The Winner Takes It All (A Something New Novel) (31 page)

He dragged a hand through his hair and took the deck back from Penelope. “I can do it.”

“Can you?” Penelope asked, the sarcasm clear in her tone.

Sure he could. Cecilia puckered her lips, placed the rounded tip of the lollipop between her pursed lips and twirled it in a slow circle.

He snapped. “Would you stop that?”

She removed the sucker and held it elegantly between her thumb and forefinger. Lips stained an obscene pink that made his breath catch, she asked, “Stop what?”

“Mouth-fucking the sucker. It’s distracting.”

Maddie, Sophie, and Penelope all gasped. “Shane!”

Gracie, Charlie, and Sam laughed.

Mitch groaned.

Cecilia, however, remained perfectly composed, not even having the decency to blush. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But if you’re distracted, that’s your problem.”

She twirled the lollipop again, gently pushing it between her lips and then retreating. “I’m here to play cards.”

Charlie gave Cecilia a long, slow once-over that had possession thumping through Shane’s chest. “I’ve got to side with Shane here, it’s pretty damn distracting.”

Shane narrowed his gaze. “Don’t look at her mouth.”

Charlie shrugged. “Sorry, man, she’s got a hot mouth.”

Smile pure sin, Cecilia tilted her head. “That’s very sweet of you, Charlie.”

Sweet? It wasn’t sweet. Shane growled. “Eat it normal.”

“I am.” She licked. “You just have a dirty mind.”

Of course he did, as she well knew. But hell, even if he didn’t, he’d have to be a dead man to not have illicit thoughts.

He started to speak but Mitch cut him off. “Deal the fucking cards.”

Shane cocked a brow at her.

She smiled back.

He dealt while she ate her lollipop as though she was auditioning for Lolita.

Thirty minutes later, he was twenty dollars poorer and Cecilia, with her red-stained lips, had a big pile of chips stacked in front of her.

Gracie pointed at her. “You’re no fun to play with.”

Cecilia clucked. “Don’t be a sore loser.”

Gracie stuck her tongue out.

Cecilia laughed.

Sophie lifted one of the suckers sitting on the table. “What’s in these things? Magic?”

“I’ll be right back.” Cecilia met Shane’s eyes, smiled, then rose to her feet with the grace that bespoke of her years of dance training.

Shane’s gaze raked over her. The jean skirt she wore was so short it barely hit the curve of her thighs. Where had that outfit even come from? Because there’s no way the Cecilia that showed up that day in the kitchen owned that outfit. “Where are you going?”

“Bathroom,” she tossed over her shoulder while she sashayed down the hall.

Everyone looked at him expectantly and when he said nothing, Gracie asked, “All right, what did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Shane said, grinning despite himself. Little vixen. They were right; he was responsible. Obsessed with exploring how far he could take her, he’d grown increasingly depraved.

“Yes, you did,” Gracie said, shaking her head. “She ate three cupcakes and didn’t even ask how many calories are in them.”

Cecilia was becoming a sugar fiend, and it put a nice curve to her body. And he wanted to eat her up constantly. “Yeah, so?”

Sophie jumped in helpfully. “Then there was the lollipop.”

Sam rubbed a hand over his jaw. “It was like watching porn.”

Yeah, it was. Excellent porn. And suddenly he couldn’t wait a second longer. “I’ll be right back.”

To a myriad of groans, he stood, racing out of the room to find his wayward temptress.

Cecilia put her ear to the bathroom door and listened, waiting for the heavy fall of Shane’s footsteps.

She’d given quite a performance, practically daring him outright. He wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge and he was bound to follow her.

Her nipples hardened and her clit throbbed.

Jesus, she wanted him.

He’d been driving her crazy all day. Hot, smoldering glances. The stroke of his finger down her bare arm. A squeeze on her hip. Lingering looks at her mouth.

She was on fire. And she couldn’t wait any longer.

Boots treaded down the hall, and she flicked off the faucet she’d left running, opening the door with perfect timing to smack right into him.

He growled. Hands on her hips, he backed her into the bathroom and kicked the door shut with a hard slam that sent a jolt of excitement racing through her.

