Nameless Series Boxed Set (63 page)

Erin’s brows
lowered as she listened, feeling like this might be important.

Seth hesitated.
Looked down at the blanket. Shifted again, self-consciously, proving that what
he was trying to say was hard for him to admit. “Those nights I spent this
week, alone in our bed, were so much harder than the nights I’ve spent in
hotels. I could sense you all around me, and so I could feel your absence even
more. It should have felt like home, but it didn't. It felt so empty.” He
finally looked up. Met her eyes. “And I realized how you must have felt—all
those nights I was gone. It had never occurred to me before. I just always thought
of you as safe and happy with the girls. I always thought of you as…home. But
now I realize that it’s not the same home when one of us isn’t there.”

Erin’s throat
had constricted as she realized what he was saying.

On a roll now,
Seth went on, his voice unusually thick, “I’m so sorry, Erin. That I’m only now
thinking about how hard it must have been for you. For you and the girls. Not
just when I was out of town but when I was in town but not really home. And
it’s not just an empty gesture of appeasement when I say I’m not going to let
it happen again.”

All of the
emotion in Erin’s chest and belly was flooding up into her throat and eyes.
Unable to speak, she nodded at him, to let him know she’d understood.

“And I know
that doesn’t address all of our problems, and there are some unavoidable work
issues that we’ll have to try to deal with, but I wanted you to hear this from
me now.” He raised his hand then, to brush one of the tears from the corner of
Erin’s eye.

“Thank you,”
she managed to say.

She’d sensed
that Seth had been holding back his urge to really touch her during their
conversation. And, now, as if he couldn’t hold himself back anymore, he lifted
her hand and pressed a soft kiss into her palm.

She relaxed
back on the blanket and gazed up at him. Didn’t pull her hand away.

He met her eyes
deeply. Kissed her palm again. Then pushed another warm kiss into the heel of
her hand. Another on the pulse in her wrist.

And everything
felt so warm, and safe, and simple. Like a dream or a story. Like a quiet summer
afternoon.

She knew what
the smolder in his eyes meant. She knew why his body was starting to tighten.

He was moving
slowly. Giving her a chance to stop him, to decide what she wanted.

She didn’t need
to decide. Things weren’t perfect between them. Weren’t even close to perfect.
There was a lot they needed to deal with. A lot of painful, conflicted issues
that would take a long time to work through.

But they didn't
have to do it all at once. Didn't have to do it all now. He was still her
husband. And she loved him. And it had been almost six weeks now since they’d
made love.

She didn’t want
to wait anymore.

“Erin,” Seth
murmured, his lips trailing deliciously down the sensitive skin on the
underside of her forearm. “You know I love you, don’t you?”

“Mmm hmm,” she
murmured, shivering in pleasure as he tongued the crease where her arm bent.

“I’ve never
stopped loving you. There’s never been anyone but you.” He had to lean over
now, as he mouthed his way up to her shoulder. “I haven’t had sex—or wanted to have
sex—with another woman since you were pregnant with Mackenzie. You know that,
don't you?”

Erin sighed,
her hands fluttering up to unconsciously settle on his shoulders. “Yeah. Me
either. I mean another man,” she amended, as she thought about his last words.
“Or woman, for that matter.”

Seth chuckled
against her throat, and the vibrations sent luscious shudders through her body.
“That’s good to know.” He’d rolled over until he was halfway on top of her, and
his body was tense and hot. But even his intensity seemed to melt into the warm
afternoon. “Erin?” he asked thickly. “Baby, do you want to…”

“The girls
aren’t here?”

“They’ll be
gone for more than an hour.” With an effort, he pulled his mouth off her skin
and held himself above her on straightened arms. “Are you sure? I know things
aren’t right between us yet—”

She raised her
arms to cup his face. “I know. But we still love each other. Why shouldn’t we
make love?”

Seth wasn’t
about to object. With a groan, he lowered himself over her again. Kissed her deeply
and hungrily. Then began to caress her body, sliding his hands along her sides,
hips, and thighs, over the fabric of her clothes. He was kissing her again when
one of his hands dipped under her loose top to cup and squeeze the swell of her
breast.

