For a moment, I’m totally absorbed in the task at hand. I tip the dough from the mixer into a pool of flour, and work it by hand until it’s light and springy. I’m just dividing it between the pans when I feel Ash move behind me. He brushes my hair to one side; then comes the hot kiss of his lips on the back of my neck.
I shiver and sink back against him. His mouth trails lightly over the hollow of my neck, whisper soft.
My body crackles to life, every nerve and sense lighting up like the night sky on the Fourth of July. My hands still, I’m too lost to focus, but Ash’s voice comes, a low whisper in my ear.
“Don’t stop,” he murmurs, trailing his fingertips lightly down my arms, making my skin prickle sharply. “The sooner you’re done here, the sooner I can take you to bed.”
He bites down softly on my earlobe, making me moan as his hands smooth around to the front of my body. He strokes softly across my breasts, making my nipples stiffen beneath my thin cotton tank. Slow and sure, his hands don’t stop, they just caress me, insistent, swooping down across my stomach and along the waistband of my cutoffs until my legs give way and I sink back, resting my head against his chest.
My body is on fire. Every touch, every whisper. I couldn’t focus to save my life, all I can do is feel the waves of sensation roll across my skin, intoxicating.
“Ash…” I whisper, falling into the blissful haze.
He strokes back up, teasing and toying with my nipples through the fabric until I’m gasping for more.
“God, you’re beautiful.” Ash’s voice is thick with lust. “You don’t know what you do to me, Noelle. You make me come undone.”
I turn then, looping my arms up around his neck and pulling his mouth down to cover mine. I kiss him hungrily, desperately, already wound so tight I could break. He pushes me back against the counter, biting down gently on my lower lip, and then sliding his tongue deep into my mouth to claim me for good.
I surrender willingly, parting my lips wider to savor the smoky sweet taste of him, our tongues locked in an achingly sensual dance.
It’s not enough, nothing could ever be enough to sate this need, clawing low in my belly and racing quicksilver in my veins. I arch up, clutching at his shirt, trying to drag him even closer. I want him, want every inch of him molded to me, until there’s nothing between us anymore.
Ash breaks the kiss suddenly; gripping my ass and lifting me onto the counter. He yanks me closer, until my legs are wrapped around his waist and he’s cradled against the molten heart of me. As he claims my lips again, I can feel him, hard against me, and the knowledge only makes me hotter. I grind against him, and he lets out a ragged groan into my mouth.
God, I want him.
I rake my nails down the back of his shirt, then yank it off over his head in one motion. Now I can feel him, feel the broad muscular planes of his body. I run my hands over his back and chest, loving the feel of his skin. Ash pulls away; his eyes are dark with lust.
“Your turn,” he growls, and I obediently lift my arms above my head for him to pull off my tank. But Ash doesn’t lift it all the way, he twists the fabric around my wrists, trapping my hands together.
My pulse kicks.
He tips me back until I’m lying flat, spread on the counter with my hands still pinned above my head. Ash grazes his mouth back down my neck and across my chest, teasing at the edge of my bikini top.
I moan, trying to press myself against his mouth, but he eases back, barely licking across my damp, needy skin. I writhe, but he keeps my bound hands in place, trapped beneath him as his mouth lazily roams over my body. I have no choice but to lie back and let him work his wicked magic, licking down my stomach until his breath is hot against the waistband of my shorts.
Ash unfastens them and tugs them off me, leaving me splayed here on the kitchen counter in nothing but my bikini.
A thought pops into my head, and I can’t help but giggle.
“What?” Ash looks up.
I smile. “I was just thinking, I bet Nana never did this in her kitchen.”
Ash winks. “You never know.”
“Eww!” I laugh, until he pushes my legs apart and bites down gently on the inside of my knee, and then there’s no room for anything but the fierce heat rising, coiling tighter inside. Ash kisses his way up the inside of my thigh, and every touch makes my body tremble with reckless anticipation.
Still, he makes me wait, hooking his thumbs under the sides of my bikini briefs and stroking across the delicate skin of my hips as he drops a dozen tiny kisses over the fabric.
I gasp for air, totally lost to the moment. Every passing second is torture as Ash whispers his hot breath over me, tantalizingly close. I’m aching for him, needing him, and when he finally pushes my bikini aside and licks up against me in a long delicious swoop, I can’t stop myself from moaning aloud in pleasure.
“Ash,” I groan, arching up to meet his mouth. He answers by yanking my briefs off, and settling between my thighs again; his fingers gripping my thighs as he lowers his mouth onto me and my world spirals out of control.
Hot and wet, slow and achingly good. He laps at me, relentless, swirling his tongue over my tender clit until I’m crying out with desperate need. The pleasure is twisting tighter, cresting higher, but it’s still not enough. “Ash,” I gasp again, but there’s a begging edge to my voice. “Please…”
He lifts his head, his dark eyes glittering with lust. “What do you want, baby?” he asks, lazily stroking my clit, his fingers delving down lower to tease at my wetness.