Headstrong (35 page)

“So I just use my mouth?” she asked, trying to downplay her mounting nerves.

“Well, not
just
your mouth. It’s not a porno.” He laughed, kind. “Oh God. You don’t have to deep-throat me or anything.”

“What then?”

“Hold me, like you are now. Stroke me. Use your mouth on my head, or as far as it’s comfortable for you. Suck me or lick me or whatever you like. Have fun. Just treat me like I’m the most delicious thing in the world.”

“Maybe you are,” she said flirtatiously, relieved about the mechanics. She thought of the flock of cute, tattooed Wellington girls who’d kill to be in her position right now, and the gloating satisfaction of it made her smirk.

“You smiling with my dick in your hand is the greatest thing I have ever seen in my entire life,” Colin announced.

She smiled one last time then leaned close. She took in his scent, savoring it. He transformed as she began to explore him, that strong body suddenly fidgeting beneath her. Libby had always imagined this would feel like an imposition, but the intoxication it triggered was shocking. She let her herself experiment, thrilling at Colin’s size and taste and all the sounds he made, trying things for her own enjoyment. If she was doing an amateur job, he didn’t seem to care. She loved how his hips tensed, desperate for more. She cupped a hand between his thighs and his back arched in tandem with a loud moan. Helpless.

She freed her mouth up for a moment. “What else?”

“Just this,” he grunted. “It feels so fucking good. I can’t believe I’m in your mouth. Make me feel good, Libby.”

“I will. Keep talking.”

She upped the intensity of everything she was doing. Colin’s hands were balled into fists at his sides, gripping the bedspread. She stole glances at him as her fingers and tongue explored him, admired the long muscles of his body, strained from what her touch was doing to him.

“God, I want to come,” he groaned, an order wrapped in a plea.

She stroked him harder to indicate he should do exactly that.

“More. Suck me, Libby. Hard. I’ll let you taste me.”

She moaned against him, feeling simultaneously servile and masterful—the sexiest feeling in the world. His body was twitching, as hers had. She took more of him and his pleasure was instantaneous. His fingers tangled in her hair.

“Fuck, take me. Suck me.”

His hips begged for more and she gave it gladly. The deeper she took him, the hotter his body seemed to blaze, until he couldn’t hold on any longer.

“Libby—” Colin’s fists clenched and unclenched as he gave in. All his muscles locked, and Libby tasted the exotic tang of his hot release in her mouth. She swallowed as he relaxed against the pillows.

She sat back on her knees, triumphant. “I did it!”

“Holy shit.” Colin dragged himself to sitting and handed Libby a glass of water from the bedside table.

“Did I do a good job?”

He took the glass back and smiled at her hazily. “If you get much better at that you’ll be downright dangerous. Holy hell.” He glanced around the room as though he didn’t recognize where he was.

“Damn, that was fun.” Libby rubbed her hand over the underside of his strong calf. “What’s next?”

He laughed. “Give me ten minutes to recover and I’ll think of something.”

Reece arranged the last of the dirty glasses in the dishwasher and switched it on. He ran a wet towel over the bar. He flipped the stools upside down on the tables so his mother wouldn’t have to when she swept in the morning. He let himself feel the apprehension that came with turning off the lights and double-checking the locks, knowing his next step was going upstairs and facing Libby.

Feeling distinctly like a coward, he prayed she’d be asleep, but when he opened the door to the stairs he heard the television droning. He resigned himself to at least chatting with her, if not actually addressing the awkward way they’d parted the night before. Colin was right—Reece
was
rubbish with women sometimes. When he’d come back from his shower and looked at her silver shoes next to his bed, he’d finally understood they were for him. That whole outfit had been for him, but he’d been too thick to see it.

And Colin had been right about something else. Libby
was
good for their family. A friend would tell her that to her face. A real man would. Reece would, right now. He opened the door to the flat, already choosing his words, but—

No one. Just two pairs of red high-tops sitting side by side next to the coffee table, and Colin’s bedroom door, shut.

Reece felt his stomach turn and his blood run cold.

Chapter Nineteen

Colin was jolted from his blissful reverie when the television suddenly fell silent, two rooms over. The alarm clock on the bedside table read one eighteen.

