Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 9) (19 page)

Rex pulls my hand to his lips and kisses it. “You just outlined the entire last year of my life perfectly.” He swallows hard. “And, while we’re swimming in the deep end, you’re a pretty brave, kick ass girl, and I’ve wondered if there’s a thing in this world that you’re afraid of.”

“Afraid of, huh? This really is the deep end.” I dig my fingers into his ribs, and he bucks with a laugh. “You first.”

“My biggest fear is being tickle tortured by you.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “That and having to come to terms with the fact my family will never return to normal.”

“All ye children of divorce abandon all hope.” I land a sloppy kiss to his cheek. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“Okay, so we share the same big fear. Makes sense. We’re practically the same person in that sense. How about you give me one more? Something goofy. I told you about my tickle torture. And that’s a very real thing by the way. Now it’s your turn.” His fingers strum over my sides, and now it’s me bucking with a laugh. “And you can’t say tickle torture.”

“Okay. Actually, there is something equally as goofy.” I cover my eyes with my fingers before peering between them. “I’m terrified of driving on the highway.” I bury my face in the pillow a moment.

“What?” Rex tosses the pillow across the room and pulls me closer to him. “Is that what all those fractured foot, low tire, a bear might eat me excuses were about?”

“You figured me out. I’m just a big baby who’s terrified to pack eight thousand pounds of steel at sixty miles an hour.”

“Anytime you need a ride, you know where to find me. No excuses needed.” He tucks a kiss just under my ear.

My phone goes off in my pocket.

“And we owe this interruption to”—I pluck out my phone. “My father.” I shrink a little in his arms.

“Why don’t you take that, and I’ll haul up those donuts you owe me?”

I say a breathless hello just as Rex leaves the room.

“Hey, Batter Bits, just wanted to see what you were up to. I thought maybe we could grab a quick bite. That is, if you don’t have any plans.”

“Actually, I do have plans. I’m with Rex up at Mirror Lake.” My face heats. Why the hell did I say that? Am I going to fess up to the fact I’m about to gift him my virginity over a patchwork quilt? That a very fair exchange has been made for a shiny new compound bow? I think not. I
hope
not. God knows my mouth has had a mind of its own for the past few weeks.

“With Rex? Are Lynette and the twins with you? What a wonderful time you’ll have.” His voice lifts with hope as he rounds out his thoughts.

“Um, no, not exactly.” This oh-so comfy mattress suddenly feels like a bed of nails, sharp and hard as the truth I’ve just shoved in my poor father’s face.

“Oh, I see. Uh-huh,” he grunts out a few unintelligible words. Probably something only fathers who are faced with the fact their daughter is about to turn in her V-card understand.

“Isn’t Lynette with
you
?” Another foolish thing to fly from my mouth because it’s pretty obvious at this point.

“No, actually—she’s, well, I don’t know exactly where she is. We haven’t spoken in a week. I’m afraid it’s over.”

“What!” I sit up straight, startled by my own voice. “You have to find her. Talk to her. She makes you happy. And if she’s able to bring that much joy to your life, then that’s someone I want you with for a very long time.” A trail of hot tears trickles over my cheeks. The bed depresses, and I look up to find Rex beside me, wiping down my tears with a grievous nod. “Look, we’ll get together some other time, but I promise you, everything will work out with Lynette. It will. I know this.”

“I wish I had your assurance.” We say our goodbyes, and Rex pulls me over his body and holds me a very long time before either one of us says anything.

“You think we can undo the damage we’ve done?”

I press my face into the warmth of his neck. Not only is Rex gorgeous, but his heart is the size of the planet.

“You were never really all for pulling them apart, were you?”

“You thought it was a good idea.” He dots my nose with a kiss. “I might have, too, in the beginning.”

“I can’t believe how childish I was. I was just determined to find something disturbing about your poor mother. I’m sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

Rex opens his mouth and stagnates on what to say next. “There’s nothing to forgive. How about we focus on us for now? We can resume Operation Wedding Bells once we get back.”

A dull laugh ripples through me. “It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come.” My fingers slip into the front of his jeans. “In every capacity.”

“Here’s to progress.” Rex reaches back and holds a donut between us. We devour that glazed confection in less than a few bites before we move on to far sweeter pastures, each other. A tug-of-war of clothes ensues as we evict every last stitch between us, a first for me. The sun sets over the lake, illuminating the room with its salmon glow, masking the fact I’m blushing from head to toe.

“Your hair.” Rex buries his face in it a moment. “It glows like fire in the light.”

