by Amy Valenti
He smiled a little as he shifted his weight to stop me from escaping, but I could have sworn there was a hint of melancholy to it. “Don’t fight me, Kat. Not now.”
Lost, I gave in to his long, hot kiss, winding my arms around him when he released his grip on my wrists. He possessed my mouth completely, kissing me with a brutal finesse. The warmth of his palm under my shirt, skimming up my side, made me tingle. He yanked down the cup of my bra and squeezed my naked breast, skin against skin, and the tingle became electricity that zipped straight down between my legs.
I broke off to stare at him, breathing hard. Callum rested his forehead against mine, his eyes on mine as he teased my nipple between his fingers and thumb.
I wanted to be pissed off at him. Things were so much simpler when I could keep him at a distance, emotionally if not physically. Having him watch my reaction so intently as he squeezed and tugged and rubbed my nipple…it was too intimate.
Since I had no excuse to lash out at him right then, I leaned forward to kiss him instead. Anything to stop him assessing me like that.
As if he sensed it was a defensive measure, he pulled back just before our lips connected.
Now I had a reason to be pissed off at him. “Make up your mind. You want me or you don’t.”
He laughed, took my hand, pressed it over the warm, solid ridge that tented his jeans. “You already know I do.”
I dragged down his zipper, watching him as intently as he’d been doing to me. I could get my fingers through his fly, but his cock was still covered by his underwear, so I undid the button at his waistband for good measure and slipped my hand into his boxer-briefs, brushing over his erection. He pressed closer, making sure no passers-by could see what was happening between us.
I’d been trying to make him self-conscious, but he didn’t hide his reaction, his breath catching as I closed my fist around his cock and stroked upward. He’d never looked this sexy when he’d been in One Last Look, and the ‘chemistry’ he’d had with Jacie during their flirtatious scenes was dull in comparison to the way he was gazing at me.
Earlier in the week, I’d been afraid I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between his true feelings and his talent for acting. I’d been so wrong.
I gathered the moisture at the head of his cock and swirled my fingers over the sensitive spot just beneath the head. His soft groan of appreciation might as well have penetrated me; I wanted to moan in response, my pussy tightening as though desperate for him to fill me.
I stroked firmly a few more times, intoxicated by the power I now had over him. For the first time since I’d met him I felt in control, and the small section of my brain where my scared, abused former self hid rejoiced at the turnaround.
“You push people around too much, Mr. Connors. You should really just sit back and let things happen every now and then.”
“You know I have a first name, right? With your hand being where it is right now, we’re not exactly on formal terms.”
Oh, no, I wasn’t going there. “I have lots of my own ways to refer to you. ‘Mr. Connors’ is just the most polite.”
He was quiet, but there was laughter in his eyes. Laughter, and a ravenous need I wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle for much longer.
I withdrew my hand before he took me right there on the street. “We should get going.”
I stayed in place for just long enough for him to fasten his jeans, then twisted out and away from him. Walking quickly in the direction of his car, I tried to clear my head, but all I could think of was Callum’s hot, hard cock, and how he’d feel pushing into me. His intense gaze, and how he’d made me feel completely naked without removing any of my clothing at all.
He caught up after a few seconds and kept pace with me easily. “Can I ask you something?”
There were a million questions I most definitely didn’t want to answer. “You can ask…”
“What exactly are you pissed off at me for, right at this second?”
I opened my mouth to insist that I wasn’t pissed off, but I was no actor and I wouldn’t have been fooling either of us. “Pissed off is my default state when it comes to you.”
* * * *
Callum
At least she was being honest now. “I noticed. Even before I did anything to get under your skin, you were like this.”
We’d reached the car, and she waited until we were both inside to hold up her end of the conversation. “Yeah, well, maybe your face annoys me.”
I smothered a smile at the schoolyard insult and started the car. It was a classic Kat deflection, and I didn’t bother trying to dig deeper; she’d only give me more of the same. Letting the silence thicken between us, I manoeuvred out of the lot and down toward the intersection that would let us head back to Kat’s place.
After a few minutes, she looked over at me. “I really hope no random photographers noticed what happened back there, or else we’re going to be all over tomorrow’s tabloids.”
“I’m not quite as famous as you think I am,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road.
“Any day now,” she said, with a confidence that surprised me. Then again, she worked in the industry and took more of an interest in the inner workings of it than I did. I just showed up, did my job, and let my agent worry about the rest.
“Even if we were all over the tabloids, I wouldn’t care.”
Kat sighed. “Of course you wouldn’t. You’d come out of it looking like a big, manly stud. People would be high-fiving you on the street. I’d be the one whose reputation would be ruined.”
Genuine irritation in my voice, I spoke before thinking. “I think you’d be glad if there was a scandal about us. It’d be one more thing you could use to push me away.”
Even with my eyes on the road, I could sense her staring at me. In my peripheral vision I saw her fold her arms over her stomach, the set of her jaw suggesting she was grinding her teeth. Uncharacteristically, though, she was quiet, and after a few seconds she turned away to gaze out of the window.
