Chapter 18

18

Simon pinned Lilis against his body, tasting her again and again. He was starving for her, his body ready to ignite where he stood.

“What do you want, Lilis?”

Her hands tugged at his hair, and she rubbed her bra-clad breasts against his chest with little whimpers that drove him wild. “You, Simon. I want you.”

Hell yes. His name on her lips. She saw him, not his previous selves. She wanted him. Was desperate for him .

“You’ll have me,” he promised darkly. “Over and over and over until you can’t stand.” He kissed her again and pulled away. “Protection.”

Doubt clouded her forest-green eyes and she bit her lower lip. Simon paused at her rare show of nervousness.

“Human diseases don’t survive my body. And I won’t be able to get pregnant for at least a few months after… uh… after I decide I want that. It’s complicated.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Simon, I totally understand if you want protection or if you don’t want this at all. I’ve never slept with any demons before, but… There have been a lot of humans. You know. In between… you.”

Simon’s blood roared in his ears. He gathered her back into his arms, kissing her soundly. “Good.” Her eyes flew open in surprise, and he held her gaze to let her know he spoke honestly. “I’m glad you weren’t lonely. I’m glad you had fun when you wanted it.” He squeezed her hip as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “And I’m glad you have enough experience to know just how good this is going to be.”

She moaned, and Simon picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist. The heat of her core reached him through both their clothes, and he pressed her against his abs as he carried her the two steps to his bed and toppled them onto its softness. Her scent engulfed him, cinnamon and flowers making him tighten even more against her. He bent his head to the crook of her neck, breathing it in and licking the sensitive skin there. She groaned, and his eyes crossed.

So many images and positions filled his mind from his dreams of making love to Lilis. Of taking her, burying himself inside her again and again while she screamed in pleasure.

He shoved them all from his mind.

Those were previous selves. He didn’t want to simply relive old encounters with her and risk other memories overshadowing their time together. He could freak out about the entire past lives thing later.

Right now, his need for her overwhelmed everything else. This was about him , about Simon , feeling her, tasting her for the first time. He intended to learn all her pressure points until she was weak from the pleasure.

Simon scraped one hand lightly down her shirt, and she cried out, thrusting her chest against his.

Right there—the first pressure point.

Simon flexed his hips against her and scraped his fingernails across the outside of one of her breasts, over her shirt and bra. She arched her back, and Simon gripped the hem of her shirt, sliding it up, inch by inch, exposing her to his hungry gaze.

Simple black cotton cupped her, the pebbles of her nipples pressing through the fabric. He left it on and bunched her shirt just under her chin.

He ran his fingers down the fronts of her bra again, never venturing near enough to her nipple to satisfy her. She moved restlessly, trying to place her beautiful breasts in his path, but he avoided her. She shivered, and Simon’s body buzzed in response. He hadn’t even touched her, and already he was ready to burst from his jeans. Why hadn’t he worn scrubs today? They would’ve offered more room for his straining erection.

He refocused on the beauty before him.

In one quick motion, he sat on his knees, bracing on either side of her legs to keep his weight off her, and lifted her into a sitting position. He slipped her shirt off, unhooked her bra with one hand, and cupped the back of her head with the other to hold her still while he ravished her mouth. She arched toward him again, whimpering against his lips, but he held his body away from her, deliberately teasing her.

He lowered her slowly back to the bed so he could see her.

She was stunning .

Soft skin flushed pink with her excitement, beautiful breasts begging for his attention. They would fit perfectly into his hands, he knew. Her toned stomach rose and fell, her chest heaving as her breaths grew shorter.

He placed a palm in the center of her chest, between her breasts. “Uh-uh. Deep breaths.”

She glared daggers at him. “You think you’re going to boss me around?”

He leaned over her, letting the cotton of his shirt rub against her bare skin, driving her wild with the sensation. He blew a hot breath in her ear. “That’s exactly what I think. You’re mine now, Lilis.”

She opened her mouth to respond but gasped instead as Simon stroked the outside of each breast with feather-light touches, circling closer and closer to her nipple before moving away again.

“Simon…”

Her pleading tightened him another degree, and his control slipped a notch. He could feel her desire mounting. Gently, he rubbed the pad of his thumbs over the outside of her nipples before lightly scraping them with his fingertips. Her whimpers grew louder, and Simon slowly started thrusting his pant-clad hips against her heated core. His cock was desperate for attention, but this was about Lilis.

“Ungh. Simon, please. I need…”

“Let go, Lilis.”

Simon increased the pace of his thrusts and gently pinched both of her nipples, rolling them between his fingers.

Lilis cried out, and Simon pinched harder as he licked a path down her chest.

“Oh gods. Oh gods. Please, don’t stop. I’m going to?—”

He licked one nipple, sucking it into his mouth while rubbing his thumb across the other one, and she screamed, arching off the bed.

“ Simon! ”

He rocked his hips against her until her tremors finally subsided, losing himself to the motion.

When she reached for him again, tearing his shirt off before he could regain control, Simon grunted and fisted his hands in his sheets to keep from ripping off her pants and burying himself in her.

She pulled him down for another scorching kiss, her fingernails scraping gently across his back, leaving a fiery trail in their wake. Her hands slipped in between their bodies, tugging at his fly. She reached inside his pants and gripped him, and Simon’s body tightened almost to the point of pain. He thrust helplessly into her hand.