She was moaning
softly into his mouth, her body responding as it always did to his touch. Her
own hands were moving over his shoulders, back, and butt urgently, needing to
feel the hard lines of his body beneath her fingers.

There was a
noticeable bulge at the front of his pants, pushing against her hip in a way
that made her inner muscles clench, when he asked, “Did you want to go inside
or stay here?”

“Here is fine,”
she answered, not wanting to move from where she was. On a blanket in the
grass, on a beautiful day in August. Spread out beneath her favorite tree,
beneath her husband.

Seth’s
expression was tight with desire when he pulled up again to stare down at her
face. “Are you ready?” he asked hoarsely, pushing up her skirt with one hand so
he could feel between her legs.

“Yeah,” she
told him, squirming restlessly as he cupped her over her panties, as he felt
how hot and wet she’d become. “I’m ready.”

She spread her
thighs and pulled up her skirt all the way as Seth unfastened his pants. Then
he positioned himself between her legs, bringing one of his hands down to his
freed cock.

He was poised
at her entrance, and she was holding her breath in anticipation when he met her
eyes one more time. “Erin?” he asked.

“Yes, Seth. I
want this. Hurry up.” She rocked her hips up, rubbing her arousal against the
tip of his erection.

He made a long,
guttural sound, holding himself above her with one arm, and then began to guide
his erection into her body.

She was
surprisingly tight, from going without for so long, so the pressure of his hard
length pushing inside her was unusually uncomfortable. At the way her muscles
were forced to stretch, resisting the penetration, Erin raised her upper body
on her elbows in automatic defense and whimpered out a long, “Eh-hey.”

Already panting
erratically, even though they had barely started, Erin tried to relax and
adjust.

Halfway in,
Seth had frozen, his head jerking to the side and his eyes squeezing shut. Now,
however, he muttered out, “Oh, fuck,” and then pulled his cock out of her body
all the way.

Erin let out a
huff of surprise as their bodies disconnected. “Seth?” she asked, blinking up
at him in surprise. “Why did you pull out? It was a little uncomfortable at
first, but it’s not like I’m a trembling virgin. I've had two kids. I’m pretty
sure I can handle it.”

Seth chuckled
tensely.  Still had one hand on his cock and now squeezed the base of it
briefly. “I’m sure you can. But I’m not sure I can.” When he’d gotten himself
under control enough, he opened his eyes and gave her a dry look. “You’re so
much tighter than usual, and it’s been so long. I really don’t want to
embarrass myself.”

Erin’s mouth
curled up in a teasing half-smile, although she was feeling quite tender. “All
right. Do you have another plan then?”

Lowering himself
over her enough to give her a sweet kiss on the mouth, Seth murmured, “Of
course, I have a plan.”

He reached
between her legs with the hand that had been on his cock. Slid one finger
inside her, stroking her most intimate flesh.

Erin was still
supporting her upper body on her elbows behind her, so she had a good view of
Seth’s ministrations. Sighing in pleasure at his touch, she teased, “That feels
very nice. But it’s not a very flattering reflection of your girth.”

Seth let out a
surprised burst of laughter. Then gave her a very significant, smoldering look.
“Just wait.”

Then, as Erin
watched, he joined the one finger with a second, curling them up and rotating
them around so he could massage all of her inner walls, the moisture of her
arousal making the motion smooth and slippery, and causing a slightly wet sound
as he pumped his fingers inside her.

The friction
was lovely, and Erin was gently rocking her hips with the pressure. It wasn’t
anything too urgent or overwhelming—just felt like he was stroking the deepest
parts of her.

Her lids were
getting heavy with pleasure when his slid out his slick fingers and added a
third. Pumped them in and out, curling them and stretching her as he did.

The tighter
feeling heightened the sensations, and Erin’s breath started to come out in
eager little huffs. She bent her legs at the knees and tried to angle her hips
so he could get deeper.

“How’s that?”
he asked, his hungry eyes devouring her flushed face.

“Good,” she
gasped, as his three fingers slid against the clench of her inner muscles,
sending out tingles and jolts of pleasure that were building into a deep
pressure at her center. “Good, oh, oh, there.” She whimpered as he curled his
fingers precisely enough to find her g-spot. “God, Seth, I want it right there.”

