Inked on Paper (28 page)

Chapter Fifty-Five

Jake

The writing thing was getting a bit easier, and I knew that was because of the point I’d reached within the story. That and the fact that Presley had given me the ultimate bribe—more sex with every chapter. Getting things moving along and tying up the ending were the hardest parts for me. The middle, where most of the action took place, that wasn’t so bad.

And I knew that I needed to take advantage of the fact that I was still at the cabin, away from social media and other distractions—aside from Presley, who was honestly the biggest distraction of all, but in a good way. But with Presley here, it seemed I was more comfortable. In my element.

So, I snagged a cup of coffee and dropped onto the couch with my notebook and my pen. I checked in with Kora and Donovan by reading the last chapter once more, adding a few revisions along the way.

Now, it was time to move them forward.

After hanging up on Donovan, Kora stared around her house, wondering what she needed to do. He obviously wasn’t going to listen to reason, which meant he was probably already on his way.

The house was clean, so she had nothing to do there. Which left her to look at herself, and that was when she realized she was wearing a towel.

“Great,” she muttered, making her way to her bedroom.

She didn’t want to get dressed, but only because she was too lazy to do so. However, with Donovan coming over, she had no choice. For some reason, Kora knew she would be weak when it came to him. After only an hour in his company, she was craving him in a way she’d never experienced before.

I could relate to that, oddly. Glancing down at the end of the couch, I noticed that Presley had made herself comfortable, once again wearing another one of my T-shirts while she read a book on her phone. She must’ve felt me staring at her because she moved the phone and smiled, her eyes glancing down at the notebook.

One chapter. That was all I needed.

I turned my attention back to Kora.

Since she’d spent the past two years in a relationship with Sam, Kora had grown accustomed to the routine. In the beginning, their relationship had been all sparks and flames, but that had fizzled out after only three months. She’d tried to tell herself that was the way relationships worked, only she’d known deep down that wasn’t the case.

Sam had never fanned the flames hot enough to ensure they wouldn’t burn out. Nor had she, so she couldn’t put all the blame on him. Maybe she had known all along that Sam wasn’t the right guy for her. It made sense in a warped sort of way. She had certainly never felt the sort of heat she’d felt with Donovan.

When it came to Donovan, there was a banked fire deep inside her, one that he could stoke to a conflagration with a simple look. For some reason, she didn’t think that flame would be all that easy to blow out, even if things progressed between them.

Only they wouldn’t.

This was the end of the line for them.

After grabbing panties and a bra out of her drawer and yanking them on, Kora grabbed a long-sleeved button-up shirt from her closet and a pair of leggings and dressed in minutes. She ran a comb through her hair, brushed her teeth, and stared at herself in the mirror for longer than was necessary.

She looked tired.

Then again, she was.

Today, though she thought she’d done a damn good job of hiding it, had been emotionally draining. Being at the baby shower, watching Trina and Sam as they greeted their friends and family, celebrating the life they were bringing into the world, Kora had felt the ache of loneliness and resentment settle into her gut.

A knock sounded on her door, pulling her from her thoughts.

She slowly crossed through the living room, then stepped into the foyer. Although she knew who was there, she still checked the security hole, using that as more of a stalling tactic than anything else.

Her hand shook as she turned the knob and opened the door.

The first thing she noticed about Donovan was that he’d changed. Gone was the suit and in its place a forest-green Henley that made his eyes glow, along with a pair of dark, well-worn jeans and boots. He’d gone from executive to cowboy in a matter of minutes.

“You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy,” she muttered, taking a step back.

“You don’t know how true that is,” Donovan said, his eyes slowly raking over her as he stepped inside.

Kora closed the door, took a deep breath, and prayed like hell she would not do something stupid. Like take this sexy man to bed.

Because, heaven help her, she already wanted to, and he hadn’t been there ten seconds.

I fought the urge to look at Presley. As much as I wanted her, I knew I needed to finish this and not only because I needed to complete a chapter but because it felt right. When she was around, there was no doubt I was inspired.

And yet, I still wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about that.

Okay, Donovan, I’ve put the ball back in your court, buddy.

From the moment the door opened and those wary gray eyes stared back at him, Donovan knew tonight wasn’t going to go as well as today had. Then again, he’d spent several hours at a baby shower, so he wasn’t sure he could call it a good day.

Except for the part when he’d been buried balls deep inside of Kora. That had been fucking spectacular.

