued to move on top of him. He teased my chin and then my neck with his tongue, then quickly found my breasts with his teeth.
That was one thing he did very well. He used his mouth in a way that I’d already found erotic as hell. Sucking, swirling, biting. He was dizzyingly good at it. And I was already breathless as my body grew wet and pliable above him.