Yeah, that chance you had with her? Looks like you ruined it.
I waited until we arrived at her building’s parking lot to try to mend bridges. Shutting off the engine, I really looked at her for the first time since I’d put my foot in my mouth. “Kat.”
“You’re right. I don’t want to push you away, but I do need to.” She wouldn’t look at me, but her voice trembled, as though she was fighting tears. “Why won’t you let me?”
Relief coursed through my muscles. At least she’d admitted that she was conflicted—that was progress. “Because I’m hooked on you. And because I could tell, right from the first time we spoke, that you need…” A Dom. To submit. To be controlled.
I censored myself only because I knew she’d refuse to discuss that part of herself and leave. Her hand was already on the passenger side’s door handle. “You need me.”
Kat relaxed slightly, but there was still a hell of a lot of tension within her. “No, Callum, I don’t need you.”
She’d used my given name. That was a first.
At the sound of her opening the door, my heart sank, but then she met my eyes and revealed the raw need within her. “I do want you, though.”
Before I could react, she got out of the car, slammed the door shut behind her, then set off at a steady walk towards the back entrance to her building.
Had that been a parting shot or an invitation? The blood rushing to my cock insisted it was the latter, but the rational part of me overruled it…until she slowed her pace to glance back over her shoulder, her expression holding a clear question. Are you coming?
I’d never moved so fast in my life.
Chapter Seven
Kat
My heart pounded as the man I wanted more than any other reached my side. I kept my distance as we stepped into the elevator, focusing on getting to the privacy of my apartment before the wellspring of emotion within me tore loose. Once we got started, I didn’t know what might happen.
“Never assumed otherwise, Little Miss Badass,” he said, his voice rough with need.
“Quit calling me that.” The elevator arrived at my floor and I stepped off, aware of his presence at my back as I walked quickly down the hall to my apartment.
He laughed. “If you’re gonna be pissed at me the rest of the time, you might as well be really pissed at me while I fuck you.”
I almost dropped my door keys as heat spread through me. “You’re assuming I’m gonna let you.”
“If you don’t want it, you better say so right now so I can walk away. Cause the second we get through that door…”
The lock clicked open and I shoved the door inward. “Just get in here.”
I barely had time to drop my purse on the floor before he slammed the door shut after us and pinned me up against it, his mouth on mine.
All the uncertainty, the fear, the anger and longing and lusting…it combined to form a rush of adrenaline that I put to work immediately, meeting his demanding lips with mine. Stripping off his shirt would have taken too long, so I went straight for his jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping him in record time.
He abandoned the kiss abruptly, his breath harsh against my neck as he attacked my pants in the same frenzy that was affecting me. When I worked down his underwear and took his cock in my hand for the second time that night, he gave a low growl. “You on the pill?”
“Yeah, and clean. You?”
“Yeah.”
“Glad we got that out of the way. Now fuck me, already!” I gasped as he ran his fingertips up and down my folds with an urgent touch. It was as though he’d been afraid he wouldn’t find me wet and ready for him. I’d been ready for most of the past week.
He lifted me off the ground and I wrapped my legs around his waist, kissing him hard as he drove into me, slamming me back against the wall in the process.
Oh…my…God.
Callum waited only a second for me to adjust to his hot, thick length before he pulled back and thrust again, then again. I was already halfway to orgasm just from the intensity of the moment, and I dug my fingers into his shoulders, tilting my hips to meet his as he surged in and out of me.
It was amazing, but my craving was undiminished. “Gonna have to fuck me harder than that,” I baited him.
Immediately he pulled me closer, carried me across the room to the couch and dropped me down onto it, keeping his cock deep within me the whole time.
“Gonna beg me for it?” he growled in my ear, drawing back to thrust.
“And give you an even bigger ego? No fucking way,” I gasped, then cried out in pleasurable shock as he slammed into me hard.
The pace was glorious—fast, rough sex that left me with nothing to do but hold on tightly and meet his thrusts wherever I could. My body relished the harsh treatment and my orgasm gathered momentum.
“Yes,” I breathed, my thighs trembling on either side of his waist. “God, yes!”
Callum knelt up and took hold of my hips, pulling my ass almost onto his lap. I hooked my legs over his shoulders as he resumed moving, and now he was really pounding against my sweet spot, giving me no relief.
Ecstasy built sharply and I whimpered, reaching up over my head for something to hold on to, grabbing the arm of the couch for stability. Every muscle within me grew taut to the point that I could hardly breathe, a slave to Callum’s pounding thrusts and my own need.
Then he released me with one hand to press down on my clit. Not rubbing—he didn’t need to. The way his pelvis slammed against mine over and over made my body rock of its own accord. All he had to do was press down in the right spot, and fuck, that was the right spot—
Every other sense went blank as the tension within me snapped, releasing wave after trembling wave of pleasurable spasms through my internal muscles to squeeze his cock. Overwhelmed by the intense rush, I arched and twisted, riding the sensation as it crested and ebbed, surged and subsided. I slowly came back to reality with Callum’s weight atop me, his hips grinding against mine as his cock pulsed inside me. His low growl against my neck made me wish I could watch his face as he came.
