Full Measures

by Rebecca Yarros

  With my breast in his mouth, he carried me, turning toward the bed. He sank to the surface with me. His weight was perfect, holding me to the earth when I was ready to fly away. I slipped my legs down his hips, and he repositioned himself exactly where I needed him, pressed against the throbbing ache that seemed to grow more intense. I wanted all of him against me. I needed to feel his skin.

  “Shirt,” I mumbled as I jerked up the ends of his button-down. He pulled away from me long enough to rip the shirt and undershirt over his head, leaving his bare chest above me. “You’re so incredible.” I ran my fingers down the planes and angles of his chest, over the swirls of ink, stopping to stroke the carved lines of his sexy abdominals. It was no wonder half the student body was panting after Josh Walker.

  So was I.

  “December.” Desire raged through his eyes along with another emotion I was almost scared to name. Tenderness? Caring? He stroked the sides of my face, lowering himself to capture my mouth in a gentle kiss. “You have no idea how perfect you are.”

  I dragged my nails down his back, and he drove his hardness against me. I grasped his mouth-watering rear at the same time he claimed my mouth again, bringing me higher and higher. I would never get enough of this frenzy he put me into. I would never get enough of him.

  I moved my hips against him, seeking relief from the pressure. “I’m on fire,” I admitted, any embarrassment swept away with the need coiling in my body.

  His eyes locked onto mine with a gaze so hot I was amazed I didn’t spontaneously combust. “Me too.” He kissed a path down my chest, stopping to suck on my breasts one after another as his hands worked their way up from my knees, skimming the insides of my thighs. Yes. Yes. Yes. The wicked grin that came across his face told me I’d just said that out loud. He skimmed over the debauched neckline of my dress, to where the hem met my waistline, and then he kissed the soft, exposed skin of my stomach. I arched off the bed.

  His hands stroked up my thighs until he reached the edge of my panties, and then the frustrating man paused. Paused! Didn’t he know I needed him to use those hands? I needed his fingers on me. Now. I rolled my hips in a silent plea. “What do you need?” he growled against the skin just above my panty line.

  “Josh . . .” I begged.

  “Tell me what you need, Ember. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  I’ll do whatever you want. The words bounced around my brain like a pinball, lighting up every sex-starved cell in my body. Josh Walker, who I’d fantasized about all through high school, was not only in bed with me, but offering himself on a platter. “You. I need you. I only want you.” The last part slipped out in a whisper before I could stop it, revealing way too much about what was really going on in my heart.

  He must not have heard it, because he growled against my skin, and bit into the soft silk of my panties. I lifted my hips, and the man dragged them down without breaking my gaze. Holy. Fucking. Hot. He slipped them off my heels, slid his way back up my body, stopping to lick and suck the area right behind my knee. My breath labored to keep up with my hammering heart.

  He brought his head up and stared at me for three breaths, like he was contemplating something. “I have to taste you,” he whispered. His head dipped, his tongue stroked over my clit.

  “Josh!”

  I’d heard stories of how this could feel, but nothing prepared me for the lightning streaking through my body, concentrating where his mouth worked me over. He slipped one finger inside me and stroked in time with the swirling motions of his tongue.

  Once.

  Everything built, pooling low, tensing the muscles in my legs as my feet dug into the bed.

  Twice.

  He slipped a second finger in, and my head thrashed on the pillow. My fingers tore into the sheets, and my body coiled tighter and tighter.

  Three times.

  I saw the stars. My body trembled and bucked against his mouth as bliss poured through me, stretching from my head, through my fingers, to my toes. He gently brought me down, stroking out every aftershock he could with his tongue.

  When I finally drew a ragged breath, he moved up my body and kissed me deeply. He tasted like him, and . . . me. “You are fucking exquisite. Addictive.”

  “I don’t even have words for that, what you just did.” My lungs heaved for air.

  The smile that came across his face was heart-stopping and gorgeous. “I’ve been dreaming of that for . . .” His brows furrowed, like he was keeping himself in check. “A while.”

