Tony brought his lips closer to hers and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I have a better idea. How about if I get kitten in a discreet place?”
Amy buried her face in his neck.
Kitten was a nickname he’d given her the summer of their affair because of the adorable way she cuddled up to him and how she purred with pleasure after they made love. Her affinity for kittens had begun after he’d given her the nickname.
He kissed her cheek and whispered, “You’ll always be kitten to me.”
Twenty minutes and one kitten tattoo located just below the waist of his pants later, they headed back toward the pier.
“I can’t believe you remembered.” Amy attached herself to Tony’s side like Velcro, and he couldn’t be happier.
“You might be surprised how much I remember.” Like how you love to be teased and the feel of your body when you come apart beneath me.
Tony nodded toward the pier. “Come on. For old times’ sake.”
He helped her off the boardwalk and onto the sand. They kicked off their shoes, and Tony rolled the cuffs of his pants. Then they walked hand in hand down by the edge of the water. There were a few couples sitting on the beach beneath the stars, but Tony had another place in mind, and from the look on Amy’s face as he led her beneath the pier, she didn’t seem to mind.
There was nothing particularly unique about the underside of the Provincetown pier. The pilings were scarred and uneven, spearing out of the ground at funky angles, bracing the ancient pier. The smell of fish, wet earth, and fried foods from the nearby eateries lingered in the darkness. But to Tony, all of that brought back a rush of memories so enticing that he could barely think past getting his arms around Amy and revisiting them. He couldn’t pinpoint when things began to change, but sometime between their walk on the beach and now, the energy between them had become reminiscent of that summer so long ago. The good parts, when the mere thought of being apart felt treacherous and the air between them, no matter where they were, was thick with the pulse of desire.
Moonlight streamed through the slats of the pier. Tony pulled Amy’s hips against his and buried his hands in her hair, cupping the back of her head. Her skin was hot, her eyes seductive and heavy-lidded.
“Kitten.” The nickname came naturally and rolled off his tongue, laced with anticipation. He brushed his nose against hers and ran his thumb over her lower lip.
“God, I’ve missed you.”
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
Their lips crashed together, tongues probing, searching, stroking, and pulling a greedy moan from deep in Tony’s lungs. Kissing Amy had always been his undoing. She took and gave in equal measure. His hands traveled up her back, down her rib cage, and over her sexy curves, stopping at the hem of her skirt. He stroked the back of her thigh with his thumbs and captured her needy sounds of desire in his mouth. It took all his willpower not to slide his hand beneath her dress and touch her the way he knew she loved to be touched, making her forget her name. He promised to prove he was the right man for her, but kissing her, being with her again, left him no doubt.
He reluctantly drew back and touched his forehead to hers. They were both breathing hard, their bodies plastered together from thigh to chest. The backs of her thighs were hot and tense, and he knew she was feeling the flames, too.
“Kitten, I’ve never stopped loving you.” Her body was doing it again, vibrating from the inside out. Purring as she snuggled in close, her cheek pressed to his chest, her hands beneath his shirt, pressing against his skin.
She gazed into his eyes with love and confidence. “I know.”
Tony took her hand in his. His thumb moved in slow, circular motions over her wrist. Amy’s emerald eyes darkened as he drew her mouth to his again. He kissed her softly, slow and deep, with the silent promise of all he had to give of himself, his heart, and his life.
“Tony,” she said after a long while. “Take me home.”
Chapter Eleven
TONY SLID HIS hands around Amy’s waist and nibbled on her neck as she fumbled with the keys to the back door of her cottage.
“God, I love the way you taste.” He loved the scent of her skin, the curve of her shoulder, and sweet baby Jesus, the way she squirmed when he sucked her earlobe into his mouth was sinful. Her body stilled when he ran his tongue along the shell of her ear.
She exhaled loudly and pressed her back to his chest.
