47

H e smelled of lemon, ginger, and leather. The smell infused into my senses as I stared down at his chest and let my hands roam over his skin. His head fell back against the couch behind him, and his hands gripped even tighter against my hips, his touch burning my skin even through the skirt.

Clay’s body was a stark contrast from Matthew’s; even at his younger age, he had never been so…

“Are you okay?” His low voice blanketed me with sparks.

“I’ve never been better,” I sat back against his grip and stared down at him. His dark hair was brushed out of place and a curl fell against his forehead as his eyes watched me intently. Bathed in candlelight and breathing heavily, he looked like an angel. “I feel as though I’m dreaming.”

“If you are—” He squeezed me tightly and sat up to meet my lips, dragging his teeth against my bottom lip. “Then I certainly am, too.”

I stood, only long enough to undo the skirts at my waist and step out of them. I didn’t think my legs would be able to hold me upright for much longer than that. He followed my lead and removed his trousers and undergarments and a languid moan dripped from me as we came back together. His throbbing cock sprang free against my thigh and made me giggle with excitement.

“Come here,” he said and brought me back against him. His erection nestled perfectly against my aching core as his tongue slipped into my mouth. “You taste like wine.” He chuckled and deepened his hold on me with one hand sliding into my hair and tugging gently at the roots.

His other hand slid between my thighs. His fingers brushed against the bundle of nerves and I melted down against him, unable to contain the strangled gasp that left my throat as he spread me open and started to circle my most tender area. Pressure built in my womb and it was delicious and warm. It tangled with the raw nerves and drove me toward the edge.

“Clay,” I whispered, but his name fell from my mouth in a moan as he pressed two fingers inside and curled them against my core delicately. “Oh God,” I called out before I could stop myself, thoughts swirling rapidly. I was so tight around his fingers, my walls shuddering and gripping at his touch as I pressed my hips down against him and ground us together.

“You’re going to drive me to insanity,” he whispered through tight lips. Clay’s body shook from the contact, his head lolling back against the couch and exposing his throat. His breaths were shallow as his eyes fluttered closed.

For a moment, I thought I had done something wrong, with my fingers tangled into his hair, but there was a drunk lust in his eyes when he regained the composure he’d lost. He stared at me with a lazy, kiss-bitten smirk, and rolled his hips to grind up against me again. The tip of his cock brushed me and I inhaled sharply, gauging just how large he was. I gasped as his thumb began a pattern of lazy circles at the throbbing pulse at my sex but it did nothing to quell my nerves. I had never been touched with such care and attention.

I had never felt this dizzy, drunk not on wine but on Clay’s purposeful touch.

My body tensed, and Clay pulled back from his nestled spot against my throat, lost in hair and skin with his velvety, warm mouth. I brushed my fingers down the slope of his nose, feeling the knots where it had been previously broken before trailing back over his sharp jaw. I stared at him for a long moment, half cupping my hand on his jaw and the other tangled in the loose curls around his ear.

“What is it?” He wrapped his hands around mine and pressed it to his face. I could feel his body vibrating beneath mine, his fingers slipping from inside of me, causing my thighs to clench in his absence.

“It’s been a long time,” I managed to get out.

Clay chuckled, but it wasn’t malicious. It was soft as he gripped my hip and gave me his entire focus. “I know.” He tucked his finger beneath my chin. “We’ll go slow,” he whispered, eyes gentle and full of assurance. The kiss that followed was so sweet and strong that I barely noticed him moving our position from me in his lap, to him hovering above me, laid delicately beneath him on the floor. He wrapped his hand around himself, pumping once before he lined himself up. “We will be gentle, Florence,” he mumbled against my throat as his face dipped down against me. The head of his cock slid deliciously through my folds and found my entrance, I held my breath, and my fingers gripped his hair roughly, anticipating the pressure.

“Breathe for me,” he instructed.

We inhaled together, not a single sound except our breathing as he pressed his other hand to my back and tugged me closer to him as we did.

“You can do it,” he praised breathlessly. My core ached as he slowly pushed himself inside, an exquisite sharpness dancing through me as my body adjusted to his size.

“Gods,” Clay breathed out. “That’s my girl, nice and slow.”

He held me as he carefully, inch-by-tortuous-inch, rolled his hips back and forth. Pleasure and pain tangled together to wrap our bodies in a delicious euphoria that exploded like stars across the night sky as he found a rhythm.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his entire body shuttering as he rocked back out.