“Shane,” she said, her voice too breathless to be innocent.

He answered by pulling her tight against his body, fisting her hair and slamming his mouth onto hers.

She melted in an instant.

Lips demanding, he claimed her in an intense rush of lust that left her dizzy.

She rubbed her breasts against his chest, meeting his seeking tongue with her own.

Instantly hot.

Instantly wet.

Instantly throbbing with insatiable need.

She clung to his mouth, digging her nails into his shoulders as he kissed her so raw and dirty he may as well have been inside her.

He pulled away, cupping her breast and stroking his thumb over the nipple. “Having fun, Lolita?”

Breathless, she panted, “Yes, take me.”

His green eyes flashed, and he wrapped his fingers around her throat. He nipped at her bottom lip. “You have everyone fooled, don’t you? You’re not proper at all.”

Desperate, she reached for the button on his jeans. “Not since I met you.”

He consumed her with another heart-stopping kiss, his thumb pressing into her wildly pounding pulse.

She lowered his zipper, worked her way past the elastic band of his boxer briefs to wrap her fingers around his shaft.

He groaned against her mouth. “Cecilia. Fuck. So damn good.”

It was powerful, the knowledge that this man wanted her. Was as crazy for her as she was for him.

She stroked, her grip tight and sure. Not at all gentle. The way she knew he liked best.

He circled her nipples through the thin fabric, raising them to a near painful peak.

She squeezed his cock. “I need you, now.”

The statement was like striking a match. He groaned, turned her around until she faced the mirror. Their eyes met, and he yanked her skirt over her hips, tearing her panties. They fell to a heap on the floor. He put a palm on her back, pushing her forward until her clit was pressed up against the porcelain sink.

In the vanity mirror, their gazes locked.

“I want to come inside you.” The tone of his voice rough, fissioning through her nerve endings.

They’d used condoms. Always. But suddenly she needed it. Needed him. “Yes.”

“Are you protected?”

With a sharp nod, she lifted her hips in invitation.

His gaze turned utterly feral. He bent, covering her back with his big body, and grasped her throat. The image in the mirror hypnotic, so arousing, she jerked. Her clit rubbed against the now-slick porcelain. His lips brushed the shell of her ear, while his eyes stayed hot on hers. “Good. It’d be hell to stop and I need it, Cecilia. Need to feel your hot, wet pussy on my cock.”

Her inner muscles contracted at his words, wanting to be filled. As always, he read her mind and guided himself in.

Swollen from all the sex they’d had last night, the angle made her impossibly tight. Stretched. She spread her legs, rising to her tiptoes, dropping her head until he was fully seated.

He gathered her hair in his fist and pulled. “Watch.”

Her eyes flicked open as her muscles rippled around him.

Expression flashing with primal male satisfaction, he bit down on the curve of her neck, sending a shock wave through her body. “I knew you’d like that.”

He pushed into her. So slow, when she wanted him to go fast. She threw her hips back, trying to control the tempo.

But he was having none of that.

He shook his head. “No, my way.” His lids hooded as he placed one big hand on her hip, slowing her down.

He thrust back in, demonstrating complete mastery in even strokes. His shaft dragged across engorged tissue, enflaming every nerve she had, lighting her on fire. Building a tension so deep in her core she thought she might die with the sheer torture.

Her fingers clenched on the edge of the sink, her gaze glued to the hard lines of his face. “Shane, please, harder.”

The tension grew. And grew. But refused to release.

“No.” Another smooth thrust. “I’ve been dreaming about this all day. You feel like fucking heaven and it’s going to last.”

Her muscles clenched, his words heating her.

“Besides”—another nip on her throat—“this is payback.”

And it had never been sweeter. Hotter. More erotic. Her nipples grew impossibly hard, rubbing against the fabric of her bra. She angled her hips, opening her legs wider to get more pressure on her clit.

He yanked her back, angling her hips away from the sink. The friction she desperately needed, gone. He slapped her ass, hard. “No coming yet.”

A jolt of electricity shot through her. She liked this. Too much for comfort, which increased her arousal by a hundred times. She bit her lip. The tension built to a fevered pitch.

