Losing an Edge (Portland Storm Book 13) (28 page)

“And I get to start today.”

“I hope you will.”

“All right.” I opened the box again and fished through it until I found one of the
Lady’s Choice
cards.

“Going for one of those to start with, hmm?”

“Yes.” I pressed it into his hand. “Because I have something very specific I want.”

“I’m all ears.”

I looked up, meeting his eyes full on. “I want you to take me to bed.”

I WASN’T SURE
what I’d been expecting her to ask for, but sex was definitely not it.

And that was what she meant, wasn’t it? Maybe I was reading too much into it, putting my own desires into her words when she hadn’t intended anything of the sort. I needed to be sure before I did something stupid.

“You want me to take you to bed?” I repeated.

“Yes. Your bed.”

That was all it took to have me salivating. “You’re sure?”

We’d been making out a lot over the last week, so much that I tended to lie in bed awake at night afterward, jerking off to the memory of her taste, her scent, the firmness of her body beneath my hands mixing with the softness of her curves. Every time I was around her, I had to fight off my inner teenager. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be with her in a way that would be good for her, not only good for me. Sheer terror swamped me that I might blow my load the second I came into contact with her naked flesh.

“Positive.” She didn’t look the least bit deterred. “Absolutely one hundred percent positive.” She took my hand in both of hers and held it still for a moment before placing it flat against her ribs.

The tips of my fingers brushed the underside of her breast, and I groaned.

She set the box of cards on the coffee table and straddled me, rising up on her knees so we were on the same level. Her eyes had gone dark green again with those fiery golden flecks making them come to life. I wanted to drown in them, to let the flames consume me.

“Remember?” she murmured before her lips pressed to mine in a teasing, taunting kiss. “No questions asked. No arguments. No hesitation. Take me to bed, Levi.”

“You’re sure you’re ready for this?”

She rabbit-punched my shoulder. “That’s a question.”

“It’s an important question.”

She kissed me again, sucking my lower lip between hers and flicking her tongue against my skin. “I solemnly swear that I am making trouble, and you’re going to like it or else.”

“That’s not even close to the quote.”

“It’s close enough. Besides, I don’t care about that at the moment. What I care about is you gave me a box of cards, and you’re letting me pick what I want from you, and this is what I want. And if you don’t stop asking questions and take me to bed, I’ll start twisting quotes from the Dowager Countess of Grantham, instead.”

“Oh, God. Not
Downton Abbey
. Please, don’t torture me like that.”

“Levi…” She had the most adorable warning tone in her voice, like I’d heard her use several times with Connor when he was misbehaving.

I was tempted to peck her on the nose again, to further infuriate her, but I held back. “I’m done. No more.” I stood up, holding Cadence by the waist. She wrapped her legs around me, and the skirt of her dress inched upward until it was barely covering her at all. Her gorgeous, bare thighs squeezed tight around me.

She worked on undoing my tie as I carried her to my bedroom. By the time I set her on her feet in front of me, she had the knot undone. It slipped free from my collar and remained in her hand.

“You planning to use that for something?” I asked in a teasing tone.

She shrugged, her eyes sharpening while a devious smile came to her lips. “I don’t know. I’m sure there are a lot of things we could do with this.”

“Maybe some other time.” I slid my fingertips up her rib cage and over the length of her arm, then took the tie away from her and tossed it to the floor. “Not this time. I don’t want anything between us this first time.”

“Okay.” She lowered her eyes until all I saw were lids and lashes, and she bit her lower lip in a move that was equally innocent and sultry. Then she slipped her hands up my chest and started undoing the buttons of my shirt.

I had to suck in some air to be sure I kept breathing through whatever she had in mind. “Okay?” I repeated.

She nodded, dragging my shirt free from my waistband to finish getting it open. “You can have what you want if I can have what I want.”

“And what do you want?”

“I don’t want you to be careful with me. Everyone’s constantly trying to be sure I’m not hurt, that no one’s done anything to me.” There was a fire burning in her eyes that would melt me if I wasn’t careful. “Tonight, I want you to do things to me. Dirty things. Messy things. The kind of things you could never talk about in front of the guys without turning bright red from embarrassment.”

“But…I thought the first time should be sweet and romantic.” Hell, it was Valentine’s Day. Wasn’t I supposed to be doing the whole flowers, chocolate, and candles thing? Not mauling her like a piece of meat. Don’t get me wrong—mauling her sounded seriously fucking good, but it wasn’t how I’d envisioned any of this would go. Especially since I was falling so hard for her. Hell, I never thought I’d be taking her to my bed so soon. The wild and crazy part, with her adorable-one-minute-turning-to-sex-goddess-the-next eyes, might do me in and make it official.

The
L
word. How could I have possibly gone from trying to one-up my brother to falling in love in the blink of an eye? But I clearly had.

