Inked on Paper

by Nicole Edwards

  Presley

  Cool air wafted over my skin, pulling me from a deep sleep. It took a few seconds to clear the fuzz from my brain enough to realize I was in my bed at the cabin. And the cool air came from the blankets being pulled off me.

  Opening my eyes, I noticed the sun shining bright, filling the room.

  “What time is it?” I asked, my voice raspy from sleep. I turned my head to the side, trying to see Jake, but I was on my stomach, and he was somewhere behind me, over me.

  A chill skittered down my spine. The good kind.

  “Nine thirty,” Jake said, his lips sliding over my shoulder blade, moving toward my spine.

  The warmth of his tongue on my skin had me moaning softly, spreading my legs, and allowing him to shift so that he was kneeling between my thighs, his cock settling in the crack of my ass.

  “Do you know how hard it was to wait for you to wake up?” he asked, his voice low.

  “If I recall, you’re the one who woke me up,” I answered, smiling.

  “Are you complaining?” His lips latched on to the sensitive skin of my neck.

  “No,” I said breathlessly. “Definitely not.”

  “Good.” Jake’s hips shifted, his cock sliding beneath me, nudging at my entrance.

  I was already wet, my body ready for him, but I was supposed to be resisting him. Wasn’t I? After all, I was the one who’d made the rule last night. For every chapter he wrote…

  The blunt head of his cock nudged against my entrance, and I moved, pushing against him, allowing him to slip deeper inside.

  A soft moan escaped me. “Oh, yes.”

  Screw another chapter. I needed this. Him.

  “Presley,” he mumbled against my neck, his chest lowering to my back as his hands slid over mine, linking our fingers. “You feel so good. So tight … so hot.”

  I accepted for the first time in my life that I enjoyed the vocal side of sex a lot, listening to the rough rumble of his voice as he spoke. I wanted him to keep talking, to make me come with his words alone.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, withdrawing slowly, then pushing in deep. “So wet.”

  He did that to me. Seemed I was primed and ready for him all the time.

  I tightened my fingers around his, pushing my hips back when he thrust forward again.

  “Jake … don’t stop,” I pleaded when he began fucking me deeper.

  This was one hell of a way to be woken up in the morning. His warm body covering mine, his lips tracing the shell of my ear, his dick tunneling in and out of me. The only possible way it could’ve been better was if we didn’t have the latex barrier between us. I suddenly wished we were skin to skin.

  “Deeper,” I begged as the sensations slammed into me.

  His hips rolled forward, his cock going deeper. He maintained a slow pace, driving me out of my mind. It felt so good. Too good.

  “Pres … fuck, baby.” His hips rolled again and again, filling me, stretching me, igniting nerve endings that I hadn’t realized I had.

  “Need more,” I told him, trying to push back against him.

  Jake released my fingers, then the heat of his body disappeared. He pulled my hips back, forcing me up onto my knees. When I started to push up with my hands, his palm slid to the center of my back, stopping me, forcing my upper body to remain flat against the mattress.

  For the longest time, Jake fucked me, keeping a brutally slow pace, the friction ratcheting me higher and higher, but it was never enough to send me over the edge. I was a mass of sensation, struggling to keep my sanity, desperate for the release that was just out of reach.

  “More?” Jake asked, his voice rough, and I knew he was holding back for my sake.

  “Yes.”

  His hips thrust forward, impaling me on his thick length as he released my shoulders and gripped my hips roughly, pulling me back against him. When he slammed into me again, I cried out, my body catching fire.

  His hands slid up my back, his fingers curling over my shoulders, his firm grip holding me still as he began to fuck me harder, faster, deeper. It was different from last night. Better, which I hadn’t thought possible.

  I liked that Jake was losing control. I wanted all of him, every single part of him.

  He slammed into me over and over, my moans and his echoing in the room. I was close. So close.

  “Come for me, Presley. Milk my dick, sweetheart. Oh, fuck, baby.”

