Page 34 of Redeem

He tightened his hold on my waist, crushing my breasts against his chest. I let out a breath, one that was cut off in my throat when he thrust up again.

And again, and then again, pounding into me from below with a relentlessness that left me breathless.

On his last thrust, I let go, gave myself to the sensation that had been building at the base of my spine, let it flow through me.

Ciprian’s cock jerked again, and he let out a grunt that ended as a sigh.

I sagged against him, my heart racing a million miles an hour. My entire body was a live wire, ripples of sensation rushing through me as I struggled to catch my breath. I held Ciprian, his cock impossibly hard inside me, his thighs muscled steel under mine.

“Dana?” he whispered, his voice soft but still rasping against my skin like a caress.

“Hmm?” I responded lazily, my voice floaty, dreamy as I looked up to meet his eyes.

The hot, carnal desire that greeted me took away the breath I had only just regained. He twisted his lips in a wolfish smile and then stood. I tightened my legs around his waist instinctively, would have marveled at how he held me like I was nothing were it not for the mind-scattering sensation of his hardness spearing me.

“We’re not done yet.”

Fifteen

Dana

“I don’t know, Ciprian,” I said, my voice wary, cautious, though it took everything I had not to laugh.

“I’ve been watching, and I’ve learned. I’m ready,” he said solemnly.

His seriousness only increased my amusement, and soon I gave in to the smile that threatened. Before, on those rare occasions when I’d been tempted to smile, I’d had no trouble biting the instinct back.

These last weeks with Ciprian had changed that. I found myself smiling more, laughing, happy…and all because of him.

“They’re your fingers,” I said. “There’s a second saw in the shed. Let me go and get it.”

“No. I’ll get it,” he said, flashing a smile of his own.

Then he turned and headed toward the shed. I didn’t even bother to pretend I didn’t watch each step, and not until he’d disappeared around the house did I look down to the shutters I’d been priming. Ciprian was worth the extra seconds.

I’d been physically attracted to him from the first, but that attraction only deepened, took on new dimensions with each day we spent together, each time I touched him and he touched me.

I swiped the raw wood, letting a full-blown smile cover my face. We’d fallen behind on the project—way behind—but I wouldn’t have traded the hours spent in Ciprian’s arms for anything.

Hard to believe how resistant I had been to having him around, when now, I could imagine nothing else. That scared me a little, but for the first time in as long as I could remember, that fear was far, far outweighed by my happiness, the joys, large and small, of having him around.

The sex was beyond mind-blowing, but there were other things too. Like watching Ciprian determinedly learn how to use the power tools, the little smile of pride on his face when he mastered some new skill. Or just those times when we were together, not talking, not making love, but still connected.

I wouldn’t let my mind question what it meant, think about when it would end, would do nothing but enjoy this time for as long as I could.

A few minutes after he left, I looked up toward the corner of the house that hid the shed from my view. He should be back by now. I dropped the paintbrush and walked to the shed, smiling the entire way. I’d bet good money Ciprian had no clue what he was supposed to get and was too stubborn and prideful to come and ask. I’d make sure to tease him about that.

“Ciprian, did you get lost—”

I cut off short when I stepped into the shed and found him. He wasn’t looking around the full shed perplexed by the tools as I’d expected.

No, he was focused on the gold picture frame he held, staring at it with an intensity that I rarely saw from him.

My lungs felt like they would collapse as the air whooshed out of them from the gut punch of pain. Fortunately, the pain was short-lived, almost instantly replaced with searing anger.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice a pitch higher than usual.

I stomped toward him and ripped the frame out of his hand. Without looking at it or looking at him, I shoved it back into its box and pushed that box under a stray tarp.