Her eyes were closed again, but she'd turned toward me so I could see every inch of her face clearly. Winter had always been gorgeous in my eyes, but at twenty-four, she was even more beautiful than ever. The bathroom light had been left on with the door open enough to illuminate the darkness should she need to make her way there in the middle of the night. I used that tiny bit of light to study every feature of her face. I was close enough to feel her body heat. The warm ivory of her complexion contrasted against the sooty darkness of her eyelashes as they lay atop sculpted cheekbones. The pouty, luscious lips I wanted to kiss so badly that I ached, parted as if she were going to say something more. I could tell she was still in a fitful state as she struggled to find the peace of sleep.
"Shhh, I'm here now. And I'll be here until you go to sleep," I whispered against her cheek before pressing my lips there. I breathed in the scent of oranges laced with the antiseptic smells of a five-hour hospital visit and couldn't pull away.
She nestled in closer, her lips nearly against mine. "Don't leave after I'm asleep. James. Stay…with me," she whispered sleepily.
"I'm always close if you—"
Suddenly my lips were busy.
Kissing her.
To be fair, she kissed me first. And once she put those precious lips to mine, all bets were off. I wouldn't stop this. I was finally doing what I'd wanted to do for the better part of a decade.
It didn't matter that she was still reeling from a traumatic event and dosed with pain meds. I didn't care that she was half asleep from exhaustion. I had no will to resist. None.
She might not even remember this tomorrow.
I'd never forget this for as long as I lived.
Because right fucking now she wanted me in her bed, and she wanted to kiss me. And as stupid as it was for me to indulge in my long-lived fantasy with Winter Blackstone, I wouldn't deny her either. I'd let her take whatever she wanted from me for as long as she wanted to take it.
Fuck. YES.
I felt Winter come alive the second our lips touched. It was like she'd been waiting for it, too. Once we started, there was no reeling it in. Why the hell didn't I do this sooner? It was everything and so much more.
I palmed the back of her neck and kissed down her jaw to nip along her throat. I licked her skin, needing to know what that felt like. She gave me access by tilting her neck, and I understood her gesture for what it was. Submission. Winter was offering herself. All I had to do was take what she offered.
She felt so good.
So I took.
I found my way back to her lips with soft bites and nips trailing up her throat and across her jaw. Sweet. She tasted so sweet. When I pressed against her lips with my tongue, desperate to put any part of me inside her, she opened her mouth with a sexy moan that nearly undid me. With the wet warmth of her tongue tangling with mine, I had the first flash of worry of where this might go. The wild erotic creature in my arms didn't seem like she wanted to stop at kissing. She wanted more…
"James, please…I…I'm—"
"What do you want, beautiful?" I managed to whisper in her ear as I resumed my exploration of her lovely neck, unwilling to break our connection.
"I…I want you to touch…me."
My dick heard her words loud and clear, as did my embattled brain. "Where do I touch you?"
She moaned her answer. "Anywhere…everywhere…"
The princess had given me the keys to her tower with those two words. I would do what she wanted. I'd make her come and watch the whole amazing experience unfold as I did it.
I slipped my hand under the waist of the yoga pants and watched for her reaction. Her eyes were still closed, but she wasn't anywhere close to sleep. Winter needed something to take her mind off everything, so she could relax.
I needed to do this for her right now.
It was on.
She arched into my hand as I slid it down over the flat plain of her stomach, and kept right on going under the elastic of what I knew were lacy pink panties to find the prize. When my fingers met the soft wet heat enfolding her clit, she cried out and gripped my hand with thighs clenched so tightly I could feel them shaking.
"You are so fucking sexy like this," I told her, desperately wishing I could see where my fingers were buried. I felt slippery, hot flesh and couldn't resist going deeper. I dipped in one finger and then another, loving the tight grip of being inside her. "Is this what you wanted?" I asked.
Her answer was to ride my hand like a woman who knew how to get herself off.
But that was all I sensed coming from her. In her current state of mind, I realized Winter wasn't fully awar