Chapter 6
Shadow
I don’t rush.
Not because I’m patient.
Because she’s a virgin, and because if I let the animal in me off the chain too fast, I’ll hate myself for it.
She’s naked under me, warm and soft and watching me like she trusts me with every bad idea in her head. Her thighs are parted around my hips. Her hands are on my shoulders. Her mouth is swollen. Her eyes are wide.
Mine.
Fuck.
I lower my mouth to her throat and kiss the pulse jumping there.
“Jayce,” she whispers.
“I’ve got you, love.”
“I know.”
That nearly wrecks me.
I move down her body, dragging my mouth over her skin, tasting the soft curve of her breast, the trembling line of her ribs, the sweet dip of her stomach. She smells like soap, sugar, warm woman, and want.
The room is ugly.
She isn’t.
She’s gorgeous spread out, hair dark around her face, freckles scattered over skin that flushes everywhere I touch.
I take one nipple into my mouth and suck.
Her back comes off the floor.
“God.”
I scrape my teeth lightly, and her fingers dive into my hair.
“That’s it,” I mutter against her. “Let me hear you.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, my little hellcat.”
A laugh breaks out of her, breathless and nervous.
I like it.
I like her mouthy.
I like her trembling.
I like that she’s still got enough fire to argue with me while my mouth is on her breast and my hand is sliding down her stomach.
I switch to the other nipple, giving it the same attention until she’s squirming under me, hips lifting, thighs pressing tighter against my sides. Her body doesn’t know how to hide. Every little sound, every arch, every jerk of her hips tells me exactly what she likes.
And I am paying damn close attention.
My hand slides lower.
She goes still for one beat.
I lift my head.
Her cheeks are red, but her eyes don’t run from mine.
“Keep looking at me,” I say.
She swallows. “Bossy.”
“Always.”
My fingers slip between her thighs.
Wet.
Hot.
Ready enough to make my jaw clench.
“Fuck, Talia.”
Her breath catches. “What?”
“You’re soaked for me.”
The blush gets deeper. “Do you have to say it like that?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s true.” I drag my fingers through her slick heat, slow, letting her feel how wet she is. “And because I want you to know there’s nothing shy about the way your body wants me.”
Her lips part, but no sound comes out.
That’s new.
I like that too.
I stroke her again, and this time her hips chase my hand.
“There you go,” I say. “That’s my girl.”
Her eyes flare.
There.
That one gets her.
I file it away.
My girl.
I lower myself between her thighs, hands spreading her open. She sucks in a breath and grabs at the blanket.
“Jayce.”
“I know.”
I press my mouth to the inside of her thigh first. Then higher. She trembles before I even taste her.
Good.
Let her want it.
Let her ache for it.
I kiss her there, soft once, then open my mouth on her.
She jerks hard.
I hook an arm around her thigh and hold her down.
“Easy.”
“That’s easy?”
“That was hello.”
She makes a strangled sound, and I grin against her before using my tongue again.
Slow at first.
Long strokes that make her breathing turn ragged. Little circles that make her thighs shake. Firmer pressure when she starts moving against my mouth because she can’t help herself anymore.
She tries to cover her mouth.
I catch her wrist and pin it.
“Don’t.”
Her eyes are hazy when she looks down at me.
“I’m loud.”
“You’re perfect.”
Then I put my mouth back on her and stop being nice.
I eat her like I’ve got a point to prove.
Because I do.
She said make it worthwhile.
I plan to make sure no man after me ever stands a chance.
Her hips lift. Her fingers twist in my hair. Her breath starts breaking into these small, helpless sounds that go straight to my cock.
“Jayce, I don’t… I can’t…”
“You can.”
“It’s too much.”
“It’s not enough yet.”
I slide one finger inside her. Gently.
She clamps down tight, and my whole body goes hot.
Jesus.
I’m going to die on this floor.
I work her gently at first, mouth still on her pussy, tongue circling while my finger eases deeper. She’s tight, wet, trembling around me, and every little pull of her body makes me think about how she’s going to feel wrapped around my cock.
Not yet.
Her first comes first.
I add pressure with my mouth, curling my finger just right, and she breaks.
Her head presses back into the pillow. Her thighs tense around my shoulders. My name leaves her mouth in a cracked little cry she barely manages to keep quiet.
I don’t stop.
I keep her there, drawing it out until she’s shaking and pushing weakly at my head.
“Jayce.”
Now I stop.
I kiss the inside of her thigh, then crawl back up her body.
She’s wrecked.
Flushed.
Eyes glassy.
Mouth soft.
Mine.
I kiss her, letting her taste herself on me, and she moans into my mouth like that shocks her almost as much as it turns her on.
“You’re shaking,” she says.
“No.”
“You are.”
I settle between her thighs, my cock pressing against her slick heat. “Because I’m about to take your virginity on a motel floor, and I want you so bad I can barely see straight.”
