Page 21 of Without You
“Who’s talking about the kids? I’m talking about me. You know how much I love her pies. Did you eat the whole thing by yourself?”
“Hello…”
“Oh my goodness!” Charisse shoved him and turned onto her other side, giving him her back.
“Hold up. It wasmybirthday,” Terrence said.
“I don’t care,” Charisse said over her shoulder. “You know much I loved her baking, especially her apple pie. The fact that you ate the whole pie for yourself and didn’t save me a slice, shows exactly the kind of person you are. You are greedy. That’s what it boils down to.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. Besides, I didn’t eat the whole thing by myself. Grandma shared a slice with me.” He flung an arm across her body and rested his chin on her arm. His touched heated her skin through the thin layer of clothes.
“Get off me, Terrence. Go back to your room.”
“I’m hurting. My grandmother passed.”
Charisse remained silent.
“You’re not going to give me the silent treatment, are you?”
She didn’t reply.
“You know I don’t tolerate that,” he warned.
Charisse shook him off, fluffed the pillow, and resettled on the bed. She closed her eyes.
“You know what’s coming,” Terrence warned.
Charisse’s eyes flew open. “Don’t you dare—”
His fingers dug into her sides, and a round of tickling began. Gasping, Charisse did her best to fight him off, but he was relentless.
“Say you forgive me,” he said, sliding on top of her.
She refused at first but finally relented. “Okay, okay!” She could barely breathe for laughing so hard. “I forgive you.”
He stopped, and they both simply looked at each other. The blanket continued to separate them, but one of his legs was lodged between her thighs. He rested on his elbows, but the weight from the lower part of his body bore down on her. That bout of tickling had made her core unexpectedly warm and wet. Why couldn’t she make this ache go away? It constantly gnawed at her.
“I wasn’t kidding with what I said earlier,” Terrence said quietly.
“About what?” Charisse swallowed, a deep pain appearing behind the walls of her abdomen. Something was happening between them. She feared it at the same time she welcomed it.
“I always feel better when I’m with you.”
He lowered his head hesitantly at first. When she didn’t move, he kissed her, and the world stood still for a split second before an explosion of sensation detonated in her body.
10
Charisse panted into his mouth. She wanted him desperately. She never wanted anyone the way she wanted this man, and despite her better judgment, she had to have him.Now.
It didn’t take much to get her naked. Terrence worked her panties past her hips and slipped off the nightshirt with ease. He tossed the clothes to the side and then hurriedly removed his own and tossed them aside, too. When they were both stripped bare, he stared at her body in wonder.
“I never thought I’d see you like this again.”
A frisson of desire sparked in her loins when he looked at her like that, but she didn’t have time to think, much less respond. His lips pressed to hers, meshing their mouths in a searing kiss that stole her breath and made her dizzy with pleasure. The taste of him was incredible. Like something new and different, yet familiar. Her fingers skated over his soft, wavy hair, and all four limbs wrapped around him like tentacles while she kissed him deep, stroking the inside of his mouth with her tongue.
Terrence relinquished her lips and made his way to the middle of her breasts. He fastened on each one in turn, sucking each nipple while flicking the swollen tip with his tongue. They became his singular focus for a while. With gentle tugs from his teeth and kneading fingers, he treated them to exquisite torture. She arched into the merciless onslaught, rounding her back into a sharp curve to meet the demands of his mouth.
When he’d had his fill, Terrence cupped her sex with a possessive hand and kissed her stomach. Deft fingers spread her lower lips in preparation for what she knew was about to come.
