I ran my fingers over the bruise on his ribs, he flinched, but didn't move away from me. When I looked up at his face, his expression was still the same as before. His breathing was shallow and the rise and fall of his chest was mesmerizing.
The bandages that were supposed to be holding his cut together were loose and I immediately reached up to fix them. He held still, so stoic, so quiet, but I felt his eyes on me, burning through my skin and caressing me.
I tried to ignore it.
I fixed the bandages and dropped my hand to his cheek and fingered the bruise under his eye. Without thinking, I stood on my tip toes and reached up to place a kiss there, thinking that somehow it would feel better just by kissing it. His eyes were closed when I pulled away and I could see the rapid thrum of his pulse in his throat.
That's when I looked at his shoulder and saw the tattoo I had been wondering about earlier. At first, it looked like a bunch of celtic knots shaped into some sort of design. It was beautiful and elegant. Then I took a closer look and gasped. It was in the shape of a 'T'.
"Charlie…" I looked up into his now open eyes as I ran my fingers over the graceful curves of each knot. "Is this…?"
He looked down at my fingers with heavy lidded eyes and nodded.
"When?"
He cleared his throat and moved his beautiful, bright green eyes back to mine. "After I couldn't find you in Kansas. Since I couldn't be with you, I wanted you with me."
I caught my breath and kept my eyes locked with his, smoldering and hungry. Mine were probably needy as hell and begging him to take me. I wanted to cry and scream, run and fight, all at once. How stupid we had been. How stupid and ignorant I had been.
He slowly bent his head down close to mine until our lips were just a breath away. I took a slow breath and basked in the heat radiating off of him. I wanted him to kiss me, to possess me. I wanted him to erase all the years we had missed together and tell me that everything was going to be alright. I wanted to turn back time and realize what I had in front of me. Right now though, I just wanted him to kiss me until I couldn't breathe anymore.
Then his lips crashed to mine in a soul searing, heart wrenching kiss. The passion of it being built up for years with every thought and fantasy each of us had, with every gutting decision we had made, it was an inferno that could never be tamed.
Oh, he kissed me, and I couldn't breathe anymore. His arms came around my waist and held me against him as he ran his tongue along my bottom lip, seeking entrance.
I didn't hesitate. He plunged his tongue between my lips and moaned when mine tangled with his. One hand clutched at the small of my back while the other made a searing path up between my shoulder blades to the nape of my neck to bury itself in my hair and hold me against him. My hands clawed at his shoulders as he angled his head to deepen the kiss, taking even more of my breath away and causing my knees to knock. He held me up against him when I couldn't stand any longer, locking me in his strong arms.
When he broke the kiss, much too soon, we were both gasping for air. He rested his forehead against mine and looked into my eyes.
"I love you, Tess. I never stopped loving you."
He didn't wait for a response and before I could blink, his mouth was on mine again and he had turned to press me against the wall next to the bathroom doorway, gripping the backs of my thighs with his hands and hauling me up to cradle him between my legs.
His towel, by some stupid goddamn miracle, stayed wrapped around his hips even when I wrapped my legs around him with his encouragement. He never broke the kiss and now that he had me anchored against the wall with his hard body, his one hand moved up to the back of my neck while his other firmly gripped my ass and pulled me toward him even tighter than I thought possible.
I was still clinging to his shoulders and decided it was time for me to do myself a favor and move my hands where I wanted them. I ran my fingers through his hair and tugged his face closer so I could kiss him more thoroughly. He moaned into my mouth before pulling his soft lips away and running them down over my jaw and down the column of my throat.
"Tess. You taste incredible, God, I could kiss you forever."
I couldn't hold back the whimper of pleasure at his words. Forever wasn't long enough.
In the back of my mind, someone was questioning what was happening, whether it was smart or responsible. I ignored the voice and held Charlie against my neck as he devoured me with kisses. It was just me here. No one else.
He kissed down to the open skin just below the collar of his dress shirt, that I was still wearing for some ridiculous reason, and warmth shot down my belly and between my open legs. The heat must have been intense against his lower stomach because he responded with a growl and supported my weight with both hands on my ass as he pulled away from the wall and turned to the bed. I didn't want to let go of him and it seemed he couldn't let go of me either, so we both fell to the bed, still clutching each other frantically and exploring the planes of each other's bodies with our hands.
He kept himself between my thighs and ran his hand down to the back of my knee to hitch my leg up higher so he could grind against me similar to the way he did while we had been dancing. Even though the towel was blocking my view, I could feel how much he wanted me. His lips stayed on the skin at the base of my neck, sucking and nipping until I was dizzy from the pleasurable pulse of blood running through my body. I don't think I had ever felt anything so incredible in my life. He was everywhere, surrounding me with his warmth and filling each breath with his incredible scent.
He finally moved up my neck and jaw and took my lips again, caressing them tenderly, but passionately. His body was a fire pressing me down into the mattress and I had no qualms about being burned. I needed more.
I rolled my hips up and arched my back, telling him what my body wanted. What my whole being wanted from him. He gasped and broke our kiss but stayed close enough so we were still breathing the same air, still able to see into the deepest part of each other as his green eyes looked into mine.