Libby noticed too. Her hand, which she’d been running absently over his stomach, froze. More sounds followed—the remote being set on the coffee table, the thump of shoes dropping to the floor, the click of the deadbolt. Then Reece’s footsteps, fading as he walked to his side of the flat, then nothing. Fear rose in Colin’s chest.

Libby’s hand moved again, stopping above his pounding heart. “What’s wrong?”

He closed his eyes. “Just bullshit.”

“What kind of bullshit?”

“Just my brain, filling up with ugly thoughts.”

“Like what?”

He turned onto his side to face her. “That I’m your consolation prize.”

Libby’s mouth dropped open, horrified. “No,” she said, squeezing his arm.

“That’s what I felt. I’m not saying it’s true.”

“Well, you’re not.” She pushed herself up, sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed. She beckoned Colin to join her.

He sat up and let Libby pull his ankles forward, crossing her thighs over his and scooting close. Her warm, slender hands stroked his face as they locked eyes. She traced his scar with her thumb and smiled at him.

“I’ve been an idiot,” she said. “To not see what was right in front of me.”

“What? The fuck-up?”

Her eyebrows pinched into a scowl and she punched his shoulder.

“Ow.”

“Don’t
ever
say that about yourself again. Would you let me get away with saying something horrible like that?”

“I don’t reckon I’d hit you… But no, I wouldn’t.”

“Then don’t say it about yourself. You’re not the fuck-up. You’re the best man I’ve ever met. And I’d have seen it before, if I hadn’t be so scared of getting close to someone who could actually offer me any kind of real affection.”

Colin let her tilt his shoulders down and press her lips to the crown of his head. Her palms grazed his hair and neck, and he swallowed the great hunk of emotion that had caught in his throat during her pep talk. Libby coaxed his chin up and kissed him. Then deeper.

“You’re the one I’m supposed to be with.” Her tongue tracing the edge of her lips in that way that drove him mad. “You’re the one I want.”

He kissed her back, hard. All the longing that had haunted him for the past few weeks shot up through the core of his body and into his mouth and hands and throat and between his thighs. His kiss was fierce and aggressive with gratitude and fear and possessiveness all jumbled together. He pulled her close by the hips until her breasts touched his chest. His dick stiffened as her fingers wrapped around him, stroking.

“Yes.”

“I want you,” she said.

He was lost in the sensations. This was real. Libby was touching him. She wanted him. The thing he’d dreamed about, when both awake and asleep. Those familiar hands, holding him, giving him this pleasure. He drew himself back into coherence.

“Are you ready?” he managed to choke out.

“I think so.”

He slipped his fingers between her thighs to confirm. “Goddamn.” He coaxed her back against the pillows and leaned over to rummage in the bedside table drawer.

“Do we need lube?”

“Crikey, no—we’ve got you.” He grinned to himself.

“Am I enough?”

He shook his head in exaggerated disbelief. “Are you
enough
? Are you mad?”

Libby bit her lip and looked away.

“But I’ll give you six more orgasms before we fuck, if you want to be sure.”

Libby laughed at this threat. “I’ll bet you could, but I don’t think I can wait that long. I’ll take your word for it.”

“Good.” He found a condom and sat back down. “So, do you know what you like?”

“Not really… I like looking at you. And seeing you excited. And I want to hear you.”

“The lady likes feedback.”

Libby smiled mischievously and stroked him again, tighter. “You’re good at sex, aren’t you?”

“I am fan
tastic
at sex.” Colin suspected neither one of them was certain if he was being serious or not…and he couldn’t concentrate on anything as long as Libby’s fingers were wrapped around him.

“Then do whatever you think I’ll like, since you’re the expert.”

“Deal. You just need to tell me if I’m doing anything that’s hurting you,” he said, ripping the packet open. “Or weirding you out.”

“I will.” Her eyes glimmered with that insistent, wicked look women got at this moment, one Colin was used to seeing, yet one he’d never guessed he’d get to see directed at him by this
particular
woman. He knelt between her legs. How was this possibly happening?

“Are you relaxed?”

“I’m impatient.”

He laughed. “Okay, then. You’re an apt pupil, eh?”

