Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
RíO
Princess
I’m here
I smiled down at my phone, despite being splattered with marinara sauce and being at the tail end of my opening shift. My freakout at Tyler’s had been quickly forgotten when I’d woken up the next morning, sprawled in jaguar form in the woods beside his house. I’d prowled lazily back to my shit at the pool and pulled my phone from my jeans pocket, only to squint when the screen was just a blur. At some point, I’d plucked out my contacts to shift—it was a literal pain when I’d forget and leave them in—and had to rely on my previous visits and sense of smell to lead me to my backpack still left in the practice room. By some miracle, I had a spare pair of glasses shoved in the front pocket.
Able to see clearly, I’d checked my phone to find a few texts from Ramona, and I’d returned them so that by the time I drove home, we’d had plans to meet up after I got off work.
Which was right about now.
Me
Come on in. Might convince the manager to give you free breadsticks
The little bell on the door sounded, and my heart actually picked up, maybe even fluttered.
“I’m out,” I called to Vanessa and Rob who were manning the kitchen and returned with noises of acknowledgment.
There was a small bathroom for employees connected to the office, and I stopped in there to change into the spare shirt I’d brought with me and washed my hands and face. There’d be no getting rid of the pizza smell until I was able to shower, but hopefully it wouldn’t bother her too much.
When I emerged into the dining area, bag slung over my shoulder, I took a moment to drink in Ramona while her back was turned. It was just a second before she turned around, but it was just enough for my eyes to sweep over her long, bare legs that were a delicious, glowing brown. Her usual sweatshirt obscured the shape of her torso and arms, but her ass was round and tight beneath the skimpy denim shorts. I wanted to squeeze the strong but giving globes in my hands, but that wasn’t what made my jaw drop.
Her hair wasn’t in its usual braid. It was… down and cast in bounding ringlets that flowed like a lion’s mane. Glints of orange and red flared from the light streaming through the windows and lit up the sea of her black curls. It called back to the night I’d learned her name, to when she’d gotten on her knees for me. But seeing her this way in broad daylight, was… more.
I didn’t turn away from my staring, even when her expression went from nervous to irritated to uncertain. “Uh… is this a bad time?”
Most of our time together was spent rolling around the skatepark, but I’d had another idea for today. “Course not. I’m the one who told you when to get here, anyway.” I stepped closer, keeping our eyes locked, and indeed wrapped my arms around her waist to settle my hands on the upper curve of her ass.
I dropped a kiss onto her lips and felt her surprise before she pressed into it. My nose buried in the crown of her hair, inhaling the concentrated grapefruit scent that had me high in a lighter, more sustainable way than any drug I’d ever had.
“So…” She tightened and relaxed her hands on my shoulders, “What did you want to do? You said to leave my skates at the house.”
The wary confusion in her tone made me give a reassuring chuckle into her scalp. “You down to go see a movie?”
She flinched back completely, now, and her honey gaze was more vulnerable than usual. “That… that sounds like a date.”
I swallowed and grinned, “Whatever you wanna call it. You like scary movies?”
At first, she frowned, “They’re—” but something flitted across her features and made her stand straighter, though the change was lightening fast “—of course.” The smile she gave was the most pleasant she’d ever given me, no venom to brighten it. Before I could parse out what exactly gave me pause about the shift in her expression, she gave a tender pass up and down my shoulders. “Did you want to go now?”
With another kiss to her head, I nodded and grabbed her hand to lead her to my truck. Ramona kept her hand soft in my grip, trailing readily behind me.
“All right, what kind of snacks do you want? Have you eaten today?” We stood in the concession stand line that was quickly moving forward. I kept a possessive hand on Ramona’s ass, squeezing at my leisure, and she didn’t even balk at my display. On the drive to the movie theatre, she’d asked me about my day at work, spoken gently about her morning with her family, and even talked about the weather .
The person behind the register called for the next customer, and I pushed further, snaking my hand into her back pocket and keeping my hand full of her cheek.
Nothing.
We stepped up, with her standing behind me by a half step, and she looked up at me expectantly while I was watching her with eyes narrowed. “Río? What do you want to eat?”
“What do you want?”
She didn’t even look at the menu, just kept that sweet and polite smile on her face. “Whatever you want. I’m not picky.” My gut twisted, constricted, even as her shoulders relaxed, just a fraction, when I ordered a large popcorn and two Cokes.
I couldn’t keep hold of her ass while I carried my soda and our popcorn, and I almost dropped both when she held onto my bicep, letting me guide her to our theatre and seats. Naturally, I picked something in the way back and promptly put my arm around her shoulders as we settled.
Another staggering current of her scent hit me, intoxicating me with fantasies of what I wanted to do to her in the dark and nearly empty room.
While the previews rolled, I paid them no mind and let those desires creep in. She’d called this a date, and while I’d been too chicken to confirm that for her, I had wanted to make this—more than just skatepark hookups.