"Charlie."
"Tell me what you want, Tess."
I was suddenly nervous and felt a blush run from my toes to my face. He grinned as he always did when I blushed. I wrapped my hands around the back of his head and dug my fingers into his hair, needing to touch him more. He moved a hand to press into the mattress next to my head and supported his weight as he waited patiently for my directions. The muscles in his arm flexed and oh boy, he was fit. I had no idea what I wanted. At least, I couldn't pin point one specific thing.
I wanted everything.
I wanted all of him.
"You, Charlie."
He leaned in and swept his lips over mine so softly, if it wasn't for the heat coming off of him, I would have never felt it. "You've always had me, love. You own me."
"Then, please. Show me what I've got."
He smiled, baring his perfect white teeth to my eyes, and then tearing it away from me by moving down to the collar of that damn shirt that was still on me. He pulled one side of the collar open and kissed a path over to my collar bone where he used those beautiful teeth to nip me and send lightening down my body. His fingers barely brushed over my still covered breast to find the buttons running down the middle of my torso.
He tugged and maneuvered each button open, leaving the material covering me, the anticipation nearly choking me. His lips followed the same path, branding the inches of skin that ran down between my breasts and over my pierced belly button. He groaned when he saw the tiny jewel dangling over my navel.
"Holy shit, that's so sexy."
I giggled quietly and closed my eyes as he opened the bottom of the shirt to see the piercing more clearly.
"When did you do that?" he asked breathlessly.
I opened my eyes and saw the hungry look on his face, barely able to use the strength of my vocal chords to push the words out.
"Lydia did it a few months after I left. It's the one thing we both agree on."
He smiled wickedly, "Remind me to thank her when I see her next."
He couldn't have known how much his words meant to me. He expected me to switch eventually and it didn't seem to bother him in the least. Even in the heat of passion, my love for him burst out of me. I felt my eyes pool with tears and when his image became too blurry, I let go of my need to hold them back and let the greediness I had to see him clearly, take over. They fell out of the corners of my eyes and down to my hair.
"Oh, baby. Don't cry, please, it kills me when you cry," he murmured and wiped my tears with his warm fingers. He looked worried that he had said something wrong when he had said the one thing that was right.
"I love you, Charlie," I whispered. "I love you so much."
His eyes widened for just a moment before he came crashing down against me, his mouth covering mine and showing me how much those words meant to him.
After a few moments, he tore away from my mouth and kissed down my neck again while his hand slowly moved under one side of the unbuttoned shirt, pushing it away from my skin and revealing a part of my body that hadn't been touched by any man, but longed to be touched by him. His lips stopped kissing me as he lifted up to pull away the other side. The rumble in his chest told me he approved and the gleam in his eyes showed his need to possess me.
"Exquisite. Absolutely perfect," he stated and moved his fingers over the sensitive skin at the top of my breasts, making me shiver before moving his touch down to press his palm against the tight protruding bud that ached for him. I gasped and threw my head back. He bent his head and kissed, licked, worshipped one breast while his hand kneaded, caressed, and engulfed the other in its warmth. I arched my back, pushing my breasts closer to him, begging for more.
After ravishing one, he moved to the other and did it all over again, murmuring soft words against my skin and making the ache between my legs grow stronger. I writhed beneath him, moaning at his assault on my breasts and burning each touch to memory.
I had been clutching the blankets so hard, my knuckles were white and now ached from the grip they had. I wanted to touch him. Needed to touch his skin and dig my fingers into the hard muscles of his back, but his touch was almost too much and I couldn't focus enough to move my arms. When I finally broke through and gained control of my limbs, I did exactly what I wanted. My fingers dug into the muscles of his back, hard and twitching at my touch, and pulled his body closer to mine. He pulled his lips from my chest and moved his body down mine until his mouth found the jewel at my navel where he dipped his tongue and sent a whole new rush of liquid heat down my belly. He grasped my hips and pulled them against his chest. I was still in his boxers, but I knew he could feel the heat beneath them, reaching out for him.
God, he was good at this.
My hands could only reach the back of his shoulders now so I moved them to his silky brown hair.
His fingers curled and slipped under the waistband of the boxers to begin pulling them down my legs. I froze when I realized that he probably didn't know I was still a virgin and now my nerves were colliding against each other because I honestly had no clue what I was doing and no idea how to please him.
"What's wrong, love? Do you want me to stop?" Charlie asked, concern lacing his husky voice as his hands paused and he focused on my face.
I hesitated and tried to catch my breath. I didn't want him to stop, but I didn't want my inexperience to ruin anything.
"What is it, Tess? If you want me to stop, just say the word."
I took a deep breath and met his gaze. This man, who loved me despite all my issues, was willing to be pushed away if I wanted to push him, just to make me feel better. I was going to be honest and I wasn't going to let my nervousness get in the way. "I'm… I've never done this before. I-I…"
He stayed silent, but I could see the concern in his eyes soften and turn to understanding. "You're still a virgin?" he asked respectfully.
