Page 20 of Double Dirty

She combed her wet hair and twisted it up into a messy bun. While I stood there with my mouth half open just contemplating the fact that she had bitten me on the throat and wasn’t wearing underwear of any kind. My brain couldn’t compute either of those things, much less how cheerful she sounded. I was pretty sure I growled low in the back of my throat before turning to follow her to the kitchen.

I watched her open a bottle of wine without even offering to help. She poured two glasses and handed me one. I drank like I was parched. I wasn’t sure that I could sit across from her at the table and eat. It was possible that I’d climb up on the table, knock everything off of it and start devouring her from head to toe. She sat down like it was nothing, like I hadn’t just taken her to the edge of ecstasyand backed off. Maybe it was revenge, her driving me crazy as payback.

She stared flipping paper cartons open and poking around at the contents like she was a normal person ready to eat supper and not the woman I was five seconds from ravishing on the nearest surface. She cut her eyes to me, looking ready to laugh.

“You look like the big bad wolf right now,” she said.

It was all I could do not to growl in response. As it was, she rounded the table and perched on my knee, “What’s with the crazy eyes?”

“God, Lexi,” I groaned, dropping my forehead against her shoulder, my arms tight around her. “I want to take things slow with you, show you everything I feel, but I don’t know if I have the willpower to do it that way.”

“I kind of doubt it, since you came in to tell me the food was here and started going down on me like a horny teenager, only with better skills.”

“I’m not sure I can hold off.”

“Have you tried thinking about basketball? That’s what my boyfriend used to do senior year,” she teased.

“Did it work?”

“No. He never lasted more than about twenty seconds. I wouldn’t describe it as a satisfying experience.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better. I may be just as much of a disappointment tonight.”

“What?” she said, her hand on my face, making me look up at her. “You could never disappoint me. Never. God, Rafe, I think I fell for you the first day we met. I didn’t say it, and I’m still scared to say it now, but there was no way to help it. I just knew from how you were so careful with me, so kind, and then you wanted nothing more than to teach me how to protect myself.”

“That’s not true,” I told her. “I wanted to protect you myself. I wanted to rip that guy’s fucking head off with my bare hands. Then I wanted to take you out to my car and show you what back seats are for. None of that sounds anything like the guy you say you fell for.”

“Sure it does,” she said. “You were strong and patient and a total gentleman with me, but that doesn’t mean I need you to be a saint. In fact, I’m hoping you’ll be more of a sinner tonight.”

She licked her lips. She was two inches from my face and she fucking licked her lips. What did she think I was going to do then?

I took her face in both my hands, cradling her jaw, stroking her cheeks, and I bumped my lips against hers. Her lips clung to mine, soft and longing. She opened for me easily when I parted her lips, when I flicked my tongue along her top lip playfully and felt her shiver. It was delicious. I tasted the crisp, sweet wine and the flavor of her that I got from going deep in her mouth, bending her head back and taking her mouth all the way. I didn’t hold back, didn’t try to be gentle or tease a response from her. I did what I had to, getting my fill of her. She rubbed against my chest, her skin hot and her nipples hard. I palmed her breast, brushed her nipple with my thumb just to feel her buck.

We were about a minute and a half from fucking on the kitchen chair, and the only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that the table and chairs weren’t in great shape. They wouldn’t stand up to the pounding I was going to give Lexi. So I picked her up. She twisted, got her legs around me and held on. It was hot as hell knowing she wanted me to carry her, that she was ready to climb me.

I took her to my bed, my mouth never leaving hers. Istood her on the mattress and jerked her flannel pants down, burying my face in her belly. She clutched my head, hands sifting through my hair, as I kissed her navel. I slid my hand between her legs, cupping her mound and tracing her outer lips with my fingers, teasingly soft. She was wet for me, God, so wet. I ran my tongue over the rim of her navel and felt her legs quiver. I took my hand away and she mewed a protest. I grazed her thighs, her ass, gave her a squeeze. Then I put my mouth to her, licking her clit in one tight stroke. She slumped to her knees as if her legs gave out. I chuckled. But not for long.

Lexi wound her arms around my neck. She kissed my cheek, licked my ear and then whispered to me. “I care about you, Rafe. I always have. I think I’m falling for you. I can’t wait any longer to have you. Please.”

Her words were like a fire in my blood then, and my body heated, my already throbbing cock hardening painfully. I ground my teeth. She was wrapped around me, naked from the waist down. I had to get myself under control or it would be over faster than her high school boyfriend got off. I wrapped her in my arms and held her against me. My mouth found her neck. I leashed myself, kissing and nipping lightly, not letting myself mark her or flip her onto the bed and bury my cock inside her without the slightest warning. I loved hearing her say that she wanted me and had all along. It melted me and wound me up at the same time.

Crushing her against my chest, I kissed her damp hair and unwound it from the elastic she’d used to bind it. I threaded my fingers through her locks, dragging my lips down her cheek until I could meet her lips with mine.

“I love you, Lexi,” I said into her mouth. She shook her head and drew back, apparently less sexually galvanized bymy confession than I had been by hers. I saw tears shine in her eyes.

“You can’t mean that,” she said.

“Why the hell can’t I mean that? It’s true,” I said. I wanted to shake her, to fuck her helpless until she believed me.

“Because no one has ever said that to me. Never. Not my whole life,” she said, her voice shaking. Her words twisted in my chest.

“I’ll be damned if you live another day without hearing it. Without hearing it every day. Maybe no one saw you before for who you really are, but I see you and goddammit, Lexi. I love you. You have to believe that,” I practically growled. She slumped into my arms. I held her close, her tears gutting me.

“How does someone like me get you and Leo? Even one of you even for one night, that would be more than I have any right to expect.”

“You have every right. Do I need to show you?” I said, torn between passion and anger that she’d been taught she didn’t get to have love or devotion in her life.

“Show me, please,” she whispered into my neck, her voice small and lost.