Chapter 8
SAXON
Iparked half a block from her building, where the street dipped into shadow and the brownstones cut the wind. The heater hummed, and the city noise thinned to the occasional hiss of a passing car. I killed the lights but left the engine running, sitting in the heavy silence for a minute.
The last few days had tested my patience and control. I could feel them slipping from my grasp.
Tonight, I wouldn’t kiss her at her door. I couldn’t.
I turned to her, and she was watching me with her deep brown eyes. Curious, but too wary to ask what I was thinking.
Slowly, I leaned over and took her mouth in a slow, exploring kiss. I thought that by kissing her in the car, rather than at her door, I was avoiding temptation.
I was very fucking wrong.
Passion exploded between us. I pushed her coat off her shoulders and felt her breath catch when my knuckles brushed the warm V of skin above her sweater.
When I leaned back to remove my own coat, she didn’t move away.
She just watched me, lips parted, pulse tapping at her throat and her breasts bouncing with each rushed breath.
“Come here.” I pulled Ivy across the console and settled her on my lap, my big hands guiding the curves of her hips.
Her thighs opened to fit around me, and heat rolled off her in waves.
She gasped when she felt me, the thick, heavy bulge pushing hard against the seam of her jeans.
The soft shock in her eyes turned to something hungry.
“Fuck,” I murmured, tightening my arm to hold her exactly where I wanted her. “You’re killing me, sunshine.”
Her hands slid up my chest and over my shoulders while mine gripped her tighter.
Keeping our gazes locked, I gently rocked her on my cock.
Her breath broke, and the sound punched straight through my restraint.
I angled her hips and dragged her down my length so she could feel every inch, slow and deliberate, until her lashes fluttered and her mouth fell open in a silent cry.
I took her mouth, and the taste of mint and the last bite of something sweet made me greedy.
The kiss went deep fast—tongue, teeth, and the little moan she tried to swallow but couldn’t.
When she shivered, I slid a hand under her sweater and found bare skin, hot and smooth, my fingers splaying wide so I could own the feel of her.
She arched into my palm with a helpless honesty that wrecked me.
I dropped my head, breathed her in, and put my mouth to the shell of her ear, letting the scrape of my stubble scratch her delicate skin.
“Fuck, you feel good, sunshine.” My voice came out rough. “Grind on me like a good girl and make a mess of those pretty panties while you use my cock.”
Her exhale turned shaky, and she moved again, harder, the needy slide of fabric-on-fabric making her eyes go dark. I held her steady and fed her more because she asked for it with her body first. “That’s it. Take what you want. Rub that sweet little clit on me.”
Her fingers fisted in my hair, and she trembled, a tiny, choked sound catching in her throat as she rocked in tight, desperate circles, heat building fast.
I unzipped her jeans and slipped my free hand beneath the fabric, dipping two fingers into her heat.
“So wet,” I groaned. “When I finally get you naked, I’m going to put you on your back and lick you until you forget your own name. Then I’ll push inside and keep you there, nice and full, while you soak me.”
Ivy whimpered, her hands yanking my hair, and the little bites of pain went straight to my dick, making it throb and leak.
I slid my other hand higher beneath her sweater, cupped the heavy weight of her breast through the lace, and brushed my thumb over the peak until it went tight and sensitive under my touch.
“But for now, I want to feel you break around my fingers.” Gently, I pushed the digits inside her soaked pussy, and her head tipped back.
I kissed down the line of her throat—slow, hungry kisses that tasted like victory—and felt her press harder, chasing the friction with a soft curse that told me she was close.
“Eyes on me,” I ordered softly, lifting my head so she had to see exactly how gone I was for her. “I want to watch you come for me.”
She did. And the wrecked, needy, and trusting look on her face burned itself into me like a brand.
It would have taken almost nothing to convince me to give in and fuck her right then and there. But a thread—a tiny fucking thread—still held on to reason.
Pulling my hand from between her legs, I sucked the fingers clean with a tortured groan. “Dammit, Ivy. You’re sweet as fuck everywhere.”
I held her still when she tried to move again, forced my eyes closed, and drew in a single ragged breath, fighting every instinct screaming to take what she was offering.
My pulse hammered at my temples, in my jaw, and between my ribs, until I finally caught her face in my hands and stared deep into her brown pools.
Her lips were parted, her eyes glazed and shining.
“We have to stop.” My voice was rough from trying to leash myself. “If I keep touching you, I won’t be able to.”
She blinked, dazed, the words catching up a heartbeat too late. Her chest rose and fell against mine, and she nodded reluctantly. “Okay.”
I eased her off my lap, every muscle tight with restraint, and reached into the back seat for her coat. She slid her arms into it, still shaky, the quiet thick with all the things we weren’t saying.
It took a few minutes before I was calm enough to get out of the SUV without being in excruciating pain.
My hands were locked around the steering wheel as I thought about anything that would soften my cock, until I finally trusted myself to move.
Then I got out and opened her door, helping her hop down onto the sidewalk.
I held her hand as I guided her to the door of her building.
At the steps, I backed away, needing the distance and hating it at the same time.
Confusion flickered across her face. “You’re not going to kiss me good night?”
I shook my head, jaw tight. “If I kiss you again, I won’t leave.”
Her breath caught. Then she whispered, “What if—”
“No.” I didn’t let her finish the sentence. “Not yet, baby.”
I bent, brushed a kiss against her temple instead, then stepped back again. “Good night, sunshine.”
She smiled, small but real. “Good night, Saxon.”
I watched her walk inside, waited until the lock clicked, then turned and embraced the cold air like it might cool the burn still running through my body.
Later, as I lay in bed, replaying every second of what happened in my SUV, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Ivy
You’re hard to read, Powell.
I stared at the screen for a long second, thumb hovering before replying.
Me
Nah, I’m simple.
There was a pause.
Ivy
Simple doesn’t usually come with smoldering silence and eyes that could melt metal.
The corner of my mouth twitched.
Me
Are you saying you think I’m sexy, sunshine?
Another beat passed.
Ivy
Don’t pretend you don’t know that women think you’re hot.
Me
I only care what you think.
A moment passed before her next message came through. It was two emoji—the melting face and the upside-down smiling face. Playful, funny, and a little flustered. Exactly her.
I huffed a quiet laugh, the first real one all night, and made a decision. We’d been in this holding pattern long enough. It was time to move forward.
Me
I’m taking you to dinner tomorrow night.
A full minute of silence. Then the three dots appeared. Just as quickly, they were gone. Then back again before a message popped up.
Ivy
Okay.
I set the phone down, smiling to myself, already picturing her across a table instead of through a windshield. The memory of her breath on my skin replayed once more, slow and vivid, and I knew that this was a pivotal moment. The next step to making her mine completely.