God damn, he was so close to exploding right then, and he hadn’t even gotten her pants off. With a grunt, he pulled her hands off his needy cock.

“I’m not done with you yet.”

He slid down her body, licking a trail to her sensitive nipples. He sucked one into his mouth, toying with it, increasing the pressure before switching to the other breast to lavish it with the same attention. She writhed in his arms, and Simon made a mental promise to spend an entire day just worshipping her breasts.

But not today.

He slid lower still, tongue tracing a path across her stomach and dipping into her belly button. He opened the snap on her cargo pants, drawing the zipper down with deliberate slowness. The sound reverberated through the room, over her whines and pleas. She arched her hips, and Simon dragged her pants and underwear off her together.

Her dark hair glistened with her arousal in the sunlight, and Simon swallowed hard. He pressed her knees up and outward, opening her fully to his hungry gaze. Slowly, teasingly, he slid his hands from her knees, along her thighs, to the juncture where her thighs met her core, and pushed on her outer lips, letting them generate pressure on her swollen nub.

Her head tipped back and she gripped the sheets in her fists. And when he dragged one finger through her wetness, she groaned, her head thrashing back and forth on his pillow.

Need throbbed along every nerve ending in his body, and Simon had to take a minute to collect himself before he exploded in his pants. He wouldn’t give in to the demands of his body just yet. Not before making Lilis scream again.

Bending forward, he kissed the inside of one thigh, then the other. He cupped her shapely rear in his hands, lifted her to his hungry mouth, and ran his tongue over her.

She cried out again and tried to clamp her legs shut, but he held her down with firm pressure so that he could continue to pleasure her. He’d been desperate to taste Lilis since his first dream of her when he’d been his Roman self. Neither that dream nor the one of his French self had allowed Simon to taste her as he was doing now.

Her first orgasm had been for her.

This was all for him.

He licked and sucked, paying close attention to how much pressure made her keen with want and how far he could push her before she started to beg.

She was so wet it was making him lightheaded. Needing to be inside her somehow, he slid one finger into her welcoming warmth. She jerked her hips against him as he sought the spot that would have her?—

“Simon!”

She came, tightening on his finger as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her body. He kept up the pressure, helping her ride out her orgasm and adding to it, sending her over the edge for a third time.

He sat back on his knees, gazing down to admire his handiwork, the flush along her skin, the relaxed state of her muscles. Her thick raven hair spilled over his pillow, and the sight of her, aroused and satisfied in his bed, filled him with masculine pride. He ran a finger from her neck down to the bundle of nerves at her core. “I can’t decide how I want to make you come next.”

Lilis straightened her legs underneath him and sat up, kissing him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

“With you,” she breathed. She reached one hot hand into his open fly and stroked him again, and he grabbed his sheets, bucking his hips against her hold. “I want you , Simon.”

Fuck .

The last of Simon’s control shredded. He let go of the sheets and grabbed her hips, lifting her off the bed and settling her down on his erection. He slid inside her effortlessly, her wet warmth gripping him tightly.

Simon shook at the first real feel of her surrounding him, of burying himself to the hilt inside her. She fit his body perfectly. So fucking perfectly.

She planted her knees on either side of him and began to ride him with delicious slowness. He wrapped his arms around her back, supporting her to give her more range of motion, letting her take her pleasure from him.

Lilis’ breasts bounced invitingly in front of his face, and he took one pert bud in his mouth, nipping her gently with his teeth.

She keened, grinding herself along his abs as she rode his shaft, and Simon held perfectly still, fighting to stave off his own pleasure.

But Lilis squeezed him as she continued to glide along him. “No, Simon.” She reached behind her back and down to their joined bodies, gripping his sac and massaging him. “Don’t hold back anymore. I want all of you.”

With a grunt, Simon rose on his knees and laid her on her back, his shaft never leaving her warmth. He pounded into her until her moans turned staccato. Her essence surrounded him, and he lost himself in her embrace.

He growled as his orgasm exploded through him, spots bursting in front of his eyes.

He rested his head on her, and a flutter thudded in his ears. Simon realized with a grin that her heart was beating just as fast as his.

“That.” Lilis took several deep breaths. “Simon, that was amazing .”

He lifted himself on one elbow to grin down at her. “What do you mean ‘was’?”

He caught the surprise in her emerald eyes just before he dipped his head and claimed her rosy lips in another searing kiss.

For the rest of the afternoon, Simon took her in every position imaginable. He moved her from the bed to the floor to the kitchen counter and eventually to the shower, where he made slow, sweet love to her up against the wall until she begged him for mercy.

As she lay in bed with her head on his shoulder, her breathing becoming deeper and more even, Simon stroked her hair and allowed a few memories from his prior selves to seep into his present.

With each new life he experienced, he fell harder for her, faster. As though his soul recognized her, he felt drawn to Lilis. Caelius’ swelling of love at the end of Simon’s first dream made sense to him now and filled him with emotions that were simultaneously new and familiar.

She might want time to process the thought that she’d been dating the same man again and again. Hell, he needed that, too. But it helped that he wasn’t alone in this new revelation. She’d been with him in every life, and she was with him now. And that made it easier to understand, to accept. Now that they knew, they could take their time relearning one another.

Because one thing was certain.

Lilis was his .