“You look beautiful.”
Cormac lounges back in bed with the sheets pooled around his naked hips. His bare chest rises slowly as he breathes, and one arm rests tucked behind his head. Dark eyes follow me about the room as I apply some cream to my hands, and his words make me pause near the window.
“Really?” I tilt my hips to the side and look down at the silken nightgown. “In this?”
“It’s not the clothing that makes you beautiful,” Cormac says. “It’s you. Your presence. Your smile. Your warmth.”
“Are you trying to lure me into bed with sweet talk, Mister?”
“Maybe.” Cormac smirks softly. “It’s always good to rest before a long flight. It keeps the body relaxed.”
“What time do we fly out tomorrow?”
“Six a.m.”
“Gross.”
“Agreed.”
“Won’t we get into trouble?”
Cormac’s brows pull softly together. “For?”
“I don’t have a passport, remember? Isn’t it illegal for me to leave here and fly to Ireland?”
Cormac laughs deeply, tilting his head back and looking more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him. “You know who I am. The life I lead. Everything you’ve seen, and flying without a passport is where you worry about the law?”
“Don’t make fun! I don’t know how serious these things are!”
“I’m sorry.” He chuckles. “Trust me. It will not be an issue.”
“You’ll protect me?”
“Always. Now come to bed.”
I linger near the glass doors leading to the small balcony attached to Cormac’s bedroom. The city twinkles below us like a thousand scattered stars, but something about it all feels different.
“What’s wrong?” Cormac asks when I don’t move.
“Don’t you think the city looks different?”
“Different how?”
“I don’t know. Just… different. Maybe it’s me. I feel different.”
“You’ve been through a lot. More than anyone should go through.”
“Isn’t it common in your world, though?” I glance back up at him. “Danger?”
“Yes. But what you’ve witnessed and experienced in just a month is intense for anyone.”
Casting one last look at the city, I turn toward the bed and finally slide on it and into Cormac’s waiting open arms. “Can you teach me to be like you?”
“Like me?” Cormac winds both thick arms around me, cuddling me close and nuzzling into my hairline.
“Yeah. I want to know how to shoot a gun. And how to fight.”
Cormac pulls back slightly and angles himself so we’re face to face. “Why?”
“I… when I was with Noah, all I felt was powerless. There was nothing I could do against him.”
“You weren’t the only one,” Cormac assures me softly.
“I know, but I couldn’t try. I don’t want to feel like that again. I want to be able to defend myself for me. I want to feel stronger than I was in that moment.” His body radiates heat, and there’s slight concern hidden in his eyes, but to my relief, Cormac nods.
“Of course,” he says. “I understand. Although I am the only protection you need.”
“Oh, really?” My lips pull into a warm smile and I reach up to caress his cheek. “And just how do you plan to do that?”
“Easily.” His voice drops to a low whisper and he tilts his head down.
The moment his lips press against mine, a deep pull of relaxation moves through my body. I melt back into his hold and kiss him back just as deeply while stroking his cheekbone and the coarser hairs of his well-kept beard. One of Cormac’s hands skims down my body, following the seam of my nightdress to where the lace hem sits loose against my thigh. In the same movement, his hand slips underneath the material and presses firmly between my legs. He cups my heat and uses that grip to pull my hips back against him as I gasp softly into his mouth.
“And who will protect me from you?” I whisper, staring deep into his eyes when the kiss breaks.
The tips of our noses brush together as Cormac tilts his head, and he holds my gaze as two thick fingers press between my folds, lightly caressing my vulva as he replies, “The other me.”
“The other you?” I ask, tilting my head up while a soft moan bubbles at the base of my throat. Warm curls of pleasure sweep through my belly and settle south in my core as my pelvic muscles pull up at Cormac’s next teasing stroke of his fingers.
“Exactly,” he whispers huskily. “You get every version of me.” He kisses me softly. “You get the soft me who’s so in love with you that I want to be inside you all the time so you never stop feeling me.” He kisses me again, increasing the pressure of his fingers over my clit. “You get the desperate me who constantly calculates how to give you the best life you deserve.” Another kiss as each backward stroke of his fingers teases one digit around my entrance. “You get the tough me who will fight and do everything he can to protect you and your future.” Another kiss, and as his finger enters me, his thumb grazes over my clit at just the right angle. Stars explode across my eyes, but I’m hooked under his gaze and can’t look away.
“And you get the scared me who just wants to make everyone proud and make sure no one gets let down.” He kisses me again, and this one lingers as he slides knuckle deep into my pussy. “You get all of me, Evie.”
It might—no, it is. This is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me. My heart swells in my chest like I’ve taken in too much air, and warmth prickles behind my eyes. It’s not upset that rises in me but an overwhelming surge of love at how this man has changed my life. I’ve done things I never thought I was capable of, and he was the ignition.
Even if our meeting was highly unconventional.
“Wow,” I gasp, panting softly as one finger inside me becomes two. My hips rock back and forth in time to the thrusting of his fingers while his thumb keeps up an insistent pattern across my clit. “You really know how to get a girl going.”
