“You shouldn’t ask me for this, Princess. It’s getting too hard to keep control. I’m going to snap and do everything you ask—and some things you haven’t thought of—if you aren’t careful.”
Her dark eyes searched his. “That’s what I keep hoping, Cash. I want it to be you. Not because I love you, but because I know you’ll do it right.”
No virgins, his brain said. Why not? his heart asked.
Ella wasn’t like other women. She was logical and levelheaded. She wasn’t going to get tangled up over him. And he wasn’t going to get tangled up over her. They were married, but it was an arrangement. They both knew it. And if she left the arrangement with a little knowledge about how to please a man, how bad would that be?
Besides, what if he didn’t touch her and she chose a guy later who thought she was more experienced than she was simply because she’d watched porn? What if she didn’t tell the truth and that guy hurt her when he took her virginity? Ella didn’t deserve an awful experience. She deserved to be initiated with skill and patience, brought to orgasm again and again before she took that ultimate step.
He had the control for it. The patience. He could make it good for her. When she moved on to someone else, she’d know what to expect. What to demand.
Maybe he’d been thinking about this all wrong. Maybe he owed it to her to make sure she had a good experience.
Yes, that’s right. He was a fucking philanthropist. Santa Claus, but with sex instead of presents.
He dropped his lips to her neck, ghosted along her skin until he reached her ear. She shuddered beneath him, her fingers curling into him again. Her breath hitched and a growl of possession rolled through him.
“I give up, Ella. You win.”
* * *
She won?
Ella blinked, confused for a moment—but then his mouth took hers in a hungry kiss and her body melted into the tile beneath her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, lifted her head, and opened her mouth so that his tongue could plunge inside and dance with hers.
It was the kind of kiss that changed a person. A shattering kiss. A soul-grabbing kiss that stole her breath and her sense and turned her into a creature of sensation rather than reason.
“Bed,” he muttered as he dragged his mouth away. “Not on the floor like animals.”
“I don’t care,” she gasped, hugging him tight when he tried to rise. And she didn’t. She simply didn’t want this to end, which she feared it would when he got a little distance between them.
She didn’t know what had happened to make Cash change his mind, but whatever it was, she didn’t want him to change it back again. Or maybe she did, because suddenly she was scared. Just a little bit.
She knew there would be pain when he took her, but she hadn’t thought it would happen. He’d been so adamant, and she’d gotten accustomed to the idea that she couldn’t persuade him. It had perhaps made her bolder than she would have been otherwise.
“Bed,” he said again, untangling her arms from around his neck and climbing to his feet. He pulled her up with him, tugging her against his body. His hands on her hips dragged her in close, let her feel what was waiting for her beneath his clothes.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Princess,” he murmured, cupping her face, his thumbs stroking her cheeks. “I can stop whenever you ask me to.”
She put her hands on his wrists, held them lightly. “Why did you change your mind?”
“Because I’m selfish, Ella. Because I’m aroused and aching and if I don’t do something about it, my balls are going to turn blue. But more than that, I know I can make this good for you. I’m not sure the next guy can, and I don’t want that to happen. You believe I’ll do it right, and I will. You still want me to?”
Ella sucked in a breath. There was only one answer, no matter how hard her heart beat or how hot her skin got. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. But yes, I want you to be the one. I trust you.”
He bent and hooked an arm behind her knees. She squeaked as he swept her up and against him. Then he carried her toward the bed and laid her down on it. He unholstered his weapon and set it on the night table before he followed her down, one knee beside her hip, his body dominating hers as he pressed her down into the mattress.
“Cash,” she breathed as he stretched out on top of her. His palms were beside her head, holding his body up, keeping him from crushing her. His mouth lowered to hers by slow degrees. Too slow, because she lifted her head to close the distance, sighing when their mouths met.
His tongue stroked into her mouth, tangled with hers, left her feeling weak and hot and achy. Her body responded to his kisses with a surge of wetness and an ache deep inside that she’d never quite felt before.
His fingers went to the knot at her waist where she’d tied the shirt, and her heart skipped. He undid the knot quickly, tugging it open, and then he unbuttoned her shirt with one hand, his mouth never leaving hers. He’d shifted to the side, his weight pressing into the mattress beside her, his body still partially on top of her but not suffocating her.
When her shirt was unbuttoned, he pushed it wide open, revealing her skin to the cool air circulating in the room. His mouth left hers then, trailed down her neck to her collarbone and then farther down to the swells of her breasts. She threaded a hand through his hair and rubbed it between her fingers. She liked that she could touch him freely now.
He made a noise of approval—at least she thought it was approval, as his tongue continued to explore the swell of her breasts. When he dragged one cup down to expose her nipple, her heart throbbed with anticipation.
His eyes met hers over the dusty pink of her nipple. “Beautiful.”
She didn’t think her nipple could get any tighter, but she was wrong. It thrust up toward his mouth, demanding attention.
“No one has ever licked this pretty nipple, have they?”
“No.”
“Touched it?”
“Only me.”
“Show me, Princess.”