She tugged at his hips to emphasize her eagerness. He tugged back, pulling her against him. He stroked himself, wanting to be as hard as possible when he took her.

“Keep doing that,” Libby breathed, eyes fixed on his hand.

“You want to watch me?”

“Yes. Keep doing that.” Her tongue flirted with the corner of her mouth.

He gave her what she wanted to see. “I’ve thought about you so many times. Lying right there, where you are now.”

“What did you think about?”

His hand quickened as he pondered it. “About what we just did. And what we’re about to do.”

She pulled at his hips again, her curious eyes apparently sated. He guided himself with his hand to that warm, welcoming place. This gorgeous moment, his favorite feeling in the world. Earning it, being offered it, being
begged
for it… Oh, but this… Libby. Being invited to do this by Libby. And here she was, somehow, right here beneath him.

“I’ll go slow,” he promised, easing in the first inch.

“Oh.”

He paused. “Does it hurt?”

“No, it feels…a little intimidating.”

“I can stop.”

“Oh, God no. I think I like when you’re intimidating,” she said with a nervous smile. Her gaze was trained between their bodies. “More.”

“All right.” He slid a little deeper inside her.

Her breath hitched then relaxed. “Keep going. It’s just a lot to get used to.”

Colin basked in this quasi-compliment for a moment. He braced himself on one arm and reached his other hand between them. “I’m going to do this,” he said, playing with her clit. “And when you’re ready for me go deeper, you tell me.”

Libby groaned beneath him, the most beautiful sound in creation. His two fingers rubbed her lightly, the way she’d reacted to earlier, and he felt her hands on his backside, welcoming him closer. Another inch. She made a distinctly approving noise. Colin eased out, then drove back in to that same depth.

“Goddamn, you feel so bloody amazing.” Cautiously, he began to pump his hips.

“Oh, wow.”

“Is this too much?”

“No, this is awesome. More. Go a little deeper.”

Colin complied and rubbed her clit more intensely, rewarded with a wondrous grunt.

“Oh, more.”

Soon he was all the way in, body pulsing with impatience. “I’m going to start moving, if you’re comfortable.”

“I want you to do it however you like.” She sounded almost comically excited. “And say filthy things.”

“You can boss me around. Slap my ass if you want it faster.”

“How many speed settings do you come with?” she teased.

“Or harder…” Colin trailed off and gave in to his body’s wishes, happy to show Libby all the selfish things he desired. He pushed into her deep and slow, savoring the feelings and the sounds she made. Her long legs wrapped around him and her hips tilted, wanting more. He was fighting a hard-waged battle between his dick and his ego—between the painful, aching need in his body and the desperate fear that this might be his first
and last
chance to be with her.

He felt her hands run up his stomach and chest, eyes following, a smile on her lips. “Colin,” she murmured.

He stilled, smiling back at her. “What?”

She scanned him up and down. “You’re so beautiful.”

He laughed. It was a sweet thing to say—a wonderful thing to say, but he wanted reassurance of a different nature. Needed it.

“Am I making you feel good?”

“Yes. You feel amazing. I…” Libby faltered. “You feel so…right. You fit.”

“And you’re glad we’re making love?”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip, looking as if she’d been unsure until this moment what was happening between them. “It’s…it’s awesome. It’s everything I could want.”

He began to move, wanting to see the proof in her body’s reactions.

She smirked again. “I love your dick.”

“Tell me more,” he said, smirking right back.

“It feels so good. And looks pretty great too,” she added with a blatant glance between their bodies.

“You’ve got the good view.”

His fingers teased until she groaned again.

“So, I feel good to you?” he asked, wanting to hear it again.

“Amazing.”

“Big enough?” He drove deep.

“God, yes. And thick.”

“Hard enough?” He made his strokes rougher.

“Yeah.” The syllable came out breathy and distracted.

“I want to make you feel so good, Libby. Tell me what you want.”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Yeah, you do.” He drove deep, luxuriating in her moans. “Your body knows. You like the same things I do.”

“Oh, good.”

“Watch me.” He drew his hand away and sat back on his heels, held her hips hard against his and let her see it all. Let himself see.