Best Erotic Romance 2014

by Kristina Wright

  Tonight he looked like a combination of his old self and new, matching the jeans with a button-up shirt and jacket over the top.

  “You smell good,” I said.

  “I was on a date.”

  “Get the fuck out.”

  His look was poison. “My entire world doesn’t revolve around pulling you out of your shit.”

  “So you just took off on her? Classy.”

  His mouth hardened, and he reached forward to turn on the radio.

  Teal rarely took a night off, so I had taken advantage of his absence to get into some trouble. No one to stop me from doing those shots, no one to stop me from stripping down to my bra and panties for a swim, no one to stop me from being the bad girl.

  The winking lights coming from the homes in the hills soon gave way to the incessant neon of the city. Thank god. My feet were like ice. I didn’t dare ask Teal to turn the heat up. I sat in shivering silence until we reached our exit and he just drove on past.

  “Shit,” I said, sitting up. “You’re not taking me to Dad’s, are you? I don’t think he’d be too happy if we knock on his door at three o’clock in the morning.”

  He shook his head. “I’m taking you to my place.”

  “Are you kidding me? Why?”

  “Because it’s my day off and I want my own fucking bed, that’s why. You can be uncomfortable on my sofa for a change.”

  Wow.

  I’d never heard him so pissed off before. If it was anyone else I would have flicked the diva switch and thrown a fit, but I knew from experience that it would never work on Teal. Nothing worked on Teal. I couldn’t con him the way I had conned his predecessors.

  “How many shots did you have tonight?”

  I’ll admit it: his tone was a little scary. “I don’t know. Lots.”

  “So you had lots of tequila and decided it would be a smart move to jump in the ocean?”

  “I guess.”

  “For fuck sake, Charlotte, at what point do you fucking grow up?”

  I didn’t want to cry in front of him, but I couldn’t help it. My eyes burned with tears. I felt smaller and smaller, but I guess that was the point. His animosity was alive inside the car.

  Sniffling, I turned to him. “I’m not as bad as I used to be, you know.”

  “Only because I’m around just about every waking hour.”

  Which was mostly true. I couldn’t take too much credit for having kept my nose clean, especially not after proving I would get into shit the second I was out of Teal’s clutches.

  I stared down at my cold toes and shook my head. “I’m sorry I ruined your night.”

  It seemed to me as though he was working on his next words. He did this thing when he took a time out, pressing his lips together and twisting his mouth at the corners. It ended when he swiped his hand over his face and sighed. It was how he got rid of his anger and kept in control.

  He didn’t do it this time. He was going to remain pissed off.

  When we rolled up to a stoplight, he met my gaze and held it. I couldn’t tell whether it was the shadows or exhaustion, but I could see the years spent at my beck and call etched on his face.

  Was it time, or had I done that to him?

  The tension ended when the car behind us laid on the horn. Teal faced forward and shifted gears. The car rocketed forward. Neither of us said anything more for the rest of the ride.

  I need to give up drinking, I thought, as we arrived at his condo and the underground parking swallowed us up. I didn’t like how funny the booze had made me feel tonight.

  His car rumbled as he swung into a spot marked with the number 934. I didn’t make a move to get out after Teal did. I sat there until I realized he wasn’t coming to open my door as usual. Leaving the blanket behind, I hopped out and rushed after him, bare feet slapping the concrete. The car chirped as he armed it.

  I caught up with him at the elevator.

  “You don’t seem like a condo kind of guy, Teal,” I said as we waited. “You seem like the survivalist type who has a camper down by the beach.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said, and I could have sworn he smiled a little.

  It was impossible. Teal didn’t smile. He scowled. He pinned your ass to the wall with that menacing stare.

  My stomach lurched as the elevator shot up, but I’d gotten rid of most of the contents before hitting the beach. It was why I was only buzzed when Teal found me. Puking in his apartment would probably get me killed.

  Now this is Teal.

  He had a corner unit, huge and clean and no frills, just like Teal. We went through a spotless kitchen to a living room with modular black furniture and an enormous television on the wall.

