This was fast.
Cherry had never moved this quickly with anyone, and she never took the lead like this. Not once. Not that she’d had a ton of sexual partners, because she hadn’t. She could count them on one hand. Okay, on three fingers. But she’d dated each of them for much longer than the mere less-than-a-month she’d been seeing Ellis. Hell, that she’dknownEllis. Less than a month! What the hell was she doing?
But when she turned back to the doorway and Ellis was standing there, all that hesitation, the uncertainty, insecurity, the sheerinsanityof it all vanished like fog on a summer morning. Because there she was, this woman who’d had such an effect on her in only a handful of days. And she wanted nothing more than to touch her, to kiss her, to wring sounds from her and learn her body and watch her reactions. Study her. What she liked. What she loved. What would make her moan and writhe and beg, and the intensity of these thoughts pushed everything else out of her head. She set her wineglass on the nightstand, not taking even a moment to stop and take in the room, which was what she normally would’ve done. Look at the furniture, the colors, the style, all of which would tell her more about Ellis.
But there was no time.
Because if she didn’t touch Ellis in the next few seconds, she was pretty sure she’d just burst into flames right there. Leave nothing more than a pile of ash on her bedroom floor.
Ellis stepped into the room, and the first thing Cherry noticed was that her bright blue eyes had gone dark. Hooded. When she blinked, itwas slowly, her gaze never leaving Cherry’s, and she took two more steps until there were mere inches between them. Ellis lifted her hand and brushed Cherry’s hair off her forehead, tucked it behind her ear. They were very nearly the same height, Cherry only the slightest bit taller.
“God, you’re beautiful,” Ellis whispered, and the words sent a pleasant shiver through Cherry’s body. Before she could reply—or even think about replying—Ellis’s mouth was on hers. Instead of words, she made a sound. A whimper.
And then they were kissing. Hard. Making out. Deeply. Desperately. Yeah, that was the most accurate word.Desperately. It was like she couldn’t get enough. She wanted more of Ellis. She wanted to get closer. To go deeper. To have more. She grasped Ellis’s head with both hands and pushed herself as close as she could, dove in, pushed her tongue into Ellis’s mouth, and this time, it was Ellis who whimpered.
That sound did things to her. Sexy things. Sexy, naughty things. And then she didn’t think about anything else. Shecouldn’tthink about anything else. She merely acted, let her body lead the way. Her hands. Her mouth. She had no recollection of actually undressing Ellis, but she knew she did it because Ellis was suddenly naked, her bra dropping from Cherry’s fingers to the floor. And oh my God, was she stunning. Cherry faltered then because the sight of her…the sight of her. Smooth pale skin and gentle curves and tousled blond hair and small, perfect breasts. The sudden feeling that hit her was a surprise: honor. It was actual honor, and she felt it in a wave. Honor and privilege washed over her as she reached out a hand to touch this gorgeous woman.
But Ellis caught her hand in midair, and the expression on her face was both sexy and playful as she waved one finger up and down in front of her. “Mm-mm. One of us is very overdressed. Hint—it’s not me.”
There was something indescribably sexy about undressing in front of Ellis in that moment. Cherry wanted to simply rip her own clothes off and throw Ellis onto the bed, but she forced herself to slow down. She pulled her sweater up over her head, then unfastened her jeans and left both items on the floor. Reaching behind, she unhooked her bra, intensely aware of Ellis watching her as she did so, and then her breasts were bare, and she swore to God she could feel Ellis’s eyes on them. Roaming. Stroking. She swallowed hard and hooked her thumbs intothe waistband of her underwear, slid it down her legs, and stepped out of it.
Both of them naked now, they stood quietly, looking at each other. This was new to Cherry as well. She’d had plenty of sex with her three partners, but it had always been right to the bed or the couch or the floor. There’d never been any standing naked in front of each other, so turned on you were sure you might spontaneously combust, your entire body aching to be touched. There’d never been any pausing to look. Justlook. But that’s where she was in that moment. On fire and desperate to have Ellis’s hands on her, and there was that word again. Desperate.
Ellis was feeling it, too. Somehow, she knew that. A moment passed as they traveled each other’s bodies with their eyes, but once their gazes met, it was as if something unlocked, as if the pause button was clicked off, and suddenly, they were on each other. Mouths crashed together and bodies pressed and breathing became ragged. Cherry didn’t even realize they’d been moving until the backs of her thighs hit the bed and she tumbled backward onto the mattress, Ellis on top of her, the most delicious of weights. Her legs spread on their own, accommodating Ellis’s hips, and when Ellis’s stomach pressed into her center, Cherry understood how completely, almost embarrassingly wet she was.
