by Lynn Galli
“Yeah.”
“Goodnight, M.”
“Goodnight, sweet.”
I didn’t know whose gasp was sharper. It was the first time she’d used an endearment with me. I wanted to jump out of bed and dance around the room. Instead, I gripped her tightly against me with a sense of peace that I hadn’t known in years. But the problem with getting everything you wanted was that you couldn’t get to sleep with your focus so divided. Add to that, her hand under the hem of my shirt, and I might be awake until dawn. Her warm breath dusted across my throat, and the weight of one breast tantalized with every one of her breaths. When her hand started to move, I thought I might have a seizure from the mix of sensations.
After ten torturous minutes, her lips pressed softly on my neck then moved across my clavicle. That teasing hand grew bolder, skimming higher until fingertips swiped the swell of my breast. They traced the curve before moving up to grasp my breast.
When her fingers flicked my sensitive nipple, an explosion of breath escaped me. It wouldn’t do to spontaneously climax, not when I was supposed to be the experienced partner. But damn, she was making it difficult to contain myself.
Her mouth found mine in the darkness, and I was temporarily distracted from how good her hand felt. She finished the kiss with a nip and shifted to lean more of her weight on top of me. “The light?”
My heart felt like someone was taking running leaps and bouncing off all of its chambers. She was ready. If her unabashed kiss hadn’t told me, then her confident tone did. I nodded, knowing she’d feel my answer even if she couldn’t see it. A second later, one of the bedside lamps clicked on and the muted light didn’t cause the glare it usually did. Not with the sight of her beautiful face over mine.
“Hey,” she spoke softly. “I shouldn’t have let you put on this shirt.”
I smiled at the suggestive tone. “You’re here to help me take it off.”
She grinned and brought both hands to the hem. Together we pulled it up and over my head. Her eyes landed back on my breasts before a hand followed. For someone not used to touching, she was unbelievably good at knowing exactly what amount of pressure, which were the most sensitive spots, and how much my nipples could take.
“So, so good, M, feels amazing. I love what you’re doing.” Her brown eyes widened momentarily before an appreciative smile overtook her face. I didn’t know if I’d said something that she really liked or—talking, that must be it. She probably hadn’t imagined that communication added to the sexual experience. I lost that thought when her mouth kissed downward and closed over a nipple, tongue flicking softly at first then with relentless precision.
“M, please, touch me. I need your touch.” She pulled back and curled her fingers under my panties. I lifted my hips to help her strip them off. Her lips parted as her eyes raked down my body, starting at my face and ending at my toes. “Stunning,” she whispered reverently. “Spread your legs.” Her eyes snapped to mine with a look of panic. “If you want, I mean.”
I tried to make sense of the panic, but nothing came to mind.
She’d asked me for something she wanted; then she’d backtracked. Oh, that’s it. She hadn’t really asked me; she thought she’d ordered me.
“Honey,” I reached for her hand. “You can tell me what you want or what you want me to do at any time. I’m open to almost anything, and I’m never going to think what you ask for is wrong.
If I don’t want to do it, I’ll tell you why. You can phrase it however you like. I’m always going to take it as a request not a command, okay?” She nodded, blinking back her emotions. “I need to know that I can do the same with you.”
“You can.”
Because she seemed to have stalled a bit, I encouraged, “Tell me again what you want.”
She leaned back in to kiss me, all tension draining from her body. “I want to touch you. I want to feel you moving under me when I do. Part your legs.”
Quick learner, I liked that so much. She slipped her palm between my thighs to help me give her what she wanted. I should be embarrassed by how excited she’d find me. Yet the only thing I could focus on was how full my heart felt.
She rose up over me, hovering for a moment before settling between my legs. Her head lifted up from watching where she’d placed her hips against mine. “Hey,” she blurted in that soft tone I’d grown to crave hearing. Somehow the shy greeting seemed perfect in that moment.
“Hey, yourself.” I lifted up to kiss her because she was too close not to and because I had to feel her mouth on me again.
