Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Ithink maybe we should turn in,” Dylan said as she raised her face to be kissed.
He’d been holding her for a few minutes and, at first, she’d been relaxed, but then it all changed, and the space around them became charged. Her desire was building, and she could tell he was feeling it, too.
Then he abruptly released her.
Startled, her eyes flew open, and heat crawled up into her cheeks. Damn. She was sure he wanted to kiss her. He’d taken the opportunity to do it in the past, so what was stopping him now?
“Um, I guess you’re right,” she said, but deliberately avoided looking him in the eye. “I’m going to get changed.”
“Just let me check the bedroom one more time.” He walked down the hallway and made sure the bedroom was secure. She waited by the doorway, then entered when he nodded.
“Ok. I’ll use the other room to get ready and then check back with you in a few minutes,” he said.
She made a non-committal sound and closed the door after him when he left the room. Idiot, she mumbled to herself, but what was she supposed to think? She knew he wanted her. He proved it at the gazebo, and again tonight on the boardwalk. So why was he shying away now?
Brushing her teeth and washing her face was a comforting routine. She tried to curb her anger but the emotion still flowed through her. It figured. She thought tonight would be different. A real date that ended with amazing sex with the hottest guy she’d ever seen.
Instead, it had turned into a nightmare.
“Raleigh?”
She jerked her hand and splashed herself at the sound of his voice at the door. “Come in,” she called.
He stumbled a bit and cursed as he entered the room. His bare chest was all she could see, and it took all of her energy not to stare at it. She caught him staring at her as well. She was wearing his t-shirt again and from the look on his face, he liked it. A lot. Take that, Hottie McHot!
Smiling, she turned away as she put her things on the chair. Then she went into the bathroom to clean up her toiletries. She congratulated herself on surviving the bare chest exposure and marshalled her defenses to walk back into the room.
As she entered, he turned from putting his stuff away and they crashed into each other. He grabbed her around the waist.
She braced herself on his chest. Their gazes locked, and all the control she’d congratulated herself on went out the window.
He swooped down and claimed her lips. She opened her mouth willingly under his onslaught. Their tongues danced while their bodies melded together.
His skin was hot under her hands. She longed to feel more of him.
He grabbed her ass and pulled her hips against his.
She moaned at the exquisite contact. An immediate hardening in his groin was the response.
She moaned again. He walked her backward toward the bed until she fell back, and he came down on top of her. His lips found hers again.
The kiss deepened, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. She wanted him. Wanted this so much. She ran her hands down over his shoulders when he suddenly broke off the kiss.
She opened her eyes, puzzled.
“Raleigh, honey, I want you so bad I can barely stand it, but…”
“But what?”
“Maybe this isn’t the right time.”
Anger and humiliation hit her like someone whacked her with her laptop. Was he serious? A flush clawed its way up her neck into her cheeks. “I’m sorry you think that,” she managed to get out between clenched teeth. She tried to twist out from underneath him, but he held her in place.
“It’s not what you think.”
She squirmed some more. “Isn’t it?” she demanded.
“Raleigh, I’m trying to tell you that I like you. I like you a lot.”
She stopped moving and stared up at him, eyes narrowed. “Well, if that’s true, then having sex with me shouldn’t be a problem.”
“It’s not a problem. I want to. God, do I want to,” he said, his voice still husky. “But you’re in a tough spot now. You’re tired and scared and frustrated and pissed off. I don’t want you to be with me and then regret it later.”
The anger dissipated as quickly as it came. She reached up and touched his cheek. “Thank you for being so considerate. It means a lot to me you are thinking of my feelings, but I have to tell you, what I need right now is this.”
She ran her hands down his back. “I need you. There’s so little in my life I can control right now, but I can control this, us. And I’m choosing you. I’m choosing to be with you, Dylan. Don’t let my stalker rob me of this choice.”
She wanted him to understand. She needed this. She needed his touch. She needed to feel like a normal person again. She wanted to escape in his arms.
“God, you’re killing me, honey. I want you so bad, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me in the morning. You mean too much for me to risk what we’re building here for one night.” Uncertainty gleamed in his eyes.
“What if I promise you tonight won’t be our only night? I like what we’re building, too. I don’t want to risk it either, but this isn’t a risk. I want to spend this night forgetting everything but us.” She pulled him down for a kiss before he could object again.
