Chapter 31: Soft Like Thunder: Chapter 30

I’D BEEN TO EMBARRASSINGLY FEW PLACES, and nowhere outside California except a couple quick trips into Mexico when my mom dragged me to her favorite pharmacy to pick up her medicine. Theo didn’t make fun of me for absolutely gawking at the bright lights and massive hotels on the Strip. He held my hand and indulged my every whim, ducking in and out of hotel after hotel.

After the intensity of his revelations, I thought he needed this, the easiness of being tourists without much care in the world, as much as I did. We ate dinner and walked around until midnight, then we left the Strip to check in to our room at a nondescript hotel. When the clerk asked if we wanted a room with two double beds or one queen, Theo deferred to me. I answered “queen” without missing a beat. I had missed this man badly in every way. I wasn’t sleeping without him.

Theo had given me everything. More than anyone ever had. He’d shown me his ugly, an ugly I never would have guessed by looking at him, by knowing him, by falling for him. I saw his ugly, and it made who he was that much more beautiful.

By the time we walked into our hotel room, I was nervous. I wasn’t the kind of girl who got nervous, not about sex, or really anything besides my sister’s safety. This was new, the things I was feeling for Theo. It wasn’t like how we were before. Now, we were stripped down and raw. Two people who’d revealed themselves and dared each other not to look away. I would never look away from him. It was Theo seeing me in the same way that made me want to hide.

I wouldn’t. I had a feeling if I wanted to, he wouldn’t let me anyway. But the urge was there.

I threw my bag down. “I need a shower.”

Theo made sure the door was locked, then sat on the corner of the bed to toe his shoes off. “I probably do too.”

My stomach swirled. God, he was hot, even with his Elvis glasses on the top of his head. Maybe him being willing to wear them made him even hotter. Those glasses on his head and the blooming warmth in my chest chased away some of my nerves, leaving room for blatant desire.

“We’re in the desert, Theodore.”

His brow furrowed, but he gave a little laugh. “I know that, Tiger.”

I slanted my head in the direction of the bathroom. “So, shouldn’t we conserve water?”

Theo didn’t need more of an invitation. We were undressed and under the hot spray of the shower within minutes, washing each other, embracing and touching like it was our hundred-year reunion instead of weeks.

I’d said I had missed him, and that was true. I missed all of him, including . The way he touched me, like he’d never get enough, like he’d never had anything better, like I was both precious and sensuous.

We dried off hastily, then we were on the bed, kissing, stroking, sucking. Theo rolled me to my back, moving slowly down my body. He stopped at my breasts, cupping them to his mouth to suck the beaded tips. His tongue swirled around my nipple, then his lips closed over it, pulling it deep into his mouth. My back arched and knees tried to press together, but Theo was between them, keeping them open.

“Theo,” I sighed. “Please.”

“Mmm. No. Let me have you, Helen. Give me you.”

I glided my fingers through his wet hair, opening my eyes to watch him travel down my body. “You have me.”

He met my eyes from between my legs, and the look he gave me made me stop breathing. It was fierce and possessive, with kiss-swollen lips and fire in his eyes.

“You me, Theodore. I’m here with you.” I nodded at him. “I’m here just as much as you are.”

That was enough for him. He lowered his mouth to my flesh and kissed those lips like he did the ones on my face. Licking, tasting, savoring. He took his time with me, drawing out my pleasure, giving me tenderness mixed with carnal bliss. It was different than before, and better, not because he was going slow, but because neither of us were holding back.

When I cracked, there was an almost audible boom of thunder. My orgasm rode me like an electric storm, sizzling on my skin, pulling me taut with each spark. Theo cupped my ass and rode the flowing energy crackling in the air with me.

I needed him. Over me. Inside me. So, I told him, and he gave it to me, climbing up my body until we were aligned. His eyes were locked with mine as he pushed into me. I would have said he was trying to torture me with how slowly he entered, if not for the way he was looking at me, like he truly adored me.

It was a lot. Almost too much. But this was Theo. And he was safe. I let it happen, let him see the way I adored him right back, then I wrapped my legs around him, curled my arms around his shoulders, and touched my lips to his to him.

He palmed my breast, brow pinching as he stroked me from the inside. “You’re so soft, baby. So, so soft.”

I nodded, meeting his strokes with the ride of my hips. “For you, I am. Only for you.”

“I’m so fucking lucky to have you like this.” He nipped at my chin and bottom lip. “All for me. I’m the only one who gets to have this.”

I chased his mouth, and he gave it to me, kissing and kissing me as he slid into me so deep, I felt him in my belly. And when he retreated, he dragged along every single one of my live-wire nerves. It had been so long since we were together, but now that he was inside me, there was no rush.

“I never thought I’d have you again. Never thought I’d get to experience your perfect, sweet pussy or touch your smooth skin or taste your pretty lips.” He gave me gentle, sipping kisses while the weight of his pelvis pushed on mine, hitting my swollen clit exactly how I needed. His sensual praise only added to the budding sweep of pleasure gathering between my thighs.

“I missed you,” I breathed. “Don’t fuck up again.”

