Once he was back in position, he surprised her by sliding his palm all the way to her clit. He used his middle finger to stroke the length of the throbbing bundle of nerves before sinking it into her opening.
His voice was barely louder than the ocean beside them when he spoke. “Scared?”
“A little,” she whispered back, relishing the deep exploration of his finger.
“I’ll make sure it’s nice and wet for you. Stay with me, okay, baby? This is for me, because you left me and made me wait, but since it’s your first time, I want you to enjoy it.”
Her arms and legs began to quake beneath her as Dean slid his Fate-soaked finger all the way back to her ass.
“Dean,” she cried out impulsively, unsure as to what she was going to follow it with.
“Shh. I’ll be gentle. I’ll make sure you’re primed for me first. I know you have to be able to sit down tomorrow.”
His words probably weren’t nearly as reassuring as he meant for them to be.
Fate gripped the sheets beneath her tight in her hands. No amount of sheet holding would ease the shock that exploded through her body when he pressed his finger knuckle-deep into her impossibly tight entrance.
There was an intense pinch followed by a burning that blanked her mind. She felt full and stretched and…
dirty
. But it felt surprisingly good in the most severe way possible.
“Tell me if it’s more than you can bear, sweetheart.”
The words fell on deaf ears as she writhed in his proficiently skilled hands. She lost track of which hand was where when he managed to reach her clit and massage it while maintaining his rhythmic ministrations inside her.
Some strong-willed part of her refused to break, refused to tell him that she couldn’t take it no matter how far over the edge she fell. Because she could take it, she was, and lo and behold, she was
enjoying it.
A thin sheen of sweat was covering her entire body by the time she felt his hands moving from her most intimate parts. His finger was replaced by something much thicker. Dean rubbed the head of his cock forward, dipping into her pussy and then sliding back to ease gently into the pucker of flesh behind it.
A low, guttural moan escaped her as he ventured deeper. She’d never known that pain could be sensual, but when Dean’s fingers dented her flesh as he moved inch by inch into her, something clicked and the world made sense again.
The give and take, the push and pull, the pleasure and the pain—it was all the perfect balancing act, much like the ocean tide and the gravitational forces that controlled it. She focused on loosening her clenched muscles enough to let him inside without so much excruciating friction.
“That’s all of it, baby. I’m all the way in now. You’re doing so good, so fucking good.”
She wanted to tell him that she could take it, that he could move more—that she wanted him to—but with him engorged in her forbidden depths and his fingers alternating between fluttering motions against her clit and fucking her pussy, she had no words. All she could manage were whimpered moans and the pressing herself against him.
He seemed to comprehend her wordless reaction. “My good girl. My sweet, beautiful, daring, girl. You never stop amazing me, sweetheart.”
She cried out when he began to take her more purposefully, but the pleasure outweighed the agony. His praise encouraged her, and she moved with him. It felt much better when she was the one driving so to speak.
Dean allowed her to set their pace for a few brief moments until, suddenly, he jerked forward—simultaneously going the deepest he’d ever been with both his fingers and his cock.
An overwhelming tidal wave of triumphant pleasure tore through her, ripping jagged incisions through the center of her body, and she collapsed, pinning his hand between the mattress and her clit. Riding out her orgasm on his hand, she moaned into the pillow as Dean flooded her body with his searing release.
The slow burn continued even after Dean had pulled out of her. She remained motionless, lying on her stomach and listening to her own heartbeat and breathing until Dean returned. A cool washcloth gently passed through the still-stinging parts between her legs. He was careful and thorough in his cleanup.
“Want some water or something else to drink?” His voice filled the darkened room as Fate tried to locate hers.
“Water’s good,” she rasped out.
While he was gone, she slid his shirt back on and tried to button a few buttons with trembling fingers. Giving up after a few successful attempts, she curled around one of his enormous plush pillows.
She listened to the sounds of clinked glasses and running water in the kitchen. Consciousness threatened to fade while she waited for him to return.
“Here, baby.”
Fate sat upright and took several long sips of ice water. When she handed the glass back to him, he stared down at her for a long, straining moment.
“God, you’re so fucking beautiful.”
Her eyes widened up at him. She could only imagine how she looked. Hair messy and damp, his shirt sliding off one shoulder, eyes glazed over.
“You are.” He shook his head as if searching for the words to explain his attraction to her. “That first night, swear to everything holy, I thought you might be some mythical creature come to steal my soul. But you were so damn beautiful that I would have given it to you.”
She kept quiet, afraid to move or speak and risk breaking the magic that kept him with her, kept him from running. He wasn’t running. He was opening up and being honest.
Dean lowered himself into the bed beside her, propping on one elbow and facing her. Fate mirrored his position and admired the way the moonlight lit his handsome face.
