8. Taryn #2
“Easy,” he murmured against my ear. “It’s just me.”
My pulse sped up at the feel of his warm breath. He had that effect on me, no matter how much I tried to convince myself that I hated him.
The motel room sat dark, except for thin moonlight bleeding through the curtains. Lila slept heavily in the other bed, facing the wall, completely oblivious.
“How in the hell did you get in here?” I whispered once he pulled his hand away.
Adrian’s mouth tilted slightly. “I have my ways.”
“Apparently.” I frowned.
The man was good at everything and always had been.
“You should’ve woken up as soon as I entered the room,” he scolded slightly.
I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re criticizing my survival instincts after what I went through to get here?”
“Yes.” He crouched beside the bed, dressed in a black T-shirt tucked into black cargo pants. “I need to know you can survive anything.”
His brown hair was tousled, and stubble covered the lower half of his face. His eyes, nearly the same color as mine, were even more intense behind the dark frames of his glasses.
God.
The apocalypse had somehow made him hotter.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I whispered.
“Neither should you,” he whispered back.
The tension between us was even stronger than it had been back at the farmhouse.
He looked at me with heat and possession.
Across the room, Lila shifted in her sleep.
Adrian’s eyes flicked toward her briefly before returning to me. “Come with me.”
I knew that was not a good idea.
Naturally, I went anyway.
He didn’t look surprised to see me fully dressed except for my shoes when I threw the cover back.
The motel hallway sat silent as Adrian led me down the back staircase and across the second floor toward one of the empty rooms at the far end of the building.
The room obviously hadn’t been used for a while. The bed was stripped, and the curtains were dusty. No personal belongings anywhere.
Adrian shut the door quietly behind us.
Then, he locked it.
He opened his mouth to speak, and I cut him off immediately.
“I don’t want to hear any shit about coming here.
I knew you two had probably run into trouble, and it seems I was right.
” I started pacing around the room. “What in the hell is wrong with the people here? Men thinking they can band together and just pick any woman they want? I don’t fucking think so.
” I jerked my head toward him. “Don’t get any ideas about joining one of these family groups. I won’t allow it.”
Fuck I shouldn’t have said that. Exhaustion was making me stupid.
“I’m trying to explain if you’d let me,” Adrian said in the emotionless tone I hated, completely ignoring the bomb I’d dropped, basically admitting I had feelings for him.
“I’m so sick of the mask you wear. Do you have to be such a dick?” I growled in frustration.
His impassive expression was pissing me off. I’d gone years with barely a word from him, then unexpectedly he came home when the shit hit the fan, acting like he had some prior claim on me.
Fuck that and fuck him.
Suddenly, Adrian grabbed me. One hand clutched my shirt while the other caught my jaw, slamming my back against the wall next to the window with enough force to almost knock the breath from my lungs.
“Taryn?” he whispered against my lips.
“Hmm?” I was slightly dazed at his forcefulness.
“Shut up.” Then his mouth crashed into mine.
Months of tension and restraint snapped apart all at once.
It was hot, messy, and possessive in the best possible way.
I barely had time to gasp before Adrian deepened the kiss, his hand gripping my waist firmly as his lips pressed against mine with fierce urgency.
Without thinking, my hands caught on his shirt, dragging him closer when I really should’ve shoved him off.
That seemed to destroy the last thread of his control completely.
Adrian kissed like he did everything else: thoroughly, intensely, and with skill.
And God, I felt it everywhere.
As his teeth grazed my bottom lip, a wave of warmth surged through me, and his hand slid up my side with a slow, deliberate motion, cupping my breast like he was imprinting the exact way I fit against him.
“You drive me insane,” he murmured against my mouth before pressing his lips to mine again.
My head leaned back against the wall while his mouth drifted toward my throat.
Heat curled violently through my stomach.
“Adrian—”
His entire body reacted to his name leaving my lips.
“You followed us here with no thought to your safety,” he muttered roughly against my skin. “Do you have any idea what that did to me?”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer, drunk on the feel of his mouth against mine. Instead, my hands slid into his soft hair as he kissed me again, harder than before.
Adrian uttered a low, guttural sound that sent shivers through me and left my panties drenched. My knee slid instinctively to the side as he crowded closer, and there was no missing how affected he was.
God.
I lowered my hand to the bulge in his pants.
He grabbed my wrist. “None of that, baby.” His voice was barely above a whisper, more of a warning. “I won’t be able to stop.”
It’s as if he didn’t know me at all. The warning in his voice only intensified my desire.
I’d waited for this man for half my life. I knew there were things that needed to be said, and my feelings for Beck weren’t going to go away. But after everything—the infected, Ben, the fear I’d felt while waiting to hear from him and Beck—I needed this.
My hands stayed tangled in his hair as his body pressed harder against mine, pinning me between him and the wall in a way that should’ve felt dangerous.
Instead, it felt inevitable.
His mouth moved against mine more slowly now, deeper, each kiss dragging heat lower through my body until my pulse was pounding so hard I could barely think straight.
“Taryn,’ he murmured roughly against my mouth, like my name physically hurt him.
Then he bit my bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood.
“Don’t ever deny me again. You…are…mine.” He slid his hand into my hair, tilting my head back, then he licked and sucked my swollen lip, easing the sting from his bite.
Every place his mouth touched burned afterward.
The scrape of his teeth along my throat sent a sharp shiver through me.
His mouth found the sensitive spot beneath my ear and lingered there just long enough to become dangerous before his teeth caught my neck harder this time.
I gasped in pleasure, and Adrian froze, breathing hard.
His forehead pressed briefly against my throat as if he were trying to regain control. “I can’t wait for you to make that sound when I have my cock buried so deep inside you that I can’t tell where you end and I begin.” His eyes lifted to mine.
Dark.
Burning.
Possessive in a way that made heat twist low in my stomach all over again.
Then his hand tightened on my waist, and he brought his mouth back to mine. Messier now and with even more hunger.
I kissed him back just as recklessly.
The tension, the constant push and pull… had been building for too long. I’d dreamed of this for years, and part of me thought I might still be asleep in the room with Lila.
Adrian’s body pressed fully against mine now, one thigh forcing itself between my legs just enough to make my breath hitch again.
He exhaled roughly against my mouth before putting more pressure on my clit with his leg. Slowly rubbing back and forth until I was so close I knew it wouldn’t take much more to send me over the edge.
My God, I’d waited for this man forever.
His mouth slowed against mine as his thumb brushed lightly along my ribs. The intensity in his expression suddenly turned dangerous in a completely different way.
“Taryn,” he said quietly, almost like a warning to himself this time. “We need to talk first.” Then he kissed the mark he’d left on my neck, soft enough to ruin me.
“Seems like this party started without me,” Beck said, entering the room quietly.
We both turned, startled by his sudden appearance.
He shut the door behind him slowly, without looking away from us.
The expression on his face should’ve terrified me. Instead, heat curled low in my stomach all over again.
“Shit,” I muttered.
Things were about to get interesting.