CHAPTER 22 (2)

Finally—finally!—she could touch him, run the flat of her hands over his warm, tanned skin, his corded arms, his broad shoulder

muscles. At long last, she could lean in and brush her lips over his chest. Kiss the hot flesh over his beating heart.

The more she touched, the more she tasted, the more she wanted. And her hands no longer shook as she undid the top button of his

slacks, then slid the zipper down.

“I want to touch you.” She licked her lips, watched as his eyes moved to her mouth, his gaze hungry. “I need to touch you.”

“What are you waiting for?”

He was right. She was done waiting.

They both were.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself flush to him. Skin to skin, chest to chest, heart to heart.

She tilted her head back so she could see his face. So he could see the flush of desire on hers. “Love me, Ares. I don’t want to wait

any longer.”

Her words galvanized him. After tossing the covers back, he picked her up and almost tossed her onto the bed, climbing up over her.

Then he slowed everything down, trailing his hands up her stomach, making her quiver. “So much pretty lace.” He edged her bra

with his finger, dipping inside to caress her nipple. Dragging the lace down a centimeter at a time, he leaned in to take her aroused

flesh between his lips.

His mouth. God, it was good. So good. Better than anything else had ever felt.

She arched against him, holding his hips down to her, rubbing herself against him as he tasted her.

He snapped the front clasp of her bra and pushed the cups aside. “You’re so soft, so perfect.” He traced his tongue between the two

peaks, and she cried out, sensation streaking down to her center, out to her limbs, making her fingers and toes tingle.

He slid the straps down her arms and pulled the bra from beneath her, tossing it away. Then he brushed down her belly again, until he

reached the lace panties. With the tip of one finger, he traced the line of her sex. She shivered, moaned, as he leaned into her, sucking

on her throat, licking her.

Then he slid inside the panties and found her center.

“Jesus. You’re so wet, so ready for me.” He kissed her hard, stroking again, just barely touching her overheated skin as she shook

with need. “I need to be inside you.” His fingers delved deep, and she gasped.

“Yes.” She was almost incoherent as she pressed hard into his hand. She had just enough brainpower left to tug his boxers down.

With her feet, she kicked them off his legs. And then she did what she’d long dreamed of, curling her fingers into a fist around him

and stroking.

“Sweetheart, you’re killing me.”

“Then take me, Ares. Now.”

“I need to taste you first.” He hauled her up the bed until her head was on the pillow and kissed her lips, tasting deep. “Every inch of

you.” He trailed his tongue around the shell of her ear, and she dug her fingers into his arms. “I can’t get enough of you.” He kissed

down her throat, her chest, lavishing her with tongue and mouth, teasing her breasts.

She writhed beneath him. “Ares, please.”

She was begging him for all of it—his mouth between her legs, his body inside her, his heart open to hers. She’d dreamed of him for

too long, watched him for too many years, knowing he would never be hers, never touch her, never kiss her. Yet he’d owned her soul

almost from the moment she’d seen him.

And now they were here. Together. Loving each other.

At last.

But he didn’t rush as he layered kisses down her stomach. And he was right, the extra little bit of anticipation only made it better.

Hotter.

She rubbed her hands up and down his arms, over his back, ran her fingers through his hair, growing desperate as he reached for her

panties and slowly stripped them down her thighs. She was going to burst, was going to explode if she had to wait one more sec—

He swiped over her with his tongue, and she nearly came off the bed, almost shattered into a million little pieces with just that one

small wet lick over her most sensitive flesh.

“More,” she whispered, the word close to a sob.

He twirled around her with his tongue, excited all her cells into wild, crazy motion. Suckling and licking and tantalizing and turning

her into a mindless creature that couldn’t think, only feel. And beg.

“Please, Ares. Please.”

Her hips moved beneath him, pushing him. She climbed higher, reaching for the fire in the sky. He clamped his hands on her hips

and held her tighter, so close that she couldn’t feel any space between them.

Then he slid his fingers inside, and she lost conscious thought, lost everything but the ability to scream, losing herself completely to

him.

The same way she had so very long ago, from nothing more than his smile.

* * *

Ares had never known lovemaking could be like this.

There was so much joy in touching Kelsey, so much wonder in kissing her, so much beauty in tasting her. He loved her voice, loved

her abandon, loved that she seemed to crave the things he did to her.

He’d needed her for so long and never known it.

No, that wasn’t true. He’d just never wanted to admit it. He’d been able to admit only that he enjoyed being with her, talking to her,

listening to her, exploring her mind, sharing books and laughter with her.

He’d never let himself question why she brought him so much happiness, because questioning would have destroyed the life he’d so

carefully built.

Only to have it implode anyway.

Tonight he was asking only for a few precious hours of joy. A few stolen moments with a woman who had never hurt him, could

never hurt him. All he wanted was the chance to hear Kelsey’s cries of ecstasy…and to forget everything but her, for one perfect

night.

“Show me,” he whispered. Her reaction to his caresses had been an epiphany. “Show me how to do that. How to let go of everything

and just feel.”

“You already know how.” She took his arms in her hands, drew him up until he hovered over her.

He looked into her eyes and realized she was right. “I do.”

But only with her.

Everything he was, everything he ever wanted, everything he ever needed, came down her. To this moment when he moved inside

her. To the heat of her slick skin around him. To the breathless press of his body deep into hers. To the heady sound of her gasps, her

moans, her long, low sigh, as if she was finally exactly where she was meant to be.

Ares closed his eyes to feel her fully, shifting so that he grazed the spot inside that made her shiver and quake. Then her muscles

contracted around him in pure heaven, and he had to see her again. Had to look into her eyes as her pupils dilated and his name fell

from her lips.

His body ached for faster, harder. But he wanted to hear her scream again, to know he could make her as happy as she’d always

made him.

She panted as he thrust deep, dug her fingers into his arms, rolled with his body. The muscles of his arms quivered and strained as he

held them straight to drive slowly, deeply again, to caress her inside and out.

She pulled her legs up to his waist and threw her head back. “Ares,” she cried out, her body spasming around him, her nails scoring

the skin on his arms.

Her pleasure broke him apart, stole the last of his self-control as her climax exploded around them both.

He saw stars. He felt bliss. He reached heaven.

All because she took him there with her.