Can't Shake You

by Molly McLain

  “Carissa...” Her name was a warning on his lips, even as his hands went to her hips to hold her in place, because, Christ, the heat from her core pressing against his erection felt good. Too good.

  “I want you, Josh. And I’m sick and tired of pretending I don’t.” Her airy whisper puffed across his face as she leaned in and folded her arms around his neck, her fingers a greedy temptation in his hair. The tip of her tongue slid across her bottom lip and her teeth sank into the corner as she eyed his mouth, a hunger he recognized and understood all too well brewing in those bewitching amber depths.

  His fingers flexed into her soft flesh and all of his limbs shook. He could have her again, if he let himself. And he was pretty sure it’d be the most amazing experience he’d ever had. He’d only been gearing up for another opportunity with her for three years.

  “But Fletcher...” he croaked, his mouth a hairsbreadth away from hers. Wanting. Needing. So tempted.

  “This is about you and me, Josh. No one else.”

  His breath lodged in his chest and a surge of that damn possession sluiced through him once again. Yeah, this was all theirs, wasn’t it? This crazy friggin’ chemistry that sizzled and sparked between them whenever they were even remotely close to one another. He’d felt the intense pull the first time they’d met and every other encounter they’d shared since.

  “Kiss me,” she murmured and how the hell could he deny her with all that torture and longing her eyes?

  He shouldn’t do it. He really shouldn’t, but...

  He crashed his mouth up to hers, capturing her gasp and letting it fill him up like fuel, igniting the embers of desire that had lain smoldering for so long.

  She fisted his hair and met every stroke of his tongue with ravenous ones of her own. Like she couldn’t get enough of him. Had to taste all of him right then. And feeling her desperation, knowing his lust for her hadn’t gone unrequited did amazing things to his ego.

  The knowledge made his head spin. Made his pulse race. Made him want to tear away her panties and bury himself in her that instant, because that connection with her was the only thing that was gonna make him believe this was real.

  Carissa. In his arms. Again.

  She broke away from the kiss and her mouth was hot and wet on the underside of his jaw, licking and nipping at him like he was her first meal in a very long time. He knew the feeling, understood the urgency, and reciprocated by sliding his hands beneath her ass and digging his fingers into her soft, supple flesh.

  She rewarded him with a sweet, delicate pressure on the side of his neck that would probably leave a mark. He didn’t friggin’ care. Instead, he shifted his hands up to her breasts, cupping and kneading the full, perfect curves, and cursing the sexy, but restrictive cut of her dress. He wanted her skin beneath his fingers, her hardened nipples against his palms. Her, whispering his name and begging him for more.

  “Mmm, yes,” she moaned when he stroked his thumbs over the twin points tightened beneath the layers of lace. When he pinched, she gasped and trembled in his arms, involuntarily bouncing against his throbbing cock and damn near making his eyes roll back in his head.

  “Jesus, woman,” he growled against her collarbone. He loved how sensitive she was and that she wasn’t afraid to let him know what she liked and what she wanted, but he’d been hard for her for so long, he’d embarrass himself before they got started if he wasn’t careful.

  He captured her mouth again, desperate to draw out the moments, and she softened a bit too, kissing him with less urgency and more tenderness.

  Ah, hell, he didn’t want slow and sweet either, because this wasn’t about affection and emotion. This was about alleviating raw need and years’ worth of pent-up desire. He may go straight to Hell for what he was about to do, but there was no doubt in his mind she’d be worth it.

  Wrapping an arm beneath her ass, he pushed to his feet.

  “You sure you want this?” he growled against her ear as she curled her legs around his hips.

  He felt the wicked promise of her smile, hot against his ear. “Am I sure I want you to fuck me? Hell, yes. And the sooner you get me out of this dress, the better.”

  ***

  “You’re gonna kill me, you know that?”

  “Consider it payback for the past three years,” she said as his fingers dug into her bottom, clearly reacting to her blatant declaration.

