Eternal Heat Page 15

  But he doesn’t stop. He slides two fingers into me and I grab his hair, pushing him against me. He massages my breast and I gasp for breath. My legs start to tremble. My chest flushes hot. He thrusts his fingers in and out of me, sucking on my bud and then working his tongue over it in circles.

  Oh my god. I can barely breathe. As I climb to a hard peak, my body tightens and strains for release. I gasp again, then moan. It feels like my whole body is ready to burst. He curls his fingers slightly, hitting my G-spot, and I convulse, exploding into an orgasm. I cry out, the blood rushing in my ears, as he massages me and keeps me coming.

  I fall back, arching my neck as waves of pleasure crash over me. My eyes flutter open and shut, giving me brief glimpses of the ceiling and the underside of the piano. I’m clutching at the piano leg, half gasping, half crying out. Just as I start to come down, he gives me one, long, shuddering suck on my clit and pulls his fingers out.

  I exhale sharply, looking at him. “Little devil,” I breathe.

  I’m positively aching for him now. I can see by the glint in his eyes, he did not forget that little trick.

  He pulls his pants down to his thighs and his bulging cock springs loose. I did not forget this man’s length or girth, and am torn between wanting to take him into my mouth and wanting to take him, period. Before I can reach for him though, he rolls slightly away so he can kick his pants all the way off.

  I slide off my soaked panties. He comes back to me and I hook my arms around his neck. Like he’s got some sort of built-in homing device, his tip is at my throbbing entrance.

  He pulls back sharply, moving away from me.

  I make a sound of protest.

  “Sorry,” he says, breathing hard himself, “you’ll have to wait while I take care of things.”

  He starts to get up but my arms and legs tighten around him, keeping him in place. “Honey, I’ve been on the pill for years.”

  He blinks. “Right.” He pauses for a moment, giving me a heavy look of understanding.

  “Don’t think. Just kiss me.” He does, and drops his full weight on me. His full shaft slides in and we exhale deeply together, tucking our heads toward each other.

  My whole body tingles with satisfaction at having Erik once again. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispers again.

  But I can’t answer, my brain momentarily paralyzed by pleasure as he pulls out, then slowly rocks into me deeper. “Yes,” I say softly, my hands gripping his shoulders. He slowly pulls out and slides deeply into me again. God, what sweetness.

  As I tuck my nose into the crook of his neck, his arms tighten around me and his hand cradles the back of my head. As our movements pick up speed, the hot breath of our rhythmic pants mingles together. Still cradling me, Erik steadily increases the pace and power of our lovemaking until it rises like a crescendo. We rock together as if we were one. I’m like a taut string, vibrating with the slightest touch.

  I’m climbing closer and closer to the edge. The muscles in his back grow tighter as he climbs too. He wedges one hand under my ass, angling me slightly. The tip of his shaft starts hitting me in that deep pocket of pleasure, over and over.

  I let out a long, low cry, sharp bursts of pleasure pushing me up and up and higher and—my breath catches—over into a heart-stopping climax. He thrusts into me deeply and groans as we come together. I throw my head back, riding the waves, clawing at his firm back.

  He thrusts into me rhythmically as my clit releases measure after measure of pleasure. When it’s over and I’m flushed cheek to chest, our embrace softens. We’re rocking ever so slowly now. He rubs his nose across my cheek. He kisses me and our tongues caress each other softly. Finally, we come to a stop, pressing firmly against the other, still fully joined.

  We stay that way for a moment, neither one willing to pull away from the other. At last we release together into a puddle of flesh and bone.

  Chapter 16

  I spent the night at Erik’s. It’s fast, and a little scary, but I can’t seem to step back. I don’t think I want to. We stayed in the rest of the day rediscovering each other, sometimes naked, sometimes not, and thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of not having to worry about getting caught by anyone. I’d probably be there still, except he has a standing appointment to have dinner at his mother’s house every Sunday. We both acknowledged that if things continue on with us—and there’s no doubt in either of our minds that we want just that—we’ll have to get our parents in the loop.

