“I was thinking the same.” Having dropped the bags, Joe’s hands slip around my waist and I’m pulled back against him. His heat immediately seeps into me, and I breathe a sigh of contentment.
I’m safe.
“Only, I haven’t had a chance to look at the room because I can’t take my eyes off you.”
“Are you always this smooth?”
“Honestly?” he asks between light kisses to my neck which have my nipples pebbling behind my bra. “No. Never. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m usually a fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em kind of guy.”
I’m not at all surprised, but the way he says it so casually makes me wince.
“Don’t go thinking that my partners were under any illusion that it was anything other than what it was. Sex. I’ve never wanted to spend time with someone like I do with you. I’ve never wanted a repeat like I do with you. I’ve never wanted anything from any of the people I’ve slept with before.”
“You want something from me?” I ignore my other curiosity: that he only refers to his previous bed mates as partners or people. I pretty much figured the night I saw him dancing with and kissing anyone in touching distance that he didn't discriminate where sex was concerned. I was brought up with the idea that a woman and man meet, get married and give themselves to their spouse and their spouse only. But standing here, knowing Joe as I do, I really don’t care about that part of his past.
I hope when my truth comes out, he doesn’t hold it against me.
“Everything, Quinn. I want everything.”
He spins me so we’re face-to-face. The intensity in his eyes as he stares down at me causes my stomach to drop. He wants things you can’t offer him. Not yet, anyway.
“Joe, I—”
“Shhh. I didn’t say that to freak you out or for you to tell me you want the same from me. I just want you to know that this isn’t just a bit of fun for me. How I feel about you isn’t a temporary thing. I know it’s complicated. I know there are a million reasons why we shouldn't be here. But we are. We’re here. We’re together, and I can’t imagine anywhere else I want to be right now.”
His lips find mine, and his tongue sweeps into my mouth, searching for mine. Everything he’s just expressed is confirmed by the way his lips move. The emotion he pours into it causes tears to burn the backs of my eyes.
What he said is everything I’ve ever wanted: a man who’s passionate about what he wants…about me. But right now couldn’t be a worse time for it.
“Fuck. I want to be inside you so badly.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“The fact that we’ve got reservations and that I’ve been listening to your stomach rumbling the entire journey here.”
“It was not,” I argue, although it’s weak at best. I’m starving. If it wasn’t for him and his distraction techniques, the only thing I’d be able to think about would be food.
“I might need you more than my next breath, but I also need you with a little energy. I don’t plan on sleeping much tonight, so you’re going to need some sustenance.”
My lips form an O, and he steps away from me.
“We’ve got thirty minutes—not that you need it, because you look stunning already—but do what you need to do and we’ll find you some food.”
I’m rooted to the floor, still reeling from his kiss as he falls onto the sofa and grabs the TV remote, waking it up and finding it on a 24/7 news channel.
I don't think anything of it as I go to my bag and rummage around for something to wear.
It’s not until I hear the headlines for the next story that I freeze.
“The latest private school scandal hit the headlines this morning. According to the police, there have been over one-hundred victims in contact to tell their story about abuse at Earlington Manor. The head teacher has been—”
“Turn it off.” My voice is barely a whisper, making Joe turn to look at me so I can repeat my words. I do so before his eyes even find mine.
“Okay, okay. Is this okay?” he asks, turning the channel and finding a repeat of an old US sitcom.
My hands tremble, and my cold blood turns my body to ice at just hearing those words from the TV.
“Quinn?” he asks, walking over and placing his hands on my upper arms. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I have, I think as memories from my past life threaten to surface.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t watch that. I’ve worked with too many kids who’ve been affected by that kind of abuse, and I can’t hear any more of it.”
He eyes me curiously, correctly guessing that there’s a lot more to this than I’m letting on.
“I’m okay, I promise.” It’s a bare-faced lie and he knows it, but when I move towards the bathroom with a change of clothes and my wash bag, he allows me the space I need.
Chapter Fourteen
The meal is out of this world, and it’s almost enough to drag me from my nightmare. Joe wanted to bring me here to get me away from what’s haunting me, but he managed to bring it closer than it has been since the phone call from Detective Barker.
I force myself out of my own head so I can enjoy what he’s done for me, but it’s harder than I ever imagined it would be.
He can see it. The concern hasn't left his eyes since he released me to get ready, but thankfully he’s given me the reprieve I need and not asked me about it. He wants to, he’s practically vibrating with the need to, but he won’t.
“Would you like coffee?” our waiter asks once she’s cleared our dessert plates.
“I’m fine, but would you?” Joe’s heated and concerned eyes turn to me. I ignore the concern and focus on the desire.
“No, thank you. I think I’m done.” I rub my hand over my full belly. I can’t remember the last time I ate an entire three-course meal. Not so long ago it would have seemed so normal, but now I live on a diet of toast and noodles, it seems like it was in another lifetime.
I swallow down the last of my wine, and Joe’s eyes lock onto my lips and run down my neck as I do. His teeth sink into his bottom lip, and his muscles tense.
