One to Love (One to Hold 4)

“I was nineteen,” I said. Then I lifted my hand and ran my finger along the letters showing around the neck of his undershirt. S-L-A-Y-E-R. I didn’t read it aloud. Instead, I asked, “The wings on your back are very dramatic. Are they symbolic?”

His eyes grew stormy and dropped to his lap. “It’s more of my shitty childhood.”

I was quiet a few moments. The last time we’d gone here, he’d pulled away for two days. I wasn’t sure I could take that again. And yet...

Sliding forward on the bed, I put my head against his shoulder, holding him around the waist. “I want to know, but more than anything, I want to be with you.”

His lips pressed against my neck, moving down to my shoulder. My eyes were closed, and I floated my hands under the bottom of his tank, spreading my palms over the lines of his stomach. I could feel the bumps and ridges, and oh, how I wanted to see them, to run my tongue over them.

“Lay back,” he whispered against my hair. I immediately complied, and he hooked his fingers in my thong, quickly removing it and wrapping my legs around his forearms. His mouth was quick to cover me, and energy flooded my core with each pass of his tongue. He was making out between my legs, and the sensation of his soft pulls mixed with the scruff of his beard against my thigh, drove me crazy. I threaded my fingers in his hair, moving my hips in time with his luscious mouth.

“Oh, god, baby,” I hissed, as the pressure started to build. “Oh my god, I need you inside me now.”

His arms quickly unwrapped from my thighs, but his tongue didn’t leave my clit. Each flick sent a shimmery jerk through me, and I was so close to coming, I couldn’t move.

A tear of foil, and in seconds, he was up, sliding that gorgeous body along mine, plunging his thick length deep inside me. It was the most incredible sensation, tingling and full. I’d never get enough.

Rocking me hard until I was crying out his name, he kept moving, building toward his own orgasm. He sat back on his feet, lifting me onto his lap in a straddle, and with every rise of my hips, I flexed around him inside.

“Oh, fuck me,” he hissed, his forehead pressed against my breast. “Fuck me, Kenny.”

I did just that, pressing against the mattress with my legs, rising and dropping until I heard his labored groans and his fingers gripped my ass hard. All at once, I was on my back again, never losing contact as he caught my knee, bringing it up and pushing several more times deeper. The final time he held onto me. I held onto him, eyes closed, gasping through the intense sensation of our bodies becoming one.

We slowly came down, and he released my leg. I straightened it, twining it with his as his arms moved around my body. We held on, savoring the blissful moments of afterglow.

“That just gets better and better.” He breathed in my ear before kissing my skin.

I shivered at the sensation and exhaled a laugh. “You are one sexy man, Slayde Bennett.”

His mouth covered mine again in a long, gentle kiss, his tongue caressing waves of happiness all the way to my toes. One more kiss, and he pulled away briefly, turning to dispose of the condom and then back, pulling me against his chest, spooning.

“You’re one cunning temptress, Kendra Woods.” His palms spread flat against my stomach, and he pulled me closer.

That made me laugh. “Cunning temptress?”

“You had me in your clutches during coffee.”

“So early in the evening? I should’ve taken you to the bathroom and had my way with you.”

“I would have had no problem with that.”

We both laughed, and I threaded my fingers with his. We were quiet, and I thought about what he’d revealed. “I’m really sorry about your mom.”

He was quiet a moment. “It was the event that changed my childhood.”

Cautiously optimistic, I continued, hoping he’d open up to me. “It sounds like it wasn’t a good change.”

He released our embrace and rolled onto his back. I was quick to roll into him, placing my cheek on his chest and listening to his heartbeat.

“That’s when everything went to hell. All the goodness left with her.”

We lay in silence a few moments, our breath swirling in and out. I wasn’t sure if he’d tell me more until he did.

“I was pretty broken by my mom’s death, but my dad took it the worst. He started drinking and pretty much didn’t quit.”

My arm tightened across his waist, and I tried not to let myself envision a dark-haired little boy with light blue eyes, orphaned with a dad who had checked out.

“It got to where I wanted to be invisible. I tried to stay out of his way as much as possible, because as soon as he saw me, he’d remember something I’d done wrong.”