He gives a snort of laughter, although it’s obvious it goes against the grain. “You agreed to my terms. And you can bet your sweet life that sassy mouth of yours is gonna be wrapped around my dick before I’ve finished with you.”
I tighten my grip on him, just so he knows that right now, I’m the one in charge. “Guess that depends on whether I want to or not.”
Before I guess his intention, he wrenches my dress over my shoulders and down my arms, dislodging my grip on him and pinning me in place. His grin is lethal. “You’ll be on your hands and knees begging for it.”
I wriggle in an attempt to free myself, but I don’t try too hard because he’s right. Tonight, I want everything he’s willing to give.
“Make me.”
It’s a challenge, and we know it. He could easily push me to my knees and take what he wants, but he won’t. That’s too easy. He never took the easy way out. Otherwise he never would’ve dated me for so long.
“You’re asking for trouble.” He closes the distance between us, his cock branding my naked stomach, and I arch my back, desperate for more. “Sure you can take it?”
“Sure you can deliver?” This is crazy. I never used to question everything he said, at least not when it came to sex. But tonight, nothing’s how it used to be.
He wraps a callused hand around my throat, pinning me against the wall. It’s barbaric, something he never did to me before, and from the black pit in my mind an old panic blinds me.
I don’t want this. Bound by my own dress, I can’t push him away, can’t do anything, and my breath wheezes. His grip eases as he leans toward me, and this time his kiss is like a whisper across my lips, teasing, tempting, as though I’m that fifteen-year-old virgin again, and the terror slinks back as Ty works his familiar magic on me.
My eyes drift shut as his fingers stroke my throat and shoulders. His caress is tender, and cocooned in the dark of my mind it’s too easy to pretend this is something more than a belated goodbye fuck.
And then he grips my shoulders, and my eyes snap open. “What the hell are you doing to me?” He grinds the words between his teeth, and I blink up at him, disoriented, still basking in the glow of his touch.
With a muffled curse, he grasps my dress and rips it off me, freeing my arms, and I kick it aside. His hot gaze sweeps over me, lingering on my breasts and legs, and even though he’s not touching me, my skin tingles.
“Your turn.” My voice is hoarse as I reach for him, but in a lightning fast move, he manacles my wrists in one hand and pins them against the wall above my head. I gasp, shocked and turned on at the same time. Had I really forgotten how much he always loves to be in control?
“Better.” It’s a growl, and my stomach does crazy somersaults at the blatantly possessive gleam in his eyes. “I don’t need your hands on me. I just need your pussy.”
“You’re such a sweet talker.” I know sex is all that’s left between us, and even though his blunt words make me hot, regret stabs through my heart that pussy is all I am to him now.
His teeth flash in a demonic smile as he cups my breast through my plain black bra. I stifle a groan, but the lazy swipe of his thumb across my erect nipple is driving me out of my mind.
“Just telling you how it’s going to be, Jas.” He abandons my breast and glides his hand along the curve of my waist to my hip. “Not up for discussion.”
“Who’s discussing it?” I try to tug free, even though I know it’s impossible and I don’t want to escape in any case. “I just plan on enjoying it.”
He drags my panties down to my knees, and I wriggle until they drop to the floor. I’m all but naked against the wall, completely vulnerable, but there’s no lingering echo of the fear I’ve lived with for so long. He traces a finger over my stomach and dips between my thighs, circling my sensitive clit. I dig my nails into my palms and spread my legs, my gaze fixed on his hand.
“Some things don’t change. You always enjoyed it.”
I grind into his palm, but it’s not nearly enough. “I had a great teacher.”
His fingers still in their relentless teasing, and I glance up at him. His fierce gaze melts me, and I’d be on the floor at his feet if he wasn’t holding me upright.
“Christ, Jas.” There’s a strange catch in his voice that destroys me, but I can’t even wrap my arms around him. “That was a long time ago.” For a second I think he’s going to say something more, something that’ll change everything and wipe out the past.
Stop wishing for the impossible. I gave up on fairy tales a long time ago.
