Chapter Six #3
I ran my hands over her sides, feeling the tie of her wrap top, the damp smear of sugar and blue curacao, the warmth of her skin under thin fabric. She arched into me when I found the knot.
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
I untied it slowly.
Nella made an impatient sound. “You’re doing that on purpose.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Men who tease women on counters should be taxed.”
“I’ll pay.”
“With interest.”
I opened the wrap top and pushed it off her shoulders. Her bra was turquoise lace, because apparently Nella planned for both financial war and visual homicide.
I stopped breathing for half a second.
She looked down. “What?”
“That color should be illegal.”
“It matches the drink.”
“I’m going to die here.”
“Not before I get what I want.”
I laughed into the kiss and reached behind her for the clasp.
She caught my wrist. “Ask.”
The word hit me right in the ribs.
I stilled. “Can I take it off?”
“Yes.”
The clasp gave under my fingers. I slid the straps down her arms and bent to her breast.
Nella’s head tipped back.
The neon shark glowed behind her. The bar lights painted her skin gold and blue. Her fingers tightened in my hair when I drew her nipple into my mouth, then scraped my teeth lightly enough to make her hips jerk.
“Nico.”
I lifted my head. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Don’t you dare. I want more.”
My control frayed in one sharp pull.
I kissed down her chest, over her ribs, along the soft curve of her stomach. She leaned back on one hand and used the other to grip my shoulder while I worked the button of her black shorts open.
“Don’t rip those,” she said.
“I’ve been warned.”
“I mean it. These are practical.”
“You’re sitting half-naked on your bar after defeating a predatory lender. Practical left ten minutes ago.”
“It’s still in the building.”
I smiled against her hip and pulled the shorts down carefully.
Her panties matched the bra.
I closed my eyes.
Nella laughed, low and pleased. “Having a moment?”
“Several.”
“Survive them.”
“I’m trying.”
I kissed the inside of her thigh. She parted her legs before I asked, and her scent hit me.
My teeth ached.
I breathed through it.
Nella’s fingers brushed my jaw. “You’re holding back.”
“Yes.”
“Is it because you’re scared of me or scared for me?”
I looked up at her.
She sat on the counter with her hair falling out of the scarf, her top open, her mouth swollen from mine, and her bar saved behind us. She deserved the truth every time.
“Both,” I said.
Her expression softened. “Then start with your hands.”
I started with my hands, slow and focused.
I slid one hand between her thighs and stroked over her through the lace. She inhaled sharply. Her knees opened more, and her heel pressed into my back.
“Like this?” I asked.
“Yes. Keep doing that.”
Her voice had changed. She was still Nella, still bossy, but wanting had worn down the edges.
I pushed the lace aside and touched her.
She was wet and hot against my fingers, and I went still with the need to be inside her. I stayed where she’d put me. I found her clit with my thumb and slid two fingers into her, watching her lips part as she took me.
“Nico,” she said.
“I’ve got you.”
“I know.”
My hand faltered for half a second. She didn’t pull away.
I worked her with my fingers while her hips moved into my hand. She stopped trying to be quiet fast, because Nella didn’t do anything halfway once she decided she wanted it. Her fingers dug into my shoulder. Her head tipped back, curls slipping loose, throat bared.
I kept my mouth away from the mark.
I would wait until she asked.
Her thighs began to tremble. She rolled her hips harder, chasing my hand, and I bent to take her nipple in my mouth again. She swore, tight and sweet. Her pussy clenched around my fingers.
“Come for me,” I said.
“That sounded like an instruction.”
“That was a request.”
“You’re getting better at those.”
I circled her clit harder with my thumb.
Her laugh broke.
Then she came with my name against her teeth, body tightening, hips lifting into my hand while the plastic cups rattled beside us on the counter.
I kept my fingers inside her until the last pulse eased. Then I kissed her breast, her collarbone, her shoulder, anywhere that wasn’t teeth on her neck.
Nella’s hand slid down my chest to the front of my pants.
“Your turn,” she said.
“I can wait.”
“I didn’t ask if you could.”
She pushed me back enough to stand, stepped out of her shorts and panties, and planted one bare foot on the floor like she owned every inch of tile under us.
Then she reached for my waistband.
I caught her hands. “You don’t have to.”
Her eyes flashed. “Do not ruin my victory orgasm with self-sacrifice.”
“That sentence was new.”
“I’m having a big night.”
“Yes, you are.”
She pulled free and opened my pants with a focus that made my breath go uneven. When she wrapped her hand around my cock, I braced one palm on the counter.
“Fuck, Nella.”
Her smile went wicked. “That’s better.”
Her hand moved slowly, just enough pressure to make my hips want to follow. I held still because if I moved the way I wanted, I’d have her bent over the counter in three seconds.
Nella watched my face while she stroked me. “You’re very pretty when you’re suffering.”
“I’ve never been called pretty in my life.”
“Then your family is rude in new ways.”
A laugh tore out of me and turned into a groan when she tightened her grip.
She rose onto her toes and kissed my chest, then my shoulder, then the chain at my neck. She kept moving along my skin while her hand worked me. When her teeth scraped my collarbone, I nearly lost what little control I had left.
I caught her waist. “Nella.”
She looked up. “Yes?”
“I need to be inside you.”
The teasing left her face.
She reached between us and guided me closer. “Then come here.”
I lifted her back onto the counter, and she wrapped her legs around me again. This time, there was nothing between us. Just her heat, my cock, her hands on my shoulders, and the bar she’d saved under her bare thighs.
I held myself at her entrance.
Her eyes stayed on mine. “I want you.”
I pushed in slowly.
Her lips parted.
I stopped halfway, every muscle in my body tight.
She smacked my shoulder. “Do not stop there unless you want me to write a terrible review.”
I laughed once, rough and helpless. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet you’re still inside me.”
I pushed the rest of the way in.
Her breath left her in one shaking rush. Mine followed. She felt perfect around me, tight and slick and alive, and for a moment I couldn’t move because I didn’t trust myself not to make it too hard, too fast, too much.
Nella cupped my face.
The gesture was so gentle I almost closed my eyes.
“Stay with me,” she said.
“I’m here.”
“Then move.”
I did.
I started slow. I went deep enough to make her grip my shoulders and slow enough to feel every inch of her taking me. The counter creaked under us. Her breasts pressed against my chest. Her gold hoops brushed my jaw when I kissed her, and the chain around my neck slid cold between us.
Nella met every thrust.
She rocked against me, drew me in with her legs, clenched around me when she wanted my rhythm to break, and laughed breathlessly when it did.
“You like making me lose control,” I said against her lips.
“I like knowing I can.”
“You can.”
Her eyes met mine.
There was no joke in her face now.
“I know,” she whispered.
I kissed her harder.
The pace changed. I kept it slow enough to be a choice and hard enough that every thrust moved the breath out of both of us. I slid one hand between us and found her clit again. She gasped, and her nails bit into my back.
“Yes,” she said. “That. Don’t stop.”
“I won’t.”
“You’d better not.”
I smiled against her cheek. “Bossy.”
“Accurate.”