Tony gathered her hair over her left shoulder and lowered his mouth to the curve of her neck, grazing his teeth over her skin, loving the way her hips moved in anticipation. He turned her in his arms and pressed her back to the door. The keys dropped to the deck as he took her lower lip in his teeth and gave it a gentle tug. She sucked in a breath as he hooked his hand beneath her thigh and lifted it to his waist, then rocked his hips against hers as he dragged his tongue along the ridge of her collarbone. She was so damn sexy, burying her hands in his hair and guiding his mouth back to hers. Their lips met in a deep, probing kiss, breathing air into her lungs in order to kiss her longer, deeper. When they finally parted, every muscle in his body was tight and Amy was panting. Her hands grasped his shoulders as he crouched to retrieve the keys.
He ran his fingers lightly up the center of her legs, feeling her breathing quicken as they traveled beneath the hem of her skirt to the tops of her thighs, spreading his fingers wide across her silky skin. His fingertips grazed the underside of her panties, stopping short of where he really wanted to be. He could feel her heat through the damp material and pressed his forehead to her chest, exhaling her name.
“Amy.”
He lifted his eyes to hers. They’d gone smoky and dark. He could get lost in their seduction, but beneath the heat he recognized love. He hadn’t seen such raw emotions in Amy’s eyes for so long that it momentarily stalled him.
He managed to open the door. The cottage was dark and quiet as he set the keys on the counter and folded Amy into his arms again.
“I want to wrap you up and hold you tight.” He kissed the corners of her mouth. “I want to get to know every inch of your beautiful body again, until I know how it changes when you breathe.”
Their lips met in a tender kiss as he lifted her into his arms and her legs circled his waist. In a few determined steps they were in the bedroom, lips locked together. He lowered them both to the bed. Lying on top of her with his thighs between hers, his arousal against her center, and the soft cushion of her breasts touching his chest brought a rush of emotions. Not crazy, lustful stranger kind of emotions, but emotions of what they’d shared, how deeply they’d loved, and the carnal memories of how their bodies came together. He wanted to stay there and revel in the feel of them connecting on an emotional level again. He fisted his hands in her hair and deepened the kiss. Her delicate fingers traveled up and down his back, pressing firmly against the dip at the base of his spine, urging him on as she rocked her hips up off the mattress.
“Kitten, I’ve waited so long to touch you. I need you to be sure, because if you’re not, then we need to wait. I won’t be able to take loving you again and then hearing that you regret it.” He searched her eyes. There was no doubt in them, only love and raw desire, but he needed to hear it from her lips. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. God, yes.”
He kissed the swell of her breast and gently untied the strap of her dress. He lifted her to sitting, kneeling between her legs, and drew the dress over her head. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her, bare breasted and perfect, wearing only a pair of beautiful satin and lace panties that aptly covered her secret treasures while showing off the curves of her hips, riding high on her thighs and low beneath her belly button. The lithe body he remembered had matured into gentle feminine curves, so luscious he had to feel them, to feel the difference. He ran his hand over the gentle curve of her stomach, feeling her body quiver beneath his touch as he laid her gently down on her back.
“Good Lord,” he murmured almost to himself as he traced he
r smooth skin from the swell of her breast to the dip in her waist with a single finger.
She covered her stomach and shifted her eyes away.
“You’re beautiful, baby. Beautiful.” Tony rose from the bed and shed his clothing, then lay beside her, sliding his thigh over hers and covering her hand with his.
“You’ve gone shy on me.”
She turned and faced him, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“You’re spectacular, Amy. You’re even more beautiful than I remember. Don’t be shy with me. Let me love you.”
Her tongue swept across her lower lip. Tony smiled, knowing she’d done it on purpose, just as she used to.
“You’re a little vixen,” he whispered before kissing her again. “You know all my weaknesses.”
She smiled up at him and did it again.
He moved over her, nudging her thighs open with his knees, positioning himself to love her. He kissed a path down the center of her breasts, fondling both as he trailed openmouthed kisses to the underside of each one and feeling her body shudder beneath him. Memories flooded him, the ache of loving her, the feel of that shudder he used to crave for hours after they made love, and knew he would crave that shudder, and the closeness, again.
