Page 75 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

‘Leave your glasses on. They’re sexy.’ I nipped at the corner of his lip and followed it with a soothing, slow kiss.

He steered me backwards until my back hit the wall near the door. His kisses were no longer restrained as his mouth moved down my neck. The edges of his fingers skimmed the side of my tank top before he had it up my sides and over my head. Not waiting a beat, the ties were quickly loose on my bikini top. As soon as the small bit of fabric was in a pool at my feet, his tongue was on me, swirling away the ache in my breasts.

‘Is it ridiculous to say that even though I’ve had lots of thoughts about this moment, it’s a thousand times better in person?’ he whispered against my skin.

‘No,’ I stuttered as he worked his mouth over my other nipple and I arched back wanting more. His hand steadied me from behind as he trailed more kisses down my side, over my torso, stopping at the waistband of my cutoff shorts.

‘Can I?’ The reverence in his voice had me quickly nodding.

He fell to his knees and tugged down my shorts, my bikini bottoms quickly following.

Without knowing it, I started to rub at my wrist. Ford’s stare moved to my nervous motion.

‘Bird, look at me.’

I gazed down into his beautiful blue eyes.

‘You need to tell me if you’re okay. That you want this. That you want me.’

This was my chance to stop.

To turn back.

The voices that often told me I wasn’t good enough, that the only way I could have a normal life was to be numb through drugs or alcohol, were silenced by the tenderness in his gaze. No man had ever looked at me that way. Like he wanted to take care of me. Wanted to know what was truly in my heart. That whatever I said in the next few moments would be all right with him. There was no pressure or expectation, only the hope of what might be.

I twisted his dark curls between my fingers. ‘Yes,’ I said with determination. ‘I want you to be mine.’

The smile that crossed his face was equal parts joy and hunger and it made me dig my fingers deeper into his hair.

Ever so slowly he ran his hands down my thighs. It was a slow kind of torture that made my core throb. He bent down and kissed my ankles. Ran his tongue up my calves until he returned to my thighs.

There was a reverence to his touch that made a sob crowd my throat. Every sexual experience I’d had was about male want and need. It was a frenzied toss of clothes, two seconds of foreplay, until the guy greedily shoved his way inside me.

Ford touched me like I was precious. A gift he slowly wanted to unwrap. Every look, every sigh, said he wanted to take his time. That my pleasure was as important as his. This wasn’t a quick screw for him. It was a slow and treading exploration of my body. A whisper of tenderness, a promise of intimacy, he never wanted me to forget.

His mouth was on me again, and I leaned back and let him bring me to the edge of bliss without a single thought except that I wanted more.