I pulled back a mass of her curls to get access to her neck, where I planted a kiss. Her body stilled, her breathing stumbled, and I prepared for her strike. Or a little grumbling before she melted between my fingers.
What I got instead was a little mewl and immediate craning into my touch. My body rejoiced while my mind tried hard to figure out why this didn’t feel right.
In her ear, I whispered between nibbles, “You don’t care about seeing the previews, Princess?”
Her hand, soft and smooth, lightly grasped my jaw, just holding it to her, and I braced myself for her to push me away. She would push me away, call me a fuckboy, then pull me back in with a fight before succumbing to me.
But, no, instead she just held me there, made more of those quiet, high-pitched whines. Ominous music began to blare through the speakers, encasing us in the impending horror atmosphere, but I was too preoccupied, and too confused, to let myself be swayed.
I pulled away, and Ramona let me. I tried to see her through the darkness, read the emotion in her eyes that were awash with the blue-tinted light coming from the screen. I planted my nose in her temple, taking a draw through my nose, but all I could identify was desire. That should’ve been fine, that should’ve been all the permission I needed to feel her up and make her come in this public place.
Instead, I planted one last peck on her hairline and settled back into my seat.
There was a moment of tension between us, where we both were confused at what the hell had happened, but I was too busy trying to make myself focus on the movie with her still stiff in my arms.
Eventually, we relaxed into our seats, munched on popcorn and drank our drinks. At the first jumpscare, Ramona didn’t react, just continued to stare forward. The next, though, she hid her eyes in my shoulder. When a character was murdered in the most brutal fashion, a gnarly strike to the neck with a makeshift weapon that sprayed blood everywhere, she didn’t curl into me until they’d pretty much hit the ground.
When the movie ended, the final girl driving away as credits rolled, I was a weird mixture of pissed and fucking confused . As we left, I threw out the mostly-full bucket of popcorn that we’d both barely touched, and marched us toward the exit.
The sun was on its way down, adding to my disorientation because it was flying high and bright when we’d arrived. Ramona clasped my hand, and it just pissed me off even more—alone, it shouldn’t have made me angry.
When she walked up to the passenger side of my truck, she stood, looking and… waiting for me to open the door?
I slammed my hand on the window beside her head, making her startle, her brow to wrinkle. Now, with the light of the sun, I watched her honey eyes turn from hard to soft to glazed over, and I slammed my other hand, caging her in.
“I want you on your fucking knees. Suck me off. Now.”
Something flared, a flicker of fire before she softened it again , and I stared back in horror when she gave me that little smile and started to slide down the body of the truck. To do what I demanded.
I smacked my hand beside her head, startling her to stop. I’d parked further away from other people as a habit, but I was too angry to care if someone saw. Fooling around with Ramona with the risk of people seeing was fun, but something we shared together. This… meek, agreeable act wasn’t fun. Finn’s words last night, when I’d been insulted at the mere implication Ramona was a snooze , ripped another growl from my chest.
My brow connected with hers, and I could feel her pulse skyrocketing, the thumps of it vibrating the air between us. “I don’t do that fake shit, rich girl.”
She gasped, and a few moments of crackling silence coursed between us. “W-what are you talking about?”
“Don’t fucking play stupid with me. You’ve been acting weird all day. Like I want some weak little thing to agree with everything I say or do. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but if you’re gonna keep it up, I’m taking you back right now.”
“I don’t?—”
“ Bullshit ,” I sneered. “Like I want some empty-headed rich girl. If you don’t want me to go drop you off, get on your knees, suck me down that tight throat of yours until you fucking choke—because now you’ve pissed me off—or start fucking acting right.”
Ramona jerked her head away from mine, and when our gazes collided, my gut swooped. “Stop.”
I raised a brow, body craning around her even more. “Stop what, rich girl? Trying to get off? Wanting to fuck your throat until you gag? The way you acted tonight tells me that’s all you’re good for.”
I watched my crude words pummel into her and the resulting hardening. Her amber eyes turning to beautiful, glinting gems instead of the digestible murk they’d been since we’d left Vinny’s.
She shoved at my chest so hard that I stumbled back a few steps, trying to keep my ground and not fall on my ass. Her fists clenched at her side, hair wild and fluttering in the slight breeze coursing around us. “You talk to me like that again, and I’ll kick your fucking ass!”
My laugh was mean, too loud and sharp, and I took two steps back toward her. I could hear the blood pumping through her heart, the echo of it in her chest. Her outraged panting whistled in and out of her lungs. The fluttering of her lashes as she blinked.
The scent of her lust as it spiked.
“I’ll make you a deal, Princess,” I let loose the claw on my finger as I pointed it at her. Another step, and she let me graze it against the ticking muscle on her jaw, all the way down to the pulsing on the side of her neck. “You act right, and I’ll only say that stuff when you wanna hear it.”
