Skin Deep (15 page)

I
sabella tried
as hard as she knew how not to break every land-speed record in existence on the drive to Kellan’s apartment. True to his word about the distance, the six miles took as many minutes, the walk from the building’s parking lot to the elevator bay in the lobby only a few more. He stood beside her in the small but nicely decorated space, their shoulders and the outside edges of their pinky fingers just close enough to share warmth but not contact.

They said nothing. Hell, they weren’t even looking at one another.

She’d never wanted anyone inside of her so badly in her life.

The elevator doors trundled open with a soft, rolling thump, but before Isabella could make even the slightest move forward, Kellan caught her hand.

“Be sure you still want this.”

Lust and adrenaline and a thousand other things answered under her skin, but they were all in agreement about one thing. “I’ve been sure since the second I kissed you. I want this. Right now.”

“Good,” he said, his eyes glittering so dark, they were nearly navy blue.

And then he pulled her into the elevator.

“Kellan,” she said, but his name got lost on the moan that followed as he walked her back against the mirrored wall adjacent to the control panel, taking only the briefest of seconds to hit the button for the fourth floor and wait for the elevator doors to shut before refocusing his undivided attention on her body.

“Mmm.” Dropping his lips to her neck, Kellan fisted the lapels of the suit jacket he’d loaned her, yanking the fabric apart to reveal her flimsy dress and heated skin. “Do you know how hard it is to concentrate with you in this dress?” he asked, stringing a line of slow, seductive kisses all the way to her shoulder, and oh God, his mouth had to be each and every one of the seven deadly sins.

Isabella arched her back to increase their contact, because she was pretty sure that if he stopped, she’d lose her mind. “All the more reason to take it off.”

“Oh no, sweetheart. I’m not letting you off the hook so easy.”

Surprise burst through her, followed by a quick shot of confusion. “But you said you wanted this too.”

“Make no mistake.” Kellan’s lips parted in a smile that she felt more than saw as he lifted his mouth to her ear. “I am dying to fuck you. But this isn’t going to be a quickie in the bathroom where I shove up your skirt and finish hot and fast. I’m going to take my time with you, Isabella. I’m going to make you come with my fingers and my mouth and my cock, and when I’m done, you’re going to remember every inch of where I’ve been.”

Sweet God in heaven, what was taking this elevator so damn long?

As if the car and cables had heard her, the control panel by her side sounded off in a muted ding, the doors sliding open to reveal a blessedly empty well-lit hallway. “Please tell me you don’t live at the end of the hall,” Isabella said, because truly, her deep, dirty need to lose her clothes and let Kellan make good on his promise was reaching critical mass.

The cocky half-smile tugging at the corners of Kellan’s lips? Not helping. “Three doors down on the left. 405.”

“Excellent.”

They took the half-dozen steps necessary to reach his door, barely making the trip over the threshold before they crashed back together in a tangle of tongues, arms, and really bad intentions. Isabella recognized the bright power of an adrenaline rush all too well—Lord knew it was an occupational hazard for someone who could be shot at or sideswiped on any given day. There were far worse ways to burn that energy than mutually agreed upon, no-strings-attached sex, and anyway, she’d stretched the truth with Kellan a few minutes ago.

Isabella had wanted him for days, months if she counted that initial spark of attraction between them before their trip to Chicago.

Right now, she meant to have him.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she said, placing the murmur against his mouth as she reached for the buttons on his shirt with one hand and the buckle on his belt with the other.

He stilled both of her hands in a move so fast, her pulse clattered. “I meant what I said. I want you, but I’m not rushing this.”

“But—”

“No.” Walker softened the harshness of his insistence with a brush of his lips. “Look, I’m not trying to make this into something it’s not. We’re attracted to each other and we’re looking to blow off some steam. You don’t date and you don’t do relationships. I get it. But I’m still not rushing. Now come here.”

Under any other circumstances, she’d rather be skinned alive than bossed around, especially in bed. But something about Kellan’s tone told her he hadn’t asked to be domineering, and his shockingly gentle touch as he twined his fingers through hers backed up the sentiment.“There, see?” he said, guiding her through the darkness of what had to be the foyer and pulling her farther into his apartment. “Not so bad.”