  It’s too soon for that though. When he dropped me off at my place, I texted Sam and Jack to see if they’d want to watch a movie tonight, then cleaned up and headed over.

  When I get to Sam’s apartment, she’s sitting on the couch with her legs crossed. The second I walk in the door she takes one look at me and says, “Oh my God, you slept with him.”

  I stop in my tracks. “What the hell? How did you know?”

  “I’ve literally never seen you smile like that.”

  My cheeks flush as I shut the door behind me, but it’s true. I can’t stop smiling. I go over and plop on the couch next to her, letting my head fall against the back.

  “Good Lord, you’re practically swooning.”

  “Shut up.” I grin.

  “All right.” She turns to me eagerly. “I want details.”

  So I tell her. I don’t give her the juicy details, but I tell her everything else. By the time I’m done, she smiling at me contentedly.

  “I love this,” she says.

  “You do?”

  She nods and I smile. “Me too.”

  “Have you told the girls yet?”

  I shake my head and pull out my phone. I’ve been keeping Chloe and Isabella apprised of things along the way, but I hadn’t had a chance to tell them the absolute latest. “What about Jack?” I ask as I’m typing. “He seemed pretty concerned last night.”

  “Eh.” Sam waves her hand. “He just has that male protectiveness thing going on right now. It’ll pass, don’t worry.”

  After I get Chloe and Isabella up to speed, I toss my phone on the couch cushion and sigh with satisfaction. Sam is still grinning at me.

  “God, you’re really lost to him, aren’t you?”

  “Not lost.” Sam has a funny way of talking about love sometimes.

  “Found then,” she says dramatically, batting her eyelashes.

  I laugh. “That’s better.”

  “Does this mean you’re bringing him on the couples trip to the resort? Because you’re way fucking overdue for getting laid on a couples trip.”

  “Hey!” I say, a little taken aback. Sam’s always taken it upon herself to be the little sex cupid of the group, but ever since she found out about what I went through in high school and the unhealthy way I’d tried to cope with it once I started college, she’s kept me out of her crosshairs.

  “Oh come on. I haven’t been able to harass you about sex for years. Fucking years.”

  “It’s been a trial for you, has it?” I raise my eyebrows.

  “Damn right. But now that you’re back to banging the guy who got you pregnant, all bets are off.”

  My mouth drops and she gives me a wicked grin.

  I can’t help it. I start laughing. How does Sam get away with this shit?

  “So this is what I want to know.” She leans forward, eyes glittering. “Is he hung?”

  “Yeah, I’m totally not answering that.”

  “Just show me with your hands. This big?” she asks indicating.

  I roll my eyes and make a pffft sound.

  “Bigger?” She gapes at me.

  I don’t answer. All I can do is try to suppress a smirk, and try not to get too wet thinking about Erik’s cock and all the things I did to it last night.

  “Oh my God, you struck gold, baby girl. Dick like that is worth waiting for, am I right?”

  I get up and head for the kitchen. “I liked it better when we had an understanding.” But I’m smiling. It makes me feel better to know Sam isn’t t
reating me with kid gloves any more.

  As I’m pilfering a few chocolate chips from the open bag in Sam’s freezer, Jack arrives with drinks and snacks, plopping the grocery bags on the kitchen island. She’s followed him in and has started peeking in each bag to see what he brought.

  “What are we watching?” Jack asks, taking three beers out of the case and stashing the rest in the fridge.

  “Empire Records,” Sam says. This is another movie we’ve watched so many times, we could practically recite the whole thing.

  She makes a face and lifts out a little package of Nutter Butters, just far enough for me to see, before dropping it back in the bag. No one likes them but me.

  “Mmm.” I pluck them from the grocery bag, still grinning like a lunatic. I can’t help it. “Thanks Jack.”

  Jack gives me a one-armed hug and plants a kiss on the top of my head. Rather than let me go though, he holds me close. “How’d your date go last night?”

