Page 74 of A Love Like Candle Light

“Give me a moment,” I mumble once he’s fully inside me and dig my fingertips into his biceps. Immediately, he freezes.

“All the time in the world,” he assures me with a rasp in his voice, runs his fingers through my hair and kisses the crease between my eyebrows.

There’s just something about his gentleness, about how carefully he treats me that overwhelms me to the point of tears. Good tears. It’s still the worst timing for them, but I can’t hold them back anymore.

“What? Hey. No tears, we can stop.” He sounds panicked. Which makes me giggle. God, this is absurd. “Come on, babe. Eyes open. Look at me.”

“Sorry,” I mumble. My hands fly to my cheeks, trying to wipe the tears away, but his are already there, thumbs stroking over my skin, so gently it sends even more tears down my cheeks. “No stopping. Stay where you are.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m overwhelmed,” I admit in a whisper. He opens his mouth, without a doubt to assure me again we can stop. “In a good way,” I quickly add before he can. My heart flutters like there’s no tomorrow, and before I can even try to swallow them, the words break free. “I really, really like you, Erik.”

It feels like a weight falls off my chest, the moment I say it.

“I really, really like you too.” His answer is instant, without a millisecond of hesitation. Too quickly? I search his face. His cheeks are flush, hiding his faint freckles and his eyes soften.

“You can start moving,” I mumble, eyes closing because if I look at him any longer, I will cry again.

And he does. Slowly, he starts moving, pulling back and carefully pushing back inside me.

But he also captures my lips in another kiss. This time it tastes salty with my tears, but it doesn’t matter because Erik just said he really, really likes me.

His thumb finds my clit, and a familiar pressure builds in my lower belly as he slowly picks up his rhythm. I dig my fingers into his sheets, pleasure clouding my senses.

“You feel so good, babe,” he mumbles into the kiss. “So perfect for me.”

I want to tell him that so does he. That I’ve never felt like this during sex before. So cherished. So loved. So cared for.

But I can’t form a proper word, much less a sentence. All that comes out of my mouth are sighs and moans, and then the fireworks inside me are about to ignite.

“Erik,” I whisper with a sob and let go of his sheets to let my hands roam over his back. He keeps his steady rhythm, fucking me so carefully until I start trembling.

“Coming,” I whimper, digging my fingertips into his shoulders.

“Show me.” Those two words are all it takes.

I explode and come with his name on my lips, gasping for air as my entire body shakes, contracting around him while fireworks go off behind my eyes.

“That’s it, babe.” He wipes a strand of hair away from my sweaty forehead. “Come on, say it again. Love hearing my name from your lips as you come.”

“Erik,” I moan as another shudder rips through me. Spots could my vision and I forget how breathing works for a moment there.

“Fuck,” he groans and tenses, thrusting into me faster. “Almost there.” I force my eyes open. I want to watch him. I need to see it. Need to watch him come.

“Kylie,” he grunts my name and then his entire body goes rigid, his thrust turn more erratic.

My eyes trail down. I watch a drop of sweat making its way down his chest as he keeps fucking me. It’s mesmerizing and slowly lets me return to reality.

He growls and my eyes dart up, just in time to watch his eyebrows knit, teeth digging into his lower lip and then I feel him come inside the condom. Inside me.

“Fuck.” He throws his head back and I can’t help but watch him, absolutely mesmerized by the way the muscles in his neck strain, by the way his face pulls into a grimace of pleasure, his flush cheeks, the wrinkles between his eyebrows.

I run my fingers through his hair and pull closer. His open lips find mine, our tongues tangling lazily as he slowly rocks inside me and tries to catch his breath. Then he lays his forehead against mine.

He carefully pulls out of me, discards the condom, and catches my lips in another soft, languid kiss, broken quickly by both of our need to, well, breathe. We stare at each other, words evading us as our breathing slowly calms down.

“I’ll be right back,” he mumbles and gets up. Once he stands he stops himself and turns back to me, eyes raking over my naked form appreciatively. I don’t think he notices the lazy smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Don’t move.”