“You make me burn.” It would have been a cheesy sentiment if I hadn’t meant it with so much conviction. Rex takes me in with those speckled eyes in one long sweep, and I feel the heat of his scorching stare right down to my feet. His mouth finds mine, and we explode like tinder, his hands holding my arms open wide. His skin adheres to mine, and we groan at the same time. Rex’s hot flesh melts against me, and my skin quivers as if drinking him down. His kisses drift south as he lands his hot mouth over my breasts, swallowing my nipples whole, and I groan hard at the overwhelming ache he induces in me. Rex spends hours loving me that way. It feels as if time had given up, simply ceased in honor of what the two of us are experiencing. His mouth trails to my belly, and he twirls his tongue in it a moment before looking up at me. That dirty frat boy grin of his blossoms from ear to ear then dissipates as quick as it came as he presses my knees apart and sinks farther down the bed.

“It looks like I finally get something sticky sweet that I’m happy to stick my tongue in,” he says it flat. Matter-of-factly.

I gasp and cage him in with my knees without meaning to. “That’s what I said to you the first time you did a delivery with me, only we were talking about donuts.”

“We’re not talking about donuts anymore unless you have one stashed somewhere in your body.” That dirty grin comes and goes once again.

My chest palpitates at the prospect of what’s about to happen. My breathing grows erratic, and I’m slowly deafened by the thumping shooting through my ears.

“I might have a donut stashed somewhere creative.” I swallow hard. “Maybe you should do a thorough search and see what you come up with.”

A dark laugh strums through him, and he thrusts himself back up to my lips to offer up a kiss. “That’s why I love you.”

“You do not either.” A laugh gets caught in my throat, and my entire body singes at the prospect of Rex having such strong feelings about me.

“I do.” A strangled moment drifts by as our eyes lock, and we try to work out with our hearts what the words really mean. “You don’t have to believe me.” He gives a little wink. “It’s true.” Rex sinks back down on the mattress, landing his hot mouth over that tense knot that’s been building in me all day for him, and my body bucks right off the bed. A cry gets lost in my throat as Rex does a thorough and heated search for any hidden contraband. Rex licks every last inch of me. He runs his tongue with fever pitch until I’m clawing at the sheets, at his shoulders. He takes his time and brings me to the brink as my body spasms in deep convulsive waves, stronger than anything he’s ever elicited in me before. My knees lock over him as a hard moan evicts from me. Rex swims back up and lands his mouth over mine, kissing me slowly, making me taste the sticky sweet of my own body.

“I do love you,” he says it in a searing whisper right over my lips. “Was that good?”

“Yes.” I bury my face in his neck a moment. My heart lets out a few baritone thumps. I pull back and get lost in Rex Toberman’s eyes. This is it. The moment I’ve been thinking about nonstop for the last few weeks solid.

From seemingly nowhere, he holds up a condom for me to see. “Are you okay with this?”

“Yes.” I sit up on my elbows and watch as he rolls it on over his long, hard protrusion. My body pounds with a heady level of excitement that I’m pretty sure could kill me if it wanted to. For a brief moment, I try to remember all of the tricks and seemingly dangerous positions those articles suggested. I’ve memorized
Cosmo’s
kinky suggestions like they were Bible verses, poured over hours of perverse footage as if grad school depended on it. But this is the real deal. God, I should have made Cassidy and Piper give me a play-by-play of what this would feel like. Obviously, Daisy was no help. Her advice to me was so banal my mother could have spouted it.
Do what comes naturally
. That might be a nice sentiment to stitch on a pillow, but there’s nothing natural looking about that glistening ribbed condom strapped over Rex’s throbbing fifth limb.

“I’ll try not to hurt you.” He presses a kiss to my ear.

“I’ll try not to bleed so much.” Words every guy longs to hear just before penetration.

“Okay,” he grunts with a quick laugh. Rex guides himself to the entry of my body while I stare up at the wall of his chest. I’m not sure why I thought his face would be right here next to mine, experiencing this entire horror with me. I claw at his firm abs a moment like a nervous child. “Is it in yet?”

Rex swoops down until his eyes are just a little over mine. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Yes, totally.” I give his thigh a swat. “You’re just taking forever, that’s all.” Crap. I’m pretty sure bitching at a guy before he deflowers you is never a good idea. Tears start to come to our little pornographic party, and I blink them away. What kind of idiot cries her first time?

Rex glides down again and lands a sweet molten kiss to my lips. His lashes flutter over my cheek, making me giggle, and I turn my face away.

“What are you doing?”

