Page 142 of Ashen Souls

When he pushed my knees wider and leaned down, the shock of his mouth made me cry out instantly. Skipping any gentle teasing, he pressed his tongue firmly against my swollen clit and slid upward in a long, slick stroke. I twisted my fingers into his hair, pulling at the strands as his mouth worked over me with a greedy, demanding rhythm. I tried to lift my hips, wanting it deeper, but he clamped his hands over my upper thighs, holding me firmly in place while his mouth swallowed me. An agonizing tension coiled low in my stomach, dragging me toward a climax so fast my body started trembling violently.

“Please.” The word broke in my throat, sounding desperate.

He answered by locking his hands down on my hipbones, holding me immobile. His mouth bore down harder, his tongue moving so fast and ruthlessly that any attempt to stay quiet shattered. Every muscle in my body seized. My spine bowed off the sheets, my thighs clamping against his head as I finally let go, the pleasure tearing a raw scream from my throat. My hands let go of his hair, my fists gripping the tangled sheets as the climax ripped through my body in sharp, rolling spasms.

He slid up my body, his chest rising and falling heavily against mine, the broad, muscular heat of his frame enveloping me as he pinned me down. He kissed my jaw, then pressed his mouth hard over mine. The faint taste of myself on his tongue was so intimate that it sent a fresh shiver through my body, making my hips jerk under him one last time.

“Ethan,” I breathed, my head falling back against the pillow.

He hovered above me, every muscle in his arms pulled tight as a wire. “Tell me what you want, Miss Hart.”

“You. Just you,” I breathed, pulling him down. “I want you inside me.”

He resisted the pull of my hands, his entire body going rigid. “Fuck, Aveline,” he ground out. “I don't have anything with me.”

“I’m on the pill,” I answered, my fingers digging into his waist. “It's fine. Ethan, please.”

His jaw tensed. He didn't make me ask twice, his hands dropping to the buckle of his belt.

He shoved his remaining clothes down his hips, kicking the mess aside. A second later, he was settling his weight between my open thighs.

His hands caught the backs of my knees. With a sudden, decisive motion, he pushed my legs wide and hoisted them right over his shoulders, opening me up completely to him. His hands dug into my hipbones, anchoring me to the mattress.

Ethan held my gaze, refusing to look away as he pushed the thick, blunt head of his cock against me. He sank inside me in one long, stretching thrust. The overwhelming fullness made my head fall back into the pillows, exposing my throat as the breath was driven from my lungs. My nails bit into his arms.

“Look at me,” he commanded. “I want to look you in the eye when you come.”

I obeyed, lifting my eyes to his. I had never felt so seen, or so utterly at his mercy.

He gave me one breath to adjust to the filthy size of him before he started moving. He set a relentless rhythm from the very start. His hips hit mine with a raw, wet smack that echoed against the walls. The angle was devastatingly good, forcing him deep every single time he bottomed out. My hands clawed their way up his sweat-slicked shoulders until I had a fistful of his hair. I hauled him down to kiss him, but he resisted, keeping the distance, forcing me to stay present. I didn't want thoughts. I needed him to keep driving into me, faster and harder, until the only thing left of me was the heat of his flesh and the sound of my own voice calling his name.

I stared into his darkened hazel-green eyes, his mouth hovering just a fraction of an inch from mine. We shared the same shaky, desperate breaths, our chests heaving against each other. My body seized hard. The muscles deep inside me spasmed, clamping brutally around him as I simply fractured. A broken sound escaped me, caught and swallowed by his mouth before it could even form.

The way I clenched around him was his final undoing. His fingers dug ruthlessly into my hips. He wrenched his mouth away, swearing against my throat as he buried himself impossibly deep, his entire body locking up as his cum pulsed into me in surges.

He let my legs slide from his shoulders to wrap loosely around his waist, but he stayed inside me. He kept me pinned flat, his arms wrapped under my back like a vise.

When he raised his head, there were no walls between us. His eyes were focused, stripped down to nothing but a tender, staggering devotion. He smoothed a strand of hair from my forehead, his thumb tracing the curve of my cheekbone.

“I told you,” he whispered. “I’m not letting you walk away from me.”

“You'd better not,” I managed, my voice thick with everything I couldn't find the words to say.

My eyes burned, and a hot tear spilled over, tracing a path toward my temple.

Ethan noticed it. His thumb caught the drop before it could disappear into my hair.

“None of that,” he murmured. “I’m right here. I’m staying.”

He kissed me then, the brush of his lips so slow and soft it made my heart ache. He lingered there, tasting me with a quiet care, the gentle slide of his mouth saying everything he couldn't bring himself to say.

Minutes slipped by in the warm silence before he shifted, slipping out of me, but he didn't let the distance last for even a second. He pulled the blanket over us, tucking my back against his chest and locking his arm around my waist. I closed my eyes, listening to the rhythm of his breathing.

For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I actually felt safe.

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♫ SNOW PATROL—MAKE THIS GO ON FOREVER