Her back arched up off the couch, her hips both drawn to and shying from the powerful feelings his touch roused inside her. It was amazing just how quickly he could bring her to the edge. He’d learned her body’s responses after only a few encounters.
Gretchen clenched her eyes shut, hovering on the verge of release, when she felt cold air rush across her skin. Her eyes opened and she found that Julian had pulled back and was watching her as he lay against the far arm of the couch.
He slipped out of his briefs and beckoned her to join him. “Come here,” Julian said.
Gretchen shook out of the robe, nervously took his hand and covered his body with her own. “What are we doing?”
“I’m not doing anything,” he said with a sly smile. “I’m going to lie here and watch you while you take the lead.”
Her jaw dropped in surprise. They’d moved on to an advanced class without warning. The idea of sitting astride Julian during sex while he watched her was incredibly unnerving. And arousing. She knew instantly that she wanted to do this. She could do this. She wouldn’t let nerves get the best of her.
Julian reached for his toiletry case sitting on the coffee table and pulled out a condom. “Care to do the honors?”
She took it from him, determination setting in her jaw. Opening the package, she put it in place and slowly rolled it down the hard length of him. Julian let out a hiss as her hands worked up and down. His jaw was tight, his body tense. It was then that Gretchen realized she liked being in charge. This might be nerve-racking, but it was also going to be fun.
She rose up onto her knees, and Julian helped guide her movements as she lowered herself onto him. She moved slowly, painfully slow, as her body stretched to accommodate him. Then, at last, she found herself fully seated. Her core was already throbbing and prickling with the sensation of his previous touches. She couldn’t imagine she would last long like this.
Biting her lip, she braced her hands on Julian’s bare chest. She leaned forward and rocked back once, testing the waters. It was a delicious feeling, and judging by Julian’s fingertips pressing fiercely into the flesh of her hips, she was doing something right.
Gretchen did it again, this time faster. Gaining confidence, she fell into a pleasurable rhythm with Julian muttering encouraging words to her.
His hands stroked the silk-and-lace fabric of her chemise as she moved, rising up to cover her breasts as they spilled over the top. She placed her hands over his and thrust her hips harder and faster against him.
“Julian,” she whispered as she felt the release building up inside her.
“Yes, baby,” he encouraged. “Just let go. Take me with you.”
So she did. With renewed enthusiasm, she moved over him, opening the floodgates so that every ounce of pleasure, every emotion she held back, rushed free. In the moment, it wasn’t his touch or her movements that sent her over the edge, it was the warm heat in the center of her chest.
She’d never felt this sensation before, but she knew what it was. Now that she and Julian had a future, she’d finally allowed herself to feel what she’d been fighting. Love. It was love that pushed her over the edge, crying out his name as the tremors of pleasure washed through her. As he followed suit, thrusting into her one last time, she looked down at him, placing her hand over his heart until they were both still and silent.
It was then that she collapsed against him. Gretchen buried her face in his neck, breathing in the scent she’d become so used to so quickly.
This. The sex was nice, but this was what she’d truly waited twenty-nine years for.
Ten
Monday morning was a reality that neither of them really wanted to face. James’s condition stabilized with the ventilator, and the doctors were extremely positive about his prognosis. He was moved out of the ICU, and his mother ushered Julian and Gretchen out the door and back to Nashville Sunday evening.
That night together had been a somber one, both of them knowing what Monday brought. Gretchen had to be in the office for her weekly staff meeting, so she slipped out of bed, leaving him a kiss as she ran out the door. She promised she would return after the meeting to say a proper goodbye before he had to leave for the airport.
They’d agreed they would give their relationship a real try, long distance be damned, but they both knew it would be hard. And different from how they’d spent the past few days. Julian worried about how they would pull it off. He had some time before his next film started shooting, but if he spent those weeks in Nashville, Ross would undoubtedly start complaining. He would want Julian in LA, doing readings, lining up his next part and being “seen.” Unfortunately, he would probably want him being seen out on the town with a woman. That wasn’t an option.