Her hands started to roam. I brought mine up to stroke her back and onto her bare shoulders. She slid one hand down my side and onto my hip. Curling her fingers under my thigh, she brought my leg up so that I was completely open to her. She looked into my eyes as her hand drifted over.
“Yes!” I cried out when her fingers finally reached home.
Tracing lightly at first then delving in through my folds.
“Wet, hot,” she gasped when her hand began to love me.
Swirling, then stroking, our hips meeting and retreating as her head dropped her mouth to mine at first before moving over my chin and onto my throat.
My head tilted backward to give her better access. Sucking and licking, her mouth and tongue pleasured the hottest spots on my neck, both satisfying and torturing me with the need for more.
“Inside, M, I need you inside me.”
Her eyes came back as her fingers swiped against the entrance of my sex. We both groaned as she shoved two fingers into me, inch by slow inch. When she slid all the way inside, I raised my legs and locked my heels around her waist. Her strokes were slow at first; then she sped up somehow knowing exactly what I needed. Testing how fast and hard she could drive into me, she found a rhythm that left us both panting ragged breaths. “Come, Bri, come for me.”
That wasn’t a request, not that I could fight it. I arched toward her, my breasts brushing hers, my mouth finding her neck and taking some of the soft skin between my teeth before the whirl of tingles turned into an explosive orgasm. “Yes, M, all for you!” I shouted, pitching up under her. Contractions squeezed her fingers, imprinting their shape inside me.
“You’re beautiful,” she spoke hoarsely after my spasming body had relented to periodic shudders. “Flushed here.” Her free hand touched my sternum. “And here.” It trailed up to my neck. “I have to taste you.” She disappeared from my hazy view.
My equally cloudy brain didn’t realize what she was saying until her mouth closed over my still throbbing clit. “Oh God! Wait, wait,” I screeched at the surprise attack.
Her lips pulled back immediately. Brown eyes looked worried for a moment before she realized I wasn’t upset. She used that husky voice that sent shivers through me. “Again, Briony. I want to feel you come in my mouth.”
I struggled up onto trembling elbows to get a better look at the incredible sight of my lover staring at me from between my thighs. She flexed the fingers still inside me, causing a loud groan before I collapsed back against the bed. “Your turn next,” I warned her, not bothering to look at the satisfied grin I was sure she now wore.
She brought her mouth back to nibble lightly along my labia then latch onto my clit. Sucking, licking, and flicking while she began a slow pump of her fingers again. It had been too many years to count since I’d orgasmed twice in one lovemaking session, but I could feel it starting again. Her mouth pulled off with a loud smack, and I whimpered at the loss only to feel a cool stream of air hit my over sensitized clit. My hips jerked erratically as the cool reprieve gave way to the insistent suctioning of her mouth again.
“Yes, yes, yes!” I cried at the crest of another glorious wave of pulsations.
She slowly kissed her way back up my body, stopping at my breasts a little longer than the rest. She didn’t slip out of me until my body stopped shivering. “Perfect. You’re absolutely perfect.”
“I am?” I questioned incredulously, giving her a lethargic
smile to go with my completely sated, strung out body. “You’re the perfect one, love.” I kissed the mouth that had just spirited my body into orbit.
Tilting my hips, I rolled her to my side, extending the kiss until the sensation came back into my extremities. I moved my hand over her abdomen and hooked my fingers under her camisole. “Time for this to come off.” Her eyes dilated with desire not fear, nodding in encouragement. I pushed the cami up until her breasts were uncovered. Dark rose nipples, more red than pink, stood at attention on small, firm breasts, perfectly sized for her petite frame. I’d never been with someone shorter and smaller than me.
Deceptively delicate, but I’d felt the power in her frame when she’d brought me off twice and loved me with her whole body.
Elegant muscle definition marked every slope and curve of her torso, matching the overall tone of her arms and legs. I wanted to feel those muscles jump under my fingertips and caress them with my tongue. I wanted to know every inch of her body.
