22
Carter wasn’t sure how long he’d ridden his bike around the city. The only things he knew were that he was soaked to the bone, and there was a quarter-empty bottle of Jack in his hand.
He rolled Kala back into the garage and parked, kicking her stand down to take the weight. Carter flopped against her, ghosting his hand across the leather seat where Kat had sat behind him, around him, with him. His hand shook inexplicably, so he took a large gulp of Jack, hissing at the burn. The only comfort Carter took from the whiskey’s heat was it reminded him that he was still capable of feeling something.
He snorted in derision and took another hit.
Dirty fucking liar. Dirty fucking liar.
With lead feet and a body that was disturbingly empty, Carter made his way back up the stairs, climbing the six floors to his apartment. He didn’t care how long it took him or that it would have been easier to take the elevator. All he cared about was getting into bed with his Jack and praying he didn’t wake up for days. He shoved the stair door open with his shoulder, stumbling a little, and stopped dead.
Sitting in a tight ball at his apartment door—soaking wet and shivering—was Kat.
Carter slumped against the wall. A relief that almost crippled him washed down his back like warm water. Despite mascara covering half her face and her hair dripping all over, she’d never been more fucking beautiful.
They stared at each other for an eternity, silent words passing between them: words too big for a hallway as small as the one they found themselves in. Eventually, and with a strength he hadn’t known he possessed, Carter pushed from the wall and began approaching her—slow and cautious—as though moving toward a wild animal.
He was mere inches from her when she struggled to her feet and sagged, wet and heavy, against his door. She looked as tired as he felt.
With his eyes fixed on hers, and no words spoken, Carter pulled his keys from his pocket and leaned around her to unlock the door. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard her take a deep breath of him. He didn’t care, though. He wanted her to. He wanted any part she was still willing to give him.
If he was a dirty fucking liar, then he would be her dirty fucking liar.
Kat stepped hesitantly into the apartment. Carter set the bottle of Jack on the counter next to the coffee mugs that remained from that morning, when shit was still unicorns and fucking rainbows, and turned back to her, shaking out of his jacket. She was drenched and shaking with cold.
“Shit,” he muttered. “You need a towel.”
He made to step past her, toward the bathroom, but she stopped him in his tracks with her palms firmly on his waist, and her forehead pressed hard against his chest. Carter’s breath shuddered out at the contact. He couldn’t move. He didn’t know what he was meant to do. Last time he’d tried to touch her, she’d screamed and run away. He couldn’t cope with that shit again.
They stood motionless. Her shoulders shook with the sobs tumbling from her. He wanted to rub her back or touch her hair … but, dammit, he daren’t.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her hands clutched his sides tightly, the water in his T-shirt running down her knuckles.
Carter’s throat constricted.
Gradually, her hands slid up his chest to his neck. She lifted her head.
“I’m sorry.” Her small fingers grasped at his skin and her breath burned hot across his collarbone. “I’m— Oh God, Carter. I’m so sorry.”
Carter tried to clear his throat of the huge lump of emotion blocking it while she continued to whisper her apologies. With each one that left her, another piece of the punk-ass wall Carter had built around himself came tumbling down at her feet.
“I don’t need a towel. I need you.” Her body shook against him. “I need you so much.”
Carter’s head collapsed against hers. “Peaches.” His arms wound around her. “You have me.” He gripped the bottom of her shirt in his hands. “You always have.”
She bit her lip. Her face crumpled and her hand smoothed carefully over the cheek she’d struck. “Like you have me.”
Reaching up onto her toes, she placed her hot lips under his eye, murmuring again about how sorry she was. How she would beg for his forgiveness. How much he meant to her. Her lips were perfect as she kissed slowly and tenderly across his face, across his eye, his brow, and down his other cheek to the corner of his mouth.
Carter froze when her tongue brushed across his bottom lip. His hands automatically gripped her waist so that he remained upright on his wobbling knees. He wanted her so much. Jesus, would she ever know how much? How insane he was for her?
