“I know.”
Corbin’s eyes flickered with grief. “Which means I can’t protect you. I can call in favors to hide you somewhere safe, but this mess with Henry…” He swore, ran his fingers through his hair. “God, I wish I could squeeze out one more day with you.”
A chill settled over me. “As soon as my dad is fine, I’ll lie low. You do realize that I managed my life without too many problems before I met you?”
“Do you really think Henry will just give up?”
“I didn’t plan on asking his opinion. Let him look for me. I know Henry’s tricks, and I know his blind spots. I’d be a pathetic bounty hunter if I didn’t.” I crossed my arms. “Done talking about this.”
“Stubborn.”
“Guess I am.”
To my surprise, Corbin smiled. “I’m going to hire someone to pack and move your apartment,” he said, speaking louder to drown out my protests. “I’m not budging on that. If you won’t accept me putting you up, will you at least stay with Rob?”
“Yeah.” Though it was going to put a serious crimp in Rob’s style. “See, we compromised.”
He sighed, then straightened. “Where’s the closest hotel? I have to take a nap before I head out.”
A pang of guilt dug into me. Corbin hadn’t slept at all and might not have a chance to for some time.
~~~
Corbin stared at the motor lodge. “You have got to be joking.”
I glanced up at the flickering neon sign. Half of the letters in “vacancy” looked like they’d been smashed with a rock. “Not all of us have our defaults set to luxury,” I said.
He slanted a look my way. “But all of us should. I’ve half a mind to fuck you right here.”
That surprised me because I would have expected sleep to be foremost on his mind. “Not in the daylight, you won’t.” I got out. Screwing in a seedy motel after the unapologetic excess of the last few days actually felt fitting for me. Deep down, we were two kinky, horny perverts.
“Complete with a rusted-out soda machine and a clerk who barely looked at us,” Corbin said as he unlocked the door to the room. “I’m taking bets on a chalk outline on the floor.”
We walked inside. Corbin shut the door, locked it, made a show of putting on the rusting, pointless chain. I expected him to grab me, but instead he went to the bed and ripped the comforter away. “That’s a crime scene right there,” he said.
“Never realized you were so prissy.” The mere fact of being behind a closed door with him, knowing these would be our last moments together for a month, was more than enough foreplay for me.
And God knew I didn’t want to think about anything that had happened in the last few hours.
I shucked off my outerwear, including my boots.
“Oh, I’m very prissy,” Corbin said, head lowered as he stalked toward me. He’d thrown his coat onto a chair, and the T-shirt he wore clung to his thick muscles.
He grabbed me under my knees and behind my shoulders and carried me to the bed.
In another room, a woman’s voice rose in a lustful crescendo. Tawdry, but it made me even hotter. My hands shook as I unzipped my pants and worked them down.
Corbin seized the bottoms and pulled them off, flinging them to the side. He leaned down, grabbed up my panties and peeled them off me with one smooth motion.
“Goddamn,” he said. “How am I going to survive without getting to lick and fuck you every day?” He pressed my thighs apart and stared down at me. Those blue-green eyes ticked up toward mine. “Touch yourself.”
Smiling, I walked my fingers down from my stomach, then lightly pressed one on my clit. My slit and folds were so drenched that the little nub slipped under my touch.
I dipped my finger lower, drew it back up, rubbed the wetness all over me.
Corbin pulled up his tee, the ridges in his abdomen and chest flexing as he dragged the shirt over his head. How was it possible for anyone to be so fucking hot?
He tossed his shirt, and it landed on a lampshade. That made me giggle. “Can you feel the cooties crawling on your clothes?”
Not in the mood for banter, Corbin came onto the bed on one knee, his other leg still on the floor. He loomed over me, the weight of his thick upper body balanced on one locked arm.
His other hand settled over mine. “You’re not very good at masturbating,” he said. “Not only aren’t you moaning and wiggling all over the bed, you’re not even properly distracted. Let me show you how it’s done.”