  “Good.” I grin up at him.

  He’s wearing the same concerned big brother expression he had last evening.

  I squeeze him. “Really good. It’s okay, I promise.”

  He glances at Sam, who gives him a reassuring smile. He sighs and kisses me on the forehead before releasing me. “If you promise.”

  “I do.” Sam and Jack grab some snacks and we all grab a beer before heading into the living room. I plop my drink and snack on the floor and sit cross-legged in front of the DVD player so I can load up the movie.

  “Now Ashley has someone to bring on the couples trip,” Sam says, plopping in one corner of the couch and tucking her feet under her. Jack sinks down on the other side.

  “Sam,” I warn. “I haven’t even asked him yet.”

  She shrugs.

  I roll my eyes and look at Jack, who’s studying me carefully. “I haven’t even asked him yet,” I repeat lamely.

  He cocks his head at me. He looks at Sam and they have one of their weird, silent conversations I’ve seen them have before. He looks back at me and I give him an exaggerated, silly smile. He laughs and his expression softens.

  “See?” Sam nudges him with her foot. “She’s happy.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  “Well, I’m so glad you approve,” I say sarcastically, sticking out my tongue.

  He breaks out into his goofy Jack grin. “You should be. How could you ever go on if I didn’t?”

  I roll my eyes and return my attention to the player, putting in the disc.

  “So now everyone will have dates,” Sam says satisfied.

  I glance over at her. “Who are you bringing?”

  She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s, like, five whole weeks away.”

  Well, I guess that’s true. Sam and Jack both tend to rotate through partners more quickly than that.

  Although...

  Now I’m the one giving Jack an examining look. Come to think of it, instead of hearing Jack talk about a slew of girl companions, like he usually does, we’ve really only been hearing about Peggy for a while now.

  Seeing me, he gets a sheepish look on his face.

  “Who are you bringing, Jack?” I grin at him.

  “Peggy,” he answers shyly. God, how adorable.

  “If she’s still around,” Sam says easily.

  “Well, um, I hope she will be. We actually, uh, well last night we kind of... um...”

  Sam’s giving Jack a perplexed look, but I’m still grinning.

  “Dude,” Sam says. “Spit it out.”

  He leans back into the corner of the couch and throws his long arm over the back, trying to look casual. “Last night we decided to be exclusive.”

  Sam’s jaw drops. I have to work to suppress a laugh. I can see Jack needs encouragement, not teasing. “That’s great. This is a first for you, right?”

  “Damn near.” He gives Sam a nervous glance.

  She claps her hands to her chest in delight. “Our Jack is finally in love,” she teases.

  “God.” He shudders, “who the hell said I’m in love?”

  This time I do laugh. Oh, this is going to be fun, I have to admit.

  “Jack and Peggy sitting in a tree,” Sam teases. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  “Seriously?” He gives her a flat expression. “That’s the best you got?”

  “First comes love,” she continues, grinning. “Then comes marriage.”

  As I watch him react to two trigger words right in a row, I see Sam’s teasing had more teeth than it first appeared. His expression of exasperation causes us both to laugh.

  He rolls his eyes.

  “Oh leave him be.”

  Apparently satisfied, Sam relents and crawls over so she can give him a kiss on the cheek. “Ah, our little boy is growing up.”

  He groans as she leans against him, putting her head on his shoulder. “If you guys get married, do you promise to make me your best man?”

  He pinches her side, causing her to squeal and jump. “Hey, you brat!”

  “Fair’s fair,” he says, but she settles against him again.

  “So why didn’t you bring her over?” I ask.

  He raises his hands in protest. “Let’s don’t go nuts. Are we going to watch the movie or what?”

  Sam and I exchange amused looks, but we let it go. I push play and lay back on the floor, resting my hands on my stomach. As we get into the movie, my eyes are on the screen and I’m even tapping my foot to the music, so I suppose I’m technically watching.

  But truly, my mind and heart are far away with someone else.

