More Than Meets the Ink (25 page)

She chuckled and reached down. “Is this your suave way to tell me you want a blowjob?”

He shook his head. He loved coming in her mouth, but that wasn’t what he meant. “I want to take you bareback and come in you. I don’t want any more condoms between us.” It was something that hadn’t bothered him before with any other girl. Now it did.

She froze, propped herself on her elbows, and looked at him, baffled. “I’m not baby-proofed, James. We can’t risk it. I can’t risk it. What if I get pregnant?”

“What about it?” he said. It was a slip of tongue that shocked the shit out of the girl and himself. What the fuck was he saying?

“What do you mean, what about it?” she shrieked, trying to push him away. He didn’t budge, his hands clasped around her in a tight embrace. “This isn’t the best of moments for me; my life is a wreck. A baby would sink me.”

She was right. Of course she was right. He was an inconsiderate asshole. Still. “Sorry, princess. I don’t want you unprotected, but I need to come in you more than I need my next breath.”

She studied him for a second and then glanced around, shifting a tad uncomfortably. “I don’t believe I’m going to say this. I was on the pill when I was with Aidan, but afterward…well, it felt kind of pointless, so I dropped them. I have a…um…diaphragm. I’ve never used it, but it’s here somewhere. If you’re serious about this, then—”

“Yes,” he said with a rumble. “Go get it.”

“Wait a minute, what do you mean go get it? We need to talk about this,” she said, sounding outraged. “If we’re going to start having unprotected sex, we need to agree about—”

“Yes. Sure.”

“Yes? What do you mean yes? Yes to what?”

“Yes to all those questions you’re about to ask me.”

“Oh you’re such an obnoxious smart-ass. Which questions might those be?”

He tilted her chin up and looked her in the eye. This was important, so she had to get the point. “Yes, I definitely want us to be exclusive. Yes, I want to have unprotected sex with you. Yes, you’re mine. Yes, I won’t have sex with anybody else. Hell yes, you won’t have sex with anyone but me. Yes, I understand what all this means and the responsibility that entails. Yes, this brings our relationship to a new stage; we are a couple—not that we weren’t before, but now even you will have to recognize it. And yes, I can’t wait for it. Go. Get the thing in place,” he said, shooing her out of the bed.

The breath whooshed out of her. She seemed too stunned for a comeback, too stunned even to move; she just looked incredulously at him while a nervous laugh bubbled up in her throat.

“Do you need help?” he said, rising to his feet and reaching for her. That snapped her out of her trance.

“Nope. Stay here,” she said as she disappeared into the tiny bathroom.

He began undressing. He was dying to get her into his place. Into his bed, into his hot tub. Into his life, brothers, friends, and nosy neighbors included. But she was more comfortable in her territory, he knew. She’d start getting skittish if he forced her into accepting all he was going to give her, because there was no doubt in his mind he was keeping this woman. Nevertheless he understood the need to tread carefully; she looked so lost, she’d freak out if he told her he loved her. He himself was quite freaked out about it; he wasn’t sure when he’d fallen in love with her, but it was a reality. His reality. She, on the other hand, was too scared to let herself love anyone, too frightened it’d be taken away from her. She definitely wouldn’t react well to him loving her. And wasn’t that a bitch? Because he wasn’t sure how long he could keep it inside.

He began prowling the floor, butt naked and primed. Damn, she was taking too long. Thank God her tiny bathroom had no window, because he wouldn’t put it past her to jump out and ditch him.

“Do you want me to come in and help?” he said toward the door.

He heard her harrumphing. “Stop bugging me. And get away from the door, you sex-crazed slug!”

There she had him. He was so hard he could barely think. Shaking his head, he went to sit on a chair. Man, he had it bad. He was getting way too easy; even her scorns made him hard.

“I must be mad for even considering this,” she muttered as she left the bathroom naked, wrapped up in a towel. She looked at him and flushed. “This is embarrassing,” she complained. “The moment’s gone. Now what?”

The moment gone? In her dreams.

“Look at me, baby. Nothing’s gone. It’s burning brighter. Come here, let me get you in the mood.”

“So you know, this is risky, mister. I don’t have any experience putting diaphragms in. I may not have placed this thing properly, and at any second it could come down on you.”

