by Lindsey Hart
“Much better than anything I had at the event tonight,” he says huskily. “You’re even better than pineapple. You might just be the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.”
Then, with that crazy, heady proclamation which I can hardly believe, Aiden Builder falls to his knees.
Right. In. Front. Of. Me.
CHAPTER 14
Aiden
Perfection. I think I’ve found it. Right here, right now, on my knees. It’s crazy how close I am to a state of nirvana, and I still have my clothes on. Or most of them, at least.
I’m moving too fast. We haven’t even shared a first kiss. A first date. The whole thing was supposed to be fake, then it wasn’t supposed to be anything at all, and now we’re here. I know this could blow up in my face, big time, but I can’t stop.
“Better than pineapple,” Rin says above me, disbelief coloring her tone. “That’s pretty high praise.”
“Not high enough.” There is something wrong with my voice. Just like there’s something wrong with Rin’s. It’s like we gave each other laryngitis with all that kissing.
I grip Rin’s hips and drag her to the edge of the counter. Her legs don’t clamp shut like a vice. She doesn’t move. She doesn’t breathe. I guess that’s my cue to hurry up and get down to business before she changes her mind. I can tell she doesn’t do this. Doesn’t do things like this. So fast. Half clothed. On her island. She’s shy. The scarlet painting her face when I touched her was enough to tell me that. Her hazy eyes, her parted lips, and the way her thighs trembled—it was enough to tell me she enjoyed it.
Then, there was the fact that she almost ripped off my clothes.
For the first time in my life, I’m not thinking about me when I lean forward. I’m not thinking about how long this is going to take or if she might reciprocate or where I have to be, or if I would rather be doing something else. I’m not planning the fastest exit route for when I’m done or trying to recall if I gave out enough details for her to find my number later and blow up my phone. I’m not trying to actively think about all the ways I can get out of not seeing her again.
All I’m thinking about is her.
Rin.
Her heady scent and the sweet floral honey and darker musk that clings to her skin. I’m thinking about tasting her like a parched man who walked through the desert for years and finally found an oasis. I’m thinking about all the ways I can convince her that this should be real. Because I’ve never felt anything like this. I’ve never wanted to protect and please someone the way I do her. For the first time, I also realize what a selfish bastard I’ve been in the past.
My fingers curl into Rin’s thigh as I spread her legs. She whispers my name and digs her fingers into my hair, tugging so hard that my scalp tingles. When I pause, she tugs again, dragging my face to her.
She’s gorgeous. Flawless, like I knew she would be. Layers of creamy skin and black lace.
I kiss the creamy swell of her thigh, trailing my lips upward, skimming my teeth along her leg until she’s writhing below me. I don’t stop. Don’t hesitate. Mostly because if I don’t taste her, I think I’m going to explode right on the spot. Okay, maybe that’s if I do taste her because one brush of my tongue over her panty-clad core is enough to make my balls feel as though they’ve grown to the size of grapefruits. The lush, swollen, overripe, about to burst kind of grapefruits. My dick is so hard I’m surprised it hasn’t torn a hole right through my pants and announced its not-so-honorable intentions.
I trail my tongue along her seam, over the delicate black lace.
God, she’s sweet. Sweet and soaking wet. Her juices flood my tongue while her hips arch into my face. She writhes and arches against me and uses my hair like I’m a wild bronco, and she’s trying to hang on for dear life to keep from getting bucked off. I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. I can handle the scalp fire. It’s nothing compared to the fire everywhere else.
I skim my tongue over her clit, barely touching it, but Rin bucks violently. She moans above me, and a flood of wetness coats my chin.
She’s so responsive. Gorgeous. She tastes like heaven. Yeah, she’s way better than pineapple. I’m kind of addicted to the fruit, and that scares the hell out of me. This can’t be a one-off with Rin. She’ll ruin pineapple for me forever if it is. I’ll always be craving the taste of her whenever I have pineapple.