  That did it. I flew over the edge, soaring into the abyss, coming so hard I saw spots dance behind my eyelids. But Jake didn’t stop; he drove deeper, faster, using my body for his own pleasure, and I continued to soar.

  “Fuck, Pres. Gonna … come.” He grunted, slamming into me a few more times, his hands sliding over my ass, fingers digging into my flesh.

  One last time and he stilled, his cock pulsing inside me, triggering another orgasm.

  Minutes later, after he had disposed of the condom—thank God, he’d thought ahead on that one, because I hadn’t even thought about it until he had already been inside me—I was curled up against him, my head on his chest, thinking of all the things I wanted to do to his magnificent body.

  “Good morning,” Jake whispered, his arms enveloping me.

  “At this point, I think good would be an understatement,” I mumbled, smiling.

  “True.” Jake’s lips pressed against my forehead. “Very, very true.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Jake

  The writing thing was getting a bit easier, and I knew that was because of the point I’d reached within the story. That and the fact that Presley had given me the ultimate bribe—more sex with every chapter. Getting things moving along and tying up the ending were the hardest parts for me. The middle, where most of the action took place, that wasn’t so bad.

  And I knew that I needed to take advantage of the fact that I was still at the cabin, away from social media and other distractions—aside from Presley, who was honestly the biggest distraction of all, but in a good way. But with Presley here, it seemed I was more comfortable. In my element.

  So, I snagged a cup of coffee and dropped onto the couch with my notebook and my pen. I checked in with Kora and Donovan by reading the last chapter once more, adding a few revisions along the way.

  Now, it was time to move them forward.

  After hanging up on Donovan, Kora stared around her house, wondering what she needed to do. He obviously wasn’t going to listen to reason, which meant he was probably already on his way.

  The house was clean, so she had nothing to do there. Which left her to look at herself, and that was when she realized she was wearing a towel.

  “Great,” she muttered, making her way to her bedroom.

  She didn’t want to get dressed, but only because she was too lazy to do so. However, with Donovan coming over, she had no choice. For some reason, Kora knew she would be weak when it came to him. After only an hour in his company, she was craving him in a way she’d never experienced before.

  I could relate to that, oddly. Glancing down at the end of the couch, I noticed that Presley had made herself comfortable, once again wearing another one of my T-shirts while she read a book on her phone. She must’ve felt me staring at her because she moved the phone and smiled, her eyes glancing down at the notebook.

  One chapter. That was all I needed.

  I turned my attention back to Kora.

  Since she’d spent the past two years in a relationship with Sam, Kora had grown accustomed to the routine. In the beginning, their relationship had been all sparks and flames, but that had fizzled out after only three months. She’d tried to tell herself that was the way relationships worked, only she’d known deep down that wasn’t the case.

  Sam had never fanned the flames hot enough to ensure they wouldn’t burn out. Nor had she, so she couldn’t put all the blame on him. Maybe she had known all along that Sam wasn’t the right guy for her. It made sense in a warped sort of way. She had certainly never felt the sort of heat she’d
felt with Donovan.

  When it came to Donovan, there was a banked fire deep inside her, one that he could stoke to a conflagration with a simple look. For some reason, she didn’t think that flame would be all that easy to blow out, even if things progressed between them.

  Only they wouldn’t.

  This was the end of the line for them.

  After grabbing panties and a bra out of her drawer and yanking them on, Kora grabbed a long-sleeved button-up shirt from her closet and a pair of leggings and dressed in minutes. She ran a comb through her hair, brushed her teeth, and stared at herself in the mirror for longer than was necessary.

  She looked tired.

  Then again, she was.

  Today, though she thought she’d done a damn good job of hiding it, had been emotionally draining. Being at the baby shower, watching Trina and Sam as they greeted their friends and family, celebrating the life they were bringing into the world, Kora had felt the ache of loneliness and resentment settle into her gut.

