Ross 03 Leave Me Breathless (13 page)

A very fine sheen of sweat coated his chest, glistening in the lamplight. His body was nothing short of a work of art from his hard lines and planes to his ink; she’d only caught a glimpse of all of it but already knew she wanted desperately to run her tongue along those hip dips.

Later. The wicked glint in his eye was too enticing, and he felt too damn good inside her.

She squeezed her internal muscles and grinned at his reaction. His fingers bit into her thighs, and his chin tilted up. “
Fuck
, woman.”

“Don’t forget how much I like to ride.”

He groaned in agony. “Crap. I’m dead.”

She leaned down and grasped his chin, locking gazes with him. “I’ll go easy on you.”

His laugh sounded pained, and she couldn’t help but enjoy the amazement in his expression. “Where the hell have you been all my life?”

She rolled her hips, and his voice became lost in a growl. His hands roamed up to cup her breasts, and she covered his fingers with her own, keeping up the pace and the angle that had him hitting all the right spots inside her. She’d wanted to deny there was something to be said for the piercing, but she’d have to be a fool—or a liar. When she leaned back just so…

Oh. My. God.

She gasped his name. Her rhythm became erratic, lost to passion. Pleasure, hot and molten, pooled low in her belly. Her first orgasm was usually her most intense, but he was going to shatter everything she thought she knew about herself and sex. One of his hands slid down so his thumb could circle her clit, and there was no fighting it. Her thighs locked down on his hips; her body clamped hard on him. The world exploded.

She collapsed over him as wave after wave swept through her, each contraction seeming to allow him deeper. So deep she didn’t think she could take any more, but she did. He murmured insanely wicked things in her ear. And just as the maelstrom was ending for her, he was caught up in his own.

He flipped her underneath him as if she were nothing more than a rag doll, crushing her to the mattress. His sexy growl in her ear as he pushed deep and shuddered had her thinking enough naughty thoughts to keep them both occupied all night long. She stroked his back as he came, scoring him lightly with her fingernails. Judging by his shivers, he loved it.

“God, Macy,” he groaned. Slowly, his hip movements subsided. She missed that rhythm immediately, didn’t want it to end. So when he made a move to pull away, she locked her ankles around him and mewled.

His laugh sounded breathless. “It’s okay. I’ll just sleep here.”

“Good.”

“I’m not too heavy?”

She shook her head against his shoulder. Truthfully, she knew when she let him go…it was over. Reality would set in. She would have to look at him and know that he saw just how shaken she was. Who knew what naked post-coital vulnerability was showing on her face right now? She felt like crying. She couldn’t speak.

He dotted kisses along her jawline, eventually finding her lips. She sighed as she opened to let him in, thinking it funny how a kiss had ignited her and now it was soothing her. Bringing her down. Calming her ragged breath, her racing heart.

They ended up lying on their sides, facing each other, legs a tangle she didn’t even want to begin to figure out. She only wanted to enjoy the lazy, gentle brush of his fingers up and down her arm. Silence stretched out for a long time while she just looked at him.

“You must think I’m the biggest prude,” she said after a while.

His dark brows dipped. “What in the hell makes you say that?”

“You having to shut me up.”

“Naw. Prudish wouldn’t be getting dirty in the backseat, having phone sex and…showing up tonight in crotchless panties. Damn, if I’d known you were wearing those all night…” His eyes closed as if savoring the mere thought of what he’d have done to her. “Let’s just say we might’ve had to find a closet or something at my buddy’s house.”

She laughed. “I guess when you put it like that…”

“But, I can let you in on a secret. The little reservations and hang-ups you do have turn me on. Immensely.”

“Really? Why?”

“It’s a bigger challenge to get you to let go. And far more rewarding for me when you do.”

So that was what all this was about. A challenge. Even that Raina girl had insinuated that. Oh well, how could she really be offended? At least he knew what he wanted, what he liked. At least he was honest. “I can see how it might be an ego stroke for you.”

“That really has nothing to do with it. And don’t get me wrong. I love a woman who loves sex and talking dirty.” He reached up to rub his thumb across her bottom lip. Her eyes fell closed as his fingers trailed over her chin and down her throat. “But there’s just something about hearing dirty talk coming from a nice, clean mouth. Any girl who says ‘fuck’ every other word can tell me to fuck her, and it’s hot, but it doesn’t mean as much as when you say it. If I can get
you
to tell me to fuck you, Macy, fuck you harder, fuck you faster…you’d better believe you’re going to get it. You’re going to get everything I’ve got, and then some.”

How did he get her blood racing so fast so soon? Those very words he wanted to hear from her were crowding in her throat right now. She even pulled her bottom lip between her teeth to form the
f
. Just to test him. He seemed to be holding his breath, waiting. When she opened her eyes, she found his face so close their lips were almost touching.

“I do cuss, you know. I’m not Snow White here.”

He exhaled in a frustrated rush, his warm breath tickling her mouth. “Dang and heck? You racy thing.”

She lifted her chin, meeting his dark eyes head-on. “You’ve heard me cuss. And I have, believe it or not, been
fucked
before you came along.”

Those eyes went even darker. “Oh, you’ve done it now.”

Macy almost laughed as he rose over her, and his mouth descended on hers again, but two seconds later, all humor fled in the assault of blind lust that attacked her. He felt so good against her, strong and hard. She ran her palms over his smooth, marked skin, marveling at it.

She’d imagined him naked many times. But not knowing what lurked beneath his shirt, she’d neglected to fill in the tattoos in her fantasies. They covered both arms completely—that much she’d realized. Unlike Brian’s vibrant riot of colors, Seth’s tattoos were mostly black. The patterns swirled across his chest, a few tendrils meandering up his neck. Both his nipples bore silver hoops that glinted in the dim light.