  And I can’t wait until he gets home.

  The following week, Erik and I fall into a new pattern almost without talking about it. We chat in the Gizmo between classes. We practice at his place every afternoon and into the evening. We make love whenever the fancy strikes us, which is often, and I fall asleep in his arms every night. I’ve accumulated a fair amount of clothes and toiletries there already, and the spare toothbrush I bought gets more use than the one at my apartment.

  When Chloe asks, as part of a group text with the girls, if I’ve moved in with him, I reply: No. That’s a little too much too fast.

  What’s the difference between that and what you’re doing now? Isabella wants to know.

  “Commitment,” is what I think to myself. While I’m trying to articulate the difference, Sam answers for me: The difference is she can still run.

  So, basically the same thing. Not that I want to run from Erik, and I hope to God he isn’t planning on running from me, but I’m not ready to think much past today. Not yet.

  This weekend, Erik and I are enduring another separation, but this one is my doing. A few weeks ago, my parents bought me tickets to fly back to Boise so I could spend the weekend with them. It’s been a while since I’ve been home, so it’s nice to be here in our familiar kitchen. I think even the cat missed me, because she’s curled up on my lap, letting me pet her. Either that, or she’s getting too mellow in her old age to protest.

  The relaxed mood in the kitchen changed once I started telling them about seeing Erik on campus. I decided to tell them the story from the beginning, hoping it’d be easier to take if they could see how everything’s unfolded, but as soon as I get to the part about asking Erik to tell me his side of the story, my dad interrupts.

  “Wait,” he says, frowning. “Are you back together?”

  Boy, he put things together quickly. I really wasn’t at that point in the story yet, but my face betrays me.

  “After what he did to you?”

  “Robert,” my mom warns. She wasn’t exactly happy with Erik either, but she didn’t seem to hold a grudge the way Dad has. Or the way I did. Not that I fault either one of us.

  “Will you just listen?” I ask.

  He makes a gesture to indicate he will, even if he doesn’t want to. I rush to fill in the rest, eager for him to forgive Erik like I did once I knew what happened, and to stop looking at me like he thinks I’ve been taken by a sleazy con artist or so
mething. By the time I’m done, my dad is rubbing his forehead, looking pretty unhappy about how it’s all come back full circle.

  “Poor Erik.” My mom leans on the table on her elbows. “I feared it might have been something like that, but I sure wish we’d known at the time.”

  I think again about how hard it must have been for Erik to have his own family working against him when he was still so young.

  “Okay, that’s all well and good,” my dad says, looking at me firmly, “but do you really think it’s a smart idea to start things up again?”

  My defenses come up. Between my dad and Jack, this is getting ridiculous. I’m not a little girl who needs protecting. I’m twenty-three. I can make up my own mind. “Why wouldn’t it be?” I’m trying to keep my voice controlled.

  “Look, you guys aren’t kids anymore,” he says, in a tone that suggests we’re still acting like it. I furrow my brows in frustration. “You’re at an age where things have the potential to mean a lot more. For any relationship you’re in at this point in your life, you need to ask yourself what kind of future you have together.”

  “Robert,” my mom says, trying to soothe him.

  “No, really.” He refuses to be reined in. “It’s hard enough for concert pianists to have any sort of meaningful relationship because they’re on the road all the time.”

  I try not to roll my eyes at him. Why is he saying this as if I don’t already know? I’m the one who freaking told him what it’s like for people in my field.

  “What chances do you have if you’re both on the road? Not to mention all this history you have.”

  “We just barely got back together, Dad. Slow down.” I’m still not ready to think much into the future, and this isn’t helping. Things with Erik are amazing, but they’re also incredibly intense. I can’t ever seem to get enough of him and he seems to feel the same about me. Taking it a day at a time is all I can handle right now. “I wish you would just... be happy for me.”

  He sighs. “I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

  “Don’t worry,” I say a little petulantly, tired of having to defend my relationship with Erik. “I’m on the pill.”