Garrett (6 page)

“Regret,” she says with a humorless laugh. “It’s funny you should say that.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And I sort of figured out I didn’t want to live my life with any regrets haunting me.” Her voice is melancholy and it scrapes at me hard for some reason. Puts me on the defensive.

“I don’t want you to regret it if we fuck tonight,” I tell her in a firm voice.

“And I don’t want to regret not fucking tonight,” she fires back at me. “I mean…if I let you walk out that door with only that kiss we just shared between us, and you were to die tonight…I would be regretful for not having felt you inside of me.”

Oh, those words slam into me hard, but I try to keep her on the right path.

“I’m not going to die tonight,” I tell her softly. “And we can go out again tomorrow night, and the night after that if you want. We can take it slow.”

A bark of a laugh comes out of her mouth, but it’s not a happy sound. Her eyes look bleak for just a brief moment, and it scares me. But then something sparks deep within those green orbs and heat sizzles through her gaze. She steps into me, pressing her body back against mine. Her voice is feminine and husky at the same time. “Life is frail for all of us. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, or the day after, or the day after that. And besides…whether we go on a second or third date, we’re going to end up fucking eventually. And I’m very much
wanting
that right now. No, wait…that’s not right. I
need
it right now.”

Oh, God…I’m a goner. Her words are so sure…so fucking hot. Laced with desire and thick with lust.

I frame her face with my hands once more, skimming the pads of my thumbs over her cheekbones. I lean in closer to her, peering into her eyes as if they hold all the answers I need to hear right now. “Are you sure, Olivia?”

She doesn’t answer me right away…just looks back at me with a yearning that claws its way deep into my soul. Then she tells me the words that make it all okay. “I’m sure.”

I’m sure.

God, I’m so sure.

I know the exact second my mind was made up and I decided that tonight I was going to put cancer out of my mind. That I was going to let Garrett sweep my worries away. I knew when we kissed in that stairwell of the parking garage, because when his lips touched mine, I didn’t think about my lymphoma. I didn’t think of the barrage of tests I had done today, or the fact that a doctor was going to drill down into my bone tomorrow to punch out some more tissue for testing. I didn’t think about bruises or chemotherapy or dying young.

I thought only of Garrett, and how soft his lips were and how bold his tongue felt against mine. I savored the feel of his muscles under my hands and the smell of his body wash that reminded me of pine trees and freshly mowed grass mixed with masculine male. I had a blessed moment’s peace, and I wanted to feel it again. It’s a temporary fix to my problems, but I’m selfish enough to take it.

“Olivia…are you okay?” Garrett asks me, and as I focus on his gentle gaze, I realize I don’t want his worry or his soft touch.

“I’m fine,” I say boldly, dropping my hand down to his pelvis. I press my palm up against his erection and feel well satisfied when he sucks in air between his teeth and pushes forward into my hand. “I want to feel better, though.”

“I think I can do something about that,” he murmurs, placing his hand over mine and urging me to curl my fingers around him through the rough denim. I squeeze him not so gently and he groans. “Fuck…feels good.”

“Will feel better if we can get these clothes off of you,” I whisper, moving my hand up to unfasten the button of his jeans.

Garrett grabs my hand, locking my fingers up in a firm grip. “Where’s your bedroom? I want some place I can lay you down, because this is going to take a while.”

A shiver of excitement runs up my spine and I push past him to lead us back to the bedroom.

When I enter my bedroom, I release Garrett’s hand and walk over to my nightstand to turn on the table lamp. It washes the room in a soft, romantic glow…yet I have a feeling what we’re getting ready to do isn’t going to be romantic at all. I suspect it’s going to be electric, hard, and sweaty. Yes, lots of sweat.

Turning to face him, I have a moment’s doubt over the path I’m getting ready to take. He stands there watching me, his hands held loosely at his sides, his eyes staring at me hard.

“Changing your mind?” he asks softly. “Because it’s okay if you are.”

Shaking my head, I reach for the hem of my T-shirt to pull it off, but he murmurs, “Wait.”

Stepping up to me, he brushes my hands away and says, “Let me.”

My hands fall to my sides, but rather than grab my T-shirt, he reaches behind my head and works the ponytail holder loose from my hair. My hair falls down my back in a heavy cascade, and after tossing the elastic on the nightstand, he runs his fingers through the waves.

“I love your hair,” he muses as his eyes watch the path his fingers are taking. “All these colors…just beautiful.”

“Not natural,” I feel the need to explain, but he shrugs.

“Beautiful all the same. It suits your free spirit.”

Oh, his words. They seduce me even further, because never has a man paid attention to my hair. He takes his time, sifting his fingers through my hair and letting it float back down around my shoulders.

