Another Read online

  I hadn’t had anyone to really talk about the breakup with. Not the real reason or the part I played in our demise, and until now—with Ian staring down at me, looking more serious than I’d ever seen him—I hadn’t realized how much I needed someone to say those words to me. His hands tightened around my waist, slowly creeping closer to my ass. They were so large they almost spanned from the curve of my bottom to my shoulder blades. Leaning down to make sure I couldn’t look away, his chest brushed mine and my nipples pebbled from the contact.

  “And just so you know,” he growled, his tone full of possession. “I would never, ever, share you. You would belong to me and only me. I’d take care of you, fill you up, so there was no room for anyone else in our bed.”

  Everything faded as I stared into his eyes, my chest heaving over my panting breaths. I tried to swallow the desire burning through my veins at his words. Had there ever been anyone that had looked at me so wholly, I knew they couldn’t see anyone else? Heat bled through my chest, down my abdomen and sinking into my core where it throbbed. I rubbed my legs side to side, and the ache felt impossible to ignore. It consumed me.

  I twisted out of his arms and latched onto his hand, dragging him behind me to grab my purse and head out the doors to the lobby. I didn’t say goodbye or acknowledge anyone staring. My pulse pounded with a need I couldn’t pretend didn’t exist anymore.

  Ian caught on to my plan and muttered, “Oh, fuck yes.”

  Then he was the one leading me, dragging me past people lingering in the sitting areas staring at the couple damn near running through the hotel.

  He pushed through a door, and I saw the men’s bathroom sign before he dragged me inside. He checked the stalls and locked the door.

  I was in the middle of the large bathroom when he turned to face me. He prowled across the room, his dark suit doing nothing to mask the power and command underneath.

  When he reached me, he didn’t hesitate, he gripped my ass and hoisted me up, turning and walking to set me down on the counter.

  As soon as I was steady, he attacked my mouth. Our lips clashed, and our tongues fought for dominance. I buried my hands in his hair and held him to me, not even wanting to come up for air. But I had to pull back to gasp when his fingers slid into my panties and tore through the thin lace at my hips.

  Ian, the consummate jokester, towered over me with the promise of domination, and I was ready to submit. He tugged the underwear free and shoved them in his pocket as he sank to his knees, shoving mine apart.

  The skirt of my dress was pushed to my hips, and cold air caressed my wet folds. I almost jerked off the counter when a rough finger slid from my clit to circle my opening.

  “Such a pretty pussy. So wet.” I held my breath as his head lowered, and he dragged an illicit tongue from below my opening up to circle my bundle of nerves.

  “Is all this wetness for me? Do I make your cunt wet and beg for more?”

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  His smirk was the last thing I saw because as soon as his mouth latched on to my pussy, my eyes rolled back in my head, and I did nothing but feel.

  Feel the way he sucked on each fold. Feel the way his tongue pushed in and out of me as his thumb circled my clit. Feel the way he bit at the tender flesh as two fingers slid into me slowly. Feel the way they curled as he sucked me to one of the best orgasms I’d ever had. I was biting my palm, barely holding back my screams when he eased me back to earth.

  He peppered kisses everywhere he could reach from his crouched position.

  “Carina.”

  Just my name and I knew I’d used my last life. There was no more pretending this wasn’t happening. And right then, in the men’s bathroom of my ex-fiancé’s wedding, I didn’t want to.

  “Please tell me that’s not it. Please tell me I can fuck this pussy.”

  “Yes,” I panted, my lungs still working overtime with his words caressing my soaked folds.

  “Good.” He pressed one last kiss to my mound before he stood and tugged me off the counter, supporting me when my legs wobbled. “Let’s get a hotel room because I’m not going to make it back to the apartment. I need you now, and I need a bed for all the dirty things I’m going to do to you.”

  Losing my ninth life had never felt so good.

