Quiver (Revenge Book 1) (8 page)

She stepped inside and looked over her shoulder, drinking in his stunned face. “Are you coming?”

She didn’t wait for a response, turning and moving deeper inside, flicking on lights as she went, her sandals tapping against the wood floor on the path to her bedroom.

When she heard her front door click shut and felt his weighty stomps vibrating the floor, growing closer, more pronounced, a smile bloomed on her face.

—

Veda couldn’t wrap her head around it, the way she felt a cross between sick and exhilarated. She could see the swell of her breasts without even having to look down at them, breathing so hard they jumped into her line of vision all on their own. When she entered her bedroom and took in her tufted black headboard and red bedding, she realized her knees were on the verge of giving out. That intoxicating scent came in behind her, that aura, that
strength
.

She turned on her heel, facing her bedroom door with wide eyes.

Gage stood in the doorframe, looking dashing in a V-neck shirt and gray slacks. His chest swelled with the same ferocity as hers. She wondered if her eyes said what his said. If they were as dark with desire. Her gaze fell to his hands when he clenched them into fists, the tiny, involuntary movement enough to steal her attention like a bomb going off.

She didn’t move, and she couldn’t figure out if it was because she wouldn’t… or couldn’t.

So he moved for her. The first step he took into her bedroom, past the threshold of the doorsill, was slow, as if he were waiting for her to throw a hand up and scream
halt.

She had no such intention. Whatever was making her stomach sick, her heart hammer, and her center pump like it was in a race to send every corner of her body overflowing with blood… it simply had to go.

She drank in a deep breath when he took another step inside, longer that time. A small smile picked up the corner of his mouth as they drew closer.

Veda didn’t smile back. When he was close enough, she reached out and claimed the waistband of his slacks.

He sucked in a wallop of air through a suddenly shy smile, so sincere it made his eyes pinch into tiny slits. “I’ve never met a girl like you before.”

“Shut up.” She undid his belt and slid it from the loops.

She felt his eyes burning into the top of her head as she went to work on his button and zipper. He kept his muscular arms at his sides, that smirk still playing on his lips, wavering only when her hands came inches from the swelling in his pants. He drew in another breath when she undid his slacks, but didn’t push them down his legs.

Veda’s hands left his body completely, and she lifted her eyes to his. She hadn’t realized his face was her second favorite thing about him until she saw it transforming in that moment. From enraptured to confused, impatient to ecstatic, and back again, all while looking at her like he was moments from eating her alive.

When he reached out and cupped her waist, she felt fireworks explode inside her, lighting up every inch. She took his wrist, feeling his racing pulse as she removed his hand from her body.

His eyebrows pulled. He waited for her to release his wrist before burying his fingers in her hair. Stepping forward, he leaned down and parted his lips, gasping for a taste of her.

Veda pulled her head back, dodging his lips. “No,” she whispered.

He pressed his forehead to hers, brushing the tips of their noses.

“You scare me.” He laughed softly.

A smile split her lips, and she took the bottom of his T-shirt in her hand, yanking at it.

He swept it over his head without another thought, stepping closer and reclaiming her gaze as he tossed it away. His forehead found hers again, fingers re-submerging in her hair. He leaned closer and kissed the apple of her cheek, the softest brush of his lips.

Veda’s eyes fluttered closed, but they flew right back open when she felt the warm air of his breath, coming faster each second, on her bottom lip. Her wide eyes explored him just as the tip of his tongue dipped out to sample it.

She clapped her hands on his shoulders, distantly amazed at their width, pulling her lips away. “I said no.”

His eyes grew stunned and hooded with rapture, all at once. His eyebrows tightened again, and he studied her face.

Veda held his gaze for a moment longer before allowing her fingers to trail over his naked skin. She was amazed how something so hard could be so soft and supple at the same time. The unmoving boulders of his shoulders; the rigid curve of his biceps, which tightened under her fingertips; his forearms; his wrists, which she couldn’t even wrap her fingers all the way around.

Her breathing picked up as she stroked his arms, over and over, until she’d gotten her fill. Her caresses moved to the deep V at the bottom of his stomach and she smiled at his sharp intake of breath, letting her fingers trickle back up over his eight-pack, drinking in his solid beauty, so enamored with every inch of him that she couldn’t get her hands all over him fast enough.

She took her time appreciating the contrast they made. The way his tanned skin seemed to radiate through her splayed brown fingers like a rising sun as she traveled his heaving pecs, the soft dusting of black hair on his chest, the small valley of freckles lining the edges of his shoulders, and the cross that hung from his neck. She let her fingers linger on the cool metal of that necklace, feeling his pounding heart clearly, as if it lived outside his chest and not in it. Never in her life had she felt a heart pound so hard.

“You scare me to death.” His admission came deeper, raspier that time.

She lifted her eyes to his, took his biceps in a tight grip and pulled, turning him toward the bed.

He let her move him. Even though he was big enough, strong enough, to take control easily, he let her.

“Take off your clothes,” she whispered.

He reached out a gentle hand and clutched her waist, lingering on the deep curve that turned into her hip. He traced that delicate valley, his eyes following his greedy hands. Moving back up her dress, the backs of his fingers caressing the soft fabric, he held his breath when he reached the swell of her breasts. He held one and then the other before lifting his other hand and taking them both at once, testing their weight. His breathing grew hoarse. It came faster. Harder.

“Take off your clothes,” she said again.

He moved his touch over her collarbones, up her neck, cupping her jaw as his eyes grew soft. “I want to kiss you.”

She looked at him from under her eyelashes, fighting a smile. “Take. Off. Your. Clothes.”

