Rush

by Deborah Bladon

  It’s been so long since I’ve been with a man. The need I feel is pouring out of me.

  He deepens the kiss. With his hand on my waist, he twists me around until my back hits the wall. His knee edges my legs apart.

  “You’re ready,” he whispers as his lips feather over mine. “You want this.”

  “So much.”

  His hand falls to my thigh. His fingers trace small circles over my flesh. Each move brings him closer to my core.

  I groan when his touch drifts up.

  “Case,” I whine into our kiss. “Please.”

  I won’t beg for this, but if a kiss can bring a woman to orgasm, it would be from this man.

  I pull back when he tugs on the hem of my shirt. In a heartbeat, it’s over my head and on the floor.

  His gaze drops to my breasts. Natural and full, the nipples are perked from my need for him.

  “Jesus.” The word escapes him in a rush before he bows his head to take one nipple between his teeth. He holds it there, the bite of pain stirring my desire more. I try to edge my legs together, but he pushes me harder against the wall, his knee rising between my thighs.

  His tongue lashes my nipple again and again. I gasp when his hand finds my other breast. He circles that nipple lightly, tenderly. The sharp contrast to his teeth on the other is almost too much.

  Closing my eyes, I sink my nails into the skin of his shoulder.

  The ache between my legs is so much I reach down.

  He stills. His body stops. His mouth leaves my breast as he watches my fingers glide over the silk of my panties.

  “Show me,” he spits out in a tone laced with dark promise. “Show me all of you.”

  I edge my other hand down when he moves back. His gaze is latched on my body.

  His hand falls to the front of his jeans. His cock is straining. His need for me is reflected in mine for him.

  My fingers graze the top of my panties. “You want to see me,” I say brazenly.

  “I need to,” he breathes. “Show me.”

  I slide the panties down my legs, watching him as I do. The expression on his face shifts when I straighten, and I’m fully exposed.

  “Fuck,” he growls. “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than you.”

  His hands are on me, tugging me closer to him, trailing heat over my skin as he urges me up.

  I reach for his shoulders. He lifts me effortlessly, pressing my body against his. With my legs around his waist, he kisses me before he leads me to his bed.

  ***

  He hovers over me, his gaze trailing a path over every inch of my face. The only light in the room is seeping in from the half-closed curtains.

  I push my back into the soft sheets of his bed. “Case.”

  “Emma.” His mouth softens. “I’ll take care of you.”

  I believe him, but still… “You have condoms.”

  His brow edges up. “You assume I do.”

  I glance down at his body. He may still be wearing his jeans, but it’s obvious he’s gorgeous everywhere. The man must have all kinds of crazy hot sex.

  “You do,” I say with confidence. “We need one.”

  He glides down my body until his lips are pressed between my breasts. “Your tits are so soft.”

  One hand cups my right breast.

  “Condom,” I remind him. “Please.”

  He kisses my nipple before he takes it between his teeth again. I close my eyes against the assault of pleasure that hits me full force.

  Who knew pain could feel this good?

  I moan when he nips me. Again, when he rolls his teeth over my other nipple.

  I reach down to pull on his hair. “Condoms, Case.”

  “Shhh,” he whispers. “We don’t need one yet. Just feel.”

  My head falls back into the pillow as he trails kisses down my body, stopping to circle my belly button with his fingertip.

  As he nears my cleft, I wind my fingers through his hair. “I’m sensitive.”

  His eyes dart up to meet mine. “Good. I want you to come for me, Emma again and again.”

  Settling between my legs, he pushes them open until I’m fully exposed. I blush beneath the darkness in the room.

  “You take my breath away,” he says softly before he presses his lips to my inner thigh. “I’ve wanted this more than you know.”

  I stifle a moan when he licks a slow path over my swollen folds, but the groan that escapes him cuts through me.

  My back bows from the sheer pleasure of his reaction to my body.

  “That’s it,” he growls. “Feel it. Feel it all.”

  I look down and watch as he lowers his head again, closes his eyes, and brings me more pleasure with his mouth than I’ve ever felt before.

  Chapter 43

  Case

  I wipe my lips over the skin of her navel.

  Emma squirms beneath me, her movements slowing as I work my way up her body.

  “Twice,” she mutters under her breath. “That was twice.”

  She’d come once and then again under my tongue. I wanted more. Almost begged her for more, but she fought me with her hands in my hair and her ass dragging along the bed, trying to edge her pussy away from my lips and tongue.

  “For now.” I flick my tongue over her nipple. “I want that again tonight, Emma.”

  Her eyes fall to my face. “I want more.”

  She wants to fuck.

  The driving need to be inside of her is dictating every movement of my body.

  I’m hard as nails. I fought back the urge to stroke my dick when I was eating her. I could have come just from the taste and the sounds pouring out of her.

  I move when I feel her pull away.

  Pushing to my feet, I stand next to the bed. I gaze down at the front of my jeans before I turn back to face her.

  “One of us is overdressed.” She rolls to her side, resting her head on the pillow. Her hand runs over her side. “Here’s a hint. It’s not me.”

  I rake her from head-to-toe. Her body is made to be fucked.