  22 Ian

  I dragged Carina behind me toward the elevator, and everything screamed faster, faster. I needed to get her in my arms before she changed her mind again. I wondered if the man at the front desk knew the illicit things I was going to do to this woman if he knew why I had snatched the key card out of his hand when he’d finally given it to me.

  It wasn’t like it was hard to guess with my hair a mess from Carina’s fingers, the fact that we had no luggage, and both of our flushed faces had kiss swollen lips. I didn’t care. I would have thrown her down right then and there in the middle of the lobby if it meant having her. If it meant letting everyone know that she was mine. And she was mine. If nothing else got cleared up tonight, it was that she wasn’t running from this anymore.

  But that could wait until after.

  The elevator dinged and opened to a blessedly empty car. The gods were shining down on me today. As soon as the door closed, I had her pinned to the wall with my mouth glued to hers.

  “Ian, people could get on,” she protested between kisses.

  “Yeah, they could. And then they’d get to see me taking the most beautiful woman. They could watch me make you come.”

  Her only response was a whimper. Probably because my hand had moved up her skirt and was teasing her pussy. She squirmed and thrust, trying to get my hand where she wanted, and I kept tugging back.

  “You’re so wet—such a mess.”

  Another whimper. I’d just pressed a finger through her slit when the door slid open to an older couple on the other side.

  Carina jerked her clothes back in place and pushed me away, her face flushed with embarrassment. Me? I exited the elevator with no remorse, even winking at the couple when I walked past. The man laughed and shook his head.

  Once we reached our door, I pressed my front to her back, growling into her neck, “I can’t wait to finally see how far down that blush goes. It’s been taunting me for months.”.

  Pressing my cock against her ass, I swiped the key and shoved the door open. I had no clue what the room looked like. I didn’t care. All I knew was that I was going to be inside this woman as soon as possible and if a bed happened to be waiting for me, then so be it. But any flat surface would do.

  I’d managed to get the small zipper of her dress undone on my way to the bed and jerked the silky material from her body, letting it pool at her feet. She was kissing down my neck, biting, sucking, licking every inch as she undid my tie and ripped through my shirt. Buttons went flying, and I guessed it was only fair since I’d torn her panties. Her hand was busy on my belt when I stopped her, knowing if she got my cock free, this would be over too soon.

  I gripped her wrist, and wide blue eyes looked up.

  “I need to make you come again before I fuck you. I want to make you a wet mess so my cock can slide inside that tight pussy with one push. Would you like that, Carina? To fill you up with my fat cock.”

  Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, and I had to hold back laughing out loud at a speechless Carina. I did allow a deep chuckle to slip free and shoved her back on the bed. She sat up, supporting herself on her hands, leveling a pissed off look my way. But the tongue lashing I was about to get from shoving her died on her lips when I lowered myself to my knees and worked my mouth up her leg.

  Her thighs were strong from all the running she did, and I loved the way the muscles jerked and twitched under my ministrations.

  “What do you want, baby?”

  “I want you to stop playing.”

  “Oh, I’m just getting started.”

  She growled, her head dropping back in frustration, and I took the chance to dive in.

  “Oh,” she cried w
ith the first swipe of my tongue.

  She whimpered and moaned while I tasted every inch of her cunt. She supported herself back on her hands and thrust her hips against my face, watching my tongue fuck her.

  My cock was straining against my pants and about to burst through the zipper. Everything in me throbbed, urging me to come, but I needed to be inside her. Done playing with her, bringing her to the edge and back, I shoved two fingers inside and latched onto her clit, sucking hard while my tongue flicked across the tender bud.

  Her thighs tightened around my ears and muted the sounds of her orgasm.

  I didn’t even let her pussy stop spasming before I pulled out and quickly shed my pants. Grabbing my wallet, I extracted my strip of condoms.

  “Three?” she asked.

  “I’ve been carrying these around since I saw you again. Usually, I only have one. But I knew that once I had you, I was going to need way more than that.”

  “Once you had me? Not if?”

