Risking it All (17 page)

talk about her.”

“Okay,” she agreed, before trying a

different tack. “My brother and I were

nothing alike, but we found little things

in common. We both liked the old-

school version of Tetris. Our tournament

lasted five years.” She painted a bow tie

on her kitten, remembering the hours

they’d spent in the boarding school

recreation hall clutching those controls.

“When our ancient Nintendo went belly-

up, we pooled our allowance, bought

one on eBay, and picked up right where

we left off. I was winning when the

tournament ended.”

“Why did the tournament end?”

“It just did.” She wasn’t ready to say

the rest out loud yet, and his nod told her

he sensed it. “Playing Tetris…it was the

only time we talked. I wished we’d

played more, especially when we got

older. When we got too cool.”

Bowen was silent a moment. “With

my

sister…things

are

more

complicated.” He tossed the paintbrush

down and lit a cigarette. “She’s just too

stubborn to see I’m doing what’s best for

her.”

“What about what’s best for you?”

When confused eyes flashed to her, she

shook her head. Hadn’t anyone ever

asked him that before? “I’m sorry, I’ll

leave it alone.”

He blew a long, slow cloud of smoke

toward the open window. “Tell me what

happened to your brother, Ladybug.”

His low, ominous tone dared her to

give him anything less than the truth.

“Someone killed him. They never found

out

who,”

she

added

quickly.

Uncomfortable with his scrutiny, she got

down on her knees and continued

painting the bottom half of her cat. She

tried to ignore him when he came up

behind her, but his calloused hand slid

into her hair, tilting her head back so she

looked up at him from her kneeling

position.

Cigarette still clamped between his

teeth, he nonetheless spoke very

precisely. “I don’t like seeing you upset.

It makes me want to go out and do

something about it.”

Surely he wasn’t offering what she

thought he was offering. After only

knowing her for a few days? “You

can’t.”

“Oh no?” He reached over to the side

table on her left and stubbed out his

cigarette in a ceramic ashtray. “You’d

be surprised what you can do when

you’re numb.”

“You’re not numb,” she whispered,

rotating around to face him on her knees.

Their provocative position became

apparent to her. And she was fairly

certain he’d just offered to
kill
for her.

Unbelievably, her opinion of him hadn’t

changed with that fact, even if his

expression told her he’d expected it to.

He looked rubbed raw. Full of

trepidation…
hunger
.

Her gaze dropped to the fly of his

jeans and her breath caught when she

saw the enormous swell pushing against

his zipper, inches from her mouth. Her

stomach fluttered and contracted at the

sight, as if she’d just free-fallen from a

great height. Between her legs, a telltale

pulse jumped to life, warmth pooling

instantly.

“Obviously I’m not numb with you, am

I?” Features strained, Bowen pulled

lightly on the strands of her hair still

wrapped in his fist. “Get off your
knees
,

Sera.”

She made no move to stand. Pain.

There was so much pain in his voice.

She wanted to take it away and appease

her own curiosity in the process.

“Look.” He sounded a little desperate

now. “Earlier in the hallway, you had

your legs wrapped around my waist.

Then I almost fucked you through the

wall of the guest room.” Another

halfhearted tug at her hair. “The last

seven hours, I watched you sleep in

nothing but a bra and those ridiculous

tights or whatever you call them. I’m just

strung a little tight where you’re

concerned. Would you,
please
, just stand

the hell up?”

Giving in to an impulse, she leaned

forward and nuzzled her cheek against

his erection, before planting hot,

openmouthed kisses along the bulge.

“
Jesus Christ
.” He pressed closer

with his hips. “You have to
stop
.”

Sera was beyond listening. Her

fingers unsnapped his jeans and lowered

the zipper before he made a more solid

attempt to stop her. Seconds later, she’d

freed his heavy arousal. The first time

she gripped him in her hand, he hissed a

vile curse. Paying close attention to his

face, she stroked him up and down,

running a thumb over the head with each

upward stroke, the way she’d seen him

do last night in the stairwell.

“You want to jerk me off, baby?

Fine.” Sweat had started appearing on

his forehead. “But don’t you dare put me

in that innocent little mouth. I’m warning

you, I won’t be able to keep myself from

fucking it until you know what I taste

like.”

The tingle between her legs graduated

to a relentless ache. If he thought his

warning would stop her, it had the

opposite effect. Knowing he teetered on

the edge of losing control because of her

made her feel bold. Defiant.

Drunk on the feeling, she leaned

forward and licked the underside of

Bowen’s erection, root to tip. Then she

lowered her mouth over the hard flesh as

far as she could.

And sucked.

Holy, holy shit. I’m going to die.

Please, for the love of God, just let

her finish me off first.

Thoughts, warnings, that conflicted

with the indescribable pleasure he was

getting from Sera’s mouth tried to

bombard him. He blocked them as best

he could, but some of them made it

through. He’d meant what he said to her.

