by Nana Malone
"Nyla."
She swallowed hard. "East. I'm—"
And that was it. The soft whispering of my name on her tongue, and I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't function. I couldn't focus. And so I kissed her.
The moment my lips met hers, she gave me a low, rolling moan.
My cock kicked against the fly of my jeans, and I shoved her back into the loo, shutting the door behind us and locking it. Then I dove for her, my mouth on hers, my tongue sliding in, demanding entry because after the raw pain of the last ten days, clearly, I hadn't had enough punishment. I wanted more. I wanted her to own me. I wanted her to rip me to shreds and then burn me down to ash. Because I was an idiot.
As I kissed her, her nails dug into my shoulders, the little pinpricks of pain sending flares to me that said yes, this was what I had been missing. Needing. Christ. I was going to explode.
I turned her around, looking for a flat surface. But all we had was the tub, the sink. Oh, the vanity.
When I picked her up and seated her on the vanity, her towel fell open, and I could feel her soft curves pressing into me. All the while, she moaned.
I dragged my lips from hers, kissing up her jawline and on her neck. "Fuck, why do you feel so good?"
"Stop talking. Just stop talking."
"Roger that."
I put my lips and tongue to use in other ways. Sucking at the column of her neck, my hands skimming up over her hips, her waist, palming a breast and testing the weight. As if somehow, I would have forgotten. I ran my thumb over the tip of her nipple, and she groaned. "Oh my God."
And so that she would know the full depth of my depravity, the full depth of how desperate I was, I pinched it until she hissed. And when her breath came out in short needy pants, I released her, rubbing and soothing the tip again. "Yeah, that's it."
Her hips undulated against me. I palmed her arse with my other hand, scooting her closer so she could ride my dick. I wanted her close. I wanted her to feel the full length of it.
Before I knew what was happening, she was pulling at my shirt. Tugging, and I was inclined to help her. As I reached back behind to the back of my neck and started to pull off my shirt, she worked the buckle of my belt.
My dick was attempting to punch its way out. Nobody told him that he couldn't do that. He figured he was hard enough. He could make it work.
Once my shirt was off, I returned to kissing Nyla's lips. Tasting her, trying to absorb every ounce of her before I had to give her up, before I had to walk away, before, before, before… Holy fuck.
She reached in to palm me. Her slender fingers encased my cock, and I threw my head back with a shuddering gasp. "Oh, oh fuck. Fuck me."
She said nothing but worked my dick just how I liked it. A nice strong stroke to the tip, making use of her palm. All the while, Nyla said nothing, just made these little soft cooing sounds at the back of her throat like she was appreciating this. Fuck, why did I always feel like this with her? Why was she the one? Why couldn't it be someone else that I felt like this with, just not her.
It didn't take long before I could feel the tingle in my balls. "Nyla," I groaned, practically growling the implicit command for her to stop. If I was going to come, I wanted to be inside her.
Yes, this was very ill advised. Yes, I still hated her. Yes, she had broken any trust I could possibly have for her, but that didn't mean that I wasn't an idiot and wasn't still desperate for her. Desperate to be inside her, to touch her. Just fucking desperate because, fucking hell, she was mine. And the fact that I wasn't allowed to play with my toys was not sitting well with me.
With her other hand, she started tugging my jeans off, shoving them down past my hips. Freeing my cock. Then as she glanced down at me and licked her lips, a bead of precum leaked out. She rubbed her thumb over the head of my cock, and my knees wobbled. "Fuck, Nyla."
And then she did something I hadn't expected. She eased her hips forward, angling me just so, and positioned me at her slick entrance. I'd have sworn I saw stars. The heat of her, the impending tightness, as the head of my dick notched at her sweet, sweet core.
I wrenched my eyes open to meet her gaze. "Ny?"
But she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at us where we were almost joined.
But she didn't place me all the way inside.
