by Selena Scott
“Fuck!”
Caroline choked and pulled off of him, coughing a little. “You’re big,” she told him. She turned back to his cock. “Bigger than I’m used to.”
Tre wasn’t generally a chest thumper. He’d never quite understood the preening masculinity of dudes trying to out-man one another, in a bar or on a basketball court. To him, in a lot of ways, comparing oneself to other dudes made masculinity seem fragile. He didn’t care how he compared. He wasn’t a show-off and he wasn’t shy. He was just Tre. He’d never cared how he stacked up in comparison. But hearing Caroline tell him that he was bigger than she was used to set off some sort of primal party deep within Tre. He wanted to swing from the branches, backflip off a waterfall, get his sperm count tested just so he could post that shit online where Peter fucking Clifton could see. Cuz fuck that guy.
But that was the last Tre thought about anything but Caroline, because she swallowed him down again and suddenly he was on his back, his hands drowning in her damp, chestnut hair. That vanilla scent of hers swamped him and bursts of color exploded behind his clamped shut eyelids.
Caroline was in heaven. Tre was vibrating beneath her, kicking off heat and grunting with every greedy tug of her mouth. She felt powerful and euphoric and completely connected to him.
With one more grunt, Tre leaned up and tugged her off of him. She flopped sideways, looking up at him from his lap and he landed his mouth on hers. “Do that forever,” he said against her lips.
And she proceeded to follow directions. She turned and sucked him to the back of her throat again, this time letting her hand work the bottom of his shaft. Tre saw stars as he leaned back on his palms and experimentally jutted his hips upward. She moaned and worked him harder so he did it again. And again.
“Love,” he groaned as he felt his finish line screaming toward him. “Caroline.”
She nodded, and started to work him faster. Harder. Most women might have backed off at that particular moment, knowing that the show might be over after the dude gets off. But Tre realized that she was trusting him to take care of her no matter what. And that turned him on beyond belief. He couldn’t have stopped now if he wanted to. Even if she pulled off of him, he was going to come.
“I’m gonna come, love,” he told her, wanting her to be prepared.
She didn’t respond, just took him to the back of her throat and swallowed around and around him.
He fell back and thrust his hips up, his hands in her hair, holding her in place while he shoved himself in her mouth. His eyes rolled, his body spasmed and he lost himself in her mouth. Pleasure like Tre had never known knifed its way out of him. His orgasm was sharp and achy all at once—he shook with it, groaning and breathless. He fell limp and sweaty back to the bed and she fell with him, her cheek planted on his thigh, her breath coming in puffs of hot against his stomach.
He threw an elbow over his eyes and tried to remind himself how to breathe. His toes tingled. He could have sworn he could feel the end of each strand of hair in his head. He felt as if she’d hooked him up to a car battery.
Tre peeked down at Caroline and instantly laughed, because she was staring up at him, that huge white smile on her face. He’d never seen her look so proud or so happy before.
“Let’s play a game,” he told her, still chuckling as he took her by the shoulders and spread her out on the bed, belly down. He sat up next to her and carefully swished the hair off her back, giving him an ungodly pretty view of her whole perfect backside. Her spine was a graceful dip along her back, her ass was round and impertinent, rising up dramatically from the smooth arch of her back and the long lines of her legs. She rested her cheek on her hands and looked up at him.
“What kind of game?”
“I’m gonna draw on your back and you’re gonna guess what it is.”
“Okay!”
He smiled to himself. He’d known she would like this. He started out simple. The ABCs. Stars, hearts, things she would recognize. He started to lose her when he switched into words in cursive.
“I don’t know,” she told him. “Do it again.”
He wrote something across her back with one of his fingertips. Something he could barely believe he was writing. Something he would never ever say out loud to her. He was writing paragraphs to her. Starting at her shoulder blades and working his way all the way down to the dimples above her hip bones. She stopped guessing and her eyes fluttered closed in pleasure at the feeling of him effectively giving her a back scratch. If she knew what he was writing to her, she showed no sign of it.
