by Annie Evans
Eli’s hands left hers to find the curve of her waist. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, then gave her a push. Then another and another, until she was slicing through the chilly air, the hem of her nightgown fluttering around her knees and laughter bubbling up from her throat. She closed her eyes and imagined the sun bright and warm on her face, the day hot and endless, with the rich scent of magnolia blossoms hanging heavy in the muggy air.
And then she was slowing down after what felt like an hour of soaring, Eli’s pushes becoming less and less forceful. The swing finally rocked to a lazy sway and, still smiling, Bellamy heaved a deep sigh of contentedness.
Thank you would never be enough.
He swept her hair aside and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck, making her shiver. His fingers slid under her jaw, tilting her face up for his mouth. It was an easy meeting of flesh, no tongue yet, just the soft brush of his lips across hers. Feathery strokes of his thumb across her chin woke chilled nerve endings beneath the skin. Now that the burst of adrenaline was wearing off, she was cold.
“Let’s go inside,” she said against his mouth, an invitation to that something she’d pondered so strongly earlier in the evening.
Eli nodded. “Okay.”
She scooped up her flip-flops and he followed her into the kitchen, where she tossed the shoes to a corner and flipped off the back porch light. When Eli locked the door and slid the curtain closed over the window, she smiled at his diligent concern.
Then he was kissing her again, more heat and purpose this time, with his hands cupping her face and his bigger body crowding hers. Her bottom bumped against the edge of the table as he walked her backward. At the tinkle of glass, she remembered the cup of tea she’d abandoned. Reluctantly, she broke the kiss to peer behind her and make sure she wasn’t about to make a mess.
“I wasn’t planning to defile you on top of your grandparents’ table, Bellamy.”
She laughed out loud. “That’s not what I was wondering about, but okay. I was more concerned with spilling the cup of tea behind me.”
Eli took her hand and led her into the living room, stopping beside her bed. She switched on the lamp before shrugging out of her robe. When Eli reached for the placket of his shirt, she stopped him. “Don’t.” At his hesitant smile, she said, “I want to do that. Take off your boots then lie down on your back.”
While he tugged his boots and socks off, she shoved her rumpled blanket aside and straightened the pillows. A fire would’ve been nice, maybe a little cheesy and clichéd, but still romantic. And warm. She made a mental note to hire a chimney sweep as soon as she had the available funds.
Eli dropped to the mattress, rolling over onto his back. Bellamy crawled over him on all fours until her face was level with his. His fingers tangled in the fabric of her nightgown, but he didn’t tug her down or urge her to take it off. She brought one hand up to smooth his hair away from his forehead. “Does anyone nag you about getting a haircut?”
“Not much. Why, do you think I should?”
“No. I like it longer. Although I’ve never seen it shorter either. You’d probably be just as handsome if you were bald.”
He grinned at her compliment and tucked her hair behind her ears. It was so fine, several strands immediately defied his placement. “Yours reminds me of crow feathers.”
She sat down on his upper thighs, not quite on top of his cock, but high enough she could still reach his chest or lean forward and kiss his mouth when she felt like it. “I didn’t get a chance to explore you much that night we met. I want to now. Is that okay?” He nodded when she glanced up at his face, not that she expected any objection. “Raise your hands above your head and keep them there.”
He grinned, but did as she said. The action made the hem of his shirt slip partly out of his jeans, so she helped it the rest of the way, exposing the lower part of his flat stomach. She bent down to nuzzle the trail of dark hair below his bellybutton, the soft skin, pleased by the sharp hiss of Eli’s indrawn breath when her mouth touched down.
One by one, she popped apart the snaps on his shirt from the bottom upward, placing kisses to his bared flesh as she went. When she had them all open, she pushed the fabric out of her way and rolled her tongue around his nipples, first one, then the other. She mouthed the tiny nubs, scraping over them with her teeth until she made him groan.
“Jesus, Bell.”
