The Sterling Boys (The Sterling Shore Series #3)

by C. M. Owens

  "Thanks," I mutter when the guy walks off.

  "You shouldn't be letting them hang all over you if you don't want them expecting more," he says through a bored tone, but his jaw clenches as if he's pissed.

  That makes no sense.

  "I was trying to keep you from possibly humiliating me. It seemed best if I had a guy around. I should have picked someone a little soberer," I say shamefully, frowning.

  His right eyebrow raises questioningly, and then his panty-dropping smile comes up as he leans down to get right in my face, letting his breath bathe my lips with a taste I shouldn’t want. "You thought that twerp could stop me from doing anything I want to you?"

  Was that... seduction? Surely not. He's not trying to seduce me. It's Kode. This is a game.

  I swallow hard, denying my body the right to shudder under his heated gaze. There's no way he's looking at me this way. He's fucking with me. He knows I once had a crush on him, but that was years ago—before he tortured me to damn death and grew an unhealthy obsession for my sister.

  "Let's play," he says, and my guard goes up a little stronger.

  A warning? Kode Sterling doesn't usually warn his victims of his impending attack, and I don't feel like playing his games.

  "I knew you were going to—"

  "Pool," he says while setting his glass down on the rim of the pool table, interrupting my would-be rant.

  My mouth opens and closes a few times as he starts chalking one of the pool cues. What is going on?

  "I'd rather not," I murmur, backing up. I'm almost worried he's going to jerk my dress up while I'm bent over the table, just so he can embarrass the fuck out of me in front of everyone here. It would be like high school all over again when he ripped my skirt up in the hallway after a tiff I had with Rain. People still make fun of my hello-kitty underwear.

  He smiles a little as his eyes lift up to meet mine.

  "It's not a trick, Tria. It's just a game of pool."

  He has to be shit-face drunk right now to even think I'd fall for something like that.

  "What're you drinking?" he asks.

  I glance down at the fourth glass of vodka I've had. I hit the strong stuff once I realized Kode was here.

  "Vodka."

  He motions for a waitress and he orders us two more glasses of our drinks before he walks over to me, making me falter for my footing. I wish he'd stop looking at me like that. Is this my punishment? What game is he playing?

  "Hitting the hard stuff, Tria?" he asks, coming to stand behind me while placing a pool stick directly in front of my body. "One game."

  I shiver when my body refuses to be as strong against him as my mind.

  "I'll even let you go first," he says, making it sound so much dirtier than necessary as his breath coats my ear with a teasing touch.

  Damn him.

  "Fine," I mutter while taking the stick away from him, and ignoring his hard as hell length against my back before stepping away. "One game. And if you do anything to embarrass me, I'll break this stick on your balls. Got it?"

  Why am I doing this? Any sane girl who knows Kode as well as I do would run away before he can execute whatever terrible plan of torture he has in mind.

  "Got it," he says, grinning like he has already won.

  I warily step to the other side of the table, and I do my best to focus on breaking the balls. I strike the white ball hard, but it rolls right instead of into the triangle.

  Crap.

  "Here," he says, walking around the table to come stand behind me again. Damn. Why is he so hard? "You're doing it wrong. Let me show you."

  His body rests over mine as he leans against me and wraps his arms around me to change my hold on the stick. "Like this," he says against my ear, pressing harder against me. "And then one easy stroke with just the right amount of force will be perfect."

  I swallow hard. I really don't like this game.

  The waitress returns with a glass of vodka for me, and I almost run out of the intimate position we're in before I guzzle it down. I should leave. But I can't. My twisted mind keeps wanting him to play with me a little more. I really need to get laid if I'm fantasizing about what it would be like to be bent over a pool table by Kode Sterling.

  ***

  KODE

  I'm about to explode. Every time I help her line up her next shot, I press my cock as hard against her as I possibly can. Surely she's felt it by now. She has to be turned on. Doesn't she?

  I need a CAT scan.

  Maverick and Corbin are still clueless about who I'm with. Apparently they don't recognize her any better than I did, but they're staying on the far side of the bar, completely engulfed by the women around them. I've ignored the curious looks from Raya and Kade. If I don't find a way to fuck Tria and get this over with, I might commit myself to the asylum.

  Surely if I fuck her, then I'll be fine. It'll be out of my system.

  Tria was always pretty enough, but it was hard to see her as anything other than the enemy because of Rain. Now... I fucked up by not knowing it was her. Had I known right away it was her, then I wouldn't have fallen into this nonsensical infatuation.

  "Eight ball, corner pocket," she says, bending over right in front of me.

  I groan as her dress slides up just enough to make me want to slam into her from behind. I want to be buried inside her right now. I can't do it. It's Tria. She's hotter than I've ever fucking noticed before, but it's Tria, damn it.

  "Never gonna happen," I mutter, reminding myself this is off limits.

  "Watch me," she says, thinking I was referring to her shot.

  I step closer, my feet moving of their own accord, and I run my hand over her ass before I realize what I'm doing. I shouldn't have drunk so much liquor. It makes me too hands-on.

  She stiffens under my touch, and I give her ass a squeeze, feeling my dick almost try to detach from the extended amount of time it's been fully erect. I honestly don't know if I've ever needed to fuck someone so bad in all my life.

  My emotions keep contradicting themselves, making it hard to decipher what the hell I'm actually going to do.

  "I need to go," she says, putting the pool stick down on the table without attempting her shot.

  She staggers slightly, and I wrap my arms around her to steady her... Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

  "You're drunk," I say, waving at the waitress to bring over my tab. "You can't drive."

  "I've got a hotel room," she mumbles. "Across the street. I planned ahead."

