by Julia Wolf
“Do you still want me to be?” She dropped her hand and went to work on my replacement marshmallow.
I blew out a breath, deciding on full honesty. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t know either.” Her eyes slid to mine. “Do you like the whips-and-chains lifestyle?”
That made me laugh. I turned away, letting it out, then angled back to face her again. Her brows were drawn together, pretty lips curving down.
“Why do you always hide your laughs?” she asked.
“Do I?”
“You know you do.”
“It’s not conscious.” I took my s’more from her, backing away. “Don’t try to dig into my faults. I’m not looking to be fixed or saved.”
Her eyes rolled as she followed me back to the chairs. The one beside her was vacant, so I snagged it and enjoyed the hell out of my s’more. Claire watched with her chin on her hand, seeming to find me amusing.
Need surged in my belly. I wanted a taste of Claire, of what she had—her easy way, how people gravitated to her and the way she let them even through all the hurt she had to be experiencing. If I could have her, her flavor on my tongue, her scent in my nose, the feel of her on my skin, maybe I’d soak up some of it.
She made me want to feel.
She made me want.
“I want you in my bed tonight,” I murmured.
She chewed on her bottom lip before answering. “Even though I’ve had a few edibles?”
“In my bed, Claire.”
It wasn’t right. She should turn me down and tell me to go to hell. I shouldn’t want her, and I sure as hell should be able to resist her.
None of that mattered. Thoughts of her mouth, her scent, her creamy, freckled skin, took up every corner of my thoughts. I needed her out. Out of my system, out of my head. And I thought she really needed it too.
“Okay,” she whispered.
My fingers dug into the wooden arms of my chair. “You won’t let me kick everyone out, will you?”
The smile she gave me shined brilliant. “No, I very much won’t.”
* * *
By the time everyone cleared out, it was past midnight, and Claire had started drooping in her chair. Marta tried to wait for her, but she was toasted enough to accept that I’d get Claire back to her room myself.
I tugged Claire up, and she stumbled into me, her fire-warmed face nestling in my beard. She stayed there for a long moment, then tipped her head back. Her fingers slid into my hair, nails scratching a shallow path. Her lids were heavy, but it killed me to admit not solely from desire.
I grazed her bottom lip with my teeth. “Come to bed.”
We went downstairs together, and I guided her into my bathroom. Claire faced me, waiting for me to make the first move, her eyes shining in the bright lights. I gripped the hem of her hoodie, slowly lifting it over her head. Beneath, she wore a nearly sheer white camisole and black bra. I slid my hand into the cup of her bra, brushing my thumb back and forth over her beaded nipple. Her skin felt as creamy as it looked, like I could sink right into it and disappear.
I fisted her hair at the nape of her neck, and her lips parted, breath stuttering.
“What is it about you?” I gritted out, almost angry with the desire I couldn’t seem to keep in check. My cock throbbed from wanting her. There was an ache in me I’d had for weeks.
She slipped her hands under my shirt, tracing the ridges of my abs with her fingertips. “What is it about you?” She sounded breathless, but also like she really didn’t know the answer.
I didn’t come across that often. Women wanted me because they knew who I was—the rocker, the star, the guy on the screen. They didn’t question it or wonder. That they would want me was a given.
Maybe I was getting older and losing my touch, or maybe Claire was just...Claire.
“I don’t think I know.” My fist tightened in her hair, tilting her head to the side, and I dipped down to taste her like I’d been thinking of doing all night. She moaned when my teeth met her flesh, arching into the bites of pain.
My breaking point was a near-palpable place, and I was fast approaching it. Her breast in my palm and throat in my mouth pushed me to the outer depths of my control.
Violence ran through my blood. Not that I would ever hurt Claire, at least not in a way she wouldn’t want. But I had a deep-seated need to unleash with her. To push her, to be real and raw with her. Maybe because I didn't think she’d ever had that.
With the way I felt tonight, the edginess in my veins, holding back would be impossible, and she wasn’t there. She had to be fully awake and prepared for what I’d bring.
