by Molly McLain
He’d loved every second of being with her and just the memory had his cock stirring.
No way, man. You know what they say about playing with fire.
Yeah, he knew all right. Which was why, despite Friday night being absolutely stellar, he was not going to sleep with Carissa again. Ever.
Chapter Twelve
“Hold on a sec, I gotta check on dinner.”
Maddie laughed on the other end of the phone as Carissa jogged to the kitchen from her bedroom, where she’d spent the last several hours packing. “You’re nothing if not consistent, chica.”
Cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder, Carissa pulled out the oven rack and stuck a knife into the crusty top layer of the chicken pot pie. “Who am I to stray from family tradition? Today of all days.”
“Hmm, another reason you’d make some man a very nice wife someday. If only, you know, you’d actually date.”
“Hey, I’m perfectly content eating my own Sunday night leftovers for the rest of my life. You know there’s always dessert, too. And this week it’s your favorite—peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.”
Maddie groaned. “You better save me some.”
“Don’t I always?” Carissa shut the oven and set the timer for fifteen more minutes, when a knock sounded on her front door. “I gotta go. Lori’s here with the rest of my boxes. Ugh, I am so over this moving crap.”
“You sure you don’t want me to come help?”
“Positive. Go snuggle your man.”
Maddie sighed. “Well, you don’t have to twist my arm on that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Carissa clicked off the phone and tossed it onto the couch as she made her way to the door, sidestepping half-packed boxes. She didn’t bother to check the peephole or hide that she wasn’t wearing a bra when she swung the door open, since she’d fully expected Lori to be standing on the other side.
Only the person looming in her hall wasn’t Lori. Not unless she’d somehow morphed into a tall, dark, brooding man wearing a Marines t-shirt and combat boots.
Keenly aware that the mere sight of him had her nipples tightening into hedonistic little nubs, Carissa crossed her arms over her chest and desperately tried not to show any outward surprise. “Hi,” she said easily, an impressive airiness to her voice.
“Hi.” In contrast to her lighthearted greeting, Josh didn’t bother to disguise his uncertainty or the dark tension warring within him. The crease between his brows deepened as he stared down at her, his blue eyes hard and penetrating.
She tipped her head to the side and curiously pursed her lips. “So, what brings you to my neighborhood?” He’d only been to her apartment once about a year and a half before and honestly she was surprised he’d found his way there again. Given the intensity of the conflict in his eyes, she suspected this wasn’t just a casual drop-in. Which probably meant...
“Ah, hell,” he said abruptly, pounding toward her so fast, she stumbled backward, coming up hard against the closet door just inside her apartment.
Her breath caught in her chest as he pushed all of his fingers into her hair and held her head still, like he planned on kissing her. Only he didn’t. He just held her tight, his breath warm against her lips as a violent storm of emotion brewed in his dark eyes.
“One more time,” he growled and Carissa smiled, her arms slipping upward, around his neck and into his hair.
“Whatever you say, Marine.”
***
How the hell he’d ended up at Carissa’s, Josh didn’t know. But the second he aligned his body with hers, thigh to thigh and hip to hip, pressing the length of his erection into her belly, it didn’t matter. All that he cared about was getting her naked and burying himself to the hilt in her sweet body.
She moaned, teasing her tongue against his in an eager greeting. Her hands slipped up and over his chest, and then they were beneath his shirt. The ravenous slide of her fingers against his skin had him twitching like a livewire.
Oh, yeah...this is why you’re here.
“You drive me fucking crazy,” he said against her mouth, loving the feel of her breasts pressed against him and her soft hands at his waist. He wanted her to touch him everywhere. To curb the craving and scratch the itch. Ease the incessant ache she’d left him with three years ago and taunted him with ever since. “You’re in my head every goddamn second of the day. I...I can’t shake you, baby girl. And I sure as hell can’t forget how damn good we are together.”
Her eyelashes fluttered as she tiptoed up and nuzzled at his ear with her lips. “We are pretty freaking amazing, aren’t we?”
He laughed in relief. Instead of shoving him out the door or slapping him across the face, she shared his sentiments. To solidify things, she curled a leg around him and kicked the door shut, before looping her arms around him again and hopping up into his arms. He caught her with ease, reveling in the feel of her middle cradled against his fly.
He was already hard and throbbing, but sex between them tended to be so frantic and reckless. This time, he wanted to slow things down. To show her he was capable of more than just a wham-bam-fuck-against-the-nearest-hard-surface.
“What are you waiting for?” she mewled, and the searing, wet slide of her tongue along the shell of his ear was all the incentive he needed to carry her further into the apartment.
“Bedroom?” He paused in the middle of the small kitchen, a hall traversing in each direction.
“No time for that.” She shook her head and wiggled out of his arms, going promptly for his belt and zipper. “Right here.”
Hell, yeah. Screw slow.
While she deftly freed his cock of all barriers, he went to work on her skimpy black shorts. He slid them off her hips and she kicked them away, before yanking off his shirt and then her own. Her full, mouthwatering breasts bounced free and he groaned his approval, before dipping down and suckling at each of the deep pink, puckered tips.
