Chapter 5

She needed to get rid of this underwear. She should have removed it before getting into bed so it wouldn't be in the way now. But she had wanted to keep her bra and panties on until she was sure he wouldn't push her away.

She sat up and looked down at the shadow of his face. His hands were still where she had put them, above his head, and the fact that he was still keeping them there, still doing as she had told him, sent heat moving through her all over again. "Don't move."

She moved off him, reached down and found the waistband of her underwear, and lifted up on her knees just enough to push them down and work them free and drop them somewhere over the side of the bed. Then she settled back over him, bare this time, nothing between them, and they both went still at exactly the same moment.

The heat of him against her was startling. She had felt him through the fabric, and that had been enough to make her breathless, but this was different. Direct and real and considerably more than she had been prepared for.

He was bigger than she was used to him being. Was he that excited? The difference was enough to give her pause for just a second until she reminded herself she was in Mark's bed and her key would only work in his lock. She hadn't stumbled into the wrong apartment. The layout was the same as she knew the apartment to be.

She was just turning him on more than she had before, and his body was showing her how true that statement was.

She rolled her hips, making his cock push between her folds. The sound he made was low and rough as it rumbled through his chest, and she felt it move through the whole length of her.

His hands were still above his head. He was keeping them there. She could feel the effort of it in the tension in his body under her, all that control held deliberately in check, and she found she liked that enormously, liked knowing she was the reason for it.

She leaned down and pressed her mouth, kissing along his jawline until she reached his ear where she bit him, then sucked the lobe. His breathing was ragged and so was hers, and he wasn't even in her yet.

She sat back up and began to move properly.

It was nothing like she had expected and everything she hadn't known she needed. The heat of it moved through her, fast and purposeful. No voice in her head, no self-consciousness, no waiting for it to be over. Just the two of them in the dark, enjoying each other.

His hands came down from above his head.

She felt it happen and looked down at him in the dark.

He spread both palms wide and warm against her hips, and she let him keep them there because he wasn't taking over. He was just holding her in place like he was making sure she wasn't going to disappear. He didn't try to direct the roll of her hips. She moved within them and felt his grip tighten in response.

She braced her hands against his chest.

She could feel his heart going hard and fast under her palms, and knowing that his heart was doing that because of her, because of what she was doing to him, sent heat flooding through her core. She could feel how wet she was getting. He had to feel it too. She wasn't embarrassed by her body's response to him.

She moved again, and he made that sound, the low rough one she had already become addicted to, and his hands tightened on her hips and pulled her down harder against him, and she gasped.

His hands moved from her hips up her sides, his palms slow and unhurried against her bare skin, tracing the curve of her ribs, the dip of her waist, spreading wide across her stomach, caressing her.

His hands slid up and found her breasts, and her breath came out in a rush. He shaped her slowly, his thumbs circling her nipples. She felt the heat shoot straight down through her and gripped his chest to keep herself upright.

She had never felt like this. Not once in almost two years. Not even adjacent to this. His right hand left her breast and slid slowly down the flat of her stomach.

She knew where it was going, and her whole body went tight with anticipation.

His fingers found her, and she cried out, the sound loud in the quiet room, and her hips stuttered, and his other hand spread wide across her lower back and held her steady while he did it again.

"There," she breathed. She hadn't planned to say it. It just came out of her.

He didn't stop. He circled slowly, like he had all the time in the world and intended to use it, and she pressed both palms flat against his chest and concentrated very hard on not handing over control to him. Their sex life had never been this good, so there was no way she was giving complete control to him yet.

Every time she thought she had found the ceiling on how good this could feel, he moved slightly and found another one above it.

She moved with him, chasing his fingers, rubbing against him. She needed him inside her. Every nerve she owned was firing at once, and her whole body locked up and then released in a long shuddering wave, making her cry out in surprise.

His hand kept moving, drawing it out, and she shook against him and couldn't have been quiet about it if she had tried.

When it finally ebbed, she stayed where she was. Her face now pressed against his neck. Breathing like she had been running. So that's what she had been missing out on.

He stroked his hand slowly up her spine.

She stayed there for a long moment, warm and completely undone. So much for her being in control. With one touch, he had completely undone her.

