C9 Torrent

But just as she was going to say something, he stood up and stretched his arms over his head, so his shirt lifted to reveal his tanned, toned abdomen. Just like that, her mouth went dry, and all thoughts dissipated from her mind. So too, her ability to think.

She stepped forward, drawing his attention. She didn’t care. Another step. And another. And when she was toe to toe with him, she looked into his eyes, took a deep breath, and then, without another moment or thought, kissed him.

And he kissed her back. Oh, did he kiss her back. In a heavenly, swooning way, he kissed her as though they were lovers who’d been separated for months and miles, not virtual strangers who’d spent the night naked and in close confines. He kissed her as though she was the answer to a question he’d been trying to find for years. He kissed her and her knees went weak, her body felt heavy, her pulse was torrential. He kissed her and she felt as though she’d died and gone to heaven.

It wasn’t just a kiss though. His hands were on her body, pulling at her clothes, undressing her with the same fevered need as his kiss had communicated, kissing her until she was incandescent and then worshipping her body with his touch, before pulling away, and simply staring at her. “You’re beautiful,” he muttered, so her cheeks flushed self-consciously.

He wasn’t the first person to tell her that, but she’d always put the compliment down as something people said. With Ares, she reallyfeltthe sincerity in his words. He said it almost as if he resented her for being beautiful, as if he wished he didn’t find her so.

“I wanted to see you, so badly last night,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t have imagined,” he gestured to her with a wave of his hands, and then pulled her back against him, kissing her once more, running his hands over her shoulders, her back, her naked bottom, holding her against him, so his rock hard arousal pressed against her sex, driving her quite wild with what she desperately wanted to feel—him, deep inside of her.

“Ryan,” she groaned, rolling her hips, grinding against him.

“I know,” he muttered, and then pulled away, looking around for a second before striding to his pack and pulling out a blanket, which he threw on the ground at their feet before drawing her down with him, laying her on her back, and bringing his body over hers.

He was fully clothed, and yet the textures of his clothing—the buttons, the zip, the fabric—all added to the heady sensuality of what they were doing. Nothing, though, could compete with thefeeling of his arousal at her sex—her naked, him not. It didn’t matter though, because he moved as though he was trying to be with her, and the pleasure for Beth was immense. He was right there, pressing against her in the place that offered multitudes of sensation, so she was suddenly digging her nails into his shoulder and arching her back, crying out as wave after wave of release washed over her, making her whole body tremble.

“So beautiful,” he grunted, against her neck, holding himself still, even when his breath was rushing, and she knew what willpower it must be taking for him to give into this and come with her. She lay on her back, staring up at the milky grey sky, contentment a strangely unfamiliar experience.

Usually, the moment she’d been with a guy, she was pulling away—mentally at least—and working out when she could extricate herself physically. She enjoyed the flirtation, and she enjoyed the physicality of sex, but she hated anything that seemed like a promise for more, and sex definitely ran the risk of that.

With Ryan, everything was different.

She could relax into this, enjoy every moment because they’d both been so clear from the beginning about the limitations of what they were doing. That was so freeing—how could she fail to enjoy the feeling?

“So, tell me something,” he murmured, stroking her back with his nails. Up, down, feeling the bumps of her spine.