by Sionna Fox
“God, I missed the way you taste.”
His voice was a low purr, whispering over my flesh. I wiggled my hips restlessly. Instead of telling me to settle down, he answered my unspoken prayer and put his mouth to me. His tongue traversed every centimeter, licking and sucking up all the wet heat he coaxed from me.
He pushed first one finger, then two, inside me to tease and torment from within while he worked his way up to my throbbing clit. Light flicks with the tip of his tongue teased all around before he gave way to flat strokes, adding sweet pressure. He sucked lightly, causing a string of curses and incoherent moans to erupt from my mouth. The hot breath of his laugh ghosted over my skin and had me begging for mercy.
“Please. Need to. For you. Please.”
He stopped long enough to laugh at my desperation and say the blessed words, “Come for me, Jolene.”
He nipped once at my clit and added a third finger to the steady push and pull of his fingers in my pussy. So close. So close. So close. He sucked my clitoris into his mouth, between his teeth, and I screamed in climax. Every muscle in my body tensed then released in a rush that spread from where his dark head was bent between my legs. He backed away slowly and nuzzled my thigh as he pulled his fingers free from my still-clenching sheath.
“Good girl.”
He nuzzled and kissed his way up my body, snaking over my belly and breasts with his nose and his lips, his teeth and his tongue. He planted small kisses along the whole length of my collarbone, up the column of my neck. Temporarily spent from the force of the orgasm he had wrung from me, I lay back and received his lavish attentions, let the arousal build again in rushes of heat and wetness. He nibbled up my throat, along my jaw, and to my lips. He kissed me, long and deep. I tasted myself still on his tongue, smelled me on his skin. I shivered and wrapped my legs around his hips.
He dropped to his elbows, pressing his chest to mine. “Please tell me you have condoms.”
I almost laughed. I nodded and pointed to the nightstand. The visible relief on his face and in the line of his shoulders made me giggle. Thank god I never got around to throwing them out in a fit of I’m never getting laid again self-pity. He reached over and took one from the drawer, ripped open the packet, and rolled it over his cock.
I bit my lip and watched, my body humming in anticipation. For all he’d said he couldn’t be gentle, he pushed into me slowly, both of us savoring every inch of contact, heat, and friction gained. He growled low in his throat as he bottomed out and pressed our bodies together, as close as two people could get.
“I missed you so fucking much.” He rested his forehead against mine and kissed me slowly.
I ignored his command to keep my arms above my head and wrapped them around his shoulders, punishment be damned. I clung to him then. I needed to feel his solid warmth touching every possible inch of my skin, to run my hands up and down his spine as he started to move in me.
Thrusts that were teasing, shallow, slow, and controlled gave way to a harder, deeper, faster pace. I tipped my hips to meet his as he drove into me with bruising force. He grabbed hold of me at the waist—hard enough that I knew there would be fingertip marks on my skin for days, souvenirs of our reunion, a mark of his promise not to hold back—and held me steady while he fucked me. The anger, frustration, and sadness of our parting, of my own fears and mistakes, poured out of me, replaced with renewed joy. I belonged here, with him.
He slipped a hand from my waist and found my clit with the pad of his thumb. “One more time, Jolene. Come for me again.”
His breathing was hectic and harsh, spiraling toward his release. He pressed down hard on the knot of my clitoris, wound tight and ready, and I came again in pulsing, clenching waves. Matthew thrust hard and fast and climaxed with a long, loud groan of satisfaction before his arms gave out and he toppled to my chest.
I held him there, with his head pillowed on my breasts. He slipped out of me and I felt his still-sheathed cock softening, warm and wet, against my thigh. We slowly came to and rose to clean ourselves up before we clambered back into bed.
We curled up, legs intertwined and my face burrowed into his neck. He idly stroked my back and my arms while I did the same to his chest. We couldn’t stop touching each other, as though if we did, the whole thing might turn out to be unreal. We slept in fits and starts, waking to kiss or cuddle or make love until my meager supply of condoms ran out.
My alarm going off was a cruel interruption to the perfect dream of having Matthew in my bed, naked and warm, holding me. I slammed the snooze button.
“Do you think Sarah will believe me if I call in sick?”
“No.” His breath tickled as he laughed against my skin. “You should do it anyway, though. I don’t want to let you out of my sight today.” He wrapped his arms tighter around me.
I hummed and snuggled in closer to him. A bright and shining bubble of happiness swelled in my chest.
