There was a different woman stepping out of the restroom than the one who walked in it only moments before. I stood up straighter, my steps were surer, and I was on a mission.
Tucker would either forgive me or he wouldn’t, but I wasn’t giving up until I tried.
I spotted Sophie and Brooke still at the bar as soon as I stepped out, but they weren’t alone. Two men were standing in front of them talking, and I knew, I just knew it was him.
He was standing there in a black suit and black cape. His normally unruly hair was combed back perfectly, and although I knew in the moment I saw his mask that Sophie had set me up, he looked amazing.
“Batman.”
His brown eyes flew to me as soon as I spoke the words, and I knew he wasn’t expecting me to be here. That was clearly evident by the shock on his face.
He didn’t say a word for a moment or two. He just slowly ran his eyes over me from the top of my cat mask to the tip of my booted toes. Chill bumps broke out across my skin and anxiety bloomed in my belly. He made me nervous. He made me feel alive.
“Holy shit.” His voice was a whisper, barely there, only meant for me, and my eyes flew up to meet his.
“Hi,” I squeaked out, having no idea what to say.
He didn’t reply though. Instead, he ran his hands roughly through his hair, completely messing it up, and tugged on the ends while staring at me with a mixture of lust and anger. I could see the two emotions dueling in his eyes.
I looked to my friends for a clue as to what to do or say, but Sophie was pretending to talk to Liam while they both watched us out of the corner of their eyes while Brooke just stared at the ceiling as soon as I looked at her. Great help.
“Look, Tuck.” I didn’t know where I was going, but I had to say something. I couldn’t just stand here while he stared at me.
My voice broke something inside of him. As soon as I said his name, the name I called him, he wrapped my right hand in his and charged his way through the crowd to the back of the restaurant. I tried to keep up in my boots as he took long, powerful strides, but there were a few times that I was sure that I would fall on my face.
The door slammed shut behind us as we made it into the back, and although the volume dropped significantly, there were a whole new plethora of sounds. Pans banging, cooks talking, dishes clanging against each other. It reminded me of how much Tucker was responsible for. Of how much he had accomplished.
He continued to pull me toward the back of the building until we came to a space I had never been to before. He pulled a key from his pocket, opened the door, and then pulled me in after him.
A large desk filled most of the space with a sleek black chair situated behind it. Shelves ran along one wall and were filled with books, binders, and documents. I imagined him working alone in this room. I could see him running his hands through his hair when he was frustrated and him biting his lip when he was concentrating hard.
The click of the lock drew my attention away from taking in the office and back to the man who I had fallen desperately in love with.
His normally brown eyes were almost black and a thrill ran through me. He had the power to completely destroy me, ruin me, but I didn’t want a perfect fairy tale with anyone else. I didn’t need a happily ever after. All I needed was whatever he was willing to give. I needed it like my last breath.
He stepped closer to me, and I took a step back against his desk to help hold myself up. I felt like my knees would buckle at any moment.
I didn’t speak because I didn’t want to break the spell he seemed to be under. The one that was clouding my head as fiercely as it was clouding his. I didn’t want him to remember that I was the girl who ruined us. That I was the girl he didn’t want.
He stopped when he was barely an inch away from me. I could feel his breath against my face as he drug ragged breaths in and out. I looked up at him begging him to do something, to say something.
His hand touched the side of my neck and I jumped slightly at the feel of his skin on mine. That one touch had me falling apart. He pushed me over the edge and I was like an avalanche falling from the top. There was no stopping it. No graceful downfall. I was plummeting down at full speed and I wasn’t sure what would be left of me when I stopped. If I ever stopped.
A whimper left my mouth as his hand crawled up my neck and caressed my cheek. He lifted the mask gently, pulling it away from my face, removing my façade, stripping me of my false bravado.
“You are so damn beautiful.” His words a whisper on my lips.
Taunting me.
“Please, Tucker.”
I couldn’t take anymore. My need for him was a desperation. My heart thundered in my chest.
