Scarred: A New Adult Romance (The Anderson Brothers Series Book 1)

by Long, Marie

  I exhale and look into her eyes. “Denise, it’s getting hotter and, well, I don’t want you to do something you might regret.”

  She looks back at me, her expression mirroring that of a drunk’s, only she’s drunk on pleasure. “My only regret is that we didn’t meet sooner. I want you, Dominick Anderson.”

  Shit. She’s serious.

  I’m speechless.

  She wants me. She wants me!

  And yet, there is still one question that lingers in my mind.

  I pepper her lips with gentle kisses. “Do you love me?”

  Smiling, she stops me and places her hands on either side of my face. “I love you.”

  There is no hesitation in her eyes, her voice, when she says this, so I say, “I love you, too.”

  We kiss, sealing that confirmation. Sealing our love.

  I sweep my hands around to her hips, hiking her oversized shirt up slightly. She shivers as I run my thumbs along the tops of her thighs. She grips my T-shirt collar and tugs. I pull back slightly and shrug out of the shirt.

  I look to her with need, my eyelids heavy. She leans in and feathers my torso with her soft lips, kissing over my pecs and down my sternum. I watch her, feeling like I’m half-drunk myself. Running her tongue over my abs, she moves her hands skillfully over my chest.

  Sweet Jesus.

  “Are you sure you’re a virgin?” I ask between breaths.

  She pauses, looks at me, and smirks. “Why? You think virgins suck at foreplay?”

  “Hell no. Then again, you’re the first virgin I’ve been with.”

  She chuckles and resumes licking my chest, trailing that wonderful tongue across my pecs. Her lips pepper new spots on my skin—new sensitive spots—and the strain in my groin becomes unbearable.

  I pull her shirt up off her, and we break the kiss. I pull back and admire her body—her beautiful, perfect body. She’s lean and built like a dancer all over. I run my hands down her shoulders and arms, relishing the feel of her soft, flawless skin. I move to her chest and cup her small, perky tits. She moans as I use my thumbs to rub her nipples, which harden at my touch. My lips ravaging her goose-bumped skin, I slide down to her midsection. My fingers graze along the contour of her waist, down to her hips. I lick and kiss her navel, and she whimpers.

  “Dominick … ”

  The way she utters my name makes me feel like my dick’s about to burst out of my jeans. I want her. I need her. Now. I lift her into my arms and settle her onto the bed, laying her back onto the pillows and disheveled bedding. Crawling on top of her, I kiss every inch of her passionately. When I reach her lips, she moans. Positioning myself between her legs, I indulge in her flawless, caramel-toned body, starting with her neck and running down to her chest. I gently massage one of her tits with my hand, going in small circles. She whimpers and moans, and her whole body shudders. Her nipple is harder than a pebble beneath my palm. I draw my kisses to her other soft, beautiful mound, and flick her nipple with my tongue. Then I take it into my mouth and suckle until she moans again. She runs her fingers along my scalp, her tiny nails scratching it. Releasing her breast from my mouth, I continue my tour of her body. I get a good look at her abs, and realize just how tight and defined they are, like she’s been on some sort of workout regimen. I’ve never seen a girl this fit.

  “God, Denise,” I whisper, my breath hitting the contours of her musculature. “You are so fucking hot, I can’t stand it.”

  She mutters something in response that I can’t understand, and I’m too aroused to try and make sense of it.

  I kiss every inch of her tight muscles, taste every bit of salt from the small beads of sweat that form a sheen over her skin. My tongue slides lower, between her legs, and she squirms and takes hurried breaths.

  I kiss her inner thighs while I draw one hand down between her legs. The smell of her sex is driving me insane. My fingers graze her warm center, massaging it, the touch of her wetness utterly amazing.

  Her body tenses, and she sucks in her breath. I kiss down the length of her long, beautiful legs.

  “Oh God! D-Dom, please … ” she says through an exhaled breath.

  I lift my lips from her skin only briefly to shift to the edge of the bed and reach under it for the box. With two fingers, I pull out a foil packet. Palming it for now, I lay on top of her and shower her lips with kisses. I want her badly, but I want to make absolutely certain this is what she wants, too.

