The squeezing in her chest became a more manageable pressure. She opened her eyes to look at him and realized something she hadn’t noticed before. Connor had faint but gorgeous laugh lines around his eyes. Now they were furrowed but not with laughter. She struggled to absorb the expression on his face, the look of someone who cared.
Part of her wanted to freeze the image in time, hold on to and cherish it. She touched his face, trailed her fingers over his rough cheeks, stroked his divine lips. His mouth opened and he nipped the tip of her finger. She gasped and then his mouth was on hers, his tongue stroking inside her lips. She grabbed his skull, drawing him closer. The nearness wasn’t enough; she wanted him to crush her, make her feel everything. He ran his hands over her body, over her nightgown, so thin his touch burned skin.
He coaxed her to open her mouth wider, to give him full access and showed her he knew how to use his tongue, made her long to really have him use it on her. Her chest squeezed but this time the ache was sweet. He rolled on top of her, drawing her knees around his waist and giving her a glimpse of the restrained hunger lying under his sweet kiss. She fidgeted, impatient, wanting the harder bite of his desire.
She pushed his shoulders, used enough strength to break the kiss. He gazed at her, hesitation clear behind his eyes. She fought the urge to bite him. Would serve him right for looking at her as if she were some delicate flower. The appeal of polite sex and prissy fucking disintegrated at about the same time Conner showed her exactly what else there was on offer. She wanted what she’d tasted in her office. The promise of what she knew only Connor could give her. But when he looked at her like this, as if he feared he might crush her in his hands—she felt as if she were made of glass.
Words jammed in her throat. How could she tell him what she didn’t understand? “Fuck me now, Connor. Fuck me like my pussy’s yours.”
His eyes flashed, his jaw clenched and his body turned to steel above her. Her core responded, flooding with liquid heat.
He grasped her thighs and jerked her hips higher then grabbed her panties at the sides and tugged. Her breath hitched but her pussy throbbed in anticipation. He moved the scrap of material between her legs to the side.
Her hips arched. Yes this was it, this was the Connor she needed. The Connor who would shake her out and let her come apart.
The faint tinkle of music cut through the room. Connor paused. The bad-boys ringtone stripped the focus from his features.
Not going to happen. She needed him now and nothing was going to distract him. Charlize raised her hand and slammed her palm into the side of his cheek. His head didn’t turn but his eyes shut briefly. When they opened she questioned her impulsiveness.
His eyes radiated pure lust laced with anger. In an explosion of movement he grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. His erection grazed her pussy through his track pants. The ringtone grew louder and he panted above her, his temples ticking.
Connor squeezed her wrists. “You stay right here and get ready. You’re about to be in serious trouble.” He released her wrists, drew his phone out of his back pocket and stared at the screen. “This is important but I won’t be long.”
He climbed out of her bed and pressed the phone to his ear, strolling to the door. The door shut behind him and all she could do was stare a hole through it.
What the fuck just happened? He’d left her writhing in the center of her bed. What happened to “the next time you hit me I’ll have my cock buried in you before you can finish the request”? Connor was full of shit and what the hell was more important than burying his cock in her anyway?
She sat up and noticed he’d laid the throw from the end of her bed across the floor to cover the broken glass. Her skin heated. Shit, she’d gone just about hysterical over a minor earthquake. She ran her fingers over her face. Her chest still ached with tightness, her head still buzzed. An icy sensation crept through her.
She’d felt this sneaking up on her over the last months, the panicky feeling that continued to build no matter how deep she buried it. She rolled over and opened her side table drawer and pulled out a small bottle. The label said one but she took two. No freaking way she’d end up like her father.
No way she’d let herself break.
She swallowed the pills out of her palm. They grazed their way down her throat but she couldn’t be bothered to go get water. Charlize lay back against her pillows and shut her eyes.
Connor paced the guest bathroom, giving focus to his conversation. His raging cock would have to wait a goddamn moment before exploding.
“I’ve done some digging and nothing adds up. Craig had money coming in from everywhere. He’s involved with something, I just don’t know what.”