  “What about a second bedroom?” I asked, turning around. “You have two, don’t you?”

  “Just one. The second room is an office.” He pointed to the sofa. “That’s yours.”

  “Shit, you’re serious.”

  “You’ll live. You’ve woken up in strange places before. You can deal with a sofa for one night.”

  I glared at him. “Why are you always such a bastard to me?”

  “Because you’re asking for it most of the time,” he said, and disappeared down the hall.

  By the time he’d returned with blankets, I was so worked up with annoyance I blocked his path. “Maybe you’re just an asshole.”

  “I get paid a lot of money to be an asshole. It’s what’s kept you out of rehab this long.”

  I swallowed my scream and closed the gap between us. I couldn’t meet his gaze in heels. Barefoot—god only knows what had happened to my shoes—I felt minuscule before him.

  “Don’t even try to take credit for that, you fucking dick. I’m not completely incapable of making good decisions.”

  “You make so many bad ones it’s hard to tell.” He tossed the bedding onto the sofa and stood, hands on hips, scowling back at me. “Anything else you want to say to me?”

  “Not a thing,” I hissed at him and stepped back.

  I couldn’t help but smirk at him as I reached down and grasped the hem of my dress. It was over my head in an instant, and there I stood in his perfectly sterile living room wearing nothing but the starfish tattoo on my hip.

  Surprise, surprise, he didn’t react. His gaze never left my face, and through my anger I started to feel ashamed of myself as I thought about how I must look through his eyes: some overgrown teenager standing bare-assed naked, trying to intimidate a man almost twice her age and twice as mean.

  I was ready to cry uncle and turn my back on him when Teal stepped forward. One long stride and we were chest to chest. My stomach fluttered as my cheeks started to burn.

  “You know, as I was driving out to the beach to get you I said to myself that one of these days, I’m just going to give that brat what she has coming to her.”

  His voice was so sinfully low I shivered, and then I realized it wasn’t a chill running up my spine, but his fingers. My fingers and toes went numb with disbelief, but the rest of me heated up quickly.

  He ran his hands up my arms and left gooseflesh in his wake. Every part of me was so hot with anticipation, and my brain was mush. I couldn’t tell whether it was strictly Teal who was doing this to me, or if it was the taboo that was on the verge of being broken.

  This can’t be a real thing that’s happening. Not with Teal.

  He reached up beneath my hair and gripped me as he lowered his face. He didn’t kiss me. Instead, he rested his cheek against mine and murmured, “Turn around.”

  For the first time since we’d met, I did exactly what Teal said and when he said it.

  I turned, and he pushed me onto my knees on the edge of the sofa. He kept pushing, until my forehead rested against the edge of the seat. He didn’t say anything as he pressed his palm against the small of my back.

  I had it in my head in an instant: Teal naked and sweating behind me, his large hands clamping down on my hips and his fingers digging in as he po
unded into me. The flash was so red hot I moaned and opened up for him.

  I moved the way he wanted me to, curving my spine and sticking my ass out.

  Teal had other ideas. I heard his movement and bit my bottom lip as I waited for the crinkle of a condom wrapper. Instead, I got cold metal against my lower back, and then the slide of cool leather.

  “All the times I hear people say you need rehab or that you’re just plain mental, I couldn’t get it out of my head that it wasn’t the booze at all. Maybe you were looking for something, but couldn’t figure out what. No, don’t turn around. Stay right where you are.”

  I closed my eyes. “Please tell me you’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do.”

  “Would you try and stop me if I was?”

  No, I wouldn’t. I was enjoying this too much. I wanted whatever Teal was ready to give me.

  He chuckled. “I didn’t think so. Your hands, behind your back.”

  “Is this something you normally do?” I asked, as he looped the belt around my wrists.

  “I’m usually on the receiving end.”

  “Oh.”

  It was all I could say. I couldn’t imagine Teal in my position, feeling what I felt. I was at his mercy, an awareness that was all around me and in my blood.

