Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams

            “You are?”

            “This is as important to me as it is to you.”

            “I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

            “How could I be?”

            “Because I’m not going to last long. Once I’m inside you, I—” He chuffed out a laugh and pressed his forehead to hers.

            “I don’t care how long you last. I want you.”

            “Lie down.” The words came out an order, gruff and urgent, because just as he feared, he was about to lose control. And he nearly did as she sat down on the mattress and reclined. His fingers trembled as he shed his jacket and worked at the buttons of his shirt. When the sleeves got stuck on his wrists, he swore a blue streak and ripped them from his body. Before him, Elena shimmied out of her panties and reached for him.

            Oh, God. God. It took three tries to undo his pants, and even then, all he could manage was to shove them down over his hips before he crawled one-legged onto the mattress and covered her body with his. His erection found a soft nest between her thighs, and every cell in his body exploded. With a groan, he buried his face against her neck.

            Beneath him, Elena wiggled her legs around his waist.

            Wait. Shit. He lifted his head. “Condoms. In the drawer.”

            “I’m on birth control.”

            Thank God. Elena reached between them, encircled his erection with her fingers, and guided him toward her entrance. If he had a single functioning brain cell, he’d try to imprint the memory of this. The first time making love to his wife. But his body had become a machine with a single mission. To be inside her. To consummate their marriage. To claim her.

            “Please,” she begged.

            Without fanfare, without foreplay, he entered her in a hard thrust. A sound emerged from his throat that was barely human. She gasped and arched into him, driving him farther inside her body. She was tight and warm and wet, and . . . Oh, God. Vlad sought her mouth with his. Anything to distract from the fission reaction erupting inside him. She moved beneath him and lifted her legs.

            “Vlad,” she moaned, fingers digging into his back.

            Bracing his good knee against the mattress, he moved inside her. Somehow, his body knew how, but what it didn’t instinctively know, he’d learned from the manuals. He slowly withdrew to the tip and then back into the embrace of her body. She cradled him with her arms, her body, her heat. Together their bodies found a rhythm, a pace as natural as if they’d done this a hundred times before. As if this was what they’d been meant for all along.

            And beneath him, she made noises that drove him mad, but tenderness was there too. And gratitude. The guys were right. This was a gift. A sacrament. A promise all its own.

            “Elena,” he gasped. His body was its own master. Seeking pleasure, giving pleasure, finding pleasure like he’d never felt before. He could never write this. How could he ever capture in the written word what this felt like? “This— I’m sorry. Oh, God, I’m sorry. I can’t stop.”

            She clung to him tighter and urged him on. “Don’t stop. I just want to be with you.”

            Not yet. Not yet. He chanted it in his mind, but it was no use. Atoms collided. Stars exploded. He choked out her name and shuddered as wave after wave released inside her. He collapsed in a heap of weak knees and stunned muscles. She sought his kiss with a shuddered breath, and still nestled inside her, he feasted on her mouth languidly. Atop the blanket, he found one of her hands and laced their fingers together. Tenderness swelled in his chest, and the urgency of desire faded into a sweeter ache to simply hold her, breathe her in, finally stretch out the seconds.

            “I waited so long for you,” he whispered. A tear dripped from his eye to her cheek as he pulled back to gaze at her. “There’s never been anyone else for me, Elena, because I never wanted anyone else.”

            A muted sob tore from her throat. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

            He silenced her with his lips. He didn’t want any more regrets between them. Not tonight.

            Vlad gingerly rolled to the side, careful not to wrench his leg. She leaned over him, placed a soft kiss in the center of his abs, and told him she’d be right back. He lifted his head so he could watch her naked body walk across the room. When the bathroom door closed, he sat up and undid his brace so he could finally remove his pants. Then he returned to bed and reclined against the headboard. When the bathroom door opened, his entire heart walked out with a shy smile.