Chapter 212: The Taste of Surrender
Catherine lay there, chest still heaving, body trembling with aftershocks, trying to remember how to breathe.
'What was that?'
The thought flickered through the haze... distant, almost detached.
She'd touched herself before. Had chased release in the dark, alone. Knew what pleasure could feel like.
Or thought she had.
But that...
That had been something else entirely.
Something that felt like being unmade and remade simultaneously, like every nerve in her body had been set on fire and drowned in ice water and electrocuted all at once.
Catherine's eyes focused on Alex above her, and the hunger that should have been satisfied... should have been sated by the most intense orgasm of her life... roared back with force that made her breath catch.
More.
The need wasn't satisfied.
It was ignited.
Like that first climax had been kindling, and now the real fire blazed... consuming, demanding, refusing to be denied.
Catherine wanted...
Needed...
She couldn't even articulate what she needed, but her body knew.
Wanted him inside her. Wanted to be claimed completely. Wanted to be fucked so thoroughly that she forgot her own name, forgot Catherine Blackwood existed, forgot everything except him and the pleasure he could give.
The intensity of the need shocked her.
This wasn't rational desire or calculated seduction.
This was pure, animal hunger.
Alex must have seen something in her expression... something desperate and wild... because his smile widened into something that looked almost predatory.
"Still hungry?" he asked quietly, voice carrying knowing amusement.
Catherine couldn't speak.
Could only stare at him with what must have been naked need written across every feature.
"Tell me what you want, Catherine," Alex continued, hand trailing down her stomach with maddening lightness. "Say it."
"I— " Her voice came out hoarse, wrecked. "You know what I want."
"Say it."
Heat flooded Catherine's face, but the hunger was too strong to deny.
"I want you," she whispered. "Inside me. I want..."
"Want what?" Alex's fingers traced patterns just above where she desperately needed him. "Be specific."
"Please..."
"That's not an answer."
Catherine's hands clutched at his shoulders, nails digging in with desperation that bordered on violence.
"I want you to fuck me," she finally gasped, shame and arousal mixing until she couldn't tell them apart. "Please, Alex. I need... I can't... just please..."
The words dissolved into incoherent pleading, and Alex's expression shifted into satisfaction that made Catherine's stomach clench.
"Better," he said quietly.
Then he stood.
Straight.
Deliberate.
Looking down at her still sprawled on the bench with expression that carried challenge and command in equal measure.
"Then come and get it," Alex said simply, hands moving to his waistband.
The words hung between them... order, not invitation... and Catherine felt her breath stop entirely.
She pushed herself up on trembling arms, legs unsteady as she slid off the bench.
Alex shifted, making room beside the bench, and Catherine moved to stand before him... pulse racing, hunger consuming every rational thought.
She didn't want to wait anymore.
Couldn't.
Catherine dropped to her knees in one fluid motion... no hesitation, no second-guessing... positioning herself between his legs with desperate urgency.
Her hands moved to his waistband, fingers fumbling slightly with the button in her haste.
"Eager," Alex observed, amusement clear in his tone.
Catherine didn't respond.
Couldn't spare attention for words when all her focus narrowed to the barrier between her and what she desperately needed.
The button came free.
Her fingers found the zipper, pulling it down with trembling hands.
Then she gripped the waistband of both his pants and underwear simultaneously, tugging downward with determination...
His length sprung free.
Thick. Long. Hard.
Standing proudly the moment it was released from confinement.
"Ahhh... "
The sound escaped Catherine's throat... half-gasp, half-whimper... as she jerked backward instinctively.
Her eyes went wide, breath stopping entirely as her mind struggled to process what she was seeing.
Oh God.
He was... significant didn't even begin to cover it.
The thickness alone made Catherine's stomach clench with something between anticipation and genuine fear.
'That's supposed to fit inside... '
But even as fear flickered, hunger burned brighter.
Catherine's gaze fixed on his length with intensity that felt almost religious... reverent and desperate simultaneously.
Then, slowly, she looked up.
Alex was watching her.
Not surprised.
Not uncertain.
Just calm, assured... his expression carrying the unmistakable knowledge that this reaction was nothing new to him. That he'd seen it before. That he expected it.
A faint, knowing curve touched his lips as he met her eyes, then tilted his head the slightest fraction... an unspoken invitation.
A silent go on.
Her breath shuddered.
Her hand moved without conscious decision, drawn forward by need rather than thought, fingers trembling as she reached for him.
'So hard. So thick.'
Her hand couldn't close completely around his girth, and when she tried to measure with her other hand... one above the other... she realized exactly how much of him there was.
'This is going to... '
The thought didn't complete.
Couldn't.
All Catherine could do was stare at what she held, feeling the heat and hardness and weight of him, acutely aware that soon... very soon... this would be inside her.
"See something you like?" Alex asked, amusement clear in his tone.
Catherine's gaze snapped to his face, finding him watching her with expression that mixed satisfaction and hunger.
"I—" She couldn't find words. "You're..."
"Too much?" Alex supplied, but his tone suggested he knew the answer.
Catherine's grip tightened fractionally, and she watched his jaw clench with satisfaction that felt intoxicating.
"No," she whispered. "Not too much."
'Never too much.'
Her thumb traced along his length... learning the shape, the feel, the reality of what she'd demanded... and Alex's sharp intake of breath made something fierce surge through her.
'I did that. I made him react.'
The power was intoxicating.
Even kneeling before him, holding him, about to take him in her mouth... she had power over him too.
"Catherine," Alex said, and something in his tone made her eyes snap back to his face. "Put me in your mouth."
Not a question.
Not a request.
A command.
Catherine's breath caught, heart hammering, acutely aware of exactly what he was demanding and exactly how much she wanted to comply.
Catherine had never actually done this before. Not in reality.
She had fantasized about it, certainly. In the darkest, loneliest hours, she had imagined exactly this... kneeling before a man who consumed her, taking him in a way that was entirely for his pleasure.
But the fantasy had been safe. Abstract.
Reality was right here, heavy and demanding in her hands.
Kneeling before Alexander Hale, feeling the heat radiating from him, nervousness crashed through her.
What if I'm terrible? What if I can't take him?
But the hunger was stronger than the fear.
Catherine leaned forward, her breath hitching as the scent of his arousal filled her senses.
Her lips parted, hesitating for a fraction of a second before she closed her eyes and moved.
The first touch of him against her tongue was a shock... hot, smooth, and shockingly hard.
She opened wider, straining her jaw, and took the head of him into her mouth.
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