Damaged Goods (16 page)

me.

“I wasn"t kidding about what I said in the restaurant,” he said, running his

thumb back and forth across my hand. “This is the first time I"ve had anything like

a real, normal date in a long time.”

“Their loss,” I whispered. “There"s obviously a lot more to you than your job,

so…”

There it was again, that shy smile and the dropped gaze. “Yeah, there is, but

you"re…” He trailed off, swallowing hard. “You"re the first one who"s seen that. So

thank you.”

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Lauren Gallagher

I smiled. “You"re welcome.”

We held each other"s gazes for a moment. Then he gave a quiet laugh and

looked at the display beside us, then the pavement, then somewhere else. Finally,

he looked down at our hands.

“This is so…weird.”

“Which part?”

“The part where I…do what I do for a living, but I…” He looked at me through

his lashes. “But now, with you, I feel like a clueless school kid again.”

I moistened my lips. “What do you mean?”

“Like, I"m scared of screwing something up.”

“I don"t think you have much to worry about,” I said. “I"m as clueless as you are

right now.”

He smiled and touched my face. “Then I guess we"ll just stumble through it

and hope for the best.”

“I can handle that.”

His thumb made gentle, uneven arcs across my cheekbone. Barely whispering,

he said, “What I do know is that right now, I really, really want to kiss you.”

I swallowed hard. “Then kiss me.”

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75

Chapter Ten

Austin kicked his apartment door shut behind us, and we stumbled down the

hall. I shoved his jacket off his shoulders, and as soon as his hands were free from

the sleeves, he tried to unbutton my blouse, but he only made it to the second

button before he tangled his fingers in my hair instead. I went for his belt, but

somehow my hands ended up on his chest, grasping handfuls of his shirt and

pulling him down the hall toward his bedroom. Someone stumbled. We tried to right

ourselves, stumbled again.

Austin grunted when I forced him up against the wall, but he didn"t break the

kiss. We were both breathless and desperate, and with this kind of feverish, horny

kiss, there was no leaving this place, not even to make the journey down the short

hallway to his bedroom. My need had reached a breaking point, and something had

to give. Right here. Right now.

I started on his shirt, struggling with the buttons. Too many. Too goddamned

many buttons. Shaking hands, eyes that wouldn"t focus.

Too many buttons, but only one buckle.

His spine straightened when I went for his belt.

“Bedroom,” he whispered, panting against my lips. He tried to guide me back,

but I put a hand on his shoulder and kept him still.

“No,” I said. “Here.”

“But I, we—” He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the wall

when I drew his zipper down. “Oh, Jesus…”

“Right here. I can"t wait.” I didn"t give him a chance to protest or even

comprehend before I went to my knees.

“Oh fuck,” he whispered when I circled the head of his cock with my tongue.

“That"s…oh God…” His hand hit the wall beside him. The other gently grasped my

hair, fingers trembling against my scalp.

I didn"t think it was possible for me to be more turned on than this, but the

heat and salt of his skin were arousing beyond belief. Nearly deep-throating him, I

moaned softly, shivering when he gasped.

I looked up at him, and my skin prickled with goose bumps. He was the very

picture of arousal: rumpled shirt, furrowed brow, parted lips. I went down on him

with renewed fervor, trembling each time he gasped or his fingers twitched in my

hair. His hand couldn"t decide whether to grasp or stroke; his knees couldn"t decide

whether to lock or buckle.

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Lauren Gallagher

I squeezed a little harder with my fingers as my lips followed my hand almost

all the way to the base of his cock. The pulsing against my tongue and palm told me

he was close, but it was the long, breathless moan that told me just how close. He

whispered something, his lips forming words that didn"t quite make it to my ears.

Then he said, “Wait. Stop, baby; I don"t want to come yet.”

I rocked back on my heels, looking up at him while I still stroked his cock. He

gently grasped my wrist to stop my hand.

“Stand up,” he said, panting. “Stand up, so we…so…” He swallowed, nodding

down the hall toward the bedroom. I rose on shaking legs, and the second I was

upright, his arms were around me again.

We made it precisely one step closer to the bedroom.

Austin"s forehead touched mine, and his breath came in short, sharp gasps. “I

can"t wait. I want to fuck you.” His palpable desperation almost knocked my already

precarious knees out from under me. I moistened my lips. Before I could speak, he

whispered, “I want you, Jocelyn. Please. Now.”

“But we—”

“Please, baby.” He licked his lips then whispered, “Right. Here.” Our eyes met,

and we both caught our breath.

Forget the bedroom.

I grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him down to the floor with me. We

tried to tear off clothes, then settled for just getting them out of the way. He fished

a couple of condoms out of his back pocket and dropped them where they"d be within

easy reach.

Without a word, he sat up while I slipped my panties off. He pushed his jeans

just past his hips before coming back down to me, kissing me passionately. Between

the two of us, we got the condom unwrapped and on him. Once it was
finally
on, he

pushed my skirt up to my hips, and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

With one quick thrust, his cock was all the way inside me, the sudden

intensity bringing tears to my eyes. We both froze, neither breathing, neither

moving.

After a moment, I whimpered. “Oh God.”

“Oh, fuck, baby…” He sounded almost in pain and shivered, letting his head

fall beside mine as he withdrew slowly. “You"ve got me so fucking turned on,

there"s”—he pushed back in, a sharp, cool breath brushing past my neck—“there"s

no way I"m going to last like this.”

“I don"t care,” I said between gasping for breath. “Oh, my God, you feel

amazing.” I raked my nails down the back of his shirt, and he released a sharp hiss

of breath. Abruptly, he pushed himself upright, out of my reach.

