Caught (14 page)

Ethan groaned, a harsh, almost plaintive noise as he stepped back. “Don’t,” he said, stumbling a little as he lifted a shaky hand and raked it through his thick, dark hair. Toni’s mouth went dry, as for the first time she got to see his nearly naked body. His chest was thick with muscle, nearly twice as wide as hers. Smooth, tanned skin stretched tight over the muscles of his shoulders and arms. Her eyes eagerly devoured every inch of bared flesh, raking down his six-pack abs and lower.

Her breath caught at the sight of his cock, rock hard and tenting out the front of his boxers. She swallowed hard, nearly overcome with the urge to tug his boxers down his leg and suck him deep into her throat.

“You keep looking at me like that, and in about five seconds you’re gonna find yourself pinned up against the wall with me buried ten inches inside you.”

She drew back, startled. Intimidated. “Ten inches?”

His wicked grin made everything inside her go buttery soft. “Give or take a millimeter.”

She laughed as he lifted her thighs and wrapped them around his waist so he could carry her into the bedroom. Toni could feel the hard press of his cock against her behind, and swallowed hard. Christ, he might not be exaggerating. Then she didn’t care as the hard ridge of his abs rubbed against her silk-clad cleft, making her squirm and moan and ache.

She’d never felt like this with a man. Nervous and carefree, wanting to laugh and cry and beg him to make her come. Out of control. Exhilarated. Terrified.

He flipped on the bedside lamp. Smooth cotton met her back as he lay her down on the bed and gently removed her glasses and placed them on the bedside table. He shoved his boxers down his hips and his erection bobbed, long and thick as it reared up from between his legs as he peeled her thong down her legs. Even without her glasses, she could see the thick vein pulse its length, the smooth head engorged and slick with pearls of pre-come. She wanted to reach out, stroke its length, but before she could make a move, he came down over her and clamped his mouth hard over her nipple. She squirmed on the mattress, low, animal sounds she didn’t recognize emerging from her throat. His hand dipped between her legs, fingers parting her and finding her embarrassingly wet.

“God, you’re hot,” he whispered, sucking harder at her nipple as first one thick finger, then two stretched her open. His thumb whisked across her clit, circling and teasing as Toni arched harder up into his hand. He groaned into her mouth, sucking hard on her tongue as his fingers pressed deeper, harder.

Toni cried out in protest as he suddenly jerked away and fumbled through the overnight bag on the chair next to the bed. A pile of foil packets scattered across the bedside table. She heard a ripping sound and then he was rolling on a condom and kneeing her legs apart. His breath hissed through his teeth as he dragged the broad head up and down her slit, rubbing her clit, spreading her wetness around until her hips were bucking off the bed and her hands were digging into his ass to coax him inside before she completely lost her mind.

He was huge, thick and pulsing as he stretched her wide, forcing her body to yield inch by agonizing inch at his slow, inexorable invasion. He began to move in smooth, deliberate strokes, seeming to know the exact rhythm, the exact angle she needed.

God, he was good at this.

And why wouldn’t he be, with all the practice he’s had?

She tried to force the thought from her mind, not wanting to imagine the legions of lovers he must have had up to this point, and how she might compare. But as he gazed down at her, his eyes narrowing into fierce turquoise slits, Toni couldn’t get the unpleasant image out of her head.

This was a man she’d met less than two days ago. A man who, when she’d met him, had just come from another woman’s bed. Still had her lipstick on his ear.

Once that thought barreled into her head, she couldn’t get it out. Ethan with another woman. Ethan with dozens of other women, women who were sexier, more confident, and more advanced in bedroom Olympics.

Women who didn’t care if he went and slept with someone else after this was over.

Her orgasm, so close only a few seconds before, evaporated under the onslaught of insecurity. A lump settled in her throat and she was horrified to realize she was on the verge of tears.

Ethan sensed her change in mood, and his hips stopped their steady pumping. He leaned back on his knees, chest heaving as he struggled for control. God, he was so gorgeous, his body gleaming with sweat, a freaking sex god the likes of which she had never even seen, much less touched, and her stupid, overactive brain wouldn’t give her body a break. Why couldn’t she just go with the flow?

Because she was the computer nerd, and he was the captain of the football team, and deep down she knew they didn’t belong together, and never would. And that shouldn’t matter if all she wanted was sex.

“What is it?” he said.

