Heat

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Heat Page 17

by Lis Lucassen


  She nodded.

  “Come with me.” He pulled her away from the table and she followed him down the lobby and into the elevator. They stood next to each other in silence. The floors flashed by and the elevator only halted when they’d reached the top floor. Dan got out before her, his hand still holding hers. With his other hand, he whipped a keycard from his pants pocket and stuck it in the door leading to the bridal suite.

  “How did you…” The question died on her lips. Dan pulled her into the enormous room, closed the door behind them, and turned toward her before slipping the card into the slot next to the door, activating the AC and one of the lamps in the room. She was trapped between his body and the door. He let go of her hand and she immediately felt a sense of loss. Before the feeling really had any time to sink in – before her own body had time to miss his heat – he cupped her face in both hands and kissed her. All her doubts slipped away when Dan’s mouth touched her lips, when his tongue darted inside as she welcomed him. He tasted of peppermint, whetting her appetite and making her want to taste him more. So much more.

  Dan dictated the rhythm of their kiss: slow at first, tantalizingly slow. Then, more demanding, more heatedly, as though he wanted to explore and savor her over and over again. He couldn’t get enough of her lips, of her mouth – of her.

  And she lost herself in him. In his hands caressing her face, in the tips of his fingers cradling her temples with just the right amount of pressure, and in the entire kiss. When Dan finally removed his mouth from hers, her lips felt swollen. He rested his forehead against hers.

  “I want you to touch me.” His voice sounded different. Rough with passion. Dan took a step backward but kept facing her. He gave her room to follow him away from the door, or to grab the doorknob and leave the room again. “Lynn?” Now, insecurity laced his voice. It was like he wanted to run away just as much as she did. Away from the confrontation and the consequences that came with it. The choices that had to be made, and the realization that there was no place to hide any longer.

  Dan stepped backward, going into the suite and halting near the bed. Her legs refused to move and she leaned back against the door for support. Abruptly, the air seemed thin, and her breathing sped up, desperate for oxygen. She watched Dan. She took in his dark hair falling across his forehead, his face, his straight nose and full lips. His broad shoulders and the long-sleeved shirt he was using to hide himself behind.

  She didn’t want him to hide anymore.

  Unsure of whether her legs could carry her, she hazarded a small step forward. Another one. And one more, right until she ended up face to face with Dan once more. He’d clenched his hands into fists and sweat beaded in small droplets on his forehead. It couldn’t be due to the heat – the AC was on and kept the room cool.

  Slowly, ever so slowly, she lifted her arm in the air, as though Dan was a skittish animal she was trying to lure nearer. Her fingers lightly stroked his right shoulder, and no matter how subtle her touch, it still made him flinch.

  “Dan. You don’t need to…”

  He shook his head. “No. I want this. With you.” His brown eyes surveyed her face before he closed them in agony. “I can’t go on. Like this. I just can’t.”

  Lynn felt herself relax. Dan’s fear was so palpable that it forced her to do away with her own lack of confidence. She put both hands on his hips and slipped her fingers underneath the hem of his shirt before resting the palms of her hands on his skin. She felt him. His skin was smooth on one side, leathery and uneven on the other.

  She felt Dan.

  And all of a sudden, she couldn’t get enough of the sensation sweeping through her body from the sheer delight of touching. Touching him. “I want you, Dan. Please. I want all of you.”

  49

  Dan

  Lynn’s hands ran up across his ribs. He suppressed his mounting panic as she went about touching him. Feeling him. Feeling everything. The scars, the old burns. Dread slumbered underneath his skin like a caged animal about to smash the old lock of its prison to pieces and bolt for freedom.

  She wanted him.

  Her voice trembled as she told him, and this made him want to look her in the eye. For her, he would gladly run the risk of seeing revulsion in her eyes, or her repulsed face when she saw him. All of him. He wanted to expose himself. To her. He had to.

  Because Lynn had stirred something buried deep inside of him – something he thought he’d lost forever. It was the basic, simple need to be touched. He had to take the risk. He wanted to take this risk with her.