Back when she was in high school, some of her friends had shortened her name and she’d hated it. Hearing that version in Eli’s deep voice, made rough by arousal, didn’t bother her at all. In fact, she kind of liked it.
The hair on his chest was soft beneath her nose and God, that particular spot smelled so male it made her sex clench. Pheromones were powerful things. She brought her hand up, tracing the dark trail down his stomach to where it disappeared behind his belt buckle. Beneath the graze of her fingertips, his muscles jumped and contracted.
She dropped more kisses across the hard ridge of his collarbone, dipped her tongue into the shallow divot at the base of his throat. For a moment, she let herself linger there just to feel his pulse flutter against her lips, before she licked over his Adam’s apple. Drew the tip of her tongue up the side of his neck to the sensitive spot below his ear. When she bit his earlobe, his hands rose in her periphery, but then he closed them into fists and forced them back down above his head. She smiled.
“Kiss me,” he said, and she did, thrilled by the demand.
Bellamy wasn’t fooling herself—Eli was allowing her to touch him this way. With his strength and size, if he wanted to take control, he could do so easily. Not a chance she would resist, but she might be a little disappointed at having to halt her erotic exploration. At the lost opportunity to get fully reacquainted with his incredible body.
That night they spent together in Perry, he’d been the one in charge and she’d readily conceded to his competence. His sexual expertise had far outweighed hers anyway, and she’d been in the mood to forget everything, not think. Block out her troubling thoughts and just feel. Tonight she wanted to commit sensation to memory, etch it on the walls of her mind so it would be there forever. She wanted to be the one to unravel this beautiful man, drive him insane with lust, hear him groan and say filthy things.
She parted her lips and let his tongue slide inside her mouth, where it slow danced with hers. Ignoring her weak order to keep his hands above his head, he grasped her face, tilting it at the angle he wanted so he could devour her more deeply. A soft whimper of need slipped from her throat, feeding the building heat between their bodies.
Bellamy pressed her breasts to his bare chest for friction against her nipples, but it wasn’t enough. The thin cotton of her nightgown might as well have been a sheet of iron. She pulled away just long enough to whip it over her head and toss it away, going right back to kissing him, tasting his mouth, nipping at his full bottom lip with her teeth.
From his mouth, she moved to his throat, his muscled chest, mapping the contours of his ribs as they expanded and contracted with his excited breaths. Following the treasure trail of hair bisecting his abdomen to stop at the barrier of his belt.
When his hand caught hers, stopping her from undoing the buckle, she glanced up, confused. “Tell me the reason behind the invitation, Bell?”
“Who says there is one?”
“There’s always a reason, some better than others. I understood the first time. You wanted me to help you forget something, and I was okay with that. More than okay with it. But I don’t want to be just an escape for you.”
Bellamy swallowed, licked her bottom lip, his honesty a bit unsettling. He was owed it back, though. She sat on her heels, her hand still trapped in his. “I’ve never had to qualify sex before.”
“And I never wanted to before I met you. Now I do.”
“Are you gonna say no if I tell you part of it’s gratitude for the gate and the swing?”
“Depends.”
“On?”
“What�
��s the other part?”
Looking at him spread out across her bed, his shirt splayed open, his body a feast for the senses and the taste of him still on her tongue, the answer was easy. “Good old-fashioned lust.”
He let go of her hand, propped himself up on his elbows. The lamp cast half his face in dim gilded light, the other half in shadow, but she could still see a frown pinch his forehead. That wasn’t the answer he wanted, she guessed. Why was he making this so hard all of a sudden? What man questioned the reasons behind sex?
“You think there might be some like in there too?”
Oh. The air she hadn’t realized she’d trapped in her lungs gusted out. “Of course there is, Eli. Lots of it.”
Every muscle in his body seemed to loosen at her admission. She could feel it in hers too, as if she’d passed some weird test between the two of them. Nothing was ever as easy at is seemed, not even sex. There was always a price to be paid, be it to your self-esteem, your conscience or your soul.