He bent down, desperate for her touch, and their lips met in the softest, slowest, most sensual kiss. He opened his mouth to her, his breath leaving him in gasps and shaking groans when her tongue met his again. He closed his lips around it, and sucked gently while his hands moved from their place on her waist, up and under her shirt.
His palms slid easily against her wet skin and the kiss instantly deepened with a loud groan from them both. Carter swallowed every breath she gave him, owning each one, and pulled her closer, wanting her to feel how hard he was and how much he craved to be inside of her.
Needed to be inside of her, consumed by her.
Her hands moved to the bottom of his shirt, where she tugged in question. He moved back so she could pull it over his head. Her mouth was immediately on his chest, licking and kissing, nibbling and driving him crazy.
Perfect. Her lips were fucking perfect.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured into his skin.
Carter was suddenly desperate for more of her mouth, her taste, and crushed his lips hard against hers, forcing his tongue inside. She moaned loudly, holding him closer. He pulled at her shirt and ripped it over her head, mourning the few seconds her lips weren’t pressing against his.
Her pale blue bra was next to go. Carter groaned when he saw the nipples he’d gotten to know so well the night before. They were erect and stunning, and reacted instantly when Carter’s thumbs caressed them.
“Oh, God,” Kat murmured.
He did it again. Her head lolled back, elegant and beautiful.
“You like that?” He kissed her again. She gripped his shoulders in reply. Her nails dug into him and he grunted in pleasure. His hands grabbed both of her heavy breasts, roughly kneading the soft skin while her nipples puckered in his palms.
“Yes,” she answered in a breathless gasp. “Please. Please. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Carter halted her words with his mouth. “Stop. You’re here now.” He pushed her hair from her face as it dripped down her nose. “Just you and me.”
He cupped her face, rubbing at the wet skin under her eyes, and kissed her. Her hands held his forearms securely, letting him lead it. Carter tried to rein in his desire—fuck, he tried so damn hard—but all too soon, the fire between them began to strengthen, their passion for each other igniting into flames.
With a feral growl that sounded like her name, Carter bent down and picked her up, smiling against her mouth when her legs and arms wrapped firmly around him. He gripped her ass and groaned when her naked breasts slid against his chest, the rainwater acting as a natural lubricant.
Without any stumbling this time, Carter carried her through his apartment to his bed and kneeled, laying her down and spreading his weight protectively across her. He let his hands roam across her skin, up her sides, across her breasts, to her neck and stomach as they panted and moaned between crumpled lips.
Unable to resist any longer, Carter’s mouth eventually followed the path of his hands, hungry and wanting more of her body. He growled when she arched, and he jerked his hips firmly against hers when she grabbed at his ass.
He bit the underside of her right breast and she yelped before moaning in pleasure.
“More,” she whimpered into his hair. “Please, Carter. More.”
“Anything.” His hand dropped, quickly, to the button on her jeans and pushed it through.
He pulled at her zipper and hooked his fingers into the denim waistband. He waited, suddenly nervous, wanting to make sure she was okay, that this was what she truly wanted. He glanced up at her from under his lashes.
Tell me you want this. Tell me you want this as much as I do.
She gazed at him and caressed his cheek. “Don’t stop.”
She lifted her hips and he pulled her jeans down. He let his knuckles graze along her thighs and calves, and laughed when he got to her ankles and discovered she still had her boots on.
“Sorry.” She giggled.
He began to untie them. “No problem,” he replied, kissing her ankle while he removed one boot and sock, and then the other.
Finally free of any obstacles, Carter yanked her jeans all the way off and kneeled on the edge of the bed, taking her in. She was breathtaking. Feminine. Sexy. Gorgeous. Her skin was pale and unblemished, and looked as soft as he knew it was under his fingertips.
He moaned low in his throat, unable to move, happy to just look at her.
“Carter,” Kat whispered in concern. She lifted up onto her forearms and caught his eye with a dip of her chin. “If you don’t want to do this, I understand after what I said, and did, I—”
Carter swallowed her words with a hungry mouth. “I want,” he gasped into her mouth. “I really fucking want.” His hand slid down her waist, to her hip, and played with the side of her panties, hesitating. “Can I? Can I touch you?”
