Salvaged

by Jay Crownover

  Her hand moved to my hair and I muttered my approval as she used her hold on the slick strand to pull me closer. I let out a puff of air that made her legs shake and she said my name on a moan as I used my fingers to circle her warm center. I buried my face in the place that I’d been dreaming about for weeks and wasn’t surprised at all that she felt like heaven. I used my tongue to explore every secret spot she had and my fingers worked in and out of her now undulating body in a way that I knew drove her wild. I could feel how wet she was. I could feel her inner muscles pulling at my tongue, tugging my touch deeper. Her clit was a stiff little peak against the tip of my tongue as I flicked it back and forth until she whimpered. I dragged the sharp edge of my teeth over it and sucked the entire thing into my mouth, which made her swear and then chant my name over and over again.

  The velvety skin of her thighs was quivering and shaking furiously next to my face, so I surrendered her clit and pressed a sloppy-wet kiss on the skin there. I wanted to know what she tasted like everywhere.

  I turned my attention back to the pretty, pink flesh that needed to be worshiped, that was begging to be adored, and told her to lean back so I could replace my plunging fingers with my questing tongue. She took the direction as I put my hands on her hips so I could hold her to my face as I proceeded to fuck her senseless with my mouth. Just the tips of her toes were touching the tile as she rolled her head from side to side as pleasure assaulted her. She stopped trying to cover up and used the hand that was on her chest to rub across the still-stiff and swollen peaks of her breasts. It was so fucking hot that my sleepy and spent dick started to wake up.

  She started to pant and the hand that was tangled in my hair tightened to the point that it was almost painful. Her legs tightened around my ears and I could feel the flood of her desire coat my tongue as it thrust in and out of her. She was close, but not quite there, and I was determined to take her over the edge before I put to use the erection that was making itself known between my legs. I felt like I was a man that was on the verge of starving and she was the only thing that would assuage the hunger.

  “Honey, I need you to help me make you feel good.” Her wild, whiskey-hued eyes landed on mine as she continued to writhe against me. “I need you to touch yourself, just like I touch you.” I ran my thumb along the crease of her leg. “It’ll be so much better that way.”

  Her eyes widened as she stared down at me. I was asking her to be an active participant in her own orgasm, which was very different from me simply getting her off or taking her to bed. She had to be an active participant in her own pleasure and that might be pushing boundaries she wasn’t ready to cross yet.

  I leaned forward so I could give her a long lick, my tongue circling that tender spot that made her whole body bend toward me. “Trust me, honey.”

  She blinked at me a couple times and then slowly nodded. I grinned up at her before putting my mouth back between her legs, my tongue going as deep and filling up the space my cock was begging for a shot at. She skimmed her hand over her chest and down over her taut belly. I could see the way it shook but eventually it dipped between those luscious legs and found the place between those petal-soft lips where all her pleasure was centered, tender and waiting for the dam to break.

  She stroked as I swirled.

  She flicked as I fucked.

  She rolled as I rubbed.

  We moved in perfect harmony, in sync in a way that shouldn’t be possible for two people that were just starting to learn what the other liked. It was simple really: I liked her and she liked me, so whatever we did to one another worked and felt really goddamn good.

  I felt her muscles start to flutter. I watched her legs go stiff and her golden skin go pink. She was about to lose control and I could feel the rush of her release all around me. She said my name, then she yelled it until it was all I could hear. It echoed off the fancy bathroom walls and bounced back to us, so that I heard it over and over again as she came apart on the tip of my tongue.

  She was delicious. Her pleasure was unlike anything I had ever had before. She was something I knew I would never tire of tasting, of teasing, of testing. I thought I knew who I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life … this moment with her was a startling realization that I had been woefully wrong. Poppy was what forever was supposed to feel like. I knew it all the way down to the bottom of my soul. If my tree was going to grow, it was because she showed up when I desperately needed someone to nurture it. I’d let it wither and die. She brought it back to life.

  She wilted, boneless and heavy-limbed against the wall in front of me. I got to my feet and leaned into her, my cock happily tapping against the flat plane of her stomach.

  I nuzzled my nose into the hollow of her neck, licking at her thundering pulse. Her chin lifted up and she put her arms around my shoulders. My eyes locked on hers, I asked her, “Are you ready to be all in with me, Poppy?”

  I hefted her up and she wrapped around me the way she had been when we entered the room. I felt a grin kick up one corner of my mouth and her lips touched the divot that indented my cheek. She left a wet spot as the tip of her tongue playfully dipped into the center of it. “I’m all in, Wheeler.”

  She let out a soft giggle as I carried her to the bed. I dropped her on the side and let out a string of dirty words when I realized my wallet was still in my coveralls that were in a dirty heap on the bathroom floor. I looked down at my straining dick, tempted to apologize, when Poppy saved the day by pointing at her purse and telling me to check the side pocket. When I gave her a questioning look she shrugged and told me, “I asked you to have sex with me, Wheeler. I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t ready in every sense of the word.”

  Always surprising me and it was always in the best way possible.

