Sliding Home

by Kathy Lyons

  I shifted my hands and pulled off her shirt and bra. I wasn’t sure she’d let me do it, but she did. And then I could finally put my mouth on those dusky peaks. I could swirl my tongue in a circle, then suck while she gasped and trembled in my hands.

  “I want you to say yes to me, Jake,” she said, her voice husky.

  Like I’d ever say anything else?

  “Will you lie back, Jake?” she asked.

  I didn’t even answer, but let her push me backward onto the bed. I sank in and yes, the pain in my ribs eased. But while I shifted, I pulled her over with me, enough that I could keep sucking on her nipples while she climbed onto all fours above me.

  It was awkward, especially as I began to nip with my teeth. This was something that required care, and with the way she was moving above me, I had to stop for a moment to let her settle. Except she didn’t do that. She looked down at me and said, “I expect you to lie as still as possible while I undress you. Agreed?”

  It was my job to say yes tonight. To whatever she wanted. So I smiled and said, “Of course.”

  She started with my T-shirt. She crouched lower over me, giving me a great view of her breasts as they swung tantalizingly before me, then she worked her hands under my shirt. Actually, it was pretty impressive the way she stripped me. Quickly, efficiently, and clearly part of her nurses’ training. My shirt came off with minimal adjustment on my part as she rolled me from side to side to maneuver it. Then she unbuttoned my jeans, and the zipper came down mostly on its own. That’s how hard I was. She smiled as she saw it, then pulled my pants down off my hips. I helped there, even though I wasn’t supposed to. I didn’t want her tugging things unexpectedly.

  And then I was naked and stretched out on my back.

  She frowned as she looked down at me, her expression serious, almost clinical, as she brushed her fingers across the dark, purplish bruise on my ribs.

  “I didn’t realize you’d hit the railing so hard,” she whispered. “How—?”

  I grabbed her fingers and pulled them to my lips. She resisted, but I tugged until both her fingers and her gaze came to my face. “It’s nothing, Ellie. And I’d do it again.”

  Her eyes misted. “I know you would. And I ought to be scared for you, but I just think you’re amazing.”

  Heat speared through me. I was no stranger to praise from friends, the media, and even the random stranger on the street. But this felt real. As if I’d finally become the hero everyone said I was. Because she thought it.

  “I have feet of clay,” I warned her.

  She snorted. “Don’t we all?” Then her gaze dropped back down to the ugly bruise. “And a body that will break.”

  “Not today,” I said as I tugged her face back up to mine. “Today I’m—” My breath was suddenly cut off as I felt her hand, warm and electric, stroke up my shaft. My hips surged off the bed, and she tightened her caress into a fist. Delicious heat exploded through me, bolting through my balls and up my spine.

  She grinned at my reaction, then tortured me by softening her stroke. No longer a fist, but a gentle brush as she outlined the shape of the stalk, the ridge beneath the head. Then she touched the moisture at the tip. It was maddening, this too-gentle caress. I wanted pressure. I wanted tight friction. But I also wanted to see her face as she watched mine. Hers was lit with delight while my breath hitched and my hips thrust.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  I answered without thought. “To say yes to you. Whatever. However. Yes, Ellie. Yes.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Whatever pain happened would be well worth it. But I’d already said what I needed to. Still, I mouthed it without sound just for emphasis. “Yes.”

  She sat there looking at me, obviously considering her options. Then abruptly, her hand fisted hard, and I jerked in response. It was shocking. And wonderful. So wonderful that when she abruptly let me go, I moaned in despair.

  Then while I watched, she stood up from the bed and unbuttoned her jeans. She slipped them down to reveal simple white cotton panties. Boring. Chaste. And yet on her, it made me think of every debauched fantasy I’d ever had about a good girl.

  “Straddle me,” I said, the words blurting out of my mouth.

  Her gaze grew coy. “I was about to look for condoms—”

  “No. My face.”

  She blinked. “Really?”

  I practically rolled my eyes. “Of course, really. I was pretty good last night, wasn’t I?”