  He trusted Lynn.

  The realization hit him like a hammer shattering the glass walls around his heart.

  Her hands had trailed up to his shoulders by now, running along his neck, and darting down his back again. Dan opened his eyes. The blue of her eyes lapped in waves around him, supported him like water that helped him to stay afloat instead of pulling him under.

  Somewhere along the line, he’d forgotten to breathe. His lungs burned and he drew an eager breath.

  “Am I doing something wrong?” Lynn dropped her hands away from his back.

  “No. It’s just…” His stomach twisted, but Lynn’s questioning look anchored him and gave him that last bit of strength he needed to curl his fingers around the hem of his shirt and pull it up. To take it off. The long-sleeved shirt dropped to the floor and Dan felt nauseous. Just as he was sure he’d pass out, he felt Lynn’s hands on his stomach, on his chest. Her – her mouth. His breath hitched and Dan reminded himself to keep breathing.

  She kissed him.

  Lightly. Gently. On his stomach, and further up. On his scars, until her lips halted close to his heart which tapped out a thousand beats a minute and just wouldn’t slow down. Gingerly, he wrapped his arms around her, captured her body in an embrace. Lynn rested her cheek against his chest and slipped her arms around his neck. For a few moments, they stood there quietly. And it felt – okay. It was okay to be touched in such a personal way.

  “It was my own fault.” He sighed, let go of Lynn, and disentangled himself from her embrace. He did hold on to her hands, though, to stop her from walking away.

  “What do you mean?” Lynn frowned and her gaze drifted across the scars on his skin.

  He suppressed the urge to cover up. Lynn looked at him, and her eyes didn’t convey horror or pity. He’d been scared of that. Her reacting to him the same way Ella had done, or his parents in one of those rare moments in which they saw him naked. He didn’t know what was worse – the disgust or the awkward sympathy in their eyes.

  But Lynn looked at him the same way she had always done. Her blue eyes pulled him under, into a sea of longing.

  “I was wasted and my girlfriend was flirting with one of the guys on my team. They were near this brazier in the garden. I was drunk and jealous, and…” He shook his head. The memory of that evening filled him with shame and regret. “So I walked up to them and started to pick a fight with the guy, but I was so far gone that I couldn’t even stand on my own two legs. Timo, my best friend, tried to stop me, but I turned to shake him off and I fell.”

  All this time, he’d blamed Timo. But now that he was telling Lynn the story – the real story – he acknowledged that he only had himself to blame for his scars.

  “It was a stupid accident. Why would you blame yourself for that?” Lynn bit her lip and stared up at him pensively. “Sometimes we can blame it on a particular person. But sometimes, we just can’t.”

  Dan let go of her hands, raising his left hand to trace her bottom lip with his thumb. Lynn opened her mouth under his touch, just a bit. She sighed softly, and the little sound fluttered up to his ears like a butterfly. He leaned into her again, pressing his mouth to hers. He was turned on and the sensation swept through his body like a criminal chased by an angry mob. This felt good. She felt good in his arms as his fingers ran through her hair. Gently, he cradled her head in his hand as he kissed her neck and shoulders. She was wearing a summer dress. White with a sun
flower print. Dan slipped the straps off her shoulders and kissed the swelling of her breasts, the delicate skin in between them.

  “Wait…”

  He stopped immediately and stepped back. So did Lynn. He looked up and saw her long, brown hear cascading down her shoulders. Somehow, it had slipped out of the ponytail she’d tied it up in. Her blue eyes seemed a few shades darker and Dan noticed her fingers trembling slightly when she started to unbutton her dress. The fabric fell away, all the way down to the butterfly taking flight just above the edge of her panties. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and her small breasts were still partly hidden by the body of her dress.