“I want nothing more than your fingers on me.”
“Christ.” He tucked his hand under the cotton of her panties and ran his knuckles down her soft, naked lips. “Wet,” he growled as his hand traveled up and down.
Kat hummed, collapsing back onto the bed, pulling Carter down with her. “For you.”
As though her words were kerosene on a naked flame, Carter’s fingertips pushed up between her lips in search of her clit. He hit it with his thumb first, and grunted. They both moaned at the contact. Carter’s index finger moved down and slipped easily against the silky wetness lying there.
Closing his eyes, he nibbled her shoulder and breathed against her skin. The tip of his finger circled her entrance teasingly, garnering a sigh from her. The fluid movements of her hips, along with husky sounds rumbling from her throat, entranced him. He couldn’t wait any longer. He slipped that shit right inside of her.
Warm. Wet. Transcendent.
She cried out when his finger began moving slowly in and out of her, right up to the knuckle.
He dropped his head and circled her nipple with the tip of his tongue. Kat grunted, gripping his shoulders.
She gasped while winding her hips around in a sharp, desperate figure eight. “More.”
Carter pushed another finger into her and immediately upped the speed at which they were fucking her. Kat cried out and her hands pulled at his shoulders, hard. Carter closed his eyes and listened to the wet noises filling the room as he pumped his hand against her and feasted greedily on her delicious body. It was the sexiest symphony he’d ever heard.
His thumb found her clit once more, and another finger started to creep up inside. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her, but, fuck, he wanted so much of himself inside of her all at once he couldn’t stop. He kept his eyes on her face as he pushed.
Gently. Carefully.
Kat’s back arched, and a long guttural groan erupted from her when Carter began to pump his curled fingers.
God, she was magnificent as she bucked and thrashed.
More.
Carter’s biceps tensed.
Harder. Faster.
He wanted her orgasm. He wanted to hear it.
Taste it. Smell it. Own it.
“Carter.” Kat grabbed for him. “Oh, I’m—”
“That’s it, baby,” he panted and licked her throat, tasting the salty tang of her sweat. “Give it up. I want it.” He nibbled her earlobe, tasting apricot and candy. “You feel so good around my fingers.” He licked her jaw: honey. “Fuck, you taste so good.” He sucked her nipple hard into his mouth: vanilla.
Desperate for her to climax, Carter began slamming his fingers into her, rubbing and curling and flicking her clit. She grabbed at him and Carter moaned with her when she came hard, pulsing, and twitching, and flailing under him.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he gasped when her body squeezed his fingers.
She crushed her lips to his, whimpering into his mouth.
“Goddamn,” Carter murmured.
He allowed his hand to slide and tease as she panted and whispered into his neck. Her words were low and jumbled, but the shudder in her body told Carter all he needed to know: he’d made her come good. Kat glowed beatifically beneath him. He slowed his hand and kissed across her chest, up toward her jaw. Her pulse raced. She was resplendent.
“Are you okay?” He placed a gentle kiss on her open mouth. She laughed and put a hand to her throat. Her eyes closed but he could see them moving under her lids.
She blew a breath out between her lips and opened one eye to look at him above her. “Carter, your hands are genius.”
This, Carter had to laugh at. He pulled his hand out of her panties and wiggled his fingers in front of her. The skin of his fingers glistened in the light and, Carter had to admit, it was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. Well, that was until Kat took them into her mouth and sucked on them like a vacuum. Carter’s hips bucked of their own accord at the same time that he moaned obscenely loud.
“Oh, God.” Her tongue swirled around each digit. He ground hard into the bed, desperate for release.
Kat pulled his fingers from her mouth with a loud popping sound, and moved to kiss him, gripping his face in her small hands. He could taste her on her tongue.
“What the hell are you doing to me?” Carter growled.
She pulled her mouth away and began kissing his face. “I want to make you feel good,” she whispered. “I’ve wanted you for so long, Carter.”