  Her cheeks pinkened, then she leaned forward slowly, using her breath and her breasts to stroke my chest. My hands went up immediately, touching her body wherever I could, but she pushed me away. Then she pressed her mouth to mine, not to kiss, but to breathe her words into me.

  “Impress me.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ellie

  I like sex as much as the next red-blooded woman, but I’d always had a keen sense of my priorities. Sex was fun, but my future depended on my education and then afterward, my job. My high school boyfriend wasn’t experienced, so we were both searching around in the dark and we never went all the way. My first college boyfriend was a jerk. My mistake. The second tried hard, but it never quite worked out. And the third was just bad at it.

  So all in all, my expectations were low, but I was willing to give it a shot. Jake turned me on like no one else had in a very long time. So I suppose I was primed and ready. How bad could he be?

  It started out fun. I leaned over and teased him. Lips. Tongue. Even teeth. I nipped at his mouth and playfully nibbled his neck. When his penis jerked in hunger, I was filled with a sense of my own power.

  And then at his urging, I continued to move on top of him. He teased my chin and then my neck with his tongue, then quickly found my breasts with his teeth.

  That was one thing he did very well. He used his mouth in a way that I’d already found erotic as hell. Sucking, swirling, biting. He was dizzyingly good at it. And I was already breathless as my body grew wet and pliable above him.

  But he wanted me to turn around, facing the penis that seemed so desperate for attention. I licked his belly, played with the dimple of his belly button, then moved my lips toward that straight arrow of a penis. It was literally weeping for my attention, and I took a single salty lick.

  He bobbed in reaction, his hips thrusting toward me. But I was ready and pulled back just enough to keep out of his reach. I wanted to control how I tasted him, how deep I took him in, and exactly how much pleasure I would give him.

  That was my plan.

  But as I was still considering my options, he turned his attention to me. Most guys just dived in, giving everything they had, hoping eventually to hit the right spot. That’s what I was expecting. Enthusiasm, not precision.

  But Jake was a very precise guy. He started with his hands, stroking up the inside of my thighs. His fingers were gentle, but I quickly realized he was bracing me, putting me in the exact position he wanted. His fingers touched everywhere, but in a pattern of approach, stroke, and slide back. The whole circle-in-and-out thing opened me up to him. I was being steadily spread wider and wider under his ministrations, and I really liked it.

  It was a gentle, steady encouragement that distracted me from how I intended to make him crazy. Instead of testing his control, he was encouraging me to surrender mine. And I did, but only a little. I widened my legs. I let myself drop lower. I wanted to feel his tongue. I wanted more touch, more pressure, more everything.

  When he didn’t deepen his touch, I dropped lower again.

  Still the man took his time, patient in how he stroked me. Sure, his fingers pressed in a few times, but it wasn’t enough before he’d slide them back and spread me further. He gave a second push in, but this time, he pulled upward, across my clit, which had me arching at the zing of pure pleasure.

  That’s what I wanted. So I moved lower down on him, simultaneously shifting my groin to where I wanted him. And to encourage him, I licked a long circ
le around his penis before sucking it into my mouth. The taste was salty, his girth impressive, and the sound he made when I did it—a low groan of appreciation—rumbled through my thighs. This was exactly what I liked. Making him nuts while I—

  My thoughts cut off as he finally licked me. And true to form, it wasn’t a wide swath of let-me-get-it-all, but a specific probe straight to my clit. And just like his hands, he licked in, around, then back out.

  Oh. My. God. It was like having exactly what I wanted, in a way I never knew I wanted. My body seized up in the shock of pleasure. I arched with my head thrown back. My lower teeth scraped along his erection, caught slightly on the head, and then tugged. I didn’t do it on purpose. But I felt his whole body tighten beneath me.

  Then he thrust forward, and I was too dizzy with wanting to stop him. I took him in my mouth, barely remembering to suck. It was more of an automatic reaction.

  Meanwhile, he was driving me crazy with that very specific tongue of his. In, around, and out. But not over my clit. He was taking his time to explore the other places. And he wasn’t venturing in quite enough. The swirl was opening me to deeper penetration, but then he’d move on when I wasn’t ready for him to leave.