Rin writhes above me, and I stop thinking. Stop worrying. I just do. I graze my teeth over her sensitive skin, still above her panties, but slip my finger below the lace. She writhes against me when I brush my knuckle over her opening. She’s so warm. I know she’ll be tight even before I slip my finger in, but sweet pineapples, I had no idea how tight.
She writhes and says something perilously close to my name. I’m about two seconds away from ending this before it even starts, so I go for the kill. I create a punishing rhythm with my hand while I attack her clit with my tongue. It only takes a few seconds before she’s rocking and undulating and doing all sorts of hard grinding on my face. My chin. My lips. My hand. She could be tearing out chunks of hair for all I care. I’d let her. What she’s doing—searching for her pleasure, taking it from me—is so damn hot I can’t think about anything else.
When she shatters, I try and guide her through it. I slow the pace a little, but she yells—in the middle of all the unintelligible stuff—something garbled that I take to mean I shouldn’t stop. So, I don’t. I keep going, and she goes, amazingly enough, straight into another hard climax.
I let her ride the waves out herself, to set the pace. I let her come down, and when all the panting and rocking and heavy breathing has subsided, I slowly stand.
I’m ready for her to see reason. I’m ready for her to tell me to leave. To tell me we shouldn’t have even done that. I’m ready to go back to my granny suite across the hall, get out my phone, and spend the rest of the night looking up exotic fruits that might have a one-up on pineapple.
The only problem with that plan is Rin doesn’t tell me to leave. Instead, she looks at me in wonderment. She blinks, her pupils dilated, those gold flecks in her eyes so sparkly and intense, she undoes me with a single look.
Then she reaches forward and really undoes me.
Literally.
She attacks the zipper of my pants and rips open the button. I barely have time to get a word of warning out before she rips everything down. Pants. Boxers. The whole lot.
My cock springs out, happy to finally be free. Ready to roll. She might as well have just yelled ACTION at the top of her lungs because… yeah. The bastard is ready to give his starring performance.
Rin’s neck cranks up so hard that I hear the crunch of her bones realigning. Her eyes are big, wide, enlarged, confused, astonished. Slowly, her little pink tongue sweeps out to wet her lips. My cock throbs in response.
“You’re really—uh—your—um—penis—it’s… it’s really—quite a large size…” Rin chokes out. I nearly choke on what little saliva is left in my mouth too. “You could—seriously… damage me with that.”
“Damage you? I don’t think that’s possible.”
“I’m pretty sure it is.” Rin’s face has gone completely white except for the twin spots of scarlet coloring her cheeks. “You’ll ruin me for life.”
“It’s a fair trade.” She blanches, and I hurry to add, “Since you ruined pineapple for me.” She blinks at me in confusion. “Sorry,” I breathe. “I was trying to make a joke. I’ll be careful. Take it slow. I would never hurt you. Or, we don’t have to do this. If you’ve changed your mind, that’s alright.”
“No!” She exclaims so quickly and loudly that it’s comical. Her lips turn up into a smile. “Please, don’t go. If you go now, I’ll…”
“Combust?”
“Worse. If you think insulation and industrial toxins might be the worst this place has to offer, you’re in for a terrible surprise.”
“Well. I can’t have you doing something like melting into a pile of unsatisfied goo or ex
ploding with longing, pining after me.”
She rolls her eyes. “That’s taking it a little far.”
“If you’re sure, I have a condom in my back pocket.”
Rin’s lips thin out, and I curse myself for being completely tactless. God. Why do I have to be in such a freaking rush? Oh right. Because I’m standing here, staring at her lace panties, which just happens to be covering the world’s most beautiful pussy, which just happens to belong to the world’s most gorgeous woman. And she wants me. She was just grinding into my face, and the aftertaste of her climaxes is still heady on my tongue. So yeah, I’m pretty much standing at the brink of what a man can take. My cock has taken on a life of its own, and the bastard is angry. Tortured throbbing kind of angry. My balls feel like they’re more dangerous than toxic materials at the moment. They should come with a warning label—one of those highly combustible stickers.
