Chapter 14
Tex
I flopped onto the sofa, exhausted, my knee knocking into Hollywood’s as I landed. “She’s finally down for the count.”
His smile was small. “She missed you.”
I sensed he wanted to say more. He’d been like this ever since I came back from Redemption Road and told him that Matteo’s job lead wasn’t going to work out.
Like words danced on his tongue before he swallowed them down. He’d been quieter than usual. Distant.
I didn’t like it.
“But did you miss me?” I asked him.
“You know I did.”
“But I want to hear you say it,” I teased. “Tell me how much you need me.”
He sucked in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, an expression of pain flitting across his face. “Don’t ask me to do that,” he said, voice barely more than a whisper.
His reaction caught me off guard. I had joked like this before. He’d always laughed and indulged me.
“I don’t understand, Holls. What’s going on with you?”
His eyes snapped open, and they were blazing with so much emotion it shocked me into silence.
“You told me you wanted to talk, but not about what. You left, and I didn’t know if you’d really come back. And then you turn down your first job lead—”
“Whoa, hold on.”
“Do you know why Ruby was so demanding tonight?” he carried on, too full of steam to stop now. I shook my head, unsure of where this was going. “She’s attached to you! I—I was attached to you, too.”
“Was?” I asked softly, chest tight.
“Am. I am attached. But I was then too. And you just walked right out of my life.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. “More like ran.”
“I’m sorry, Hendrix. I wish I could take that back.”
He gave a jerky nod. “I believe you. I do. I don’t hold it against you. I know it’s partly my fault because I— But that’s not the point. This is about Ruby.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How is it about Ruby?”
“Because you can break my heart, but I won’t let you break hers.”
I flinched from the words. But it was the pain behind them that killed me. Pain that I’d inflicted.
“I’m sorry,” Hollywood said. “I’m not trying to be harsh. I just want to protect Ruby, because she’s already so attached.”
“I’m attached too,” I said quietly. “I’m not leaving, Hendrix. I worked my ass off to get back here because this is where I want to be. With Ruby, yes. But mainly with you.”
I hooked a hand around the nape of his neck and leaned in. He put a hand to my chest, holding me back.
“What are you saying, Tex? I don’t want any more misunderstandings. Tell me what you want.”
“I want you.”
Hollywood curled his hand in my shirt, much as he had the last time he’d kissed me, and pulled me toward him.
I skimmed my lips over his, heart thumping faster.
This was it. I was going to taste those sweet lips again.
When Hollywood kissed me that day three months ago, it’d scared the shit out of me because my first instinct had been to kiss him back.
It ignited a craving I hadn’t been willing to acknowledge.
I’d pushed my attraction down deep, making half a dozen excuses for why I liked to look at him more than other men, why I liked to be near him, to brush my hand against his.
That one kiss erased all of them, leaving only the truth.
I wanted this man—and that wasn’t who I was.
Or so I’d thought. Over the next three months, I’d come to realize I was bisexual.
Not just because Hollywood had kissed me.
There were dozens of small signs, all carefully ignored throughout the years, until the neon pulse of desire for Hollywood highlighted them.
My hand squeezed the back of Hollywood’s neck, holding him tightly—almost too tightly—but he didn’t complain. He let me keep him where I wanted him.
I expected him to kiss me like he had before, but he waited patiently as I skimmed my lips over his with featherlight touches. I kissed the corner of his lips, then his stubbled jaw, needing a moment to really process.
Hollywood made a small, needy sound as my lips hit the hollow under his ear.
“You like that,” I murmured against his skin.
“Yes,” he breathed, a little shiver going through him as I applied my teeth. “But…”
I drew back to meet his eyes, hazy with lust. “Tell me.”
“I need my mouth on you, too.”
“Fuck.” That went straight to my dick. My head spun as blood rushed south, the vision of Hollywood on his knees sucking my cock too powerful to ignore.
“Let me kiss you?” he pleaded. “If—if that’s okay?”
His hesitation, even now, made my chest tighten with regret.
“Ah, darlin’, you can do anything you want with me. I’m yours.”
He grasped my face in his hands, surging forward, but stopped just short of our lips meeting. “You won’t freak out?”
“No.”
“I don’t want to chase you off again—”
Enough of that. I closed the distance between us, taking his mouth in a harsh kiss. Not because I was angry with him. Because I was angry with me.
It poured out as red-hot lust, and I glued myself to him, bruising his lips with mine, tongue pushing into his mouth as if to move in and claim my space.
He made a strangled, choked noise, and it only spurred me on. I ran my tongue along his, withdrew to suck his bottom lip into my mouth and nibble that delicate flesh I’d been fantasizing about for months.