She opened her mouth but was afraid she’d start crying if she said anything. After a few seconds she said, “Nothing, everything’s fine.” A minute ago she’d been running hot and fast, headlong into sexual oblivion. And now she’d turned it all awkward and uncomfortable, all because she couldn’t get out of her damn head long enough to enjoy it.

At least he was still having a good time, if the strength and size of the erection inside her was any indication. No reason for him to stop, just because she’d fallen off the orgasm train. “Don’t stop,” she urged, hoping it sounded more convincing than it felt. “It’s fine.”

His mouth set in a tight line. Great. If he hadn’t already decided she was a bad lay, this would certainly seal the deal.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He leaned down until his forehead rested against hers and kissed her softly. He pushed himself all the way inside her, holding himself still as his mouth teased hers with soft sucking kisses. “I’m going too fast,” he panted.

She wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t him, it was her, but his tongue sliding into her mouth proved too much of a distraction.

“I just want you too much,” he whispered, “Once I touch you, all bets are off and I can’t keep it together.”

He wanted her too much? The very idea was enough to make her tighten around him, making him groan as the walls of her body clamped hard around his cock. He bent his head to her breast, licking and sucking the sensitive flesh, thrusting into her with tiny movements of his hips, stirring her up, sending her nerve endings back into overdrive.

Then he slid out, her body clinging and protesting every inch of the way. She moaned in protest. “Don’t stop.” This time the plea was lustily sincere.

“Let’s slow down. Let me make this good for you,” he said. She wanted to argue that what he was doing was once again plenty good for her, but she couldn’t even form words as his hands and lips coursed down her belly and lower. He grasped the backs of her thighs and hooked her knees over his shoulders, opening her wide to his gaze and his touch. Toni’s hands clawed at the sheets as his tongue burrowed into her folds, circling her clit with firm strokes as his fingers teased the opening of her body.

She moaned, arching her hips, trying to urge his fingers deeper. “That’s it,” he whispered against her throbbing flesh, “make some noise. Show me what you like. Show me what’s good for you.”

“Deeper,” she said. “I want your fingers deeper.”

He slid two fingers in as far as they could go at the same moment his lips clamped over her clit. He was relentless, his lips sucking, tongue lashing, as his fingers pressed high and hard within her. Toni’s legs and arms stiffened as all the energy in her body centered in a knot between her legs, a knot that pulled tighter and tighter until finally her orgasm exploded, sending wave upon wave of searing pleasure through every nerve and sinew until even the tips of her fingers and toes tingled with it.

Ethan almost cried with relief when he felt the first rippling shudder course through Toni’s body. He didn’t know how he’d done it, but he’d somehow managed to drag himself back from the edge, managed to regain some measure of the sexual control he’d always taken for granted. He had no idea what had gotten into him, what it was about Toni that made him completely lose his mind.

Thank God he’d somehow managed to sense her withdrawal, even through the all-consuming pleasure he’d felt at being buried deep inside her. He couldn’t blame her for pulling back. He was big on foreplay, liked to linger and search out all the secret places that gave pleasure. But with Toni, he was like an animal, driven to mate, get inside her, fuck her hard and deep until he found the kind of white-hot oblivion he’d never gotten close to. Poor Toni—once he saw her naked, all he was good for was a quick paw, a couple of nipple twists, and he’d been shoving inside her like a madman.

But he’d made up for it, he thought with maybe the slightest touch of arrogance. Christ, she tasted good, sweet and salty and hot against his mouth. He couldn’t resist sliding his tongue inside her for one last, lingering taste. The last quivers of her orgasm fluttered against his mouth, and he groaned, unable to stop himself from grinding his hips in response. Fuck, he needed to get back inside her before he pulled some amateur move like coming against the sheets.

She was relaxed, boneless with pleasure as he reared up over her and positioned himself at the entrance to her sex. He could feel his orgasm building the second he began the first slow, deep slide. She was so slick, so tight, like a hot, wet fist clamping around his cock with every stroke. He pumped her hard, shaking the bed and making her tits bounce with every thrust.

God, she was so pretty, so responsive as her postorgasmic languor instantaneously morphed into sexual urgency. Her cheeks were flushed, lips deep red and swollen, eliciting all kinds of fantasies of having them wrapped around the thick head of his cock. Her chest was flushed, too, the creamy flesh of her tits rosy-pink as he drove her higher. The smooth skin of her inner thighs slid against his hips as she wrapped those long legs around him, urging him deeper, faster, as her hips rocked up to meet every pounding thrust.

