Chapter 8 #3
“Attraction is important,” he murmured. “Without attraction, you have a good friend. But the excitement and the passion…”
“They’re nice, but not as necessary as the rest,” she finished.
He lifted one corner of his mouth and slowly leaned toward her. “Are you telling yourself that because the chemistry between us scares you?”
Her mouth went dry. “What?”
“I don’t like it either,” he whispered, his gaze sliding to her lips. “But I’ve made it a rule not to lie to myself.”
Everything in her abdomen tensed. “We don’t have…”
“Rachel,” he interrupted harshly, “stop it. You may lie to yourself, but not to me.” His toes brushed against hers. “I look at you and think about sex. Your hand brushes mine, and I imagine you wrapping it around my cock.”
Her pulse quickened as thick heat pooled between her legs.
“Every time you say something truly infuriating, I think about the best way to shut you up. And, fuck, I’ve already thought of so many good ways.”
She squeezed her legs together…and when his gaze flicked to the hem of her dress, she knew he could tell. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want to know if that’s your problem with me. That you hate me but want me. That I wouldn’t be a responsible choice…and right now, you’re thinking that you don’t care. For tonight. Because you look at me and think about sex even though you judge me.”
“No.”
“Rachel, it’s okay if…”
“No.” She shook her head.
Connor gritted his teeth. “You have to stop saying no.”
“Why?”
He leaned closer until she felt his breath on her cheek. “Because all I can think about is getting you to say yes.”
She knew she was playing with fire. They had to stop. But she didn’t want to. She couldn’t. Her body was tingling all over, and she couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore the burning desire in her veins any longer. She hadn’t had fun in a long time. She hadn’t felt happy in a long time.
So she stepped forward and tilted her head back so that her nose brushed his chin and his rough stubble scraped her soft skin.
“Try it,” she whispered. “I bet you’ll back out. I bet…”
He lowered his mouth hard to hers. His lips offered no compromise and, for the first time in her life, she didn’t want one.
She just wanted what she craved. She didn’t want time to think or doubt, and Connor wasn’t allowing her to.
Instead, he put a hand on the back of her neck and lifted her chin so he could reach her mouth better.
Not gently, but not roughly either. Just demanding.
Determined. He was provoking her, as if he was waiting for her to say stop because he wasn’t going to back down and she had to be the one to end this madness.
But she wasn’t going to. It felt too damn good to be a little insane and not perfect at all. So she clutched his shirt and moved toward him. She enjoyed the sound of him hissing as she ran her nails over his skin beneath the fabric. When he understood that tonight, she wouldn’t hold back either.
“You really should stop making bets you can’t win,” he whispered threateningly before swiftly wrapping his large hands around her waist and pushing her into the narrow alley behind them. He pushed her deeper until they were hidden from view.
They wouldn’t have fit through the narrow alleyway shoulder to shoulder. But Connor apparently had no intention of standing next to her. Instead, he pressed her against the wall with his hard, heavy body and opened his lips over hers again.
Before, his touches had been controlled – a test, a waiting game. But now he seemed to have run out of patience — and God, she loved it. The way he dipped his tongue between her lips and took her in.
“I don’t feel like I’m losing right now,” she replied breathlessly.
She took his lower lip between her teeth and pulled his shirt out of his pants, slipping her hands underneath.
They slid over hot, taut skin. He had sinewy muscles that tensed beneath her touch, fueling the desire between her thighs.
She loved touching him. But she loved Connor touching her even more.
Running his hands down her sides, pushing up the fabric of her dress to find bare skin.
The way he pulled her hips against his, making her gasp at how hard he already was.
The way his large erection pressed against her as she wrapped a leg around him and rubbed against him until a throaty gasp escaped Connor’s lips.
Until tiny electrical flashes shot through her abdomen.
Lately, she’d felt like she had no control over her life at all…but right now, she had power. Right now, as she rubbed against him in the same rhythm as her tongue flicked against his, everything was in her hands.
