Weightless (27 page)

Rhodes lifted his backpack from his bike and pulled out his spare helmet, handing it to me as a response. In a way, that helmet said more than he ever could have with words. He had wanted me to leave with him. He’d planned on it.

“Your house or mine?”

Rhodes was quiet when we pulled into my drive. I had him park his bike around back just in case one of the neighbors decided to be nosey, and then I led him inside.

“Do you want something to drink or anything?” I asked nervously, dropping my heels by the door. My feet were dirty from chasing him, but I embraced it.

“I’m okay.”

I nodded, smoothing my skirt with my damp hands. “I can make us some food, if you want.”

Rhodes smirked, and his fierce eyes smoldered with it. “I ate earlier.”

“Oh. Okay.” I chewed my lip and he stepped a little closer.

“Are you nervous, Bug?”

I laughed, and it was a higher pitched noise than I’d ever experienced from my own mouth. I couldn’t even try to deny it after that, so I cringed. “Yes. And I don’t know why.”

That was a lie. I did know why. Rhodes was alone with me in my house and I wanted him to touch me. I wanted all of him. I just didn’t know if he would be willing to let me have him.

Rhodes chuckled, reaching out and pulling me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to calm my breathing. Slowly, he lifted my chin and pressed his lips to mine.

He kissed me slow at first, but I pulled at his shirt, demanding more intensity. Groaning, Rhodes delivered, snaking his tongue into my mouth and gently tugging on my curls. I opened my mouth with a moan and he kissed down my neck, sucking at my collarbone before moving to pull my ear lobe into his mouth. “Take me to your room.”

My mouth collided with his again as we stumbled up the stairs, stripping off clothing as we went. Rhodes’ hands were hard on my hips as he slammed my back against the railing, breaking our kiss just long enough to make quick work of his shirt. His lips found mine again in a frenzy and he lifted me, my ankles hooking behind his waist as he took me a few more stairs. My back hit the wall next and I dropped my legs so he could pull his jeans to the floor as I unclasped my bra. We were all hands and breaths and lips, clothes landing on each step. By the time we fell into my sheets, I was completely nude and Rhodes wore nothing but his boxer briefs. Straddling him, I pushed off his chest and ran my fingers over his abdomen.

“This is the first time I’ve really seen you without a shirt on.” His abs were just as tight and defined as I’d imagined, and my fingertips lightly traced each crevice. Chills raced from where I touched him to cover his entire body and I smiled.

“I’m nothing special.”

I frowned when I realized there were faint scars that ran across his lower stomach. When I touched them, Rhodes grabbed my wrists firmly and flipped us over, thrusting between my hips and kissing me hard.

“I want you tonight, Rhodes. Please,” I pleaded, kissing the bare skin of his shoulder. I could feel his hard on through the cotton fabric of his briefs. When I moaned against his skin and bit his shoulder lightly, he hardened more.

“Jesus Christ,” he whispered, burying his face in my neck. “I don’t know how to do this. You’re not like the women I’ve had before. I want to take you slowly, gently, but I don’t know how.”

My breath quickened at his honesty. “So take me how you want to. Hard, fast, rough...” I pulled my hands from his grasp and raked my nails down his back. “I don’t want you easy.”

Rhodes groaned from deep within his chest at the contact, but shook his head, lifting it to look down at me. “That’s just it, though. I disconnect when I have sex, Bug. I’ve never… it’s never meant anything to me before.” He swallowed, his thumb tracing the edge of my jaw. “It means something tonight. And I want to feel every single moment with you.”

He kissed me again, slower this time, his lips sticking to mine each time he pulled back. When his index finger found the inside of my wrist and he pressed there gently, I sighed contently, mirroring his grip and feeling his heart, too. Mine wasn’t the only one racing.

I slipped my fingers beneath the band of his briefs and tugged them down halfway before Rhodes took control. He kicked them off, pressing himself at my entrance as he balanced on shaky arms. My breath hitched. Every nerve was at full alert. He was so close, and I’d never wanted anything more than to close the distance between us.

Quickly, Rhodes tore open the condom package he’d retrieved from his jeans when we were on the stairs. Pullling away slightly, he slid the condom over his length. He was bigger than I’d realized, even after having him strained against his shorts so many nights before, and my breath was too much to exhale only through my nose anymore. My mouth parted when he positioned himself between my thighs again, my chest tight with anticipation.

He felt the weight, too, because he kissed me softer once more before whispering, “Are you sure?”

I nodded, digging my heels into his backside to pull him nearer. His tip grazed my wet opening and we both moaned together. Rhodes sucked my lip into his mouth and then he filled me. All at once. Completely and unapologetically.

He groaned, withdrawing before rocking into me once more. It stung a little, and I held on tighter.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded again, words completely lost at that point. I felt him holding back just like I had every night before then. He entered me slowly, carefully, but each thrust hit deeper, and when he picked up the pace, I couldn’t control my moans anymore. They echoed through my room and down the hall, and it was like hearing them obliterated his self-control. Rhodes fisted his hands in my hair and yanked my head back, sucking my left nipple into his mouth and flexing into me harder, hitting a space inside me I’d never known existed.