  Nervously, she watched him and waited until he’d gathered enough courage to come to her. He felt – composed. There was no more panic, just the immense desire to get physical with her. Lynn. It was as though his scars were no longer a part of him, because he could no longer see them or feel them. Using his fingertips, he folded back the dress and slipped it off her shoulders. He looked at Lynn, at the way her naked breasts rose with every inhalation, the pink nipples hard. He trailed his index finger along the edge of her panties, following the outlines of the butterfly on her abdomen. Then, he hooked his thumbs around the white lace and helped Lynn out of her underwear.

  She was breathtakingly beautiful, standing before him like this.

  And the best thing was that she was all his.

  50

  Lynn

  Dan’s eyes leisurely raked over her naked body. She wanted to hide, cower, pick up her dress, and hold it in front of her like a shield. At the same time, she wanted him to touch her again, to calm down the anxiety raging through her body. She wanted him to give to her what she needed so badly.

  “You’re so beautiful.”

  Her eyes flashed to his. Had he really just said that? She wasn’t sure. His voice was so low and rough now. Dan’s eyes ran dark-brown, almost black. He was standing there, his arms on either side of his body. The red scars covered a part of his right shoulder, running across his chest down to just above his nipple, and the burns ran all the way down his right upper arm, stopping at the elbow. His side was scarred too, the damaged skin dipping below the waistband of his pants. She reached out and caressed the bumpy skin, following the haphazard patterns with her fingers. And all that time, Dan was standing there unmoving, his eyes now closed.

  Lynn inched forward and pressed up against him. Skin on skin. She felt Dan’s heat and his respiration, just as shallow and ragged as hers. Her fingers searched and found the fly of his pants. She undid the buttons with trembling hands. Dan helped her by pushing his pants and boxers down.

  Again, she melted into him and he stroked her back, his hands running up and down her spine. Lynn tangled her fingers in his hair when his head dipped down and he kissed her. Without interrupting his kiss, Dan slipped his hands around her hips and lifted her up. He swiveled around and lay her down on the bed as though she was as light as a feather. She held on to him, making him lie on top of her because she never wanted him to let go. She never wanted his warmth to leave her again.

  “If you want me to stop, you should tell me now. I don’t think I’ll be able to, later.” Dan whispered the words against her mouth and she breathed in his voice. By now, she’d lost the power of speech, so all Lynn could do was lie there quietly. He waited, his body on top of hers, until she finally found the strength to shake her head slightly.

  “No as in ‘stop’ or no as in…”

  She circled his hips with her legs in response, pulling him into her as she dug her fingers into the skin of his back. Anxiously, she relaxed her grip and looked up at him, afraid of hurting him. But when she looked into Dan’s eyes, she saw no pain there, only desire. Lust, and longing. The same longing that Lynn felt tingling through her entire body. It was an unfamiliar feeling – scary on one hand, but absolutely perfect on the other.

  Dan sat up and wriggled out of the circle of her legs. Didn’t he want to take this further? He got up, towering over her as he stood there near the edge of the bed. Lynn saw him. She saw everything. The damaged skin on his body as well as his arousal.

  “You want this? You want me?”

  She looked up. The expression on his face was so pained, and his dark eyes conveyed uncertainty. Vulnerability. This wasn’t just him showing her his naked body – this was him showing her everything. And all she needed to do was to accept him.

  Lynn shifted backward, moving to the center of the king-size bed. Her own nakedness and insecurity no longer mattered.

  “Yes. I want you, Dan. I’ve never done this before… but with you, I want to. I want to do everything.”

  Before she could say anything else, Dan had joined her on the bed and he pushed her down on the mattress. He kissed her neck, her shoulders, and her breasts, caressing her belly and her inner thighs with his hands. His lips clamped down on one nipple and his tongue made her come alive. Lynn arched her back, hungry for more. She caressed his shoulders and back.

  The breath she’d been holding escaped her lungs when Dan ran one finger across her vagina. He kissed her other nipple and slowly slipped one, then two fingers inside her. Then out, and then back in again.

  She abandoned herself to his touch, no longer scared, and she cried out his name as he touched her in a rhythm she dictated for him. Incessantly and fully focused on her, he followed her until she cried out one last time and came back to earth.

