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Speaker 1: This is the Good Bits. This excerpt from Madeline Ashes

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Speaker 1: his Billionaire Bride is brought to you by the Goodbits

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Speaker 1: dot Com.

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Speaker 2: Edwin slept in my bed, still sleeping now. One truth

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Speaker 2: held his exploration of me would be too much tonight.

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Speaker 2: But that didn't mean I couldn't explore him. The idea

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Speaker 2: lit me up so intensely. I inched across the mattress,

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Speaker 2: the first man I'd wanted to touch for his own sake.

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Speaker 2: I wasn't ready to find my own pleasure, to have

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Speaker 2: Edwin find it for me, but to find his that

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Speaker 2: unearthed a new Clawing within me. Holding my breath, I

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Speaker 2: pressed a palm into his shoulder blade and slid it

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Speaker 2: slowly down his back. No reaction. Edging closer, I fanned

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Speaker 2: my fingers and swept my touch outward along his side.

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Speaker 2: My fingertips curved over onto his bare stomach, smooth skin, sensitive, warm,

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Speaker 2: and still. He challenged me, even in sleep, lifting my

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Speaker 2: head onto his pillow so close his body heat met

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Speaker 2: with mine. I placed an open mouth kiss to the

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Speaker 2: soft hollow behind his ear, pressing my tongue against his skin.

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Speaker 2: That woke him. He sprang into consciousness, body jolting as

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Speaker 2: he gasped in the dark. To ground him, remind him

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Speaker 2: of where he was. I kept a hand on his

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Speaker 2: waist and moved even closer until my breasts and thighs

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Speaker 2: grazed against him. His breath out was shaky.

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Speaker 3: Hello, Hi.

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Speaker 2: I tilted my chin up, took the lobe of his

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Speaker 2: ear in my mouth. His naked back was hot, hard.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to eat him whole. He shivered.

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Speaker 3: Can't sleep anywhere but the middle?

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Speaker 2: Huh, not sleeping? I murmured over his shoulder, his beautiful,

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Speaker 2: edible shoulder. In a surge of boldness, my hands spread

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Speaker 2: around him, one sliding over his shoulder and down his chest,

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Speaker 2: the other drifting to circle low on his stomach. Very awake,

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Speaker 2: His abs tensed beneath my touch.

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Speaker 3: I can do awake.

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Speaker 2: He started to turn into me. Wait. I held him

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Speaker 2: in place. He'ds did our earlier kiss. It was my

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Speaker 2: turn to be in control. Don't turn around. He angled

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Speaker 2: his head toward me, his colorless features confused in the

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Speaker 2: faint light.

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Speaker 3: Are you serious?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 3: I want to touch you.

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Speaker 2: I want to touch you.

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Speaker 3: First.

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Speaker 2: Tension held him coiled as he hesitated, Then, with a

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Speaker 2: rough exhale, he reached a hand behind him to grasp

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Speaker 2: the back of my thigh, settling more securely against me,

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Speaker 2: his ass melding into the cradle of my hips. Vomission granted.

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Speaker 2: My breath stung in my throat as I trembled with

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Speaker 2: everything I wanted to do to him and have him

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Speaker 2: do to me. His breath caught as I thumbed the

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Speaker 2: band of his pants. The flush of reaction spreading through

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Speaker 2: me only flared when his hand joined mine to help

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Speaker 2: unbutton him. Freed with pants dropping to the floor, he

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Speaker 2: caught my fingers in a shawl grip.

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Speaker 3: Promise me I can do this to you.

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Speaker 2: He turned his head half facing where I clung behind him.

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Speaker 2: I could feel him against my knuckles, erect, sleek like

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Speaker 2: wet glass. The thought of holding him made me dizzy.

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Speaker 2: I promise, Matching the bend of his body, I pressed

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Speaker 2: my cheek to his back and rose my grip up

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Speaker 2: to his tip, again, getting a feel for him richard,

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Speaker 2: yet smooth as silk. I swallowed down a shaky breath

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Speaker 2: and started to stroke him. God carry He found my

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Speaker 2: other hand, guided it up his chest, flattened it against

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Speaker 2: his skin. If I thought my pulse was running so

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Speaker 2: frantically his would never catch up. I was wrong. His

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Speaker 2: wild heartbeats flew as fiercely as my own. Vaguely I

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Speaker 2: recognized it as a problem. Palms over pounding, hearts, my

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Speaker 2: name spoken in gratification, a sensation unfolding in my chest

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Speaker 2: that achingly reached for him. But I didn't care, because

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Speaker 2: this was everything. Hips tucked hard against him, Breasts are

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Speaker 2: tight and straining for his touch, desire, hitching at his

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Speaker 2: uneven stifled breaths, and safe, erotic, infuriatingly unsatisfying, but safe

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Speaker 2: until clothes off. He spoke a split second before he

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Speaker 2: started to turn. Startled, I snatched my hands away to

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Speaker 2: hold him in place, pushing at his shoulder blades. If

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Speaker 2: he turned, I might end up beneath him, and we

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Speaker 2: both knew where that would lead. Groaning, He let himself

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Speaker 2: be restrained.

