Page 22 of Sinful Restraint

I let out a forced laugh. “I know I annoyed Rev when I used to tag along with y’all. But I also thought I annoyed you too since you never seemed to want me around much.”

He snorted. “Nah, that ain’t it. Never was.”

“Then why were we friends when you first met Rev, but then by the end of high school and college, you pushed me away?”

Cruz’s jaw clenched, then unclenched, his eyes studying mine as he said, “Ri, I had to piss you off and push you away.”

“Why?” I asked, my voice softer than it was before as I finally stopped crying.

“Because if I didn’t,” he confessed, his voice all growly, like he was internally battling something, “I would have fingered you any time your brother wasn’t looking and fucked you every time your parents went to sleep.”

The gasp that escaped my mouth, caused his gaze to drop to my lips in a way that had me squirming in my lap. His fingers were still around my waist, but damn, I couldn’t deny that I wished he was cupping my ass instead.

“I would have watched you shower when you forgot to lock the door and waited in the shadows of your room while you slept wondering if I could slip my dick between your lips as you drooled.”

Oh fuck.I had always wondered if his attraction to me had played a factor because even in my teens, I hadn’t been blind to how he watched me when he thought I wasn’t lookin’.

“I used to catch you observing me though,” he voiced, tilting his head to the side. “Showin’ up places you didn’t belong and poppin’ up at my house when no one in your family knew you were there just to peek through my window and watch whomever was suckin’ my dick at the time.”

I swallowed. “That was only a couple times, and if you remember, I was at your house because you had promised to teach me to drive. How the hell was I supposed to know you’d have company?”

“Ri, it wasn’t that you used to show up at my place,” he said, my body in tune with every shift he made on the leather couch. “It was that you didn’t look away when you caught me with another woman … just like you couldn’t look away when you watched me with Poppy at my club the other day.”

I wanted to clear the nerves from my throat, but suddenly, I couldn’t figure out how before I professed, “It was hypnotizing. I enjoyed studying the way your body reacted to pleasure, and how even back then, you seemed to know how to please a woman.”

“I ain’t have shit responsibilities, so perfecting the art of fuckin’ was my focus. I was young, horny, and unable to control myself around you, which was a huge fuckin’ problem with the amount of times my dick was hard around your family. You weren’t ready for everything I was tryin’ to do to destroy your innocent body back then.” His eyes dipped lower to the rise and fall of my chest. “Not even sure you’re ready now.”

Oh, I am! I so am!The words were at the tip of my tongue. Heat flamed beneath the surface of his brown eyes, but there was something else there, too.Restraint. And shit, just like he’d told me, I didn’t want him to hold back either.

Whatever was developing between us had been waiting, festering in the shadows of our grief, biding its time.

I shifted closer.

And that’s all it took.

His hand slid along my jaw, his rough fingers tilting my face up to his to get me where he wanted me. The first touch of his lips was soft, like he was testing the waters to see how I would react. Little did he realize, I didn’t need testing.

I didn’t need careful.

I damn sho’ didn’t need him to go slow.

All I needed was him. So I kissed him back, deeper, harder.

One hand tightly gripped my shoulder-length hair, while the other grabbed my thigh, pulling me in closer even though he already had. My pulse was rapid, his breath hot against my lips as his fingers moved to my ass and dug into my cheeks like he was staking his claim and had been waiting far too long to do so.

Our kiss was deep and nasty, our tongues joining together in a rough explosion, as years of holding back burned up in seconds. Everything about it was deep, desperate, and devouring.

A low growl rumbled in his chest as his tongue slid against mine, teeth scraping over my bottom lip while his hands moved, roamed, and explored me over my clothes, like he was unable to keep them in one place.

His hands eventually moved under my shirt, grunting when he discovered that I wasn’t wearing a bra. As his fingers traced the edge of my waistband, it caused me to shiver when his palms reached my bare skin. I pressed closer to him, craving so much more.

But then?—

A sharp, gut-twisting pain shot through my stomach, causing me to gasp as I pulled back from him.

Cruz froze. “What’s wrong?”

I groaned, shifting on his lap as the ache intensified. “It’s not you. My cramps just kicked in, so I’m pretty sure my period just started.”

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