Chapter 25 #2
Shade drops his arm from the bench to my shoulders, tapping his fingers to the fabric of my jacket. “Let’s find out.”
“Fuck it,” I mutter.
His laugh is rough with surprise. “That’s the spirit.”
We stand together, and Shade keeps me anchored beneath his arm.
I rub my palms against my thighs before remembering where he brought my hand the last time we walked this closely together.
My heart gallops when I shift one to the back pocket of his jeans.
His chest shakes with a low chuckle that I use as encouragement.
This time, when I slip my fingers into the pocket, I let them spread wide and mould to the shape of his ass.
He waits until he tugs the photo booth curtain open before speaking, his gaze heating my cheek.
“You can squeeze.” That sinful half smile of his returns. “See if you like it.”
“You’re shameless.”
With a shift of his body, he lets his arm fall and reaches behind him to cover my hand over his pocket. I bite back a laugh when he squeezes it for me, his eyes bright.
“See? That was easy,” he says before removing my hand entirely and using it to tug me with him into the booth.
I let myself fall forward into it. The space is immediately cramped with him in it, but with the both of us, the air grows warm and sticky. Hands palm my hips, and then I’m being tugged backward. Shade’s lap catches me.
“How risky are you feeling today?” he asks lowly, the hint of something dangerous twirled around the words. The heat of his breath fans the back of my ear, and I shiver. “Close the curtain.”
The change in me is so sudden it should be terrifying. I feel the flicker of arousal in my toes first. They curl of their own accord, and then I’m leaning against Shade’s chest, lust creating a buzz beneath my skin.
Letting my head roll back onto his shoulder, I reach over and close the curtain. The screen in front of us moves, and suddenly, there we are. It’s jarring. I part my lips and stare at myself in the camera. The loose hair, wide-blown eyes, and relaxed posture have me almost unrecognizable.
Then, there’s Shade. The man behind me keeps his hands out of view, running them down my sides and over to palm my stomach. His head is tipped down, our jaws rubbing. He’s staring at where he’s touching me, ignoring the camera, before suddenly flicking his eyes up.
I trap a moan in my throat at the flames in his intense brown gaze. Even like this, I can feel how deep he can see me. How he’s managed to slip past the guards and through the maze I’ve constructed to keep people out of my mind.
“Choose the kind of photos you want,” he instructs softly, fingers slipping to my thigh and beneath the hem of my dress.
I don’t move. Not until I part my thighs.
Shade’s tongue wets his lips, and I watch the screen as he dips that branding stare lower to where I’m spread. Then, he’s slipping a hand beneath my thigh and pulling it up to drape over his. The heat in the booth cranks to sweltering.
“Concentrate, Millie. Choose the photos.”
How?
The only thing I can concentrate on is the slow drag of his fingers beneath my skirt to where I’m damp. I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out at the ghost of a touch he gives me over my panties.
He waits until I’ve forced myself to slide the options on the screen one single time before grunting, “It’s not as public as I think you meant when you came up with your list, but it’s a good starting point.
We’re not alone out here. The only thing keeping us from getting caught is a flimsy curtain. ”
My teeth sink deeper into my cheek.
With his chin, Shade moves my hair from my shoulder to behind me, leaving my neck bare. He runs his finger up my centre, applying a bit more pressure while his mouth falls to my pulse point, parting his lips over it.
“If you want to stop, just say so. One word and we’ll stop and finish this somewhere more private.”
I shake my head, releasing my cheek long enough to refuse. “Don’t stop.”
He sucks lightly on my neck, dragging his teeth over the skin. The hand between my legs shifts, and then my panties are out of the way. My exhale is shaky, nearly a moan.
“You can be as loud or quiet as you want, princess. It’s your choice, but if you let those pretty sounds of yours out in the open, you have to be okay with what could happen.”
My thigh shakes where it’s draped over his, and I gasp, something about that threat tightening me up. I reach behind him to hold his shirt, trying to ground myself in case I start floating.
“Shit, you like the idea of that, don’t you?” he bites out, exhaling over the skin still wet from his mouth. “The idea of getting caught like this with your legs spread and wet pussy bared for anyone to see.”
His fingers glide through me, parting me where I ache and groaning lightly, finding the mess I’ve made already. There’s no point in wasting time denying what he said. It’s the truth.
My belly turns iron hot as I pull in long, heavy breaths and find myself on the screen again. It’s dirty, watching the flutter of my lashes and slack of my jaw as he touches me in here. I’m watching myself through someone else’s eyes right now, and I like what I see.
I whine when he sinks a finger inside of me. It takes everything in me to try and trap down the end of it, trying to keep quiet. Shade nips at my jaw and swipes his tongue over where it stings.
“You’re soaked,” he hisses, gliding another digit alongside the first. “That for me or this?”