“I wonder what you have on under here,” he contemplates as his hands move to the hem of my shirt. Lifting the material over my head, I go momentarily blind, but I don’t miss the hum of approval in the back of his throat.

“Pink silk. Breathtaking,” he murmurs as he tosses my shirt to the floor. When I blink my eyes back open, I find him looking in hunger at my breasts. His eyes glitter with appreciation and his hand comes up so that he can drag his knuckles over the swells. Electric pulses radiate from my skin as he touches me.

Dragging his hand down, he grazes over one of my nipples and I gasp from the shock of his touch. I can actually feel my skin pucker and tighten from that light brush.

I watch Garrett watching his own hand as he touches me. He skims the back of his hand over my breast and down to my stomach…all the way down until he reaches the button on my shorts. My pulse is racing and my breathing starts to go shallow in anticipation of his next move.

I fully expect him to divest me of my shorts, but he keeps traveling south until he turns his wrist and slips his hand right between my legs. He cups me gently, digging the heel of his palm in just a tad. “So warm,” he murmurs.

My breath rushes out from between my lips and I suck a shaky one back in. His movements are so slow…so deliberate and gentle. Not what I expected from this big, dynamic man standing in front of me.

With this hand resting between my legs, Garrett leans in and gives me a slow, open-mouthed kiss that I feel all the way down to my toes. But it’s brief, and he pulls his hand away along with his lips. Stepping back from me a foot, he takes his own shirt over his head and drops it to the floor.

My mouth goes dry over the physical perfection standing before me. Yeah…he’s a professional athlete and all, but damn. The man is rock-solid, with rolling peaks and valleys of muscles that my fingers itch to touch. The word
Strength
is tattooed over his right rib cage in big, dark gothic letters, and that is an apt word to describe him. He has tribal tattoos over his right shoulder and the outer edge of his biceps.

Garrett’s hands go to the button of his jeans, and my hands involuntarily come up to unsnap my own.

“Don’t,” Garrett commands as he watches me. A playful smile comes to his lips. “I’m going to finish doing that, but I want to get my clothes off first. I don’t want anything stopping me once I get started with you.”

Oh, jeez. My knees wobble over the thought of what he’s going to do to me. But I do as he asks and let my hands lower. I watch as he squats down to untie the laces of his boots, then as he stands back up to kick them off. Even watching as he pulls his socks off is sexy as hell for some reason, because the man moves with confidence and grace. Just like I know he does on the ice.

Then I get all twitchy as Garrett finally pops the button on his jeans and lowers his zipper. I’ve gotten a good idea of what lies beneath, because I can see it bulging nicely against the denim and I had my fingers curled briefly around it not long ago.

But nothing prepares me as he reaches into the opening and pulls his cock free of the zipper…giving a smooth stroke with his palm before he releases it and pushes his jeans the rest of the way off. Bending over, he quickly grabs his wallet out of the back pocket and pulls a condom out. He tosses it on the bed and drops his wallet to the floor without a backward glance.

“I like having your eyes on me,” Garrett says, and my eyes snap up to meet his gaze. I swear I can feel electricity snapping and crackling in the air between us, and his look is so sensual, I almost feel like there’s a magnet that wants to pull me across the brief expanse of carpet to him. I want to press up against him tight and rub myself over every inch of his skin. I want to touch him…squeeze and stroke, and, damn…even my mouth waters with thinking about taking him in my mouth.

“God, I’d love to know what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours,” Garrett mutters as he steps up to me and his fingers go to the button at my shorts once more. “The look on your face right now…as you look at me.”

“I just…you’re just…your body is just stunning,” I stutter out hesitantly.

His lips curve upward and I see a flash of teeth before he leans down and kisses me softly. When he pulls back, he says, “You’re the one that’s stunning, Olivia. I can’t wait to see if you taste as good as you look.”

A tiny groan pops out of my mouth, and Garrett chuckles as he opens up the fly on my shorts and starts to push the material past my hips. He squats down before me and my hands come up to rest on his shoulders while he has me lift one leg after another to get the shorts off me.

As Garrett stands up, his arms come up around the backs of my legs, wrapping tight under my ass, and he lifts me up into his arms. My legs automatically wrap around his waist, even as he starts kissing me again.

Deep…mouths open, tongues searching again. His kiss is sizzling hot as he alternates between leisurely swipes of his tongue and tiny nibbles against my lips. Spinning toward the bed, I can feel him raise a leg up and then we are both lowering to the mattress…all the way down until he’s lying hot and heavy between my legs.

Garrett continues to kiss me…on my mouth, my jaw, my neck…and I can’t help when I flex my hips upward, grinding myself against him. Groaning, he pulls up from my mouth and peers down at me. His jawline is hard, the muscles in his neck corded tight as he supports his weight above me with his arms.