  I plant one last kiss and pull back. “Look at me, Denise.”

  Her eyelids flutter open, and she gazes at me with aroused, ebony eyes.

  “Do you trust me? Do you … truly love me?”

  Beaming, she replies breathily, “Yes, Dominick. I trust you. I … I truly love you.”

  I sit up and undo my jeans and wiggle out of them and my boxers. Relief spreads through me when my hard, pulsing erection is freed from its tight confines. Her eyes widen in awe at the sight.

  Smiling at her reaction, I tear open the foil packet and sheathe myself. Returning to my position atop her, I rest the lower half of my body between her legs. “I’ll go slow. I promise.” My lips returning to hers, I run my hand down the side of her thigh, lifting her leg slightly as I slide inside her in a careful, gentle push. I let out a long, slow groan against her mouth. She’s so damn tight. She breaks the kiss and cries out, and I refrain from pushing further. I kiss the side of her neck reassuringly.

  “I know,” I whisper. Even though she’s scared and in pain, she trusts me. She loves me. And I love her. Maybe one day I’ll marry her. I’ll be a better man to my wife than my father could have ever been to his and his children.

  Denise digs her fingernails in my back, and I push further, little by little. Her tightness clenches around my pulsating length, causing me to breathe a little harder. If this is what a virgin truly feels like, then my God, nothing can ever compare to this perfect moment.

  Slowly, gently, I grind my hips against her, and our bodies rock in a steady rhythm. Louder, she moans, and her hips press against mine, meeting force for force. I bury my face in her chest as I go a little faster. Harder. Our bodies are sweaty and slick. She reaches down and grabs my ass, her nails digging into my cheeks. Fuck, those nails. It drives me closer to release. The pain makes me plunge deeper into her tight depth.

  She lets out a painful cry, but one that’s also tinged with pleasure. I kiss her mouth, and she wraps her arms around my back, pulling me into her. Faster, we move, with hurried breaths and loud cries. Then, her body twitches, and I feel her heat rush over my dick. To feel her reach that point of pleasure—that point of absolute bliss—makes me shudder and let out a low groan. We ride out our orgasms until we finally collapse from sheer exhaustion.

  Chapter 23

  I open my eyes to muted sunlight that fills the room.

  Is it morning already? Did I really sleep away that wonderful night?

  I look at the beautiful girl sleeping peacefully in my arms, a hint of a smile upon her lips.

  My girl.

  I kiss her forehead, and her eyelids flutter slightly, but she doesn’t awaken. I watch her as I mull over last night. The night she became mine. The thoughts make me kiss her more, run my fingers across her shoulder and down her arm. I caress her cheek, her face, run my thumb over her lips. I can’t stop touching her. I love her so much that it hurts. I close my eyes for a moment, only to open them again when my bliss is interrupted by the urge to piss.

  Damn it.

  Carefully peeling myself away, I gently wriggle my arm from around her, replacing the spot where my arm touched her skin with more of the blanket, and my head with another pillow. Finally free, I slip on my boxers and hustle to the half-bath. Finished with my business, I open the bathroom door to find Chris standing there in his Magic Touch Auto Detail polo work shirt and jeans.

  Fuck! It’s Monday?

  “Dom? You still here?” Chris asks, eyeing me curiously.

  I widen my eyes. It is Monday. “Holy shit! It’s fin
als week. What time is it?”

  “Uhh … 9:20?”

  I slap my forehead. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” I missed my circuits final. I gotta make it up somehow.

  Chris furrows his brow. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  I look at him and exhale. He hadn’t heard us last night? Maybe he and Adrienne were too busy doing their thing to notice. “Is Adri still here?”

  “Nope. Left about an hour ago. Wait, is Denise still here?”

  I shift my gaze to anywhere but him. “Yeah, man.”

  His mouth makes a very refined O.

  Not wanting to risk waking Denise, I head for the stairs, motioning him with my head to follow.

  “Duuuuude!” Chris exclaims in just above a whisper when we reach the kitchen. “So I wasn’t hearing things last night!”

