His fingertips brushed through the soft hair between her legs. She nearly jumped from the shock of it. Nobody had touched her there before. It felt … odd, but in a wonderful way. Yet her first reaction was to squeeze her legs together.
“Relax, love,” Colin whispered. “I need to feel you.” His fingers probed her, and he sucked in a breath. He played in her moisture, his fingertips lightly flitting over her painfully engorged nub. She arched into his hand, wanting, needing to feel more. “You’re so beautiful, Cherri. Don’t ever forget that.”
His eyes devoured her for a moment before he moved to kiss her belly. He stayed there for a while, his tongue circling her navel, his teeth giving her tiny little nips that made her laugh and moan at the same time. It was when his mouth moved to the insides of her thighs that the smile drifted from her lips. She was so lost in feeling that it took a moment for her to realize he was kissing her in a place she hadn’t thought would ever be kissed.
“Uh, Colin.” She tugged on his hair as his tongue swept inside her. “Wha—mmm, are you…”
“Hush.” He licked deeper.
She could only gasp after that. The power to form words left her, and soon she was moving to meet the strokes of his mouth.
So this is what this feels like.
It was heavenly and part of her wondered why she’d waited so long to do this. But she knew. It had to be right. She needed to be with someone she trusted.
“Colin?” She called his name and he stopped loving her for a moment, pressing dozens of little kisses to her thighs.
“Yes, love?”
“I’m a virgin.”
He lifted his head and blinked at her. Then he swallowed and looked adorably horrified. “It’s okay, lass.” He swore violently under his breath. “We don’t have to go any farther than this.” He lay beside her and gathered her into his arms, his breathing heavy. “We can make each other feel good just like this.”
“But I want to be with you.” She twined her fingers through his hair and kissed him.
“You want to give yourself to me?” His expression turned very serious. “I know this feels good, but if you say yes there is no going back. There can be no regrets.”
After hearing those words she fell a little in love with him. But only a very little. “I want to do this with you.”
“No regrets,” he said, and she wasn’t sure if he was asking her or himself.
“None.”
He looked skyward for a moment as if seeking divine intervention, but then he placed his body on top of hers and his lips on her mouth and she knew the time for talking had come to an end.
He moved slowly, burying his fingers deep in her hair. He kissed every inch of her face, the underside of her chin, her ears, the tip of her nose, as he rubbed his shaft against her. The need for him became so strong it was painful. It was urgent.
“Colin, now.”
He lifted his lips from her skin. “Are you ready, love?”
She nodded.
“Wrap your legs around me.” He helped guide her. “Good girl.” Slowly he pushed into her, his gaze intent on her face. He was big and stretched her more than she thought was possible, but it wasn’t like she’d expected. There was no pain. This was no first-time horror story. It was magic.
“Are you okay?” His face was taut. He stilled inside her and she knew it was taking everything inside him to hold back. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She kissed his chin. “You don’t have to hold back.”
“Good.” He pulled out slightly and pushed deep inside her. “You feel so amazingly good around me.”
“Amazingly good?” She smiled. “I think I’m going to get that phrase tattooed on me.”
“Mmm.” He moaned. “If you can speak then I must not be doing my job.” He bent his head to her breast and took her nipple into his mouth. His strokes changed from delicious and deliriously slow-paced to quick, toe-curling ones.
She lost all sense of herself after that. No thoughts entered or exited her brain. She was like a bundle of nerve endings. She only felt him inside her, on top of her. Warm skin and his spicy smell mixed with hers.
“Charlotte,” he whispered into her ear over and over. She had to open her eyes to look at him. He was so beautiful. Pleasure was etched on his face. His eyes were closed. His mouth was slightly open.
She had to kiss him. She ran her tongue over the inside of his lips, and he shuddered.
“Sweet girl,” he groaned. “You’re going to be the death of me.” He put his hand between them and rubbed her. She came apart immediately, and he seemed to lose all sense of control driving inside her harder and faster than before. But it was still so good and before she understood what was happening she came again, digging her nails in his wide back because the feeling was too much to stand.
He kissed her deeply, locking eyes with her before he spilled himself inside her. “Thank you,” he whispered before he collapsed on top of her. “Thank you.” He was heavy but she didn’t mind because he was solid and safe and she wanted to savor every moment of the only night she would ever have with him. Eventually he rolled off her and she mourned the loss of his warmth, but he gathered her close, dropping kisses on her shoulders. “How are you?”
“Can’t feel my legs, but otherwise very good.”
He grinned at her and sat up. “Let me take care of you.”
She watched him leave her bed and walk into her bathroom. She lay back smiling. Colin O’Connell had made love to her. Now she felt like a woman. And they were going to be adults about this. There would be no awkwardness. No strain to their working relationship or friendship. She was determined not to let this one night change things.
