She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and faced the television, fumbling quickly for the remote. “And on that note…” She pressed play, and the movie began.
It wasn’t half bad. Cheesy at points, sure, but I had to give the guy props—he’d dangled his ass off a Ferris wheel to get the girl, which was something I could respect.
Not that any of the girls who had texted me over the last few months were worth falling to my death over. None of them were Teagan. That was always the problem, wasn’t it?
“He’s going to get them electrocuted.” I leaned forward slightly, bracing my elbows on my knees as Ryan Gosling paddled the shit out of that little canoe.
“Just wait,” Teagan said breathlessly.
“Is this where he dies? Someone always dies in one of these.” It was why I made it a rule not to watch them. I had no problem with death in movies. I just preferred it more Die Hard, less Dying Young.
“Shhh!” her eyes were locked on the screen.
Ryan Gosling kissed Rachel McAdams like she was his last chance at life, then took it upstairs…literally. Had to admit, it was pretty damned hot.
Teagan shifted next to me, her cheeks pink, her breaths a little on the shallow side, and her lips parted. Guess she thought it was pretty damned hot, too.
We made it through the rest of the movie, and I even managed not to lose my shit that they died together.
“That’s the last time I let you pick the movie,” I told her as I cleaned up our snacks and headed for the kitchen.
“Tell me it wasn’t the most romantic thing you’ve ever seen!” She gushed, coming after me with our drinks. We’d fallen into such a domestic rhythm that we didn’t even get in each other’s way as we cleaned up. Everything with her was like that. Easy as breathing.
“That does it for you, huh?” I asked as Walt whined to be let out. The air was humid tonight, but at least it was cooling down.
“What, the fact that he bought the house just for her and renovated it exactly how she wanted, only to spend his life bringing her memories back through the haze of Alzheimers?” She followed me out into the back yard as the sun sank below the line of trees behind the pool.
Well, when she put it that way…
“Nah, none of that,” I teased. “That kiss is what does it for you.” I tossed her a wink as Walt sprinted into the grass, chasing after a bug I couldn’t see.
Teagan started to protest, then finally shrugged. “Maybe. Fine, yes.”
“Knew it.”
“Kisses like that don’t exist anyway,” she muttered. “Can’t blame a girl for wanting a little movie fix.” She leaned against the white stone of the house and watched Walt.
I tilted my head slightly and studied her. “What do you mean kisses like that don’t exist?”
She scoffed and waved me off. “Please.”
“I’m serious.” I folded my arms over my chest and leaned back against the porch railing.
Her gaze flickered toward mine. “So am I. Those movie kisses, that’s the material of romance novels and a-list acting, not real life. That kind of passion that consumes you without costing you something in return…we both know it’s not real.”
My eyes popped wide. “Not…real.” I shook my head slowly. I’d had my share of women—rookie year I’d had my entire fraternity’s share of women. Lust was something I was entirely familiar with…especially now that it had been over three months since I’d indulged.
“Duh. Look, sex is great. I like sex. I’m not a prude. But even if that kind of kiss exists, maybe I’m just not meant to have it.” She shrugged it off like she’d just given up brussels sprouts for the rest of her life. “So I’ll get my Notebook fix and live vicariously for a while.”
“It exists.” Just looking at her had me going. If I ever got my mouth on her—really had the chance to kiss her? She’d never doubt that kind of passion existed. Even if I wasn’t the one she wanted, she needed to know that there was better than Rick Baker out there for her.
“Right.” She mocked me with a thumbs-up.
My gaze narrowed. “Bet me.”
Her head whipped toward mine, and she straightened. “I’m sorry?”
I crossed the distance between us, my heart slamming with the knowledge that this could either go really well or really badly. “Bet me.”
She tilted her head to look up at me, nailing me with those blue eyes. “Bet you that a kiss like that exists outside a movie?”
“Yep. I’ll prove it to you.” My voice lowered as I braced my hand against the wall, caging her in on one side while giving her the freedom to run on the other.
She arched an eyebrow in challenge. “You think you can?”
“I win, and I pick the movie for the next month. You win, I’ll give you the same.”
She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, and I barely bit back a groan. Then her gaze lowered to my mouth, and I locked every muscle in my body to keep from reaching for her. I’d thrown the gauntlet. It was up to her if she was going to run with it.
“What if I want to watch every single adaptation of Jane Austen’s novels?” Her breath hitched.
“Fine. But we’ll be watching the entire Dark Knight trilogy because I’m going to win.” I’d never wanted to win a bet so badly in my entire fucking life.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to see,” she whispered.
“Is that a bet?” My voice came out like it had been scraped across the bottom of my cleats.
“It’s a bet.”
I didn’t pause, didn’t think, didn’t question. I simply pressed my lips to hers, and just like that…I was kissing Teagan. Holy fucking shit. Her lips were softer than I’d ever imagined and tasted like the strawberry Chapstick she liked. I slid my hand into the hair above the nape of her neck, cradling her head gently as I drew her lower lip between mine and ran my tongue across it.
Her breath caught.
One kiss. That’s all you’re going to get. With that thought, I tilted her head and parted her lips with my tongue. She sighed softly and opened for me.
