She loved it!
Slipping her hands along those wide shoulders, she clamped her fingers behind his head, desperately burrowing through his thick hair for a good grip. Pulling down, she raised herself and plastered a raw, breathless, open-mouthed kiss on his lips.
For one fragile moment he seemed suspended above her, unmoving. Then he sank onto her again and passion erupted.
Their kiss was fervent, impatient, and his caress between her legs changed. No longer Alaric’s hand but something longer, throbbing with a will of its own as he clamped his hands beneath her buttocks and tilted her hips.
‘I’m sorry. I can’t hold off any longer.’
Tamsin barely processed his words when he shifted and she felt heat nudge the entrance between her legs. Fire flooded her womb at the spiralling whorls of anticipation created by that blunt touch. At last!
His lips closed on hers again, inviting her to join him in pleasure as his tongue pushed greedily into her mouth. At the same time his hold on her bottom tightened and his hips plunged against hers.
One long, slow thrust stretched her body till she was taut, impaled and impossibly full. Gone was the heady passion, replaced in that instant by the first flutterings of panic. Every muscle stiffened and her eyes snapped open.
Startled ink blue irises stared back. Alaric lifted his mouth from hers and sucked in a shaky breath as he pulled away.
Surprisingly, the sensation of his withdrawal instantly distressed her and she clamped her knees against his hips. She didn’t want him gone! She just didn’t want the scary feeling that he was too big for her. That despite their desire, this wasn’t going to work.
‘Alaric?’ Tamsin didn’t care that the word wobbled or that he could hear the entreaty in her voice. Pride had no place here. ‘Please.’ She didn’t know what she expected him to do. She only knew she couldn’t bear it to end like this.
A gusty sigh riffled her hair and his head dropped between his bunched shoulders. Tendons stood out on his neck and arms and inside she felt a pulse where the tip of his erection moved.
Response shivered through her at that tiny, impossibly erotic movement. Involuntarily she twitched, circling her hips and his breath stopped.
In answer he withdrew a fraction then slowly pushed forward. This time it didn’t feel quite so scary. Or maybe that was his warm breath blowing on her nipple, teasing the aroused bud and distracting her from the slide of his body away then back again.
The next time he eased forward her hips lifted to meet him and he sank a fraction further. But before she had time to register the sensations he was gone again, pulling away and leaving her frustratingly empty.
The fourth time he began to move she anticipated him, arching upwards simultaneously, then gasping as a fiery spark of pleasure flared at the point of friction. Her breath hitched and instantly he stilled, his breathing harsh and uneven.
Tamsin waited but he didn’t move. What now? Had he decided this wasn’t going to work? Her hands fisted at his shoulders and she bit her lip against the protest that hovered on her tongue.
Then she saw the pulse at the base of Alaric’s neck, thudding out of control. He was waiting for her. Trying to accommodate her fear, her discomfort. The rigidity of his body, the way his broad chest heaved like overworked bellows told their own story of the toll this took.
Suddenly this wasn’t just about her. Tamsin felt ashamed by her self-absorption.
Tentatively she slipped her hands down his body, feeling muscles flinch at her light caress. Daringly she reached out and smoothed her palms over his hips, down to his taut, rounded buttocks that felt so good under her increasingly needy touch. She wanted to explore him all over, she realised with a shock.
A spasm shook him as she tightened her hold and pulled him towards her. For an instant he resisted then allowed himself to be tugged closer, inside. Even further than before. This time instead of panic, Tamsin felt a niggle of a strange new sensation. A gnawing need for more. When he withdrew she followed. When she urged him close he slid even deeper and a shaky sigh of pleasure escaped her lips.
Gradually, a fraction at a time, their movements became rhythmic and fluid. Tamsin hated each withdrawal and welcomed each thrust, even when it seemed he plunged impossibly deep. Yet even that felt right. More than right. Fantastic.
Now she revelled in the way he drove so far within her.
Alaric’s head lifted and his gaze locked with hers. It felt absurdly as if he touched a part of her no medical scan would ever identify. As if he caressed her very soul with his eyes, his body, his tenderness.
Tamsin’s breath sucked out at the heat glazing Alaric’s eyes and the reflection there of her own overwhelming need.
Lightning flickered as electricity jolted through her body. His tempo increased, her body tightened, achingly close to some unseen goal. A shudder raked him, raked her, and their rhythm rocked out of control into a fierce pounding beat that brought the world tumbling around them.