Burning Bright

Chapter 11

Except Eoin had kissed away my resistance as well as my tears and, completely captured by the spell I was sure he had cast on me, I couldn’t deny it any longer. I wanted him, and that desire was stronger than anything else, than everything else. I simply couldn’t resist and I tentatively turned my face up towards his, hoping he would respond, and then our lips were touching and I tasted first the salt of my tears, and then the sweetness of his lips. I couldn’t help it. He was hesitant at first, responding only to my pace, but I increased the pressure until he was kissing me properly, his mouth hard on mine as I clung to him, wanting to feel his body against mine, running my fingers into his soft hair.

I could have carried this on for hours, his kiss was so all consuming, varying from tender and gentle through to hard and demanding, my whole body responding to him. His hands were firm on my back, fingers massaging the muscles either side of my spine. Gently he pulled away from me and then just stood looking at me. I didn’t want this to stop.

‘Kate?’ he eventually asked.

‘Eoin, I can’t . . .’ I began, not able to meet his gaze, my mind a whirl of decisions and contradictions. He took a step back from me, releasing me, but I caught hold of his arm. ‘No, wait. I . . . I can’t help this. I can’t ignore the way I feel about you. I know I’m not supposed to . . . but . . . Eoin . . .’

He stroked his hand over my hair and then cupped my face, turning it back up towards his. ‘I’m glad you did. That was . . . amazing. But I understand,’ and he released me.

‘No! No you don’t.’ I just couldn’t seem to get the right words out, I was struggling to breathe at all.

‘What is it, Kate?’

‘Eoin? Oh God,’ and I slid my arms back around his neck and started to kiss him again. I could feel him sigh as he responded and it was wonderful, his hands now running up my back and into my hair, pulling me harder against him. It seemed like forever but was probably only a few minutes before my body was urging me on. I slipped my fingers under the edge of his T-shirt and found the warm, smooth skin of his back, stroking it gently, every touch igniting more nerves around my body, exploring him as I’d already imagined doing. I pushed his T-shirt up his body, wanting to release him from his clothes. His lips parted from mine and I immediately missed them. ‘Eoin?’ and I nudged him in the direction of my bedroom.

‘You sure? I mean, you said . . .’

‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.’

He flickered a grin. ‘Thank God.’

He pulled off his T-shirt as he followed me into the bedroom and tossed it onto the chair. And then he took hold of my hands and kissed my fingers, his hair swishing onto them. I was trembling now, partly with lust, partly with fear of the knowledge that I could not go back from this.

And then he simply looked at me with such intensity that the nervousness stopped. This was what I wanted, what I needed. Eoin to be looking at me like this.

‘You OK?’ he whispered. I nodded and then reached up to kiss him again. His arms folded around me. ‘Kate, oh Kate,’ he whispered between kisses. I’d always wished I had a less staccato name. Eoin was so easy to whisper, the name flowing mellifluously from my lips, but Eoin managed to make my name sound so seductive that every nerve was attuned to him.

I understood that he was letting me set the pace. Part of me wanted to throw him on the bed and leap on him immediately, but the rest of me wanted to savour this moment, certain now that this was the right decision. Eventually I led him to the bed. He undid the buckle and belt of his jeans and then stepped out of them, his eyes never leaving mine.

‘I thought this would never happen,’ he whispered. ‘Oh Kate, you’re so beautiful,’ and at that precise moment, I felt it. I stepped closer, pressing myself against him, feeling his reassuring hardness in his underwear. This was really going to happen. I felt his fingers stroking up my skin under my T-shirt. He gently tugged at the hem and I relented and removed it, and undid the tie of my shorts so they slid to the floor. He kissed me again, his fingers stroking over my shoulders and down my arms until I gradually pushed him backwards towards the bed. He sat down and looked up at me, his hair falling back from his face. ‘OK gorgeous,’ he said, his voice gruff with emotion. ‘What happens now?’

 ‘Now? Erm . . .’ I was at a bit of a loss as to what he meant.

‘Well, you can make me wait, and I am not normally a patient man, and we can do this very, very slowly,’ and he leaned forward, rested his hands on my waist and planted a gentle kiss on my stomach, his hair tickling my skin. ‘Or . . .’ and he grabbed my hips and pulled me down onto the bed next to him. ‘Or I am so close to coming already because you’re here with me nearly naked which will take about thirty seconds and then you can go back to crying into your tea very, very soon. Your choice.’

‘My tea will be cold by now.’

He sighed heavily and dramatically. ‘Slowly it is then . . .’ but then his face broke into a broad smile. ‘Do you know what I’m going to do to you?’

‘Erm, no?’

‘Good.’ He walked his fingers up my arm. ‘So I can make it up as I go along and you’ll never know . . .’

To shut him up, I kissed him and he pulled me against him, his hands beginning to investigate my body. His fingers on me felt wonderful, gentle but probing, exploring me as we continued to kiss, delicious lazy kisses increasing in firmness along with our caresses. If I thought he’d been a good instructor when it came to photography, he was ten times better when it came to sex. He was encouraging and I had never felt so appreciated . . . or involved. It was completely different from anything I had ever experienced, slow, sensuous, full of kisses, smiles and laughs, acknowledging that our first time wouldn’t be perfect, but by God it was going to be enjoyable.

Until he groaned. ‘It’s no good, I need to be inside you,’ he grumbled, his brows drawn together into a frown. I couldn’t speak, but went to roll away from him onto my back, until he prevented me. ‘No, on top. I want to be able to see you.’ Looking down at him, his hair drifting across the pillow, I had never felt more alive. I lowered myself slowly onto him, feeling the delicious heat and hardness of him sliding into me as he parted his lips and released a heartfelt sigh. I was slightly worried about being able to accommodate his length, but he had prepared me well.

‘Oh that feels so good,’ he said as I settled myself on him, his hands resting on my hips, positioning me as I leaned gently on his stomach to balance myself. He was smiling up at me, and that did as much to turn me on as the feel of him inside me. My body automatically began to undulate, setting up a rhythm that he responded to, gripping me tighter, pulling me deeper onto him.

‘Oh Kate,’ he whispered. ‘Oh this feels so good, sweetheart. Oh yes.’ His rasping voice sent shivers through me so that I upped the movement, circling my hips under the guidance of his hands. ‘Oh yes,’ he hissed. ‘Oh yes, that’s so good, Kate. Oh yes,’ he repeated, reassuring me as we moved faster together.

My body couldn’t wait as my orgasm began to tingle through my nerves. I flung myself forward onto him as his hands held me firmly against him and he thrust harder and faster into me until I started to whimper. Then he closed his arms around me and held me tight as I came.

‘Oh Kate,’ he purred as he upped his pace and then released himself in me with a sigh of pure pleasure which vibrated through my body.

I stretched out my legs and lay on top of him, my face tucked into his neck, my hand resting on the firm muscles of his chest, and then I slept.

‘Kate, Kate,’ he whispered.

‘Mmm?’ I didn’t want to move.

‘Kate, I need the loo.’

‘Oh, sorry.’ I moved, only half awake, dozing while I waited for him to return. And waited. And waited.