His fingers withdraw completely, leaving me empty and aching. “No! What are you?—”
“Turn around. Get on your knees,” he commands, untangling my legs from his shoulders.
It’s a sharp order that I rush to obey without question. Right now I’d do anything he asked. My entire body is on fire with need. I hear the rustle of expensive fabric, and then he’s positioning himself behind me, the blunt head of his arousal pressing against my entrance.
“Please!” I almost sob, desperate for relief, for something to fill the aching emptiness inside me. When he doesn’t move immediately, I break completely. “Ethan, please!”
His hands settle on my waist with possessive heat. “You’re so pretty when you beg, Natalie.” He presses a reverent kiss to the base of my spine before driving into me with one powerful thrust.
My body jolts forward, and I brace myself on my forearms as he fills me completely. The sensation is overwhelming—I feel stretched and claimed and utterly possessed. Then he begins to move, lighting up every sensitive nerve with each deliberate stroke.
“Ethan,” I gasp mindlessly.
He sets a punishing pace, each thrust driving me higher. I can’t keep up with his rhythm, each movement wringing desperate cries from my throat. I’m too far gone to care about dignity or restraint.
His hands fist in my braids, yanking my head back and forcing my spine to arch. The new angle has him hitting a spot deep inside that makes my vision blur white.
It’s too much. I can’t?—
My release tears through me with devastating force, and I hear his answering groan as my body clenches around him.
Two more hard thrusts, and he follows me over the edge.
Completely spent, I collapse face-first onto the rumpled sheets, my body still trembling with aftershocks. Ethan settles beside me, gathering my boneless form against his chest.Somehow he’s managed to keep his shirt on, though it’s now completely unbuttoned.
When did he even remove his other clothes? My thoughts are too scattered to piece together the timeline.
Sleep beckons invitingly. I’ve never felt this deliciously exhausted, my body aching in all the right ways. All I want is to drift off like this, avoiding reality and the inevitable consequences of what just happened.
Ethan’s lips brush tenderly against my temple before he winds one of my braids around his hand like a silken rope. “So what happens now? Are you planning to run away again?”
“Too tired to talk,” I mumble against the sheets, keeping my eyes firmly closed. “That was... nice. Now let me sleep.”
“Sleep?” His voice holds unmistakable delight. “Sweetheart, we’re just getting started.”
My eyes snap open in alarm. “What?”
With gentle but inexorable strength, he turns me over until I’m sprawled across his chest, skin to skin.
“I’ve waited five long years to have you in my bed again. I’m nowhere near finished with you.”
“I’m not?—”
His kiss is gentler this time but no less consuming, pulling me back down into the sweet madness.
As I feel myself surrendering once again, I realize with growing dread that I’ve opened Pandora’s box.
And there’s absolutely no way to close it now.
CHAPTER 10
ETHAN
I observeNatalie limp toward the bathroom, her movements careful and slow.
Her back is littered with marks—marks I put there. When she turns to close the door, the bite marks and hickeys on her breasts are visible from where I’m lying, dark evidence of our morning together. She thinks I’m asleep. She’s probably trying to sneak away before I can initiate another round.
It’s afternoon now, and we finally crashed after hours of insatiable need.