  A knock sounded on her door, pulling her from her thoughts.

  She slowly crossed through the living room, then stepped into the foyer. Although she knew who was there, she still checked the security hole, using that as more of a stalling tactic than anything else.

  Her hand shook as she turned the knob and opened the door.

  The first thing she noticed about Donovan was that he’d changed. Gone was the suit and in its place a forest-green Henley that made his eyes glow, along with a pair of dark, well-worn jeans and boots. He’d gone from executive to cowboy in a matter of minutes.

  “You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy,” she muttered, taking a step back.

  “You don’t know how true that is,” Donovan said, his eyes slowly raking over her as he stepped inside.

  Kora closed the door, took a deep breath, and prayed like hell she would not do something stupid. Like take this sexy man to bed.

  Because, heaven help her, she already wanted to, and he hadn’t been there ten seconds.

  I fought the urge to look at Presley. As much as I wanted her, I knew I needed to finish this and not only because I needed to complete a chapter but because it felt right. When she was around, there was no doubt I was inspired.

  And yet, I still wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about that.

  Okay, Donovan, I’ve put the ball back in your court, buddy.

  From the moment the door opened and those wary gray eyes stared back at him, Donovan knew tonight wasn’t going to go as well as today had. Then again, he’d spent several hours at a baby shower, so he wasn’t sure he could call it a good day.

  Except for the part when he’d been buried balls deep inside of Kora. That had been fucking spectacular.

  “You okay?” he asked, following Kora when she swept past him into a sparsely furnished living room. It was nice. Clean. But it didn’t fit her all that well. There were no pictures on the wall, no knickknacks on the shelves.

  “Perfect,” Kora said, her tone telling him that she was anything but. “Want a drink?”

  “Yes,” he said, keeping his tone firm.

  Kora spun around so fast her hair flew around and brushed over her face.

  “That was blunt,” she stated, her forehead creased.

  “You asked. I answered. That’s the way it works, right?”

  “What happened to polite?” she snapped.

  Donovan could feel her tension and he knew it didn’t have anything to do with him. But he knew he needed to diffuse it if at all possible.

  Closing the gap between them in a matter of seconds, he came to stand directly in front of her, his hands going to her hips as he pulled her up against his body.

  “I know you’re not pissed at me,” Donovan told her. “If you were, you wouldn’t have given me your address. So what’s the problem?”

  “How do you know my problem isn’t you?” she retorted.

  “Because…” Donovan leaned down, his mouth dangerously close to hers. “You wouldn’t let me do this if it was.”

  He swallowed her sharp exhale when he slanted his mouth over hers, his tongue slowly sliding past her lips. He kept it gentle, simple. Nothing like the inferno that had consumed them in that storage closet, but this was nice, too.

  Kora’s hands were on his chest, but she wasn’t pushing him away, and Donovan took that as a good sign. He pulled back, then curled his hand around the nape of her neck as he locked his eyes with hers. “Today must’ve been hard.”

  A spark of anger ignited in her gaze and he knew he’d hit a nerve. Only he didn’t feel bad about it because he’d done it on purpose. The last thing he wanted was Kora feeling sorry for herself. He doubted she wanted that, either.

  Sure, she’d been burned by Sam, but that didn’t mean she had to wallow in it. As far as Donovan was concerned, she was better off without a guy who would cheat on her. She deserved a hell of a lot better than that.

  “You don’t know the first thing about me,” Kora hissed, jerking away from him.

  He smiled when she gave him her back. “You’d be surprised what I know.”

  “Whatever.”

  Donovan followed her into the kitchen and watched as she pulled out a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses.

  But he had no intention of indulging in liquor. That wasn’t the reason he was there.

  Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently kneaded the muscles, feeling the knots against his fingers. “No vodka, Kora.”

  She tried to shrug him off, but he didn’t budge, keeping her trapped between his body and the counter. She could’ve easily slipped away if she truly wanted to, but she stopped moving, which Donovan took to mean she didn’t have a whole lot of fight left in her.

