Welcome to Pembrooke: the complete Pembrooke series

by Prince, Jessica

  “Glad you approve, baby.” His voice was ten times rougher than normal and the lust glinting in his eyes had darkened the unusual color substantially. “But I’m going to need you to stop making sounds like that.”

  I had no clue what came over me just then, but with the way we’d been dancing around each other all night, and how my body felt like a live-wire every time he touched me, I just couldn’t help myself, I pushed. My mouth opened and the words came out with no thought.

  “Or what?”

  I could have sworn I heard him growl as he pushed his plate aside and leaned in closer to me. “Or I’ll be forced to lay you out on this counter and fuck you until my name is the only goddamned word you’re able to say.”

  My thighs clenched reflexively at the rush of desire that suddenly waved over me. My breathing picked up and some part of me, a part I’d never experienced, was unleashed. Gone was hesitant, guarded Eliza. In her place was a daring woman who wanted every single thing Ethan had just spelled out.

  It was like an out of body experience. Leaning closer, I swiped my finger through the remaining tomato sauce on my plate and closed my eyes. The moan was much lower and much longer the second time around, and when I opened my eyes to meet his, I knew mine were full of challenge.

  And in that moment I didn’t want anything more than for him to accept that challenge.

  His chest rose and fell manically as he reached up and grabbed my face between his hands. “This happens there’s no going back. You understand me?”

  Unable to form words, I nodded.

  That must not have been good enough for him, because he continued with his warning. “Once I feel what it’s like to be inside you, that’s it. Your mine. No more fucking around. No more games. It’s me and you. You sure you want that, baby?”

  “Yes,” I moaned, wanting nothing else in the world more than that.

  “You’re going to be mine? No more fighting? No more pushing me away?”

  I nodded again, my brain so clouded with lust I wasn’t fully absorbing what he was saying, but I would have promised anything at that moment for just a taste of him. “Yours, Ethan.”

  His lips came so close, they brushed against mine as he said, “Then tell me what you want, baby. Tell me and I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you fucking everything.”

  Reaching up to rest my hands on his strong chest, I opened my mouth and told him exactly what I wanted.

  “Fuck me, Ethan.”

  26

  Ethan

  With one sweep of my arm the dishes on the counter went flying to the floor, shattering into pieces, but both of us were too consumed in each other to care. Grasping Eliza by her hips, I pulled her from the stool she was sitting on, pinning her hot body against mine as I went for her mouth in a brutal, punishing kiss.

  She met the kiss with the same exact intensity, nipping and biting and thrusting her tongue against mine in a passionate battle for dominance. My hands left her hips just long enough for my fingers to slide into the waistband of her sweat pants and rip them and her panties down her thighs. She stepped out and kicked them away without removing her lips from mine.

  My hands glided over her bare ass and a deep, throaty moan rumbled up from her chest and down into mine, causing my fingers to clench against her warm, soft skin. “Oh, God,” she whimpered against my mouth, spurring me into action. With my hands already in place, I lifted her up and set her down on the countertop. “Off,” she panted, disengaging just long enough to pull at my shirt in a desperate attempt to get it over my head. “Take this off.”

  Reaching behind my head, I grabbed the collar of my tee and ripped it off, dropping it on the floor by her pants. I moved in for another kiss when her hands came up to my chest and halted my progress. Instead, her lips and tongue slid across the flesh of my pecs. Her teeth bit down on my nipple just hard enough to elicit a groan from me. “God, you’re beautiful,” she muttered against my heated skin as she moved up and bit at my collarbone, leaving a scorching path in her wake.

  My hands moved down and hooked into the hem of her shirt. The second I began to pull it up, her hands and mouth came off me. She lifted her arms to help guide my movement. “Jesus,” I breathed once I had the shirt off. She hadn’t been wearing a bra beneath her tank. Anything my mind had conjured up about Eliza’s body paled in comparison to the real thing. She was perfect. Absolutely, unequivocally perfect. And the need to taste her everywhere rushed over me like a tidal wave.