He threaded his fingers in my hair. Both hands cradling my head, angling my face up to his, putting him in complete control.
He tugged my hair back sharply, but not painfully, and I gasped at the sudden change of pace. He took full advantage too. He traced my lips with his tongue, pulling back when I desperately tried to press my lips against his. His mouth evaded mine and pressed a light kiss against my neck. I was sure he could feel my heavy pulse against his lips. He could feel the quick rhythm pounding against his tongue.
His hands trailed down my body. My skin burned in the path of his hands, the thin layer of leather not protecting me in the least. His fingers bit into the skin of my hips, and I winced slightly at the pain before he spun me around like a rag doll and pressed his front to my back.
His face tucked into the crook of my neck breathing me in. My chest rose and fell in rapid succession. Arousal and fear of what was happening between us were battling inside me. One barely taking the lead before the other would fight its way back to the top.
His hands roamed over my leather costume. One hand running over my belly through the center of my breasts until it reached my chest. The other crept down my thigh barely missing where I needed him the most. Causing me to groan in frustration.
“What’s wrong, Kennedy?” he whispered against my skin, his mouth resting just below my ear. “Do you need my cock or my mouth? Tell me what you need from your fuck buddy.”
His words cut me like a knife.
Deep.
Scarring.
“Tuck.” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to correct what I had done.
“Yeah?” His teeth grazed against my sensitive skin. “Did your last fuck buddy not give you what you need? Did he not know how to work your body the way I do?”
I straightened my spine against him, but I didn’t answer. He knew that guy left my apartment. He forced him to.
He pushed on the center of my back and I let him. He pushed me until my chest pressed against his desk, my ass on full display still pressed against him. He ran his hands down my back and over my ass.
“Did you wear this for me, Firecracker?”
A tear ran down my temple and landed on his desk, but I wouldn’t dare wipe it away. He needed this. This was his revenge. I would let him have it. I wasn’t sure how I would survive it, but I would give it to him just the same.
The zipper of my body suit slowly moved down my body. The sound of its teeth unlocking from one another echoing throughout the room. My body didn’t care about his cruel words. It just needed him. My heart be damned.
His rough fingertips ran down my naked back then he reached his hand inside the fabric, his palm against my stomach. His tender touch betraying his words. He lifted my body back against him before gently turning me around and sitting me on the edge of his desk.
His gaze ran over my lace covered breasts before moving to my face. As soon as his eyes met mine, his entire demeanor changed. I could see the shift in his eyes. I could feel it throughout my entire body. It pierced my soul.
“Kennedy.” His pain was clear.
I blinked my eyes closed and willed my tears to quit falling.
The feeling of his lips against my cheek caused a sob to pour out of me as he caught my tears. His lips now wet as they moved across my skin.
“God, babe. I am so sorry.” His words were broken and so was I.
Tears streamed down my face, but I looked through them to see him. To see the sincerity on his face.
“Tucker, I don’t know what to do. I’m so sorry.”
He wrapped me in his arms, my half naked chest pressed against him.
“You don’t have to do anything. We both fucked up. We’ve both been so selfish.”
He was right, but his sins weren’t equal with mine.
He deserved more than I was giving him.
His hands wrapped in my hair once more, this time gentler, and he arched my neck until my lips were reaching up to meet his. I could taste my tears on his lips when he pressed them against mine. His movements were hungry but reserved. I could practically feel his tension radiating under my fingertips. He was so controlled and so restrained.
I hated it.
I didn’t want him to water down what he was feeling for me. If he was angry, I wanted him to bruise my lips with his anger. If he was hurt, I wanted him to take it out on me. I would take anything he would give me, but I couldn’t stand to watch him hold himself back while I fell completely apart.
“Please, Tuck,” I whispered against his parted lips.
“What do you want from me, Kennedy?” His chest heaved against mine.
“Show me that I am not alone in this.”