“Making you laugh so you can relax.” Rex pulls me in close until our naked stomachs touch, and my skin swims in the sensation. “If you want, we can stop.” He grimaces. “I’ll jack off in the shower, and if you’re good, I’ll let you watch.”

“Don’t make me spank you. I want you in me now, Toberman.” I lie on my back and part my knees, bracing myself as if I’m about to be hacked in two by a power tool. “I’m ready.” My gaze stiffens over the ceiling.

“This isn’t a war. I’m not going in for battle.”

A strangled laugh escapes my chest, and I pull his stubbled cheeks toward mine. “That’s why I love you.”

“You do not.” His brows dip down into a seductive, sharp V.

“I do, too, and I don’t really care if you believe me.” I bite down over my bottom lip. “How does it feel to have your own words thrown back at you?”

“As long as they start with I love you, I don’t really care what follows.” Rex and I make love with our mouths, with kisses that defy gravity, time, and space. He pulls his body over mine, and this time I navigate him to where he needs to be. Rex presses in slowly, initiating a burn I hadn’t accounted for. A pressure builds inside me as he continues to push his way inside. He groans as he slowly tears and rips until there is no farther to travel.

I suck in a sharp breath, digging my nails into his back, and Rex holds me like that a good long while with his chest walloping over mine as if our hearts were high-fiving.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you, too.” He bows down, landing a kiss over my forehead before rocking over my body with a slow and steady pace. I had envisioned my first time happening in many ways over the last few years. First, with a faceless boyfriend, then with Duncan, then with a faceless frat boy, an entire string of faceless frat boys, but not once did it involve something beautiful, something spiritual yet tangible. It never once involved a thing called love. Rex gave me everything I wanted and then some. In this imperfect world, we accidentally stumbled upon something people often strive for and never achieve,
perfection
.

A
ll night Scarlett
and I wrestle it out. Scarlett Kent is as impressive on the mattress as she is off. We fall asleep with her curled in my arms, her tiny body dwarfed in mine. The last thing I remember is burying a kiss into the back of her hair and tumbling into a seamless slumber in which my bones, my mortal soul, find unspeakable rest in. It’s as if with Scarlett here with me, I’ve finally found that fabled place I’ve been chasing ever since my parents split up, home.

In the morning, a seam of sunlight cuts through my lids, forcing me to land a pillow over my head. My arm rakes over the bed to find Scarlett and come up empty.

I sit up, groggy, to find her walking back to bed in my dress shirt, unbuttoned down the front, looking sexier than anything I’ve ever laid eyes on in my life.

“Morning, Goober.” She lands on the bed and swats me lightly with my pillow.

“Morning, Muffin Top.” I try to pull her over by the fingertips, but she lets me slip through her hands.

“Don’t be mad.”

“What?” I glance around, trying to scrap for anything that I might be angry about. “Why would I be mad? Did you set the kitchen on fire?”

She averts her eyes with that smirk I’ve grown to love. “I know my way around a fifteen thousand BTU burner, Toberman.” She winces. “But I guess I don’t know my way around a bed.” She pulls back the comforter to reveal a trail of bloodstains on the pristine white sheets.

“Shit, are you okay? Did you start your period?”

“I’m fine—mostly. And no to Aunt Flo. This is actually a marker of yet another milestone in my life, the end of my innocence.” She falls into my arms as she says those last few words, and despite the gore, there is something decidedly poetic about it. “In the Middle Ages, this would have served as valuable evidence of my virginity. Of course, we would have presented it to your parents as exhibit A, and in return, I would have received my full dowry.”

I groan, pulling her up until she’s seated between my thighs. “So, what are we looking at? A goat and three pigs? Maybe a couple of wool blankets?”

“Ha!” She takes a generous bite out of my shoulder. “You wish. Try a stable full of stallions and a herd of llamas. A treasure trove of emeralds to match my eyes and a pearl necklace just because I look good in it.” She gives a sly wink, and we share a deep, warm laugh.

“You’re not kidding about the emeralds.” I kiss each of her lids in turn. “You are so fucking beautiful.” I wrap my arms around her tight and get lost in the sound of her breathing for a moment. “But you’re worth more than a few horses and llamas. We’d probably have to beef up the dowry with a few bows and arrows. You into any other sports I’m not aware of?”

“Oh, wow, let’s see.” She rakes her nails over my chest and looks up at me with those cut glass eyes. Emeralds should be envious of Scarlett’s eyes. “I could easily kick your ass in tennis, basketball, and track. I might even give you a run for your money on the football field.”

