He put one arm around her waist, and with the other he did what he’d been longing to do since...it felt like forever. It felt like a need that had been building in him long before he’d ever recognized it.
He cupped her breast, so soft, so incredibly sexy, sliding his thumb over her nipple. She arched into him, her soft flesh filling his palm. So perfect. So incredibly perfect. A fit he could only find with Leah.
Things were burning hot and fast, her hands creeping beneath the hem of his shirt, fingertips skimming over the muscles on his back, his stomach, his chest. This wasn’t the sweet and easy first time he’d imagined.
And it felt like the first time for him, too. The first time he might have had.
But he couldn’t stop to ask for something else. Not when this was what he really wanted. This moment of freedom. This moment of satisfied need in what amounted to a lifetime of self-denial.
She pulled away from him and stood back, her lips swollen, her eyes sultry, tempting. Then she reached behind herself and tugged the zipper on her dress.
“Stop,” he said, his throat tight. “Let me.”
She turned slowly, sweeping her hair to the side, exposing her back. He put his arm around her, his hand resting on her stomach. Then he lowered his head and kissed the back of her neck, resting his forehead there for a moment. He felt a shiver go through her body and she arched back, her bottom coming up against the hard ridge of his erection. He pulled her into his body even tighter, thrusting against her.
A raw sound escaped her lips. Passion. Need. Not fear. Everything he needed to keep going.
Although, he was so far gone now, he feared he was past the point of needing encouragement. He was lost in his desire, lost in the sensations coursing through his body, a body he never let make decisions. A body he denied pleasure on a daily basis.
He lifted his hand and gripped the tab on the zipper, drawing it down slowly, the fabric parting. He slid his hand down over the wedge of pale exposed skin, skimming his knuckles over her silken flesh. Then he lowered his head and kissed her, just between her shoulder blades.
“Oh, yes, Ajax.”
“See? I think we’ll muddle through.”
She nodded, and he laughed. And in that moment, time seemed to freeze. He looked in her eyes, and saw a flash of the past. Not of the past at his father’s house. The past in the offices at Holt. Leah looking at him, smiling, putting a piece of chocolate on his desk.
One he would eat later, though something in him felt it was wrong to do it. That it was wrong to encourage the growing connection between them. A connection that seemed to start at his chest, tendrils weaving through to the rest of him, slowly, unbidden.
Then, he’d turned away from it. He’d had to. But now...now he wouldn’t look away.
He pushed the dress from her shoulders, letting it fall off her body, pooling at her feet. He could only stare. At her curves, highlighted by the black lace bra and panties.
Her small waist, the dramatic flare of her hips, the shape of her buttocks. He couldn’t stop himself from putting his hand on her hip, from inching it around so that he could palm her ass. So perfect.
There was a beauty that radiated from her, so rare, so incredible, that he felt humbled by it. Shamed by it. He was not worthy to put his hands on her, and yet he couldn’t resist the chance to.
“I want to touch you,” he said, his voice so unlike his own. There was no control. There was no civility. There was barely any trace of the man left. It was more of a growl. More like a beast.
“Where?” she asked, her voice soft.
“Everywhere. And then I want to taste you. Everywhere.”
“I like that promise.”
“It’s one I can keep.”
He unhooked her bra and she tugged it down from her shoulders, tossing it aside. He wrapped his arm around her again, cupping her bare breasts, her skin so soft, nipple tight against his palm. His first time touching a woman this way. Need, shocking, hot, and like nothing he’d ever felt before, burst through him.
“I need to see you,” he said, kissing the top of her shoulder. “I have waited for so long.”
She turned to face him, eyes glistening. “So have I. Ajax...you don’t know how long.”
There was no shyness, no timidity in her gaze. And he looked his fill. He had never seen anything more beautiful than the sight of Leah, standing there, her breasts bared, raspberry nipples dark against her pale skin. He let his eyes travel farther down, to the little scrap of fabric that covered her most intimate place from his gaze.