I pushed his costume from his shoulders. My fingers fumbled along the buttons, and I had to slow my trembling hands down to accomplish the task. He stepped back away from me before helping me to my feet. His hands worked their way around my body pulling the tight leather fabric from my skin, and I kicked off my shoes instantly dropping me down about four inches.
He laughed a deep throaty laugh when I went from reaching his chin to barely making it over his shoulder. I shrugged my shoulders, and he smiled. That damn smile of his with his deep dimples that I absolutely adored.
With a flick of his fingers, my bra fell to the floor and his perfect smile slipped from his lips and his laughing eyes became feral.
He lifted me, his hands gripping my ass, and laid me back against the desk. I looked up at him and watched his eyes as they raked over my body hungrily. I squirmed under his stare, but he placed a hand on my stomach that stopped my movements and my anxiety.
He pressed his lips to mine, soft, gentle, loving, and my gasp of breath got lost in his mouth as he bit down on my lip. He worked his way down my body, taking his time, and devouring every inch of my flesh. He dragged my nipple into his mouth. His tongue flicking rapidly, his teeth drawing out a delicious ache.
I gripped his hair tightly in my fingers begging him to give me more. I would take more of anything he was willing to give me. Every touch set me on fire, and I craved the next second that his skin would connect with mine.
He took his time, driving me crazy with his mouth, as he worked his way down my body. He gripped my hands in his as he nipped my hip bones causing my thighs to clench. Then he looked up at me, his eyes staring into mine, as he laid a gentle kiss over my panties.
I fought the urge to look away from him, to hide from his gaze, but I knew I couldn’t. Not with Tucker. Not anymore.
He hooked his fingers in my panties and slowly slid them down my legs, watching me the whole time.
He pressed his lips against my sex, gently, teasing, and he stared up at me with fire in his eyes.
“Don’t take your eyes off me, Firecracker.”
He didn’t wait for my response, and I suppose he really didn’t need to considering I had been able to take my eyes off him since the moment we met. He ran his tongue through my flesh, and I arched off the table begging for more. But he was there knowing exactly what I needed.
He sucked my clit into his mouth causing me to scream in pleasure, and it didn’t even cross my mind that there were hundreds of other people under that same roof. I didn’t care who heard me. All that mattered in the moment was him.
All that had ever mattered was him. I watched him as he completely consumed me, and I knew that no matter how much I tried to protect myself, I never stood a chance against him.
He had weaseled his way into my heart on day one, and when I looked down into his dark brown eyes, I knew that I was completely in love with him.
He lifted me from our position on the desk and moved us into his desk chair. He easily maneuvered me off his lap and spun me around so I was facing away from him. The uncomfortableness of my weight being lifted by his hands alone didn’t hit me until after I was already situated back on his lap. Normally, it was the biggest thing on my mind, but with him, I rarely thought about it.
Tucker slid into me and my back slid against his chest. He moved my hair off my shoulder and tasted the sensitive skin of my neck. I worked myself up and down on him, I rolled my hips, and I set the speed. Tucker felt so incredibly close to me even though I couldn’t see him. But God, I could feel him.
“Look how beautiful you are.” He gripped my hair in his hand and turned my face to look at the computer screen before pressing his lips softly against my neck.
I stared at my reflection. My body in control of both mine and Tucker’s pleasure. I watched my body as I moved against him. I watched his hands as they caressed parts of my body that I had always hated, and suddenly with his hands against my skin, I didn’t hate it so much.
I looked at myself in the reflection, and for a moment, I imagined what Tucker saw when he looked at me. I thought about what I must look like if I wasn’t constantly critiquing every small thing about me. If I wasn’t filled with insecurities. For the first time in my entire life, I felt unmistakably beautiful.
Tucker had my insecurities in his hands, and he didn’t force me to see myself differently. Instead, he held me tightly as they began to fall away and I let myself fall completely apart with them. Tucker whispered how beautiful I was in my ear as we both cliff dived over the edge. We clung to each other as we tried to catch our breath, and I knew in that moment that I would never let go.