Off Base (21 page)

It wasn’t a terrible kiss. No tongue action, thankfully, but he clung to her bottom lip for a long moment like he wanted to take it with him. Maybe he thought it was sexy, but it just felt … odd.

When they stepped apart, he smiled. “See you soon.”

She nodded, forcing herself not to look through the glass door for Cullen. She couldn’t. It would reveal that she perhaps had an ulterior motive in kissing Greg. Which she did, but she didn’t want Cullen to know that.

With a final goodbye for Greg, she hurried to her car. She felt a grim sense of satisfaction knowing she had given Cullen evidence that she wasn’t sitting at home pining for him—or working her vibrator raw lusting after him. She was a big girl, taking her own life by the horns. Still. Her chest ached in a way that felt far from okay.

She slid behind the wheel, started her engine and backed out of her spot without even yet buckling. Almost as though she expected him to give chase. Of course he wouldn’t. There would be no reason for that.

She glanced at herself in the rearview mirror, noting her flushed face and overly bright eyes. It had nothing to do with Greg and everything to do with Cullen.

Lowering her gaze, she wiped a hand over the back of her mouth, ridding herself the memory of Greg’s mouth there. It had been necessary, but she still longed for Cullen. His lips, his taste to erase and replace all others.

As she departed the parking lot, the pulse at her neck steadied, and a hollow feeling spread throughout her chest as she realized that she might not be able to forget her night with Cullen. Ever.

At the first red light she reached, she managed to buckle her seatbelt. Staring blindly ahead, she wondered where this put her. If she couldn’t stop wanting Cullen, craving him as more than a friend, where did that leave her?

How could they be friends at all?

Chapter Eight

Cullen managed to cool his heels at Java Joe’s for an entire five minutes after Huntley left. His hand opened and flexed at his side, the urge to hit something strong and crushing inside him. Huntley on a date was bad enough. Watching her kiss that asshat … that was worse.

“So. You’re totally just going to sit here like that whole thing didn’t bother you?”

He shot a glance at Sheridan as she prepared someone’s drink. “Why would I be bothered?”

She snorted. “Right. You spent the last few years hanging out with Huntley and now she shows up with a date. Not a big deal.”

“We’re just friends.”

“Is that what you call it these days?”

Shaking his head, he stood up from the barstool. “See you later.”

“Keep it real,” she called as he headed outside and made his way to his truck. He started for home, but his mind rebelled, wondering if Huntley was going to see that tool again.

He beat the steering wheel once with a curse. He couldn’t believe she had let that guy kiss her. Sure, she was single and free to give her lips to any man she wanted, but after last night was she really so eager to be with someone else? She was the only female he could think about. The only one he wanted.

Maybe you got her primed and she’s looking to seal the deal with someone else.

“Fuck,” he growled and turned his truck around in a hard U-turn that broke a dozen traffic violations. He didn’t care. He pushed his foot on the accelerator without even thinking, only one destination in mind.

* * *

She had just changed into one of her favorite softest T-shirts and yoga pants, scrubbed off her makeup, pulled her hair up into a ponytail and began the stare-down with her refrigerator, contemplating a snack of cheese cubes and yogurt, when the knock rapped at her front door.

A quick look through the peephole revealed Cullen standing there, one hand braced somewhere to the right of the door. She gasped.
Sweet Jesus
. He even looked hot through the peephole. She jerked away from the door, her hand flying to her mouth. She suddenly regretted taking off her makeup. Rolling her eyes, she mentally called herself ten shades of fool. Cullen had seen her without makeup before.

“Open the door, Huntley.” His deep, steady voice sent a bolt of heat down her spine. For a split second, she contemplated refusing and then shame flushed through her. This was Cullen. No matter what had transpired between them, whatever path she chose in life, she could trust him. He was a good guy. Even if he didn’t know it, he always did the right thing. And in this case, as far as he was concerned, the right thing was keeping his hands off her.

With a deep breath, she pulled open the door. “Cullen.” Was that breathy squeak actually her voice? She swallowed and tried again. “What are you doing here?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, and she realized that was a rather inane question. She never asked him why he stopped by. She simply opened her door, her home, her heart to him, no questions asked. Every time. It was just further proof how different things were between them. How they might never be the same again.

