Page 26 of If You Dare

“Yes, yes,” she encouraged.

“Yes, what?” he asked with humor in his voice. Then…he slowed down.

The breath was sawing out of her lungs when she said, “Don’t stop, please.”

“I won’t stop,” he promised. “But if you want to come, you’re going to have to say my name.”

One more slow, languid slide nearly shot the top of her head across the room.

“I have all night.” He lowered his head and suckled her nipple.

That’s when she surrendered.

“Marcus.”

He thrust again.

“Marcus, Marcus, Marcus.”

He rewarded her with the press of his thumb paired with another luscious slide. Her orgasm crashed into her like the phantom plates that had shattered in the kitchen. She came apart, splintering into a thousand pieces as her cries of pleasure flooded the room.

She floated there for a moment, enjoying the buzzy sensation in her limbs.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked.

“Shut up.”

He chuckled as he lowered to his elbows for leverage. He brushed her nose with his. She threaded her hands into his hair.

He thrust into her once, twice. By the third time, she felt his hot breath on her neck and heard his low groans of satisfaction in her ear. His body wound tight before his release spilled into the condom. Then his muscles relaxed one by one. He dropped his head next to hers, blowing out another deep breath and fanning the hair at her temple.

“Jesus,” he said, his voice less growly than before.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him close. He held his weight to keep from crushing her, but she didn’t think she’d mind if he did.

He placed a kiss over the pulse in her neck, which was starting to return to normal. He lay there, his lips frozen over her before his muffled voice said, “I’m trying to get up, I swear.”

“No rush. I’m not—” Her words were cut off by the heater and lantern simultaneously kicking on. After so many minutes of darkness, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light.

He lifted his head, blinked a few times, and then met her eyes. She couldn’t look away. He was still inside of her, filling her. They were linked in the most intimate way, his penetrating gaze holding far too much honesty.

She had classified him as simple. One-dimensional. Maybe because she’d been protecting herself. She never wanted to be taken advantage of again—and after Emmett and Andy, her track record sucked.

But now that she was witnessing the vulnerability in Marcus’s eyes, well, everything had changed. That might have been enough to blow her mind if the sex hadn’t. And it had.

He kissed her as he slipped free of her for the final time.

“You won,” she said on an expelled breath. “I said your name.”

He blew out a laugh. “I think we can safely call that a tie.”

The air shifted between them, awkwardness setting in. It was hard to joke around after what they’d shared. She had expected satisfaction. The intensity, not so much.

Wordlessly, they rummaged around, sorting his clothes from hers. She sat on the edge of the mattress and put on her bra. He turned his back to her to take care of the condom.

They dressed, her untangling her panties from the legs of her joggers while he turned his shirt right side out, pausing once to offer a smile to each other. Despite the slight post-sex awkwardness, she liked this. This quiet moment with him as their bodies cooled and their vision cleared.

He tugged his T-shirt over his head. His hair was rumpled and his cheeks were flushed. He was so damn sexy. As sexy as sin on a stick.