Sex is as important as eating or drinking and we ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty of the other.
-Marquis de Sade
Karma had heard people use the term surreal before, but she had never quite understood what they’d meant. Now she did. Mark’s mouth lavished her everywhere, and his arms secured her like a prison she never wanted to escape, and the only word that came to mind?
Surreal.
Surely, this was happening to someone else, not her. Or maybe she was dreaming. It certainly felt like a dream. A very erotic, lifelike, sexual dream. The kind she had been having more of since meeting Mark. Sometimes she even awoke as she climaxed. They say that if you die in your dream, you die in real life. Well, the same could be said of orgasms, because when she came in her dreams, she often awoke in the throes of orgasm.
Never in a million years had Karma thought something like this would happen. That a sexy, hot man who could have any woman he wanted would want her. But here she was, with Mark, and he seemed to more than want her. The way he held her, kissed her, looked at her, and the way his hands ranged down to her butt and squeezed as he moaned appreciatively was proof.
Maybe this was life’s way of repaying her a karmic debt. For so long, life had given her nothing but hell when it came to relationships, so now maybe karma was making up for it by giving her Mark. How funny was that? Karma was paying Karma a debt. But she would take it from her namesake.
Mark rolled her to her back and settled on top of her, his erection a thick rod between her legs. He rotated his hips so that it massaged her in just the right spot, and she moaned inadvertently, closing her eyes as his lips teased her neck.
And then he slid lower, dragged his mouth over the lacy fabric of her nighty, and still lower.
Oh, God! He was going to put his mouth on her. Down there! She’d never experienced that.
“You smell like vanilla,” he said before lifting the nighty and kissing her stomach.
Her muscles quivered, and her bottom lip trembled. The tense anticipation was like a building inferno.
“Mmm,” Mark murmured. “I like that.” He lightly traced his fingertips over her stomach, making her quiver again. “I like how you respond to me.”
Karma moaned as his touch danced over her stomach yet again. Her fingers twisted into the satin sheets, and she squirmed beneath him.
A dark, shallow chuckle bubbled out of his throat as he continued his journey south, trailing the tip of his tongue down one side of her torso then the other. Lower and lower. Sensual, full-lipped kisses dotted her hips, across her belly, down the tops of her thighs, up again to the juncture where her body and legs met.
She almost couldn’t breathe, lost to the spiraling sensations spinning like a tornado in her core, growing bigger and stronger with each moment, each touch of his mouth. His hands pressed against her inner thighs and slid up to her hips, opening her. Karma couldn’t look, couldn’t even keep her eyes open. If she did, she would come. That’s how close she was. Right there. On the cusp. And he hadn’t even touched her there, yet.
Mark seemed to sense how near she was to orgasm, but instead of giving it to her, he prolonged the suspense. He dragged his lips up her inner thighs, lightly licked the sensitive skin at the creases between legs and body, and let his warm breath tease her flesh. Ever closer he drew, always to retreat, making her writhe.
If she didn’t come soon, she would pass out. The sensory onslaught was almost unbearable. She had been without him and without release all week, and she had been in an aroused state every day, especially today. She needed an orgasm. And she needed Mark to give it to her.
“Mark, please…” she whispered, her voice shaky. She licked her lips and dared to glance down her body.
He was watching her, and the moment their eyes met, his tongue flicked her clit.
Her body lit up like a torch, and a tight, high-pitched groan bit out from her throat as she threw her head back on the pillow. In an instant, he closed his mouth over her clit and swirled his tongue around and around, not too fast, not too slow, but oh-holy-hell just fucking right!
Without thinking, she clamped her hands on his head, buried her fingers in his hair, held him in place as she rotated her hips against his mouth. Instinct had taken over. She lost conscious control of her body and succumbed to whatever it wanted. The pressure in her lower belly quickly built. She was going to come. Any second, it was happening…right now!
“Mark!” Her back arched violently off the bed as she came. Every muscle shuddered and pure pleasure ripped through her body.