  “God, Ethan,” she moaned, her fingers sliding into my hair when I lifted her breast on my hand and sucked the dusty pink nipple into my mouth. Her skin tasted even better than I could have imagined. I couldn’t get enough. I sucked and pulled at her nipples until they formed tight, hard peaks. By the time I moved away from them, sliding my way down her body, she was a writhing, panting mess. Her hips circling frantically as she begged, “Please. God, please don’t stop.”

  “Not stopping,” I told her in a rough, hungry voice. “But I need to taste you, baby. I’ve been dying to put my mouth on you.”

  Placing a palm in the center of her stomach, I gave her a gentle push, moving her backward to just where I needed her. Eliza’s head fell back on a desperate cry as her hands went behind her on the countertop to hold her up. “Christ. I’ve loved you for so long. I’ve been dreaming of this since I ran into you at Mabel’s,” I growled against her belly as my hand skated down her trembling skin to the juncture between her thighs. “Never stopped thinking about you,” I said softly as my fingers trailed through her folds, feeling just how wet she was for me. “Not once in six goddamned years, baby.”

  “Ethan, please,” she said on a pained whisper, needing me to touch her just as badly as I needed to.

  Wanting to give her everything she craved, I pushed two fingers into her tight, drenched heat, reveling in the gasp she let out as her back arched. Unable to wait another second, I bent down and put my mouth right where I’d wanted to be for so long. The instant Eliza’s taste flooded my mouth I was lost, crazed with desire to claim every inch of her as my own.

  My fingers plunged in and out of her as my tongue circled her clit over and over. I felt her getting tighter. That, coupled with the way her fingers were suddenly yanking at my hair, told me she was close. I wanted to feel her lose control. I wanted to feel that release against my mouth. Knowing just what she needed to go over the edge, I shoved my fingers in and curled them up at the same time I sucked her clit between my lips.

  That did it. Eliza’s entire body locked up as her climax overtook her. “Ethan,” she shouted as she pulsed against my lips. Her sweet, musky flavor was like ambrosia, and I knew there was no way I’d ever get enough of all things Eliza. She was branded beneath my skin.

  I stayed with her, petting and licking softly as the last of her orgasm seeped out of her, until her upper body gave out and she collapsed back against the counter, unable to stay sitting any longer.

  I stood tall and reached into my back pocket, pulling out my wallet. Thank Christ I’d been of sound mind enough to put one of those condoms in my wallet while she’d been in the shower.

  “Sit up,” I ground out, drunk on lust. I yanked the condom out and tossed the wallet aside, dropping the foil packet beside her thigh as my hands moved to the button of my jeans.

  Just as I’d demanded, Eliza sat up, still breathing heavy, and once she saw what I was doing, her fingers went into action, pushing mine out of the way as she ripped at the button fly, popping them open in quick succession. Her head tilted up, her lips puckered just slightly in a silent request that I was all too happy to oblige. I moved back in for a kiss and her tiny hands slid around my waist and down, pushing at my jeans. Her nails dug into my ass as the kiss grew more heated.

  “Ethan, please,” she begged.

  “Tell me,” I replied, pulling her bottom lip between my teeth. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you.”

  “Need you,” she gasped, pulling away just far enough to free my
straining cock the rest of the way. “Need you now.”

  Snatching up the condom, I ripped it opened with my teeth and slid it on in record time. My hands went behind her knees and jerked her ass to the edge of the counter, but, as much as it killed me, I didn’t push into her. “You mine?” I asked, taking my erection in my hand and sliding the head of my cock it through her folds.

  She nodded and wriggled, trying to force me into her.

  I circled her clit, still refusing to give her exactly what she was craving. Not until I heard the words I needed. “Say it.”

  “Stop playing games,” she panted, dragging her nails across my waist from back to front. Her hazel eyes were completely glassed over, and just knowing I was the one that made her look like that, who drove her out of her mind, made my chest expand.