The day had been jam-packed full of

sexual frustration, something he’d never

dealt with, not
ever
, and now her
perfect

fucking mouth
threatened to cut the

strings holding his control in place.

With her head in his hands, the

monstrous urge to thrust into the heat of

her mouth battered his conscience. He

could hear words falling from his lips

that made no sense, belonged to no

particular language. Or maybe he’d just

been saving them for her, stored in some

corner of his mind. A language solely

reserved for Sera. That theory made him

feel like slightly less of an asshole. It

reminded him she was special. Not some

girl he could prop against the wall and

push too deep.

This could be her first time on her

knees for a man, and he wouldn’t fuck it

up. No, it
was
her first time. He could

see it in the gorgeous brown eyes that

watched him, making sure she did it

right.
Reassure her. I need to reassure

her.

“Anything, everything, all of it. It’s

perfect, sweetheart. You’re so fucking

perfect.”

At least, that’s what he
thought
he

said. It might have come out sounding

more like Swahili. Oh God, oh
God
, it

didn’t feel like her first time. She was

sucking him so hard, he felt his soul

dislodge and settle into a new spot. How

could she look up at him so innocently,

when her mouth worked him like the

baddest girl he’d ever met? The contrast

was blowing his mind, shooting him into

a different realm. He wouldn’t lie to

himself anymore. His no-virgin rule

obviously hadn’t been created with Sera

in mind. Not a single one of his rules

had. Her lack of experience turned him

on. It meant all those moments could,

would
, belong to him. No one else. Sure,

that made him a greedy bastard, but he

was beyond help.

She slowed down a little, letting him

slide in deeper than he’d gone before. A

strangled noise escaped him, abdomen

tight, thighs quaking. His hands moved of

their own accord, tangling in her hair.

“Baby, baby, please. Can you take a

little more? Just a lit—
ahhh fuck
.”

He almost came then and there,

without warning, but managed to reel

himself back as much as possible. Not

much longer and he’d lose it, though.

She’d started making little humming

noises in the back of her throat, shooting

vibrating heat straight into his belly, his

balls. Her hands joined the party then,

both
of them, riding his slick cock in

time with her mouth.

The rush started, the dizzying buildup.

He’d never gotten there so fast. How

unfair was that when for the first time, he

didn’t want it to end? “I’m going to

come, Sera. Take me out of your mouth.”

More painful words were never spoken.

But the pain never came because she

took him
deep
. Her hands slid around to

his ass, fingernails digging into his flesh,

tugging him close as her mouth pulled,

licked, sucked.

His control evaporated with the

oncoming

release,

consciousness

narrowing down to her mouth. Acting on

their own, his hands tightened in her

hair. Hard. His hips rolled, meeting

every stroke of her mouth. “You going to

let me come in that virgin mouth? You

going to make me a god?”

She scraped him with her teeth and his

world exploded. He expected her to stop

him once his climax struck, but
Jesus

Christ
, she didn’t. Her mouth pulled on

him in greedy strokes, taking everything

he had to give. A sound of enjoyment left

her throat to ripple over his cock,

shooting him into another dimension.

He didn’t remember dropping to the

floor or drawing her up against him, but

he’d gotten there somehow. Deep

breaths expanded his chest under her

cheek. How could she feel so fragile

against him when she’d just shaken him

up so thoroughly? The frantic need to

look into her eyes hit him hard. With a

still-trembling hand, he tilted her chin

up.

And felt like he’d been cold-cocked.

Lust. It expanded her pupils and

blocked out all the beautiful chocolate

brown. Her face flushed red, lips

swollen and parted. Her nipples were

sharp points pressing against her thin

shirt; her thighs squeezed together on and

off, on and off. The sight was so

goddamn stunning, it sent his already-

pounding heart into overdrive. It filled

him with wild determination, purpose.

Give her pleasure. Give her relief.

When he wedged his hips between her

thighs, she moaned so loudly, so

impatiently, he couldn’t help but match

it. Her pain equaled his pain. Her

pleasure, his pleasure.

She was mine before.
Mine
doesn’t

even begin to cover it now.

He ran a hand down between their

bodies and cupped her pussy, growling

when he found the material of her tights

damp. “Ah, sweetheart. Did you get wet

while sucking me off?” Using the heel of

his hand, he ground circles into her heat,

his dick getting hard again from

watching her hips writhe. “You have any

idea how good you are with that mouth?”

He leaned down and kissed her gently,

knowing it would frustrate her into

deepening it. She did.
Fuck yes
, she did.

“Those lips are the best fuck I’ve ever

had. But not for long. Isn’t that right,

Sera? We both know it’s only a matter of

time before I’m pounding the purity right

out of you.”

Without waiting for a response, he

yanked the tights down her legs and

threw them across the room. He said a

prayer of thanks when she ripped her

shirt over her head, revealing a black

bra and tiny matching panties.
Jesus
. He