“Probably the only time you’ll ever hear it,” she said and squeezed.
“I don’t think I’d mind that so much.” It took me a minute to get the full sentence out. She’d worked my briefs down my hips and I toed them off. I’d never be able to see her again without thinking about having her naked and willing.
Naked—willing—and mine.
I could say it a thousand times.
Layla was mine.
Maybe that’s why I’d been fighting her for so long. I knew she was meant for me and didn’t truly believe I could ever deserve her.
I kissed her slowly, more for my benefit than hers. The second she got her hands on me, it took everything I had not to go off. Not because it had been a while, but because it was her. She’d ruined me.
Maybe I was about to ruin her. Maybe that made me as bad as she’d always thought.
Maybe I didn’t care.
She braced her hands on my shoulders, her nails biting into my flesh. I smoothed away the wrinkle in her brow with my lips and said, “Let me get a condom.” More to remind myself than inform her. If I didn’t stick to a script, I was going to lose it completely before she ever tasted bliss and I couldn’t let that happen.
“I want to,” she said, and grabbed the condom from my hands after I retrieved it from the nightstand. I didn’t have the chance to stop her and had to grit my teeth as she ripped the wrapper with her hers and then slowly worked it over my cock. Sweat beaded at my hairline and prickled along the backs of my knees.
She was going to be the death of me. That was all there was to it. Here I was trying to be a gentleman, trying to keep myself somewhat detached and in one innocent act, she disarmed me completely.
“I’ll take it slow,” I said when I caught my breath. Focus, Hampton.
“I trust you,” she said, and I didn’t realize I’d been waiting to hear those words until relief coursed through me.
Poised above her, I fitted myself to her entrance and observed her expression to make sure I wouldn’t hurt her more than I had to. Her eyes were closed, but she nodded and said, “It’s okay. Don’t stop,” when I paused with the tip of my cock barely inside her. “Please.”
Who’d have thought I’d need the encouragement?
Who’d have thought the barest hint of her would have my muscles going lax?
There was no sweeter heaven than being inside her.
“Open your eyes,” I said, without thinking, the words ripped from the depth of my chest. I was losing control—or she was taking it. “I want to see you. Wanna watch you.”
I saw in her eyes the girl I’d admired, hated, feared, and worshipped. Felt her open and give all she was. She was sweet, tender…and I was going to be her first. I didn’t think virginity mattered until I was on the precipice of taking hers.
I groaned as I slipped inside the slightest inch, clenched by the swollen fist of her flesh so tightly I thought I’d be trapped there. I didn’t seem to mind the thought. I’d spent so long fighting her, her physical acceptance was the sweetest reward.
“Yes,” she sighed as though she was reading my mind. “You feel… God, you make me feel so good.”
“Fuck,” I said on an exhalation, pulling back to clear my thoughts and realizing it was a mistake. The friction was almost too much to handle, too sweet to resist, just like the woman herself. The push was almost as delicious as the pull.
She shifted, lifted her hips, searching for more. “Please.” Hearing her beg only shoved me closer to the edge. Fuck, I was seconds away from begging myself. “More.”
Sweat spread over my back and chest at the effort to maintain a tenuous grip on my control.
Who was I kidding? I had no control left where she was concerned.
She bit her lip and arched her neck.
“You alright?” I asked, the words ripped from my throat. I was barely holding on, but all I could focus on was making it good for her.
She was still for a moment before she let out a breath, nodded. Her eyes focused enough to meet mine. I felt the connection of her gaze almost as viscerally as I did being inside her. “Yes, I’m okay. Don’t stop now.”
“I’m not going to stop.”
She shuddered underneath me and I lost her gaze as her eyelids slipped close Her legs viced tight around me and she rocked her hips up. “I want more.”
I froze, her movements having caught me off guard. “More?” I choked out. More might kill me.
“Please keep going.”
“I said don’t rush me. Always ordering me around.” My brows furrowed as I tried to concentrate.
She seemed to be having the same problem focusing. “I’m not, I just… please.”
“You keep saying that and this’ll be over before it starts.”
Her head thrashed against the pillow. “Dash, please.”
“No, you’re going to listen to me for once.”
“I am, I promise I am,” she whimpered and lifted her hips to meet mine, sending stars shooting across my vision as I slipped deeper inside her.
“Fuck, baby, you can’t do that. I’m already a goner here.”
I licked my finger, tasting sweat and musk, and reached between us to stroke the stiff bundle of her clit. Her reaction was instantaneous. She clenched even tighter around me, both inside and out, then loosened, her legs lifting, opening. I cursed and buried my face in her hair.
My strokes lengthened until I was plunging nearly all the way inside her. She lifted her hips to meet me, searching for the friction provided by my finger against her clit. With a soft, beseeching cry, she gripped my hips with her hands and pulled me tight to her. One slick thrust, then I was all the way inside, her thighs cradling my hips.
I saw black. Saw stars. Saw heaven and hell. She was my ruination. My salvation. She was everything.
Her moan broke, then held, her head thrown back, mouth wide. I kissed her throat, nipped with my teeth, breathing heavily against the throbbing pulse beating against my lips. I trembled above her to keep still.