His jaw clenches, and it’s like a shutter slams over his face.
“Ty.” I don’t know what I’m going to say; I just want him to look at me the way he did a minute ago. But before I can even untangle my thoughts, he cups my sex and slides a finger inside me.
I groan, reveling in the exquisite waves of pleasure consuming me. His mouth owns my throat, sucking and nibbling my flesh as though I’m his own personal banquet, and his beard chafes me in an erotic caress. It’s hard to keep my eyes open, but I want to watch him, even though all I can see is the side of his head and his gorgeous dark blond hair.
He pins me to the wall with his body, his solid chest crushing me. His leather vest burns my naked skin, branding me, and even though I hate everything about the Bastards, I love the way his colors graze me.
“Let go of me.” I want to hold him, want to strip him, see his body.
“Not a chance.” His growl against my throat sends shivers rippling over my skin, and his grasp on my wrists tightens. “This is the way I like it. I’ve got you exactly where I want you.”
Another time I might’ve laughed. I can barely think straight as I hook my leg around his thigh. His fingers tease my clit, stroke my swollen lips, and dip into my wet heat, and I buck helplessly, my ass banging the wall behind me.
“Fuck, Ty,” I gasp, incoherent, barely aware I’m speaking at all.
“That’s right.” He sounds savage, his breath hot against my damp cheek. “Open your eyes. Let me see you.”
I force them open, and his face fills my world. Hypnotized, I can’t look away, and he leans in close, his breath meshing with mine. “Give it to me, babe.”
…
Ty
Jas shatters, her body writhing against me as I crush her to the wall. Her eyes are unfocused but locked with mine, and her harsh gasps are all I can hear.
I drag my fingers from her convulsing pussy, desperate to be inside her. I tear open my briefs and shove into her wet heat and damn near lose my mind.
She’s so tight around me. A raw groan razes my throat as the aftereffects of her orgasm engulf me, and I can’t even move. She’s silk and fire, and I think I’ve fucking died.
“Ty.” Her hoarse croak barely registers. My fist tightens around her wrists, and I flex my hips, sink into her, deeper. Christ…
“Ty. Condom.” Her voice comes from a million miles away, yet she’s inside my head. I try and focus, but damn, it’s hard. “Condom,” she gasps again. “Put a fucking rubber on, Ty.”
I grunt, trying to make sense of her words. “Ah, fuck.” Reality slams through me, even though I don’t think it’s possible for me to pull out. Not now. “Fuck.”
“Not without a condom.” There’s a hint of laughter in her voice, like this is funny. I grind my teeth and flex my free hand, but none of it helps.
With a raw curse, I withdraw and, without releasing her wrists, find a rubber in my jeans pocket. I tear it open with my teeth as I push her back against the wall, my dick throbbing like a bastard. In the back of my mind, I can’t believe I was about to fuck without using protection, but it’s a faint thread of guilt because, hell, I need this so bad.
She watches me sheath myself, and I don’t know why that’s so hot, considering how damn uncomfortable I am. “Better?” I bare my teeth at her in a parody of a smile. It’s all I can manage.
“Safer,” she pants, dragging her gaze from my dick, and seeing th
e need on her face is all it takes for me to lose my head again.
I grip her thigh, and she wraps her leg around me as I slide back in. It’s not the same as going bareback, but it’s still fucking good as her slick pussy grasps me. I spear my fingers through her hair, wanting it loose and tangled, and it tumbles over my arm and across her face.
She tips her head back, looking at me, her mouth open. Her messy hair and those big brown eyes push all my buttons, and I rake my gaze over her arms, at how she’s pinned to the wall, powerless to move.
Her lips tempt me. I want to kiss her, inhale her, make her mine. But I want to watch her face, see her eyes, and hear her throaty gasps when I make her come again.
I can’t think. Can’t hold on. I hammer into her, and it’s hard and rough, like nothing I’ve had before. Her husky gasps fill my head, and as she falls apart around my dick, I finally let go.