Tre wrote the words into her skin a hundred times, calling himself a fool every minute of it. Because of course he wanted to keep her. There wasn’t a man alive who wouldn’t want to keep Caroline. But the point wasn’t what Tre wanted. The point was what he was capable of. And he knew, without a doubt, that he was not capable of loving Caroline the way she deserved. He couldn’t give her that.
He didn’t want to think about that right now. What he wanted was to think about all the things he could give her. All the ways he could make her happy. Give her pleasure.
It was with that in mind that Caroline felt Tre’s hand work its way south over her back. This time, he didn’t return to her shoulder blades. He smoothed a hand over her ass, his thumb pressing lightly into her crease.
When Tre’s hand made its way all the way down, slipping lightly through her wetness, she went completely tight and he went completely lax. He groaned, just like he had when she’d been going down on him. She was beginning to love that noise of his. His forehead planted itself between her shoulder blades and his free hand gripped her at the place where her shoulder met her neck.
“I want inside you,” he said against her skin.
In answer, Caroline tipped her ass up toward him, making one of his fingers slip slightly into her. She gasped and Tre took the invitation for what it was. His middle finger worked into her wetness while his index finger sought out her clit. He was so gentle, so teasing with her pussy but he gave her even more of his weight at her back and his hand at her shoulder clamped down hard.
Caroline was in heaven. She felt as if he was belting her in, readying her for a roller coaster of some sort. As if he was strapping her to a rocket ship. She wanted more weight, more restraint. She didn’t want to think about anything but that finger of his that was painting circles around her clit.
So she didn’t. She utterly lost herself. Her hips worked, her breath huffed, her skin slicked over with sweat. Caroline’s feet tangled in the sheets until Tre tossed a heavy leg over the backs of her knees and pinned her there as well. His chest expanded and contracted against her fast and faster as he worked her. She was so wet, so perfect, so hot against his hand.
He changed his grip at her shoulder so that his forearm was across her shoulder blades, his hand grabbing her ribs on the opposite side. Her hands reached up and gripped the bars of the headboard until her knuckles were white as her pussy started to contract around his fingers. Her head was tossed back as she tightened and Tre tasted the skin along the divot of her spine. He jammed his cock against her hip as she writhed and took his weight and rose for him.
She tried to push up to her knees but he held her down and twisted his hand inside her, finding her G spot and petting it like crazy.
“Tre!” she whispered desperately, the white sheet clenched between her even-whiter teeth. He lifted his head to see her gorgeous brown eyes fling open and dilate violently. She was unseeing, unmoving, frozen, tight and clasping so hard around his fingers that he thought she might pass out.
When she collapsed back against the bed, Tre pulled his hand out of hers and shifted over her. He planted an elbow on either side of her ribs and slid his hard cock against her ass.
Her breath was choppy and emotional and joyous as it tore its way out of her. She lifted her hips up against him, inviting him in.
“Love,” he groaned against her neck, licking at the salty layer of sweat there. “I don’t have any
condoms.”
“Mine are in my room,” she murmured back. “Are you clean? I know you would never put me in danger.”
“Never,” he said immediately. “I’m clean.” He paused. “I’ve never done that before, though. Had sex without a condom.”
She turned her head to the side so he could see her expression. “Me neither,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I ever really trusted Peter. Even at the beginning. Definitely not at the end.”
Tre shifted and redistributed his weight, so that his cock smashed down between them, the broadside pressing insistently against her wetness. “Are you sure?” he asked her, while teasing the hell out of both of them by pressing forward, slicking himself up.
She pushed back against him. “Completely. Please. Now.”
He tipped his hips forward and pushed forward into her wetness. Tre clamped his teeth and groaned when he sank into her an experimental inch. She pushed back and he thrust forward and sank to the hilt inside her.