Instead, her slim hand wrapped around the base of me as she coated the head of my dick with her juices. Easing it all around her slit, drenching me, making me desperate. Making me want her. Making me ready to give her anything just to have her one more time.
It will never just be one more time.
I knew the truth of that statement. If she let me have her again now, like after the lift, I would come sniffing back, angry about it but begging and desperate. Then the tip of my dick hit her clit, and she threw her head back. "Oh my God, East."
I wasn't sure which view was better, her face or where my dick was.
So my gaze ping-ponged between my two favorite places.
And then she was working me over her clit again. Using me to wank herself off.
I licked my lips because I wanted to taste her as she came. But I didn't dare suggest it. So I watched. I watched as she teased us both. I watched as she drove me wild. I watched as she got herself off.
Up and down over her slit she teased me, from above her clit all the way down until my dick hit her tight pucker and we both froze. Oh God, I’d never had her arse before. But the way her mouth fell open and she wiggled as if surprised, but pleasantly so, made me curious. I notched my hips forward just a little, and her eyes snapped open as she stared at me. I bit my bottom lip and watched her, but she didn't stop me. Her eyes just stayed on me as the tip of my cock sat at her forbidden hole, begging and praying one day for entrance. Willing to slay dragons, willing to murder assholes. Willing to do her bidding, just for a taste.
Then the teasing was over as she worked me back up to the top. This time I notched up inches into her cunt, and my eyes fluttered closed as a groan escaped me. Thanks to my hips, eager to do what I could not do, and her hips, eager for me, I notched further inside.
I gripped the edge of the counter, because I knew if I gripped her hips, I was going to impale her. And fuck the consequences of no condoms and the fact that we hated each other. We'd already taken a risk once in the lift, but I knew it was dumb to take a risk again.
The lift… That wasn't a risk; that was punishment.
Yeah, but that kind of punishment could end in a baby. And a baby with a woman I did not trust would be its own special brand of torturous hell.
I could feel her silken walls contract around me as her breath came in those short, throaty pants. "Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God."
I leaned forward and kissed her. I put my hand around the back of her neck, sliding into her hair, kissing her deep. I was trying to convey all kind of messages in that kiss. ‘Please, God. God, please, God, let me. But also, don't let me. Please, please, please, don't let me do this.’
And also, ‘If you keep that up, I'm going to come hard, right in your cunt. Do you want that?’
If I could convey all that with a kiss, that's what I was doing. But maybe all she heard was, ‘God, fuck, that feels so good.’ I licked inside her mouth deep, stroking like how I wanted my dick to slide home.
She notched her hips back just a little and squeezed tight. I wrenched my lips away and dropped my forehead to hers. "Fuck that. I don't know if I can."
"I don't know if I want you to."
"Okay. Okay. We can stop this."
But then she notched her hips forward again, and I said, "I thought you didn't know if you wanted to."
"I don't."
But my entire crown was inside her, her heat surrounding me, pulsing around me. And I could feel the lightning starting to spark at the base of my spine. "Jesus Christ, I could come just like this. Just like this."
I was shaking, and apparently, I was also at the begging stage of this whole ill-advised adventure. "F
uck, Nyla, please, let me. I just… I need it."
"I need it, too. But I don't think I can."
"Please, just let me. Just say yes. I'll do all the work and none of it will be your fault." I notched my hips forward just a little bit until she moaned. "I want it. I want you."
I palmed her breast, pumping it. Squeezing it just a little too hard.
She gasped. "East."
"Tell me yes. Tell me fucking yes. I’m not giving it to you until you tell me yes."
As if I had any bargaining chips. As if she didn't have me literally by the balls.
"Yes."
That one word. That one word sent me home. I withdrew to slide back. It tortured us both. And there was a banging on the door. "Oi, mate, come on. We have to finish this."
My gaze snapped open. "Fuck off."
Drew’s voice was a low chuckle. "I hear you, but there's work to be done, so hurry up in there."
