Page 49 of Give Me a Reason

Frederick’s eyes raked over her body, setting her on fire, and he gripped the head of his cock and squeezed.

His groan reverberated through her, and she couldn’t take it anymore.

Holding his gaze, she swept her fingers down her wet folds, grazing her swollen clit, and let her head loll to the side, pleasure arcing through her.

“Come here,” he growled.

Her core throbbed and her knees shook, but she took her time sashaying over to him, the hunger on his face making her bold.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and stopped within inches of him.

He took the hand she’d used to touch herself and licked her fingers one by one, his tongue swirling sinuously over them.

His steely length jumped against her stomach as he moaned at her taste.

“So fucking sweet.” He kissed her again, nipping her bottom lip, then licking away the sting. “You taste exactly as I remember.”

“I need to touch you.” She hardly recognized her own voice.

Spreading her fingers wide, she ran her hands over his shoulders, across his broad chest, and down the ridges and grooves of his stomach.

God, he was so big. He’d filled out in ways she couldn’t have imagined, smooth, hot skin over hard, glorious muscles.

She felt greedy and possessive, and she wanted all of him to be hers.

Only hers. Suddenly self-conscious, she dropped her hands to her sides.

“No, don’t stop.” He grabbed her wrists and put her hands back on his chest. “Touch me.”

With a gasp, she renewed her exploration of his body with slow, leisurely strokes, reveling in how still he held himself even as his muscles jumped under her palm.

She closed the space between them and pushed the aching tips of her breasts against his chest. They moaned in unison and pressed closer together, adjusting to the glorious feel of their naked skin against each other’s.

She wanted to rub and slither against him, but she had to focus. This might be the last time she touched Frederick this way. She sidestepped her crushing sadness and continued with her mission. She wanted to memorize every inch of him.

Anne ran her hands down his rippling back, down to his narrow waist, then up again, becoming fascinated with the deep groove running down the center of his back.

She dug both hands into the dip and let her fingertips run up his spine.

She smiled when he shivered, and she pulled him tighter against her, kneading both her hands on his ass.

Her hands finally came to rest at his hips with her thumbs teasing the indentations beneath his pelvic bone.

“My turn,” he declared roughly.

She gasped as he spun them around and pushed her back against the door.

Then he slid to his knees, dragging his rough, calloused hands down the sides of her body.

She shivered against his touch, and anticipation rushed through her.

He buried his face in her stomach and inhaled deeply, sliding his hands down to cup her ass. “So soft.”

Then he pressed lingering kisses on her navel and traveled lower until Anne’s hands fisted by her sides.

He drew his hands down her stomach, following the path of his kisses.

He placed his thumbs on either side of her folds, circling them closer and closer together until they were a breath away from her aching center.

“Will you let me taste you?” His voice held a hint of pleading.

“Y-yes.” God, yes.

His thumbs drew apart her folds, and she felt the softest brush of his lips on her clit.

Her head fell back against the door with a thump.

She didn’t care. He hummed his approval, and his hot breath nearly drove her out of her mind.

She might not survive this, but she couldn’t care less.

She needed his mouth and tongue on her now .

She buried her fingers in his hair and arched her back.

“There’s my Anne.” A dark laugh rumbled in his chest. “My Anne, who knows exactly what she wants.”

He rewarded her with a long, thorough lick of her slit.

She whimpered and shamelessly ground herself against his face.

His control snapped at the exact same moment, and he licked and lapped at her like a man starved.

He continued devouring her, groaning and murmuring how sweet she tasted.

Her hips arced off the door, but he pushed her back against it, holding her still.

“Frederick.” It was a demand. It was a plea.

“I got you, sweetheart,” he said in a voice like gravel. He pushed a finger inside her. “Take what you want.”

And she did, gyrating against his mouth and finger.

He added a second finger, and she rode his hand, chasing after her release.

It had been so long for her, and it had never been like this.

Not with anyone else. Not even between them ten years ago.

A tear seeped out of a corner of her eye.

God, it felt good, and she was so close.

When he sucked her clit into his mouth, she fell apart with a silent scream on her lips.

“Good girl,” he murmured, licking and kissing her as he gently eased her down from her climax.

He rose to his feet just in time to catch her as her legs gave out, and he carried her to his bed.

He laid her down on it and immediately covered her with his body.

His erection pulsed hot and hard between them, and she took him in her hand.

She gave him a firm squeeze, then not so gently ran her fist up and down his length.

He groaned, his hips jerking helplessly against her.

“I need to be inside you,” he gritted past clenched teeth. “I need to have you.”

“What are you waiting for?” She opened her legs wide in languid invitation.

He reached over her head and opened his wallet on the nightstand with a sharp flick of his wrist. Anne snatched the condom from him and pushed him onto his back.

She tore the packet open and sheathed him with trembling hands.

Without pause, she lowered herself onto him and moaned, letting her head fall back.

“Fuck.” His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips, and he pivoted his hips off the bed.

She planted her hands on his chest and set a fast, greedy pace, riding him until sweat soaked through her scalp.

