‘For you, James. Only for you,’ she whispered. For him she was utterly bare. She spread her legs wider, pushing her hips away from the wall, eager for him to enter. He got his hand between them, ran his fingers in her cleft, hot and wet. As their mouths met and meshed she heard his zip and convulsed with the anticipation. She arched to meet him, watching his expression through half-lowered lids as the most intimate parts of their bodies pressed together. His teeth came down hard on his lip.
She stilled. There was something different. He stopped. His fingers squeezed hard on her thighs as he groaned. His eyes bored into hers, filled with agony. ‘It’s just me, Liss. I haven’t got anything with me.’
No protection. No thin cover stopping her from totally getting to know him. She could feel both the softness of his skin and the hardness of the muscle beneath. He was hers to take deep inside—to embrace wholly.
‘Take a chance?’ There was a note in his voice that she’d never heard before. The thin strain of vulnerability. The tiny chink revealing his weakness—that she was his weakness. Her heart swelled.
Accepting him was a risk she couldn’t not take.
‘Oh, yes.’
They both pushed again and met together. She trembled with the sensation, heard his rough choke. Her breath hissed out, choppy, painful. He felt so fantastic. So raw.
She curled one leg around him, rising high on her toes to get the angle—so he could drive in as close and as tight as possible. His hands slid up her legs, holding and teasing and pushing the dress away. She couldn’t look away from the emotion written so clearly on his face.
‘Liss.’ His eyes were golden brown pools—liquid and loving and so full of need it tore her apart and she could hide nothing from him.
It was the most erotic, most naked moment of her life.
He could hardly seem to speak, his words coming jerky, through clenched teeth. ‘I’m trying really, really hard not to ruin your dress.’
‘I don’t care about the dress, just don’t stop.’ She took the material, lifted it higher.
‘I don’t know how gentle I can keep this.’ The muscles in his jaw bunched.
‘Just love me,’ she begged.
His fingers clenched on her soft skin. Colour stained his cheekbones. A look of ecstatic agony crossed his face. Then he changed his grip, cupping her bottom, taking her weight and lifting her closer to him. He stared into her eyes, and his words came, quiet but clear. ‘I do.’
With every strong stroke, he made her believe him. His eyes wouldn’t leave hers, he just pushed closer and closer and closer and wouldn’t let her look away, wouldn’t let her hide from the truth that was so apparent in his uncontrollable reaction to her. And she sobbed as with every stroke he repeated the words—chanting them over and over. The intensity overwhelmed her, the taste of tears and love washing away the wounds of loneliness and the fear of loss.
She cried out from the force as wave after wave of unbearable pleasure hit. He held her, still surging forward, still strong as she collapsed about him. And then he thrust hard and deep, once, twice more, releasing everything into her. As his love poured in she closed her eyes and longed for it to take root and grow deep within.
His body pressed hers hard against the wall, swathes of material bunched between them. His forehead rested on her shoulder and she could feel his hot shuddering breaths on her chest. She stroked her hand through his hair, smoothing it, while the aftershocks still rippled through her own body.
‘I don’t want another day like today, Liss. I couldn’t stand it.’ The pain still echoed in his voice.
Liss placed her hands either side of his jaw, pushed gently so he lifted his head. She looked deep into his eyes. ‘You have to trust me. Do you hear me? Because if you can’t, then we won’t work.’
Now she saw his vulnerability. That his mockery had been self-defence. He didn’t need it—not with her.
‘I want to but—’
‘Don’t you know what you’ve done for me?’ She understood what he needed—the same as what she needed—reassurance and love. ‘Don’t you understand what you’ve done in my life?’
He blinked.
‘You believed in me. You gave me chance after chance, you made me want to succeed at something. And I did. And it’s all because of you.’ She could never give him half as much as he’d given her. ‘I may make mistakes, James, but I can promise you I’ll never betray you.’ He needed to understand that she’d sooner rip out her own heart than hurt his. ‘I don’t want to go to all those parties any more. Not unless you’re there with me. I want normal things from life. I want a home, a family. I want you.’ She stared into his eyes, willing him to believe her. ‘I love you.’