He held her close as her touches and kisses started changing from soft and wanting to desperate and frenzied, and her small whimpers slowly morphed into louder sobs.
“It was you,” she muttered into his shoulder in between licks and bites. “Oh God, Carter, it was you.”
“Shhh,” he soothed. “Kat, it’s okay. It’s okay.”
“You saved me.” She wept into his skin. “I knew you were real. I knew. Everyone said I’d imagined it, that you weren’t real.” She trailed her pointer finger across his bottom lip. “But you are.”
Carter’s bones dissolved at her words. She understood. Wherever she’d been tonight, whatever she’d done after she’d run from him, she’d realized what he’d said was true. He had saved her.
Her legs wrapped around him, pinning him to her while she cried into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry I hit you.” She smothered his cheek with kisses. “Forgive me, please?”
She continued to touch him while her words of thanks and realization tumbled from her mouth. Carter didn’t stop her. He needed to hear her say all she had to. He needed to have this moment with her. She pushed his shoulders and rolled them both over, sitting astride his waist. Carter kept his eyes closed, with his hands on her ample hips, and let his other senses take over, focusing on every other part of her: the warmth from between her legs, the sound of her breathing, the power in her touch, and the smell of her perfume.
“You held me.” Her palms explored his stomach. “I remember the way you smelled.” She pushed her nose into the crook of his neck and took a huge breath. “It was you. You whispered in my ear, telling me I was safe. I know now. I know why your voice makes me feel so protected.” She dropped her forehead to his and let her lips whisper across his mouth.
He had spoken to her—into her hair—until his voice gave out and the sirens came near. His eyes began to sting under his lids. He clenched them tight. Her hands swept over his skin, up his sides to his neck, and down again, memorizing him.
“Kat,” Carter breathed, unraveling under every movement. “Keep touching me. Touch me everywhere.” His hands gripped her sides and caressed the skin up to her ribs. “God, don’t stop.”
She shook her head, her hair falling all around him. “Never.”
Their lips met again, softly, but with a passion that wrecked him.
“Your arms,” she muttered against his neck. Her hands slid along his biceps. “I feel like I know them so well.” He could feel her nails leaving imprints in his skin when she pulled them down to his forearms, and then to his hands, where she entwined their fingers together. “Strong and protective.” She kissed the crook of each of his elbows. “I was meant to be in your arms, Carter,” she said, the ardor back in her voice. “I missed them. I missed you.” She whispered by his ear. “I’ve missed you my whole life.”
Carter nuzzled her neck, licking the delicate column up to her jaw. “I missed you, too. My Peaches.”
She smiled against his cheek. “Always.”
Carter exhaled loudly, expectantly, when her hands moved gradually down his body, outlining the grooves of his muscled stomach and the hair below his belly button. When they finally reached the buttons of his fly, Kat’s hand cupped him through the denim of his jeans and rubbed up his full length, hard and slow.
Carter’s hips lifted eagerly to meet her incredible palm. It was insanely erotic, having her rub his dick the way she was, knowing he was naked underneath; her hand could be wrapped around him in mere seconds, stroking and making him beg.
Holy shit, he would beg. He’d beg her for anything.
Kat kept up the movement of her hand: up and down, gripping and rubbing, purring and sighing and feathering his chest with kisses.
Carter’s abdomen began to tense. “You’re gonna make me come if you … if you keep that shit up.”
She smiled and grabbed him tighter. “And that’s bad?”
He took hold of her face and pulled her mouth roughly to his, hot and hungry. “I’d much rather be inside you when that happens.”
“God, yes.” She moved her delectable ass so it was resting on his thighs.
With wide, excited eyes, Kat looked down at his button fly and began to pop each one open, slowly, cautiously. Fisting the bedsheets, he waited for her hands to touch, waited for the softness of her palm against him. It would feel so damn good. He rotated his hips impatiently.
It was then that Carter looked at her, and what he saw set every nerve ending in his body aflame. Kat was gaping at his cock, which was pushing readily through his open fly, and, Jesus, she looked hungry for it.