“Get ready for bed.” I yanked my hand out of her bra and reached around her, unclasping it easily. The straps slipped down her arms, then I pulled the whole thing from under her camisole and tossed it on the bathroom floor.
Her hands flew up to her nearly-bare tits, cupping them. I knocked them away with a feral growl. “Don’t hide yourself from me, Claire.”
“Yes, sir.” She swiveled toward the door, but I caught her shoulder, spinning her back around to the sink. “Wha—?”
I unwrapped a new toothbrush, provided by the hotel, drew a line of toothpaste on the bristles, and handed it to her. “Brush.”
I did the same with my toothbrush, scrubbing my teeth beside her. When she spit into the sink, I filled a glass with water and handed it to her. “Drink.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not thirsty.”
“Fine.” I swallowed her water down, placing the glass on the marble countertop. “Come to bed.”
I walked behind her, my eyes glued to the sway of her hips and the bounce of her full, round ass. She stopped beside my bed and turned, pressing her chest against mine.
“Now what?” She was a little pissy, just the way I liked her.
My index finger hooked on the waistband of her leggings. “Now, I take these off you.”
Her fingers tucked in the waistband of my jeans. “And I take these off you?”
It had been my intention to help her undress, then tuck her into bed. My intentions were shit when Claire was involved, though. Her fingertips grazed the head of my cock as she unzipped my jeans, making me jerk away.
I shoved her onto the bed and swept her pants off, then I kicked mine off and tossed my T-shirt aside. Claire’s tired eyes were hungry, even as she wrapped her arms around her middle, again trying to hide from me.
“Lie down for me, beautiful girl. Under the covers.”
She did as I asked with a snarl as menacing as a kitten. I climbed into bed beside her, both of us on our sides, facing each other. Her mouth was on mine before I saw her coming, and that hunger was there too.
I slipped my palm into her panties. She opened her legs to let me between them, to feel her slick, wet heat. I only meant to touch her once, to find out if she ached for me the way I ached for her, but once I rolled her swollen clit under the pad of my finger, I couldn’t stop. Not until she fell apart for me.
Her mouth stopped moving against mine as little pants escaped her lips. Eyes wide and almost startled, she watched me as I touched her.
“How long is it going to take, Claire?”
Her breathing stuttered when I pushed one finger inside her. “Oh god, not long. I’m already close.”
She held my face in her hands, keeping my eyes on her. Like I’d ever look away from this. Her cheeks were bright pink, and her lips were kissed a ruddy red. Her eyes did me in, though. They flashed her emotions like a scrolling billboard. From one second to the next, she went from shy to disbelieving to frantic to overwhelmed.
Her pussy pulsed around my finger. I pressed hard on her clit until she whimpered and dug her nails into my jaw.
“Dominic,” she panted. “Oh, please.”
Legs scissored back and forth, squeezing my hand between them. Her body arched, shaking and shuddering, then curled in, riding my hand to find every last bit of pleasure she could.
When she stilled,
I kept my hand there, the tip of my finger still inside her. Her eyes closed for half a minute, muscles slowly relaxing. They reopened when I brushed a sweaty piece of hair off her forehead.
She reached for me, gripping my length through the fabric of my underwear. “You’re so hard.” Her voice was so full of wonder, I nearly laughed. But fuck, it was difficult to laugh with a raging hard-on that wouldn’t be getting any relief tonight.
“Claire.” With reluctance, I removed my hand from her panties and gripped her wrist. “We’re going to sleep.”
“Oh.” Her eyes flicked to mine, then down to the sheet covering our bodies. “Okay.”
“Look at me.” I nudged her chin with my pussy-soaked knuckle, bringing her gaze back to mine. “I don’t have a lot of good in me, but I won’t fuck you when you’re even a little bit loaded. When you wake up tomorrow and your brain is fully yours, all you have to do is say the word, and I’ll fuck us both into oblivion. Right now, I want you here. I want to fall asleep with my dick nestled in your ass, and I sure as hell want to wake up that way too.”
