Prologue #2
That’s the last time I ask. If she only wants sex, I’m more than happy to give her what she wants. I’ll fuck her so that’s all she remembers when she leaves tomorrow, all she feels when she walks away from me.
“You’re so wet for me, baby.” I pull my hand back, bringing my finger to my mouth, hungry for a taste of her more than I need my next breath. Fuuuck. So good.
Picking her up, I press her back to the doorframe.
With the moon bearing witness and the ocean drowning our moans, I position myself at her entrance.
I’m ready to have her wrapped around me, to feel her body take all of me to the hilt.
As soon as she looks at me, a question lingers with bated breath between us.
I hold myself still though it’s becoming impossible to keep from doing what I know will give me the relief I’m desperately craving.
She rubs the back of my neck and takes a deep breath. “I want this, but it’s been a while—”
God, there’s something so fucking sweet about the way she’s looking at me—innocence buried deep in her gaze.
I can’t stop myself from kissing her and then again.
“Do you want me to go slow?” I ask, studying her pretty face.
Though her features are delicate, a scar lies just above her right eyebrow.
It’s nice to see the perfection broken by something natural.
The slightest of nods accompanies her arms holding me tighter. “Just to start.”
“I can do that for you just to start.” I push in slowly, kissing her again, this time my breath catching in my chest. The heat of her body consumes any thoughts I had before that this is any other chick.
“Fuck,” I growl, my head dipping down to her shoulder and sinking as deep as I can. It’s not enough.
I need more.
I need all of her.
Lifting her higher, I wrap her legs around me, her ankles clasping behind my back. A pant breaks the wordless connection of our lips, and then a mewl tickles my skin. “You feel . . .” It’s just another whisper drifting past my ear, but I hear her. “So good.”
“You think you can handle more of me?”
Above widening eyes, her brows pinch together as color floods her cheeks. “I thought that was—Oh my God.” She sucks her harsh breath deep into her lungs, her eyes clamping closed, and her jaw slacking. “Yes. Feels so good. More. Harder.”
I’m not gentle, and I’m not kind. I fuck hard, making sure to decimate any stupid notion of this being anything more than a one-night stand. “So fucking amazing.”
She exhales. “Oh God, yeah.” Her hands fist as if she’s restraining herself from digging into my skin. Sucking in a breath, she drops her head so we can stare into each other’s eyes.
There’s so much more to this, more to us than a physical connection. I don’t say anything, though my thoughts collide with the sensations of pleasure we’re sharing. I stumble as gratification enters the horizon. “Fuck, I’m coming,” I confess, caught in a state between failure and victory.
Gripping tighter, I pump and thrust, fuck, and kiss her shoulder as if she’s the balm to heal this aching thunder ripping through me. My body betrays me. Not able to hold on any longer, I clamp down on the same shoulder I just left kisses, groan, and then give in to instinct.
An earthquake shakes her core and sends tremors through her body. She embraces my dick as much as my outside. My name rattles from her tongue in a chant of rhythm and cause.
The sound of her embeds in my memories.
It’s easy to lose myself in her darkness, her moans, the heat of her passion, and the sanctuary of her song. Her beauty and the downfall of what comes next. That’s not something I’ve ever concerned myself with prior. With her, I can’t rest knowing the end is part of our beginning.
As our bodies sag in the aftermath, our breathing yet to catch up. I kiss just behind her ear, and then carry her to the bed. Setting her down, she falls back as if she’s too weak to move. “Want to stay?”
“I can for a little while.”
Thumbing toward the bathroom, I add, “I’ll be right back unless you want to go first.”
“No. You go.” A giggle bubbles. “I don’t think I could stand up if I wanted to.”
“Guess you’re stuck with me.”
She turns her head as if something more meaningful was said. A graceful smile full of sincerity breaks her free. “There are worse places to be.”
“Yeah.” It’s tempting to linger, but I don’t. I go to the bathroom.
When I walk back out, she startles, whipping around at the dresser.
Her hands grip the wood and guilt covers her face.
“You robbing me?” I tease, keeping a straight face while I climb under the covers.
I can’t stop from grinning, though. Anchoring my hands under my head, I watch as her shoulders ease, and she laughs.
