“You don’t need to apologize, sweetheart. I’m glad you chose me. Honored, even, if that doesn’t sound too much like a douchebag.” I paused for a second, then gave a mental shrug. She was being as vulnerable as a woman could ever be, maybe more, considering our past. Maybe I owed her the same. “A part of me was glad to hear you’d never been with anyone. I like the thought of you being all mine.”
She smiled. “All yours, huh?”
“Too much?” I asked.
She could have said yes, could have called me any number of names for presuming to have any claim to her, but she didn’t. “Is that what you want?”
“For you to be mine?” Even the words caused me to choke up.
Her bravery faltered, as did her gaze. “Yeah,” she said, looking down at my chest where my heart was racing wildly.
“Part of me wants that more than anything.”
She glanced back up. “And the other?”
“The other part is scared of hurting you.”
“You won’t hurt me, Dash. You’ve always been honest, sometimes brutally so. Maybe that’s why I’m not scared.” She looked up at me from underneath long lashes. “Are you going to make me wait any longer?”
My whole body shuddered. I wrestled myself back under control and arranged her on the bed beneath me. She trembled, but her muscles turned to liquid beneath my hands when I slid down between her legs and tasted her. I groaned against her skin, somehow knowing her flavor would haunt me. Her legs tightened around my head as I carefully worked at her clit. Quick flutters, long licks.
She was like a drug I couldn’t seem to stop once I started.
When she broke, my fingers dug into her hips to keep her from bucking me off. I kissed the inside of her thighs, her stomach. I wanted to kiss her everywhere I could reach.
“Please,” she whispered.
“I like to hear you beg,” I said, as I moved up her body.
Her eyes were glassy with desire. I brushed back her hair from her face and waited, hovering over her, until they focused on me. She smiled faintly, her arms twining around my neck.
Layla slipped her fingers under the band of my briefs and my brain went blank. Would I ever get used to having her hands on me? She kept going until her fingers were tight around my cock.
“Probably the only time you’ll ever hear it,” she said.
“I don’t think I’d mind that so much.” It took me a minute to get the full sentence out. She’d worked my briefs down my hips and I toed them off. I’d never be able to see her again without thinking about having her naked and willing.
Naked—willing—and mine.
I kissed her slowly, more for my benefit than hers. The second she got her hands on me, it took everything I had not to go off. Not because it had been a while, but because it was her. She’d ruined me.
Maybe I was about to ruin her. Maybe that made me as bad as she’d always thought.
Maybe I didn’t care.
She braced her hands on my shoulders, her nails biting into my flesh. I smoothed away the wrinkle in her brow with my lips and said, “Let me get a condom.” More to remind myself than inform her. If I didn’t stick to a script, I was going to lose it completely before she ever tasted bliss and I couldn’t let that happen.
“I want to,” she said, and grabbed the condom from my hands after I retrieved it from the nightstand. I didn’t have the chance to stop her and had to grit my teeth as she ripped the wrapper with her teeth and then slowly worked it over my cock. Sweat beaded at my hairline and prickled along the backs of my knees.
She was going to be the death of me. That was all there was to it. Here I was trying to be a gentleman, trying to keep myself somewhat detached and in one innocent act, she disarmed me completely.
“I’ll take it slow,” I said when I caught my breath. Focus, Hampton.
“I trust you,” she said, and I didn’t realize I’d been waiting to hear those words until relief coursed through me.
Poised above her, I fitted myself to her entrance and observed her expression to make sure I wouldn’t hurt her more than I had to. Her eyes were closed, but she nodded and said, “It’s okay. Don’t stop,” when I paused with the tip of my cock barely inside her.
Who’d have thought I’d need the encouragement?
Who’d have thought the barest hint of her would have my muscles going lax?
There was no sweeter heaven than being inside her.
“Open your eyes,” I said, without thinking, the words ripped from the depth of my chest. I was losing control—or she was taking it. “I want to see you. Wanna watch you.”