“You’ve got a bit of smoke coming out of your ears, lass.” Colin walked back to her holding the bowl she used to wash her paintbrushes and a washcloth over his shoulder. “What are you thinking about?” He was naked as the day he was born. It was the first time she could see him. All of him. He was bigger than even she imagined. His skin there slightly darker than the rest of his body. He was quite beautiful. Better than any statue or movie star. It was quite beautiful, too, as it softly bounced while he walked toward her.
“My eyes are up here, Charlotte.”
Busted. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He smiled softly at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ve never been ogled before. It’s not a bad feeling.” He knelt in front of her on the bed and gently pushed her legs open.
He stared at her, and even though she had been naked for a long time it was the first time she’d felt exposed. “What are you doing?”
“Shh.” He dipped the washcloth in the soapy water and tenderly cleaned her. “I need to see for myself that I didn’t hurt you.”
“You didn’t.” She felt herself blush again. “You were…” She couldn’t tell him how wonderful he was to her without giving herself away. “Fine. I barely felt a thing.”
“Ouch, love.” He grinned at her and bent to kiss her slightly aroused flesh. “You’re no good for a man’s ego.” He kissed her twice more, causing her to want to repeat what they had just finished. She moved her hips, prompting him to do more than just kiss her.
“Sorry, darlin’.” He rose up and gathered her in his arms. “I got carried away.”
“Can’t we do it again?”
“No. It’s too soon. You’re a bit swollen and I don’t want to hurt you.” He kissed her hair. “You might be sore in the morning.”
“What if I promise I won’t be?”
He laughed and then gave her the slowest, sweetest kiss of her life. “Stop trying to tempt me and go to sleep.”
CHAPTER 12
What a difference a day makes …
Colin awoke when he felt a rush of cold air hit his torso. He didn’t open his eyes, blindly groping for his blanket. Instead of a fluffy down comforter, his hand met with naked skin and a pair of warm lips that traveled along his chest. �
��Cherri.” How could he have forgotten where he was? How could he have forgotten the night that would change everything?
He’d taken her virginity and by doing so made himself the man she would always remember. He searched deep inside himself for regret or uneasiness or guilt … But he couldn’t find any.
She makes me feel good.
And because he was the man who took her virginity, he knew he had done it right. That she wasn’t hurt. That she had a good time. He would no longer have to worry about some other man mucking it up, making sex less than beautiful for her.
“Pull the blankets back up, lass, and come here.”
“No.” She flicked her tongue over his nipple. His cock rose to epic proportions.
Go away, he warned his erection. It’s too soon for her. But his member wasn’t listening and neither was the girl who was growing closer and closer to it. “What are you doing, darlin’? It’s freezing. Come here.”
“No. I’m going to warm you up.” Her soft kisses grew hotter as they traveled to his lower stomach. Her hair tickled his skin, and it took everything inside him not to push her down on the bed and take her again.
Steady, lad.
“I don’t like you sleeping down here.” He looked around the room to distract himself from her warm wet mouth on his body. The basement hadn’t gotten any better-looking in the time he had been there. It was still ugly, dank, and eerie. “I’m surprised you don’t wake up with frostbite every morning. It’s got to be under fifty degrees down here.”
“Colin,” she whined. “I’m trying to seduce you and you’re complaining about being cold.”
“You’re trying to seduce me?” He laughed. It wasn’t necessary. All she had to do was breathe and he would be ready to make love to her.
“What’s with you laughing at me all the time?” She sat up pouting and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. His eyes traveled there. She was an innocent. She didn’t have a clue how sexy she looked with her breasts all plumped up and on display. She reminded him of one of those nude paintings, made when women looked like real women instead of like sticks. “I want to make you feel good,” she said softly.
He tugged her hand toward his mouth and kissed the back of her fingers. “You do that without even trying.”
“Oh.” She smiled at him, and that feeling he was loath to describe hit him in the chest like a bullet. “That was a very smooth line, and just for that I’m going to start a fire for you.”
She quickly left the bed and scurried to the ancient wood-burning stove in the corner. He almost stopped her, fairly sure that the dilapidated-looking thing was unsafe, but he kept his mouth shut because the sight of her naked bottom bent over in front of it caused the blood to rush from his head.
“It should get warm in a few minutes.” She scampered back to bed and rested her head on his thigh. “Now, where was I?” She cupped his tight sac in her hands and kissed him before gently sucking him into her mouth.
He gripped the sheets. “Stop it, lass.” She ran her tongue up his shaft and he was about to lose it. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her away from his organ. “For fuck’s sake! How did you learn how to do that?”
“I’m learning now. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, you know.”
“Have you?”
“Yes.” She nodded as she settled down on the pillow next to him. “I think I would like to be good at sex and I want you to show me how.”
“Trust me, love. You don’t need any tutoring. You’re a natural.” More than that, they were good together. When he slipped inside her it felt like he had been making love to her his entire life. It was oddly like coming home. “You should know that sex isn’t going to be like this with everybody.”
She scrunched her brow in thought. “It was nice, wasn’t it? I thought it was just me, but you felt it, too.” He nodded and she continued. “Do you think it’s because we’re friends, it feels different?”