“Oh my God,” Ellis said, clearly also noticing. Her eyes met Cherry’s and she asked, in the sweetest, most reverent tone Cherry had ever heard, “Do I do that to you?”
“You have no idea,” Cherry said, then pulled her into a searing kiss as she wrapped her legs around Ellis’s hips tightly.
Had it ever been this easy? This effortless? Because, while being with Ellis this way was exciting and erotic and sensual and completely blowing her mind, her crazy nervousness had all but abandoned her. Vanished like a thief in the night. She was exactly where she was supposed to be in that moment. And she knew it. Shefeltit. Somehow.
It became difficult to feel where she ended and Ellis began. It was like they were one being. Her hands were warm on Ellis’s soft skin, and her tongue was waging a sensual battle with Ellis’s in their kiss, and she was pretty sure that was Ellis’s hand on her hip, her inner thigh, her—
She gasped as Ellis pushed into her. And then there was eye contact, hot and intimate, and Ellis’s gaze never left hers as she set upa rhythm, slowly at first. Erotic. Cherry’s hips started to move on their own, rocking, lifting into Ellis’s hand, and it was like she had no say, no control. They just moved by instinct. She gasped when Ellis used her thumb to hit just the right spot, the rhythm picking up, and Cherry felt the orgasm careening toward her like a runaway freight train, barreling right for her, nothing she could do to get out of the way, not that she wanted to, and then it hit.
Oh God, did it hit.
Sparks and colors and sounds. Muscle tension. Arched back. Hips up off the bed. And sound.Sound. Cries. Moans. Whimpers. God, when did she become so vocal in bed? That was her, right? She barely recognized herself.
She came down slowly, needed time to recover. Her breathing was ragged, and her heart felt like it might pound itself right through her ribcage. And the entire time she was trying to regain control of herself, those blue eyes were trained on her, and Ellis was smiling like she’d just won the lottery.
“Wow,” Ellis said quietly. “That was something else.”
“Yeah? You should’ve been on this side of it.” And Ellis’s smile widened, and that did it. Cherry was suddenly recovered, at least enough to flip them—much to Ellis’s surprise—so she was on top, Ellis looking startled and sexy beneath her. “In fact, let me demonstrate…”
* * *
It was four a.m.
Ellis was awake. Awake, but sated. Warm. Thrilled. Smiling in the dark in the middle of the night like a weirdo. Cherry’s breathing was deep and even. Had been for the better part of two hours now. She shifted in her sleep, winding herself even more around Ellis’s body—which Ellis didn’t think was possible—and snuggling her head in under her chin. Ellis tightened her grip and tried hard to remember the last time she’d been this physical with anybody. Ever. Once they’d begun, they’d had their hands on each other endlessly.Endlessly. Since Cherry had arrived, there’d barely been a moment that they hadn’t been touching in some way. And it wasn’t weird. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It was perfect.
And then she was flashing back. This was how things had gonefor her since Cherry fell asleep. She’d think about how different-slash-incredible-slash-inexplicably wonderful the night had been, and then her brain would toss her images of the previous hours and she’d relive them. And round and round and round.
The eye contact, though.
Yeah, the eye contact was a thing. A major thing for her. Ellis wasn’t great at eye contact. It made her squirmy. Uncomfortable. She could do it, sure. She’d had job interviews and dates and such. She knew how important it was to look a person in the eye. But with Cherry? And in the midst of sex? It was easy. Natural. And kind of awesome. There was something so incredibly intimate about looking in another person’s eyes while touching them in such an intimate way, and she realized that she’d never done that before. She hadn’t had a ton of sexual partners in her life—a good-sized handful, maybe—but she’d never felt so connected to the other person. Not like she had with Cherry. Not like she still did with Cherry, and she pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
She must have drifted off at some point because the next thing she was aware of was the sliver of sun peeking over the horizon, viewable out her bedroom window. She was on her side now, and Cherry was snuggled tightly up against her back. Nugget purred loudly somewhere nearby, but she couldn’t see him. She straightened her leg slightly—he was near the foot of the bed, and she nuzzled her toes up against him.
