Page 16 of Between Us

“So I will relax?”

“We'll get there.”

He was arrogant, infuriatingly so, but somehow, Alessandra found that she liked it because it gave her some reassurance that he knew what he was doing. After a beat, he went back to kissing her skin, his mouth moving down toward the soft mounds of her breasts peeking out from the luxurious fabric of her nightie. He went at it for a while, his lips lavishing her with kisses until the tightness in her limbs started to lessen, leaving room for the first timid shivers of arousal.

She closed her eyes, a low hum vibrating in her throat as she allowed herself to simplyfeel. She didn’t know much about sex, but if the way her body relaxed against him was any indication, he was quite good at it. His wet tongue circled one of her nipples through the lingerie she was wearing, and she jumped a little, not expecting it.

When she opened her eyes again, Roman was looking at her, his gaze even more heated than earlier. His fisted her long hair and dragged her face to his, catching her mouth in a deep kiss. Alessandra didn’t have time to react before his other hand pushed her more firmly against his erection and a shiver rocked her body. She let out a sound, but it was muffled by Roman’s lips growing hard and demanding against hers.

Alessandra's hands tightened their hold on broad shoulders, and her head felt dizzy from the assault of the different emotions suddenly slamming into her. In the span of a few minutes, Roman had gone from a nearcomplete stranger to husband and lover, and her mind had a hard time reconciling the two versions of him. What he was doing felt good though, and he smelled even better—of soap and something more carnal that was entirely him. And his mouth… his mouth tasted like sin and heaven, all wrapped up in a single package that felt like a blessing amidst the curse holding her life hostage for the past few weeks.

He pulled her even closer, forcing her arms to wrap around his neck as he brought their chests flush together. The kiss slowed down, turning more sensual and making her skin prick as if stung by a thousand needles. A foreign ache made its way between her legs, awakening her body and making it receptive to his touch. Her brain followed soon after, stopping its worrying and overthinking as it allowed her tobe in the moment.

When her lips started to smart from the never-ending kiss and the skin on her face burned from his five o’clock shadow, Alessandra pulled back, her breaths heavy. Her chest felt tighter and her heart beat a little faster as she looked at him from beneath long lashes.

Eyes half-drunk, Roman let his fingers drift from her hip to the damp lace of her panties. He gently circled her clit with his thumb, his expression intoxicated. Moving her thong to the side, his middle finger entered her slowly. The feeling was new but not unpleasant—certainly better than she had expected—and it didn’t take long before she was moving with him, arms tightening around his neck.

“So responsive,” he praised in a hoarse voice, adding another finger.

Unable to help herself, she leaned in to kiss himagain, suppressing a little moan. Despite knowing little to nothing about her husband, Alessandra could feel the natural and effortless connection forming between them. Her body responded to his touch as if it had known it forever, making her mind surrender to baser instincts without protest. Every ounce of trepidation left her as she fell into the slow, gratifying rhythm he was setting.

When Roman tried to push in a third finger, she nipped his lower lip to let him know it was starting to sting. He pulled out and pushed her onto her back on the bed, settling between her legs instead. She didn't have time to protest when he moved lower, dipped his head between her thighs and brushed his tongue over her clit through the fabric of her thong. The initial sensation overwhelmed her, her mind torn between experiencing her first taste of pleasure coming from a man and the novelty of the act itself. Cheeks flaming afresh with self-consciousness, she tried to close her legs and push him away at the same time. Roman didn't budge but threw her a warning look across the flat valley of her stomach, and her hands immediately softened against his shoulders. Biting down on her bottom lip, she raised her eyes to the white ceiling and inhaled deeply.

Pushing down the feeling of awkwardness expanding in her chest, Alessandra allowed herself whatever pleasure her husband was willing to give her. When he grabbed the inside of her thighs to push them farther apart, she didn't protest against it. He moved the panties to the side, and the tension in her muscles started to lessen once again under the expert stokes of his tongue against her sensitive flesh.

The minutes ticked by, one by one, and she was soon lost to the way he seemed to worship her body with his mouth. He licked from opening to clit a few times, his tongue gentle but persistent, making her fingers grab and twist the sheets in an attempt to keep a loud moan from pouring out of her. He kept at it for a while before changing techniques, teasing around her clit instead but never really touching it, until she was all but trembling from the urgent need to come.

