Meu Deus. My insides are vibrating violently. I can’t breathe. He leans even closer, and the tip of his nose brushes mine. I adjust the blanket around his neck, my shoulder and arm pressed against his. All the endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine, or whatever hormones awakened in me after winter bathing are working at full speed, making me hyperaware.
“You’re not unattractive, even as a backpacking surfer,” I correct my statement from the day I trash-talked him out of fear of looking too vulnerable if I said what I really thought.
“And you’re the hottest woman in the whole fucking world.”
I stop breathing, shivering more than ever. Frozen. In absolute shock. He’s looking at me with yearning in those transparent blue eyes, so intense he barely blinks.
Holy shit.
“That is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard,” I say, surfing on our wave of aggressive honesty. “Do you want to kiss me, Erik Storm?”
Holy fucking shit.
“Fuck yeah.”
His purple lips press against my frozen ones, and together they warm each other back to life. I hold his neck, bringing him closer, my fingers tangling around his soaked hair. There is no air left inside my lungs, and I can’t feel my face, my feet, or the tips of my fingers. I can barely move my joints.
“Let’s go home.” I interrupt the kiss, speaking with my forehead on his. “I’m too cold.”
Right now all the energy in me is being used to stop my body from freezing, and I want to feel this. I need it to be the only thing my mind and my cells can process.
Erik nods in agreement and we run back to our bikes, more eager to arrive at our shared apartment than ever before, and not just because of the cold.
Definitely not just because of the cold.
Twenty-One
We race home, the action slowly heating us. Still, my hair is dripping on my back, and my face is so cold it feels like my brain has been stored in the freezer for a fortnight.
When we open the door to the apartment, Erik and I run for the shower at the same time, both desperate for hot water. I reach the faucet before him and turn it on. Steam spreads, and Erik shuts the door behind him, sealing us both inside.
His eyes lock with mine, and he starts to undress, carelessly dropping first his shirt, then his pants. They pool at his feet as he slowly removes his boxer briefs.
I remain in front of the shower, admiring his naked figure, my chest rising and dropping at the intense pace of my desire. I stare, waiting. Daring him. He stays still like a Greek statue, one of his eyebrows arching as if to say it’s my turn. Without a word, I undress before his eyes. Slowly. Shamelessly.
He bites his lower lip and rakes his hungry eyes over my body. My heart thumps harder than ever.
He takes a step closer at last, his sparkly blue eyes burning with lust. His body is glorious, his hairless chest so hard and smooth, it’s like he was sculpted in marble. His muscles are defined to perfection. Strong arms that can carry my weight with ease. Ripped abs I want to feel under my fingers. In the foggy, steamy bathroom, he looks like a god emerging from the clouds.
“Together?” I ask, my voice so weak and loaded with passion, it barely comes out. I almost don’t dare believe he will surrender. But I can’t resist anymore. I’m done pretending I don’t want him.
He takes another step forward, painfully slow, provoking me, and his gaze lowers to my breastbone, then to my boobs. He stops a breath away from me, his body almost touching mine. As he moves my hair behind my shoulders for an unobstructed view of my chest, his fingers delicately brush my skin, making me shiver. My nipples harden, ready to be touched. Hoping for it. It’s the most erotic moment of my life. I’m wet and burning. I’m aching for what is to come.
Gentle and careful, as if I’m made of porcelain, he slides his large hand to the nape of my neck and pulls my head back, looking down at me with fire in his eyes.
Our bodies touch, very lightly at first, sparking tingles of pleasure that go all the way down to my toes. When he presses me closer with his other hand around my waist, my blood pumps with savage lust, the powerful flow converging in my center, where it tortures me with a pulsating need that demands to be satiated soon. Really, really soon.
His lips brush mine, gentle and soft as a summer breeze—a provocation designed to test my limits, make me react in a fervent haze. But I stay frozen and let him play with my body. I love the teasing. He opens my mouth with his thumb like he did yesterday, and this time his finger slides over my lower lip as if testing its softness.
He moves the thumb to caress my cheek, then my chin, traveling around my face in full appreciation of my features. He said I’m the hottest woman in the whole fucking world. It’s hard to breathe. To think. To exist.
Erik puts my hair behind my ear and leans closer to whisper, “Together it is then.” His beard is tickly against my skin, and I’m so seduced my legs can barely sustain my body. He wants me. He fucking wants me.
I’ve never desired a man so much in my life, and I’ve never been so afraid to have him.
I’m afraid of what comes after. I dread what I might become once he claims me and changes me irreparably.
Because there is no way that having Erik Storm won’t fuck me up.
Look at what he’s already done to me. Imagine when I literally open up to him. When he reaches so deep inside, there will be a before and an after Erik has been in my body.
Because it’s too late for my mind.
And for my heart too.
The warmth of his chest pressing against my breasts heats me as no hot water could. I feel his thick erection, and the flames grow, causing my sex to pulse impatiently.
“I want to fuck you, Sol Carvalho,” he whispers on my lips. His hand lowers to my ass, and he squeezes it hard. I let out a low, airy moan. “Too aggressive?” He smiles in a seductive way, and it’s the last straw. The point of no return. There is no stopping the hurricane about to be released.
“No,” I reply through the knot in my throat. “It’s fucking hot.”
I pull him toward my lips at once, connecting our bodies. Erik groans and lifts my thigh to press it against his pelvis. His palm follows my curves, finding a path between my legs and reaching my center, where his fingers explore my wet folds. I sigh, leaning my head back. The sounds coming out of my mouth get louder once he finds my clit and touches it with perfect, gentle movements. I roll my eyes back in deep pleasure, gripping the nape of his neck with increasing force.
Kissing me passionately, he pushes me into the shower until my back is against the wall. Erik’s tongue digs inside my mouth, exploring it with fervor, the taste of salty ocean bringing me back to our moment at the beach. I would jump in those icy waters fifty more times if this would be my reward.
I move my hands all over his body, feeling his muscles as he kisses me with a ferocious need. His lips then move from my mouth to my neck, where he lingers, breathing on my skin, making me purr. He keeps going down, and his lips tempt me most when they reach my nipples, and he licks them with divine circular movements. It’s almost too much, but I don’t surrender. I don’t want to come too fast. I want to get as much time in paradise as I can.
I hold his face—his perfect Viking face—and bring it up to meet mine, eager to feel his rough beard. I’m a big fan of it now. I actually was all along—how could I not love everything about his flawless appearance?—but admitting that to myself would have put me even further down the path of temptation. I love that I can finally touch his beard. I love the feeling of the coarse hairs between my fingers.