I clung onto him as we panted for breath, recovering from the madness that had temporarily claimed us. My whole body tingled in the afterglow, and I nuzzled his neck in silent thanks while I drifted, enjoying the boneless relaxation that came after an earth-shattering climax.
* * * *
Callum
The haze of frantic lust receded, leaving me able to think again, and I pulled Kat closer, smiling as she curled around me. The aftershocks of her orgasm still rippled against my cock, reassuring me that I’d managed to get her off before losing control. It had been a close thing.
Any second now, whatever defensive instinct that made her push me away would kick in again, and she’d say or do something to put distance between us. The thought was almost unbearable.
“C’mon, little miss.” As soon as I was sure I could stand, I pulled out of her and sat up, gathering her in my arms. “Where’s your bedroom?”
She blinked up at me for a second, processing the question, before directing me. I stood up and carried her down the short hallway and into the room she’d indicated, then laid her down on the neatly made bed.
Her brain kicked back into gear, and she drew in a deep breath as I joined her on the mattress. Before she could say a word, I kissed her deeply, enjoying the way she melted against me.
We were still clothed from the waist up. My craving to be inside her had been matched by her need to have me there, and the finer arts of sex had been lost in the urgent heat of the moment. It was time to change that.
Pulling away for a second, I took off my shirt and flung it aside. When I looked back at Kat, her eyebrows were raised appreciatively. Seeing that I’d noticed, she tried to play it cool, her voice wryly amused. “Sorry. You’re not a sex object; you’re a human being with complex emotions and a right to exist without being objectified.”
“Fuck that. Objectify me all you want, little miss.” I leaned over her for another kiss.
She sighed against my lips, running a hand up my abs. I pulled her into a sitting position and slid up her shirt, watching her for signs of resistance and relaxing when she didn’t show any.
“What exactly are you planning?” she murmured as I unsnapped her bra, then pulled it away.
“Nothing you’ve told me you don’t want.”
She lay down again at my encouragement, and I stretched out beside her without giving myself time to admire her beautiful body the way I would have liked. There was no way I was letting her use self-consciousness as a barrier between us—and she would if the idea occurred to her.
I kissed her again, controlling myself, taking it slow this time. When she tried to throw herself into it, to drown her re-emerging misgivings in sensation, I withdrew slightly, sliding my lips over hers, using my tongue to gently provoke her response. Her wariness dissolved, a soft noise of appreciation rising from her throat as she wrapped one leg around me and tilted her hips, rubbing her clit against my cock.
Sliding back into her hot depths was too easy, too fucking addictive. I’d been right when I’d said it earlier—I was hooked on her.
When I drew back from the kiss, her eyes were closed and her breathing ragged with desire. “You feel so good…”
Moving slowly within her, I trailed my fingers across her face until she opened her eyes. The lust in them made me tempted to pick up the pace, but I kept my thrusts slow and rhythmic, keeping eye contact with her, loving the new connection between us.
She tried to bury her face in my shoulder, to hide from me, but I grabbed a fistful of her long, dark hair and pulled her head back with gentle firmness. Thwarted, she glared up at me. “What?”
“You don’t get to hide from me while I fuck you, little miss.” It was probably more Dom than I should have been with her, but the words had escaped my lips before I could think a
bout anything but the pure hedonism of the moment.
She responded to the order beautifully, attempting to nod and realising she couldn’t because of my hand in her hair. The quiver of desire that shook her was only slight, but powerful to watch. “Okay,” she agreed, her voice barely audible.
Biting back the urge to push it further, to insist she call me ‘Sir’, I kissed her, rewarding her for her obedience. Releasing her hair for now, I slipped a hand to the back of her neck and squeezed, testing her reaction.
From the way she moaned into my mouth and rubbed her nipples against my chest, she obviously didn’t mind, so I gripped her nape until she broke the kiss to gaze up at me with a vulnerable expectancy. As though she wanted me to do the very thing she’d made me promise I wouldn’t—take control.
Vanilla, I reminded myself, and did my best to hold back a grin. Yeah, as a jalapeño.
God, I was tempted to push her.
* * * *
Kat
How had we gone from adrenaline-fuelled, desperate fucking to this?
I’d never had sex on my side before, and definitely not while the guy insisted I look into his face, left me nowhere to hide my emotions.
A protest had been on the edge of my mind, but then he’d kissed me, squeezed the back of my neck, and I’d just given in, the same way I had when he’d spanked me in his trailer. Later I was going to have some harsh words with myself, but he just felt too good for me to interrupt him now.
For a few seconds he gazed down at me, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth but a conflict in his eyes. But then he rolled me on top of him, moving me as easily as if I’d weighed nothing, and cupped my ass in his strong hands. “Ride me.”
Once again, my fearful side revelled in the control he was giving me. I shut out what the rest of me wished for and concentrated on that, sliding up and down his cock, rolling my hips to put him exactly where I needed him as I moved. Delicious pressure began to build deep inside me and I picked up the pace, my eyes falling closed.