  I handed her the foil packet and watched with lowered lashes as she slowly and deliberately got me dressed for the party. The way she stuck her tongue out and bit the tip while she concentrated on rolling the latex down my length, combined with the soft pressure of her fingers, had me counting backward from twenty to avoid embarrassing myself.

  She stared up at me when she was done, obviously waiting for me to crawl over her and claim her. Knowing that she probably had plenty of memories, all of them bad, of men rutting into and covering her up with their dominance and control. I didn’t want that for her. I wanted to give something to her, not just take.

  I walked to the end of the bed and climbed into the center behind her. I crawled my way to the headboard and arranged myself so that my back was at the padded fabric with my legs stretched out in front of me and my cock sticking straight up like a beacon. I held out a hand, and after a moment where I could see her collecting herself, she took it and situated herself on my lap.

  With little prompting she put her hands on my shoulders, her knees by my hips, and rose up over me so that the tip of my cock could tease her tender opening. The contact made us both gasp and her eyes slid shut. I grasped her rib cage on either side, feeling her breathe me in and exhale out anything bad that had been before me. I watched her face as she lowered herself down, slow and steady, feeling every inch of me take every part of her.

  Her face was set in lines of concentration as her body adjusted to the invasion of mine. I felt her stretch and flex around me, muscles milking me as she took me farther in. When I bottomed out, when she had taken me as deep as I could go, her eyes flicked open and I watched pleasure chase away the fear that lived there. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I was going to let her control how this went even if her unhurried rocking back and forth had my balls aching and my dick twitching inside of her.

  I bent one of my legs at the knee, which forced her legs farther apart and lifted her up just a little bit. Every time she rocked down on me, her already sensitive clit rubbed against the base of my cock in way that made her gasp and grind on me repeatedly. I loved watching her own her pleasure, I got off on seeing her being unafraid, of finding what made her feel good and going after it with
a vengeance. I was going to come from nothing more than seeing the blissed-out expression on her face … it felt that good.

  She took hold of my hand and put it on her heaving breast. She started to moved faster and with more purpose as I tweaked her nipple between my fingers and rolled the little nub around and around. She pressed her cheek to mine, her breath choppy and uneven in my ear as she moved on me like a woman on a mission.

  It was a tight squeeze but I managed to get my other hand between us so I could put the tips of my fingers on her clit. I chased her as she lifted up and fell down, her body clamped down on my dick like it never wanted to be separated from it again. I was perfectly okay with that plan because this was something more than sex. This was more than our bodies moving together and our hearts racing side by side. This was more than feeling good and chasing away bad memories. This was more than an orgasm that made us weak and turned us inside out.

  This was my soul telling her soul that it had been waiting for a long time to find its other half. This was me dreaming a new dream and her making it come true just like she promised she would.

  This was healing.

  This was starting over.

  This was reinvention.

  Her palm circled the bluebird on my neck and she tilted her head so that she could lick along the outside shell of my ear. The caress had my hips lifting off the bed, which drove my cock into her harder than I intended. She whimpered in my ear and her movements got jerky and slightly frantic. She was grinding against my fingers, crashing down on my dick, desperate and needy. She wrapped her hand around my bicep and tossed her head back as she shattered into a million beautiful pieces on top of me. Her entire body bowed backward, thrusting her rosy-tipped breasts up into my mouth as I continued to lift up into her.

  It didn’t take long for me to succumb to the welcoming heat and snug pull of her body. The orgasm rolled through me, leaving all my limbs weak and heavy as Poppy collapsed on top of me.

  I wound my arms around her back and brushed my lips across her cheek. I wasn’t surprised that her skin was salty with a mixture of sweat and tears. We were going to need another shower before we left this room.

  “I didn’t know sex could be like that.” Her voice was quiet but the words felt like she screamed them right at my heart.

  I rubbed my cheek against hers and told her truthfully. “Neither did I.”

  It was different when you were all in. It didn’t feel like drowning or treading water. It felt like being saved.

  Poppy

  I had one hand wrapped around the back of Wheeler’s head, my fingers gently scraping through the short brush of auburn hair that was surprisingly soft to the touch. The other was pressed against the tufted headboard above where his tattooed shoulders rested as I rose and fell repeatedly on the straining shaft that I was pretty sure had magical powers. I knew I was a little bit passion drunk and delicious from what felt like an endless amount of orgasms but I’d never been with someone that had the ability to make me burn from the inside out and stop time. Minutes stretched into hours and hours felt like days where I craved nothing more than the press of his cock into all my soft and sensitive places.

  Sex with Wheeler wasn’t about power and control, even though he kept telling me that whatever happened or didn’t happen was all in my hands. He never let me forget I was the one calling the shots and setting the pace, which was why I was still stretched out on top of him, riding him like he was my favorite amusement-park attraction. I’d tried to let him cover me, tried to lie under him so I could stare up at those winter-colored eyes and straining inked flesh as he worked over me, but as soon as his much larger frame hovered over me, panic I couldn’t control and memories that had no place in any bed with a man that was as good and as kind as Wheeler barreled their way past the pleasure and anticipation. He realized I was about to melt down before I did and quickly climbed off me. What should have been an hour of mind-blowing sex and multiple orgasms turned into an hour of him holding me and softly kissing my hair as I cried and apologized over and over again for bringing the bad things that I couldn’t escape with me everywhere I went.

