One to Love (One to Hold #4) (15 page)

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T
he moon shone round and full over the water, touching the tips of the breakers in silver light. It was a gorgeous night, and the disappearance of the sun hadn’t caused the temperature to drop too much. Still, it was fall and the water was cold. I’d danced around the edge for several minutes before Slayde hoisted me over his shoulder and charged straight into the black waters, me laughing and squealing the whole way.

Now we drifted on the waves, my arms around his shoulders and his around my waist. The water was chilly, but I was warm against his skin in the too-big white tee that drifted up like a dress. My legs wrapped around his, and I tried to remember why I hadn’t removed my panties. Oh, because he hadn’t given me a chance. I laughed through my nose.

“What are you thinking about?” He smiled and leaned forward to kiss my neck, right at my ear. His touch made me shiver.

“All of this is so crazy and unexpected.”

His arms tightened around my waist, and his lips moved to my eyebrow. “You’ve made everything unexpected for me.”

Resting my palms flat on his shoulders, I looked into his blue eyes, clear in the moonlight. “You’ve made everything easy for me. Before it was all confusing and frustrating.”

“Why frustrating?” His eyes traveled over my face.

Thinking about my answer, I focused on his mouth. “I needed to change how I was living, but I was afraid. I didn’t know if it would be too hard or if I’d make another mistake... so I didn’t do anything. Until you.”

“Stand up,” he whispered. He’d been walking toward the shore, and I hadn’t noticed until I lowered my legs, and my feet touched sand.

The white shirt I wore was like a transparent second skin on my naked body, and I saw his eyes darken as I stood facing him. Lust trembled in my chest as his warm hands cupped my hips then trailed up past my waist, higher to my ribcage. His eyes burned into mine as his thumbs followed a line toward my heart, stopping when they reached my hardened nipples. My brow collapsed as he circled them, teasing me, flooding my already wet panties with heat.

The muscle in his jaw moved, and his voice was a throaty whisper. “Being with you is incredibly easy. Whether it’s a mistake, I guess we have to wait and see. I’d like to think it’s not.”

My body swayed with the movement of his thumbs over my breasts. “I want you to kiss me.”

In one swift movement, his mouth covered mine. An ache of longing moaned from my throat into his, and he pulled my bottom lip between his teeth. Wrapped in his arms, tight against his firm chest, heat shimmered under my skin.

He whispered over my lashes as he pressed his lips to my forehead, the scruff of his beard roughing my skin. “I’ve dreamed of holding you this way since that first night. I hated myself for it because you’d been hurt—”

“You kept me from being hurt.” My voice was breathless with desire.

His lips moved back to my cheek, down to my jaw. “You’re so beautiful standing here in the moonlight.”

Dropping to his knees, cool air flooded where the warmth of his body had been. Strong hands moved to my waist, one holding my side, the other flat against my lower back as full lips kissed my stomach through the damp shirt. His mouth moved to my hip, and I felt my legs start to tremble.

“Slayde,” I whispered, barely staying on my feet. It had been so long since I’d been touched this way, I wasn’t sure how much I could bear.

So fast I hardly noticed, he hooked his fingers in the side of my panties and pulled down. They were off as a deep groan left his throat. The hand on my lower back held me steady as he kissed the skin just above my clit.

“Oh, god,” I gasped, threading my fingers into the sides of his hair as his tongue slid between my folds. My whole body shook as he kissed me intimately, his tongue moving full and slow, the scuff of his beard teasing my skin.

“I don’t think I can stand,” I panted, but he didn’t stop.

My toes curled in the sand as he passed over and over my sensitive bud. Unbearable heat coursed through my thighs. My mouth was open and my eyes closed as tiny sparks fired through the arches of my feet. A high-pitched moan filled my ears, and I realized I was making the sound.

Rising on my tiptoes, I almost lifted off when two thick digits roughly invaded my core. Twisting and curling, he massaged the building ache inside me, until all at once, every muscle in my body squeezed unbearably tight and then... exploded.

“Slayde!” I cried, riding the orgasm out on his hand. “Oh, god, don’t stop!”

He didn’t stop. His mouth flooded me with pleasure as his fingers worked me until I couldn’t bear it any more. “Oh! Stop now,” I laughed, pushing his shoulders and dropping my head forward.

