Page 13 of Cinder & Secrets (Ink & Ashes #2)

Charlotte

“I told you,” I tease, watching River go in for a second piece of pizza with pineapple . “You don’t know unless you try.”

“It’s gross.” He shakes his head, causing blond strands to fall across his forehead in a way that is so sexy I have to resist the urge to groan at the sight of him.

“Then why are you eating it?” I arch a brow in question.

He’s sitting on the far end of the couch while I’m tucked into the bend, my legs stretched out in front of me, giving me the perfect view of his profile as he eats.

“Because I’m hungry.” He smiles around a mouthful of food, a twinkle of humor in his hunter-green eyes.

“Liar. You like it. If you didn’t, you’d be picking the pineapple off.” I point a finger at the slice he’s holding.

For someone who thought pineapple on pizza was just wrong, you’d think he would have ordered himself something else, but no.

He ordered what I wanted and tried it even though he didn’t want to.

And that right there is just one of the many reasons why I’m completely smitten with the man in front of me.

The last two days have been... Well, unbelievable really. Unbelievable and so incredible I still haven’t been able to fully wrap my head around it. It feels like a dream. The best dream. A dream I want to hold on to for as long as I can. A dream I never want to wake up from.

“Then it would just be a cheese pizza that tastes like pineapple.” He crinkles his nose. “At least this way the pineapple offers some texture.”

“Keep making all the excuses you want. You don’t have to admit you like it. I know how much men hate being wrong,” I tease, poking my foot into his side.

“Wrong?” He drops what little remains of the slice back into the box before setting his sights on me. “I am a lot of things, Red, but wrong is never one of them.”

I instantly squirm under his intense stare, trying and failing to contain my smile when he grabs my foot and pulls me flat onto the couch before stalking up my body like an animal who’s just stumbled upon its next meal.

“Somehow, I doubt that.” I squeal in laughter when his hand finds my side and squeezes.

“Guess I’ll just have to prove it to you then.” He trails his tongue across his bottom lip seconds before his face dips to the crook of my neck, his mouth pressing against my pulse, which jumps against the touch.

“And how do you plan to do that?” I ask, trying not to let him distract me, which he is very, very good at.

“By showing you all the ways I’m right .” His teeth sink gently into the side of my neck, biting just hard enough to leave imprints on my skin.

I arch into him, silently asking for more, the thread between pleasure and pain so thin that it’s possible for it to be both things at once.

“How is this proving you’re always right?” I manage to get the words out without groaning when he nips the flesh a little harder this time, his tongue darting out to lick the area.

“Because I knew you’d like this.” He moves to the other side, repeating the process.

“And? It’s no secret that pain and pleasure often go hand in hand.”

“True.” His lips are at my ear now, sucking the lobe into his mouth as he gently rolls it between his teeth. “But not everyone enjoys the pain. I knew you would.” He kisses his way across my cheek.

“That hardly makes you always right.” I start to argue, but he swallows my words, cutting off my ability to continue. Hell, making it hard to form a coherent thought at all.

“You were saying?” He smiles against my lips, deepening the kiss to the point that all I see is him. All I feel is him.

River Parker has a way of quieting all the noise that tends to bounce around in my head like an overplayed pinball machine. Everything falls silent. Everything but the sound of my own heart thudding around in my chest.

I forget what we’re talking about. I forget everything but this.

The feel of his mouth on mine.

The warmth of his hand as it moves between us, parting my thighs just enough to give him access to slip beneath my underwear and touch me.

“Yessss.” I hiss when he dips a finger inside, teasing me.

From the very first time I had sex to now, I’ve been searching for this.

The high that River gives me. The feeling of being bent completely to the will of another and wanting it.

He winds my body to the point of breaking and then pushes me further.

He doesn’t ask permission. He simply takes. But he gives even more.

He works me like a violin and he’s the most skilled player to ever walk the face of the earth. He’s perfection, playing the song of my body with such innate precision that within minutes, I’m grappling to hold on to even a semblance of control.

“River.” His name comes out as a plea as he presses his thumb to my clit and begins moving in time with the finger, now fingers, inside of me.

“Come for me,” he rasps, his breath hot against my face before he silences me with another mind-bending kiss.

I come apart in his hands, crying into his mouth as the ripples of pleasure work over me like a violent ocean wave. A wave I’ve yet to recover from when his hand is quickly replaced with the weight of his thick erection.

Shoving my underwear further to the side, he enters me in one fluid motion, filling me so completely full that there isn’t a pore in my body that doesn’t feel the effects of him.

Our bodies come together in a clash of hands and lips, neither able to get enough of the other as we scratch and bite, drawing every ounce of pleasure from each other until we’re both spent.

River collapses on top of me, giving me the fullness of his weight, which I relish more than I could ever put into words.

He feels incredible on top of me. His heart ramrodding in his chest so violently that I can feel it against my own.

He buries his face into the side of my neck, his breathing labored.

“You are—” His words die on his lips when the front door buzzer breaks the otherwise silent room, startling us both. “Who the fuck could that be?” He wonders aloud, kissing the tip of my nose as he reluctantly withdraws from my body.

I watch in utter fascination as he tucks his thick length back into his lounge pants before fully standing and crosses toward the front door.

I sit up just enough that my eyes can continue to track his movement.

He presses the button on the speaker that sits on the wall directly next to his front door.