He pushed
against the spot a little harder. Bent the arm he was supporting himself on to
lower his body over hers even closer. “Did I find something good?”

“Yeah,” Erin
rasped, all of her lethargic pleasure coalescing into a sudden urgent need for
release. Her pelvis pumped up against the pumps of his fingers, and her head
fell back helplessly, as she panted, “Yeah, Seth. There. Right there.”

Since her eyes
had fallen closed and she was focused on the slow swelling of an orgasm, she
had no warning when Seth added a fourth finger to penetration.

This was much,
much tighter. So tight her pleasure was mingled with a significant amount of
discomfort. “Ah!” she gasped, her back arching instinctively and her thighs
trying to press together around Seth’s arm.

“Too much?”
Seth asked.

“Try,” Erin
gasped, blazing hot and urgent and trembling.

Seth pumped his
fingers a few times, and—while she could handle it—it just didn’t feel as good.
Since he couldn’t comfortably get in the position to find her g-spot.

“Three is better,”
she mumbled, opening her eyes to make sure Seth wasn’t disappointed.

He didn’t look
disappointed. He looked flushed and tense and aroused and like he wanted to
swallow her whole.

But not
disappointed.

He used three
fingers again, curling up and connecting with her g-spot in a tight, delicious
pattern.

“Oh, oh, God,”
Erin could feel the muscles in her belly and thighs tighten as the pressure
kept building at her center.

Then suddenly,
she wanted to feel him inside her. All of him. Wanted both of them to feel this
good.

“Seth,” she
pleaded, clawing at his shoulders and trying to pull him farther up and over
her. When he didn’t move, just kept thrusting into her with his fingers, she
tossed her head. “Seth, want you. Inside me. Now.”

He groaned
desperately and levered himself up—not even trying to argue at this point. In
fact, he was in such a state that she wondered, if she’d have come from his
hand, whether he would have come too…whether he’d wanted to or not

Pushing her
thighs farther apart, he poised his cock at her entrance once more. Then he
pushed into the emptiness his fingers had left, and Erin moaned long and loud
at the much more substantial length of his cock. It still felt tighter than he
normally felt inside her, but his fingers had stretched her enough that his
girth was no longer uncomfortable.

He pulled back
and stroked in, in the long, slow thrusts he always began with. And soon Erin
was gasping out wordless expressions of need and effort again.

The friction
from Seth’s long strokes inside her was pleasurable, but the angle wasn’t as
precise as his fingers, and Erin began to squirm in frustration. She moved her
arms so she could lie back once more on the blanket, planted her feet on the
ground, and tried to raise and angle her hips so he’d come closer to hitting
her g-spot.

Despite his hot
haze, Seth must have noticed her restless squirming. “Baby, what is it?”

Erin made a
broken, sobbing noise as she writhed without success. “It’s good,” she gasped,
not wanting to hurt his feelings. “But can you…I need…the right spot.”

He reared up
immediately, tense, perspiring, and breathing heavily through his nose.
Situating himself on his knees, he grabbed her hips and raised them slightly,
giving himself more freedom to sustain an effective angle.

He’d been
thrusting fairly deep, but now he pulled out some and instead levered his
pelvis in short, quick slides, adjusting her body with each thrust until she
felt his cock connect to the sensitive spot he’d been massaging with his
fingers.

“Yeah,” she cried
out, stretching out her back as she felt the tingling spiral out from her
center. With fumbling hands, she reached down to bunch up her skirt more to get
it out of the way. “Yeah, there, right there.”

Arching his
neck in effort, Seth stared down at her twisting body and contorted face.
“Erin,” he said thickly, squeezing the flesh of her hips in his hands as he
rocked into her. “Erin, baby, can you come?”

“Think so.” She
shamelessly shook her body to get the kind of friction she needed. “Just
stay…right there.”

He did. He
didn’t thrust. Just held his cock in position and kept pushing in tight rhythm
against her g-spot. He was coiled so tensely he was shuddering with the
pressure, but he managed to hold them in position as the rich pleasure gathered
between her legs.