Page 42 of Lessons in Falling
Caden,she complained, and the sound was dangerously close to another moan.Dangerously close to driving me completely and utterly out of my mind.Especially after we’d had to be so quiet here.
I’m so proud of you,I whispered against her neck, leaving one kiss, then another, and trailing all the way up until my face hovered in front of hers.Look at you, looking out for yourself.Saying no to your friends earlier, now grinding against me.I’mso proud of you,I repeated, more of a groan than anything else.
She writhed in my arms, searching for more friction, trying to find any part of me underwater to give her what she wanted.When I pressed a kiss to her forehead, my thumb finally finding her clit and two fingers driving into her, she fell apart against me.
Valentina’s head crashed to my shoulders, burying itself in the crook of my neck.She tried to kiss me, sucked and nibbled my skin whenever her lips didn’t part in moans that became progressively louder.Neverloud, but louder than I’d heard them in a while.Loud enough to draw encouraging noises out of my mouth, too.
I was honest-to-God going to explode in my shorts just getting her off.Just feeling her clench around my fingers, grinding her hips against mine.Hearing her pant before whispering my name into my skin, like a forbidden prayer.
Over, and over, and over again.
On the chair behind us, my phone rang.The shrill sound echoed through the backyard, but it seemed Valentina didn’t have half a mind to notice, and I didn’t care at all.About anything but the girl in my arms, about to come for me.
Her hips started moving against my fingers, pushing me deeper, increasing my thumb’s friction against her.Her head fell back, and my lips found themselves on her neck again.Trailed down to her chest, and pushed the triangle of fabric covering her breasts to one side.That’s it,I groaned into her skin, seriously struggling to keep myself in check when my mouth puckered around her nipple.Be a good girl and take what you need from me.
And Valentina rode herself to orgasm on my fingers.
Fuck,she panted, head back on my shoulder, chest rising and falling rapidly against me.Caden—fuck.
I’m going to need a minute,I confessed.I swallowed thickly, my nose buried in her hair, that still smelled like vanilla and salt andher.
I sighed, but it was more of an exhausted, frustrated groan.My fingers slipped out of her, and she breathed a satisfied sound against my shoulder.
When she accidentally moved her hips against me, I feared I might actually just come.For the sake of every other person still wanting to use this pool, I held back.Ground my teeth together and prayed for my cock to stop twitching against her core, pressed against me again, now that my hand was gone.
Valentina, of course, grinned triumphantly.
Don’t tell me you’re close,she gasped, scandalized.Caden Callahan, the same guy who kept me busy forhours.No way—Her taunts turned into a surprised squeal when I lifted her out of the water, onto the edge of the pool.I needed to get out of here before I threw my reason and common sense to hell.
My hands slid from her waist down her thighs, drops of water shimmering on her skin in the light of the setting sun.It’s different now,I tried to explain.
Her head tilted.I could get used to seeing her like this, looking down on me with the faintest blush on her cheeks.Her chest was still heaving.She still wasn’t wearing anything, and had just put her bikini top back in place.
Is it?she asked, watched as I climbed the ladder out of the pool right beside us.Without thinking about it, she got up once I was out.Why?
Good fucking question.
I considered it as I walked her backward onto the lounge chair.Watched her cautiously sit, interlace our hands, and pull me down to her, until I hovered over her again.
She’d always been pretty—her lips had been just as kissable, her hair just as pullable, her eyes just as big and beautiful.The dips and curves of her body had always intrigued me, but somethingwasdifferent.
Something that made me want to study her, know her fully inside and out—what made her laugh, what made her cry, what made her a begging mess underneath me.I didn’t just want to enjoy her, I wanted to figure her out.
And that was fucking terrifying, wasn’t it?
Hm?Valentina pushed.Not just her question, but her hips against mine, arching her back, ready for round two, it seemed.Her lids were heavy, the way she blinked up at me slow.What makes this different, Caden?
Delicious, the way she said my name.
Nothing,I said, then reconsidered.Everything.I shook my head.I don’t know.And fortunately, my phone started ringing again, keeping any follow-up questions at bay.It was the third time since we’d gotten into the pool.
My breath shuddered in my throat when I looked from the device back to her.I’m just going to take this, get myself under control, and we can finish what we started.To make it worth your while.Right now, I didn’t think I’d last three minutes inside her.
Valentina grinned knowingly and nodded.I guess anticipation is our thing, huh?
I guess it was.
Leaving her behind—naked and ready—was almost painful.But I grabbed my phone from the next chair and hurried inside, hoping some distance might clear my mind.Right now, she was playing on a loop:
