Easy Little Lick (Copperline #3) (15 page)

Okay, so that’s not something she wants to share.

“Where is your son?” I asked, trying a different tactic.

“In the bedroom,” she said nervously, motioning towards a closed door, “asleep. I was just reading, getting in a little quiet time.” An accusatory expression swept over her face as she held up the small shirt. “Wait, so you went through my car?”

I still kind of felt shitty about that and nodded with a chagrined twist to my mouth. “We didn’t really mean to.”

She was a little flushed, her eyes sparkling with indignation. “How do you not
mean to
go through my car?”

“We were putting a set of jumper cables in the trunk for you.”

She thought about that for a minute, then pursed her lips. “Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s hard to be mad at you for being nosey when you were doing something nice like making sure I had jumper cables.”

I shrugged and gave her a slight smile. “Everyone should have some, especially if your car does shit like it did last night. We happened to have an extra set in the tow truck, so Brannon figured he’d just give them to you.”

She looked up at me again in concern. “So Brannon knows, too, then?”

I nodded, watching her closely as she fought for control of some deep-set fear.

“Can I trust you guys to keep it a secret?” Her words belied the emotion emanating from her.

She didn’t trust us at all.

“Brannon probably told Sophie. Not sure if he’s told anyone else, but I’ll tell the Mofos not to share beyond our little group. I don’t know what your rationale is, but you have kept this a secret for a reason. I don’t want to fuck that up for you.” I watched as she exhaled, a thankful expression washing over her face. “That said, you and I need to get some stuff straight.”

Her pensive look returned, and she shook her head slowly. “Cody, there can’t be a you and I.”

“Fuck that,” I replied, quiet and firm. “There already is.”

“I have a child.”

“And?”

She studied me as though I’d grown two heads. “Well, that’s just weird,” she finally murmured.

“What’s weird?”

“Finding out something like that would send most guys running, not turn them into stalkers.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not like most guys.” I leaned back and folded my arms across my chest. “So… Max, right?” I paused, and then continued after she gave a quick nod. “Is Max why you think you can’t be with me?”

She looked away, biting her lip. I wondered for a second if she’d actually give me something to go on this time. If she’d maybe clue me in a little.

“I’m not really in the market for a boyfriend,” she finally said. “I have a little guy in my life already, and he needs to be number one.”

“That doesn’t really explain why you didn’t tell me before. It doesn’t explain why you haven’t told anybody at the bar, either, except maybe Doug.”

“Doug doesn’t know either.”

“Well, if you were trying to keep dudes away, and you thought having a kid would do it, why weren’t you singing it from the rooftops?” I stepped closer and leaned into her, feeling as though some sort of magnetism was pulling me into her space. I felt her body tremble, felt her yearning to reach out to me in spite of her mild panic. “And, you slept with me anyway.” Her breath caught. “Why?”

She raised her eyes up to meet mine, and her gaze was conflicted. For a minute, she focused on my lips, licking her own. “Because I wanted you,” she finally whispered. “I have for a while, ever since I first met you when you muttered something about Casablanca.” Her words were so quiet that I could barely hear them, even in the quiet room.

“Your name… it made me think of the movie.”

“And,” she continued nervously, “in the stockroom when you almost kissed me. Being so close to you. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What it might be like. Then you came to see if I was okay, and you
did
kiss me. The way it felt to be in your arms… I wanted to be held by you again. It was selfish of me because I know this can’t continue. I have other responsibilities, and I can’t do this.” Her voice dropped to barely a whisper. “But I wanted a little more of you, just for a little while longer.”

I stepped towards her, slowly, afraid that she’d bolt again like she did so many times before.

She stood her ground, though, in spite of her obvious trepidation. Her breathing became choppy, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes grew soft with emotion and arousal.

I took another step, and she spoke, breathy and low.

“You shouldn’t be here, though.”

“Maybe not,” I replied, my voice rough with want as I took another step. Close enough to touch her. Close enough that I could have traced my fingers down her cheek or set my hands lightly at her waist if I wanted to. I totally wanted to.
God
, it was almost painful to
not
touch her. “Maybe I shouldn’t be here, but I am.”

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, feel the blood pulsing through my veins. Ilsa’s lips parted and trembled, and her body swayed the faintest bit.

“I thought it might get you out of my system,” she breathed. “Then maybe I wouldn’t want you anymore.”

“Is that how it works for you? You start feeling an attraction, act on it, and then it goes away?”

“Or,” she shrugged, “I thought maybe you wouldn’t want me… that it was all about the chase, and you’d lose interest. Then it wouldn’t matter what I wanted.”

“That’s kind of the opposite of how I feel.”

All this time, I was moving closer, invading the little personal bubble of space around her. The warm scent of sunshine filled my nostrils, and my mouth watered at the memory of her sweet arousal on my taste buds.

Her eyes closed and she appeared to be drawing up her resolve, taking a few bracing breaths before she opened her eyes. But her gaze was liquid, glossed over with desire.

“I don’t ever remember feeling this way… about anyone. I
shouldn’t
feel this way, Cody. You should go.”

“Do you really want me to?”

Say no. God, say no.

“That doesn’t matter,” she said hoarsely.

“If you really want me to leave, I will. I’ll turn around and walk out the door. All you have to do is tell me that’s what you really want.” I reached up to barely skim my fingers through her hair, grazing her cheek, eliciting a sharp gasp. “Just tell me you
want
me to go.”

“I… can’t…” she stammered.

“You can’t what, Ils?” I asked, dipping my lips close to hers, but still not really touching her. “You can’t want me? Or you can’t tell me to go?”

“Cody…”

My name on her lips, that frantic whisper that caressed my skin.

