"Fuck, fuck, fuck me!" he hisses, tearing away and tucking his face to my throat. "I can't believe I'm about to say this shit, but baby, you have to stop."
"You don't have sex on your sofa?"
"No… yes… it's not the sofa." He brings his face back to mine, and all the flutters die on the spot. "When I finally have you again, we'll christen every inch of my goddamned house.”
"What do you mean when?"
"You said some important things."
"Oh my God, I'm such a spaz you don't want to have sex with me?"
"You feel me throbbing against you? That's all yours. But I think we should wait."
"Wait for what? Did you forget we've already done this? Many times."
"I'm waiting for you," he replies somberly. "You want to find yourself, understand who you are outside of the confines of the life you lived? I'll be by your side as you figure it out. Along the way, we're going to explore this connection, and you'll learn to trust in it. When I have you again, I want all of you."
I stop breathing for the second time today. Darby's words from earlier race through my mind.
"Pierce was relentless, but no matter what, he was constantly looking out for me. I saw that this morning in Miller. His focus and concern are zeroed in on you. It's really special, Ashlyn, even if it drives you crazy and makes you want to strangle him."
"You're withholding sex from me."
"I'm doing it for us."
"How long are you holding out?"
"Not long if you keep grinding your pussy on my dick." He winces, adjusting his hips.
"You realize the irony, right? Yesterday afternoon, you were hellbent on having me naked until Monday morning, and now you're turning me down."
He brings his wrist up, his eyes cutting to his watch. A wicked grin spreads on his lips, and when he glances back to me, his eyes are glittering an electric blue. The familiarity of this expression ignites my blood.
"We have fourteen hours until Monday morning." His hand goes to the knot at my side, tugging it open then slowly unbuttoning his way up the shirt and spreading it. My nipples pebble instantly against the lace of my bra. He licks his lips before lowering his head and grazing his teeth over the points. "We can begin the naked portion of our weekend now."
"That's not fair. You can't tease me and refuse sex." There's no disguising the undeniable need in my voice.
"I'm not teasing. I'm reacquainting."
Instantly, we're off the sofa, and I'm forced to hold on as he moves us through the house. We pass through his room, straight to his bathroom, where he sets me on the vanity.
The shirt and bra are gone before I can say a word, but when I open my mouth, nothing comes out. This is because Miller's eyes are raking over me slowly. A tremor runs across my skin, goosebumps popping everywhere. He bends, brushing feather-light kisses along my collarbone, sinking lower and sucking gently on one nipple before moving to the other.
He folds an arm around my waist to hold me steady as he takes his time running his mouth, lips, and tongue back and forth until I'm panting with need.
He smiles against my skin, going lower until his mouth is low on my abdomen.
"Brace up, baby."
I do as he asks, leveraging my weight on my hands and pivoting my hips off the vanity. He uncurls his arm from around me, unbuttoning and sliding my jeans and panties off and tossing them to the side.
I lower myself, shuddering at the cold marble. My first instinct is to close my legs, but he stops me, spreading my knees. Every inch of my naked body is exposed and on display while he kneels in front of me fully clothed.
"You are fucking perfection."
All self-conscious thoughts fly out of my head when he raises his eyes. Heat, desire, lust—all of it mixed in the smoldering sea of crystal blue.
"I've gone a hell of a long time without the taste of you on my tongue. Six months… starving to have you just like this."
My stomach clenches and nerves tingle in anticipation from the way he's staring and knowing he can bring me to the brink the way no one else has. In my past life, my sex life was mediocre but satisfying. Or so I thought. Sex was always about the act itself, not the build up or foreplay. It was never explosive until my weekend with Miller. He opened my eyes and mind to what all-consuming passion is. It seemed too intimate to tell him then, but now I can't stop myself.
"You're the only one to ever have this." My admission is soft, but his body jerks as his eyes fly to mine.
"No one else?"
"No one."
His fingers dig into my knees, and his head comes to rest between my thighs. The heat of his breath wisps against my sensitive skin, and I wait for him to move. When he doesn't, my fingers thread through his hair.
"Sweetie?"
"Give me a minute, Ashlyn. I'm trying to tame the fucking animal inside and keep myself in check."
A new kind of thrill races through my veins. "You don't have to keep yourself in check."
"Knowing I'll live all my life with something that is only mine is something I never thought possible."
His tongue darts out, running along my slickness, taking me by surprise, and a whimper escapes my throat. The roughness of his tongue works its way inside, moving around urgently until I can no longer hold myself up with my one arm. I fall back, my shoulders on the wall, and fist his hair as he delves deeper.
The soft bristles of his stubble rubs against my skin with each stroke. I'm helpless to his assault as he swirls his tongue, touching everywhere. He pulls back enough to flick it against my clit over and over until I know I can't last.
The pleasure is too much, and it's been so long. My body vibrates with need as I plead with him, "Please, Miller. Please."
