Fueling His Hunger

by Sparrow Beckett

  “You.”

  “And I was dancing for you, was I?”

  “Yes. You knew it would please me.”

  She laughed, and the lovely sound of it filled parts of him he hadn’t realized were empty.

  Shit. He was a goner.

  He’d always been a relatively happy guy, even as a kid with all the crap that went on with his dad and mom and the messy divorce, but now he felt like he’d found something beautiful and important.

  And it would be over tomorrow night.

  For tonight, he’d enjoy their time together, but he was going to need some serious time and maybe some therapy to get over her.

  “I knew it would please you?” she asked. “Did you get abducted by aliens when I went to pee?”

  “It happened at the museum the other day, actually. Who do you think put that chip behind your knee?” He grabbed her by the back of the leg and she squealed and kicked, pretending to try to get away, but she let him tickle her every time he did it. And like every other time, it turned into him flipping her over and kissing the back of her knee until she sighed with pleasure, and leaving a small hickey behind.

  “Is that so that you can find me later?” she asked, turning back over when he let her up. The grin on her face faltered. Was she regretting that they wouldn’t see each other anymore, too?

  “Only if you want to be found.”

  She chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, I assume Mars has plenty of other women.”

  “Only one that has my chip in her right now.” He brushed his finger over the silly necklace he’d bought her at the museum, smiling faintly.

  “I bet you say that to all the Earth girls.”

  He rolled onto his back, but pulled her along, settling her on his chest. There were so many stars in the sky it was hard to pick out constellations, like someone had spilled a jar of glitter across black canvas. It was as lovely as the scent coming from the top of Ophelia’s head. She made him feel so . . . protective.

  The idea of sending her back to her old life, to live alone in a big house with her worries and sadness, upset him. The night he’d found her in the backseat, she hadn’t seemed safe from herself, let alone from the world. The idea of Ophelia ever being lonely again made him crazy.

  “Tomorrow, after I bring you home . . . if you ever need anything, even if it’s just someone to vent to, I want you to call me.”

  “That won’t be awkward?” She took a sip from the wine-sized bottle, like a fucking lady, and grinned at him. “Your cousins might tease you if some whiny girl keeps calling you. Although maybe that happens twenty-four/seven.” She narrowed her eyes, as though the idea of other girls calling him didn’t please her.

  “Oh, I think your friends would have a much bigger problem with you calling me. I’m not the kind of guy an heiress should be hanging out with.”

  Boldly, she straddled him and sat on his stomach. His cock was instantly aware of her every movement. “Yeah, I can just imagine. ‘Priya, Chloe, this is Luke. He steals cars for a living and likes to fuck my ass.’”

  Fuck.

  In part of his mind alarm bells were ringing, but the words “fuck my ass” coming out of her sweet mouth was almost enough to get him off.

  “I don’t steal cars for a living,” he said quietly, pulling his mind away from the memory of his cock being buried deep inside her. “I run a computer repair business with my cousins.”

  She frowned. “I’m not stupid, Luke. I’d never actually tell anyone. I just said it here, to you, because there’s no one around to hear. I’m not a narc.”

  A laugh escaped him, despite the gravity of the situation. “Narcs are for narcotics, Ophelia.”

  “Oh. Well, if you don’t make fun of me for not knowing that, I won’t make fun of you for not knowing what leveraged buy-outs are.”

  Little snob. “I have a degree in business.”

  She bit her lips together, eyes widening. “Oh.”

  “My cousins and I run a business.”

  “A computer business.”

  “Yes.”

  “Got it.”

  She slid down his body until her pussy was pressed against the hard length of his erection then rocked her hips against him. “Mmm.”

  Although he had the urge to flip her onto her back and plunge into her, he lay passively, letting her do what she wanted without encouraging her.

  Soft lips brushed over his own, every small gasp and inhaled breath making his balls ache. Such vanilla shit, and yet the fact that she felt comfortable enough with him to do something so brazen was a serious turn-on.

  “What do you think you’re doing up there, young lady?”

  The sexy pout he got in response was downright sinful. “You made me all needy, so now you have to help me work it off.”

  “No. You’ve been drinking.”

  She squirmed her hips in frustration. “So have you.”

  “I don’t have sex with drunk girls. It’s a hard limit.”

  When she pushed up to stare down at him, her expression was incredulous. “Oh my god, you’re serious?”

  “Yes. Quite.”

  Her growl was unexpected and adorable. “But it’s your fault for being hot and making me want you all the time. Aren’t guys always supposed to want sex? Even with drunk girls?” She arched a brow. “Wait. You’re hard. That means you’re joking, right?”

  “No. A hard cock isn’t consent, either.”

  That stopped her cold. She got off of him immediately.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” He grinned at her. “I love having sex with you. If you weren’t drunk, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

  She growled again. “So that’s it? Our last night together and we can’t have sex? Why didn’t you tell me about the drinking thing beforehand?”

  “Is that all I am to you? A sentient dildo?” He’d meant it as a joke, but there was an edge of bitterness he hadn’t anticipated.

