“Eloise, you almost took a head dive down these hardwoods. What’s up?” He’s too attractive, his spicy mint scent invading all of my senses.
“I … have to go. Take me somewhere.” It’s not a question, but a demand.
I don’t know why I make it. Maybe I need to escape this corrupt world in the one way I always have, through someone else’s body. We’ve been dancing around it for weeks, and right now, getting lost in Colton seems like the best idea I can think of.
His eyes turn molten, the green melting in the blue, sparking as his hand slides down to take my own. I like that he doesn’t ask me any questions, doesn’t stop to make sure I’m sure about this. Because if he did, I’d probably stop this. But in an instant, we’re at the front door of Yardsley House.
Colton’s big, callused hand is hot in mine, practically burning my skin. He shoves past the entrance and we’re hit full on in the face with a gust of frigid air, the scent of snow burning my nostrils. It almost wakes me up, breaks the spell of what we’re about to do.
But the animal pulling me along, the delicious beast so confident it’s hard for me to swallow all of his ego, doesn’t allow me the time to think.
One minute I’m walking briskly down the porch, and the next Colton is shoving me up against the closest car. It knocks the wind out of me at first, until I register his scorching mouth igniting against mine.
Every other thought vanishes, nothing exists in this moment but his lips on mine and his hands pushing and pulling at my dress, the material rubbing against me in the most scandalous of ways.
And the only thing I know as he begins to suck my bottom lip in with his teeth, is that this golden boy was made to kiss … made to kiss me.
Sixteen
Colton
Her mouth was made to fit mine, of that I’m sure.
There is nothing better than this feeling, of pinning Eloise as I finally take what I’ve craved all of these weeks. Of feeling her burning skin as the cold air invades the erotic bubble we’re trapped in. Of tasting her, the crisp scent of linen and some exotic flower mixing together to make my mind drunk. Of catching her throaty moans in my own cheeks, the vibration sliding down my body and gripping me by the aching balls.
“Car, we have to get to my car.” I’m breathless when I break off contact.
She can’t do anything but nod, and I grab her hand, pulling her through the littered front lawn, searching for where I left my sedan. If I don’t get her in it in the next two seconds, I am going to take her on the ground. I can already feel my humanity severing, the beast inside readying to pounce.
Eloise tugs on my arm, and I look back, her face blooming with a sudden thought. “Colton, my coat, my purse …”
As if these things are important right now. “Fuck your things.”
I reach the handle of my driver’s side door, and yank it open, unlocking the rest of the car. I don’t let her speak again, her name on my lips was enough to get me rock solid, and practically push her inside.
“You sure you don’t need to get back inside to your date?” Her tone conveys her hurt.
I stop, halfway into the car, my body positioned over hers. “If I thought you would have gone to the mixer with me, I would have asked you. But every time I get close enough, you run away. Well, guess what? You’re not going to be able to run this time, and I don’t have eyes for anyone but you.”
She squeals when I hurl myself into the car, the space far too compact for both of our bodies. But I don’t care, and I mean it this time; she’s not escaping. We’re done fighting the inevitable.
She wraps her legs around my waist, the red leather skirt she has on riding up on her thighs so that I see the tops of her lacy thigh high stockings. No woman I’ve ever been with has worn something so … erotic, and I find myself fingering the elastic at the top. My thumbs slip under the garter, grasping at her skin while also feeling the bite of the material on her flesh as I roll it down.
“Colton, please.” Eloise writhes beneath me.
“You need me to touch you?” I want to hear her say it.
“Yes, touch me.” Her blue eyes burn like the hottest part of a flame.
I don’t waste time, moving the hand in her thigh-highs to the pulsing heat between her legs. Dipping my fingers into her thong and spreading her wet lips apart. Fuck, her pussy is dripping.
“You’re so fucking wet for me.” I pump her once, twice, and revel in the loud moan she rewards me with.
As I fuck her with my fingers, I feel her hands frantic on my belt, unlatching it while she grinds down on my hand. Pulling out of her, I rub her clit with two fingers, an action that makes her hands drop away and her head roll back into the seat of my car.
“Bloody hell …” It’s a curse; a prayer.
With my other hand, I undo my belt, pulling my cock free.
The noise of my zipper must make her look up, because when I look back down on her, she’s staring intently as I give myself a tug.
“You are not human.” Her eyes are wide as she takes me in, one hand servicing her and the other jacking me off.
Releasing myself, and smirking at Eloise, I reach into the center console and grab a condom. There is no asking, because we both know this is what we’re here for.
“Ride my cock.” I roll the condom on and simultaneously sit up, spreading my legs wide so she can straddle me.
That tongue darts out as she sits up, her long cornflower hair mussed up and her neck flushed. I grab the back of her neck, pulling her mouth toward mine as she crawls across my lap. My balls ache, the head of my dick pulsing for what I know will soon be the sweet grip of her.
Everything stops in the moment she positions herself above me. You can hear the world turn, the clocks tick, the bated breath moving past our teeth.
And then she’s sliding, an oh so delicious descent as my fingers dig into her neck and hip.
