Beyond the Sea

My pulse thrummed, my skin tingling as I tentatively pressed my lips to his. A shudder went through his entire body as I whispered against his mouth, “If I pit my demons against yours, will they obliterate each other so we can both finally be free?”

His eyes flickered back and forth between mine. “I don’t know. Shall we find out?”

I nodded, and he dropped down so the entire length of his body pressed to mine. He flattened his palms out on my palms, pressed his forehead to my forehead so there wasn’t a single inch of us that wasn’t connected. I savoured the weight of him, the heavenly pressure of his body. It filled in the dips and curves and cracks in me, making me whole again.

The burden of my conscience, the guilt and worry I carried inside of me, all fluttered away like dust on the wind. I lifted my hips, arching my spine again, and this time I felt the distinct evidence of his arousal. The knowledge that he wanted me, that he burned for me like I burned for him, was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

Noah’s lips found mine, and he kissed me softly, deepening it slowly, opening me up to him little by little. He moved his hips, and I adjusted my legs so that he nestled perfectly between my thighs. His kiss lasted an eternity, so long I started to recognise the unpractised, inexperienced, needful way he kissed me. It was almost like kissing fascinated him so much that he didn’t ever want to stop doing it. His palms remained flat against mine, the feel of our connected fingertips unexpectedly erotic.

It was hard to believe that at the age of twenty-five this was his first real time being intimate with another person. It was mine, too, and the thought swept me up in a heady, indescribable wave of feeling.

When one of his hands moved down, traversing past my wrist, the length of my arm and across to swoop over my breasts, I trembled.

“Is that good?” he asked curiously.

I nodded, responding fervently, “Yes, so good.”

A sexy smile shaped his mouth as his other hand found the end of my sleep shirt and pulled it up over my head. I wasn’t wearing a bra, and when the cool air touched my skin, every nerve ending awoke.

His eyes practically shone as he took me in, one hand softly caressing my breast. “You’re so fucking beautiful it hurts to look at you. I don’t deserve to touch you, but I will because I’m a bastard,” he said as he lowered his mouth, closing his lips around my nipple, making me feel so good I forgot my own name.

I undulated beneath him, pleasure scattering through my cells. I watched as he tasted my skin. He seemed enthralled by my body, and I was enthralled by his. I felt like I was floating as he moved down, his lips trailing across my stomach to the waistband of my underwear. Glancing up at me, his eyes flashed with desire.

“This okay?” he asked, fingering the hem.

In that moment, I couldn’t make a single sound. All I could do was breathlessly nod my head.

Yes, please, do whatever you want to me. Just don’t stop.

Noah tugged my underwear down until I was naked beneath him. He was both a seductive devil and an inexperienced ingenue as he lowered himself down my body, kissing my stomach, trailing his mouth along my inner thigh. He absorbed me so exquisitely, existing completely in the moment. Everything I was made of was strung tight, like a bow about to snap.

He ran his nose over my inner thigh, and I gasped. He stared up at me, soaking me in, his eyes tracing the rise of my breasts, the curve of my hips, lingering between my legs.

“If there’s anyone who can restore my belief in God, it’s you,” he said right before his mouth met my most intimate skin, and my entire body convulsed. I looked down, entranced by the sight of his head between my legs. Our eyes met, and I was fit to burst with the light, feathery pressure of his tongue. Then he licked at me in earnest, sucking the bundle of nerves at the centre of me, and it wasn’t long before I shuddered beneath him.

Chills trickled over me as he climbed back up my body, eyes sparkling with enchantment. I reached for the fly of his jeans, and he trembled when my knuckles brushed over his lower stomach. He held still as I shoved his jeans down and tentatively took him in my palm. A deep, raspy breath escaped him as I guided him close until the core of our bodies met. I gasped at the connection, sucking in a breath, before I realised he wasn’t wearing protection. This was both of our first times, but pregnancy was still a danger. I shifted away from him, remembering the condoms Aoife gave me.