Gold Shimmer (26 page)

F
uck, she tastes like heaven. Her warm, sweet flavor clings to my tongue, and I swallow greedily, then dive in for more, devouring her gorgeous body. I bite and suck and possess every delicious inch of her sweet pussy, loving the pressure of her legs tightening around my shoulders, the arch of her back, and my necklace standing out against the graceful curve of her neck. It looks so damn hot on her.

The moment I pulled her in front of the mirror, I felt a knee-dropping punch in the gut. It was one thing to imagine my gift on her, but another entirely to see it around her neck.

Raven’s hand slides into my hair and fists tight, pulling me fully into the moment. When she arches and rolls her hips, exhaling my name between gasps of passion, my cock grows ten times harder. “Show me what you’ve got, angel. Let it build and give it to me,” I rumble against her before sucking her clit hard. As a shudder rocks through her, I throb with the need to bury myself inside her, but I ignore the yearning building in my stomach and the tightening of my balls. I want her to enjoy this ecstasy.

It’s mine too in a way; I definitely derive my own sense of pleasure from it. As I watch her passion build, I feel invincible. I refuse to think about the pathetic motherfuckers who came before me. Those assholes who didn’t know how to get her off don’t exist as far as I’m concerned. One thing’s for sure, I’m the unrelenting bastard she’ll never say that about. If anything, before the evening is done, she’ll be begging me for a break.

She’s the woman I crave, the one I lie awake at night thinking about. The one whose face I’ve seen on the few one-night-stands I’ve had these last four years. I want her, even if I don’t deserve her. But I also want to really know her, starting with her name. I screwed up my chance to find out on my own years ago. I was too damned lost in my own misery, but she makes me forget about that stuff. I never thought about how important a first name is…until she refused to give me hers, and it’s driving me fucking nuts.

I understand giving one’s word, but what’s happening between us…the deep intensity should count for something. I want to know what she does for a living. Did she follow her dreams? What do her tattoos mean and why won’t she let me touch them? And why the hell is she willingly pretending to be someone else?

I’m so frustrated that I know so little about her that my hands instinctively grip her perfect ass tight. I know it’s primitive…this need to show her we’re still deeply connected after all this time, but I won’t let her leave before she believes that, because once she does, she’ll trust me enough to share.

I tilt her hips and press my face against her soft skin, inhaling her, soaking in her sweetness. I want her achy and desperate, those hips moving so fast, seeking the kind of satisfied release only I can give her. With wicked ruthlessness, I nip at her pussy lips and watch her squirm and writhe. Fuck, I love every second of testing her limits.

I need to know how much she can take before I finally slide inside her, because once I make that final step with her, I won’t be able to hold back. She jacks me up too much. I
will
fuck her boneless and revel in her cries of bliss and my own tightening pleasure as her hot, wet body sucks me dry. I can’t wait to inhale near her neck and clasp her close so I can feel her yield fully against me. She has her own special scent of herbal shampoo and other womanly smells I’ve yet to decipher, but they’re specific enough that once I’m not jacked up with the need to bury my dick as deep into her as humanly possible, I’ll parse them out and break every bit of her down.

With my head swimming in her gasps of pleasure, I ease back and slide two fingers deep inside her. I want to watch her come apart this time, to see her lush breasts bounce with her ragged breaths and rocking hips. I ruthlessly press deeper, and once I find those tiny little ridges, I stroke the hell out of her g-spot, taking her to a new heightened level of pleasure.

When Raven explodes against my hand, watching her body shudder and her cheeks flush with her exertions is so arousing, I apply pressure on her clit with my thumb and keep my fingers moving inside her. I draw her orgasm out as long as possible, for my own perverse pleasure.

The back of my neck tenses and my stomach tightens before I realize that my chest is heaving and I’m about to lose it.
How the fuck did my hips get pressed against the bed?
Gritting my teeth, I jerk my dick away from the mattress edge, eliminating the temptation to rub one out. She’s so fucking sexy to watch that I completely lost myself in the mesmerizing moment.

Taking several deep breaths, I glide my wet fingers into my mouth and watch her come down from her high. She’s the picture of wanton abandon: her arms thrown over her head, pink nipples rising and falling with her erratic breaths, skin glowing. She looks like a very satisfied beautiful angel.
My angel.

I stand and lean over her, kissing her panting lips, sharing in her post-orgasmic bliss. “Not a fluke, gorgeous.”

I
feel like a boneless kitten when Calder crawls into bed and settles me in front of him, tucking my back into his warm chest. Though I’m surprised he’s still wearing his pants, I’m too blissfully content to protest. That was the best oral sex I’ve ever had in my life, even better than four years ago. The man has a magical mouth, tongue, and hands. Everything about him turns me on.