  My hands slipped down the ridges of his abs, to the waistband of his jeans where his hardness strained. One flick, and I had the button open. Go me!

  Josh pulled out my hand and refastened it all in one movement. “Not here.”

  Was he rejecting me? Again? “I want this. I want you.”

  He dropped to the bed next to me, burying his face in my neck. “God, I want you. But I’m not going to take your virginity in someone else’s bed during a damn party.”

  I wiggled my naked hips against him. “I want you to.”

  He slid his mouth up, kissing my jawline. His breath was ragged in my ears. “Not until you’re in my bed, Ember. Mine. No one else’s.”

  A sound like a foghorn came down the hallway, followed by a shriek. “What is—”

  “Fuck.” Josh snagged the bottom of the comforter’s side and jerked it over the two of us, rolling until he was on the other side of me and we were cocooned in darkness. My face pressed against his chest, completely covered by the blanket. As he tugged the blanket up to cover my hair, the door burst open and a foghorn sounded. I slammed my hands over my ears until it stopped.

  “Playing through!” A drunken group of frat boys stormed the room, and it sounded . . . like they were putting? Oh yeah, the ping of a golf ball against a club was unmistakable.

  Josh pulled me in closer to him. “What the fuck! Emory! Caleb!”

  “Ah, shit! Walker! We totally thought Mark was in here!” Oh yeah, they were toasted.

  “Well, apparently he’s not, so get the hell out!”

  My cheeks burned against Josh’s chest.

  “Who ya got under there, Walker? You know Jessica Kirtz is looking for you.”

  Of course some girl was looking for him. A girl was always looking for him.

  He sat up, careful to keep me shielded. “Out. Now!”

  “Playing through!” they shouted again. With another shot of the foghorn, they retreated, leaving the door open in their wake.

  I sat up, lowering the blanket just past my eyes, and caught a peek of plaid shorts, sweater vests, and pom-pom-adorned berets on three of his fraternity brothers. Those boys went all out.

  Josh ripped his hand through his hair. “Fucking freshmen!”

  I couldn’t help it, the laughter burst out of me, anything but ladylike. There were even a few snorts. After an incredulous look, Josh joined in until I collapsed against his bare chest, laughing so hard tears watered my vision. It was minutes before I could get myself under control.

  I wiped away the last of my tears with a smile.

  “I guess you can see why I choose not to live in the house.”

  “It’s certainly entertaining.” I leaned up and kissed him softly before any awkwardness could set in. I thought about jumping him, but something about the open door and another foghorn sounding talked me out of it for the moment.

  He kissed me back, lingering.

  I ran my fingers over the ink of his tattoo, over his chest, curving with his shoulder and onto his arm. When I felt a scar the length of my pinky finger, I smiled. “Bar brawl?” I asked, bending to run my tongue along it.

  “Ferocious lizard attack,” he joked.

  “Oh thank God!” Sam shouted, barreling into the room like the devil was after her.

  “Playing through?” I asked, trying to keep my face serious and failing miserably. Josh and I burst out laughing again.

  Sam’s mouth dropped open. “I would almost think this was funny if I didn
’t just catch your little sister in a room down the hall with Tyler Rozly.”

  “What? April is here? How the hell did she get here? She’s underage!” Lame, but it was the only thought I could get out.

  “She’s naked, Ember, and those boys have a camera.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Oh, God.” Everything in my head shut down for a millisecond. Those boys could have naked pictures of my sister. She was only seventeen. Seventeen with naked pictures. If they got posted on the Internet she’d never escape them.

  “Sam, give us a sec.” Josh pulled his shirt over his head as she nodded and shut the door.

  April didn’t have time for me to freak out. I pulled my bra up and tugged the neckline of my dress to where it belonged. Untangling from the covers, my heels fell to the floor, and I slid my dress down from my waist. “Where are my panties?” I panicked, throwing back the covers.

  Josh held up the purple pair, and kneeled down so I could step into them. He slipped them over my thighs, and though I knew sex wasn’t on his mind, it was still pretty damn hot when he met my eyes.