  “I think you need a bit more of a personal touch.” He bound me tight and gave me a jerk. “It’s about time you found out which one of us is really in charge, don’t you think?”

  Crack!

  First came the sting, and beneath the palm that rested upon me heat spread outward. Slap. Smack. Love tap. None of those words came close to describing what happened when his hand connected with my ass.

  “How many shots did you say you had tonight?”

  It took me a minute to answer. My whole body reeled, not from the slap but from the sheer mind-fuck of being spanked by Teal.

  “Uh, I can’t remember,” I replied, my voice shaking.

  “Think about it.”

  “F-four or five. Probably five.”

  He ran his hand over my ass, his touch so gentle I quaked. “What else?”

  “Two bottles of those vodka coolers. After that, just water or Coke.”

  “Five shots, two vodka coolers. You called it. Seven.”

  He brought his hand down again. Before I could catch my breath, he gave me another one.

  Teal paused to regain his grip on me, and I could feel his gaze bearing down on me. The way he had me posed left nothing hidden. There was no keeping from him what this was doing to me, or how ready I was for even more. I had never been wetter.

  I tugged at my restraints and lifted my ass, a silent invitation.

  Teal chuckled and ran his hand along my back. “I’m not going to make it that easy. This is supposed to be, what do they call it? Corrective measures?”

  It was my turn to laugh. I rolled my forehead against the sofa edge as jubilation just rolled out of me. “If you don’t see a woman ready to be fucked, you must be blind. Your measures aren’t working.”

  “Trust me, they’re working.”

  Four.

  Each time he spanked me, the belt tightened.

  Five.

  The restraints made my hands cold while every other part of me burned up.

  Six.

  The AC blowing overhead did nothing to cool the sweat across the nape of my neck and back. With my tongue pressed to the roof of my mouth, I breathed hard through my nostrils and waited for the final blow.

  Teal pulled on the belt and dragged me upright against his chest. His cock poked through his pants and against my ass as he rubbed his stubbly chin across my shoulder. “I’m going to save the last one for when you really need it.”

  He dropped his other hand between us and loosened the belt. I made to turn. I wanted to touch him, to feel hot skin beneath my palms, but he looped his arms around my waist and kept me where I was. His breath beat against my neck in shallow puffs.

  “Listen to me, and listen close,” he said. “Every time you run off and do some scary shit, I wonder what it would feel like if I wasn’t around to get you out of it. It’s been keeping me up nights lately, and I don’t think I can do it for much longer.”

  The air sucked out of my lungs, and I couldn’t draw a breath to replace it. I always figured Teal would be around to catch me whenever I needed him. I didn’t think that any of my bullshit took a toll on him.

  He pulled me off of the sofa and turned me around. I struggled to work my useless tongue. The disgust that crept up my esophagus was more than guilt, it was loss.

  “I don’t want you to quit. I don’t want you to leave me. I need you. You know I do. Teal—James, I’ll do anything. I’ll be anything you want if you stay.”

  Desperate for his mouth on mine, I slipped my hands to his shoulders.

  Cupping my face in his hands, he rested his forehead against mine. “I want you to be you, only…safe.”

  I held my breath and crashed into chaos as he kissed me.

  He did nothing halfway. Neither did I. As he cupped my ass and lifted me off the ground, I dug my nails into his shoulders. I sucked his tongue into my mouth, weightless and dizzy as he carried me through darkness and back into light.

  Even when he had set me down on his bed I refused to let go. My hunger for him ruled me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and grasped two fistfuls of hair to keep him there.

  He pushed me down with his body, keeping me his willing prisoner as his tongue twisted around mine. Every second that passed my heart drummed against my chest, and I became more feral.

  The moment he broke the kiss, I surged up and bit down on his shoulder. Teal cursed and sucked in a deep breath. His growl vibrated against me as I raked my nails down his back.

  “That’s going to leave a mark,” he said as he pushed up off the bed.