He increased the pressure on my hand, dwarfing my fingers as he forced them harder onto my sex. “Like this,” he said in a low growl as he took up an oblique pattern that had me arching up and gasping. “You’re so beautiful.”
My eyes fluttered closed so I wouldn’t have to see his reaction to my blush. The emotion that welled up in me surely came from the intensity and length of time we had spent together combined with knowing that I would have to struggle through without him. Because it sure wasn’t the romantic setting.
“Corbin,” I gasped. I rarely said his name during sex, and I knew that it wasn’t just sex right now. Making love. Corbin and I had a conversation through the spanking and the rough play. We had become so attuned to each other that I couldn’t imagine him not being in my life.
Couldn’t even understand how I had survived so many years before him.
And I didn’t want to lose him, but my stupid brain was aching for something more than the way our bodies fit together.
I shoved the back of my hand into my mouth.
Corbin moved my hand away. “Look at me, baby.”
I did. He was so gorgeous, so perfect, that I was suddenly overwhelmed. I had long ago given up trying to pretend that I was playing with myself, but Corbin still moved my hand under his, teasing me, giving me pleasure.
“When I’m gone, I want you to touch yourself like this, ok? That’s why I want you to look. So you remember.”
His arm flexed, and he lowered toward me. When he tasted my mouth, it was slow and exploratory, like our first kiss. He grazed the curve of my lower lip, then played his tongue between my lips as they parted for him.
His mouth closed over mine, so protective, so territorial, and his tongue swept deeper into my mouth, stroking all the right places, sometimes thrusting, sometimes gently touching.
I was so close to orgasm, but I didn’t want to come; I was barely hanging on as it was, and I knew I would fly apart into a zillion pieces. But my hips rose. My body knew where to find what it wanted, and Corbin forced one of my fingers deep into my tight channel.
Then one of his fingers joined it but went much deeper. My pussy clamped around them as Corbin’s thumb stroked back and forth over my clit in a dancing, teasing touch that had me straining toward him.
“Come for me. Feel what I feel when you squeeze me,” he whispered into my mouth. I felt him smiling between the words, and then his tongue swept deep, claiming me with a ferocity that I couldn’t resist.
My gasping cry turned into a series of whimpers, growing in volume as my body rocked. Corbin’s hand moved faster. I had never masturbated like this. Hadn’t ever actually fucked myself. It was loud and wet and felt so amazingly good.
And when my pussy squeezed around our fingers, I felt it, a desperate, rhythmic tugging, a gush of silky warmth.
Corbin slowed and stopped, but he left his finger inside me for a moment. He ended our kiss with a gentle nip on my lips, then he pulled back to stare into my eyes.
He wasn’t always the most readable man, but at that moment I truly had no idea what he was thinking. And even though I still had on my shirt and he still wore jeans, it felt like we were naked, though I couldn’t explain exactly why.
Then his gaze dropped away. He pulled his hand free and straightened. While he disposed of his jeans and underwear, I wriggled out of my shirt and bra, then crossed my arms over my chest.
Corbin hooked his forearms under my knees, pulled me close and dipped low to lick my sopping pussy. I
shivered underneath him, still sensitive from my orgasm.
He took just a taste, though, then positioned himself between my legs. His eyes stared into mine with that same unreadable expression as he rocked into me.
I gasped when our bodies were pressed together. The feeling of his thick cock spreading me open sent my pulse skyrocketing. I squeezed my inner muscles, and Corbin groaned, his face tightening, his brow furrowing.
“So damned good,” he said, the words more growled than spoken. He leveraged his hands under my buttocks, kneaded and squeezed them.
One of his arms swept under my shoulders, and he turned over, flipping me with him.
I stared down at him in surprise, then pushed against his hard chest, sliding deeper on his massive pole.
Corbin’s hands came up to cup my breasts, his touch now rough, hungry. He squeezed my nipples until I gasped, then squeezed harder, pulling me down toward him until my back was arched, my breasts thrust out, my hips and thighs spread wide.
Rocking without increasing the tug on my nipples wasn’t easy, but I gave it my best try.