He growls, placing my knees over his shoulders, and dives right back in, alternating between kissing, licking, sucking, twisting, and twirling his tongue until I'm full out shaking. My eyes squeeze shut as the coiling in my spine intensifies and lets loose.
"Oh my God!" I yell, trying to close my thighs as the orgasm sears through my system.
He doesn't let up, continuing to devour me as I squirm against him. I have no choice but to surrender and yell into the room, flying apart again. The waves of ecstasy take over, consuming me until all my energy deflates and my chest is heaving.
"I can't…"
He slows, gently sweeping kisses up and down, then side to side, sucking a little spot of skin on my inner thighs. "Knowing there isn't another man in this world ever going to taste you makes me a lucky motherfucker."
In my lust-filled haze, only half of his statement registers, and I nod. My lids are heavy and focus hazy as I watch him back away and strip.
A fresh sense of energy rushes through me at the sight. My gaze travels over his hard body, taking in every rigid ripple of his muscles from head to toe. His cock is stiff and jutting out, clearly ready for me. I reach out, and he stops my hand, bending it in his and helping me off the vanity.
"Shower."
"But…" I try to touch him again.
"Princess, I'm about to fucking blow my load, and the last thing I want to do is clean my junk off the walls. Shower, now."
I let him lead me into the glass enclosure and think of my own ways to torture him. If he's insistent on this abstinence thing, it's time to play dirty.
Chapter 9
Miller
"At the risk of pissing you off even more than you already are, I think it's safe to say you're not a morning person."
"You're wrong. I'm the poster child for morning people. I love mornings. I can accomplish more before ten a.m. than most people complete in a full day. Everything can go to shit with my day, but mornings are my prime time. I, however, am not a farmer. Only farmers get up this early," she snips with venom.
"I told you we had an early morning."
"My definition of early and your definition are not the same things."
I chuckle, reaching for her hand, only to be swatted away. "Why are you always smi
ling when I'm annoyed?"
"Remember what I told you about the bitch coming out? Why don't you give me your hand and I'll show you what it does to me?"
"You cannot possibly have an erection at this ungodly hour. And how does it even work? Don't you need a break?"
I'm fast enough this time to get her hand before she can get away and move it to my lap. "Never need a break when it comes to you. When we get to your place, I'll prove it."
"We couldn't wait until sunrise?"
"Keep going, baby. I know a great place to pull over so you can bitch at the same time you finish me off."
"You're impossible." She sighs, but the venom is missing. Instead of moving her hand, she runs her fingers up and down my length.
"Tomorrow morning, you can sleep in, but we have a meeting at my office later and I want to cover some things before the first crew arrives."
"We have a meeting at your office?"
"Yeah, I want you to meet Andi, one of our project managers. Pierce and I agreed that she will be your contact person if we're not around. She used to be Pierce's assistant and got promoted. He let her know last night she was on-board."
"When last night? I don't remember you and Pierce talking."
"You were asleep."
"What you mean is you waited until I was asleep to call your brother and let him know he could tell Darby our little secret of how we met? One of the most improbable and far-fetched stories ever invented?"
When I told Ashlyn about my conversation with Dad and Pierce, she looked horrified for about two seconds before she burst into laughter. Her naked body shook against me until tears were running down her cheeks. Through her wheezing, she repeatedly told me it was the most unbelievable story she ever heard.
I let her go on until she'd had her fill, and when I flipped her over, she knew she would pay for mocking me. By the time my tongue finally circled her pussy, she was panting for a different reason. I gave it to her slow the first time, and when she came, I pinned her thighs down on the bed and kept going, speeding until she was begging. It didn't take long for me to read her body, and I knew when she was close again. The instant I sucked her clit, she came off the bed screaming.
She was out five minutes later.
"Princess, you were passed out at nine."
"I don't think passed out is the right way to describe it."
"Okay, how about you came so hard it put you to sleep?”
"Good lord." Even with only the dim lights of the streetlamps, I can see her rustling her legs and squirming in the seat.
"The way you called my name, knifing off the bed to ride my face. Yeah, I can still taste you."
"You're being crass." She yanks her hand away.
"Maybe it would help your mood if I pulled over and finished you off?"
Her eyes narrow into slits, and a low growl rumbles from her throat as she stares ahead.
When we come to a light, I reach behind her seat to the drink carrier and hand her an insulated tumbler. "Even though you declined, I brought this anyway."
She snatches it away, taking a long sip, and relaxes into the seat.
"Better?"
"Getting there."
I give her the quiet time, knowing that when we get to her house, we'll have another conversation that will send her over the edge. There are no more dirty looks when I park, asking her to wait for me to help her out, and no words when I open the door with my key.
She passes by me and goes directly to her bed and plops down. "Since the roosters haven't crowed, do we have time for a catnap?"
"That depends on how long you take to get ready."
"What do you mean?"
"Baby, the only reason we're here right now is for you. Seeing as my mom and all her cronies have wind of you and me, the office will most likely be packed, including people that don't even work there. I don't give a flying fuck if we show up with you wearing borrowed jeans and my sweatshirt. But knowing the way you like to make an impression, I figured you’d want to come home and have access to your stuff."
