"Shit," she said, though she rarely cursed. Her hand reached for the little spot of blood on his flange.
"Don't," he said, jerking back.
"But—"
"Don't. If you touch me, I'm going to go. I am too fucking close to the edge. Just hand me the condom and wait a sec."
He sat up to open it. On her elbows, she bit her lip and watched him roll it carefully over his throbbing length. He was too sensitive to play with himself at all, though women usually liked to watch him do that. He cursed silently as he struggled not to make it worse. This was as bad as he could remember being in a long time, his dick so hard and swollen it was trying to stand vertical. The rubber was a larger size, but it didn't cover him all the way.
"You grew," she said and pressed trembling fingers to her rosy lips. For a second he worried she was afraid, but then she said, "Oh, God, I'm going to enjoy this."
"Jesus," Alex said, suddenly so hot he feared the top of his head—make that both his heads—were going to come off. "Maybe you shouldn't talk too much, either."
Zoe laughed at that, obviously pleased by his desperate state. "You want to rip my panties, or should I pull them off?"
Another wave of heat seared through him.
"Pull them," he ordered when he caught his breath, flashing on the image of her wriggling them down her perfect legs a second before she actually did it.
"Oh, man," he moaned, his hands following hers down those silken muscles. "Oh, man, I need a case of condoms for you."
"How about if I do this? Will that mean you need two?" She pulled her skimpy eyelet top over her head, leaving nothing but a strappy white undershirt for modesty. The thin ribbed cotton wasn't modest now, clinging to every curve and hollow of her perky breasts. Her nipples were dark and swollen, peaked hard with arousal. Alex had never seen them that big. In fact, she looked lusher all over, her breasts like little hills instead of ripe peaches.
"Pull that off, too," he said, jerking his chin at the undershirt.
She blushed, but she did it, and then he absolutely had to lick his lips.
"One kiss," he said, his voice like gravel. "One kiss before I fucking have to get into you."
Her breasts were smooth as cream under his tongue, as warm as if she were fevered. She moaned at his first light pull, and he remembered how sensitive her nipples were. It was one
long kiss
then, one long, sucking kiss that made her squirm like an eel and dig her fingers into his hair. Her nipples got longer inside his mouth, rewarding every greedy flick of his tongue.
"Oh, now," she said, arching closer. "Please, Alex, come in me now."
He couldn't drag it out any longer. He rose from her, breathing hard, and fit his hips into the cradle they'd been dreaming of nearly every time he jacked off. For a moment, he let his cockhead rest against her labia.
That heated, slippery softness was a joy to take his time over, but even as he ground his teeth at the bliss of it, the weight of his erection sank him deeper into her folds. Her flesh gave way for him, her cream welling around him, her skin molding naturally to his crown. He felt her entrance beneath it, his aim truer than he'd known.
"Meant to be," he murmured as he shifted his angle the tiny bit it needed to go in. His entire body gathered for a good, hard shove.
"Wait!" she gasped, her hand coming to his breastbone to hold him off.
Alex shook with his effort not to do what every fiber of his being had been prepping for.
"Wait?" he said once his jaw unclenched. "I've been waiting fifteen years for this!"
"I just… it's been a while since I've had actual sex."
Her confession struck him as odd, but he wasn't sure he wanted an explanation of
actual sex
right then.
"Maybe," she suggested, "you could go in slow."
Clearly, Zoe had some idea of the difficulty of what she asked. Her cheeks had turned a shade of pink that neared red.
"And
after I
go in?" he growled.
Zoe's squirm of embarrassment did nothing to make obliging her easier.
"Maybe you could go slow for a few more strokes," she pleaded. "It's my favorite part. When a man pushes into me all the way. I want to feel it with you."
"If
that's
your favorite part, you've been sleeping with the wrong men."
He knew he sounded surly, but Zoe smiled.
"Try," she said, stroking his face. "Try for me."
He kissed her wrist, then nipped the skin lightly.
"I'll try. Now pull your knees up and give me room."