She was lost to euphoria. Her first orgasm with a man’s mouth on her. And it was better than any she had ever given herself. Within seconds, she began laughing then crying, and then Mark was beside her. He scooped her into his arms and cradled her against his body as if he knew she was going through an emotional cleanse and simply needed to be held.
Her body still sang with pleasure even as she continued to cry. Her orgasm still echoed and pulsed inside her, and she couldn’t get close enough to him, even though he held her tightly and her arms latched on like they’d been welded to one another.
Closer. She needed more. He was too far away even though he was right there, holding her, pressed against her.
“Reach into the nightstand and grab a condom, honey,” he said, rolling with her toward the nightstand so she was on top of him
Yes, yes. That was what she needed. Him inside her. Now!
She wiped tears off her cheeks then yanked the drawer open and reached inside. Her hand landed on a book and she searched farther toward the right. Nothing.
“On the left,” he whispered, caressing her back. His voice held an edge of urgency.
She found the box and managed to open it one-handed, tearing the thin cardboard. She dug out a condom and practically threw it into his hand.
“Lift up for me,” he said, tearing the packet open. She did, then his hands were between her legs, and she felt his erection tap against her inner thigh then against her overly stimulated clit as he put on the condom.
She looked over her shoulder at his legs. At some point, Mark had taken off his pants, but she had been so caught up in what he’d been doing that she hadn’t noticed.
Then he flipped her to her back. She bounced on the mattress as he surged on top of her.
Yes, more! Now!
For over a month, she had waited for this day to come. They had teased about it, talked about it, even come close to doing it a couple of times. There were no more secrets keeping them apart, no dads to walk in and interrupt them. It was just her and Mark, and with the sensations of the orgasm he had just given her still ricocheting like unfinished business through her body, she was ready for the moment to finally happen.
“Make love to me,” she said, gripping his shoulders.
“Oh, I plan on it.” He found her lips with his and scorched her with a volcanic kiss. Mark had never kissed her with such primal fury. It was like a promise that declared he was about to rock her world in a way it had never been rocked, and she had better get ready.
The hard length of him slid forward and back, up and down against her, teasing, making her ache, filling her belly with viscous warmth that trickled numb tingles up her thighs and into her center.
Forever. The pleasurable ride seemed to last forever, driving her stark raving mad. She couldn’t hold still. Her legs brushed up and down, her hips drove against him, seeking him, wanting him inside.
“Please,” she finally whispered as she came up for air.
In answer, his hand brushed down between their bodies until his fingers parted her.
Her nails dug into his back, just below his shoulders.
With the tips of his fingers barely inside her, he used his hand to guide his erection to the very place she wanted. As he extracted his fingers, the head of his cock glided in to replace them.
He was inside her. Just a little. Not all the way. But still! God, Mary, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit! She felt like she should pray. Give thanks. Sing praises to heaven. Yes, this was what she had been missing only minutes ago. This was what she needed. This felt right. And he was thick. Thicker than the fourth dildo.
She sighed heavily and lifted her gaze to meet his as he held his breath.
“Are you ready?” he said.
Licking her lips, she nodded. “Yes.”
Ever so gently, he pressed forward, sliding inside her just a little. There was a pinch of tightness, and she tensed and whimpered.
He stopped. “Ssshh, take your time.” He gave her a moment to breathe, and then began filling her again once she relaxed.
Slowly, inch by inch, he encroached then withdrew before driving himself a little deeper, until finally he was in. All of him. And it felt so good. So damn good…and full. He filled her completely, and her vagina pulsed with anticipation, making him groan.
“You feel good,” he said.
“So do you.” Oh God, it was happening. It was finally happening.
His body shifted against hers, and he rotated his pubic bone against her clit.
A bolt of sensation zinged her, and she gasped. “Oh!” She had just had an orgasm a few minutes ago but was already on the verge of another. Or maybe this was the same one and it wasn’t finished and just needed a little coaxing to fully spend itself.
He rotated himself against her clit again, more insistently, with similar results.