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Speaker 3: Okay, you can do it, take.

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Speaker 2: Off the only layer between us. What happened to not

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Speaker 2: wanting to rush me? His body stilled.

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Speaker 4: You woke me up for this, carry not the other

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Speaker 4: way around, and call it ironic, since I'm basically a

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Speaker 4: peasant and a penthouse right now.

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Speaker 3: But I'm not into power and balances.

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Speaker 2: He lifted his head, eyeing me over his shoulder in

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Speaker 2: the dim city line. His expression was wary.

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Speaker 3: If I'm naked, so are you.

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Speaker 2: You'd prefer me to stop and stay in my pajamas.

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Speaker 2: You can't be.

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Speaker 3: I'll take a satisfying shower.

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Speaker 2: He was serious.

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Speaker 3: But lying here.

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Speaker 4: Naked and facing it no one while you're covered up

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Speaker 4: behind me, I might as well come alone.

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Speaker 2: He shook his head, and his next words came out

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Speaker 2: soft with indignity.

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Speaker 4: I've accepted I can't have commitment from you, Garry, but

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Speaker 4: don't make me feel cheap.

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Speaker 2: It was like Hed pushed me off the rooftop. My

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Speaker 2: gut warped as I hit his truth. Too busy protecting myself,

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Speaker 2: I hadn't realized the position I'd put him in. It

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Speaker 2: felt like sin to cheapen the most precious man in existence.

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Speaker 2: You're right, I wriggled away from him, cold with shame.

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Speaker 3: I'm sorry, it's okay.

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Speaker 2: He didn't turn around. I rolled off the bed onto

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Speaker 2: my feet. My shorts and underwear came off faster from standing.

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Speaker 2: Then I was crawling across the covers and imprinting my

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Speaker 2: body against the back of his. The sensation of hot

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Speaker 2: naked skin would have driven my hand straight to his

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Speaker 2: erection if I weren't so focused on fixing this. I

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Speaker 2: pressed my mouth to his shoulder once twice. I'm sorry, edwin.

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Speaker 2: Slowly he relaxed against me, loosening, accepting I didn't mean

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Speaker 2: to make you feel cheap. My mouth hardly lifted from

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Speaker 2: him as I spoke his skin on my tongues, the

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Speaker 2: hiddy scent of his bedroom times a thousand. It's not

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Speaker 2: that you don't mean enough to me.

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Speaker 5: You mean too much.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how to do all the things you

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Speaker 2: can do, talk, observe, empathize. I don't have experience as

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Speaker 2: I considerate lover. It's okay, he twisted, meeting my eyes,

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Speaker 2: searching for something I hadn't realized I was giving him

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Speaker 2: until he took it with a small, cautious smile. I

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Speaker 2: want this to be good for you, he'd said he

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Speaker 2: wouldn't take pleasure from me without ensuring I felt it

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Speaker 2: in return. Yet I clearly couldn't get it right for

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Speaker 2: either of us. But intimacy isn't my thing, and I

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Speaker 2: don't know how to come here. He reached an arm

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Speaker 2: behind him, circling my waist and sliding me over his side.

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Speaker 2: Suddenly I was in front of him, naked, in front

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Speaker 2: of him. Heat filled my face, my blood as his

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Speaker 2: grip shifts to caress my side. Voice thick, he murmured.

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Speaker 3: How could you hide this from me? And before you

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Speaker 3: start thinking?

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Speaker 2: He cupped a hand over my eyes until I closed them.

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Speaker 2: Just feel the tender skimming of his lips over mine,

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Speaker 2: seeking entrance. His mouth felt hotter than it had earlier, richer,

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Speaker 2: and I sank onto the covers into his kiss. Slowly

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Speaker 2: he touched me, stroking his hands over my breast, waist,

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Speaker 2: shoulders reawakening. I wound my arms around his neck to

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Speaker 2: draw him closer. He smiled teeth against my lips as

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Speaker 2: his fingers made their way down to toy low, and

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Speaker 2: my stomach shivers erupted at my navel. How had I

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Speaker 2: not known my belly was so intensely sensitive, sending his

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Speaker 2: caress shooting like sparks down between my thighs. He moved

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Speaker 2: on over my hip to grasp my ears, a hold

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Speaker 2: that from past lovers had felt dominating, but now felt

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Speaker 2: intimately erotic. He palmed me in a wide circle before

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Speaker 2: moving up My spine, taut and trembling, I half lifted

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Speaker 2: myself onto my side, reaching out as I wrapped around him,

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Speaker 2: his rigid patience fell away in a rush. He thrust

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Speaker 2: into the barrel of my curved hand. He's grown, betraying

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Speaker 2: how close I'd brought him earlier. Please, yes, I said, hardly,

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Speaker 2: breathing from my own ache. I wanted, if only I could.