He slid his arm around her waist, bent low close to her ear. “That’s right, baby, you can’t hide from me, I know
exactly
what you like.” His fingers tightened around her throat. “Who you are.”

He did. It was like, with him, she was the woman she was always meant to be. She circled her hips, arching into him, making them both moan with pleasure.

“Again,” he said, and she complied. He pushed forward to meet her, their bodies grinding together.

It was so slow. So excruciatingly slow.

And each time he filled her he became more a part of her.

Sweat beaded along her spine as her pleasure keened into tight focus, where all thoughts ceased to exist.

They moved together, almost languid, but hot, thick desperation filled the air. Like they couldn’t get close enough.

“Shane.” His name a gasped, breathless plea. Sensation built inside her, taking her higher and higher but never cresting.

He slammed powerfully into her wet, swollen, aching core.

“Oh God.” Her voice almost unrecognizable, her fingers clenched on the sink.

He cupped her breasts, pulling down the fabric of her tank top so they swelled over the top before unhooking her bra. Then his fingers were on her nipples, playing with the hard buds in time with his strokes.

“Watch.” That gruff, low voice.

She shuddered, looked into the mirror again, catching his gaze.

So hot on hers, so possessive and primal, her inner walls clamped down on his cock.

He growled, pinched her nipples, sending another bolt of fire racing along her nerves.

He shook his head. “No, not me, you.”

Her gaze clung to him for a moment, then she faced herself in the mirror. Who was that woman looking back at her? Hair a wild mess around her face, cheeks flushed, her lips swollen. She looked undone, worked up, crazy in lust. Like she’d do anything.

Her gaze fell to his big tan hands playing over her breasts, strong and powerful against her pale skin.

She throbbed. Everywhere. Energy pulsed through her as he took her higher and higher, until she thought she might break.

He covered her back with his chest. “So hot. And wet. And tight. Only for me.”

One hand slid down her stomach, his fingers played over her clit. Mindless, she groaned. “Yes, only you, Shane.”

“You ready, baby?”

She nodded.

His pace increased, his thrusts impossibly deeper.

She cried out. Threw her hips back to meet him.

The small powder room filled with the sound of their harsh breath. Their bodies slapping together as the air grew humid with desire and sex.

Need, deep inside her, threatened to break her in two.

He pounded into her.

She wound tighter.

Tighter.

Tighter.

The orgasm crashed over her, consuming her. She cried out and his hand clamped over her mouth as she screamed, climaxing uncontrollably.

He buried his face into her neck, low growls vibrating against her throat as he thrust into her. His teeth scraped over the sensitive skin at her throat as he came, spilling inside her, filling her up, setting off another wave as they shuddered together.

He kept moving, thrusting, drawing out the pleasure until they were nothing but a helpless, limp heap of sweaty bodies.

She looked into the mirror. Gaze intense, he watched her. Out of nowhere she blushed.

Everything about the sex had been raw. Desperate and unbearably intimate. She felt exposed. Vulnerable.

He put his palm on her back, the weight of his hand strong and steady. “It will be okay, Cecilia.”

She blinked. The realization swept through her like a tornado.

She loved him. Hopelessly.

It terrified her.

He pulled out, turned her around, and gathered her in his arms.

She buried her head in the curve of his neck, sucking in the spicy male scent of him. And she felt safe. Home. Emotions welled inside her, her throat closing over as she fought to push it all back down.

She needed him.

He stroked her hair. “It will be okay. I promise.”

Of course he promised, because there was nothing Shane couldn’t do if he put his mind to it.

She nodded against his neck. “I’m okay.”

His thumbs pressed under her chin until she looked at him.

She met his gaze.

“I’m not going to be able to let you go, Cecilia. I just can’t.”

Relief filled her, and the tightness in her muscles relaxed. “Okay.”

He kissed her. “We’ll figure it out.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

It was simple and not simple at all.

He rubbed a thumb over her cheek. “I’ll give you whatever you want, you know that, right? And if that means running for congress”—he shuddered, but his green eyes were light with amusement—“for the wrong party, we’ll figure it out.”

She wanted to tell him that she didn’t think she wanted to run, but then she looked into his eyes and saw it—what Maddie had talked about that day.