“You okay?” he asked, following Kora when she swept past him into a sparsely furnished living room. It was nice. Clean. But it didn’t fit her all that well. There were no pictures on the wall, no knickknacks on the shelves.

“Perfect,” Kora said, her tone telling him that she was anything but. “Want a drink?”

“Yes,” he said, keeping his tone firm.

Kora spun around so fast her hair flew around and brushed over her face.

“That was blunt,” she stated, her forehead creased.

“You asked. I answered. That’s the way it works, right?”

“What happened to polite?” she snapped.

Donovan could feel her tension and he knew it didn’t have anything to do with him. But he knew he needed to diffuse it if at all possible.

Closing the gap between them in a matter of seconds, he came to stand directly in front of her, his hands going to her hips as he pulled her up against his body.

“I know you’re not pissed at me,” Donovan told her. “If you were, you wouldn’t have given me your address. So what’s the problem?”

“How do you know my problem isn’t you?” she retorted.

“Because…” Donovan leaned down, his mouth dangerously close to hers. “You wouldn’t let me do this if it was.”

He swallowed her sharp exhale when he slanted his mouth over hers, his tongue slowly sliding past her lips. He kept it gentle, simple. Nothing like the inferno that had consumed them in that storage closet, but this was nice, too.

Kora’s hands were on his chest, but she wasn’t pushing him away, and Donovan took that as a good sign. He pulled back, then curled his hand around the nape of her neck as he locked his eyes with hers. “Today must’ve been hard.”

A spark of anger ignited in her gaze and he knew he’d hit a nerve. Only he didn’t feel bad about it because he’d done it on purpose. The last thing he wanted was Kora feeling sorry for herself. He doubted she wanted that, either.

Sure, she’d been burned by Sam, but that didn’t mean she had to wallow in it. As far as Donovan was concerned, she was better off without a guy who would cheat on her. She deserved a hell of a lot better than that.

“You don’t know the first thing about me,” Kora hissed, jerking away from him.

He smiled when she gave him her back. “You’d be surprised what I know.”

“Whatever.”

Donovan followed her into the kitchen and watched as she pulled out a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses.

But he had no intention of indulging in liquor. That wasn’t the reason he was there.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently kneaded the muscles, feeling the knots against his fingers. “No vodka, Kora.”

She tried to shrug him off, but he didn’t budge, keeping her trapped between his body and the counter. She could’ve easily slipped away if she truly wanted to, but she stopped moving, which Donovan took to mean she didn’t have a whole lot of fight left in her.

“I need something to take the edge off,” she said, but there was no conviction in her tone.

“No alcohol,” he said, his mouth close to her ear.

“Why not?”

“Because tonight, when I take you to your bed, I want you completely coherent.”

“What makes you think that’s gonna happen?” she countered.

“Honey, you wouldn’t have let me in if that wasn’t what you wanted.”

When he didn’t get a response, he knew he’d nailed it.

But what Kora didn’t know was that if he was going to take her to bed, he damn sure wasn’t thinking of just one night.

I scanned the page slowly. This could work. Donovan definitely wanted Kora, but I knew in the next chapter, he would have to convince her that this was a good thing. To show her that he wasn’t simply looking for a fast fuck.

And I’d learned in life that words meant very little, which was why, like me, Donovan would have to rely on actions to prove himself.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Jake

As much as I knew I should keep writing, I needed a break. Not because my hands were cramping or because I needed to eat.

No, my excuse was nothing more than the simple fact that I couldn’t get enough of Presley. After last night, then again this morning, I was dealing with a constant hard-on just thinking about this woman, and I wasn’t exactly sure how that was possible. I wasn’t a twenty-something; my stamina had started waning years ago.

Or so I’d thought.

“What time are we going back?”

I glanced over at Presley. She was lying on the couch, head propped on a pillow, her toes beneath my thigh—they were cold, she’d said—and she was watching me. For the past half hour, I’d been lost in the story, dedicating the required amount of time to Kora and Donovan, only I knew that our weekend was coming to an end and we did need to get back to Austin. As much as I didn’t want to, it was inevitable.

“I thought we’d go around seven,” I told her.

“What time is it?” She bowed her back, attempting to look behind her, and the move drew me up short. She was wearing one of my long-sleeve T-shirts and nothing else, the hem riding up her creamy thigh, revealing the intricate tattoo that ran from her hip to her knee.

“Four.” My voice sounded weak, but I blamed her sexy legs for that.

She turned back to look at me, a smile on her face. “That leaves us some time.”

