My heart stutters, then picks up, faster and louder than before. “I’m not ready for…just…not yet.”
He nods once. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“But…” I whisper, dragging my fingertips down the hard line of his chest, stopping just above his waistband. “That doesn’t mean I don’twantyou.”
A deep groan rumbles from his chest as he leans into me, his mouth ghosting over my jaw and down my neck. “I’ve got you,” he breathes. “Whatever you want, however you want it, I’ve got you.”
His hand slides under the hem of my dress, skimming my thigh with maddening gentleness. I arch into him, gasping, greedy for all the ways he knows how to touch me. I might not be ready to give him everything, but tonight? I can let him give methis.
He slides his finger over the lace of my panties, his touch light but firm.
“Rowan…”
He groans again, the sound rumbling through his chest and settling between my legs. His lips find my jaw again, and he kisses me there, holding me close as he teases me with his fingers.
“Rowan,” I say again, voice rough with need. “I need…more.”
His response is immediate. A deep, searing kiss that melts into me like honey. His stubble scratches at my lips, but all I care about is feeling him closer, deeper. As if he can read my thoughts, his tongue dives into my mouth, and his body presses even closer to mine until there’s no space between us at all.
His fingers slip beneath the lace, finding me slick and ready. A strangled sound escapes him as he explores me with gentle strokes.
“Jesus, Violet,” he exhales against my lips. “You’re so wet for me.”
I gasp as his fingers circle my clit, my hips lifting instinctively to meet his touch.
“I’ve thought about this,” he confesses. “God, Violet, I’ve thought about touching you like this for so long.”
My hands clutch his shoulders, nails digging into his skinthrough his shirt. He watches my face with an intensity that should make me self-conscious but instead only heightens everything I’m feeling.
“You’re so beautiful,” he praises, his fingers finding a rhythm that has me writhing. “So perfect. I fuck my own hand thinking about you and how you’d sound, how you’d taste, how you’d fall apart for me. I get myself so close, then stop to make it last, just to keep you in my head a little longer. And now…” His free hand slips up, cupping my jaw and forcing me to meet his eyes. “Now all I want is to make you come so hard you forget anyone else ever touched you.”
I shudder at the raw honesty in his voice. My hands drift up to his jaw, feeling the scrape of stubble as I draw him closer, needing him. I want to crawl into his skin, to be closer than is humanly possible, to see if all this hunger can knit together the parts of me that split wide open when he left.
“Please,” I whisper. I am not above begging if it means he’ll keep touching me like this.
He buries his face in my neck, sucking lightly just beside my pulse. The sensation sends another wild shock through me. “I need you louder, Larkin.”
A broken laugh escapes me. “You’re going to get us arrested with the windows open.”
He slides a finger inside of me, and I forget how to breathe. “Let the whole goddamn county hear.”
I rock against him. His palm presses just right, and my head falls back against the couch. I’m trembling now, my thighs tightening as I chase the release that’s just a heartbeat away. I try to hold it, I really do. But I’m wound too tight and starving for more and more until I snap. My orgasm crashes over me so hard I cry out, clapping my hand over my mouth at the last second. My body shakes, legs locked around Rowan’s waist, every muscle seizing and then dissolving into a floating euphoria I’ve never felt before.
He doesn’t stop until I’m limp and half melted into the cushion beneath me. His arm winds around my waist, holding me together, and his lips find my temple before trailing to my mouth.
When I finally come back to myself, I can’t help but laugh. My whole body is tingling.
Rowan’s still pressed up against me, his own breathing ragged now, his forehead resting on mine.
“That was…” I breathe, unable to find the words.
He kisses me softly. “Just the beginning.”
He catches my wrist just as I begin to reach for his rigid length. “You don’t have to.”
I shake my head. “Iwantto.”
He hesitates for just a second before his hand falls away in surrender. I work the button of his jeans and ease down the zipper, savoring his sharp intake of breath and the way his muscles tense under my touch.
