Chapter Nine

Seth leaned in to kiss her, his fingers wrapped around the corner of her bindings. Kira welcomed the return of his mouth, but this kiss didn’t have the questioning edge of their first or the blinding heat of the second.

This kiss was coming home. This kiss was about fitting together as they always had, two friends on their way to being lovers.

Tears seeped from behind her eyelids and she closed them tighter, forbidding them to fall. No. One night was all she was going to have. She refused to let it be touched by regret. That was later. Now was only the making of the memory.

The bed was soft and the fire warm, but beyond that her senses only knew Seth. His dark hair was so soft under the pads of her fingertips, almost tickling as she swept her hands through.

He broke off the kiss slowly with small kisses to ease away. His gaze left hers to fix on where his hand lay on her chest, and it was only then that she realized his skin was several shades darker than her own, a testament to his love of the outdoors and the fact that she did not share it.

And then his fingers pulled. Around and around, the wrapping came undone. With its constriction gone, her breathing should have gotten easier, but it was still hard to take in air; her chest still fought for oxygen, all because of the reverent, half-lidded look in his eyes.

The strip of cloth fell to the bed. He swallowed, licked his lips. With tentative movements, he cupped her breast in his palm and squeezed the malleable flesh.

His palm was rough, but the resulting friction sent shivers through her, concentrating in a strange, languid sensation between her thighs. “Oh.”

He growled in his throat at her exclamation, a sound she’d never heard before, and brought the other hand to cup her as well. He massaged both of her breasts, flicking his thumb over the nipples, and watched as they firmed into stiff little points. He bent down and drew the right one into his mouth.

The friction was nothing compared to the moist sucking he subjected her breast to, and her slight shivers gradually became arching her back and pushing herself into his mouth in order to get every inch of him she could. Seth responded in kind, pulling her in harder and even beginning to use the light graze of his teeth.

“This is good,” she said, voice breathy. “Very good.”

He released one nipple. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said and went to the other breast to do the same.

She raked her nails down his back, gratified when he released her breast and a small hiss escaped his mouth. She pulled him back up to kiss him hard, demanding he allow her entrance. With his mouth otherwise occupied, she went to his trousers, releasing the material and pushing it down his hips.

Seth jumped from the bed, eager to help her. A quick shove, and his pants were gone, leaving behind only naked flesh and aroused male. He crawled over her, smiling down at her. “What about these?” he asked, pulling at the waistband of her own trousers. “Shouldn’t they go as well?”

“I think you’ll have to help me—” The words weren’t even finished being spoken when his eager fingers unfastened and started pulling.

The giggle burst through, and Kira wriggled her hips to help him. With a long pull, her own pants and underwear were now removed, and she was as naked as he was.

His face lost the smile he’d been wearing as he looked down at her, his eyes taking in her body in long sweeps, his tongue licking his lips while the hard length of his cock became even more prominent.

She reached out and grasped him, encircling him with her hand. He was firm and warm, the skin silky.

“Kira, it feels so good.”

She wanted him then, with no further preliminaries. Letting go of him, she leaned back and held up her arms.

With careful movements he lay on top of her. He knew just what she wanted—of course he did—and he settled between her thighs. He leaned down to kiss her again while his hand reached between their bodies and started touching her. He found a particularly nice spot, and she gasped at the surge of pleasure that rocked her.

He didn’t let go of her mouth. He kept circling his hand, taking her cries as his due as the wetness and heat increased between them. Kira nipped at his lip to get him to release her mouth. “Inside me, now .”

His blue eyes were now black, his ragged breaths matched her own, and Seth used the hand that had been bringing her such pleasure to guide himself into her.

There was no pain, only a sense of being stretched, of forming herself around him to become a perfect fit. Seth’s eyes closed and he dropped his head to her chest, and when they were fully joined he stopped.

Kira waited several moments. When he still didn’t move, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

His smile against her skin brought an answering one to her face, confusion or no. “I may have joked about premature ejaculation earlier, but trust me, no man actually wants that to happen.” She laughed, and he groaned, holding himself slightly apart from her on shaking arms. “Kiiirraa, not helping.”

She nipped his ear and wrapped her legs around his hips, bringing him down against her once again and providing very interesting friction against her body. “Move, you.”

“Fine, but if I can’t hold out, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Her second laugh turned into a moan as he began with gentle stroke – long, firm, deep, and powerful enough to rock her.

Kira’s legs tightened on him and she kissed his jaw, his cheek, his neck. Seth was inside her, but not close enough, never enough. She rolled her hips to meet his ever-quickening thrusts, bringing him deeper and deeper into her.

The taste of salt and man coated her tongue and his raspy breaths and groans sounded in her ear. “Kira, Kira, Kira,” he chanted, his words a plea and a prayer entangled together. The flesh under her hands was warm and damp and she clawed him closer, their chests pressed together.

A tingling built through her, a tension toward something just out of her reach. “Seth,” she cried.

“Yes,” he answered, his voice guttural. “I’ve got you, Kira. I’m with you.”

She moved against him harder, stretching the edges of that curious tightness until it snapped and her body tumbled into pleasure. Every muscle tightened and released as she climaxed, and Seth’s answering cry was loud in her ear as her body clenched around him. He kept pushing into her hard, and with only a few more thrusts he found his own pleasure.

He collapsed on her, his warm weight pressing her into the bed. Her arms and legs encompassed him, held him close to her, his weight no consideration at all.

They lay like that for several minutes, wrapped tightly in one another’s arms. After they were both breathing normally ad the sweat was cool on their skin, Seth nuzzled her neck, her cheek, his hands coming to rest in her hair. “I’m too heavy.”

Her legs tightened. “No, stay.” Stay, stay, stay. Stay forever. Stay with me.

She leaned up and began nibbling his ear, and was rewarded with a stirring of life from below. “I believe someone mentioned a round two?”

“Yeah.” He pulled away from her, looking down with a satisfied smirk plastered over that handsome face. “Also three and four, if you’re lucky.”

“Trust me,” she said, twisting her hips against him and making him moan. “I am very lucky indeed.”