“Please,” she thought she heard herself say, though in her current state, she couldn’t be sure she’d actually opened her mouth or if she’d uttered the plea only in her mind.

Roman pushed a finger inside of her, then another, and the sensation of being filled, coupled with his tongue finally going back to her clit, made fire erupt across the length of her spine. She felt her muscles clench as contractions seized the lower half of her body, and with an arch of her back and a breathless moan, she surrendered to the intense pleasure washing over her in waves.

When Roman lifted himself up and kissed her lips, she was limp against the mattress, her arms and legs a mass of tingly flesh. Through her post-orgasmic daze, she felt him, hard and impatient against the inside of her thigh. His mouth skimmed the side of her neck as he pushed the lace thong farther to the side and guided himself to her entrance.

Alessandra watched him through heavy lids, and just as her brain started to function again, he squeezed the thick head of his cock inside her. His face came into focus, and the look of pure, unadulterated lust staring back at her sent a fresh jolt of pleasure that started inthe pit of her stomach and went lower, to where he was spreading her open a little more.

Inch by inch, he slid inside until he met resistance. One hand braced on the mattress beside her head, he expelled a rough breath as he watched the place where they were joined. She felt stretched beyond belief, but the burning around her opening was manageable. He lifted intense blue eyes to meet hers, and whatever he saw in them, he took as permission to keep going. Grabbing the underside of her thigh to change the angle, he pushed all the way inside in one firm stroke.

Despite the sharp sting of pain, Alessandra willed herself to keep quiet. It hurt but it wasn't as bad as she had feared. Roman stilled for a few seconds, his lips pressed just below her ear and his breathing a little too heavy. He let out what sounded like a muffled curse in his native language that she wished she understood before kissing a path down her neck and to her chest. The hand holding her thigh came up to push down the straps of her nightie until her breasts were bared to him. He lavished a nipple with his tongue, then the other as his fingers traveled lower, across her stomach and toward her clit.

“So tight.” His voice had a raspy edge to it as he moved slowly, letting her accommodate to the intrusion. Thumb gently pressing between her legs, he drew back to look at her face. “You okay?”

She nodded mutedly, still flushed from her orgasm and their intimacy.

“Just tell me if you need me to slow down or stop.”

Instead of answering, she placed her hands on his biceps and pulled him closer. Roman let out a quiet groan, his eyes going nearly black with want as he drewback and gave her a few thrusts that were firmer than before. Alessandra bit her lip, leaving indentations in the soft skin, but he set to rectify that by pressing his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss that took her breath away. Like this, she was so full of him, and the taste and masculine smell of him nearly overwhelmed her senses. A moan escaped in the air between their mouths, which he swallowed quickly with kiss after kiss, until all she could feel, see,thinkwas him and only him.

His thumb moved in lazy circles, at odds with his hips that were picking up pace with each thrust. Instinctively, Alessandra let her hands travel up his shoulder blades where she dug her nails into his skin, and the gesture seemed to spur him on. The timid flutters of another orgasm slowly built up below her navel, and this time it felt different—deeper but a bit weaker as well, as if the stimulation was too much for her body to handle. Before she could brace for it, a shudder engulfed her and she came with a quiet cry that she tried to muffle by pressing her face against the stubble-covered skin stretching along the column of his neck.

“Fuck,” Roman swore harshly, moving his hand to grip the curve of her ass and give her a few hard thrusts. “Gonna come.”

He sounded almost apologetic, but as much as she was enjoying what they were doing, she didn’t think she could take much more of it. She was getting a little sore already, and as the orgasm wore off, it left behind a dull ache that started between her legs and spread to her lower back.

Rough fingers grabbed her nape, forcing her to meet his eyes. Opaque pools of infinite blue stared back ather, and for a long moment, she was lost to the raw intensity in them as he took her again and again, until his expression morphed into something primal and he finally went over the edge with a guttural groan. His body came down on top of hers, but he tried to keep his weight on his forearms as he buried his face into her hair and inhaled greedily.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, their hearts beating in a synchronized gallop, until Alessandra touched his shoulder to get his attention. “Roman.”

He dragged his head up to look at her. “Yeah?”

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