God, she was close, if he could only hold off a few more seconds. He wanted to watch her, see her face as she broke into a million pieces. His thumb delved between her legs, bumping her firm clit in time with his strokes.

His back arched and he moaned as he felt her body clamp down hard around him, milking, kneading his cock as her second climax hit. The sharp sting of her nails digging into his ass sent him hurtling over the edge. He came in a body-melting rush, in pulses so fierce he felt like he was going to burst out of his skin.

He collapsed on top of her, savoring the scent of her as he gulped oxygen into his lungs. After a few moments, he came to enough to realize he was probably crushing her and summoned up the strength to roll to the side.

He stared up at the ceiling, stunned by what had just happened. He closed his eyes and pulled her against him, determined to ignore the voice in his gut that was telling him that Toni Crawford was going to absolutely wreck him.

T
HE LAST WAVES of pleasure faded as Ethan rolled to Toni’s side, and she braced herself for the wave of regret. Waited for her brain to scream at her,
What are you doing? Having sex with a guy you met yesterday?? You didn’t seriously believe that line he fed you, did you…
I want you so much, I can’t stop myself…
Seriously, you don’t think he says that to every woman he’s with?

Yeah, that was about right. But then Ethan pulled her against his naked body, cupped her cheek, and kissed her. Not a sexy, I-want-to-do-you kiss, but a soft kiss, so sweet and affectionate it almost felt like a thank-you for giving him such great pleasure. A loving kiss.

Warning bells started clanging in a corner of her mind not saturated with postorgasmic hormones.

Why couldn’t Ethan be one of those guys who did the come-and-snore routine? Or better yet, come and flee the scene of the crime? Why did he have to pull her against his long, warm body and tangle his legs with hers in a way that made her want to curl up against him and hibernate through the winter?

This was the dangerous part, she realized. Not the sex. This kind of snuggling, the stroking of his hands up her back, the soft kisses pressed to her forehead and cheeks. That could give a girl all kinds of ideas.

Even a girl like Toni, who didn’t allow herself to get ideas about men anymore.

He rolled to his side, and she tried to shift away, but he caught her and tucked her against him, her back to his front.
Oh, God, not the spooning
, she thought as a shiver of contentment fluttered through her.

She dozed off, the heat of his body pressed against her and the slow, steady cadence of his breathing lulling her to sleep.

A few hours later her eyes snapped open. She felt the unfamiliar heat and weight of a male body next to her, took in the blurred outline of the lavish furninshings of the suite illuminated by the light of the bedside lamp. Reality hit her with crushing force.

Kara was missing, and she was in a hotel room with Ethan Taggart, her body still humming from the aftermath of sex. She looked at the clock. Four forty-one a.m. She should go back to sleep, but her brain cranked into overdrive the way it only can at four in the morning when the rest of the world is asleep and all you can do is worry.

Worries about Kara pinged off thoughts of Ethan and what she thought she was doing sleeping with him. Visions of her nearly empty bank account and the impossible dream of moving back to Seattle slammed into memories of Michelle, memories she tried to keep concealed but that forced their way forward at this time of night.

Why had she shared that with Ethan? She never talked about Michelle to anyone. Hadn’t even shared the details with John, her ex. All he’d known was that Michelle had died and Toni didn’t like to talk about it.

Then again, her not talking about it was always what John brought up when he complained about Toni’s intimacy issues. But for whatever fucked-up reason, she’d been compelled to share it with Ethan, explain why she related to Kara, wanted to give him some sort of explanation.

Bad enough that she let him into her pants, but letting him into her head was even more foolish.

The masculine weight next to her shifted and Toni stiffened as a sleep-warmed hand curled around her hip and drew her close.

“You’re thinking too loud,” he murmured and slid his hand over her stomach, up her rib cage to cup her breast.

Her thoughts dissolved into wisps of smoke as his thumb lazily circled her nipple. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

He responded with a grunt and shifted until she could feel the hot weight of his erection pressed against her ass. “I won’t complain if you promise to help me get back to sleep.”

Toni smiled in the dark. His mouth was hot and wet on her neck, her shoulders, his teeth nipping at her earlobes. She shifted, trying to roll to face him, but he held her firm.