Like, animal hungry. Like she wanted to devour him.
He wanted her to devour him, to overwhelm him, intensely, desperately. But he had to be sure.
Carter sat up, taking Kat by surprise, and wrapped his arms around her. “We don’t have to,” he murmured, rubbing her nose with his in a gesture he hoped was reassuring. He pulled his face back and pushed her still damp hair away from her face. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you. But I want it to be right. I want it to be perfect.”
Her face softened. “We’re meant to be this way. Do you not feel that?”
“Kat,” he said incredulously, kissing the tip of her shoulder, “I felt it from the moment you found me again.”
She cupped his face. “So don’t be afraid,” she insisted. “Just be with me.”
And they kissed.
And Carter lost himself to her.
Every. Single. Fucking. Part.
He lay down, bringing her with him with his hands in her hair, holding her as close as he could. She melted against him, curving into his body: a perfect fit above him. Slowly, and with his mouth still fixed to hers, Carter rolled over, covering her once again, wrapping himself around her from head to toe; their limbs aligned exactly.
Releasing her lips with a quick flick of his tongue, and with a tender kiss to her chin, Carter pushed up on his palms and moved so he was standing at the end of the bed. Keeping his eyes on hers, he removed his boots and socks. His hands were at the hips of his jeans when he saw her fingers were at the edge of her panties.
Without a word spoken, they pushed down their respective clothing and saw each other—naked—for the first time.
Carter’s gaze roamed down her body as Kat’s eyes did the same to him. She was perfect, every dip and curve of her. She was pink. Bare. And aching for his mouth all over her. Carter inhaled a shaky breath, seeing her equally captivated and enthralled by him.
Kat smiled, teasing. “You’re very sexy.”
Carter laughed, easing the nervous tension, before he kneeled on the bed between her legs, willing himself to keep his shit together. He was so hard he ached and pulsed with every breath.
Never had he been so insane for a woman.
He wanted all of her at once. Every part of her. He wanted to make her his. Mark her. Come in her. Come on her. He wanted to fuck her, to lick her, to feast on her. He wanted her panting, moaning, coming, and loud. He wanted her fast, hard, soft, and gentle. He wanted her above him, below him, in front of him, and at his side.
He ran both of his trembling hands across his scalp, terrified that they would hold her too tight if he let them. He dropped them to his sides, helpless, and held his breath.
“Kat, I—I want …”
In a move that made Carter’s head light, Kat took his hand in hers and lifted it to her lips. She placed tiny kisses across his fingertips and knuckles, nuzzling his palm and breathing in his wrist before she held it against her cheek. Her eyes met his and every ounce of air held inside him left his body in a rush, leaving his heart stammering and stuttering, and his knees so weak that, had he been standing, he would have surely fallen.
He had fallen. He’d fallen so hard.
She tilted her head up, her beauty damn near blinding him. “You and me.”
He nodded with a slack jaw and a pounding heart. “You and me,” Carter answered; his thumb traced her cheek. He watched her lie back down and settled on his knees between her thighs.
Taking her ankle in his hand, Carter lifted it to his mouth and placed soft openmouthed kisses around it, moving down to her foot, where his tongue slid along her instep. Next were her calf and the dip behind her knee. She giggled when his tongue came out to taste her there, but grunted when his palms ghosted over her skin, leaving gooseflesh in their wake.
Taking his sweet-ass time, Carter crawled up her body, kissing every piece of skin he could see along the way. Her thighs were full and lush, and he spent extra time kissing and nibbling at those while pushing his nose into the crease of her groin. He smelled, but he didn’t allow himself a taste. He wanted to save that delicacy and savor every moment later.
Kat moaned and grabbed at him and, by the time he reached her stomach and his tongue was in her belly button, she was heaving under him and dragging his face up toward her mouth.
“Carter.” She groaned when he resisted her impatient hands. “Stop teasing.”