Rhodes slid into me over and over until I fit his length more comfortably, then he rolled me over onto my hands and knees. Grasping the back of my neck, he pressed my face into the hot comforter and splayed his hand on my upper back before slamming into me from behind. I cried out, but not from pain. Rhodes inside me gave me nothing but pure, unimaginable pleasure.

“Yes,” I breathed, but I was still so unsure of my own voice when I was in bed with him. Rhodes gripped my hips firmly and pounded into me again. “Yes,” I cried louder. He filled every inch of me in this position. I could feel my orgasm mounting, and I prayed for the release.

But Rhodes waited.

He pulled me to straddle him once more, only this time he remained sitting up. Every part of our bodies were pressed together. My legs were wrapped around his waist, his mouth was hard on mine, and he rocked into me with such calculated pressure I whimpered at the sensation.

“I love the way you feel,” he growled, moving his hands from my waist to grip the top of my shoulders. It was as if he was doing a pull up, but instead, he was pulling me down onto him, burying himself deeper. “Tight. Wet.” He flexed his hips. “Fucking incredible.”

His words lit me on fire — from the deepest part of my core to the hairs standing on edge at his touch. I felt like I was drowning in a wildfire, burning and gasping for a clean breath of air. Yet still, I wanted to inhale his smoke, I wanted him to consume me completely. It was the most terrifying and arousing contradiction.

“Harder,” I whispered, and then my cheeks immediately flushed. Rhodes smiled, biting his lower lip and letting his teeth rake the tender flesh.

He stood, my legs still wrapped around his waist, then he dropped me down to the bed and grabbed my ankles, lifting them to rest on his shoulders. I was completely exposed as Rhodes delivered on my request, and each time he pounded into me, my breasts bounce with the force. I should have been embarrassed, but he gazed down at me with such desire that I only felt sexy.

And I’d never felt that way before.

“Oh,” I moaned, gripping the sheets and the edge of the bed. “Yes, Rhodes.
Yes
.”

He slid his hand around my thigh and applied just the faintest bit of pressure to my clit, but it was all it took to send me spiraling. The combination of him inside me and the friction from his touch crashed into my senses from every side, swallowing the world around me until I was in a sensational frenzy. I felt everything. I felt nothing. I was numb. I was
burning
.

He came with me, and watching his face as I brought him to ecstasy only fueled my release more. I felt powerful, desired, and beautiful.

For once, I actually felt what he had been saying for so long.

Rhodes groaned and pulled me down onto the floor. He was still inside me, both of us pulsing. He kissed me long and soft, his fingers brushing through my hair. We stayed tangled together on the floor, breathing each other in, lightly touching and kissing. But before long, Rhodes was hard again, and I was aching for more.

We didn’t speak another word that night.

Rhodes took his time exploring my body until well after the sun had peeked through the white curtains in my window. We stopped only because there were no other condoms, and Rhodes refused to take the chance without me being on birth control. How he was able to think straight in that moment, I’d never know.

I was completely sated when Rhodes finally wrapped me in his arms, cradling my body with his own. His breaths evened out before mine, but soon they lulled me to sleep, too. And for the first time since I’d met him, I didn’t wish for a dream of Rhodes. In that moment, reality was better.

I woke later that evening. The sunlight was still shining through my window, basking the room in an orange glow. Quietly, I carefully peeled myself out of bed and grabbed my camera. After finding the right setting, I snapped one simple photo of Rhodes sleeping. I knew the photograph wouldn’t ever compare to the actual view, but I had to try to capture it somehow.

After Rhodes had pointed out that I didn’t have a mirror in my room, I’d asked Dale to buy me one. It was a free-standing full-length mirror with a light blue, wooden frame. Hesitantly, I moved to stand in front of it.

My curls were still intact, though they were messy and wilder from the night. My cheeks were rosy, my lips dark and plump, eyes wide. Slowly, I positioned my camera at my chest and tilted the lens upward to focus on my face in the mirror. Then, for the first time ever, I took a photo of myself.

Click.

It was such a simple noise —
too
simple for what I felt in that moment. It was soft and almost nonexistent, which was the exact opposite of what I felt.

Rhodes’ hands touched my elbows first and I jumped, but then leaned back against him as he traced my skin down to my hands. He grabbed the camera, and I dropped my grip, letting him take control. I turned to face him just as he looked through the viewfinder and it clicked again. I smiled.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice raspy.

He smiled, too. “Finding something beautiful in the chaos.”

Rhodes photographed me from every angle imaginable. He focused on my lips, my hands, my eyes. Sometimes he captured everything, sometimes he zeroed in. I let him shoot until he decided he'd had enough, then I turned the camera in his hands and leaned in close, tucking my head into his chest and snapping a picture of the two of us, careful to crop it to just our faces. It was our first picture, and we both looked calm, sated - happy.

Rhodes kissed my cheek as he dropped my camera back on the nightstand and I wrapped my arms around his neck.