“Cash, I don’t think—”
“Show me, honey. I want to do it right for you.”
The heat of shame flared over her skin, but she did as he asked. She closed her thumb and forefinger around her nipple and pinched it softly. Sensation streaked from her nipple to her core. Ella bit her lip and tried not to moan. She wasn’t successful.
Cash’s eyes were heated as he watched. Instead of taking over, he dragged the cup from her other nipple.
“Keep touching yourself, Princess,” he said. And then he stuck out his tongue and licked the tip of her aching flesh.
Ella gasped. Liquid heat flowed between her thighs. Her pussy tightened as if he were touching that instead of her breast. Every lick of his tongue over her nipple made a corresponding ache happen down below.
She thought she might die of pleasure simply from his hot tongue licking around her tight flesh—but then he sucked the little bud into his mouth. Sweet pleasure spiked through her body at every tug and pull. And when he lightly nibbled her tight peak?
Heaven.
Chapter 20
It was too much. Too much pleasure, too much sensation. Ella cried out, her fingers curling in his hair. Both hands, because she’d stopped tweaking her own nipple a while ago now. She tugged harder than she should probably. But he didn’t stop. He licked and sucked until she squirmed beneath him, until she thought she would die from the pleasure.
When he lifted his head to look at her, he grinned, arching an eyebrow. “You like that, sweet Ella?”
Her heart hammered. Tiny beads of sweat popped up everywhere on her skin.
“Yes.” She was hoarse. Why?
“Are you scared?”
She shook her head.
“I think you are. But I promise you don’t have to be. We won’t do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I want to do everything.”
His eyes darkened. “Jesus, some of the things that come out of your mouth. What do you want,
Ella? Tell me.”
“I want…” She swallowed. “I want you to lick me. There. And I want to lick you.”
“That’s going to happen. Maybe not the licking me part, at least not this first time. But baby, I’m going to lick you until you scream.”
She thought of the video, of the man with his head between the woman’s legs—of the way she’d panted and cried out as he licked the very heart of her—and a shiver skated over her skin. She’d wanted that for so long. Desired it every time she read a new romance novel. Imagined it as she brought herself to orgasm with her fingers.
“I want that,” she said. “So much.”
Cash sat up and grinned. “Today is your lucky day, Princess.”
He undressed her with quick, efficient movements, though he left the bra with her breasts pushed up high and firm over the cups. He stripped off the shirt, skimmed the capri pants down her thighs, dragged her panties off and tossed them on the floor.
“You too,” she said as he started to lower himself onto her again.
“You want to do it?” he asked.
She nodded. He stayed on his knees, spread his arms wide, and she climbed upright and dragged his T-shirt up and over his head, taking care to run her palms up his abdomen and chest on the way.
His eyes were hot when his head emerged from the fabric. She lifted herself up and kissed him on impulse. It wasn’t a bad impulse, because he caught her to him and tangled his tongue with hers. His hot palm splayed over her back, pulled her bare skin against his bare skin.
It was heavenly. Her body felt like hot wax, pliable and formless.
But it didn’t last because he gently pushed her away. “Finish the job, Princess,” he said, dipping his chin toward his abdomen.
She followed his gaze; her belly flipped at the sight of all that muscle. The tattoo over his pectoral, the ridges and bumps of hard muscle. The trail of dark hair that went from his belly button to beneath his waistband.
Ella unbuckled his belt, then unbuttoned him with shaking fingers before sliding his zipper down. On impulse, she pressed her lips to his chest, licked his nipple the way he’d licked hers. He growled and tugged her down to the bed, kicking out of his pants before pressing his naked body to hers.
She opened her legs instinctively, cradling his big body between them. His hot, hard cock slid against the groove of her sex.
“Holy shit, you’re wet,” he groaned. “So damned wet.”
“Isn’t that good?” she asked, confused for a second.
“Yeah, it’s good. Damned good.”
He dipped his head to her other nipple, tugged hard, and Ella cried out. It was almost too much—except it wasn’t. It was just right. Cash teased her nipple into an aching peak before he started his slide down her body, tasting her with his hot mouth as he went.
When he reached her mound, he licked a trail along the top where the waistband of her panties usually lay. She grew light-headed, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he slid down and settled between her thighs.
“Such a pretty pussy,” he said, staring at her. She knew what it looked like down there. She’d studied herself with a mirror. Pretty was not the word she’d use, but the fact he did made her feel beautiful and confident.
“You want me to lick it?” he asked, and her belly flipped again. She had some world-class gymnastics going on inside there.
“Yes. Please.”
Cash slid his thumbs into her seam, pushed her open, and dropped his tongue into her heat and wetness.
Ella bowed up off the bed. “Cash! Oh—”
She couldn’t speak because he licked a trail from the bottom of her slit to the top where he curled his tongue around her clit and sent sparks exploding behind her eyes.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t believe what was happening to her or how amazing it felt. The videos had taught her a lot, but they hadn’t taught her how it felt. Novels did a pretty good job of making it sound wonderful—but this was so much better than she’d imagined.