I couldn’t lie, the sexy edge in her voice made my cock harden more.

“And what did you have in mind?”

“Well, it requires you to put that notebook down.”

Done. I closed the book and tossed it onto the coffee table, the noise causing Cat to jump up from his spot beneath before he jetted to the kitchen. Oops.

“Now what?” I turned my attention back to her.

“It’ll probably require you to be naked, too,” she said softly.

“Naked?” I loved where this was going already.

I reached behind my head, ready to pull my shirt off, but Presley stopped me.

“Wait! Not yet.”

Lifting my eyebrows, I paused for her to tell me how this was supposed to go.

Her feet slid out from beneath my leg, and then she was crawling over me, straddling my thighs as she gazed down at me. I braced her hips with my hands, reveling in her warmth and the sweet scent of her.

“Did you write another chapter?”

“I did. The rough draft, anyway.” It would need quite a bit of information added, but it was well underway.

Presley frowned, then started to move away.

I planted my hands on her thighs. “Wait. I have a good explanation.”

“And what would that be?” Her smile was playful.

“I’ve kinda got a confession to make.”

“A confession?” She looked skeptical.

“Yeah. You see … there’s this girl… I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“What’ve you been thinking about?” She settled back down, her ass resting on my legs.

I moved my hands down the outsides of her thighs, then back up over the tops, my thumbs sliding between them while I slipped my fingers beneath the shirt. “About how fucking hot she looks with my shirt on.
And
off.”

“Continue.” The sweet, sexy look she shot me went straight to my groin.

“About how fucking good she tastes.” Her eyes widened, so I continued. “About how I want to slide my tongue in her pussy again, feast on her for a while.”

It was evident Presley liked the dirty talk. I’d noticed that last night. The more I said, the hotter she seemed to burn.

Presley cleared her throat. “What else?”

Pulling one hand out from beneath the shirt, I cupped her face and ran my thumb over her bottom lip. “About how badly I want to feel her mouth on my cock.”

The muscles in her neck tightened as she swallowed hard.

Then it was my turn to swallow hard because Presley eased off my legs, going to the floor in front of me, forcing my legs apart. The sweat pants I was wearing were tented thanks to my straining erection desperate to get free.

“Take off the shirt.” The soft command in her tone had my dick twitching.

“I will if you will,” I told her.

Without tearing my eyes off her, I reached behind my head and pulled my shirt off, then admired her as she did the same.

God, she was so damn beautiful. Although she would’ve been pretty without all the tattoos and piercings, I had to admit, those were parts of her that I admired most. Maybe because they spoke of who she really was. A rebel underneath the sweet façade.

Her small hands grazed my outer thighs, and I lifted my hips so she could draw the sweat pants down my legs, keeping my eyes locked on her face.

“Is this what you’ve been thinking about?” she questioned, leaning in and pressing her velvety lips to the swollen head, her tongue snaking around it.

“Fuck yes,” I whispered. Damn.

Watching Presley suck my dick… That was a sight I’d never forget as long as I lived. Her lips were soft, her tongue insistent. She wasn’t trying to take me all at once, instead laving me with gentle strokes, her hand fisted around the base of my shaft. And she was watching me.

“Pres... Damn, baby.” I slid my fingers into her silky hair, resting my hand on her head. I wasn’t trying to rush her. In fact, I never wanted it to end. The pleasure was intense, but I resisted the urge to close my eyes. I didn’t want to miss a second, needing this more than I needed air.

She moaned around my dick, the vibrations going straight to my balls, causing me to groan. I tightened my hand in her hair but quickly released it. Presley’s eyes lifted to mine and I realized then that she had enjoyed that.

“Suck me, Presley. Take all of me.”

Presley leaned down, taking more of my cock. I was far too big for her mouth, but watching her try was so damn hot. She swallowed and I felt the movement against the sensitive head.

I could’ve watched her do this all damn day, but I wanted to taste her, too.

When I tried to pull her up into my lap, she resisted. “Not yet. I’m not finished.”

Oh, fuck. Her lips wrapped around me again, sucking me slowly and gently, the barbell in her tongue scraping along the underside of my dick, shards of pleasure traveling up my spine.

I didn’t want to come yet, but if she kept that up, I wasn’t sure I would be able to resist. She was the first woman I’d met who seemed to enjoy sucking me. As though this was as much for her pleasure as mine.

And fuck if that wasn’t a goddamn turn-on like no other.