by Hagen, Casey
He swallowed, his fiery, tormented gaze on my exposed skin.
A shiver shot through me and with a one tug of the lapels and a smooth roll of my shoulders, the shirt slid down my arms, past my elbows, and over my hands. I caught the fabric with the tips of my fingers, grasped the collar, and folded it in half.
Closing the distance between us with one step, my nipples less than an inch from his chest, I draped the shirt over his shoulder. “There you go.”
The hiss that escaped from between his lips, yeah, I remembered the sound. I knew exactly what I’d done. And now, the ball was firmly in his court. Turning on my heel, I took my time and sauntered down the hall to my bedroom.
The minute I stepped through the door, I turned to close it and stopped. “Did you want me to lock this door? I know how you feel about that and all.”
12
An inferno raged under my skin as I dragged in air, my tight chest railing against the expansion of my lungs. I squeezed my eyes shut only to have the view of Emory in nothing more than a pair of cutoff jeans, the threads grazing her creamy skin, and her breasts mocking me in the darkness behind my eyelids.
I hated myself for being here now. Loathed myself for not being able to stay away throughout the week. I detested that I couldn’t be the better man Emory’s parents taught me to be.
Opening my eyes, I glared at her bedroom door as it clicked shut.
With the sound, something inside me snapped and blood surged through my veins. I threw away every single honorable intention I’d struggled to keep in my grip and headed right for her in my surrender to the defect in my genes—to the selfishness and greed staining me.
With a firm twist, I swung open her door in time to catch the view of her with her thumbs hooked around the edges of those shorts right before she shimmied them over her the curve of her heart-shaped ass.
Her lips twitched and her eyes glowed with fiery challenge. She threw her head back, her dark waves falling behind her shoulders. The look on her face—pure feminine power—told me she knew just what she was fucking doing to me.
Yanking off the shirt she’d hung over my shoulder, I threw it to the floor, and in three strides I had my hand around her pretty little throat. With her pulse hammering under my thumb, I backed her right up the wall.
“I hate how much I want you,” I said, the rough words torn from the wasteland inside of me.
She tipped her chin up, that audacious stare of hers leveled at me. “I’m not a toy. Two choices, flyboy… fuck me or leave.”
I stared at her smart pink, full mouth, the way her lips parted in invitation, knowing this was inevitable. We’d been on this ride for years. Even if we were on opposite ends of the earth, we’d still be on this ride and our destinations would cross again and again.
Barely within reach, but too far away for all the things I wanted, she was my goddamned penance for the stain of Ethan’s blood on my hands.
Would there ever be a time we could cross paths, where I’d be a good enough man, an honorable enough man, where I could be strong enough to walk away without touching her?
No.
Dragging every defiant exhale from her sweet mouth into my lungs, I squeezed, getting a perverse pleasure from the feel of her throat flexing under my palm as she swallowed.
Her eyes gleamed and her pretty white teeth bit into her bottom lip. She grabbed my shirt with her fist, and with a hard, definitive yank my hips crashed into hers.
“One night,” I said, grinding my rock-hard cock against her soft belly. “As many rounds as we can get in from now until the sun comes up again.”
“To what end?” she asked with breathless excitement.
I nipped at the curve of her jaw, making her gasp. Dipping my fingers in her underwear, I fisted the lace against her hip and growled low in my throat at the feel of her hot skin against my knuckles. Heat rolled off her in waves, the hot center of her so fucking close to my hand. “To get it out of our systems.”
“You think you’ll have had enough of me after one night?” The look on her face said she knew the answer.
“Yes,” I said, knowing damn well it was a lie because the minute her nipple grazed over the tattoo on my forearm, I knew I wanted to feel the sensation again, a thousand times, just like this, with my hand locked under her jaw.
She laughed and her gaze shifted to my mouth. She licked her upper lip with that pointy pink tongue of hers. She might as well have been running that hot tongue over the head of my cock with the way my body reacted. With a sly smile, those piercing fucking eyes of hers found me once again.
Daring me.
Cutting me to the core with her confidence and power.
And with that look, she snatched every last ace in my hand. I all but dropped to my knees before her, ready to give her whatever she demanded.
Anything to exorcise this demon in me constantly lusting for her.
“Liar,” she said with a lusty purr in her voice.
For a split second I hated her. Hated how she saw me no matter how hard I tried to hide.
I hated how she made me hope, and the wave of pain that sliced through me with it.
I dove for her mouth to taste her, to feed the yearning inside me, but mostly to silence her.
Our tongues warred with one another, the kiss explosive, rough, deep—the mirror image of the attraction haunting us for more than a decade.
Her fingers went right for my hair, her nails scoring over my scalp, even as she grabbed my bottom lip with her teeth. A sharp sting followed the hard pinch sent a rush of heat straight to my aching, rock-hard cock.
Hunger fueled by poison pumped through me, and all I could think about was punishment—for me, for her.
At the sound of lace shredding in my hands, she tore her mouth away, her lips swollen, her eyes glazed over, and those fucking breasts rising and falling with each gasping breath.