I saw in her eyes the girl I’d admired, hated, feared, and worshipped. Felt her open and give all she was. She was sweet, tender…and she was going to be mine.
I groaned as I slipped inside the slightest inch, clenched by the swollen fist of her flesh so tightly I thought I’d be trapped there. I didn’t seem to mind the thought. I’d spent so long fighting her, her physical acceptance was the sweetest reward.
“Yes,” she sighed as though she was reading my mind. “You feel… God, you make me feel so good.”
“Fuck,” I said on an exhalation, pulling back to clear my thoughts and realizing it was a mistake. The friction was almost too much to handle, too sweet to resist, just like the woman herself. The push was almost as delicious as the pull.
She shifted, lifted her hips, searching for more. “Please.” Hearing her beg only shoved me closer to the edge. Fuck, I was seconds away from begging myself. “More.”
I did as she asked, but only because staying still was near torture. Breath tore from my chest as I sank deeper inside. Fuck, I could feel the entire head of my cock swallowed by her wetness, could feel the pleasure of it shoot through my balls and up my spine. Sweat spread over my back and chest at the effort to maintain a tenuous grip on my control.
Who was I kidding? I had no control left where she was concerned.
Her face pinched as I worked deeper and deeper inside of her with each thrust. She bit her lip and arched her neck.
“Okay?” I asked.
She was still for a moment before she let out a breath, nodded. Her eyes focused enough to meet mine. I felt the connection of her gaze almost as viscerally as I did being inside her. “I’m okay,” she said, “It’s just—a lot. Different. Full.”
“Tell me what you want. I want to make it good for you.”
She shuddered underneath me and I lost her gaze as her eyelids slipped close Her legs viced tight around me and she rocked her hips up. “I want more.”
I froze, her movements having caught me off guard. “More?” I choked out. More might kill me.
“You’re not hurting me. I said I want it. Please, please, keep going. Give it all to me.”
“I said don’t rush me.”
The gentle in and out was taking me slightly deeper with each thrust, but she was having a little trouble taking me all the way. To be honest, I knew the long, slow drag inside the tight grasp of her pussy would be more than I could handle, and I wanted to make it good for her. The bastard in me wanted her to remember me for the rest of her life. I wanted her to compare all others to me. Coming before she did would put a definite damper on the situation. My brows furrowed as I tried to concentrate.
She seemed to be having the same problem focusing. “I’m not, I just… please.”
“We’re going to go nice and easy, sweetheart. I can feel how much you want it, how deep you’re taking me. Oh, fuck, you feel good.”
Her head thrashed against the pillow. “Dash, please.”
“No, you’re going to listen to me for once.”
“I am, I promise I am,” she whimpered and lifted her hips to meet mine, sending stars shooting across my vision as I slipped deeper inside her.
“Fuck, baby, you can’t do that. I’m already a goner here.”
I licked my finger, tasting sweat and musk, and reached between us to stroke the stiff bundle of her clit. Her reaction
was instantaneous. She clenched even tighter around me, both inside and out, then loosened, her legs lifting, opening. I cursed and buried my face in her hair.
My strokes lengthened until I was plunging nearly all the way inside her. She lifted her hips to meet me, searching for the friction provided by my finger against her clit. With a soft, beseeching cry, she gripped my hips with her hands and pulled me tight to her. One slick thrust, then I was all the way inside, her thighs cradling my hips.
Her moan broke, then held, her head thrown back, mouth wide. I kissed her throat, nipped with my teeth, breathing heavily against the throbbing pulse beating against my lips. I trembled above her to keep still. She was rapture and damnation all at once.
“Okay?” I asked again.
“No,” she answered. “Dash, I don’t—” She lifted her hips to finish her thought, searching for fulfillment just out of reach.
“I’ve got you,” I said. I increased pressure with my finger against her clit, then moved slowly, rhythmically. Seducing her to the edge as much as I was myself with quick, hard thrusts, and slow withdrawals. It was a torment and a tease. Like the woman herself.