  By me. Only by me.

  I dip my chin to clear my head. “I don’t have any condoms.”

  I doubt like hell I’ve ever uttered those words before. I’ve had a condom tucked into a pocket or hidden in my wallet since I was a teenager. I didn’t bring any with me on the trip because screwing a random woman was not on my schedule.

  I expected to be in and out of Manhattan within a couple of days.

  I had no clue that Emma Owens would drop into my orbit and end up in my bed.

  Her gaze darts from my face to the bedside table.

  She won’t give a voice to it, but she’s silently asking if there are any condoms in this room.

  There aren’t. I checked. Twice.

  Shaking my head, I shove a hand through my hair. “Tomorrow. I’ll pick up some tomorrow.”

  She stretches an arm in front of her. “I have one.”

  Anger shoots through me. I have no right to feel it, but it’s there. “You have a condom?”

  “Just one,” she says as if that explains it all away. “I thought maybe I’d meet someone while I was here.”

  I drop my hand to my jeans. One swift dive inside, and I’m circling my cock with my fist. “To fuck? You thought you’d meet a guy and fuck him?”

  Rolling onto her back, her hand glides to her mound. “That’s what happened. Luckily I’m prepared.”

  I squeeze my dick harder. “Here? You thought you’d bring a man here to screw?”

  Her back arches when her hand trails over her smooth folds. “Or somewhere. It’s been a long time.”

  Too fucking long. I wish I’d met her years ago.

  “Where is it?” I bark out through a stuttered breath. “I’ll get it.”

  Her eyes close as she shifts her hand to her thigh. “I can get it.”

  “Go.”

  My order draws her gaze to my face. “I will, but I want to do something else first.”

 
I watch in awed silence as she moves along the bed with an effortless grace that stops my breath.

  She crawls closer to me, but before I can get my jeans to my thighs, she’s on her back, her head hung over the edge of the bed.

  Fuck.

  “Please,” she whispers. “I want to. I want to do this.”

  I drop my jeans to the floor and move closer, convinced that I’ll blow my load all over her tits before I feel her tongue on me.

  I guide the crown of my cock over her soft pillow lips until she parts them and takes me inside.

  Cupping a hand over the front of her neck, I fuck her mouth slowly at first.

  She’s eager, and when I increase the pace, she works my cock to the back of her throat.

  “Jesus,” I hiss, feeling every swallow under my hand. I watch each thrust of my dick between her lips.

  She moans. Her fingers glide over her soft flesh, diving between her spread thighs. I give her more with each hard drive of my cock. I give it all to her until I come down her throat as she takes everything I offer.

  Chapter 44

  Emma

  I cross the hallway and enter Case’s room with the condom in hand.

  Sandy handed it to me when I was packing for my trip. I laughed it off at the time, telling her that I wouldn’t need it, but she insisted I take it.

  I’m glad I did.

  Case told me he needed a second to catch his breath after he came. He collapsed on the bed beside me, his hands grabbing for me.

  I pushed my elbow into his chest and asked if he liked what I’d done.

  I didn’t need the confirmation but hearing him tell me that I’m incredible buoyed my soul. The soft kiss on my lips that followed his hearty, “Fuck, Emma. I’ve never felt that before,” left me completely satisfied.

  My footsteps stall as I peer at the bed and the sight of him fast asleep.

  He moved up to his pillow and now with one arm over his head, and the other resting across his toned stomach, he’s drawing deep, easy breaths. I take in the sight of his naked body.

  Crawling in next to him is what I want to do, but I can’t.

  We didn’t agree to share a bed beyond sex.

  Placing the condom on the nightstand, I lean down to press a kiss to his cheek.

  “Thank you,” I whisper against the softness of his light beard. “Thank you for a night I’ll never forget.”

  “Get in bed,” he murmurs under his breath.

  I trail a finger over his shoulder. “Are you sure?”

  “I need ten minutes of shuteye, and then it’s on, Freckles.”

  Laughing, I fall on the bed next to him. “What’s on?”

  He cracks open one eye. “You on my cock.”

  A shiver runs through me at the promise of that. “Ten minutes of sleep and then sex.”

  “That’s our agenda.” He runs a fingertip over one of my perked nipples before he wraps his arm around my waist. “Close your eyes and dream a nice short dream.”

  “About you fucking me?” I ask playfully.

  Edging closer to me, he brushes a kiss over my lips. “You’ll need a hell of a lot longer than that to dream about me fucking you. I told you once that I take my time. With you, I want to take forever.”

  I shut my eyes to soak in those words.

  Forever.

  If this is what forever with him feels like, I want it.

  ***

  Sitting straight up, I struggle to place where I am. The room is flooded with sunlight. It’s morning. I must have drifted off to sleep at some point.

  I glance to my side, but the bed is empty.

  Case.

  I was with Case.

  A loud thump echoes through the hallway outside the door of the main bedroom.

  “I’m coming.” Case’s voice carries through the space.

  The door? Is someone knocking on the apartment door?

  Whoever is on the other side of it doesn’t understand the meaning of the word patience. A series of dull thuds fill the silence as I swing my legs over the side of the bed in a panic.

