She ran her fingers up his broad chest, over his shoulders, then back down. Across his washboard stomach… She shivered as her fingers played over his body.
Travis was the most gorgeous man she’d ever met
,
but
this moment
was about so much more than just the physical. She was so far gone for him it wasn’t even funny. When he’d told her he loved her, the words had slammed into her soul deep.
His fingers tightened around her hips, jerking her against him once. The action was abrupt and unsteady, so unlike the cool and relaxed Travis she’d gotten to know. His erection sat between them, long, hard and so very enticing.
She pulled back for a moment, breathing unsteadily as she watched him. His dark gaze was mesmerizing.
“I want all of you, tonight.” Travis’s deep voice settled over, putting her almost totally at ease.
She was still a little nervous because it had been quite a while since she’d been with anyone, but damn if her body wasn’t screaming at her to strip and jump on this man. A rush of heat flooded her cheeks at the thought. “I want you too,” she whispered, afraid that if she spoke any louder it would break the spell woven around them.
Travis erased the small distance between them, cupping both her cheeks and holding onto her as if he was afraid she’d leave as he covered her mouth with his once again.
He tasted of chocolate and coffee, two of her favorite things. When his fingers threaded through the curtain of her hair and he grasped her head in a tight, dominant grip, she arched her back, pushing herself against him. Her nipples beaded tight as she rubbed her body against his. They tingled and ached, pressing against her bra cups.
The thought of skin on skin contact was hot and enticing. Her brief experiences with him proved just how well he knew his way around a woman’s body. Which she loved, but at the same time
,
part of her wondered if she’d bitten off more than she could handle. The idea of being a disappointment to him pierced her deep. That thought fizzled before it had fully formed as a delicious shiver rolled through her body when his free hand moved to cup her butt. She rolled her hips against him, urging him on and letting her body do the talking.
He pulled her tight against him so that they were pelvis to pelvis. The barriers of their clothes were way too much to deal with. His cock pressed insistently against her lower abdomen, silently demanding. Though she figured she should be more nervous considering his piercing, her entire body burned at the thought of what was to come next. So many people treated sex as if it didn’t matter, but letting someone inside her was the most intimate act.
Clutching his hard shoulders, she was vaguely aware when he started walking her backward and out of the kitchen. He let out a frustrated growl, probably because they were moving so slowly, before hoisting her up. She wasn’t a petite woman so she loved when he picked her up as if she weighed nothing. Wrapping her legs around him, she let him take them to her bedroom.
As her back hit the sheets, she instinctively spread her legs wider as he pressed her into the bed. She loved the feel of all that strength on top of her. He wasn’t wasting any time or giving her a chance to change her mind—not that the thought ever occurred to her. They’d been building to this, probably from that first meeting at her store. She just hadn’t realized it at the time. His massive body covered hers, pinning her with his heat and muscles. It was all she could do not to melt from sensual overload.
His heart beat so forcefully she could feel it as if it were her own. When Travis tugged her bottom lip between his teeth, she let out a tiny moan. She could feel the energy and raw power humming through him as she ran her fingers down his covered back.
Sliding
her hands under his sweater
, she stroked
his bare skin, savoring all that untamed power.
S
he felt as if she needed to touch him more than she needed her next breath. She’d never felt that way about anyone, but Travis just brought out a raw side to her she didn’t even know existed.
Everything about him was big, but she felt safe with him. Always. This man would never hurt her in the bedroom or anywhere else.
The more their tongues danced in an erotic, frantic rhythm, the hotter her body grew. She felt as if she could burst into flames at any moment. Her clit was pulsing and she felt a desperate need for a release as she grinded against him.
When he slid a hand between their bodies and snapped the button on her pants free, her hips rolled against him. Without moving his hungry mouth from hers, he managed to push her pants and panties all the way down to her ankles. She blindly kicked them away as he settled between her thighs. His hard length was still covered by his jeans, but the feel of his cock rubbing against her core made another rush of heat pool low in her belly.
As she started writhing against him, he slightly pulled back and tugged her sweater over her head too. Cool air rushed over her chest, causing her already aroused nipples to bead even harder against her bra. That scrap of material went next.
When his heated gaze settled on her now
-
bared breasts, she felt more vulnerable than
ever
. He’d stroked her to orgasm multiple times in the past couple days and he knew things about her she’d never told anyone, but naked and underneath him, she was completely exposed while he was clothed.
“What about you?” she whispered, wishing he’d take off the rest of his clothes so she wasn’t the only one completely naked. With a body that was all muscles and lean precision, she wanted to see and touch all of it. She wanted to run her mouth and fingers over his tattoos, kissing every single inch of his delectable body.
“We’ll get to that.” His mouth was hot against her neck.
Still settled between her legs, she could feel his hard-on, but he wasn’t making a move to do anything about it. Instead, he spread a warm trail of kisses down her neck and across her chest. He paused at her breasts, teasing them with his tongue, teeth, and fingers and making such pleasurable sounds her entire body hummed with the knowledge that this man was all hers. He didn’t waste time blazing a hot trail down her stomach.
As he shifted position and kneeled between her legs, a ghost of a smile touched his lips. “I will never get tired of this,” he murmured.
She barely had time to react before he leaned down and licked her parted lips. That first stroke made her jerk against his face. Unable to stop herself, she groaned as he swirled his tongue in an erotic little pattern before settling on her clit. He knew the right amount of pressure guaranteed to drive her crazy. Not too soft, but not so hard that she could climax either. A damn tease. That was what he was.