“Ah, it’s so big.” Eloise’s head drops to my shoulder, my body going rigid as I try not to move.
I can’t help but thrust my hips the tiniest bit, because the vise wrapping around me is too fucking slick, too tight. The car fills with my growl and her choked sob. Finally, she’s seated to the hilt, blowing out a strangled breath as she pulls up, and then slowly pushes back down onto me.
“Goddammit,” I snarl.
We’re both fully clothed, my boxers and pants pushed down to my knees, her thong hooked somewhere around her ankle or stiletto. Pulling at her black blouse, I unearth a piece of collar bone and bite down, needing to sink my teeth into her.
The move seems to make Eloise kick into gear, because all at once we go from zero to sixty. She’s bouncing up and down on me, my hips thrusting in time to match her. I grind her hips whenever she bottoms out, the head of my cock lodging so far inside of her that I’m scared of the screams emanating from her throat. But she isn’t stopping, and I’m fucking blind with the climax threatening to erupt from my balls.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God …” She’s chanting, praying, one hand buried in my hair and the other slapped against the rearview window to give herself more leverage.
My teeth scrape the delicious flesh of her neck, and we’re fucking like mad people, like crazed animals trying to bury ourselves so deeply in the other that the entire car is moving with the force of a hurricane.
I feel the exact moment she comes, a guttural moan escaping her as she stills on my cock, her hips thrusting softly back and forth.
Words aren’t even possible as I hold her to me, the small flick of her waist pushing me over as I empty myself into the condom. We’re communicating in grunts, touches, grabs.
“I don’t think I’ve ever shagged in a car before.” Eloise laughs into my neck.
I choke out a haggard chuckle. “Not a limo? Or a horse-drawn carriage like some kind of princess?”
“Five-star clubs and the top of Notre Dame are more my thing.” She sits up, my dick still inside her and hardening quickly.
I don’t even kn
ow how to respond to that, because those things are so far from my world that I can’t begin to understand her lifestyle.
“Well, it’s not a fancy hotel, but I’d like to take you back to my place to continue. If you want.”
The orgasm still buzzes in her eyes, her skin. “That depends, are there thousand thread-count sheets? Because I’m not sure I can come over if the bed isn’t up to my standards.”
“Baby, once I get you out of these clothes, you won’t be worrying if we’re in a bed, on the floor, or up on the goddamn roof.”
This seems to make her mind up, and after a little clean up, I’m driving us over to my place. While her hand does evil, evil things over my pants.
Seventeen
Colton
Buzzing in my ear wakes me from sleep, my mind and body resenting being dragged from the blissful cocoon of unconsciousness.
I start to move and then freeze, the smooth feel of someone else beneath my fingertips.
Eloise.
I picture her before I open my eyes, her face and naked form materializing as I blink the night out of my eyes. She’s curled into me, her blond hair cascading behind her onto the pillow on the other side of my bed. Her hip lines up to mine, one leg thrown between my two, all creamy-white skin and ruby red lips. She breathes softly, her chest rising as she holds her palms flat to my chest, as if she’s being lulled to sleep by my heartbeat.
Damn, if it isn’t the most beautiful sight I’ve ever woken up to. She’s so naturally pretty, it almost hurts. My cock stiffens, nudging the leg she has wedged between my thighs.
Another vibration jolts me from cataloging every inch of her, and I grab my phone off the nightstand before it can wake her.
Eleven missed calls. All from Joelle. Shit.
I ease my way out of bed, careful not to wake her as I pull on my discarded boxers from the night before and grab my phone. It’s only eight a.m. on a Saturday, and therefore the entire house wouldn’t be waking for another three to five hours.
Walking into the bathroom at the opposite end of the hall from my bedroom, I unlock my phone and call Joelle back.
“Where the hell have you been?” she hisses as soon as the line connects.
I wince. “I’m sorry … I went out last night.”
“So you were out partying while your mother was busy slicing a triangle in her left thigh,” My cousin reprimands me from half a country away.
My stomach drops out, bile rising in my throat. “Fuck … what set her off?”
“Who knows, but I got to her house after a weird phone call to find her bleeding out on the kitchen floor. I had to take her to the emergency room, Colton. She’s getting worse. She needs a round-the-clock aide.”
I nodded, trying to process what she’d just said. “Is she okay? Is she home?”
Joelle sighs. “She’s okay, home and resting with the day nurse now. Colton, did you hear me? She needs more help.”
I pace the tile, my heart racing. “Fine, hire someone. You have the four grand I sent you last month.”
“And I spent the rest of it on the hospital bill last night. It goes quickly on her medication, the day nurses, the therapy—”
Fuck. Fucking fuck. I felt like a drowning man in the middle of a sea with no hope of savior. I had to fix this.
“I’ll get more, just … hire someone and stall the payments for a few days. I’ll get it, don’t worry.”
“Colton … you can’t keep doing this. I’m worried about you, and about her …”
“Joelle, just do it.” I didn’t want to have this argument again, not when my mind was scrambling for a solution.
