“There’s nothing to forgive.” He brushed the hair off of her face. “Do you forgive me?”
She smiled, and it was like the heavens opened and shined down on him. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
“Okay, good. Now that that’s out of the way, I love you, Mackenzie Sutton. There’s never been anyone but you and there never will be. I’ve never stopped loving you, and if you’ll have me, I promise I’ll never let anyone or anything come between us again.”
“I love you, too, Eli Bishop. And I promise I will never let anyone, including myself and my fear, come between us again.” With that promise, she lifted up on her toes and brushed her lips against his as she said, “I love you so much, and I’ve missed you. I’ve missed kissing you and—”
Eli didn’t wait to find out what else she missed before he cupped her jaw and claimed her in a possessive kiss. He wanted to show her just how much he loved and missed her.
Chapter 23
‡
Mackenzie hadn’t even made it through the entire sentence before Eli’s lips were over hers, covering her mouth with a kiss so passionate, so intimate that it showed, even more clearly than words could, the power of the feelings he had for her. His demanding lips told the story for her more eloquently than any words ever could.
There was no other woman for him than Mackenzie. No other life for him, outside of what he had with her. She finally believed that.
It was, as Cher had so succinctly and correctly asserted, in his kiss.
This was the first embrace they’d shared where Mackenzie hadn’t had to remind herself to just relax and enjoy the moment, to not think about the past or the future. The reason was that now, for the first time, their future was assured. She didn’t have to shut off her mind from worry because there was none.
She and Eli were set. They were solid. They were in love.
The thought made her giddy with happiness, which quickly turned into arousal as their kisses deepened.
“I need you. Now. I can’t wait,” she gasped in between kisses.
He was like air and not being with him was like drowning. She had to fill her lungs. Even though she knew she was being dramatic, there was a small part of her that halfway believed that she might actually die if she couldn’t touch him, feel him against her skin, get as close to him as she possibly could. She obviously knew that wasn’t true, but she also knew that she wasn’t about to take that chance.
He opened her robe with one tug of the belt that held it shut and pushed it off her shoulders as she tore at his clothes like a woman possessed. Like there was a clock on it. Like she would get some kind of prize for getting the job done as quickly as she could.
Mackenzie loved it. The heightened energy between her and Eli ratcheted up another notch as she yanked his shirt and tugged down his jeans and boxers. Her excitement and arousal spiked higher at each inch of his flesh she exposed.
Eli’s hands roamed over her, his demanding fingers explored her body like an uncharted wilderness. He knew her body better than anyone and yet he always acted like it was new and wondrous territory. She could feel her muscles jump and tremble under his insistent touch. She could barely breathe under the weight of arousal that he inspired. Her heart was beating so hard and fast it left no room in her chest for her lungs to fill with air.
Her hips writhed as his large palms traveled down her sides and around to cup her backside. All she wanted was to get closer to him, to be as close as possible. She pressed her naked form down the length of his body, absorbing the warmth from his skin as it penetrated her own.
Being up against him like that, with nothing in between the two of them, nothing to separate them—it was close, but not close enough. She wanted to become one with him, to be joined, both body and soul.
Taking his hand, she led him over to the bed and then turned him to face her. She slid her fingers lightly up his arms until both of her hands rested on his shoulders and then she pushed him down into a seated position.
A surge of power ran through her, a hard thrill raced down her spine. She enjoyed discovering the “take charge” side of her sexuality. It wasn’t a part of herself that had ever made an appearance before she and Eli had rekindled their romance.
He was such a strong, commanding presence that in her youth she’d just relaxed and let him take care of her. But now, she was enjoying embracing her own strong, authoritative presence. And although she wouldn’t want it to be like this all the time—after all, a girl did always want to reserve the option to enjoy sitting back and being taken care of—she relished exploring this side of herself.
She dropped to her knees, her hands still resting on his shoulders. The carpet bit into her knees as she scraped her fingernails gently down his chest and then abs.
She took great pleasure in how his muscles jumped under her touch. She drew the process out longer than was strictly necessary. She let her fingers make lots of frivolous detours on the journey down his torso, but he seemed to enjoy those side trips as much as she did.
When her fingernails had traveled all the way down the length of his belly and reached the base of his hard manhood, she let them continue their downward journey to trail along the inside of his legs, nudging them just wide enough for her to edge forward and position her body between his knees. The perfect angle to lean down and take him in her mouth.
Which was exactly what she did.
His hands clamped down on the back of her head, applying a steady, yet gentle pressure that let her know exactly how much he enjoyed it as her mouth traveled up and down his shaft, her lips creating a tight suction. She’d grown addicted to performing this act. She found herself yearning to feel the sting of his fingertips against her scalp as the erotic sensation of his hard-as-steel flesh rubbed against her tongue and the salty flavor of his sex landed on her taste buds.
She knew that she wasn’t alone in her enjoyment. The increasing intensity of his hands knotted in her hair let her know that he wanted more. It amped up her movements, so she took him in her mouth in a faster, hotter, and more intense pace. She paid careful attention to every nudge, every nuance. She wanted him to get the most pleasure possible out of what she was doing to him.
