Get Over You (Dare Me Book 1)
Page 11
Reyes shuts the stove off and moves the pan off the burner, then wraps his hands around my waist, intending to lift me from the counter.
When I tense at his touch, his eyes darken.
“Let’s eat,” he murmurs.
He’s talking about food. But damn if I don’t feel a rush of arousal that has my thighs clenching together.
His hands go still around my waist. The heat from his fingers burns through my dress like red-hot flames, making me shiver.
“Reyes . . .” I can barely raise my voice above a whisper.
Slowly he lowers his head, our eyes locking for one breathless heartbeat.
Then his mouth covers mine . . . and I’m completely lost.
Chapter Ten
EMERSON
The kiss is slow, silky, burning.
I melt into the lush carnality of it, heat spreading thickly through my blood as I wrap my arms around his neck.
He coaxes my lips open, his soft, velvety tongue flicking against mine. I shiver at the sensations scorching through me, a riot of goose bumps fanning across my skin.
He sucks my tongue slowly and sensually until I’m writhing against him, desire flooding every part of my body.
He shifts his stance a little, his hands still gripping my waist. The sheer size of them makes me feel small as they slide down to my outer thighs, silently demanding more access. When I uncross my legs, he moves between them.
I moan softly and grind my hips into him, feeling his big cock throb against my dampened crotch. My nipples are tight and swollen, so achingly sensitive that the scrape of my lace bra is fucking unbearable.
As he deepens the kiss, I wrap one leg around his waist, my breasts pushing up against the steely ridges of his chest.
He makes a rough noise in his throat before gliding his hands up my hips. I quiver when he cups my ass, pulling me tightly against his body. My pussy spasms and throbs, pumping even more wetness into my panties.
I lick his full bottom lip and suck hard, tearing another growl from him before our kiss explodes like fireworks, mouths locking with searing hunger, lips meshing and parting in a wildly erotic frenzy.
I’m mindless with need, the friction of his heaving chest against my hard nipples electrifying my already overcharged senses.
Shoving his hand into my hair, he wrenches my head to one side and licks me from collarbone to ear. I cry out and rock my hips into him, moaning as my hypersensitized clit rasps against the lace of my panties. The ache inside me is so intense it’s painful.
As his mouth slams back down on mine, I start unbuttoning his shirt, needing to see and feel his skin.
He bites and sucks my bottom lip until I break away, clawing his shirt off his shoulders. When I see his bare chest, I literally gasp.
He’s much bigger and broader now, ruthlessly honed with rock-hard muscle. Thick pecs, ripped biceps, chiseled eight-pack abs so shredded they make me swoon.
I take in every droolworthy inch of him while he gazes down at me, his eyes fierce and consuming.
Swallowing thickly as my mouth waters, I lift my hand to his chest, my fingers trembling as they stroke the iron muscles beneath his smooth, hot skin. He shivers at my touch, his jaw pulsing before he slides his hands up my legs, pushing my dress up to my waist.
Staring into my eyes as if daring me to stop him, he hooks his thumbs under the waistband of my panties. When I eagerly raise my hips off the counter, he rolls the lacy scrap down my legs and over my sandals, then drops it beside me on the counter.
I bite my lower lip, my eyes closing as his thumb finds the tight knot of my clit. He circles it slowly, causing my stomach and thighs to clench. When he slides one long finger inside me, I arch back with a gasp of pleasure.
“So wet and ready,” he rumbles his approval, thrusting his finger in and out of my drenched core. “All this for me?”
“Yes,” I whimper helplessly, my thighs shaking as he adds a second finger. “All for you.”
He kisses me erotically slow, his tongue sliding between my lips to mimic the thrusting motion of his fingers.
“Reyes . . .” I clutch his shoulders, panting for breath as he pushes deeper inside me, his wrist muscles flexing as his curled fingers find my G-spot.
“Oh God!” I gasp, my nails biting into his shoulders.