He didn’t answer, didn’t move from outside her doorway. His liquid-dark gaze skimmed her up and down, not missing the well-worn T-shirt, yoga pants and bare toes burrowing into the carpet.

“I forgot something,” he muttered.

“Oh?”

He nodded once. “Yeah.”

It was like someone pushed a pause button. Time yawned, ticking in silence. Neither moved. Tension thickened the air between them. She couldn’t even breathe as his gaze speared her.

Then a switch flipped.

His hand looped around her neck and he hauled her against him, simultaneously stepping inside her house. His mouth crashed over hers.
Cullen was kissing her.
It was everything and nothing like she ever fantasized.

Hard and soft. Sweet and lethal. His firm, warm lips slanted against hers. His tongue slid inside and she gasped.

She felt consumed. Branded.

Dimly, she registered the click of the door, but she could hardly keep up with things like the door shutting or Cullen backing her into the living room with his mouth moving on hers.

She couldn’t breathe. Her chest felt like it was going to explode at the heady scent of him, the taste … at the stroke of his velvet tongue against hers. She was overcome, stunned senseless, her lips motionless.

He pulled back slightly and growled against her lips. “Kiss me, Huntley.”

His words broke something loose inside her. Ignited her. She leaned into his mouth, kissing him back, ravenous, touching her tongue to his.

He made a deep growl of approval, bent and then lifted her off her feet. She squeaked and gripped his shoulders. “Cullen!” she cried against his lips, “I’m too—”

“I’m not dropping you,” he rasped on her mouth. “Not ever.”

Her heart tripped as she realized he was carrying her with ease toward her bedroom, his big hands holding her up by her bottom, his mouth still devouring hers.

He brought her down on her bed, coming over her, his hands flattening on either side of her head, caging her in. He lifted his head and the air left her in a rush as she looked up into his starkly handsome face.

His gaze drilled into her. “I’ve been thinking I needed to rectify what you said earlier and kiss you.”

“Oh. You did that.” She waited, half expecting him to push off the bed and call it good between them. They had kissed, after all. And then some.

He stood and her heart sank to realize she was right, but he didn’t move away. He stared down at her, his dark eyes full of an emotion she couldn’t read.

She sat up, pushing the tendrils of hair off her face that had come loose from her ponytail. She moistened her lips, reaching for her composure—the last of which fled as she watched him reach behind his neck and pull his shirt over his head in one smooth motion.

Her mouth dried at this sight of him. His shoulders and biceps looked like they were cut from marble. The muscled pecs, the ridged stomach. She’d seen him without his shirt before, but never like this. Never like a hungry beast poised over her and ready to devour. He wasn’t done with her. That much was clear. And she didn’t want him to be.

She wanted to be devoured.

He seized the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. Cool air wafted over her. His eyes gleamed darkly as he eyed her in her simple white bra. Her stomach tightened when his fingers went to the front center clasp and flicked it open. Her breasts sprang free.

Heat scored her cheeks. She didn’t remember ever being so on display for a man before. The number of men to see her breasts had been few and never in full light like this. Her hands came up to cover herself and he grabbed her wrists, tugging them back down. “No way are you going to hide from me.”

The words acted like flint to steel, igniting a steady burn to all her most intimate parts. Her nipples tightened, pebbling into hard points, and her sex clenched, eager to be filled.

He came over her again, backing her down on the bed. Both his knees settled between her thighs, the mattress dipping with his weight. The denim of his jeans rasped against the soft cotton of her yoga pants. His stare slicked over her, feasting on her breasts before crawling down the slope of her stomach. He flattened one broad hand on her belly. His long fingers reached as far as her ribcage. He shifted and his fingertips grazed the undersides of her breasts.

She sucked in a sharp breath, arching her spine, singed at the touch. He wasn’t like most guys. His greedy hands didn’t dive for her breasts, squeezing and groping them like melons. He made her wait.

Both his hands spanned her torso as he leaned over her. His mouth a hairsbreadth from hers. She lifted her head off the bed, seeking his mouth, eager for him to kiss her again.