He tried to pull away, but she fisted her hands in his hair and deepened the kiss. His tongue, slow to respond, gradually joined hers in a familiar rhythm. His body relaxed on top of hers and she wrapped herself back around him.
He ran his hands down her thighs to grip her ass tighter. She lifted her hips and moved back and forth across his crotch. When she reached for the button of his jeans, he caught her hands.
Pulling back, he asked, “Are you sure?”
She reached down, grabbed the bottom of the t-shirt she wore, and pulled it over her head. His eyes went down to her breasts and then came back up to lock with hers.
“Absolutely,” she said.
This woman was going to be the death of him. She tasted so good, felt so right against him. He was powerless to say no, nor did he want to. He wanted to be a gentleman and do the right thing, but the naked lust he felt was reflected in her eyes.
It was his undoing.
He dipped his head and captured one of her taut pink nipples in his mouth.
He sucked and pulled at it, her moans and whimpers spurring him on.
He moved to the other breast. She arched against him.
He moved down her body leaving a trail of kisses across her stomach and hips, only pausing to drag her lacy panties down, over her knees and off her legs.
Then he hovered above the apex of her legs.
Glancing up to make sure she was still with him, his cock leaped as she bit her lip. Catching his gaze, she reached for him.
He gently pushed her hands away and dropped his mouth over her hot center.
She moaned in response. He slowly rotated his tongue in little circles, alternating sucking and nipping the sensitive area.
Her breath came in small gasps. He used his fingers in tandem with his tongue.
Her breath came faster. He heard her nails scrape as she fisted her hands in the sheets.
“Dylan,” she gasped. “Dylan.” She repeated his name over and over, faster and faster, until her core tightened on his fingers and then her whole body shuddered with her release.
She lay limp on the bed as he made his way back up her body, dropping kisses along the way.
She smiled up at him and ran her hand down his chest. “That was amazing.”
“Glad you enjoyed it,” he said. Then he dropped kisses onto her neck.
He touched her breast, rubbing his thumb over the nipple.
She bit her lip again. He was so hard it hurt.
She reached down, and released the button of his jeans.
She helped him push them down. She grabbed his boxer briefs and pushed those down as well.
He shifted his weight and pulled everything off.
Then he rolled back on top of her and continued to circle her nipple while nibbling on the hollow of her neck.
She reached down and closed a hand around his girth.
He groaned. It felt so good he couldn’t help it.
She moved her hand slowly back and forth over his length.
He claimed her lips again and she immediately deepened the kiss.
The blood thrummed through his veins as the tempo of her hand matched the movement of her tongue.
He broke off the kiss. “You’re killing me,” he growled.
“Good.” Her smile was sexy and filled with promise.
“Just hold that thought.” He rolled off and sat up. Grabbing his jeans, he pulled out his wallet and got the condom he kept there. Dropping his jeans, he tore open the foil and started to put it on.
Raleigh sat up and brushed his hands away. She took the condom and rolled it slowly over him. No woman had ever done that before, and it was the sexiest thing Dylan had ever experienced.
He pushed her gently back onto the bed and covered her with his body. Laughing, she nudged him until he flipped over. “Now it’s my turn.”
He grinned. “Always like to be fair.”
She kissed him, nibbling on his lips and then moving along his jaw.
When she bit his earlobe, he hissed. She was driving him crazy.
Her hands were everywhere, and her tongue was leaving a trail of desire in its wake as she moved down his chest. She sucked first one nipple than the other.
He tried to bring her lips back to his, but she refused.
He moved to pull her hips to his, but she shook her head. Then she smiled.
She shifted her weight and lowered herself onto him slowly.
He was rock hard. “You’re so tight. You feel so damn good.”
Her movements were slow at first, but she gained speed until he couldn’t stand it. He reached up and grabbed her hips. This time she let him. He guided her down on top of him, faster, harder, rocking his hips to match her movements.
She opened her eyes and their gazes locked.
He knew at that moment he would do everything in his power to keep her safe.
She was his and his alone. She called his name as her sheath squeezed the length of him.
A couple more strokes, and he was there with her, his voice raw as he shouted her name.
She fell across his chest, and the two of them lay there gasping for breath.
“That…was…incredible,” Dylan managed to huff out between breaths.
“Uh-huh.”
“I feel weak.”
Raleigh pushed up from his chest. “Does that mean there’s no round two?”
He grinned. “Not on your life,” he said and then whipped her onto her back and pinned her down. Her yelp of surprise ended in a fit of giggles. It was music to his ears.