When it came down to it, she loved making him feel good. That’s why this was such a turn on for her.
Even though there was nothing being done to her that should be sending erotic sparks shooting all through her belly and up into her chest, no erogenous zones being stimulated, she still felt arousal zooming through her blood like a drug. That was the high that pleasing Eli gave to her.
Wanting to prolong this intimate experience as long as possible, she broke the rhythm of her mouth’s suction on his shaft, then she moved down to take his balls in her mouth one by one, sucking them gently in and then working them back and forth with her tongue, thrilling at the sound of his groans as she did.
She grasped his shaft firmly in her hand as she did this, moving it up and down at a much lazier speed than her mouth had been moving. When she was ready to return to his dick, she did so in a much slower, tantalizing manner. Everything about this was now about teasing it out, making it last. While he’d been the one controlling the pace when his fingers were tangled in her hair, now she was the one in charge, and she was not about to rush through any aspect of this encounter. Her speed was set to “savor” and not to “feast.”
She made the tip of her tongue hard and trailed it up one side of his shaft, swirled around the head of his dick for a few seconds, and then trailed it down the other side. She repeated this maneuver a few times until she could sense his muscles straining to hold back from using the leverage his hands had on the back of her head to show her exactly what he wanted done with his dick.
She grinned, sure of herself again. Of course, he would never do that. Eli was a gentleman. He cared about her pleasure, her comfort. But, she couldn’t deny it—it made her feel good just to see that, even if he would never give into the temptation, he wanted to. That
was how turned on he was. That was how close to the edge he was.
When she sensed that he was right on the brink, she drew back and looked up into his face.
“Condoms?” She asked.
He shook his head. “Not yet,” he rasped out, his voice sounding like it was being fed through a meat grinder.
She smiled and lifted her brow in question. “Not yet?”
Instead of responding with words, he used a more quintessentially “Eli” tactic: answering with actions.
He grasped her firmly under the arms, picked her up and turned to set her on the bed right next to where he’d just been sitting.
Now, suddenly, he was the one kneeling down in front of her, between her legs. The whole thing had taken less than a second. Her head was spinning, both from the suddenness of the flip as well as the pure erotic charge of being handled by Eli so expertly. It was as if her body was no more substantial than that of a rag doll. But, at the same time, as precious as a jewel and handled just as carefully.
Then, just as suddenly as he’d turned on the strong-and-commanding persona, he switched to gentle and loving.
Wow. She’d thought that nothing else could turn her on as much as the take-charge, alpha demeanor. But damn if this tender and affectionate one wasn’t getting the job done just as well.
Eli leaned forward and sprinkled tiny, gentle kisses across her collarbone and up her neck. With each press of his lips against that tender flesh, her pulse pounded just a little harder. Her heartbeat just a little more erratic. Her breath became just a little shallower. Her mind spiraled out just a bit further toward the stratosphere.
By the time he had started nuzzling and suckling at the hollow spot that only he’d ever discovered, she’d been driven almost crazy with lust by his small, nipping kisses. Then he stepped up his game and moved to the other side of her neck. His kisses became more insistent as he traveled further and further down.
Eli extended his tongue from his mouth and traced curlicues down the palette of her skin, leaving a glistening trail in his wake. Every point of contact set her skin on fire, the heat traveling from where he kissed her all the way through her muscles and into her bones.
That was the magic of Eli. He got far down inside of her, all the way to her DNA, and that’s why there was no way to get him out of her system. Not that she would want to. She’d accepted that he was a part of her. As much a part as her lungs and heart.
When his mouth reached her breasts, he used his hands to cup them from below and pulled first one of her nipples and then the other into his mouth, circling his tongue around each distended knot the same way that he had just been tracing curlicues down her neck and chest.
Her chest thrust forward involuntarily, the arching of her back was something that sprang completely from instinct. In fact, that was what her entire body was running on. Her conscious brain had been short-circuited. Bypassed. Now, it was her base desires that were in charge.
She was completely on board with that.
Something happened to her every time Eli touched her and rather than fade with the repetition of their encounters, the intensity was getting stronger. With one look, one kiss, one touch however slight, he could reduce her to an animal driven only by lust, wanting only one thing. Him. All of him.
She didn’t see that ever going away.
A sudden image flashed in her mind of them, far in the future. They were old and gray, still madly in love. Flirting, kissing, touching. And if she were lucky, maybe they’d even still be getting busy.
She had to smile to herself. She wouldn’t be surprised. That was just who she and Eli were, and that wasn’t ever going to change. She wouldn’t let it, ever again.
He continued his mouth’s steady journey down her body, continuing the path of his kisses on down her belly. Her ab muscles clenched and bunched under the sensations that his mouth rocked them with.
Damn, she thought vaguely, this beats crunches any day of the week.
When he finally reached the lowest part of her belly, he pushed her knees open as wide as they would go, spreading her shiny wetness in front of him. She felt vulnerable, spread so wide open like that.