“I think I’m done too. I’m done with you teasing me from the other side of the table. I’m done with imagining what you’re wearing under that sinful little leather dress, and I’m done waiting for another taste of your sweet pussy.”
I gasp. “You can’t say stuff like that here. Anyone could hear you.”
“So? Anyone who’s bored enough to be eavesdropping right now will only be jealous.”
I glance around the full restaurant and find everyone lost in their own conversations or meals.
“Excuse me,” Joe calls out when a waiter walks past. “Please could we have another bottle to take up to our room?”
“Of course, Sir. I’ll be right back with it.”
It feels like only seconds later that Joe has a chilled bottle of white wine in one hand and one of mine in his other.
My stomach somersaults as we step into the lift alone. The air crackles between us as Joe hits the button for the top floor and turns to me.
I back up. The look in his eyes and the tight set of his shoulders makes my heart race and my skin tingle.
He closes the distance between us and successfully sucks all the air from the tiny space. His body is impressively huge at the best of times, but right now, in such an enclosed space, he looks downright dangerous.
I feel like a little chick being hunted by its prey, but there’s not an ounce of fear in my body right now.
I might be scared of many things in my life, but Joe isn’t one of them. My feelings for him might be another story, but him, his strength and power, not so much.
He stops when there’s barely an inch between us. His breath races across my face. It smells like wine and chocolate from the moose he just had for dessert. It’s delicious, making me desperate to know how it’ll make him taste.
I expect his lips to land on mine, but much to my surprise, when we connect,
it’s only our foreheads that are touching.
His eyes continue to stare down into mine, and it’s like he can see all the way down to my toes. The weirdest feeling comes over me, the desire to tell him everything. To spill everything I’ve kept so close to my chest for so long. It’s right on the tip of my tongue, even though I know that now is not the time.
He makes me feel safe. He makes me feel strong. Acknowledging both of those means that I know he’ll keep my secrets locked up as tightly as I do. He’ll accept them and support me without question.
“Quinn,” he breathes, making my insides quiver with need. “What the hell are you doing to me?”
I want to respond, to tell him that I really have no idea, but I don’t get a chance because the lift doors open on our floor and we’re forced to break apart.
The second the door to our fancy hotel room slams behind us, he’s on me. My bag drops to the floor with a thud. I’ve no idea what happens to the bottle of wine, because both his hands grasp my face as his lips descend on mine. He walks us backwards until I bump up against the wall, but he doesn’t stop, not until every inch of our bodies that can touch are.
His hard length presses into my stomach and he grinds his hips slowly, ensuring I feel every inch of him.
“I need you so fucking badly,” he groans in my ear after kissing along my jaw. A shudder runs down my spine and radiates all the way out to my fingertips and toes. I sag against the wall as his hands skim down my sides and his fingers dig into my hips with an almost painful grip.
Something flashes in his eyes like he’s made a decision, and his hands drop lower to push the fabric of my dress up around my waist.
“Fuck,” he moans when he gets a look at the small black thong I’m wearing. It’s a little different to the boring pair of knickers I had on the last time.
With his hands on my arse, he lifts me and presses me back against the wall. My arms wrap around his shoulders as I seek out his lips once again.
His length presses against my core, and the ball of need that’s already consuming me starts to grow even more insistent. I’ve never experienced sex like this before. Like if we don’t have each other right now and sate the desire running through us, then we might explode. I thought this kind of need and passion was something that only existed in movies and romance novels.
Joe’s tongue delves deep into my mouth, exploring like he can’t possibly live another second without discovering every inch.
Somehow, he manages to slip his hand between us, undo his fly and release his cock.
“Fuck, Joe,” I moan when he rubs the head against the damp fabric covering me. My muscles tense and ripple, needing something to grip onto, something to fill me and give me everything I need.
“I’ve been tested. I’m clean. I want to feel all of you.”
My head falls back against the wall with a thud. Joe’s tongue licks up the column of my neck as he waits for my answer. It’s not that I need to think about it…more that I need my brain to function to be able to form the correct words.
“I’m…” His tongue swirls around the outside of my ear and I lose all concentration. “I’m on the pill.”
Taking that as my confirmation, the fabric of my thong is immediately pulled to the side, and he pushes himself into my wetness.
“So fucking wet for me,” he murmurs, pushing the head of his cock just inside me, teasing me.
My muscles try to grip onto him to drag him deeper to get what I need. My heels dig hard into his arse, trying to get him to thrust, and he chuckles.
“What do you need, Quinn?”
“You,” I moan, arching my back and shamelessly thrusting my leather covered chest at him.
“How? How do you want me?”
My cheeks heat more than they already are, knowing that he wants me to spell it out for him. But if it’s what it takes to feel him pressing inside me, I’ll tell him whatever he wants to hear.
“I want your cock inside me. So fucking deep my eyes cross,” I add as his pupils dilate until they’re almost totally black when the word ‘cock’ falls from my mouth.
“Gonna. Kill. Me.” His words are barely loud enough for me to make out.
My lips turn up in a triumphant smile. I’ve never had a man at my mercy like this before, and the power it gives me makes me feel invincible.