“This way,” he whispered, the erotic intent in his voice enough to make desire pool and pulse between her legs.

One touch and her body was already eager for more. Already conditioned to want him with the slightest encouragement. Toni didn’t want to think about the ramifications, so she closed her eyes and gave in.

Strong arms wrapped around her and his big, long-fingered hands rubbed and pinched her nipples, probed the drenched folds of her sex.

“Your pussy is so tight,” he whispered, parting her legs with his knee as is fingers entered her from behind. “I just want to sink my cock inside you and stay there for a week.”

A shuddering moan bubbled from her throat. She’d never been with a man who talked about sex so frankly. It embarrassed her. But it turned her on even more.

And he knew it, too, felt her body clench around his fingers as he stroked and pumped. He groaned in response, rubbed his cock against the bare flesh of her thigh. His fingers slipped out, pulling a rush of moisture in their wake. She reached between her legs and grasped his cock in her hand, stroking and rubbing him against the slippery surface of her inner thigh.

“That’s right, so perfect,” he whispered and pulled her back against him. He pushed her leg down, closing her thighs over his bare, throbbing cock and adjusted his position so his shaft nestled against her cleft.

He’d never felt anything like this. The slickness of Toni’s pussy as he stroked against her. The tight fist of her hand, stroking and pumping the head of his cock as he thrust against her. Jesus. He was rubbing against her, not even fucking her, and it felt better than being inside any other woman.

Being with Toni in any way felt better than being inside another woman.

He shoved that panic-inducing thought aside and reached his hand down to stroke her clit, get her in the game, keep her flowing hot and wet. She moaned and tightened her thighs around his shaft, and he shifted till he was riding even more firmly against her dripping slit.

He wished he could fuck her without a condom, something he hadn’t done since he was young and stupid and could use that as an excuse not to know any better. Nowadays he didn’t mind using protection, even appreciated that condoms lessened his pleasure enough that he was never in danger of losing control.

Not with Toni. Shit, he couldn’t keep control even when he had a condom on. Who knew what would happen if he ever got inside her without one?

Fucking nuclear fission.

She was gearing up for her own explosion. Her free hand—the one that wasn’t squeezing the head of his cock in a way that made his balls tingle and tighten with every pump of his hips—was fisting in her pillow. Hungry, needy sounds clawed their way out of her throat. Sweat bloomed on her shoulders, and he licked a bead away with his tongue.

He left it, reluctantly, just long enough to reach for a condom. He pried her legs open and rolled it on in record time and thrust inside her even faster.

She gasped, her back arching as her body stretched and struggled to accommodate him. She was soft and supple from their earlier fucking, but he was big, and she was tight. Tighter than any woman he’d ever been with, gloving him and gripping him with every thrust and withdrawal.

His fingers slipped between her thighs and found the hard bud of her clit. Taking it carefully between his thumb and forefinger, he milked her, gently stroking as he thrust into her from behind. She went rigid, her thigh muscles flexing against his as she moaned, almost sobbing now.

He could feel her grasping him, her cunt rippling along his cock as her orgasm built and he stilled his thrusts. He wanted to wait, wanted to make it last. But was too late. Toni covered his hand with hers, pushed his fingers more firmly against her clit as she rocked against him in quick, desperate thrusts of her hips.

“Oh, God,” she moaned. “Please. I can’t—” her voice broke on a low moan and her pussy clamped down hard, her body pulling him deeper, ripping his own orgasm from him whether he was ready or not.

His eyes squeezed shut and he came so hard he almost blacked out. He pulled her to him. She was breathing hard, shaking, and he wondered if she felt the way he did. Like she’d been ripped apart and put back together. Like she didn’t know whether to push him away and take off running or yank him close and never let him go.

Tonight, for him, holding her close won out. He tucked her long body against him, kissed the damp skin of her neck, and wondered how terror and contentment could coexist inside one man’s skin.

The second time Toni woke up in Ethan’s arms she didn’t waste any time getting out of bed and away from him before she did something foolish. Like have sex with him a third time. She was already in danger of reading way too much into the fact that he had sex with her twice in the space of six hours. He wasn’t anything like the experienced, polished lover she’d imagined him to be. Instead he was all raw sex and uncontrolled desire.

As if she really drove him crazy. And if she let herself believe that, she was in for a world of hurt.

