23. Chase
The ride back to my apartment is a complete blur. As the elevator doors close, I crowd her against the back marbled wall.
“I’m sorry.” I’m not even sure what I’m apologizing for. I just know another minute of watching Pepper on the verge of a breakdown had me ready to punch a wall. No. Not a wall.
I was about ready to connect my fist with Connor’s face, but that wouldn’t have gone over well. Especially after Coach’s not-so-subtle warning to stand down.
Pepper’s eyes search mine with question. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve done so much for me.”
I run my nose along her neck. She breathes and it’s heavenly, relaxed, exactly how I want her.
I bear her weight against my chest, catching her as she melts into me.
I’ll always catch her.
The elevator stops way too quickly, but I’m not entirely disappointed.
I’m expecting a sleepy Pepper as she pulls herself off me. But when she looks up at me, desire and determination burn in her eyes.
“Do you think he’ll believe it? When you tell him I’m yours?”
“You are mine, Pepper. You’re the only one I care about believing it.”
She inhales like she’s breathing me in but there’s no response to what I’m asking her.
I pull her into my apartment and shut the door, pressing her against it. “What do I need to do to prove it?”
“Make me yours.” It’s the smallest of whispers from her lips, but it rings loudly in my ear.
Because I’ve had a taste of this woman on more than one occasion and I’m ready to have all of her. To take her to a whole new level of the glorious torture of multiple orgasms.
When she told me that she’s only given, that could only mean one thing. That she’s never had true mind-blowing sex. Any man who wouldn’t taste his woman before fucking her isn’t worthy.
Not of Pepper.
Hell, I’m not worthy of her. But tonight, I can sure as hell pretend I am and give her the world.
I press my forehead to hers.
“Please don’t ask me if I’m sure or if I’m drunk—”
I cup her face, brushing a feather kiss over her lips. God, she tastes like a dream—a spicy, sugary dream.
“I don’t have any questions for you, baby.”
“None?”
I shake my head. “All I have are demands.”
A soft gasp. “Demands?”
I nod. “I’m going to go slow. Too slow. I’m going to tease you relentlessly before I make you come. And you’re going to let me take my time.”
She huffs.
“I plan to undress you myself. But when I reach your panties, you’re going to remove them yourself and hand them over.”
She smirks. “For your collection?”
I grin because I can’t say this without smiling. “My Pepper Panties.”
She laughs. “I’m starting to run low, Reeves.”
“I’m not done. For the last two weeks, I can’t get the image of you blindfolding yourself before you kissed me out of my mind.”
She frowns. “Is…that your thing?”
I almost laugh at that, because it’s not a kink of mine. I don’t typically have the patience or interest in blindfolding the women I’m with. But when Pepper did it, I was on fire.
“Not my thing. It’s more like…our thing.”
Pepper licks her lips deliciously, waiting for more of the evening I’m drawing out for her.
“But…you’re going to do it. Not me.”
She starts to nod, but I shake my head. “My biggest demand tonight…is that you tell me what you like or don’t like. If anything makes you uncomfortable. If you want to stop.”
She grins suspiciously. “What exactly do you have in store for us that you think I’m going to dislike?”
I consider it for a moment. “Nothing.”
I move in to kiss her then pull back. “One more thing. Loud. I want to hear everything you want loud and clear.”
“And if I don’t want it?” She quirks a brow, but she’s not the least bit nervous. My girl is intrigued.
My grin flattens. “I’ll know.” I pull her against me and sweep my lips across hers, slipping my tongue between them to taste her again. A throaty moan accelerates my need, and I deepen the kiss.
Our mouths dance like no one’s watching. Because no one is. Our kiss is full of promise, expectation, desire, both of us saying things we’ll likely never say out loud.
I know I won’t.
I need you.
You make me feel alive.
You saved me.
Fuck. I need to move her to my bedroom.
Pepper’s eyes widen with a soft chuckle when I set her down in front of my bed. “What happened to slow?”
I sit her on the edge and bend to remove her shoes. “I think you’re going to be sorry you asked.”
I rub the soles of her feet briefly, knowing she’d been on skates for half the evening. I push her back onto the bed and scoop my hand under her ass to lift as I pull her sweats off with the other hand.
My good girl glances at her panties and looks up at me. “Now?”
I chuckle. “No. Not now.”
I tug on the hem of her Denver Ice Queens sweatshirt. “You look good in my colors.” I pull it over her head and toss it aside, giving her a quick kiss. “But God, you look like heaven without them.”
Back on my knees, I spread her legs. Her red lace panties are soaked.
Yes.
“You’re wet,” I say almost as an accusation.
She giggles. “If it’s a crime, you’re my accomplice.”
I slide my hands along her soft thighs. The ones I’ve come to love touching, licking, nipping. I dip my head between her legs.
“Chase,” she starts, her head falling back when I nip her mound outside her panties. Her body squirming.
I drag my thumb along the wet cotton, making her gasp. “I lied, gorgeous.”
“Hmm?”
“I did win the bet. And I turned the tables on you.”
Her throat works as she struggles to swallow while I rub her. “I think you called it…winner’s choice?”
“That’s right. But there’s another reason.” I hook my finger inside her panties. “Just the night before, you slept with this pussy bare less than a foot away.”
Another hard swallow. “Yeah.”
“And I promised myself two things.”
“What’s that?”
“That I was going to taste that delicious scent that kept me up all night very soon.”
I rub my thumb in circles over her clit.
She whimpers throatily. “And the second?”
I grin, hovering my mouth over hers. “That I was going to torture you just as slowly. All. Night. Long.”
She gasps as I push two fingers into her. “I knew that was going to come back to bite me.”
I flash her a cocky smile before pulling her bottom lip between my teeth, drawing a tender shriek out of her. “And I bite hard, beautiful.”