“That I do.” He kisses me harder this time, and as my lips part to moan louder, his tongue snakes into my mouth and he devours my sounds. My pulse races and heat bursts across my skin like fireworks, making contact with Cormac’s bare chest all the more exhilarating. He thrusts his fingers deep and my body opens up to him. I’m soaked before long, and my dampness coats Cormac’s palm and fingers as he works. Distantly, I feel the tell-tale rise of arousal at my ass, but Cormac is so focused on me that I don’t think about it yet.
Soon, my need to pant and moan overwhelms my desire for a kiss and my head falls back against his shoulder. A string of moans dances past my lips and I writhe in his arms, closing my thighs around his wrist as he draws me closer and closer to orgasm. His other arm, curled underneath me, fondles my breasts until my nipples are stiff and aching. Each rock of pleasure is amplified by his lips and tongue kissing and weaving silent words of love against my throat and jaw.
Every muscle of my core pulls tight and I arch into his hold, my breath catching in my throat. For a few hot seconds, I’m merely pressed against him on the cusp of orgasm while he continues to pleasure me. Then I come, and it hits like a punch through my body. I’d curl in on myself if not for his arms around me. Every wave causes me to shiver and twitch. My toes curl and my eyes screw up so hard, I see sparkling colors.
I can feel Cormac smiling against my throat, and it makes it all the sweeter. When the pulses of pleasure begin to fade, I slump down in his arms and pant. “Wow.” Cupping his cheek, I guide him in for a kiss and he leads it by sliding his tongue briefly into my mouth and pulling me even closer.
“Wow indeed,” he murmurs, staying so close that his lips write those words against my cheek.
“We should plan long flights more often.”
“Easily,” Cormac replies. “Although I don’t need an excuse to play with you.”
“Mmmhmm.” I kiss him again and then remember the arch of his arousal pressing into the crease of my ass. “My turn.”
“Hmm?”
Sliding from his grasp, I miss the warmth of his chest immediately, but I want to feel his cock inside me, and knowing how hard he is just arouses me further. I push at his shoulder, and Cormac slowly rolls onto his back as I climb on top of him, mindful of the lingering injuries we both share from the car crash and more. Externally, we’re looking good, but I’m hyperaware of Cormac’s surgery scar. Just as he was of mine.
“Evie, you don’t—”
“Do you want me to beg?” I ask, situating myself on his thighs. “Should I detail how horny I am or how much I want to feel your cock inside me reaching deeper than your fingers ever can?”
The rise in his pants gives a very visible twitch at my words, and I smirk up at Cormac, who merely rolls his eyes. “Nothing gets past you.”
“It’s true.” Crawling over him, I kiss him on the mouth and then pepper an array of gentle kisses over his broad torso. By the time I reach his abdomen, my pussy already aches at the thought of his being inside me and I can’t wait any longer. The blankets fall away, and I pull down the hem of his silken pants to expose his long, thick cock to my hungry gaze.
Cormac moves only once to grab some lube from the bedside table and pass it to me. The sound he makes when I wrap my slicked hand around his cock is a sweet sound that I never want to forget. His abdominal muscles shift and contract as I stroke him from base to tip, slicking up his cock as needed.
“Ready?”
“I’d wait forever for you, but holy fuck, I’m ready.”
Bliss comes in the form of Cormac’s cock stretching me wide and filling me in just the right way. Using gravity and my body weight, I slowly sink down onto his cock with a long, slow moan, and my mind goes blank. His hands lightly rest on my hips with his thumbs caressing in slow circles. Each inch drives me to new heights as he reaches every hidden bundle of nerves inside me, and a warm shiver of delight curls down my spine.
I’m lost to him. Setting up a slow rhythm, I rise and fall over his cock with liquid movements. There’s no rush. There’s just him and me, soaking up the moment. Each rise leaves me hungry for him to be fully inside me once more, and each rock down leaves me eager to feel the pull of his cock. I brace my hands lightly on his lower abdomen as I move, but soon, they’re on my own body as I caress my abdomen, fondle my breasts, and then pull the nightdress over my head. The fabric was suddenly too smothering for my skin.
I hear Cormac’s moans of approval and he caresses my waist and back. His hips occasionally rise to meet mine, trusting that bit deeper, but it remains with me in control, and I’m in heaven. The slow curl of pleasure warms inside me just below my navel, and a sheen of sweat breaks out across my oversensitive skin. Each touch from Cormac is like a flash of electricity skimming over my limbs. Needy moans spill unhindered past my parted lips until suddenly, Cormac sits up and winds his arms around me.
It’s harder to rise in his lap now as our lips gently collide so instead, we’re rocking together, allowing me to get delicious pressure against my clit. My arms circle his shoulders with one hand sliding into his thick hair. He holds me close, tight enough to make me feel utterly protected, and my heart soars.
We orgasm together, rocking slowly and reaching heights I never knew were possible. Every single part of me feels alive with light and sensation, and my orgasm lasts so long. My core ripples, clenching around his cock and milking him for everything he’s worth. We kiss so deeply that I can’t remember the last time I took a breath, and my body burns so hot that I can’t tell where I end and he begins.
It’s pure ecstasy.
“I love you,” Cormac whispers against me, and the power of those words makes me melt.
“I love you too.”