  Suddenly, I needed him to be aggressive. I wanted full penetration, wide stimulation, and, and…I didn’t know what. Just everything. Now. And at full speed.

  My thighs gave way, and I dropped all my weight down on him. But he was prepared, and his hands gripped and supported my thighs. Which meant suddenly, though I was in the dominant position, he was the one in complete control. I couldn’t have moved off him if my life depended on it. It was his hands, his tongue, his mouth that decided how I would feel, what I would get, and where he would give it to me.

  Maddening and wonderful.

  I barely remembered to pay attention to him. My hands fumbled where I gripped him, my fingers barely brushed his balls, and my mouth was giving him the random treatment I’d thought I’d get from him. I just held on and did the best I could, considering I was going crazy with the pleasure he was giving me.

  He didn’t seem to mind. I could feel the pulse and jerk of his penis and tasted his salty desire. But most of all, I felt his tongue on me. The wetness, the steady stroke, and my open need for penetration.

  And then he stepped it up a notch. I didn’t think there was anything more he could do to make this any better…until he changed up his rhythm. In and out, deep, a long stroke up to my clit, and then he sucked. It was that last part that did it, that kicked this experience from amazing into terrifying.

  Because I went wild.

  I didn’t understand how he managed it. How anyone could do it. But he kept me hovering on the edge of exploding without kicking me over. And the longer I was poised on the precipice, the more desperate I was to topple over. More. Deeper. Harder. Anything. Please God, let me finish!

  I went insane, completely out of control. I tried to grind myself down on him, but he kept me at a distance. And the more I fought for what I wanted, the slower he got. He sucked once, then blew cool air on my overheated flesh. I didn’t want cool. I wanted pressure.

  But no, he held me off. Then he surprised me by pushing hard with his thumb. It went deep inside, though not deep enough. I clenched greedily at it, but couldn’t hold it. I jerked, trying to escape his restraint. I was so wild, I would have ground myself down on his nose if I thought it would get me off.

  And then suddenly, a tiny part of my brain stepped back and realized what I was doing…and I was appalled. I was like a wild animal on top of him, insane and clearly desperate. I would do anything—beg, plead, barter, whatever I could think of—if only it would get me to completion.

  But I didn’t have the breath to speak. I offered only a guttural growl when he eased off, a whimper when he touched too lightly…and a cry of delight when he sucked just where I wanted.

  More. Please more.

  I sobbed out his name, raining kisses on his penis, hoping that it would get me what I wanted. And then I sucked him hard. As hard as I could, hoping that he would catch the clue.

  His hips bucked and his breath made harsh, short puffs against my thighs. But he did not give me what I wanted.

  And then suddenly, he did.

  He let me drop down onto his lips. He started me with a swirl. And then he sucked. Hard, fast pulses. Harder. Faster. Then so quick that my whole body felt like it shot into orbit.

  I exploded with a scream. And he held me there while I writhed like a madwoman on top of him. And then while I was still pulsing, still gasping, he flipped me over.

  I barely noticed the reverse angle except that I was suddenly surrounded in softness. Then there was lots of movement and abruptly, my legs were spread wide. I heard a growl as something tore. A condom wrapper, I think, but I barely cared. I was still soaring.

  Then he lifted my hips, and I felt his heat. A split second’s recognition—no more—and then…

  I was impaled.

  Gloriously, wonderfully penetrated.

  Yes!

  Where I thought I was still floating, his penetration grounded me. It gave me a focus as my body abruptly gripped him. Not just my sex, but my legs, my hands, and my mind. Everything was centered on him. Take me. Have me. Drill me. Fuck me.

  Every dirty analogy, every filthy word burst through my thoughts. And rather than shocking me, it ratcheted my body to higher pleasure. Every part of me was an animal wanting to be taken in the most primal way. I wanted him inside me so deep that he never left.

  He was mine.

  Harder. Deeper.

  “Yes.”