I took complete possession of her mouth with a groan that I couldn’t hide. She tasted impossibly sweet—like the Skittles we’d shared. Her hands gripped my waist, tugging me closer, and I completely forgot why this had started, and lost myself in Teagan.
I pressed her against the wall and kissed her deeper, our tongues stroking and sliding as I learned every line of her mouth.
She whimpered.
My dick answered, hardening instantly. Fuck, I never wanted this to end. I was going to kiss her until we were both drunk with it and addicted to it. She was the strongest hit I’d ever taken, the only high I’d ever had, and even as I knew I’d never recover from this—never escape this kiss with my heart intact, I couldn’t help but give her everything I had. It was hers already, anyway.
Her nails dug into my waist as she kissed me back, her tongue darting past my teeth to lick the sensitive ridge just behind them.
My hand abandoned the wall to slide down her side, my thumb grazing the side of her breast as I made my way to the dip of her waist and the curve of her hip. She felt even better than I’d ever imagined. Lush and soft in every place I was hard and lean.
Fuck me, I was going to lose it. I was going to devour her one touch, one lick, one stroke at a time. I was going to worship her body with teeth and tongue, and when I finally let her come, it would be against my mouth so I could taste every drop.
Too much. The logical side of my brain argued.
Not nearly enough, my dick countered.
“T—” I started.
She kissed me quiet, lifting her arms to loop around my neck and rising on her toes like she was scared I would pull away.
I didn’t. I should have, but all reason and logic fled the moment she pushed her breasts against me. I wanted those in my mouth, wanted to suck her nipples between my lips, and flick the tips with my tongue.
Instead, I gripped her ass and lifted, pinning her
against the wall so she was level with my mouth.
She gasped, but locked her ankles behind the small of my back, and—fuck me—I could feel how hot she was through the thin cotton of her pajama bottoms. Unapologetically, I rolled my hips against hers and kissed deeper, thrusting my tongue in time with my hips, fucking her mouth in the same way I wanted to fuck her body. Slow. Hard. Deep.
I felt her moan all the way in my toes. Every nerve in my body was alive. We were electricity, pure and simple—enough to power the whole fucking city or burn us both to ashes. I’d never wanted like this, never needed like this. She felt even better than I’d dreamed, surpassed every fantasy with only one kiss.
She held my neck with one hand and gripped my hair with the other, using the wall as leverage to rock back against me as she sucked on my tongue.
My hands gripped her ass tight, memorizing the weight and feel of her against me as I thrust against her, pushing a little harder so I rubbed against her clit through the layers of our clothing. Her fingernails scraped my scalp, and she broke the kiss with a cry. That was the spot. Right. There.
“Roman!”
I groaned, sucking a path down her neck. Even if I never got to kiss this woman again, that sound right there was enough to fuel my dreams for the next fifty years.
She rocked, riding me with abandon.
My hand slid up the soft, ribbed tank top, when she nodded, I grazed my thumb over her nipple. I flicked over the hardened peak, then took her breast in my hand and squeezed gently. It was perfect. Perfect size. Perfect weight. Perfect responsiveness. All of her was fucking perfect.
I took her mouth again, the kiss changing into something utterly primal as my tongue blatantly claimed her mouth. Her grip tightened in my hair and on my neck, and her thighs clenched around my waist as she gave me back everything and then some.
This. Was. Heaven.
Walt barked, the sound breaking through the lust-filled fog in my brain.
Teagan tensed in a way that wasn’t passion and went completely still in my arms.
Just like that, I knew the moment was over. I kissed her softly one last time, then lifted my head.
“T,” I breathed softly.
Her eyes were hazy with need, her lips swollen and her skin flushed, but those same eyes were also wide with an edge of panic.
“You okay?” I asked softly, my dick screaming in protest as I moved my hands to the relative safety of her hips.
She nodded once.
“Want me to put you down?” I kept my voice gentle, which was at complete odds with the inferno raging through my veins.
She nodded again.
“Okay, but you’re going to have to unlock your ankles.” A corner of my mouth lifted in a wry smile.
She glanced down as if realizing she was still wrapped around me, then turned an even darker shade of pink. “Sorry,” she muttered, releasing me.
I lowered her to the floor.
Neither of us mentioned the fact that I was harder than the stone behind her.
“I’m…um…I’m going….I’m going inside,” she finally managed to say with a little shake of her head.
“You should do that.” My smile was instant. Hell yes, I’d addled her. “I’ll grab Walt.”
She blinked. “Walt. Right. Of course.” She swallowed hard, something dark crossing through her eyes before she turned to walk back inside.
Fuck that. Whatever she was thinking wasn’t going to be the last thing in her mind after a kiss like that.
“T?” I called out. “You know what this means, right?”
She turned in the doorway with a furrowed brow.
“Batman, baby. I win.” I flashed her a grin and left her sputtering a stifled laugh as I took off toward Walt and whatever abandoned ball he’d found in the grass.
I may have set out to prove that she was capable of that kind of passion, but all I’d done was proven to myself that we would be explosive together.
I’d just never get to experience it.