“Why am I gonna get it? What have I done?” she asked innocently.

His reply was to don another condom and throw her knees over his shoulders. “You’ve been fucked before, huh?” he asked, angling her so that his piercing slid over her G-spot when he entered. “By the time I’m done, you’ll have reassessed your definition.”

She already had.

Hours later, he stirred beside her, and she reluctantly relinquished her legs’ hold on his to let him get up. If she spent a little too much time admiring the view as he did so—
damn!
—well, who could blame her?

Tight butt. Firm thighs. The lingering ache between her thighs was testament that he knew how to use those muscles. The ink…well, she wasn’t into it, but was it a deal breaker? Not in the least. She propped her head up on her hand and tried not to salivate as he moved toward the door.

“Got anything to drink?” he asked.

“All kinds of stuff. Help yourself to whatever you find.”

“Want something?”

“Maybe I’ll have a sip of whatever you’re having.”

She traced the ivy pattern on her sheets as she listened to him rummage around the kitchen. Searching through her cabinets, presumably for a glass, opening the fridge. It was strange having someone around. Strange, but nice. Even if he would be gone by tomorrow.

He walked back in a moment later with a glass of something—she couldn’t see what. He handed it to her as he slid back under the covers, and she caught a glimpse of the glint of silver on his cock and the tattoo just above his pubic area, but she couldn’t make out what it was.

The scent wafting from the glass she held reached her nostrils, and she took a sip, looking at him in surprise. “Apple juice?” she laughed.

“Yeah, so?”

“I just figured you’d go for something a little stronger.”

“It was tempting. Actually, just so you know, I don’t drink that much anymore. Every now and then I’ll have a good time with friends, but not like I used to. Waking up in strange places with strange ink will do that to you.”

“Good to know.” She handed it back to him. He took a drink and set it on her nightstand, settling next to her again. “I didn’t get to see. What did you cover up Casper with?” she asked. She tried to lift the covers, but it was too dark underneath.

“Ghostface.”

She burst into laughter, and he followed suit. “From
Scream
? You did not.”

“Naw, I didn’t. It’s still a ghost, but it’s a scary-ass ghost.”

“Oh, great. Now I have to come face-to-face with him whenever…”

“You’ll learn to love him. It’s a package deal. The monster in my pants and the monster lurking above.”

“You have a lot of pride in your, erm, endowments, don’t you?”

He cut her a sideways grin. “Am I hearing a complaint?”

“Nope, not from me.”

“All right, then.” She liked the way he looked at her, his gaze drinking her in from her eyes to her lips to the tumble of her hair down her arm. He reached out and touched a strand of it, curling it around his finger.

She didn’t know if she should ask the questions burning in her brain, but she wanted…no, she
needed
…to know more about who he was. He’d already shut her down once in the car. She glanced down and watched her fingertip trail around a curl of ink on his arm, taking the plunge. “How long were you together with Raina?”

“Three years.”

Eyes widening, she lifted on her elbow and stared down at him. “Three
years
? How long ago did you break up?”

“About six months before you and I met.”

Well over a year ago, then. That was somewhat of a relief, though she wondered why it had never come up before. “What happened?”

“You met her, didn’t you?”

“But she didn’t get that way overnight. You put up with it for that long, so there must have been something else. I’m sorry, I’m just insanely curious.”

“It was cool to be that needed.”

“Oh, come
on
.”

“But I got over it.”

“After three years.”

“All right, you want the ugly truth? The girl was insane in the sack. She was insane in every other aspect too. She would go off on someone, or on me, in a heartbeat. It was fun. I got a kick out of wondering what the hell she would do next. We were like the death of every party, because we would get into a gigantic fight, and things would get destroyed…mostly by her as she threw them at me.”

“So domestic violence is a turn-on for you.”

He laughed. “Damn, when you put it like that, it sounds terrible. It wasn’t
that
bad. She weighs all of ninety pounds. And it’s mostly a front. She can cuss you six ways to Sunday, but if you say something that cuts her, she’ll cry for hours.”

“How did you meet?”

“Our lead singer introduced us. He knew her from Austin, where she used to live. She was in another band, but it was falling apart, and she did some guest vocals with us. When she and I hooked up, she moved here with me. She’s hung around ever since.”

“What happened? I mean, if it was all so much fun for you then—”

“She got pregnant.”

Macy’s heart skipped a beat as everything else froze. Not entirely certain how to proceed, she watched him closely and let him go on in his own time.

“The only other person on earth I’ve told this to is Brian, and I think even that was from shock. He was the one who was right there beside me when she called to tell me. Raina…she was excited. It scared the shit out of me. I mean, I might want to be a dad someday, but not any time soon, right? And I wouldn’t wish her as a mother on anyone. Still, it was my responsibility too, so I wasn’t going to run from it. But it made me realize how little I wanted to be with her. I mean, marry her? Or even deal with her for the next eighteen years while we raise a kid? That’s what freaked me more than anything. Turns out it didn’t matter. She had a miscarriage.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. It was brutal. Sent her into a tailspin.”

“What about you?”

“I guess I’d gotten used to the idea. It’s a shock when suddenly everything you’ve been planning for and worrying about is gone just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “I was pretty messed up too. But I knew by then I wanted out, right, but it only made her cling to me more, and I knew I couldn’t leave her like that. I stuck it out with her a few months until I thought she was in a better place; then I had to bail. She had started talking about trying to get pregnant again, and I just couldn’t deal with it.”

Macy was silent while she digested what he’d just told her. Wow. She’d been expecting petty drama, not the life-altering circumstances that had led to their demise. And all at once she was ashamed of herself for making the crack to Raina about skipping her next dose. For all she knew, the girl was still dealing with the emotional fallout of losing her baby and the guy she loved in short order.