Ghosted (Team Zero #3) by Rina Kent

He reaches into the side table and fumbles until he finds packets. Condoms. I clutch his arm, stopping him.

“I’m on birth control,” I say in breathless words. I want no barrier between us. I need to feel his skin against mine.

That apparently satisfies him, too, since his eyes fill with a ferocious hunger. He nibbles on the sensitive spot on my neck.

I whimper as he says. “I’m clean, too, Firefly.”

He pushes inside me. I stiffen and grow still, waiting for that dreaded moment.

“So fucking tight.” Julian’s face twists between pleasure and pain. Then, resistance meets him and he stops. Like literally freezes. His huge body is hovering over mine, but he’s as blank as a board. For the first time since I met Julian, his eyes widen.

I try to even my voice, but it comes out in a murmur. “It’s my first time.”

His expression morphs into pure awe and scorching fire as he cages my face with both hands. “How the fuck is this your first time?”

I shrug. “I didn’t find anyone I wanted to give it to before.”

Pure lust and fiery possessiveness shine in the depth of his eyes. As if possible, he hardens further at my entrance as he grunts. “And you want to give it to me?”

I bite the inside of my cheeks. “I do.”

“Thank you.” The soft tone coupled with the merest brush of his lips against mine almost undoes me. “I will be good to you, Firefly.”

And he is. Julian pulls back slowly. He takes his time kissing his way through my neck, kneading my breasts and rolling his hips ever so slowly and gently. I become a wanton mess. He slides his rock hard erection up and down my slick folds as if all the wetness seeping out of me isn’t enough.

“Please, Julian,” I murmur, unable to take the torturous rhythm anymore. I’m about to reach out and put him inside me.

“Please what?” His fingers find my clit, and I’m almost at that addictive place. “Say it in words, Firefly. Tell me what you want.”

“Make me yours, Julian,” I’m breathless.

As if my words struck a chord, Julian grunts and dives in. His eyes never leave mine. They’re darkened with feral lust and adoration as if mirroring my own emotions. There’s the slightest pain as he stretches me from the inside. But as soon as he keeps thrusting and teasing my bundle of nerves, the sensation fades away.

He rolls his hips against mine ever so leisurely at first. Then, he slams into me with a force that knocks the breath out of my lungs. Primal jolts of pleasure ripple through me. I encircle his backside with my legs, caging him. I need him as an anchor. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll fall over.

Julian’s mouth finds mine as he kisses me. It’s rough and fierce and so damn raw. I’m delirious. Tears form in my eyes. His hand surrounds my throat, thumb against my pulse. The gesture drives me to the edge of coming apart.

He finds his rhythm and pounds into me with rapid, untamed frenzy. Each thrust doesn’t only fill me with ecstasy, but it also drives me to the brink of myself.

A part of me I never thought existed unravels at the unhinged passion Julian has for me. We’re so locked together, I have no idea where he ends and I begin. My mind, heart and soul are so intertwined, I don’t know if the orgasm hits my body or my entire being.

I come apart and clench around him with a hoarse scream. Waves and waves pulse through and inside me like an endless waterfall. I keep falling and falling, but I have no fear of crashing. Because for some reason, I trust that Julian will hold me together. He will keep me safe.

He hugs me close as his back muscles turn rigid. He pounds into me with wild need. The blazing inferno in his eyes spirals out of control. The slaps of flesh against flesh and the mere sensation of him filling me drives me to that edge all over again.

When a low guttural growl rips from his throat and warmth fills my insides, I’m already at that addictive place.

This time, it’s too volatile that I black out for a second. Or a few. I have no idea. When I come to, Julian is hovering over me, holding his weight on his elbows to not crush me. His deft fingers stroke strands of my damp hair back as he stares with furrowed features. “Are you all right?”

No.

I’m absolutely not fine. It wasn’t supposed to go that way. Sex is supposed to be all physical and that’s it. So why the hell did all that feel like anything but physical? It was a dangerous unravelling. A dazzling madness.

All I had to do was get him out of my system? I just bloody engraved him in me.

I’m not ready for whatever that means.

I squirm free and sit up. This is so confusing. I have to run away and lock myself somewhere safe from Julian.

Strong hands jerk me back. I’m sitting on his lap, his chest glued to my back. “Where do you think you’re going?” his curt voice booms into my ear. He sounds angry and a bit offended.

God. If the roles were switched and he wanted to leave right after that mind-blowing sex, I would’ve been so hurt, too. I go slack against him.

“Have I hurt you?” he whispers. His words are genuinely concerned, and that digs a deeper shard into my chest.

“You’ve ruined me,” I confess, turning against him and burying my head in his hard chest. It’s pointless to run away anymore.

Perhaps I never wanted to.

“Good.” He kisses the top of my head long and deep and speaks against my skin, “Because you’ve ruined me, too, Firefly.”