It wasn’t just his exceptional looks, though. She’d photographed gorgeous men without their shirts on, and not one had stirred anything inside her. With the man before her now, she wanted to lay her head on his chest, fall asleep to his heartbeats. His body offered pleasure and security in her foolishly smitten mind.
“Eyes up here while you talk, beautiful.” He motioned to his chiseled face. Like that would help.
“My sophomore year of college I had my first boyfriend. I met him at a fraternity party and for some reason he decided he liked me even though he could have his pick of girls since he was the quarterback of the football team.” Nick’s eyes widened at her disclosure, hinting that he thought a girl like her, from a small town with little in the way of worldliness, didn’t fit with a Division I quarterback.
He’d be right.
“He had a reputation and was with a different girl every week,” she said. “But once he laid eyes on me, he said I was it. I was flattered by the attention and fell hard and fast for him. He was sweet and funny and he loved that I had an interest in football and didn’t get bored when he talked about it.” She wrung her sweater in her hands.
Nick stayed perfectly still, his eyes locked on hers.
“Part of my appeal, I know, was I didn’t put out right away, but after a month I gave him my virginity. The sex was great. I loved it and I loved him. One night he asked if he could blindfold me. I said yes. I was game for whatever he wanted to do. I trusted him. Another night he asked if he could tie my wrists. Again, I said okay.
“Then one night he was upset with me for getting drunk while out with my friends for my roommate’s birthday. He and a few guys showed up at the bar we were at and he didn’t like how friendly a group of frat boys were being so he asked me to leave with him. His frustration was obvious and I didn’t want to make a scene so I did. When we got back to his place he took me straight to his bedroom. I was still feeling the effects of the alcohol and so I was pretty much putty in his hands.”
Cass dropped her gaze to the carpeted floor. This was where the shame came in. The not knowing that Michael could be so cruel, that she’d put her trust in him and he’d destroyed it.
“We got undressed and he asked me to lay on the bed on my stomach. Then he tied my hands to the bed. When he straddled my hips instead of kissing my back like he usually did, I didn’t think anything of it.”
Nick shifted from one leg to the other, drawing her attention back to him. He took a step closer.
“He opened the drawer on the nightstand and I thought he was grabbing a condom, but he grabbed a box of matches instead.”
Cass choked back the tears that still sometimes sprang when she remembered that night. Nick’s sharp inhalation didn’t help, but she managed to blink away the pain. She didn’t want to cry over this again. She simply needed to share the circumstance of her scar with him so it didn’t come up later. She’d gone through therapy. Called Rowan when she had the occasional breakdown. Had been with two men who treated her nicely.
She’d persevered. She was good.
“I didn’t know my boyfriend had a thing for fire. And a thing for inflicting pain.”
“Fuck.” Nick dropped to his knees and clasped her hands in his. In his eyes she saw a blaze of care—and rage.
“He told me I needed to be punished for the way I behaved. That his girlfriend didn’t flirt with other guys. I hadn’t flirted with anyone, but he wouldn’t listen. He lit a match and put the flame on my lower back. I screamed for him to stop but he wouldn’t. I tried to buck him off me, but I was still drunk and he weighed way more than I did.”
Nick’s hands squeezed hers. Tension rolled through the cords of his arm muscles like waves under his skin. His chest rose and fell and he let out a pained sigh.
“He let the match burn my skin until he had to blow it out or burn himself. Then he lit a second one. And a third. By that point I’d lost my fight and the pain was so unbearable I started to go into shock. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Michael told the doctor I’d gotten drunk, taken my clothes off to skinny dip and backed into a tiki torch at a party. The doctor believed him without question because when you’re the quarterback of a national championship team everyone apparently thinks you’re golden.”
“Do not tell me that asshole didn’t pay for what he did to you.”
“He thought we’d just go back to being boyfriend and girlfriend. He told me he loved me, but that sometimes—”
“I don’t want to hear it. I can’t fucking hear it.” Nick dropped his head.
