Forever (Betrothed 7)

His hand gripped my lower back and bunched the fabric of my t-shirt before he squeezed. His other hand got lost in my sea of hair before he leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips. He gripped me like he wanted to take me roughly, shove me up against the wall and hike my leg over his waist, but he kissed me with such softness, it didn’t seem like a man like him could produce a touch so gentle. He started off slow because he wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere else. He was happy to live in the moment with me, even if the moment never escalated into something more.

I closed my eyes and treasured the feel of his demanding lips. He pulled the air right out of my lungs, excited my nerves in a way I’d never felt before. I felt so weak but so strong at the same time. I could drop my guard and not worry about anything when he loved me like this. I trusted him without really having a reason, but not having a reason was how I knew it was true. My fingers slowly pressed into his skin as I felt my emotions get swept up in those phenomenal kisses. I let him do whatever he wanted to my mouth, and without thinking, I reciprocated. When he gave me his tongue, I gave mine back. When he moaned, I echoed the same noise. We were two different people, but we felt everything as one. I kissed him harder and deeper as a beautiful passion drew me in. My hands glided into the back of his hair as I drew him in for a deeper kiss. I even whimpered against his lips because it felt so right.

He kicked off his shoes and undid his belt as he continued to kiss me, not wasting a single moment as he undressed the rest of the way. When he was just in his black boxers, he removed my shirt and pulled it over my head. The second the fabric was over my face, his lips found mine and he picked up exactly where we left off. His hands got my shorts loose, and he pushed them over my hips until they slid down my legs.

His hand moved up my back to the center of my bra, where his fingers moved to unclasp the material.

But that was when the warning went off in my head, that this was too soon, that this was more than I was ready to handle. My hand moved to his forearm and I steadied him, but I didn’t have to say anything else because he understood immediately. He dropped his hand, guiding me backward onto the bed.

My body hit the softness of his duvet cover, and a moment later, he was on top of me. Heavy. Strong. Sexy. His body covered mine and kept me warm like a thick blanket. He kissed me on the mouth, caressing each of my lips equally, making me moan and writhe from our heated kisses.

Our lips came together and broke apart in a beautiful dance, a soft embrace turning into chaotic passion. Kiss after kiss, each one was different and special, a conversation that required no words. It brought our souls close together, feeling each other in a deep, special way. They were only kisses, two people engaged in an amateur affair, but it was just like making love, at least for me.

His hand slid into my hair, and he cradled my face at the perfect angle for how he wanted to take my lips. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth before he looked at me, wanting to show me how much he adored me.

As if I didn’t already know.

His other hand slid up my leg and over my thigh until he traveled underneath the band of my underwear. He felt the bare skin, touching the place where he knew I had a single freckle that he used to kiss all the time. He still remembered everything about my body, as if there’d been no one else since the last time he’d had me.

The only time he broke our kiss was to glide his lips to my neck and kiss me all the way down to my collarbone. He even kissed my bra strap before he slid down to the cleavage of my chest. He gave each of my breasts kisses, his tongue tasting my skin. Then he moved to my stomach, kissing me and marking his territory.

I closed my eyes and breathed as I felt him kiss me everywhere, from the sensitive area between my thighs to the skin on my belly. He even kissed the inside of my knees because he found that place as beautiful as everywhere else. He slowly glided back up my body until he returned his lips to mine. “You’re my woman, Annabella.” He stopped kissing me so he could look down into my gaze, seeing his expression reflected back at him. “Mine.”