Page 29 of Tears of Gold

I shrug my shoulders, my breath catching a little. I want more of that kiss. I want it all over that damn house, in every room, on every surface. Under his touch I burn like I’m spread on a pyre.

“It was a big day for you. I can handle some removal trucks.” I don’t add that I had to get my best friend up to help. Let’s keep a little mystery in place.

“She did it on purpose. She did it today, so you’d cave under the pressure.”

Leaning forward, I press my lips against his, my hand sliding through his hair, breathing in the scent of us together in the small space of the car. “I didn’t cave.”

He kisses me and it’s like with every movement of his lips he’s telling me a story, telling me how much he loves me, wants me. I know because it’s the same story I’m telling him with every flick of my tongue. Every sigh of breath I exhale.

“Take me inside and make love to me, Eli.”

He turns and gets out of the car and on shaky legs I clamber out of the driver’s side. I’ve so much to tell him: my meetings today, the arrangements I’ve made with Miss Beesley, everything.

But I want him inside me more than anything else.

Need him inside me.

I use our new front door key to unlock the huge shiny black door and then push him against the other side. My fingers pull at his tie, unravelling the rest of the knot. His fingers tangle in my hair, his body hard against mine, strength and desire ready to take me down.

“Bedroom,” he mumbles against my mouth.

“I didn’t choose.” My words are tangled and breathy.

“I’ll pick.” His hikes me up into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist. “First sodding door I get to.”

He almost runs us up the stairs, and he’s not lying, he goes to the first door on the left of the sweeping staircase. The room is empty, the boxes from the Mews are all still downstairs. In the darkness, lit just by the yellow glow of the street lamps outside, I can make out a bed, and that’s about all. He stalks for the bed, throwing me onto the mattress. My chest thrums wildly. His desire to take me and my need to be taken steals all words from between us.

This is us at our most basic level. A brush of a kiss. A stroke of fingertips, and an overwhelming desire to dive in and never surface again.

I dig my heels into the mattress, and scoot my way further up the bed. He pulls at his shirt, tugging it over his head, and his chest gleams in the soft light. Falling to his knees, he edges his way closer. Between my legs, a painful heat burns and scorches, anticipation running through me like a wild river of hot metal. Slowly, his fingers run down my neck, along my collarbone, and the roses he loves so much, until it drops around the swell of my breast. My nipple hardens from under his touch. Cupping his hand around the back of my neck, he tilts my chin upwards, lifting me so my mouth is against his, my breath pushing my aching breasts into his naked chest.

I want him in me. It aches with intensity.

Giving myself up, I push from his hold and fall back down onto the mattress, raising my hands above my head so he can take me as he pleases.

His hands run under my clothes, loosening the fastenings until he has me naked and under him. When his palm slides firmly down my stomach, and his fingers slide into the tingling nerve endings between my legs, I groan loudly.

“Lay still,” he whispers, dropping further down my body. I can almost sense the weight of his gaze as he watches his fingers slide deep within me. With his other hand he uses his thumb to circle my clit. I moan, but I don’t move, somehow keeping my hips from pushing up and meeting him.

In and out, his fingers torment me until I’m almost sobbing and riding the crest of an uncontrollable orgasm. It builds higher and higher, my moans running into one another as his hands work faster. As I teeter over the edge, he grabs me. Hoisting me up, his hands lift me and plant me on his lap. Freed and with movement tingling in my limbs, Settling down, I loop my hand around his neck while I push him deep inside me. He groans heavily, his forehead resting against mine. I push him so far inside it hurts, but I don’t care. My orgasm—so close only moments before—comes back, sweeping across me, and I arch my back, splintering into thousands of pieces. His palm caresses between the valley of my breasts as our hips rock together in a slow and steady rhythm.

“I love you.” He clutches me closer and I wrap around him tight.

* * *

“I can’t believe you didn’t call me.” Eli shakes his head and glares at the ceiling. His hands are tucked under his head and I’m sprawled across his chest. I’d be happy to stay here forever.

“What was I supposed to say? And anyway, if I’d called you would have worried.”

“I would have blasted my mother out of the bloody universe.”

“Exactly.” I press a kiss against his chest. “And I could handle it, and I want your mother to know that.”

His lips curve into a smile, but the pinched lines still crease the skin around his eyes. “I’m sure she was very disappointed.”

It’s my turn to sigh. “Is it always going to be like this?”

He shrugs, his arms lowering and wrapping me tight into him. “I hope not, but the Fairclough family is a battleground. I’ve never known anything different.”