“You drive me crazy,” he says with his teeth clenched. “No regrets tomorrow…right?”

I raise a hand up to stroke his cheek. “No regrets. I promise I want this.”

No, I
need
this, but I keep that to myself. He’d never understand all the reasons I need it so badly.

“I’m going to make you feel so good, Olivia. I promise you that,” he says, and then scoots back a bit so he can lower his head to my breast. Garrett places an open mouth over the silk of my bra and sucks against my nipple through the fabric. My back arches off the bed, hungry for more. He doesn’t disappoint, reaching up to drag both of the cups down over the swells of my breasts. He tucks the material under, then covers me with the palms of his hands. He kneads and squeezes gently, all while he devours his own actions with hot and greedy eyes.

Lowering his head back down again, he starts to kiss my swollen flesh, licking at my nipples and rubbing the scruff on his face against my skin. It’s a riot of feelings, causing a riot of emotions to course through me. I feel achy and hot, stretched tight like a rubber band.

“Need to taste you more,” Garrett murmurs against my skin, then he gently bites at one of my nipples, causing me to gasp over the sensation.

Inching down my body, Garrett licks and kisses his way across my stomach. He never hesitates when he reaches my panties, merely hooking his fingers in them and dragging them down my legs. As he pulls the silk off me, his lips nip and bite at my skin…on my thigh, the side of my knee…an ankle. It feels like he has a hundred points of touch against my body at once and it makes me dizzy with lust.

I’m stunned when he pulls my panties free of my ankles, then rubs them thoughtfully across his lips for a moment while he stares down at me…almost as if he’s contemplating the best way to ravage my body.

“Think I’ll keep these,” Garrett says with a sly grin and tosses the panties down on top of his pile of clothing on the floor.

I start to protest, because those are one of my favorite pairs, but Garrett places his hands on the insides of my thighs, and the words dry in my mouth. He eases my legs farther open, his eyes dragging down my body. “I think it’s time to see if you taste as good as I think you do,” he murmurs, his palms now sliding up my legs.

I’m not sure I can handle this. I feel coiled so tight that I’m afraid the minute he touches me, I might explode up off the bed. My body trembles as he lowers himself down, using his fingers to spread me wide before him.

He glances up at me once as his face lowers toward me and he gives me a soft smile. I return a tremulous one and then my eyes flutter closed, my fingers gripping the comforter for leverage.

It’s coming…I can feel his warm breath against me, then…yes…oh, my God, yes.

His mouth closes over me, so hot…so damned good.

A groan that sounds like the roar of a rocky avalanche tumbling down a mountain tears free and my hips press upward, seeking more.

And he gives it to me. With an answering groan against my aching flesh, Garrett uses his tongue in ways I never even knew existed. He circles around me gently, sometimes plunging it deep within…other times fluttering it against me like a hummingbird’s wings.

So fucking amazing.

I risk a peek down my body, past my breasts that are pushed up high from the material of my bra still wedged underneath, and see his dark head bobbing slightly between my legs, his tanned hands spread wide to hold me open.

It’s almost more than I can bear, and when he latches on to me and starts to suck, it’s my undoing.

“Oh, God,” I moan out loud as my body surrenders to climax. For a brief moment I pretend that the force of my orgasm as it rumbles through my body chases away every bit of the illness circulating from within, and as I float back down to earth, I imagine for a peaceful moment that I am clean and whole.

Garrett starts kissing his way up my body again, and when I open my eyes, I see pride on his face for making me feel so good. No…that wasn’t just good. It was amazing, and even though my limbs are weak with satisfaction, I want to wear that same look that he has right now. I want to make him feel just as good.

Raising my hands, I bring them to his chest as he hovers over me. “Get on your back,” I tell him.

His eyebrows raise in surprise, and a slow smile curves upward. He gives me a subtle nod and then rolls off to lie beside me. I sit up from the bed, feeling a little dizzy, but I know it’s just leftover orgasm side effects, and flip a leg over him to straddle just above his waist.

Placing my hands on the mattress beside his head, I lean over and bring my lips to his. He opens for me and I give him a deep kiss. Pulling back, I rub my nose along his and murmur, “That was amazing. Thank you.”

Garrett’s hands come up to smooth along my butt and down my thighs. “Trust me…that was absolutely my pleasure. I loved making you come like that. And yeah…you taste as good as you look.”

My cheeks heat up, but that’s nothing compared to the lavalike feeling within my veins. I give him another quick kiss and scramble backward, grabbing the condom that’s been lying at the end of the bed. I fumble with it briefly, mainly because Garrett uses my distraction to put one hand between my legs, where he strokes me softly. I have to actually bat him away or I’ll never get the damn thing open, and he laughs at me darkly.