CHAPTER 22
“You’re wrong, Ares.”
Nine years. She’d waited nine years for him to come around. Nearly an entire decade for him to look in the mirror and see what she did every time she looked at him.
Tonight, Kelsey was done with waiting.
Either he was willing to finally open his eyes to everything that she saw, everything she knew to be true.
Or he wasn’t.
“I’m not trying to fix you.” She refused to let her hands tremble. Wouldn’t allow her stomach to twist. “You don’t need anyone to do
that. Can’t you see that you’re already perfect just the way you are?”
He stared at her for a long moment.
“No,” he finally said, “you’re the one who’s perfect.”
She didn’t have time to breathe, or even to blink, before he was hauling her up the elevator wall and crushing his lips to hers. His
kiss was brutal and beautiful.
And, oh God, he tasted like pure bliss.
Her mouth opened beneath his, and she wrapped her arms and her legs around him, holding him tight against her. He consumed her,
testing every hollow and dip of her mouth, caressing her tongue with his, letting her feel all his heat, his muscles, his arousal against
her.
The elevator dinged, and he lifted his mouth from hers. “Don’t leave me.”
“I never could. Not then. Not now.”
She was still in his arms, still curled around him, as he strode out of the elevator and down the hall toward their rooms.
His defenses were down after the day he’d had, after all they’d talked about tonight. Any other night, she would have made
absolutely sure she wasn’t taking advantage of the situation, or of him.
But she couldn’t stop now. Even if he decided in the morning that it was all a mistake. She wanted all of him now, so she wouldn’t
worry about the rest until later.
Kelsey had fallen head over heels for Ares when she was twenty-one. She couldn’t wait another second to love him with every part
of her body, heart, and soul.
At the door to his room, he held her up against the wall and took her mouth hungrily. No man had ever kissed her as if he needed to
devour her, to make her his, to bind her to him.
Didn’t he know that her heart was already bound to him? That she had been his from the very first time she walked into his
classroom and he’d smiled at her?
His breath brushed her lips, his forehead against hers. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure.” Even if there were regrets in the morning, she didn’t care. Kelsey needed tonight. “I want you. I want
to be with you.”
He stared down at her, his gaze intense. And so hot with desire that it took her breath away. “I don’t have any protection.”
“I’m on the Pill. And there hasn’t been anyone for months.” There’d only ever been Ares in her heart.
He shoved the card key in and pushed the door open, pulling her inside with him. The lock clicked with finality behind them—and
this time, she didn’t wait for him to kiss her.
She was so done with waiting.
Pressing her lips to his, she reveled in his groan and in how badly he wanted her. She licked over his tongue once, then again.
Slipping her hand beneath his open coat, she splayed her fingers over his chest, loving how his body pushed into hers almost
involuntarily, tantalizing her with the feel of every one of his hard muscles.
All day and all evening, she’d been wholly aware of him, every move, every look. Now, her fantasies turned blissfully real as he
lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed.
He set her down and stepped back to look at her.
“Kelsey.” His voice was a reverent whisper as he slid her coat down her arms and let it fall to the carpet. “You are so beautiful.”
She pushed his jacket from his shoulders. “So are you. Not only beautiful, but a good man too. In every way.”
“I’m not.”
Her heart squeezed at the pain and guilt in his voice. “How can I make you see that you are?”
“If only I’d been able to not look at you,” he said, almost to himself. “To not see how beautiful you are.” He took her hand, lifted it
to his chest, as though she could absolve him of his crimes if only he confessed. “The Halloween party. I saw you there.” A muscle
jumped in his jaw. “I wanted you there. Wanted you with everything I am.”
“I felt your eyes on me.” She put her hands to his face, made sure he was looking into her very soul. “I wanted you too. With all my
heart. And I’m not sorry or guilty for the way I feel about you.”
“Kelsey.”
Her name was still on his lips as he gathered her close again and kissed her like he’d been waiting forever for her.
The way she’d been waiting forever for him.
He trailed his fingers down her face, along her throat, over her back to her hips. His fingertips played along the small bare patch of
skin between her jeans and her sweater. A beat later, her sweater came off, her jeans quickly following, until she was in nothing but
panties and bra.
“God.” His voice was reverent. And full of the most delicious lust. “Do you know how many times I’ve imagined you just like this?”
He skimmed his hands over her body without actually touching, and yet electricity arced between them. “Today, on the plane, you
were all I could think about. I wanted to kiss you. Touch you. Strip you bare and love every inch of you with my hands.” He traced a
finger along the sky-blue lace edge of her bra. “With my mouth.” His lips dropped to swells of her breasts.
Kelsey threaded her fingers through his hair and arched up into him as he brushed the gentlest, the sweetest—and the filthiest—
kisses along her flushed skin.
Her breath was coming in short pants when he finally lifted his head again. “You.” It was all she could get out at the moment.
“Naked.”
Her hands trembled from the force of her need as she reached for his shirt and slipped the buttons free. She’d seen him without his
shirt during pool parties and barbecues, but when she pushed the crisp blue cotton from his shoulders, she lost her breath.
Finally—finally!—she could touch him, run the flat of her hands over his warm, tanned skin, his corded arms, his broad shoulder
muscles. At long last, she could lean in and brush her lips over his chest. Kiss the hot flesh over his beating heart.
The more she touched, the more she tasted, the more she wanted. And her hands no longer shook as she undid the top button of his
slacks, then slid the zipper down.
“I want to touch you.” She licked her lips, watched as his eyes moved to her mouth, his gaze hungry. “I need to touch you.”
“What are you waiting for?”
He was right. She was done waiting.
They both were.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself flush to him. Skin to skin, chest to chest, heart to heart.