Her eyes darted back and forth between mine. One inhale, and another, then she rolled over, pressing her butt into my groin. My arm draped over her waist, pulling her closer until we were flush with each other.
“You’re like a dream, Claire.” I cupped her breast beneath her shirt, rolling her nipple between two fingers. “Go to sleep.”
The moan she let out was soft, but it shot straight to my dick. “I can’t fall asleep when you’re touching me like that.”
I kissed her shoulder and ear. “I think you can. Set your mind to it.”
“You’re really mean,” she whispered.
“I know, baby. Never said I wasn’t.”
She fell asleep while I inhaled the smoke in her hair and honeysuckle on her neck, wondering how the hell I planned on getting her out of my system when she kept working her way deeper. I fell asleep soon after, draped around her, deciding not to give a shit. At least not tonight.
Chapter Twenty-one
Claire
I woke up wet and hot. I’d been dreaming of Dominic, his cock between my thighs, rubbing my clit again and again. It was no wonder my panties were soaked.
Last night, I’d been embarrassed and hurt Dominic didn’t want to have sex with me once again. Confused too, that he wanted me in his bed anyway. This morning, with my head a little clearer, I remembered how achingly hard he’d been, the struggle in his every move to chain back his reactions to me.
He wanted me as much as I wanted him.
When I moved, the arm around my middle tightened, holding me in place. In his sleep, Dominic shushed me, petting my stomach, then moving to cup my breast.
I couldn’t stop myself from whimpering at the feel of his rough fingertips grazing my skin—skin that had only ever been touched this way by one man.
Dominic groaned in his sleep and pressed his growing erection between my ass cheeks. My spine bowed, nestling his cock even closer.
“Claire.” His beard scratched my shoulder as my name left his mouth like sandpaper.
“Dominic,” I whispered, reaching behind me to cup his tightly muscled ass. “Good morning.”
He squeezed my breast, hot breath huffing in my ear. “You make me so fucking hard, even in my sleep.”
I laid my hand on his, urging him to keep touching me. “I was dreaming of this.”
“Tell me.” His teeth caught my earlobe, nipping to the very edge of pain.
It was easy to say what I wanted when I didn’t have to face him. I could be the wanton woman in my dreams and not the girl who’d only been with one man in her entire life.
“You pulled my panties off and took your dick out. Then you laid behind me like you are now and slid it between my legs so you hit my clit.” My voice wavered, but not from nerves. Dominic plucked my nipples into sharp peaks while I spoke, sending shockwaves directly to my core.
“If I touched you now, would you be wet?” He growled beside my ear.
“Soaked. Completely drenched.”
He moved suddenly, no longer laying behind me. The sheet was whipped off my body and my underwear followed. With a gasp, I turned my head. Dominic was kneeling next to me, raking his black eyes over every exposed inch of me.
His gaze snagged with mine, and we were frozen in that one beat of time—the precipice we were going to jump off no matter what—the moment before we lost ourselves in each other.
“Open your legs.” His words were commanding, but soft, which made me want to do exactly as I was told. Still on my side, I lifted my knee as he watched. His nostrils flared, and his fingers curled on his knees. “Fuck, baby. Fuck.”
Dominic dove between my legs, licking me from top to bottom. The animalistic moan that came from deep within his chest had my hips arching. He held nothing back, not anymore. His teeth clamped down on the tender flesh of my thighs and lips, surely leaving marks. The very idea of walking around with Dominic’s marks between my legs was nearly enough to make me come.
“You taste too fucking good, Claire.” Dominic sounded feral, and when his eyes found mine, they were so black, I could have disappeared in them.
He circled his arms around my thighs, securing me against his mouth, then he went to work on my clit. I came within seconds, fingers tangling in his hair, my ass leaving the bed completely. But he didn’t stop. Not even close. He ate me like he’d never be done, and I wasn’t sure I’d let him. I kept coming, each orgasm more powerful than the last. My limbs trembled endlessly, and my eyes rolled around in my head like they’d become untethered.