He licked slow circles around one taut peak, feeling the nub tighten against his tongue. Amy arched off the bed, giving him better access to her beauty, while making a little sound in her throat—a sound he remembered—that welcomed him back. He kissed his way to her other breast and took her nipple in his mouth, sucking, dragging his teeth over her sensitive skin the way he remembered she loved. Amy sucked in air between gritted teeth, rocking her hips against his arousal. He couldn’t resist moving down her body, squeezing her nipples as he nipped at her hip with his teeth. He knew how she loved the game, the tease, the will-he-won’t-he, and he had no intention of disappointing her. He gripped her rib cage, holding her in place as he dragged his tongue along her inner thighs. The scent of her arousal drew him closer, made him harder. Amy panted as his hands slid lower and gripped her hips. He held her tightly as he kissed her with long strokes of his tongue along the crease of her panties. She squirmed in that sinfully seductive way that made the animal in him want to take instead of give. Amy used to love the way he took, but that was years ago. He licked her through the damp material. Her eyes were closed, and when he stroked her again, tasting her salty wetness through the rough lace, her eyes opened, and in a breath the room grew hotter. She clutched his arms, digging her fingernails into his skin. Her eyes darkened, narrowed, and locked on his, telling him she wanted him to take again.
He hesitated, for fear of misinterpreting her.
She tightened her grip on his arm and rose off the bed. The heat in her eyes intensified as she brought his other hand to her mouth and circled two fingers with her tongue, then sucked them into her mouth and swirled her tongue over them, nearly sending him over the edge. His kitten was back, and that was all the invitation he needed to tear her panties from her body and toss them to the floor. He used his hips to spread her thighs wider as she lay back down and arched up, giving him better access to tease and taunt her into the writhing, needful girl she’d been, only now she was a woman. He lifted her hips in his strong hands and devoured her, plunging his tongue deep and rough, then laving her swollen sex with his tongue—a slow, seductive assault. Every stroke brought a breathless gasp, a tensing of her thighs. Her nails digging, carving half-moons into his arms.
“Please,” she begged.
Making love to Amy was like coming home, and he was glad to see that her sexual desires were still the same. His memory served him well—he knew just what she needed. What she wanted. More teasing, more strokes of his tongue, more making her yearn for his long, hard rod inside her. He knew it was the yearning she loved, that ache that swelled inside her and came out all at once when their bodies would finally come together.
He had to have more of her, to please her and drive that ache of hers to near bursting. He lowered her hips to the bed and filled his palms with her breasts, squeezing her nipples until she cried out with pleasure and her inner muscles pulsed with need around the tip of his tongue. But he wasn’t done with her yet. Oh no. Amy had waited too many years for him to rush. His desire was her pleasure, and he remembered every detail of the pleasures she loved. He flipped her over and crawled up her body, rubbing his chest against her back the way she used to love, grinding his arousal against her bare bottom as he reached around and fondled her breasts. He settled his mouth over the back of her neck and sank his teeth in just hard enough that she gasped. A sweet, needful gasp. He slid one hand beneath her belly, then lower, to the sweet, wet crease between her legs.
“Yes. Oh God, yes, Tony.”
“Show me how much you want us,” he whispered. She used to love the way he took control. He was testing, to be sure they were still in sync after all these years. God, how he’d missed loving her.
She lifted her hips and pushed his hand lower, sinking his fingers into her wetness and moving in perfect rhythm to his efforts. Her breathing came in spurts as he licked her neck, across her jaw, and slanted his mouth over hers, capturing her cries of pleasure as the orgasm tore through her. Tony moved down her back, kissing and touching, stroking her heated flesh. He kissed her rounded cheeks and she went up on her knees, spreading her legs wide so he could plunge his fingers deep inside as he turned on his back and slid between her legs, so she was straddling his shoulders. She sank down upon him. She tasted familiar and sweet, salty and hot. So very hot. He caressed her with his hand, loved her with his mouth, until her body pulsed with pleasure again and she cried out his name. Her body trembled as he lowered her back to the bed and reached for his wallet.