“Okay?” I asked again when I could talk.
“No,” she answered. “Dash, I don’t—” She lifted her hips to finish her thought, searching for fulfillment just out of reach.
“I’ve got you,” I said. I increased pressure with my finger against her clit, then moved slowly, rhythmically. Seducing her to the edge as much as I was myself with quick, hard thrusts, and slow withdrawals. It was a torment and a tease. Like the woman herself.
I wanted to come more than anything, but I wanted to see her first. Wanted to watch the wave of pleasure crash over her, watch her lose it in my arms. My arms shook with the effort to hold my orgasm back, but I kept the pace, studied her reaction until I found the spot that made her writhe beneath me.
She came, wrapped around me like she never wanted to let me go. Like being anchored to me is what allowed her to fly. I watched as her mouth turned into an “O” of surprise and a flush spread over her chest. Her nipples beaded up, and I tasted them, flinging her higher, sending her soaring.
Then, she said my name on a sigh and sent me tumbling after her.
Chapter Fifteen
Layla
I couldn’t stop smiling. It wouldn’t take Charlie or Ember long to figure out what had happened, but I didn’t care.
Dash was still asleep in front of me and I was wrapped around him like a starfish. It was the weekend, so we didn’t have any classes. I was glad to have a few more moments with him where reality didn’t intrude. The thought had me hugging him a little tighter until he chuckled and turned around to face me.
“Trying to smother me already?” he asked.
I pressed my face into the warmth of his chest, let the dusting of hair tickle my nose, along with the scent of him, sleepy and warm. “Not today,” I answered.
“Sex makes you compliant. Good to know,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“You’re lucky I’m feeling so relaxed or you’d have a fist in your stomach ri
ght about now,” I replied.
“Did you have anything planned for today?” he asked. His thumb lazily trailed up my wrist, causing me to shiver.
“Nothing important.”
“Good, then you’re mine for the day.” I felt a little thrill at the words “you’re mine” but decided not to read too much into them.
“What do you want to do?” I asked.
His hand skimmed playfully down my back to cup my ass. “First, I want to get you in the shower, then it’s a surprise.”
The wicked glint in his eye was intriguing. No one had ever planned a surprise for me aside from Charlie and Ember. Certainly not family. And definitely not any guy. “What kind of a surprise?”
He flicked my nose then rolled out of bed. “Now, Ms. Tate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?”
I took a moment to watch him walk naked to turn on the shower. There was a reason all the girls had gone for Dash in high school, and part of it most definitely had to do with his body. Well-muscled thighs, tight, round butt. Broad shoulders coupled with strong arms. The tingle between my legs, coupled with a touch of rawness, made me groan. I pressed my thighs together, but the sensation didn’t abate. In fact, it made it worse. It was the definition of an ache, but a good one. I’d wanted him before, but it was nothing compared to how much I wanted him now.
Flinging the covers off of me, I padded into the bathroom where Dash was already under the spray. Before joining him in the shower, I quickly brushed my teeth and rinsed with mouthwash. I’d already let him see me at my most vulnerable, but I wasn’t ready to subject him to my morning breath.
That finished, I opened the curtain and stepped into the shower. Dash made room for me, cocooning my body underneath the torrent of blessedly warm water. He pressed my body against him and kneaded out the soreness in my arms, back, and even down to my thighs. My sharp inhalation didn’t deter him from working out the lingering soreness, and when he finished, my body may as well have been featherlight.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Keep doing that and I’ll be perfect.”
With care, he squirted a handful of gel into his hands, then spread it over my skin. I made a sound of surprise and squealed, “Boy soap!” but that didn’t stop him from covering me with pine-scented suds.
He paid particular attention to my nipples, tweaking them between his thumb and forefinger, which stifled all of my protests. When I ran my hands over his body, he turned me around and pressed my back to his chest, so I couldn’t reach him. I groaned in frustration, but I quickly forgot my dismay as his hands wandered down to pay special attention between my legs.
I braced myself against him as he detached his showerhead from the post, surprised when I realized it came in two pieces. With a few adjustments, the stationary head was soon jetting out in sporadic pulses, which made my skin warm, then tingle with awareness. With the extendable showerhead, he set the spray to a single, gentle stream.
He directed the stream of water between my legs where he used it, along with his hands, to soothe any tenderness. The strength of his body kept me from falling into a puddle at his feet. When he deemed me sufficiently clean, he said, “How do you feel now?” in a dark, low voice that made me shiver.
“I want you,” I said, and felt as though my words could have dissolved along with the steam.
Dash kissed my throat. “Not yet, you’re still too sore, but I will give you something. Does it ache, sweetheart?”
I nodded, unable to form words.
“I’ll take care of it.”
I don’t know how it happened, how he became the one to soothe when he’d always caused so much torment.
He directed the stream of gently pulsing water at my clit and my knees gave way. He braced my body against his chest, otherwise I would have melted to the floor. One hand cupped the tender weight of my breast and the pad of his thumb rasped against the sensitive nipple. My head, too heavy for me to hold upright, relaxed against his shoulder and my eyes fluttered closed. Breathing the steamy air was nearly impossible, but who needed to breathe, anyway?
