Of Eternal Life (10 page)

He never should have looked into her eyes. As soon as he did, she nibbled on her bottom lip, and that warm gaze dropped to his mouth.

Eli squeezed his eyes shut. Damn, he couldn’t un-see that.

Just one kiss. You can stop at just one kiss
.

It was all the convincing Eli needed.

He lowered his head slowly, giving her plenty of time to turn away, but he saw her nostrils flare and her eyes flash. She wanted it, too.

He meant the kiss to be gentle, but as soon as he got his lips on hers, something inside of him snapped. His kiss became crushing. He would have worried that he was hurting her if she hadn’t been returning his kiss just as fiercely. Her arms worked their way around him. One hand was threading fingers through his hair, and the fingernails of the other were digging into his back between his shoulder blades. The bite from that sensation spurred him on even more.

He angled his head, and Abilene knew where he was headed before he had to ask. She opened her lips for him, and he plunged into her warm mouth. She tasted better than ever; it was almost as if her passion had a flavor, and it was his new favorite. He groaned harshly at the taste, and thoughts of stripping off her jeans and panties and plunging into her bombarded him so violently that he tore his lips from hers, striving to put some space between them before he violated his promise to her. He immediately regretted the decision.

Abilene’s eyes were dilated; only a thin ring of blue surrounded her pupils. Both Eli and Abilene were panting. He wanted so badly to just continue from where they’d stopped, but he knew better. He had no self-control where Abilene was concerned.

Abilene closed her eyes and began shaking. “Eli,” she whispered brokenly, “I can feel it. The pain, it’s coming back.” Her eyes snapped back open.

What?
“But we’re touching,” he objected dumbly. They were still pressed together; she should be fine. Right on cue, Eli felt the beginning echoes of his own pain, and damn, it was stronger than he’d ever felt it.

This was bad. Abilene’s pain would be stronger than his if it followed the pattern it had all day. Eli bit back a grunt as what felt like a sucker punch landed in his lower back.

Abilene cried out. “Eli, it’s worse!” Tears were trekking from the corners of her eyes into the blonde curls at her temples.

“Abi,” he began. He had to stop when a fresh wave of pain traveled up his spine, stealing his breath. “I’m sorry, baby. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Her reply was a sob. “It h-hurts,” she whimpered.

Damn it!
The guilt was almost more intense than the pain. “Abilene,” he hesitated. “I …know how to make the pain go away.” He winced, both from the pain and from the words. Yup, they sounded as sleazy as he thought they would. “But … I made you a promise — ” He didn’t have the chance to finish his sentence before Abilene grabbed his shirt with both hands and jerked him toward her with surprising strength.

“
Please
,” she begged, her eyes wide. “I don’t care about that, just make it go away!” New pain wracked her, causing her back to bow. Her face twisted into a grimace, and her breaths became short and labored.

Promise be damned
.

Eli shifted his weight until he was lying beside Abilene instead of on top of her. The movement caused her to panic. “Don’t leave me!” she groaned.

Eli’s gut twisted. “I’m not going anywhere, darlin’,” he assured her.
As if I could walk away from this
. He’d wanted her so badly. Had his mind somehow known to stand too close to her, to kiss her, to pull away and guarantee that she would need him in the way he so desperately wanted to be needed?

“I’m a virgin,” she moaned through gritted teeth.

He sucked in air. “What?”
Please let me have mis-heard that
.

“Just…seems like a …good time to…tell you,” she said as more tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.

He groaned toward the ceiling.
A virgin
? Ah, God, why did he
love
that? But he couldn’t take her virginity, especially like this.

She would never forgive him.

And that really mattered to him.

An idea popped into his head; there were other options — ways Eli could satisfy her and not … .

Eli moved one hand to the button of Abilene’s jeans. He noticed that his hand was shaking, he was so damned nervous. He’d never had any complaints from his previous partners, but Eli realized with sudden clarity that they hadn’t mattered. His hand was on
Abilene
now. His woman.

