15. The Man in the Shadows
Sighing, I put the groceries on the counter, open my fridge, and grab the wine. I don’t feel any better about what happened between Oliver and I. My mind keeps wondering if I pressured him into crossing a line he normally wouldn’t. I take a swig of the wine, setting the bottle on the counter as I shove my cold items away. I decide that is the maximum effort for tonight; I want a bath and then eat my feelings in front of my TV till I get over whatever the hell is wrong with me.
I turn on the light in my living room and then stiffen at the figure sitting in the chair.
Carson watches me with cold eyes, taking in my dress and heels as he leans back.
“Jenica,” he says hoarsely.
“Carson, how did you get in?”
It’s a stupid question. Carson is a dangerous man, we all know it. He’s never confirmed he works for some kind of organized crime, but there’s huge speculation. It”s why we rarely saw him after high school. I suspect he kept his distance from all of us as a safety measure. He even has the whole bad-boy look. His dark hair cropped on the sides, but longer on top. Muscles that flex under shirts, that scream fighter more than bouncer. When we were younger, people said his dark eyes matched his dark soul, but I also thought they were beautiful like the midnight sky. The only difference is the black ink lining every inch of visible skin, but his perfect angular jaw and face.
“I needed to see if the rumors were true.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I didn’t take you for gossip. Must be your old age.”
His lip twitches and my heart does a little flip. I knew he always found me amusing. “So Jared has cheated on you.”
I glare at him. “Knocked her up, put my ring on her finger, the whole shebang.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Carson muses. “He was never good enough for you.”
“Hmm. I’m sure there’s a compliment in there somewhere.” I roll my eyes.
Carson shakes his head, rubbing a tattooed hand along his jaw. “But what does surprise me is this whisper I heard of you fucking his friends for revenge.”
I fight the urge to lick my lips. “I’m sure Keegan and Shane spared no details.”
Carson flashes a wintry smile. “They certainly didn’t. And here we are weeks later, and I haven’t heard from you. I would think I’m an essential part of your plan.”
My heart skips a beat at his words; there is an underlying tone to his voice that sends tingling sensations through me, warning me to proceed with caution. I ignore them. “Actually, I decided fucking you was pretty pointless. Jared would be too scared to ever say anything.”
It”s a lie. Fucking Oliver has completely thrown me off-balance. I had every intention of sleeping with Carson, every girl who is in his presence has the intention of sleeping with this fine specimen of a man. No matter how much your instincts scream at you to back away. The problem is that I had a roadblock in getting his contact information.
Carson slowly rises from the chair. I forgot how tall he is, his towering presence engulfing the room. “But you weren’t scared of possibly offending me with the slight of not approaching me?”
I frown before the confusion clears and I can’t stop the small laugh that comes out. He’s jealous. Carson is jealous, and I realize right then and there that whatever plan I had to originally seduce him never would have worked. He’s only here because I hadn’t given him the attention he naturally thought he was going to get.
Carson mistakes my laughter for mocking and stalks toward me with a growl. My eyes widen and I squeak in terror, running towards my bedroom, trying to close the door and lock it. His hand wrenches it open and I stumble backward, his fingers coming up to twist into my hair and pulling me roughly into him.
“You dare laugh at me,” he grits out, his eyes bright and wild with rage as he stares down at me. “I kill people for less.”
My eyes water from the pain of my hair being pulled so hard, but I’m panting and a little ashamed of how wet I’m getting from his brutal handling. Keeping his hold on my hair, he walks us to my bed, sits down and throws me across his lap. “I think you need to learn your lesson for disrespecting me.” His voice is icy, and I shiver as he pushes my dress to my waist, exposing my bare bottom with a red thong between my cheeks.
I tense, trying to wiggle out of his lap. “I swear to god, Carson. If you spank me, the next time your dick is wet will be because it’s drenched in blood after I cut it off.”
He pauses, and then his body shakes with laughter. I take the time to scramble away from him as he smiles at me. His smile is panty-dropping, downright sinful. “I forget how refreshing it is to be humbled by you.”
I sniff. “You would never hurt me,” I say softly.
“No, I wouldn’t,” he agrees.
We stare at each other silently as I step out of my heels, flinging them to the side. His hungry eyes track my fingers as I push the straps of my dress off my shoulders, the silky material gathering at my waist. I wiggle it over my hips, letting it puddle at my feet before I step out of it, leaving me in my red strapless lace bra and its matching bottoms. Carson”s throat bobs as he takes me in.