“More,” she breathed as Connor kissed her jaw, tracing her ribcage with rough fingertips. They glided over the underside of her breasts, causing goosebumps to break out all over her body.
“So impatient,” he whispered before grabbing both her wrists and pinning them above her head with one hand. “Hold them there. So you can’t help out.”
She felt the rough, cold wall at her back and against her wrists. She inhaled Connor’s scent until the world spun, smelling salt, whiskey, and Connor. Darkness surrounded her, sharpening her other senses. Making every sensation a thousand times more intense.
“What if I don’t listen to you?” she whispered provocatively. Slowly, she lowered the leg she had wrapped around his hip to the ground and dropped her hands to touch him.
But Connor was quick. He caught them and roughly, but not carelessly, pressed them back into place.
“Then I’m not going to finish,” he warned, sliding both hands back under her dress.
He cupped her thighs, spreading them. His thumbs pressed into her soft, sensitive flesh.
He moved higher until he lightly brushed the edge of her panties, drawing a gasp from her.
He caught it with his lips before kissing her neck, placing little bites along her collarbone…
and sliding a single, large index finger between her thighs.
“And you want me to finish this, don’t you? ”
She whimpered, her pelvis jerking against him. Further up! He needed to…
“Give you the orgasm you so desperately need. The one you practically begged me for with your eyes.”
God, why did his words turn her on?
“And, hell, you won’t have to help me,” he whispered. “So keep your hands where they are.”
“Are you sure you want this?” she whispered, resisting again, stroking down his torso…and cupping his erection through his jeans. God, he was big. And rock hard.
Abruptly, he withdrew his finger.
“What are you doing?” she asked, breathing heavily.
“This isn’t about me. It’s about you.” He cupped her breast, roughly running his thumb over her erect nipple.
At the same time, he pushed her panties aside with his other fingers, sliding his knuckle through her wetness and applying pressure to the little bundle of nerves that ached for him.
But he didn’t give it the attention it deserved.
“Fuck, you’re so wet.”
“For hours.”
His eyes darkened at her words, which only turned her on more. Rachel’s breath escaped her lips in uncontrolled gasps. Everything inside her tightened. Wanted more. Needed more.
“Okay, one last time: If you don’t want me to leave you here unsatisfied…” He leaned forward and gently bit her earlobe, forcing a gasp from her lips. “Hands over your head.”
And she did as he said because she wanted him, because his thumb hovered over where she so desperately needed him. Because her breasts grew heavy as he impatiently stroked her hardened nipples.
“Good girl,” he whispered. “Now…remember what I said? If you want me to stop, tell me to stop. Before I can no longer stop.”
Breathing heavily, she looked into his eyes and shook her head. She knew she had all the power. He would do exactly as she said. But she didn’t want that power. Not now. Not when she knew what he could do to her if she gave up some of that power.
“Thank God,” he said with relief, penetrating her with two fingers, his thumb pressing hard against her clit.
Rachel’s loud moans echoed in the darkness of the alley as her knees trembled.
But Connor held her upright with a muscular thigh between hers as he withdrew his fingers and thrust in again.
Writhing inside, applying pressure to the exact same spot on the outside, making stars dance before Rachel’s eyes.
“God, Connor…yes.”
“That’ll do,” he said contentedly before taking her with his mouth again. He kissed her deeply and hard while fucking her with his tongue and fingers. She was so wet that he slid in and out easily.
Rachel propped her leg against the opposite wall to give Connor more room.
She felt the cold air on the heated skin between her legs as he continued to draw firm circles around her center and wet streaks across her neck with his lips.
With each of his touches, she contracted tighter around his large fingers until she leaned forward and bit his collarbone, stifling his lascivious sounds.
He knew what he was doing. His movements weren’t jerky, but as deliberate and controlled as any of his arguments. And fuck, he made good ones!