Something told her the more time she spent with Eli—in bed or out of it—she was going to pay dearly. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, if it was fair to either one of them. Didn’t stop her from wanting him, though. Didn’t make her second-guess her attraction to the other parts of him that didn’t send her hormones into a tailspin of desire. His character and work ethic and generous spirit, for a start. Those traits just did a number on her heart, which was the part that truly scared her to death.
The makings of a grin curved one corner of his mouth. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” He grasped her wrist and drew her hand back to the hard ridge beneath his fly. “Now, where were we?”
Even though her thoughts were muddied by the things he’d said and her own mental reaction to them, the heat beneath the denim was a powerful reminder. Her fingers made quick work of his buckle, then the button and zipper on his jeans. Eli lifted his hips when she began to pull his pants down with his briefs. She scooted backward on her knees as she peeled them down his long legs and off his feet. He was naked now except for the shirt. With his cock thick and stiff against his belly, it was just about the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. It narrowed her focus back down to where it had been when he’d first kissed her tonight.
At the foot of the mattress, she stood and pushed her cotton panties over her hips, stepping out of them while Eli watched, his bottom lip clamped beneath his teeth. Her skin heated when his gaze traveled down her legs, then made a slow pass all the way back up to her face, taking in every inch of her.
He propped himself up on one hand and extended the other, crooking a finger. “Darlin’, you are so hot, we’re gonna set the bed on fire. Come give me a taste of those pretty nipples.”
Ah, there he was—that naughty, demanding country boy who’d set her body aflame, turned the capable, self-reliant woman inside her into a pile of smoldering ash in the middle of a motel bed. Bellamy longed to return the favor, but she knew the moment he touched her, she would turn to putty instead.
When her hand landed in his, he tugged her down then rolled her beneath him, shoving a thigh between her legs. The possessive kiss he gave her cleared the last remnants of thought from her brain, replacing them with pure, undiluted need. Her palms slid down his sides, nails grazing his skin, before exploring the flexing muscles in his lower back as he pushed his cock against her hip.
Bellamy arched her back, offering her throat for his wandering mouth. His lips closed around a nipple, sucking and biting hard enough to cause a flash of pain before he licked it away with a lash of his tongue. The roughness of his palms set nerve endings tingling in the flesh of her stomach, between her hipbones, then lower still. His thigh rose to her pussy, offering her something solid to grind against. Pleasure sparked in her core, the pressure good, but not enough to make her come. She didn’t want to hump his leg like a horny teenager. She wanted to spread her thighs and have him sink so deep inside her she saw stars.
However, Eli was apparently of a different mindset, one that would still get her off, but not at the same time as him. His mouth blazed a hot trail down her stomach as he shifted above her, shrugged out of his shirt then settled between her legs.
A circular pattern of lingering kisses and bites from the inside of her thigh, across her belly, hipbone, the tendon at the crease of her leg, built the anticipation to a fever pitch. He encouraged her with his hands to drape her legs over his shoulders and Bellamy braced herself for what was coming—an onslaught of raw, delicious sensation.
That night in Perry, he’d been the most giving, tireless lover she’d ever had, a genuine delightful surprise, which, if she was being honest with herself, was probably part of the disappointment at finding him gone the next morning. Men like Eli didn’t come along often in a woman’s lifetime of sexual experiences, if ever. Handsome and hot as sin itself, a filthy mind to match his wicked tongue, a natural at the act and eager to please. She might’ve been thrown off kilter by the three condoms he’d brandished like most people carried credit cards, but she had to admit she’d thoroughly enjoyed herself.
A stream of hot breath over the damp folds of her sex made her shudder before long swipes from his tongue framed her clit. He used his fingers to push back the tiny hood, exposing her further for his focused attention. She could feel herself grow wetter under his gaze.
