Sugar

by Lydia Michaels

  His mouth formed a flat line, and his jaw hardened. “I wasn’t trying to offend you. You hardly ever open up about your past. It makes sense to think something might have happened—”

  “Nothing happened to me!” I flung my hands in the air and stood, pacing the floor. “Women went from Victorian gowns and fainting spells to building bridges and sitting on Capitol Hill. Is it so hard to comprehend I might be less sugar and more spice? When will men stop trying to pigeonhole us in these dainty little molds? Nothing fucking happened to me. I’m not broken. I’m strong.”

  “Okay.” He held up his hands, palms out, in surrender. “I never said you weren’t strong.”

  I scoffed, the sound coming from the back of my throat. “I grew up in a normal home with a normal family just like you.”

  I could hardly believe the lie sprung so easily from my lips but fuck him for acting like the only excuse for my personality might be broken parts of my past. I wasn’t broken!

  He continued to hold up his hands. “I’m sorry.”

  Encroaching uncomfortable territory, I redirected the conversation. “I have studying to do and, apparently, so do you.”

  He frowned. “We’re talking.”

  I moved to the kitchen, putting distance between us. “We’re done.”

  “That, right there.” He rose from the table and cornered me. Startled, I twisted my back into the cabinets as he towered over me. “See what you’re doing? You’re grappling for authority. But in bed, you’re different, Avery. I’ve seen you.”

  “Only because you suck at following directions, Noah.”

  “Bullshit. Last night I gave you a thousand chances to call it quits. You want to be the boss, but not as much as you want someone else to do it for you. Power can be a burden.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You have it all figured out.” I turned, and he grabbed me from behind, his hands curling around my arms just above the elbows, his body and bulk angling me forward.

  “I think I have a little more figured out than you want to admit,” he whispered, mouth against my ear.

  “And this is what you think I want?”

  “I think you like when I take you, and you don’t have a say in how I do it. I think you like the break from responsibility.”

  “If this is for me, how come it’s your dick poking my back.”

  His arm slid through mine, pulling them tighter at my back as his hand shoved into my pants. “I call your bluff.”

  His fingers twisted in my panties and I grunted as he inserted a finger into my pussy. A second later, his hand was in front of my face, finger glistening with my arousal.

  “You’re soaking wet, Avery.”

  My molars locked as I glared at his finger. I jerked in his hold, but he didn’t let go. “Get off.”

  “Lick them clean.”

  “Get fucked.”

  His hand covered my mouth, and I growled a scream, the sound muffled.

  “Do you taste yourself?” His breath teased my ear as he turned my body, bending me over the lip of the counter. “You’re a little liar.”

  He removed his hand from my mouth, and I panted. He shoved my pants down, still holding my arms tight at my back. “Look at you. You’re drenched.”

  “I could have you arrested.”

  “Or you could stop denying that you like having the choice taken from you and let me fuck you in a way I know you’ll enjoy.” His fingernails scraped over my ass, and I sucked in a breath. “Little Avery, so tough and in charge.”

  I jerked my body, and he chuckled. The heat of his cock rested on my bare skin. “Noah…”

  “Tell me to go home, Avery.”

  Go home. My lips wouldn’t open. My mind playing a game of hide and seek where one second I was It, and the next second, I was the prey. I couldn’t decide which role I wanted.

  He loosened his grip and gathered my wrists in his hand. “Don’t move. I have to put on a condom.”

  Well, he was an idiot. The second he took his hands off me. I bolted and yanked up my pants, running full speed into my bedroom.

  “Avery!”

  27

  Noah

  I caught up to her in only a few long strides. She swung the bedroom door shut, and I caught it before it slammed. My heart raced as I backed her toward the side of the bed. Stroking my dick, now suited in a condom, I stalked her. She claimed she preferred sex to be honest, and I intended to get the truth out of her if it killed me.

  “I’m not having sex with you, Noah!”

