He laughed, but not in a mean way. He ran a fingertip along the edge of the towel where it stretched between her shoulder blades. “You’re not naked yet.”
“I might as well be.”
“Fine, fine.” He tugged his undershirt off and stood to take off his pants. He still had his boxers on, though, as he settled in behind her again.
“What about—?”
“In a minute.” Once he’d gotten himself arranged, he pulled her in against his chest. She sat in the V of his legs, awkwardly reclining with her spine to his front, unsure what she was safe to lean against. He made a little groan when she tried to relax into him, and heat seared through her. There he was—the hard line of him pressed against the small of her back. “See?” he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “If I take everything off, I’m going to be right there.” He tilted his hips forward, dropping his voice. “And I don’t think either of us is ready for that.”
She certainly wasn’t, but feeling him there, knowing he was erect and so close—it made a fresh, new wave of heat roll through her body. His chest was broad and firm beneath her, his hands so sure in their strokes. He smelled good and sounded good, and she had him for only so long, but he was here for her. He wanted her.
With a quivering breath, she closed her eyes.
“That’s right,” he said as she relaxed. “That’s beautiful.”
Drawing his fingertips in expanding circles, over her arms and up her torso, across the naked swaths of skin above the cover of the towel, he leaned in. His mouth was hot and wet against her neck, and he had to know what this was doing to her. As she slowly lost the tension she’d been carrying, a new one settled in its place, but instead of nerves, it was all desire. Her skin felt like it was humming, unnaturally sensitive to every stroke of his hands and lips. Between her legs, a deep ache settled in, liquid flowing, making her feel warm and ripe and glowing.
“That’s perfect,” he murmured. “Let me make you feel good.”
She didn’t know how long she lay against him like that, letting him touch and trace. When it started to become too much, she shifted, pressing her thighs together, but it didn’t help. He made a sound low in his chest and, pausing for just a second, let his hands drift lower. Through the towel, he caressed her breasts and her sides, then down. Gliding warm hands over her hips and the tops of her thighs, but bypassing the needy center of her. After a few passes, her attention all seemed to be focusing there, the one place he refused to touch, and a worry flickered deep in her belly.
Would he make her say it out loud? Make her ask, or worse, beg?
A gasp of a whine escaped her lips, and it made him press harder, cupping her with more eager hands.
All at once, it struck her—he wasn’t the only one who could move here.
As if her arms had suddenly come unfrozen, she reached one up, tangling her fingers in his hair. She craned her head to the side as she pulled him down, and when their lips met, it was with a crush of heat and need. He parted for her, pressing forward with his tongue and letting hers in beside it. He tasted like sex, and he made her feel like sex, heady and powerful and reeling.
Breathless, she pulled away for air, but it was only to have her lungs seize in her chest. His index finger played over the stretch of skin right above where her towel was tucked, teasing at the terry cloth.
“Can I?”
He sounded as lost in this as she was, as turned on and wanting. She tilted her head up, stretching her neck to sip from his lips one more time. Her heart thundering against her rib cage, she released the kiss and moved so she could look into his eyes.
Her voice seemed to echo in the room. “Yes.”
chapter ELEVEN
It was all Rylan could do to keep his movements even and slow, building up the anticipation as he unwrapped Kate like a gift. She’d been so squirrelly about letting him see her really naked the night before, and those hints of uncertainty still lingered in the way she braced herself.
Fear had no place in his bed. He was going to have to teach her that. Again.
Leaving one hand on her cheek to keep her angled toward his mouth, he worked the other one under the fabric of her towel. The cloth gave way with the slightest nudge, going loose across her breasts, and he closed his eyes as he nipped at her lips. He was hard as diamond against her spine, and he needed to pace himself if he was going to make this good.
It was the work of a moment to get himself back under control. Gently, carefully, he peeled one side of the towel away, and then the other. Her breathing picked up as he revealed her. With the lightest touch, he traced his fingertips through the valley of her breasts. Her skin was so smooth, water-warm from her shower, a delight against his palm as he let it graze across her nipple. A high-pitched little noise leaked from her lips at the touch. He left her wanting, though, drifting lower, down the soft planes of her abdomen.
Just before he reached her cunt, he paused. She’d been so wet last night, so sweet against his tongue, and he wanted to feel that again. But he had a game plan for tonight.
He let his other hand slide from her face, teasing the line of her throat before grazing lower. Overlooking the way she tensed, he parted his lips from hers, opening his eyes and shifting to look down the length of her body where it was splayed out before them.
The sheet lay across her thighs, barely obscuring the sweet, dark triangle of her pussy from his view, but the rest of her was entirely on display. And what a sight it was.
Her breasts weren’t large, but they were soft and round, her nipples a dusky rose, hard and pointed where they peaked. He drew his hands back up her body to cup the fullness of those curves.
“Do you like that?” he asked as she shivered.
She nodded, but was squirming. Uncomfortable, and he had to remind himself that he was trying to show her something here.
“Has anyone ever done this before? Given this much attention to just touching you?”
“No.”
“Idiots.” There were treasures here—pleasures so much greater than a quick come in a warm hole. But here was the real question. “Did you ever ask them to?”
She laughed, and it was a sad thing that made his frustration boil even hotter.
“You’ve been sleeping with idiots,” he repeated. He kissed the shell of her ear, wet and slow. “Here’s the trick. You can get a man to do all kinds of things. But you have to tell him what you want.”
Uncertain silence met him at that. It was no surprise, but it still bothered him.
“Come on,” he said, more taunting. “You never miss a chance to give me a hard time. What’s holding you back now? You can tell me you want me to suck on your tits.” He said it as crudely as he could think to, and the way her throat moved, the way her spine pressed against where he was still so damn hard for her confirmed that it had been the right move. “Or touch your cunt.”
Her hips tilted forward at that, and she shifted, like she was trying to cross her legs, and no. There wasn’t going to be any of that. In a deft maneuver, he hooked his ankles over hers, holding her open.
“Don’t close up for me now,” he murmured. With a last stroke of his thumbs across her nipples, he dropped his hands to her thighs, running them up and down the smooth flesh, nudging the sheet lower with every pass until he could see everything. He edged higher, slipped his fingers along the creases where torso met leg, so close to where she wanted him—so close to where he wanted to be.
“Why are you so afraid of this?” he asked.
“Not afraid.” She could have fooled him. Her voice shook with it.
“No? You could barely even admit to me that you’d gotten yourself off before. Still can’t tell me what you want me to do to you.” And he was getting into dangerous territory here, he knew. “Those other men. The ones who never made you come. Could you tell them what to do?”