“Okay?” I checked in with her because her eyes flicked away after I’d gotten the cami off. She nodded again. “You’re beautiful, M. Gorgeous, sexy, amazing.”
Her hands grabbed mine and brought them to her underwear, a signal I happily complied with. Seeing her completely bare, gloriously naked, I nearly choked on the beauty of this moment.
My body rolled onto hers, a thigh nudging between hers. I watched her eyes carefully because, as uninhibited as she’d been while making love to me, this was entirely different.
“You feel almost as good over me as you did under me.” She shared in that barely recognizable husky voice.
“We can do this with you on top. Or sitting up or standing or any way you want. Anything you want.” I just wanted her, whichever way she was most comfortable.
“No, like this. I need to know it can be good like this. I need you to make it good like this.” She clutched the backs of my arms to keep me from moving off of her. “We’ll try the other positions tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month.” A shy smile squeezed my heart more than the words had.
“Or next year, or next decade and every decade after that,” I finished, letting her know I wanted her forever. Her eyes sparkled and she took in a shuddering breath at my promise. “We’ll make it good together, M.”
She slid her hand down to tangle with mine then brought it to her breast. I took over because I couldn’t stop myself from touching her. Her breast filled my hand, the spiking nipple tickling my palm. She gasped when my fingers flicked across the erect nub. Gently, because she needed to know that making love could be gentle before we worked on what she liked best. If she was anything like me—and so far she hadn’t disappointed—she’d want soft and sweet one day, vigorous and fiery the next.
I leaned down and licked her nipple once then again. Her body stiffened but not in fear. Closing my lips over her areola, I pulled the nipple into my mouth and lashed my tongue mercilessly. She bucked underneath me, nearly dislodging my lips.
“You like this?” The cords in her neck strained with her head nod. “Say it.”
Brown eyes blinked at me in surprise. If I hadn’t been wearing a wicked smile, I might have frightened her. “So much, Bri. I like everything you do to me.”
My lips pressed wet marks down her body, still too tense for my liking. But unlike when we’d stopped earlier tonight, this tension had nothing to do with not being able to experience this properly. She was tense from fear of the unexpected. Her body had already surprised her; I could see that in her eyes.
Placing my shoulders between her thighs, I studied the swollen, glistening lips of her sex. Downy soft hair, a shade darker than the sun lightened strands on her head covered her mound in a neat trim. I reached forward with my tongue first, wanting just a taste. Savory, part sweet, part tangy, pure heaven. The jerk of her hips brought on a smile before I kissed her fully and let my tongue lick the length of her.
“God!” she exhaled again. Her hands flew to my head to have something to hold on to when her body kept sending her different signals. I assumed she’d climaxed before, but by the erratic jerks and lunges as I explored then sucked her clit into my mouth, I started thinking she may never have experienced an orgasm before. For someone with her sexual history, it wouldn’t be that wild a possibility.
“Okay, M?”
“Yes, I just, it feels, yes,” she managed roughly.
I replaced my mouth with my hand and climbed up over her, keeping up a constant touch but needing to be near her when she exploded. “Can you handle more?” Her brow furrowed followed by a harsh blink. “I want to be inside you.” When the immediate acceptance I’d hoped for didn’t happen, I instructed, “Tell me no.” I wanted her to know that she could stop anything before it happened or as it was happening.
“Yes,” she whispered with a steady gaze.
That wasn’t the word I expected. “Inside?” I clarified.
Her hands slid down the length of my back to grab my butt.
“Everywhere you want to be, Briony. I want that from you and with you.”
“I love you,” I whispered, suddenly choked up. Her mouth met mine to seal the promise we’d just made. I wanted her so much, but mostly I wanted her to want this as much as I did.
My fingers, having kept up a light rub along her slick creases, moved lower. Poised at her opening, I popped off her mouth to watch her eyes while I entered her. Her teeth bit into her lower lip as soon as I penetrated her, but she kept my gaze. The tight channel clutched my fingers as they slid deeper inside. Slick warmth drew me in, the sensation familiar but also unique as was everything with this woman. Once buried to the hilt, I held them steady until she got used to being filled and let up on her tension.