Smiling eyes blinked up at me, and with a grin, his warm lips traveled to the crease in my legs, licking the soft skin there, shooting another tickling aftershock straight to my core. My palms were flat against his cheeks, and he kissed his way back up my belly, pausing to circle his tongue around my tight nipple, until he was back to standing.

Weak from my incredible high, I held his arms. His eyes were on my breasts, and once again his palms rose to cup them, thumbs circling my tight nipples.

“I haven’t even gotten to these yet.” A ravenous tone was in his voice, sending shimmers of pleasure down my body.

“I haven’t gotten to any of you.” After that sample, I was aching to welcome the hard rod now pressing against my stomach.

He moved one hand up to my face, holding my chin against his palm, his long fingers wrapping around my neck and beside my ear. Tilting my face upward, his eyes traveled from my parted lips, up along the line of my hair before stopping at my eyes. It was such an intensely possessive gesture, and strangely, it didn’t bother me at all. I liked him claiming me.

“Are you hungry?” My mind flew through a thousand ways to answer that question, but he didn’t wait. “Let me take you back to my apartment and feed you.”

Nodding, I held his shoulders. “Okay.” 

He scooped up my panties and shoved them in his pocket, still holding my hands. His shirt hung to the tops of my thighs, so technically, I was covered. But every step massaged my lower lips, and I ached with longing for him to fill me completely.

Back in his small apartment, he left me standing in the middle of the space while he stepped through the door that was a bathroom. Emerging, he had a thick, white towel in his hand. “I only have one, but it’s really large. Wrap it around yourself.”

I reached down and lifted the wet shirt off my body, so I stood completely nude before him.

The towel dropped from his hands as he hissed in a breath. “Damn, Kenny.”

I moved two steps so I could unfasten the button on his tented shorts. His eyes rolled shut as my hand slid down the length of his cock. It was thick and long, and I shivered with wanting it inside me. Dropping to my knees, I licked my tongue over the mushroom-tip, tracing a line around the edge before pulling it into my mouth.

“Fuck.” He groaned, lightly touching my cheek with his fingertips. My head bobbed quickly as I massaged the base, sucking and drawing him to the edge.

His voice was a ragged whisper. “Fuck, fuck, stop!”

He caught me under the arms and swept me to my feet, guiding me to the curtain and past it, onto the bed. A crinkle of foil and he was back over me, shoving my thighs apart and driving himself deep into me.

“Oh, god!” I gasped, the sound mixing with his muttered swear.

More than two years had passed since I’d been here, and the sensation of fullness, of his hard length rocking into me over and over awakened a hunger I didn’t even know existed. I’d been starving.

Strong arms were on either side of my face, and my wrists were above my head in his tight grip. I struggled to free them, but he didn’t release me. He used them to leverage his ripped body just above me as his hips slammed into me repeatedly, shooting wave upon wave of burning pleasure down my legs and into my torso. The sensation of being trapped heightened all my responses. I wanted to hold him, but I could only do it with my thighs. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I arched my back and bucked my hips, meeting his thrusts, driving him deeper into my core. The sensation was mind-blowing.

My orgasm broke, shaking through me violently. I cried out, and a low growl rumbled at the base of his throat. I recognized it as the noise he’d made that day at the gym when he’d unleashed the nonstop volley of punches, only this time it was his hips rocking into mine.

“Kenny, oh fuck,” The sexy groan shook from his throat. He flexed, and I felt him jerk inside me as he came. Another groan and his grip on my wrists tightened. He thrust two more times before holding the last, dropping his head against my collarbone.

We were both breathing so fast, and my entire body was weak. He still held my wrists firmly in his fists above my head on the mattress. I wanted to touch him, to hold him, and I struggled, pulling down before he seemed to realize.

“Sorry,” he breathed, releasing me. At once, my arms were around him, pulling his face to mine as I consumed that sexy mouth in a ravenous kiss. He kissed me back, equally hungry, equally spent, breaking away to kiss my ear as he panted into my hair. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more gentle. It’s been a while.”

Smoothing my palms down his lined back, I inhaled deeply. “Don’t tell me that or I might play hard to get.” His body rippled with a laugh, and I softly added. “It’s been a while for me, too.”

