We can do this, she told herself. We can touch each other intimately and still go back to being friends and partners—as long as we don’t actually have sex.
The question was, how was Stone going to touch her?
Gently and slowly, if the way he was stroking her cheek was any indication. Cassie felt herself melting against her partner’s big hand. She was still looking up at him, looking into those piercing, pale blue eyes which had gone half-lidded with desire.
“So beautiful,” Stone murmured, looking down at her. “Do you know one of the things I love about you, Cassandra? The fact that you have no idea how fucking gorgeous you are.”
“Stone…” She could feel herself blushing.
“You said I could tell you how I felt when I touch you,” he reminded her.
“Yes, I know.” Cassie bit her lip. “It’s just…I never dreamed you thought those things about me.”
“I could never say them before,” he murmured. His big hand slid down her cheek and Stone cupped the back of her neck instead. Looking into her eyes, he tilted his mouth towards hers.
“Wait!” Cassie gasped, just as his lips barely brushed hers. She pulled away from him to see that Stone was frowning.
“What is wrong? I thought we were going to practice touching each other?”
“Touching but not kissing,” Cassie said.
“And what is wrong with kissing?” he wanted to know.
“It’s…too intimate,” Cassie told him. “It’ll make it too hard to go back to being just friends again if we go around kissing each other.”
“Very well.” Stone nodded and pulled away. “May I kiss other parts of your body, then?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, um…what parts?” Cassie asked. Her heart was drumming against her ribs, and she was getting warm all over.
“Your hand, for instance.” He lifted her right hand and brought it to his lips, placing a soft, hot kiss on the back of her knuckles. Then he flipped it over and placed another soft kiss on her palm…then her wrist…then the inner bend of her elbow.
It was the same way he had kissed her when he was showing her that he wouldn’t hurt her with his fangs and once again, it affected her deeply.
Cassie felt her pulse quicken and her stomach fluttered. His warm, spicy scent surrounded her, making her want more. Once again, she was at a loss for words. Who could have predicted that her big, scary-looking Kindred partner could be such a gentle lover?
“I…I guess my hand is an all-right place to kiss,” she whispered.
“What about your neck?” Without waiting for her reply, Stone leaned forward and brushed her hair out of the way. She felt his warm breath against the sensitive column of her throat and then he was leaving a slow, hot, trail of kisses along the side of her neck.
“Ohhh,” Cassie heard herself moaning. She could feel just the tips of his razor-sharp fangs but they never so much as scratched her. Tingling pleasure ran down her spine—her neck and throat had always been extremely sensitive erogenous zones for her, but she’d never been with a man who had realized that before. The most her ex, Keith, had ever done was give her an embarrassing hickey on the side of her neck. He had never understood how to make her light up from the inside out the way her partner was, with his slow, gentle kisses.
“Oh, Stone,” she moaned and then she felt his big hand slipping into the metal bra she still wore, to cup her breast and gently thumb her nipple.
“This is where I wished to massage you earlier,” he rumbled softly in her ear. “Will you allow me to do so now?”
“I…I suppose it can’t hurt,” Cassie gasped. “If you want to.”
“I do.” And then he was removing her top so that he could palm both her naked breasts in his big, warm hands.
Cassie moaned again as the big Kindred continued to kiss the side of her neck, even as he massaged her breasts and teased her tight nipples. She could feel sparks of pleasure rushing through her, her whole body warming and responding to her partner’s gentle, knowing touch, the way it never had when her ex or any other man had touched her.
And then he slid off the couch and knelt in front of her. He was so tall, they were still eye-to-eye, even with Cassie sitting and Stone kneeling.
“May I kiss you here?” He thumbed one tight nipple, sending sparks of pleasure from her breast straight to the place between her thighs.
“You…you want to kiss my nipples?” Cassie whispered, biting her lip.
“No, I want to suck your nipples.” Stone’s voice was a deep, hungry growl as he looked her in the eyes. “I want to take them deep in my mouth and suck them until your soft little pussy gets wet and hot for me, Cassandra.”
“Oh, Stone!” she exclaimed breathlessly. But she really couldn’t complain about his dirty talk. She had, after all, told him it was all right for him to say whatever he needed to in order to get into character.
“If you’re worried about my fangs, don’t be,” he rumbled, tugging gently on her right nipple. “I can take your nipple in my mouth without so much as scratching you. May I show you?”
“I…I guess so,” Cassie whispered, pressing her thighs together.
The big Kindred didn’t need any more encouragement. Ducking his head, he sucked one ripe peak into his mouth.
Sure enough, Cassie didn’t even feel his razor-sharp fangs. She only felt his hot mouth molding around the stem of her nipple while his talented tongue laved her tender tip until she thought she might go crazy with need.
“Oh…oh my God, Stone. That feels amazing,” she gasped as he switched to the other nipple and began sucking it as well.
“I’m glad.” He looked her in the eyes. “Are you getting wet for me, Cassandra? When I suck your nipples, does it make your soft little pussy all hot and wet?”
Cassie shifted uncomfortably on the couch.
“I…I don’t know,” she whispered. She was ashamed to admit that she’d never been more wet and ready in her life.
“Can I find out?” His fingertips hovered at the waistband of her metal bikini bottoms.
Cassie felt a moment of unreality. Was this really her stoic partner, sucking her nipples and asking if he could finger her pussy? And more importantly, should she let him do it?
“I…I don’t know,” she whispered.
“It is more than likely that I will have to touch you here when we are filming a vid,” Stone pointed out, his fingertips playing along the low waistband and down over the metalwork that separated them. “It would probably be good for you to get used to letting me stroke your soft inner folds, Cassandra.”
Cassie couldn’t hold out any longer.
“All right,” she whispered. “I…I’ll take it off.”
She reached for the side buckles that held the metal bikini bottoms on but her partner’s long, clever fingers were already there, opening the buckles and helping her slide the bottoms off.
It suddenly occurred to Cassandra that she was naked now, except for her boots. And yes, she had been naked with Stone before, during the massage, but she had been face down the entire time. This time her nudity was full-frontal and she wasn’t at all sure what her partner would say.