One finger, then two, slid into me, plunging roughly to the beat of Dominic’s tongue on my pulsing clit. My hips rose and fell, trying to ride the waves of pleasure so I wouldn’t be washed away in them. The third finger drove me crashing over the edge. I screamed his name, cried to the heavens, trying to escape from the sweet torture of his mouth.
“I can’t, I can’t,” I panted, grabbing for his beard. “Come up here.”
He hummed against my pussy, dragging his tongue through my folds in a slow, torturous pass. Turning his head to the side, he rubbed his face on my inner thigh. The places he’d bitten sparked to life with each brush of his beard.
He murmured my name as he climbed up my body, pressing my hips to the bed. His chest molded to my back, and his teeth clamped on my neck.
“I need to fuck you, beautiful,” he gritted out.
I arched my back, giving him consent without words because my lips couldn’t seem to form them at the moment.
Dominic grabbed a condom from somewhere, the wrapper crinkling, then his hips lifted from mine as he rolled it on.
His knees bracketed my sides, and strong hands gripped my hips, pulling me up as far as he could with his body on top of mine. I peered over my shoulder to watch him. His eyes were on me, and when he spread my ass with his fingers, in the back of my mind, it was in me to feel embarrassed, but I didn’t. Not with the wild look in Dominic’s eyes. Not with the way he licked his lips as though the very sight of me made him hungry. With certainty, I could say I’d never been looked at that way before.
I writhed on the bed, my clit pulsing back to life. Dominic’s grip on my hips tightened, and his cock slipped between my thighs, just like my dream. He moved to hover over me, his lips close to my ear.
“I see you. You want this, don’t you?” He nipped at my shoulder, and when I nodded, his hips reared back, then drove forward, filling me in one smooth, pounding motion.
My lungs seized up, trapping a scream in my chest. Dominic’s cock stretched me well past my limits, but oh, the pain-tinted pleasure he brought was delicious. I could hardly move, but he did. He plunged into me relentlessly, skin slapping skin each time.
“Claire, Claire, Claire, your pussy feels as sweet as it tastes. What the fuck are you doing to me, baby?” His arm slid under mine, palm cupping my cheek to turn my head to the side. His mouth covered mine, consuming me everywhere. Teeth nipped a
nd bit my lips and chin, then kissed away the hurt the next second.
We were messy and untamed, and I held nothing back. Dominic was stripping away my defenses and barreling through my walls. He grunted against my lips, sweeping his tongue inside, claiming my mouth just as sure as he’d planted a flag.
In that moment, I belonged to Dominic Cantrell. There was no one else before or after, only this. The spaces where our skin connected were the only real things in the universe. Not a single thing mattered beyond this bed. The only pain I felt was what he gave me, and I accepted willingly.
“Your pussy is greedy for my cock.” He kept my face in his grip, watching what his words did to me. “You feel too good. My mouth got you so slick and hot. I want to stay here all day, but I’m not going to be able to. Not when I’m pounding against your pretty ass and your pussy is clenching my cock like that. I need you to rub your clit so I can feel you come all over me. Do it for me, Claire.”
I fit my arm between my body and the mattress, slipping my hand between my spread thighs. I rolled my clit, and Dominic moved faster, fucking me harder. I mewled for him, writhing when another orgasm dragged through me. This one was raw and painful, seizing all my muscles and vibrating my bones.
Dominic gripped my hips with both hands, driving into me so hard, my teeth chattered. My fingers curled into the sheets, holding on for him to use me how he wanted. His rhythm stuttered, then jerked, and my name sounded almost like a curse from his lips. He held himself deep within me, spilling his pleasure. For one crazy second, I wished he was coating my insides instead of the condom.
He fell over me, pressing me into the mattress with his weight. His hands slid up my arms, covering mine. Slowly, I straightened my fingers, and his fitted in the empty spaces between them. Pinned down, I still couldn’t move, but I wasn’t sure I would have been able to without a sweaty man on top of me either. I focused on the gray and black rose tattooed on Dominic’s hand and how his inky skin contrasted with my pale freckles.
Our mingled pants sounded like two lovers whispering filthy secrets to each other.