Her fingers tugged at his hair as she whimpered her pleasure and guided his mouth from one breast to the other, until she shook where she stood, her breath nothing but ragged gasps. Impatience took over then. She muttered a curse, pushed his head away, and greedily grabbed ahold of his straining cock, pulling him toward one of the two bistro style kitchen chairs.
He quickly procured a condom and, with shaking hands, shoved his jeans to mid-thigh and rolled it on. Carissa wasted no time pushing him into the seat and climbing onto his lap. A second later, she lowered herself on his shaft and treated him to that sweet little pinched-brow gasp of pleasure and pain his ego liked so much.
“You okay?” He brushed the hair from her face with one hand, while keeping her anchored to his lap with the other.
“Mmm, perfect.” She began to ride him then, slow and steady, every graceful arch of her back and sensual twist of her hips bringing them both a little closer to ecstasy.
God, if she wasn’t the sexiest woman he’d ever had, with her half-lidded eyes locked on his and her cheeks flushed a beautiful shade only sex could elicit. Her breasts thrust high, ebbing toward him in a slow, tortuous taunt, and then shifting away with every deep, consuming slide of her tight, wet body along his.
Friggin’ amazing. In less than five minutes, they’d gone from hello to holy shit, toe curling sex.
“You were thinking about me,” he said knowingly, his mouth against hers.
“All the time.” She drew his bottom lip between her teeth and he groaned, tightened his grip on her ass and plunged upward, meeting her thrust with a forceful one of his own. She sucked in a breath and dug her nails into the back of his neck. So he did it again. And again.
“Touch me,” she begged, and he could feel the tension coiling in her body, gripping his cock. He brushed the pad of his thumb over her clit at the same time he leaned in and captured a pretty pink nipple between his lips. “Oh, Josh, I’m...I’m...”
“That’s it, baby girl, come for me.” He stroked faster against her slippery nub and she shattered, her breath
coming in broken pants as she quaked and convulsed above him. The tight vise of her sex around his cock brought him closer to the brink himself and when she rotated her hips and spasmed one final time, his world blackened a little around the edges. He pistoned upward and ground his teeth, the muscles in his thighs and stomach tingling. The sound of their labored breathing, Carissa’s soft cries of pleasure, and the wet and rhythmic slapping of their bodies was too much to bear. He came and he came hard. He was pretty sure steam blew from his ears.
Not quite how he’d expected to spend his Sunday evening—but so much better.
Josh pulled Carissa close and kissed her forehead when she curled her arms around his shoulders and fell into him, like she belonged there, a perfect fit against his body.
He could get use to this.
Too bad he had no right.
Still, he held her tight, stroking a hand down over her hair and her back until their breathing steadied again.
And then an alarm went off.
“Shit!” On shaky legs, Carissa climbed off his lap and hurried across the kitchen, her peachy little butt and stunning breasts jiggling. She pressed a button on the stove and tended to something in the oven. He grabbed a tissue from a box on the counter and took care of business, all the while watching her carefully pull out a casserole dish. Naked.
So hot.
“Glad to see there’s actually something in there. I thought maybe my time here was up.”
She laughed over her shoulder. “Oh, no. I’m not nearly finished with you.”
He pulled his jeans back into place with a smile, knowing he should probably remind her of their deal. But, considering this wasn’t the first one they’re reneged on, he couldn’t help but wonder if rules with Carissa were just destined to be broken.
She bowed to pick up her tank top, then slipped it back over her head. She didn’t bother with her panties however and he appreciated that. “Wow, you didn’t argue with me.”
He shook his head. “We may need to reevaluate.”
“Ah, I like the way you think. In fact, this?” She gestured to their mutual states of half-dress and the articles of clothing still on the floor. “Exactly what I needed today. You’re a genius.”
“Yeah?” Intrigued by what might be on her mind, his arched an eyebrow. He was pretty sure, however, getting naked with her again wasn’t the smartest decision he’d ever made. But it was a feeling he was getting used to.
“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it right now. How about we start the reevaluation process in the shower? And then we can eat.”
“Eat?”
She pointed to the casserole dish. “You just gave me a perfect orgasm. The least I can do is feed you.”
“I’m starting to feel like a stud for hire. We have sex, you give me food.”
She tipped her head back and gave a full-bellied laugh. The beautiful sound went straight to his gut and strangely enough, it warmed him, when it should have made him nervous.
“You showed up at my door tonight, remember?” she asked, head tipped the side, hair falling.
“Good point.”
“But...” She closed the distance between them and grabbed his hand. “I certainly wouldn’t mind paying back the favor.”
“I’m pretty sure I came, too.” He thumbed back toward the chair, eyebrow cocked.
“Just go with it, okay?” She grinned, hooked a finger around his belt loop and led him to the bathroom, where she started the shower before turning her attention back to him.
Her hands spread open over his chest as she pressed a soft, wet kiss in the middle. Then she moved to his shoulder, her tongue running over the ink there and down his arm. She lingered at his bicep and made a sound of soft feminine appreciation as she lifted his arm and brushed her lips over his forearm. His dick stiffened again. A record.
“Do you have any idea how much I love these? Your arms and your tattoos? I fantasize about them. About you.”