Fuck, don’t say no. Tell me to stay.

“Tell me to kiss you,” I demanded in a low tone.

Her gaze, hazy and hot, focused on my mouth. Her lips moved at first with no sound. She swallowed again and shook her head.

“Tell me,” I repeated, and then I waited.

“Kiss me,” she finally breathed, and
she
touched her lips to
mine
.

In the beat of a heart, she was in my arms, her arms tightly wound around my neck, our mouths fused together. I swept my tongue deep, brushing it against hers until she moaned down my throat. My hands swept over her body, tingling with the sensation of touching her again. They slid down over her ass, cupped it and lifted her up against me, pinning her to the wall.

Every movement she made fueled the fire inside me. Every swipe of her tongue and clench of her nails. Her desperate little whimper as I pressed my hips into hers, and the increased fervency of her kiss had me feeling almost weak in the knees.

One minute, I had her up against the wall with her legs around my waist, the next I was carrying her, wrapped around me, to the couch. I fell into the soft cushions along the back with her straddling my hips as she threw herself into the kiss.

Everything about her was so passionate, so raw and feral. Like the last thread had snapped and she was tumbling down in reckless abandon, uncontrolled and wild.

Her hands slid down my chest to feverishly work the buttons of my flannel shirt free, opening the soft fabric and scraping along my bare skin. I gripped her hard around the back of her neck, holding her steady as I kissed her fiercely, my other hand slipping down her back and into her jeans and underwear, cupping the luscious curve of her ass.

Our first kiss in the Copperline stockroom had been full of emotion. Her pain and fear made her cling to me body and soul. When we came together up on the pass, it had been new and primal. Searching for bliss in the twilight.

This, though, was voracious hunger. Hers feeding off mine and thereby escalating it. Her inhibitions burned away in a flash, each of us remembering how good it felt to touch the other. Fierce and demanding, this carnal need overcame her, showing me a side of her I’d yearned to experience. An aspect to her nature that thrilled me. It made me burn and ache.

Freeing the last button of my shirt, she pushed the fabric to my sides, baring my chest. She sat back, watching her fingertips scorch down my body, tracing the defined muscles. She lifted her hazel eyes to my blue ones, and lowered her lips to kiss and soothe my skin, to nip gently at my collarbone with her teeth. With each sharp bite, my fingers wound more tightly into her hair. She gasped when I pulled, digging her nails into my ribs and trailing sharp little kisses up my neck to bite gently at my ear.

With her movement, her scoop-neck shirt slipped off her shoulder, revealing smooth skin that taunted me, begging for my lips and hands. The first touch of my mouth at her bare shoulder wrought a low moan that echoed in my ear. The sound fueled my fire, and my hands slid up the back of her shirt and circled around her torso to trace along just below her bra. I could feel the goosebumps rise under my fingertips, and she suddenly drew back. Afraid that she was going to push away, my hold on her tightened, but instead, she clasped my face in her hands and kissed me as though she were dying.

She explored my mouth, tangling her tongue with mine, then sucking mine into her mouth. The motion made my dick throb, making me wish she was sucking that instead of my tongue. This whole time, her hips rocked against me, creating a ferocious, all-consuming hunger.

I reached down for the hem of her shirt, drawing it up and over her head. She wore a simple gray bra and, a split-second later, I had flicked the hooks and had removed it as well.

Jesus, she had beautiful tits.
Round and full, soft and swollen with need. I flicked one nipple with my tongue, then the other, pushing her breasts together so I could go back and forth quickly. Alternating the flicks with long, sucking kisses of her nipples and tender bites around the edge. My hands slid up her back, holding her torso steady for my onslaught, even as she nudged and ground against me with her pelvis. I looked up at her face, soft with delirious bliss, radiating a beauty like nothing I had ever imagined.

Her eyes cracked open a tiny bit to see me looking up at her, and her fingers guided my lips back to hers. After a smoldering kiss, she continued to descend, working her way down my chest and stomach, down to the waistline of my jeans. Kneeling on the floor before me, she slipped the button free and lowered the zipper to free my aching cock. It lurched in anticipation, craving her touch. Her eyes caught mine as she slowly lowered her head. Her breath tickled the sensitive skin as she grazed it along her soft cheek… and I thought I’d die when she licked—long and firm—up my length.

Fucking fuck
… she about did me in right there. Like tasting an ice cream cone, her eyes held mine for a second before drifting closed, her face lost in enjoyment.

More licking. Small sucking kisses up and down my length. Tracing the smooth skin with her fingertips. Everything she did was phenomenal. Torture. Agony and ecstasy. When she finally closed her lips around the head, I felt like my entire body was on fire.

When she had toyed with my tongue, I thought she’d be great at giving head. I was wrong… she was
a-fucking-mazing
.

Instinct raised my hips, and she sucked me inside, pulling back in a way that hollowed out her cheeks, then sliding her lips back down over me. Her tongue swirled around my shaft, feeling its way around the sensitive tip.

The sight of her. The feel of her. Fuck, everything about her converged on me. Sensory overload, and I felt myself breaking under her touch. When her tongue flicked down to graze my balls, I grabbed her arms and pulled her up to stand before me.

I scattered little bites over her stomach and ripped open her jeans, jerking them down to her knees. I breathed in at her cloth-covered pussy while my thumbs pressed against the soft flesh surrounding it.

“I want to eat you out,” I groaned against the apex of her thighs, “but, God, I want to fuck you, too.” She responded by squirming in my hold, pressing her thighs together to ease the ache building there. “Maybe I’ll fuck you first and then you can ride my mouth. I’ll fucking lick you clean.”