“We’ve got lots of time later for slow and sweet. Right now, this first time? I want it hot and fast and loud. Frantic, like I am.” She undid my belt buckle and the fly of my slacks, never removing her eyes from mine. Then she dropped her hand lower until the tips of her fingers barely grazed my straining cock.

My heart was about two solid beats shy of bursting through my ribs, simply from the thought of all she was asking of me. But then I stopped thinking entirely. There was no room for thought in this. Only for action.

“You’re sure that’s what you want?” I asked.

She nodded, delving lower to wrap her hand all the way around me.

I groaned, but then I spun around so Cadence’s back was against the wall. I picked her up by the waist, pinned her in place with my hips and thighs, and kissed her as hard as I’d been dreaming of.

She let out a tiny sound, and I backed off a bit in case I’d hurt her. She pulled me closer, putting both arms around my neck and nipping at my lower lip the same way she always bit her own. Then she squeezed me with her thighs and ground against me.

“Oh, fuck, baby,” I said on a groan.

I fumbled with the zipper in the back of her dress, but it was no use. Couldn’t get it to budge, so I caressed her breasts through the fabric. Her nipples were hard nubs, even through all the fabric. I slid my hands up her thighs, lifting the skirt out of the way until it bunched at her waist. She was so slick and hot that her panties were soaked, and I’d barely touched her.

She shoved my shirt and suit jacket over my shoulders, and they pooled at my feet while she worked on lowering my pants. “Condom,” she panted.

“Hell.” Wasn’t thinking. Not at all.

I carried her with me to the bathroom, kicking off my pants as I went, and pressed her against the door frame for stability. Then I ripped open the top drawer, where I had a small stash. Fumbled around until I got my hands on one. I tried to get the stupid thing open, but I was too hot and sweaty and frustrated to get the job done.

“Give it to me,” she said, ripping it from my hands. In no time, she had the foil wrapper open. I slipped the condom into place as she tugged her panties to the side.

Then I was inside her.

Her eyes went wide. Fucking hell, I should’ve taken at least a little more time to be sure she was ready for me, but it was too late now. Her pussy was as small and tight as the rest of her. I’d never felt anything like the way she squeezed me. This might as well be heaven, because I couldn’t think of anything better than the way I felt right at this moment.

I tried to move slowly, to give her time to adjust, but Cadence dug her fingernails into my upper back and buried her head in the space between my neck and my shoulder, and she said, “Fuck me, Levi.”

So I did. It was hard and fast and loud—all the things she’d demanded of me. I pounded into her, thrusting so hard it knocked her back against the doorjamb repeatedly. Somehow we ended up on the bathroom floor, my head banging against the toilet seat on my way down. I didn’t care how bad it hurt because it was the best fucking sex I’d ever had in my life. Maybe the best I ever
would
have.

Because this time, it mattered. Cadence mattered more than I was prepared for.

She rose up over me, riding me while I let my hands explore her petite body. Her pink dress was drenched in our sweat and wrinkled beyond belief, and I was only making it worse by manhandling her through the fabric. I couldn’t seem to stop myself, not with the sounds she was making. Soft moans mixed with sharp cries that echoed in the bathroom, all of them urging me on. But we’d started out so fast and hard I didn’t know if I could hold on much longer.

“Baby, I need you to come,” I ground out, trying to hold back my own release.

“I’m close.”

“I’m
too
close,” I insisted.

Keeping her eyes on mine, she grabbed a handful of my hair and tugged me up and over her, leaning back until I was on top. She hooked her ankles over my shoulders and locked them together behind my neck. I held on to her hips and tipped them forward just enough that I had to be hitting her G-spot.

After a few more thrusts, her eyes rolled back and she cried out, while I rode the wave of her release. The tremors squeezed my cock so much that I lost the thin rein of control I’d had to that point, shouting “I love you,” as I came.

Her hands stroked my face, my neck, my shoulders, both of us panting and trying to come back down to earth. After a moment, I realized she had to be insanely uncomfortable being crushed beneath me with nothing but the cold, hard tile floor to cushion her. I rolled off her, but she came with me, straightening her limbs as we adjusted.

I was about to suggest we get up off the floor and maybe take a hot shower together when she propped herself up on her elbows to look down at me and said, “You love me?”

“I…” I blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out if I should pretend I hadn’t said it or if I might as well admit it. But it didn’t matter. It was the truth, and there wasn’t any good reason to lie about something as important as that. “Yeah,” I said, grinning at the dumbstruck look on her face. “I do. I love you, Cadence Johnson. So get used to that.”

She bit her lower lip again, but she was smiling. “Okay. But only if you get used to the idea that I love you, too.”

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, she went and flipped the script on me. I tugged on her hair until she came down and let me kiss her, long and slow.

She broke off the kiss after a minute and giggled. Straight back to the cute and adorable version of herself. How on earth could she switch back and forth like that? I didn’t have the first clue, but I intended to spend as much time as necessary studying her to figure it out.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

Cadence shrugged with a devious grin that would put her nephew to shame. “Mischief managed.”

At least she got that quote right.