“I love you, Jolene. I should have told you before. I should never have let you doubt it.”
I pressed my fingers to his lips. We couldn’t change the past. “I love you too, Matthew.”
Epilogue
“Close your eyes; I have a surprise for you.”
I dropped my eyelids and let Matthew guide me down the hall to his bedroom. He’d just finished feeding me a slice of birthday cake, and I was eager to find out what other treats might be in store for me.
“Open them.” We’d stopped in the doorway to his room. His hands rested on my shoulders while I wrapped my brain around what I was looking at. The lights were dim and his furniture had been rearranged to make room for a large black tripod.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“You always said you wanted to be suspended.”
Words failed me. I nodded dumbly and looked up at him.
“We don’t have to do this tonight, if you’re not ready.”
“When did you do this?” I was at his apartment enough that I would have noticed the arrival of a box large enough to hold a suspension frame.
“It was supposed to be your Christmas present.”
It had taken work, but we were figuring out how to be a couple and not just two people who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Sarah had told us both when we got back together that we had two weeks to wallow in the joy of reunion before she was going to show up and kick us out of bed. I didn’t force her to keep her word. My life was bigger and more full than when we had left off, and fitting him into it was an evolving puzzle. I built a sea wall of friends and work to keep from being swept away by my need for him.
I turned and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank you, sir.” I kissed his chest with a full heart. “Let’s do this.”
“Happy birthday, Jolene.” He kissed the top of my head and turned me back around to face the frame. “Take off your clothes.”
“On it.”
My giddiness subsided as each item of clothing hit the floor, and by the time Matthew blindfolded me and started tying, I was slipping.
Then he had me airborne, and I was floating, suspended in a dark space, like being underwater at night. All I could think, over and over, was how did I get here?
“Are you still with me?” His deep, warm voice bubbled up out of the darkness behind me.
I didn’t think I could speak or move, but I must have said or done something that satisfied him.
“Good girl. Wiggle your fingers for me? Your toes?”
My fingers and toes moved, but it was like they belonged to someone else. I giggled at the detached sensation. The ropes that held me aloft dug into my chest, my hips, my thighs, but their pressure only added to the sense of unreality. His large hand cupped my cheek and I leaned into the touch, causing me to sway gently in my bindings.
“There’s my sweet girl.” His hand smoothed over my cheek and I felt the barest tickle as he brushed an errant lock of hair behind my ear. “It’s time to come down now.”
I wanted to whine in protest, b
ut managed only a small whimper. Gently, he lowered me to the floor and unwound the knots and ropes that had cradled me, lightly stretching my limbs back into a more regular alignment. My knees and hips creaked, stiff from holding the unfamiliar posture he’d put me in. When he was done, he tucked me in a soft blanket and pulled me into his lap, my face burrowed into his neck. I inhaled the cedar and smoke scent of him as his long limbs wrapped around me to keep me pressed against the warm, solid center of his chest.
“You were so beautiful, Jolene,” he whispered, stroking my hair and bending to plant the softest kiss on top of my head. “I love you.”
I might never fully understand how I got here, why I needed the things I did, how I was bound to him, but I never, ever wanted to leave.
Also by Sionna Fox
Dark Rooms
“Etudes” in Symphony Amore
Wolf Summer, also available in the Mated Anthology
About Sionna
Sionna Fox is an author of sweet/hot HEAs, die-hard romance fan, and lover of things nerdy and twee. She drinks too much coffee, has a minor issue with washi tape and planner stickers, and tagging her in anything involving llamas, foxes, or women in suits is a surefire way to her heart. She lives in New Hampshire with her very patient husband and very put-upon dog.
You can find her procrastinating at
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Acknowledgments
This book has been a labor of love several years in the making, from terrible first draft to the version in your hands, and I’ve had a lot of help along the way.
My undying gratitude to my editor, Christa Desir, who made me snort-laugh with her editorial comments, and who helped me make this book so much better than the draft I originally handed to her.
To my friends, for talking me into taking this book out of the metaphorical trunk, holding my hand through the process, and sharing your collective knowledge over many trips to Margaritas. I am beyond lucky to have you all in my life.
To my family, for their support, even when you have to wonder what the heck you’ll tell the new addition about Auntie Sionna’s job.
And lastly, to my husband, for your love, friendship, and never-ending patience with me. I would not be here without you.
