Chapter 21
Amelia
Icouldn’t explain the thrill I got when he basically agreed to never touch another woman.
That thrill turned to need when he told me how jealous he was of watching another man run his hand through my hair. And when he whispered in my ear, a shiver raced up my spine, causing goosebumps to prickle my skin as every nerve ending came alive.
Wrapping one arm around my waist, he held me in place as he stood. The tips of our noses were almost touching, and we kept our eyes locked on one another’s, but he didn’t lean in for a kiss.
Somehow, this was more intimate. I knew things were changing drastically for us.
I knew that was something I wanted to avoid before, but suddenly, it no longer mattered.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t worrying about the future.
I wasn’t thinking about the past. I was living in the moment, and it was the only place I wanted to be.
I’d never been in the kind of relationship you’d see on TV or read about in books. I thought I loved Alex, but I’d only known Oliver for a short time, and I already felt so much stronger about him.
That made me question if I even knew what love felt like.
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said that I was falling in love with the car thief I knew nothing about.
The funny thing was, realizing that didn’t even scare me.
I didn’t want to pull away. I didn’t want to put space between us.
All I wanted was to be with him, to be the only one he touched, looked at, or thought about.
I wanted him to be mine, and I wanted to be his. Nothing else.
He lay me on the bed as he crawled up, taking his place on top of me. He never broke eye contact and never moved in for a kiss.
The way he stared at me made my heart race.
Staying on his knees between my parted legs, he leaned back, his hands immediately starting to pull and tug at my clothes.
He unbuttoned my jeans and then lowered the zipper.
He grabbed them by the waistband and tugged them down my legs until he had them removed and thrown on the floor.
He pushed my t-shirt up and over my breasts.
I grabbed it and dragged it over my head, leaving me in nothing but my bra and panties.
I watched his eyes as they roamed over my body, taking in every inch of my exposed skin.
I saw his dark pupils blow out, causing his green rings to appear smaller.
He ran his tongue across his lips, his jaw flexed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.
He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head.
Finally, it was my turn to roam my eyes over his body, and I did just that.
I took in his tanned skin and rolling muscles: thick forearms, bulging biceps, and wide-toned shoulders.
My eyes fell over his pecks and all the hard lines of corded muscle.
His tattoos were painted on his skin. I watched the way his chest rose and fell with each heavy breath, how his ribcage expanded and contracted, and how his skin moved over the top of it all.
His abs were hard, and I could easily count each one; however, I was distracted by his hands that moved to unfasten his jeans.
He pushed his jeans down his hips, revealing his blue boxers and the way his cock was standing at attention, tenting the fabric. I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to go slow.
I quickly sprang forward, slamming my mouth against his.
He didn’t act surprised or caught off guard in any way.
He immediately began kissing me as he eased me back to the mattress, where he covered my body with his.
His kiss was soft and sweet, and his hands were slow.
It felt like the moment meant more, like it was different than every other time that came before.
All I knew was that it wasn’t enough. I needed more.
I deepened our kiss as I pushed against him. He tried to break our kiss as he rolled over, probably thinking that I wanted to stop. I didn’t, and I showed him that as I kept my mouth against his.
I rolled with him, taking my place on top. The moment he realized what I wanted, he kissed me harder as his hands moved to my hips, squeezing them. I removed my bra and tossed it aside. His hands immediately moved up to cup my breasts, to knead them, to tease them.
I tugged at his boxers, but with my positioning, I couldn’t get them down enough.
He gave me a hand by lifting his hips and pulling them lower, allowing his hard cock to spring free.
I instantly wrapped my hand around him, working him from root to tip.
There was no way I wanted to fight with getting my panties off in my position, so I simply pushed them to the side before teasing myself with his cock.
He was quick to sink two fingers into my pussy, and as he pulled them out, he smeared my arousal up to my clit.
With one hand on my hip, he pulled me forward until we were aligned.
I released him as he pulled me down on his cock.
I sighed in relief as I sank lower and lower. He jerked forward, thrusting into me deep, fast. I whimpered against his mouth, and he bit my lip as I felt him twitch inside of me.
“Oh my god,” left my lips in a breathy whisper.
“So fucking good,” he said, pulling my lips back to his.
His tongue thrusted into my mouth as he began grinding against me, teasing my clit just the way I needed.
Within seconds, I was digging my nails into his chest, moaning, whimpering, and shattering around him.
My world was spinning out of control. I was so lost in the pleasure swimming through my veins that I wasn’t aware of anything else.
One moment, I was on top of him, and the next, I was on my knees with him thrusting into me from behind.
My chest was pressed against the headboard that I was hanging onto to keep from falling over.
He fisted my hair and turned my head to the side.
He kissed my shoulder, my neck, my ear, and my jaw.
His hips slowed to a stop, and I looked over my shoulder at him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
The air around us warmed and filled with electricity that made every hair on my body stand on end.
Our eyes met, he wet his lips and said, “When this is over, I don’t want to go our separate ways. I want to start a new life. With you.” I could see all the insecurity filling his eyes. I could feel his nervousness, but my chest filled with happiness because I wanted that too.
My lips turned up into a weak smile. “I want that too.”