I glanced down between us. My dick was notched at her core. I knew what I wanted to do.
I wanted to lean down and lick her tits. Sink home, fuck her, and fuck her, and fuck her, and then put her in the tub and fuck her there. Roll onto my back, have her ride me, fuck me. Jesus, I needed that.
But your mates are in the house. You've all just been shot at. You need to get to work.
With a muttered curse, I forced myself back. My dick was straining for her, begging as if he could detach and go where he knew was home.
I squeezed my eyes shut, panting. But when I opened them and glanced up at her, she had her head back against the mirror, eyes closed, thighs parted. And fuck me.
I couldn't help it. I went back but this time with my mouth. I planted my lips over her clit, and sucked hard.
Her fingers immediately latched into my hair. "East. Oh my God."
I wasted no time. I slid one finger in her tight pussy and another one in her ass, and then she convulsed against me as I licked and sucked at her clit. Her orgasm was quick and violent. And then I fucked her with my fingers and loved her with my tongue. She shattered around me, drenching my chin in her juices, and my dick wanted to explode. I could feel the vibration and tingling all over my goddamn body. But instead of driving home, taking my pleasure where I needed it, I stopped and pulled back, but even as I stood, I gently rubbed my thumb over her clit. And then I pulled up my fucking boxers. My cock was not willing to listen to any of this nonsense. He pulsed, threatening angrily. I will leave you, you know. I will fucking detach from you and leave.
He had a right to be angry. Fuck, I was angry.
And still I pulled up my jeans.
Nyla stared at me. "What the fuck?"
I stared at the robe and the towel that had fallen on the floor. I didn't dare pick them up.
"You should have your bath."
She stared at me as I pulled my shirt from the floor and then yanked it on angrily. My belt. Jesus Christ, this fucking belt. There was no way I was going to be able to buckle it, but I needed to.
It took some rearranging of my dick, but finally I was dressed, just as presentable as before.
"Have a bath. We'll talk when you get out."
And then I left her.
Each step away from her was like being stabbed. What had I almost done? I'd begged. I'd fucking begged. I had begged and begged and begged, and I would have kept begging. Because she was what I needed. She was my destroyer.
Chapter 13
Nyla
I stayed in the bath longer than was really necessary. My skin had started to pucker and prune. The water stayed toasty though, as the thermometer on the side of the tub sent a digital signal that triggered more warm water out of the faucet.
I might have to forgive him just for the tub.
No. There is no forgiving.
The problem was that my brain and my libido were of two minds about what had happened earlier. I craved him on a cellular level. The moment he touched me I lost all rational train of thought. My body wanted what it wanted and if I dared deny it, it threatened to combust on its own.
What the fuck had happened earlier? He’d knocked on the door and presented me with a robe, his gaze raking over me head to toe like he wanted to swallow me whole. Then his mouth was on mine, his hands on my arse, grabbing so tight I knew I’d have fingerprints on my skin.
Then came the groaning and desperation, and I’d wrapped my hand around his cock through his jeans and rubbed just the way he liked. I’d been chasing that high from the lift again. Like a fool.
Luckily, Drew had interrupted. I should have been grateful to him instead of resentful that he’d stopped me from doing something stupid.
East backed up so quickly it was like he thought I was a Venus flytrap.
My head had come online then, and the colossal mistake I’d made had been apparent.
It was only after he’d left the room that I let myself cry. Like properly sob. Letting it all hang out. It was time to let him go.
When I got dressed and stepped out into the hallway, the penthouse was empty. Everyone had left, leaving just me and East. "I'm fine now. I'm going to go."
He looked up from his laptop when I walked into the sitting room. He’d changed into a T-shirt and removed his contacts and put on glasses. Stubble dusted his jaw. The effect was so hot I froze, pinned into position, my body trying to overrule my brain.
His voice was all gravel. “Feel better?”
God, what a loaded question. When in doubt, lie. “Good as new. Barely a scratch."
