Chapter 34

34

DAPHNE

E very time Sterling kissed me, it felt like his entire world narrowed to me and only me. I couldn't quite explain it, but it was like he kissed with single-minded purpose to make me feel like nothing and no one else existed, and I loved it.

It consumed me, making me feel precious and like I mattered, and I melted into him, his unexpected visit filling me with so much hope and happiness. After what Eric and Jake had said about Fiona, I'd really wondered if perhaps Sterling had said something to them about possibly trying to get back together with her, but the way he was kissing me made it pretty clear it wasn't her he wanted to get with.

He held my face in his hands, his body pressed tight to mine, moving with his mouth as he kissed me. I slid my tongue into his mouth, once again unable to believe that this was actually happening. I was so, so attracted to him that it felt almost impossible that he could feel the same way, but he definitely seemed to.

While I hadn't seen it yet, I knew after our first night together that the man was well endowed. He couldn't really hide the effect I had on him as a result, and I felt him now, hard and ready as he pressed against the front panel of my jeans.

"I bought condoms," I blurted out on a husky murmur, my cheeks bursting into flame. "I, uhm, I. We don't have to use them. I just, uh, I wanted to be prepared."

He smirked against my lips. "So did I. A lot of them, and we're using ‘em. Unless you have any objections?"

I shook my head, smiling as I kissed him again. "Absolutely no objections here."

"Good." He slanted his lips back over mine and slid his hands to my hips once more, lifting me onto the counter so our hips were perfectly aligned. He let out a deep growl that was so primal and raw, my panties were instantly damp. "Shit, the height of this thing is going to kill me. It's perfect."

"Perfect for what?" I teased, flashing him a playful smile as I pulled away.

Sterling shrugged, humor brightening to smoldering heat in those deep brown eyes. "Oh, I don't know. Decoupage. Science experiments. Oh, and finally getting a taste of the forbidden fruit."

As he said it, he grabbed the back of his shirt in his fist and pulled it off over his head, exposing all those delicious ridges and valleys that made my mouth water once more. Holy. Mother. Of. Abs.

He groaned when he saw me running my eyes all over him, bringing his knuckles to his mouth and sinking his teeth into them. The sight made another rush of heat sweep through me and I beckoned to him, curling my fingers and then pretending to reel him to me.

I'd never done anything like this before, but with him, it was easy to be playful. To have fun with it.

Sterling laughed, coming back to me willingly and capturing my face in his hands. Then he kissed me deeply.

Covering his hands with my own, I brought them to the hem of my shirt and he obeyed, lifting it off and pulling it over my head. Once he'd tossed it away, he slid his arms around me, unhooking my bra before ridding me of my pants and panties.

I couldn't believe how fast he'd worked to get me naked, but when I reached for the waistband of his pants in turn, he shook his head and dragged his lips across my cheeks, neck, and shoulders before moving lower down. Threading my fingers into his hair, I held on for the ride as he kissed every exposed inch of my skin, making me vibrate with need before he was standing on his knees between my legs.

Very much aware that I was more exposed to him than I'd ever been to anyone, I tried closing my legs but he glanced at me, all the humor now gone from his eyes and leaving only a burning heat behind. "Don't hide from me, Daph."

"You're level with my?—"

"I know. That's the point." He ran his flat palms over my thighs, his eyes locked on mine. "You're gorgeous. Every inch of you. I've been dying to see you like this, so just let go and trust me, okay?"

Trust him. Right .

I exhaled a shaky breath but nodded and closed my eyes, relaxing the muscles in my legs so he could spread them apart a little further once more. So nervous that I could barely breathe, the first lash of his tongue against the most sensitive part of me came as such a surprise that a soft shout escaped me. Then I felt him flexing his fingers on my thighs, blowing hot air over my folds before he kissed me there again.

I moaned, my pulse spiking and my breathing picking up speed. Peter had never been a fan of this and I hadn't trusted any of the boys I'd fooled around with before him enough to let them go there, so this was my first real experience with receiving oral sex.

It was terrifying and electrifying all at the same time. Sterling took it slowly, as if he knew how nervous I was, but soon, under the skillful touches of his fingers and tongue, I started relaxing. Blissful heat spread through me and my muscles tightened.

"Oh, that feels good." My voice came out as some kind of sultry, husky whimper, but I braced my palms behind myself on the counter and ignored what a hussy I'd just sounded like.

