His eyes were deep and soft and strangely broken. “Baby, you’re all wrong for me. There’s no way that I should be wanting you as much as I do. I feel like I’m drowning. Like I’ve completely forgotten how to swim. And no matter how hard I keep trying, I can’t seem to get my feet on solid ground when it comes to you.”
“Really?” She didn’t mean the question to sound so rapturous, but she couldn’t help it. Her heart had exploded into joy.
“Yes, really.” He glanced up, but whatever he saw on her face made him quickly look away. “Please don’t look so happy. I’m telling you the truth. I don’t know how to do this.”
“Well, you’ve lived a lot longer than I have, but I’ve found that the best way to discover if you can do something is just to... do it.” She had enough courage to step closer to him and raise a hand to rest on his chest. She could feel his heart beating fast, and it thrilled her.
“Vivian.” His hands were still trapped in his pockets.
“Just do it,” she whispered. “Just try.”
Her soft words appeared to snap the last thread of his control. He let out a rough groan, took her face between his hands, and pulled her into a hard kiss.
It was exactly what she wanted, so she would never have pulled away.
RICK HADN’T COME OVER to Vivian’s place to kiss her. His only plan had been to apologize after the phone conversation he’d had with Tim. He’d been in an emotional slump since yesterday—too distracted to do any work or even enjoy doing nothing—but Tim’s call had roused him into action.
Tim had told him that he thought Vivian was into someone else.
His first instinct had been hope, but he’d talked himself out of that pretty quickly. Vivian was a beautiful, intelligent, outgoing woman. She had a full life of her own—friends and family and career plans and romantic history and a rich inner life—all of which had nothing to do with Rick. Just because she was the first thing he thought of on waking up every morning, didn’t mean she felt the same about him.
She’d been angry and upset with him yesterday after her date with Tim, however, so he felt like he might be at least partly responsible for the break-up. He felt bad about it. He wished he’d acted better. So saying sorry was the very least he could do.
But the apology had somehow turned into a naked confession. And despite all his reservations, he knew—he knew—that Vivian had wanted him to kiss her.
And there was nothing else he wanted more in the world.
So he couldn’t stop himself, even though he knew it meant stepping off the sidelines for real.
When the kiss grew deeper, when his body started to respond to his absolute need for her, the feelings were so overwhelming that he instinctively grasped for security. He started to draw back. He needed to breathe. He didn’t want to act too rash or move too quickly.
He wasn’t that kind of person.
He knew how to stay in control.
But as soon as he’d withdrawn a few inches, Vivian made a frustrated sound and chased his mouth with hers.
He could have eased her back. He could have told her he wanted to wait. But the words and the actions would have been a lie. It wasn’t what he wanted.
She was what he wanted. And he could finally have her at last.
So he ignored the brief flare of uncertainty, and soon it was drowned in the overpowering surge of pleasure, excitement, and possession. His hands were holding her face. His lips were moving urgently against hers. His tongue was in her mouth, and her soft, small body pressed up against his.
When it felt like his knees were about to buckle, he stepped her backward until he had her pushed against the empty wall of her entryway. She was so sweet. So eager. Her hands stroked his back. Down to his ass. One of her legs kept bending up like she wanted to wrap it around him. She was rocking into him.
Or maybe he was rocking into her.
“Vivian,” he mumbled with his last thread of reason. “Vivian, baby, if you want to just kiss right now, then we better take a breather.”
“I don’t just want to kiss. Are you out of your mind? I want everything. Everything. Please don’t stop.” She’d pulled back enough to look up at his face. Her skin was flushed and slightly damp, and her eyes were wild. Then she swallowed. “Unless you want to. It’s fine if...”
He couldn’t hold back the rasp of laughter. “I definitely don’t want to stop. Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”
The smile that flashed on her face was almost blindingly radiant. “We’re on the same page. I think we’ve waited long enough.”
It was the permission he needed. He could finally let himself go. But as she launched herself at him again, a flicker of practicality caused him to gather her up into his arms and carry her toward the open door he assumed was a bedroom.
They were so overwhelmed with lust and need that they could have had sex right here against the wall. But he’d done that before, and his lower back always punished him for it the next day. He wanted to give Vivian the best he could, and he would do better on the bed.
She giggled as he carried her. Surprise and pleasure both, if her expression was any indication. She started kissing him before he made it into the room, and his blood was pumping with desire again as they reached the bed.
He lowered her, intending to position her so her head was on the pillow. But her tongue was in his mouth, and she was pulling him down on top of her with shameless enthusiasm. She ended up sideways on the bed with her legs hanging over the edge, and he was sprawled on top of her.
It didn’t matter. Nothing could stop them now. They fumbled with each other’s clothes until her pants and underwear were off and his jeans were unfastened and pushed down enough to free his erection.
He felt like an inexperienced adolescent. So filled with sensations and emotions that he couldn’t remember any of his control or learned skills. He barely even remembered a condom, and he groaned in relief when she said she had some in the top drawer of her nightstand. His hands were shaking as he unwrapped it and rolled it on, completely distracted by the way she was gazing up at him in awe, hunger.
Like she could eat him alive.
That was how he felt too. He was on the edge of losing it when he kissed her again and pulled her thighs apart. Then he lined himself up and eased himself inside her. She was hot and pliant and very wet. Perfect.
He had to jerk his head to the side and breathe raspily for a minute when he was all the way inside her. Her inner muscles gripped him snugly, and he was seriously on the verge of losing control completely.
Vivian was panting too. Wriggling her hips slightly. “Oh God, Rick,” she gasped. “You feel so...” She wrapped her legs around his back, bringing him in even deeper.
“So what?”
“So good.”
He let out a breath and rolled his hips into her, thrilling when she gave a little whimper of pleasure. Then he made a real thrust, and she whimpered again.
She wanted this as much as he did. He was making her feel good. It propelled him into more urgency, and he started to pump his hips fast. Vigorous.
Her whimpers changed to helpless bursts of sound and then almost to sobs as he pushed into her. They were halfway off the bed and half-dressed. Hot and messy and almost clumsy in their need. He wasn’t using any of his practiced moves. He couldn’t even recall that he had any. All he could do was fuck Vivian like this and take what she was giving back.