Hard(22)
“I was sleeping.”
“I thought this could work. I thought you were serious when you said we’d share this place.”
“What did I do? I was sleeping.”
Shay wove her fingers through her thick, ebony curls.
“This is crazy. I don’t even know you—” She pointed a finger at me. “And if you say anything about knowing me in a biblical way Imma smack that smirk off your face.”
Challenge accepted.
“Come on.” I extended my arms. “Do you really think I’m some big, bad troublemaker out to rob you blind?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you think I’m some sexual fiend who will creep on you in the middle of the night?”
Her almond eyes flicked over me. “Probably.”
“Think I’m a dangerous, powerful man who will threaten your pretty little body?”
She stepped closer. Her voice lowered, her best attempt at sounding intimidating. “How would I know?”
Shay was within my arm’s reach. Entirely too close. I could have snatched her in my grasp and thrown her on the bed. If I had my way, I’d bury my face between her mocha legs and lick until I had my fill. She’d tasted like everything perfect—that first bite of summer ice-cream, cake batter straight from the spatula, a sip of forbidden alcohol before I turned twenty-one.
I remembered lapping up her honeyed desire, and it tortured my dreams every night. She was so unbelievably sweet I would have offered my half of the house just to look at that tight little pussy once more.
My jeans dug into my cock. It wasn’t the pressure I wanted. Shay licked her lips. She got flustered when she realized she was staring.
My growl reserved for her and her alone. “You know you have nothing to fear around me.”
“I’m sharing a house with a perfect stranger. It’s wise to be careful.”
“Then let me put your concerns to rest.” My smile wasn’t meant to charm her. It was as much of a warning as my throbbing cock allowed. “I’m not someone you run from. You’re gonna come to me. Just say the word, and I swear, not an inch of your beautiful body would regret climbing into my bed.”
“You’re one cocky son of a bitch.”
“When you have a cock like mine, you get to be a bastard.”
She didn’t argue. Couldn’t argue. She knew I was right. She remembered how it pounded within her, how every frantic thrust and deliberate slam was meant to earn a not-so-innocent mew from her trembling lips.
And that was the way it should have been. None of this but you’ve been my step-brother for a couple days bullshit. Not the territorial fear that somehow I conned her family out of millions.
It wasn’t sex between us. It was something addicting.
Life-affirming.
Ball-fucking-shattering.
And I knew she felt it too. She tried to shy away from me. She faced me only after building her defenses. I’d strip them as easily as her respectable little blouse and skirt.
She couldn’t fool me. I saw what she hid in her panty drawer. Beneath the conservative shirts and thigh-hugging skirts, Shay expressed herself with thongs, lace, and ribbons. Dozens of colors. A handful of designs.
Just waiting for the right man to lay her down, nip the elastic, and drag that silk over the dark paradise that crested between her legs.
“You believe me now?” I chuckled through a husky command. “You’ve got nothing to fear sharing a house with me.”
She licked her lips. “I have everything to fear.”
“Like what?”
“Like why you’re looking at me like that.”
She was lucky I was only looking. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met.”
“At least in this port.”
“I’ve been around the world, baby. Searched high and low for a perfect face, perfect tits, perfect pussy.”
She arched her eyebrow. “Haven’t looked in the branches of the family tree then?”
“Climb in deep enough and no one would ever see us.”
“And that’s why I don’t trust you.”
I laughed. “No one said anything about trust. But don’t worry. I’m not coming after you.” I lured her closer with a smirk. “Not when you’ll come to me.”
“Unlikely. I’ll be too comfortable sleeping in this bed.”
“You want it?” I extended my arms. “Come and get it.”
She took the bait. Shay grabbed my hand and tugged, unsuccessfully pulling me from the bed. I resisted only enough to toss her off-balance. She tumbled forward, falling into my arms.
Then I did what every red-blooded American patriot would do.
I tucked her under me, wrapped one hand in her hair while the other caressed her cheek, and I lowered my lips to hers.