Laughter tore from him. “Okay, I’ll be on the lookout for it. If we hear a plop, we’re on red alert.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “James…”

He placed his finger over her lips, silencing her. “I answered yes to all your questions, remember? Do we need to stop and have some more? Because I’m willing, but the answer is still the same. Yes to all of them.”

She shook her head and let him drag her over until she stood between his thighs. She didn’t flinch when he pulled the towel she’d wrapped herself in free, and then let out a low moan as he tugged at one of her nipples with his teeth.

“Ah, this is unfair. I can’t stay mad at you when you do this.”

“I know, princess. I know how much you like my mouth on your nipples, my tongue and my teeth abrading those tender tips.” And then he proceeded to demonstrate.

“Oh God…” she said with a raspy breath as her hands sank into his hair, keeping him there.

After a short while, she was rolling her hips against him.

“Are you ready for me now, sweetheart?” He caressed her swollen folds, rubbed her ring, and probed at her entrance.

She nodded, turned around, bent over the nearby sofa, and presented him with her gorgeous behind. His mouth went dry, and his tongue stuck to the roof. He wanted her so much. He could just grab her by her hips and thrust in, claim her fast and furious to calm the raging need from deep inside his gut. But no, he had to rein in his instincts; this was too important.

“No way, princess,” he admonished her and dragged her to sit on his lap.

She turned her face to him, perplexed. “But you love it from behind.”

He ignored her and looked intently into the mirrored closet door in front of them. “Open your legs for me.”

She turned to where his eyes were fixed and blushed. Nevertheless she obeyed him.

“Look into the mirror, baby; you’re so beautiful,” he whispered into her ear while he slid his hands over to her exposed core. “I love how your pussy looks when you’re aroused, all red and puffy and glistening. How the gold of the piercing shines against your clit and your bare folds. It’s so fucking pretty. Look at it, baby,” he said while opening her core with his fingers. She was breathing hard. “Your clit is throbbing, princess. And so are you.” He brushed the hard nub with his thumb, and she almost jumped from his lap.

“James, please, don’t tease.”

He tenderly caressed her slit and felt her legs tense further. “Look at all this pussy juice dripping from you. You want me inside you, don’t you? Yes, baby, just like that,” he said as he slid one finger in and felt her walls clamp on it. “This is better, right? Watch how your pussy sucks greedily at me. You’re such a greedy little thing.”

“More,” she whispered, and he slid another finger inside. She arched against him, her ass wickedly grinding against his cock. He watched in the mirror. He’d love to make her come this way before taking her, but he couldn’t wait.

He removed his fingers from her core, and she whimpered. “Turn around and mount me.”

“But you love it from behind.” She repeated her earlier words, her eyes never leaving the mirror.

He turned her to face him. “Yes, but in this case, you want it too so that you can emotionally distance yourself from this, from us, and I won’t allow it. The first time I come inside you, it will be with me looking into those wolf eyes of yours. We’re going to make love face-to-face, where I can see the orgasm raising in your eyes as my seed claims you.”

She snorted. “There’s no claiming to be made, James. This is just sex.”

She sat astride him while he pressed the tip of his cock against her hot lips, gliding it up and down through them, spreading her lube on himself.

“Keep saying that to yourself, princess,” he said with a growl as he entered her. “You’re fooling no one—not me and not you.”

She was so wrong; this wasn’t just sex, it wasn’t even making love, it went beyond any of that. This was…soul mating; this was looking straight into Tate’s eyes and getting lost in her, in her shudders, in her little moans. Every one of her gasps brought him higher, every glance from her heavy-lidded, smoky eyes made him pulse in need. She belonged to him, in his arms. Her body and her mind were so tuned to his that he wasn’t sure where hers ended and his began. And by the looks of her and the way she trembled in his arms, she was feeling it too.

“James, this…us…is getting out of hand,” she whispered in a barely audible voice, her little nails sinking into him, her body pulsing against him.

He fought a sigh of relief and a satisfied smile. “Why? Because I’m fucking you without a condom?”

She shook her head, her eyes never leaving his. She looked lost. As if she’d just realized the enormity of their connection. “It’s not only that.”

Finally, she noticed. “I know, babe, I know.”