Corbin groaned in pleasure, then he thrust up a little, bringing us both off the bed. I had to arch my back even more, and I leaned forward like I was sitting astride a sports motorcycle. “Hold yourself up there, baby,” he said.
I locked my knees. Corbin began fucking me, moving so fast that I threw back my head, my cries filling the room. Holy fucking hell, the slapping of his thighs against the bottoms of my buttocks sounded so dirty.
“Yeah,” he groaned. My breasts jiggled despite his iron hold on my nipples, and each little painful bounce added to my spiraling pleasure.
I tried to tell him how good it felt, but I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t do anything but sit on him, my ass and breasts pushed out while he proved that girl-on-top could be every bit as submissive as when I was on my back, my ankles over my head.
The rhythm slowed, then stopped, and I settled lower on him. I could feel his cock pulsing inside me. He was so swollen and hard that I realized he must have stopped to avoid coming.
And that made me smile.
“Smug, are you? Hell, you should be. You get to me, and I have no excuse except that you’re too sexy.” He smiled, drew one of his fingers across my cheek. Instead of moving my face away, I turned my mouth toward him with a whimper, wanting to suck him.
His finger tugged at the corner of my lips, then he flipped me over, sprawling on top of me, his muscular legs pinning mine down, his cock throbbing hot inside me.
He began to pump slowly, eyes fixed on mine. His chest, arms and shoulders bulged as he held his upper body still. Just his hips moved, swinging slowly, sometimes adding a small twist when he was deepest inside me.
I felt like I was drowning in his eyes, that I had somehow lost myself. It wasn’t just the orgasm that waited impatiently in the wings. It was something else.
I loved him. I had lied about it, and he didn’t deserve that. This despite everything he had done for me… he was right to question my trust in him.
If I trusted him, I should tell him the truth.
But I was terrified.
With everything that had happened, I was wound too tight. My sudden tears weren’t a delicate misting of the eyes. My face crumpled, and my mouth opened in a distraught cry. I covered my face with my hands.
“Audrey?” Corbin gently moved my hands away, though when I turned my face, he didn’t force me to look at him.
“I’m fine,” I gasped. “Don’t stop. Please.” I undulated slightly under him. “Don’t stop.”
“I want to give you your privacy, baby, but I need to see you so I can be sure I’m not harming you.” He continued to gently rock his hips as he spoke. “What’s going on?”
“I lied,” I bawled, suddenly unable to contain it.
He stopped then and forced my head straight, made me look at him. “Lied?”
I covered my mouth with both my hands, and I felt my eyebrows knotting together. Tears blurred the sight of Corbin’s baffled—and very concerned—face.
“I love you,” I said. “I’m in love with you. I’m sorry I lied. I do trust you.”
How much of that he heard was uncertain, because my hands muffled the words, but he surely got the gist.
“Baby,” he said, smoothing a damp curl away from my face, which, like the rest of my body, was now completely drenched in panicked sweat.
I clamped my hand over his mouth, terrified he would say he didn’t love me and that he never could.
Rather than pull away, he pressed a kiss into my palm. His eyes closed briefly, then he looked right at me. Into me.
“Thank you,” he said.
His words were full of gratitude, and they were sincere. He meant it.
But they weren’t what I wanted to hear. Corbin didn’t look conflicted, and he didn’t seem like he was hiding something. If he had felt the same way, he would have said it.
So he didn’t love me. Oh, I knew he was fond of me, that he cared about me, but that wasn’t the same as love. And why should he? Love was something that developed over time, at least for normal people who didn’t fall for the first man they dated seriously.
It might have been the most awkward moment of my life. But Corbin didn’t seem uncomfortable, and seconds later, when he began fucking me harder, I was so relieved. Because sex with him… I knew how to do that.
But when I came, my fingers dug into his lower back, and I held onto him, desperately, greedily.
He flung his head back and groaned as his cock spasmed inside of me, and I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood.
He collapsed over me, and I hid my face in the shadow between his neck and chest. The faint smell of his aftershave almost made me get teary again. I dug my fingers into his back, wanting to keep him close.