He frowned. "You could have been badly hurt, Nyla."
And we were back to this. "You think I don't know that?"
His eyes were fierce on mine. “If there's something you're not telling me..."
"Fuck you, East. I got shot at, same as you."
He closed the laptop, setting it aside and pushing to his feet. It was the oddest thing to notice, but he was barefoot, and I realized it was the most relaxed I’d ever seen him.
“East, we've already had this goddamn conversation."
"Well, I take it fucking personally when my people are shot at."
"You know that's funny. A few days ago, I would have counted as one of ‘your people,’ but not so much anymore."
His jaw ticked, but he said nothing.
"You know what, I don't know why I'm bothering. I undoubtedly tripped over some East Hale rule somewhere, but you don't even have the balls to tell me what it is."
"Are you fucking kidding me? You endangered my friends, the people I care about more than anything in the world, and you want to pretend that you don't know why I separated from you?"
"No, I have no fucking clue."
"You're a goddamn liar."
My eyes went wide. "You know full well I don't lie. That is some bullshit. I've never lied to you."
"Yes, you have," he spat.
"I don't even know what you're talking about. I've done nothing to endanger you. All I know is that one day we were on the same page, and the next day you literally shut me out of your life. You went so far as to un-invite me from your place of business, knowing full well I didn't have a badge to get back in and force you into a conversation. Oh no. You went full arsehole. I'll give you one thing. You sure know how to ghost a girl."
His voice went icy cold even as it rose. "Ghost a girl. Are you fucking kidding me? I can’t believe you've seriously painted me as the bad guy.”
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
I was so tired. I just wanted to crawl into my bed and sleep.
"You know what? Never mind. I'm done. I don't have to do this. I don't need this in my life."
He laughed derisively. "Oh right, run. Instead of having a really hard conversation, you either bury it or you run."
"Me, running? You're the one who walked away from me. Locked me out. Didn't speak to me. Do you recall that?"
"I call it fucking self-preservation because you're goddamn dangerous. You had me believing in you. You had me believing that I could trust you, and then you
lied to me, right to my face. You exposed me and my mates. How am I supposed to fucking forgive that?"
"Well, if you're so sure that I fucked you over, why wouldn't you talk to me about it? Lay it all out? And you're telling me that I'm running? You’re the greatest coward there is.”
"Fuck you, Nyla."
"You don't talk to me like that."
"Ah look, finally, a backbone. Where was that when you were with Denning?"
I whirled on him. "You shut up. You know nothing about my life. You're just another in a long line of people who’ve walked away from me my whole goddamn life. You're not the first, and you won't be the last. But I promise you, you will not fucking break me."
"You want to know exactly why I walked away from you? I love how you can't even see your own lies, the things that you do that put you in these positions. It makes me wonder what exactly happened with Denning."
"You don't know anything about me. And that's okay. You're not worth the effort."
Inside, I was screaming. My lungs were burning. I wanted to cry. I wanted to thrash. I wanted to hit him with something, because even though I knew where this was going, even though he'd already shown me the depths of his cruelty, I still wanted him. I could feel it now. Even with the tension in our words, my body was coiled, ready for something to happen.
"Fucking tell me. What did I do to you that was so horrible?"
"It was the hit list in your flat."
I frowned. "What are you talking about?"
He couldn’t know about that, could he? How?
"Okay, you want to play dumb? I watched you last Sunday. Instead of going to your office like you said, I watched you double back and take the tube."
My stomach pitched. "You followed me?"
"Of course, I followed you. Did you think I wouldn't? I have a team to protect, and you were lying to me."
My knees almost buckled. He had seen it. Fuck me. No wonder he didn't believe me. No wonder he had reacted the way that he had. He had told me before how trust was so important to him. How his family had broken that trust. His own father. And now I'd done the same thing. "East, if you’d bothered to talk to me, you would know that it wasn't like that. Amelia was the one piecing it together. I had nothing to do with it."
