Dark Refuge by Kate Douglas

shampoo. “I can feel your misery. It’s practically radiating from your body, from your mind. Do you have any idea what’s wrong? Why you feel this way?”
    She shook her head. He knew she wasn’t afraid of him, but her lips trembled and he really didn’t want to make her cry. He didn’t want to force himself on her, so he started to push himself away.
    “No!” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Please, Gabe. Don’t give up on me. I don’t know why I’m like this. It’s never been this bad before, but I want to know what pleasure is. I want to feel what everyone else feels.”
    “Are you sure?” He kissed her. Just a feather kiss against closed lips, and he pulled away before she had a chance to open to him. “I don’t want you to feel pressured into this.”
    “Well, I’m not going to beg, if that’s what you want.” She went to push him away, but he grabbed her and rolled to his back with Em astride him. She struggled for a moment, but he held her close and focused on her breasts.
    “I will, if that’s what it’s going to take. Goddess, Em. I never dreamed that pudgy little twerp who used to drive me and the other guys crazy would grow up to be . . . oh, man. He raised his upper body and latched on to her left nipple, sucking and nipping at it, swirling his tongue around the tip.
    Arching her back, she cried out. Gabe scooted up against the headboard with Em shivering in his arms, and managed to slip out of his loose sweatpants in the process. He shoved them the rest of the way down with one hand, holding on to Em with the other, his lips still wrapped around her nipple.
    He gave it a final lick and went to work on her right breast, sucking, pressing with the flat of his tongue, scraping the sensitive tip with his teeth. Moaning, she thrust against his mouth and lifted up on her knees. He scooted her yoga pants down over her butt and she managed to lift first one leg and then the other out of the loose pants. Gabe tossed them aside.
    She was slick and hot against the length of his erection and her fingers fluttered over his chest, but he wasn’t ready yet. Not until he was absolutely sure Em wouldn’t freak out when he entered her. He flipped her over on her back and knelt between her thighs, but he didn’t turn loose of her breast.
    She was whimpering now, finally displaying the signs of arousal he’d expected earlier, and there was no way she was faking. Moisture glistened in the dark thatch of hair between her thighs. Her eyes were tightly closed, her full lips curled in a rictus of pain that could only be pleasure. He licked her breast, teasing the nipple before releasing it, but she didn’t have time to react before he changed his focus. Gently he stroked between her legs, running his middle finger between her engorged labia, lightly pressing circles against the slick walls of her vagina. She tightened around him, a reflexive action that had him thrusting deeper, a couple of times before dragging his finger free of her silken walls and then circling her clit, barely making contact with that taut little bundle of nerves, his fingertip gliding on a slick layer of her fluids.
    He scooted down, kissing her belly, nuzzling the dark hair covering her pubic mound. So many women shaved, but he’d always preferred the more natural, womanly look. Just as he knew how appealing a truly strong woman could be. He sensed that strength in Emeline. For whatever reason, she dealt with ghosts that even she didn’t understand, but she wasn’t letting them stop her. They weren’t stopping Gabe, either. Not if he could help it.
    He parted her legs, gently spreading her knees apart, and planted soft kisses against the softer skin of her inner thighs. First the left, then the right. Then back to the left, only higher this time, and again on the right. She was shivering, trembling and clutching at the rumpled sheets when he finally reached his goal. He ran his tongue from her perineum to her vaginal