I wanted to come more than anything, but I wanted to see her first. Wanted to watch the wave of pleasure crash over her, watch her lose it in my arms. My arms shook with the effort to hold my orgasm back, but I kept the pace, studied her reaction until I found the spot that made her writhe beneath me.
She came, wrapped around me like she never wanted to let me go. Like being anchored to me is what allowed her to fly. I watched as her mouth turned into an “O” of surprise and a flush spread over her chest. Her nipples beaded up, and I tasted them, flinging her higher, sending her soaring.
Then, she said my name on a sigh and sent me tumbling after her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LAYLA
I COULDN’T STOP SMILING. It wouldn’t take Charlie or Ember long to figure out what had happened, but I didn’t care.
Dash was still asleep in front of me and I was wrapped around him like a starfish. It was the weekend, so we didn’t have any classes. I was glad to have a few more moments with him where reality didn’t intrude. The thought had me hugging him a little tighter until he chuckled and turned around to face me.
“Trying to smother me already?” he asked.
I pressed my face into the warmth of his chest, let the dusting of hair tickle my nose, along with the scent of him, sleepy and warm. “Not today,” I answered.
“Sex makes you compliant. Good to know,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“You’re lucky I’m feeling so relaxed or you’d have a fist in your stomach right about now,” I replied.
“Did you have anything planned for today?” he asked. His thumb lazily trailed up my wrist, causing me to shiver.
“Nothing important.”
“Good, then you’re mine for the day.” I felt a little thrill at the words “you’re mine” but decided not to read too much into them.
“What do you want to do?” I asked.
His hand skimmed playfully down my back to cup my ass. “First, I want to get you in the shower, then it’s a surprise.”
The wicked glint in his eye was intriguing. No one had ever planned a surprise for me aside from Charlie and Ember. Certainly not family. And definitely not any guy. “What kind of a surprise?”
He flicked my nose then rolled out of bed. “Now, Ms. Tate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?”
I took a moment to watch him walk naked to turn on the shower. There was a reason all the girls had gone for Dash in high school, and part of it most definitely had to do with his body. Well-muscled thighs, tight, round butt. Broad shoulders coupled with strong arms. The tingle between my legs, coupled with a touch of rawness, made me groan. I pressed my thighs together, but the sensation didn’t abate. In fact, it made it worse. It was the definition of an ache, but a good one. I’d wanted him before, but it was nothing compared to how much I wanted him now.
Flinging the covers off of me, I padded into the bathroom where Dash was already under the spray. Before joining him in the shower, I quickly brushed my teeth and rinsed with mouthwash. I’d already let him see me at my most vulnerable, but I wasn’t ready to subject him to my morning breath.
That finished, I opened the curtain and stepped into the shower. Dash made room for me, cocooning my body underneath the torrent of blessedly warm water. He pressed my body against him and kneaded out the soreness in my arms, back, and even down to my thighs. My sharp inhalation didn’t deter him from working out the lingering soreness, and when he finished, my body may as well have been featherlight.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Keep doing that and I’ll be perfect.”
With care, he squirted a handful of gel into his hands, then spread it over my skin. I made a sound of surprise and squealed, “Boy soap!” but that didn’t stop him from covering me with pine-scented suds.
He paid particular attention to my nipples, tweaking them between his thumb and forefinger, which stifled all of my protests. When I ran my hands over his body, he turned me around and pressed my back to his chest, so I couldn’t reach him. I groaned in frustration, but I quickly forgot my dismay as his hands wandered down to pay special attention between my legs.
I braced myself against him as he detached his showerhead from the post, surprised when I realized it came in two pieces. With a few adjustments, the stationary head was soon jetting out in sporadic pulses, which made my skin warm, then tingle with awareness. With the extendable showerhead, he set the spray to a single, gentle stream.
