“I don’t know.” Silas took a step closer, his hand lifting to her face and running featherlight over the bruise on her jaw. This close, he towered over her. She craned her head back to meet his steady gaze.
“Why aren’t you telling me to leave?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
His hand moved, cupping the back of her neck.
Their first kiss was light. Just a brushing of mouths. Katherine wasn’t sure who initiated it—they simply followed the pull between them until their lips met in the middle. An inevitable conclusion.
Their second kiss was not light. Their second kiss was his tongue sweeping into her mouth, her nails digging into his hair, his teeth biting her lip.
Their third kiss blended into their fourth, fifth, sixth, until Katherine’s body was a ball of want so tight she thought she might burst.
“Silas.” His name was a plea, his mouth doing something to her neck and collarbone that made Katherine willing to break down and beg. His hands slid under her tank top, then yanked it over her head. She attacked the buttons on his shirt, then ran her hands over the hard panes of his chest. Their tryst in the alleyway had been too frenzied for her to get the full feel of him. Now, she luxuriated in the hardness of his muscles, the way his abs moved beneath her fingers with his ragged breaths as he took her in.
He lifted her and carried her to the small table by her front door. She reached behind her, sweeping her keys onto the floor with a loud clatter as he sat her down.
He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth as his hands slipped into her sweats. She angled her hips up, letting him pull them down. As soon as that barrier was gone, he pushed her knees apart, then stepped in to fill the space. Katherine moaned as he thrust up against her, the evidence of his need clear through his pants.
Silas ran his fingers up her leg, toying with the band of her underwear. “Can I—”
“Yes. Please, god, yes.”
Silas’ eyes lowered, both of their gazes following as he pulled her underwear off and snaked his fingers between her legs. His thumb ghosted over her clit, a barely there brush that made her shiver with anticipation. She angled her hips up, chasing his touch. Chasing the way her anxieties disappeared when his hands were on her.
Except he took his hands away. Katherine actually whimpered—until he knelt down in front of her and put his tongue between her legs.
Katherine had heard quite a lot about Silas’ mouth, but none of it prepared her for this. It took him all of ten seconds to find exactly the pace she liked, to figure out just the right combination of teeth and tongue and touch to have her writhing on the table. Just the technique would have been more than enough, but the whole experience was heightened by the fact that he was so clearly, undeniablyinto it.
He pulled her hips to the edge of the table, groaning as he buried his face between her legs. The sounds he was making—moans, sighs, occasional interjections telling her how good she tasted, quickly cut off when he dove back in like he couldn’t stop—turned Katherine’s core molten.
Silas built her desire brick by brick, a slow, inexorable climb. He took his time to tease her, alternating between slow slides of his tongue and hard drives of his fingers until she was so wound up that she thought she might pass out. And then, just when she thought she couldn’t handle any more, he gave her everything, pushing her off that glittering edge.
She came back to earth to Silas still kneeling in front of her, chest heaving, chin glistening—wet, from her—eyes blazing.
“Bedroom,” she breathed, and he rose to his feet, scooping her up like she weighed nothing. The strong, independent woman part of her demanded she tell him to stop doing that, but she liked it too much to form the words.
“Where—”
“There’s only two options. It’s the one without the toilet.”
Silas grinned. “Stop talking.”
Katherine grinned back. “Make me.”
Silas took her direction, kissing her hard as he walked them into her bedroom. He contrasted the rough press of his mouth by laying her down on the bed with an almost heartbreaking gentleness. He crawled over her, propping himself up on his elbows, and then he devastated her with slow, languid kisses that made her feel like a flower in the sun.
Once again, he didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry. Katherine admired his restraint—she was so turned on she wanted to hump a pillow,and considering that his jeans seemed to be stretched to bursting over the hardness of his cock, he was in the same boat. But when she reached for his belt buckle, he pulled her hand away, lightly pressing her wrist down onto the bed.
“No,” he said. “I don’t want to rush this time. Not with you.”
Katherine wasn’t sure if it was the words or his eyes that did it, but she went liquid. She pulled his mouth back to hers, and she let those drugging kisses sweep her down, down, down, until she couldn’t think of anything else but him.
Finally,finally, he pulled away, his gaze staying glued to hers. It couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds for him to throw his pants to the ground, to pull a condom from his wallet and slip it on. For him to lean forward, press his hand to her cheek, drop his forehead against hers. For him to whisper her name against her mouth before lining his cock up to her entrance.
Couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity in the worst way possible.
And then he thrust into her, and that felt like an eternity in the best way possible.