He chuckled into her right breast and squeezed her left one. He moved over her and flicked at her lips with his tongue. Her hands grabbed his ass, nipping the skin with her nails.
“Fuck. That feels good,” he muttered into her neck.
She did it again, lifted her legs up to her sides, and rested her heels on his lower back.
Carter hissed and dropped his head back as the tip of his cock brushed her wetness. Her heat was extraordinary. His hands cupped the sides of her face and he moved his lips across hers, languid and worshipful.
Dammit, he couldn’t wait to be in her. He moved his hips minutely.
Yes, so deep, wet, tight, and—
Fuck.
He dropped his face onto her shoulder with a heavy thump and yelled loudly into her skin as his hips retreated. His cock rested heavy and hard on her thigh.
“Carter?” Kat asked nervously. Her hands rubbed down his back.
He smacked his hand down on the mattress by Kat’s head, ready to throw himself under a bus, or a cab, or fucking both, and lifted his head while avoiding her gaze.
He silently fumed, glaring at the pillow above her head. “I— Shit, I don’t have any condoms.” And why would he? He’d been in prison for the best part of two years. Not much tail to be had there. “Kat?” he asked, in confusion. She looked nervous and she was definitely blushing. “What is it?”
“Well, I—” She cleared her throat and started to make small circles on his shoulder with her fingertip. “I am covered, I mean, you know. And I’m clean.”
“Covered?” he repeated.
“Mmhm. And you have to go for your checkups, right?” she asked, to which he nodded like a mute idiot. “So, we know you’re clean. And I trust you. That is, if you trust me?”
She was adorably uneasy as she finished her sentence and her eyes were suddenly everywhere but on Carter’s face. He lifted her chin and kissed her.
“I am clean,” he said, his eyes flickering between hers. “And I do trust you.” He kissed both of her cheeks. “With my life,” he added quietly. “But I’ll only do this if you’re sure.”
She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and pressed her heels right back into his ass, lifting her hips to his.
“I’m really, really sure.”
Carter moaned and shifted back to his original position. The tip of his cock slid along her.
Kat whimpered into his mouth. “I want to feel every inch of you.”
With a loud groan, Carter moved his arms underneath her, gripping her shoulders, anchoring himself, crushing her to him. He needed to be secured to something for fear he would lose his damn mind when he put himself inside her.
“You ready for me?” he asked, stroking her face.
“I’ve always been ready.” She pressed her lips to his.
“Goddamn, you’re beautiful,” Carter breathed when their foreheads met.
He knew he should have said something more profound, but words escaped him. Keeping his eyes on hers, Carter waited. Kat’s hand gripped him, guiding him toward her heat. Once she released him and smiled, Carter pushed forward slowly, and the tip of his cock slipped into her.
They both gasped at the sensation and Kat’s hips jerked. Carter held her shoulders tightly and opened his mouth against hers, breathing and gasping, all hot breath and wet lips. Kat mewed and closed her eyes. Carter pushed a little more and grunted into her cheek.
Kat bowed under him when—unable to stop himself—he pushed harder, sliding farther, until his hips were flush with hers, and he was fully sheathed within her. Kat cried out loudly, and tightened her thighs around his waist and her arms around his neck.
“Carter,” she moaned and kissed his throat when his head fell back in utter ecstasy.
His eyes rolled. “You feel—it feels …”
“Perfect.”
Yes, it was, and Carter could do nothing but bask in having Kat all around him.
“Move in me.”
Leaning his head close to hers, watching her face as it twisted and contorted wonderfully, Carter pulled his hips back bit by bit before pushing back in. A shaky moan rumbled through him at the concentration it took not to pump his hips hard. He pulled back again, her body gripping, and caressing, the entire length of him. It was magnificent.
Running his hand down from her shoulder to her hip, Carter continued with long, deliberate, patient strokes while his mouth began to devour the woman in his arms. Kat was equally hungry for Carter’s mouth. She sucked on his lips as he moved in her.
