You’re both adults, and you’re both single. This is fine. Acceptable.
Wait.
Her lashes fluttered open, a fleeting worrisome thought worming into her brain as he kissed his way down her neck. Was there something else she didn’t know about him? In all the time she’d known him, she’d never seen him with a date. What if he didn’t bring them home? “Are you single?” she blurted out.
He paused and there was laughter in his voice when he answered, lips on the hollow of her throat. “Uh, yes.”
“Okay, cool, just checking.” She quickly mentally ran through any other anxieties she may have. In the moment, that is, because they didn’t have time to run through all her anxieties. “I do pay you. Is the power differential coercing you into sleeping with me?”
Jas lifted his head. “No. Definitely not.”
His words were so empathetic, she believed him. “That’s good.”
He studied her. “Anything else?”
Katrina’s hands fluttered over his shoulders and she blurted out the words. “I’m not very experienced at this. I’ve only been with one guy, and that was over a dozen years ago.” It had been out of curiosity and a silent rebellion when she was twenty, and it hadn’t exactly inspired her to go looking for more conquests.
It was easy to do the math. A dozen years ago predated Hardeep. Jas didn’t ask about her marriage, though, and she was grateful.
“I’m not that experienced either. I can’t even tell you how long it’s been for me,” he admitted. “Years. I’m nervous too.”
“Oh,” she said soundlessly.
His finger coasted up her hip, pushing her sweater up a few inches. He squeezed the scoop of flesh that rose above her jeans’ waistband, and her legs turned to jelly. “I think all you have to do is tell me what you want from me. We can fumble around and figure things out from there.”
Her lips parted. What did she want from him? She didn’t know. That was such a difficult question . . .
“Kisses?” he prompted her. Before she could reply, he pressed light, soft kisses along her neck. “Here?”
“Yes.”
His mouth wandered down, to her cleavage, deep and plumped up by one of her best bras. He pressed his palms under the curves and pushed them up more. “More intimate kisses?”
“Yes.”
He scraped his chin over the skin exposed by the deep vee of her sweater, his prickly beard making her gasp. “Here?”
“Yes.”
She waited with bated breath for him to kiss her there, but instead he lifted his head. With great deliberation, he pressed his lower body tighter against her, so every inch of his erection was rubbing against her most sensitive, aching bits. “There?” he murmured.
She nodded like a bobblehead doll. “Yes, there,” she whispered. “Kisses. And the other kisses. Everywhere.” She wanted all of it. It all came with zings.
At her answer, his lips curved up. She’d never seen him smile like that, this seductive, warm smile.
Jas grabbed fistfuls of her sweater and pulled it over her head, neither of them tracking where it went when he tossed it aside. There was heat and fire in his gaze, and it flicked all her nerve endings awake. She reached behind her, and he visibly gulped when the cups of her bra loosened.
Were her breasts making him salivate? She liked her body quite a lot, but her confidence notched up a little more.
Katrina threw the bra aside to join her top. He pressed two reverent kisses on the top curves of her breasts, then slid to his knees. His fingers were quick and sure as they unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. He pulled the material down over her hips, taking her panties with them.
She had to fight not to cover herself up when he looked up at her from the floor. She was naked while he was not and his mouth was right on level with . . . well, there.
Once upon a time, she’d always been camera-ready with a bikini wax in case she had to take most of her clothes off for a shoot, but that hadn’t happened in a very long time. Whatever self-consciousness she felt flew out the window when he nuzzled the hair covering her intimate lips and pressed a kiss there. Then another. And another. His tongue found her, spreading her open, his fingers assisting.
She had never had this, someone’s mouth on her in such a personal manner. She hadn’t even been sure if she desired such a thing, but she was sure now, this was definitely something she would appreciate more of in her life. This was like . . . the pleasure one got from cotton candy and the beach and a book all rolled up into one perfect moment.
He drew her down to the floor. The rug was soft on her back. He pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her clitoris, the burst of sensation startling her.
“You can put your hands on my head,” he said.
She rested her fingertips lightly on his head, tentative. She’d never touched his hair in all the years she’d known him. That would have been too intimate a gesture.
His tongue is doing something way more intimate.
“You don’t have to be gentle. Pull my hair. Show me what you like.” His words were muffled against her body, the puffs of air from his breath hitting her in a spot that made her body shake.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
His dark gaze met hers. He turned his head and nibbled at her inner thigh, making her stomach clench. “I don’t mind that kind of hurt.”
Her thighs clenched and she tunneled her fingers through his hair with more confidence, gripping the coarse strands, subtly urging his mouth back where she wanted it. She used her hands to direct his motions, but she was gentle, up until he pushed his fingers inside of her, so deep she arched up. She did pull then, and clutched him closer when he slipped his slick fingers in and out, moving together with his tongue.
She looked down her body, at his dark head between her legs, the moonlight gilding his hair silver. His eyes were closed, his brow creased, and the sight of all that concentration directed at her shoved her right over the edge. The spring of tension inside her snapped, and the pleasure washed over her. She bit her lip, savoring every sensation.
She let out a deep, breathy sigh and tugged at his hair. He nuzzled her one last time and lifted his head. “Did you come?”
Shy now, she nodded.
He smiled, and shifted so he could lie beside her. “You’re quiet. I couldn’t tell.”
“I guess I am. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Everyone’s different.”
She placed her hand on his chest, marveling anew that she was touching him like this. Touching him at all. “Your tongue should win an award.”
He barked out a laugh. She slid her hand down, but he caught it before she could get to his jeans. “I, uh . . . I’m good.”
“What?”
“I don’t have any condoms. I’m guessing you don’t either.”
Condoms. Damn it. “No, I do not.” She pulled her wrist out of his grip and unbuttoned his jeans. “We can do other things. As you’ve proven.”
His breathing grew heavy, then heavier when she found his shaft. He helped her free him, raising his hips to kick his jeans and boxers off.
Katrina rested her forehead against his and played with him. She wished there was more light, so she could see every detail of what she was doing, but she could follow the cues his sighs gave. She stroked him in long, slow pulls. Their breath mingled, and when his accelerated, she sped up her fist, too.