  “No games, baby. Need to hear it from your beautiful lips.” I pushed in, just an inch, but even that was enough to almost make me lose control…almost. “Please, sweetheart,” I whispered. I’d never begged for anything in my life, never had anything so important it was worth begging for. But for Eliza I’d drop to my goddamned knees and bleed myself dry at her feet. “I need the words.”

  “I’m yours.”

  With that, I plunged in to the hilt.

  “ETHAN!” Her head snapped back and her hands came to my shoulders, holding on tight.

  “Look at me,” I growled, pulling out and driving back in as one of my hands dove into her hair. I fisted it and used that to pull her head back up. I wanted her gaze on mine while I fucked her. “Fuck, fuck!” I grunted as I thrust into her like a mad man. “Feel so good, Eliza. Christ, you were made for me, baby. You’re mine.”

  “I’m yours,” she answered as her hands slid from my shoulders into the hair at the base of my neck. “Harder, Ethan.”

  With one hand already in her hair, I wrapped my other arm around her waist and pulled her chest flush against mine, loving the feel of her naked breasts against me as I gave her what she asked for, fucking her harder.

  “Always, mine,” I said as I buried myself deep and circled my hips, grinding into her clit, causing her to moan into my mouth.

  “Always. Faster.”

  I drove harder, faster, to the point where I would have feared I was hurting her had her walls not been clutching around my dick like a vice. She was just seconds from going off like I rocket, and I couldn’t think of anything better than feeling Eliza come all over me. “Been mine your whole life.” My next words were punctuated by the snap of my hips. “Always. Will. Be.”

  With that, she clamped down around me so hard it almost hurt as I swallowed down her screams of release. She came for what felt like an eternity, so hard a tear slipped passed her eyelid and trailed down her cheek. It was too much. Being inside her, feeling her core holding tight, I couldn’t stop myself from coming right along with her. I thrust once, twice, three time before driving in and exploding, letting her pussy milk me dry, demanding everything inside of me, draining me completely dry. Fuck, fuck, fuck! “Oh, Christ, Eliza! I’m coming!” I buried my face in her neck as an orgasm so strong I thought I’d pass the hell out washed through my entire body.

  In the back of my mind, I heard her cry out again, felt her tighten up around me, and I knew my own climax had spurred yet another one for her. I don’t know how long I stood there, my entire body trembling thanks to the best sex I’d ever had in my life, but it wasn’t until Eliza’s hands started gliding up and down my back in a soothing gesture, that I was able to find the strength to pull my head from her neck.

  “That was…” she trailed off on a sigh as one of her hands came up to push my hair off my damp forehead before resting against my cheek.

  “Yeah,” I answered, pressing closer into her touch.

  Her eyes cleared and focused as her gorgeous face lit with a smile. “You broke my dishes. What is it with you and kitchenware?”

  With a chuckle, I released her hair and circled both of my arms around her, loving how it felt to just hold her. “I’ll buy you more. Anything you want or need. I’ll give it to you.” I pressed a quick kiss to her lips before pulling back and finishing, “For the rest of your life, baby.”

  Something unsettling flickered across her face, causing my arms to squeeze. “Don’t shut down on me,” I demanded, knowing exactly what that look meant. “Not now. Not again.

  “Ethan,” she sighed, dropping her hand from my face. I immediately missed its warmth.

  “No,” I snapped.

  Her eyelids lowered into slits. “You don’t even know what I was going to say. You won’t even let me speak.”

  “I don’t need to hear it to know what you’re going to say. And I’m not letting you go there. Especially when I’m still fucking inside you.”

  “Just listen—”

  “No.” At my clipped word, she let out an agitated huff. “Whatever you’re about to say is bullshit.”

  Her back stiffened and her palms came to my chest to try and push me away, but I wasn’t moving. I wasn’t ready to lose our connection. “That’s not fair!”