  “Pretty sure we’re already even on that front, babe.” He started to carry her toward the kitchen, but slowed up. “This place is not conducive to sex.”

  “Blanket in the back bedroom. Brought some things over earlier.”

  When he took off at near jog for the back of the house, she almost laughed. But neither of them was naked enough for that. She wasn’t taking any chances on him having time or motivation to change his mind.

  She reached around his shoulder to flick on the bedroom light as he let her slide to the floor. She watched him snatch up the thick throw blanket from a nearby box and spread it out on the floor, before he turned back to her, his head low like a wild animal on the prowl.

  “Take off your dress,” he demanded.

  “I’d much rather you did that.”

  His grin was completely feral. “Gladly.”

  He stalked forward, roughly turned her away from him and yanked down the zipper. His rough, calloused hands slid in along her bare waist, one smoothing up to cup a breast over her bra and the other down into the front of her panties.

  Mmm, yes. Apparently he wasn’t in the mood for wasting time either.

  She shrugged out of the dress, clumsily inverting the sleeves and then losing her balance a bit as she slid it over her hips.

  He caught her, a big hand splayed over her belly, and he lowered to a squat behind her, as he helped her step out of stretchy fabric.

  “I suppose you want me to leave the shoes on.” She tossed a coy smile down at him.

  Shifting those wild blue eyes up to her, he gave his head a single shake. “I don’t give a shit about the shoes. I’m much more interested in this.” And then he slid a hand from her ankle all the way up to the inside of her thigh, teasing the tips of his fingers beneath her panties and along the seam of her sex. “You’re wet. For me or for the lawyer?”

  “You seriously need to ask that?” She shifted her legs apart to give him better access.

  “Maybe I wanna hear you say it.”

  Oh, hell yeah. “I’m wet for you, Josh. Only you.”

  His free hand squeezed her ass, while the other continued to tease over her folds, barely dipping in where she wanted him most, torturing her with anticipation. “You know this will only happen once, right?” he said lowly.

  She nodded, breathless with anticipation. “Once is all I need. Please.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Please what?” She felt the rough pad of his thumb brush across her sex as the tip of one of his fingers slid upward, purposely grazing her clit with a barely-there touch.

  She jerked back against his hand, driving that finger harder against the greedy bundle of nerves. He met her moan with a low chuckle.

  “Damn, baby girl. All you had to do was ask.” And then he was there, his fingers exactly where she needed them, rubbing and strumming her, tuning her up for what was sure to be the most amazing orgasm she’d had in a very, very long time.

  She closed her eyes and bit her lip, savoring every caress and loving the slow, hot fire he built low in her belly. She felt his hot lips and bristly jaw brush over her hip and then the fleshy part of her ass, before he blatantly teased her with an open-mouthed kiss that made her whimper for more.

  Another chuckle. This one wickedly close to where she wanted him, vibrating through her body, hitting her right at the center of her current universe.

  “Josh, please...”

  But he was one step ahead of her, pulling aside the lace of her panties and replacing it with his tongue. She collapsed forward, hands on her knees, fingernails digging into her own skin as
she pushed herself back against his face.

  She’d dreamed of this so many times. His mouth on her. So knowing and so eager to please. It wouldn’t take long. She knew it wouldn’t. It never did in her imagination and the real thing was so...much...freaking...better. His lips on her sex, his tongue along her folds, his fingers sliding in and out, mimicking what was to come.

  She rocked back and he wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her steady. Just as well, because his magic mouth was starting to seriously make her legs shake and her head spin.

  “Ooh, Josh, I...” She bit her bottom lip to keep from calling out as his lips and then his teeth fastened around her clit and sucked with the perfect amount of delicious pressure. She felt like she was floating up toward the sky, balancing precariously on a tightrope. Suspended. And then she crashed, bucking and convulsing against him as she came.

  He slowed his ministrations, but kept at her until every last shudder escaped her body. When he slapped her ass, all the blood in her body surged right back to the apex of her legs.

