Page 62 of Saddles

Reflexively, I bend my elbow and pull her close, pressing my lips to her temple. There’s a war waging in me, one side wants to give in and keep her, the other knows that I’m not right for her.

But even the victors have lost a battle or two.

My next kiss lands lower, near the crease of her eye, and I get a taste of her salty tears.

That pulls a groan from deep in my chest. I don’t want her scared, not when she’s in my arms.

Her palm burns on my cheek as she tilts her chin, guiding me to her soft mouth.

Tentatively, I press tenderly, letting her knit her fingers into my hair, doing my best to tamp down the raging need throbbing in my loins.

Her nails rake over my scalp, stoking the intensity until my tongue drags along the seam of her lips.

With a small moan, she opens to me, and I get to dive back into the taste that has been lingering on my senses all day.

I could lose myself in her, and that’s terrifying.

Yet, exhilarating.

She doesn’t know it, but this is a memory I’ll always hold as well.

The heat of her exhale feathering down my jaw. The way she nibbles at my bottom lip every time I pause. Or the intoxicating rush of her hips gyrating against mine.

They pair well with the snapshot of her naked body just before her bath, strutting up to me without a care in the world.

For the man who never thought I’d feel a woman’s touch again, this is a moment I’ll cling to.

I’ve gone from avoiding contact, to wanting to feel every inch of her.

Her rapid pulse races beneath my lips when I trail gentle kisses down the arch of her throat.

My fever dream would be wrapping my fingers around it while I drive into her.

Not tonight.

This is about her. Her bravery is unequaled, giving her trust to me is a gift I don’t take lightly.

Her breath catches when I push further under the edge of her pants.

“I’ll go easy,” I whisper, then pull the dainty lobe of her ear between my teeth.

“There’s a part of me that doesn’t want soft and slow,” she pants as she rocks her pelvis and drops her calf behind my knees.

“I get it. We’ll save tearing you in two for another day.” One I hope I’ll get to see, though I doubt it.

Once she’s gone, I’ll probably never see her again.

With the lightest of caresses, I part her satin curls to find her already slick.

She gasps when I delve deeper, circling her swollen clit.

I want her to remember that patience and deliberate pleasure still exists.

Her lower lip glistens in the dim glow after she coats it with a glide of her tongue, enticing me to pull it back between my teeth.

“You tell me if it hurts, be honest with me,” I murmur into the hollow below her ear.

The calluses on my finger are ridges that ride over her sensitive pussy before the tip settles over her entrance. I wish it was the head of my aching cock, poised to thrust.

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