10. Miles
10
MILES
I knew it.
There was no chance of her staying away once she got home from the trip.
“Why did you run off on Saturday?” Aria glanced around what had to be familiar quarters. She may not have lived in this suite, but she undoubtedly had been through it countless times. Otherwise, what was the point of having so much space if it sat empty?
“Didn’t anyone tell you? I had a last-minute showing of an apartment on the Upper East Side.” Not true, but how could she prove me wrong? My real reason for leaving when I did was far more complex and beyond explanation. I hardly understood it myself.
“But you didn’t come back.” She crossed the bedroom, arms folded, her body wrapped in a bulky sweater. I liked her this way. One of those messy buns on top of her head, a pair of thick socks, and yoga pants to complete her ensemble. She was softer. Vulnerable.
“I’m opening my office within the next few weeks,” I reminded her, observing her every move while I leaned against the long dresser. The king-size bed between us may as well have been a mile wide with the distance she was putting between us.
Which was a good thing. I had come breathtakingly close to destroying everything I’d worked so hard to put together by sleeping with her at the cabin and possibly being discovered. This group was hardly discreet. It might have meant losing Magnus’s trust far sooner than intended. After parting ways, I had spent hours fighting the desire to kick her bedroom door in and pin her to the mattress with my body.
By the time the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn’s approach, there had been no choice but to leave. As it turned out, it had been the right move across the board. I’d given her a reason to think of me the rest of her trip. Now, she was here, wanting answers. I was in her head. How could I not be after the heat that exploded between us in the cockpit?
“We need to talk about what happened.” With her back to me, she stared out the window. If only I could have seen her face, but then her voice revealed her nerves clearly enough. “That should never have happened. We both know that.”
“Since when do you put words in my mouth?”
She ventured a glance over her shoulder, her mouth screwed up in a smirk of disbelief. “You can’t tell me you don’t see what I’m saying.”
“I see what you think you’re saying.”
With a heavy sigh, she whirled around, throwing her hands into the air. “Quit playing games. That’s not what I’m here for.”
“What are you here for?” Pushing away from the dresser, I began to round the bed, one slow step after another. “You don’t want to kiss me again? Fair enough. Don’t kiss me again. Why did there need to be an entire meeting about it?”
Her dark lashes fluttered over her eyes, swirled with confusion. “I wanted you to know in case you had the wrong idea.”
“What would the wrong idea be?”
Clasping her hands on top of her bun, she shook her head. “Stop. Stop with the word games. Stop with the mind fucking. I’m sick of it.”
Was there something deeply wrong with me, enjoying the sight and sound of her unraveling? “It was a simple question,” I reminded her in a voice more measured than hers. “What would the wrong idea be?”
“Goddammit. I should’ve known better.” With a growl, she started marching toward the door, and she might’ve gotten past me had I not caught hold of her elbow and pulled her in.
“Do you always run away when things get complicated?” Fuck, her light, vanilla-tinged perfume did something to me, along with the heat from her quickening breath fanning across my face. She tugged her arm, but I tightened my grip.
“Let go of me,” she growled out. Sheer, white-hot outrage flowed through every word, tightened her muscles, and narrowed her flashing eyes.
“Stop running.”
Drawing herself up to her full height still left her more than a head shorter than me. Was I supposed to be intimidated? “I wasn’t running. I was removing myself from a situation where I’m wasting my fucking time.”
“You’re right. There are much better things we could be doing with our time, don’t you think?” Confusion flickered across her face in the instant before I lunged forward to taste her lips. She gasped, shuddering like an electric current ran through her. Then took me by the back of the head and held me in place, kissing me furiously.
I hadn’t counted on this. There was heat, yes, but it was more than the sort generated by two bodies in close quarters. This was more than the desire that had bloomed between us in the cockpit.
She hated me, and that hatred poured from her with every swipe of her tongue against mine, every tug of her fingers in my hair, and every sharp, short breath as I backed her against the bed, where she began almost tearing at my clothes in a frenzy, tossing my jacket to the floor and pulling my sweater over my head. Her fingertips danced over the lion’s head inked across my chest, eyes meeting mine before she lowered her head to run her tongue over the firm muscles.
I’d envisioned this moment so many times in the weeks since I first set eyes on her and decided she would suit my purposes. I’d always imagined keeping a measure of control, maintaining composure, and not allowing myself to be swept up.
I may as well have decided to stand stock-still in the center of a swirling cyclone. There was no hope of maintaining a grip on myself in the force of what exploded between us once all of the anger and bitterness in me surged to the surface, met by everything she’d bottled up over the past few weeks. It was a potent combination like TNT and a lit match.
I took her by the hips and pulled her close against my raging erection, grinding against her, sinking my fingers into her flesh until she whimpered and melted against me. Her teeth sank into my bottom lip, pulling it until I hissed, dancing on the thin line between pain and pleasure.
Thank fuck they lived in a sprawling penthouse where there was no chance that her whimpers would be heard. Because I intended to make it my mission to extract every last moan out of her. Those sounds belonged to me, and by the time I was done with her, she wouldn’t be able to deny it, no matter how hard she fought me.
Working my hands under her sweater, I wasted no time pulling it over her head. My greedy hands traveled her body, measuring her firmness, the softness of her skin, those glorious tits encased in another lacy bra. A simple flick of the clasps and it fell away, stealing my breath and turning my already rock-hard dick to steel. I lifted them in my hands, worshiping them, sucking and teasing until her fingers danced through my hair, and she moaned, low and deep, the sound unleashing a primal force I barely kept a hold on when there wasn’t a gorgeous woman writhing against me.