There’s no right answer. I’m not sure which I’d choose if not both.
“Doesn’t matter. You’ll come for me, not the people walking past us.”
I nod without thinking, pressing back into him, my eyes drooping shut when I feel the stiff bulge beneath me. His groan grates in my ear, trying to draw one of my own out of my chest.
“You’re so fucking sexy, Millie,” he curses, dragging his teeth over my throat almost in punishment. “So unaware of what turns you on until I’m knuckle-deep in your cunt and you’re quivering in my arms, trying not to beg me for more.”
Our eyes meet on the screen, the camera picking up on every ounce of pleasure we’re feeling. I hold his gaze, willingly letting this window open between us. He’ll be gentle as he prods his way through my brain. I know he will.
It becomes impossible to keep quiet when he quickens how fast he’s moving between my thighs. I tighten my grip on his shirt and buck my hips, eyes flaring with panic in the camera. The balloon expanding in my belly is getting too full, the elastic stretching too far.
“Shade,” I warn on a wavering exhale.
“I know. Can feel you tightening around my fingers like you don’t want them to slip out. Let me get you there, Millie. Be a good girl and let me have another one of your firsts.”
I can’t look away from the screen. Shade’s expression shifts as his other hand disappears but doesn’t join the one under my dress. His fingers curl, prodding deep inside of me as I stare at us, watching as the screen suddenly brightens and a countdown starts flickering in the middle of it.
His head turns then, and instead of watching the screen, he watches me. The sight of his teeth sinking into his lip pops my balloon.
“That’s my good girl,” he grates out, spreading his fingers enough that I question whether there’s a third one alongside them. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
I let a raw sound of pleasure fill the booth before he pinches my chin and turns my head. His mouth swallows the rest of the noise, swallowing it eagerly. My body jerks as my climax tears through me, emptying my mind for long enough that I stop caring about who could have heard me.
Shade removes his fingers and brings his hand to my stomach, rubbing it soothingly as I tremble, trying to stitch the scattered pieces of me back together.
“Relax,” he murmurs, another arm curling around my first, holding me tight against his chest. “You’re here with me.”
His voice drifts through my subconscious, soothing me. It takes longer than usual for me to calm myself long enough to speak. Even then, my voice is ragged.
“What was that?”
“That was you discovering something else about yourself, Millie.”
“It was intense,” I blurt.
There’s almost awe in his voice when he says, “I know.”
Neither of us talks for a moment. Shade continues rubbing my stomach, and then my thighs and arms, until I’m no longer unsure if I’d be able to walk if I stood up. He makes no move to leave the booth, though.
“Are you ready to go?” I ask quietly.
“Just waiting on you, Millie.”
I nod. “I’m ready.”
He hesitates for half a breath before bringing his lips to my jaw and kissing me softly there. I don’t have a chance to react before he’s guiding me off him and pulling open the curtain. The sun streaks into my eyes, another reminder of where we are.
I quickly adjust my skirt and pull my hair over my shoulders while Shade drops to a crouch in front of the booth and reaches inside a small cut-out. When he pulls his hand back, I spin away, running hot from head to toe.
His laugh is so blunt and honest I can’t decide whether I should join him or cry.
“Look at you, Millie,” he says.
“Not a chance.”
“Do it for me.”
Letting go of a heavy exhale, I turn just enough to snag the strip of photos from him.
The woman in them doesn’t even look like me.
The camera caught everything, from the pink on my cheeks to the sag of my head as I got lost in the throes of pleasure.
Every muscle in my face is relaxed, and my eyes—it feels dirty to be looking at them.
Like I’m witnessing an intimate moment I shouldn’t be.
“Take them,” Shade urges, staring down at the strip.
I shake my head and hand it back. Reluctantly, he slips the strip into his pocket. He doesn’t have to ask why I won’t take them. I answer his silent question regardless.
“I’m not ready to see myself like that.”
“Alright. I’ll hold on to this until you are.”
“Thank you.”
Shade winks, breaking the tension. “Come on, princess. We still have to choose pumpkins.”
“We’re actually doing this?”
“Does Bryce seem like the type of woman to let us skip on something her woman wants us to do?”
“This sounds like something that should be a you problem,” I poke.
His hand comes up to squeeze the back of my neck, staying there for a beat. “Don’t you know? One roommate’s problem is the other one’s too.”
“Maybe I’ll just go back home instead . . .” I start, a high-pitched laugh following when he lowers his hand and swats at my backside. Spinning around, I push his hand away. “Okay! You win. We’ll pick pumpkins.”
And when we finally call it a day, I have a misshapen, flat-bottomed one in my passenger seat, its stem fat and curled. Its twin is on Shade’s lap in the back seat of Bryce’s car.
A perfect pair.