She tucked her head against his neck, making his throat thicken. She was so beautiful, and he wanted her so much. Right now. All the time. He didn’t really have much hope of holding out against her. But what did that say about him, if he sucked this much at doing the right thing?
The night lapped at the edges of their pool of light, humid and thick with the sound of crickets chirping. There were no other sounds. No other activities to manage just now. “You haven’t slept or stopped working in two days,” she murmured, kissing his throat. He shifted beneath her, pushing his erection into her hip. Unable to help himself. “Jamie is at Carly’s now, and he’s not coming back out. She won’t see him yet, but Nana’s going to let him sleep on the couch.”
Ellen trailed kisses along his jawline, then brushed her lips over his mouth with a soft sigh that completely wrecked him. “Your people know what to do. I watched you whipping them into shape all day. It’s time for you to relax. I can help with that.”
His hands gripped the arms of the chair. Ellen picked them up, one at a time, and placed them directly on her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her nipples hardened beneath his palms. A hoarse groan escaped from his chest.
He didn’t stand a chance of resisting her. Never had. Probably never would.
The light clicked off. Black again.
Ellen arched her back, pressing the weight of her breasts into his hands. “I want you, Caleb. Just you. Take me to bed.”
He gave in and kissed her. Another wrong call, but that knowledge didn’t stop him. It was just one more fact among the others—the wrongness of his decision and the rightness of her soft, silky skin when he moved his hands under her shirt. She braced her hands on his shoulders and turned, spreading her legs wide to straddle him. Her shorts were flimsy cotton things, no barrier at all to his fingers when they dropped to her knees and followed the irresistible trail along the inside of both spread thighs and past the loose hem, directly to the hot, wet center of her.
Where he found out she wasn’t wearing panties, either.
When he stroked her with his thumbs, she moaned, and he took a deep breath, fighting the urge to unzip and slide into her right here, right now, with only the darkness to hide them. He shouldn’t be kissing her, shouldn’t be touching her, but he couldn’t stop, and he couldn’t even regret it. She soothed all his jagged edges. The sweet, dark taste of her, like wine and chocolate. The way she moved against him and the way she whimpered when he stroked her core. He needed Ellen like he’d never needed anyone. She made him weak.
He kissed her again, hot and deep and long. Stood up, spotlit with Ellen in his arms, and carried her inside.
In her room, he laid her on the bed and turned on the lamp. She raised her arms above her head, stretching languorously, and said, “This is more like it.”
He kneeled above her, watching. Thinking about what he was going to take off her first, and whether to use his hands or his teeth.
“This is the part where you ravish me, right? Because I’ve been thinking about this part for hours.”
“No.”
“No?”
He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, eyes on her face as the fabric dropped away. Her appreciation fired him up. Knowing she wanted him, knowing how easily he could make her wet, was an incredible turn-on. But it was nothing compared to what it did to him to make her whimper and moan and beg. To feel her coming apart and know he was the one doing it to her. It captivated him, the way she responded. She was the most passionate woman he’d ever met.
“This is the part where I make love to you. Very slowly, and very thoroughly.”
She bit her lip. “That sounds … intense.”
He brought his lips to her throat. “With my hands …” He brushed the hair off her forehead. “And my mouth …” Kissed her pulse point. “And my tongue …” Ran his tongue around the rim of her ear. “And my teeth.” Drew her earlobe into his mouth and bit gently.
Ellen let out a soft sigh and rocked her hips up off the bed. “I hope that’s not all. You’ve got another part I’d like to visit with.”
“Mmm,” he said. “That one, too. But not for a while yet.”
He took his time removing her clothes, wanting to go slow and appreciate everything she already had on display, then everything he revealed as he peeled off her soft T-shirt and shorts. Ellen had no patience. Her fingers tugged at his hair, nails scraping over his shoulders, trying to pull him up between her legs and inside her.
He refused to be rushed.
He’d get there. Eventually. First he wanted to find out how sensitive the backs of her knees were.
Very.
Whether she liked it when he scraped his stubbled jaw along the insides of her thighs.
Affirmative.
Whether he could make her come with just his mouth on her breasts and her hips rocking up into his thigh.
That took a while, but it was another affirmative, and the sounds she made as she went over the edge nearly carried him along for the ride.