Oh yeah, babe…
Eyes shut, I press my forehead against hers, basking in the way she’s still shuddering around me. The scent of sex and a faint hint of her perfume fill the air, and I slowly slide her arms down the wall to her head. I don’t know how long we stay like that. Feels like both forever and no time at all before she loosens her grip and her leg slips along mine.
Reality crawls back in. With more reluctance than I’ll ever admit, I pull out and release her hands. She leans against the wall as though she doesn’t have the strength to move, and I can’t help raking my gaze over her.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Even now, after just having her, all I want to do is pull her into my arms and hold her close.
What the hell?
Those days are long gone. Now, she’s nothing but a piece of ass. She doesn’t need a hug or any shit like that. It’s still a wrench to deal with business, especially since she’s watching me, and as I’ve no intention of hunting for a trash can, I drop the rubber in an empty plant pot.
Silence thuds between us. Usually by now I’d be on my way, or the chick would be hanging on to me, hoping for something more. Even though I’ve already laid out the ground rules for tonight, something feels wrong, like I should go with my gut and hold her and screw the past.
I yank up my jeans. All Jas wants is a fuck, and that suits me just fine.
With a ragged sigh, she rescues her dress and wriggles into it. Then she pushes her hair back from her face. “Should I be worried?”
I finish buckling my belt while I try and figure out what she means. Did I really expect her to say something like: God, Ty, that was so good, we need more than one night together? Self-disgust burns through me. I don’t fucking want more than one night with her.
“About what? That you’ll be able to let me walk away after tonight?”
Her smile is tired and kind of sad, as though my response was exactly what she’d expected. Why does that even bug me?
“We’ll both walk away after tonight. I just need to know if you often practice unsafe sex.”
I’m literally speechless. And then the guilt knifes through me again, only this time there’s nothing faint about it.
Jas is the only girl I’ve ever ridden bareback, and even that memory is enough to make me hard. But Christ, that was years ago, and I don’t have any excuse for what happened just now.
No excuse except for those damn memories. Will they ever die?
“Never.” It’s a growl because why would she believe me? “I’m not a fucking idiot.”
Except when it comes to you.
There’s a faint blush on her cheeks that’s mesmerizing. “Look, I’m not interested in your sex life. I just need to know whether I should get checked out for—well, you know.”
Yeah, I know, and I’m pissed that she even needs to ask. No, screw that. I’m pissed that I gave her a reason to ask.
“The last time I didn’t use anything was ten years ago.”
The words hang between us, loaded with meaning. If I could take them back I would. A part of me doesn’t want her knowing something so personal, but it’s my own fault. I always mocked the whole heat of the moment shit as a pathetic excuse for being careless. Guess I know better now.
After a few seconds, she folds her arms and gives a brief nod. “Okay. You want to come in for cold pizza and wine?”
Chapter Four
Ty
I follow her into the small living room, and it’s like stepping back in time. We used to hang out here when her mom was at work, and I didn’t think twice about choosing her over spending time at the club or with my brothers. It wasn’t all about sex, either.
Not back then. I shove the memories aside. Now it’s all about the damn sex.
“Make yourself at home.” She picks up a shoebox and trash bag from the couch and gives me a strange smile, as though she’s remembering the times we made out on that faded, flowery monstrosity. I sit and pick up the half-empty bottle of wine.
“Your tastes have changed.”
She dumps the box and bag next to half a dozen other trash bags, hands me a wineglass, and then curls up at the other end of the couch. “Guess I grew out of drinking soda. Sorry I don’t have any beer.”
I tip some wine into the glass. She’s not the only one whose drinking habits have changed. When I’m alone I enjoy a good red. Not in public, though, or when I’m with my brothers. It’s beer or hard liquor, the same as I’ve always drunk since I was sixteen. I lean back and glance around the room. Her mom’s taste was weird, but it’s all in good condition. “You keeping any of this furniture?”
She flips open the lid of a pizza box on the smoky glass coffee table and avoids looking at me. “No. I don’t have the room, and in any case, it’d cost a fortune shipping it over to Florida.”