He strokes the spongy spot while his thumb rubs my hard clit, working the sensitive bundle of nerves until an orgasm rips through my body, making me cry out.
“Fuck, Em.” He keeps his fingers pumping inside me, driving my climax higher as my pussy clenches repeatedly around him. Catching and releasing, catching and releasing.
The aftershocks of my orgasm seem to last forever. When I finally stop quivering, he pulls his fingers out and sucks them, staring down at me as he does.
“Reyes.” My voice is a needy whisper. “Get inside me. Please.”
He’s already unzipping his pants and shoving down his black boxer briefs. My clit pulses as he wraps his hand around his massive cock. It’s even bigger than I remember, long and audaciously thick with bulging veins.
He reaches in his back pocket, pulls out his wallet and grabs a condom. His searing gaze holds mine as he tosses the wallet on the counter, tears open the condom and slides it down the length of his cock.
“Please, Reyes.” Desperate to have him inside me, I wrap my legs around his waist as his mouth crashes back down on mine, his tongue plunging between my lips.
I feel the blunt tip of his dick pressing just inside me, and my body quakes. Growling something low and guttural, he grips my thighs and thrusts deeper, filling me halfway.
“Reyes!” I cry out in shocked pleasure, my pussy stretching around his throbbing girth.
He shudders against me, sucking my bottom lip as he sinks in fully, burying his cock right to the hilt.
“Ohhh . . .” I moan, closing my eyes as he rocks into me deep and slow, making me feel every thick inch of him. Scalding rivers of volcanic heat spill through my veins, curling my toes and turning my mind to mush.
His fingers tighten on my thighs as he circles his hips against me, plunging deeper with every thick stroke.
“Oh, my God.” I dig my nails into his shoulders, clinging to him as he sets a relentless pace that has me gasping sharply, my breasts bouncing with every dominant thrust of his hips.
I lose myself in the sensations, his harsh breathing in my ear, the slap of his flesh against mine, the heady scent of sex surrounding us.
His arms fasten around me, lifting me off the counter. I lock my ankles behind his back, my legs tightening around his waist as he pumps upward, grinding me against him.
“Oh, hell yes,” I sob as each thrust of his cock sends shockwaves of ecstasy through my body. I’m so wet I can feel my juices pouring over his shaft and dripping down his balls.
He groans against my shoulder, biting me, his fingers digging into my hips as he thrusts harder, bouncing my ass off the tops of his thighs.
“Reyes . . . oh, my God!” I rake my nails down his muscled back, my heels jabbing into his flexing buttocks as my pussy clamps around him, milking him tight.
“Holy fuck.” His hips batter into mine, his cock bottoming out on every brutal stroke.
I scream his name as my second orgasm erupts, bowing my back.
His eyes darken savagely as he watches me come. Then his body stiffens and he throws back his head with a raw animal groan, his spurting cock pushing the limits of the condom.
When his body stops shuddering, he drops his head, burying his face against my neck. His ragged breathing is hot and moist against my skin, his heart pounding just as hard as mine.
I don’t know how many minutes pass before he lowers me onto the counter, his arms tight around my back.
Curling my hands behind his neck, I slide my fingers through his sweat-damp hair and whisper teasingly in his ear, “If that was the appetizer, I don’t think I can handle the main course.”
When he doesn’t laugh, an embarrasse
d flush seeps into my face, making the back of my neck tingle.
Slowly he raises his head to smirk at me. “I’m always happy to leave my customers satisfied,” he drawls insolently. “But as you said yourself, you’ve never been hard to please.”
His mocking words hit me like a bucket of ice water thrown in my face.
Stunned into speechlessness, I can only stare at him as he calmly unwraps my legs from around his waist and pulls out of me.
His face like stone, he peels off the condom and reaches behind me to tear off a square of paper towel, using it to dispose of the full condom. His detached manner makes me feel as used and dirty as the soiled latex he just tossed in the garbage.