Then she lifted her head. "Your turn," she murmured.

The breath went out of him.

She rose up, reaching over to the nightstand. She fumbled in the top drawer until she found the condoms she wanted, pulling one out. She settled back over him but down a little so she wasn't covering his cock. Her hand around his rock-hard length, loving the feel of steel encased in silk, she used her hand to stroke him up and down a few times. Before she opened the foil packet with her teeth and rolled the condom down his length slowly, feeling every inch of him under her fingers. He was so hard it was almost startling, and she took her time with it, loving the weight of him in her hand.

When she was done, she moved back up and positioned herself over him. Her hands braced on his chest, his hands back on her hips, and for a moment they both just stayed there.

She could feel the head of him pressing against her entrance, and her breath caught. She reached down to help position him just right, then moved down just enough so a centimeter or two was inside her before bracing herself again.

Then she lowered herself slowly. Just the tip at first, and even that was enough to make her pause. He was bigger than she remembered, thick enough that she had to concentrate on relaxing, on letting her body adjust.

She sank down another inch and heard him make a sound that was halfway between a groan and something rougher.

Her thighs were shaking. She could feel the stretch of it, not quite pain but close enough to make her breathing go shallow. She stayed where she was for a moment, adjusting, and his hands tightened on her hips like he was barely holding himself back from pulling her down the rest of the way.

"Slow," she breathed. More to herself than to him.

She lowered herself another inch and gasped. He felt so deep already, and she wasn't even halfway down. She could feel every ridge, every vein, the heat of him pushing into her core, and it was almost too much, but that didn't stop her from wanting more.

She took a breath and sank down further.

The sound that came out of her was sharp and high, and she couldn't have stopped it if she tried. He filled her completely, more than completely, stretching her in a way that made her whole body tighten around him.

His hands were gripping her hips hard enough to leave marks, and she didn't care. She stayed where she was, fully seated on him, breathing hard, trying to adjust to the feeling of being this full.

He was so deep. Deeper than she had ever felt him before. Riding him certainly had its advantages. She could feel him everywhere, pressing against places she hadn't known existed, and when she shifted even slightly, it sent sparks shooting up her spine.

She lifted up slowly, just a few inches, and lowered herself back down.

The sensation was immediate and overwhelming. She cried out, and her nails dug into his chest, and he made that rough sound again, the one she was quickly becoming addicted to.

She did it again. Lifted and lowered, finding a rhythm that was slow and careful and absolutely nothing like what her body was demanding she do. She wanted to move faster, but she was enjoying the sensation a little too much.

His hands moved from her hips to her waist, guiding her, and she let him because she needed the help. Her thighs were burning, and her whole body was shaking, and she couldn't think past the feeling of him inside her.

She picked up the pace, enough because her body was driving her. Lifted higher this time, almost to the tip, and dropped back down hard.

They both groaned at the same time.

She did it again. And again. Chasing the feeling, chasing the heat that was building low in her stomach, and his hands were back on her breasts, pinching the nipples, making her gasp. It wasn't long before she was riding him hard, just like Paige had told her to, and the sound of their bodies coming together was loud in the quiet room. Skin against skin, her breath coming in gasps, his rough groans every time she came down on him.

She could feel it building again. That same tightness, that same heat, but stronger this time, more urgent, and she could feel it rushing at her.

His thumb found her clit, and she cried out and nearly lost her rhythm entirely.

He circled it slowly, the same way he had before, and she couldn't hold back the sounds that were coming out of her now. High and desperate, completely beyond her control.

"Don't stop," she gasped. She didn't even know if she was talking to him or herself.

He didn't stop. He kept that slow, steady pressure on her clit while she rode him harder, faster, chasing the edge of something that felt impossibly close.

When it hit, it hit hard.

Her whole body locked up and then released in a wave that seemed to go on forever. She cried out, loud and sharp, and her inner muscles clenched around him so hard she felt him jerk underneath her.

He groaned her name, and his hands gripped her hips and pulled her down hard onto him one last time before he went rigid beneath her. She felt him pulse inside her. She collapsed forward onto his chest, her face against his neck, her whole body trembling with aftershocks.

His arms came around her and held her there, not moving away like he normally would.