Nameless (51 page)

Erin pushed
aside the part of her that panicked at his words—ever since Marcus, control had
meant everything to her—and she gave into all the rest of her that wanted, that
needed Seth. Every part of him.

Even this
wounded, angsty, dangerous stranger she’d never encountered before.

“You don’t have
to be,” Erin whispered, staring up at him and feeling like the world was
throbbing with her heartbeat. “I want this. Don’t you?”

Something broke
inside of Seth. He released a hoarse groan and finally pulled her into his
arms. “God, Erin.” His lips brushing against hers, he spoke against her mouth. “I
do.”

***

Erin crawled under the covers of
the bed in the master bedroom, thinking about the first time she’d been in this
bedroom, after getting drunk with a man she hadn't seen in years, and never
dreaming the spiraling consequences of that one random night with Seth Thomas.

She would have
laughed at anyone who had told her back then that she would end up where she
was at the moment, with a six-month-old daughter and a deep and nebulous
relationship with Seth. About to fuck him again this evening, for reasons that
made no rational sense.

Except that
both she and Seth were needy tonight and found something in the other that
could help.

They’d kissed
for a minute or two—passionate and desperate—until he’d pulled away abruptly
and had gone to look for some condoms. Erin had been aroused and a little
confused, and she'd felt stupid standing in the middle of the floor so she’d
decided to get into bed while she waited.

She pulled the
bedcovers up over her, having put on the little nightgown she’d brought with
her, and she began to ask herself exactly why she was here, exactly why she was
doing this.

Seth returned
before her reflections could lead her to question whether or not she was doing
the right thing.

Seth was
walking a little awkwardly as he moved toward the bed. His face was damp and
slightly flushed, and his body was radiating suppressed tension. “Sorry,” he
muttered, dropping a couple of condom packets on the nightstand and then
kicking off his shoes and pulling off his socks. “I had to hunt to find any.”

Erin smiled,
glad for the diversion, however brief it happened to be. “And I thought you
were always prepared.”

“I returned
with the condoms, didn’t I?”

“Where did you
find them?” Erin asked, watching as he pulled the t-shirt over his head.

Tossing the
shirt on the floor, Seth started unfastening his trousers. “You don’t want to
know.”

“Yes, I do. Where
did you find them? Had you stashed a few away in case of emergency fifteen
years ago and they were still in your hiding place? Because I’m not sure how
effective they’ll still be.” Despite her light tone, she watched hungrily as Seth
rid himself of his pants, feeling her briefly interrupted desire spring into
life again at the sight of his trim hips, long legs, and hard cock.

Seth released a
breath of laughter and lowered himself onto the bed beside her, completely
naked and almost fully erect. “I had to requisition a few from—”

 “Don’t tell me.”

“Okay,” Seth
agreed, rolling over until he was on top of her, positioned between her parted
legs. He lowered his face until his warm breath wafted across her flushed skin.
“I won’t.”

Erin waited for
him to kiss her, but he didn’t immediately. He just looked at her, his eyes
deep and endless in the dim light of the room.

“Seth?” she
breathed, her voice catching in her throat and her body rocking up toward him
instinctively. The ache at her center suddenly started to throb as their ironic
banter faded into silent intensity.

He seemed
frozen, his darkened eyes swallowing her and his body held rigidly in check.

“Seth,” she
said again, somehow understanding what might be holding him back. “I want this
too. I
do
, even if it’s different than before.”

Seth captured
her lips with a helpless sound in his throat. The undeniable chemistry that had
always existed between them blazed into tangible heat at the first touch of
their lips.

Erin’s mouth
opened for his immediately, and her tongue slid and dipped and plundered as
much as his. She could feel the heat of his firm body through the soft fabric
of her gown, and her bare legs rubbed against his, relishing the feel of the
strong muscles and coarse hair of his calves against her smooth skin.

