29. Chapter Twenty-Nine - Unexpected Greeting #3
“If I had my way,” he said unhurriedly, “I would paint your skin with my devotion. Your collarbone, your wrists, the soft places of your neck… your chest.” His voice dipped lower, raw and intimate.
“I would trace every inch of you with my mouth and leave no doubt as to whom you belong. I would mark you in places no one else could ever reach.”
I swallowed hard, my thoughts scattering like ash.
“You’re a total pervert,” I said weakly, the accusation meaningless when my heart raced and my body was already answering him.
He nodded once, completely unashamed. “Then yes,” he said simply. “I am a whole-hearted pervert. And damned or not, that is how I feel.”
A helpless smile tugged at my mouth, dazed and soft. “At least you’ve got your priorities straight,” I murmured, shaking my head like it might clear the fog. “You really do have a way with words, Culver Scarbrough.”
“Did I earn points, Ira Loshe?” he asked, his voice darkening again, hunger glinting in his eyes.
“Maybe,” I replied, my voice nothing but smoke. “Now, you should go ahead and take what you asked for.”
His grin widened.
Then his mouth was on mine again, firm and greedy, his hands sliding down my back before climbing again and drawing me flush against him with fevered insistence. At some point my dress had ridden up enough to expose my panties.
Ugh. Why couldn’t I have been wearing my lace ones?
A sound left me that I didn’t bother suppressing as he slid his fingers along my waist and back down toward my ass, squeezing and carefully exploring where our bodies melted together. My arms tightened around his shoulders while my thighs locked around his hips.
Clinging to him felt so natural when I already knew I fit there.
As long as I didn’t go too far, I told myself. As long as I held the line and kept things from tipping into something I couldn’t take back so easily.
But even as the thought formed, I knew it was a lie.
Deep down, I could already feel how thin the line really was and how badly I didn’t want to stay on this side of it anyway.
We both knew it.
The way his tongue traced mine felt like he was mapping me out, memorizing every response to keep for later. One night with Culver didn’t sound terrifying anymore, the thought slipping in soft and seductive like it had been waiting for the perfect moment to sneak past my guard.
But even that was a lie.
I already knew one night would never be enough. Not when being this close to him made everything else feel like it was just marking time until the next moment I got to touch him again.
“Culv,” I whispered against his mouth, the sound coming out more like a plea than a name.
“Hmm?” he murmured, barely pulling back before his lips drifted along my jaw, each kiss placed with slow intent like he had all the time in the world.
His teeth grazed my neck, and a violent shiver tore through me, my body arching into him as his member drove upward against my clit in a fresh wave of pleasure.
As his mouth pressed harder against my neck, I struggled to gather any coherent thought at all, fully aware he was marking me up.
“While I enjoy this,” I managed, the words fractured by another sharp inhale when he nipped my skin again, “you were taking me somewhere, right? I’ve got things to do…”
“Like me,” he murmured, low and sultry against my ear as his fingers traced down my sides and brushed across my nipples before gripping me again with precision.
He knew exactly where to touch.
Exactly how far to push without snapping the last threads of my restraint.
Heat rushed through every part of me, sweeping away the embarrassment and hesitation I’d been clinging to.
“Culv,” I groaned, my thighs tightening around him again. “You… we’re not fucking in your car, are we?”
He laughed softly against my throat, the sound reverent and almost worshipful.
Then, just when I thought I might actually combust, he pulled back.
Not far. Just enough to breathe.
His hands stayed on me, grounding and possessive all at once.
“Did you really think I was going to take you in this tiny contraption?” he murmured, brushing his nose against mine.
“You’re acting like it,” I huffed, cheeks burning and lips tingling, still swollen from his mouth. “God, I give you an inch and you take a mile.”
“I shall take everything when you let me,” he shot back instantly. “Just say the word.”
But the truth kept pushing at me beneath all the heat and wanting. The unwanted weight of knowing that sooner or later, I’d probably give in completely, handing over my body, my trust, and every vulnerable part of myself I’d spent years teaching myself to keep locked down.
And after that?
Once the newness faded and the heat cooled off, once he’d claimed all of it, would he still see something in me worth staying for?
Or would I become just another temporary rush in a life that seemed endless compared to mine?
And when he eventually walked away—because that had to happen eventually—what pieces of me would even be left to rebuild?
“Just not here.” He finally pulled away enough to give me room to breathe.
“Now,” he said, taking my hand and pressing a deliberate kiss against it, “Ira Loshe, will you go on a date with me?”