Page 54 of Riding High

One long, thick finger slid into her, and she gasped at the intense intrusion but lifted her hips in a silent request for more.She whimpered when his hand retreated, and sighed when one finger became two and he licked her clit with perfect pressure and precision.

‘I’m so close, Jed, you’ve got to give me this…’ she panted, feeling like she was standing on the beach, arms stretched out wide, waiting for the tsunami to sweep her away.

In a blur of movement, too fast for her to comprehend, Jed was on his feet, his jeans around his knees, and he was ripping open a condom.He grabbed her hand and roughly ordered her to put it on.Eden swore… How could he expect her to do complex tasks when her entire brain was a gooey mess?Somehow she managed, and as soon as the latex hit the bottom of his shaft, he cupped her elbows and lifted her off her toes.

‘Look at me, Eden.’

It was both a demand and a plea, and Eden lifted heavy eyes to meet his.His cock was at her entrance so why was he hesitating?‘Jed…’

‘Do you want this?’his voice rougher and deeper than normal.‘Do you wantme?’

She was panting, on fire, about to scream from undiluted frustration.How could he ask such an inane question when she needed him more than she needed the world to remain spinning on its axis?

‘Eden?Ineedan answer.’

Then it dawned on her that he was checking that being with him was what she wanted, that he needed her reassurance that he wasn’t the only one drowning in need.Lifting her hands, she held his face, her thumbs stroking his cheekbones, sliding through the soft stubble on his cheeks and jaw.‘I’m naked against the stone wall of a stately house, Jed,’ she murmured, dropping a kiss on his lips, ‘begging you to do me.Yes, I want you.’

He stiffened and horror flew over his face.Oh, God, what now?‘Shit, what am I thinking taking you here, like this?’

Oh, damn, she hadn’t meant for him to start thinking, to start second-guessing where they were and what they were doing.She wiggled so that he just penetrated her, smiled when he sighed and closed his eyes.‘I don’t do this.I rarely have sex,’ she told him, her voice a little dreamy.‘And I never have it in such a wild, exposed place.’

‘Yeah, I got carried away.’

Yet again, he was taking responsibility for something that wasn’t his fault.Or not wholly his fault.‘That’s not what I meant.I like it.’A little deeper, and she felt him harden.Damn, that felt so incredibly good.

‘And if you do not take me now, up against this wall, I will stab a fork in your eye,’ she told him, not joking.

The corner of his mouth pulled up in that, rare sexy smile.‘Are you seriously telling me that you, at five foot nothing, are tall enough to stab me?And where would you get a fork?’

Why was he still talking?Why wasn’t hedoing?She lifted her hips, shimmied, just enough to create some friction, and was rewarded with a little gasp, the smallest expulsion of air against her lips.His little loss of control was a balm.And a victory.‘Are you telling me you could walk away?’

His answer was to drive into her in a hot, wild slide that suspended her heartbeat and heated the air in her lungs.She stared into his bright, wild eyes, wanting to hold on to this moment, this first time– there was onlyonefirst time– but she also wanted more.She needed everything he could give her: his soft, infrequent smiles, a sense of safety, his intense loyalty, his heat and power and strength…

He scared her, but she needed him.In ways she’d never thought she could need a man.

He moved in her, strong and sure, lifting and filling her, making her feel more like herself than ever before.Then Eden stopped thinking and started feeling, and her world morphed into a vivid, technicolour light show.She felt his lips on her neck and inhaled the smell of his shampoo on his soft, messy hair.His fingertips pushed into the soft skin on the underside of her thighs.She’d probably have bruises in the morning, but they were marks of his possession, and she was, as archaic and anti-feminist as that sounded, okay with that.

She thought their passion would burn fast and fade quickly, but his rhythm was strong and sure and… prolonged.Eden sobbed, tightly coiled as she hit one level of intensity, thought that was it, and then realised she could go higher.He took her there, teased more, and hauled her up a notch.Tears rolled down her face, need and want coalescing in a tight explosive ball, utterly convinced she couldn’t take anymore.And she was right, when she morphed into light and sound and swore that she heard the sound of angels singing, emotion and tension exploding from a place deep inside her as she became a million fragments of fairy and stardust.From a place in another galaxy, sometime in the future, from a place in the past, she felt his final surge, her back pinned against the wall.His shudder jumped from him to her and his lips latched onto her collarbone.He pulsed into her, and then Eden welcomed his slumped weight.

Because, really, what did breathing matter?

Eden wasn’t sure how long it took for him to lift his body off hers, to pull back and out.He gently lowered her feet to the ground, lifted her hand and placed it on the wall next to her, making sure she was steady on her feet.Without embarrassment, he removed the condom, tied it off and hauled up his jeans.He did up his belt, slid the condom into the back pocket of his jeans and bent down to pick up her dress.After straightening her panties, he gently lowered her dress over her head and carefully folded her bra before pushing it into her hand.

‘You okay?’he asked, stroking a strand of hair off her forehead.

She was still incapable of speech and nodded.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her into him and rested his lips against her temple.When he spoke, his voice held both a command and a plea.‘No more dates with Henry, okay?’

She rested her forehead on his chest, coming back to reality with a hard thump.‘I don’t know what we are doing, Jed,’ she quietly murmured.

‘Me neither, Eden,’ he nodded, his hand sliding into her hair to hold her head to his chest.‘It’s just sex.That’s all this can be.’

Of course it was.There wasn’t a possibility of more.Not when she was the catalyst to, at best, ruining his godmother’s reputation, at worst, being the reason they landed in jail.At some point, not too long in the future, he’d hate her.But for now, she’d take what she could get.

For the first time, she was prepared to wing it.‘Just sex, Jed,’ she said, sliding her hands around his waist to explore his hot skin and the muscles of his back.

She’d enjoy the experience and bank the memories.