It was only the beginning. He dipped in for another round.
Melanie still hung suspended in the air, shaking from yet another orgasm. “Enough, stop. Oh please, I need…”
She wasn’t sure what she needed. Oxygen? It was hard to breathe, but that had nothing to do with the ropes enveloping her body. Everything to do with the man stalking her like a wild beast ready to take down his prey.
Never had any prey been as willing as she.
Derrick caught her against him, kissing her until the air thinned to the equivalent of a high mountaintop. When he finally let her go, she could have sworn the room was spinning.
“You ready?” Derrick snuck away for a moment, grabbing two more ropes from where they rested against the gym walls. Released from his hold, she twisted in an actual circle, her rope supporting her vertically, but not restricting the slow spiraling motion.
He knotted the new ropes together then passed the connected section around her upper torso. When he tugged, she tipped forward in slow motion, supported on the webbing in the middle.
The combination of ropes and harness put her on her belly in a flying position. Or, wrapped up as she was, like a fly in a spider’s web.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Am I ready for what?”
Sex and fire shone in his eyes as he ran a hand over her rope-encased back, down her naked butt. “Anything I want.”
There was possession in his tone. He opened her legs wide and stepped between them, and comprehension hit. “You made a sex sling.”
“Hmm. I did.” His cock nudged her core and she closed her eyes to concentrate fully as he pressed them together. Stretched wide, open to his invasion, his cock hot and hard as he filled her.
Each backward rock speared Derrick deeper. The sensation was physically powerful, and exactly what she wanted—to offer herself up and be unconditionally accepted. Not even once had she considered her body except for the pleasure she could give him. The bliss he was causing.
Not even once had she considered Nathan watched.
The shock that raced through her at the realization was startling in its intensity. She had offered herself to Nathan, wanting to give to him if he needed her, but it was the man she’d come to know in such an intimate manner over the past months who held her mesmerized. With his touch. His claiming.
It was impossible to feel guilt. This was what Nathan had asked for. It was what she needed.
Derrick clung tightly to her hips as he pounded into her, unrelenting strokes feeding the fires inside that were ready to burst again. Then, before she could come, he stopped the momentum of her swing. His harsh groans echoed off the walls, his body bent over her as he held himself deep. Melanie let her head hang and breathed through her nose, the smell of climbing chalk buried beneath the scent of sweat and sex on the air.
When he lifted his torso, it was to let his hands roam again. Stroking in sweeps over her bare cheeks, teasing her hips and inner thighs. He tugged her legs downward, then stroked his fingers over her hole, teasing the sensitive nerves.
“I’m going to fuck your ass.”
It wasn’t a question, but it was. He’d never taken what she wasn’t ready for, or what she was unwilling to give. He stroked again. A slippery finger dipped into her passage, and she squirmed. Where he’d found the tube of lube—she didn’t need to know.
“Oh yes. Do it.”
He worked her in a rush, fingers scrambling on her hips. Soon it wasn’t fingers touching her, but the hard and much larger tip of his cock.
Derrick pushed forward, opening her, and she squeezed her eyes tight. The fire she felt wasn’t pain, wasn’t pleasure. Somewhere between the two sensations she hovered, just as she floated off the floor of the gym. Between worlds, between realities.
With a final groan, Derrick brought his groin tight to her ass, and she sighed.
“So damn beautiful.”
Then Derrick swung her away and let her weight in the sling and momentum drive her back on him. Melanie gasped, needy moans escaping as he speared her again and again. He wasn’t gentle anymore, and she couldn’t do anything but accept his need. The nearly violent pleasure he thrust upon her.
The burning in her ass was good. Dirty and hot, and just when she thought she’d explode, he dug his fingers into the softer flesh of her hip and froze, fighting for control. Melanie let out a little scream as he pulled her upright, the move burying his cock in her ass.
There was no room. No retreat. If before she’d been between worlds, she’d traveled light years farther into outer space.
He touched her, inside and out. Her body, her mind. Her soul.
And there were no more scars there.
Time blurred, sensations shot to a tantalizing edge before rocketing her off the cliffs and setting her into freefall. Her climax tore her apart and rebuilt her as her body squeezed tight around his shaft. Voices shouted in passion—hers? Derrick’s? They were together and one. Melanie leaned back, letting Derrick support her as she gave way to complete boneless relaxation.
Oh God, that had felt good.
She couldn’t open her eyes, she was so sated. He withdrew from her body, lowered her to a kneeling position. Even as the ropes fell from her limbs, even as the harness was removed, she drifted in some faraway place she had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
How Derrick found the strength to carry her, she had no idea—she couldn’t peel her eyes open. Not when he laid her on the mat, not when a warm cloth touched her body.
And when his strong arms held her close as they lay back on the mats, Melanie gave a happy sigh and let sleep take her.
Nathan stared down from where he’d retreated to the upper galley for a better view. Melanie curled herself around Derrick, her hair strewn over his naked chest as she used him as a pillow. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, their torsos touching, limbs tangled together. Light movements of their chests revealed the easy breathing of sleep overtaking them.
They looked good together. They were good together.
For the past week Nathan could have sworn he was riding a bloody roller coaster. Steamy sexual desire followed by intense frustration. Professional advancement and condemnation. Helping a friend tear down walls that had trapped her for years, then realizing friendship was all he could offer her—if he wasn’t riding a high he’d been hitting a low, and the cumulative effect had come close to draining him of all common sense.
Kane’s outburst had shocked him, but not because he didn’t know deception occurred in his business. His intentions were clear as far as the magazine was concerned. It was the fact that for him being with Melanie was far more about sexual experimentation than long-term commitment. Kane had hit the nail on the head with that one, and guilt rode Nathan hard.
The only redeeming factor was his decision to not come between Derrick and Melanie.
And then? When she said she wanted him? Goddamn, fucking hell.
Nathan had wanted her too, and it had taken all his strength to turn away. To walk out without one more taste of the paradise that was going to be Derrick’s to enjoy for what looked to be forever.
He had watched, the burn of jealousy fading as he visually feasted on their lovemaking. It wasn’t his turn for love like this, but seeing it? Knowing it could be real?
That was a gift he’d never expected to receive.
Nathan watched the lovers snuggle together on the mat, oblivious to his presence. This was as it should be, and only one thought repeated in his mind.
Time to move on.
It had been good to witness unconditional love. Someday he hoped to find for himself what was growing between Melanie and Derrick.