She couldn’t think anymore. The heat was growing unbearable. Connor sucked on her neck while roughly stroking her sensitive nipple with one thumb again and circling her hot center faster with the other.
And it was too much. Too many sensations at once. Too many bolts of lightning rushing from all sides, gathering, needing release — and finding it.
She came with an ecstatic gasp, which Connor kissed from her lips.
But he didn’t stop. She pressed her back against the cold wall of the building as he made her come and come with his fingers until her leg slid off the opposite wall and only Connor’s body held her upright.
She kissed him open-mouthed and thrust her pelvis against him, trembling one last time…
until she slid limply onto Connor’s leg between her thighs, hearing only her wildly beating heart.
That was…that was…
“This isn’t important, is it?” he whispered in her ear as she yanked her hands down from the wall to cling to his shoulders. “It's irrelevant in a relationship, right? The things you can’t answer with questions and technology? That you have to feel.”
Agonizingly slow, he withdrew his fingers from her, stroking her hot center once more, making her pelvis twitch.
“Okay. You might be able to make a woman come, Connor,” she said weakly, looking up, “but can you also make her happy?”
She knew he was smiling broadly, even though she couldn’t see his face in detail in the darkness. “You don’t look unhappy right now,” he said knowingly…and Rachel laughed.
She couldn’t help it. He was right.
“I hope you realize that doesn’t change anything,” she whispered. She gently stroked his neck and his jaw. She had to touch him because she hadn’t been allowed to until just then. She loved the way his pulse beat as hard as her own.
“What would it change? I like the sounds you make when you come — but I still don’t like you,” he stated roughly, finally pulling his hand out from between her thighs.
She had to laugh even though she instantly felt emptied out. “I thought you only slept with women you liked.”
“Well, you seem to be the exception to everything.”
“Um…thanks? But no matter how sweet you are, I’ll still win the bet.”
“Oh, right now, it’s definitely one to none in your favor.”
“No.” She pulled his head toward her, breathing heavily, kissing his jaw. She wasn’t finished. “I can’t leave it like this. I can’t be in your debt…”
Connor’s chest vibrated with silent laughter as she tangled her fingers in his hair.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, annoyed.
“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me,” he whispered in her ear.
New heat pooled in her body as she pressed her breasts against his hard torso…when suddenly, a bright light lit up the alley.
She stopped abruptly. Shit.
“Hello? Uber for Connor Stone? Are you in the alley?”
“Fuck,” Connor groaned, pushing her away by the shoulders, clearly reluctant.
“What’s going on?”
“My Uber. I didn’t expect to be here with you…getting so busy.” He let go of her and ran his hand through his hair.
“Oh.”
“Hello?” the driver asked again, and the next moment, footsteps sounded.
“Just a minute,” Connor called out impatiently. His voice was clear and authoritative again. “Shit. You take it.”
She blinked, and it took a while for her brain to regain enough blood flow to form a clear thought. “We practically live next door to each other. We can ride together.”
“I’ll need a minute.” He looked down at himself.
“But then at least I know you’ll get home safely…
and I won’t be tempted to just take you back to my place because we both know we shouldn’t do this again.
Unless you want to rescind the bet and admit that Match Me!
has only driven you into the arms of a man who’s completely wrong for you? ” he asked with interest.
Annoyed, she glared at him. She knew he was right.
And she didn’t like that he seemed to be the only one still thinking straight.
He seemed to know this had been a mistake, a mistake neither of them would regret, but one they wouldn’t repeat either.
“Do you care about all the women you bring to orgasm?”
“No. Only the ones I was last seen with, whose sisters would send the police to me first.”
She snorted. “See you around, Connor,” she said crisply, turning away. But she didn’t get far.
“Rachel.”
“What?” She turned with raised eyebrows, surprised to see Connor suddenly looking serious.
“You don’t owe me anything. I give as much as I want, and I never ask for anything in return.”
She believed him — and she hated him for being a better person than she had thought he was!