Strong Enough to Love (Jackson Hole 1.20)

Instead of touching her, his hands pressed to the wall on either side of her arms. His head ducked, but he didn’t kiss her. Instead, his mouth hovered near her temple. “This is a mistake,” he breathed.

“I don’t care,” she answered, trembling with the awareness that he was right there. So close. But he didn’t move closer.

“Eve,” he said again, that one syllable fraught with pain and doubt and helplessness. “Not like this.”

She tipped her head up, forcing his mouth to brush over her cheek as she turned toward him. “Does it feel like a mistake?” she breathed against his parted lips.

Brian groaned, and then he kissed her.

She’d wanted to remember everything, but it was already too much. The taste of him, the heat as their lips parted, the stroke of his tongue, the way his hands clutched her shoulders. He was touching her and she needed every moment, but the only thing her brain registered was pleasure and the hard pulse of her heart beating in every part of her body.

His tongue stroked hers, over and over. She couldn’t draw enough oxygen to feed her pounding heart, but she didn’t want to break away. She didn’t want this to stop. It was their first kiss, their first taste, and it was already as deep and dark as sex. She moaned into him, tipping her head so she could take him deeper, but he finally gentled the kiss and tasted her more slowly. Her bottom lip, then her top, then a faint kiss on her jaw.

“God...Eve.” His mouth was at her neck now, kissing, tasting. His shuddering breath chased over her. “You smell so good. Your skin... Christ.”

Yes. He smelled good, too. Pressed tight against her so she could breathe him in the way she’d always wanted. She was practically panting, and her own frantic need embarrassed her, but she couldn’t stop it. His hands were at her waist, sliding over her curves, and her own hands had finally found their place on his shoulders.

He was hot and solid, and she stroked him as his mouth set her nerves on fire.

Chemistry.

She was more turned on than she’d been in years. Wet already, and aching and so desperate for more that she moaned when his teeth caught a sensitive spot on her neck.

His words whispered against her skin. “What the hell is this between us, Eve? You have no idea how many times I’ve imagined this. How many times I’ve gotten off to this. You feel so fucking good.”

She’d thought her nerves were already awake, but her whole body lit up with new brightness at his raw words. He’d thought about her. He’d come to fantasies of her. Joy seemed too innocent a response to that revelation, but it felt that simple, and that good.

She reached for the top buttons of his shirt and tore them open so she could slide her hands against his bare skin. Joy. Yes. His breath went just as rough as hers.

He drew back then, just enough that he could look down and watch as she unfastened the rest of the buttons and tugged his shirt free of his jeans. She spread her fingers over his hot chest and his breath broke. She’d always thought his chest hair would be crisp and a little rough, but it was soft under her fingertips. She brushed her mouth over his chest and hummed her satisfaction.

Her own breath hitched when she felt him reach for the zipper at the nape of her neck. She stopped breathing altogether as he pulled it down and the air of the room touched her back.

Then his hands, sliding beneath the fabric. Oh, God. God. They were really doing this. Undressing each other. Being together.

She should have worn somet

hing more complicated, because it took only a few seconds and then he was sliding her dress down, just as she’d imagined. But suddenly it was so much. So fast. He was a photographer. He saw beauty every day. He worked with models. Artists. He examined every image with a critical eye. He’d see her the same way, and this moment meant so much that she couldn’t do it.

But by the time she reached to hold on to her dress, it was already past her hips and falling to the floor.

He whispered her name and his hands were on her naked hips and he kissed her again, more urgently this time, more deeply. And then his hands slid beneath her panties to clutch her ass, and she forgot her stupid fears. She forgot them because he was hard against her, pressing his hips to hers as his mouth devoured her. When he reached to unfasten her bra, she wasn’t nervous. She was eager and thrilled, because his hands were rough with excitement, and he groaned into her mouth as the bra dropped away and he cupped her breasts.

This wasn’t about a fantasy for Brian any more than it was for Eve. This was about a need so deep that even fulfilling it hurt. An ache so overwhelming that his heart thundered beneath her hands. She didn’t feel scared anymore. She felt glorious and needed. Triumphant.

Yes. Yes.

She unbuttoned his jeans as he pushed her panties down, but she didn’t have a chance to do more. Before she could sneak her hand beneath his underwear, he’d slipped his fingers between her thighs.

“Jesus,” he cursed as she bit back a cry. Even she was surprised at how wet she was, at how easily his fingers pushed deep inside her.

She threw her head back at the wild shock of holding him inside her. She tipped her hips toward him, eager for more. “Yes,” she urged as he fucked her with his fingers. “Please.”

She opened her eyes to find him looking down, watching as one hand teased her nipple and one worked at her pussy. She felt a distant shock at her own boldness as she arched her back and rocked her hips into his fingers, but it was worth it just to see him so undone. This cool, confident man transformed into a hungry animal, teeth bared, eyes narrowed and glinting, the sharp edges of his cheekbones flushed with need. For her. Just like she’d always wanted.

He caught her watching him and slid his hand up from her breast to cradle the base of her skull and pull her in for a deep kiss. He turned her in the same motion.

Eve gasped at the sudden vulnerability of not having the wall at her back. The air stirred across her skin, reminding her of how naked she was, but before she had time to adjust, Brian laid her on the bed. He kissed down her neck, over her chest, until his tongue circled her nipple. When he sucked, she cried out and grasped his hair to hold him close.