Icy panic swept through me. Thinking I"d hurt him, I quickly said, “Sorry, I—”

But I stopped when he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside before coming back

down to me.

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77

“Don"t apologize.” Kissing me breathlessly, he slid his hands under my back

and hooked his fingers over my shoulders. “I just had to get that out of your way.”

He gasped when my nails raked across his shoulders. Once again, I thought I"d hurt

him, but he groaned into my kiss and arched his back, pushing against my nails and

driving himself deep inside me.

“Oh, fuck,” I breathed. “That feels incredible.”

He thrust faster now, every stroke sending me further into oblivion. The

sharp, metallic sound of his belt buckle marked time as he found that perfect

rhythm between
can’t get enough
and
can’t take any more.

“Oh my God, oh fuck, Austin…” I couldn"t even remember that I wanted to

drag my nails across his skin, because all I could do now was hold on to him. With

nails, with fingers, with arms that didn"t even feel like my own anymore.

I rocked my hips in time with his thrusts, pulling him deeper. The first pulses

of an orgasm rippled up my spine, and a violent shudder drove him deeper still,

sending waves of hot ice from my G-spot to every nerve in my body.

“Look at me,” he said. I was almost afraid to. If the intensity in his eyes

matched what I felt, I was sure my heart would forget how to beat. “Look at me,

Jocelyn,” he pleaded, his voice trembling. Taking a breath, I opened my eyes. The

intensity was there, all that and more, but my heart still beat—faster now,

thundering in my ears—and I held his gaze as if it was the one thing left on this

plane of existence that I
could
hold on to.

“Oh God, I"m gonna come,” I moaned.

“So am I,” he said through clenched teeth. A gasp, then a shiver. He groaned,

almost whimpered, and the sheer delirious lust in his voice was more than I could

take. My entire body seized, and I clawed his back as everything in and around me

exploded.

“Fuck, I"m so close, but I—” He gasped, picking up speed once more. “I just

don"t want…to fucking…
stop
…”

Three times he slowed down and regained control, but the fourth time—

whether by choice or defeat—he surrendered. His lips parted as if he wanted to cry

out but couldn"t, and with one last thrust, he shuddered, whispered my name, and

came.

When the dust settled, we didn"t move. We breathed in unison, the exact same

rapid, irregular breaths, and I wondered if I would have forgotten how to breathe

altogether without him there to remind me. We were a tangled mess of shaking

limbs and disheveled clothing, holding on to each other for dear life in the middle of

his hallway, kissing between gasps. I was vaguely aware of the mild sting in my

back and shoulder blades from grinding against the carpet, but it didn"t bother me.

I"d just had some of the hottest sex of my life, and a little collateral damage was a

small price to pay for it.

Austin put his weight on his forearm and pushed himself up. “That,” he

whispered, grimacing as he pulled out, “was unbelievable.”

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Lauren Gallagher

“You"re telling me.”

Somehow we got to our feet and into the bedroom. Austin got rid of the

condom, and we both shed the last of our clothes before sinking into bed together.

We held each other close, kissing lazily, and I had no doubt tonight was far from

over. The air between us was still charged with need. Though it simmered beneath

the surface now, the intense hunger tempered for the time being by a couple of

orgasms, we weren"t done yet.

After a while, he looked at me, running his fingers through my hair. “So, can I

talk you into staying here tonight?”

“Depends on what"s in it for me.”

“Oh, does it?” He laughed. “Well, in that case, I"ll have to make it worth your

while, won"t I?”

“Yes, you will.”

“Hmm.” He cupped my breast and drew circles around my nipple with his

thumb. “I could promise you a home-cooked breakfast in the morning.”

“Ooh, tempting.”

“Or, failing that, I have more compelling arguments if you"re particularly

stubborn.”

I raised an eyebrow, trying not to grin. “In that case, I"m going to be

particularly stubborn.”

Austin ran the tip of his tongue along his lower lip. “Are you, now? Well…” He

pinched my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, pressing just hard enough to

bring an involuntary moan of pleasure to my lips. “Like that?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Still teasing my nipple, he kissed me gently. “I thought so. And now that I

have your attention…” His hand left my breast and drifted down my side. “I was

thinking that if you"re going to be particularly stubborn, I"ll just have to do things

like promise to keep you awake until well past any reasonable hour.” He dipped his

head and kissed my neck while his hand gently parted my thighs. “And maybe keep

my neighbors awake in the process.”

I shivered, and not just because his fingers had begun a slow, spiraling path

toward my clit. “Is that—” His fingers inched closer to my clit, making it almost

impossible to speak. I licked my lips. “Is that so?”

Closer. “But just in case you"re not duly convinced it"s worth your while to stay

here…” Closer. “I should also let you know I have every intention of making sure

you can"t walk in the morning.”

“I think…” God, his fingers were
so close
. “I think if you put it like that, I

might just have to stay and see if you"ll follow through.”

He raised his head and looked me in the eye. His fingers were dangerously

close now, but just circled, neither closing in nor backing away. “Do you doubt my

sincerity or my ability?”

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79

“I don"t doubt either,” I said. “I just want you to do it.”

“So you"ll stay, then?”

Before I could respond, his fingertips brushed over my clit, and lightning

erupted behind my eyelids and along the length of my spine.

“You still haven"t answered my question, Jocelyn.” His fingers reversed

direction, igniting fresh lightning. “Do you want to stay tonight, or should I let you

go?”

I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss me.

He got the message.