My elation is soon pushed aside as Joe thrusts his hips, simultaneously dropping me a little lower down the wall so he fills me in one swift move.
I cry out at the sudden invasion, my body stretching almost to the point of pain to accommodate him.
“Fuuuuck,” he hisses, slamming his palm down against the wall beside my head. His muscles are pulled tight, and I know he’s trying to give me a minute to adjust, but he’s dying to move.
Moving my head from the wall, I let my lips brush his ear. “Fuck me, Joe. Fuck me until the only thing I can think about is you. Make everything else go away.”
“Motherfucking shit. Where have you been all my life?”
I assume it’s a rhetorical question. His fingers tangle in my hair and my head’s pulled back so he can slam his lips down on mine.
His hips find their rhythm and, before long, we’re forced to break our kiss so we can both suck in some much-needed air.
My head hits the wall, but if it hurts I don’t feel it. The only thing I can focus on is the building tension radiating from my core that’s sure to rock my world when it explodes.
“So tight. So wet. So fucking good,” Joe chants against the hot skin of my neck as he ups the pace, chasing both of our releases. “Fuck, Quinn. Fuuuuuck,” he roars so loud that I’ve no doubt the rooms either side of us heard, but I don’t care. All I care about is the twitch of his cock inside me and the hot spurts of his cum that set off my own mind-blowing release. My muscles clamp down around him as fireworks shoot off around me. My body takes on a life of its own as it twitches and convulses, the pleasure he’s caused seemingly endless and so fucking needed.
Our chests are heaving and our skin’s covered in a sheen of sweat when Joe pulls out of me and drops my legs to the floor.
“Turn,” he demands.
It takes a few seconds for me to figure out if my legs will hold me up before I follow his orders. My knees threaten to buckle the moment I move them, but thankfully, I don’t crumple to a pile on the floor.
The second my back is to him, his fingers grip onto the zip at the base of my neck and he pulls it down. My breasts swell once again, my nipples puckering against the lace containing them.
Goosebumps break out across my skin when he pushes the fabric from my shoulders.
“It feels like it’s been a lifetime since I’ve touched you.” He kisses down my spine until he finds the clasp of my bra. He unhooks it and allows it to fall to the floor.
Descending, he pulls my thong down my legs before helping me slip my shoes from my feet.
“Turn,” he repeats.
After sucking in some confidence, I spin. My skin heats under his intense stare, my nipples harden even further, and my core grows hot for him once again.
Reaching behind his head, he pulls his shirt from his body, revealing his rippling muscles beneath before pushing his jeans and boxers from his hips and toeing off his shoes.
I take my time running my eyes over every inch of him, but my ogling is soon stopped when I’m pulled into his arms and thrown onto the bed.
“I hope you didn’t think we were done.”
“Not even for a second. Sleep is for the weak, right?” He laughs, and it awakens something inside me that I didn’t even realise was missing until right now. My heart swells seeing the wide, genuine smile on his handsome face. I want to wrap my arms around him and never let go, and that’s a seriously scary thought. I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want him, and I already know that nothing good can come from being with me.
* * *
I’ve no idea what time we eventually fall asleep, but when I wake it’s with Joe’s arm
s locked around me. I breathe a sigh of relief when I realise that I had my first peaceful night’s sleep (even if it was only a few hours) since he was with me last time. I put it down to my exhaustion, but I can’t help hoping it’s more than that, because for the first time in weeks, I feel safe. While I’m in his arms, I know nothing’s going to happen to me.
Needing to see him, I try to turn in his arms without waking him. I barely move and my muscles pull, a reminder of just how busy we got last night. I’m most definitely not used to that kind of exertion.
His breathing stays steady and he doesn’t move so I think I’m successful, but when I look up, I find him staring back down at me, his eyes full of amusement.
“Hey,” I say shyly, suddenly very aware of the fact my naked body is crushed up against his.
“Hi.” Something wicked twinkles in his eyes, and my stomach tumbles in anticipation of what’s to come. “You hungry?”
“Uh…I guess. What time is breakfast?”
“Right now.” Before I have a chance to blink, he’s thrown the covers off and is trailing a line of kisses down my stomach.
My body immediately wakes up for him, and my veins fill with fire, knowing what he’s about to do to me.
It’s safe to say I’ve never had an alarm clock like this before and I’m pretty sure I’d quite happily keep it. The serious thought makes me still for a beat, and he doesn’t miss it. He’s hovering over my navel when he looks up and his eyes find mine. He doesn’t say any words, but I can feel the question in his stare. Forcing a small smile onto my lips, I nod slightly. He holds our connection for a second longer, I guess trying to figure out if I really am okay or not, but before long the soft brush of his lips under my belly button has goosebumps pricking my skin.
“So fucking sweet. I could eat you all day long, Quinn.” Heat floods my face at the thought.
“You won’t hear me complaining.” I’m not sure how I’ve managed my entire life without this but after just one lick from his skilled tongue and I feel myself becoming addicted to his touch.
Avoiding Temptation: Forbidden Series #6 Page 11