  She had to mention a hotel. Damn. And what was she planning for?

  "Don't tell me you came here to get laid," I almost growl.

  "Don't tell me you didn't. I need to go. Mission not accomplished."

  Really? She's not the least bit turned on by me? After all that?

  "I'll walk you," I murmur.

  I'm a little pissed that she was going to fuck some stranger but not me. At least she knows me.

  I roll my eyes when the voice in my head starts sounding like an annoying bitch instead of a badass guy.

  "I can walk myself," she says pushing away from me.

  Fine. If she doesn't even want me to walk her out, then who am I to argue? She's a grown woman.

  When she staggers all the way to the door, my jaw clenches. She's not fit to cross a street alone. Some guy winks at a group of his buddies when he spots her, and he ducks out the door behind her, making his intentions clear. Hell no.

  I take quick strides, ignoring Maverick yelling for me, and I burst through the doors to see the guy laughing as he steadies her.

  "I've got you, sweetheart," he says, chuckling. "Where you headed? I'll help you."

  Like hell.

  "I've got her," I interrupt, knocking his hands off her as I wrap my arm around her waist.

  "The fuck you do," he snarls, acting like I'm stealing easy prey from his jaws.

  "Kode," she murmurs softly, smiling as pulls at my shirt. "Take me to my room."

  Fr
om the pool table to here, she's finally making sense. Good. We’re both drunk as shit, but at least I can stand without help.

  The guy rolls his eyes, but he walks away, tucking his tail between his legs. I start crossing the street with her tucked under my arm, but I'm staggering almost as badly as she is.

  We both laugh when take a diagonal route by mistake, and she clutches me tighter once we reach the sidewalk. I smirk when she takes off her heels and holds them in her hands.

  "So much better," she moans, and then she tugs at my jacket. "Come in with me."

  I smile as she tugs me harder. "I'll walk you to your room."

  Her vixen's grin only makes my already aching cock hurt that much more. But I can't fuck her now. Not now that she's this drunk.

  We walk into the elevator, and she presses the button for the fifth floor. I notice she doesn't have a purse. It's not like her dress has pockets. Where's her key?

  She staggers into me, and in my already drunken state, I stagger into the wall. "Mmm," she says, making me laugh as she rubs up against me.

  The doors open, and I start steering her off the elevator. "Which room?" I ask, trying not to act affected when she tugs at my shirt and backs against a door.

  "This one."

  I tilt my head, ready to ask where her key is, when she reaches into her bra. My eyes dart down, of course, and I get a peek at her erect nipples behind the lacy bra. That's like putting a steak in front of a starving man.

  I groan as I lose all my ability to hold back, and I lower my head while pushing her dress and bra down in unison to allow way for my mouth to close over the hard little nub.

  She moans when she feels it, and she pulls me to her, tangling her hands in my hair. That thin thread of sanity I had snaps, and I lift her into the air before pressing her hard against the door.

  I jerk the key out of her hand and blindly fumble with it, never moving my mouth away from her breast, until the door opens. We stumble into the room, and I lose my hold on her nipple, but her mouth is on mine before I can go for it again.

  Her greedy tongue sweeps in and my knees try to buckle. The door slowly shuts on its own as we start tearing the place apart. She actually rips my shirt off as her legs clamp around my waist, and I start unzipping the back of the dress that has been fucking with my head all night.

  "You’d better have a condom," she says against my lips, making me smile.

  If she's sober enough to think about protection, then she's sober enough for us to do this. God knows I can't stop now.

  "I've got plenty."

  Her kiss resumes, and I hold her to me for a second longer before I pull back to discard her dress. Fuck me. Tria in lace isn't something I was prepared for. A thong? I'm never going to last. Not after being hard for this long.

  She reaches her hand in my pants, and delicate fingers take a firm grip on my cock, stroke it, and make me stumble again when my knees falter. Damn. She's going to make me fuck up and come too early if she keeps this up.

  I lift her to be on the dining table in her massive suite. Her girly panting makes me hurry my motions as I fumble for a condom. She gets to work pushing my pants down while I tear open the condom, and I roll her panties down, desperate to be buried inside her the way I've fantasized about being all night long.

  I rip the pack open with my teeth, but she takes the condom from me and rolls it on like I'm taking too long. The second it's secure, she spreads her legs and jerks me to her. A low growl comes from my throat as I grip her to me, my eyes roll back as I sink inside her tight-as-hell sheathe, and I almost come then and there when she moans in delight.

  I really was hoping she wouldn't feel this damn good. Fuck.

  I start moving, doing what I can to last long enough for her to find her release first, but it's never going to happen. Not after the way she's had me worked up.

  "Kode," she murmurs, pushing back.

  Fuck. She's changing her mind now? Damn it.

  "Yeah," I mutter, going down to kiss her neck and praying she doesn't stop me just yet.

  "We hate each other," she says, tilting her head to give me a better angle, and I take advantage. I also push back inside her, making her breath catch when our bases meet.

  "So?" I ask, knowing where she's going with this, but praying I'm wrong.

  "So fuck me like you hate me, already."

  Damn. If I didn't hate her, I think that would have made me fall in love. That's really not going to help me last long.

  I pull out of her and flip her over, pressing her against the table, and I slam into her from behind before she has time to register my actions.

  "So much better," she moans as I slam into her again, and that's all I can take.

  Fucking three strokes later and I've humiliated myself by getting off so damn quickly.

  "No," she groans, pressing back on me, begging me to keep going.

  "Five minutes is all I need, and then I'll fuck you like I hate you all night," I murmur against her ear, enjoying the chills that rise on her soft skin.

  "You'd better."