Seth was barely
controlled, his body tense as he pressed down into hers and ravished her mouth.
After a minute, he broke away from her lips with a breathless huff of effort,
and his skillful mouth trailed down her neck instead, pausing at the throbbing
pulse in her throat and pushing aside the strap of her gown so he could bite
down on a tender spot just beside her shoulder.

Erin cried out
softly at the feel of his teeth against her flesh, and her pelvis started to
rub against him.

Seth had moved
lower down her body, so his cock was pressing against the inside of one of her
thighs. He seemed almost possessed, like he couldn’t control his frantic mouth
and restless hands, although he was still managing to hold himself back from fucking
her.

“Seth,” Erin
gasped, arching up into his hands, as he fondled her sensitive breasts through
the thin fabric of her gown.

He didn’t say a
word, didn’t make any noise except the accelerated sound of his breathing. His
eyes crawled from her swollen mouth to the swell of her breasts under his hands.

She understood
why he was still holding back, despite how much they both wanted and needed
this, so she stroked one of her hands from the smooth planes of his back to the
firm muscles of his ass. After squeezing him there—mostly because she couldn’t
resist—she edged her hand forward until she was able to find his cock.

He was fully
erect now—his flesh hard and hot beneath her palm. She tightened her fingers
around him carefully, causing him to choke on a groan.

“Seth,” she
said, her voice breathless but determined. “Stop being noble. I’m ready to go. Put
the fucking condom on.”

Seth released
an odd, strangled sound, but the corner of his lips lifted irresistibly. “Right.”
He heaved himself up and fumbled with the condom packet, tearing it open and
then rolling it on.

Instead of
lowering himself over her again, he remained kneeling in between her legs. The
bedcovers had been pushed down now past her knees, and Erin was stretched out
on the sheet, her hair spread out on the pillow and gown wrinkled and pushed up
around her hips.

She felt vaguely
anxious and deeply aroused, and she was starting to get impatient with his
slowness. She began to pull her gown off over her head. Before she could say
anything to hurry him up, however, he reached down and trailed the fingers of
one hand up the delicate skin of her inner thigh.

Erin sucked in
a breath, her foot twitching slightly and the gown bunched up around her
armpits, revealing her breasts. And then she moaned softly and arched her neck
backward as Seth’s fingers found her pussy. “Seth,” she began, not even knowing
what she wanted to say.

He still didn’t
answer. Didn’t make a sound. Simply gazed down with hungry eyes and plunged a
finger inside her.

Erin’s whole
body jerked, and she whimpered at the feel of his finger. Her hands dug into
the mattress on either side of her body as Seth pumped in and out, soon joining
the first finger with a second.

Erin had been
more aroused than she’d realized, for longer than she’d realized. And the
delicious friction against her inner walls pulled the scattered tension in her
body toward her throbbing center—far more quickly than she’d expected.

Her hips began
to move on their own, pushing up against the thrusting of his fingers. When his
thumb closed over her clit and started to massage it, Erin tossed her head and
made a helpless sound of pleasure, her orgasm spiraling up even more rapidly.

Her breasts
felt tingling and heavy, and she whimpered softly, very close to coming. But
she tried to keep her eyes open, so she could watch Seth’s tight face.

Something about
the underlying need in his expression pushed Erin even closer to climax. “Seth,”
she choked, her entire body shuddering uncontrollably.

Then Seth froze
without warning, his fingers still sheathed inside the clasp of her body. His
eyes focused on her breasts, then where his fingers penetrated her. The tension
on his face cracked just a little, and he burst out in a harsh mutter, “Fuck.”

He pulled his
hand out from between her thighs, causing Erin to nearly wail with
disappointment at the interruption of her orgasm. But before she could either
pull his hand back into place or else use her own, Seth had repositioned
himself between her legs.

“Sorry,” he
muttered thickly, holding himself up over her with one arm while he used the
other to guide his cock into place. “I can’t...”  His voice trailed off, and
his entire body shook.

“It’s okay,”
she assured him, her body begging for his, her hands clawing at his lower back,
and her hips thrusting up toward him. “Just hurry.”

