The Road to Rose Bend by Naima Simone (best book club books of all time txt) 📕

bed beside her. The rich musk of her release scented the air, and he breathed it in, fisting his cock, giving it a healthy, long pump, fisting the tip. She stared, eyes glazed, nipples diamond hard, legs shifting restlessly.

“You need time?” he asked, praying that if she said yes, he could respect it. Hell, survive it.

“No.” She shook her head for added emphasis and thank God. “I want you inside me,” she whispered.

Leaning over, he gathered her hair in his freed hand and took her mouth again, still stroking himself. The kiss was messy, raw, hot, his control shot. Before he reached the point of no return, he released her, tore open the foil, sheathed himself.

“What’s most comfortable for you, baby girl?” he asked, shifting and crouching over her. “Do you want to ride me?” His dick twitched in vote for that option. “Do you want me to take you from the back?”

“I want to look at you,” she whispered, a flush painting the slants of her cheekbones. “For this first time. I want you on top.” She cupped his jaw, swept a caress over his mouth.

He nodded, a little surprised by how much he wanted that, too. To cover her as much as he safely could. Reaching behind her, he arranged the pillows so she wouldn’t be lying flat on her back. He knelt between her spread thighs, splaying his hands on her skin, his fingertips grazing her glistening flesh.

“Look at me.” Echoing his earlier demands, she lifted her other hand and cradled his face, lifting his head and not giving him a choice but to do as she said. “Only you and I are here. When you’re ready, Cole. When you’re ready.”

He bowed his head, turning to press a kiss to her palm. He hadn’t known he’d needed those words—but she had. Granting him permission to let go of any lingering guilt, to be with her in this most intimate embrace.

Bracing one hand against the headboard, he gripped his cock and notched his erection against her entrance. He paused, pressed a hand into the pillow next to her head...and pushed inside her.

The rumble that clawed up his throat rolled out of his mouth and echoed in the room. Jesus. So soft. So firm. She was liquid fire, tighter than a fist and sweeter than a mouth. She was pleasure and pain. Heaven and hell. Shelter and danger.

She was perfect.

Drawing on a will he hadn’t known he possessed, he paused. Sweat dotted his brow, trickling down his temple. And yet, he stilled, his cock only half buried in her body. He opened eyes he hadn’t been aware of closing and peered down at Sydney.

Curls wild and gorgeous on his pillow, she strained under him, her breasts trembling with the tremors that rocked through her. Lashes lifting, she met his gaze, the dark brown hazy with lust. Her knees squeezed his hips before she rested her heels on the backs of his thighs.

“More. All of you,” she breathed. “You promised you wouldn’t hold back.”

“You sure?” It cost him to ask that, but he had to. Had to make sure. “This what you want?”

“All of you,” she repeated, sliding her palms up his arms and shoulders, her nails biting into his skin.

Leaning his head back, he thrust home. Fully sheathed inside her tight, wet heat. Her walls embraced him, kissed his flesh. All of him. Just as she’d requested.

Buried so deep, he burned. Felt branded by her. And it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

Pulling free of her until just the tip remained inside and the cool air brushed over his flesh, he levered off of her and watched, damn near hypnotized by the sight of his cock slowly thrusting into her. He gripped her hips, slightly raising her ass off the bed. Again. He withdrew and pushed back inside, electrical currents racing up and down his spine. Gritting his teeth against the ecstasy, he set up a steady pace, riding her, rocking into her, ever mindful of her comfort.

Loosening his hold, he fell back over her, a palm slamming on the headboard, his other cupping a breast and thumbing the rigid nipple. With a snarl, he bent almost double over her, sucking that tip into his mouth. Her sex tightened, tightened, quivering around him and caressing him from root to tip.

“Cole,” she whimpered, undulating beneath him, hands clasping his head and holding him close. “Cole, I need—I need, please...”

“I know what you need, baby girl.” He reached between them, stroked fingertips over her clit, circling it firmly. “Give it to me.”

Her scream ripped through the air, echoing in his ears. Her core clamped down on his dick, squeezing, rippling around him. She twisted, as if fighting to get closer while simultaneously escaping the pleasure that wracked her.

He rode her, whispering demands that she take it all. Don’t fucking stop until you take it all. And just as her tremors started to ease, pleasure crackled in the soles of his feet, traveling with lightning speed up his legs, zipping up his spine and then pumping into his dick. With a hoarse shout, he came, exploding, letting himself go into the oblivion that he’d been seeking.

The sweet oblivion she’d gifted him.

He didn’t think about tomorrow, later that evening or even ten minutes from now.

At this moment, as he fell to the bed beside Sydney, his muscles heavy and thick with fatigue, lungs laboring, he had peace. And as she curled into his side, her palm flattening over his still pounding heart, he welcomed it.

Even as a tiny voice whispered that it couldn’t last.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“OKAY, THIS IS GOOD. At least I think it’s good. Maybe.” Sydney squinted at the computer screen and the last few lines she’d just typed. “Dammit, it’s crap.”

Groaning, she lifted her arms above her head, stretching. The ache in her lower back had nothing to do with pregnancy this time, but because she’d been hunched over her laptop for the last three hours, working on... She huffed out a