  “Turn,” came the gruff, masculine voice from between her legs. Then suddenly she was being shifted around, her panties and shoes stripped away in the process. Josh dropped to the floor then and, with an arm behind her knees and a hand against her lower back, he spread her out on the blanket.

  He nudged her legs apart with his thighs and the rough rub of his shorts against her sensitive skin alerted her, in her hazy state of arousal, that he was completely overdressed. She jackknifed up and yanked his t-shirt over his head, her hands going a million different directions at once. All over the hard, smooth muscles and the light dusting of dark hair across his chest, down over his rippled abs and that fine trail of hair that bisected them from his belly button downward. She leaned in and licked at the collage of colors on his left bicep while he rid her of her bra, but then he wound a hand in her hair and guided her back, away from him.

  “I’m not done with you yet,” he growled, following her down onto the blanket, his mouth on her neck and then her breasts, all tongue and lips, wet and scorching until she arched against him, panting and scoring his back with her nails. She felt him grin as he circled a lazy tongue around one nipple, his thumb on the other.

  “You’re wicked.” Her groan turned to a soft laugh, as she covered her face with her hands, a little embarrassed at how easily he could work her into such frenzy. It had been like this before too and frankly a small part of her had wondered if she’d given the memories of his ability too much credit. She hadn’t. He was every bit as talented and in tune with her body as she remembered. Better even.

  “Just wait,” he rasped, while he shifted upright again with a crooked, devious grin on his face. He flicked open the button on his shorts and then jerked down the zipper, making her stomach lurch in response.

  Yes. She wanted him naked. In her hand. Inside her body. All over her.

  She reached for the goods, bulging behind the black cotton of his underwear, the thick tip already breaching the waistband. But he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and shook his head.

  “Still my turn, babe.” When she pouted, he gave a hoarse laugh and coursed his palm from her knee to her ankle, circling it and using it to lever her leg back, opening her up to him unabashedly. “Still impatient and still so fucking beautiful. Goddamn, Carissa.”

  A warm blush seeped into her cheeks and down her throat. Usually, she shied away from being put on such display, but Josh had a way of making her believe the flattering words that came from his mouth.

  She’d trusted him three years ago. Had given herself to him like she’d never a man before. She hadn’t understood the pull then. Why it had been so easy to let him in. To let him see all of her, physically and emotionally, without any inhibition. But she’d gone with it and being with him all that time ago had been absolutely amazing.

  Now, she knew him so much better. Knew he was a good man and that, if he said or did something, he meant it. Always.

  What she didn’t get was how being with him felt so much different than it had with anyone else. Not that her sexual repertoire had given her a lot of fodder for comparison, but she’d experienced enough to realize that Josh was both different and incredibly dangerous. And she wanted him. Right now.

  “Yesss,” she moaned when he shifted closer, dipped a little, and ground the hard ridge of his erection against her core, his fingers still clamped around her ankle while the other hand curved over her opposite hip.

  “That what you want?” he growled, grating into her again with such slow, intense, agonizing pressure that the entire head of his cock sprung free from his underwear, gliding along her moistened seam, over and over again.

  She clenched her eyes shut and bit at her lip, the blanket fisted in her hands as she let loose a low, throaty, desperate laugh. “You know it is.”

  “Tell me.”

  That had her eyes flying open again, locking on his while he let go of her hip to push his underwear and shorts down to his knees.

  She wet her lips at the sight of him, so big and perfect, bobbing between her legs and glistening at the tip. Vaguely, she was aware of him digging a condom from his wallet and tearing open the package. But her focus remained on that beautiful erection, a wily feminine pride stirring low in her belly, knowing it was all for her and because of her.

  When she reached up again, he didn’t stop her, instead rested back on his haunches and watched her hand wrap around him, so pale in comparison to his flushed, strained shaft. She stroked him from base to head, her thumb caressing away the dewy drop at the tip before she fell back against the blanket and stuck the digit between her lips, licking off his essence.