She stilled his hand and he shook his head. “I’m on the pill. I never wanted to chance…”
“I can’t,” was all he had to say. He knew by the look in her eyes that she understood his hesitation. He’d risked her health once. He wasn’t going to do it again until he had a ring on her finger.
His fingers shook with sheer need as he rolled on the condom, then came down upon her again.
“Baby,” he whispered as he kissed her. She’d never minded kissing him when he tasted like her, and it never failed to arouse him. But he needed to know she was sure before he allowed himself to be inside her. There would be no reclaiming his heart after they came together again. “You’re sure? We can still stop.”
“Take me, Tony. Love the past away.”
He lowered his forehead to hers. “The past will always be there.” No lies. He’d promised to be the best man he could, and that meant pure honesty, no matter how much it hurt him to say it.
“Then love me through it.”
He pushed into her. She was tight, so very tight. He stilled, biting back the need to come.
“Christ.”
“Okay?” she whispered.
“Don’t move.” He smiled down at her, and her lips curved up.
“Isn’t that the fun of it?”
“You’re so tight, Amy. I’ll come.”
She nibbled her lower lip, and he began to move his hips in slow, purposeful thrusts.
“Christ,” he repeated through gritted teeth.
“I haven’t been with a man in a very, very long time.”
“Amy. You feel…” He touched his forehead to hers and closed his eyes, overwhelmed with pleasure.
“Holy…” he muttered again. His brain was stuck, scrambled, caught up in Amy.
“Fourteen years to be exact.”
His eyes opened at that. His heart nearly stopped.
She trapped her lip between her teeth again.
“Kitten?”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t. I’ve done other stuff, but…you’re the only man I ever wanted to be with.”
“Oh, baby. That’s a really long time.”
She shrugged beneath him and closed her eyes. He kissed her closed lids.
“I’ll make it up to you
. One orgasm at a time.”
She smiled up at him and giggled softly.
“Are you okay? I’m not hurting you?”
“You could never hurt me.” She reached up and pulled his lips to hers.
Fourteen years. Holy crap.
Every shift of her hips pulled him closer to the edge, swallowing him deeper. She hooked her heels over his calves and met his thrusts with her own. Her head dropped back as she gasped a breath, and he thrust harder, deeper, filling her so completely he felt it the second the orgasm gripped her, and in a breathtaking instant his mind dove into a sea of ecstasy. She clutched his shoulders, arching, thrusting, rocking against him. Taking him deeper as he climbed to the peak of his own intense release. Amy bit into his shoulder as another orgasm claimed her. They rode the wave of her pulsating sex until the last shudder of Tony’s release rumbled through his body, then fell to the mattress on their backs and reached for each other’s hands.
Amy curled up beneath his arm as she’d done a dozen times that summer. Her knees rested over his thighs, her cheek on his chest, and her sweet, luscious body purred with gratification. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, allowing the memories of the past and the present to coalesce.
His sweet kitten was back.
Chapter Twelve
AMY AWOKE TO an empty bedroom. She listened to the silence of her cottage and knew Tony had left. She had a fleeting thought that perhaps she’d made up last night in her hopeful mind, but when she rolled over and buried her nose in the other pillow, Tony’s scent remained. The unfamiliar ache in her pelvis and tightness in the muscles of her thighs and lower back were pleasant reminders. She smiled despite the discomfort. She exhaled loudly and covered her eyes with her arm. Tony. She waited for the longing and the inevitable pain that she’d been squelching for too many years, and when it didn’t come, it gave her hope that she could move forward. They’d talked about that summer, and she hadn’t fallen completely apart. And he’d loved her—oh, how he’d loved her. Like they’d never been apart.
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