Chapter 16
Juliette
Wes abruptly pulled away, the sudden loss knocking the breath from my lungs, as if someone had yanked the rug out from under me. I touched my lips, the taste of him still lingering. “Wh…why did you stop?”
He shook his head. “Because that was a mistake and shouldn’t have happened.”
The words landed like a slap. “A mistake? Are you kidding me? You kiss me like that and have the nerve to stand there and tell me it was a mistake?”
“You know it was, Juliette.”
“A mistake is sending a text to the person you’re talking about instead of the one you were talking about them with.
” I’d spent weeks listening to this man say one thing while his actions told me another, and I was done letting him hide behind excuses.
“No, I don’t know that it was a mistake.
What I know is that nothing has ever felt as good as that kiss. Nothing.”
He shook his head again. “It doesn’t matter how it felt.”
“Of course it does!” I yelled. “All that matters in life is how much you felt! When you’re lying on your deathbed, do you really want to think back to all the times you followed the rules?
Or do you want to remember the moments that set your blood on fire, the ones that made your heart race and reminded you that you were alive?
” My chest heaved, and unshed tears stung the corners of my eyes.
“In the end, feelings are all we get to take with us.”
Wes pulled his hair at the root and paced. “I can’t protect you if I’m emotionally involved.”
“I didn’t think you were a coward.”
He stopped in his tracks. “What did you just call me?”
I walked straight up to him, pushed to my tippy toes, and spoke in his face. “A coward.”
“How am I a damn coward?”
“You’re using not wanting to get emotionally involved as an excuse. You’re already emotionally involved. Can you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t have feelings for me, that emotions aren’t involved just because we haven’t had sex?”
Wes’s chest rose and fell, his breaths uneven. Turmoil flickered in his eyes, and I saw it all—anger, denial, longing. “I’m not—” he started, then looked away. “I don’t have feelings for you like that.”
My heart twisted, even knowing that was a damn lie. I grabbed his chin and held it so he was forced to meet my gaze. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. Stop being a damn coward.”
His nostrils flared, the muscle in his cheek ticcing. “Stop.”
“No. You stop. Stop fighting what you feel.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, the only sound between us our ragged breathing. I shook my head. “Coward.”
Wes’s eyes darkened. But he still didn’t budge.
So I leaned closer and whispered in his face. “Coward!”
I saw the exact moment he broke. If I hadn’t already been out of my mind, I might’ve been a little nervous at the determination on his face.
Wes stepped forward, forcing me to take a step back, then another and another—until my back hit the kitchen wall.
“Is this really what you want? Me to fuck you while I’m pissed off? ”
“No.” I moved in so close our noses were touching. “I want you to fuck me like you hate me.”
His eyes flared, but before I could say another word, his hands were on my face and his mouth crushed against mine.
I’d never felt such passion, such raw need.
The kiss was fierce, borderline punishing, yet underneath I caught what he was trying to hide: Relief.
Surrender. The weight of all the things I already knew were true, but he couldn’t yet allow himself to accept.
I fisted his shirt, dragging him closer, and kissed him back with everything I had.
Wes reached down, gripped beneath my thigh, and suddenly my feet left the ground.
My legs wrapped around his waist, holding on as his body pinned mine against the wall.
He wound his hand into my hair and yanked my head back, making me gasp.
Sucking his way down my neck, his teeth grazed along sensitive skin.
He moved lower and nipped at my collarbone.
I let out a sound that was somewhere between a cry and a moan, and Wes responded by growling and sinking his teeth into the flesh of my shoulder. It was sharp enough to sting, yet I loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. Clawing at his back, I understood exactly how he felt—desperate to leave marks.
Wes’s breaths were ragged bursts as he continued lower, working his mouth along the top of my exposed cleavage.
My nipples hardened, straining against the fabric of my shirt, desperate for attention.
One hand stayed locked under me, keeping me supported, while the other slipped between us.
I heard the scrape of the metal as he unbuckled his belt, followed by the rasp of his zipper lowering.
The sound left me trembling with need, a hungry pulse throbbing between my legs.
He shoved his jeans down just enough, and then his fingers hooked into my panties and yanked them aside. He groaned. “Christ, you’re soaked, and I haven’t even touched you yet.”