He smiled into the next kiss and pulled his hips back to fuck me a little harder. My body rocked with the force of his thrusts, so I clung to him tighter, taking the ride Theo wanted to give me. Because I knew he’d make it good and right. He’d give me exactly what I needed.

“I never stopped thinking about you. Not just your sweet pussy. All of you.” He slid his hand under my head to fist my hair and tip it back. “I am so gone for you, Helen.”

My heart didn’t thrash. It calmed and soothed, and I melted, every ounce of fight leaving me until I was nothing more than Theo’s. He must have felt it, because he groaned into my mouth, and his pace picked up, hinting at a desperation to soak up what I was giving him.

Me. I was giving him me.

We were coiled around each other like snakes, squeezing, sliding, getting closer, closer, both moaning, breathing faster. Theo drove into me with more purpose, and he reached between us to circle my clit.

If he hadn’t been crushing me into the mattress, I would have arched with pleasure. But he owned my body and its movements. All I could do was take the mounting pressure in my belly until it became too big to contain, then I dragged my nails along Theo’s shoulders and cried out his name.

He shoved his face into my throat and drove straight through my quivering pussy. Catching my hands in his, he wove our fingers together and raised them above our heads. Tears welled in my eyes from the sweetness of it all.

“Nothing like you, baby. Nothing better. Never, ever,” he declared against my skin. “Need you, need you, need you. Always, Helen. Always needing you.”

I nodded, barely able to move my head. “I love you, Theo.” It was out before I knew it was coming, but I didn’t have a second to regret it. Theo roared my name. His head jerked back to stare down at me in wonder, then he was pulsing inside me, filling me with hot, liquid pleasure that seemed to be endless.

As soon as he was done, he rolled us, taking me on top of his chest. His hands wove through the sides of my wet hair, tilting my head from side to side like he was inspecting me. Then he pressed a kiss to my forehead, my eyelids, my nose, and finally, my lips.

“I love you too, Helen.”

My eyelids fluttered, threatening to take me away from this bare moment, but I didn’t let them close. I stared back at Theo, into his twinkly eyes that were somehow brighter than ever.

“I didn’t mean to say that.”

His lips tipped. “But you meant it.”

I couldn’t help the smile I gave him back. “I meant it.” I knocked my forehead against his chin. “Just…you know, be careful with me. If you decide to dump me again, can you let me down a little easier?”

Theo gripped my chin. “Helen, I just told you I love you and you’re talking about me dumping you? Jesus, baby.”

My shoulder shrugged slightly. “I’m kind of damaged, Theodore.”

His exhale was ragged. “I am too. And I fucked up with you but know this: I have shared with anyone what I shared with you today. Even Andrew doesn’t know most of it. When I say I love you, it’s not like anything I’ve experienced. I wish there were different words to describe what I feel for you. It’s something so deep, it pierces my bones.”

He didn’t say her name, but I knew he was telling me this was a whole new ballgame to what he felt for Abby. Because he was Theo, he recognized that I needed that reassurance and he gave it to me. He gave me more than I could have asked for.

“Okay,” I whispered. “I believe you.”

He swatted my butt lightly. “If you try to dump me, you’re going to have to fake your own death or change identities. I’m not going to let you go otherwise. We tried that, and it was no good. It did not work for me.”

I snorted a laugh and patted his cheek. “It really didn’t work for me, and faking my own death sounds like a lot of work, dude. I’m not down for that.”

He was grinning again, running his hands up and down my spine. “You’re dude-ing me again?”

“Yeah.” I pressed on his bottom lip with my index finger. “I told you I love you, so I think you can handle an occasional dude. You’re not going to get the skater out of me just because you’re my man.”

With a growl, he rolled us again, then he sat back on his knees and flipped me to my front. His hand slid under my belly, raising my hips off the bed, ass in the air. His other hand came down on my butt cheek with a loud smack.

“You’re going to get it.” He smacked me again. “You’re a bad girl, Tiger.”

I grinned at him over my shoulder. “I thought I was your good girl.”

His eyes met mine, and the slow, sensual grin he gave me set me aflame all over again. “You’re so good, you’re bad, baby. Now, it’s time we go over what it means for me to be your man.”

“Dude,” I whispered, giving him hell.

“Tiger.” He outlined the curve of my hips with his hands. “What me being your man means is I would never want to take the skater out of you. What it means is I’m going to take care of you in all the ways you need and that I see fit. It means sometimes I’m going to make love to you, and sometimes I’m going to spank your ass and fuck you dirty.” He leaned over my back, brushing my hair over my shoulder. I shivered from his touch and the things he was saying. “It means is going to know you’re with me and I’m all about you. As your man, if anyone fucks with you, I will them. I love you.”

“I love you too, Theodore.” I was panting from the seductive promises he’d whispered and almost swooning from the sweet. God, this man did it for me.

Theo’s erection slotted between my cheeks, and I groaned, my toes already curling. Then he smacked me between my legs, and I almost shot through the ceiling.

“My baby wants to play,” he crooned.

“I want my man to play with me.”

“Gladly.”

My eyes rolled back in my head when he started his version of playtime. Yeah, this whole being in love and having a boyfriend thing was going to work for me. It was going to work for me in every way.