While he folds his muscular arm around my waist, I rest my head on his pillow and wait for my heart to settle back to a less crazed pace.

When Calder’s hand slides to my breast and his thumb slowly strokes my nipple as he presses his lips to my neck, I lift my arm behind me and bury my fingers in his thick hair, pulling him closer.

Calder clasps my hand and kisses my fingers, then sucks each one before pressing his lips to the raven on my wrist.

I tense and start to pull away, but his hold on my hand tightens. “What does the raven mean to you?”

I close my eyes and exhale slowly, then blink as a new song starts up. This one is more recent. Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” is slow and tortured, exactly how the words feel as I tell him about my sister taking her life to save our father from an impossible task of prolonging hers. “Sophie was the fun one, the positive vibe in our house. Losing her left a deep hole in our family that has never really been filled. The night before she…”

When I pause and take a deep breath, Calder kisses my temple, the simple gesture telling me that he’s sorry I lost my sister. His compassion gives me the strength to keep talking. “She told me her wish was to come back as a raven so she can travel the world.” I pull my arm free and stare at the tattoo. “I got this to always keep her memory with me. So far she’s seen quite a bit, at least a dozen countries.”

“So you fulfilled your dream of traveling the world. Did you do it by creating imagery that takes everyone’s breath away?”

Nodding, I blink hard and try not to get choked up that he remembered what I’d said to him that night we exchanged notes. “I did. Pick up back issues of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and you’ll see some of my work.”

“Ah, I see…photography,” he says as he laces his fingers with mine.

I twist the hand he’s holding, turning my raven tattoo upward once more. “Photography credit goes to Raven, so you see, my sister’s fulfilling all kinds of dreams.”

Turning our locked fingers, he rubs his thumb along the script on my forearm. “And this one? What does it represent?”

“It just means to ‘never give up.’” I don’t want him prying too deeply about my tattoos. I’m thankful he hasn’t noticed the scars yet, so I roll to face him and trace my fingers over the word on his side. “Your turn. What does Solus mean?”

Calder tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “It means ‘alone.’”

The meaning behind his tattoo makes my heart break. I cup my hand over the word on his skin and meet his gaze. “But you don’t have to be, Calder.”

Spearing his fingers in my hair, he sets his forehead against mine. “I do right now, angel.”

I squeeze his muscle underneath my hand. “If it’s a temporary thing, why did you permanently ink it to your skin?”

Calder sighs, then runs his nose along my cheek. “The EUC is too dangerous for you to be around. Do not go to the rescheduled fight with Beth.”

I notice he didn’t answer my question, but his response makes me pull back and frown. “If it’s so dangerous, why aren’t you worried about Beth?”

He jams his hand into his hair and rolls over on his back, pulling me with him. “Because she’s dating one of the guys running the outfit. I’ve seen her disappear with some of the security guards at past events.”

“Just like she did tonight,” I muse aloud. When he nods, I lean on his chest. “There’s no way Beth knows. I can’t see her being willingly involved with dangerous criminals.”

“Well, she is.” He looks at me and shrugs. “I have no idea how much she knows about their strong-arm business practices.”

“Strong-arm?” I lean on his chest, tension vibrating through me. “Are you being coerced into fighting? Is that why you’re doing this, Calder? We should call the police.”

He shakes his head and folds his hand over mine resting on his chest. “No, I’m not being coerced, but a family friend was hurt. They put Gil in the hospital for asking too many questions about one of the guys who trained at his gym. Thomas was a promising MMA fighter who disappeared this year after he refused to take a bribe to throw a EUC fight.”

“I remember the announcer mentioning a guy named Rampage dropping out of the event. Was that Thomas?”

Calder nods. “He didn’t drop out. He disappeared. I’d been sparring and grappling with him for a while and knew his techniques, so when Gil ended up in the hospital, I amped my game to get the EUC’s attention.”

I wrap my arm around his trim waist and squeeze. “You’re doing this to find out what happened to Thomas?”

He nods. “In case you’re wondering…I would never fucking throw a fight. Thankfully I haven’t been asked to. But beyond learning about Thomas, my goal is to put EUC out of business before they can hurt the New York MMA fighters’ chance of getting approved to go pro. It’s time New York stopped holding out approval. If they’d just legitimize the sport, this kind of underground shit couldn’t get the traction it does. There would be regulators and a lot of cameras watching every aspect.”

Sliding his hand along my jaw, he traces his thumb across my cheekbone. “That’s why I let my friendship with Celeste continue. While I was standing outside the Carver estate talking to Celeste that day I went to apologize to her, I saw Beth get into her car and drive off.”