His brows lifted. “You do?”
I nodded. “We made it this far together. Why stop now?”
He smiled before leaning in and slamming his mouth against my own. He kissed me hard, but slow, and after a moment, his hips resumed their pace.
Things felt different, though.
I wasn’t in a hurry anymore. I wanted to go slow.
I wanted to enjoy every second of being together.
I knew that one day, far in the future, when we were married with kids and maybe even grandkids, I’d be looking back on the way we met and the crazy weeks that followed.
I wanted to make the best of every moment.
I wanted to create a story with him that we’d tell our children and grandchildren.
Something crazy and obviously problematic, but a story that showed love and how it helped us overcome together when the world was against us.
It’s not often you realize that you’re living a moment that will stand the test of time, a moment that will be looked back on throughout your life, a moment that changes the trajectory of your entire life.
I knew that crashing into Oliver was the moment my life went flying off course, but it was a single moment in time that would live on forever.
Los Angeles.
It was easy to get lost in the glitz and glamor. It was easy to let the heat go to your head, to drink too much, to have too much fun in the clubs and bars, to get lost in the new love story you’d found yourself in.
What was hard was staying on task. We weren’t there for a vacation. We were there to do a job, and we couldn’t move on until that job was done. We needed to find a million-dollar car. We had to steal it without being caught. And we had to turn it over to the man who held Oliver’s life in his hands.
I worried that we’d do all of this only to be thrown to the sharks.
I didn’t know this man, but I knew I couldn’t trust him.
He was only out for himself. He didn’t care about Oliver, and he sure as hell didn’t care about me or our lives together.
He wanted one thing and one thing only: money, and a whole lot of it.
We were sitting in the bar of some expensive hotel and casino.
The bar faded into a five-star restaurant at the front of the building.
We tipped the hostess to get a window table so we could watch all the guests coming and going.
That also meant we got to watch the valet and every car that came through.
“Google says that there is a rare car show in town this weekend,” I muttered as I scrolled through the article on the burner phone we’d purchased. “I bet we’d find something there.”
Oliver scoffed. “You have any idea how much security they’ll have at a place like that?”
I shrugged one shoulder because, honestly, I hadn’t thought much about it.
I wasn’t a thief, so my brain didn’t work like that.
I dropped the phone onto the table and took a deep breath.
“So what exactly are we looking for? What’s the plan?
Just sit here and watch every car that comes through? Hope it’s worth enough?”
His green eyes moved from the window over to me as I sat across from him.
“Basically. I mean, time isn’t exactly on our side here. If we don’t find something today, we’ll go to a different hotel tonight. Maybe watch some clubs. Eventually, something worth something will come through.”
“How do you even know that?” I asked, growing bored.
“This is L.A., Crash. People come here to show off. They wear their best clothes, their most expensive jewelry. They leave thousands in tips for their cocktail waitresses. They drive flashy cars. They’re famous and loaded with money. We’ll find something. We just have to be patient.”
I knew he was right. We’d only been here a day, but I’d already seen everything he mentioned.
Women were dressed in designer outfits with tiny dogs in hundred thousand dollar purses, and all of them were dripping in diamonds.
The men they were with had stiff backs and noses so high in the air, I’d be worried they’d drown if we weren’t in the middle of a desert.
Just sitting in the hotel restaurant for an hour, I’d seen rich pricks throw their money around and talk down to their waiters because they deemed themselves better than those in the service industry.
I knew I couldn’t justify stealing a car. When I died, I would have to stand and wait for my sentence to be handed to me just like everyone else who sinned, but I hoped to earn some brownie points by stealing a car from one of those rich-better-than-thou bastards.
I took a deep breath and picked up the glass of water in front of me, taking a sip.
My attention should have been on the street, but I found myself lost in thoughts of the future as I stared at the man in front of me.
He wore a fitted black T-shirt that hugged his biceps.
We didn’t have many clothes on this journey of ours, and as many times as I’d seen him in that shirt, you’d think it would’ve lost its effect on me.
It hadn’t. The dark material was a perfect contrast against his bright green eyes.
His dark hair needed a trim a week earlier, but I liked it slightly overgrown.
It had that sexy, messy look. It no longer wanted to lie down.
It stood up like I’d been fisting it—the way I often did when he had his handsome face buried between my thighs.
That thought made me smile, and I bit down on my lower lip to try to hide it.
He glanced at me, but knitted his brows together when he found me grinning.
“Are you blushing?” he asked with a smirk as he brought his coffee cup to his lips.
I rolled my eyes. “No.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
“I have eyes. You’re grinning, and your face is six shades of red.”
He was calling me out, which only made me more embarrassed, and made my face that much hotter.
“I don’t want to tell you what I was thinking about when we’re in public,” I said quietly.
That made him smile widely.
“What’s the matter, Crash? Did I just catch you having impure thoughts?” That sexy grin of his was tugging at his lips, drawing more of my attention to his mouth.
I shook my head and laughed as I rolled my eyes. “Shut up and pay attention.” I pointed toward the window. He laughed, then turned back to the street, and I was thankful.
He really was working his way into my heart. There was no way I’d be able to let him go. Ever.