The spray of water, like his hard body behind me, was impossible to escape. But I liked I had nowhere to go, liked when I strained against him, he held me in place. Possibly, I shouldn’t like being restrained. I’m sure there’s some feminist part of me that should be outraged at his presumption, but I liked it too much to give a damn.
I was already so sensitized, from the night before, it didn’t take me long to reach a fever pitch. My moans echoed off the tile walls and his whispered encouragements tickled my ear. His free hand snaked between us, pausing to cup my ass, then slid between my spread thighs in a rear assault. His fingers probed my entrance and I winced a little at the sensation. It didn’t hurt much. I let him trace my opening, loving it with his touch.
“Does it hurt?”
I shook my head against his shoulder. “No, I like it.”
He filled me with one finger, enough so I could feel him and not be overwhelmed by the sensation. It stung a little, but I relished the burn. It was the perfect complement to the gentle waves of pleasure from his attention to my clit. But it wasn’t either that pushed me over the edge. It was his taunting in my ear. His words. Him.
Maybe it had always been him.
“Dash,” I whispered uncertainly as I crested.
His arms tightened around me, like he knew I needed his reassurance. “I’m right here. I’ve got you. Fuck, I wish I could see your face. I want to fill you up all over again.”
My vision dotted with black and my whole body shook. Carefully, he removed his finger, replaced the showerhead, and turned me in his arms to cradle me against his chest until the trembling ceased and my breathing returned to normal.
I reached for him, but he stopped my hand before I could wrap it around his cock. Looking up at him quizzically, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Dash shook his head. “Nothing, but if you touch me, I’m gonna want more and we should wait a while. Don’t worry, feeling you come all over my hand was enough for me.” His blunt talk made me blush, but it also made me want him more. I must have shown it in my expression because he laughed. “Let’s get some clothes on and get somewhere public before my dick overrules my common sense.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as we got in the elevator.
After he’d helped me wobble from the shower, then dried me carefully with a fluffy towel, I’d waited for him to dress. Okay, maybe I ogled him as he did. It really wasn’t fair. He made jeans and a long-sleeved shirt look attractive and he didn’t even have to try!
Once he dressed, he followed me back to my place and I’d tried to convince him to give me a hint about where we were going, but he wouldn’t budge. I nixed his suggestion of a little black dress, that barely skimmed my thighs, and chose jeans and a light sweater that complemented my eyes. The jeans may or may not have been skintight. From the look in his eye, they drove him a little crazy, which I felt was appropriate.
Later, I’d think about the consequences from my actions. Later.
Today, I would forget the rules and enjoy.
“For a ride,” Dash said mysteriously.
I rolled my eyes. “To where?”
“You let me worry about that,” he answered.
He took my hand as we left the elevator and journeyed through the shadowed parking garage to where his Jeep was parked. He unlocked it, opened the door for me, then helped me up into the lifted seat. His hands lingered on my hips, then he gave me a teasing grin and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Whatever, if he wants to chauffer me around town, then fine by me. My mother was due for a drop-by soon, especially since I hadn’t given her any indication I’d done as she’d asked and applied to Kragen’s. I had no urge to be home when she did, which I’d certainly hear about later, but I didn’t care. My whole life had been about catering to someone else’s whims instead of my own. Today, I would do what I wanted.
It made me want to laugh that what I wanted most of all was to spend it with Dash.
I shook my head at the absurdity as he reversed out of the parking space. How times had changed.
Casually, like he’d been doing it for years, Dash’s hand found its way to my thigh as he navigated into traffic. It made my heart skip a beat, then jump into my throat. We’d done far, far more than the simple contact of his hand resting on my skin, but the affection was unexpected.
“Something wrong?” he asked, glancing over at me.
All at once I realized I’d never had affection like this. Not from my mother. Not from Delia. I could barely even remember my father. I didn’t even know it was something I’d been missing until Dash did it without a thought.
An ache burned at the back of my throat, but I forced myself to speak normally. The radio was up, so I hoped he couldn’t hear the quaver in my voice. “No, everything’s great.”
He zoomed up and down the hilly terrain and wound his way through traffic, all while touching me. A hand knotted with mine. My fingers pressed to his lips. His grazing my cheek during stoplights. If he was a drug, I was high on him. By the time we pulled to a stop, hunger had extinguished my curiosity. He’d given me a taste and I wanted more.
His eyes were as hot as the fire burning inside me. “Don’t you want to know where we are?”
I jumped at the distraction. Breathing heavily, I turned away from the magnetic pull of his gaze and grappled to regain my balance. I recognized the parking lot and the red brick and white columned building. “The library?” I said, my tone laced with bewilderment.
Of all the places I would have guessed he’d take me, the public library hadn’t been one. He unbuckled, then rounded the front of the Jeep to open my door. Every time he did something nice for me, it was like a shock of electricity coursed through my body. Not only because he’d always done the opposite, but because I couldn’t remember someone, other than my friends, being so thoughtful.
Friend Zone Series Box Set Page 28