She slipped out of bed, taking a moment to indulge in this scene, burn it into her memory. Ethan lay on his stomach, head turned to the side, his dark hair tousled and spiked. The sheet was twisted around his waist, and the long, rippling muscles of his back were relaxed, shifting under skin she knew would be hot and smooth under her fingers. Her hands clenched into fists as she retreated into the suite’s sitting room.

She dug through her backpack and pulled on her bra, underwear, T-shirt, and jeans like they were armor and flipped on her computer, mostly for something to do. She checked her phone to see if by some miracle Kara had texted or called and somehow she hadn’t heard her phone ring, but of course she hadn’t. She checked her e-mail, too, but no luck there, either. She checked both of Kara’s FacePlace pages to see if she’d posted any new messages.

Nothing.

Toni stared mindlessly out of the suite’s window, her brain touching on what Toby said about Kara like a tongue exploring a sore tooth.

She tries to act like a good girl, but she’s into all kinds of shit. She wanted to do those pictures. Liked the idea of doing it behind everyone’s back. Especially her dad. Did you know he bought her a Mercedes after she signed the pledge? She loves driving around in that car, still getting away with everything she can.

Toni blew out a sigh. She hadn’t known about Jerry’s bribe, just knew Kara had a nicer car than Toni could ever hope to afford. She hadn’t known about a lot of stuff Kara was doing. But the image of the spoiled-brat Internet Lolita didn’t jibe with the Kara Toni knew.

Regardless, Toni refused to believe the pictures were Kara’s idea. Toni wasn’t so far from seventeen that she couldn’t remember the dumb stuff she’d done, hoping a boy would like her. And Toby had that slick, smug, manipulative thing going that told Toni he got off on using people, getting them to do what he wanted, using money, drugs, whatever he could as leverage.

He reminded her too much of another rich, spoiled asshole. Another who got away with murder, since his A-list defense attorney was able to convince the jury that a wealthy kid from a good family would never have to resort to raping a drug-using slut like Michelle. And he would certainly not have it in him to strangle her when he was through.

Toni shoved the memory away. Kara was not Michelle, and it was unlikely she was going to turn up in a Dumpster. She was a confused kid going through a hard time who had decided to go AWOL for a few days.

She didn’t really believe it, not one hundred percent, but if she didn’t think positively right now she was going to drive herself crazy.

The lights of the Las Vegas strip flashed and pulsed against the sky as dawn broke over the desert. Toni was startled from her reverie by the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing. Ethan had donned his pants but foregone a shirt, and he looked rumpled and male in the red-gold light pouring into the suite.

A little thrill pulsed through Toni’s lower half as she admired the muscular beauty of his chest, arms, and abs. Now that she wasn’t blinded by a haze of lust, she noticed several scars decorating his torso. She wondered what it would be like to trace the marks with her tongue. Her stomach flipped at his lazy, sleepy smile.

She steeled herself against it. No matter how great the sex was, she couldn’t let herself get sucked in further.

“Morning,” he said, his voice sexy and sleep graveled. He turned to look out the window, his back and shoulders rippling as he yawned and stretched. Toni stared at his bare back, fighting the urge to press her lips against the acres of warm, tanned skin. How could he be so casual when she was so keyed up?

He turned and walked over to her. She held her breath as he dropped a kiss to her forehead. “Last night was amazing, Toni.”

She held herself stiff, willing herself not to melt into his kiss, hating herself for the disappointment that surged when he walked away without doing anything else. She didn’t want him to pull her into his arms, hold her against his chest, and kiss her the way he had last night. Like she was the only woman in the universe he’d ever wanted to kiss. “Yeah, I bet you say that to all the girls,” she said, hating how snappish she sounded to her own ears.

Ethan chuckled and gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze. The kind he’d give his sister if he had one. “Not
all
of them,” he said, with a wink that made her jaw clench.

His eyes had none of the intensity or awareness of last night. He smiled without really smiling, his gaze slid by her as if he didn’t really see her.

He was on autopilot, his typical morning-after routine.

She was too smart, too much of a realist for this to hurt as much as it did.

“I’m going to order us some coffee,” he said when she didn’t smile back. “Then I’ll call the airport and see about getting the plane ready.”

“Great idea,” she said and headed for the escape of the shower. Once the hot spray hit her, the events of the last twenty-four hours came crashing down. She leaned against the wall. With the spray of the shower, she could almost convince herself there were no tears running down her face.