Page 82 of Let It Breathe
Reese forgot about the words—all words—as she felt herself dissolving into him, devouring him, touching him everywhere. He smelled like sawdust and sunshine, and Reese wondered if it was cologne or just Clay.
He was harder everywhere than last time—leaner, more solid. His hands made slow circles on her back, still tentative. There was a hesitance in him that hadn’t been there the last time.
The only time.
“You won’t break me,” she whispered against his chest.
“It’s not that. It’s just?—”
“What?”
“I want you so much.”
The words made her dizzy all over. She caught him by the belt buckle again and pulled him toward the bed, glad she’d had the foresight to put on clean sheets that morning. Not that she’d been planning on doing anything illicit, and certainly not with Clay.
Clay, her brain murmured, and Reese waited for that to seem strange.
It didn’t.
Reese shoved her down comforter aside, then knelt on the bed and pulled him closer. He was standing in front of her now in the faint glow of moonlight seeping through the window. She slid her hands up his sides and felt him shiver beneath her palms.
“Cold?” she asked.
“No,” he said, his hands drifting down her shoulders and coming to rest against her collarbones, just above her breasts. He left them there, his fingertips warm on her flesh. “Not cold at all.”
He leaned forward and his lips found hers in the semidarkness. Then his hands slid down, finally cupping her breasts, testing their weight in his palms. Reese moaned aloud, trying to remember if it had felt this damn good the last time.
His thumbs stroked her nipples through the satin, and Reese arched her back, pressing herself into all that sensation. She slid her hands down his back and over his jeans, thrilling herself with the hardness there that she couldn’t quite touch.
Clay let go of her breasts, and Reese made a small whimper of protest. His hands moved around her back, tracing the wings of her shoulder blades before his fingers found the clasp of her bra.
“Oh,” she gasped as he unhooked it in one deft move, then reached up to slide the straps from her shoulders. She sighed as the bra fell free and his hands curved around once more to cup her. He bent forward and slid his tongue over one nipple, then the other, taking his time, making slow circles until Reese was sure she’d topple off the bed.
She trailed her hands down his chest and fumbled with his belt buckle. Clay sucked in a breath and drew back, moving his fingers over her shoulders to hold her away from him for just a moment. He looked at her, just looked at her.
Reese shivered, her hand frozen on his belt buckle.
“Reese,” he whispered, his lips forming a small smile. “Reese.”
“Yes?”
“I can’t believe this.”
He stopped, and Reese smiled back as she fumbled with his belt buckle. “Is this okay?”
He laughed then, the first time she hadn’t feared he was still considering fleeing the room.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Want help?”
She nodded and sat back on her heels to watch as he slowly unhooked the belt and tugged open the button fly on his jeans. She tried not to stare, but hell, wasn’t that the point? Admiring the evidence that she was able to arouse him like this, seeing the swell of him straining against his black boxer briefs.
He bent down to untie his boots, then toed them off before sliding off his jeans and underwear until he stood there naked in front of her.
Reese stared. “My God.”
He smiled and slid one finger from the edge of her chin down her collarbone and over the swell of her breast. “I can say the same for you.”
She smiled back, still drinking in the sight of him in all his naked glory. “Sobriety’s been good to you.”
