Adam took my face in his hands, looking deep into my eyes, and all worry floated away. He kissed me slow and soft, turning my body to putty.
And then he slid home.
One long, hard thrust brought our bodies together.
Pain was sharp and sudden, and I sucked in a breath. A vein in Adam’s neck pulsed as he held himself still over me.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, sweetheart,” he said, the effort of holding still clear in his tone. “You’re so tight…” He groaned.
I breathed through the twinge of pain as my body stretched around him and coated his shaft with my juices.
Soon there was no pain, only pleasure. In search for more, I swiveled my hips tentatively, and he moaned. I rocked against him again. He looked down at me with a passion-laced stare.
“You feel good,” I whispered.
He started to move, to slip in and out of me. My insides stretched around him, and the throbbing of his cock was the center of my world. Tension built in the air, and both of us started moving faster, both of us searching for release.
“Fuck,” he growled, “I’m not going to last.”
“I don’t want you to,” I answered as I lifted my hips to match his pace.
He started pounding in me. My legs fell to the sides, and I gripped his biceps, unable to do anything but let the sensation of being loved by him roll over my body.
Adam plunged deep inside me and his arms began to shake. “Now, sweetheart,” he whispered, then started pulsating against my walls.
The orgasm crashed over me like the waves in the distance, and I clung to him as we both fell over the edge of bliss. When it was over, Adam collapsed on top of me, supporting his weight on his elbows and kissing the inside of my throat.
“That was the best,” he said. “I swear to God.”
I giggled as he rolled off me and stared up at the ceiling. He reached between us and took my hand, linking us together as the sound of the ocean filled the room and the scent of our sex lingered in our noses.
I thought I’d enjoyed sex before… but it had been nothing compared to this. Adam was the man everything else in my life would now be measured against.
Nothing else would ever stand a chance in hell.
I was left there with thoughts sneaking into my bliss. Thoughts I didn’t want, but couldn’t stop. He was the standard now, my standard… What if I wasn’t his?
“Can I ask you something?” I whispered. Nerves knotted my stomach, but still I had to know.
“Anything,” he replied, turning so we were face to face among the pillows.
I smiled, momentarily forgetting the question because he was just so beautiful to me. He’d probably laugh if I told him that.
When I didn’t continue speaking right away, he smiled at me softly and pulled the sheet up, tucking it around my bare skin, and then pushed a few rogue strands of hair out of my face. “I love you,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes and let those words wash over me. Craig used to tell me he loved me, and it had been thrilling. It made me feel special.
But when Adam said the words…
It made me feel whole.
And it brought me back to the question I needed to ask. “Do you see me different now that you know?”
“Know what, sweetheart?” he murmured, brushing my hair back once more.
I almost told him to forget it because the way he was looking at me was a good enough answer. Yet when the after-sex glow faded, I would still want to know.
“Now that you know all the things I let him do to me.”
“You’re afraid I think less of you,” he said.
I nodded. Of course I was. I knew the kind of stereotype that went with women in bad relationships, women who allowed men to treat them like trash. We were weak; we were insecure and scared. We didn’t have enough self-respect to get the hell out, or maybe deep down, we liked being treated like shit.
I didn’t think I could stand it if Adam thought of me that way.
“I’m in awe of you, sweetheart,” Adam said. “I see a woman who is too strong for her own good, who has the capability of loving so unconditionally that she did so at her own detriment. You loved that asshole in spite of himself. You loved him when he didn’t deserve it. Your loyalty astounds me. The fact you stayed true even after you shouldn’t have doesn’t make you weak, honey. It makes you strong.”
“But I let him hurt me,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. I’d never thought about it that way before. I had loved him unconditionally. It just wasn’t enough.
“You got caught up in a shitty situation. You were fucking seventeen. You didn’t know any better. By the time you did, you were in so deep it probably felt impossible to get out.” Adam reached out and stroked the side of my cheek. “But you did. You got out. And now you’re here with me.”
“Most men wouldn’t want to hear about the number an ex did on a woman they were in bed with.”
He smirked. “Sweetheart, I’m not most guys. I’m awesome.”
I giggled. “Yeah. You are.”
“And I’d be a damned hypocrite if I got mad you were in someone else’s bed before mine. I’ve been married four times. Four failed marriages. Frankly, I’m shocked you’d be here with me.”
“I guess we both have a past,” I whispered.
“We both have a future too.” He leaned forward and kissed me, a lingering caress that touched me deep inside. “I don’t give a shit about your past, Rox. It’s your future I’m after,” he murmured against my lips.
A fluttering filled me up inside, making me feel light and jittery. I never thought I’d feel this way again… I never realized the second time around would be even better than the first.
I lifted the sheet and slid beneath it, bringing my body up against his. Both of us were still lying on our sides, facing the other. I draped my arm around his side and pulled him just a little bit closer. My breasts flattened against his chest, and I purred a little with the skin-on-skin contact.
Adam palmed the back of my head and pulled me so he could suck my lower lip into his mouth. My nails dug into his back, and we began kissing hungrily. He rocked his hips toward me and his hardness poked me.
Even though we’d just made love, my body wanted him again. The feel of his stiff cock thrusting against me while his tongue delved into the depths of my mouth had fresh moisture slicking the inside of my thighs and the center of my body.
I lifted my leg and threw it up over his hip, inviting him inside.