31-3

"Erick!" The first thing I did was snap at his laughing form not more than three feet away from me. "It's not funny!" I said, removing hair from my face. "What if I couldn't swim?" He was in front of me in a blink of an eye. "I would've never let you drown." His voice was utterly sincere. A few days ago, I wouldn't have believed him, but now, I'd seen the real Erick. Now, I knew. Placing my feet firmly on the floor of the pool with the water slightly warm against my exposed flesh, I took a step forward and intertwined my hands at the nape of his neck. I yanked him forward and crashed my lips to his. Erick didn't need any more invitation. His hand came around my waist in the next instant. He cradled my face with his other hand, pulling me further into him so that there was no space between us. Today, he didn't leash his desire. It was like a red-hot brand against my lips as he trailed his fangs on my lower lip. He made the slightest bite that made me gasp, and the next thing I knew, his tongue was inside my mouth, tasting and exploring every nook and cranny. My back hit the walls of the pool, but Erick's hand softened the blow. Erick's mouth left mine with a gasp, and he trailed tiny kisses down my neck, only stopping at my pulse. My back arched in anticipation as heat pooled between my legs. Even I could feel my pulse throb as if all the blood in my veins had only two destinations. Erick licked over the staccato beat, causing me to shiver. I tightened my hold on his neck and pulled him even closer to my body. But Erick didn't bite. Giving one last scrape of his fangs over my pulse but not hard enough to break skin, he spun me around to face the pool walls. Water sloshed over the edge of the pool by my sudden movement as Erick removed my hair from my back and pulled it over my shoulder. I sucked in a breath as I felt him unhook the bra clasp on my back and pull the straps down my arm. My arms instinctively went to cover my chest as soon as he had removed the bra and thrown it out of the pool to the pile where my own clothes lay. The cool night air on my exposed flesh made me shiver as goose bumps appeared all over my skin. I felt my face heat up with a blush even though I was turned away from Erick. A second later, another piece of fabric was thrown out of the pool to join the growing pile. It was Erick's briefs. "Alina." I hadn't realised I closed my eyes until Erick whispered into my ear. "Are you feeling uncomfortable?" he asked. There wasa gentleness to his voice that I've never heard before. I reflected upon his words. No, I wasn't uncomfortable. Shy maybe? But not uncomfortable. This wasn't four years ago. This wasn't the Erick who stumbled into my house under Emiel's compulsion and hurt me. No, he was not that Erick anymore. He would never again be that vulnerable. Then I realised something with startling clarity: I wanted to be with him. Not just because he had made so much effort into making me comfortable tonight. It was not just because I'm now his wife either. I wanted this for myself. I wanted to feel his skin on mine. I wanted him to mark me so deep that no one can separate our scents. I wanted him. Turning towards him with my eyes closed, I dropped my hands to my side slowly once I was sure I was facing him. Erick had pushed us towards the shallow end of the pool, so the water here was only a few inches above my waist. I was baring it all to him. Gathering enough strength and fighting the urge to cover my breasts again, I opened my eyes to meet his intense blue ones that seemed to glow from within. He was looking straight at my face with an unreadable expression. He seemed to have seen something in my eyes that made the expression disappear, only to be replaced by a hunger so intense, it seemed to consume even me. "Alina, I can't hold back." It was a warning and a plea. "I don't care." The words felt right. Erick was on me the next instant with my back against the pool wall and his lips on mine. He trailed down my throat again, licking and sucking as his hands went to my breast. He pinched a nipple as they budded achingly, making a moan escape my lips. However, his hands didn't stop at my breasts. They moved down my body to my waist and then my hips. The next thing I knew, he had torn my panties to shreds and had pulled me flat against him so that the rigid length of him brushed against my lower abdomen, the warm water cool against the heated flesh of my womanhood. I was already drenched, and the aching made me rub against him shamelessly to get closer. I wanted him inside me. I'd denied my urges for too long. After that night with Erick, I've never taken a lover and have never lain with anyone. Erick was my first and has been until this day, and he would certainly be my last. "Are you sure?" Erick's voice had gone rough guttural. It was like he had to fight very hard to restrain himself. "Yes." I breathed out. My hands went to his shoulders and my nails dug into his flesh. "Scream if I hurt you, and I'll stop. Tell me, damn it!" A growl was in his voice as he guided himself to my entrance and rubbed the blunt head of his cock against me. I could only nod for my voice stuck in my throat as he entered one slow inch. I grabbed onto his shoulders for support and lifted up one leg after the other to hook them around his waist. One of his hands came around to support me while the other he placed beside my head, on the edge of the pool. One deep, hard thrust and he was buried to the hilt inside me. My inner muscles stretched in pleasure and pain to accommodate him as my head fell back to push forward my breasts in offering. Unable to hold it in, I screamed. For a split second, my mind went back to what he told me, and I clutched at him desperately to signal him not to stop. Somehow, he got the message. "So tight," Erick gritted out through clenched teeth, and I heard the crunching sound of the cement and tile cracking under his hold. However, his hold on me remained firm but gentle. He withdrew almost fully, only to thrust it back to the hilt, making us both moan the others name. He did it slowly at first, but he picked up pace when my hips bucked to meet his thrust for thrust. Soon, he was pounding into me like an unleashed beast, his eyes an incandescent blue I've never seen before. And even though he was being more than a little rough, I felt no pain. If anything, I could already feel the start of my orgasm. I felt the swirl of pleasure in my womb as Erick continued to turn my blood into honey, making me a little insane with pleasure with each thrust. I didn't know if I was screaming or not for the rush of blood was a wild roar in my ear as I closed my eyes and clutched Erick for more. I've never felt so violently alive before, and I wanted more. If possible, Erick increased his thrusts until I could no longer keep up, until I was lost in the heat of his skin, in the scent of dark chocolate, and in something so masculine that was entirely Erick's that filled my senses. He was relentless at it until I saw stars. We came with one final thrust, screaming each other's name and holding onto each other so close that even air didn't exist between us. The world was exploding into a million pieces of passion around us. Quivering in the aftermath of the orgasm thatracked through me and turned my bones to honey, I felt a strange sense ofbelonging for the first time in my mind. Erick was mine, just as much as I washis.