Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
S heer white curtains danced in the breeze blowing off the ocean, the only saving grace in this godforsaken heat. Things were about to get hotter.
My heart beat so fast as I watched the gold flecks in Cole’s eyes flare. This was the moment where he either took me to heaven or kicked me to hell.
The air grew thicker, and for once today, it didn’t bother me, not when my body buzzed with desire. And he hadn’t even touched me yet.
I wanted to forget that a world lived outside this room. And I wanted to forget all the problems that existed beyond this bed.
“What are you doing?” Huskiness edged his voice.
I trapped him between my thighs, and the loose shorts he wore hid nothing of his arousal. My insides stirred awake. “Whatever you want.”
His hands splayed on either side of my hips moved to the small of my back in an unhurried caress. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
The air was thick with the hum of cicadas, the distant sound of waves lapping against the shore, and the sweet fragrance of wildflowers carried on a gentle breeze. “Honestly, no, but I don’t care anymore. I want this. I want you. Even if it is just for today.”
His fingers glided down to the side of my upper thighs, radiating a trail of tingles, as he sat up on the bed, bringing our bodies flush. “There’s no going back, Killer,” he whispered.
My arms wound around his neck, and I pressed further into him, my eyes darting to his mouth, to the lip ring taunting me. “I don’t want to think. Can you handle that?”
His lips curled. “That’s like asking if I can breathe.” The pad of his thumb brushed the inside of my thigh. “I warned you,” he murmured.
Crave. Hunger. Need. His gaze darkened, and I shivered when his lips covered mine.
My eyes fluttered closed as I savored the taste of him and the way he slipped his tongue into my mouth and brushed it against mine. God, this is exactly what I needed.
One kiss—that was all it took for the world to cease existing.
Cole’s lips were skilled, moving and enticing in a way I’d never experienced, and I eagerly followed him. In this consuming passion, I’d go to the deepest, depths of hell with him.
What started as tame and explorative quickly turned to frenzied and exalting. I bit his lip, taking it between my teeth, and Cole moaned seconds before he claimed me in a kiss so deep I had no choice but to yield.
Each kiss echoed what I felt. Raw. Unabandoned. Consumed.
My fingers dove into his hair as his hands moved to the hem of my shirt, bunching the material up my back. He broke the kiss just long enough to lift my shirt over my head, discarding it somewhere on the floor. Strands of dark hair fell over my shoulder, and Cole brushed them aside, exposing my aching breasts. His gaze drank in the sight of me in just a pair of silky, black underwear cut high up my hips.
My chest rose as he took in his fill, and the way his breath hitched had my core tightening.
When his mouth returned to mine, I expected rough and wild, but the gentleness of his lips took me by surprise. I hadn’t been prepared for a softer side of Cole, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it…handle him.
His fingers were tender, too tender, as they ran over my body. It made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. I’d come to him for the blinding lust and dark cravings he created in me. I didn’t care if he hurt me as long as my body sang with pleasure .
I wanted—needed—more.
I wanted invasion.
I wanted utter possession—fast and hard.
Cole had other plans, and the slow pace that he flipped on was driving me mad. I wasn’t accustomed to the raw emotion connecting me to him. It was something like love. And I never mixed love and sex.
They had no reason to be mingled together. I didn’t want love. I didn’t want the messy tangle of emotions. I only wanted the purely physical. Just two bodies acting on natural instincts like the rest of the animal kingdom.
Exploring the muscles of his back, I tried to entice Cole to the edge of mindless lust using my hips to move against the very prominent and undeniable erection pressing between my legs like it was seeking entry except there was a barrier of clothes, mine and his, blocking its path that had to go.
As if he knew what trickery I was up to, he broke his lips from mine. “What’s the rush, Killer? We have all night.” He traced the tip of his finger around my nipple. Not once. But again. And again.
I went molten under his touch, my eyes struggling to stay open when they wanted to roll back in my head. “Presumptuous. That’s assuming I plan to stay the night in your bed,” I managed to reply with breathy sharp pants.
“You agreed the second you stepped foot over the threshold,” he said with such male arrogance, his eyes darkening.
Perhaps.
But then all words eluded me as he took one of my budded peaks into his hot mouth. I couldn’t remember a damn thing, not even my name, while his tongue circled and flicked. Then he gave the sensitive nipple a sharp bite, and I whimpered.
Tightening my fingers in his hair, I imprisoned him against my breast. “God, don’t you dare stop,” I murmured, my back bowing and pushing my chest forward.
I felt his lips curl against my skin, his teeth grazing over my nipple. “Noted.” A hand came up my back right before he twisted, flipping us so I was now flat on the bed with him on top of me. I loved the way our bodies aligned, fitting so snuggly together as if we were crafted to be one .
He watched me as my gaze raked over his body. Need growled in his throat, and I yanked the sweats and boxers from his hips in one swoop. He kicked them the rest of the way off, but instead of returning to my mouth or even my breasts, he bent his head, pressing his mouth to the center of where I ached.
My back bowed, and I gasped at the feel of his tongue on me, hot and a bit rough, creating friction my body relished in and sought more of.
He unraveled me with his lips, his tongue, his teeth.
My fingers curled into his hair, pulling his head up before the orgasm edging between my legs exploded. “I want you inside me when I come.”
Those dark eyes held mine before he climbed my body and drove ferociously into me. Thank fucking God.
S tretching like a cat in the sun, I sat up in bed, wrapping the sheet around me, and faced Cole with a satisfied smile.
He snuck an arm under his head as his gaze followed me. “You’re pretty damn pleased with yourself.”
“And shouldn’t I be?” A spot of darkness gleamed in his eyes, and after what we just shared, I wasn’t ready to see this softer side of him disappear so quickly. “I didn’t hear you complaining,” I fired back. “In fact, unless my ears were mistaken, you very much enjoyed me interrupting your mope-fest.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Is that so? And for your information, I wasn’t moping.”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered.
“Maybe we should try it again. I’m sure we can do better the second time.”
My lips twitched. His suggestion had quite the hype to live up to considering my orgasm had been the damn best thing I’d ever experienced. But fuck me if I wasn’t game to try.
He accurately read the glint in my eyes and reached for me, tugging me onto his lap. His lips dipped toward my neck, grazing my skin. I leaned into him, tilting my head for better access, because I wanted his lips o n me. Now. When his mouth didn’t press to the column of my throat a second time, I started to pull back.
“Hey, Crew, I know we?—”
Cole stiffened.
My gaze lifted, locking on Cole’s for a second. Long enough to see his expression turn tormented and sad.
I swallowed as I looked over my shoulder at who I assumed would be Brody, but the person standing in the doorway wasn’t the eldest Riley.
What the fuck?