Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
PENELOPE
The Harvest Festival was winding down, but somehow, I was still keyed up. It was probably all the sugar I’d ingested today between the cider and funnel cakes and caramel apples.
It definitely didn’t have anything to do with the man who’d been pouring drinks across from me all day, looking like a sinful contradiction thanks to his broody scowl paired with the pink and purple marker scribbles covering his arms.
Declan had spent hours pretending not to look at me, while I’d spent hours forcing myself not to do the same. I was there to recommend books, not to track the minute-by-minute trajectory of one heavily inked bar and tattoo shop owner.
The problem was, he was impossible to ignore. One second, he was all scowl and bite and sarcasm with his brothers. And the next, he was crouched behind the booth so his five-year-old niece, Emma, could color in his tattoos.
And that didn’t even touch on the not-so-innocent glances he kept shooting my way. Like he was remembering every second of what we’d done the other night. When he’d watched me fall apart before coming all over me. Literally, all over me.
I’d never found that act particularly erotic, but I’d still added it to my list, wanting to experience it for myself so I could write it with more authenticity. I’d always thought it would lean more toward degradation.
Instead, when Declan had covered me with every bit of tension I’d built inside him, it had felt almost…reverent.
And I had found it all too easy to let myself pretend the heated way he looked at me while he’d painted my skin with his seed was him staking a claim. Declaring, even just between us, that I was his.
Obviously, that wasn’t what had happened. Obviously.
“You ready?”
I jumped at the sound of Declan’s deep voice behind me and spun to face him.
No matter how many times I’d been in close proximity to him over the past few weeks, I still was never ready for how overwhelming his presence was.
And I definitely was never ready for the gravitational pull that seemed to exist between us, making it difficult to focus on anything else.
“For what?” I asked, butterflies already erupting in my stomach because I knew what.
We were checking off something from my Fucket List. I just had no idea what that something was. But I knew what I was hoping for—and it was all of him. Finally.
“Last call before we shut it down!” Atlas’s deep voice cut through the murmur of festival chatter as he shouted from the entrance to the corn maze.
Declan stared down at me, one brow raised in challenge. “Now’s your chance to run, rebel.”
“From what?”
He dropped his gaze to my lips, his undivided attention shooting a bolt of desire straight between my thighs. “Me.”
My throat went dry, my pulse skyrocketed, and goose bumps erupted over every inch of my body. “And if you catch me?”
He leaned in close, his voice low and rough. “Then I fuck you.”
The words sent sparks shooting down my spine, every nerve ending lighting up in anticipation.
He stepped back with infuriating ease. “You’ve got a thirty-second head start.”
I just stood there, firmly stuck in a fawn response, no idea what else to do.
He arched a brow. “I’d use it if I were you.”
That was all it took.
With a choked squeak, I turned and bolted toward the maze.
Atlas let me through without hassle, which meant Declan had already set this up.
But I couldn’t think about that. Not when my scarf was flying behind me and my boots thudded against the packed dirt path as the cornstalks closed me in from all sides.
My heart pounded with every step—not just from running but from the adrenaline coursing through me. From the want. From the anticipation curling low in my belly over what was waiting for me at the end of all this.
I darted left, then right, then ducked under a low-hanging stalk, the maze shifting into pockets of shadow and distant light. The chaos of the festival faded the farther I ran, the hum of chatter and music replaced by the sound of my heartbeat, fast and loud in my ears.
I slowed to listen for Declan, but I couldn’t hear anything other than my thudding pulse, the whisper of wind against the stalks, and my own panting breaths.
He was playing with me. Letting the tension build. And I loved every second of it.
A rustle sounded somewhere behind me. Then another, closer this time.
“Shit.” Laughter bubbled up in my chest, wild and carefree, as I bolted again.
The path split at the end of the row, and I took the narrower one on the left. My scarf caught on a stalk, and I yanked it free just as a shadow passed over the corn behind me.
I yelped and veered right, racing away from where I thought Declan was. Not quite ready for this to end.
Though I absolutely was ready for what happened when he caught me.
Heart pounding and breath held, I glanced behind me to check if I could see him. Instead, I ran straight into something solid and warm. My scream was cut off by a large hand covering my mouth, Declan’s other arm wrapped around my middle as he held my back to his unyielding chest.
“Caught you,” he rasped against my ear, sending a shiver skating down my spine. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
I paused for only a second before nodding and releasing a needy little hum against his palm pressed tight over my mouth.
He turned my face toward him, his eyes flitting between mine as he studied my reaction. Checking in to make sure I wanted this. That I was ready for it.
On a soft groan, he slid one large hand under my skirt, his fingers trailing up my inner thigh. He dropped his other hand from my mouth, tilted my chin up, and he crashed his lips against mine.
He kissed me, hard and deep. Possessively. Like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to ruin me or worship me. Maybe both.
I moaned into his mouth, gripping him wherever I could as he dragged his palm higher along my thigh.
He didn’t stop when he got to my pussy, just cupped me through my panties, the pressure welcome but not nearly enough.
I was already throbbing, so ready to finally know what he’d feel like inside me.
I rocked my hips against him, silently begging for more.
“Needy little thing, aren’t you?” he murmured as he slid his hand into my panties and found me wet and wanting.
I whimpered into his mouth when he circled my clit with unerring precision, pleasure shooting through me like lightning.
“Jesus. You feel how wet you are from our little game?”
I couldn’t answer. Not when he slipped his fingers inside me and set the rhythm he’d learned I liked. Not when he held my face close to his, his gaze focused and intent on me, paying attention to every gasp and moan that fell from my lips.
“You’re dripping all over my hand, rebel.” He curled his fingers inside me, his thumb flicking over my clit in a way designed to make me fall apart. “My good girl liked being chased, didn’t she?”
I choked out a moan, my pussy clenching around his pumping fingers. “Please, Declan. Please.”
A self-satisfied sound rumbled from his chest, and he leaned closer until our lips brushed with every word. “You gonna keep playing innocent while you’re out here in public, riding my hand and begging me to make you come?”
Oh god. Oh god. I just needed a little more, and I was going to fall apart in the corn maze at the Harvest Festival with who knew how many people still milling about.
And I didn’t care.
Nothing else mattered in this moment. Nothing but the feel of Declan behind me, his lips against mine, his fingers buried deep inside me.
“You’re not even trying to hide how much you want it.” He kissed me again, slower this time, at complete odds with the way he sped up his thrusting fingers. “Say it. Say you want my cock inside you. Tell me you want me to fuck you.”
I rocked my hips against his hand, my breath hitching as I balanced on the edge. “Declan,” I choked out, barely holding on, teetering…teetering…
And then he stopped. He fucking stopped.
He slipped his fingers from me and brought them up, brushing them against my lower lip before sinking them into my mouth. “You taste how much you want it?”
I sucked his digits, my clit throbbing even harder at the hungry look in his eyes when I licked myself from his fingers. I released them from my mouth and nodded, breathing a soft, “Yes.”
“Good girl. But I’m not going to give you what you need here.” He stared down at me, his gaze heating. “Because when I finally fuck you, it won’t be quick. By the time I’m done, your throat’s going to be raw from begging for it.”