How many times had he dreamed of having her just like this? In bed, her clothes stripped away, her eyes heavy with need as she reached for him so that he could kiss her, touch her, love her. He was desperate to touch, to kiss, to finally claim her as his own--but also to stop, to stare, to memorize.
And, most of all, to give silent thanks that they'd found each other not once, but twice.
He'd been too young before to understand just how important his bond with Taylor was, but he wouldn't ever make that mistake again. He'd make the lost years up to her. Not all in one night, perhaps--although it sure as hell was worth a try.
"You're beautiful. So damned beautiful."
Joy lit her features, making her even more stunning. "So are you." She reached for him again, and he let her pull him on to the bed with her.
Levered up over her body, he kissed her again, a kiss that held a promise of wickedness. A promise her body immediately responded to as she arched her hips against his.
"Too many clothes," she said as she reached for his T-shirt.
But he'd lose control too fast if he let her strip away his clothes. Taking her hands in his, he lifted them above her head.
Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him. "Are you going to hold me like this the whole time?"
The flare of heat in her eyes as she said it had him responding, "Do you want me to?"
She licked her lips, leaving behind a flash of wetness that couldn't be ignored. His mouth was almost over hers again when she answered, "Maybe."
There was no way to be gentle with his kisses anymore, not when he'd just learned that her sensuality ran even deeper than he'd hoped. Whatever boundaries had been between them were smashed as they passionately devoured each other's mouths.
Tonight was already the best of Justin's life. And it had only just begun.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A part of Taylor couldn't believe what she'd just said. But she knew Justin wouldn't judge her for any of her secret fantasies.
Because the truth was that she wanted to experience everything with him tonight. Gentle. Rough. Soft. Ragged. Sweet. Raw.
Tomorrow morning, they'd have to go back to being just friends--the situation was too complicated for them to do anything else. But in the dark hours until sunrise, she was more than ready to let the magic of being with Justin carry her away.
Her ex had always treated her as though she were breakable, but while she knew precisely how deep her physical limitations actually ran, she refused to act the part with Justin. She was tougher than anyone knew, even than she herself knew. These past months had tested her in so many ways, but tonight she was glad to know just how strong she really was. Strong enough not only to be ready for the extreme passion she felt in Justin's arms--but to demand it as well.
Using the muscles she'd gained renovating her house and garden, she flipped them over on the bed so that she was sitting upright, straddling his hips. "At last, I've got you right where I want you."
"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" he said.
"I hope so." She flicked open the latch on her bra and let it drop. The widening of Justin's eyes--and the desire that flared hotter than ever--made the risk worth it.
Boldly, far more so than she'd ever been, she reached for his hands. Her breath caught in her throat as she got lost in the sensation of his fingers sliding over hers, the delicious roughness of the calluses that she guessed came from the woodworking he did to clear his mind when things in the lab got too intense.
She knew all about that kind of intensity--especially when it came to her feelings for him. And when she placed his hands over her breasts, she couldn't hold back a low moan of pleasure at how good it felt to finally know his touch in such an intimate place.
"Taylor."
She heard the awe in his voice, or maybe that was just the echo of her own feelings inside her head. And when he moved his hands over her bare skin...
Oh.
God.
She couldn't keep from arching into his hands, nor could she stop her head from falling back, or her hips from moving into his. Layers of fabric still separated them--her panties and his jeans--but it was still good.
So good.
Knowing it was Justin beneath her, knowing his hands were on her bare breasts, knowing his erection was pushing into the heated vee between her legs, was better than anything she could remember. So much better that she was already on the verge of coming apart.
"Soon," he promised in a low voice, obviously reading the signs her body was giving him. "But not yet."
She couldn't process his words for several long moments, could barely even register that he'd not only spoken, but had also flipped them so that she was beneath him again.
His eyes were a dark promise of sin. "I want to feel you come for me, Taylor. Against my hands, my lips, my tongue. I want to hear you say my name. I want to hear you beg for me to never, ever stop loving you."
His wicked promises--and sinfully sexy demands--rocked something deep inside her. Something she'd been afraid even to acknowledge with her ex. Not just a need for satisfaction, but a craving for pleasure.
If she hadn't trusted Justin, she could have never admitted it. But there was almost no one she trusted more.
"Yes," she gasped. "Please."
And then, thank God, he was dragging her panties off, and his mouth was between her thighs. No more teasing. No more desperate anticipation. Just the shockingly wet, hot slide of his tongue over her.
She hadn't known it was possible to feel so much, to ache so deeply, or to rise so high. Especially with his hands on her breasts, doing just as much to devastate as his lips and tongue were doing between her legs.
"Justin." The tremors started as she spoke his name, coming from way down deep inside of her and radiating out with such power that she couldn't have held them in even if she'd wanted to.
She tried to get closer any way she could, but though he wasn't holding her wrists over her head anymore, he still managed to hold her right where he wanted her with his hands on her breasts and his mouth between her legs.