“I asked the universe for a sign. It sent me you.”
Her whispered confession made him smile. But his expression turned serious far too soon for her liking. “I felt it the moment I saw you. A compulsion like I’d never felt before, as if some unseen force propelled me toward you without my consent. I’ve felt it ever since.”
Fate rested her head on her hands and nodded against them. “I feel it too. I’m just…a little afraid of it. Of what it might cost us.”
“My mom used to say that things worth having didn’t come easy and that the kind of girl that was worth waiting for wouldn’t wait on anyone. Those two adages keep coming back to me every time I think of you.”
She inched her hand over toward his. “Do you do that often? Think of me?”
Dean kept eye contact, only breathing and watching her. “Define often.”
Fate grinned. “More than once a week.”
The slight curve of his lips faded and his gaze became a heavy, tangible thing she could feel pressing into her.
“I thought of you every day, Fate. And I didn’t even know your name. Even after I did… I think after that, it was more like several times a day.”
She wanted to keep this moment, to keep him here with her just like this. Both of them exposed and vulnerable. It was real and honest and—despite her exhaustion— exhilarating. But she knew it wouldn’t last forever. Nothing ever did.
“Sleep with me tonight. Don’t leave. Just… Just sleep with me, please.”
He nodded, letting his fingers interlace with hers between them and placing a soft kiss on the top of her hand. “I’m not going anywhere. Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight, Dean.”
T
hey’d woken up early and showered together, which had taken twice as long due to unhurried lovemaking under the cascading water.
“See? It wasn’t so bad waking up with me was it?”
Dean had forced himself to nod and try to look like it wasn’t a significant issue. But the truth was, waking up with her had been both shockingly sensual and edifying, making him wonder if not waking up with her in the future would now seem wrong. She was even more beautiful when rousing herself from sleep, something he hadn’t previously believed to be possible. But one look into her still dream-drugged eyes and he’d had to have her.
After taking his precious time with her in the shower, he’d driven them to the dock where his boat was. The Wishing Star wasn’t a fifty-foot yacht by any means, but she was his and he was proud of her.
He’d made some calls the day before, and a catering crew from The Grill had brought pancakes and bacon along with Fate’s favorite—Nutella-filled crepes—plus several displays of fruit onto the boat before their arrival.
Her shining, emerald eyes and the way her entire face lit up when she saw the spread was enough to make his entire day.
“This is beautiful. Thank you for this,” Fate told him, leaning over and kissing him sweetly on the cheek.
His warm skin heated where her cool lips had been. He squeezed her hand before letting go and pulled out a chair for her.
They each filled their plates and Dean watched her take her first bite—the crepes, of course.
“I could eat Nutella off your naked body every day for the rest of my life,” she said candidly.
Dean chuckled. “Is that so? Maybe I’ll take you up on that.”
She was halfway finished with her second one when she looked up at him. After she wiped her mouth with her white, linen napkin, she pinned him with a quizzical expression. He hadn’t yet touched his food. He’d been too busy watching her.
“You’re not hungry? Between last night and this morning, I’m famished.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t expect to feel this way.”
“Meaning?” Fate folded her napkin in her lap.
“Meaning I’m considering sailing us to the edge of the Earth and saying to hell with the real world.”
Fate smiled at him. “It certainly sounds good in theory. Though I’m scandalized. I hadn’t realized kidnapping me was part of this deal.”
“So tomorrow,” he began, seamlessly changing the subject. “How about we just try to keep our distance at work? Frankly, if I see you, I might drag you into a supply closet and ravage you. So I’ll try to be scarce. But I’ll call you tomorrow evening and let you know how the HR meeting went. That sound okay?”
She nodded. But then she frowned. “I feel like we’ve been pretty honest with each other this weekend, so in the spirit of continuing with that for as long as possible, I’m going to say something I probably shouldn’t.”
Dean held his breath. He half-expected her to tell him that it had been fun and she’d gotten him out of her system, so no need for the phone call or any other non work-related communication whatsoever.
“Ignoring each other at work sounds pretty crappy, actually, but what can I really say? No, I want you to hold my hand and skip around the bullpen with me?”
Relief refilled his previously empty lungs. “As much as I would love to do all kinds of things with you in the bullpen, we both know that’s not possible. This is new for me, Fate. And frankly, whatever we decide, I don’t want my father knowing that we’re anything more than colleagues if we can help it.”
She nodded again. “I promise I’m good, Dean. You told me you didn’t know if you could offer me more than this weekend and I’ve told you repeatedly that I’m okay with that. I know it’s not the typical female response, but my situation is…complicated as well. One day at a time, okay? That’s my mom’s motto in rehab and I think it’ll serve us well too. I just wanted to be honest.”
He grinned, grateful that she was so understanding. “Sounds good. I’ll try to do the same.”