Forty-Seven
Bay
The realization of what I’d just done began to settle on me as we walked back to the house.
The cold reality that I had once again given in to Hale Carver and enjoyed it.
No, that was too weak of a word. My body was still humming.
I wasn’t sure if I should feel any guilt or shame, but I was feeling neither.
Perhaps being here with him was warping me after all.
Would I ever be the same again? Did I want to be?
I wasn’t sure.
“Stop thinking so hard, Snow,” Hale said from beside me.
I glanced up at him as he continued to look straight ahead. “I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are.”
“How do you know what I am thinking?”
“Your thoughts are so loud that it’s deafening.”
The way he could go from making me lose my mind in pleasure to annoyed so easily was a talent. I decided not to go back and forth with him while we continued on.
He lifted his hand to his nose and smelled it. “Fuck, you smell good.”
My face was instantly warm. The things he said. No man had ever talked to me that way. I didn’t know what to do with it or how to react—at least when the moment was over. When it was happening, I didn’t seem to have any problems at all.
When we reached the back door, Hale held open the door for me, then smirked as I glanced up at him.
He was smug about it. But I guessed he had reason to be.
For someone who claimed not to like him, I sure acted differently when his hand was between my legs.
So much for keeping my distance and getting my head straight with some space.
“How do you feel about dancing on a pole?” he asked me.
Pausing, I gaped up at him. Had he really just asked me that?
“Are you suggesting I become a stripper?”
He chuckled. “Hell no. You’d be a terrible stripper. I was thinking more along the lines of you dancing on a pole here. For me only.”
“You have a pole here?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah. Wanna go see it?” he asked with a wicked grin.
I shook my head. “No, and no thank you.”
His laugh followed me as I hurried inside, wondering what in the world I was doing and where my common sense had gone to. Because I was bothered by the fact that a man had told me I’d be a terrible stripper. I didn’t want to be a stripper, so why did I care?!
“Tell me why that got you all testy,” Hale said, coming up behind me.
“I’m not testy,” I replied, but my tone said quite the opposite.
“Yeah, you are.”
Spinning around, I stared up at him. “Stop trying to bait me.”
“Is that what I’m doing?”
I threw up both my hands. “I don’t know. One minute, you have your hand down my pants, and then the next, you are…are…”
“I’m what?”
“UGH!” I growled in frustration and started toward the stairs again. I was going to the attic bedroom and locking myself in. Maybe I could find my brain while I was at it because I had clearly lost it somewhere.
By the time I reached the second floor with no footsteps behind me, I knew I was in the clear. He wasn’t following me. Although there was a part of me that wished he had.
The fact that the hot water in this house never ran out was a magical thing.
I wasn’t sure how long I had been in the shower, but it had been long enough that my fingertips were starting to get pruney.
I took my time towel-drying my hair, then wrapped the same towel around my body and stepped back into the small area between the bathroom and bedroom.
I was almost to the door before I realized the room wasn’t empty.
When I stopped at the entrance, my eyes locked with Hale’s as he sat on the bed, his back against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles.
“What are you doing in here?” I demanded.
He raised a single eyebrow. “I own the house.”
“Yes, but why are you up here? You never come up here.”
“You don’t know that,” he replied. “But to answer your question, I am up here because you are. I thought you were hiding again, but I found that you were taking the longest fucking shower in history.”
I gripped my towel around me, holding it tightly, as if it were a shield. “I felt dirty.”
“You should be squeaky clean now,” he drawled. “And you were dirty, but in a very good way.” He patted the mattress. “Come here.”
I shook my head. “I need to get dressed.”
“I prefer you like that.”
I blew out a frustrated breath, not sure if it was with him or me.
“Come here,” he repeated.
I stared at him, knowing exactly what would happen if I did. How it was a terrible idea, but one I wanted anyway. My body began to react to the memory of how he had made me feel, and it clearly was on board with me obeying.
“What…what are you going to do?” I asked.
His eyes seemed to dance with silent laughter. “We, Snow. It’s what we are going to do. Now, be the good girl I know you can be and come here.”
Perhaps if I had any self-control left, I could refuse and walk back into the bathroom and bolt the door. But I had none. Not where Hale was concerned. And the more time we were together, the less I wanted that control.
When I started walking toward him, he smiled a slow, seductive one that sent electric currents through me. God, that man was lethal.
He held out a hand, and I looked down at it, then back at him before placing mine in his.
“Let the towel go,” he said.
I only hesitated for a moment but the hunger in his eyes made me want to give him whatever he wanted. Releasing it, I let it fall, leaving me completely naked.
“Fuck, Snow,” he swore, then pulled me closer. “Straddle me.”
I climbed onto the bed and did as instructed. He gripped my hip with his one good hand and tugged me closer until the hard ridge of his erection pressed between my legs. He leaned forward, and his mouth latched on to my nipple, sending a spark of pleasure straight to my center.
“I’ve wanted to suck on these nipples since you stood naked in front of me on the plane.”
I buried my hands in his hair, holding him to me as I began to rock against him.
“Pull my sweats down,” he said, letting my breast go. “Now, Snow!”
I moved back as he lifted his hips, and I tugged his pants down past his thighs. The thick, long, veiny cock stood erect, and I suddenly felt a moment of panic. Would it fit?
“Let me feel your wet pussy rub it bare before I put a condom on,” he said, grabbing my wrist and tugging me back up.
Lowering myself, I placed one hand on his thigh and the other on his bicep.
“Ah.” The need for the moment of euphoria had already started with a frenzied stirring.
“Goddamn, that’s good. Slide it back and forth. Coat my dick with it,” he told me as his hand gripped my thigh tightly.
I began to move faster, all the way up its length until I could feel the head hit against my clit. Hale’s arm wrapped around me, holding me against his chest, and I felt the tip of him brush against my entrance.
“Easy,” he growled into my ear. “Just let me feel it a little.”
I nodded, gasping at the stretch that had already begun. I didn’t move, for fear of pain—either his or mine, I wasn’t sure.
“So fucking tight,” he murmured, breathing heavily and sending shivers through my body. “Take it like the sweet girl you are.”
My body reacted, sinking down further, causing a cry from me and a groan from Hale. I froze, never feeling so full in my life. This was the kind of delirious pleasure that made people crazy. I understood it now. I wasn’t sure there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to have it.
“Fuck, baby,” he said, grabbing a handful of my hair and pulling it so that my back arched as he thrust his hips up and sank fully inside me.
“OH GOD!” I screamed.
“That’s right. I am your fucking god,” he growled.
Our bodies began to move together. The building, the climax clawing its way to a storm I wasn’t sure I’d survive, but I wanted it nonetheless.
This man, this connection—nothing had ever felt so right. I’d never felt any real connection with another person, until now. For once, I belonged. I wasn’t alone. I was wanted and needed. It was coming home for the very first time.
When his body jerked as a roar tore from his chest and I felt the rush of his release fill me, I splintered into a million pieces, knowing I’d never return to the woman I had been before this moment.