Chapter 28

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

Flame

M y heart is flying so high I'm shocked any part of me is still touching the ground. Saying the words, ‘I love you,' aloud, letting Ana know how I feel, gave me a release better than a thousand orgasms. A million orgasms. I feel so light and free, like anything in the world is possible.

And I plan to keep my promise to worship her—starting now.

I plan to worship every part of her—her wit, her goals, her hopes, her dreams—but at this moment, here in the moonlight, what I plan to worship first is her body.

She pulses against me as we kiss, both of us so aroused and ready. It would be easy to lift her gown, free my cock and be inside her in an instant, but that's not what I want—not yet.

In one quick movement, I lift her as I stand, setting her feet down between me and the boulder.

"Flame." Her hand drifts up my chest, her eyes following its path, her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.

Crouching, I slip my hands under the hem of her gown, encircling her tiny ankles with my hands, and then gliding my palms and fingers over her calves and shins.

Quivering slightly. She leans forward, placing her hands on my shoulders as if she can no longer support herself, and I look up into her eyes as I slowly let my hands rise. When I reach her knees, she moans, and I transfer my hands to the fabric of her dress, gathering it, slowly raising the hem to expose more of her sweet, soft flesh, a feast for my fingers and eyes.

Even her lower legs are works of art, perfectly shaped, the few tiny scars on her porcelain skin enhancing their beauty.

I press my lips against one scar, just below her right knee. "What wounded you?" I ask, breathless, and then trace the tiny ridge of scar, back and forth with my tongue.

"That?" A loud exhale follows her question, and her fingers dig into my shoulders. "Why?"

"I want to know every part of you." I kiss the side of one knee then the other, and then let my tongue rise a few inches up the inside of one thigh, eliciting another moan.

"I fell," she says. "I was chasing my new puppy over a stone path."

I kiss the scar again. "What was your puppy's name?" I kiss higher on her thigh, loving how her muscles quiver in response.

"I…I…" She stutters as my tongue traces up and down her inner thigh. "I don't remember her name. She was a birthday gift, but mama ordered her taken away."

"Poor baby." I lick up her thigh, staying well away from her sex.

Her body pulses, her hips shifting. "I shouldn't have dashed after the puppy. Very unladylike."

The scent of her arousal is driving me crazy, but I want this to last, so I nibble the skin just above her quivering knee. "How old were you?"

"Seven."

Overly strict upbringings are something else we have in common. Her hands shift from my shoulders to my head as she tries to guide me toward her sex. Instead, I rise to full height, pulling the hem of the dress with me.

"The air is cool." She looks up into my eyes.

"Are you cold, darling?"

She shakes her head, and her long hair swings behind her. I long to free the few pins holding parts of it, but first I must rid her of this dress. I lift it slowly, purposefully keeping my skin from hers as I draw it higher, and she raises her arms to help me remove it.

Taking the garment fully off her, I take a step back. "You are beyond beautiful."

The moonlight is highlighting her pale skin, licking every curve and peak of her, places I plan to kiss and bite, until there's no spot I haven't marked as mine.

I slowly disrobe, and she stands in the moonlight, rubbing her legs together and watching me. My heart is exploding with joy that I get to be with this woman. And that she didn't push me away when I declared my love.

I didn't expect her to say it back but admit a small part of me hoped to hear it. But even if her feelings never develop for me in that way, I'm grateful to have what we do have. Grateful to be part of her life and to be able to bed her whenever she chooses to have me.

And right now, she wants to have me. Her body is shaking with need, making me wild with pride and crazy with desire. As much as I want to fuck her, right this second, I plan to draw out this feeling, the utter elation of anticipation as long as I can.

Freed to the cool night air, my cock throbs, protesting my plan, but it can wait. I have far more delicious plans for my Ana.

I step toward her, and she turns to bend over, putting her hands on the boulder, spreading her legs and exposing her sex for me.

A growl erupts from deep in my chest, but not even that temptation will throw me off course. Quickly, I move the cushions, positioning them at a spot I found earlier, close to the water.