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Speaker 2: It was so hard to think beyond him, Edwin, His

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Speaker 2: lips lifted a distracted smile, perhaps because his name had

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Speaker 2: triggered all of this tonight, or perhaps just because he

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Speaker 2: liked to hear me say it, Edwin, I said again,

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Speaker 2: under my breath as I kept stroking him, my movements

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Speaker 2: growing rougher to match the slight flex and fall of

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Speaker 2: his hips. Top lip pressed against my forehead, he asked, unsteadily,

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Speaker 2: Can I touch you? If I hadn't been so close

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Speaker 2: to my own edge, clenching around nothing, I'd have been

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Speaker 2: too worried to agree. If it hadn't been sure i'd

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Speaker 2: come from a mere graze of his knuckle, I wouldn't

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Speaker 2: have risked it. But I was and desprefer him to

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Speaker 2: touch me.

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Speaker 6: A twisting, grasping, begging need, he guided me to the

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Speaker 6: edge beside him, and I trusted him to take me

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Speaker 6: over with him.

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Speaker 2: Yes, okay, I said yes. His hand trailed down my middle,

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Speaker 2: right to where I burned.

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Speaker 7: Slick for him.

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Speaker 2: As he slid over me for the first time, my

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Speaker 2: body both yielded and tightened, inviting him, even as my

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Speaker 2: tension built for more.

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Speaker 7: He stroked me once twice too many times, and when

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Speaker 7: my own hand moved faster over him, forcing him to

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Speaker 7: pick up the pace if we were to do this together.

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Speaker 5: He gave a breathless laugh and pushed a finger inside me.

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Speaker 5: A crackling bolt of pleasure shot through me, growing steady

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Speaker 5: air as he withdrew and added another. It took less

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Speaker 5: time than.

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Speaker 2: I thought possible. This search had been building since he

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Speaker 2: had first turned up and caught me watching him across

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Speaker 2: the denserl his green gaze, sparkling lips upturned in curious appreciation,

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Speaker 2: months in the making, and every second of the past week,

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Speaker 2: driving me to breaking point. His disarming flirtations, his thoughtful gestures,

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Speaker 2: his compassion and candor, and the all consuming feel of

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Speaker 2: him thrusting.

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Speaker 3: Inside me curry.

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Speaker 2: He led me not in tight but starting to split

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Speaker 2: at the scenes into the blinding white of release, hitting

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Speaker 2: me like a fist, my whole body wrapped around the

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Speaker 2: sensation as it burst, magnificent at my core, slowly my

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Speaker 2: return to myself. We were both breathing hard. His fingers

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Speaker 2: were deep inside me, and my hand was slick with

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Speaker 2: his release. Our body is tangled, skin, hot and damp,

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Speaker 2: and in the past I'd have been mortified by the

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Speaker 2: sticky reality of such aftermath. Thank you, I murmured, sinking

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Speaker 2: onto my back with a sigh. One side of his

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Speaker 2: mouth lifted in a smile.

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Speaker 3: That's you.

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Speaker 2: Then he shifted, kissing me softly. After cleaning up, we

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Speaker 2: lay facing each other. He brushed his fingers through my hair,

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Speaker 2: eyes closed, and I traced invisible parts across his chest.

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Speaker 2: The moment was silent and tender, and deep inside me,

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Speaker 2: so far down I couldn't tell if it was the

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Speaker 2: back of my mind or the bottom of my heart.

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Speaker 2: Something took an unsettled step forward, something frightened and shy,

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Speaker 2: so severely battlescarred it should never have survived this long. Alarmed,

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Speaker 2: I snatched my hand away. No matter how hard I'd

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Speaker 2: worked to keep it shielded, no matter how I'd deflected, blocked,

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Speaker 2: and protected, the love left in me had finally noticed Edwin.

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Speaker 1: To see what happens next, click the link on your

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Speaker 1: podcast app and download his Billionaire Bride.

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Speaker 3: By Madeline Ash.

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Speaker 1: You'll find a whole host of stories like this one

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Speaker 1: at the Goodbits dot com, or you can follow this

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Speaker 1: podcast for free to make sure you don't miss our

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Speaker 1: next episode. The Good Bits podcast was produced by Olivia

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Speaker 1: O'Flynn with words by Madeline Ash, production by Bang Bang Studios,

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Speaker 1: and title music by Patrick Grigg.