“Fuck.” He dropped his head to her neck and she turned her head to kiss him. Tre pulled back and thrust and found that he couldn’t get nearly close enough to her this way. He slid a hand underneath her and gripped her waist, pulling both of them up so that she sat on his lap, facing away from him. Caroline still gripped the bars of the headboard as Tre settled his temple against hers and stared down her front, fully appreciating the view. One hand found her breasts and the other found her clit as he started to power upwards, into her. He could use both the power in his hips and the bend in his legs to thrust into her and he was taking them up off the bed.
Caroline couldn’t concentrate on any one thing. Not the rough way he tugged at her nipples, making them pay attention, or the sweet way he played with her clit, or the breath-ending way he pistoned up into her body. A man had never been so deep inside her and Caroline was lit up with it. She felt as if she were deep inside a thundercloud, getting up close and personal with lightning bolts, but never knowing when or where they were about to strike.
Her head leaned back against his shoulder and he sucked at her neck. His heat was overwhelming. His hand stopped playing with her breasts, and like he did before, he just banded her to his chest. Like he needed her tight and close. She couldn’t get enough, she’d never felt so safe in her entire life. Her hands gripped the headboard even tighter as he worked her clit so sweetly. Suddenly he stopped thrusting. He just pushed deep inside and held and let her work herself on him. He was so powerful inside her, so hot and all-consuming. His fingers never stopped on her clit and Caroline dropped one hand and joined him there. Together, both of them, worked her right into an orgasm. She went tight and hot. She wondered if her cells would ever stop vibrating. Tre stuck with her right through it until she fell forward, her hands gripping the headboard and her forehead in the crook of her elbow.
Tre’s arm went from gripping her chest to gripping her waist as he smashed her to him. He tipped them forward, so that he was on his knees behind her and one of his hands joined hers on the headboard. He supported his weight there as he pumped into her from behind. He was furious, manic, gone. He rode her wildly, feeling her perfect body continue to clench him from the inside.
Tre pulled out at the last second, and in a preternatural sort of understanding, Caroline quickly flipped over. He pumped himself twice and exploded onto her belly and breasts. She gasped and breathed and reached for him and Tre collapsed over top of her. The moment before could have been pornographic, but to Tre, it was simply beautiful. He could feel himself between them, cooling quickly and making them sticky. But his forehead was against hers, her eyes were open, point-blank into his, her fingers gripped his back. And there was nothing pornographic about it. He’d simply never been closer to another human being in his entire life.
Their lips found one another and they melted into the kiss. Their noses occasionally switching sides as he clasped her head to his.
Finally, he worried his weight might be too much for her and he rolled to the side, wincing at the sticky feeling.
She kissed him one more time and then rolled to her feet beside the bed. “Let’s shower. And then let’s do all of that again.”
CHAPTER TEN
Arturo’s eyes came open and he saw only the black of his darkened room. He was discombobulated about everything for a minute. Where he was. Why he was on the floor. Why he felt as if he’d been leveled by a tornado. And then he remembered.
“Caroline,” he groaned, shoving up to his knees, planting his fists on the carpet. He remembered his reaction, how out of control he’d been. He was certain that he’d hurt her. How badly remained to be seen.
Every single muscle screamed and Arturo realized it was because he wasn’t breathing. He gasped for air and staggered to his doorway, sagging against the doorframe.
He jolted as a roll of laughter came from down the hall. There were people still awake. He figured he couldn’t have been knocked out for too long.
Pain rolled through him so acutely, he felt nausea grip the back of his neck like he was an errant schoolboy. He planted palms on the walls of the warping hallway and staggered to the living room where a blurry group of people sat at the table drinking and playing poker.
“Jesus!” That was Thea’s voice. The party screeched to a stop.
“Caroline,” Arturo gasped her name almost desperately. “Where is she?”