I quickly realize he has no access to the camera outside, which means when I arrived the other day, he assumed it was me, but he didn’t know for sure.

“Yeah?” He’s still mildly out of breath when he says it, bringing a satisfied smile to my lips.

“Yeah?” Lyric’s familiar voice fills the room. “Is that any way to greet your sister?”

I stand so fast that I nearly topple over in my attempt to get off the couch.

River’s eyes meet mine, a twinge of panic in his expression that he quickly masks.

“I didn’t realize it was you. I can’t see you, you know?”

“Are you going to buzz me up or make me stand out here having a conversation with a speaker?” She feigns annoyance.

“Come on up.” He hits the button that unlocks the front door before fully turning toward me.

A brief moment of silence passes between us, like we’re both trying to figure out what the fuck we should do.

“She can’t know you’re here,” he finally says after a beat.

I nod once, trying not to be offended by his words.

As much as I want Lyric to know the truth, even I can agree that this is not the way she should find out.

I make a beeline for his bedroom, surprised when he quickly follows me inside.

“What are you—” I start to ask, falling silent when he steps into my space and kisses me.

“Stay here. Stay quiet. I’ll get her out of here as soon as I can.” He kisses me again before turning to pull a clean shirt out of the drawer.

It takes me longer than it should to realize that some of his release got on the bottom of his shirt. Thank goodness he noticed because I sure as hell didn’t. Which reminds me, I’m in desperate need of a bathroom so that I can get myself cleaned up.

“I need to clean up,” I tell him, looking past his shoulder when I hear a knock at the door.

“You can use the bathroom. I’ll turn the television on so she won’t hear you.” He quickly backs out of the room, apology lining every feature of his handsome face.

“What if she recognizes my mom’s car outside?” A flash of panic slides through me.

“Is there anything on it that would give it away as yours?”

I think for a moment, not able to think of anything, so I shake my head.

“Then I don’t think she’ll think anything of it. It’s not like it’s a rare model or color, right?”

“Right.” I nod.

“Stay here. Stay quiet.” It’s the last thing he says before he pulls the door closed.

I stare at the back of that door for a few long seconds, having to fight with the unsettling sensation of feeling like someone’s dirty little secret.

Something that needs to be hidden away. And while I understand, and agree, that this is not the way for Lyric to find out, it doesn’t mean that I enjoy feeling this way.

Not able to stop myself, I move closer to the door when I hear voices. Pressing my ear to the wood, I shamelessly try to hear what they’re saying. Unfortunately, the noise of the TV doesn’t just drown out me , it also drowns out both of them.

Blowing out a hard breath, I make my way into the en suite bathroom.

After making quick and quiet work of cleaning myself up, I crawl into River’s bed, pulling the blankets up over my head to shield out the light pouring in through the window.

I don’t know how long I lie there. Twenty minutes. Forty. An hour. Two hours. The minutes bleed together, my eyelids growing heavier the more time that passes.

I must doze off completely at some point because one second I’m fighting sleep, and the next I’m blinking into the darkness of the room, a heavy weight draped across my middle.

It takes me longer than it should to realize it’s River, his deep breathing the only sound in the otherwise silent room. One of his legs is thrown over mine, his arm draped across my stomach. His face buried in the side of my neck, his breath warming my skin.

I take a brief moment to let myself soak in the incredible feel of him before my mind focuses on other matters.

How long was I asleep?

I crane my neck to be able to see the clock on the bedside table.

It’s just after four. My head is so upside down right now, it takes a long moment for my sleep-riddled brain to decide whether it’s four in the morning or in the afternoon, though the fact the only light in the room is the soft glow that spills in from the hallway, I figure it’s morning, otherwise the sun would be spilling in through the window.

Resting my head back on the pillow, I stare up at the dark ceiling, my hand finding River’s arm that’s draped across my middle. I begin numbly tracing shapes with my fingertips as I listen to him breathe.

How long was Lyric here?

Why was she here?

Did she suspect anything?

These are the questions that plague my brain as I struggle to reclaim the sleep that my body so desperately needs. Even now, after sleeping for several hours, I can still feel the exhaustion of this weekend deep in my bones.

It’s not lost on me that I’m supposed to leave today. The thought sends unease sliding through my chest.

I know that as soon as I walk out that door, everything will be different. It’s easy here, inside our private bubble. As effortless as breathing. But out there, in the real world, the simplicity of our relationship, for lack of a better word, is gone.

For all I know, this will all be over the instant I’m gone.

River said he couldn’t get me out of his system, which is code for let me fuck you out of my system instead.

And given the way we’ve been going at it like rabbits for two solid days, I imagine he’s probably getting close to that point.

Then again, I felt the same way, and yet, I feel nowhere near getting him out of my system.

If anything, I only want him more. It’s not hard to see why that’s a very big problem.

If he ghosts me again, it won’t just be a scrape, it will be a cut so deep that not even the best surgeon would be able to stop the bleeding.

Because even though my body is still learning his touch, my heart has been in this game a lot longer than the last two days, even if I’ve been reluctant to admit as much.

The thought should scare me, and I guess in a way it does, but it also strengthens my resolve.

I’ve never been someone who gives up without a fight and I’m sure as hell not about to start now.

It was different when we were just talking. But now things are different.

The days of playing fair are over. And I will utilize every weapon in my arsenal to get exactly what I want.

Him...