His woman who had never been with a man.

When Abilene undulated her hips under his hand, he realized that he’d been stalled out with his hand on her button for several moments. He had to get out of his head; Abilene was in pain, and he had been given the green light to fix it. No more hesitation.

With fumbling fingers, he unbuttoned her jeans and tugged her zipper down. His heart was pounding as sweet, cotton panties with a tiny bow at the top were revealed. His forced his eyes from the sight and looked at Abilene’s face to gauge how she was doing.

One look at her face, and Eli knew she was out of her mind with anguish. Her eyes were squeezed shut; her mouth pinched and turned down at the corners.

Shit
. He been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, contemplating every step like
he
was the freaking virgin, and in the meantime, Abilene’s suffering had increased.

He quickly tugged her jeans down her hips. She helped him as much as she could by lifting her bottom from the bed, and soon, her jeans were around her knees. He noticed right away that her panties were soaked.

“Holy God,” he whispered. This was the most glorious sight he’d seen in his entire life. He brought his hand up to the juncture of her thighs and brushed one finger over the wet fabric covering her core.

Abilene gasped in shock, and Eli, encouraged, moved his hand to cup her. She was so warm, her heat scorched him. He pressed the heel of his hand against the top of her cleft.

“Oh my God,” Abilene whispered feverishly, her legs spreading as much as the jeans around her knees would allow. “More. Eli,
please
…more.”

Oh yeah
. Eli had no problem granting that request. He pondered sliding her panties down for half a second, but knew the moment he saw her bare, it would be over. Instead, he opted for working his hand under the elastic band at the top of her panties.

He closed his eyes as his fingers threaded through soft, soft curls. He held his breath as the tips of his fingers brushed moist flesh. And they both groaned in pleasure-pain as he parted that flesh and found her dripping with want.

“
Baby,”
he breathed. He moved closer to her and buried his face in her hair, trying to still the shaking that had started up again with a vengeance. “You’re
killing
me. God, you’re so wet.”

She turned her head on the pillow until they were face-to-face once again. “Kiss me,” she whispered, her breath fanning his face.

Yes, ma’am
, he thought as he closed the gap between their lips. As soon as he was kissing her, she thrust her tongue into his mouth. She was taking charge, becoming demanding.

God, if she kept this up, he was lost. He maneuvered his hand deeper into her panties and began to work one finger toward her opening. She groaned into his mouth and thrust her tongue against his.

The pleasure was so intense he was worried that he was going to spill into his pants again, and before he’d taken care of her this time.
Not an option
. He pulled his aching erection away from its contact with her left hip to keep from thrusting, and it gave him just enough control to save himself.

Abilene rocked her hips forward and the tip of his middle finger dipped inside of her. He gritted his teeth, and Abilene moaned.

Eli worked his finger deeper inside of her. “So …tight …” he breathed against her lips. She was clamped so tightly around his finger that he could barely fit.

It was Abilene who got his finger all the way inside her. She rocked against his hand, moved against him, until his finger thrust past the clenched muscles.

She pulled her lips from his with a gasp to look up at him with awe in her eyes. “Holy shit,” she whispered.

You can say that again
. All of his worries about pleasing her faded into the background. She was so responsive, so in tune to what he was doing, he would have no problem making this good for her.

He smiled down at her, and she gave a shy smile back. He made sure to focus on her eyes before he began to withdraw his finger. Her breath hitched. When he had withdrawn almost completely, he thrust back into her all the way, grinding the heel of his hand against the swollen nub throbbing against his palm.

She cried out his name and arched her back. He did it again, and this time she rocked her hips into his thrust, bringing them both closer to the brink of release. He set a rhythm with his hand, and she matched it.

Abilene threaded the fingers of both hands into his hair and pulled him back down for a searing kiss. Their tongues moved in tandem with the thrusts, and Abilene’s hips began to urge him to move faster.

Their breaths mingled. Eli could no longer keep from thrusting against her and moved close once again to grind against her hip.

