“Then why’d you let me kiss you?”
The words irked her, and she almost lied, but then gave up with a sigh. “Because who in their right mind wouldn’t?”
He paused. “Okay, fine. Of course I liked that you were jealous. I admit it. I’m sorry. But I didn’t honestly believe you thought there was something going on with Aubrey and me. I thought you and I were having a little fun. Playing games, like we do.” He pulled at the French cuffs of his sleeve. “And please accept this preemptive apology because I also like that you’re jealous right now.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, the beads of her dress biting into the flesh of her forearms. “I still don’t believe you’re telling the truth about her.”
With one swift motion he reached around her, setting her pulse off. He slid his phone out of the inner pocket of his jacket at the side of her shoulder. He unlocked it and held it out to her. “Here’s proof.”
The messages were between him and Aubrey, nothing more than a series of links to different houses for sale and polite lines of small talk exchanged.
“Here, take it. Go ahead. Scroll all you like. I’m an innocent man.” He prodded the phone at her.
She waved a hand, pushing it out of her view. “Stop it. Stop it. This is madness. I don’t want to see your text messages, for god’s sake, that’s none of my business. You owe me nothing. Especially now. You said we were at a stalemate. You said we should stay away.”
He rolled his shoulder against the wall to face her profile, absently reaching out to thumb the hem of her dress. Her body gravitated towards his touch.
“I lied.”
His words ran down her spine with a crackle.
Then, her eyes fluttered closed as his hand crept up the side of her thigh, the shimmery white material at the hem of her dress slipping over the flat of his hand. “I’m a liar, Perdie. I saw you with Max Goodridge and... How could I let you walk away? But if you tell me to go, I will. Say the words, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Time stood still. The glide of his calloused fingertips scraped small circles over the skin of her outer thigh.
“How much have you been drinking?” he asked. Her breath hitched as his hand swept over the top of her leg and now grazed near her inner thigh, tickling her with the same hypnotic, circular motion.
Her voice came out breathy. “Only a little. You?” She tensed her jaw, raising her chin as his hand came so close to the juncture in between her thighs. Almost there.
“Not a drop.”
She pushed out a hot lungful of oxygen she didn’t know she was holding when he leaned in next to her, his breath warming the shell of her ear, the heat from his body radiating off him and onto her.
“No panties?” he said as his touch dragged inward.
A finger slipped into the folds of her pussy, moving in slow, steady strokes. She shivered but not from the cold.
“Bad, Bad Girl. Wet already? It’s like you were waiting for me to come and find you...”
“You couldn’t even stay away for a week.” Her words were punctuated with stabs of pleasure, her head falling back against the brick as his fingertips began their steady, confident work against her body. “Even after you swore you would...” An early wave rose up and fell, her nipples beaded to aching points, his hot touch heightened by the nip of cold air.
“I’ll be around you for as long as you’ll have me.” He spoke easily but his thumb rubbed lightly against her clit, and she drew her knee up, resting one heeled foot against the wall, allowing him easier access. In response, he pushed a finger in deep, curling it with expert dexterity.
A moan escaped her as her hips rocked with the rhythm of his hand on the sensitive folds of her sex and clit. She was slippery and hot and he was playing her like a skipping stone over a pond.
“Kiss me,” she whispered as an orgasm built inside her with each stroke of his thumb and curl of his finger. “Kiss me on the mouth.”
He nuzzled the crook of her neck. “Not until you come for me.”
“But I need you to...” she whimpered, gyrating. He nipped at her ear and increased the pressure of his thumb, compelling a moan deep from within her diaphragm. She moved shamelessly now, her hair catching against the rough surface of the wall, her thighs clenching and unclenching, little murmurs of yes escaping her lips every few seconds until they became more and more frequent and loud.
“I’m close,” she murmured. “Almost there...”
He was on her without hesitation, breathing heavily against her ear. “I want you to come fast and hard for me, got that? Tell me you will. Say yes.”
“So close...”
“Say it.” His tone was stern.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?” Without removing his hand, he shifted his weight onto her, pushing her thighs wider with his hips, as he continued to work her inside and out. The hard press of his body propelled another wave, stronger this time and threatening to slip over.
She could barely get out the words. “Yes... I’m gonna...come for you...” And then everything inside her clenched hard, her pussy grasping his finger, her clit pulsating against his stroking thumb, her stomach muscles contracting, jaw tightening. She wrenched forward, all sound taken from her voice, and pressed her forehead against his chest. Then a strangled cry escaped her as her orgasm nearly peaked.
He leaned back, his free hand prying her chin up to his own. His tongue licked at the seam of her mouth. She tried to gain hold of reality while her orgasm released over her. When his tongue slipped past the barrier of her lips, she was hit hard with a wave of pleasure, her cries muffled by his mouth.
He pushed his lips against hers, closing the gap between them, tangling them together as her orgasm crested once more and then fell again, her entire body collapsing against the wall. A whimper died in her throat.
He broke away with a harsh breath and removed himself from inside her, but continued to lazily stroke her delicate folds with his thumb.
She was panting and tired but also fiending for his body.
“Carter.” She tried to catch her breath, her chest rising and falling. “Carter...fuck me. Please? Against the wall...” Her eyes closed and the words came out as a strained whine. “Just do it. Do it now...”
There was a pause before he answered her but his voice sounded tired and ragged. “Not how I wanted our first time to go...but can’t change fate.”
At once, both their hands went for the zipper of his pants. She got there first, fumbling with the button and reaching in to grasp the heft of the huge erection tucked inside. He groaned as she stroked him, feeling the silky skin of his hot flesh slide up and down her hand, letting out her own moan as he in turn continued to stroke her, her dress riding high on her hips.
