“This okay?” I ask, stroking back and forth across the firm planes of his abs.
“I’d tell you if it wasn’t.” His calm gaze finds mine in the darkness. I slip his belt from the clasp, the buckle clattering as I free it, my anticipation making my fingers tremble and renewed heat ignite in my core.
Is it possible to do this wrong? I don’t want to feel like that right now, but I can’t deny the need to please him. Especially with what I think I’m starting to understand about him—he may not have a problem with intimacy, or dancing, or carrying me down a mountain, but he has some very firm boundaries when it comes to people in his space, or sharing personal details about himself. It makes me want to give him the best version of myself. Like a welcome mat with the door wide open.
I manage the button with one hand and slide his zipper down.
“Hey, you’re shaking,” Linden says, slipping his fingers beneath mine and bringing them back to the middle of his chest.
I force out a breath. “I’m fine. Really.”
He rolls sideways, concern etching his face. “Meg. Don’t lie to me.”
I bite back the words of reassurance already forming on my tongue becauseouch. The way this man sees though me is unnerving, but he’s also…right.
And I don’t want to lie to him.
“I’m not good in bed,” I blurt.
His eyes cloud with confusion, but his expression quickly softens. He brushes the side of my cheek with his knuckle. “Who told you that?”
I blink. This isn’t what I expected him to say. “It wasn’t ever said out loud.”
His lips tense in a grimace. “But you were made to believe it, weren’t you?”
I shrink away from the memories starting to unspool because I don’t want to go there. “Sometimes I can’t…get to the finish line.”
He arches an eyebrow. “You knocked it outta the park just a few minutes ago.”
I can’t help but smile. “During sex.”
“That’s not your fault, Meg.” The amusement is gone from his eyes. “Whoever made you feel that way was a shitty partner.”
I nod. Deep down I sense this must be true. I’m not naïve when it comes to understanding themechanics. But my experience with Russel made this feel like an unreachable goal.
“What did you try?” Linden asks, caressing over my hip and down my thigh with his big hand, his touch soothing and gentle.
“Try?”
Recognition flashes in his eyes. “Yeah. It’s called communication. One person asks for what they need and the other person works to give it to them.”
“It wasn’t like that with Russel.”
“So he didn’t listen? Or you didn’t tell him what you need?”
“It was so easy for him. He never had a problem.”
Linden rubs down his chin, and then his dark eyes laser in on me. “First off, you don’t have a problem, so I need you to get that out of your head, starting now.”
I meet his stern gaze. It’s easy to believe him, so why not give myself permission to do just that? At least for this moment.
“Second, it was selfish of him not to put your enjoyment first.”
“He tried.”
Linden gives a frustrated sigh. “Obviously not hard enough.”
He slips off his pants and sets them aside, then draws me on top of him like a human blanket. His skin is warm and the planes of his muscular body feel so incredibly good beneath me. Strongand steady. A bright wave of heat unfurls inside me, radiating pleasure like a sudden burst of sunshine.
