I was pleasantly surprised when Gemma moved toward me, her tentative hands hovering over the toned flesh of my torso.
“Touch me,” I begged, desperate to feel her hands on my body.
She licked her lips, and the first graze of her fingertips had me sucking in a harsh breath, causing her to freeze.
“Keep going,” I commanded.
Her palms flattened over my abs, skimming over the muscles ridge by ridge until she reached my pecs. I wondered if she could feel my heart racing, threatening to beat out of my chest.
When she reached my shoulders, my shirt fell away, fluttering to the floor.
Gemma traced each line of the tattoos lining my entire right arm.
The sleeve had taken years to complete. I might not remember my homeland, having never returned once my parents immigrated, but I was raised to appreciate our culture, our roots. So, I’d had my body inked as a reminder of where I came from.
“You like?”
She nodded, meeting my gaze. “It’s beautifully done.” Huffing out a soft laugh, she mused, “I wondered why these symbols looked so strange the day we met. I get it now.”
The Cyrillic alphabet was like none other, and I’d learned it alongside the English one.
“What does it mean?”
I peeked down at the Russian proverb I’d taken to heart a long time ago.
“Every cloud has a silver lining.”
Gemma rolled her eyes at me often, but this was the first time she did so in a playful way. “Ever the optimist, aren’t you?”
“Better than the alternative,” I countered.
“Yeah,” she breathed out. “Maybe you’re right.”
The air in the room was charged, but the spark that threatened to ignite the flame was when Gemma placed her hands on my belt buckle. I covered them, and she peeked up at me in question.
“I want to take my time with you tonight, and I can’t promise that will happen if you so much as graze my cock right now, baby,” I explained.
Understanding dawned, and her eyes grew wide. “Oh!”
“You have no idea what you do to me, do you?”
Swallowing, she shook her head.
“Just the idea of your hot pussy stretched around my dick has me threatening to blow my load. And I promised myself the only place I’d allow myself to do that tonight would be inside you. So I’m begging you to let me keep a little bit of my dignity right now while I make good on my promise to take care of you first. If that’s all right with you, of course.”
“Uh-huh,” Gemma said in a daze.
“Good. I’m going to take off my pants, and I suggest you sit on the edge of the tub to watch because I don’t want you to fall over when you see what’s in store for you later.”
A snort sounded. “Cocky much?”
I chuckled because she had no idea. “Guess you’re about to find out. Go sit.”
Backing away slowly, she perched her juicy ass on the bathtub, gripping the porcelain lip so tight her knuckles turned white.
With practiced ease, I maneuvered my fingers over the cool metal buckle of my belt, not bothering to remove it completely as I undid the button of my suit pants and lowered the zipper. My cock sprang through the opening, still concealed beneath my boxer briefs.
Toeing off my shoes, I decided to just go for it, hooking my thumbs inside the waistband of both my pants and underwear and wrenching them down my thighs, kicking them away as I straightened.
