She looked down at him, a lock of hair falling in front of her eyes, and she bit her bottom lip before she smiled.
My God, he thought, this woman has no idea how sexy she is.
“Why do you look so nervous?” she teased softly. “This isn’t your first time, is it?”
“You know we don’t have to—” But his words were cut off with a groan as she lowered her weight onto his lap, providing the most amazing pressure. He dug his fingers into her hips, hoping too late that he wasn’t hurting her.
She looked down at him again, her expression now sweetly serious. “I want to,” she whispered. “I’ve wanted to for so long. But we don’t have to tonight if you think it’s a bad idea. I just want to be close to you.”
He released his hold on her hips, running his hands up the sides of her body, and she sighed, closing her eyes and arching toward him.
His jaw flexed as he took her in. Did she really think he would turn her down? Did she think he would ever deny her anything?
“Andie, I’ll give you anything you want.”
She opened her eyes and looked down at him. “I’m gonna fall in love with you,” she whispered.
As soon as the words left her mouth, there was the tiniest flicker of alarm in her expression, as if she shouldn’t have disclosed that information.
He wanted to answer. He wanted to take the fear out of her eyes. He wanted to tell her that he’d long beat her to it, that he was pretty sure he fell in love with her that day on Tybee Island, that every experience he’d had with her since then had only reinforced it.
But everything about this moment felt so delicate, so surreal; he was terrified that he’d say the wrong thing and shatter it. He didn’t want to rant incessantly with simple words that didn’t hold a candle to what he was feeling.
Instead he slid his hand behind her neck and pulled her down to him, running the tip of his tongue along the swell of her lip before he parted them, kissing her with every ounce of emotion he could muster, pouring every unspoken word into the kiss, telling her without words how she had managed to revive everything inside him that was good, showing her that he wanted her to fall in love with him, because he was already there.
And when he felt her lips curve into a smile against his, he knew she understood.
She leaned into him then, pressing him back onto the bed, and from the second Chase laid down with Andie above him, he knew this was going to be different.
It felt like he existed within a vacuum. Every sense was amplified and intensely responsive—the way she was moving against him as she kissed him, the tiny sounds she was making, the taste of her lips, the scent of her hair as it fell in silken curtains around their faces, hiding them from the rest of the world.
He was extremely aware of every little thing, and it all fueled the fire that was building low in his stomach, growing with astonishing speed.
Sex for Chase had always been a means to an end; even when he truly cared for the woman he was with, it was about getting her off. But this time, with Andie, the end was the furthest thing from his mind. All his focus was on this moment, this second, right now.
Andie moved above him with confidence now, her pace slow and sensual but rooted in her increasing desire as she trailed her perfect kisses along the side of his neck, and he gripped her hips firmly, tilting his head back to give her better access.
Jesus Christ, how could it feel this good with four layers of clothes still between them?
Chase sat up then, cradling her as he twisted his body and laid her down on the mattress, positioning himself above her. He wanted to be in control. He wanted to savor every second with her.
He set the languid pace as he began to explore her, peeling away obtrusive articles of clothing one by one, and she followed him, deliberately drawing it out, the mounting suspense growing as tangible as their bodies beneath each other’s hands.
And once they were fully exposed to each other, once there was nothing but the feel of skin on skin, the beautiful warm silk of her body rubbing against his with every movement, only then did his hand come between them as he allowed himself to touch her, really touch her, for the first time.
They both moaned at the contact, and the heat in his belly instantly ignited into a raging fire, blazing through his veins as a new urgency beat in his blood. He felt her writhe against his hand ever so slightly, and that was all it took to disarm him.
It was a blur of skin and lips and hands after that, both of them frantic, almost desperate. Chase had never been so in tune to a woman before; he was clued in to every detail of her, the cues she gave him with her movements, with her sounds, when he’d done something right, and he followed each one, playing her body like his piano, figuring out the melody as he went.
His attention was perfectly divided between learning Andie’s body and feeling her hands exploring his own. Every touch of hers, every kiss, was goddamn perfect, and when she finally reached between them and took him in her hand, he thought he might cry.
Chase breathed raggedly against her mouth, feeling her feeling him, and his eyes rolled back slightly before they fluttered closed. His fantasies of this woman were pathetic shadows of what she was capable of.
He shifted above her, needing to be closer, and the new position caused their bodies to align in a way that made Andie gasp loudly, followed by a groan that nearly ended it for Chase.
“Chase…please,” she panted.
“I know,” he breathed against her mouth, shifting his weight again, and the movement brought his hips into the perfect nook of her thighs. Instinctively, she arched her body toward him, seeking him out.
He lifted his hips off her, pulling back slightly as he brought his hands to the side of her face.
“Can we just…I want to…” he said through his labored breathing, and Andie nodded gently.
“Slow,” she whispered, understanding what he wanted.
He nodded, brushing the hair away from her eyes, and he saw the need there, saw his own overwhelming desire mirrored in her expression.
“Slow,” he repeated softly, bringing his hands to her face, and with one final breath to steady himself, he gently brought his body back to hers.
He thought he would have to concentrate on pacing himself, on controlling himself, but when she arched toward him, breathing his name as she took him into her body, he knew there was no way he would ever want to rush this.
He was instantly and completely overcome by her, and he welcomed it, letting the woman beneath him consume his very existence.
Her breath. Her sounds. Her body hugging him perfectly. The incredible friction. His name falling from her lips. Her hands on him, pulling him closer. The scent of her on his sheets. On his skin. Her hair fanned over his pillow. The rolling of her hips. The heat. The slow, building ache. Smooth. Slick. Soft.
Perfect.
Every other sexual experience he’d had before this seemed like a fraud, like he’d been settling his whole life without knowing it; he thought he had understood, he thought he’d known what it meant to experience a woman, but Chase realized then that he had no idea what intimacy felt like until this moment.
It wasn’t long before he felt her thighs tighten around his hips, and he lifted his head from her shoulder, knowing what her body was telling him.
“Oh God, Chase,” she whispered softly as her head fell back.
He brought his hands to the mattress and lifted himself up, wanting to take in every second of what he knew was about to happen, and the shift in his position was all it took to push her over the edge.
Chase could feel it begin as the first cry left her mouth, and all the breath left his body in a soft rush as he watched her, her hand gripping the pillow beside her head as the other clutched at his back, her body arching up as the most beautiful sounds fell from her parted lips, swirling through him and in him and around him so that it took everything he had just to keep moving above her.