His lips pressed against my neck, trailing a line up to my jaw before he lifted up and found my eyes. “Stay right here, and I’ll bring you what’s left of dinner.”

Rising quickly, he turned his back so fast, I barely had time to check out the ink on the front of his torso. On the back were those dramatic wings pointing down to a perfectly tight ass. He disposed of the condom and pulled on dark boxer briefs and a thin wife-beater before heading out to his small kitchen.

“I hope you like your steak well-done,” he called, and I heard the sound of plates clanking.

I shifted up in the bed, fluffing the pillows and raking my fingers through my crazy hair. My stomach let out a low rumble, and I smiled. “I’m pretty sure I’ll like anything right now.”

The noise of drawers opening and closing met my ears and then I heard his footsteps on the squeaky wood floor heading back in my direction. “Good, because I nearly burned up both of them.”

When he came around the curtain, I couldn’t help a sharp intake of breath. His dark hair was messy from the beach, and those blue eyes glowed. His lips were slightly parted, revealing his straight, white teeth, and his square chin with the little line down the middle almost killed me. Top it all off, he was holding a plate with a steak and two mountains of vegetables in one hand, and a bottle of wine and two cheap glasses in the other.

“I’m trying to think of anything more sexy right now,” I sighed.

He laughed. “You’re hungry.”

Placing everything on the side table, he climbed onto the bed, and I sat up with the sheet clutched under my arms. Glancing at my predicament, he hopped up again. “Not that I’m happy about this or anything, but I have one clean shirt left you can wear.”

Biting my bottom lip, I smiled as he returned with another white tank. Taking it from him, I slipped it over my head, letting the sheet fall to my lap in the process.

He breathed an
Mmm
, at the brief glimpse I knew he got of my naked torso, and a little thrill moved through my stomach.

“You are the model of traveling light,” I said, teasing him.

“If you ever lose everything, which I don’t recommend, you’ll find there’s very little you actually need.”

Curiosity gnawed at me. I had so many questions for him. I wanted to know everything about him.

“Mariska would be very pleased with your ‘mental maturity’ as she likes to call it.” He cut a small square of steak and held it on the fork in front of my lips. I quickly leaned forward and ate it. The savory velvety texture of good steak filled my mouth, and I let out a little groan. “Delicious.”

He smiled, looking back to the plate and cutting another piece. “I like Mariska. She’s funny.”

“She says you’re a biter.”

His brow creased. “Biting’s illegal. You can lose your license for that.”

“I’m pretty sure she meant outside the ring.”

“In that case, it depends on the bitee. You’re pretty tasty.”

Covering my mouth, I laughed. “She’s also my best friend.”

On the plate were asparagus spears and mixed vegetables. He stabbed a large forkful of them and shoved it in his mouth. Watching his square jaw move, I couldn’t help wanting to touch it.

Leaning forward, he poured us each a glass of red wine. “How’d you two meet? At the gym?”

“Actually...” I started before pausing to eat the new bite of steak he held out to me. “We met in art class. At Ocean County College.”

His eyebrows rose briefly before he shoved another large forkful of vegetables into his mouth.

I couldn’t take it any more. “Are you a vegetarian? Vegan?”

“Why would you think that?” His brow lined, and I realized what he was doing. He was giving me all of the steak.

Another giant wave of emotion hit me, but I tried to cover, grabbing the fork from his hand. “Stop hogging the vegetables! The rest are mine. You eat the steak.”

His eyes caught, and I knew he understood. I’d busted him. I also wondered how much he had spent on this special dinner we’d almost ruined making out on the beach.

I shoved a huge forkful of vegetables into my mouth before continuing. “Those flowers on the table are so beautiful. I almost wish we were eating out there.”

“Thought you’d like those,” he said, taking a big bite of steak off the fork I now held to his lips.

“You were wrong. I love them.”

We were at the end of dinner, and I scraped the last of the vegetables together with the last bite of steak and held it to his mouth.

“You have it,” he said with a smile.

“No way!” I cried. “I don’t have half the muscle mass you do. I’ll look like a pig on Monday.”

He breathed a laugh and took the bite. My nose wrinkled as I leaned forward to kiss his full mouth.