With a growl, he flipped them over and wrapped one of her legs around his waist. Even as he pounded into her, his thumb unerringly found her clit, drawing maddening circles on it.

She writhed under him, and when he sucked her nipple into his greedy mouth, she came so hard that she saw stars behind her eyes.

“Frederick,” she gasped.

He kissed her hard and fast as though he were snatching his name off her lips. Wrapping her other leg around him, he drove into her again and again, his rhythm hard and unrelenting. She closed her eyes as her back rose off the bed.

“Look at me, Anne,” he said unsteadily. She opened her eyes and met his heated gaze. “I want you to see who’s fucking you into the ground.”

Frederick pinned her arms over her head and pounded into her without a hint of fatigue.

He stretched and filled her, hitting a spot that made her eyes roll back.

Unbearable pleasure gathered at her core, licking at the point of pain.

He was ruining her for all other men. He’d already ruined her for anyone but him.

“I can’t.” She thrashed her head back and forth. “Frederick, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” he crooned, deep and seductive. “Come for me, sweet Anne.”

Another orgasm crashed through her, and he pumped in and out of her impossibly fast, his rhythm shattering into something wild and chaotic.

As she clenched around him again and again, he came with a guttural groan, his body going taut above hers.

Then his hips jerked erratically in and out of her until he collapsed on top of her.

He stayed like that for just long enough for her to enjoy the feeling of fullness, his weight like a tight embrace around her limp body. Then he rolled to the side, pulling out of her, and she immediately felt incomplete.

They lay side by side as their breathing returned to normal and the sweat cooled on their bodies. Neither of them said a word. Sanity returned to Anne in a painful rush. Frederick had been suffering when she’d found him by the pool. She’d assumed that he blamed himself for letting Bethany get hurt.

But maybe he was suffering from more than guilt.

Maybe his heart was breaking because someone he cared about was hurt.

She hadn’t allowed herself to think about it—she hadn’t wanted to—but all her doubts came rushing back to her now.

What if Bethany and Frederick cared about each other?

What if they had agreed to be together on their moonlight walk?

Anne had wanted to believe she was only risking Bethany’s pride by coming to Frederick tonight—something her cousin wouldn’t even care about once she got over her crush on him.

But what if she had truly betrayed her cousin tonight?

What if Anne had become the other woman?

The thought sank to her stomach like a boulder.

If Frederick had feelings for Bethany, why had he made love to Anne? Maybe this had been about distracting himself from his grief over Bethany’s accident, and he sought comfort from the nearest willing body. That wasn’t like the Frederick she knew… but he might have changed.

Or maybe he’d been too bereft and exhausted to resist the chemistry that burned between them. Maybe she had taken advantage of Frederick while he was vulnerable from grief. She couldn’t think straight with her insecurities and uncertainty eating away at her.

Anne sat up and eased her legs off the bed.

She heard the bed shift beside her as Frederick rose on one elbow.

She pulled on her bra and underwear and tugged on her jeans.

The table lamp clicked on as she got dressed, and she heard the rustle of sheets behind her.

She buttoned up her shirt with her back to him, but she felt his eyes on her.

When she was done, she tucked her hair behind her ears and turned to face him.

“I should get back before Tessa comes looking for me,” she said even though she knew Tessa was probably fast asleep by now.

“Okay.” Frederick sat with only a thin sheet across his lap. Even through her turmoil, she had to stop her eyes from drinking in the sight of him.

Instead, she stared down at her hands, waiting… Waiting for what? What did she hope would happen? When it didn’t seem like he would say anything more, she walked toward the door.

“Anne.” When she spun around with her heart in her throat, Frederick shook his head, his expression unreadable. “Never mind. Good night.”

“Good night,” she automatically replied in a limp, colorless voice.

She let herself out of Frederick’s room and mounted the stairs to her suite.

After washing away the scent of sex, she changed into an old T-shirt and climbed in bed next to her sleeping sister.

Tessa loved her, but didn’t it even occur to her to worry about Anne—to watch out for her?

She sighed. That was what Anne did for everyone else.

Not the other way around. But a sense of wrongness twisted in her chest.

Tonight was another example of her taking care of others.

Frederick needed comfort, and she offered it to him.

It was her fault she’d accidentally handed him her heart along with the rest of her body.

He told her exactly what tonight meant to him.

God help me, I’m going to fuck you until you forget where you end and I start. To hell with the consequences.

She hardened herself against the onslaught of hurt, doubt, and…

hope. No, no hope. They’d fucked. They were consenting adults, and she’d chosen to be with him, knowing it would be a onetime deal.

She had known, right? Or had she been hoping for more?

No. She had not been hoping for more. She wouldn’t hope for more.

What they did tonight meant nothing, so she would make sure there were no consequences.

If it turned out both she and Frederick had betrayed Bethany, then they would keep their mouths shut and live with the guilt until they died.

It would be their… mistake, their burden to bear.

Bethany would not get hurt over a… meaningless hookup.

As for Frederick, he’d gotten what he’d needed from Anne and would go on with his life, not giving her a second thought. Being dismissed and disregarded wasn’t anything new. She was just Anne after all.