  “I’m a confident man,” I explained, pushing her up the bed as I climbed between her thighs.

  “An arrogant man,” she deadpanned.

  “Call it what you want, but either way, I’m the man about to be inside you.” I gripped my dick and slid it through her folds across her clit, both of us moaning. “I’m the man about to make you scream my name.” Another slide. “The man who will fuck you over and over until you can’t take it anymore. Then I might fuck you again.”

  “All talk,” she breathed.

  I huffed a laugh and pulled my hips back just enough to lodge my length against her opening. Just as I was about to push in, she tensed, and I stopped.

  “Just…go slow this first time.”

  “This first time,” I agreed. “Next time I’ll take you how I want.”

  Part of me expected her to protest my domineering statement, but instead, her eyes darkened with desire and need.

  Holding her stare, I slid in, taking my time to pull out and ease back in further on each pass. It didn’t take long because she was so wet from all the other orgasms I’d given her. When I was finally seated fully inside her, I held still, burying my face in her breasts and relishing the moment. It’d been so long since I’d felt this woman around me, and I just needed a moment of gratitude.

  Her hips moved, and I smirked, knowing she was just as desperate as me to move.

  Kissing across her clavicle, I slid my hand up her arm until it rested on the pillow above her head, where I linked our fingers together and pinned her there. Holding her stare, I slowly slid out and back in, loving every pleasurable desire crossing her features.

  “You’re fucking beautiful.”

  The blush came back, and I got to watch it spread down her neck and down to her beautiful breasts. Kissing across the curves and back up to her mouth, I thrust in hard and ate the cries from her lips. I went slow to give her time to tell me if anything hurt, but when she didn’t stop me, my pace picked up.

  Her fingers squeezed mine, holding on tight like she was afraid to be washed away by the waves of pleasure consuming us. Sweat dripped down my temples and coated both our skin.

  “I missed being inside you.”

  “Please, Ian.”

  “What do you need, baby?”

  “More.”

  Linking my other hand with hers, I brought them both above her head and lifted to my knees. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

  With her lip firmly clenched under her teeth, she nodded, giving me the go-ahead to let loose the fire that had been raging inside me since the first moment I ever saw her.

  Since the first moment, she asked me if she could try something and kissed me, changing everything in its wake.

  I thrust harder and harder, making sure to hit her clit on each slide. Her breasts swayed from the force I was fucking her with. Her legs wrapped tight around my hips, her heels digging into my ass. Her fingers clenched tight around mine, and I knew she was close, could feel the way her core clenched tighter around me.

  “God, Carina. Your tits. I could watch them bounce all day. I could be inside you all day. Buried so deep you don’t know where I end, and you begin.”

  “Ian, yes.”

  “Can I do that? Can I fill you up with my cock whenever I want?”

  “Yes. Please, please.”

  Her mouth hung open around her gasping breaths, and it only took a few more thrusts before she was crying out, filling the room with her moans of pleasure, the orgasm ripping through her.

  Her pussy throbbing around me, her hands pinned in mine, under my total control, her breasts swaying from me fucking her. It all consumed me and swallowed me whole, pulling me down with her until I had to fall and bury my head in her neck to groan out my own orgasm. It lasted forever until I was sure my cum would spill from the condom. I couldn’t remember the last time I came so hard.

  By the time the ringing had cleared from my ears, I felt her lips against my hair, the side of my face, anywhere she could reach. Releasing her hands, I slowly dragged my fingers down her arms, loving the way she trembled under my touch. Coming up for air after one last kiss to her neck, I looked down at her. She was glistening with sweat, her hair a dark, wild mass against the white pillows, her lips swollen and rosy.

  She was perfect.

  And when she smiled, my chest ached. My heart thundered so hard the rush of blood made me lightheaded, and I knew—right then, I knew—I loved this woman.

  Swallowing the words down, I kissed her.

