Page 73 of Unhinged Love

“Maybe you should come a little closer,” I suggest, inching my way over to him. All of a sudden, so many things that seemed impossible look different. Like maybe there is a way I can take control, after all. “Just to see how I handle being so close to somebody else in the water.”

“Okay…”

I don’t know if he believes me, but it’s not my problem, is it?

“You have me feeling more comfortable.” And it’s the truth. More than that, I wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t put the idea in my head that I’m strong enough. Nobody has ever gone out of their way like this for me. It makes me want to be closer to him. “But I don’t know. Maybe I need a little more protection.”

He doesn’t buy it—I can tell from the way he smirks—but do I care? I really don’t think I do. The warm, needy feeling in my core is adding to it. That has to be the weed.

“You definitely seem more comfortable.” His hand touches the small of my back, and I swear a bolt of electricity runs through me. I feel like my hair is standing on end. That’s how alive I am, awake.

The water flows over my skin, and I’m finally facing my fears. “Why are you shaking?” Carter asks in a soft voice, close to my ear. Even the touch of his breath on my skin makes me shiver. “You’re not still afraid, are you?”

“No.” And that’s the best part of all. I am not afraid. I don’t know what to do with this feeling, like there’s power or strength flowing through me. I got in the pool, and I’m still alive. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

Not even when he leans in with his gaze moving over my face like he’s never seen it before, like he wants to take in every detail. Not even when his warm breath hits my skin as I close my eyes, and he kisses me slowly. Softly.

It doesn’t matter how slow or soft it is. His kiss is a match that makes a fire burst to life and wakes up everything that was dark. I am actually standing in a pool, with Carter’s arms closing around me, and I’m not afraid. My heart is pounding, yes, but not because I’m scared.

It’s because of the way he’s getting hard. The way his hands cup my ass cheeks under the water while his tongue strokes mine until all I can do is moan helplessly. All his touch does is make me want more. I need to be closer. I need to feel him all over me.

With my back against the wall, he wraps my legs around him, holding me in place with his body. “Relax,” he whispers when I tremble. “Put your arms around my shoulders. Touch me, Elliana.”

Oh, yes. That’s what I want. My fingers dance through his hair while his fingers slide under my panties, pulling them to the side so he can make me moan into his mouth as the heat and theache threaten to kill me. It’s just too much. I don’t know if I can stand it.

“Let me inside you.” His helpless whisper is like a drug stronger than what I smoked earlier, and it could be addictive, because I can see myself hearing him beg me like that forever.

I can only nod, breathing hard and fast, pulling him closer with my legs while he slides his hand between us to pull himself out of his shorts. Is this really happening? I went from being terrified of the water to letting Carter slide inside me, where it’s pulsing and throbbing for him. Where he stretches and fills me.

My mouth opens, and I’m about to gasp when he kisses me again, stifling the sound. He barely needs to move—I’m already so close, so alive, tingling all over. Every touch, every inch of him moving slowly inside me. “Look at you, bad girl,” he whispers. “Letting me fuck you like this out in the open. I bet you like it, don’t you?”

I do. Not just the feeling, but knowing how wrong it is. Taboo. There’s nobody else out here, but the threat is there, and it adds something to the experience. I want to tell him that, but I don’t get the chance before his mouth covers mine again, and he sweeps me up in more sensation than my body knows what to do with. I’m going to burst into flame—is that possible, being in the water? I feel like it is right now, like I’m going to set the water on fire. And it’s all because of him.

He breaks the kiss, and I bury my face in his neck to muffle the moans I can’t hold back. “So tight,” he whispers, and now he’s moving faster. The pace makes me hold on tighter and the water starts to splash. There’s nothing I can do, nothing but hang on as I’m swept away.

“Oh, fuck,” he groans in my ear, dragging out the sound, but I barely hear him over the hammering of my heart. Almost there… almost…

Pleasure ricochets through me and tears me apart once the tension breaks. I have to bite down on his shoulder to keep from screaming—I think he likes it, since he shudders and groans and barely pulls out in time to keep from coming inside me. “That was close,” he grunts breathlessly, then laughs. “How do you feel about the pool now?”

Like I’ll never be able to look at one again without remembering how he helped me get through my fear… and how hard I came while he did.

TWENTY-NINE

Carter

I don’t needto go outside to know it’s hot this morning. There’s something about the way the sun is shining, with an almost hazy light that hangs in the air. It’s not even nine, and it looks fucking miserable.

That’s what makes me shake my head at Elliana when she walks into the kitchen for breakfast. “No way,” I tell her, shaking my head again as she stops dead in her tracks.

“That’s exactly how I want to be greeted when I come downstairs.” She leaves her backpack on the floor by the table, giving me a funny look on her way to the fridge. “What’s the problem this time?”

Eyeing her clothes, I explain, “You are going to die out there in that sweater. I’m not just saying it, either. It is hot as hell.”

She only shrugs, glancing toward the window. “Is it? I mean, I can deal with a little heat.”

“Well, there’s a heat advisory today. Maybe you need to think about wearing something else.”

“I’m not going to wear the slutty dresses Mom bought for me. Those are the only kind of clothes I have besides what I usually wear. Remember the dress I wore to the party?” When I nod, she says, “That’s what I’m talking about. There’s nothing normal. Nothing I could wear to school.”

---