  “I need something to take the edge off,” she said, but there was no conviction in her tone.

  “No alcohol,” he said, his mouth close to her ear.

  “Why not?”

  “Because tonight, when I take you to your bed, I want you completely coherent.”

  “What makes you think that’s gonna happen?” she countered.

  “Honey, you wouldn’t have let me in if that wasn’t what you wanted.”

  When he didn’t get a response, he knew he’d nailed it.

  But what Kora didn’t know was that if he was going to take her to bed, he damn sure wasn’t thinking of just one night.

  I scanned the page slowly. This could work. Donovan definitely wanted Kora, but I knew in the next chapter, he would have to convince her that this was a good thing. To show her that he wasn’t simply looking for a fast fuck.

  And I’d learned in life that words meant very little, which was why, like me, Donovan would have to rely on actions to prove himself.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Jake

  As much as I knew I should keep writing, I needed a break. Not because my hands were cramping or because I needed to eat.

  No, my excuse was nothing more than the simple fact that I couldn’t get enough of Presley. After last night, then again this morning, I was dealing with a constant hard-on just thinking about this woman, and I wasn’t exactly sure how that was possible. I wasn’t a twenty-something; my stamina had started waning years ago.

  Or so I’d thought.

  “What time are we going back?”

  I glanced over at Presley. She was lying on the couch, head propped on a pillow, her toes beneath my thigh—they were cold, she’d said—and she was watching me. For the past half hour, I’d been lost in the story, dedicating the required amount of time to Kora and Donovan, only I knew that our weekend was coming to an end and we did need to get back to Austin. As much as I didn’t want to, it was inevitable.

  “I thought we’d go around seven,” I told her.

  “What time is it?” She bowed her back, attempting to look behind her, and the move drew me up short. She was wearing one of my long-sleeve T-shirts and nothing else, the hem riding up her creamy thigh, revealing the int
ricate tattoo that ran from her hip to her knee.

  “Four.” My voice sounded weak, but I blamed her sexy legs for that.

  She turned back to look at me, a smile on her face. “That leaves us some time.”

  I couldn’t lie, the sexy edge in her voice made my cock harden more.

  “And what did you have in mind?”

  “Well, it requires you to put that notebook down.”

  Done. I closed the book and tossed it onto the coffee table, the noise causing Cat to jump up from his spot beneath before he jetted to the kitchen. Oops.

  “Now what?” I turned my attention back to her.

  “It’ll probably require you to be naked, too,” she said softly.

  “Naked?” I loved where this was going already.

  I reached behind my head, ready to pull my shirt off, but Presley stopped me.

  “Wait! Not yet.”

  Lifting my eyebrows, I paused for her to tell me how this was supposed to go.

  Her feet slid out from beneath my leg, and then she was crawling over me, straddling my thighs as she gazed down at me. I braced her hips with my hands, reveling in her warmth and the sweet scent of her.

  “Did you write another chapter?”

  “I did. The rough draft, anyway.” It would need quite a bit of information added, but it was well underway.

  Presley frowned, then started to move away.

  I planted my hands on her thighs. “Wait. I have a good explanation.”

  “And what would that be?” Her smile was playful.

  “I’ve kinda got a confession to make.”

  “A confession?” She looked skeptical.

  “Yeah. You see … there’s this girl… I can’t stop thinking about her.”

  “What’ve you been thinking about?” She settled back down, her ass resting on my legs.

  I moved my hands down the outsides of her thighs, then back up over the tops, my thumbs sliding between them while I slipped my fingers beneath the shirt. “About how fucking hot she looks with my shirt on. And off.”

  “Continue.” The sweet, sexy look she shot me went straight to my groin.

  “About how fucking good she tastes.” Her eyes widened, so I continued. “About how I want to slide my tongue in her pussy again, feast on her for a while.”