Cassidy slipped her hand from his and lifted his chin. “I told him I didn’t want him anywhere near me ever again and I was going to tell the truth. But he said if I told anyone it was him, he would make my life hell, starting with making sure I got the reputation as a slut who liked to be tied up and fucked in the ass.”
“Goddammit,” Nick said.
“I couldn’t have handled that. I was nineteen and worried about what others thought. Trying to fit in. And I couldn’t win against him, not with football on his side. So I let it go. Well, let him go. It took me two years of therapy to process everything and stop blaming myself. Sometimes I still do, though.”
“I want to kill him.”
“Thank you.”
He cupped the back of her head with his left hand and brought her face to his chest. He held her there, like she’d imagined, and she closed her eyes. Several quiet minutes passed before she said, “I wanted to explain before you saw my scar.”
His heart pounded underneath her cheek as he reached his right arm around her side. With a gentle touch, he caressed her lower back, his fingers finding and tracing the scar tissue. She shivered at the care he took. A piece of her heart latched on to him.
“Thanks for trusting me with this,” he said quietly.
She lifted her head. For reasons she couldn’t afford to make sense of, she trusted Nick more than she trusted anyone else. “The idea of having sex with you has obviously muddled my brain.”
His slow smile put flutters in her stomach. “Good thing no thinking will be required when you have sex with me.”
“There’s a joke in there somewhere but I’m slow on the uptake at the moment.”
“You know what that calls for?”
She pursed her lips like a fish. “A one-on-one with Jimmy Fallon?”
“Damn, your mouth is sexy.” He stood, gave his hand to help her up from the bed. “Dessert.”
“And by dessert you mean you, right?”
He chuckled before palming her cheek and looking humorless said, “I’m glad you can joke so quickly after being so serious, but I need a little more time.”
Oh.
“Oh.”
Oh my. Nick truly cared about her.
Dropping his arm, he picked up her sweater from where it had fallen on the floor and handed it to her. “Get comfortable and I’ll order something up.”
Or maybe she repulsed him instead. He obviously wanted her body covered and for a few agonizing seconds she wondered if “time” meant he didn’t want to see her scar. He’d lost people to fire. He’d no doubt seen burn victims. She sat back down on the edge of the bed to try and put on a calm facade. Perhaps he’d changed his mind and dessert was his way of putting space between them. She couldn’t fault him for hating her wound if it brought him bad memories.
When he reached the doorway he looked over his shoulder, catching her in thought. “Hey,” he said.
She gave him a weak smile and waved him on, worried that if she spoke her voice would crack and he’d know something bothered her. She was better off if nothing more happened between them. She didn’t normally behave this way and how would she feel afterward? When Nick dropped her off at home tomorrow with a “see-ya” and nothing more.
Warm hands gripped her shoulders, igniting sparks of energy inside her. She hadn’t realized he’d moved back into the
room. Looking up, she found a man on a different mission from a minute ago. His expression held determination. Desire.
“I didn’t back off because of your scar.” He practically growled. “So kick that thought out of your head right now.”
“O-okay.”
He pushed her onto the mattress. She scooted back on her elbows as he put a knee on the bed and followed her, his rock-hard body looming over hers in the most sexy, heart-pounding way. “I wanted time to get my head on straight because I’m feeling protective and possessive and I want to fuck you until all you remember is me inside you, and you forget that piece of shit ever existed and ever touched you.”
Cass trembled with arousal.
“And I’m worried that if we do this right now, I might be too rough for you because I’m feeling anything but gentle and it would fucking kill me to hurt you. You deserve to be cherished, Sid, your body worshipped with tenderness.”
Her head reached the pillows. She stopped moving, relaxed her arms. He reached out to play with her hair, fanned out on the soft cotton. The unrushed gesture had her body completely yielding to him.
“We have all night for that,” she said in a sultry whisper she didn’t recognize. The red-hot desire thrumming through her wasn’t like anything she’d experienced before.