“Were you planning this?” The way she asks, I can tell Rin isn’t accusing. She’s just asking.
“No. I honestly thought I was going to be sleeping alone tonight in my bed of pink lace. The baby powder scent is really growing on me.”
Rin’s lips turn up in a traitorous smile. “So, you just happen to keep a condom in your back pocket?”
“It’s actually in my wallet, which is in my back pocket. It’s been there for a while. Maybe it’s expired.”
She looks so panicked that it’s hard not to laugh. My pants were tugged down none too gently, but I manage to reach around behind me—knowing full well I look ridiculous—and get my wallet out. I produce the little packet.
“Nope. It’s still good. Two months to spare.”
She raises a brow. “Here, I thought you probably did this all the time.” When I grimace, she back peddles fast. “I mean, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that—you—you’re…”
“Okay, so I might have done this quite often back when I was young, dumb, and full of…well…something that wasn’t good sense. But it’s been a while. I guess I finally hit that age where my balls no longer ruled my life, and I could act like a proper human being again. My mother would be so proud. If I—that is—if I talked to her about things like that. Which I don’t. Never. Jesus. Gross. Sorry…”
Rin’s eyes shine with mirth, and she reaches out to take the condom from between my fingers. I’m standing here, admitting I am both a seasoned pro, and by that, I mean a seasoned asshole when it comes to this, and that I also haven’t been with anyone in almost a year. Oh, and then I threw mention of my mother in there for good measure. As if this isn’t the most humiliating moment of my life, I had to go and make it a thousand times worse.
Silently, Rin rips open the condom. “I think we should just both stop talking. I like it when you think with your balls. In this case. Because I—I haven’t ever done any thinking with anything other than my brain, and I have to admit, it’s kind of nice so far; surrendering control.”
That should be another red flag to me, but unfortunately, when Rin holds out that condom, my brain switches back, and I’m back to thinking with my dick. Which is practically fist-pumping the air with a big hell yes.
Rin slips on the condom after I step forward. Just the brush of her fingers on my dick makes me want to explode. I step forward, and with a groan, push her panties to the side. She freezes, but then her hands wrap around my neck. Her legs do the same, circling my waist, and she guides me forward by digging her heels into my ass the way she did before.
We both want this. We both want each other. I just hope she doesn’t have regrets after. I know I’m taking things too fast. That we both are. For once, I don’t want that. I want to take the time to take Rin on a date. I want to make her laugh. Get to know her. The real her. I’m shocked at those thoughts, and also the ability to have them at all. In the next second, almost like it wants to spite me, my dick takes over.
I hesitate right before I can’t turn back.
“Please,” Rin groans in my ear. “Please, I need this. I need to feel you. I’m going to do that combusting thing you were talking about if you don’t get inside of me right now.”
Sounds pretty clear to me. It’s the last thought I have because then, I slide home. Slowly. Gently. I let her get used to the size of me because no, I’m not small. And she’s tight. So effing tight that I nearly lose it before I even thrust once—which would be a new record, but I manage to hold back. Somehow. I pinch everything. My toes. My knees. My butt cheeks. My balls. Grind my teeth. Stop breathing.
I manage to seat myself inside of her, and we both take a raspy breath like we’ve been drowning and finally breached the glorious surface for air. I nearly laugh at the gasp she makes and the groan I make, both at the same time, but then she swivels her hips, and it’s game over.
I thrust, and she moves with me. Her hips are alive. Our pelvises slam together. Suddenly, we’re frantic. Both of us. Together. I can’t stop. Rin can’t stop. I don’t want to stop, and Rin doesn’t either. We’re panting, gasping, moaning, grasping, rocking, grinding. Our bodies continue to slam together. Our lips meet. Impatient. Clashing. Nipping. Biting. We break apart to gasp before I plunder her mouth again. Before she claims mine.