“I’m kinda fond of that lip, honey. Don’t bruise it,” I teased gently before leaning down to coax her lips into a kiss. Soft nips at first, a method to distract from all the thoughts racing around her brain. The technique worked as I felt her mouth demanding more until it started to devour my own.
When her hips started rocking to invite friction, I took the cue, pulling almost all the way out then thrusting back inside. A slow rhythm at first until her hands started pressing more insistently on my rear, helping to drive us at the pace she wanted.
My hips combined with my thumb and fingers to take her higher and higher. I stopped kissing her to watch the sway of emotions in her eyes.
“It’s…can’t…want,” she stammered, head tilted back against the pillow, muscles straining in her neck and shoulders. A light sheen of perspiration broke out over her body.
Seeing her on the cusp and hearing her try to voice what she was feeling confirmed that she’d never experienced this before.
“You’re there, honey. Let it happen. Come,” I directed, thinking she might not understand that she didn’t have to hold in the sensations she was feeling.
“Briony!” she shouted as she heaved up against me, sliding her hands up to grip my back. Her sheath squeezed divinely at my thrusting fingers. The pulsations of her climax lasted over a minute, her body shaking and twitching throughout.
I stilled my thrusts and pulled out slowly to let her work down from her peak, all the while kissing lightly along her neck and onto to her breasts. Eventually, the shaking turned to sporadic tremors. I looked down at her, stunned from her climax, and my heart began a new joyful rhythm that I couldn’t remember ever experiencing. M had done this for me, healed every hurt I’d ever known, made me happier than I could remember being in many years.
Her breathing slowed to short exhales as her body finally stopped trembling. She gazed at me with those expressive eyes.
They made me feel like I was experiencing every emotion running through her. I’d never been this connected with anyone, like our souls were talking to each other.
It was a while before she spoke, and it wasn’t anything I would have guessed she’d say. “Mabel.” Her voice was so soft I almost didn’t hear her. “Old fashioned, I told you.” I drew in a shaky
breath, tears pooling in my eyes. Old fashioned, fitting, lovely. As perfect as the woman in my arms.
“Mabel,” I tested in a reverent whisper. “I love your name, Mabel. I love you, M.”
“And you have my heart, Briony.”
Now, that was the best way I could ever imagine for her to finally tell me she loved me. Worth the wait. Just like she’d been.
Twice blessed in my life, and I planned to share that fortune with this woman.
Chapter 36
Checking my watch, I realized it had been nearly an hour since we’d last touched. I glanced about the family room then into the kitchen. Kids, the tiny ones, and one lazy husband lounged in front of the television. Megan’s mother and mine were chatting over coffee in the kitchen. Megan’s sisters were negotiating a détente between two of the kids over a much prized Christmas gift. Our dads, one of the husbands, my son, his cousins, and my girlfriend were nowhere to be found.
Since arriving at Megan’s parent’s house for Christmas dinner, M had stayed close by. After dinner, though, she’d rounded up the kids for the first of their snowball fights. Every fifteen minutes or so, she’d wander back to me. A simple touch, sometimes a word or two, but basically she’d used me as her touchstone all evening. The terrified look she’d shown as we’d been getting dressed at the hotel had been replaced by cautious delight. I’d wanted to wrap her in my arms and never let go, but she’d bravely faced yesterday’s festivities with my parents on Christmas Eve and done so well in meeting Megan’s family today.
With every return to me this evening, her brown eyes grew more and more amazed. She was learning what family meant today, and I loved every person here for it.
I wandered out into the living room and checked the front window. Found her. Steve, Sadie’s husband, was monopolizing her attention despite the two kids trying to get her to join their King of the Hill game. Stepping out onto the porch, I sucked in a deep breath as her eyes immediately found mine. The crisp winter air didn’t shock my system as much as her glance could.