The last of my control ripped at the seams. I tore at my shirt, and the cursed button gave apopbefore sailing out of sight. In the next moment, Elise’s hands met my fly, and I tumbled her onto her back, one hand cradling her head while the other reached beneath her skirt.
Somewhere in the corners of my mind, I knew Elise deserved better. She should be worshipped from head to toe, covered with kisses and delicious, unbroken caresses. But now, as my fingertips met the soaked valley of her panties, all I could offer her was this inelegant, fumbling urgency.
A cry left her lips as I stroked over her hidden mound. And then my zipper gave way, and her hand wrapped tight around my shaft.
“Jesus—”Exquisite pleasure threatened to turn me inside out. I’d never wanted anyone like this. I’d never felt this dangerous need for anything. Elise was essential for my very life, and I had to have her.
Slipping beneath the elastic band of her panties, my fingers found sopping, searing flesh. Elise shivered at my touch, squeezing me again. My vision might have tunneled.
And then her free hand snaked around my back and into my jeans. She gripped my ass, tugging me toward her, and that was all it took.
I yanked her panties down, and Elise kicked herself free, her movements as graceless as my own. When the tip of my sex touched the heat of hers, our eyes locked, and I stilled. In hers, I saw the same desire, my own frenzied need mirrored back at me. I saw the promise of relief and the wonder of welcome.
I saw the person I’d loved my entire life.
“Finally,” I whispered, pushing inside her.
She was snug and hot and perfect. And I knew immediately I would embarrass myself and disappoint her. At best. But there was no help for it. I was moving, rutting like an animal, and I couldn’t have stopped even if the house caught fire.
The house might as well have caught fire. Everywhere she touched me, her breasts pressed to my naked chest, her bare legs closing around my hips, and the tight heaven that clenched my cock all set me ablaze.
We both panted as we moved, now desperate for air, for release, but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t apologize for the moment that would come too soon. And I couldn’t tame my mind to focus on anything — graphing calculators, modeling software, W-2s — anything that would slow the inevitable break.
All I knew was Elise.
And she was so beautiful beneath me. The slightest frown marked her perfect brow as she chased after her bliss, her sensual lips parted in her seeking. I reached down between us to stroke her where she needed me, knowing I was only seconds away from plummeting over the edge. But I wanted her to have everything. And I wanted to be the one to give it to her.
Her mouth opened wider and her eyes lifted to mine. “Cole…” It was my name on her lips that set me off, my orgasm gathering first at the back of my thighs before rolling over my hips and taking over every nerve in my body. Every cell lit with rapture. I felt it in my eyelids, between my toes, as though my entire being was exploding inside her.
“Oh, God, Cole.”
The sound of my name fell over me again. And again. And I realized with joy and relief that I wasn’t the only one whose body was being turned into stars. Elise was with me, and we were busy setting off new galaxies together.
In the last cosmic pulse, I sealed my mouth over hers and kissed her for all I was worth.
Chapter 27
ELISE
I lay in a sweaty heap under Cole’s magnificent body, fighting for breath. My own flesh was limp and pleasure-soaked. But as my breath steadied and my vision cleared, I looked down at us.
We were sprawled upside-down on his bed, our feet on top his pillows. My skirt was rucked up at my waist. Cole still wore his jeans halfway down his hips.
We hadn’t even bothered to undress. We’d barely kissed.
Jesus, what’s wrong with me?
I had completely lost control.
Well, notcompletely.
I had managed to stop myself from crying in Cole’s arms just minutes before. And I hadn’t uttered the words that were trying to tear from my mouth the moment our bodies joined. But I’d felt them.
Shit, I’m in so much trouble.
I’d had casual sex before. Sex that on the surface had been meaningless, but days later, after I hadn’t been able to bring myself to call the guy back or he hadn’t bothered to call me, I’d felt like I belonged in a landfill. Used and disgusting.
And this was not casual. Not for me. I knew in the pit of my stomach that if Cole had just slaked whatever lingering thirst he’d had for me, if this was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am eight years in the making, I was going to crumble.