“Yeah,” he said, but he knew that what he felt for her was far different from friendship. They were more than friends. They always were, and now that he had her he wasn’t sure if he could go back to life without her.
“I’m glad we’re friends.” She placed his hand between her legs and stroked herself with his fingers.
His mouth went dry as he touched her wetness. She really was going to be the death of him. She made it impossible for him to be considerate. “What are you doing to me now, Charlotte?”
Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open, and she panted as she quickened the pace of his fingers. “You started it earlier with your kissing. I’ve been uncomfortable ever since.” She moaned deep in her throat. “I need you.”
“You have me.” He pulled her on top of him, lining her warm curves with him. Shit. She had gotten to him. He was never going to be the same after tonight.
She looked down at him, her expression a mix of lust and pure innocence. “Tell me what to do now.”
“Whatever you want, love. This is your night.”
“Help me.” She looked down between them.
Reading her meaning, he lifted her hips and slid deep inside her warmth. She moaned and without further instruction she began to rock on him, back and forth, setting a tempo that drove him insane. “Touch me,” she ordered, and he did. No part of her skin went untouched or unloved and before long they were so lost in love that the rest of the world faded away.
* * *
Cherri woke up early the next morning with Colin’s warm hard body wrapped around her. Instead of feeling pleasure that she was in bed with a gorgeous man, she felt depressed. Now that her night was over, she was going to go back to her everyday reality.
Bummer.
She didn’t regret it, though. It was the best night of her life.
“What’s wrong?” He kissed her eyelids. “You look a bit sad.”
“It’s all over.”
“What is?”
“This is. Us. We have to go back to being normal.”
“I don’t know about you, but I was never normal.”
She smiled and held him close. “Thank you for last night. The ride home. The taking of my virginity. The multiple orgasms.”
“Happy to help.” He tilted her chin her and kissed her. He kept it light and sweet at first, but soon it changed. And she had no idea who deepened it, but soon her leg was thrown over his side and he was sliding in and out of her at a frantic pace. She couldn’t control herself, meeting him stroke for stroke because she knew this was her very last time with him. From now on she would have to go through life knowing what it felt like to be with him but unable to have him again.
She cried out, an orgasm striking her when he drove so deeply inside her that she didn’t know where she ended and he began. He followed soon after her, kissing sweetly, saying dozens of pretty love words she was too blissful to understand.
“Aw, lass. I’m sorry.” He kissed her forehead half a dozen times. “I didn’t mean to start that.”
He went to pull out of her but she held him tight. “Please, not yet.” She enjoyed the way he felt inside her.
“It feels good.” He readjusted himself so that he could fill her a little more. “I could stay here—”
“There you are!” Baba came rushing down the stairs as fast as her old heavy body could take her, Rufus at her heels. “I knew you couldn’t keep your promise.”
“Baba?” Cherri sat up, covering herself with blankets, trying to ignore Rufus as he barked at Baba. “What are you talking about?”
“Your baby, Natasha! You said you would take care of her but you have been out running in the street, opening your legs for every bum you come across.”
Oh no, Cherri thought. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. There hadn’t been any memory lapses since they’d changed her medication. She’d hoped that was the end of it. “Baba?”
“Yes, her Baba had to take care of her last night because you don’t care enough about her. Cherri cried for you for hours.” She raised her hand, slapping
Cherri so hard her head snapped back. Tears filled her eyes even before she felt the sting on her cheek.
“Whoa.” Colin flew out of bed and grabbed Baba. “Don’t you dare raise your hand to her.”
“Get off me, you bum! Did she tell you she has a one-year-old baby upstairs? That my husband and I can barely make ends meet because we are taking care of her. Did she tell you she couldn’t even be bothered to get that beautiful little girl a birthday present? You’re a bad girl, Natasha. I don’t know where we went wrong with you.” Baba lunged for her again, but this time Colin had her firmly in his grasp.
Rufus jumped onto the bed and licked Cherri’s face where it stung and she almost broke down. “Please, Colin.” She patted her dog’s head, unable to push him away. “Don’t hurt her. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
“No shit.” He struggled to restrain the furious old woman against him. “How long has this been going on?”
* * *
He never got an answer to his question because as soon as he asked it Baba started to hyperventilate. Naked as the day he was born, he hauled her upstairs to her bedroom. He wanted to call an ambulance but Cherri begged him not to. He almost ignored her wishes, but when he saw the tears roll down her cheeks he let it be. She said Yuliana hated hospitals. She associated them with dying, with her husband. She would be miserable if she had to stay in one.
It took them hours to get Baba settled. He didn’t know what happened to the feisty woman. Her skin was gray, her words incoherent. She was lost. His heart broke every time he looked at her. And if he had a hard time seeing her that way, Cherri must have found it nearly impossible.
She hadn’t meant to hurt Cherri, but her handprint hadn’t faded from her face yet and each time she glanced at her granddaughter she sobbed.
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