I just nodded quickly and closed my eyes as I started rambling, "I don't have any clue what to expect. I have never done anything even close to this and I mean, I love what you are doing and I know that I can trust you, but I just don't know how to make it good for you or if I should be prepared for it to be painful. I'm sorry, I have no experience with this and I can't imagine the kind of pressure that puts on--"
"Tess, look at me, love." His voice held more than just a trace of amusement and I knew before I opened my eyes that he would be smiling that gorgeous smile that would erase all of my fears.
He didn't disappoint. As soon as I saw that smile, I relaxed.
"You have nothing to be sorry about and you can trust me. God, baby, you have no idea how happy it makes me to know that I'm the only man to touch you like this. To love you like this. And pressure? The only pressure I feel is the need to make this good for you. I don't want to hurt you and if you still want this, I'll do my best to make sure the pain is minimal." His fingers brushed through my hair and he kissed my face while he spoke. "The only question I have is whether or not we need to use a condom because I don't have any and I don't think I'll live if we get to that point and I can't be inside you."
I couldn't stop my smile. He was incredible and his words turned me on impossibly more. "I want this more than anything, Charlie. And I have been on the pill for a while now, you know, in case one of the alters…"
His brow furrowed and I could see the question in his eyes.
"I made it a point to be checked shortly before I left the facility. I didn't want to not know if something like that had happened without me remembering it."
He grinned and kissed me hard. "Then don't worry about making this good for me. It's with you. That's all that matters to me. It will be amazing." He kissed back down to where he had left off and tugged the boxers down while kissing the, until now, untouched skin as it was revealed. "Let me love you now."
No way this could get any better.
But it did. He slipped the boxers over my ankles and feet and leaned back, taking me in. The shirt was still covering my arms and pulled behind my shoulders. I wanted it off. He must have read my mind because he helped me slip it off and tossed it across the room. His eyes slowly roamed over every inch of my skin, causing goose bumps to rise over my entire body. He smiled and even though my mind tried to force me to look away and hide in embarrassment, my eyes wouldn't leave him.
"Fifteen years," he breathed and smiled when my brow furrowed in confusion. "It was worth the wait."
Understanding seeped into my mind. We had known each other for 15 years. He had waited for me all that time, rarely spending time with anyone else in grade school, only going on a handful of dates in high school, and only God knows what he had been doing since I had left, but he had been holding out for me. I wasn't naïve enough to think that he had saved himself for me. But I knew what he meant. It was the same for me in some ways. I fought against it for so long, but I had always known he was the one for me. The only one I could ever want.
My thoughts were interrupted when his hands moved to the towel around his hips and pulled it off. If I ever questioned if he was a perfectly built man before, I didn't anymore. He was kneeling upright between my legs, gazing down at me, and even knowing what was about to happen, I couldn't avoid taking in every detail of him.
His shoulders were broad and strong, his biceps flexed with anticipation and so smooth I wanted to lick them. His chest puffed out as I perused down his body like he was proud that I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I never thought I would think this before about any man, but his erection was a thing of beauty, so rigid and… big. I gulped, knowing it would fit, but also knowing my luck wasn't the greatest before now.
He made a sound in the back of his throat that was part moan part growl. "Tess, I feel like you are about to devour me, then ask for seconds."
I didn't respond, but the rise and fall of my chest was more pronounced as I tried to find my breath, and the gasps I was making were probably extremely unattractive. "I… you are…"
S
lowly, oh so damn slowly, he ran his hands from my knees, up my thighs, then covered my body with his keeping just one hand pressed to the crease at the top of my thigh. He ground his erection against the aching flesh between my legs, sending me soaring, and kissed me deeply. "I love you, Tess."
I kissed him back, giving him everything I had and letting go of all my doubts. His hand moved over my mound and I bucked against him at the shock of sensation.
"Shhh, just relax, love. I'll take care of you," he murmured against my skin and kissed his way back down my body, taking the long way as he licked and kissed my full, heavy breasts again. His finger slipped into my folds and found me wet and pulsing.
"Christ, you're so wet. That's for me?"
"Yes. Oh… Charlie… please…" I couldn't form a coherent thought as his fingers explored my folds and found my opening. I felt a pressure building in my womb and it begged for release.
He continued kissing down my stomach and over my bare mound. The first flick of his tongue sent me spiraling out of control. I cried out his name and struggled to keep my body still for him. He had a hand settled on my hip while his other continued to explore and make me insane. My lungs burned from the effort it took to breathe as I focused on his touch. He found the tiny bundle of nerves easily and kissed me there, pulling it between his lips and gently sucking. I felt a fingertip dip inside me as he flicked his tongue over the tiny bud.
The pressure built and built until I could no longer stand it. That's when I fell apart. My entire body tightened, then blew apart in wave after wave. I don't know what I shouted, but I know I did and when I came back down, he was there to catch me.
His eyes were heavy lidded and his breathing ragged. His fingers were still moving around and he had pressed one deep into my passage when I came. "That was so fucking beautiful," he breathed.
Every One Of Me Page 16