My hips were rolling, moving with the pace he was setting, and pleasure was starting to build deep inside me. Sterling was frighteningly good at this, and before I could even wrap my head around what was happening, stars exploded behind my eyes and an orgasm raced through me.

I shuddered, moaning as I lost control of my senses and rode his face through it. Sterling groaned as he licked me clean, hovering for a moment before he straightened up and smashed his mouth into mine. I could taste myself on his lips, but strangely, it wasn't as off-putting as I'd thought it would be.

In the moment before his lips had met my own, I'd seen the desperate need in his eyes, and when I reached for his fly again, he didn't shake his head. He let me open it, freeing him from the confines of his clothes as I pushed down his jeans and boxer-briefs at the same time.

Suddenly wrenching his mouth away from my own, he bent over and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "We're going to need this."

He pulled a condom out and tore it open with his teeth, but my eyes weren't on that. I just kind of caught it in my periphery. My gaze, however, was stuck to that part of him I'd never seen before.

As I'd thought, he was very well endowed, his cock long and almost elegant as it hugged the contours of his body and curved just before it reached his belly button. When he groaned again, I glanced up into his eyes and blushed beet red when I realized I'd been caught staring.

To my surprise, Sterling didn't smirk or even make some cliched, smart-ass comment about it. Instead, one of his hands came up to cradle my cheek while the other started working at covering himself in the condom.

"Look all you want, Daph. Do you see now why you didn't have to be embarrassed earlier? I'm not. I like you looking at me, but I also think it's natural to want to."

I held his gaze for another beat, then slowly lowered my eyes away from his, feeling bold and brave enough after what he'd said to watch closely as he rolled the condom over his length. My mouth was practically watering by the time he was done, but then he pushed his tip against my entrance and I cried out when he thrust home.

He wasn't gentle about it, but he didn't hurt me. Taking a firm grip on my hips, his eyes burned into mine as he thrust into me again and again until my eyes were crossing and my entire world was reduced to sensation and pleasure.

It turned out that the counter really was the perfect height and his shaft rubbed against every part of my insides as he sank into me and pulled out again. I'd never felt anything like it, but it was setting me on fire.

Another orgasm crashed into me way too soon, but I kissed Sterling through it, my muscles encouraging him to follow me after. Instead, he got acrobatic about it, lifting me off the counter without sliding out of me and kneeling to lay me down on the floor.

My brain was still too foggy with the post-orgasmic bliss to compute how impossible that would've seemed to me, but then he was moving in and out of me again and the bliss sucked me in once more. I held on to him, feeling like this was the first time I was actually experiencing sex the way it was meant to be, and it was incredible.

When I felt him tensing above me, I opened my eyes, needing to see the moment that he went over the edge. It didn't disappoint.

Sterling always had been a beautiful man, but with his dark eyebrows knitted together in concentration and his eyes screwed shut so tight, he was also the sexiest person I'd ever seen. I moaned. Feeling him swell inside me triggered a little aftershock orgasm of my own, and I just about mewled, my fingernails digging into his back before it finally subsided.

Out of breath, sated, and trembling, I went with him when he rolled over and pulled me into his arms. "I can't believe we just did that."

"Stay with me tonight at the farmhouse," he murmured against my ear, his lips moving down to press a few more kisses to the column of my throat. "My dad won't care. He probably won't even know. He'll be asleep by now and he'll be long gone in the morning by the time we wake up."

Everything in me longed to take him up on the offer. I wanted to sleep next to him more than anything in the world. To repeat the experience of waking up in his arms, but not be interrupted by my brother this time.

As soon as that thought hit, I remembered his suspicion about us, and immediately, I glanced up into Sterling's eyes and gave my head a slow, reluctant shake. "I want to, but it might not be a good idea. Eric…"

I trailed off, but I didn't need to say anything else. Sterling seemed to understand, nodding as he pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. "As long as you know that I want you to, and that I'm not trying to get away from you after."

I smiled, cuddling into him for just one more minute before I knew I'd have to head home. His heartbeat evened out under my ear as I rested my head against his chest, and I sighed. My fingers danced across the blocks of his abs as I lay there, trying to absorb this moment to the fullest extent possible.

Sterling's fingertips traced the ridges of my spine, and he was holding me like this was more than just some casual fun before he headed back to New York. I was still really trying not to get my hopes up, but I just didn't know how long I would be able to do that anymore.