Page 79 of Under Your Spell

I laugh, the sound high and airless. ‘I don’t think either of us were in a position to draw things out.’

He groans, pushes his hips forward, still hard inside me. I make an answering sound of agreement.

‘Right,’ he says, clearly attempting to muster some self-control. ‘Let’s at least make it upstairs next. I intend to take my time, and I’ve spent six very long weeks dreaming about you in my bed. Or your bed. Really any bed.’

‘Bed sounds good,’ I agree thickly, though I band my arms tighter around him, pull his head down for a long, lingering kiss that escalates quickly to a clash of hands and teeth and tongues.

‘Bed,’ Theo growls finally, pulling away from me, cold air rushing in between us. He deals with the condom, zips his jeans back up. ‘I’d sling you over my shoulder but I learned my lesson about trying to carry you up the stairs.’

He takes my hand, kisses me again, and again, and again. We move slowly, each step interrupted by these long, intoxicating kisses, and I’m rubbing myself against him totally without shame, searching for the friction my body craves. This time we make it as far as the stairs, before I am pushing him down, straddling him, greedy fingers tangled in his hair, his tongue in my mouth.

‘Stop, stop,’ he says, and I freeze.

‘Clemmie. We cannot have sex on the stairs,’ he says sternly. ‘We are grown-up people, only steps away from a comfortable bed. If we don’t move, I’m going to do some serious damage to my back, get carpet burn in unmentionable places.’

Oh God, stern Theo is such a turn-on; my grabby little hands are already reaching for him of their own accord.

His eyes darken and then we’re kissing again, and I think we really are going to have sex on the stairs – even though Theo is right and it is deeply, deeply uncomfortable – because peeling even a millimetre of my skin away from his feels like it is simply not an option.

Then his arm is under my legs and he’s lifting me and my hands are wrapped around his biceps as the muscles there tighten and, oh, his arms, his arms! And somehow he has us both back on our feet. Before I can utter a word of protest, he grabs my hand and drags me up the last of the stairs, practically flinging me through the door to my bedroom – which is the closest – and onto the bed.

‘Clothes off. Now,’ he manages, already stripping off his T-shirt.

I wriggle out of my top and bra – my skirt and underwear having been discarded along the way – and lie back, too turned on to be self-conscious about my own nakedness, too busy taking in every bare inch of Theo’s insane body, the way he’s looking at me with an unholy light in his eyes.

‘This time,’ he growls, ‘we’re doing things slowly.’ My toes curl up at the deep note in his voice, and then he climbs on the bed, moves over me and now that there is nothing between us, now that we are skin to skin, I think I am going to die of the pleasure of it.

And then his mouth is everywhere.

‘I’m obsessed with your skin,’ Theo mutters, then he lifts his head, frowns. ‘That sounded wrong. Not in a creepy serial-killer way. I don’t want to wear your skin…’

‘Shut up, weirdo,’ I giggle, squirming under him.

Theo grins, goes back to pressing open-mouthed kisses over my chest, down my ribs. ‘You’re so soft,’ he sighs, his breath skating over me, making me shiver. ‘So, so soft. You taste so good. I want to bite you.’

‘Again, with the serial-killer vibes,’ I gasp, and he chuckles as he moves so that his lips are at my thighs, and he bites me gently, a scrape of his teeth.

‘Oh my God, Theo,’ I pant a minute later. ‘Please. Please. Please.’

‘So. Fucking. Polite,’ Theo punctuates each word with a kiss. ‘Tell me what you want, Clemmie. Everything you want.’

It’s a perfect kind of torture, and true to his word, Theo draws it out, taking his time, until I feel like I’m going to lose my mind, until I am incapable of words and dimly aware that I am making noises I have never made before. The world shrinks down to the touch of his fingers, his tongue, and when he finally lets me come I feel all my muscles lock, my body bows off the bed.

‘Oh my God,’ I whisper, my heart pounding in my ears. ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’

Theo pulls me to him in a tangle of sweaty limbs, a pleased smile on his face. ‘That was even better than I remember, and I’ve been remembering it a lot.’

‘Oh really?’ I grin.

His arm drifts over my waist, turning me away from him, my back to his chest. ‘Yes, really,’ he says softly, his lips against the shell of my ear. ‘But do you know what has been tormenting me for weeks? Lying there, just on the other side of this wall?’

‘What?’ I ask, breathlessly, pressing myself back against his erection, eliciting a groan of appreciation.

‘The vibrator Serena sent you. Have you been using it?’

‘Yes,’ I say, then add the full truth in a whisper. ‘I was thinking of you.’

Theo flips me onto my back, looms over me, and he looks half-wild now. His teeth flash in a feral smile. ‘Show me.’