8
Teagan
“You want to stay in this stance because it communicates an expression of awareness as well as a warning with your body language.” The instructor—Drew Teller—circled Savannah and me, nodding at our poses—our feet in a ready-to-run position, our palms facing him, our elbows pointed toward the mat we stood on.
“Now, if I’m an attacker,” he continued, stopping before me. “I know that you’re ready to defend yourself. This could be enough to deescalate the situation. The attacker may realize you’re not easy pickings and move on.”
Sweat beaded at the base of my neck and rolled down my back. Roman had helped encourage me the last few weeks to try out this private Krav Maga class with Savannah, who’d been taking it for over a year now.
“This is your fourth session, Teagan,” Drew said. “Are you ready to try some one-on-one moves?”
I sucked in a sharp breath, apprehension blooming in my chest. Drew was easily the size of an NFL player, his muscles carved and honed every day, his dark hair, goatee, and eyes making him look even more menacing. And despite knowing he was kind and perceptive, a sliver of panic tightened my lungs.
I spared a glance at Savannah—the girl looked capable of rendering five men useless with a simple flick of her wrist. She wore tight, snakeskin active-wear pants, a black sports bra, and her hair was pulled back in a perfect wonder woman braid. Her muscles were toned and looked more than ready to kick some ass.
I’d always loved Savannah, but I’d never wanted to be like her as badly as I did at that moment.
She smiled and nodded with a silent you’ve-got-this look.
“Okay,” I said, my voice cracking despite my efforts to sound strong.
“All right,” Drew said, motioning for Savannah to move off the mat. She quickly did, retrieving her water bottle on the other side of the room. “Let’s feel the power behind your palm strikes first.”
I nodded, shifting my position to have one raised palm tucked back slightly, my left remaining in front of my chest. Drew raised his hands before him, motioning for me to strike.
I snapped my right palm toward his hands, rotating my entire body just like he’d taught us. I used my core, my thighs, my calves, everything to push power behind the strike. The loud smacking sound was a satisfied crack after connection.
“Good,” he said. “Again.”
I lashed out again.
“Good.” He motioned for me to continue.
So I did.
Over and over until the breath in my lungs rushed past my lips, and my chest heaved.
“Perfect,” he said. “Now, show me how much you’ve been paying attention.” He quickly shifted his stance.
I tracked his movements, noting the way he subtly shifted into my personal space. Awareness prickled on the back of my neck, an old familiar instinct boiling to the surface and coating my mind with an icy panic. Before I could blink, he’d slipped around me, a thick arm securing me from behind.
Adrenaline surged in my blood, choking off my airways, and trembling my muscles.
“You knew how much I hated that color, and you wore it anyway.” Rick’s voice was cold, sharp where he spoke directly into my ear. I’d frozen against his hold—too tight to be a loving embrace. “And you paid for it with my money.”
“I didn’t,” I argued, my fingers tugging at that forearm that kept my spine locked against his chest. “I used the money from the last painting I sold.”
“You’re arguing with me?” His hold tightened.
My lungs ached from the pressure, and I shook my head.
“Good,” he said, jerking me against him. “Because you know you don’t have the grounds to argue with me. Not when you made a fool of yourself tonight in that dress. Listening to that dumb girl of Nixon’s? You think she knows you as well as I do?”
Tears welled in my eyes, the air harder and harder to get into my lungs the longer he kept me pressed against him.
“No one knows y
ou like I do. I know what you like. I know what you look best in. I know what you should eat. I know how to make you smile. Me. No one else. You understand?”
I trembled against him, my entire body shaking at the fear of what would happen if he didn’t let go soon.
He smoothed his free hand over my hair. “Now, I’m going to fuck you,” he said. “I’m going to remind you how good I can make you feel. Remind you how great we are together. How I’m the one who makes you come. Me, I have that power. And maybe, this time your body will listen. And we’ll have the family you’ve always wanted.”
God, he was going to kill me if he ever found out about the birth control.
My stomach twisted at the thought.
He didn’t loosen his grip as he walked us to the bedroom—
“Shake me off!” Drew shouted, snapping me back to the present. “I’ve got the high ground from behind. You can’t reach my eyes with the way I have your arms pinned.”
I couldn’t fucking breathe.
The memories clung to my skin like little pricks of ice.
“What do you do?” His grip tightened, and all that rage, all that panic and fear shot to the surface, right alongside everything I’d learned the past four classes.
I planted my feet, jutting my hips backward with all the power I had while simultaneously digging my fingers into his forearm and propelling him forward.
His massive body rolled forward over my back until his spine smacked against the mat.
He’s going to kill me.
My brain flashed from Rick to the present and back again.
I didn’t waste a second, my muscles almost reacting on memory as I kept hold of that forearm and spun until I pressed my knee against Drew’s hard chest.
“Good!” he said, his chin hitting my knee as he tapped the mat.
I hauled off of him, tears streaming down my cheeks. Not out of fear or anger, but a sort of cleansing as power rushed through me. At the way I’d taken down a man the size of Rick. How I’d made a choice for my body and used it to save myself. How I knew, with absolute certainty, I’d never let myself be in that position again.
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