Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
“I will not be afraid of the monster in the dark. I will not be afraid of the monster in the dark. I will not be—know what? Maybe I am the monster in the dark.”
– Emerson Marlowe, a very, very long time ago
The drumming of her heartbeat filled Emerson’s ears as she stared into Gray’s gleaming eyes. He believed her. He’d stood by her when the cops were at her house. He’d insisted on taking her to his place when they left.
He believes me. He wants me.
I’m desperate for him.
“Partners,” Gray rumbled.
She flinched. Yes, yes, that was what they were, but Emerson wanted so much more.
“Lovers,” he said.
She nodded. They’d be both. For the undercover mission. But in reality, too. “Doesn’t change anything.” She needed him to understand this. “I’m not asking for some undying commitment from you.”
“No?”
“No.” She would go into this with her eyes wide open. “I get that you’re not into forever.”
“And how do you get that, sweet Emerson?”
Simple. “Because I’ve profiled you.”
“And you think you know so much about me.” His lips hitched into a mocking half-smile. “Don’t be so sure of yourself.”
Emerson did not think she knew everything, certainly, but she did know enough.
“You don’t want forever. That’s fine. That’s not what I’m looking for, either.
” Truth be told, the possibility of forever terrified her.
What if I did become like my father, and Gray had to watch me break apart before his eyes? “Not forever.” Harder.
“What is it that you’re looking for, besides, of course, two unforgettable minutes?”
Two unforgettable… Oh, crap. She felt heat sting her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have said that about Nathaniel.” Even though it had been true.
“He’s a fucking idiot. Say anything you want about him. He had no business saying you were frigid.”
The heat left her cheeks in a rush. Suddenly, her face just felt cold.
“I…” Emerson didn’t know what to say. Because the truth was…
“I didn’t, ah, climax with Nathaniel. I’m not the most responsive…
” Her words trailed off. How humiliating was this?
But if she was asking him to be her lover, he needed to understand everything.
“I’m too guarded. I can’t let myself go.
Being in the moment is too hard for me, and I—” An exhale.
“I think things can be different with you.” She hoped they would be different.
Wasn’t that one of the reasons she wanted this so badly?
Wanted him so badly? “I touch you, and I need. I want. I’ve never felt so much desire for someone. ”
His mocking smile vanished. “Are you this honest with everyone in your life?”
“No, but I like being honest with you.”
A muscle flexed along his jaw. “What in the hell am I supposed to do with you?”
Well, if he was going to ask, she’d answer. “Fucking me would be a great start.”
His lips thinned. But his eyes gleamed even more. Then, “You do need to have practice for when we pose as lovers.”
Um, sure, practice. They could call it that.
“But more than that…” His head lowered toward hers. “You need to understand that I can make you come in less than two minutes.”
Admirable goal, but, no, he couldn’t. Nice try, but?—
“Emerson?” His mouth was right over hers. Maybe an inch away.
“Yes, Gray?”
“Stop thinking. Just feel.” His mouth took hers. Open. Warm. Passionate. His tongue dipped into her mouth. Teased and tempted.
Her hands curled around his shoulders as she held on tight. Happening. This is happening. Gray was happening. He was kissing her, his hands were snaking down her body, and he was—wait, lifting her?
Her hold tightened on him as Gray lifted her with seemingly effortless strength.
He carried her though the house. She lost her high heels along the way as he moved perfectly through the darkened rooms and soon she was in his bedroom.
Not so dark in there. The overhead light poured down on them.
He lowered her to stand right next to a massive bed with dark covers.
His hands slid over her body. Her clothes seemed to melt away as he stripped her, falling in a pool at her feet until she stood before him, completely naked. Utterly exposed beneath the light.
While he was still totally dressed.
That was wrong, wasn’t it? Shouldn’t Gray be naked, too? It would certainly speed along the process and make her feel a whole lot less vulnerable.
“On the bed, Emerson.”
She backed up. Her knees hit the bed. Her hands rose to cover her breasts as a wave of uncertainty filled her. “I’m not coming in two minutes.” That was not a fair expectation to set.
He smiled at her. “Wanna bet?”
Then Gray was on her. Kissing her. Only, this kiss was different.
Not as tempting. Not as controlled. Hotter.
Deeper. Wilder. As she stood there with her legs hitting the back of the bed, his strong hands swept over her body.
Pulled her hands away from her breasts so that he could touch her.
Skimming those big fingers over her breasts. Teasing her nipples.
She gasped into his mouth.
One of Gray’s hands dipped lower. Slid down her body even as the other plucked her nipple.
Her legs parted for him.
That seeking hand dove between her thighs. Pushed at her core. His fingers slid over her clit.
“Baby, you are gonna be so wet for me.”
She was certainly getting there already.
Gray slid one finger inside of her.
Emerson rose onto her toes with a gasp, even as her fingers flew up to clamp around his upper arms.
“So tight.”
Well, yes, it had been two years so…
“Emerson, baby, you’re still thinking.”