His words brushed over her. “You want my mouth again?”

She nodded and leaned closer.

He dodged her lips.

She made a sound of complaint and brought her hands to his shoulders. He plucked them off him and pinned them to the bed. Hard. He laced his fingers with hers and aligned their hips, his erection directly over her core. “I don’t know… seems like anyone will do. You sure you want me to kiss you?”

He rocked against her, rubbing his hard length along the crotch of her yoga pants, knowing exactly what he was doing to her.

“I want you to kiss me,” she insisted.

“You sure?”

She nodded.

He pressed her wrists into the bed and brought his mouth against her neck, directly beneath her ear. She felt his words vibrate against her skin. “Don’t you
ever
kiss another man in front of me again.”

She nodded even though a part of her rebelled at being told what to do. Cullen wielded total control over her and she reveled in it. For the first time she felt like she could let go. She was ready to submit entirely to a man, knowing that he would only deliver her pleasure.

His mouth dragged down her neck in a trail of biting kisses. Lips, grazing tongue and softly nipping teeth. She whimpered, wiggling under him, out of her mind with need. He reached where her neck and shoulder met, his warm breath fanning in the hollow there for an agonizing moment. Anticipation zipped through her as she waited for more. She trembled, holding her breath for his kiss there…for the slight scrape of teeth.

Finally it came. His teeth sank deep where her neck and shoulder met, marking her, claiming her. A choked gasp ripped from her as her bones liquefied and a rush of heat pooled between her legs. Her eyes flew wide and she gasped, positive no man had bitten her before. She had no idea she would like it so much. Had no idea she would feel it so deeply. He pulled back, laving the tender flesh with his tongue and feathering with his lips.

Her head was spinning, chest lifting with ragged breaths as his hand closed around one breast, lifting the generous swell toward his dipping head. The gentle pressure of his fingers on her flesh made her moan. She arched, desperate for him to take her in his mouth. She ran one hand over the back of his skull, tugging him down with an animal sound that she didn’t even know herself capable of.

The tip of his tongue lightly stroked her nipple. “You want me to kiss you here? Think you deserve that?”

She writhed under him and almost came out of her skin as he dragged the rough pad of a thumb over the turgid peak. Her breast grew heavy in his hand. The one he neglected to even touch yet screamed for his attention, beyond swollen and achy.

His warm breath gusted over the aching tip. Anticipation zinged through her, warring with frustration. She needed this. Needed him. Annoyance sparked along her nerve.

“Maybe I should kiss other men,” she flung out.

He tensed over her, his muscled shoulders turning to solid rock.

“It got you here, didn’t it, Cullen?” she demanded. “Us here? Like this? Would you even be here if I hadn’t kissed that guy in front of you?”

His hand slid down her belly to cup between her legs. She pulsed against his palm, her sex clenching for him to fill her. “You don’t have to go to such lengths. If you wanted me in your bed, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

His hot, dark gaze fixed on her face as he lowered and finally claimed her nipple, drawing it in the wet warmth of his mouth as his hand slid under the waistband of her yoga pants, delving smoothly beneath her underwear to stroke along her crease.

It was sensation overload. His teeth scored her nipple, and she screamed as he plunged one finger inside her. She came apart beneath him. Bright shards of colors exploded behind her eyelids.

“That’s right, sweetheart. Come for me.”

She nodded, unintelligible words tripping from her as he worked a second finger inside. “This is where I want to be, Huntley.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

His eyes locked with hers, dark and endless, peering inside her. He hopped up from the bed. She watched as he unsnapped his jeans and shoved them down over his hips, taking his briefs with them.

Her mouth dried. He stood over her, his cock jutting out, alarming in its size.

“Oh,” she breathed.

She couldn’t even circle him with one hand. She instinctively scooted back on the bed. “I’m not sure that is going to work.”

“Oh, it’s going to work, sweetheart.” He reached for her and grabbed the waistband of her yoga pants, sliding them off her in one smooth motion, leaving her naked. The urge to shield herself came over her, and she closed her knees, angling her legs to the side. “You trust me?”