“I—” I gasped with each thrust, each time thinking he had sunk in only to find there was so much more to him. “Keep going,” I encouraged, craving all of him.

Clay was gentle, more caring and attentive than I had ever experienced in all my years, making me dizzy with heat. I was so wet that I could feel it pooling around my thighs, making his thrusts slick as my body started to welcome his size.

“Are you afraid to hurt me?” I asked him, noticing that he hadn’t adjusted his pace.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I want you to feel good, too.”

“You can’t hurt me,” I cupped his face and kissed him. “I’m kind of immortal.”

“There are a hundred other ways you can hurt, Florence. This isn’t meant to be one of them.” He was breathing heavier now as he thrust slowly, the hardened ridges of him rubbing against me. “You’re supposed to feel everything, want everything. Each movement is as much for you as it is for me.”

I understood his concern then. It wasn’t for the pain. It was him lingering on past intimacy he assumed I had experienced with my husband. Or more reasonably, the lack of.

“Then show me, Clay,” I demanded. “ Teach me.”

The resolve in him broke. He thrusted forward with a new urgency that made my breath catch in my throat as his hips slapped against me, and he buried himself in me.

“Florence.” My name left his lips in strangled ecstasy as he paused there, the entire length of his cock deep inside my throbbing core. His arms braced on either side of me, strong and steady. I gripped tightly to his waist and he gasped as I rolled my hips back, grinding the sensitive nerves of my heat against the base of him. I reveled in the newfound knowledge that I could elicit such a sound from him while also taking my own pleasure.

“It’s good,” I breathed out. “It’s so…” my eyes rolled back as his mouth sucked at the swell of my breast. “Keep going,” I begged now. The words leaving my mouth came out breathless and sloppy as I convulsed around his length.

I cried out and Clay smiled against me. His teeth tickled my slick skin as he wrapped his arm under my back and pulled me tightly to him. He kissed a line up my sweaty jaw. A whimper left my swollen lips as his hand cupped my knee and spread me open further to him. He buried himself again with a pleasurable roughness that left me speechless.

I arched my back into his touch, needing all of him as his hips rocked forward. His length slid against the sensitive walls of my core, his smile wild with pleasure as he realized just how close I was to coming undone.

Clay dipped down, popping a nipple between his lips, and sucked gently until I was wholly unraveled and screaming his name like it was the only word I knew. Clay was there to guide me through the euphoria that swept through my body like a wave. The orgasm was bone-deep and sparked like wildfire. Each rough thrust from his hips, each messy, searing kiss, and tiny guttural moan was a testament to how he would continue this relentless pace until there was no room for embarrassment or fear left in my memory.

He was ensuring that he erased every echo of Lord Cabot from my flesh.

Clay replaced them with new wonders. That flooded with the feeling of him tearing through me until I was not the woman I once was but something new. Something free.

I felt like a petal in the wind.

I clenched around him as I climaxed, pulling a growl from him as he found his release on trembling forearms. Clay rocked into me, his ragged breath coating my neck and hand raking over my belly as I took quick, shallow breaths. His fingers were seductive and I couldn’t get enough of him and, when he finally found the energy to withdraw, a small moan of deprivation was pulled from my lips.

He lay down on the blanket, pulling my back against his chest in a tight hug and kissed my jaw over and over again. His arms wrapped around me and, for a second, I could feel the bliss radiating off his skin. The space between my legs throbbed and I knew I would be sore in the morning, but it was worth every delicious moment that Clay had spent inside me.

“That was…” His mouth grazed my throat and I leaned into the feeling of his warm breath, sticky on my skin, and raked my fingers into his hair. “Insane.”

I chuckled at the sound of his sleepy, sex-drunk voice and rolled over in his arms so our chests pressed together and I could kiss him back.

“How do you feel?” Clay asked, his brows pinching together as his hand raked my hair out of my face.

I felt… taken care of, spoiled, and loved. He snuggled against me, kissing my neck and shoulders with sleepy bliss that left tingling spots all over my skin. I wasn’t sure how we had even gotten to this point. The afternoon in the field, things became charged and shifted into something softer and more intimate between us. I just hadn’t expected them to snap so suddenly.

The light from the candles danced across my vision.

He had done all of this for me.

“I feel seen.”

Clay smiled, enveloping my face in his hand as he covered my mouth. Kissing me slowly, taking his time before pulling back and pressing his forehead to mine.