Cash was relentless, spreading her open, licking and sucking her clit into his mouth and then dipping down to plunge his tongue into her body before climbing back up to her clit again. When he slipped a finger inside her, she whimpered.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.” It didn’t, but her hymen blocked the way before he’d gotten too far.
He got about half his finger into her, but the rest couldn’t get past the barrier. Still, he began to work his finger back and forth, stretching her a little bit as he did so.
The feeling was foreign and intrusive, but it was also overwhelmed by everything going on a little higher up. Cash pulled her sensitive flesh into his mouth, sucked hard enough to make her see stars.
It was good. So good. She grabbed fistfuls of the covers as he attacked relentlessly. Everything within her tightened unbearably. It was almost painful how much she needed release, how desperate she was to reach the apex. His finger still worked to stretch her, but the distraction of it paled as her orgasm slammed into her and stole her breath.
Ella’s body shook, her legs stiffened, and Cash’s name burst from her lips as she came. So many sensations flooded her at once. It wasn’t the same as when she came by herself. Not at all.
This was more intense, hotter, the plunge to the bottom sharper and sweeter by far.
She thought that would be the end of it, that he’d crawl up her body and press his dick inside her. That now was when she would feel the ripping and tearing of delicate tissues.
But that’s not what happened at all. Cash brought her to another orgasm with his mouth, made her hover on the edge longer, and then watched her plunge farther and faster than before.
Ella was spent, and yet somehow she remained restless and achy. In spite of two bone-melting climaxes, she needed more.
This time, Cash did move up her body, licking and kissing her naked skin along the way. When his mouth met hers, she was shocked at first. He tasted salty and a little sweet. It was her taste, and that somehow embarrassed and aroused her at the same time.
“You are fucking amazing, Princess,” he growled against her lips. “So beautiful and responsive.”
She didn’t know how to answer that. He kissed her again and then rolled away and stood. It took her a moment to find her voice.
“Where are you going?”
“Need a condom, Ella.”
He disappeared into the bathroom. A moment later he was back, ripping open a package and taking out a pale rubber disk. She watched him roll it on, thinking she’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life as Cash McQuaid—her husband—rolling a condom on with one hand while his eyes burned intently into her.
“You still want this?” he asked before putting a knee on the bed.
If she’d been in love with him, she would have loved him even more in that moment than she ever had before. “Yes, I want this. I want you.”
* * *
Hell, he’d given her every opportunity to put a stop to what was happening, but she hadn’t. Cash didn’t want her to either. Every time he asked, his heart stopped while he waited for her answer. Because, hot damn, he really wanted to get inside her. Now that he’d allowed himself to let it happen, he needed it to happen.
He let his gaze slide over her sweet body. His balls tightened in anticipation. Ella was lovely, though she had more angles than he liked. If she were naturally skinny, then fine. But she wasn’t. He was sure of it because of the way she said her aunt restricted her food intake.
He’d like to see her with a few more pounds, see how lush and beautiful she would be then.
Cash considered how best to make this first time happen. How to get past the initial pain of breaching her hymen and on to the good stuff. But he didn’t really know. She was his first virgin. All he knew was that he had to make her feel good. Make her wet.
He glided a finger along the seam of her body as he lowered himself beside her. She gasped and arched her back as he skimmed her clit. She was so wet.
So hot.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Princess. It’ll probably hurt at first. I don’t know how to change that. All I know is once you get through it, it does get better.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I know. I’ve read about it.”
“You scared?”
Her eyes went a little wide. “Yes,” she admitted in a soft voice.
“Me too.”
She blinked. “You? What are you scared of?”
He pinched her clit softly, gently. A soft breath escaped her.
“Hurting you, Ella. I don’t want to do that, but that’s how it works.”
“It’s okay, Cash. I’d rather it was you than…”
Her throat moved as she swallowed and a spike of anger pierced him. The thought of her lying beneath Sheikh Fahd, scared and alone, while he took her virginity against her will, made Cash’s chest ache. No woman deserved to be violated like that.
Cash slipped a finger inside her, as far as it would go. It wasn’t far, but he had immense patience. He wasn’t going to push her any faster than she wanted to go.
“I know, Princess. Still doesn’t make it any easier for me to do it.”
He dipped his mouth to hers and kissed her again. The tension in her body melted away, leaving her pliant and warm in his arms. He didn’t stop circling her clit, teasing it, until he felt the shudders of a fresh orgasm shake her. She dragged her mouth from his and cried out. While she was still shaking from the tremors, he rolled onto her body and positioned himself between her legs.
He didn’t have to ask her to spread them. She did it automatically. He pressed the head of his cock against her entrance. Her fingers curled into his biceps and he stilled.
“You can tell me to stop, Ella. I will.”
“I know. Please, Cash. Kiss me.”
He dropped his mouth to hers. And then he began the process of inching forward. Ella trembled beneath him, and it nearly killed him that she did. He wasn’t sure why he felt so protective toward her.
“Just do it, Cash,” she said as she gripped his arms hard. “Get it over with.”
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