  “You okay?” I couldn’t believe I’d left him in this situation again.

  He nodded. “Let’s help your sister.”

  I rearranged my dress again, then flung open the door.

  Sam leaned back against the wall. “This way.” I secured loose pieces of my hair as I followed her down the hall. Three, no, four doors down, she pounded on the door. “Open up!”

  “Go away!” a gruff voice answered.

  “April?” I called into the door, trying the knob anyway. It was locked. Too bad they hadn’t locked it in the first place. Then again, Josh and I hadn’t, either. I shoved the handle again, like my sheer determination to get my sister out of there would magically open the damn thing. “April!” I shouted, pounding on the door.

  “Get the hell out of here!” The guy yelled again. I didn’t know Tyler Rozly, but if he had my sister in that room, he was on my shit list.

  A pair of hands gently pushed me aside. Josh was here. He pounded once on the door. “Tyler, open the door now.”

  “Hell no!” The giggle that accompanied the declaration was enough to tell me April was in there.

  “Tyler, it’s Walker, and if you don’t open this goddamned door in twenty seconds, I will get your ass thrown out. Now. She’s a minor.” The veins in his neck pulsed.

  A muffled curse made its way through the door, and I mentally counted each of the seconds Josh threatened Tyler with. In eighteen seconds, the lock clicked, and the door swung open to reveal a shirtless guy I assumed was Tyler. “What the hell are you cock-blocking me for, Walker?”

  I slid between Tyler and the doorframe. “April?”

  My sister sat up in the bed, clutching the sheet to her bare top. “Ember?”

  All of my rage toward April turned on Tyler. “That’s my little sister!”

  Tyler crossed his arms, but standing next to Josh he couldn’t pull off intimidating. Josh dwarfed him. “She didn’t seem too ‘little’ to me.”

  Josh stepped in front of me before I could get my hand across Tyler’s smirking face. Asshole! “She’s seventeen, dude. Last time I checked, you’re twenty-one, which makes her jailbait.”

  Tyler paled. “No, you’re wrong. She looked young so I asked to see her UCCS ID when she came in. Her name was on the list and everything.”

  April sat silent in the bed, giving me a guilty look I knew all too well.

  “You took my ID.”

  “It’s not like you needed it.” She went from contrite to accusatory in a breath.

  “You’re December?” Tyler blanched, all of his earlier bravado discarded on the floor with April’s underwear. Shit. Her underwear was on the floor!

  “Apparently. And you’re an asshole for sleeping with my seventeen-year-old sister.” Before I could launch any further, the foghorn sounded down the hall. I’d almost forgotten. “Josh?”

  He nodded. “I got this.” He slid past Sam and took off.

  April still hadn’t moved. “Put. Your. Clothes. On.” I seethed on each word. She grimaced like she was going to argue with me. “What? Do you want more naked pictures?”

  “Naked pictures?”

  My fingernails bit into my palms. “Those guys had a camera!”

  That got her moving.

  Tyler slid down the back of his door, defeated. I couldn’t blame him, not really. He’d questioned her, she’d given him my ID. She’d duped him.

  “Hell no, Walker! The pics are ours!” The shouts came amid pounding feet in the hallway.

  I stuck my head out of the door and saw the golf-clad freshmen racing around the banister and down the center steps. They were going to get away with those pictures. Josh slid around the corner, took one look at the distance, threw his legs over the banister, and jumped. He landed right in front of the freshmen.

  My breath caught and couldn’t seem to catch back up.

  “Give me the fucking camera.” He snatched it away, ripped the SD card out of the side, and threw it back at them before they could sputter another protest. “If I ever catch you taking pictures of any females without their consent again, you won’t have to worry about making it as a brother. You won’t have to worry about taking another breath. No arguing. No second chances. Understood?”

  The three nodded their heads, their eyes downcast. “Yeah.”

  “Clean the damn kitchen.”

  “Ah, man! Walker!”