  “Yes, you are.” The challenge only got me harder.

  “Um, no. I’m not.”

  “Get on the fucking bed, Avery.”

  She shook her head.

  I crowded closer, and just as her knees bumped the mattress, I gave her one more chance to obey. “On your back.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I’d rather fuck you.”

  “I bet you would.”

  She could be so fucking hot when she turned feisty. I shoved her shoulder, and her back hit the mattress. There was no time for her to object as I blanketed her with my body, wrenching her pants down and tearing the thin material of her panties. Fucking gorgeous. And I absolutely loved the fight she put up.

  “Tell me no, Avery. Tell me to stop.”

  “Noah!”

  The word stop or no didn’t come out.

  “You’re heavy as hell!” She shoved my chest and grunted, the sound exasperated and adorably feminine.

  I wrenched her legs open, and she stilled the moment my dick pressed against her opening. We panted but didn’t move.

  Not wanting to push her too far, I gave her another chance. “Tell me to go home, Avery. Say no. Any one of those words you love to throw at me will work. You just have to pick one.”

  Her eyes purposefully turned away. “I hate you.”

  I knew it. She wasn’t like other women. She loved it rough and she needed it a bit out of hand to get off. She was a goddamn treasure and I wanted to bury myself so deep inside of her I was losing my mind.

  “I’m not judging you,” I said, hoping we could cut all the bullshit.

  Keeping her gaze turned away, she pursed her lips. “Men always judge.”

  Maybe they did. And maybe I was. But I liked everything I suspected she hid. “Just be yourself with me.”

  Her brow pinched as if she didn’t know who I wanted to see.

  I needed her attention, so I turned her face back to mine and kissed her full lips with more need than passion. “Give me the real you.”

  She hesitated a split second then shoved her tongue into my mouth, and I moaned at the delicious force. I loved her greedy, hungry side. Fuck the formalities. Fuck everything else.

  I didn’t let it build or take any time to make us more comfortable. Every encounter with Avery was a game of King of the Mountain. We both loved the race to the top.

  I fucked her hard and fast, my body overpowering hers, pressing her into the bedding as I trapped her wrists. She fought the restraint, yanking her arms free of my grip, but I eventually caught and subdued her struggles—sort of.

  There were those forgotten moments, little pockets of time when her body turned nimble and she submitted to my desires. Her gaze softened and her mouth slackened, and everything in her expression screamed how much she liked being taken. But then she’d fight me again, as if some hard headed part of her awakened on fire and needed to take it all back.

  Sex had always been good, but with Avery, sex was fun. We wrestled and laughed and gave as good as we got. Her natural setting was somewhere between pissed off and telling me to go fuck myself, but jumbled in all that beauty was a soft woman who just wanted to be held. The victory was feeling her relax in my arms. But, God, was it work.

  “Stop fighting it.” My balls smacked her bare ass as I drilled into her tight little cunt, her arms now restricted by my grip.

  Her body tightened, wrapping my cock in delicious wet, heat. She was going to come but, as always, fought letti
ng go.

  I laughed at her determination. She didn’t want to give me the satisfaction. We’d see about that.

  I switched angles and pumped deep, using quick thrusts to hit all the right places. My mind fragmented as her pussy clenched my dick. Her back bowed, pressing against me, cunt throbbing, as she bared her teeth in protest and screamed.

  Fuck, it was incredible. I refused to let her deny what was happening. I groaned. “I feel you coming all over my dick.”

  “Fuck you.” Her words hissed through clenched teeth. “This is the last time we do this.”

  My hand moved to her throat, holding tightly beneath her jaw. “More lies.”

  I’d never been into choking—or so I thought. I’d never use bruising force with a woman, but with Avery, there was something so fucking hot about her resilience. I never doubted her ability to fuck me up if I went too far. Nor did I ever want to actually hurt her. She was … special.

