Page 80 of Beauty Beneath the Sorrow
“Is that what you think I’m doing with you?” he quips.
I run my tongue along the front of my teeth, trying to formulate a response that won’t insult him. “Yes.”
“You have it all wrong.” He shakes his head in frustration.
“Do I?” I rise to my feet. “This is what guys do. I’m a play toy. Something to be used and then pushed aside when they’re done.”
Carter rubs the back of his neck, pacing a few times in my living room. “What would ever make you think that?”
Nervously biting my bottom lip, I get a tang of copper from puncturing it. “It was a difficult lesson I learned when I was sixteen years old.”
“Not all men are like that, Lina.” He steps closer while grabbing my elbows to urge me into him. “Why do you believe that?”
Dipping my forehead into his shoulder, I shake my head, trying to indicate that I didn’t want to discuss it.
His strong arms tightly wrap around me. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
I’m grateful when he lets it go, but I know Carter, and he won’t for very long. “It’s not you. It’s me and my own darkness.”
“We all have demons in us, baby. What matters is how you let it define you.”
Hearing his words—so soft and tender—liquifies my insides. I wish I wasn’t like this. I wish I could go back to that day and change that one choice I made that left me with these scars. That event changed my brain chemistry and my view on love. I used to think it was my way of protecting myself, but now I’m starting to wonder if it was a way of pure survival.
“You don’t have to feel pressured to say nice things like that. I know it doesn’t really matter anyway.”
“Everything about you matters to me.” I’m still as he tenderly brings his thumb and finger to my chin. Pitching it between them, he cautiously, but with authority, tilts my face up to his, forcing eye contact. “You are the most incredible woman I have ever met. Any man who is lucky enough to even look at you should feel privileged because if I had my way,”—his jaw clenches—“no man would lay eyes on you ever again.” Then he dips his head down, letting his lips hover over mine. He sucks in a breath, then exhales, forcing my lips to part and take in that same puff of air.
He gave me his breath of life—his oxygen—and it was the hottest thing any man has ever done.
“Now, tell me what happened in your past,” he demands. The act overpowers my thoughts and every single cell in my body. He’s injected into my veins. My insides pulse, and my stomach muscles tighten.
I can’t fucking take it anymore.
I crash my lips into him, sucking in his very essence. I’m addicted to it. I can’t think without it. I can’t breathe without it.I’m ravenous with a hunger for him. Sliding my hand between us, I squeeze his cock from the outside of his pants.
Carter places his hand over mine, gripping my hand tighter over his growing length. “Tell me how bad you want it.”
Without a thought, I respond, “I’m so fucking desperate for you.”
Carter’s arms come around to grab my ass. His strong arms lift me while my legs swing around his waist. While he holds me in place, our mouths remain connected. He sucks in my bottom lip, causing a tight murmur to slip.
Only a second later, he’s carrying me up the stairs and into my bedroom. He playfully throws me onto the bed, but I’m caught in the moment. He makes quick work of the ties on his joggers, and the sound alone makes my pussy leak for him. I overheat, and my body tingles. I frantically yank on my shirt, pull it over my head, and hurl it to the floor. It feels like I physically cannot get undressed quickly enough.
Now completely naked, Carter stalks over to me, stroking his cock. My heart picks up pace, and a puddle fills the base of my satin panties. I have never seen a hotter sight in my whole twenty-six years of life. That might not seem long, but I’ve experienced a lot of dicks in that time. And at this moment, I realize I never need another one again.
“Open up, Lina,” he groans, fisting his cock while crawling up my body.
My back falls against the feather pillows as I spread my legs. He positions himself between them. I drag my eyes across the hardness of his chest and the slightly misted sweat that glistens in the low glow of the light. Bringing my fingertips up to his pecs,my eyes fall closed, and I lightly trace his compass tattoo from memory.
Carter braces himself to the side of me on a bent elbow. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers, rubbing his thumb over my bottom lip. “But I’m not going to feel bad when I tear up your fucking pussy,” he warns.
With a quick thrust that I’m not prepared for, he slams into me, causing my back to arch and a guttural moan from deep in my throat.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” I grit out, squeezing my eyelids shut.
With a sly laugh, he burrows his face under my hair and into the crook of my neck. He wraps his arm around my leg, shoving it into my chest to get deeper. As I fist the sheets on either side of me, my body trembles with excitement as all the blood rushes to the sensitive bud between my legs.
Unable to form words, a short whimper escapes.