Hollywood’s hands slid into my hair, holding tight enough to hurt, sending a rush of pleasure through me. This was no soft, delicate woman I kissed. Hollywood was as strong as I was. He shoved me down onto my back and pulled my T-shirt up.
“Is this okay?” he asked, hot breath fanning over my navel, making my skin crackle with the need for more touch.
“Anything.”
His eyes darkened. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep yet.”
I parted my lips to shoot back a pithy response—but he was right. I wasn’t ready for anything.
“Almost anything,” I amended. “I want to be with you.”
“I think I’ve got a few tricks you’ll like,” he said with a wicked smile. My pulse thudded in my cock. Oh yeah, I’d been dreaming about this moment for so long.
Hollywood shoved at my shirt again, and I pulled it over my head. He pressed his lips to my stomach, making my abs twitch. He placed hot, wet kisses up my sternum, eyes raised to read my expressions as he did.
When he circled his tongue around my left nipple, I let out a shaky breath. “You gonna tease me all night or get to it?”
He bit down on the tight bud. Pleasure ricocheted through me, bouncing from my nipple to my balls.
“Fuck, Holls,” I rasped. “Do it again.”
He moved to my right nipple, which was aching with envy, and licked and nibbled until I was throbbing, my nerves firing impulses of need through my system. I put my hand on his head and pushed him downward, no longer thinking, just needing.
Hollywood palmed my aching cock through my sweats.
“You want this?”
I pushed my hips up, shoving my crotch into his palm, desperate for friction. He didn’t tug down my sweats, didn’t squeeze me through the fabric. I vibrated, my breaths harsh, while he gazed down at me.
“I need your words,” he said softly.
“Yes,” I gasped. “I want it.”
“What do you want exactly?”
“Touch me.”
He tugged down my sweats, giving my cock room to expand. He laid his hot palm over my aching erection, still restrained by my boxer briefs.
“Holly,” I gritted with annoyance.
“Yes?” he asked, a teasing note in his voice.
“Do you plan to torment me all night, or are you going to suck my goddamned cock?”
He chuckled, a naughty edge to the sound. “Just needed you to ask, sweetheart.”
He hooked his fingers into my waistband and tugged my briefs down to bare my cock. I lifted my ass, helping him strip the fabric away. Hollywood pulled it all the way down and off. And suddenly, I was bare-ass naked on the sofa while he was fully dressed.
Before I could protest that state of affairs, his fingers wrapped around my shaft and he lowered that beautiful mouth to my tip. He flicked his tongue around my cockhead, making me jolt.
“Jesus,” I breathed. “Look at you.”
“Look at you,” he replied, gaze skating up and down my body. “So sexy.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, darlin’, but if you don’t wrap those gorgeous lips around my dick soon, I’m gonna have to take matters into my own hands.”
“Don’t you dare,” he said with a laugh. “This is mine.”
He sank down, his wet mouth taking me in slowly, his tongue painting hot stripes of pleasure up the underside of my shaft. He cupped my balls in one hand, gently squeezing, while he tightened his mouth around me.
“Ah god.” My whole body clenched as pleasure coiled tight inside me.
Hollywood drew up my length until he reached the tip, using his tongue to strum my frenulum. He probed my slit with his tongue, making me jerk, and took me down again, deeper this time.
I nudged into his throat, and he swallowed around me, groaning like he was devouring the best treat he’d ever had.
His full lips spread thin around my girth. My dick, shiny with saliva, slid in and out of his mouth. It was all too much. I closed my eyes tight, gasping a warning.
Hollywood started pulling back, but it was too late. I shot over his tongue—and as he withdrew—his lips and chin.
Seeing my cum on his face only made me spurt again, decorating his jaw and neck.
“Fuuuck.” I shuddered with aftershocks. “You’re too good. I couldn’t hold back.”
He lifted his shirt, using the bottom of it to wipe off his face, then tugged it over his head and tossed it aside.
My fingers grazed his navel. It was hitting home now, what I’d done.
This was a man sitting over my thighs. His chest was strong, his pecs defined, and his shoulders broad.
There was a strip of hair on his lower abs, and I traced my finger over it, absorbing the coarse texture and the thought of where it led.
A hard cock like mine, trapped in those jeans of his. The thought didn’t repulse me. I wanted every part of Holly, even this one. Even if it meant there’d be no more denying the truth.
I’d acknowledged in my head that I found him attractive. That I cared for him. That I wanted to kiss him.
But this was the ultimate truth, wasn’t it?