  “I have your handprint on my ass. Call it even.”

  I lay back and tried to catch my breath as I watched him undressing for me. It wasn’t as though I had never seen Teal stripped down before, and vice versa. He’d been in more hotel rooms with me, stepping aside as I ran, naked, searching for something I’d lost. Teal had been on multiple vacations with me in nothing but a wet swimsuit that left nothing to the imagination when it came to that defined body.

  I’d noticed his body, just as I was sure he had noticed mine, but this was different. Watching him unveil inch after inch, I was electric with wanting to run my hands all over him.

  The most uncanny thing I’d ever seen was Teal, the silent and stern man who had been by my side all of my adult life, rolling a condom over his hard dick. It gave me a moment’s pause, worry tickling at the back of my throat as to whether this was a mistake. I knew I’d never be able to fix it once it was done, and I had been sincere when I told him I didn’t want him to leave me.

  Teal showed no such hesitation. He knelt on the mattress between my legs and dragged me toward him.

  “Don’t look like that,” he said and watched my face as he positioned the fat tip at the mouth of my pussy. “Just…relax.”

  His purring tone did it. I melted into the bedding with a sigh.

  His gaze remained intense and studying while he filled me up. Buried deep, he lowered himself on top of me, until our faces were barely an inch apart. Flinty eyes gazed into mine.

  “I’ve been wondering lately what you’re really like when you come,” he muttered as he slowly withdrew. “I’ve been in the next room enough times to know you’re quiet. Or maybe you just haven’t gotten off the way you should.”

  I wrapped my legs around his waist and locked my feet just over his ass. God, if anyone could make me come, it was going to be Teal. His cock twitched as he went deep again. Just having him there, hard and throbbing, was enough to get me halfway there.

  “I’ve spent enough times thinking about all the ways I can make that happen. So many little fantasies cropping up in my head over the years.” I gasped as he went over my G-spot, sending a ticklish ripple along my
pussy and through my abdomen. Teal let out that low, rumbling laugh. “I’d start by fingering you through your panties in the back of the car during one of your iced-coffee runs.”

  The pace of his thrusts picked up. He rocked against me, his ass bobbing beneath my heels as he gave me everything and took it away again.

  “Maybe bury my face between your thighs while you’re waiting to get your makeup done before some appearance,” he went on, driving me out of my skull. “Or maybe give the whole world a shock while fucking you from behind on the balcony of some seaside villa. Won’t that make a hell of a headline?”

  “Five years and you barely say a word, and now this.” I pushed down and shuddered as his cock rubbed over the sweet spot again. “Stop talking and fuck me.”

  He flashed a smile and then rose up over me, glorious and masculine.

  With every stroke, the lines between his brows grew a little deeper and his breathing picked up, interspersed with low guttural sounds. His gaze never left my face as he pumped me, and I couldn’t look away.

  Above me, he was a perfect mixture of the powerful creature I barely knew and this new incarnation intent on the basest needs of his own body.

  I wondered how I must appear to him, completely unraveled and moaning and begging for more as he fucked me. Was my transformation as stark as his?

  The way he moved was perfection, his hips tilted just right so that every thrust brought a delightful bump against my clit. I tipped my head back with a gasp as the first prelude to an orgasm rippled throughout my pussy.

  He pounded me harder. “Just like that. I always knew you’d just let go if I got you in bed.”

  I would have told him to shut up again, but as he went on urging me to come I couldn’t imagine anything could get me wetter. I reached around and cupped his ass. Muscle went taut beneath my palms each time he pushed deep.

  “Oh fuck,” I managed to push over my tongue as heat flooded me.

  I surged up, only to be brought down by Teal’s power as he slammed into me. His gaze finally left me as he tipped his head back, his moan cut off with the last thrust that drove me to the center of the bed.

  It was as though I had been locked in time, suspended midair by the psychotic pleasure that seemed to have no end. I held on, keeping him deep inside and reveling in the glorious throb that lingered where his dick twitched between my slippery walls.