“Not so bad,” she agreed. “Is this the way to your bedroom?”

“Nope.” A few more steps with nothing to lead them but the ambient light filtering in through the two floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the room, and damn, how could he see so well in the dark?

Impatient, Isabella tried again. “Funny, I didn’t take you for a sex in the kitchen kind of guy.”

“As a matter of fact, I have very sturdy countertops. But that’s not where we’re going.”

“Kellan—”

“Relax.” He came to a stop in front of the pair of windows. “This is where I wanted to take you.”

“We’re in your living room.” Although the apartment was still as dark as when they’d entered, the twinkling lights from the city below allowed her to make out the silhouette of the basics—a couch, a flat screen TV, and a pair of bookshelves shrouded in the shadows behind them.

“Mmm hmm.” Walker tugged her closer, making her heart race. Lowering his mouth over hers, he coaxed her lips open, and she nearly got lost in the magnetic power of his kiss.

Nearly. “Do you really want to do this in front of your windows?” Isabella asked, something odd jangling in the very bottom of her stomach.

“Don’t tell me you’re secretly harboring a shy streak.” His dark brows raised just enough to make her laugh, and she tipped her head toward the thick panes of glass.

“Hardly. But there are no curtains at all. Anyone could see in.”

There was a pretty big difference in not being shy and not wanting some pervy passerby to snap cell phone photos of her in a compromising position. She might be on her own time, but she was still a cop.

Still, Kellan seemed undaunted. “Anyone who? We’re standing in the dark, four stories up, and there’s no building directly across the street. I have extensive tactical training as a sniper. Vantage points are my thing, and I’m here to tell you, no one could see us right now, even if they wanted to. We can do whatever we want in front of the whole damned city, and no one would see a thing.”

“Oh.” A dark thrill surprised her by rippling the length of her spine. “I guess you’re right.”

“Mmm,” Kellan said, sending her surprise into a double as he swung her body to face the glass, then stepped in to press his chest to her back. “You don’t like to let people see you, do you?”

Isabella’s heart knocked a warning against her ribs. But the adrenaline still left in her system coupled with the fact that even he couldn’t see her face right now, and they both made her admit the truth. “No.”

“You have the perfect cover up here. You can do anything—feel everything—and no one will see you. No one will know.”

Kellan dropped his mouth to her neck at the same time she melted against him, his hard chest and even harder erection flush against the back of her body. Squeezing her thighs together did nothing to ease her throbbing clit, and she thrust back against the ridge of his cock to try and quell the ache.

His breath hitched at her ear, but only for a second before he circled an arm around her hips to stay her movements. “Nice try, but we’re still going slow. You smell tropical, like coconuts. Has anyone ever told you?”

A shock of laughter startled her. “No. It’s my body lotion.”

“It’s all of you,” Kellan countered. “And you suck in your breath every time I kiss you right”—he paused, grazing his mouth over the juncture where her neck met her shoulder—“here. It’s very sexy.”

Isabella exhaled, her skin still tingling with residual pleasure from the soft scrape of his stubble on her overly sensitive skin. “I do that because it feels…”
Yes, yes, yes
. “Really good.”

He lingered there for a minute longer before sliding his jacket from her body and focusing his attention on her shoulder blade, then the center of her back. Kissing his way down her spine, he dropped to his knees behind her.

“You remember what I said? About how I’m going to make you come with my fingers and my mouth?”

All she could manage past the slamming of her heart was a broken nod.

“Good. Open up for me, Isabella.” He slid both hands up the length of her thighs, lifting her skirt higher and nudging her feet apart. “Let me in.”

She complied without thought. Widening her stance, she shifted her weight, planting both feet on the floorboards. The leverage of her stilettos kept her anchored in place, and Kellan made a dark sound of approval from behind her.

“Now put your hands on the glass.”

The bare scrap of Isabella’s brain left for logical thinking knew this should be awkward. They were fully dressed and barely touching, not even close to being face to face. But the fact that he
couldn’t
see her, that she was truly hidden in plain sight, made her hotter than she’d ever been.

