Chapter 24
DANNY
When I unlockthe door to my apartment and walk inside, I’m still half-hard.
I glare down at the slight bulge in my jeans. My dick is being such a dick right now.
I toss my keys on the coffee table as I tug at the waist of my pants, that bastard between my legs sore and aching.
Yeah, it would be easy to take care of this. I could jerk off and be done with it. But I don’t deserve to get off that easily. Not after acting like the biggest jerk—and idiot—on the planet when I messed things up with Eden.
I think back to just minutes ago when Eden and I were standing together in that darkened hallway in the back of that restaurant. How angry and hurt she looked when she broke our kiss and pushed me away, telling me off for how back and forth I was with her.
She’s right. I jerked her around, and I deserve for her to reject me. I rejected her first after all.
I tug a hand through my hair as I stomp to the tiny galley kitchen in my apartment, throw open the fridge door, and pull out a bottle of beer. I don’t bother to pour it into a glass. I don’t have the patience for how irritated I am with myself right now. I chug straight from the bottle, draining it in three long pulls.
Man, I really fucked things up. I care about Eden, and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt her. But that’s exactly what I did. I deserve to feel hurt after I hurt her.
I think back to the words I left her with before walking away.
If you change your mind, you know where to find me
Even now my skin heats, the sting of humiliation pulsing through me. Why the hell did I say that? How pathetic. Of course she’s not going to change her mind. Yeah, there was a definite look of want on her face right before I left her, when I told her just how much I was aching for her. But that’s because I’d just finished kissing her breathless. Emotions were running high in that moment. It was clear as day that she was a mix of anger and lust. And once that moment passed, I’m certain she walked out to meet her date, who I’m positive she’d prefer to be with, given he hasn’t dicked her around, unlike me.
A knock at my door pulls me out of my silent self-loathing session.
When I answer it, I almost drop my empty beer bottle on the floor.
“Eden?”
She presses a hand against my chest, shoving me inside before shutting the door behind her with her free hand.
Stumbling back, I keep my gaze glued on her. I can’t believe it. She’s here, in my apartment, touching me, looking at me like she wants to devour me…
Aaannndddd there goes my dick getting hard again.
“Say you’re sorry,” she says through a breath.
“What?”
“Say you’re sorry.” She runs both hands along my stomach, her chest rising as she breathes. “For ruining my date. For making me turn down a perfectly good guy. For making it impossible to focus on anyone other than you after that kiss…that fucking kiss…” She presses her eyes shut and gives a slight shake of her head. “That kiss that was so fucking good, it leaves every other kiss that I’ve had or will ever have in the dust.”
My brain finally claws through the shock of seeing Eden show up unannounced at my apartment. I set the empty beer bottle down on the nearby back of the couch, then grab her by the waist and pull her against me.
She’s giving me a chance to make up for what a dipshit I’ve been. I need to make this right, now.
I lean down, hovering my mouth above hers. “I’m so fucking sorry, Eden. For everything. For not taking you home days ago when I should have. For ever letting anything come between you and me…”
She digs her fingers into the fleshy part of my chest, and I moan. God, it feels like heaven to feel her get rough with me.
She nips at my bottom lip. The sound I let out is feral. Like a fucking growl. I’ll apologize to her from now until the end of time for whatever the hell she wants as long as she does that again and again.
I kiss her for the second time this evening, but instead of the desperate, ragged pace of earlier, I’m sweeter now. Softer. Slower. More teasing.
“And I’m sorry for ruining your date,” I say against her mouth. “But if I’m being honest, I’m glad I did. Because it led to you coming to me.”
I pull away and drop to my knees.
“Danny, what are you…” She trails off as I press a kiss to her stomach. I push up the soft material of the black drape-y blouse thing she’s wearing, revealing her smooth and soft tummy.
“I’m sorry, Eden,” I say against her hot skin. I trail my mouth to her left hip, leaving behind a handful of feather-light kisses. I gently scrape my teeth against her soft skin.
She inhales sharply. “Danny…”
My name is a whine on her breathless voice. Hearing her tone turn this pleading, this desperate for me has my dick hard as concrete.
I kiss across the velvet plane of her stomach, stopping once or twice to lick.
“God, you taste so sweet, Eden. Like candy.” My mouth waters, the sugary flavor of her candy skin and sweat lingering on my tongue like the most delicious aftertaste.
She tugs her hands through my hair, pulling harder as each second passes.
I greet her right hip with a soft scrape of my teeth before leaning back and looking up her. I take in her aroused stare. She slow-blinks before her gaze focuses, almost like she’s drunk.
“I’ll stay on my knees for as long as you want me to, Eden. For as long as it takes to show you just how sorry I am.”
I slide my hands to her legs, settling on the outsides of her thighs, the tips of my fingers skimming her mini skirt.
“Is this okay?” I ask.
She bites her lip and nods.
I inch my hands up, bumping up against the hem of her skirt. I stop, my eyes on her. She nods again and I slide my hands higher up her thighs. Her breathing picks up the higher I move my hands, until her skirt is bunched up around her waist. I blink twice at the lacy blue panties she’s wearing, how they’re wet at the apex of her thighs.
I hunch down slightly and bury my face against the front of her right thigh. “Fuck, Eden,” I groan into her candy skin.
A soft chuckle sounds above me. “Enjoying the view?”
I direct my gaze back between her legs. “Yeah.”
I press a soft kiss to the wet spot on her panties. Her breath falls out in a shudder.
“I…I like it…when you’re on your knees.”
“That makes two of us.” I hum softly against the damp spot, grinning when Eden’s breath catches above me. I feel her knees buckle for a second before she rights herself.
I press a kiss to her mound before pivoting to the right and moving her to lean against the couch.
“Why did do you move me?” she asks with a chuckle. “I was standing just fine…”
“I know. But you won’t be in a second.” And then I hook my finger around the fabric of her panties, pull it to the side, and taste her.
She gasps above me, her knees buckling once more. I work my tongue slowly up and down, over and over. She pulls my hair tighter and tighter, but it’s not until I start to gently flick my tongue against her clit that it feels like she’s going to rip a clump from my scalp. I cup her ass cheeks in my palms, giving each one a squeeze. God, she feels so damn good in my hands, in my mouth.
Eden lets out a breathy curse as I swirl along her sensitive bud. I move in small circles, slow at first, picking up speed the louder and grabbier she gets.
“Danny, please…”
I lean away, gently nipping the inside of her thigh. “Please what, Eden?”
“Please…please make me come.”