  My mind was already conjuring plans on how to keep her under me, how to keep her from running like she did every other time we fooled around. If I told her I loved her, she might run from me further than just inside herself, and I couldn’t risk that.

  Her lips moved under mine, and I tangled my tongue with hers until I could safely pull away without releasing my truth.

  I took care of the condom, and when I came back to pull her into my arms, I could already see her hesitation in the way she wouldn’t meet my eyes. But she also didn’t pull away. She curled into my arms and rested her head on my bicep.

  I had to take my wins where I could.

  “Carina, I can’t let you keep hiding from this.”

  “I know.”

  Needing to see her face, I buried my hand in her hair and tugged until she looked up at me. “I…” I hesitated, thinking over my words to not scare her. “I care for you. And not just as the mother of our child. I care for you so much, and if you give us a chance, I could make you happy.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?”

  The worry in her eyes killed me. I wanted her to be as confident as me that we could make this family work—that she could trust me. But I knew trust didn’t come easy for Carina, so I’d just have to prove it to her, no matter how long it took. Right now, though, she needed reassurance that this wasn’t going to implode on us. She needed to feel safe—like she had an exit plan.

  “Then the same rules apply as when we moved in together. I will help you move out. We will make it amicable because we need to always be friends for Audrey. So, let’s give us a try and promise to end it before it gets bad.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, the simple word filling every inch of my body to exploding.

  Her smile matched mine and I couldn’t see how this could go wrong when this moment felt epic—life-changing—unbreakable.

  I kissed her hard before pulling away, needing to change the subject before my feelings came pouring out, making a mess.

  One step at a time.

  “I’m thinking the next time I’m inside you, I’ll fuck you from behind.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, another small smile tipping her swollen lips.

  “I could get used to an agreeable Carina.”

  23 Carina

  “I should get going,” I said, popping the lid back on my empty salad container.

  “Already?” Ian almost whined. “You just got here.”

  “Thirty minutes ago.”

  “I know,
but since you went back to work, I never see you.”

  “Dramatic much?” I asked, laughing. I knew he was overreacting to make me laugh. He always tried to make me laugh.

  “I’m not going to apologize for wanting you.”

  “It’s not like you ever have before.”

  “Nope,” he said with pride.

  “You’re a needy boyfriend.”

  Ian shivered in his office chair, his eyes sliding closed. “You know what that word does to me, dirty girl.”

  His eyes slid open, a devious smirk slowly tipping his lips.

  “Oh, my god,” I said laughing, throwing my napkin at him. “You’re incorrigible.”

  He caught the napkin and threw it in his trashcan, a victorious smile stretching across his beautiful face. He hadn’t shaved in the past few days, and the stubble had me squeezing my thighs together, remembering what it felt like on my skin this morning when I woke with his head between my legs.

  Shaking off the feeling, I stood. “But really, I have to go. I have a meeting, and then I have to get Audrey from Aunt Virginia.”

  “Where’s your meeting at?”

  “Voyeur.”

  “Voyeur?”

  “It’s kind of like a sex club that isn’t a sex club. More like a porn club.”

  “A sex club?” he asked, shooting up in his seat. “I don’t think so, missy. Unless you’re meeting nuns, then nope.”

  I crossed my arms and stood over him, giving him my best I-will-crush-your-sorry-man-ass glare. I knew he wasn’t serious about controlling my work, because he knew if he tried, I’d storm out and never look back. But he did care, and that little jealousy had warmth blooming in my chest.

  “At least tell me the owner is old and decrepit.”

  “Do you remember the two men we met at the wedding? They were older, one with blonde hair and the other with salt and pepper hair.”

  “Ugh,” Ian groaned, flopping his arms wide and his head back. “Just go fall in love with the sugar daddies.”

  His dramatics stopped, and a smile broke free when he heard me laughing.

  “Relax,” I soothed, stepping close and running my fingers through his hair. He sat up again and tugged me onto his lap. “Maybe I can get us a free pass for a night.”