I shook my head. “Bad things.”
The wicked curve of her lips told me more than anything she could say. The flex of her hips against me said more yet. “Promise?”
I just laughed, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes, I knew. Another long moment passed, silence between us.
The need to see her naked and shaking was too strong. I fought it, fought the need to roughly yank those crimson tights off her and violently devour her. Good god, I’d forgotten how crazy I could get—this was why I’d shut down. I couldn’t handle this. Couldn’t manage the intensity of it. Couldn’t resist how ferociously and ravenously Ineeded, once my libido was pumping.
And holy shit, was it pumping. The way her hands had wrapped around me? So slow. So tenderly.Affectionate—that’s the only word for how she’d fondled me, caressed me. As if to have me in her hands was the single greatest joy she’d ever felt, as if touching me brought her as much pleasure as it did me. The way she’d watched me explode—with proud, eager arousal. My climax washerpleasure.
“Cass,” I said, biting the words out. “I don’t know what to do with myself—withyou.”
“Whatever you want.” Humor dancing in her eyes she said, “Showme.”
Humor, but she was dead serious. I knew she meant it.
I hoped to god I wouldn’t regret what I was about to do.
“Fuck it,” I breathed. “I hope you know what you’re doing, cutting me loose like this.”
My hand spread over her ass, covering it. I pressed her against me. Delved my fingers down, under, between her buttocks and through her thighs. She whimpered, sagged, her thighs opening. Pressed my fingers against her core—even through her pants and underwear, it was obvious from a single touch that she was soaked with arousal. She let her forehead bump against my chest, gasped once, deeply, held the breath with a low whine, and then, when I gently began pressing and exploring and delving around her sensitive center over the fabric of her yoga pants, she sank her teeth into my skin and bit down gently, groaning.
“Shit, Cass—you’re right there, ain’t you?”
She just nodded, shaking all over. “So fucking close.”
I had to see. Had to taste. Had to lick away her orgasms, one after the other, until she begged me to stop.
God, I was crazy with it. For her. I’d held this down inside me for so long, and now that it was out, it was more manic and delirious and frenzied than ever. Reminding me why I’d shut it down in the first place— the power of it was scary, and every instinct I had told me if I showed her the full force of it she’d run, ghost me so fast I’d get dizzy.
But the look in her eyes—I kept coming back to her eyes, because they told me the truth, a truth I couldn’t believe, a truth my instincts rebelled against. The truth in her eyes was that she wanted all I had and more.
I just didn’t dare believe her.
But now, god, now she’d broken the bonds. Set loose the monster inside me, and I couldn’t hold on any longer.
Couldn’t.
I cupped her ass in one hand and lifted her. Pinned her against me, kissed her mouth. My lips trembled with the effort of restraint—all of me shook. I wanted so much, so badly, but I dared not let go all the way. I had to be careful.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and eagerly devoured my kiss, knotting her fingers in my hair and hooking her legs around my waist, keeping herself aloft. I walked her forward, into the house. I wanted her in my bed, but I wouldn’t make it that far.
I set her on the kitchen counter, still kissing her mouth, tangling my tongue with hers. Hooked my fingers in the elastic of her red yoga pants, inside the waistband of her underwear, and tugged both down. She let out a high breath of shock as I yanked them off, peeling them inside out, her black thong tangled up with red pants, and tossed both aside. Knelt on the floor in front of her and buried my face between her thighs—she smelled potently of female arousal, and I got drunk on it, on her scent. Lapped at her, tasted her. Sweet, a little tart, a little musky. A taste all her own, and utterly drugging. I was dizzy with the scent of her, the flavor of her private center, laid open and bare for me, displayed all for me.
She caught at my hair and shrieked in surprise at the sudden onslaught of my tongue and lips. “Ohhh—oh god, oh god, oh god, Ink, oh fuck,fuckyou’re good at that, ohhhh my god, Ink! Yes, god, please—just like that. Just like that, Ink. Don’t stop. Don’t you fucking dare slow down.” She spoke through it, dirty words pouring out of her, an unexpected and arousing stream of encouragement. “Ohhh yeah, oh shit. Shit! You like how I taste, Ink? Oh fuck, you do, don’t you? God, yes, more, more! Faster, right there, faster! Oh fuck, your tongue is amazing!”
She shook, her thighs quaking against my face, abs tightening as she thrashed against my mouth, feet pressed against my shoulders, hands reaching down between her legs to grip my hair and pull me hard against her. I tasted her essence flowing against my tongue, lapped it up. Felt her coiling. Slipped a finger inside her and drew it out, curling it just so. She wentwild, then, screaming wordlessly, and I plunged that finger back in and lapped at her and alternated plunging it in and curling it where I knew she liked it best, my tongue circling and spearing and licking.
She came apart, her screams loud and unrestrained, arching against me. Her voice, raised in climax, screamed one syllable that did more to erase the past than anything else—my name. “Ink! Ink! Oh fuck, Ink! God yes, god yes, oh godInk!”
When she finished coming, shaking and limp, I gathered her in my arms and carried her up my ladder to my bed and set her down. She shook, trembled, gasping. Disoriented.
When she seemed to regain her senses, she looked around. “We’re in bed.”
I just nodded. “Yeah.”
“Holy shit, that was wild.” She bit her lip, gazing up at me. “You are truly incredible, Ink.”
I shook my head. “Not me, you.” I wasn’t anywhere near sated. I needed more. “Not done with you yet, Cass.”