“Am I what you imagined?” I smirk at him, trying to control the nerves crawling into my chest, my heart pounding away.
“Better,” he answers huskily. “Jared was a damn fool.”
“If we’re going to do this… you should know. I record every detail.”
Carson tenses. “What do you mean?”
I lick my lips, tilting my head to the side. “I mean I have a video of Keegan and I. Then I have a video of Shane taking me from behind while I suck Keegan’s cock. So, Carson, I want to ride your dick like no other, but only if we record it.”
“Then I have a demand of my own,” he says.
“What?”
His palm wipes across his mouth and his heated eyes trail down my body. “When you’re ready to move on, you’ll give me a chance.”
“Carson…” I fold my arms, a little insecure in front of him now.
He stands, walking towards me. He cups my face and I blink up at him, his thumb pushes against my bottom lip.
“I’ve been patient, and I’ll continue to be patient. But I’m not such a gentleman that I won’t take the opportunity to have you to myself for the night.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
The cocky smile has me narrowing my eyes.
“Friends…. with benefits,” I clarify. His hold on my face tightens and I swallow. “It’s all I can offer at the moment.”
Carson’s calculating gaze roams over my face, but his smirk doesn’t falter. I’m sure he thinks he can talk me out of it. But I want time to myself where I’m not tied to anyone.
“Deal,” he says. Then his lips are on mine. He picks me up, and I wrap my arms around his neck as our kiss deepens.
The mattress is soft against my back as he settles over me. My fingers unbutton his shirt, pushing it over his shoulders and down to unbuckle his pants. Our tongues dance with each other as he squeezes my ass, rocking into my center between my open legs.
Carson kneels back, kicking down his pants and briefs. I snap my bra and fling it off, his mouth immediately descending on my breasts. I curl my hand around his smooth, thick erection and stroke him as he moves back over me.
He twists my thong, snapping it off my body. Then his fingers plunge inside me and I rock into his hand.
“You’re already so wet for me,” Carson growls into my chest.
“I need you,” I beg.
His cock swells in my hand, and he pulls his fingers out, sucking them into his mouth. The dark, unfiltered heat in his eyes makes my pussy throb.
“Line us up, baby.”
I notch his crown at my entrance, and he catches my hands as I slide them up his chest. We both groan as he surges forward, filling me with one deep thrust.
His fingers lace through mine, resting our hands above my head. My foot is notched over his waist as he moves inside me. He kisses across my collarbone as his hips never stop pumping. My eyes roll back as Carson Vitale fucks me with such burning intensity, it scares me and the heart I’m determined to protect from anyone else.
I’ve never felt such intimacy with someone. The slow and measured pace with our bodies plastered to each other has to be the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced. His lips skim up my neck before he captures my mouth and I moan, squeezing his fingers tighter.
There is no doubt that Carson could take me to pound town and I would love that just as much. But I never want this to end. I can live with him buried in between my legs like this forever.
“Carson…” I gasp out when he does a particularly deep thrust, setting sparks straight from my clit up to my belly.
“I’ve imagined how you’d feel so much over the years,” he whispers into my ear. His soft pants fan across my face.
“Oh god,” I clamp down on him, exploding as my body trembles. I know my knuckles must be white with how hard I’m holding onto him.
He grunts. “Goddamn, you feel so good.”
Carson thrusts through my orgasm, his chest falling faster as he slams into me a few more strokes before burying his cock as deep as he can. It becomes impossibly bigger as he spills inside me. The warmth of his cum filling me has me shuddering.
We lie there, still stuck together till our breathing calms and his hands move to wrap around my waist. He holds me tight against him as he rolls onto his back. I try to shift my leg higher on his hip, but he grabs onto it to keep me in place.
“Don’t. I want to stay inside you till I’m ready for the next round,” he mutters against my forehead.
My skin flushes with arousal, and my pussy throbs, causing some of our mess to leak out. His fingers reach between my legs, gathering it up blindly and pushing it back inside me. I gasp at his fingers sliding against his cock, stretching me further.
“Hmm. I don’t think I’ll want to get over this any time soon,” he admits, the sleepy confession making my stomach flutter. Carson caresses down my back, and I relax into his chest.
A sense of peace settles in my bones like this is where I was meant to end up. And that honestly terrifies me. And before sleep claims me, I realize that I had been so caught up in him that I forgot to record us.