Page 35 of Crumbling Truth
“Christ, yes,” I muttered, and I cradled her jaw as I dropped my mouth to hers.
If her desserts were delicious, then her lips were beyond anything I’d ever tasted. A faint tang of peppermint graced her tongue as she opened to me, hints of sweetness lingering along the curve of her bottom lip. I hadn’t let myself envision what it would be like to kiss Esther, but now that I knew, I couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything else ever again.
A low sound purred from her throat as she shifted, tugging me over her as she reclined against the arm of the sofa. When the planes of my chest met the welcoming softness of her belly and breasts, I groaned quietly, drawing back just enough to kiss a path along her jaw.
“Is this what you want?” I murmured as my teeth grazed her earlobe. “We’re not moving too fast?”
She scoffed, arching to offer me more room to tease my lips along her throat. “It’s been a long, long time for me. I think you’re underestimating just how much I need this.”
“Oh?” I lifted my head to look down at her. Her lips were plump and rosy, her eyes slightly glazed but still blazing up at me with such desire that my heart jolted in my chest. “Christ, do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”
“Not really, no. But if it’s half of what you’re doing to me, you must be getting pretty desperate,” she replied, then she tangled her fingers in my hair and pulled my mouth back to hers.
She was absolutely right.
Chapter Fourteen
Esther
Theowasanexpertkisser. There was no doubt in my mind, even knowing my experience was severely limited and plenty outdated. He used his lips and tongue like tools, delicate and precise, like he was decorating a wedding cake that required both artistry and skill.
By the time we came up for air, my limbs were noticeably trembling.
Smoothing my hair back from my flushed cheeks, he trailed his lips down to my chin and along the curve of my jaw. When he nipped lightly at my earlobe, I gasped, overwhelmed by a desire so strong and pure it knocked the air from my lungs.
On its heels came a shock of fear. As his mouth grazed the pulse beating wildly at the base of my throat, I tensed and Theo drew back immediately.
“Hey. Still with me?” He kept his voice low and soothing, his eyes focused intently on my face.
I fought to steady myself. “I—yes. I’m with you.”
“Are you sure?” he asked softly. “You looked scared for a second there.”
“How much I want you, that scares me,” I admitted, dropping my eyes to the collar of his shirt. “I haven’t wanted anything or anyone with this kind of intensity in a long time. Or ever, maybe. It’s kind of terrifying.”
Now it was Theo who sucked in a breath, but then his face blossomed into a smile that threatened to flatten me. “I see. We’ll take it slow, Esther, as slow as we need to. No expectations, no pressure.”
“I’ve never done anything like this,” I warned him.
His lips coasted over my temple, warm breath tickling my skin. “Are you trying to scare me away from you? Because it won’t work.”
“We’ve already established how unscary you think I am.”
A soft chuckle vibrated against my ear. “You’re thinking too hard about this. Why don’t you just let me kiss you some more, and we’ll see where things go from there?”
There was no need for me to reply with words, because his mouth settled against mine again and I was lost. Fear, trepidation, self-doubt—they all dissipated like mist.
After some indeterminate amount of time, he wrapped his arms around my body and rotated us so I ended up straddling his lap again, all without breaking the kiss. I huffed a laugh as I settled onto him, cradling the insistent bulge behind his zipper.
He dropped his forehead to my sternum. “You are so fucking soft, it’s unbelievable.”
“And you are not soft at all,” I teased, drawing a groan from deep in his chest as I rocked my hips against him.
His lips returned to mine like he couldn’t bear to be apart for more than a moment. No matter how eager his body felt beneath mine, he stuck to those slow, tantalizing kisses that made me feel drunk on sensation.
When his fingers teased under the hem of my sweater, dancing across bare skin, I wriggled closer, pressing my breasts to his chest. He splayed one hand across my lower back and let the other rise to tangle in the dark curtain of my hair as I clung to his shoulders like I might float away if I let go.
I felt his tongue dart out to explore my collarbone and sighed at the pleasure of being worshipped like this. His voice rumbled through me when he spoke, lifting goosebumps along my arms.
