The Secret of Ella and Micha

can’t… I don’t think I’m ready yet.”
    He kisses my forehead tenderly and boosts up on his elbows, his body still hovering over me. With his fingertip, he sketches a line from my temple to my jaw and my eyelids flutter. “Will you let me try one more thing?”
    I open my eyes, dazed from his touch. “I’m not sure if I can go any farther tonight.”
    “Just trust me, okay?” he says. “And if it gets to be too much, just say and I promise I’ll stop.”
    I bite at my lip, knowing where he’s going with this. “Okay.”
    Unhurriedly, with his eyes fastened on mine, he moves his mouth and kisses the hollow of my neck, sending shivers over my skin. His lips move downward and linger just above my breast. My eyes shut as his mouth touches my nipple and his tongue slips out over it. He sucks on it hard and I swear to God I can’t breathe. My legs vice-grip around him and the longer he devours me, the fiercer his mouth gets. With each movement of his tongue, my thighs burn hotter.
    I need… something. “Micha, I…”
    “Shh…” he whispers and trails rapturous kisses up my neck. “I’ll take care of it.”
    His fingers slide down my bare stomach and to the bottom of my shorts, leaving a path of heat along my skin. As his lips find mine again, his finger slips deep inside me. The lyrics of the music fade away as my panic bursts into a thousand blissful pieces.

    Micha
    When Ella screams out my name, with her head tipped back, her eyes lost, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. She trusted me enough to do things to her that no one else has and it makes me feel alive again.
    Of course, my dick is so hard it actually hurts.
    “Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who is stuck on repeat and fills up the moment. It’s the song I turn on when I feel down, but I don’t think it’s going to be that anymore—not after tonight.
    I brush her hair away from her forehead. “Are you okay?”
    Her green eyes are glazed over as she nods her head up and down. There’s a look on her face that brings a smile to my lips. “I’m better than fine.” She leans up and kisses me.
    I draw her in, intensifying the kiss, then let her go, needing to cool down. “You should stay here tonight.”
    I expect her to protest, but she nods as she tugs her shirt back over her head. “Okay, but I’ll have to use your phone to text Lila. I didn’t bring mine with me.”
    I kiss her forehead, then her temple, breathing her in. “I’m gonna go take a shower. I’ll be right back.”
    Confining a laugh, she reaches for my phone on my nightstand. “A cold one?”
    I grab some clothes out of my dresser and back out the doorway. “You better watch it, Ella May. Or I may decide against it and you’ll just have to deal with me for the rest of the night.”
    She flops back on the bed as she sends a text. “Maybe that’s what I’m hoping for.”
    Shaking my head, I throw my clothes on the floor and jump onto the bed, putting a knee on each side of her. She laughs as I playfully trap her arms above her head. I move my lips next to her ear and gently take a nip at her. I breathe on her neck, letting my warm breath cause her to shudder, teasing her and driving both our bodies crazy. She lets out a moan and I feel her legs start to move around me.
    Sighing, I pull away before I get even more wound up. “Okay, I have to go take a shower.” I climb off the bed, watching her all the way to the door.
    Once I’m out of the room, all of the pain I’ve been feeling about my dad smothers me again, but all I can do is keep breathing.

Chapter 19

    Ella
    The next day is lighter somehow, like I’ve been buried in the sand and someone has finally dug me out. Micha seems happier too, although I can tell he’s still hurting, so I work on keeping his mind distracted.
    “So what did you do to it?” I ask Micha as I circle the back end of his car with my hands on my hips, taking in the scratches and dings in the black paint, which look worse in the sunlight.
    “I took it for a very intense joy ride.” A lazy grin stretches across his face as he puts his head beneath the hood to examine the engine.
    I plant my butt on the edge where he’s working and cross my leg over my knee. “At least tell me you won? And that the scratches and dings were totally worth it.”
    “Of course. They’re always worth it,” he says with a hidden meaning that only the two of us could ever understand.
    Gripping the edge, I lean back over the