“Fuck, yes,” she grunted out, her nails running over my shoulders and down my back.
I was lost in sensation.
Lost in lust…
… lost in her.
There was no stopping now, not when her hand brushed my aching bulge. I wouldn’t be refused this time.
“I hate you,” she furiously whispered while fumbling with my belt. “I fucking hate you.”
No, she hated what I compelled her to do. How helpless she was when it came to me. She hated being unable to resist after deciding to dislike me weeks ago.
“That’s right.” My teeth scraped the delicate skin of her throat until she whimpered in my ear. “Hate me. Give me all your hate.”
She offered no resistance as I pushed her onto the bed, where she flopped on her back. The sight of her bouncing tits was hypnotic, but it was the animal lust blazing in her eyes that left me hurrying through, removing my boots, and dropping my jeans. She followed suit, tearing off her leggings, leaving her in nothing but a barely existent thong. Her body was so smooth, almost glistening, and it was all mine for now.
I crawled on top of her, my heart racing in anticipation. There was no dragging this out. No teasing or building up her passion. She was already there, and by the time my fingers brushed her crotch, there was wetness causing the lace to cling to her pussy. “So wet for me,” I groaned out, shuddering as our mouths met again, and she kissed me with all of the fierce, undeniable hatred her soul contained.
“Fuck me,” she whispered, biting my lip, her body alive underneath mine, her hips rolling in circles to meet my caress.
I pushed the lace aside to slide a finger through her wet seam, and she arched, gasping as she hooked a leg around my ass and pulled me in. Demanding. The impatient little brat.
The only problem was I was in no position to deny her. If this went on much longer, I would embarrass myself by coming in my shorts because I couldn’t have conceived of anything this hot, so hot it could burn me to ash.
“Let me get—” I forced myself to push up on my palms, planning to find a condom, but the impatient witch pulled me down again, wrapping her body around me.
“I’m on the pill. Just do it. Now. ” She tugged impatiently at my waistband, tugging the shorts down and over my ass, scraping my skin and sinking her nails deep. Sensation flared hot and intense, ripples of sheer pleasure destroying my ability to think past the present moment. The need to take her, to fuck every last ounce of that defiance and sass out of her.
Her lean thighs spread when I stripped her thong away. Looking down between us, I took in the sight of her gorgeous, glistening pussy, her clit peeking out temptingly from between her plump lips. I longed to taste it, but for now, all that mattered was sinking deep. Losing myself in her, if only for now.
“Give me your cock,” she grunted out, wrapping her fingers around my thick shaft and guiding me to where she was hot, wet, and so ready. I had built her up to this. What I didn’t realize until now was how she’d built me up too.
You should slow down. You need to get control.
I pushed forward before those warnings could take hold, breaching her tight entrance and filling her in one sure, deep stroke. Her eyes closed, her head snapping back. A deep breath was followed by a long, guttural moan that left me sizzling from head to toe. There was nothing sexier than the sight of a woman coming undone around me.
I clenched my jaw against the sudden, almost overwhelming urge to give in to the temptation of release. This was new, going without a condom, with nothing between her hot, slick cunt and my cock. Like going from standard to high definition, every sensation was clearer and more intense, enough to make me shake from the effort of adjusting to it all. Once the urge passed, I pushed up onto my knees, taking her by the ankles and spreading her legs wide. She wanted to be fucked? I’d fuck her like no one ever had.
Her eyes flew open when I began taking her in hard, deep strokes, punishing her. “Oh, shit,” she moaned out, her expression hardening with determination. Her hips jerked, meeting my every stroke.
There was nothing like the power of moving inside her tight cunt. Working her body, using her, allowing her to use me. I propped her legs against my chest, taking her hips in my hands and quickening my stroke until sweat coated the back of my neck and her high-pitched cries got louder.
“You like this cock?” I panted, driving her into the mattress while she writhed and moaned, her hands sliding over her tits and toying with her pink nipples. The sight damn near undid me.
“Yes! I’m… I’m gonna…” Her mouth fell open, her face contorting in pleasure. “Oh, God!”
“Give it to me,” I growled out, unleashing a flurry of strokes. She used her thighs against my chest as leverage, pushing back, fucking me as hard as I fucked her. I was close, so close, the tingle at the base of my spine followed by the lifting of my balls. There wouldn’t be any holding back much longer.
“I… Miles!” She stiffened, holding her breath in that final moment as she shattered around me. I took a moment to drink in the sight and sound of her orgasm, then finally allowed my own release.
The rush was incredible, overwhelming. By the time my seed dripped between us, I was spent, falling face-first beside her and wondering if I’d just finished fucking or brawling. A little bit of both, I decided while waiting for my heartbeat to slow and my breathing to ease.
I always knew I would enjoy it when things finally got physical between us.
I hadn’t been prepared for the chemistry we shared, her fierce passion, or the way she fit around me like a glove.
The bed shifted when she did, and I lifted my head to find her sitting up, stretching, and sighing before throwing her legs over the side of the mattress without a word. “I never pegged you for the love-’em-and-leave-’em type,” I murmured.
She stood, treating me to a view of her exquisite body. “I’m on my way to the shower.” Her voice was soft and seductive as she started across the room. “I thought I’d freshen up, then we can begin round two.”
My heart jumped. “Presumptuous, sweetheart?” I asked, staring at her bare ass.
Stopping in the bathroom doorway, she flipped on the light inside, then turned toward me. “Abso-fuckin-lutely. And no one can ever know about this.”
“I won’t tell a soul,” I purred lowly, getting out of bed to pursue her into the shower. Now that that fantasy had become a reality, I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to enjoy the fringe benefits of my plan.