But it was a thrilling kind of vulnerability because she trusted Eli, so it felt safe, somehow, to be vulnerable with him. He was her safe place.
He lowered his mouth onto her mound, spreading her lips with his tongue and drinking up her juices as if she were the sweetest delicacy. Her pulse pounded in between her legs and all throughout her muscles, radiating through her body like a drum beat.
With every stroke of his tongue along her tender flesh, she felt herself climbing closer and closer to the sun, circling that white hot light again and again, being drawn further into it each time. There was only one inevitable conclusion.
*
Eli moved his tongue up and down, up and down, faster and faster until he felt Mackenzie’s muscles clenching with the impending orgasm he knew was coming. He dug his fingers into her hips so that he could pull her even deeper into his mouth, applying more and more pressure with his tongue to intensify her coming climax.
He loved making her come. It was his favorite thing in the world because it encompassed all of his other favorite things put together: taking care of her, making her happy, and bringing her pleasure.
Her body bucked uncontrollably as tremors rocked her muscles, but Eli kept his fingers dug solidly into her hips, holding his mouth against her as tightly as he could. He didn’t want her body to become disengaged from the stimulation of his tongue. He wanted to taste every drop of her.
He loved feeling her twitch against him, knowing that each of those tiny spasms represented individual pulses of pleasure that he was sending through her core. It was a powerful rush knowing that he could give her that kind of intense release.
Since they’d been back in each other’s lives, she’d professed that he was a master with his mouth. If that were the case, out of all the specialized skills he’d acquired over the years, he thought that one might just be his favorite.
She rode his mouth to wave after wave of powerful orgasm, and he couldn’t help but think how lucky he was. How unbelievably lucky he was to not only be with her again but that she was still so receptive to him. He felt so humbled that this magnificent creature was moved to the kinds of heights of pleasure that she was experiencing right then. By his hands. His mouth. His tongue.
As the cresting waves of her pleasure died down, she raised her head and looked at him. Her face still flushed with pleasure. Her eyes were heavy lidded with lust.
“I want you,” she groaned. “I need you. Eli. Now. Please.”
Eli sprang up and grabbed a condom from his pants. He made quick work of unwrapping it and sliding it on. As soon as it was completely rolled down over his cock, he looked up to see Kenzie’s hair fanned out around her as she lay on her back waiting for him to join her.
He smiled at her, affection flooding through him. He was bowled over again at how unbelievably, utterly fortunate he was to be here with her. His face softened as he reached down and laid his hand lightly on her waist, rubbing his thumb back and forth across her smooth skin.
The energy between them had changed, and even though he knew that it would probably heat back up as soon as one of them said or did something that turned them both on, for right now they existed in a small island of nothing but warm and contented feelings.
Love.
He looked into her eyes, shared a smile with her, and enjoyed it for what it was.
“This is really real, isn’t it?” He asked.
“It is,” she confirmed. “For maybe the first time in history, what happens in Vegas is most definitely not going to stay in Vegas.”
He laughed. “I doubt you’re the first person to make that joke,” he said, “but you’re definitely the sexiest.”
That was it. That was the spark, the catalyst that ramped up the sexual energy between them to a superheated explosion.
He lowered down
, hovering over as he crushed his lips to hers in a punishing kiss. His tongue thrust into the hot, wet recesses of her mouth, devouring her. She eagerly accepted his advances as she threw her arms around him and pulled him to her, her fingernails digging into his back.
He moaned as their dueling tongues pressed against each other, his length stiffening further inside the condom. He ached to be inside her in a way that was more focused and intense than he had ever felt before.
It was painful, almost. Like a sharp pang that wouldn’t be soothed until he buried himself deep within her.
She pulled her head back a little, just enough to gasp, “I need you right now.”
“Yes,” he replied, then he pushed inside of her slowly.
Their eyes locked as he slid in, inch by delicious inch. She whimpered as he wrapped his fingers around her hips, digging them forcefully into the smooth flesh and thrusting his cock powerfully into her. Flexing his hand, he tipped her body to an upward angle to give him better access.
When he was fully immersed in her tight canal, a primal groan tore from deep within his throat. Her inner walls grabbed at him, sucking his cock with a silky wetness that sent thrills running through his belly.
“Oh, yes. So deep. Oh, yes,” she murmured, her whimpers hitting his ears and driving him to even more precarious heights of arousal.
As sweat formed on his brow, he moved in and out of her with smooth, steady strokes, his sure hands guiding her hips so that they maintained a perfect, balanced rhythm together. She murmured and whimpered her encouragement to him with each and every deep, penetrative stroke that he thrust into her. Her whispers drove him to speed up and intensify his rhythm with every single thrust.
Soon, it seemed as if there was no art or rhythm to it at all. He was just pounding into her again and again, as hard as he possibly could, encouraged by the cries of pleasure that floated up to him.
A silent cry ripped from her throat as her body started convulsing in orgasmic spasms. He removed his hands from her hips and rested on his elbows, allowing him the leverage to increase the depth of his strokes to draw out her maximum pleasure.
Fire and Love (Hope Falls Book 13) Page 20