“Oh, really?” My chest strums with the laugh. I pull her high onto my lap until my growing hard-on lands against her thigh. As much as my hand begs to wander down south, I won’t let it. I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have. I’ve been injured enough times to know that blood usually indicates pain. The last thing I want is for Scarlett to have to tough it out for my sake. That’s not what this is about. It’s about us. “Maybe we should get a few teams together from the Black Bear. Girls against guys.”

“And this will be touch football, I take it?” She spreads her palms wide over my chest, and I growl in response to the feel-good sensation.

“It’s always touch when it comes to you and me.”

“So?” She straddles my hips on either side, her tits swaying in front of me like the proverbial dangling carrot. “You up for round two?” Her finger glides down my chest until she clasps her hand around my dick and glides over it with ease.

I suck in a hard breath through my teeth. “How about we take a shower and go out and shoot for a while? I want to give you a little break.” My lips find hers and indulge in a lazy kiss. “But not a long a break.”

“Okay to the shower.” She wrinkles her nose, pulling me off the bed and toward the bathroom. “But we’re not taking a break. At least not you.”

Scarlett runs the water and strips off her shirt. Her perfect body glows incandescent in the early morning light. Her nipples blush a deep shade of crimson that matches her hair and that triangular shadow at the base of her hips. I help her step into the shower, and we let the water rinse off the night’s sweat, the ripe scent of one another’s bodies. Scarlett’s mouth covers mine with an aching hot kiss that I drink down to the dregs as we try to make it last forever. I take my time shampooing her hair, running my tongue over her neck, her chest, sucking down each of her sweet tits. Scarlett drops to her knees and lands her mouth over my hard-on. It takes less than five minutes for those honey lips to take me where I need to be. I don’t know how I lived without Scarlett Kent in my life or why it took so long to appreciate how amazing she is. One thing I know for sure is, we are never going back to that desolate place. From here on out, it’s Scarlett and me, together for all time. I don’t see a future without her. I don’t see my next breath without her by my side.

* * *

T
he Black Bear
has felt like a second home ever since I landed at Whitney Briggs. It’s a place I hang out at with Jet and Owen, and Cade now that I know him better. It’s a place where the team comes to chill after a game and hook up with both cheerleaders and sorority girls alike. But mostly it’s been a place where I’ve spent the last year eyeing the daughter of the man my mother was dating, wondering why in the hell fate twisted its crooked finger and took Scarlett off the short list of girls I wanted to land by my side. There was no way in hell I ever thought we could work after the forced family our parents tried to shove us into. But tonight, everything between Scarlett and me will officially be out in the open. After four blissful days of playing honeymoon up at the cabin, we’ve decided to let our friends in on the fact they’d better get used to seeing us together because we’re not going anywhere. Scarlett said she’d meet me here with her friends, which is a typical Friday night for them so no one will suspect anything unusual.

“Dude”—Jet slaps me five as I meet him and Owen at our usual table—“you’ve been a ghost. I was starting to think the worst.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” I slap Owen five before taking a seat.

“I thought some chick had you tied up with her ponytail, making you live off popcorn and pussy.”

“You’re sick.” I wad up a napkin and toss it at him.

Cade comes over with a round of beers and takes a seat at the table. “So, where are the girls?”

“Jet scared them all away.” I kick his foot out from underneath him. “But they’ll be back. Scarlett says they’re almost here.”

Owen straightens a moment. “
Scarlett
says? I thought you couldn’t stand that chick?”

“I can stand her.” And sit her and spin her. A goofy grin takes over, and I don’t bother to stop it.

“That’s where you were.” Jet nods like the know-it-all he is. “So, is she good?” That chiding look lets me know he’s just trying to crawl under my skin.

“As good as your mother.”

Jet pulls his fist up and grunts out a smile. “Dude, you are lucky that I like you.”

Owen shakes his head. “He’s not lucky. He just slept with the girl who’s about to become his stepsister. In the event you need the Cliff notes, this doesn’t end well.”

“Why doesn’t it end well?” I suck the foam off my beer in one easy swoop.

Cade groans as if the idea alone pained him. “You’re too close to the wall. Back up and you’ll see the writing. Once your parents tie the knot, you can’t escape her. This is a lifetime of seeing one another. And if it ends badly, it’s a life sentence you can’t get out of. There are so many other fish in the sea.” His cheeks puff up as he blows a slow breath. “Where do you think you are?”

“We’re solid.” I glare at Jet a moment who’s busy giving me the finger with a grin. Sometimes, Jet feels more like my brother than Knox does. “Don’t you have a tattoo to fuck up somewhere?”

