Page 78 of Feels Like Love
He bent forward, taking my lips in a tender kiss that was even more reassuring than his words. His mouth made love to mine, like I wanted him to make love to my body. Perhaps sensing my impatience, he kissed his way down the valley of my breasts. Down my stomach until he was kneeling before me, his head level with my belly button. His breath was warm on my skin, and I could feel the jagged in and out of it, even still as he was.
When he met my eyes, his were questioning.
“Don’t stop now,” I whispered.
He’d barely touched me, and already I was so much closer to release than I’d ever been. He kissed my hips, lowering my shorts before casting them aside. His movements were shaky.Is he nervous?I pushed away the thought. There was no way a man like Bennett was nervous. Especially knowing this wasn’t real.
That’s right, I reminded myself.This isn’t real. Better enjoy it while it lasts.
“What’s that look?” he asked, mouth poised above my sex. “Are you nervous?”
I nodded. “A little.”
“Do you trust me?”
More than anyone.“Yes.”
“Then trust me to make you feel good.” He nuzzled me through the material of my panties, and I wanted to cover my face. But I couldn’t stop watching him. Watching the way he seemed so into it. Was that how I’d looked when I’d been sucking him off? Intense. Sexy. Possessed.
He teased me through the fabric, my pleasure rising, building with every brush. Every pass. I arched my hips toward him, unable to hold back. It felt amazing. Way better than anything I’d ever experienced.
He peeled off my underwear, and then I was bare to him. Completely naked before my brother’s best friend. A man who was more like a god. His blond hair glinted in the low light, and I wanted to close my legs, but he spread my thighs apart and looked at me. Really looked at me.
And then he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “Fuck, Wren.”
If he noticed my scar, he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he resumed his position between my legs. Everything was so much more intense without that fabric between us. His breath on my most sensitive place. His tongue. Oh god, his tongue. He licked lazy circles then shorter flicks as if he couldn’t make up his mind. As if I were an ice cream he wanted to devour while simultaneously prolonging the experience. I understood—it was exactly how I felt.
I gripped the sheets, twisting them between my hands. “That feels…” I gulped. “So, so good.Sofreaking good.” After that, my words became unintelligible as I unraveled. Spiraling out of control, muscles clenching around air, body convulsing from the intense waves of pleasure.
But he kept working me, pushing my body higher until I cried out again. Everything was blurry, hazy, magical, like an image with the perfect rainbow kaleidoscope of bokeh. And as my body floated back down to earth like dust motes in a barn, Bennett pulled me into his arms. He caught me, kissed me, letting me taste myself on his tongue.
I closed my eyes, enjoying his closeness as much as anything else we’d done. It was so nice to be held. To feel his warm chest against mine. His body cradling mine.
After a while, I said, “So…you may have noticed my scars.”
He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. “The only thing I saw was you.”
I tugged at the corner of my eye, feeling more accepted and beautiful than I had maybe ever. And even though I never talked about this, I wanted to tell him. I felt compelled to for some reason.
“When River was born, I had a lot of complications. I ended up having an emergency C-section and contracted sepsis caused by a staph infection.”
He swallowed, hand stilling. “What?”
I nodded. Even now, it was still difficult to think back on that time. “I almost died. River almost…” I couldn’t say it. I swallowed back the emotions. “Anyway, I was very, very sick, and it took me a long time to recover.”
He cupped my cheeks. “You are so strong, Wren. So brave.”
I smiled sadly. There was more.
“We made it through that, but then when River was about two, I started getting tired all the time. Achy. I had some other symptoms I won’t go into. It took going to a few doctors, but they finally determined that I had a perianal abscess and drained it.”
He sucked air through his teeth and continued tracing his fingers up and down my arm, over my back. “I bet that hurt.”
I nodded. Oh boy, had it. Even to this day, I could still remember the appointment. To numb the area, it had felt like a bajillion tiny beestings on my ass. And that was just the beginning…
“Did it work? Or did it turn out to be a fistula? I’ve treated a German shepherd with one, though surgery is usually the last resort.”
I nodded, relieved that he understood the gist of the condition without my having to explain. The golf-ball–sized lump had been a bad enough omen, but then things had gotten worse.
