Page 44 of Inez

"Do you want me to?" I ask. "I would not complicate things by inserting my silly feelings into a situation that isn't about me."

“Your feelings aren't silly, Ren."

I kiss her again. "No, I suppose not. But they're not important right now. And if I'm being honest, I think you're trying, perhaps subconsciously, to make this a conversation so you can avoid the thing you're afraid of."

Her brow furrows as she considers this. "Fuck. You're right."

She pulls away out of kissing distance, her head on the round of my shoulder, searching me with her dark eyes. I hold her gaze, smiling, hoping my expression conveys patience and understanding and love.

Her gaze flits away from mine after a moment, dancing over my chest to the edge of the blanket resting an inch or so above my navel. She stops breathing, swallows hard—a heartbeat passes in silence. Another. And then she peels the blanket down, exposing my ramrod-stiff cock inch by inch, until the blanket is at my knees.

She sucks in a sharp breath. "You're magnificent, Lorenzo. Do you know that?"

I shrug. "I am pleased you think so,amor."

She hesitates, clutching the blanket down near my knee so tightly her knuckles are white, and then releases her grip, flexing her fingers as if to release the tension. Her palm settles on my thigh. Drifts up, up, up to my hipbone. Lifts, hovers over my erection…and then drops back to my hip.

She buries her face in my chest, making a frustrated whining sound. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"No apologies, remember? As long as you need. Or we just rest for now and you try again another time."

“I want to, though, that's what's so frustrating. You made me feel so good. You gave me my first orgasm in I don't even know how long. Since the last time you made me come, I suppose. Iwantto touch you. Iwantto make you feel good."

"Holding you—"

"Oh,stop, Lorenzo," she snaps, a hint of the old Inez peeking through. "Be real for a second. Be selfish."

"Never. And Iambeing real." I sigh. "But, yes, Sophia. I want you to touch me. Very, very badly. I've dreamed of it and daydreamed of it for so long. But it has to beright. It has to be inyourtime."

She swallows noisily again, staring at me. "Kiss me, Ren. Please. Kiss me…" she trails off, closing the distance between our mouths, so her whisper huffs hot on my lips. "Kiss me like you want me."

I tighten my grip on her hip and cup her cheek, touch my lips to hers, tease her with my breath, flick my tongue against her teeth. She pushes her mouth to mine, whimpering a soft gasp of desire when I pull away, teasing, teasing, and then slash my tongue into her mouth. "Ren!" she hisses. "Please."

I growl my need for her and crash my mouth onto hers, giving her the kiss she wants—hot, hard, aggressive, and full of my raging desire for her. We kiss this way for a moment or two, heads angling this way and that as we battle for supremacy.

She pulls away first, panting. "It gives me courage when you kiss me like that, Lorenzo."

I slowly allow my hand to drift from her hipbone to the small of her back, and then down to her ass. Her eyes fly wide and she sucks in a breath, holds it.

"Okay?" I ask.

She nods jerkily. "Yes. I…yes. It's good."

"Thank god, because this ass of yours," I squeeze it. "It's fucking marvelous."

She blushes, turning her face into my chest. "I'm not good at compliments."

“That's alright. I'll give them until you are, and then keep on giving them."

She kisses my chest, and then turns and tilts her face down, staring at my manhood, and her hand on my thigh mere inches away.

"I can do this," she breathes, more to herself than to me. “I want to. I will. I am."

Jerkily, hesitantly, she moves her hand inward on my thigh, and then upward by millimeters. Halts with her thumb nearly touching the bottom of my balls. I can't breathe, the anticipation too intense.

She lifts her hand as if to grasp me, and then her fingers clench into a fist and rest on my thigh again. "Fuck."

"It's alright. It's okay, Sophia."