As he steps back to pull up his underwear and slacks, I grab my panties off the counter, wrestle them back on and tug my wrinkled dress down over my thighs, trying not to think about how pathetic I must look.
Reyes watches me sullenly, his eyes shuttered like a stranger’s.
I glare at him with wounded fury. “Did you just hate-fuck me? Is that what that was?”
His lips twist sardonically. “Does it matter? You said you enjoyed it.”
Humiliated tears sting my eyes. “You’re a heartless bastard.”
“Fuck you,” he snarls furiously. “You don’t get to call me heartless! Not after what you did!”
I jam a shaking hand through my hair, scraping it back off my face. “I knew coming here tonight was a bad idea.”
“Only because you’re too much of a coward to face the truth.” He roughly pulls me off the counter and sets me down on my feet, raking me with a contemptuous sneer. “Run along now, Little Emerson. Run like the fucking coward you are.”
“I’m not a coward!” I scream at him. “We were kids, Reyes! Way too young to make such a monumental decision about our future!”
“Except we did!” he shouts in my face. “We did make that decision, Em! But then you got cold feet. And suddenly, not only was I not good enough to marry, I wasn’t even good enough to remain in your fucking life!”
I shake my head wildly, tears burning my eyes. “You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand!” he roars. “Help me understand how you could just toss me aside like I never meant a goddamn thing to you!”
His enraged words wrap around my ribs and pull tight, suffocating me as pain seizes my heart.
“Do you have any idea how devastated I was when you dismissed me from your life? When you looked me in the eye and told me you didn’t want to see me anymore?” He shakes his head. “That shit killed me, Em. It fucking destroyed me. I spent years struggling just to understand what went wrong between us. I still don’t have a clue.”
I lower my eyes guiltily and wrap my arms around my midsection, trying to stop trembling.
Reyes cups the side of my face and tilts my head back, forcing me to look at him. “Remember when we were fifteen and my mom started chemo? She was absolutely devastated when she lost her hair. Dad and I didn’t want her to feel alone, so we shaved our heads in solidarity. Then the very next day, you showed up on our doorstep rocking a buzz cut. You’d chopped off all your hair as well. For Mom. And for me.” He strokes a hand down the length of my hair, staring fiercely into my eyes. “Where’d that girl go, Em? Where the fuck did she go?”
Fresh tears flood my eyes. “Reyes—”
“How do you go from making such a beautiful sacrifice to ripping my heart out? How do you dump someone you claim to love barely a year after his mother dies? Tell me how, Emerson. Just tell me.”
“I did tell you!”
“No, you didn’t! You haven’t told me a goddamn thing!” He pushes his face into mine, fury darkening his eyes as he grips my upper arms. “I want some fucking answers, Emerson. You owe me that much.”
Tears roll unchecked down my cheeks. “You need to let this go,” I say in a quaking voice. “I’ve moved on, Reyes. You need to do the same.”
He glares down at me, the corner of his lip curled in a sneer. “Is that how it is, Em? Were you just scratching an itch? Or were you just trying to win another bet? Now that I’m a big NFL star, I’m good enough to fuck but still not good enough for a committed relationship?”
Heat scorches my face. “You know that’s not true!”
“Do I?” His mouth twists cynically.
I flatten my hands against his chest, feeling the accelerated thump-thump-thump of his heart beneath his hard muscles.
“You always were a good lay,” he jeers lewdly. “At the end of the day, I’m still a man. So if all you want is a fuck buddy—”
I shove at his chest. “Go to hell!”
He steps back, his eyes raking me as if I’m no more significant than a bug he’s about to grind beneath his boot.
I furiously knuckle my tears away, then draw back my shoulders and raise my chin. “Please call your driver to take me home.”
Reyes clenches his jaw. “Dammit, Em—”
“Or I’ll call an Uber. Either way I’m leaving.”
We stare each other down until he curses and stalks across the kitchen to snatch his phone from the counter. After growling a few terse words to the driver, he clicks off and glares at me.