If she hadn't already been on the verge of detonation, knowing that she was his to pleasure any way he wanted--and that he seemed to understand exactly what she wanted without being told--sent her desire jumping even higher. Demanding more. More touch. More sensation. And an even higher peak to crest before she finally leaped.
Reading her mind again, his hands and mouth switched places. His lips covered her breast at the same time that his fingers circled the slick, hot skin between her legs. She opened her legs wider for him and arched up into his touch.
Her inner muscles surrounded his fingers as he made slow, steady thrusts in time to the nip of his teeth and the damp slide of his tongue at the tip of her breast.
As she rode the very edge of ecstasy, her hips were moving in an unconscious rhythm and her skin was slick with sweat. His name fell over and over from her lips, and she could hear the wonder in her own voice...along with the emotion she could no longer hold back.
"Taylor." His voice had a rough, raw edge she'd never heard before. "Look at me. I need to see you. Let me see you."
She was the one who couldn't take another second of his sensual teasing, and yet he sounded like the one who was begging.
"You can have anything you want." How could she promise him less? "Anything."
"All I've ever wanted is you."
His whispered words were the final push into bliss so breathtaking that any worries about her future, or regrets about her past, were utterly overwhelmed by the beauty of finally knowing pleasure in the arms of the man she loved.
*
Justin could play the last sixty seconds on repeat for the rest of his life--over and over and over and over--and he would be happy.
Happy to hear Taylor's voice go raw and ragged as she promised him anything.
Happy to feel her soft skin, her lithe curves, pressed hot and damp against him.
Happy to watch as
emotion--and ecstasy--filled her gaze while she trusted him to give her pleasure.
With her body still quaking from her climax, he took her mouth again. Only to find her kisses even more passionate.
"More." She was reaching for his shirt again. "I need more of you." All out of patience now, this time he let her pull it up over his head. "Wow." She licked her lips. "You used to take your shirt off sometimes when we were outside, and it was always so hard for me not to stare."
"Stare all you want, just as long as you're planning to touch too."
"Oh yes, I'm definitely going to touch..." She reached up to run the flat of her hands over his bare chest. "And kiss..." She placed her mouth in the center of his chest, right over his heart, which was beating at hyper-speed. "Every part of you."
When she reached for his jeans, the gentle pressure of her hands over his erection was nearly enough to have him kicking off the denim in one breath and plunging into her with the next. Somehow, he got enough of a grip on himself to let her pull off the rest of his clothes. And was he ever glad he had, because within seconds of stripping him bare, she was wrapping her hand around him--and then lowering her lips to cover the same heated flesh.
Even a superhero couldn't have kept his hands from tangling in her hair, or his hips from bucking closer to her mouth, as she ran her tongue over his hard length, then took him inside.
Justin had fantasized about being with Taylor for so many years that he could barely believe this was actually happening. Not only that the girl of his dreams was loving him so openly, so joyfully. But also that he didn't have to pretend not to feel everything that he felt for her.
At long last, they were able to love each other, and it was better--infinities better--than anything he could ever have imagined.
But though she was currently making one of his hottest fantasies come true, he needed to look into her eyes, needed to hold her hands, needed to tell her with both words and actions how much she meant to him. Lifting her so that she lay on the bed again, he took her hands in his and moved over her. He loved how she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, then rocked her hips up into his so that he could feel the hot slick of her arousal gliding over him.
Somewhere in the back of his head, a red light flashed--a warning that he was almost too far gone, too close to heaven, to heed. But no matter how much they might want to, two biology majors couldn't ignore the workings of the reproductive system.
"Protection." She blinked up at him as though trying to make sense of the word. "We need protection," he repeated.
"The bathroom. I have some condoms in a drawer." Jealousy rose up bitterly fast inside of him, even though he should be glad that she had what they needed. "Hurry," she urged, and he forced himself to move off the bed.
All but ransacking her bathroom drawers like a burglar in a rush not to get caught, he finally found the little silver packets. Grabbing a handful, he dropped all but one onto the bed. After he tore it open and tossed the empty wrapper to the floor, she put her hands over his to help him slide it on.
"Finally." He threaded his hands through hers and braced his hips against hers as he took her with a groan of pleasure that sounded more animal than human. Which was how he felt right now, utterly lost to thousands of years of pure male instinct. To have. To take. To possess. "You're mine, Taylor. Mine."
He thrust deep, making her gasp as he moved over her, inside of her. Again and again, he plunged into her, running kisses over her neck, her shoulders, across the swell of her breasts and then the taut tips, where he lingered as she moaned with pleasure.
And all the while, she held tightly to his hands. Held on as she wrapped her legs even tighter around his waist. Held on while she arched and bucked against him. Held on as she went momentarily still against him and he felt the first strong pulls of her inner muscles around him.
Her name was a whisper of wonder, bliss, awe on his lips as he lifted his head to watch her shatter once more into a million beautiful pieces. And as he followed her into the brilliant blaze of fireworks, he silently vowed that nothing would ever keep them apart again.
*
Taylor never wanted to let Justin go. She'd never felt so good. Never been anywhere near as happy.