  My panties and tank top are in the hallway where I left them after I stripped for Case last night.

  His jeans aren’t on the floor where he dropped them. He’s at least half-dressed, which is fifty percent better than being nude like I am.

  I tug on the sheet, thinking I can wrap it around me, but it doesn’t give. Whoever comes in to take care of cleaning this place has bed-making skills that put me to shame.

  I toss my duvet over my bed at home every morning, throw my pillow back in place and call it a day.

  “I need a robe,” I mutter to myself as I hear Case talking to someone.

  He wouldn’t let that person in, would he? He knows that I’m in his bed.

  I quickly pace around the room, searching for anything that I can use to cover myself.

  Relief washes through me when I spot a white button-down shirt draped over the back of a chair. I grab it, slide it over my arms, and do up two buttons that are level with my navel.

  It’s a look I’d never willingly choose, but all the sensitive parts of me are covered.

  My parents would be proud.

  I laugh at that. I slept with a man I haven’t known very long. I did things that I’ve only ever fantasized about. My parents would be mortified.

  I inch along the floor on bare feet, hoping that the second voice I heard is gone.

  It’s not.

  “Miss Owens is a lovely young woman, isn’t she, sir?”

  Lester. I smile, knowing that the unexpected visitor is the doorman. He may be nosy, but the hallway is out of the view of the foyer, so there’s little chance he’ll see my panties and top.

  “That she is,” Case answers brusquely.

  “I do hope you’ll both enjoy the coffee.” Lester sighs. “I recall that you were a five cup a day fellow when you first moved in.”

  “I’ve cut it down to one every twenty-four hours now,” Case answers.

  “That’s good to hear.” Lester’s voice lowers a touch. “You’ve come a long way since that time. It’s good to see you looking well. I worried over you when you left the city so abruptly years ago.”

  “I’m fine.” I hear the brush off in Case’s tone.

  Whatever Lester is referring to, Case doesn’t want to talk about.

  “Mr. Owens worried too,” Lester continues, oblivious to the obvious annoyance Case is feeling. “He told me you left without a thing. I remember him carting boxes of your clothing and other items out of here to donate.”

  “My New York wardrobe didn’t fit in California.” Frustration taints Case’s words.

  “Digging out of a hole as deep as the one you were in takes a great deal of strength, Mr. Abbott. You should be proud of yourself for that.”

  “I should get ready for work,” Case counters. “I’m leaving for the office within the hour.”

  I should be disappointed that Case has to leave soon, but curiosity has got a grip on me.

  What happened all those years ago that caused Case to move across the country and leave everything behind?

  Chapter 45

  Case

  I close the door behind Lester, hoping to hell that he didn’t wake Emma with the incessant kick of his foot against my door.

  With a coffee in each hand, he walked in and dragged my past into the light of day.

  For fuck’s sake.

  I don’t want to explain any of the shit that just poured out of his mouth to Emma. I wouldn’t know where to start.

  I suck in a deep breath before I turn and start toward the bedroom.

  When I round the corner and find her panties and tank top in the hallway right where she dropped them last night, relief washes over me.

  I take that as a good sign.

  Another few steps bring me to the doorway of my bedroom.

  My shoulders tense again.

  She’s awake.

  Her back is to me as she gazes out the window. Her
dark hair is a stark contrast to the white shirt she’s wearing. My shirt.

  I’ve never liked it when a woman has helped herself to anything that belongs to me, but I want her to keep the shirt. It looks fucking fantastic on her.

  The cups in my hand almost drop when she turns to face me.

  Her nipples are pressing against the fabric of the shirt. Since she only fastened a couple of buttons, I can see the top of her thighs and the skin between her breasts.

  “Hey.” She lifts a hand before she drops it to her side.

  “Emma,” I growl out her name. “You’re awake.”

  I’m pointing out the obvious, but I want her to lead this. I need to know whether she heard Lester talking about the worst days of my life in the foyer during his unexpected coffee delivery.

  “I just woke up.” She runs a hand through her messy hair.

  Nothing in her expression or body language contradicts that, so I step toward her. “Lester brought you a coffee.”

  Her lips curve into a smile. “From Palla on Fifth? He’s spoiling me.”

  I’ll buy the goddamn café to put a smile like this on her face every day of the week.

  Gripping the coffee tighter, I chase the thought away.

  This ends when I head back west. My rules. Those are my fucking rules.

  Stepping closer, she reaches out a hand. “Which one is mine?”

  I hand her the one that has Miss Owens written on the side in red ink. “Here you go, Freckles.”

  A pale pink blush rushes over her cheeks. “Thank you.”

  I watch as she takes a tentative sip before her eyes close. “There’s nothing quite like that first taste of coffee in the morning.”

  It can’t compare to the taste of her last night.

  Nothing compares to that.

  My gaze wanders to the nightstand and the condom we didn’t have a chance to use. I never sleep more than a couple of hours in one stretch. I thought I’d doze off for a few minutes, sheath myself, and feel her wrapped around me.

  “Maybe we can make use of that.”

  Her voice jars me back to reality. I shoot her a look. “Tonight.”