“If you stop, so help me…I’ll carve that ruthless heart right out of your chest,” she choked out the winded threat, her eyes flashing with promise.
It didn’t matter what I did, how cruel I was in my delivery, she’d stand toe to toe with me. If I took the lead, it would only be because she let me.
Sinking my hand into the hair at the nape of her neck, I stepped into her and yanked her head back, forcing her to look up.
She hissed, the sound turning to a guttural groan with the slide of two fingers straight into her tight, wet heat. Her knees buckled, driving my fingers deeper, a strangled cry bursting from her lips.
Beyond redemption, my final destination the pit of hell, I kissed her, my tongue gliding along hers, matching the rhythm of my fingers. Circling her clit over and over with my thumb, I set out to make her crumble under the assault.
To break her the way she broke me.
How far would she let me go—this once-good-girl—before the night was through? She said her heart was off-limits, and I hated the declaration even as I knew it was the best thing for both of us—but boundaries, they fucked with my head and I wanted nothing more than to breach every fucking barricade between us.
I wanted to win.
Even if it destroyed us.
I yanked my hand away and reveled at the way she cried out with the loss because I was a sick bastard who took his kicks where he could get them.
“No,” she growled at me, her hips thrusting, seeking my fingers.
“Shhhh,” I said, sliding my wet fingertips over her bottom lip to see what she’d do. I needed her to push me away, to be repulsed tasting herself on my skin…I needed her to put another barrier between us.
I should have known better.
Her eyes closed, her tongue glided right between those two fingers even as her lips closed tight around me.
And it was my turn for my knees to buckle. To watch in wonder as she greedily licked me clean, her heavy-lidded gaze on me the entire time.
“Mmmmm,” she hummed with a soft smile, taking hold of my wrist and holding my fingers in her mouth un
til she was done.
She let me go with the break of suction and what little control I had fractured. Lifting her right off the floor, I marched her over to the bed and tossed her onto the mattress.
I reached for the button of my jeans, but she scrambled over the comforter and stopped me with her soft hand. “My turn.”
Taking her time, she peeled down my zipper like a woman relishing each second, as though she knew our time sifted through our fingers like the finest sand, no matter how hard we tried to hold on, eventually leaving her with nothing but her ability to recall these moments.
I couldn’t tear my eyes from her. Wrapping her slim fingers around me, she glided her palm over my cock, her hand moving back and forth over me with her eager mouth.
She locked her gleaming eyes on mine and swirled her tongue over the sensitive head. Feminine power shimmered around her in the way she knelt before me even as she forced me to surrender to her control.
I’d never seen a woman like this.
Something told me I never would.
My breath stuttered in my lungs, my balls drew up so fucking tight I trembled with it.
She slowed her movements, brought me back from the edge, while she continued to massage me achingly slow with her mouth. Sweat broke out along my spine and the sound of my gasping breaths mingled with her hums of satisfaction filled the silence.
Torn between the instinct to treat her like a lady and the need to fuck her raw, I found a home gripping the back of her head and thrusting into her eager mouth.
She clamped me to her in a mind-blowing lip-lock. Her nails ripped my flesh, making me snarl as she clawed my ass, fighting to pull me closer.
Christ, who taught her that? Who taught her to leave no part of a man untouched and do it with such demanding enthusiasm?
Why hadn’t it been me?
I gnashed my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut at the image of her touching another man like this, touching Hawk—Jesus fuck, no.
No.
Why the fuck did I have to go there?
My balls drew up tight, tension building in my spine and for a shallow few breaths, I thought I would lose it. It was too goddamned soon, and I had way too many plans for all the things I’d be doing with her body while I had the chance to be ending round one so soon.
I tugged at her hair and drew her mouth away. “There’s nothing I’d love more than coming down that tight little throat of yours, and I will…but not the first time.”
She brazenly watched as I yanked off my jeans and boxer briefs; naked desire warmed her dazed expression as her eyes roamed over every new glimpse of skin. Her damp lips curled, and dark heat filled her eyes when I dragged my T-shirt over my head and tossed it aside. Bending over, I bracketed her with my arms and began the torturous crawl up her mattress, her shimmying up with me the whole way.
Her round, creamy breasts rose and fell with her every gasp, and awareness of her took hold in every pore in my body—the rush of her breath over my skin, the heat of her reaching out to me, the scent of her arousal—she obliterated the past, firmly planting me in the here and now.
Shame would make a resurgence later, but for now, it was just us, just this.
Hooking my hands around her knees, I jerked her legs back and exposed every last bit of her. Waiting a beat, I stopped and studied every last inch of her open to me.
Her hooded gaze hid her emotions beyond the lust. I thought I’d be happy about that.
No feelings.
Only now, I wanted more. Needed more. And if she wouldn’t show me the secrets in her eyes, I’d draw every last feeling out of her in the way her body moved under me, over me, in her sighs, her groans, her cries, and her screams. I’d push her until she begged me to stop, and then…I’d push more.
I’d start in my favorite place, with her thighs wrapped around my head, my fingertips digging into her skin, her hips thrusting that hot pussy of hers harder into my mouth.
