sympathize. She didn’t know what would happen between them, or how things might play out with Josh and the job or anything else, but she knew one thing. She would not let him regret being brave enough to speak his emotions aloud.
“I feel the same way. You are way more to me than a gorgeous man and a source of amazing sex. I love that you’re loyal, and that you struggle to do what’s best. And I just… I love you. Period.”
And now the breath-holding begins, she thought, watching his reaction. She wasn’t sure what reaction she’d expected to her rather rambling affirmation. What she got was a silent, searching look that she interrupted by kissing him again.
He didn’t have to say anything. She didn’t need him to. She could love him, even without his permission. If nothing else, she was glad she’d finally told him.
Before she’d quite cleared her head, Thomas, in typical Thomas style, took over the kiss, sank his hands into the hair at her nape, but only so that he could pull free of her.
“Stop,” he said. “You don’t have to let me off the hook like that. I don’t think I could ever explain what it means that I can even feel this way. It was like you brought the sun back. Brought some life back into life. Nothing else matters as much as that.”
She was then carefully kissed as if he were trying to underline the important parts of what he’d just said. She followed along as best she could, feeling humbled and lucky and cherished, all at once.
She finished undressing him, returning to her knees to bring his boxers down, and of course spending a great deal of time seeing how far she could take him into her mouth. But before things could get too out of hand, he hauled her back to her feet.
“Armor and body paint,” he reminded her. He took her into the bathroom. In the shower, he helped to peel off and collect all the little pieces, and scrub away all the paint. Then it was back out to the main room. Thomas pressed buttons on a remote until the video panel inside the faux fireplace showed a log fire. He turned on some soft music they both liked, and then sat on the throne and made her lie across his lap, belly down.
“Relax,” he told her. “Watch the fire.”
She let Thomas steer from there. He began by rubbing oil onto her back, simply massaging and soothing, lulling her into a nice warm haze. He moved on to her arms, then the back of her thighs, giving her bottom a light smack when she took advantage of some stray oil to sway gently against his erection.
“Not yet.”
“Yes, sir.”
He made a low sound in his throat and let his hand slide over her left buttock. It became more difficult to relax as he began anew with the oil, using his palms, warming and igniting. Teasing.
He moved on with one more smack. “It’s almost time. Get up.”
“Time for what?” She crawled off him, watching his face, waiting for an answer.
“You’ll see. Turn away from me and stand with your feet a little bit apart. There, okay. And now bend over.”
She whimpered, wondering what havoc he could wreak on her senses in this position. She obeyed while he slid forward on the throne to run well-oiled hands over her buttocks before moving toward the center.
Bent over this way, she was spread wide for him. He put his thumbs to work, massaging the tight muscles around her anus. Smearing the oil. She hummed out a note of pleasure. He used a gentle, light touch. Perfect for a nice, slow build.
“All right. Back into my lap.”
Her legs shook while she obeyed. Where was he going with this? And how long would it take him to get there? Her pussy was so sensitized she wanted to cry from the assault of sensation just crawling back onto the throne and lowering herself into position.
Thomas took some small mercy, oiling up his hands once more and hinting her toward what awaited them. He brought the tip of his index finger to her anus. So not like Josh. Thomas pressed in deep, bringing another hurricane of