  “You need to listen to me right now, and get what I’m telling you. I’m. Not. Letting. Go. Understand?” I proved my point with another squeeze. “I’m in love with you. I lost you for six years and those have been the most miserable years of my life. I’ve finally got you back, and I’ll be damned if I let you slip through my fingers again. I’ll do whatever I have to do prove that you’re safe with me. Please, Christ, Eliza. Just…” I sucked in a much-needed breath in an attempt to calm the aching pressure suddenly building in my chest. “Please, just let me show you. I can’t lose you again. I can’t lose you,” I finished, my voice sounding completely ravaged, even to my own ears.

  “Okay, okay,” she said quickly, cupping both my cheeks in her hands. “I’m here, Ethan. I’m right here…okay?” Dropping my forehead to hers, I let out an unsteady breath. “I’m right here,” she repeated.

  “Thank you,” I whispered as the last of the pain in my chest eased.

  “Come on,” she said, lifting my face and placing a kiss on each of my eyelids before moving to my lips. “Let’s go upstairs.” I watched as the concern that had been marring her brow quickly melted away and she smiled. “My mattress is much more comfortable than this counter.”

  We both laughed as I pulled her in for a hug before finally breaking our connection. She wanted to take me to her bed, I was totally fine with that.

  She didn’t have to tell me twice.

  27

  Eliza

  I woke up feeling slightly confused at the tight, persistent throbbing between my thighs. My eyes slowly peeled open, blinking against the rays of sunlight peeking through the curtains of my bedroom window. It took me a few seconds to clear the sleep from my brain, but as soon as I did, I knew the source of the throb.

  “Morning,” Ethan’s raspy morning voice rumbled in my ear before his mouth return to the bare skin of my shoulder.

  The arm beneath me twisted, his hand palming my breast as the other rested on my thigh, his fingertips tracing a random pattern on my flesh close to my center. But the thing I noticed the most was the thick, hard length of his erection digging against my ass as his hips pressed tighter against me.

  “How’d you sleep, sweetheart?”

  “Mmm,” I moaned in response, closing my eyes as I dropped my head back against his shoulder. “Like a baby. You?”

  “Best sleep I’ve had in my life. But waking up was even better.”

  “Yes,” I hissed as he lifted my left leg up and pulled it over his hip, opening me up for him to continue to play.

  “You love it when I touch you,” he growled, biting at the sensitive place where my neck met my shoulder before soothing the sting with his tongue. “You’re so goddamned wet for me.” I moaned again, incapable of speech as he toyed with my body in the most delicious way. “You want me to make you come, Eliza?”

  “God, yes.” And I did. I felt like I’d tear apart if he didn’t le
t me come, which was amazing considering I’d lost count of the number of orgasms he’d given me the night before. “Please, Ethan.” As soon as those two words escaped my mouth his heat disappeared from my back. “No!”

  I twisted my head and began to turn, only to have his large hands hold me in place as he moved back against me a second later. “Relax, baby. I’m not leaving you.” My chest tightened and my heart flipped at those four little words. I’m not leaving you. God, how I wished those words meant something altogether different at that very moment, but before I could lose myself to the melancholy, the sound of a condom wrapper being opened tore through the room. Ethan hooked my thigh around his once more and pressed in, blanking my mind to anything and everything that didn’t have to do with how he felt inside of me.

  Last night had been fast, hungry, a desperate joining of two people who craved each other, but this was something completely different.

  Ethan’s strokes were slower, methodical, yet no less potent. He was taking his time building me up toward that glorious finale, and while his touches and kisses were more gentle, the release I felt brewing promised to be no less intense than all the others he’d given me in our short time together.

  “Kiss me,” he said against my neck.

  Unable to deny him anything he wanted, I tilted my head back and twisted, giving him perfect access to my mouth as his thrust began to speed up. “You feel so amazing,” I whispered against his lips, completely lost to the sensation of what he was doing to me. “I love having you inside me.”

  His hand at my breast tightened, his other arm wrapping around me to pull me closer. “I just love you.”

  His response made me pull in a surprised breath. No matter how many times he’d said it, I never grew more used to hearing those words come out of his mouth. “Ethan—” I started, unsure of what exactly I was going to say, but he silenced me with another kiss.