“That means you don’t need to waste time,” I breathed. “I need you inside me now, Wes.”
“You trust me to always protect you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re getting me raw. Need to feel every bit of you when you come around my cock.”
My body hummed like a live wire, electric currents racing through me. He wasn’t even inside yet, and I was already barreling toward orgasm. “I’m on the pill.”
He fisted his cock and guided it to my opening.
Surging forward, he slid into me in one deep, claiming thrust. The picture on the wall next to us rattled and nearly fell off the hook, but even the house falling down wouldn’t have stopped us.
With a string of curses, Wes pulled almost all the way out, then slammed back in.
He did it again and again, over and over.
It was hard, fast, and unrelenting, but exactly the way we both needed it.
Every thrust slammed me against the wall, every grind sent fire racing through me.
Wes took my mouth again, kissing me with the same desperation that had him driving into me. My nails dug into his shoulders, and I rocked with him.
“Fuck. Need my cum deep inside you.” He gripped one thigh and lifted it higher, pushing in at a slight angle that rubbed against the perfect spot inside me.
My body began pulsing on its own. “Yes…yes…just like that.” I arched into him, moaning, letting my orgasm swallow my words.
“I feel you,” he growled. “Feel you gripping me like a fist.”
Wes kept going, fucking me until my body shattered and I had nothing left. With a roar, he pumped once, twice, then sank deep and stilled, jerking inside of me as he unloaded. I could feel the heat seeping through my body.
After, we collapsed onto the kitchen floor together. I offered a spent, goofy smile. “It’s about damn time.”
Wes’s laugh was a deep rumble. “You’re going to be the death of me. If not one way, then the other.”
I poked my finger to his chest. “That’s not even funny.”
He slipped his hands under my ass and lifted, taking me with him as he climbed to his feet. “That shouldn’t have happened like that.”
I stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
He smirked and kissed my nose, walking toward the bedroom, still cradling me. “Relax, woman. I mean it shouldn’t have happened against the wall and full of anger. You deserve better than that.”
“I didn’t mind.”
He kicked the bedroom door open with his foot and set me down gently in the middle of the bed. “I want to see every part of you, taste every inch.”
My body had just quaked through a near-violent orgasm, yet a couple of words from this man had me riled up all over again.
Both our clothes were still on, so Wes took his time undressing me before starting to strip himself.
I’d seen him shirtless plenty of times, but getting a close-up view of the full package was something else entirely.
His shoulders were broad, his arms thick with muscle and corded veins, and his chest was sculpted to damn near perfection.
I’d never had a lover with such an incredible physique.
I licked my lips. “God, your body is amazing. I’ve been drooling over it for so long. I can’t believe I finally get to touch it.”
Wes smiled. He’d pulled his jeans up enough to walk, but the button and zipper were still undone. Hooking his fingers into the waistband, he yanked them down in one swift motion, pulling his underwear off at the same time.
I swallowed. “Jesus, even that thing looks like it lifts weights. How is it still hard?”
Wes chuckled and lifted a knee onto the mattress, draping himself over me.
When he pressed his lips to mine, a sigh of relief rolled through my body.
This kiss was filled with so much more than desire; it was filled with emotion and unspoken words.
I hadn’t realized I’d needed anything more than what we’d already done, but my heart suddenly ached for it.
I spread my legs wide, inviting him in, and Wes took his time. All the muscles in his face strained as he dipped his cock inside of me and slowly rocked in and out. It didn’t take long for things to build to a frenzy again, but now Wes looked into my eyes with every stroke.
We moved in unison, rocking back and forth together, while we kissed like we were starving. I’d never experienced something so beautifully intense. We felt like one—mind, body, and soul.
“Fuck,” Wes gritted. “I want to stay inside you forever, but I can’t hold back much longer.”
The sound of his voice straining and the way he looked me in the eyes while he spoke had a second orgasm brewing inside me like a hurricane. I was right there on the edge. My breathing picked up, and my eyes shut as it took hold.
“Open, sweetheart. I want to watch you come undone.”
That did the trick. My body exploded—legs throbbing, toes curling, nails digging into his back. “Wes…”
“Beautiful,” he groaned. “Fucking beautiful, baby.”