“You’re an ass, and no one talks to me like that.” The venom in her words had tilted, swirled.
I let mine twine around hers, react and spin. “Wrong. I do, and you like that I do. You need to fight back so that when you finally drop to your knees and open your mouth, it’s even sweeter.”
Her nostrils flared, and a car honked in the distance, followed by some shouts. A few birds squawked past us, flitting from one of the sparse trees in the lot to another. But my attention was on her, nearly on my toes with anticipation for what she’d do next.
She had my own breath catching, my grin ticking higher when her hands shot out again, but instead of hitting me, they went to my waist. And in a flurry, she had my belt undone and was unzipping my fly. “You’re an un-evolved child. I’m surprised no one’s ever put you in your fucking place.” My palm returned to the warm glass of my truck, hips canting into Ramona’s touch as she flipped my steel-hard dick out of my boxers. She teased the barbell hooked through the slit, and I groaned.
“Who said no one has before?”
She scoffed and collected on her thumb some of the precum that was already sliding down the crown of my cockhead. Ramona shoved it in my mouth, and I sucked the salt from her fingertip. Underneath my own flavor on her skin, I caught remnants of popcorn butter and whatever lotion she’d put on, probably after she’d showered this morning. My thoughts flashed to what that would look like, Ramona’s slender curves twisting and bending under shower spray, and another spurt of precum dripped down my cock.
My princess withdrew her thumb, and I groaned again at the sight of her spitting into her palm. She somehow glared at me tenderly and started the hottest fucking handjob I’d ever received. She didn’t tease me into it, just let her hand fly.
I buried my face in her hair, let it swallow my moans and babbling. “Fuck, Princess, just like that, shit you’re so fucking?—”
Her other hand reached in and tentatively caressed my balls, making me nearly choke. Taking my reaction for the encouragement that it was, she gently rolled them. “God, Ramona, wanna be in that pussy s-so fucking bad.” I could smell it, her getting wet for me, and my release was creeping closer and closer down my spine.
“Yeah?” her voice had gone all husky. “You do?”
I nodded like an idiot, strands of her hair tickling my nose, “Want it so bad, wanna have you screaming on my cock.” She jerked her hand faster while she teased my balls. “Shit, I’m gonna come.”
“Well, come then.”
The words were so simple and all I needed. My claw tightened against her neck, threatening to draw blood but never breaking the skin, and my vision short-circuited. Cum spurted from my dick, and I thought I heard her moan along with me while it made a mess of her hand and trailed down her wrist.
She lazily pumped, milking until she pulled it all out of me.
A shuffling had both of our heads whipping to the side, and meeting the shocked looks from a middle-aged looking couple that were standing stupid, probably having seen the whole exchange. I threw my head back and laughed while Ramona dropped my softening dick and wiped her hand on my t-shirt.
The couple eventually snapped out of it and fled toward the movie theatre, like they were afraid we’d start up again. Which, I turned back to Ramona, wasn’t really a bad idea.
She clutched the neckline of my shirt and pulled me down for a hard kiss that ended with her shoving me away from her again. “Put your dick away,” she grumbled and opened the passenger door behind her. She climbed into the seat and slammed the door in my face.
Ramona faced forward, arms crossed, but even the metal and glass between us didn’t hide the desire pumping through her with every beat of her heart. I stuffed my half-hard dick back in my pants like she’d told me to and walked around the front of my truck.
After settling in the driver’s seat and starting her up, I backed out of the parking spot and turned up the newest song we’d been working on. Ty called it ‘Blessed Be’, and it filled the thick silence between Ramona and I.
She twisted against the old leather seat, but before I could think about it, my hand was on top of her thigh. I looked both directions before turning onto the main road.
“Are we going back to your place?” she asked with uncertainty showing clearly through her nonchalance.
My fingers tightened on her bare skin that was warm and smooth to the touch. “We can.”
I felt her eyes on the side of my face as I kept my eyes on the road. Up until now, she’d acted skittish when I’d made it known that I wanted to fuck her. And I didn’t want her to feel beholden to something she’d said in the heat of the moment. Even with my cock hard again in my jeans at the thought of being inside of her.
“Do you want to?”
A low chuckle left me. “Princess, if you let me, I’d be fucking you right now in the back seat. But we can go back to mine and just hang out if you’d prefer that.” She was sexy as hell, but I’d be able to behave. Now that I’d made it clear that I didn’t want her to play any bullshit act with me, I was more than happy to just… be around her.
She took a deep inhale, pushing the air out through her nose, and another sweet taste of her desire filtered through my system. “Do you have condoms?”
My grip tightened on the wheel, but a loud grumble escaped from my throat anyway. “Yeah.”
She laid her hand on top of mine on her leg. “Good.”