She doesn’t say anything, and then the line goes dead a couple of seconds later, beeping signaling the end of the call.
Goddammit, this was more than I could put up with. I’d been busting my ass the last two years, since it got really bad, to come up with as much money as I could for treatments, doctors, aides and anything else my mom needed.
Of course Joelle was right, of course I couldn’t keep going like this. I was bound to run out of steam, and my mother was only digressing. She needed to be a ward of the state, live in a residential facility, have full-time care. But the woman was too proud, and I’d made a promise. And I also didn’t want to be the next athlete with a sob story on SportsCenter, instead of being featured for my talent and talent alone.
Bringing up a text message, I type out Mac’s name.
Colton: Can we meet?
Mac: Depends, what do you have for me?
Colton: I need an advance. You can keep my money from St. Mary’s game as good faith.
Mac: What do I get out of this?
Colton: What do you want?
This was risky, because promising anything meant I had to deliver on it. And that Mac would be in control of my life, for however long it took to fulfill this deal.
Mac: I want a loss. Name your amount, and you get me a loss.
I slammed the phone down on the bathroom counter, gripping it as I looked at myself in the mirror. I was a fucking idiot, I couldn’t do this. Not to my teammates. Not to our undefeated season.
But I had no other choice. I could name an amount, and he’d bet against our win for whatever game it was that I chose. This money could get her full-time care, it could keep the demons off my heels for a little while longer.
Colton: Twenty thousand, and I’ll throw a game.
Mac: We need to decide which one.
Colton: I said I’ll do it, you know I’m true to my word. Just leave the money in our usual spot.
He takes a few minutes to respond, but when he does, I’m already thinking about how I’ll drive to the parking garage today to pull it from beneath the crack in the concrete on the third level.
Mac: Deal. You’ll have your money tonight.
My heart simultaneously sinks and floats, the relief both a blessing and a curse. We’ll stay above the shit for one more day, one more week, possibly another few months.
Thinking about crawling back into bed with Eloise right now turns my stomach. I’m a fraud, a cheater, a liar. In the worst possible way, I’m going to endanger everyone in my life. To the point that I should push her away, but last night …
I can’t do it now, no matter how much of a coward that makes me. I’ve tasted her, I’ve looked into her eyes while she unraveled, and I can’t give it up.
But my soul, it takes another black streak. With every dollar I take, every item I steal, my conscience gets a little dirtier.
Eighteen
Eloise
I’m totally cocking up this paper on the best vintage wines.
Thinking about the night spent with Colton, and what I walked in on shortly before we’d humped in his car.
I’m no stranger to adultery, I spent my teenage years in a universe where the act was second nature. Parents I knew, my own friends messing around behind their designated partners’ backs. I’d never done it, but I just turned a blind eye … just like everyone else who pretended that it was just par for the course.
But something about Ciara’s betrayal felt more personal, more severe. Gretchen certainly didn’t know, because it was clear she was not the type of woman who would excuse her boyfriend sticking his cock in another girl as just something that happened in a relationship. She would slice a bird, even her best one. Power and intimidation were her game, and there one of her closest friends was, stabbing her multiple times in the back while she didn’t even know the knife had even been pulled. And secretly, I had a feeling that our fearless leader would be gutted and heartbroken.
I stop writing, when my phone begins to play “God Save the Queen.”
“How is my favorite princess?”
“Eloise, it’s so good to hear from you.” Nora’s voice is genuinely happy, and I wonder again how she ever made it in the world of the elite that we came from. “Have you begun to say y’all and drive on the right side of the road yet?”
Ah, that’s how. Because just when you co
unt her out, she surprises you. It’s why I liked her instantly when she began to put Asher Frederick in his place.
“Har, har, you’re hilarious. I’m in Vermont, not a trailer park. This place is about as southern as Scotland in the winter. I did, however, order my first Domino’s pizza pie, and ate half of it myself. No wonder America has an obesity problem. I’ve also met tall, dark and handsome … emphasis on the tall. This guy is like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, and I can’t say I wouldn’t like to see his beanstalk.”
Her laugh tinkles through the phone. “I should have known you’d already have your eye on someone. And perhaps you should buy a thirty rack of Keystone, and shotgun them.”
“Oh, honey, I’m not going to actually pursue him, but he is fun to look at. I’ll jot your idea down onto my America bucket list, although I think I have about as much college party-girl in my blood as you do royalty.”
While Nora was part of the elite crowd now, and her stepfather was in line to be king, she had no claim to the throne. And I’m deflecting anyway, using my sharp wit to distract her from the fact that I’d mentioned Colton … or well, a man. See, I wanted to talk about him with someone, and Nora was the closest thing I had to a best friend.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I was having way more fun doing more than just looking at him. Talking to him, fraternizing, spending a very romantic holiday—even if by accident—with him, fantasizing about falling back into bed with him.
The night we’d spent together was … it sounded completely cliché, but it had been magical. We’d laughed, snogged, traced each other’s bodies with our tongues. And I’d seen his beanstalk … and if this were a fairy tale, I would have hit the prince charming jackpot.
Elite Page 7