He slid his erection
partway in, withdrew and reangled before sliding in even deeper. As he thrust
into her, his face twisted dramatically—with pleasure, relief, and something
else.

Erin bit her
lower lip over her cry in response, vaguely conscious of her baby sleeping in
the room beside them. But the tightness of his cock as it entered renewed all
the disrupted tension of her growing climax.

She bent her
knees slightly and flattened her feet on the mattress, bucking her hips
uncontrollably as she tried to once more claim her orgasm. Her pelvis bumped up
against Seth’s, over and over again, until he finally started to thrust.

He didn’t start
off slow and controlled—as he’d always done before. His motion was fast and
jerky above her, and he held himself up with straightened arms that were
already starting to tremble.

Something about
his obvious need made Erin’s heart swell as achingly as the pressure below her
belly. She clung to him, low around his waist, and her fingers clawed at the
skin of his lower back.

Erin’s skin was
already damp with perspiration, and she had to keep biting her lip to suppress
the sounds she made, transforming her cries into stifled whimpers and gasps.

She was so
close it was agonizing, and she wanted to move a hand lower so she could rub
her clit, but she couldn’t seem to let go of Seth.

He seemed to be
everywhere. Everything. And she just had to hold on to him.

She knew he was
still reining himself in to a certain extent, despite the clumsy rutting of his
motion. He was breathing harshly through his nose, muscles spasming in his jaw,
in his temple, in his biceps.

Seth usually
made more noise than this during sex, and—despite her peaking pleasure—she
couldn’t help but wonder what he was holding back. How much he was holding
back.

His eyes...his
eyes were like gaping wounds, and she felt utterly incapable of answering them.

When the rising
sensations took over completely, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to
concentrate, tried to claim the orgasm she needed.

As his cock
pumped hard and fast inside her, Erin had to bite on her lip more and more to
keep her vocal responses muted. She was making the most ridiculous whines and
mews, and her fingernails were now gouging into the flesh of his ass.

Until finally
she felt herself cresting, all of the pleasure at last reaching its limit.

In that moment,
she couldn’t keep her eyes closed. They flew open. Met Seth’s. Saw something
there—a deep, erotic mingling of possession and need—that finally pushed her
over the edge.

With one more
broken grunt, her body arched up like a bow. Then she froze, silent and
overwhelmed, as the spasms of her orgasm overtook her.

After the first
thick rush of sensation, her body began rocking up again, instinctively riding
out the remainder of her orgasm. She whimpered out a stream of incoherent,
helpless noises and felt like her body had erupted.

Seth had frozen
too, as her muscles clamped down around him. His face contorted in effort. His
body was as damp as hers, his skin almost glowing in the shaded room.

When she
started to relax, Seth looked back down at her, opening his eyes to reveal
something wild and primal. “You came?” His eyes crawled from her flushed face
to her exposed breasts.

Erin glanced
down at her breasts, at her tightly peaked nipples. Saw they had leaked a
little, but nothing like they had last time. “Yeah,” she gasped, her fingers
softening on the skin of Seth's back and ass, stroking over the lines she had
clawed there. “They weren’t full this time. But I came.” She gazed up at him
until he met her eyes again.

Wondered who
she was—who he
thought
she was—that this man would want her, would need
her so much.

She felt full
and tender and still kind of achy, and she wished desperately that she could
give him what he needed.

She couldn’t
tell him what he wanted to hear, could never lie about something like that, but
she wanted to show him how deeply she did care about him. Making her eyes as
soft as she could, she whispered, “I never need to fake it with you.”

The thread that
was holding back his need broke in that instant, either from her words or from
the nameless feeling she was trying to express in her eyes. Seth made a harsh
sound in his throat and gave a couple of jerky, involuntary thrusts.

“Seth,” she
breathed, raising her hands to pull gently on his hair. “It’s okay. Your turn
now.”

She wanted to
say more. Wanted to say she was there for him. That she wanted to offer him
what he needed. But she didn’t want to sound melodramatic or silly, and she
didn’t want words so naked to drive him back behind his defenses.