AYLETH

Ayleth was close. So close already. When his groan rumbled against her chest, it was as if the heat inside her had only been waiting for him to remove the barrier of their clothing. But then he pushed himself up, away from her, but kept pressing his hips into her in that delicious roll that threatened to send her tumbling over the edge.

She grabbed at him to pull him back down. She wanted his weight and warmth over her. She wanted to touch him and feel his body move. She did not want air between them.

He followed her urging, his hands gripping at her skin, almost too tightly, but it was a delicious pinch that only made her desire spiral higher.

"Are you… are you ready, Ayleth?" he gasped,

"Yes!"

"Are you certain?"

"Etan, please!" she cried, then pulled him into a kiss, her entire body alight with the electricity that only he ever brought from her skin. "Please," she gasped against his lips in time with that delicious slide. "Please."

He groaned, then tilted his hips. On the next slide their bodies caught and the promise of what was to come made her breath stop. But he didn't push, only rolled away, leaving her gasping again.

"Etan," she whispered.

Then he did it again, but this time, the first intrusion, a sparkling tension in her flesh that stopped her breath hard.

"Ayleth?"

"Please, that feels… amazing."

He moaned and dropped his head to the spot where her neck met her shoulder, muttering something under his breath that sounded like a prayer, then he rolled into her again, slowly, the tiniest progress.

Her body went up in flames. Her breath tore from her throat as, with each roll, he took her more and more, further and further, until he reached the barrier within her.

Pushing himself up on his elbows, still rolling into her, but not pressing beyond her barrier yet, he locked eyes with her and Ayleth's mouth dropped open in stunned appreciation for his beauty. His near-black hair was mussed as if he'd been in a windstorm, falling over his forehead, into his eyes, over his ears. His jaw was tight and twitching with his fight for control. Those cords in his neck stood proud, and his shoulders were tense. But his hands on her skin were gentle.

And as she began to gasp and arch higher, he cupped his hand over her head, as if to keep her safe. "I love you, Ayleth," he breathed, then thrust.

Her mouth dropped open in a combination of sparkling joy, and a burst of deep pain, but something happened to her when he took her so fully. As if he moved aside a space within her that had been aching for him all this time. As if he suddenly inhabited her soul.

"Ayleth?!"

"Don't stop!" Despite the pain, her body tingled with pleasure—and the pain began to ease as they moved together.

Her head tipped back and he kissed her throat, open mouthed, his teeth scraping her skin so gently as he moaned.

She clung to his shoulders, his name on her lips as they met in this beautiful ache again, and again.

She was so desperately close. Everything trembled. Her skin seemed to shiver as she pulled him closer and he breathed her name into her hair and it sent goosebumps down her shoulder and back.

Then he began to press and hold at the peak of each thrust so that Ayleth couldn't breathe until he relaxed—but then invaded her again.

She began to keen as his breathing rasped harsher, tiny whimpers and cries that she couldn't control.

"Ayleth!"

"Don't stop, please, please…"

He kissed her, his tongue a tantalizing reflection of his body as he dragged a hand down her side, then slid it between them, bringing his thumb to the center of her and finding the bundle of nerves that sparked and jolted.

She arched again, crying out.

He raised his head to watch her. "Ayleth, oh fuck—"

"Etan!"

He rolled into her, then slid his thumb up from where they joined to that bubble of sparkling promise and in half a breath, she shattered, the world exploding in that cascade of pleasure he'd wrung from her before, but this time… it was as if he'd touched her inside too. As if he'd stroked her soul.

The world became very small, composed only of this soft, warm, ecstatic place where they joined—no longer two people, but one.

Her hand slapped as she grabbed for his shoulder, crying his name, mindless, heedless of anything but him.

"Oh, love… oh love…" he gasped as she twitched and cried, but he didn't stop, continued to touch and kiss and roll until her breath rolled out of her in huff and her entire body shivered.

"Oh… oh Etan…" she whispered, biting her lip when he thrust again.

His eyes were so dark they were almost black, his mouth open and breath heaving.

Finding herself again, she framed his face with her shaking hands, fingers in his hair, thumbs on his cheeks. She wanted to tell him what she felt, what she continued to feel, but she could only think to kiss him, pulling him down over her, arching against him until he too cried her name, jerking, his long, strong body suddenly out of control and shuddering.

He rolled into her two more times, then collapsed, one hand over her head, the other at her hip.

Ayleth lay there, blinking, her heart still thundering, breath still panting, while Etan gasped at her neck.

Oddly, she found herself near tears. But tears of joy. As if he'd opened something inside her that had been waiting to find him.

Blinking the emotion back, unwilling to concern him, she held him close as he stroked her hair and waited for his breathing to return to normal.

Then, as they both began to quiet, their bodies sated and soft, she found her courage. "Etan?" she asked quietly.

"Are you okay?" He pushed up on his elbows to meet her eyes, his crinkled with concern.

But she smiled and stroked his face. "I've never been better. I just… I have a question."

He gave a lopsided grin. "What is it? Anything."

She swallowed. "Is it like that for everyone?"

His face crumpled and he dropped his forehead to hers, stroking her hair and swallowing before he answered.

"Never, Ayleth," he whispered. "Only for us."