“I don’t need the money.”
“What do you need, Liv?”
That beautiful smile returns. “Nothing more than you’ve already given me.”
My eyes are drawn to the dresser behind her when she sets a pen down on the surface. “It’s been a good night.” Before she crosses the room, she adds, “It has.”
“Are you leaving me your number?” I wish I were still joking but hope infiltrates my voice.
Light on her feet and giving me a flash of her ass as she spins into the en suite bathroom, laughter trickles through the air. Holding the side of the door, she replies, “Thank you, Noah.”
I never know what to say when women thank me for fucking them. It’s not like I didn’t get something from it. I shoot her a wink. “Trust me, the pleasure was mine.”
“If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s that I don’t trust anyone who tells me to trust them.”
“Wise woman.” I chuckle. “Because I’m a fucking cad.”
She bursts out laughing. “So what you’re saying is I shouldn’t trust you at all?”
“Probably best.”
As the lightness of the conversation fades, so does her smile. Our eyes remain locked on each other as she worries her bottom lip.
I prefer the fun over the heaviness drifting between us, but I don’t fill the silence lingering in the air. Instead, I give her my best smile. “Don’t be long, okay?”
Liv nods before looking down and pulls the door to close it, but she stops and glances back at me.
Questions populate the distance, but words aren’t exchanged.
I’m not sure what I’d say anyway. The reality is we agreed when morning comes, she’ll go her way and I’ll go mine.
But what if the rules are worth breaking this time?
“Noah, get up!”
I bolt upright in bed, my heart pounding in my chest. My eyes are blurry and burning from the lack of sleep, so I clamp them closed again. Peeking open one and then the other, I realize the daylight floods the room, though the French doors to the balcony make it worse.
“Noah.” The voice rings in my ears, and before I have a chance to make out the woman scurrying around the bedroom, I already know who it is. And it’s not Liv.
Shit.
Blinking rapidly, I move to cover her, but I fall flat on my face. My vision clears, but I don’t need to see to know she’s already long gone. Fuck.
Here I am, the idiot who thought we had a good time.
Things were looking good before I fell asleep waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. Guess I’m the fool now.
As the realization sets in that I have nothing other than her first name, I grow irritated. “What are you doing here, Marina?”
My sister drags her arm across the top of the chest, dumping the stuff littering the surface into my duffel bag.
“Mom and Dad aren’t even thirty minutes behind me. Get up. They’ll kill you if they find out you’re using the Hamptons house as your sex lair.”
Dropping to my back, I roll my eyes before draping my arm over them. “I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“What part of Mom and Dad finding you here basking in your post-coital—ew.” She shivers, scrunching her face. “I don’t even want to think about my brother doing those things.” She dumps my bag at the door, and says, “You have ten minutes to make a clean getaway, Noah. Go.”
I drop my arm to the bed beside me and sit up. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“Nope.”
“You do know that I’m an adult, right? I’m fairly certain our parents know that, too.”
“Yep.” She shrugs, taking the doorknob in hand. “If you’re okay explaining why this place smells of bad moves and booze, then stay. It will only add to my entertainment since I’m stuck hanging out with them for the next three days.”
“Could be worse.”
“How?”
“You could have just been woken up by your sister only to find that your . . .” What is Liv to me? A hookup, one-night stand, date, friend, or overnight guest? “Friend disappeared sometime during the night.”
Her smile softens, the corners of her eyes lowering. “Sorry, can’t win them all, big brother.”
Why’d I tell her? Why do I care? Liv and I said no strings attached. That’s what we got. Although we made the agreement last night, I just wish it didn’t make me feel like shit this morning.
I sit up again. “Don’t be too concerned for me. It was just sex.” I lie to her and myself. Plastering on a fake smile, I add, “Now scram so I can get dressed.”
Apparently, I narrowly miss my parents’ arrival. Marina said she put on a good show to cover for the mess I left because she’s awesome and now I owe her two hundred bucks.
I don’t mind paying for her silence in this situation. I just wish I could pretend last night never happened. I mistakenly thought there was something more between us or could be. I was wrong.
She stuck to the agreement.
That leaves me no other option but to move on like it never even happened.
End of story.