Her eyes grow wide, and she shakes her head from side to side before glancing down at herself. "You wouldn't give a flying fuck if I went to your family business looking like this?"
"Hell no."
Her head snaps up. "You wouldn't be mortified to be seen with me in two-day worn jeans, a sweatshirt three times too big, and hair that’s been air-dried then slept on?"
"Never. You're stunning all the time." My nerves prickle with the direction of this conversation.
"You thought of me, not of how I would reflect on you?"
"Jesus fuck, what kind of asshole would do that?"
In a flash, she's off the bed and in my arms. "I've been extremely rude this morning."
"I didn't think you were rude when you were cupping my dick."
"Seriously?"
"Being honest." I twist my face and kiss along her hairline. "But if that's your way of apologizing, I accept."
"Mmhmm," she mumbles into my neck.
I take advantage of her position, hitching her up and strengthening my hold so she can't wriggle away. "You need to call your parents this morning."
"We'll probably talk tonight."
"I want you to invite them to visit this weekend."
She leans back, her face full of confusion. "Why this weekend?"
"I want to meet them, and they need to know the man you’re living with."
Her body goes hard, her face losing color. She stares at me for a full minute before her color returns and fire blazes in her eyes. "Are. You. Insane!?!" The loud squawk bounces off the walls, echoing through the house.
I'm thankful for the tight hold when she bucks backward, struggling to get free.
"Put me down!" She pushes at my chest.
"Not a chance."
"First, I didn't agree to stay with you. Second, even if I did, there's no way I'd tell my parents. Do you have any idea what will happen? When my mom meets you, she'll act cool, pretending it's no big deal. But in truth, she'll be secretly shopping for wedding invitations and china patterns. She'll call daily, dropping hints and asking obscure questions. Before you know it, there will be a Pinterest board. She'll tell all her friends that I finally landed a man, and her weekly girl's night out will turn into strategy sessions on how to get me hitched. Then we have my dad. Oh God, my dad." She takes a deep breath, looks to the ceiling, and blows it out. "He will have the complete opposite reaction. He will flip, and I don't mean in the general 'Dad' way." She air quotes and shudders dramatically before continuing.
"Dozer Rhodes will not be happy. He was so convinced that I'd lost my mind when I bought this house that he offered to buy it and move me back to Atlanta. He's been quiet these last few weeks, and I suspect it is my mom putting him in his place because only she can handle him. Regardless, he hears I'm moving in with a man who he thinks I recently met, it will not be pretty. Unlike Mom, he won't see it as me meeting a wonderful guy who swept me off my feet."
"You saying I swept you off your feet?"
"His first instinct will be to shoot you."
"I have a daughter like you, I'd want to shoot me, too."
"This is not funny. My dad was a sharpshooter in the Army. His gun collection is his second pride and joy behind his family."
"And his name is Dozer?"
"His legal name is Grant, but he goes by Dozer, as in a bulldozer. A name he picked up in the service."
"Any particular reason?"
"Oh yeah, he earned the name."
"Good to know. Your dad has a right to be worried about you. Quitting your job, buying a house, and moving to a new city all alone? He needs to see for himself you haven't lost your mind, and even more, he needs to know you've got a man in your life who’s going to take care of you. That's why I need to meet him."
"No, that's exactly why you don't need to meet him. This is too new. Our history is complicated enough without bringing my family into it."
"Princess, we may be ne
w to those around us, but we know the truth. I'm a man who knows what I want, and I want you. It's not fair to keep your family in the dark. They deserve to know what's happening and not be blindsided. We’re moving forward together, and I'm thinking about the future here."
"You're thinking about the future?"
"Fuck yes."
"What kind of future?"
"Are you ready for that kind of reality?"
"I think I have to be."
"The sort of future that will thrill your mom to death."
Her eyes bulge at the same time she let's out a high-pitched, "We started dating yesterday!"
"I've been paving the way for a few weeks, so I'm a little ahead of you. And, baby, considering what you gave me yesterday, there's no way you're getting away from me."
"I think I need to lie down." She sifts her fingers through her hair and massages her scalp. "Maybe I have lost my mind. Did we leap through time at warp speed?"
"We get through the meeting, call your parents, come back here and tear shit up, and get back to my house tonight. Tomorrow, things will slow down."
"I'm staying here tonight."
"Baby, you don't have cable."
She scrunches her nose, looking at me sideways. "So?"
"Monday Night Football."
I see the argument brewing in her brain, and before she can say anything, I beat her to it. "You want to fight me on this you'll be on your back, and I'll find other ways for you to use your mouth. Then it will definitely be worn jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, your call."
She flings her head back and groans into the room. "Put me down."
I bend in, kissing the column of her throat, and gently set her on her feet. She mumbles while yanking her robe off a hook and hurrying around me.
"Hey, Princess?"
Miller's Time (Southern Charmers Series Book 2) Page 11