It turned out dreams really could come true.
For one night, at least.
But she didn't want to think about tomorrow. Until morning actually dawned, she wanted to make as many of her naughty dreams about Justin come true as she possibly could.
The naughtier the better.
"Do you want to take a bath together?"
He gave her a wonderfully wicked smile. "Hell yes, I want to take a bath together!"
His over-the-top enthusiasm made her laugh. It was one of the things she'd missed most during the years he'd been overseas.
"I'll go get the water heated up in the tub."
"What can I do to help?"
Taylor licked her lips, heady with the knowledge that Justin wanted her as much as she wanted him. "You can watch."
She had never been the kind of woman to use her sexual wiles on a man. Having a long-term boyfriend throughout college meant she'd never needed to. And with her ex, well, things had never really been all that sexy or exciting.
For the first time, she relished the chance to give in to the deeply sensual side of herself that she'd always kept hidden.
She relished every sway, every bounce, of her curves as she walked slowly to the oversized clawfoot tub in the corner of the room, then bent to turn on the taps. This tub had been the biggest expense of her cottage renovation, an especially big luxury considering it was nothing her customers were ever going to use. But she'd been unable to resist the thought of soaking in the tub after a long day, staring out at the stars through the large window that looked out on a private area behind her cottage.
Tonight, she was more glad than ever that she'd spent a little extra for the tub--and overjoyed that it was big enough for two.
Testing the water with her fingertips, she looked over her shoulder at Justin. Though he was lounging on the bed, his eyes held the look of a hungry predator. One who wanted to eat her up, head to toe.
God, did she ever want him to do just that. Again.
A new flush of desire hit her as she said, "It's ready."
"What about you?" He pushed back the covers, and she actually lost her breath at his male beauty--he was hard in all the right places. "Are you ready too?"
"Yes." She'd never known her voice could sound that breathy. That full of out-and-out lust.
The next thing she knew, he was at her side and lifting her into the tub so that he sat with his back to the far edge and she straddled him. He threaded his hands into her hair, and when he kissed her, he stole the rest of her breath away.
She never wanted to stop kissing him. Never wanted to go another day or night without touching him. Never wanted to leave his arms. Never, ever wanted this moment to end.
Again, she pushed all thoughts of morning away. Right now was all that mattered--and the memories she'd take with her would get her through the tough times to come.
By the time he let her lips go, her mouth was tingling in the most delicious way and her skin felt just the slightest bit raw from the bristles on his cheeks. "I always wondered what your five o'clock shadow felt like." She caressed his face with one hand, luxuriating in the feel of him. "It feels wonderful."
"All this time," he said in a voice that resonated with emotion, "we were both wanting the same thing. Each other."
Her hand stilled on his jaw. They weren't in an emotional danger zone yet, but if she wasn't careful, they would be. Of course she couldn't bury her head in the sand forever--but were a few perfect hours too much to ask? Taylor didn't want anything to spoil her fantasy, not when she needed it more than ever.
The hardest part of it all was that her heart longed as much for deep emotion as for hot sex. In a different world, where she was perfectly healthy and Justin's mother still a phone call
away, Taylor would have leaped at the chance to declare her love to him--and hope that he would declare his right back.
But that wasn't the world they were living in. So she would make the most of the unexpected gift she'd been given--one sinfully sexy night with the man she loved. And she would cling to the memories long after it was over.
Stuffing down the part of herself that hated having to deflect emotion, she said, "I'm so glad we're making up for lost time tonight." She deliberately said tonight because she refused to lie to him about a future. "I can't wait to make up some more right now..."
She lowered her mouth to his neck, where she could feel his pulse beat steady and strong against her lips. His hands were still tangled in her hair, and as she ran kisses across his shoulders and then his chest, his fingers tightened. As though he couldn't stand the thought of letting her go.
A sob nearly rose up in her chest. Knowing she couldn't saddle Justin with her illness didn't make it any easier to accept their too rapidly fleeting hours together.
She wanted to cling to him, wanted to bury her face against his neck and stay like that forever. Instead, she worked harder than ever to push away the dark thoughts--and to focus on the fact that for the next few hours, she was the luckiest woman alive.
And about to get even luckier, if the wonderfully hard erection she was wrapping her hand around was anything to go by.
The thought made her smile. So did Justin's growl of need--and his hands coming around her waist to pull her higher.
"I need you again." He reached for a condom that she hadn't realized he'd brought over to the tub. "Now."
The water sloshed around them as they both shifted so that he could roll on protection, and then his hands were on her waist, his mouth was on hers, and she was plunging down, taking all of him at once.
The breath rushed from her lungs as he possessed her completely, driving her closer and closer to madness with every beautiful thrust.
"I can't get enough of you." He spoke the words between kisses. "I'll never be able to get enough."
She wanted to tell him it was the same for her. Wanted to blurt out how much she loved him. That she'd loved him for as long as she could remember. But she couldn't confess any of it, couldn't live with herself if she gave him her heart tonight and then took it all away tomorrow.