Noel gasped when he worked one thick finger inside her. Before she could ground herself, he slipped another one inside. She was wet and willing and that action was too much. Everything was simply
too much
. Her senses were going into overload as he dragged his fingers against her inner walls.
She was about to vault off the bed. Slowly, he dragged his fingers out of her and pushed back in. Then he repeated it. Over and over, with a perfect delicious rhythm. And he hadn’t stopped with his tongue. Oh Lord, his tongue was stroking her to mindless pleasure. She couldn’t believe how close she was to coming. With a sharp tug, he sucked the tiny bundle of nerves of her clit between his teeth and she lost it. The climax slammed into her with a jolt, causing her to cry out. Not that she wanted to hold back. She didn’t need to with Travis.
Clawing the sheets beneath her, her back arched off the bed as the orgasm rippled through her like a bomb detonating. It spread from her abdomen and pushed to all her nerve endings in one big rush of pleasure. Threading her fingers through his hair, she clutched his head with one hand and kept her grip on the sheet with the other.
As she came down from her high, he lifted his head and met her gaze. His eyes were even darker than normal and he looked very pleased with himself. Completely and utterly. Not that she blamed him. He should be.
When he withdrew his fingers and slid off the bed, she was surprised by how much her body mourned the loss of him. She wanted to feel not just his fingers, but his cock inside her. “You better not think this is over,” she practically growled, earning a surprised grin from him.
He shook his head and stripped off his sweater. It didn’t matter that she’d seen him before. She still sucked in a breath at the sight of him. Noel’s breathing increased, her chest rising and falling rapidly as her gaze tracked over his bare, muscular torso.
When he pulled a handful of condoms from his back pocket and tossed two onto the bed, but kept one in his hand, her eyes widened. “You really think we’ll use all of them?”
“With you, definitely.” As he ripped the first one open, she bit her bottom lip.
They should have talked about this beforehand, but she figured they’d shared so much with each other anyway, there was nothing they couldn’t discuss. “I’m on the Pill. I haven’t been with anyone since my last boyfriend, but it regulates my period so I stayed on.” Admitting that meant it had been years for her, but she wasn’t embarrassed. Not with Travis. “I was also tested after my last boyfriend because…” Well, because he’d been a cheating bastard but that wasn’t something she wanted discussed in this room. Noel really hoped this talk didn’t kill the mood, but if Travis had been tested recently too, she loved the thought of feeling him inside her without the barrier of a condom. And she knew he’d never lie about being tested.
Travis pushed out a long breath, his eyes going molten hot. “I haven’t been with anyone since my last girlfriend either.” He dropped the condom as he sat on the edge of the bed.
She blinked, sure she’d heard wrong. “What?”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said no one-night stands for me.”
Holy crap. “So you really haven’t been with
anyone
since your piercing?”
He shook his head.
“Then…why did you get it?” She’d been hesitant to ask before but there shouldn’t be anything between them now. No secrets. It didn’t seem as if he was into pain or anything, at least not with her, but the tattoos and the piercings meant he had to like it on some level. Or she assumed he did.
“It reminded me I was alive.” There was more than a note of pain in those words.
But there was more to it than that. “And?”
“And…I was in a dark place for a while after my mom died. Having a girlfriend helped a little because I had someone in my life. Someone to call back home and to depend on, but she was just a placeholder. I sound like an asshole even admitting it and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was desperate for someone in my life.” He reached out and gently held Noel’s calf, as if he needed to be touching her. “I love my sister, but she has her own life and we don’t talk that much anymore. With my last ex, I finally realized a person couldn’t fill the hole in my life after she broke up with me. The piercings and the tattoos eased that ache for a while after we broke up but eventually, that pain came back.”
Reaching out, she grasped his hands between hers and was thankful when he gripped her tight. “What changed?”
“I started talking to someone—a psychologist at the VA. It took a while, but I figured out that my need for pain was based on guilt issues. Guilt that I’m alive while my mom and more friends than I even want to think about aren’t.” He shrugged, the action casual when she knew he must be feeling anything but. “The guilt was unfounded and I get that
now
. But I didn’t for a long time. I don’t go anymore, but I did for about a year after I got out of the Marines. I’m not saying I’ll never get another tattoo or piercing because I really do like them, but…I don’t
need
to experience pain to feel alive anymore.”
Her throat clenched at his admission. Something told Noel he’d never admitted any of that to anyone before and it touched her that he was opening up to her. Hell yeah, he’d better. Travis was it for her. She knew it straight to her core. This was the man she would love forever. Pushing up on her knees, she cupped his face in the same way he’d done to her countless times in the past couple days. “I love you so much.”
He shuddered at her words and before she realized his intent, she was flat on her back again as he kissed her like a man starved. She wasn’t sure how long they laid there with him cupping and stroking her already sensitized breasts and her moaning in pleasure, but eventually she had to pull her head back. Her body was trembling with the need to have all of him. “I need more.”
Travis pushed up and glanced at the packets on the bed. “I’m tested every six months at work as a requirement, but if you want to wait to see the proof, we’ll use a condom. I’d planned to anyway.”
She pushed up on her elbows. When his gaze immediately strayed to her breasts, she hid a grin. “Do you need proof from me?”