He nods at someone over my shoulder. “Not tonight. I’ve got front row tickets to the Rex Toberman takedown event. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

I glance back in time to see Scarlett land a soft peck to my lips. Nobody said subtlety was her strong suit.

Cade lifts his brows in amusement. “So, this is happening?”

“What’s happening?” Cassidy and Piper flank Cade on either side.

Scarlett sinks onto my lap, and their jaws root to the floor.

I lean in and whisper, “I take it you didn’t tell them.”

“I’m much better at show than I am tell.”

“Well, look at this”—Cassidy digs her fists into her hips, looking equally livid and amused—“it looks like we’ve got a case of homemade sin brewing hotter than sweet tea.”

Piper grunts, “This fling official? No more closet dry humping?”

“Crap,” I whisper. Leave it to Cade’s sister to say what’s on her mind and then some.

“Nope.” Scarlett wraps her arms around my neck while beaming up at her friends. “We’ve moved on to the real deal.”

“I knew it!” Cassidy screeches so loud her voice howls over the riotous music. “You went on that getaway to Mattress Lake, and you let that boy go cherry picking!”

Scarlett moans as if she might be sick.

“Mirror Lake,” I correct, but no one seems to hear.

“Oh my shit!” Piper grunts it out while eyeing me as if I just hacked off Scarlett’s ruby locks. “You took her virginity!”

Fuck. I glance around to see if an angry mob is growing. I shoot a pleading glance to Jet and Owen.

“Relax.” Owen pulls Piper in, and she conforms to his body. “He didn’t hurt anyone. Besides, this is what they want.”

Cade nods as if agreeing, but that frown is still plastered to his face. “It’s what they both wanted. Make it last, you two.” He offers a knuckle bump before heading back to the bar with Cassidy in hot pursuit.

The band starts in on a slow song, and Piper evicts Owen from his seat as they head to the dance floor.

“You want to do this?” I take a quick nip of Scarlett’s ear, and she jumps to her feet, taking me with her.

Jet stands and pulls me in, pretending to sock my gut. “If you’re happy, I’m happy. I’ll catch you later.”

“Where are you off to?”

“I’ve got a tattoo to fuck up.” He gives a sly wink as he heads for the door. Jet knows I didn’t mean it. He’s the best tattoo artist on the East Coast as far as I’m concerned.

Scarlett leads me by the fingers to the beating heart of the dance floor. I wrap my arms around her, and we begin to sway to the lethargic rhythm. Her perfume sways around us like a poem. I can get lost in Scarlett for a thousand years if she’d let me. And even then, it wouldn’t be enough. She hikes up on her heels and touches her lips to my ear.

“I checked in with my dad again. He’s pretty down.”

“You think it’s too late to save the day?”

“Never say never.” She shrinks a little in my arms, her bottom lip tugging to the side. “I even enlisted Sabrina to help.”

“Desperate times call for desperate sisters. I’ll talk to my mom in the morning. Maybe we should take them out to dinner. I’m pretty sure we can straighten this whole mess out before dessert.”

“I’m glad you think so. I just want to see my father happy again.”

“I know.” I press a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I want that, too.” My eyes close as we rock slowly to the music. I never thought for a minute Scarlett and I would be the obstacle that threw my mother and Bradley off course. I thought for sure all of those skeletons in my mother’s closet would be the ones to derail her impending romantic future. If my mother truly wants happiness, I think she needs to come clean as much as Scarlett and I do.

I’ll talk to her in the morning, all right.

She just won’t like what I have to say.

* * *

A
fter a long night
at the Black Bear, our group disbands, and I head back to the house alone. Scarlett said she wanted to change before she came over, and I’ve been walking on air ever since, tidying up, making sure my boxers aren’t strewn around like confetti. Cade and I use the same housekeeping service, so the place is usually spotless, but since this will be my first night at the house with Scarlett spending the night, I want it to be extra special. Our crew of friends down at the Black Bear bounce through my mind. Not only do I feel lucky to have Scarlett in my life, but I’m feeling pretty stoked to know the entire lot of them. It’s pretty cool the way we’re breaking off into pairs—and happy about it at that. I feel bad for Jet now that he’s the odd man out. Owen has Piper, Cade has Cassidy, and I have Scarlett. It feels nice to know that Scarlett and I fit so well, not only with each other, but within the neat matrix of couplings. Come to think of it, there’s an odd girl out of the mix, too—Daisy. I’ll have to ask Jet what he thinks of her. She’s a beautiful girl, and Jet’s a great guy. Suddenly, I feel like a matchmaker—which is usually Owen’s specialty.