He directed the stream of water between my legs where he used it, along with his hands, to soothe any tenderness. The strength of his body kept me from falling into a puddle at his feet. When he deemed me sufficiently clean, he said, “How do you feel now?” in a dark, low voice that made me shiver.
“I want you,” I said, and felt as though my words could have dissolved along with the steam.
Dash kissed my throat. “Not yet, you’re still too sore, but I will give you something. Does it ache, sweetheart?”
I nodded, unable to form words.
“I’ll take care of it.”
I don’t know how it happened, how he became the one to soothe when he’d always caused so much torment.
He directed the stream of gently pulsing water at my clit and my knees gave way. He braced my body against his chest, otherwise I would have melted to the floor. One hand cupped the tender weight of my breast and the pad of his thumb rasped against the sensitive nipple. My head, too heavy for me to hold upright, relaxed against his shoulder and my eyes fluttered closed. Breathing the steamy air was nearly impossible, but who needed to breathe, anyway?
The spray of water, like his hard body behind me, was impossible to escape. But I liked I had nowhere to go, liked when I strained against him, he held me in place. Possibly, I shouldn’t like being restrained. I’m sure there’s some feminist part of me that should be outraged at his presumption, but I liked it too much to give a damn.
I was already so sensitized, from the night before, it didn’t take me long to reach a fever pitch. My moans echoed off the tile walls and his whispered encouragements tickled my ear. His free hand snaked between us, pausing to cup my ass, then slid between my spread thighs in a rear assault. His fingers probed my entrance and I winced a little at the sensation. It didn’t hurt much. I let him trace my opening, loving it with his touch.
“Does it hurt?”
I shook my head against his shoulder. “No, I like it.”
He filled me with one finger, enough so I could feel him and not be overwhelmed by the sensation. It stung a little, but I relished the burn. It was the perfect complement to the gentle waves of pleasure from his attention to my clit. But it wasn’t either that pushed me over the edge. It was his taunting in my ear. His words. Him.
Maybe it had always been him.
“Dash,” I w
hispered uncertainly as I crested.
His arms tightened around me, like he knew I needed his reassurance. “I’m right here. I’ve got you. Fuck, I wish I could see your face. I want to fill you up all over again.”
My vision dotted with black and my whole body shook. Carefully, he removed his finger, replaced the showerhead, and turned me in his arms to cradle me against his chest until the trembling ceased and my breathing returned to normal.
I reached for him, but he stopped my hand before I could wrap it around his cock. Looking up at him quizzically, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Dash shook his head. “Nothing, but if you touch me, I’m gonna want more and we should wait a while. Don’t worry, feeling you come all over my hand was enough for me.” His blunt talk made me blush, but it also made me want him more. I must have shown it in my expression because he laughed. “Let’s get some clothes on and get somewhere public before my dick overrules my common sense.”
“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” I asked as we got in the elevator.
After he’d helped me wobble from the shower, then dried me carefully with a fluffy towel, I’d waited for him to dress. Okay, maybe I ogled him as he did. It really wasn’t fair. He made jeans and a long-sleeved shirt look attractive and he didn’t even have to try!
Once he dressed, he followed me back to my place and I’d tried to convince him to give me a hint about where we were going, but he wouldn’t budge. I nixed his suggestion of a little black dress, that barely skimmed my thighs, and chose jeans and a light sweater that complemented my eyes. The jeans may or may not have been skintight. From the look in his eye, they drove him a little crazy, which I felt was appropriate.
Later, I’d think about the consequences from my actions. Later.
Today, I would forget the rules and enjoy.
“For a ride,” Dash said mysteriously.
I rolled my eyes. “To where?”
“You let me worry about that,” he answered.
He took my hand as we left the elevator and journeyed through the shadowed parking garage to where his Jeep was parked. He unlocked it, opened the door for me, then helped me up into the lifted seat. His hands lingered on my hips, then he gave me a teasing grin and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Frenemies Page 10