“Need some help getting rid of it?” I drain the wine and refuse to analyze my question. It’s got nothing to do with wanting to see her again after tonight.
“Thanks.” She sounds guarded. “But I’ve already arranged to have it picked up at the end of next week. Pizza?” She offers me the box.
It might be cold, but having food waved under my nose reminds me it’s been hours since I’ve eaten, so I take a slice and shove it into my mouth. It’s good she’s made arrangements for all this junk. Means I don’t need to feel guilty or offer to help her move stuff out of a warped sense of responsibility.
“You’re staying until the end of next week?” Not that it makes any difference to me. I take another slice of pizza.
“My flight’s next Friday. I’ll just leave the keys with the landlord.”
From the corner of my eye, I see her glance around the room. Her mask slips, and I see raw grief etch her face. It’s gone within seconds, but the pizza lodges in my throat, and I toss the rest back in the box, my appetite gone.
“How’d she die, Jas?”
She leans the side of her head against the back of the couch and stares at me for a long moment. Her hair’s all messy from where I raked my fingers through it, and I have a hard time not grabbing her hands and pulling her against me.
Hell, I could do that. She’s just lost her mom. Except I can’t. It crosses some kind of line I can’t even explain.
She lets out a long sigh. “According to the coroner it was unintentional poisoning.”
Our gazes clash, and I can’t look away. Unintentional poisoning covers so much I don’t even know what to say. Does Jas know her mom was still using? Hell, was Kelly still using? I don’t know anything for sure.
“Right.” The pain in Jas’s eyes is killing me, and I grab the bottle and pour more wine so I don’t have to look at her anymore.
“She had a heap of prescription drugs.” There’s a defensive note in her voice as though she thinks I won’t believe her. “It wasn’t suicide.”
That hadn’t even crossed my mind. “Nah, course it wasn’t.” I frown down at the wine, wishing it was something a lot stronger. Wishing I could somehow take away her pain.
There’s another silence, and I risk glancing at her. She gives me a small smile. “Sorry. You
don’t want me crying on your shoulder. It’s hardly the deal we made, huh?”
It takes a couple of seconds to figure out what she’s talking about. How did I forget that tonight it’s all about the sex? I don’t talk about personal shit with chicks I fuck. Not interested. They know the score.
Jas knows the score.
Yeah, it’s all about the sex, but fuck. We’ve got all night.
“My shoulders can take it.” My grin is faint because I know she won’t take me up on the offer. What the hell am I thinking? I don’t want her crying all over me. Even after all this time and how things ended between us, I wouldn’t be able to stand that. Never could. Once I would’ve taken on the world for her, to stop her tears.
Once, I did…
I can’t think about that. Not now, not ever.
“I know they can.” She swirls the dark wine in her glass, apparently fascinated by it. “But that’s not why you’re here. It’s not why we’re here.” Her gaze clashes with mine. “Is it?”
It’s not a challenge. It’s like she’s reminding me, as though she thinks I’ve forgotten. It shouldn’t matter that she doesn’t want anything but sex from me. It’s all I offered. All I damn well want.
“I’m only here for one thing.” I toss the rest of the wine down my throat and bang the glass onto the table. “It’s all that’s left between us.”
The words ring hollow in my ears, and I ignore the ache in my chest. It was always so much more than just sex with Jas, but it shouldn’t be this hard, after all this time, to relegate her to the horde of forgettable one-night stands.
Her smile doesn’t light up her face in the way I remember. Damn my memories. I thought I’d killed them all years ago, but they’re still here, swarming beneath the surface.
“And this time it’s legal.”
I snort out a laugh, even though a part of me balks that she’s so easily pierced my armor. “You never complained.”
“Why would I? You kept me waiting a year after we first started seeing each other.”
“I kept you waiting?” Before I can stop myself, I grab her hand and pull her toward me. “That’s not how I remember it.”
Burned_Viking Bastards MC Page 3