  I wrapped the delicate column of her neck in my fingers, seeing the contrast of our skin and watching her anger subdue to calm when I held her like this. There was no pressure, but she knew I had total control.

  But she still challenged me. “Not a lie,” she gritted, chin tipped upward above the cradle of my fingers.

  Slowing my strokes and holding her stare, I ground my cock against her swollen folds, and her lashes lowered. She was softening.

  “How about we make a deal?” I never wanted to give her up. She was a drug, my greatest addiction.

  “I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

  Her phenomenal wit made me want her all the more. Such a smart, sexy mouth. Releasing her throat, I kissed her, biting her lower lip hard enough that she stopped fidgeting for a moment.

  “Noah!” she snapped, possibly pissed because she was enjoying it.

  “Avery,” I mimicked, smiling.

  She huffed. “What are the conditions of the deal?”

  She was as curious as a fucking cat.

  I met her stare and grinned. “Every time you let me fuck you the way I want, I’ll give you one hour to play Little Miss Control Freak with me.”

  I was curious to see what she’d actually do with all this authority she claimed to need. Part of me still believed it was all an act, sort of like a cute Chihuahua that thinks of itself as a Great Dane. I could survive an hour of that.

  She stilled, her expression instantly sobering. “Are you serious?”

  I ground into her. “Does it feel like I’m serious? Whatever it will take to keep you from hiding from me, I’m down. We can take turns.”

  “But you get to fuck me however you want in exchange?”

  “That’s right.” Just like I was doing now and like I’d done last night.

  It took one second of being inside Avery Johansson to realize she would easily rank as the best sex I’d ever had. With her, there was no shame, no limits, and no modesty. Just unrefined, animal instinct.

  I’d never experienced such raw eroticism before. I never felt so free to experiment with my own sexuality, and I planned on taking full advantage of our deal—should she agree.

  “What about hard limits?”

  “We’ll figure them out as we go.” I didn’t want to be the cliché, but we needed a safe word if we were going to do this. Every forum I read insisted on starting there. “What’s a word you hate?”

  “What?”

  “Something you never talk about or say.”

  Her expression shifted like a mask falling into place. “Blackwater.”

  I definitely needed to know about the home she left. And a better man would take the opening now, but I wanted to close the deal first. The story about Blackwater would come in time.

  “Okay. You say Blackwater, and we immediately stop whatever we’re doing. Same goes for me. Deal?”

  She looked suspicious, as if she expected a monster to jump out of the closet at any second. “Deal,” she repeated slowly.

  Her agreement came so easily I felt slightly played. Yet she did the whole skepticism thing so well. Who exactly was the player here? Maybe there wasn’t one. No, there was always a strategizer in every deal.

  Sleeping with someone as cool and open-minded as Avery was wild. Maybe she wasn’t bluffing, and this was just cute to her.

  Fuck. Maybe she was used to men striking deals with her.

  How was it, the more I got to know her the more she proved a mystery? I laughed to myself. I’m going to figure you out, Ms. Johansson...

  “Something amusing?” And that snark…

  She definitely got hot from rough play, but I was starting to get off on her bitchiness. “Just relishing our negotiations.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Where would the world be if men didn’t take time to stroke themselves after a job well done?”

  I stilled, taking her jab as a challenge. “You’ll be the one stroking me now.”

  “Tit for tat. You better stretch before I get my turn.”

  Oh, it was like that was it? I needed to crank it up. I could tell she expected little from me and that just wouldn’t do.

  I wanted to be the best she’d ever had. I didn’t know my limits yet, because right now, I was solely focused on her. She was the goal. I wanted to live in every crevice of her and leave her wearing my scent like a tattoo. I wanted to be all she thought of, even long after we part ways. I wanted to shock her.

  I pulled out and she frowned.

  “What are you doing?”

  Time to push her. “On your stomach. I want to play with your ass.”

  “What?”

  Grabbing her ankle and wrist, I quickly flipped her to her stomach and pried her cheeks apart.

