Chapter 18
There was a familiar electricity burning in Rhea’s eyes when I opened my door.
Before I knew her intimately, I used to think it was a cocky energy burning there, just beneath the surface, fed by her sass and sarcasm.
Now, though, now that I had felt that energy personally, I knew it for what it was.
Fear.
She was one of the bravest people I knew, yet she was filled with doubt.
And she covered it up, using that cocky, ball-busting personality to hide it like a professional game of smoke and mirrors. She couldn’t hide her skepticism and insecurities from me, though.
I knew her heart. Or at least I was learning it.
“I needed to see you,” she admitted. The fabric of her shirt felt soothing against the palms of my hands as I rubbed them over her sides and back.
I had been getting ready to crawl into bed and read when she knocked on my door.
And now, I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d stay the night and tune out the rest of the world.
Because even though I hadn’t asked yet, I knew something was wrong.
“What happened?” I paused, slowing my kisses until I stared into her beautiful, warm eyes, “I can feel your stress in the air, it’s wrapped around you like a shackle.”
“Everything. The investigation. The lies.” She shook her head and closed her eyes, blocking me out. “I was right and I—” She sighed, “I should be glad that I was right, I usually am.”
I held back a chuckle at her obnoxious haughtiness because I didn’t hate it at all. It was a big part of her, and I loved her confidence.
She broke off with a harsh breath, “It’s just…” Finally, she opened her eyes, and the look she pinned me with made my knees wobble. “Tanner told me to come to you,” she whispered.
That startled me, “Tanner did?”
She gave a sharp nod, watching me closely. “He said I needed to burn it off. And that you could help me. He said that you calm the chaos in me or something else profoundly Tanner Brooks like.”
I giggled, even as something twisted deep in my gut. The idea of Tanner, so steady and golden, sending Rhea to me like some offering because it was what she needed.
Paired with the way she obeyed his words.
The way he saw her needs.
That did something for me.
“I’m glad you did,” I said, my voice softer now. “You don’t have to carry it all alone anymore, Hotshot.”
“How do you do that?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Say the right thing. Look at me like I’m not one move away from losing it all. Like I’m not broken and almost feral, like a wild animal in a cage, looking for a way to cause the most destruction in the quickest time possible.”
I smiled slowly and surely because I knew she didn’t need my pity or my assurance.
She knew the truth, but her mind wouldn’t let her believe it.
“Maybe I like when you’re a little feral.
” Her eyes burned hotter. I reached up, brushed a strand of hair off her face, and then cupped her jaw.
Her skin was warm against my palm, and her pulse thrummed beneath my fingertips. “Let me help you,” I whispered.
And that was all it took.
She kissed me like she needed oxygen and could only find it from my lips.
There was no hesitation in it, no gentle lead-up.
Just heat, hunger, and hands that shook slightly when they held me.
I could feel the storm inside her, the one she hadn’t been able to shake, the one Tanner sensed because he sent her here—to me.
And I was more than willing to let her unravel in the safety of my arms.
Her fingers dug into my hips as she led me backward against the wall, pinning me to it with her hips as her lips teased my neck. There was something wild in her that hadn’t learned to be tamed.
As I threaded my fingers through her hair, tugging her closer, she groaned, low and desperate, as if I’d just given her the permission she didn’t know she would ever get.
“I didn’t come here to fall apart.”
“You’re not falling,” I whispered as her hands gripped my waist, “You’re letting go.”
Her eyes closed for a beat, and her hands stilled. “Letting go is harder than it looks for me.”
“Not when you’re safe,” I held her face in my palms again, “And you’re always safe here, with me, Rhea. Let me be the place of serenity and peace that you so desperately need.”
She nuzzled into me, burying her face in my neck again and kissing the skin there. In our time together, I learned Rhea hated eye contact when she was being vulnerable. Like she could hide from it all if I couldn’t see her face.
“You feel like heaven,” She murmured.
I smiled, sliding my hands under the warm fabric of her shirt, teasing them across the defined skin of her abs. “Funny. You feel like electricity, just waiting to burn me.”
That earned a growl. One that vibrated straight through me as she gripped my thighs and lifted me. I gasped, wrapping my legs around her waist and clinging to her in shock as she walked us up the stairs to my bedroom.