Kat whimpered, pushing her breasts up, rubbing her nipples against his. Her face was spectacular as he thrust deeply. Her brow furrowed above dark, lustful eyes, and her lips pursed. Carter could see a small sprinkling of sweat on her cheeks that sparkled when the light from the doorway hit her.
Carter panted. He licked her neck up to her ear and pushed into her again. Kat bit her lip before she lifted her hips, making Carter moan. He’d never been that vocal during sex before, but goddamn, no sex had ever felt this good before.
Kat’s head dropped back and her hands pulled urgently at his waist. “You feel so good inside me, Carter.”
“Holy shit.” Carter covered her mouth with his. “Don’t,” he mumbled with a shake of his head.
Her dirty little words would be all he would need to end him.
“Can you go faster?”
He replied with a sharp shove of his cock that made Kat’s breath catch and her body rise. “But if I do, I won’t be able to stop.” He glanced down between their bodies to watch himself move in her. He twitched at the sight. “You feel too good.”
He moved his right arm from her hip and grabbed hold of her thigh, pushing her leg up farther so her knee was near his shoulder. The angle must have been a good one, because the groan that left her was stunning.
“There?” Carter asked in between deep loud pants. “You want it right there?”
He pushed harder and his eyes nearly dropped from their damn sockets when he slipped in even deeper. His hips began to move faster.
Kat cried out. “Don’t stop.”
Carter was pretty damn certain wild fucking horses wouldn’t have been able to stop his ass. “Does it feel good?” His mouth latched on to her neck, where he began sucking and licking.
“Yes. Yes.”
He moaned and thrust twice, sure and hard, making Kat’s back lift from the bed. She held him closely, her nails making deep grooves into the flesh of his back. He wanted her to mark him. He wanted her brand on him.
His hips began slapping the backs of her thighs, hard. “I want …” The feel of her around him, her sounds, and smells were too much. He was starting to lose himself and he didn’t know whether to feel elated or scared to death.
“Anything.” She bit his earlobe, sensing his panic. “Have anything.”
“I need harder.” He released her other shoulder and placed his palm on the mattress by her head. “I want you harder.”
Kat ran her hand across his hair. “You want to fuck me, Carter?”
All he could do was curse loudly in reply. He wanted more.
He rotated his hips and slammed into her. Kat yelled and Carter felt his body start to heat from the inside out, as his thrusts became firm and sure. His eyes shut of their own accord.
His body was no longer his own. It belonged to her. He was sucking air in through his teeth, every muscle in his body screaming for release. The sheets were just about ready to rip, he was gripping them so hard, and the headboard of the bed had begun to tap solidly against the wall.
“Please.” Kat gripped his face and brought his ear to her soft lips. “I want you to fuck me.”
Carter flew upright onto his knees, holding his weight as he pulled Kat’s body flush against his, her breasts crushed between them, gripping her by the hip and shoulder, and began pounding into her, deep, powerful strokes that made Kat scream. She clawed at him while his mouth bit and smothered as much of her as he was able, while the cries of “fuck,” “harder,” and “Kat” filled the room until the walls could barely contain them.
Carter simply couldn’t stop fucking the beautiful woman in his arms. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted this forever. He wanted her forever. He wanted to have this moment on loop for the rest of his life. Her taste. Her smell. The small cries of pleasure she was breathing in his ear. The shouts for more and the sounds of their bodies slamming together.
He gasped when their mouths met again, teeth and tongues everywhere at once.
And then Carter felt it.
Deep in his stomach as his balls tightened again, and his thighs took on a life of their own.
He was coming.
He tried to tell her. But Kat merely held on to him and rode every thrust. Carter buried his face into her hair and grunted in sync with the delicious sound of slapping skin. But suddenly, Kat’s body changed. She became rigid in his arms.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh God. It’s … it’s right there.”
Carter clenched his teeth, willing his orgasm to hold off. This was what he’d dreamed about: Kat, in his arms, coming all over him. And he’d be damned if he’d miss a second of it.
Her head fell back and her hips swiveled, seeking out any kind of friction. Carter’s thumb was immediately on her, flicking, pinching, and rubbing the pleasure out of her. She was so slick. Carter gasped out her name.