  He groaned, rolled on the condom and was right there...

  “Tell me, Carissa.” Holding the root of his gorgeous cock, he teased against her clit and spread her moisture, but he gave her nothing more. The tight, clenched jaw expression on his face told her he had to fight for every second he held back.

  “I want you inside me,” she whispered. “All of you. Now.”

  And he gave her just that, easing in slowly, letting her feel and savor every bit of him. It was the most erotic feeling ever, to be filled by him. So stretched. So utterly taken.

  Her already pebbled nipples tightened into rigid peaks and her sex pulsed, ready for another round. She looked up at him, in awe of the raw agony on his face as he pulled out and sank back in, over and over again, watching every movement. His nostrils flared and a fine sweat broke out on his brow.

  She pushed up on her elbows and watched too. The stunning sight had her already pounding heart racing and hot blood swooshing in her ears. And lower.

  Josh. After all this time. So beautiful.

  Fingers slipping between her thighs, she touched herself for him even more than herself.

  “Yes,” he grunted, his hips moving faster, fingers digging deeper with every home-hitting thrust. “Show me how you do it, baby.”

  Happy to oblige him, she rubbed and tweaked at her sensitive nub until her legs shook and her ears rang, and until Josh hissed his greedy demand.

  “I wanna feel it, Carissa. I wanna feel you come all over me.”

  “Then fuck me harder.”

  He growled, hiked her leg up again, tightened the angle and slammed into her harder than she thought possible. She came instantly, crying out his name in ragged breaths. Two purposeful thrusts later, he followed after her, surging, groaning, and cursing his completion.

  ***

  He collapsed down, bracing himself on his elbows above her, just close enough bury his face in her neck.

  Her fingers were light on his back, stroking him from shoulder to hip, while they both caught their breath. After several long moments, he slid to the side, tucking her against him. She curled into him willingly, her hands soft against his stomach.

  Staring up at the ceiling, he teased his fingers up and down her arm. Though he couldn’t imagine not sharing these blissed out moments with her, his head was
already rolling with the “what the hell did you just do?” he knew would come.

  Pulling in a deep breath, he pushed the thoughts away. He’d deal with them later. When he couldn’t smell her sweet shampoo or feel her heart beating against his chest or when she wasn’t...crying?

  What the hell?

  Josh froze, panic blooming, when Carissa’s little body had begun to quake next to his.

  “Car?” He pulled her on top of him and pushed the hair back from her face, only to see that she wasn’t crying at all—she was laughing.

  “Not nice to laugh at a guy less than ten seconds after sex, babe,” he muttered, falling back down against the blanket.

  She continued to quake, her face pressed into his neck. “How long has the power been out?”

  He blinked against the near darkness. It was only light enough he could see her face and a dim view of the room around them. Well, hell. “I have no idea.” He laughed too.

  “Guess we got kinda distracted, huh?”

  “All your fault.”

  She lifted her head and smiled down at him. “I’ll own that.”

  He grinned. “I thought we agreed there’d be no more assaulting one another.”

  “Uh-uh. Two consenting adults does not an assault make.”

  “I’m pretty sure my dick would say otherwise.”

  To that, she snorted. “I’m sorry. I got kinda greedy. And I told you it’d been awhile.”

  Yeah, she had. He wondered if her definition of ‘awhile’ and his were the same, but he didn’t ask. “No worries. I obviously enjoyed myself.”

  “Obviously.” She gave him a sexy smile and pushed up to brush a kiss across his lips. The gesture was sweet and warm and it should have been nice, but instead it had panic stirring in his gut again.

  “You remember what I said about this being only the once?” He held her away, wishing he didn’t have to.

  “I do. Total shame though considering you just gave me the best orgasms of my life.”

  Good God. “I hope like hell this means I won’t have to worry about you calling Pretty Boy later. Or tomorrow while I’m out of town.”