  “Now.” He didn’t have to shout, they got his meaning and scurried off. He glanced up at me and gave a tight-lipped half smile, holding up the SD card. I took my first full breath.

  I couldn’t find my voice. How could I tell him what that meant to me? I mouthed the words, “Thank you.”

  He nodded, his eyes softening.

  April pushed past me, fully dressed and yanking on her coat. I stepped forward, catching her arm. “Oh no, you’re coming with me.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Or what?”

  “Or I tell Mom.”

  Her mouth snapped shut with a clicking sound. I led her around the banister and down the steps. Josh took point and led us out of the party, Sam in our wake. The music pounded and the crowd had grown, but the guys moved out of Josh’s way. The girls were another story. They all stepped into his path, touching his arm or calling his name to get his attention. He nodded politely and smiled at each one of them but didn’t slow our exit from the house.

  The cold air hit me as we stepped onto the front porch. Josh threw his jacket around my shoulders. When had he picked that up? He kept his hand on the small of my back as we got to my car. I spotted April’s car a few spots over.

  “I’m not going with you,” she argued.

  Sam rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure you’re in a position to argue.”

  “What, like you get to tell me what to do?”

  “Sam saved your ass.” Josh’s tone said he’d had enough, but his eyes were soft when he looked down to me. “Do you want me to take you home?”

  I shook my head. “I think I need a minute with my sister.”

  He nodded and glared back at April. “Give your keys to Sam.”

  April sputtered, and I nearly lost it. “Give them to her now, April.”

  She cursed, but she did it.

  Sam gave us a mock salute as she headed off toward April’s little coupe. “See you at home.”

  April crossed her arms and leaned against my car.

  Josh handed me the SD card. “I’m sorry about how tonight turned out.”

  I shook my head with a small smile. “Not all of it.”

  “Not all of it,” he agreed, a wicked glint catching his eye in the moonlight. “Do you want my help getting her home?”

  April scoffed and raised her eyebrows.

  “I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”

  Something flashed across his eyes, like he was remembering my bitchy tirade last week. But he wasn’t one to bear a grudge, and the look p
assed with a sigh. He skimmed his hand over my cheek and slowly, giving me time to decline, brushed his lips over mine. “Tomorrow?”

  “I’ll see you at practice,” I said against his lips, wanting to stay just a moment longer.

  “I can’t wait.” He gave me a soft smile, and went back to the party.

  I watched him walk away and felt a twinge of jealousy. We weren’t exclusive. Hell, we weren’t even dating, but something ripped apart in me at the thought of him finishing what we’d started upstairs with some other girl.

  But I had to take care of April; I couldn’t follow him back into the party no matter how badly I craved being around him.

  Freaking April.

  “Pictures?” I held up the SD card for punctuation. “Do you know what these could have done to you? You can’t get away from crap like this once someone puts it on Facebook.”

  She dropped her gaze. “I didn’t know they had a camera.”

  “You shouldn’t have been here in the first place!” I threw the SD card to the pavement and crushed it beneath my shoe, breaking it into pieces under my heel.

  “You’re not my mom!”

  “You’re acting like you sure as hell need me to be.” I couldn’t escalate her temper tantrum. “You want to get drunk and laid?” I threw my arms out, palms up. “Be my guest! But you have a boyfriend, or did Brett just morph into Tyler? Is that who you are now?”

  “I told Brett I needed some space, and he understood. It’s not like I’m a virgin, or like Tyler is the only guy I’ve been sleeping with!”

  Horror nearly froze me. “What is going on with you, April? This isn’t you.”

  “Like you’d even understand!”

  It felt like she’d slapped me. “What do you mean?”

  She tucked her red hair behind her ear, a nervous trait we both shared with our mother. “Dad died, Ember.”

  If she’d wanted my defenses up, that was the way to do it. “Yeah, I remember.”

  “You . . .” Tears welled in her eyes. “You just picked up and went along perfectly! Everyone else is falling apart and you’re just . . . perfect little Ember! I don’t expect you to understand how this feels or why I’m here because I’m not . . . perfect!”