Rival

“For someone that hates me,” she started as she looked at me with heat in her eyes, “you are awfully concerned about my comings and goings.” She dragged a delicate hand down her neck, over her breast, continuing down to rest on the inside of her turned-out thigh.

Holy shit.

My eyes had a mind of their own. They just followed.

She smirked as if she’d just won, and I blinked, trying to drag my gaze away from where her hand rested. Turning back around, she walked even faster as she continued down the sidewalk toward wherever she was going.

That’s when it occurred to me that she was alone.

“Where’s Aidan?” I shouted, but she ignored me, steering into the dim park.

Running after her this time, I tore off my light blue button-down and threw it across her arm.

“For Christ’s sake, Fallon, it’s cold and dark. Take the shirt.” I shook it at her, but took it away when she continued to ignore me.

I stuck my tongue between my teeth to keep from grinding them. “You can’t walk through a park alone,” I barked. “Where’s Aidan?”

“Why would I know where Aidan is?”

“Because . . .” I trailed off, blinking long and hard.

Fuckin’ Tate.

Realizing I’d been set up, and even more aggravated that Tate allowed Fallon to walk through town by herself in the dark, I exhaled deeply through my nose.

Of course, Tate probably assumed I’d run after Fallon, anyway.

“Well, looks like I got played. I was under the impression you left a bar with a complete stranger.”

“Yeah, that would be so like me, wouldn’t it?” The resentment in her comeback was thick.

“Yeah, well, you looked comfortable with him on the dance floor.” I struggled to maintain pace and still look cool. She was almost speed-walking.

“Yeah, just like you with the brunette?” she said over her shoulder. “Am I complaining, Madoc? Nope, because I don’t care.”

Bitch.

“Hey.” I brushed off the sting of her words with a casual smile. “I moved on. It wasn’t hard. Just like you did in Chicago, I’m sure.” I swerved in her path and cut her off, staring down at her as she tightened every muscle in her face. “With as easily as you open your legs for me,” I continued, “I’m sure you’re having a great time in college.”

Her eyes flared, and she slammed her hands into my chest, but I barely stumbled. “Ugh!” she growled. Her green jewels fired in anger, and her hair fanned around her face in a wild storm.

“Come on,” I challenged, breaking into a laugh. “You know I like it when you fight me. It gets you hot, and I get laid.”

Her fingers balled up, and I saw her hand coming before she probably even knew what she was doing. Her tight fist landed right across my jaw, hitting the corner of my mouth, and I didn’t even try to stop it. I loved Fallon’s fight. I always did.

The sharp ache in my face spread across my chin, and I pursed my lips, sucking and swallowing the blood from the cut on the inside of my mouth.

Her fists didn’t stop, though. Landing with two hard thuds right on my chest, I grabbed her wrists, trying to still her.

“I hate you!” she screamed, but the flutters in my stomach turned to amusement that I couldn’t hold back.

I burst out laughing, and she went wild.

Her arms flailed, and she tried pulling away and kicking at me, until finally I let her body crash into mine, dragging us to the ground. She landed on top of me, but I quickly rolled us over, straddling her.

She didn’t cry out, thank goodness, only wiggled and shot me with bullets from her eyes. God help me if a police officer stumbled this way, though. This “banter” was something most people wouldn’t understand. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just wanted her attention.

Pinning her arms to the ground at the sides of her head, I leaned in, whispering in her ear.

“What did I say wrong?” I teased, feeling the fast rise and fall of her br**sts against my chest. “You’re not having fun at college, or you’re mad that I called it? Don’t be ashamed for spreading yourself around, Fallon. It’s genetic. You’re your mother’s daughter, after all.”

“Ugh!” She reared up, trying to throw me off, but I pressed down.

“Come on!” I challenged, seeing the tears I wanted in her eyes. “Come on. Admit it!”

Her face, hot with fierce defiance, looked about ready to explode.

And then she screamed, “I’ve never been with anyone but you, ass**le!”

And I stopped. Everything stopped.

The air left me. My face fell. I didn’t care that my heart pounded like a baseball bat across my chest.

What the hell did she just say?

I narrowed my eyes, studying her. She sucked in air through her teeth, glaring at me like she wanted to tear me apart.

“No one,” she growled. “Now get off me before I scream.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“In the two years that we were apart, there was no one else?” I questioned, still hovering over her.

“There will be.” Her threatening whisper sounded scarier than her shouts. “I’m going to make you a distant memory.”

I narrowed my eyes at her challenge, and whether I understood it or not, my dick started to swell, as well. Maybe it was the position we were in, the heat of battle, or the need to break her down, but I wanted to touch her hard.

I saw the silver glint of her tongue ring through her teeth, and I instinctively ran my tongue across the back of my bottom teeth, remembering the feel of that in my mouth on the dance floor.

Her breathing was slowing, and she licked her lips, not wavering under my gaze.

I kept my voice low and soft, trying to reach her. “You act like you have no heart, like you just swallow your conscience with all of the pain you cause. But I see through it, Fallon. The truth is, you want me like nobody’s business.” She closed her mouth and swallowed. “You’ve always wanted me. You know why? Because I don’t try to kill your demons. I run with them.”