With an emphatic nod, she panted and dug her blunt nails into his back. “More.”
He took a slow rhythm then gradually increased the tempo, maintaining the deep connection between them. The head of him buried as far as it could go.
The result was unreal. She had never felt anything like this. The pleasure, the way that simple contact took her to a place of physical rapture, was the stuff of fantasies. She was the heroine in a romance novel, and Mark was the supernatural hero able to show her magically intense pleasure like none she’d ever known.
But this was no fantasy, and she wasn’t some character in a novel. This was real. Oh God, was it ever real. And within minutes, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to take a normal breath again.
So intense was the euphoria he coaxed in and out of her body, from head to toe, she could no longer speak, only breathe. High-pitched moans tore from her throat on each exhale, her body merely a vessel to receive and amplify every joyous, shallow, persistent stroke.
On the edge. That’s where she was. He had pulled her to the precipice, and she hung, gazing down at the churning waters below, ready to fall, ready to be swallowed by the pending deluge.
So close. A second release was right there. Looming but just out of reach.
She had never come like this—without touching herself—and yet Mark had her precariously on climax’s doorstep for a second time in less than fifteen minutes.
But that’s as close as she came to release, because she remained rooted, her orgasm budging not an inch further.
Damn, the frustration. She was right there. So close to coming, but unable to. Out of desperation, she began to wend her hand between their undulating bodies, despairing, her proverbial back against the wall. Maybe if she used her fingers, that would help unleash her orgasm.
Mark grabbed her hand and thrust it down beside her. Their joined fists slammed against the mattress.
“No!” He grunted the word between clenched teeth. “Not like that.”
She threw her head back and wailed from both the unbelievable pleasure and the frustration.
“You will come with me.” Each word punched out like his voice was making love to her, not his body.
She writhed, furiously trying to unbind her orgasm from whatever shackled it. “I can’t.”
“Yes. You can.” He slowed his pace and took deep breaths. “Relax, baby. Breathe.”
She did as he said, as hard as it was with the threat of what felt like a volcanic climax bound tightly inside her belly.
His rhythm slowed further, and he gently slid in and out of her. In and out, in and out. And he lifted on his arms. His skin glistened with perspiration.
Her body cooled as air touched her damp skin through the lacy lingerie.
For at least a minute, maybe two, he stayed like that, supported on his arms, suspended over her body, his hips drawing back and driving slowly forward, over and over with extreme patience and care. From the looks of it, he was going to drag her orgasm out of her if it killed him.
The explosive sensations taking up residence in her body didn’t diminish, but she was finally able to breathe almost normally again.
“That’s it,” he said, lowering himself once more. “Breathe. Deep breaths. And put your arms around me. Lay your legs out straight on either side of mine. Yes, just like that. Now…keep breathing.” He pressed in, driving deep once more.
Oh! Now that was different. Mmm, yes.
Again, he rocked his hips forward, and again, and again. And oh! This was better. When his mouth found the side of her neck, it was like a mainline blasted into place between her neck and her vagina, and the most…astonishing flame licked to life deep inside, where his erection made contact with her G-spot.
The response felt similar to how it had felt when he sucked her nipples while fingering her the night he removed the Ben Wa ball, only this was ten times stronger.
“Yes,” she said on a gasp. “Yes, God yes. There. Don’t stop.”
He wasn’t stopping. If anything, his thrusts became more elongated, deeper, more powerful.
Karma lost all sense of herself as her eyes rolled back in her head. She couldn’t breathe. Not because Mark was lying on her, but because the mounting, winding pleasure wouldn’t allow it. His tongue laved her neck, and then he closed his lips against her skin and sucked with tiny nectar bites. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a jazz piano played a deceptively fragile melody for the rising passion about to let loose a whole lot of oh-my-God-and-then-some in the room.
She didn’t think her body’s response could inflate much more, but she was wrong. My God! What was happening? What was this? She had never orgasmed like this before. Not even on the night Mark had freed her from Ben Wa.