“Tonight,” she held me firm in her hands as she laid us down on my bed, covering my body with hers. “I’m going to let you look at me like I’m more than this—more than sex and chaos. And tomorrow I’ll earn it.”
I moaned when she rocked her hips into me, and I gave up trying to convince her she was worth so much more than that, losing myself to the need she had built inside of me with her vulnerability.
Her fingers pulled at the fabric of my pajamas, and she groaned, drawing a giggle from my lips as she failed twice to get them off.
“What are you wearing?” She leaned up, staring down at the fabric as if it offended her.
“A onesie.” I giggled, keeping my ankles hooked behind her legs as I started undoing the buttons down the front of the cute little baby-pink romper-style short set. “In my defense, I wasn’t expecting company when I got out of the shower.”
“Always expect company,” she argued, taking over for me and pulling the last few buttons open until the fabric parted down to my belly button.
She licked her lips as she dipped her fingertips through the opening to trace across my stomach.
“We’re both starving for you. I’m surprised he hasn’t shown up, knocking your front door down and changing his mind knowing that I came here to use your body like this. ”
I moaned, rocking up against her as the words she said went straight to that dirty, dark place in my mind. “Rhea.”
“You want that, don’t you?” She asked, pulling the fabric open and over both of my shoulders as I shimmied out of it, bare to my waist. I loved the way her pupils dilated, and her nostrils flared as she stared at my nudity.
There was something so bare and honest about a physical reaction to skin that heated my entire core. “You want him here for this.”
“Don’t,” I licked my lips as she lowered hers to my nipple, and I tightened a hand in her hair, silently begging her to do it again. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”
“Tell me.” She tilted her head to stare up at me as she blew a teasing breath across my wet nipple. “The truth, Goldie. Always tell me the truth.”
“Yes,” I moaned, whining slightly as I answered her. “Yes, I want the two people I crave the most to be here right now, like this, together with me. Yes, I want that. But you don’t, and neither does he. So, let’s just focus on us. On the here and now.”
Rhea looked like she wanted to say something, but held it back, further driving me wild with need and frustration before she gave in and did what I asked of her.
She pulled my shorts down, tossing them to the side and pushing my thighs wide to stare down at my completely naked body as she hovered, fully clothed.
Her hair was wild, flowing around her shoulders as she slowly, so slowly, pinned my legs open and sank her chest into the blankets under me.
“God, please.” I begged, flexing my hips toward her face as she smirked, keeping her lips just out of reach, teasing me.
“Beg me.” She demanded, eyes on fire and energy burning in every cell of her body. “Beg me for what you want. Use the words to tell me exactly what you want me to do to you.”
“Rhea,” I panted, swallowing down the rush of pleas that she wanted from me to make them cohesive and clear. “Kiss my clit.”
She held my stare as she lowered her lips to my bare, open pussy and laid a sweet, chaste kiss directly on my clit.
“Again.” I stammered, “Deeper.”
Her lips brushed against my clit again, and then her tongue slid across the hard nub between her lips, and I moaned, rocking into her face.
There was something intoxicating about having her like that, at my mercy and delivering exactly what I wanted when she was so raw and on edge.
Like somehow, she could detach from her fears and worries when she was with me like that.
“Good girl.” I purred, and she growled an animalistic noise from her throat as fire burned in her eyes. Her tongue pushed against me and slid inside, dipping in and teasing me as she sucked on my clit, intensifying everything. “Fuck yes.”
“I’ll show you a good girl.” She breathed, sliding the tips of her fingers under her chin and pushing one into me.
My back bowed off the bed and my toes curled as she bent her finger inside of me, sending jolts of pleasure through my entire body.
“Be my good girl and come for me, Marigold. Come on my lips and soothe my soul.”
“God,” I panted and clenched the blankets in my fists as I rocked on her hand and tongue, riding her face like it was my last time to feel bliss like that. “I’m so close, you make me feel so good.”
“That’s it.” She urged, rocking her hand, thrusting her finger, adding another and sucking hard on my clit as I shattered for her. “Give it to me, sugar. Give me all of it.”
“Fuck!” I screamed, arching my back and pressing my head into the bed hard as it broke over me until I was wild and desperate for more from her. “Come here.”