  I reach for the fridge’s door handle, pause, and stare at Chris, horrified. “You heard us?”

  Chris nods, smirking. “So did Adri. These walls are thin, after all.”

  I grimace.

  “It’s about damn time you finally put those condoms to use again.”

  “Not a word,” I say.

  Chris shrugs innocently. “Yeah, yeah. My lips are sealed. But I can’t deny what I heard up there, and it sounded pretty damn good.”

  Grinning slightly, I open the fridge and grab the milk. “Yeah, it was good. Real good.”

  Chris exits the kitchen. “All right, man, the bus’ll be here any minute. See you later.”

  “Later.”

  I pour myself a glass while I try to plan out the day. At the rate I’m going, I’ll end up missing my physics final. Doesn’t Denise have finals, too? I shouldn’t miss work, though. We’re still short-staffed. I chug my milk and head back upstairs.

  Denise is still sleeping, and I don’t want to wake her, but I must. Kneeling at her bedside, I gently nudge her arm. She moans and shifts but doesn’t wake up. Amused, I resort to kissing her closed eyelids and soft lips again.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” I whisper in her ear.

  Her eyelids flutter open. She stares at me sleepily.

  “Hey,” I say, taking her hand in mine. I bring her hand up to my lips and gently kiss it.

  “Hey,” she mumbles.

  Not taking my eyes off her, I rub my stubbly cheek against her hands. “It’s Monday, you know.”

  Her brow wrinkles slightly, as though it’s taking her time to process this, then her eyes widen. “Oh no.” She rips her hand away and sits up in bed, wrapping the blanket around her.

  “Yeah.” I frown when I can no longer touch her. “I missed the two finals I have today so I’m just going to go straight to work.”

  She bites her bottom lip and fidgets with a loose thread on the blanket. “I’m sorry.”

  I stare at her. “For what? It’s not your fault. I overslept.”

  “Yeah, but last night, we—”

  “—had the most wonderful night ever. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love you, Denise.”

  She smiles, but it’s brief. She slides out of bed, letting the blanket and sheets fall away from her naked body, and retrieves the discarded shirt from the floor near the foot of the bed. “I need to get to campus. I told Lauren yesterday that I would catch a ride with you today, and she’ll pick me up around twelve thirty after my world literature final.”

  I nod. Of course, I don’t want her to leave, but she has a life, too. Maybe one day when I get my own place, I can convince her to live with me. “Let me hop in the shower.”

  * * *

  By eleven o’clock, I’m zipping through the busy streets on my bike with Denise on the back, hugging my midsection so tightly I have to gasp for air. But I don’t complain. I’ll never complain about anything she does.

  I park in the lot near Padelford, and Denise gets off. Remaining mounted on the bike, I slip off the helmet. I don’t want my voice to be muffled when I say goodbye to her this time.

  “Thanks for the ride,” she says.

  “No problem. Good luck on your test.”

  She smiles. “Thanks.”

  I trace my finger around the chrome trim of the speedometer. “You wanna do something tonight?”

  She tilts her head to the side, her gaze fixed somewhere on my bike. “I do, but I promised Lauren we’d have a girls’ night out tonight. Maybe tomorrow?”

  I nod, frowning. I can’t be mad about that. After all, Denise has known Lauren way longer than me.

  I glance at the passing students, who pay us no mind. My stomach twists from a strange feeling I have—fear of the rumors about the Xi party that might still be floating around. But then I see Trinity running our way, and I relax. The two of them meet each other halfway in an embrace.

  Denise breaks their hug and walks over to me. “Go to work. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  She leans in and kisses me deeply. But as quick as the kiss comes it’s over, and I exhale.

  “Get going,” she says.

  I cast a glance at Trinity, who smiles at us both. I look back at Denise. “I love you,” I say, then slip on my helmet. From now on, that is what I will say to her instead of “goodbye.”

  “I love you too,” she says, and my heart flutters.

  I rev the engine and leave campus. But the farther I get from Denise, the more dread I feel rising in the pit of my stomach.