We fell asleep tangled together like that.
I woke when Corbin rolled away. He checked the time, then fell back on the bed. Groggy, I sat up and checked the clock. This was it. One more hour before he had to leave.
He pulled me into his arms. I lay on his chest, and I could hear and feel the steady thumping of his heart. He squeezed me closer, pressed a kiss to the top of my head. Then he gently slid away.
His hands coasted down my body, stopping only to spread my legs. He stared at my pussy.
“That’s something to keep a man warm at night,” he said. “You’re so full of me that you’re dripping.” He edged a finger to my entrance, and I felt a gush of his come spill out of me.
He inhaled sharply. “Wish I had time to fuck you. Come for me,” he said as he moved his hand north.
I was already tensing, muscles clenching, rolling waves of bliss radiating out from between my legs. He shoved a finger into my pussy and groaned. “So damned wet,” he said.
His other hand rubbed my clit, and I fisted my hands in the sheets as my hips bucked. And thank God, no more confessions poured from my trembling lips.
As soon as the last of the orgasm subsided, my eyes closed. Even though I knew I had to get up in a few seconds, I couldn’t bear to watch him get ready to leave.
~~~
Corbin pulled the SUV over and put it into park. I looked at him, surprised, because we most certainly weren’t at the airport.
“I’ll get out here,” he said. He leaned over, stared into my eyes. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll be in touch when I can.”
“One month isn’t so long.”
He nodded. “Then I have two months free.” His smile was too gorgeous, and it broke my heart—which I wisely endured in silence. “Doing what I can,” he said. “They know I want out. If I’m lucky, this is the last time.”
I wondered what it meant for the revenge he sought. If this was his chance to get the men who had eluded him, or if he’d decided to choose a different life. I assumed the latter, but I didn’t know for sure.
He drew me close, kissed me deeply. And I wondered if it mattered that my feelings weren’t reciprocated. Maybe, af
ter everything that had happened, he wasn’t capable of love.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Positive thoughts, ok? If you get into trouble, call me, and I’ll do what I can, though it may not be much. Just remember that there is nothing that can tie you to Zachary. You saw him, you left. That’s it.”
I nodded, swallowed the lump in my throat.
He twisted in his seat and grabbed a duffel bag that looked half empty. One final kiss, then he opened the door.
He walked across the street to where a taxi was waiting and got in. His mouth didn’t move—he didn’t tell the driver anything.
The car pulled into the light traffic, and Corbin looked at me. I knew he couldn’t see inside the SUV, not with the dark window tint, but I waved.
He nodded slightly. Then he was gone, and it was like someone had excavated an enormous crater in my soul. For the first time, I had doubts about my ability to handle all of this. My father. Henry, who would be out for blood. Corbin gone. I had no money.
I slid into the driver’s seat, put on the seatbelt. I hated driving this thing. It was too large, and I felt like a fool. I was more of a small, zippy car kind of woman. Not to mention that the gas was going to burn through my meager savings. But I was glad I had it.
As I drove toward the hospital, my worries shifted from losing Corbin to the problem of Henry.
My phone rang, and the SUV read out the number. I was so surprised that I swerved. Luckily, no one was on the road near me. “Shall I answer?” the vehicle prodded.
“Uh, yeah. Yes.”
“Hello, I’m looking for Audrey Stroop,” a man said.
My heart thudded. It was too soon for Dad to be out of surgery, so if the hospital was calling already… I slowed and looked for a place to pull over.
“Hello?” the man asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“We’re at your apartment now, and we wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything you don’t want packed.”
“What?”
“A mutual friend asked us to pack your apartment. We need to know—”
“No,” I said quickly. I started breathing again, so relieved. “Pack it all up.” After a moment’s reflection, I gave him Rob’s address and told him where to find Rob’s spare key in my kitchen. If Corbin had called these people, then I knew they were trustworthy. I also knew they probably didn’t usually move apartments, and I wondered if everything would end up in leakproof plastic bags.
Tempted by a Dangerous Man Page 12