She flattened her palms against the window in front of her, her pussy clenching at the heat of Kellan’s exhale on her thighs.

“That’s it. Lean forward,” he said, allowing her space to bend slightly at the waist. The thin material of her thong slid easily over the slick wetness between her legs, and Isabella couldn’t hold back her moan at the pleasure the friction sent deep into her core.

Kellan slipped his palms farther up her thighs, not stopping until her skirt was bunched around her hips. “Christ, woman. I could spend all night just looking at your pretty ass.”

At her whimper, he chuffed out a laugh, his breath coasting over the small of her back. “Don’t worry. I don’t want to go
that
slow. Come here and let me give you what you need.”

Without another word, he hooked his thumbs around the thin strings holding her panties in place over her hips, pulling them down in a slow glide. Isabella’s clit ached with the need to be touched, her nipples turning to tight points as they hardened in anticipation, and Kellan cupped her ass with both hands, angling his shoulders against the hot, needy space between her legs.

And then his mouth was on her sex from behind her, and she forgot how to breathe.

“
Ah
.” The gasp tore from her throat on a wordless noise, and Isabella arched, desperate for deeper contact.

Although Kellan didn’t draw back, he also didn’t give her what she was after. “Easy. Let me get to know you.” He slid his tongue along the seam of her body, testing her folds with soft flutters and firmer flicks. “Let me find what you want.”

Sensations crashed through Isabella’s body—dirty, needful, sweet—one right after the other. But Kellan refused to rush, giving her no choice but to slow down and feel each one. He licked and tasted, learning her pussy with his mouth while he spread her wider and explored with his fingers. Heat built in a steady demand between her thighs as he kissed her over and over, until finally, Isabella curled her fingers into the window in front of her.

“Oh God,” she moaned, her inner muscles tensing with delicious pressure as Kellan pushed his tongue deeper inside.

“There.” He did it again, then one more time, and she was helpless against her sigh in response. “That makes you want to come, doesn’t it?”

Another slow thrust of his tongue, and every part of Isabella’s body trembled with awareness. “Yes.”

“Then I’m not stopping until you do.”

Shifting slightly, Kellan wrapped an arm around the front of her hip, dipping two fingers to circle her clit while he worked her pussy from behind with his mouth. The thrusts of his tongue grew deeper, faster, and her breath pushed out in shorter bursts, fogging the glass. She closed her eyes, concentrating on his fingers and the wicked pleasure of his mouth as he fucked her with his tongue.

And he was right. Isabella felt him everywhere.

“Kellan.” Release spiraled, bright and hot between her hips, but he didn’t hold back.

“I’m right here, sweetheart. No one can see you. Go ahead and let go.”

Her orgasm crashed into her, stealing her breath and making her cry out all at once. Waves of pleasure rolled over her from the inside out, and oh God, they seemed to last forever, making her legs shake and her heart slam and her body feel totally brand new. After every last tremor had been wrung from inside of her, Kellan slowed his movements, righting her dress over her hips as he pushed to his feet behind her.

“Jesus. Isabella, you are—”

“Not even close to done.”

She pivoted just in time to see surprise take hold of his features, his eyes widening in the city light filtering up from below. But they’d done things his way, with him in control of her pleasure.

Now she was going to return the favor.

With a bold smile, Isabella pressed up to kiss him, tracing the curve of his bottom lip with her tongue. “What, you thought I’d let you have all the fun?”

“Sorry, did you not just have fun?” The corners of his mouth lifted into a cocky smirk. “Because you sounded like—”

“Yes.” She kissed him again, arousal rebuilding in her belly at the primal, earthy taste of sex on his mouth. “I know what I sounded like. But you had me nice and slow. Now I want you.”

Kellan pulled her close. “I want you, too.”

“No. I want
you
. I want you fast.” Isabella pulled her dress over her head. “I want you hard.” One twist of her wrist, and her bra followed. “And I want you inside me, right now.”

He took a step back, his up-and-down stare as palpable as a touch raking over her naked skin. “You are the hottest fucking woman I have ever seen. C’mere.”