Then, without warning, I whisk her off her feet. She gasps as her arms wrap around my shoulders. Her eyes widen and her teeth scrape her lower lip, and I think of at least two more reasons I adore her. I love her sense of adventure, and the trust she offers others—at least those who've earned it. And my chest fills with joy that she's not fighting me, that she's not questioning what I have planned.

I set her down on the cushions, adjusting them so that she's comfortable and leaning against a boulder just at the water's edge, her feet dangling into the lake. Then I step into the water, onto a rocky shelf about three and a half feet down, that extends several feet from the shore.

"Comfy?" I ask.

"Yes, but?—"

Scooping under her knees, I lift her legs, bending them and planting her feet on the granite, leaving her body spread and open.

"I'm on fire," she says. "I need you inside me." Her fingers slide toward her sex.

"Not yet, darling. Let me take a good look at you first." I step back, and the water laps around my legs as she sits panting on the shore, legs spread, sex wet and ready.

I could drink in the sight of her like this all night, but I have other thirsts to quench. I drop to one knee, the underwater shelf putting me just at the right height to access her entire body with my hands and my mouth, just like I hoped, when I had this idea.

The sound of the lapping water fills the air, and I stroke her skin, kissing every part of her I can reach, every part but her sex. I'm quickly drunk on the taste of her, high on my own pleasure and the reactions I sense in the muscles and nerves under her skin—the rush of her blood, the tempo of her breaths, rising along with her arousal. She is on fucking fire.

Scooping a bit of lake water, I dribble some onto one breast.

She gasps at the chill, and I quickly warm the spot with my mouth, sucking off every drop until she's arching against me, the stiff peak of her nipple trembling between my lips. I repeat the same action with her other breast, and then move back to the first. Over and over, I pour water onto her delicate breasts and drink it off her. I could do this all night, but I move to other parts of her, finding every place just as delicious.

She's writhing now, under my tongue and my touch, clearly enjoying this, but also wanting so, so much more.

Unable to deny her, I dribble water over her sex. She's so hot, as each drop lands, I imagine steam rising, and her hips pulse in response.

"Oh, Flame." Her head tips back.

"I love when you say my name."

She looks into my eyes. "Flame." She licks her lips. "Flame. Flame. Flame. I need you inside me. Now. Please ."

Shaking my head I drip more water onto her sex and then bend to slowly lick it off.

Her body arches up against my face and I reward her with a long probing lick through her folds, before sucking the last hints of lake water off her clit.

She grabs for my head, trying to hold me in place, but I'm too quick for her.

She gives up her attempts at control as I continue my game, chilling her with the cold lake water and then sucking it off her sex.

Her hips are pulsing, her skin is flushed, her entire body is vibrating with need, and I'm humbled that it's me this spectacular creature wants right now—or at least she wants something I can give her.

"Don't stop," she says as I take my lips off her. "I'm almost there."

"All in good time." I chuckle and gather more water to sprinkle.

"I need to tell you something," she says.

More drops of water strike her clit, and she gasps, her back arching up.

"Something I should have said before."

I slide a finger inside her.

"Oh. Ah! Flame."

"Does that feel good, darling?"

She nods, her entire body undulating as if my finger sliding inside her is the best thing she's ever felt in her life.

"I need to tell you?—"

"You don't need to—" Leaning over her. I push my finger in deeper.

"Aaaah! Oh!" She reaches for me, but then falls back, as I flick her clit with my thumb, feeling her body tightening around my finger.

"I don't need to do what?" she asks when she recovers.

"You don't need to tell me anything, darling. It doesn't matter." Drawing my finger out, I stroke through her folds and then splash some cool water over her sex.

She gasps at the shock, but then looks into my eyes. "What I want to say does matter."

I take one of her breasts into my mouth, and she moans, arching up as if she wants me to take even more of her in. As if she wants me to devour her whole.

