Page 75 of The Apple Tree

He kissed the inside of my knee while dragging my underwear down my legs. My heart raced from every nerve firing at the same time. Kyle rested both hands on my inner thighs and spread my legs.

I swallowed hard, closing my eyes while my heart thrashed in my chest. I couldn’t look at him with his gaze affixed downthere. My skin burned under his touch. Another man had taken my virginity, but Kyle made it feel like the first time.

“Oh god,” I said in a harsh whisper. My hips jerked when he kissed me right between my legs. “K-Kyle,” I stuttered through my labored breaths as my knees tried to snap together because the tip of his tongue touched my clit before sinking deeper between my legs.

It was a first. A good first.

“Eve, do you want me to make you come like this?” he asked with a thick voice.

Just because I wasn’t a virgin didn’t mean I knew what I wanted. No one (and by no one, I meant the one person who took my virginity) didn’t give me options.

“Uh …” I fumbled my answer.

His tongue made another slow swipe between my spread legs, his stubbly jaw brushing my inner thighs.

My back arched, one hand clenching his hair, my other squeezing my breast, pinching my nipple like I did when I touched myself alone in my bedroom—when I only dreamed of Kyle doing that to me.

He chuckled, kissing my inner thigh. “I take that as a yes.”

Pressing my lips together to avoid making noise, I quickly nodded several times.

It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, as if his tongue was made to do that to me. Every muscle slowlytightened like one big knot, an overload of need, like my mind disconnected from the rest of my body.

My breath caught in my chest, and a blinding sensation spread along my skin, hot and tingly, as I released in tiny waves.

Heart pounding.

Tiny pants falling past my parted lips.

Incoherent thoughts collided until I barely knew where I was.

He continued his journey up my body, sliding his fingers between my legs when he kissed my breasts, flicking his tongue over my nipple and teasing it with his teeth.

And then he was gone.

No fingers.

No tongue.

No teeth.

He’d climbed off the bed and pulled a condom from the nightstand drawer, rolling it on with steady hands. Those same hands rested on my inner thighs again to spread my legs.

Our gazes locked when he pushed two fingers into me. On a heavy blink, I released a soft moan, feeling the tight fit of his fingers. He seemed mesmerized by my reaction, pulsing into me several times before pulling out and settling his hips between my legs. His face hovered over mine while he watched my reaction to his erection penetrating me as he hooked his hand behind my knee and guided it to his hip.

My jaw relaxed in a silent cry, and he paused inside me, kissing me a long moment before he began to move. My young heart exploded into fireworks when our gazes met again, and he grinned—sexy but vulnerable.

He gave me everything I imagined that kind of intimacy would be.

Happy and playful.

All-consuming and explosive.

The passion.

The unharnessed desire.

There was no comparison, yet I couldn’t keep my mind from making casual observations about Kyle’s patience. He was steady like the act mattered just as much as the result. We rolled in the sheets as his mouth and hands explored my body. He made me feel beautiful and perfect, like a woman in every way.

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