He swallowed hard, his focus trained on her eyes and the hazy arousal he saw there. “Tell me.”
A soft blush crept into her cheeks, completely in contrast to the way she’d ridden him like a rodeo bull minutes earlier.
“Mostly it’s just you above me, your arms on either side of my head, caging me in.” She slid her hand back into his jeans and began to guide them off.
“What am I doing when I’m above you?”
To that, she shot him a devious grin. “You know what you’re doing.”
“You think of that often?” He bent and loosened his boots enough to toe them and his socks off. She eased his jeans down his legs, taking up a squat before him that left nothing hidden. So. Fucking. Pretty.
“More often than I should.” She stood again and curled her hand around his cock, stroking him and staring at him and licking her lips like he was some kind of prize. “Mmm, I love this, too. So perfect.”
He clenched his jaw and angled his head to the side, watching her touch him. She bit at the corner of her mouth all innocent, but she was a goddamn pro with her wrist. He fastened his fingers around that amazing feature and held her off.
“Shower.” He pointed to the steamy stall, stripped her shirt off again and nudged her backward.
They stepped beneath the hot spray and Carissa handed him a bottle of body wash. Magnolia blossom. Mmm, so that’s what she always smelled like. And now he was going to smell just like her. He’d sleep well tonight.
When she held out a bath puff, he squeezed the floral liquid onto it, then ran it over her body, taking extra care at his favorite places, letting his fingers linger to tweak at her nipples and then slide between her legs.
“Josh...” She closed her eyes and gripped his arms, holding on for balance as he focused his efforts on her clit.
“You know what I fantasize about?” he asked, folding an arm around her waist to keep her upright while he continued to rub and play. Leaning down, he kissed his way up her neck, sucking at the soft spot behind her ear.
“Mmm,” was the only sound she made in response to his question, because, as he’d expected, she came a second later. Lips parted, chest heaving, a beautiful rosy glow coloring her face and breasts. She sagged against him, legs shaking.
“That. Making you come. Seeing that moment when your face goes completely soft. You’re a beautiful woman, baby girl, but right then...” He broke off and simply shook his head, amazed by it all.
She looked up at him beneath her lashes and tip-toed up to place a kiss on his lips, water spraying everywhere, dripping off of both their lashes. Time suspended for a moment and everything else faded away, but the feel of her body in his arms, her mouth so tender against his. Something tight and unexpected settled in his chest, and he tore away from the kiss, staring down at her in bewilderment.
This was supposed to be sex. Nothing more. But standing there with her, so close and comfortable, suddenly had him feeling an intimacy he hadn’t expected. Maybe it was the shower, because it wasn’t something he’d done with a woman in a really long time. Or maybe it was just being at her place, because he’d steered clear of breaching her personal space for so long.
He had no time to analyze the crazy feeling however, because Carissa dropped to her knees before him, eyeing his dick like an ice cream cone.
Christ.
One hand wound around his shaft and the other cradled his balls as she took him into her mouth, her lips and tongue circling around just the head, teasing for what felt like a lifetime, before she opened wider and took in as much of his length as she could, stroking the rest.
He touched his fingers to her hair and brushed a strand out of her eyes. He’d meant the gesture as nothing more than something to occupy his hand, in an attempt to keep from reacting too selfishly. But the motion had her blinking up at him, eyes wide and beautiful, as she sucked him. He nearly lost it. Sweet mercy.
He folded his arms behind his head in an effort to maintain control even as his hips surged forward. “Ah, shit. Carissa,” he gro
aned. “Goddamn, that’s so good...”
“Show me what you want.” She pulled away for a moment and treated him to a slow lick from root to tip.
“I wanna friggin’ come,” he growled and accepted the invitation to ease his hands in her hair and around her head, slowly and very, very carefully guiding her back and forth. She kept pace, her cheeks hollowing as she worked him, her hand sliding around and circling the base of his shaft, while the other gently rolled his balls in her palm.
How many times had he lain awake at night in the desert imaging this very thing? Her sweet mouth around his cock, her body beneath his. In reality, it’d been his hand working that magic, but he’d never admit it. Never shame her with that confession. Never share that personal vulnerability.
Besides, the real, live version of her was so much better than any memory or fantasy. And when she pressed and rubbed her tongue against that sensitive spot on the underside of his cock, all he could think about was letting go in the here and now.
Hands fisted in her hair, he tried to ease her back, to forewarn her, but she refused to be thwarted, her grip on his balls tightening as she sucked harder, driving him to the edge.
“I’m gonna blow, babe,” he groaned, giving her a chance to pull back. But she didn’t and he unloaded hot in her mouth. Leaning forward, he braced himself against the stall to keep upright.
With a sexy tenderness that made him reel, she brought him back down to earth, every cell in his body shuddering.
“That was nice,” she said as she pushed to her feet and came up between his arms, a wicked grin on her pretty, satisfied face.
“You’re the devil,” he croaked, his voice hoarse as he searched her face in wonderment. “I can’t believe you did that.”
She shrugged. “First time for everything, right?”
His head spun. “You’ve never...before?”
She licked her lips. “Nope.”