God, everything felt so
good
. He’d never experienced anything like this before in his life, and he could see himself getting easily addicted to Abilene’s body. To her responses. To the wet silk clenching and unclenching around his finger.

He circled her most sensitive spot with his thumb, and she came apart under his hand. He pulled from the kiss, not willing to miss a second of watching her come.

Her neck arched as her head kicked back for her to cry out with abandon. Her core clamped down on his finger, almost to the point of pain. Her nails dug into his biceps.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Eli worked furiously to memorize every detail. He wanted to remember this moment every day for the rest of his life.

When Abilene finally calmed, she looked at him askance, embarrassment blushing her cheeks.

Oh, no
. He was going to put a stop to that emotion right now. He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “You were incredible,” he whispered. “Abilene, I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight in all of my days.”

Her blush deepened in color, but she smiled up at him. “
I
was incredible?” she asked with a teasing note in her voice. “I didn’t know it could feel like that,” she whispered, her smile fading as she noticed that he was still hard and aching against her hip. “You didn’t… finish?” she asked hesitantly.

Eli raised one eyebrow. “Contrary to previous demonstrations, I don’t always come in my pants like a teenager, darlin’,” he murmured. Eli was trying to joke, to keep things light, but he could feel the pain lurking in the wings, waiting to overtake him again. He needed to slip away and take care of himself as soon as possible, but he couldn’t bear to leave Abilene’s side, yet.

“Do you want me to — ” Abilene looked down, breaking eye contact. “I could … help you. Like you helped me.” Her voice was so quiet that Eli thought maybe his mind had tricked him into thinking Abilene had just offered to take care of his problem for him. He stared at her for a few seconds, trying to remember if he’d seen her lips move.

“E-eli?” Abilene asked. “It was just an idea. I thought — ” she broke off again and looked across the room.

Holy shit
. She had. She’d actually said the words, and now he’d made her doubt herself because he was an idiot. He reached across her body and took her hand in his own. He tugged until he was able to press her hand against the front of his pants. His breath left him in an audible whoosh, and he allowed his desire for her to appear on his face uninhibited. Abilene swallowed, but her eyes met his once again.

“Baby, don’t ever doubt how much I crave your hands on me. Anywhere. Under any circumstances.” He pressed her hand more firmly against his length. “It’s all I can seem to think about around you.”

His words seemed to have their desired effect, and she moved her hand as though emboldened. Hell, this wasn’t going to take long at all. He’d been on the brink moments ago as he watched her come. With one simple movement, she’d brought him right back to that edge.

She moved her hand out from under his, and for a moment he worried that she was going to change her mind. But instead, she pressed against his chest, pushing him onto his back beside her. She rose up on one elbow to look down at his body, and her eyes grew heated. “Can I …I want to see you, Eli.” She was still blushing, but her hand moved to the hem of his t-shirt, making the meaning of her words clear.

She wanted to undress him.

Eli tried to make his movements casual. He figured tearing his clothes off in a rush might be a little frightening, but he was so eager to give her anything she wanted, especially this. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. He dropped it off the edge of the bed, then brought his eyes back to her face to see her reaction.

Her gaze was riveted to his chest, her hand following the direction of her gaze to stroke the valley between his pecs. It was a light touch, but Eli’s stomach muscles clenched, and he bit back a groan.

Abilene jerked her hand away. “Did I hurt you? Is the pain back?” she asked in an anxious voice.

“No!” Eli blurted, startling her further. He took her hand and placed it back on his chest. “It’s the farthest from
hurt
it can possibly be, baby. Trust me.” As soon as her hand landed once again, his muscles restarted their shaking, but this time it made her smile.

“
I
do this to you?” Her voice held wonder, and a bit of pride. He nodded once, holding his breath as she grew more adventurous, stroking her hand down to his abdomen. She traced the ridges of his six-pack, and the slow movements were torturous. She was making her own time and gaining in confidence, but a very persistent part of his anatomy craved her attention.