  * * *

  Arriving at Frank’s nearly an hour earlier than usual garners me surprised looks from Paul and Nate. Larry, however, continues tinkering under a car that’s up on a lift and doesn’t so much as acknowledge me. I wave to Nate and Paul, who resume working under the hoods of two cars parked outside, and make my way to the whiteboard. The office side door creaks open, and Frank pokes his head out.

  I give Frank a small salute. “’Sup.”

  “The hell you doing here, kid?” he asks.

  “I got out of class early.”

  He scowls. “Well, don’t expect to be getting paid overtime for it.”

  I shrug, scowling back. “Never expected to be.” Though it’d be nice for a change, asshole.

  Frank slams the office door shut, causing the whiteboard on the wall to shake. Glancing at the tasks, I can immediately recognize Larry’s handwriting, but the job he has assigned to me isn’t small and simple. I have to do a timing gear and chain replacement. And the truck he has me working on is the very same one he’s working on. Wow, that’s a first, I think, heading over to him. We almost never work on the same vehicle together. The truck is tireless in the front, and its radiator has been taken out and set aside. Larry’s at the front of the car on the driver’s side, repairing the ball joint suspensions.

  “So are you gonna just stand there and admire my ass all day or are you gonna get to work?” Larry lowers his hands from inside the chassis and grins. A small towel is draped around the back of his neck.

  I laugh. “Yeah, yeah. What the hell’s wrong with you, man? This shit’s gonna take all night.”

  “Good.” Larry pulls a wrench from his pocket and tosses it to me. “More time to talk.”

  I catch the wrench with one hand, look at it briefly and then back at him. “Talk? About what?”

  “You know,” he says in a low tone, his expression hardening.

  It takes me a moment to process this, and then I frown. He must mean that talk we had about Denise weeks ago. I didn’t think he’d given it another thought. He acted so nonchalant about it at the time. Maybe Larry just needed time to process everything about that night. But after all that, I’d neglected to tell him about my own demons.

  Larry comes out from under the truck and presses a green button on the wall. The truck slowly lowers to the ground.

  “You finished the ball joints already?” I ask, furrowing my brow.

  “Nope,” he says, rounding the front of the truck.

  I follow and peer under the hood. Much of the engine has been stripped away, allowing me to easily spot the timing cover. Only one of the bolts has been removed.
“Holy shit, Larry. How long have you been at this?”

  “All fucking morning.” Larry points to the cover. “The air wrench was too big to get to the bolts, so they’ll need to come out manually.”

  I nod and begin unhinging the first bolt while Larry inspects the camshaft and valves.

  “Glad someone around here has hands and arms small enough to get to some of those hard-to-reach places.” Larry’s eyes cut to mine, and he lowers his voice. “How are you two doing?”

  I pause and look up at him. The concern in his voice makes me smile a little. The man actually cares. “Denise is doing much better. She talks to a counselor twice a week, and I think it’s helping. As for me, well … I’m just taking it one day at a time, making sure she’s safe and all that.”

  “It’s all you can do.”

  I swallow a lump in my throat. “I still worry about Denise, though. I still get scared about leaving her alone. Like, she might need me again and this time I might not be around.”

  “You can’t be with her all the time. It’s not healthy to smother her like that. She’s not a kid.”

  “I know, man, but it’s hard.” I sigh. “I love her.”

  A hint of a smile brushes over his lips, and he refocuses on one of the valves. “Ah, young love,” he mumbles, reaching for a can of lubricant. He sprays a small amount around the valve stem. “Just be there for her when you can.”

  “I try, but I feel like I can do more.” I remove another bolt from the cover and set it in a growing pile with several others. These things are as tough as shit to unhinge, as they’ve probably never been removed from this decades-old truck.

  “I’ve said all I can say on the matter, Dominick, but if you really insist on always keeping her around, well … I guess you could bring her to work.”

  My hand slips from the wrench. “Wait, can I do that?”

  He shrugs. “Why couldn’t you?”

  “No. I won’t do that. I don’t want the guys harassing her and making her uncomfortable.”

  Larry grunts. “If anyone here does that shit, you let me know, and I’ll kick their asses.”

  “What about Frank?”