“No condom,” I agree as I lower myself down on him a few more inches, and we’re both gasping and moaning. I’m so tight and he’s so big that it takes a few more tries before I’m finally able to take all of him.
That’s when Verek’s mouth crashes down on mine, his hands tightening in my hair as he loses his restraint. His hips buck, thrusting him deeper inside of me, hitting some hidden spot that somehow makes the room darken and my inner walls clench.
“You okay?” he asks against my lips.
“Yes,” I moan which is rewarded with another pump of his hips that steals my breath. “More. Please,” I beg as I finally start to move on top of him.
As both of us get lost in the urgency of our bodies, I ride Verek down until his back is flat on the bed. His big palms slide down my neck and chest until they’re gently cupping my breasts, his thumbs rubbing circles around my nipples as I ride him harder and faster. One hand keeps up the sweet torture while his other lowers to the place where our bodies are connected. As soon as his fingertips press against my clit, I come apart, trembling and chanting Verek’s name over and over again in gratitude. While I’m riding those blissful waves of ecstasy, his body stills underneath mine, and then his flesh is throbbing inside of me before his warm release fills me up.
Verek buries his face in my neck, his mouth sucking on my skin, muffling his masculine grunts of pleasure.
I collapse onto his chest that’s even more damp than mine when I can’t hold myself up any longer, sated and happy.
I finally had sex.
And it was incredible.
“Thank you,” I say to Verek, brushing my lips over his throat.
“The pleasure was all mine, sweetheart,” he jokes, his mouth moving from my neck and around until our mouths find each other again. “Well worth the wait,” he says. “I would’ve gladly kept my virginity until tonight for the chance to have this one single time with you,” he adds, which is complete bullshit, but exactly what I needed to hear.
Chapter Thirty
Verek
* * *
How did I get talked into a day at the beach as a third wheel? Oh, that’s right. Last night with Tessa was the best night of my life. The sex was so much more than just “sex.” It was the most connected to another person that I’ve ever felt. I’m falling hard for this woman and would do anything she asked.
Even tag along on a date with her and Paul.
Although, I have to admit that it is a beautiful day. The sunshine is glistening off the ocean water, and the sand is cool under my bare toes, not scorching hot like in the summer. There’s no way I’ll be going for a swim, but it’s nice to take my shoes off and sit in the dunes, watching the tide roll in, even if Paul ensures I’m left out of most of his conversation with Tessa. He’s talking about her life back in Raleigh, a time that I don’t know anything about. She’s never really talked to me about her previous home.
Needing a break from their little reunion, I stand up and tell them, “I think I’m gonna go for a walk.”
“I think I’m going to go to the ladies’ room,” Tessa replies. I reach down, offering her my hand that she takes to pull herself to her feet.
“Thanks,” she says with a smile. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” I agree, forgetting where I was going as I watch her walk away with the prospects following close behind.
“Why does Tessa let you touch her?” Paul asks when we’re alone.
“Huh?”
“You heard me,” he says, standing up to talk to me. “I’m not blind, so just tell me what’s going on. Am I wasting my time here?”
Blowing out an exasperated breath, I tell him, “No, I don’t think you’re wasting your time. Tessa is…torn, I think. The biggest thing that’s holding her back is that she’s afraid of not being capable of intimacy, at least not the normal kind.”
“I don’t care about that! I love her,” he says. “I still want to spend the rest of my life with her, even if I never get to touch her again.”
“When I say she’s torn, I mean that she cares about me too.”
“No shit,” he huffs. “She barely lets you leave her side.”
“She trusts me. I’ve fucking earned that trust!” Pointing to my chest, I tell him, “I was the man who carried her out of that goddamn storage facility, and I’m the one who killed the men who hurt her.” With a sigh, I add, “I’m also the man she almost went home with the night she was kidnapped. She’s forgiven me, even though it was my fault she left the club without her friends…”
I didn’t think Paul had it in him, but before I can blink, his fist is flying at my face. I try to duck in time, but his knuckles still land smack-dab on my damn jaw.
“Fuck!” I exclaim as I clutch the side of my aching face.
“You’re the reason Tessa suddenly wanted to call off the wedding?” he snarls at me, finally losing his temper. I admit, it took longer than I would’ve lasted seeing her with another man.
“What? No, I’m not. Tessa called the wedding off because she was kidnapped and raped by those four sons of bitches.”
“No,” he says with a shake of his head. “She called me that night, told me we should postpone the wedding because she wasn’t ready. She said she needed time, but I could tell, what she really meant was that she had suddenly changed her mind.”
“She did?” I ask in surprise. I always thought she ended things because of what she had been through, what I didn’t stop from happening to her. “You think she called it off for a man she just met?”
“Yes! She crushed me, ruined everything we had, all because of you!”
“Me? Really?” I repeat again.
“I don’t know, but probably,” he exclaims, losing his cool again, his arms flailing. “The way she looks at you…I think she loves you.”
“She shouldn’t,” I remark, even though my chest is swelling up with hope.
“No, she shouldn’t. I can treat her better than you. I’m certain of that!” he says.
“I’m sure you could,” I agree.
“So why would she rather be with you?”
“I don’t know, man,” I answer. “Honestly, Tessa is still confused. She hasn’t made a decision yet. She may still pick you.”
“How could I ever compete with you? The man who ‘saved her’?”
“I may have been there when we found her, but it’s my fault she was taken. If I had just gone after her…”
“Then she would’ve gone home with you, and I still would be the one who lost her!” Paul explains. “As long as you’re around, I don’t stand a fucking chance. Tessa said she wanted to come back home eventually. Are you what’s standing in her way, keeping her here?”
“What? I don’t…I didn’t know that she wants to go home.”
“Of course she does! That’s where her family and friends are,” he says. “Why can’t you leave or just let her go, finally end this…this fling or whatever it is that’s going on and stop messing with her head? Be the bigger man and let me be the man she needs!”