“I’m excellent at all night.” At his cocky grin she stifled a nervous giggle.
“So take me right now, Nick. I won’t break. I promise.” She raked her fingers over his shoulders and down the backs of his arms. “I need you inside me.”
“Done.” He unbuttoned her pants, slid them off her legs, taking her shoes, too, and left her in nothing but her lace bra and panties. His gaze raked over her, the appreciation in his deep blue eyes raising goose bumps on her skin.
He kissed the center of her stomach, her cleavage, her neck. “I’m going to take good care of you,” he said in her ear before he rolled her onto her stomach.
She hitched in a breath at the new position, conscious of the discolored, irregular fibrous skin at the base of her spine. Nick pressed his lips to her nape while he raised her arms above her head. “Your body is made to endure, Sid, but more than that, its purpose is to soar and, when I look at you, I see someone with strong, beautiful wings.”
Oh, my God. She silently repeated his words and tucked them into her heart and mind so she’d always have them—for later. Because right now all she could concentrate on was the drag of his tongue and press of his lips down the sensitive flesh of her spine. He got to her bra strap, and with one flick of his fingers had it unclasped. His hands splayed over her waist as he continued to lick and kiss his way lower.
Tingles of pleasure followed his mouth. Her vision flew out of focus. Liquid heat pooled between her thighs.
When he reached her scar, he didn’t stop or falter. He kissed it from corner to corner, seemingly unaffected by the raised, ugly skin. She turned her head to look down at him. He glanced up at her. In the sparkling blue depths staring back at her, she saw lust and affection, and every doubt she had disappeared.
Now that they’d taken care of that, a switch seemingly turned on in Nick because his hands and mouth traveled over her backside with urgency. He hooked his fingers in the sides of her panties and tugged them down and off. Then he kissed his way up her legs, ran his tongue over the insides of her thighs. She involuntarily lifted her hips, seeking his attention in her most intimate spot. He cupped her there, ran his thumb over her swollen flesh, and lavished her back with open-mouthed affection.
She buried her face in the pillow to keep from moaning like a wanton woman who hadn’t had sex in way too long.
Which she was.
“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t stifle your sounds. I want to hear all of your noises while I make you come.” Then he slid a finger inside her, pulling a loud breathless sigh from her parted lips.
He groaned and expertly worked her inside and out with his talented fingers. At the sounds of her wetness, her arousal intensified. She spread her legs wider. She’d never been more turned on.
Until he slipped down the bed, wrapped his arms around her thighs, and closed his mouth over her. She bucked, her hips lifting to give him better access. He licked from her slit to her engorged clitoris. The sensation was so potent she couldn’t have stopped her moans of pleasure if she’d tried. She’d never been tasted like this before. The position, combined with the wet heat of Nick’s lips and tongue, were too much. He sucked, made his own sexy sound of enjoyment, and that was all it took for her to shatter into the longest orgasm of her life.
“Now I want to feel you do that around my cock.” Nick rasped, flipping her over onto her back. He shucked his jeans and boxer briefs and pulled a condom out of the wallet in his discarded pants.
Cass wiggled out of her bra, her gaze stuck on Nick’s magnificent erection. And by magnificent, she meant magnum. Her insides went tight and hot in anticipation of feeling him fill her.
“Don’t worry. It’ll fit,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.
“I’m not worried,” she said, sitting up and gripping his smooth, hard length in her hand. “I’m excited.”
Nick jolted at her touch, his stomach muscles shifted. “Lay back, Sid.”
His rough, commanding tone reminded her of the shiver down her back when she’d heard his sexy voice behind her at the riverbank. Something in the way he spoke sent a ribbon of heat straight to her core. She didn’t hesitate to follow his order. Didn’t hesitate to run her hands over her breasts, down her stomach and across her thighs, slowly parting her legs in invitation.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” she said.
“Trust me,” he said, sheathing himself before crawling onto the bed so he once again had her underneath him. “I won’t. I just need a quick taste of this.” He dipped his head to take her nipple into his mouth.