He brushed her cheeks with his thumbs, leaning just close enough to brush their noses again. He angled his nose so he could get closer without kissing her, his eyes fluttering shut. “I thanked the high heavens when that idiot at my party said what he said at the bar. Otherwise I would’ve never had the nerve to start a conversation with you.”

“Are your clothes still on?”

He chortled, the kind of laugh that escaped its host unexpectedly. Without another word he took a step back, letting his hands fall from her face. The back of his legs hit her bed and every muscle in his body seemed to flex in surprise, as if he’d forgotten it was there.  He toed off each of his shoes.

Veda watched his fingers move to his undone pants. They trembled. She’d never seen a man shake so much as he pushed his pants down his legs, revealing his thighs and calves, all shapely with his strength. People always made fun of men who went to the gym and only worked on their arms, ignoring their legs. It was clear Gage wasn’t one of those men.

He stepped out of his pants and dipped his fingers, shaking even more now, into the waistband of his underwear. His gaze never left hers as he bent forward and pushed them down his legs as well. He stayed that way, bent at the waist, his hooded eyes devouring hers, as he pulled his pants and underwear off his legs, one after the other.

Veda paid no mind to the passion in his eyes, taken prisoner by the hardness bobbing between his legs. Long, thick, and at full attention, it seemed to reach out into the small place between them, clawing for her. Her fingers itched to touch it, taste it, use it to expel whatever beast was claiming her and making her own hands shake.

He stood tall, fully naked before her, every muscle in his body contracting with the fervor of his breath as he gave her ample time to appreciate the view. His smiles came and went with a new depth each time, a new sort of shyness, but he didn’t shift. He didn’t move to cover up. When Veda’s eyes remained riveted on the evidence of his desire, he rubbed the head gently.

Veda licked her lips at the sight of him touching himself. “Lie down,” she whispered.

“I want to see you.”

She finally lifted her eyes to his and didn’t respond.

Gage looked back, as if he somehow wasn’t sure if the bed was still behind him, and then plopped down. Her foam mattress sank under his weight, so deep Veda worried it might not bounce back once he was gone.

And if she had anything to do with it, he would be gone very soon.

He lay on his back with his calves hanging over the edge, dick slapping against his hard stomach, moving with a life of its own as the head—which had grown purple with need, a dot of precum glistening from the tip—pulsed for any touch, any stroke, any release.

“Let me make myself abundantly clear,” she said, hearing the waver in her voice.

He cradled his hands behind his head, waiting.

She attempted to deepen her tone, to put more authority in it, but that only made the fact that it was shaking more apparent. “This is not going anywhere. This is a one-time thing. This is two people who have no business being attracted to each other addressing that attraction and squashing it like a roach before it destroys both of their lives.”

He pushed up on his forearms, his eyes appearing twice their normal size now that he was forced to look up at her. His smile seemed almost childish, as if he were seconds from refuting her, but something in his mind stopped him, and his smile grew. “I understand.”

Veda held his gaze for a moment longer. He said he understood, but she couldn’t help doubting him. When his boyish smirk began to piss her off, she leaned over to her bedside table, fighting a grin of her own while pulling open the drawer. The crinkle of a condom wrapper filled the bedroom as she took it between her fingers.

She stood tall and returned to him, moving between his splayed legs. He closed his thighs when she did, brushing his legs against hers, expressing his hunger for any touch.

She hadn’t known what he was doing to her until she had the condom wrapper in her hand, foil crinkling under her fingers, shaking so badly that she nearly dropped it. Her heart sped up when she realized he could see it—her tremble, the evidence of her own desire. She lifted her eyes to his and released a hushed laugh as she tried to rip the package open. She couldn’t, and with every second that passed with her unable to do something so simple as open a damn condom package, her heart slammed a little faster, sending blood surging to every part of her body, including her throbbing pussy, a sensation that only exacerbated the problem and made her hands shake more.

Gage pushed off his forearms, sitting tall and cupping her waist in a tight hold, looking up at her like a puppy waiting for a treat.

He covered her unsteady hands with his.

Veda stilled, pushing her eyes closed. “I can do it…”

He removed the package from her hands before she could finish, opening it with ease. He rolled it on in seconds, drawing a slow tug on his hardness, looking up at her as he did. He abandoned his heat, leaving it bobbing between his thighs, and reclaimed her waist. His fingers went to the side zipper of her dress and tried to pull it down.

Veda grabbed his wrists, giving them a gentle nudge. He was twice her size. She certainly couldn’t make him do anything he didn’t want to do, but still he yielded, lying back down.

But not before he stole one more touch, the gentlest brush of his fingers against her stomach, as he went.

Veda lifted the hem of her dress with one hand and braced the other on his shoulder, climbing onto the bed, holding his dark eyes as she straddled him.

He cupped her elbow, letting his body serve as an anchor, keeping her steady until she’d settled herself on top of him. Then his hands circled her waist and palmed her ass. His fingers splayed wide against its softness, squeezing tight.

She released her hold on the dress and the draped fabric floated down over his stomach, hiding her pussy from his view. Even the cool whoosh of air the dress created made her body hum when it found her swollen pussy. She wondered if she was on the verge of a heart attack, because her chest was full-on convulsing, with a ferocity she’d never experienced. Her center screamed for the column pressing against her slick lips, and she listened to that cry, reaching under her dress.

He gasped when she touched him, encircling his shaft with delicate fingers, letting them play over the throbbing veins filled with his need. His hips flexed involuntarily, thrusting into the vise of her hand.

Lips parted and swollen, Veda came up to her knees, just high enough to give her room to nestle his swollen head at her entry.