Another slow, deliberate lick, then, “Christ, you taste good.” Dark-gray eyes met hers as he speared her with the tip of his tongue, pushed it inside her opening then swept it back up and around the hardened bud in a lazy yet deliberate path. She reached for his head, fingers threading through his hair, her eyes drifting closed on a wave of sublime pleasure.
“God, Eli,” she whispered, warmth spreading down her thighs, up her belly, into her breasts. She dug her heels into his back and lifted her hips in an effort to get closer to his mouth. “Do that again.”
“That’s right…say my name. Take what you want from me, Bell. Fuck my face.”
Her skin flushed at his blunt words, but her body wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed or shy. Tightening her fingers in his hair, she did as he ordered and ground her sex against his gifted mouth. Two fingers slid inside her, setting off a chain reaction when his teeth found her clit again. She came, hot and sharp and blinding, rocking and shuddering, her heartbeat thrumming in her ears.
Pleasure fading, her knees fell open, freeing him from a trap she hadn’t realized she’d created until some of her senses returned. Eli grinned and pushed to his hands and knees, his damp mouth making lust echo through her body. He reached for his jeans, fumbling through his pockets for a condom.
Just one. Not three. And not in his wallet. Huh.
“That all you have?” she asked. While inside her head she heard, You little hypocrite.
He laughed. “You’re my kinda woman. And no, there’s a box in my truck. I just grabbed one before I got out in hopes this was where we wound up.”
“In Perry…you had three on you.” You prying little hypocrite. Shut up!
“Yeah, but only because my truck was parked so far away from your room I didn’t want to have to make another trip later. I grabbed those before I emptied the snack machine. What, you thought I carried them around like Aces?”
Maybe. She shrugged.
“I guess it gave that impression, huh?” he asked.
“Sort of.”
“I’m no saint, Bell. Far from it actually.” The tip of his sheathed cock nudged her belly. “But I’ve always been responsible and I don’t hurt women. I would never hurt you. And I haven’t been with anyone since that night. I haven’t wanted to be.”
She gulped his confession down, using it to smother any remaining questions or misgivings she might’ve had. She could trust him. She knew deep down in her heart he was telling the truth. “You gotta be somewhere early tomorrow morning?”
“Nowhere but right here,” he said, his eyes burning.
“Good.”
Chapter Seven
Sliding insid
e of Bellamy Haile had to be damn near the best thing Eli had ever felt. Especially since he hadn’t been able to get her and her sweet body off his mind for the last month. And all those memories of that first time paled in comparison to the real thing, of having the chance to make newer, hotter memories. Tight, warm, wet…and so perfect his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. He fought to keep them open and trained on her face as he pushed deep, then deeper still.
Her eyelids fluttered down with every slow thrust of his hips, but she resisted the urge to close them too, keeping her gaze trained on his face, his throat, back to his mouth.
Fuck, when she stared at his mouth it drove him crazy with the need to smother hers with a kiss. He could of course, yet he didn’t want to stop looking at her like this. The soft sex-flush on her throat and cheeks, lips parted, that coal-black hair spilling across the pillow. Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. Except it wasn’t just her physical features that drew him. It was her huge, sexy brain, her compassion, her patience. Even her secrets. He still wanted to know what put that troubled look in her green eyes. What made her want to stay in this big empty house, with only ghosts to keep her company. What made her seem like a wild bird to him, likely to disappear on a breeze if spooked.
The sharp demand of her nails in his back jerked him out of his mushy thoughts. He rolled them over then reached for the lamp next to the bed, switching it off. Moonlight bathed her body in pale blue as she braced her hands on his waist and pushed upright.
Goddamn, what a view, he thought, then said the words out loud just to watch her gaze lift to his, the edges of her mouth try to curl into a smile. It didn’t quite work, too lost was she in her own pleasure. And he realized right then it was one of the things he found so sexy about her in bed—she went after what she wanted, took what she needed, threw herself headlong into the deed. There was no acting or playing coy. Their coupling was raw and open and honest, and he was just grateful to be along for the ride, lucky to be the one giving her what she desired.