She was so hot and so tight, his whole body was throbbing so badly he was about to lose his mind. Unable to say a word, he just looked at her in awe as she tensed on top of him, threw her head backward, and, hugging him tighter than ever, went over. Fire was racing through his veins, burning him up, and the second her sweet pussy began clenching around him, the wave gathering in his balls overtook him. Furious jets of cum burst from him with such strength it felt like his head exploded.

After they came down, she rose slowly from him, and then she stopped, her pussy lips poised on the tip of his dick, kissing it, their contact barely there. Foreheads touching, they both looked down. Suddenly he felt how his crown was being bathed in something fiery hot. Fuck, his cum and her lube were trickling down her pussy and falling down onto his cock. It felt so intimate and so right. So damn hot. Just like that, he was ready to have her again.

Fuck, the whore was mounting him, riding him as if he were a pony. Look at her, all wild and horny, opening her legs for that filth. Parading herself and offering him her ass. Inviting him to fuck her brains out. How dare she! He was much better than that asshole, had certainly been around longer, yet she continued to ignore him. And his messages.

She was clearly not taking him seriously, going about as if his warnings were nothing. Damn bitch, she was going to pay for this. For all of it. He was deeper in shit all the time because of her, because of her stubbornness. He wanted retribution. He’d given her enough opportunities to correct her ways, to listen to reason; now she was going to see what he was capable of.

Chapter Eleven

Watching James get ready in the mornings was a treat in itself.

Tate used to be a morning person, once upon a time, when she worked as a corporate secretary. She’d wake up two hours ahead of schedule to have time for a run, some tai chi to level her energy flux, a shower, and a leisurely breakfast reading the paper. Since stepping in to manage Rosita’s, she invariably went to bed around two o’clock, and mornings were not such a fancy affair anymore. Mainly they consisted of her cracking an eye, cursing a blue streak, turning away from the window, and throwing the blanket over her head. These days, though, with James prowling around her apartment almost buck naked, fresh and wet from the shower, she had started seeing the appeal of mornings once again.

“Good morning, princess.” He strode to her side and kissed her. “Sorry I woke you.”

“Don’t be. I like watching you in the mornings.”

She knew he tried to be quiet, but his absence in her bed was a dead giveaway, so she’d wake up and follow him with her gaze. Normally Tate couldn’t get away with more than three or four peeks before he’d notice. It was amazing how natural it felt having him around at all times, mornings included. She’d offered him a drawer, and little by little, he’d taken over. It wasn’t that he’d brought a lot of things in, because he didn’t, but his scent was all over the place and everywhere she looked, there was a reminder of James.

“What’s today’s plan?” he asked, nuzzling her throat.

She shrugged. “No plan. I’ll sleep late, then go down to the restaurant to wait for the suppliers. Paige starts today, so I have to be there earlier in the evening to show her around.”

“Mmm,” he answered as his tongue flicked over her jaw.

“And Elle will be here tomorrow. To check you out mainly, I think.” Since finding out about her involvement with James, she’d been calling Tate quite regularly. Fretting. Elle wouldn’t say, but Tate figured her sis was worried about her. Nice turn of events.

“Good, finally I get to meet her in person,” he said. “And don’t worry, I’ll warn all my tattooed, low-life buddies to stay away.”

She smiled. “You’d better.”

“Are we happy about it?” he asked, studying her.

She shrugged again, unable to sustain the smile on her face.

“If she gets her butt in Rosita’s, then yes, we are. If not, it will just piss me off more.” The truth was Elle’s visits always left her sad and empty, especially since she wouldn’t come to the restaurant.

“She’ll come to Rosita’s.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“You say she’s coming to check me out, right? Then she’ll have to come to the restaurant because that’s where I’ll be.”

She was going to say how much she appreciated all that he did for her, but James stopped her by placing his thumb on her lips and just smiled. It was such an easy, sexy smile that shudders raked over her body.

He lowered his mouth to hers, his tongue licking at her lips and then taking possession of her mouth with a tenderness that almost brought tears to her eyes. With a single word or a gesture, he made her feel so much it was damn scary. As his tongue invaded her, she encircled his neck with her arms and dragged him closer to her. “I got to go, baby,” he mildly complained, but he just tightened his embrace, his thigh opening her legs, his lower body pressing against hers.