Bemused, enchanted, captivated by him, I stared at him as he dropped his keys in a bowl by the door and unhooked his wallet from his belt loop, setting it on top of the keys.
“I like your place.” I like you. A lot.
I swallowed to moisten my dry throat. He’d completely taken me by surprise.
“Thanks.” He turned to look at me. “I’ve been in this spot longer than most.”
I wanted to ask him about the other places. How long he planned to stay here. Why he’d chosen the plants he had—or any plants, for that matter.
Instead, I just walked to him, stepping out of my flip-flops along the way, and lifted onto my toes when I reached him. Wonderingly, I framed his face with my hands.
I had him. And this moment. I didn’t need to know those answers now. I just needed him and a kiss, so I went about getting one.
My fingers skimmed his beard. His whiskers were soft against my skin, and his lips were warm and firm. I pressed my mouth to his and swept my tongue across the seam between his lips. He parted them for me, and my legs trembled when his wet tongue met and slid across the tip of mine.
“Babe,” he whispered into my open mouth.
Cradling my head, he took over the kiss, deepening it as he walked me backward. When the back of my legs hit the bed, I stopped.
He pulled back slightly and lifted his head. “Is the answer still a yes, Lotus?”
“Yes.” I nodded. Definitely, a yes.
“Thank fuck.”
Lowering his gaze, he slid my bag from my shoulder. As it hit the floor, he reached for the fastening on my overalls, unlatching one side and then the other. The bib fell to my waist. I shimmied my hips, and the rest glided to the floor.
He hissed.
“What?” I asked, and his gaze lifted, his eyes piercing and dark. I couldn’t see any brown.
“You’re too perfect.” He placed his hands on the curve of my hips. “Incredible.”
He swept his thumbs over my skin, just above the top edge of my hot-pink cotton panties. His play callouses were deliciously rough against my smooth skin. Heat gathered and pooled in a certain spot just below his hands.
“Journey.” I stared at him, giving him truth. “I’ve never felt like this. I want you so badly, I’m shaking.”
“I’ll help you out of your clothes so we can do something about it. And you help me. I want you just as badly. We’ll get naked together, yeah?” he asked as he lifted his head.
A curl had fallen forward. Capturing it, I rubbed it between my thumb and finger.
“Soft,” I whispered. “So very soft.”
“Focus, baby,” he said darkly. “I need you focused on our goal.”
I watched his mouth curve, and my fingers had a new target. I traced his lips.
“Fuck,” he murmured. “Guess it’s gonna be me removing things, and you slowing me down.”
“I don’t want slow.” I found the hem of his tee and lifted it over his head. “Wow.” I ran my eyes and then my fingers over one intricate tattooed design, only to be distracted by another.
“Babe.” He covered my hand with his, pressing it deeper into his warm skin. “You gotta stop. You’re killing me.”
“Not trying to.” I bit down on my bottom lip.
“Your not trying is part of the appeal.”
I searched his gaze, seeing only the truth. “I haven’t been with a lot of guys.”
“Gathered that. I’ve been with a lot of women, but none like you.” He took both of my hands and brought them together on his chest. His muscles were hard, but his skin was smooth and incredibly warm. “None made me feel this. I didn’t even know it could be like this.”
“I didn’t either.” I peered up at him, drowning in the warmth of his eyes.
“So it’s new, like a first time for both of us.”
“Yes.” I liked that idea. I liked it a lot.
“Lotus,” he whispered. The way he said my name sounded like he liked that idea too.
Releasing my hands, he dove his into my hair and spread the length of it around my shoulders. My scalp tingled from his gentleness, and my heart raced from the intensity of his expression.
I went back to exploring. His skin was satin, his ink dazzling, the muscles beneath it like sculpted steel. “Your tats are amazing.”
“You’re amazing.”
He ran his fingertips over my tits, along the top edge of my tube top. My nipples tightening, I stared at his bowed head, watching him and savoring his caress. Beneath the stretchy cotton, my nipples throbbed.
I glided my hands lower, over the ridges of his abdomen and the tiger with the sharp teeth that decorated it. Reaching his jeans, I unbuckled his belt, but stopped when I realized he was holding his breath.
“Breathe,” I said, lifting my gaze.
“Hard to, babe, when your touch sets me on fire.”
My lips curved. “I need you breathing.”
“I need you. That’s a fact.”
“I can see that.” Lowering my gaze, I unbuttoned his jeans. I traced his length as I slowly lowered his zipper. The rasp of it was loud, the only other sound our heavy breathing.
“You’re driving me crazy.”
Gently removing my hands, he took over. He sat on the edge of the bed, removing his boots and socks. I watched him lower his jeans and his black boxers at the same time.
When his cock sprang free, my mouth went dry. He was huge. Fully extended. Precum glistened invitingly on the blunt end.
I went to my knees in front of him, tapping his thighs. “Please.” I looked up at him and licked my lips.
“Babe, you don’t have to ask.” He spread his legs.
I shifted and took him in my hand, tracing the turgid length of him before I put him in my mouth. He was salty like the ocean, harder than I could have imagined, and he stirred in me a ravenous hunger. Unleashing it, I licked him from root to tip. His cock leaped, and he groaned.
“Enough.” He lifted me by my upper arms, twisted at the waist, and tossed me onto his bed.
I landed on my back, and he followed me. I gasped when he grabbed the bottom edge of my tube top and whisked it over my head. My panties were ripped off next. Before I knew what was happening, his mouth was on me, lips and tongue on my clit, hands and fingers on my tits. I praised him with shortened breaths and throaty moans.
“Look at me,” he said from between my legs, and I did, my head spinning at the desire I saw for me there. “You are so beautiful.”
“You are,” I whispered.
His gaze was dark, his passion making his handsome features stark. “My sweet Lotus.”
Lowering his head again, he bathed me with his kisses and swirled wet circles around me with his passion. I arched into his urgent mouth, and he kneaded the globes of my ass in his eager hands.
“Journey.” I sucked in a sharp breath. Greedy, I needed, wanted, demanded more. I was so close.
He lifted his head, and I noticed a shadow in his eyes when his gaze met mine.
“I can’t . . .” Pausing, he swallowed. “I can’t stop once I position. I’ll have to continue. This is the last time I’ll ask. Is it a yes?”
“Yes, please.”
He slowly smiled, the darkness in his gaze lifting. “Are you on the pill?”