  Dan disentangled himself from her grasp, then covered her entire body with his. She felt his arousal pressing against the warm spot where his fingers had just pushed her over the edge and made her climax. He cupped her face in his hands and forced Lynn to look at him as he slowly entered her. Bit by bit, he sank all the way into her. And all the while, he watched her face, looking for approval.

  It hurt a bit at first, but Dan’s eyes never left hers. Soon, the uncomfortable feeling made way for the same passion that had driven her to a blissful orgasm before. Dan kissed her again, urgently, roughly. Softly, he bit her bottom lip. Propping himself up on his left arm, he used his right hand to cup her breast and flick his thumb over her hardened nipple.

  And he moved. Carefully at first, in and out. Until she felt the desire taking hold of him. Dan straightened up and picked up the pace. He closed his eyes and his face turned into a mask of concentration and full focus. Lynn watched him breathlessly. He was so gorgeous. A thin layer of sweat covered his skin and it made him seem radiant in the light cast on his skin by the lamp in the corner.

  She trailed her fingers across his eyelids, his cheeks, and his neck, until she lost herself in the way his fingers played with the sensitive skin around her nipples, the way he pumped in and out of her with gentle yet powerful strokes. Dan took her up, upward, to the top, until her muscles tensed up once more around him and she had no choice but to follow him. Faster. Harder.

  Dan closed his mouth around hers and kissed her as his body tensed up. He climaxed, tipping her over the edge again in another orgasm rippling through her.

  This time, it took her much longer to come back to earth. Dan rolled off her and she felt something sticky and wet between her legs. He must have felt it too, because his blissful expression changed instantly.

  “Shit. I didn’t use a condom.”

  51

  Dan

  The rosy glow of her skin, her soft skin, tender from his kisses – Lynn rocked his world. And he’d been stupid enough not to use protection. That had never happened to him before, not even with Ella.

  “I’m on the pill.” Her words were quiet. The hoarse tone of her voice made him go hard again.

  “I’ve always practiced safe sex. Always. So don’t be scared. I’m not…”

  Lynn put a finger on his lips, and the gesture was so incredibly sexy that he couldn’t stop himself from parting his lips and sucking the tip of her finger into his mouth.

  She laughed. Again, his body jerked to attention, desire throbbing between his legs. Lynn followed his gaze downward and a shy smile
pulled at her lips. She reached down and before he knew what she was up to, her tiny hand closed around his dick. A shudder ran down his spine and he inhaled sharply.

  “Lynn…” He wanted to say more, but the words got lost in the movement of her hand, moving up and down slowly, settling into a rhythm that seized him and invited him to roll onto his back where he observed her through partially closed eyelids.

  It didn’t take long for him to get there, the orgasm building steadily inside him. He clasped his fingers around her hand and guided her movement, increasing the tempo until he fell back onto the pillows and came for the second time that night.

  Lynn crawled into him and he wrapped an arm around her. She rested her cheek on his chest, his scarred chest, and – he didn’t care at all.

  He’d given her the choice, and he’d forced himself to show her his body. What he had seen in her eyes had blown apart the last remnants of his resistance. It hadn’t been revulsion or shock, but something resembling admiration. It had been more than just acceptance. No one had ever looked at him that way. Not even Ella, before the accident. Not the other girls he’d been with before.

  Lynn made him feel like it was safe to surrender to desire. To his body. To who he was. Resigning himself to the facts felt indescribable. There was no frustration or ever-present unrest. There was just Lynn.

  His heart seemed to contract, then expand like a balloon before it exploded when he thought of what he’d come to feel for Lynn in the past week. It was more than just a crush.

  He stroked her hair, which fanned out across his shoulder. He looked at her fingers, spread out on his stomach. He listened to her even breathing.

  It was so much more.

  What he’d come to feel for Lynn chased away his insecurity. It supplanted his fear. There was no longer room for all these trivialities in his mind and in his heart.

  What he had come to feel for Lynn was everything.

 

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