Lowering myself between her legs, my eyes on her the entire time, I watched the spasms shudder through when I licked into her hard and deep. Musky and sweet with a slight salty bite, her flavor burst in my mouth, turning me ravenous.
More.
I needed more.
I’d always need more.
Relentless, I devoured her with my tongue and teeth until sweat broke out over her skin. Gliding a long finger, then two, inside her, I plunged deep, curling just right, incessantly working her. She thrashed, her body twisting away from what I did to her with my fingers, lips, tongue, and teeth so I clamped down harder, the muscles in my arms rigid as I held her and sucked her tight clit into my mouth.
With a sharp cry, her back arched until her breasts almost disappeared from my view. The muscles in her abdomen flexed as she fought her release.
Fought every last second of losing control.
I smiled against her flesh. Why would I expect any different from her? She’d been fighting me from day one.
She didn’t care that I was older or had more experience.
She rebelled against it. Against me.
This was us.
She pushed me away even as she dug her fingernails into my shoulders. Her thighs quivered under my lips as a kissed her hot, sensitive skin.
I snatched a condom from my jeans pocket and tore the wrapper open. With one hand I rolled the condom over my throbbing cock while I played with her with the other, keeping her suspended as aftershocks rocked through her.
Biting her hand, she growled as I circled her throbbing clit over and over first with my fingers, then with the head of my cock, ready to take her.
I grabbed her jaw and turned her to me, needing to see the look on her face as I slid inside her.
Her glassy eyes held my stare, but she wasn’t focusing on me. Still lost, she lay beyond the haze of pleasure swimming through her.
And I knew how to bring her back.
Pink stained her cheeks, the flush spreading down her slim throat and over her collarbone. Dragging my hand down the valley of her breasts, I gripped her hips, lifted her, and drove in deep and hard.
She jerked, her lips parting on a gasp, and my mark was made.
Feasting on her, I devoured her damp skin with my mouth, trailing my way up to her breasts. Swaying with every thrust of my hips, I latched on to one stiff peak with my mouth, my hand going right to the other.
She held me to her there as I played with her, flicked over the taut bud with my tongue, grasping it with my lips, and nipping at her with my teeth until she lost all control.
Pushing up, she locked her legs around me and flipped me onto my back, knocking the air from my lungs and breaking the connection between us.
My heart stuttered, then hammered heavy in my chest until the sound reverberated in my ears. Was this her passion? Her anger? Was there a difference?
Did it even matter?
I’d take it all, knowing deep inside I was a thief stealing something from her she’d never give me if she only knew the truth.
Frantic, she dug her nails into the skin over my ribs while she dragged her teeth over my abs. Fire lit in her and she took mercilessly.
“Fuck yes,” I said on a hiss when she bit down on my pec and scraped her fingernail over my nipple.
Rising over me, her hair spilled around her shoulders, the curled ends grazing over her nipples. She didn’t wait for me to take the lead; she grasped my cock and sunk onto me, taking every last inch I had. With her hands gripping my waist, she rolled her hips, finding a deep, sultry rhythm set to drive me out of my ever-loving mind.
Legends were born from women like her. Fierce and feminine. Commanding. Unashamed of taking what she needed. A hint of womanly pride at what her body could do, the dominating power despite her smaller, softer body.
I’d never forget this moment.
I’d never banish the memory of the ache and need she stoked in me.
When the sun came up, this was all I’d have.
All I could ever have.
&
nbsp; “Look at me.” I needed to see her. I needed that connection she’d trusted me with in the past. Even if only for a second.
Her eyelids drifted shut, her long lashes fanning along the delicate skin under her eyes.
“Emory.” I buried my fingers in her hair and tugged her face in my direction.
When she opened her eyes her gaze locked on some spot above my head as she increased her speed and had her way with my cock.
Fury bubbled up and I grabbed her jaw, turning her face to mine, and she thwarted me by closing her eyes again.
Moves and countermoves, she dodged every last attempt I made to get her to show me what this moment did to her—how it changed her. She shuttered the windows into her soul and fucked me as though the same demons haunting me haunted her too.
She left me bare, defenseless, and still hungry as she took everything she needed, giving me only moans and cries.
But no words.
Not a single word.
Every glide of her hot, tight pussy on me dragged me one step closer to the edge and I railed against it. I need words. I needed my name slipping from her lips.
The minute a whimper escaped me, I knew—she had me.
I’d lost.
Truth was, I never had a chance at saving myself from the minute I laid eyes on her again.
She wanted it dirty and impersonal.
Fine.
I slapped her ass…hard. Hard enough she froze, her lips parted on a gasp, her eyes flashing on mine, and that pussy of hers locking tight on me, flooding me with a rush of wet heat.
A strangled sound clawed its way from her throat, the sound of surrender as she clenched again, still coming all over me.
Stars flashed behind my eyes as I fought off the urge to come inside her right then and there.
Mine.
This view of her—this was for me.
The thought of another man seeing her like this, touching her when she’d always been mine…
I had no right to possess her…to be angry when I’m the one who left her alone.
Fuck, I was in too deep.
Desperate for more of her, I plundered even as she destroyed me with the distance she put between us.