“Please,” he begged, biting down on her shoulder. “Please. What can I do?” Carter’s thrusts started to become sloppy and out of rhythm. “Goddammit, Kat, tell me.”
She lifted her head. Her eyes hooded, dark, and full of passion. “Kiss me.”
So he did. With his nose crushed against her face, Carter smashed his mouth to hers, sliding his tongue in and out, fucking her in every way possible. She responded almost instantly. Her arms tightened around his neck, and her legs jerked at his sides as her thighs held his waist in a bone-crushing grip.
“Yes. Yes,” Carter growled, trying like hell to keep his erratic pace.
Kat’s head fell back and Carter watched her take a huge breath and cry out at the top of her lungs as her orgasm crashed into her. “WES!”
At the sound of his name ripping from her throat, Carter’s spine snapped, and he exploded inside of her with such force that he fell over, landing on Kat’s body. Waves of euphoric release crashed over him, leaving him breathless, groaning, and crying out for his Peaches while she mumbled unintelligible words into his sweat-covered neck and shoulder.
Nothing had ever felt that fucking good. Nothing would ever come close. No woman would ever come that close. With a strange feeling of contentment, as he rode the best orgasm of his life, Carter realized he’d been ruined. Kat had ruined him. And he couldn’t have been fucking happier.
“God. God. I can’t.” Carter slowly returned to Earth, not entirely sure all his limbs were attached and in working order. He did realize, however, that his full weight was pressing Kat hard into his bed, and that was just unacceptable. He made to lift off her on shaking arms and knees, but she held him fast, crushing him to her.
“Not yet,” she murmured. “Don’t leave me yet. Just stay a while longer.”
Carter was without the energy to argue. “Mmkay,” he managed into the pillow at the side of her head, to which Kat laughed, a sweet, high sound.
Her hands and fingertips danced lazily across his back. He fought the urge to fall asleep. With a sigh and a small kiss to her neck, Carter slipped his softening body from hers. Despite still being on top of her, he was instantly bereft.
“Damn, woman. That was …” His mouth came to a grinding halt. He opened his eyes, needing inspiration.
“It was,” she finished for him. She was lovely in her postcoital glow. Carter kissed her again.
“You know,” he said, releasing her lips and gazing down at her. “Maybe Donne had it right.” He let his index finger trail down her nose to her gorgeous beestung lips.
Kat tried to suppress her smile, clearly recollecting their session in Central Park. “Oh yeah? About what?”
He tucked her curling hair behind her ear and traced her lobe with his thumb. “About being with someone,” he murmured. “About it being like heaven.” Kat’s eyes closed at his words. “Too much?” he hedged with caution in his voice.
She shook her head. “No,” she replied. “It was exactly like that.” She reopened her eyes.
Carter let his gaze wander from her forehead to her chin, taking in every line and soft edge. He realized that her smile had widened.
“It’s rude to stare,” she chided.
He chuckled at her using his words from earlier that day and rubbed the tip of her nose with his own. “I’m not sorry.” He watched her carefully for a while, looking for any signs of regret. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I mean, about what I told you? About who I am.”
“I’m more than okay.” She pulled his lips to hers and kissed him.
Carter’s eyes closed and he exhaled in contentment. Their tongues touched briefly, tenderly, and Carter’s lips were still moving when she pulled away. His eyes fluttered open to see her gazing adoringly at him. His heart halted for one beat.
Physically and emotionally exhausted, Carter shifted down Kat’s body and rested his ear against her damp chest, smiling when he heard her heart thumping behind her ribs. Her fingers moved leisurely from his shoulders to his scalp. He was almost asleep when he heard her whisper his name.
“Carter?”
“Yeah?”
Her hands stilled. “Thank you.”
He frowned. “What for?”
She didn’t reply or move.
He lifted his head and rested his chin on her sternum. “Sweetheart, what are you thanking me for?”
A lone tear slipped down her temple. She swallowed hard before answering. “For saving my life.”