Just when she didn’t think she could take much more, an impulsive cry ripped from her throat as her entire body fell into uncontrollable convulsions.
When had she ever come this hard? When had the intensity been so great that she couldn’t control her vocal chords or her body? Dear Lord! For a moment, the room went dark, even though her eyes were open. She had almost blacked out.
Breathe!
She sucked in a vast gulp of oxygen by sheer force of will, and another involuntary moan stuttered over the spasms in her throat.
She became vaguely aware of Mark slamming into her with a grunt, his entire body going stiff as he growled out, “I’m coming, I’m coming, oh fuck!”
And deep within, against that magical little spot he had found with the tip of his erection, he throbbed, filling the condom.
Long moments extended into blissful oblivion, until finally, breathless and spent, Mark gave a final shudder and relaxed into her arms, his face buried against her neck.
The drought was over. She had graduated. She had finally experienced a real orgasm, and Mark had been the one to give it, as promised. Cleansing tears streamed from the corners of her eyes as more of the emotional weight she had shouldered for so long eased away, disappearing into the shadows where Old Karma now resided. Where all her old habits, injurious behaviors, and self-doubting thoughts were tucked away. Where the shell she had lived in since junior high quickly filled with cobwebs and dust, because she had shorn that hiding place weeks ago.
Finally, Karma felt like a real woman. The training wheels were off and she stepped into the world changed, mature, all grown-up. This was what it felt like to be with a man who cared about her. A man who respected her and put her pleasure before his own.
“Fuck the chocolate chunk brownie,” he said, out of breath, panting hard against her. “That was a chocolate explosion.”
Karma was too depleted to laugh, but she offered an airy chuff. “You don’t say.”
His cheeks rose against her skin, so she knew he was smiling. “Told you I would give you one.”
A satisfied grin spread over her face. “You could have warned me.”
He carefully lifted off her, rolled her to her side, and eased behind her. “And ruin the surprise?” He kissed the back of her shoulder.
“Oh, I doubt anything could have ruined that.” Every muscle in her body was loose, warm, and satiated, and she smiled as she snuggled against him.
“Now you know why I wanted you to abstain this week.”
“Why?” She wasn’t sure she saw the connection.
He nuzzled her neck. “Have you heard the expression that absence makes the heart grow fonder?”
“Yes.”
“Well, abstaining makes the orgasm stronger.” He kissed her ear. “And since I imagine you’ve faithfully been doing your Kegels, I suspected—correctly, I might add—that if you abstained, you would have one hell of an orgasm tonight.”
“You really are a Jedi Master of the Sexual Force, aren’t you?”
He chuckled. “Feel the Force moooove inside you.” He tried to speak like Yoda but failed. He burrowed closer and nibbled her ear.
“Oh, I felt it.”
He squeezed her and kissed her shoulder, the back of her neck, caressed her arm and hip, and played with the fabric of her baby-doll, which she was still wearing. Finally, he laid his head on the pillow behind her and said, “So, will it be Hank or me? It’s time to choose.”
This time, she did laugh. “Let’s put it this way: Hank who?”
His arm tightened around her waist. “That’s my girl.”
Yes, that she was. His girl. After what they had just done, she had a feeling she would be “his girl” forever, even after he left and went back to Chicago. But now wasn’t the time to think about that. Later. She could think about that later. In this moment, all that mattered was that he was here with her now.
An hour later, while watching a movie in bed, Mark peeled Karma out of her lingerie and made love to her one more time before curling her against his body and dozing off, his head tilted toward her as if he could watch her even in slumber. Before he fell asleep, he pulled her arm over his stomach, and his hand lay on her wrist as if he wanted to keep her there.
His chest rose and fell deeply, and the longer Karma watched him sleep, the heavier her eyelids became. She had slept uneasily all week, looking forward to tonight. Now, with the excitement behind her and her body feeling as content and lazy as a cat napping in the sun, the restless nights finally caught up.
Within minutes, with her head nestled on Mark’s chest, she was asleep.