Desire slammed into her. She arched her back, seeking more. Nick delivered with lashes from his tongue at the same time he hooked her right leg over his shoulder. She threaded her fingers through his dark hair, groaned in pleasure.
She felt sexy, desired, cherished in a way she’d only dreamed of. Enjoy the dream, because it isn’t going to last.
He lifted his head as if he’d heard her thought. She got lost in the twin pools of vibrant, energetic blue, and, for several charged seconds, they stared at each other. Their involvement had an expiration date, but in his eyes she saw she wasn’t the only one affected by this unexpected draw between them.
“You’re unbelievably sexy, Sid,” he said before he closed his mouth over her other breast.
As he sucked and pulled the taut peak between his teeth, the tip of his cock nudged her opening. Then, raining kisses between her breasts and up the column of her neck, he slid inside her. She lifted her hips to meet his slow thrust, wanting him deeper faster.
He obliged, stretching and filling her so fully, tingly sensations covered every inch of her inside and out. Nick moved with swift, powerful strokes, touching a place she’d never been touched before. Literally. She smiled at the turn of her thoughts over his size.
“You feel so good,” she said.
“I was thinking the same thing about you.”
“Yeah?”
Rather than answer, he took her bottom lip between his teeth. Kissed her jawline, the shell of her ear. He adjusted his angle slightly, lifted her leg higher over his shoulder.
“Oh, God,” she said through a heavy breath. She dug her nails into his back as his labored breathing and firm, steely rhythm added to her eagerness.
He continued to drive into her, each exquisite thrust more potent than the last. Then he pressed up onto his hands, knocking her leg off his shoulder, and rolled his hips in delicious circles against her. She looked down at where their bodies joined. Nick noticed, and with a sexy grin, slowed his tempo. He pulled out almost all the way before plunging back in. Did it again. Watching him pump inside her intensified her connection to him. He filled her with one swift motion, pulled
back, did it again. She thought she’d die from the perfect pleasure of it.
She clung to his back and chased her second orgasm, yet, at the same, time she wanted to make this last as long as possible. Nothing compared to the incredible feeling of having Nick buried deep inside her. But when his movements grew more insistent and he sank into her, she tumbled toward the finish line. She rocked against him as she cried out, her climax so consuming it raced through her entire body.
Nick groaned and followed right behind, shuddering with his own release.
Afterward, he collapsed onto his back beside her. They lay quietly, exhaling in satisfaction. Nick took her hand in his and held it in the space between them on the comforter, which did all sorts of fluttery things to her insides.
“So,” she said softly, peeking at him out of the corner of her eye, “is it too soon to ask that we do that again?”
He smiled and turned his head to look at her. “Not too soon at all.” He rolled to his side, pushed up onto his elbow. “In fact, I think this might be a good time for me to collect on my animal cracker win.”
Cassidy scrunched up her nose. He gave a short laugh that took away all her annoyance at losing the bet. The sexy sound, combined with his adorable simper, was enough to erase everything that had ever bothered her about him. “Oh?”
“I say we do this again and again. I can pull an all-nighter. You?”
She tried to look put off even though she was anything but. She was the queen of all-nighters, often working without sleep after a day of picture taking that really excited her. Nick was a subject that most definitely gave her a buzz.
“If I must,” she said on a dramatic sigh.
He also posed a serious threat to her heart, but she’d worry about that tomorrow after they’d gone their separate ways.
Chapter Eight
Nick stood under the warm water spewing out of the showerhead. Leaning with his hands on the tiled wall, he watched the soap bubbles disappear down the drain. Tired, his muscles ached in a good way. Not the same way they’d felt used last weekend, but better than he’d wanted them to. He and Code had spent the morning and better part of the afternoon mountain biking on a stretch of cliff trails about as wide as a two-by-four with a steep drop off that would give most people nightmares.
Falling for Her Bachelor (Bachelor Auction Returns Book 2) Page 8
