Chapter 18

18

TRISTAN

I watch transfixed as Nina peels off her T-shirt in one smooth motion, revealing her flawless skin and perfect curves, unencumbered by anything underneath. My eyes roam hungrily over her body, drinking in every delicious detail. All the bravado I was feeling just seconds ago is gone. Destroyed by a flick of her fingers. Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly be more under her spell, she goes and does something like this, bringing me to my knees.

I’m paralyzed, unable to move, overwhelmed by her breathtaking beauty as we stand there gazing at each other. The room pulses around me. Then slowly, a smirk spreads across her luscious lips. Realization dawns in her emerald eyes—she’s finally grasping the unchecked power she holds over me. That teasing little smile is my undoing.

In two quick strides, I close the distance between us. I grab her hips and hoist her up, her legs instinctively wrapping around my waist. I sink down onto the edge of the bed, pulling her into my lap. Her silky hair tumbles over us as I bury my face in her neck, inhaling her sweet, intoxicating scent.

“You’re going to be the death of me, you know that?” I murmur against her skin.

“What a way to go, though?” she hums, trailing her fingers through my hair.

I chuckle darkly. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Torturing me?”

“Mmm, immensely,” she whispers, her warm breath tickling my ear. “Consider it payback for teasing me about my ears all these years.”

I lean back to look at her, suddenly serious. Being as tender as I can, I pull her hair behind one ear. I watch her struggle not to stop me. Nina keeps her hands on my shoulders, but she can’t help the flinch that mars her beautiful face. I hate it. Hate that I’m the one who put it there. Showing just as much reverence, I tuck her silky locks also behind her other ear and then I kiss her there. One ear first, then the other. I trail my tongue over the shell of her right ear, feeling her responding gasp deep in my guts. Then I bite down on her earlobe.

She shivers in my arms, returning the favor as she grazes her teeth over my neck. The move drives me insane. I reach out and gently lift her chin, forcing her to look at me, allowing me to get lost in the green forest of her gaze.

And then, I can’t take it any longer. Can’t control myself. I claim her mouth as mine. I press my lips to hers, soft but insistent, and I feel her respond with a hunger that matches my own. She tangles her fingers in my hair, pulling me closer as if she could merge our bodies into one. A sweet surrender courses through me as she nibbles on my lower lip, inviting me to deepen the kiss. I take the unspoken invitation, creating a delicious friction that ignites every nerve in my body. The world falls away until there’s nothing but Nina—her taste, her touch, her sweet scent.

I should panic at the intensity of it all; instead, I’m smiling into the kiss because Nina Thompson is finally in my arms.

She pulls back slightly, breaking the kiss, studying me for a second as if still puzzled that this is really happening between us.

Nina’s eyes dance with marvel. Then her gaze shifts to heated lust. She grabs the hair at my nape, tilting my head slightly backward. “So, tell me, Montgomery, exactly how many nights did you spend lying awake in bed thinking about me?”

She’s getting cocky, so I flip us over, pinning her beneath me on the mattress. She lets out a surprised little yelp but is quick in recovering. She flashes me that devilish smirk again and, fisting my T-shirt, she pulls me down to her. I go willingly to my damnation, kissing every inch of her skin I can reach. Her eyes close as I take my time exploring her curves with my mouth, mapping out the contours of her body. I want to memorize every reaction, every sound she makes, every hitch in her breath.

“Tristan.”

My name whispered from her lips sends me into a tailspin. I pull back to just look at her. Take in her flushed cheeks, the way her chest rises and falls with quickened breaths, the tendrils of hair that have fallen over her face. The sight is enough to make me feel like I’m the one who’s conquered, not the other way around.

Her lashes flutter open as she gazes up at me, her stare slightly glazed over. She’s never looked more beautiful—eyes lustful, lips swollen from our kisses, golden hair fanned out across the pillow. I’m completely entranced.

Unable to hold back any longer, I cup her face and claim her mouth again. This time there’s no hesitation, no teasing—just pure, electrifying need. I pour everything I feel for her into the kiss, caressing her soft lips, tasting her sweetness. A low moan escapes her throat and I swallow the sound greedily.

My hands skim down her sides, fingertips trailing over her silky skin as I map every dip and curve of her body. She arches into my touch, skin burning everywhere we connect. I want to unravel her slowly, learn each secret place that makes her gasp and sigh. But I’m too far gone, too consumed by the feel of her semi-naked and wanting beneath me.

The kiss grows hotter and headier with each ragged breath. Her fingers dig into my shoulders, urging me closer. Then they drop lower, relieving me of my pants. We remove the rest of our clothes, never breaking the kiss until I settle once again between her parted thighs.

I stop now, looking at her, asking her permission to unravel us both. She only gives me a small nod before pulling me to her again as if she could no longer breathe without my lips pressed to hers.

We move together, finding a rhythm as natural as our heartbeats, stoking the flames higher.

And then it hits me—this overwhelming flood of emotion I’ve been trying so hard to deny. It’s more than just lust and attraction. More than our maddening chemistry.

Those feelings I’ve been running from, they’re all tangled up in this moment, in her.

She comes undone and I follow her to my downfall in a blast so intense I didn’t even know it was physically possible.

Terrified of what this perfect connection means, I break the kiss, burying my face in the crook of her neck as I try to still the turmoil within me, to quell the storm of my emotions. I’m in deep, drowning in her. And for once in my meticulously controlled life, I’m not sure what comes next.