She was. Her mind seemed to be spinning at a hundred miles an hour. He was still dressed. She had to get him naked. She had to make sure he enjoyed what was happening. She had to?—
“Time to feel,” Gray rasped His hands moved in a blink to cup her waist and he pushed her onto the bed.
He came down on top of her. No, not fully on top of her.
He leaned over her. His hands dropped and spread her thighs.
Wide. He stared down at her exposed core, and her hands dove to cover her sex as another wave of vulnerability surged through her.
Only for Gray to catch her hands. To push them to her sides. “No more hiding.” His body shifted. He eased down beside the edge of the bed, crouching. Her legs dangled off the bed. He was between her dangling, spread legs.
His head lowered.
His breath rasped over her clit. Emerson’s breath choked out on a wave of longing. “Gray?”
He put his mouth on her. Her hips jerked. No, jolted. He clamped his fingers around her waist and pinned her to the bed as he suddenly just feasted on her. Lips, tongue. Tasting and taking and plunging that wicked, wicked tongue into her body. He went from zero to consuming in a blink.
Her hands grabbed the bedding. Fisted it. Her hips surged up against his mouth.
He licked her again and again. Growled and savored her and seemed to get hungrier, more frenzied with each swipe of his tongue.
She looked down at him. Thanks to the light, she could clearly see Gray. Right between my legs. Grayson Stone is going down on me.
One strong hand let go of her waist. His fingers slid between her thighs to join his mouth. He was stroking and teasing and licking and nothing had ever felt so good in her entire life.
His other hand rose to tease her nipple. To squeeze and pluck.
Sensation took over. A flood of pleasure as her whole body tightened in anticipation. She was on a tightrope of desire. At any moment, that rope was going to snap. She’d fall, but oh, that fall was going to be good.
His tongue lashed against her clit. Over and over and over and the rope snapped.
Emerson was falling. Surging down hard, and she choked out his name as she came.
The orgasm blasted through her entire body.
Not some brief flash of pleasure, but a hard, surging wave that battered at her as the pleasure seemed to completely envelop her.
Emerson could hear her own gasps and moans as she thrashed against the bedding and against Gray, and he kept right on lashing her with that wicked, ever-so-wonderful tongue of his.
And then…
The drumming of her heartbeat slowly eased. Her lashes lifted. She was pretty sure she’d squeezed her eyes shut when she came. Now she looked down at Gray. He slowly raised his head even as he remained crouched between her spread legs as they hung off the side of his bed.
“Sweetheart.” He licked his lips, as if savoring her. “I am a man of my word.”
She should form some kind of response. Have some actual speech.
“Less than two minutes.”
Holy crap, it had been.
“You were utterly wasted on Nathaniel Hadaway.” His hands curled around her thighs as his face darkened. “You’d be wasted on anyone but me. That’s why I am going to fuck you until you can’t think of anyone but?—”
The ringing of a doorbell cut through his words.
His teeth snapped together. He lifted his left hand. Glared at the stainless-steel watch around his wrist as he—what? Looked at the time? “Fuck,” he breathed.
Someone was at his door? Then? “Why…” Emerson stopped. Wet her lips. Her voice was way husky. Probably from all the gasping and moaning and, potentially, screaming. She was a little hazy on the details. Had she screamed? Maybe. Possibly. Probably.
I wasn’t thinking. Just feeling.
Something that she didn’t usually do. Gray was certainly correct on that score. Usually, she couldn’t shut off her thoughts. But with Gray, she’d let go. She’d trusted him enough to let go.
She swallowed and tried speaking again. “Why is someone always interrupting us?”
His gaze had been on the juncture of her legs. Slowly, that burning stare rose. Lifted. “Fate doesn’t want me taking what I want.” His fingers curled possessively around her. Pushed against her clit. One finger even dipped into her.
Her breath heaved.
“But I’ll have you.” His hand pulled back. He rose. Grabbed the cover from the foot of the bed and yanked it up and over her. “Do not leave this room.”
“What? Gray, wait!”
He’d already turned to leave her. “I’ll have him gone in a blink. You stay here.”
The bedding covered her from shoulder to ankle.
While Gray stood there, dressed in his fancy shirt and his expensive pants, and barely had a hair out of place. He looked cool and confident, slightly pissed.
“We will finish what we started.” With that, Gray stalked out of the bedroom. He pulled the door shut behind him. Click.
Her heart still raced. Her body still trembled. In her core, she could feel aftershocks of pleasure still reverberating through her body. All from his mouth. That wonderful, sexy mouth.
That had been incredible. She’d like more, please. So much more.
She’d also definitely, one hundred percent, been missing out over the years.
Emerson stared up at the ceiling. At the light on the ceiling. Goosebumps rose onto her skin, and she felt pretty wild and decadent sprawled in his bed, completely naked beneath the comforter.
Gray is going to come back. We are going to wreck this bed. She’d never wrecked a bed in her entire life, but Emerson was super looking forward to the task.
And then she heard, very distinctly, from Gray…
His angry voice snarled, “ I’m going to kill you. ”
She clamped the comforter to her chest and leapt out of the bed.