Her lips part.
No joke.
No comeback.
I like her sass, but I like this too. Her open. Bare. Real.
I brace one hand beside her head and use the other to angle her hips.
“This might hurt.”
“I know.”
“You want me to stop, you say it once.”
Her eyes hold mine. “I will.”
Good.
Enough.
I press into her.
Slow.
The head of my cock pushes past that tight first resistance, and every muscle in my body locks. She’s hot and soaked and so damn tight I have to stop before I lose the last of my control.
Her fingers dig into my arms.
I watch her face.
Her brows pinch. Her mouth opens. Her breath catches hard.
I freeze.
“Breathe, love.”
“I am.”
“Better.”
She drags in air.
I kiss her. Slow. Deep. Keeping her mouth busy while I give her another inch.
Her body resists, then gives.
She whimpers against my lips.
I stop again, teeth clenched, sweat breaking at the back of my neck.
“Hurts?”
“A little.”
I curse under my breath.
Her hands slide up to my jaw, forcing my eyes back to hers. “Don’t look like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re mad at yourself.”
“I don’t like hurting you.”
“You’re not.” Her lips tremble, but she holds my gaze. “I want this. I want you. Keep going.”
That does it.
The trust.
The order.
I push deeper, slow enough to feel every inch of her open for me. She’s tight around me, burning hot, her body taking me little by little while I kiss her through it.
By the time I’m seated all the way inside her, I’m ruined.
Done.
Branded as much as she is.
I stay still, buried deep, one hand cupping the side of her face.
Her eyes are wet.
Not broken.
Not scared.
Overwhelmed.
There’s a difference.
“Look at me,” I tell her.
“I am.”
“No. See me.”
She blinks.
Her fingers soften against my face.
“I see you, Jayce.”
My chest goes tight.
Fuck romance. Fuck softness. Fuck every weak thing I told myself I didn’t need.
Those four words hit like a blade under the ribs.
I move my hips, barely.
Her breath stutters.
I do it again.
Her nails drag down my back.
“There,” I murmur. “Better?”
She swallows. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Her mouth tries to curve. “Don’t get arrogant.”
“Too late, love.”
I move again, a little deeper this time, and her smart mouth disappears on a gasp.
That’s better.
I find a rhythm slow enough not to hurt her and hard enough to make her remember who’s inside her. Every stroke drags a sound out of her. Every sound tears another strip off my control.
She gets softer under me.
Wetter.
Hotter.
Her thighs open wider, and when her legs hook around my hips, I growl against her throat.
“Careful.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep making it hard to be careful.”
Her teeth scrape my shoulder, and my hips snap forward before I can stop it.
She cries out, then clamps a hand over her mouth.
I catch her wrist and pull it away.
“No hiding from me.”
“Jayce.”
“I want every sound. You can keep it low, but you give it to me.”
Her eyes go dark.
Then she nods.
Good girl.
I kiss her and give her more.
Deeper now. Stronger. The floor is hard under my knees, but I don’t feel it. All I feel is her body learning mine, taking me, gripping me like she doesn’t want to let go.
My little hellcat.
My girl.
Mine.
“You feel that?” I ask against her mouth.
She nods, breathless.
“That’s me inside you. That’s what you asked for.”
Her nails bite into my shoulders.
“Yes.”
“Still want it?”
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“I want it.”
I drive into her slow and deep, and she breaks on a moan that nearly finishes me.
“Again.”
“I want you,” she gasps. “Jayce, please.”
Fuck.
That please almost kills me.
I slide a hand between us, finding the swollen little place my mouth worked until she came. Her body jerks the second I touch her.
“Oh God.”
“Not God.” I kiss her jaw. “Me.”
Her laugh turns into a moan when I rub her in tight circles, matching the movement of my hips. She’s close already. I can feel it in the way she tightens around me, in the way her breath starts catching, in the way her eyes lose focus.
“That’s it,” I rasp. “Come on my cock, love.”
Her whole body shudders.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“It’s too much.”
“You can take it.”
She looks at me then.
Really looks.
And lets go.
She comes hard, body locking around me, mouth open on a broken cry I swallow with mine. The feel of her pulsing around my cock rips the last of my restraint apart.
I hold back for three strokes.
Maybe four.
Then I bury my face in her neck and come with a rough groan, hips grinding deep, holding her like the world might try to take her before I’m done breathing.
For a minute, I can’t move.
Don’t want to.
Her body is soft under mine. Hot. Shaking in little aftershocks. Her fingers trail over my back, light now, almost dazed.
The room comes back slow.
Red motel light.
Old carpet.
The hum of the lamp.
My cut is within reach. So is the gun beneath it.
Danger still outside.
Talia beneath me.
I lift my head.
Her eyes are half-open, dazed and too damn trusting.
“You with me?”
She blinks once.
Twice.
Then gives me a tired, crooked smile.
“I think your haunted bed is jealous.”