“What?” someone asked. There was a gasp and a scramble as Arturo fell to his knees in the middle of the room.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
“She’s with Tre!” Jean Luc said, standing over Arturo.
“Are you sure?” Arturo gasped.
“Well,” Jack drawled, standing shoulder to shoulder with Jean Luc. “Either she’s with Tre or he’s throwing himself one hell of a one-man party.”
“Why are you asking?” Celia asked. “What’s going on?”
Arturo’s vision started to clear as some of his panic was subsiding. She definitely wouldn’t be able to be having a grand old time with Tre if she really were hurt from what had happened. He took a shaky breath. “I hurt her. By accident. I didn’t mean to.” He looked up and sought out Martine’s eyes amongst the group. They were just as he’d thought they’d be, painfully sad for him. “I got the past twisted with the present and I couldn’t control my energy. I hurt her. Pushed her away from me so that it wouldn’t go on. She fell back and I passed out. When I came to, she was gone. And I thought…”
The group was silent and Arturo blinked in surprise when someone shoved a glass of water in his hand. That same someone knelt beside him. Celia. She eyed him carefully from a point-blank distance, her eyes bouncing back and forth between the two of his. Thea slipped away from the room and came back a moment later.
“She’s tangled up with Tre and looking like she just discovered the elixir of life. She said she’d explain later.”
Celia nodded again, her eyes still fastened to Arturo. It was surprising her, what she was seeing displayed on his face, conveyed in his tone. After so much unbridled disdain for the group, she hadn’t expected to see this spot of blatant tenderness for one of its members. “We’ll talk to her and make sure her story lines up with yours.”
Arturo nodded. Naturally they wouldn’t trust his account of something like that. He expected that.
Celia spoke again, very slowly this time. “You were really scared for her, weren’t you? You were scared that you’d hurt her.”
Arturo neither confirmed nor denied. Verbally at least. He figured his dramatic entrance and the shaking of his hands was probably all the confirmation that the group really needed.
He took a drink of water, paused, and then slugged back the entire glass.
“You ever seen him do anything so… human?” Jean Luc murmured to Jack.
“You mean take that water straight to the head? Nawl. I’ve barely even seen him breathe.”
“No,” Jean Luc shook his head. “I meant his concern for Caroline. It was almost… ni
ce.”
Jack turned to Arturo and narrowed his eyes for a second. Arturo, still on his knees on the floor, straightened up his spine and turned to glare at Jack. “Are you trying to fight?” he asked Jack.
Jack held his hands palms out. “Not trying to dig around in your head, just seeing if you’re bringing down that wall, is all.”
“You mean you can read his emotions right now?” Thea asked. As far as anyone had known before about five seconds ago, Arturo was apparently willing to endure incredible amounts of pain to keep them out of his feelings.
“Not really,” Jack answered her, as if Arturo weren’t right there. “He’s blocking me again. But I could for a minute. When he came in the room. When he was scared for Caroline.”
“You were scared for her,” Thea said suspiciously. “Sure, you try and flambé the rest of us but Caroline you’re concerned about.”
Arturo scowled. “Whatever. I have a soft spot for her.”
“Join the club,” Celia said, still kneeling beside him. She cocked her head to one side and eyed him. “You need food.”
“What?”
“Food. Ever heard of it? As far as I know, you’ve had broth and coffee for five days straight. You need a sandwich. Come on.”
Celia stood up and was just reaching down to help Arturo stand up when Jean Luc tugged her back. The group stared at Arturo’s semi-extended hand. The one he’d just been about to touch to Celia’s. He’d been about to take her hand to stand up. Like a human.
Ignoring the tense confusion rolling around the group, Arturo stood up on his own and had to admit that his legs were shaky. She was probably right about the food.
“Sit,” Martine told him, shoving him toward the table where the rest of them had been sitting.
A few minutes later, Celia shoved a plated sandwich under his nose and Jean Luc set down another glass of water and, to Arturo’s great surprise, a glass of red wine.