  He was saying that word, I suddenly realized. Repeating it with every thrust.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

  And then he came. He slammed forward and ground against me while I screamed in animalistic glory.

  Mine!

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jake

  I can usually tell when a girl is freaking out. It’s a matter of opposites. If she’s a quiet girl, she’ll start babbling. If she’s a talker, she goes silent. Either way, her eyes will get wild as she tries to look at everything and nothing all at once.

  But with Ellie, I wasn’t sure. She was such an exciting mix of contradictions, I didn’t know what to expect. I’d seen her shy and uncertain at the barbecue, but she’d definitely had a wild side on my hotel balcony and for the last half hour in bed. She could be talkative about food, but mute in front of a camera. So if she was freaking out right now, I couldn’t tell.

  Especially since I think I blacked out for a moment from the intensity of my orgasm. I unloaded into her while she was crying out my name. I collapsed beside her so I didn’t hurt her, and then we just both lay there, trying to catch our breath, for I don’t know how long. I’m pretty sure that’s when I blacked out.

  But eventually she shifted, and I moved to accommodate her. But then my ribs started to hurt, so I moved some more. Eventually I mustered the energy to clean up before I dropped back into bed beside her. I wanted to pull her close, but she’d pulled the sheet up to her chin. And that was when I started to grow anxious.

  Her eyes were closed, her body absolutely still except for the steady rise and fall of her breathing. She could have been asleep, but I didn’t think so. Was she freaking out? And how bizarre was it that suddenly, I had no percentages running through my head whatsoever.

  “Ellie?” I asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Still floating some.”

  “Great.” There was silence while I studied her some more. I had no clue that she was feeling insecure or anything, but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she wasn’t quite as calm as she appeared. “Why do I think you’re freaking out?”

  Her eyes opened slowly, and she focused on me. A single, steady regard that started with narrowed eyes but widened to… Yup. There it was. Panic, pure and simple.

  “Ellie? Can you tell me what you’re thinking?”

 
; “I…uh…that was…pretty intense.”

  “Yeah. Pretty awesome, right?” Please say yes. Please say yes.

  “Um…yeah. Awesome.”

  Oh, hell. That didn’t sound awesome. That sounded terrified.

  I sighed. “So I didn’t quite prove myself, huh?” Damn. I thought it had been spectacular.

  “What?” Her hands gripped the sheet. “No! I mean, yes! You were perfect. You were better than perfect. I’ve never… I mean, that was incredible.”

  Great. Now she was babbling. She really was freaked out.

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “N-nothing.”

  I lifted up on my elbow to stare at her. She was flushed, and her hair was a soft halo around her face. She’d tugged the sheet up to her chin, so that was about all I could see. I touched her cheek, intending to stroke my finger across her skin, but she flinched, then immediately flushed hot at her reaction.

  Wow. I’d never had a girl flinch from me afterward. I must have royally screwed this up. I let my hand drop to the bed and looked at her.

  “You’ve got to tell me. What did I do wrong?”

  “Nothing!”

  There was no hesitation there. “So what’s going on? And don’t say nothing. I know it’s something.”

  She bit her lip, and her gaze slid away. “Okay. So I’m freaking out a little bit.”

  “I got that. Why? Did I hurt you?”

  “No! I just…I’m not like that. I was completely out of control.”

  It took me a moment to understand her words, and even then I wasn’t sure I got it right. “Sex is an out-of-control kind of thing.”

  Her eyes widened, and her gaze moved back to mine. “I know, but I’ve never… I mean I didn’t think I would be like that. I mean…um…” Her voice faltered.

  I smiled. “Then maybe you haven’t been doing it with the right guys.”

  She bit her lip, and her shoulder hitched in a small shrug. “I’m not inexperienced. I mean, I’ve had good sex before. But this…” She shook her head. “It was different, you know?”

  I did know. In fact, I’d been thinking about that, too. That it had been better than good. It had been special, and way more than me just getting my rocks off. I had loved making her go wild, and I couldn’t wait to do it again. And not just because I’d get that mind-blanking eruption again, but because I’d be able to see her lose it again, too.