She tilted her head back so she could see his face. So he could see the flush of desire on hers. “Love me, Ares. I don’t want to wait
any longer.”
Her words galvanized him. After tossing the covers back, he picked her up and almost tossed her onto the bed, climbing up over her.
Then he slowed everything down, trailing his hands up her stomach, making her quiver. “So much pretty lace.” He edged her bra
with his finger, dipping inside to caress her nipple. Dragging the lace down a centimeter at a time, he leaned in to take her aroused
flesh between his lips.
His mouth. God, it was good. So good. Better than anything else had ever felt.
She arched against him, holding his hips down to her, rubbing herself against him as he tasted her.
He snapped the front clasp of her bra and pushed the cups aside. “You’re so soft, so perfect.” He traced his tongue between the two
peaks, and she cried out, sensation streaking down to her center, out to her limbs, making her fingers and toes tingle.
He slid the straps down her arms and pulled the bra from beneath her, tossing it away. Then he brushed down her belly again, until he
reached the lace panties. With the tip of one finger, he traced the line of her sex. She shivered, moaned, as he leaned into her, sucking
on her throat, licking her.
Then he slid inside the panties and found her center.
“Jesus. You’re so wet, so ready for me.” He kissed her hard, stroking again, just barely touching her overheated skin as she shook
with need. “I need to be inside you.” His fingers delved deep, and she gasped.
“Yes.” She was almost incoherent as she pressed hard into his hand. She had just enough brainpower left to tug his boxers down.
With her feet, she kicked them off his legs. And then she did what she’d long dreamed of, curling her fingers into a fist around him
and stroking.
“Sweetheart, you’re killing me.”
“Then take me, Ares. Now.”
“I need to taste you first.” He hauled her up the bed until her head was on the pillow and kissed her lips, tasting deep. “Every inch of
you.” He trailed his tongue around the shell of her ear, and she dug her fingers into his arms. “I can’t get enough of you.” He kissed
down her throat, her chest, lavishing her with tongue and mouth, teasing her breasts.
She writhed beneath him. “Ares, please.”
She was begging him for all of it—his mouth between her legs, his body inside her, his heart open to hers. She’d dreamed of him for
too long, watched him for too many years, knowing he would never be hers, never touch her, never kiss her. Yet he’d owned her soul
almost from the moment she’d seen him.
And now they were here. Together. Loving each other.
At last.
But he didn’t rush as he layered kisses down her stomach. And he was right, the extra little bit of anticipation only made it better.
Hotter.
She rubbed her hands up and down his arms, over his back, ran her fingers through his hair, growing desperate as he reached for her
panties and slowly stripped them down her thighs. She was going to burst, was going to explode if she had to wait one more sec—
He swiped over her with his tongue, and she nearly came off the bed, almost shattered into a million little pieces with just that one
small wet lick over her most sensitive flesh.
“More,” she whispered, the word close to a sob.
He twirled around her with his tongue, excited all her cells into wild, crazy motion. Suckling and licking and tantalizing and turning
her into a mindless creature that couldn’t think, only feel. And beg.
“Please, Ares. Please.”
Her hips moved beneath him, pushing him. She climbed higher, reaching for the fire in the sky. He clamped his hands on her hips
and held her tighter, so close that she couldn’t feel any space between them.
Then he slid his fingers inside, and she lost conscious thought, lost everything but the ability to scream, losing herself completely to
him.
The same way she had so very long ago, from nothing more than his smile.
* * *
Ares had never known lovemaking could be like this.
There was so much joy in touching Kelsey, so much wonder in kissing her, so much beauty in tasting her. He loved her voice, loved
her abandon, loved that she seemed to crave the things he did to her.
He’d needed her for so long and never known it.
No, that wasn’t true. He’d just never wanted to admit it. He’d been able to admit only that he enjoyed being with her, talking to her,
listening to her, exploring her mind, sharing books and laughter with her.
He’d never let himself question why she brought him so much happiness, because questioning would have destroyed the life he’d so
carefully built.
Only to have it implode anyway.
Tonight he was asking only for a few precious hours of joy. A few stolen moments with a woman who had never hurt him, could
never hurt him. All he wanted was the chance to hear Kelsey’s cries of ecstasy…and to forget everything but her, for one perfect
night.
“Show me,” he whispered. Her reaction to his caresses had been an epiphany. “Show me how to do that. How to let go of everything
and just feel.”
“You already know how.” She took his arms in her hands, drew him up until he hovered over her.
He looked into her eyes and realized she was right. “I do.”
But only with her.
Everything he was, everything he ever wanted, everything he ever needed, came down her. To this moment when he moved inside
her. To the heat of her slick skin around him. To the breathless press of his body deep into hers. To the heady sound of her gasps, her
moans, her long, low sigh, as if she was finally exactly where she was meant to be.
Ares closed his eyes to feel her fully, shifting so that he grazed the spot inside that made her shiver and quake. Then her muscles
contracted around him in pure heaven, and he had to see her again. Had to look into her eyes as her pupils dilated and his name fell
from her lips.
His body ached for faster, harder. But he wanted to hear her scream again, to know he could make her as happy as she’d always
made him.
She panted as he thrust deep, dug her fingers into his arms, rolled with his body. The muscles of his arms quivered and strained as he
held them straight to drive slowly, deeply again, to caress her inside and out.
She pulled her legs up to his waist and threw her head back. “Ares,” she cried out, her body spasming around him, her nails scoring
the skin on his arms.
Her pleasure broke him apart, stole the last of his self-control as her climax exploded around them both.
He saw stars. He felt bliss. He reached heaven.
All because she took him there with her.
