Page 42 of No Apologies
Her eyelids drifted open slowly, hazy blue orbs clearing as they met his. He watched, fascinated, unable to look away as her little pink tongue darted out to lick her lips. He swallowed a groan when the corner of her mouth tipped up into a knowing smile.
“You called me angel again.”
Fuck. He swallowed a curse. He had. Again. And of course this time, here, in his tattoo studio, he could see the realization of what it meant sink in and the cloudy look faded from her eyes.
“You called me that the other night, when you took care of me.” Her eyes left his, falling down to his arm and he tensed as her expression softened, “I didn’t get it then… I’m still not sure I get it.”
She stared straight at the tattoo taking up the majority of his left arm. The one that was proof of what he’d been denying for so damn long it felt like acknowledging it might be impossible. The angel inked on his skin, the one wrapped around a dark figure just above the pits of hell… it was her.
The angel was lithe and graceful, drawn to look as if she was in motion. Blond hair streaming behind her, big blue eyes wide, a slinky white dress billowing all around white gold wings. The dark figure she clung to was less identifiable, just a shadowy mess of a man that made it impossible to tell whether he was dragging her down to hell with him or if she was pulling him up and out of the pit towards heaven.
He had drawn it himself. Inked what he could of it too and trusted his mentor to finish his work. But he’d never told anyone that the angel was based on a real person and nobody had ever put it together. Not even Cash. But when Skylar reached out and traced her fingers over the line of a wing, he knew that pretending it wasn’t his twisted version of them was completely out of the question.
His lie was over. No more hiding. No more denying. She was his angel but he still didn’t know if that meant she could save him or if he was destined to drag her down with him.
“You called me angel.” She repeated softly.
“Yeah, I did.” He put steel into his voice and met her eyes, all but daring her to argue, but of course that didn’t faze Skylar, it never had, and if it did, he wouldn’t be so damn crazy about her.
“I’m not an angel, Colt.”
“You’re…”
“No. Listen to me.” She tightened her grip on his arm, “I’m no angel. I’m a flesh and blood woman. I’m a woman and I have wants and needs and desires. I wantyou. I needyou.”
He struggled with his own needs and desires. He wanted her too but he needed to push her away. Only, this time, he couldn’t. Wouldn’t.
He wasn’t a good man. He couldn’t tell her that she’d be better off if they stopped here, now, and forgot about this conversation, about this tiny moment in time when they’d almost crossed the line. He couldn’t. All he could do was throw up the roadblock that just might save her from him.
“You have a boyfriend.”
“No.” She shook her head, “I don’t. We broke up last night. It’s you I want. It’s always been you.”
He broke. All of his other reasons for pushing her away faltered. Every one of his excuses withered. The final strand of his self-control snapped.
For a split second he stood there, staring at her as if he’d never seen her before and then, in the next, he was crushing her lips beneath his. Taking her mouth. Owning it. Making it his. And God, nothing had ever felt so right in his life as when Skylar wrapped herself around him and kissed him back.
He was kissing her. Finally! Colt was kissing her and oh sweet lord have mercy, he was kissing the hell out of her.
Skylar wrapped her arms around him, trying to pull him closer, refusing to allow even an inch of space between them. His heavy weight settled against her and she moaned at the exquisite feel of him. Her entire body felt like it was going up in flames, every nerve ending snapping as the sensation of kissing Colt Bomar overwhelmed her.
No, he didn’t just kiss her. He conquered her. Dominated her. Branded her as surely as any tattoo he’d ever put on her skin. He was as good as writing his name across her lips and claiming her with this kiss.
Her eyes slid shut as she drowned in him. There were too many sensations to catalog. The feel of his hot, demanding mouth against hers. That strong, masculine scent of his overwhelmed her. His tongue didn’t tease, it demanded entry and when she gave it to him, opened for him, he plundered. He took what he wanted and gave her back everything that she needed.
Skylar moaned when he wrapped one of his fists in her hair and tugged, hard. He fisted the strands and tilted her head back, allowing him complete access to her mouth. Colt kissed her like a madman and she was helpless to do anything but respond.
Need crashed through her system and she squirmed, needing more, needing closer. Her hips tilted up, trying to find him, and they both groaned when his hard length pressed against her core. Her hands scrambled trying to find a way beneath his clothes. There were still too many barriers between them and she needed them gone, wiped away as swiftly as all the others.
His other hand slid down her body, bypassing her breasts and she rocked into his touch. She wanted to rip her dress off and demand he touch every inch of her. Having his hands on her was heaven. But he was so big, so strong and controlling that she was powerless to do much else than kiss him back and hold on for the ride. His big palm curved around her hip as she ground against his erection and then he gripped her, tight, holding her hips down on the chair.
Colt was panting when he tore his mouth from hers. She was sure she was too but she couldn’t hear for the blood pounding in her ears. His lips slid across her jaw, his tongue dragging across the sensitive skin of her neck he’d exposed by pinning her in place. She bit into her lip to stifle a moan when he nipped at her earlobe.
“You keep rubbin’ against me like that and I’m gonna fuck you in this chair.” His voice was dark, threatening, and made her panties even wetter, “That’s what you wanted right? Coming in here dressed like this. You weren’t asking for it. You were beggin’.”
He pulled back enough to look at her and all of the wild heat of only a moment ago chilled inside of her. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting to see on his handsome face after a kiss like that but it wasn’t the turmoil roiling in his expressive blue eyes. He was breathing hard, clearly trying to regain control, and she didn’t know whether to let him have a moment to collect himself or to push him past whatever self-imposed barrier had stopped him.
“Colt, I…”