He should have known doing what she asked would kill him, but he wasn't sure it would have mattered. He loved pleasing Zoe, he always had. If she wanted a slow first thrust, he was damn well going to give it to her. Of course, he moaned before he even had the head inside her, a long, pained trail of sound. One inch went in, then two, and Zoe's hands began to push up his back.
Her touch made him shiver deliciously.
"Oh, yes," she crooned, stroking his straining muscles. "Oh, just like that."
She was slick around him, tight but welcoming, her inner muscles flickering without stopping him.
He moaned her name when he hit four inches, finally beginning to feel like he was inside her. Five made his neck arch, and six pulled his breath from him in a rush. He was really doing this. He was really sliding his aching dick inside Zoe.
At seven he started to have to work for room, but Zoe's fingernails were dragging tingling tracks up and down his spine, and he was highly motivated to keep going. Eight finished him, nearly in more ways than one. He was shoved in her to his root, throbbing tightly against her walls while her heels dug into the upper slopes of his ass. His balls were so ready to shoot it felt like they were trying to crawl into his abdomen.
They opened their eyes in the same instant. Zoe's were soft and glowing in their frame of black.
"Wow," she said, writhing slightly under his weight. The wriggle seemed part discomfort at his size, part eagerness to savor every inch. "That was worth waiting for."
"It's not over yet."
Her slow, hot smile might as well have been an injection of Viagra. Alex winced as he swelled to a state of hardness he hadn't known he could reach. "You promised me a few slow ones."
"I didn't promise, I said I'd try. And anyway, you could say please first."
She shook her head, outright grinning now. "You're such a control freak, I'm afraid you'd like me begging too much."
In all his fantasies, he hadn't expected her to make this fun. It occurred to him that she was teasing him like they were still friends.
"Okay," he said, his voice husky for more reasons than being insanely aroused. "I just want you to know my sex drive wasn't built for restraint."
Though this was truer than Zoe knew, he couldn't complain. Her groans of pleasure made the effort more than worthwhile. He managed to give her six slow strokes: six killing, breath-stealing strokes. He was up on his arms, his elbows locked to keep them from trembling. When she moaned "Oh, God" and started panting, he knew he'd reached the end of his rope.
"Can I go faster now?" he gasped.
"Oh, yes," she said. "And, please, go harder, too."
He barely had breath to laugh at her politeness, but he sucked in more before he let his body explode into the fucking it so badly wanted to give her.
She wailed at the first strong thrust, but it was an
oh, God, keep doing that so I can come
sort of sound. Alex clenched his jaw and kept going, pumping his thickness high against her passage, bumping her clit with each downstroke. He was hoping force of habit would keep him from hurting her, because his control was pretty much shot to hell. His body drove him faster, harder, ignoring her jerky rhythm to keep its own. Pleasure rose like a flood tide, until he didn't know how he could hold more. It felt like someone had turned the dial to maximum on his nerves. Every sensation was sweet and sharp: the squeeze of her pussy around his cock, the dig of her heels on his buttocks, the almost cutting prick of her nails. He nearly died himself when she came and her eyes went blind.
"Alex," she gasped, her body quaking, and he immediately wanted to send her up again.
Though he wanted to come bad enough to scream, he set his knees in the blanket and kicked his hips faster.
"Oh, God," she said, round-eyed and throaty voiced.
"Put your feet down," he snapped. "Let me take over."
She was too startled not to do it. He pulled her hands from behind his back, catching her wrists together and stretching them over her head. Her breasts arched higher on her ribs, shaking with his near violent thrusts. Her rosy nipples were making him crazy. He lowered his chest, braced on one forearm so the hot little pebbles could scrape his hair. He couldn't doubt she liked the hard treatment. Her belly jerked with her excitement, with her gasping, ragged breaths. He tightened his grip on her wrists, and the breaths got faster. Her eyes were wide, almost frightened but not quite. His blood surged like a dam breaking.
This was his fantasy. Her at his mercy, shaking helplessly with pleasure, letting him take her and take her until the beast that drove his body felt like fury as much as lust. He hadn't known the fury was there, but he could guess why. The Zoe he'd fallen in love with had let him go. He'd loved her with all his heart, and she'd let him go. It hadn't mattered what he'd done; he'd wanted her to fight for him. He wanted her to fight now.
"Alex!" she cried, almost screaming it as she came.
"I love you," he said, the words tearing from his throat. It was what he wanted her to say, but it was coming from his own mouth. "I love you. I love you."
He lost it completely with his next heartbeat. One second he was sobbing for breath and straining for the edge, and the next he was rocketing through the gates of bliss. The orgasm squeezed from him in jets of fire, over and over, like his whole body was trying to empty out. He held tight inside her, as far as he could reach, gasping at each spasm until he just plain couldn't come anymore.
He was dripping sweat, and her hands were stroking his hair, her lips pressed tenderly to his cheek. She kissed him like she loved him, but he knew better. Zoe Clare was the original open heart. If she'd felt what he did, she would have said it back.
"Hey," he said, striving to make light of his embarrassment. "I think we scared your cat. He crawled back into your purse."
Zoe didn't look away from him to check.
"Alex," she murmured, her lips reaching for his mouth.
He couldn't stop himself from kissing her. He should have been pulling out, getting a little distance, but he couldn't stop. Her hands were so sweet, so kind, her incredible legs coming back around his waist so that he started to swell again.
It was high school all over. He'd never get enough of her.
Shit
, he thought.
I am so fucking screwed
.
They used all Alex's condoms in quick succession, barely pausing long enough for him to roll them off and on. The intensity with which he took her was undiminished, though he didn't say he loved her after that first time. Instead, he humped her with a fervor that was breathtaking. Admittedly, Zoe liked aggressive lovers, but nothing he did seemed truly rough to her. Yes, he enjoyed positions where he had control, but he didn't neglect her pleasure. In fact, he seemed to love pushing it higher. That said, he always reached a point in the final shafting part of the act where she knew it was all only about him. He went hard and fast then, completely focused on his drive for release.
He seemed to need each orgasm equally.
Zoe didn't think finally having her as his partner was the only reason. This felt like a puzzle piece she hadn't known to look for when she was fifteen. This was telling her that Alex really,
really
liked a lot of sex.
He let her roll him beneath her for the final bout, riding him so forcefully any other man would have protested. Alex simply gripped her hips and pulled her down harder.
Even when she was on top, he stayed in charge.
"Is this okay with you?" he panted. "Is this good?"
She was too busy coming to reassure him, her blood roaring in her ears, her body taking what it wanted with an abandon she didn't think she'd ever experienced.
He grunted, feeling her contractions, his face going grim and tight like it had every time right before he climaxed except the first. Then his face had been open. Then it had been both tender and furious.
What lay behind the change came to her clear as crystal. He was sorry he'd said he loved her. He regretted it because she hadn't said it back. She hadn't known what to make of his confession, thinking it was the heat of the moment talking. Now, though, seeing that her silence had caused him pain, her conscience jabbed at her to tell him she loved him, too.
No
, she refused, swallowing the words. She wasn't going to do this, not with him and not with Magnus. She'd opened herself to Magnus last night only to have him reject her—the man she'd thought was different from Alex, the man she'd thought, at the least, could be trusted if he ever fell in love with her.
But neither man could be trusted. They were more alike than different, unable to give their hearts to any one person.
She cried out as Alex did something wicked with his fingers on her swollen, cream-drenched clit. He'd found the little spot on the side that made her crazy, the one he'd discovered all those years ago in the back of his mother's car, the one so sensitive that rubbing it too early almost felt like pain. But it wasn't too early now. No, it was screamingly perfect.
"That's a… girl," he gasped, his fingers stiff with the closeness of his own climax. "One more time… with me."
His head jerked back on the rumpled blanket, his lips pulled snarling from his teeth. His hips snapped up and locked inside her as his cock grew thicker and began to pulse. Zoe's sex contracted around him at the same instant, as if their separate pleasures were being detonated by a single switch. It wasn't just energy that exploded inside her, but emotion, the same irrational burst of—well,
love
was a pale word for the adoration that swept through her—that she'd felt for Magnus the night before. In that moment when her orgasm blinded her earthly eyes, she knew that Alex was perfect just as he was. That she only had to love him, just as he was, and everything would turn out all right.