  “What? I—” Her face flamed red in the firelight. “No. I didn’t mean to make you feel used, Luke, I just thought . . .” The unfinished sentence hung awkwardly between them.

  Idiot. Nothing like making the girl he liked feel like shit because he liked her too much.

  “I know. I shouldn’t have said that,” he grumbled. “I just hate this.”

  “What? Me?” Her eyes were wide and anxious.

  “No! No. I just—I don’t want this to be the end of things between us, Ophelia. I know we can’t keep seeing each other. I get that. I just . . . hate it,” he finished lamely.

  Nice work, idiot. You’ve only known the girl for a week and you sound like a sentimental jackoff.

  She made a pitying sound, and he felt his face heat. Great. Pity. Just what every grown man wanted from a woman.

  If she said anything about him being sweet, he’d know things were definitely finished.

  “I feel the same way.” She grimaced and stretched out next to him, burrowing against his side until he gave in and wrapped an arm around her. “I wish we could just keep seeing each other, but I don’t know what to do. The paparazzi chase me around. As soon as they catch wind of you, they’ll start digging. If I was only worried about the scandal, I could deal with that, but it’s about you not ending up on the police’s radar and getting thrown in jail.” She glanced up at him. “You’re too pretty for jail.” She arched up and kissed him, but it was long and sweet rather than sexually insistent this time.

  If only she weren’t so famous.

  “Well, if you ever decide to run away and become a nobody, look me up.”

  She smiled against his mouth. “And if you ever come up with some sort of clever documentable backstory for yourself that doesn’t involve you needing to avoid police, you look me up.”

  In the shadowed firelight, her eyes were inscrutable. She s
eemed sad, and very serious about that offer.

  “But you’ll call me if you need help?”

  “I will.”

  “That’s my princess.”

  She laid her head back on his chest, and neither of them spoke again for a very long time.

  Chapter 13

  A bump jolted her from a warm and hazy sleep. The sun was heating the SUV, and she kept dozing off without meaning to. The last thing she wanted to do was waste the last of her time with Luke having a sunny catnap, but between the hiking and the sex it had been several physically demanding days. And she was maybe a little hungover.

  “Where are we?” Ophelia asked, frowning.

  “I think we’re about three hours out yet.”

  She blinked around at all the trees. “Can we pull over somewhere? I have to pee.”

  “I’m not sure where the next rest stop is. Do you want to check the road trip app?”

  She’s been avoiding using her phone. Considering the fact that the thing usually lived in her hand, it was weird she’d spent the past few days rarely glancing at it for more than a minute or two. Between wanting to avoid her mother’s pushy demands for her to sell the business, and not being able to tell Priya and Chloe much about Luke, she had nothing to say to anyone. And who needed to play Solitaire when there was a hot guy who was fun to talk to paying attention to her?

  “Anywhere is fine,” she said, grinning. “You’ve helped me perfect the art of free-range urination.”

  “That was all you, baby.” He winked at her, and she noticed again how handsome he was. He was so smart and funny that sometimes she forgot the man could be a fitness model. Hell, she turned into a puddle every time he flashed those dimples at her. How did a guy this hot and naughty—and yet such a gentleman—not have a girlfriend? Or several?

  Then again, maybe he did. What the hell did she know?

  Part of her kept trying to point out that if he really was a car thief, there was no saying he was telling the truth about anything. A man who wouldn’t hesitate to steal a car wouldn’t hesitate to lie to get into a girl’s pants, right? She wasn’t naive or an idiot.

  Even so, as she watched him turn them off the highway and onto a thickly treed side road, she wondered if she should ask. Eventually, she decided against it, afraid he’d tell her the truth, and that it would hurt. Their trip was nearing an end anyway. It was almost over.

  About a half mile in, he pulled over in a clear spot.

  “I’ll just be a minute.” Damned coffee.

  “I need to stretch my legs anyway. Don’t rush.”

  It only took a few minutes. When she was on her way back to him, she realized how strange it was that she’d trusted him not only with her SUV, but with her own safety for days. There were law-abiding men she’d known for years that she wouldn’t say the same about. Luke was Luke—exciting, but not the kind of exciting that would make her sleep with one eye open in terror. She trusted him not to steal or wreck her car. She trusted him to torture her but obey her safeword. Just yesterday she’d insisted on paying for lunch and hadn’t even tried to hide her PIN number.

  So damn weird.

  When she got back to the SUV, Luke was nowhere to be seen. They’d both downed a lot of coffee this morning, after last night’s big drunken discussion about the universe.

  He had some interesting ideas about life, the kind that came from introspection and intelligent deduction. Between that and Glacier, she felt like they’d shared some sort of transcendent experience. Even if they didn’t see each other again after today, she’d never forget him.

  As she reached for the handle of the passenger door, the heaviness of regret was banished by the feel of someone’s breath stirring the hair on the back of her neck. Luke, the creepy bastard, had her heart racing and extra blood circulating to her nether regions.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked, frozen in place, staring at the car. Jeez, maybe she should have turned around to make sure she wasn’t starting a conversation with a serial killer.

  “I don’t know,” he murmured so close to her ear that she got goose bumps and her nipples immediately hardened. “I assume I don’t, since you don’t want to see me again after today.”