"Ana." I trail my tongue down from her breast, over her belly and to the top of her sex. "I love you, no matter what you have to say."

Her eyes fill with appreciation, and I lick her clit, loving how her eyes change, how her entire expression becomes consumed by the physical experiences, instead of worrying about responding to my declaration of love.

Staying right where I am, I flick and suck, loving the taste of her, wondering if I've teased her enough. Whether this time I should let her go over the edge.

But she takes my head in her hands and lifts it away from her.

"I love you, Flame."

Rising to my feet, I shake my head. My entire body is trembling with need but also with fear. I imagined what she just said. If I didn't, after the sex, she'll take her words back.

She can't possibly mean it.

I take my stiff cock in my hand. "Don't worry, darling. I'll stop teasing. You don't need to lie to get what you want." I step forward, leaning and planting my hands on the rock on either side of her. My size dominating her. "In fact, you're going to get what you really love—and you're going to get it hard and soon."

"No, Flame." She pushes back against my chest. "That's not why I said it. Your cock, well, yes, it's great, but it's not why I love you."

I want to speak, but all the moisture has gone from my mouth. I just stare down at her, unsure whether any of this is real or if I'm dreaming.

"Do you want to know why I love you?" she asks.

I shake my head. I don't think I can bear to hear it, because if she loves Phil, if she loves Blade, it doesn't seem possible that she could love me too.

"I love you because of your appreciation for art—for all things beautiful."

"Beautiful things like you?" My voice comes out hoarse but carries the joking tone I was shooting for. At least that part of me is working again.

Her nose crinkles, and a crease appears between her eyebrows. She's annoyed by my quip, but then a smile brushes over her lips. Lips I long to devour again.

I bend toward them, but her hand stops me.

"I haven't finished."

"Believe me, I know." Grinning, I flick my fingers through her swollen folds.

Her body pulses, but then stiffens. "That's not what I'm talking about."

"Need to get something off your chest?" I kiss one of her breasts, then the other. "Is this it? Or this?" I tug on her nipples in turn as I question her.

"Flame." Her voice comes out sharply. "I need you to believe me."

"Believe that you're desperate for my cock?" I slide a finger inside her and she arches up off the rock.

"Please." She tenses around me.

"You want two?" I add another.

She struggles, and I withdraw my intrusion, positioning my face right above hers. She doesn't really love me, but I'm ruining the mood, so I'll let her claim it.

"Say what you have to say then," I tell her cooly. "Get it out, so we can both get what we need."

"I can't even remember what I was saying." Her eyes fill with frustration and worry. "You've got me so confused."

"Something about art?" I tip my head to the side.

"Oh, yes." She smiles, and her eyes light up again. "I do love that about you. I love your genuine appreciation for beautiful, even delicate things, and how that contrasts with your ruggedness, your overt masculinity." Her fingers brush over my chest. "But even more, I love the way you're able to read people."

"Read people? Blade's the one who reads."

"You always know how the others are feeling. Sometimes before they know themselves." Her fingers trace around my nipple. "You're very sensitive."

"Right now, one part of me is very fucking sensitive." Rising higher out of the water, I rub my cock through her folds.

She sucks in a breath but shakes her head. "Flame, you can joke all you want. You can use humor to deflect your sensitivity. You can act tough to mask it, but at heart, deep down, you're a sensitive soul." She lays her hand firmly on my chest and my heart tries to escape into her touch.

"Sometimes your ability to read me drives me crazy," she says, "because it means I can't hide my feelings from you." Her fingers slide over my chest, teasing the curly hairs there. "But tonight—" her eyes fill with worry "—right now, it's like you can't read me at all."

"I disagree." I slide my rock-hard dick through her swollen folds. "I think I'm reading you loud and clear."

"Flame!" My name escapes her lips on a sigh that's part desperation, part exasperation. "Flame, why won't you believe me? Why won't you believe that I love you?"

Every part of my body seizes. Shifting off her, I stagger back.

My feet slip off the shelf of rock and I fall into the water.