  He reassured me that when my past reared its ugly head it didn’t scare him. Quietly he whispered, “Even if those scars you have from what you survived were on the outside, I’d still be right here and want you just as much. They’re part of you and you are who I want to be with.” That made me cry for another half hour until I realized I was sobbing all over a really hot, naked guy and the proof that he did indeed want me no matter what kind of mess I was refused to be ignored any longer. I quickly came to the conclusion that instead of being distraught over the things that I couldn’t make work because of my demons, I would embrace the things that still seemed to function just fine. As long as I didn’t feel trapped or imprisoned, as long as my mind understood there was room to wiggle away from him, that there was an escape if I needed it, all the fear and panic receded, allowing the desire and longing that only this man inspired to overtake everything.

  There were a lot of different ways for two bodies to come together and I was loving discovering them all, but so far this one was my favorite. I loved watching the chill in his frosty gaze turn molten the closer he got to losing control. I couldn’t stop rubbing against his chest, pebbled nipples digging into his colorful skin as his hands tightened on my hips each time I lowered myself on his rigid shaft. His face was flushed, there was a fine sheen of sweat on his skin, and his dimples flashed each time he made me groan or gasp with his fingers. I was controlling the pace, I liked it slow and steady, was addicted to the pull and stretch of my body as I took him in over and over again. It was the first time I’d ever felt like I was getting just as much as I gave in bed. He seemed determined to make sure that I came first, that I was satisfied and fulfilled before he let go. It was sweet but it was also unnecessary. He’d already given me more than anyone else had and I wanted to do my very best to make sure that every time we were together it was as good for him as he made it for me, so this time I was determined to send him over before he had the chance to make me combust.

  I tilted my head to the side so I could trace the outside shell of his ear with the tip of my tongue. It made his big body shiver below me and I felt the press of his blunt fingers into the soft curve of my hips. I let the end of my nose brush across the intricate cluster of flowers he had tattooed behind his ear and followed the design down the side of his neck until I reached the curve where his shoulder was solid and strong. He was slick with sweat and every muscle that moved and flexed against me was straining and taut with exertion. I sighed into his skin as his hand trailed from my hip to the sensitive spot between my legs. I was already liquid and pliable from his very skilled mouth, so I thought I was going to have plenty of time to ramp him up and push him over the edge before my body was ready to go again, but all it took was the touch of those rough fingers, the knowing touch from someone that seemed to know my body better than I did, and my blood was on fire and my nerves were electrified. I felt my thighs quiver and the swollen, tender flesh surrounding his plunging and thrusting cock flutter in response. He didn’t play fair but I was determined. I used to want my partner to find pleasure out of fear and self-preservation. I wanted Wheeler to feel it because I didn’t know how else to show him how good he made me feel. I wanted him to feel what he made me feel.

  I sank my teeth into that straining flesh where his neck and shoulder met, the bite a little bit more vicious than I intended and far more aggressive than I ever was with anyone else. I heard a growl rumble out of his chest and the soft circles he was drawing on my clit faltered as he urged me to move faster, press harder into him as I lifted up and lowered myself back down. I licked the tiny little wound and pushed off the headboard so I could run my hand over the thick muscles of his chest, petting that snarling wolf, like I could tame the lonely, wild parts of Wheeler that sometimes peeked out from behind his inherent calm and reserve. I brushed the side of my thumb over one of his flat
nipples and watched wide-eyed as it puckered and lifted to my touch.

  “Jesus, Poppy.” His voice was jagged and just as rough as the fingers that were crawling all over my skin. His head tossed back so that it was resting against the headboard and his eyes locked on mine as a muscle in his cheek flexed. It was by far the sexiest thing I had ever seen and I was a little in awe of the fact that I was the reason for his reaction. I moved my hand to the opposite nipple and repeated the motion, which made him swear and had his reddish eyebrows lifting upward. “Can you feel what that does to me?”

  I could. His abs had tightened and the thighs I was straddling were rock hard. I could feel his cock twitch inside of me and I saw the way it made his chest rise and fall with ragged breaths as he tried to keep it together. His eyes were anything but cold and there was a glint of desperation in them as I picked up my pace and repeated my soft caress. I leaned forward so that I could touch my mouth to his and wasn’t at all surprised when he slipped his tongue past lips and teeth to steal a taste. Wheeler liked to kiss. He was good at it, so it was easy to get distracted by the way his tongue swirled against mine, but I was a woman on a mission and I was determined not to fail.

  Breathless, I replied against his now wet mouth, “I can feel it.” I wanted to feel more of it, in fact.

  His eyes flared and I could tell it was taking all of his self-control not to roll me over so that he could take over and drive us both to the sweet release that was hovering just out of reach because of my steady rise and fall over him. It was torture, but not the kind that would haunt my dreams and make me wake up screaming. It was the kind that made everything inside of me feel warm and fuzzy because no matter how badly he wanted to force me to move, no matter how strong the temptation was to overpower me and take control, he held it back, kept his baser instinct in check and let me set the pace.