“He’s on his way.”
“Good. I’ll wait outside.”
He scowls blackly. “You don’t have—”
But I’m already grabbing my purse and storming out the door.
He lets me go.
I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.
Chapter Eleven
EMERSON
When i get home forty minutes later, I’m surprised to see Zoe curled up in a corner of the couch watching TV.
“Hey,” I say, closing the door. “What’re you doing home? I thought you were spending the night at Liam’s?”
“Change of plans,” she mumbles.
I can tell by her blotchy face and red-rimmed eyes that she’s been crying. “What’s wrong?”
She just shakes her head and sniffles.
Concerned, I walk into the living room and set a brown paper bag on the coffee table before sitting down beside her. “What happened?”
Tears well up in her eyes. “We had a big fight.”
I frown. “About what?”
She shakes her head again and tucks her knees into her chest, swiping her hand across her eyes.
I touch her arm. “Zoe?”
“It was so stupid,” she chokes out tearfully. “While we were getting ready for dinner, he casually announced that he wants to meet my family. I was so stunned I didn’t know what to say. Instead of taking the hint, he asked if he could come with me on my family reunion cruise next month. Can you believe him?”
“Wow,” I murmur.
“I know, right? We’ve only been dating six months!”
I try not to smile. “Six months is a long time to some people.”
“Not to me!” She swipes the back of her hand under her nose and sniffles. “I told him it’s way too soon for family introductions, and he got mad. Like, furious. He actually accused me of hiding him from my family because he’s white.”
I search her face. “Are you?”
“Of course not!” she exclaims. “How can you even ask that? You know I’ve dated a ton of white guys!”
“True, but you’ve never introduced any of them to your family.”
“I’ve never introduced any guy to my family!”
“Also true.”
She scowls at me. “And you’re one to talk. How many guys have you taken home to your mom?”
I say nothing. We both know the answer.
Zoe swears I’m a commitment-phobe, but I’m really not. I found someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and I was more than ready to pull the trigger and marry him. But I didn’t, and that decision will haunt me until my dying day.
Zoe groans in frustration. “That damn Liam. We were having such a wonderful time together. Why did he have to ruin everything?”
I rub
her shoulder. “I know your dad isn’t too crazy about you dating white guys. Have you ever mentioned that to Liam?”
“No, because I don’t take my dad seriously. How can he tell me not to date white people when he married my white mother?” She rolls her eyes. “Believe me, I’ve never given Liam the impression that his race will be a problem in our relationship. He just pulled that out of his ass because he was mad and hurt.”
I eye her sympathetically. “Did he break up with you?”
“I don’t even know.” She looks miserable. “He said we should take a break, give ourselves time to think about what we want out of our relationship. But I don’t need time to think. I’m crazy about that idiot, and things are—were—really good between us. But I’m not ready to introduce him to my family, and he needs to respect my feelings.”
“Then tell him that,” I gently advise. “Give him a day or two to cool off and then reach out to him. Let him know how much he means to you, but make it clear that you need more time to take the next step in your relationship.”
Zoe’s eyes cloud with worry. “What if he’s not willing to wait?”
I give her a look. “He wants to meet your family, Zoe. That means he’s pretty serious about you. Trust me, he’s not going anywhere.”
She looks like she might argue, but after a minute, she slumps back against the couch and sighs. “I hope you’re right.”
“I’m always right. Haven’t you learned that by now?”
This earns me a weak grin. “So what about you? How was your date?”
I swallow, biting my lip. “It was good.” Until it wasn’t.
Zoe hitches her chin at the brown paper bag I placed on the table. “What’s that?”
I follow her gaze and frown. “Dinner.”
Her eyebrow furrows. “You didn’t eat at Reyes’s?”
“No.”
“I thought he was cooking for you?”
Heat rises in my cheeks. “He did.”
Zoe inspects my wrinkled sundress, a speculative gleam entering her eyes. “So why didn’t you eat with him?”