  “Wait!” She squirmed out from under me. “We need lube or something!”

  I dragged her across the bed. “That’s what spit’s for.”

  Her face hardened as she glared over her shoulder. “You fucking spit on my body and I’ll rip your eyes out of the sockets. I have some in the drawer next to my bed.”

  Most women kept magazines in their nightstands, but okay. Convenient.

  I reached for the drawer and pulled it open. “Holy fuck.”

  “Just get the lube and get out of there.”

  She had a fucking arsenal. “This is just for you? What the hell are you doing with these?” I lifted the box of clothespins.

  She chuckled. “You’ll find out when it’s my turn.”

  I glanced down at my body. “You’re not pinning my dick or my balls.”

  “Oh, are you scared?”

  Slamming the drawer, I made a mental note to do something about her patronizing tone. She could be such a sarcastic smartass sometimes. Speaking of her ass…“Spanking. Yes or no?”

  “I’ll have to change positions for you to lie across my lap—”

  More sarcasm. My hand came down with a crack.

  “Fuck!” She scrambled to her knees, but the handprint was already forming. “You asshole!”

  “That’s where I’m headed.” I shoved her shoulder to the bed and climbed over her thighs, drizzling lube down her lower back.

  Pulling her cheeks apart, I sucked in a breath. Such a tight little rosebud. Every inch of her was perfect.

  The mood suddenly shifted and I felt out of place, like I didn’t belong there, like I didn’t have the right to touch her. What was I doing? Was this about proving something to her or proving something to myself?

  I blinked at my surroundings. There couldn’t be a more inconvenient time for introspection, but all I could think of was Margaux bitching about how terrible anal was when we tried.

  “What are you doing?”

  So not to appear distracted, I massaged the oil over her smooth skin, teasing a generous amount into the tight pucker of muscle. Disappointing Avery seemed much worse than disappointing anyone else. But why?

  Her arms folded under her head and she shut her eyes as I used the oil the massage her thighs. I needed a moment to catch my breath and think. She remained rather subdued thr
ough all of it.

  Maybe I was proving something to myself. As much as I enjoyed Avery’s body, I didn’t want to use her as a pawn in my own personal therapy session. I wanted her to enjoy this.

  Teasing my thumb over the oiled crease, I asked, “Do you like anal sex?”

  “When it’s done right. I doubt you know how.”

  Maybe I didn’t. Fuck. I was having some sort of crisis of doubt and my dick was suffering the brunt. I casually stroked myself. “Has anyone ever done it wrong with you?”

  She lifted her head and glanced over her shoulder. “You’re big. That could go either way. The trick is making it feel good not painful.”

  But she liked rough play. “So slow?”

  “Not too slow. That’s not great either. As long as there’s enough oil, and you don’t rip into me, it will be fine.”

  “What if—”

  “For the fuck sake, just do it already. God, you can be such a pain in the ass.”

  I was trying to be the exact opposite, but whatever. “Okay. Stop yelling at me. Just remember our safe word if you want me to stop.”

  Fuck, I really wanted her to like it. I wanted to like it. Maybe then I could put the last bad experience behind me.

  I pressed a kiss to her ass cheek. There was something priceless about her adventurous nature and her ball breaking wit. “I can’t believe you’re letting me do this. You’re so confident and sexually self-assured. And you can be so sweet.”

  “I can’t believe you’re still talking.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Until something bitchy comes out of your mouth.”

  My finger pressed against her opening, and she grunted, relaxing into it. I held her down as I probed deeper, exploring her limits. She remained quiet, but her breathing turned labored.

  I returned to the drawer and dug around. “I know you got a plug in here somewhere, you kinky little thing.”

  “In the next drawer down.”

  I stretched, keeping my leg over the back of hers to ensure she didn’t try to escape. She was perfectly still.

  “Hol—lee—fuck.” I laughed at the sheer volume of toys. “I’m not sure which one to use.”