“It’s okay to be mad at me,” she said, while she ran a thumb over his bottom lip. “I completely understand.”
It felt like she did, though not because of the accident and the rest, but because she knew it tapped into a hidden vein of desire.
“Time you made up for it, then,” he muttered.
A slight turn at the corner of her mouth told him she was in on it, though he wasn’t entirely sure what “it” was. A joke? A connection unique to this moment? To them?
Christ, that turned him on even more. She supposedly had little experience, yet she’d figured out something he hadn’t even realized about himself: He was sick of being the nice guy.
She shifted a touch, enough to remind him that he was harder than he’d ever been for any woman. “How should I start making it up to you?”
“Take that shirt off,” he said, low and rough.
Fuck knew how she’d remained a virgin for so long with the way she unveiled that seductress smirk. Gripping the hem of the tee—his Hawks tee—she peeled slowly, revealing pale skin and a flash of lilac lace. Her tits were as spectacular as he’d imagined: smooth, creamy swells spilling over the edges of her bra.
She threw the shirt behind her and let him look his fill while her chest rose and fell on shuddering breaths. A slight squirm of her body reactivated the pulse in his cock.
“Not yet, you witch.”
She licked her lips. “Then what?”
“Pop them out of the bra. Show me how pretty they are.”
Rolling her shoulders back, she pushed her breasts out and closer. Fuck, his mouth watered with the need to taste, and when she slipped one gorgeous teardrop-shaped mound of flesh from its silken cage, he almost lost his mind.
He moved a hand up her spine, splayed between her shoulder blades to inch her forward.
“Tell me what you need,” he murmured, needing to give her agency in this. Needing to slow it the fuck down.
In her eyes, he saw desire mixed with trepidation.
“You can’t say anything wrong. I need to know what you want.” It was her first time—or would be when he finally drove his cock deep and true—and he needed her complete participation. The anger he felt had faded, and while some friction remained, it was mostly aimed at the world that had failed to appreciate this woman until now.
And that included him.
“Your tongue on …” She plumped her breast, offering it to his mouth. “Here. Please.”
Yes. He flicked his tongue in a tease, then unable to wait longer than three seconds, he blew cool air on her peaked nipple and followed up with a languorous lick. She must have been feeling braver because she squeezed that beautifully formed flesh and fed his greedy mouth.
He spent a couple of long, lovely moments sipping and sucking until her nipple was swollen and she was rocking into his body, her hand curled in his hair.
“Oh,” she moaned as he nuzzled his lips past the barrier of her other bra cup and gave her left breast the same treatment. Drawing back, he unhooked her bra and let it fall behind her.
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.
“Tell me,” he urged.
“Could we take off your shirt?”
He liked the “we” there. “I’ll need your help.”
She nodded and together they worked his zipped sweatshirt off his good arm first, then carefully over the brace. She let her hands wander over his chest, and he returned the favor, even getting the fingers of his injured wrist involved. There was pain, but it was so fucking worth it.
She was worth it.
Exploring each other with a slowness that drove him wild, he tried for calm. Had she done this with Gallagher, but he didn’t bite? What the hell was wrong with that guy?
He fucked up, that’s what. And Bast was here, unwrapping the gift that idiot didn’t want.
Instead of making him happy, the thought made him bad-tempered.
“Hey, you okay?” she asked, her hand back to a soothing sweep of his cheek.
“Yeah, just…” He shook his head. “Pissed off at the people who’ve disrespected you, and that includes this idiot right here.”
“You don’t have to say that.”
“But I do, Pepper. I don’t know what happened, but I do see the woman before me. She’s kind and generous. Funny and warm. Sexy and real.”
She looked a touch shell-shocked, like no one had ever told her any of this. Bast could feel the anger rising again.
“That’s so—I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything. Just be here in the moment with me.”
With a nod, she leaned up and away from his dick—no!—and stood.
“What are you doing?” Get the fuck back here where you belong, woman.
She was wearing a pair of his sweats, thin ones, rolled over at least three times at her waist, and now she took both hands and pushed them down to her ankles.
Commando. Okay, all was forgiven.
“I don’t have any clean underwear,” she said, like he cared for the details.
“What a shame.” His gaze focused on the neat triangle of curls nestled between gorgeous thighs. He’d already been there, but he couldn’t wait to repeat the visit. “Strip me.”
Slowly, she pulled on his sweats and removed them, her eyes widening on seeing his cock jutting toward her. She seemed frozen.
“You’ve already seen it.”
“Yeah, and it’s still beautiful.”
No one had ever called his dick beautiful, but the awe in her voice warmed him through. He patted his thighs. “Back up here, sweetheart.”
Straddling him again, she nudged close to his erection and placed both hands on his shoulders.
“This okay?” she whispered.
“Closer.”
She moved in, the softness of her curls brushing against his rampant cock.
“Closer,” he repeated, but this time he moved a thumb between the cleft and watched as her face transformed with eye-rolling desire. Catching on, she rocked over his thumb, then the extra finger he added, already so wet for him.
“Can I touch you?” she gasped, her hand coasting down his chest heading for home.
“If you don’t, I might get very angry.”
“Oh, couldn’t have that. You’re already so mad at me.”
He was when this started, though he wasn’t sure when or what this was. But not anymore. Now, he was just loving the feel of her wrapped around his fingers, the slick evidence of her arousal, the fullness of her ripe body.
Not wanting to examine the change-up in his attitude, he decided that kissing her would be the best way forward out of this quagmire. His lips claimed hers, and she sighed into him, all sweetness and acceptance.
His thumb glanced over her clit, and she jerked. “Oh, I-I can’t.”
He stopped immediately. “Okay, we don’t have to do that.”
“No, I mean I don’t want to come that way. I’ve done that, and I need it to happen the other way.”
“The other way?”
“Inside me. With you—your cock inside me.” She blinked, waiting for him to criticize or laugh, he supposed.
He smiled against her lips. “You can come like this and still come in any other number of ways. Maybe we should give it a shot.”