She grinds into me, and I rock back. Her fingers turn into claws at my shoulders, slipping in the fine sheen of sweat there. I feel like my balls are now bigger than basketballs. I know I can’t hold on much longer. I can’t, but just then, Rin’s lips tear away from mine, and she cries out her pleasure in hot breaths and lusty moans, right against my ear.
Her climax nearly tears my dick straight off. I didn’t think it was physically possible, but then, I guess, I didn’t think a lot of things were possible. Like the burn in my chest rivaling the one in my dick. I let Rin finish. I even manage to get a few more thrusts in and send her into another wild, screaming climax before I find my release.
I see stars when I come. I come. Hard. Harder. Harder than I knew was possible. So hard that my nuts shrivel from basketballs back down to raisins. Okay, maybe not that hard. But pretty damn hard.
We come down from our high together, throbbing, vibrating, sticky, aching.
“Holy freaking shit,” Rin mutters against my ear, her voice mingled with rough pants and puffs of moist breath.
Yup. Pineapple is most definitely ruined for me now. She’s sweeter. More exotic. Far more delicious. She’s more everything. Rin might not have just ruined pineapple for me. She might have ruined everything for me, including me. Mind. Fucking. Blown.
I’m in deep here, and no, that was not supposed to be a dirty pun. I’m in too deep. I have no idea how I’m going to dig myself out of this one. For the first time in my life, I realize what it’s like to hand over a piece of your body, your heart, and your soul. To reach a level of oneness that I always thought was so corny.
And when Rin starts to pull away and looks at me, I realize I’m in for a world of hurt. It’s ironic. The one time I don’t want to bail, it’s with a woman who is pulling away even before she detaches herself from my arms.
CHAPTER 15
Rin
Our skin is still sweaty and clingy—a fine sheen covering mine, and a not so fine sheen covering his—when I plant a hand on the muscular wall of Aiden’s chest and push back. I can’t believe we just did that. In my kitchen. On the counter. My blinds aren’t even closed. Never mind that I’m three stories up. If someone happened to look up and in, and then at an angle, because they saw a strange shadow, they might have caught a glimpse.
What was I thinking? Aiden. My place. Am I really so easy that I fall into bed—er—or the kitchen counter, in this case, after half a bottle of wine and a piece of chocolate cake smashed into my jerk of an ex’s face? Am I really so lonely that I have to be this pathetic?
“I—have to—we—god—I…” Clearly, I’m going to butcher whatever comes out of my mouth, so I whirl, pulling my torn dress down so that I’m decent again. I can’t look at Aiden. That is, until his hand comes down on my arm, gentle but firm. He turns me
and forces me to face him. I don’t want to look up, but I’m not a coward either, so I force my eyes to flick upwards. I blur them, though, because okay, maybe I am a coward after all.
“No. Don’t do that. Don’t pull away like that. Not after—”
“Not after what? What, Aiden? What was it? What was it for you because you said so yourself that feelings only complicate things.” I make my eyes focus, and I can see the confusion imprinted on his features. His lips thin out, and his eyes widen at my hostility. “I’m an adult. So are you. We’re both old enough to call this what it was. A lapse in judgment on my end. Probably yours too.”
“It wasn’t a lapse in judgment! A lapse in judgment is deciding that pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza after all and ordering some other abomination and forcing yourself to eat it anyway. You were not a lapse in judgment.”
“Then it was pity. You felt sorry for me. Poor Rin Allen, the girl who was never loved by anyone. The girl who has a mean ex who used her and dumped her. Poor Rin. What? Should I thank you now? It was a nice thought, seriously, it was—”
“A pity fuck? You have got to be kidding me.” Aiden snorted. His nostrils flared in anger as he reached down and pulled up his pants. He fastened them roughly.
God. That’s the thing. The thing about sex. In the movies, they make it look so romantic. There was never any of the ugly parts of it. The doubt. The hurt. The gross parts like the cleanup. I slam my eyes shut and turn. Ew. He’s still wearing the condom…inside his pants. That’s exactly what I mean. This kind of thing—it just makes a mess of everything. Physically and otherwise.