Her chest started rising and falling faster again, and her eyes faltered.

“And I never stopped wanting you,” I added before crashing my mouth down on hers.

She moaned into my throat, and I was like a man at a feast. I couldn’t kiss her fast enough. The more my lips moved over hers, the deeper the hunger in my stomach.

More, more, more. My whole body was on fire.

How did she always do this to me?

I straightened out my legs, flattening my body against hers, and moved my hands off her wrists and to the ground. I was about ready to do f**king cartwheels when she didn’t hit me but instead took my face in her hands to deepen the kiss.

Her hot, slick mouth connected with mine, and I kept my lips open over hers to play with her tongue. Every time the tongue ring brushed over a part of my mouth, my dick jerked with the rush of blood.

“Goddamn, Fallon. Your f**king tongue,” I gasped before diving in for more. The ball in her mouth turned me on to the point where I’d probably be okay just kissing her for the rest of the damn night.

But . . . hearing that she’d only ever been with me made me feel a ton of different things I couldn’t analyze right now.

All I knew was that I wanted to be her first with everything now. I wasn’t worrying about her comparing me to other guys. I was only worried about living up to her fantasies.

Which, strangely, was a taller order. I wanted to give her everything.

Moving to lie on the ground at her side, I didn’t break the kiss as I ran my hand down her body and slipped it inside her jeans.

“Jesus.” I pulled back, opening my eyes and looking down at her.

She wasn’t wearing underwear. Just her jeans.

My hand reached lower, finding what I wanted between her legs, and a smile tugged at my lips. My fingers found her center, and I could already feel the wetness at her opening. She arched her head back and panted.

“Do you know how much you turn me on?” My question sounded more like an accusation. “So wet and perfect.”

Mine.

Sliding two fingers inside of her, I nearly f**king lost it. The heat. The wetness around my fingers. “I want inside this,” I told her, pumping my fingers faster.

“Madoc, please,” she pleaded, and I dipped down to trail my tongue along the ridge of her ear. She shuddered and leaned her head into me.

“Not yet. I want to give you another first.”

Pushing myself up on one knee to hover over her again, I took my hand out of her jeans and reached up, pushing the hem of her shirt up below her br**sts. Taking the skin of her stomach in my mouth, I teased it with little kisses, trailing a line down to the top of her jeans.

“Madoc, you can’t.” She took my head in her hands, lifting her head up. “Someone will see us.”

“I don’t give a damn.”

I unbuttoned and unzipped her low-rise jeans and had barely yanked them down to her knees before I dove down to taste her.

It was the beginning of October and already cold as hell, but I was burning up.

Her body was so hot, and I looked up at her as my tongue swirled her clit. I breathed out a laugh, seeing her peek out of her hands.

She was embarrassed, and I was f**king ecstatic. I might be the only one that’d been inside of her, but that didn’t mean that no one else hadn’t done this to her. Now I knew no one else had.

My dick, my mouth, my tongue. She was mine.

I pressed my tongue down on her swollen nub and moved in circles, and soon her hands were off her flushed face and grabbing at my hair.

Her legs started shifting, the left and then the right, and I realized that she was trying to kick her jeans all of the way off.

That a girl.

I shot up and grabbed the hem at her ankles and yanked on the jeans, tossing them I-didn’t-know-where.

“Son of a bitch,” I groaned under my breath, looking down at her, T-shirt pulled up and na**d all the rest of the way down.

I dropped back down between her legs, and she fisted my hair as I licked her length long and gentle and then swirled my tongue around her clit.

“Madoc,” she panted, grinding herself into my tongue. “That’s so good. Make me come. Please.”

My whole damn body was tense, and I was on fire from the waist down. My dick rubbed against my jeans, and I could feel the sweat trail down the middle of my back under my T-shirt.

I couldn’t take much more of this.

Not the wanting her, but the needing her. It was like a fire in my belly having her again, and I pushed the notion away that she didn’t need me, too. She could admit it or hide it, but it rolled off of her like lightning.

Putting my whole mouth on her, I ate her out, causing her to moan more. I sucked and nibbled her, licked and plunged inside of her.

“Oh, God, Madoc.” She threw her head back, her fast breaths going a mile a minute as her body shook. I gripped her hips, and she damn-near pulled out my hair as she came.

And I didn’t nurse her back down to Earth as she shuddered.

Leaning back and sitting on my heels, I dug a condom out of my wallet. Before she’d even opened her eyes, I’d torn open the package, rolled on the rubber, and crowned her entrance. I wanted inside of her before her orgasm finished. Leaning over her and panting just as hard as she was, I reached behind my head and grabbed my black T-shirt, pulling it off and flinging it to the side. I supported myself with one hand on the ground and one hand on my cock, hard and ready for her. She pushed off the ground, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me hard.

I rubbed the tip of my c**k over her clit, and she quivered against my lips.

“Lie back,” I gritted through my teeth. “I need you now.”

As soon she fell back to the ground, she spread her legs wider, and I worked the tip inside of her. Grabbing her hip to steady her, I plunged inside completely.