  Between his proximity and his words, her belly fluttered. He liked her enough to think of her as a potential girlfriend? She allowed herself the momentary fantasy where she didn’t have the infamous last name and could just be an ordinary girl and no one would care if she had a car thief for a boyfriend.

  She put her hands on the car door to steady herself.

  “Move your hands higher on the door.”

  She slid her hands up the smooth green paint, over the window to the roof. Luke caught her wrists in one of his big, rough hands, and pinned her there. His other hand shoved her bra up over her breasts. He caught her nipple between his fingers, squeezing hard, harder, until she screeched. Teeth bit down on her neck, and through the glorious haze of sensual pain, she could feel her ass shoving back against him, offering whatever he wanted to take. Everything sexual with Luke was wild and dirty and animalistic. No polite lovemaking from this man—at least, not yet. She assumed that if he ever did that sort of thing, there would be nothing fake about it.

  “Now that I’ve caught you, what should I do with you?”

  “Nothing,” she said lightly. “I wouldn’t want you to think I’m only interested in sex.”

  She expected him to either laugh or get slightly offended. Instead, his low chuckle made her shiver from head to toe.

  “So you don’t want me to shove this pretty dress up and fuck you?”

  It was dark green khaki—not exactly what she’d consider pretty, but he’d kept touching her legs as they were driving, so that was a win.

  “I don’t know how interesting you’d find shoving my dress up. I’m not even wearing panties.”

  He groaned. “It was so hard to say no to you last night, but I honestly never sleep with women when they’ve been drinking. Ever. Never have.”

  “It’s not because you’re already bored with me?”

  “Did I feel bored with you then? Do I now?”

  She ground her ass back against him, as though she needed to check again. “How am I supposed to know that’s not a crowbar in your pants?”

  “Feel free to check.”

  He slid his hand up the side of her thigh, and she felt herself getting more lust-hazed by the minute, no matter how sore she still was from the last time they’d had sex. What had she been thinking, trying to convince him to put out last night, when walking still made muscles—and other things—twinge?

  But he was hot and seriously hard to resist, especially since her body knew what kind of pleasure he could bring it.

  It wasn’t just the sex though.

  She loved talking to him too.

  Why couldn’t he have some sort of legal job? If he had a legal job, she’d date the hell out of him, no matter what he was doing for a living. It wasn’t like he needed to be loaded. She had enough money for both of them.

  He slid his fingers into her hair, and she waited for him to close his fist in it, then realized if he didn’t she’d be disappointed. What a strange thing to be used to. Shivers raced across her skin as the expected happened, and she sighed with satisfaction. Nervous excitement grew low in her belly.

  “What are you doing?” she asked with false shock and alarm.

  “Fucking you one last time.”

  She managed to avoid clapping her hands in glee.

  Roughly, he marched her into the woods, her body hopelessly aroused by his firm grip on her hair. Being dragged off somewhere secluded by a hot guy was one of her fantasies, and he couldn’t be doing a better job of it even if she’d written him a script.

  He sounded as if he was forcing himself to breathe slowly. Was dragging her off exciting for him too? They�
�d had sex once in the woods in Glacier, but it had been quick because they never knew when someone could happen upon them. Here it was different. Here they weren’t even near the SUV, or even the dirt road.

  “You’re going to get us lost,” she warned. A rock turned under her foot and she stumbled, but he steadied her.

  “You wish.” He stopped for a minute, pushing her head to the side and biting her neck.

  She braced herself against a tree trunk, her knees going weak.

  Fuck.

  A scarf was going to have to be part of her wardrobe for the next few days, terrible man, but it felt so good. It also reminded her of when he’d bit her nipples, her thighs, her belly . . .

  It burned. Ached. Made her squeeze her now-slick thighs together.

  The cry of pleasure she blurted was loud, but he clamped his hand over her mouth. Oh fuck, this was too good. He nipped her neck over and over, making her yelp. Every bite flashed heat through her body. She squirmed and he pressed against her ass, enticing her to shove back, excited about how hard he was for her, impatient for him to take her there and then. Her struggles had made her skirt ride up, and the rough denim of his jeans scraped along her still sore bottom.

  “Fuck me, please,” she begged, his big hand muffling her words. “Please!” The whine was high pitched in her ears. Why did he have to drive her so crazy?

  “What’s the matter, princess?” he purred in her ear.

  So, so evil. Leave it to Luke to turn the word princess into something dirty in her head, said with such affection and dominance. She’d never be able to hear that word again and not think of him here, like this—his bite marks aching and drying on her neck. His cock pressed hard against her ass. Her next trip to Disney would be awkward.

  Rather than try another muffled response, she opened her mouth and flicked her tongue against his palm. He grunted, and let go of her mouth, but only to press his finger into it. She suckled at it, played with it with her tongue and teeth, remembering how crazy it had made him the last time.

  He drew his finger out, and it made a smacking noise as her lips reluctantly parted with it.

  “Let’s go,” he said roughly. “Before I fuck you right here. I want to find somewhere a little more comfortable.”