Tangled (8 page)

A
darker emotion lurked behind liquid gold eyes.

Tess
tried to close herself off, but her body responded anyway. It hummed, feeding
off of his ever-present sexual energy. Heartache evolved, unhitching from the
roomy loft behind her ribcage and dipped its toes beneath her navel.

She
needed to leave. She needed to leave now.

“You’re
a dick.” Tess tried to bypass him.

Adonis
shifted, penning her in.

Anticipation
sizzled like a live wire and showered sparks across her sensitized skin.
Although he wasn’t touching her, she felt his inexplicable pull. When was the
last time she’d gotten laid?
Too long.
And why? For a
guy who’d made it abundantly clear time and time again that he didn’t want her?

Allowing
intoxication to dilute her mind’s objections, she pressed herself against him
and reveled in his granite hardness.

His
pupils lost their glaze and dilated with a new awareness.

So
he wasn’t immune or completely repulsed by her.

Tess
resisted the urge to smirk. He could feign invulnerability all he wanted, but a
man’s body was incapable of lying. And judging by the hardened appendage
actively seeking her attention, he was well aware of that fact.
 

Long,
tapered fingers
spidered
slowly around her nape, as
if giving her time to reconsider. But Tess allowed the scene to play out.

He
dragged her into a bruising kiss meant to degrade rather than cherish. She
steeled herself against the silken press of his mouth, stroking, taunting,
despoiling. Tess wanted to give him the illusion of power and dominance. And
maybe when she finished toying with him, she’d leave him to suffer.

But
her agenda fragmented as he besieged her—the thoroughly masculine body
caging hers, the sticky scent of cannabis and crackling firewood.

Self-preservation
kept her from fully submitting. She snatched the reins and drove him back. Her
hands grabbed fistfuls of too-long, too-messy hair and yanked his head back.
Tess speared her tongue into his mouth. The dark flavor of smoke and sweetness
and bourbon and sin invaded her senses and ransomed her wits. She needed to get
a grip and focus.

As
if hearing her thoughts, Adonis growled, the vibration rippling through her.
Fingers jabbing into her sides, he swung her around and rammed her into the
refrigerator. The brief flash of pain coupled with the erotic shock of his hot
body at her front and the fridge’s cool door at her back produced a moan Tess
couldn’t smother. Her legs automatically clinched his waist. She rotated her
hips, grinding her core into his swollen heat.

The
action extracted a pained expletive from him. He slid a hand under her blouse.
For an instant, she could’ve sworn he stopped breathing as he caught the sheer
material of the
babydoll
. He broke the kiss. “You
really went all out, didn’t you?” His derision scalded her nerves.

She
bared her teeth in a virulent smile. “Jealous it wasn’t meant for you?”

Ignoring
the question, Adonis pinned her harder into the fridge. The insistent bulge of
his arousal robbed her of breath. “Not that I care about what you’re wearing,
but I appreciate the thought.” His eyes burned with an intensity that nearly
unhinged her as thoroughly as the finger tracing the underside of her ass. “You
want this.”

She
rolled her head to the side to give him a considering look in spite of her
throbbing body. “And if I don’t?”

Tess
jumped as he cupped between her legs. His fingers knew exactly where to rub
along her cleft. Her flesh quivered, the thong’s flimsy material providing
little protection against his assault. “Then say no.”

Pleasure
rocked through her, splitting her senses open. And for the first time in years,
she could see, feel,
hear…
breathe
.
She pressed harder into him, his name a broken plea as he removed his hand.
“What’s it going to be, wildcat?”

Two
could play this game. “What do you think?” She swiveled her hips, grinding
small circles slowly into his erection and rousing a sweet, devastating
friction.
 

He
sealed her fate with the vicious slam of his mouth. His hand came up and tore
her blouse. Not to be one upped, she ripped his shirt. Buttons flew and
clattered across cold tile. Tess couldn’t bring herself to care. She was
drowning in him
;
in the sparse chest hairs scraping
against her sensitive nipples, in the large hands manipulating her body.

His
mouth was unyielding. Crazed. But she matched him stroke for stroke,
unconcerned that their combined efforts were quickly devolving into a maniacal
clash of teeth and tongue.

She
hated her body’s reaction to him, hated how his touch could reduce her to some
wanton hussy, justifying years’ worth of misogynistic insults.

Had
history taught her nothing?

The
memory hurled a greased bolt of repulsion so fierce Tess bit down hard on his
bottom lip, drawing blood.

Instead
of taking offense, he caught the pearl of liquid with the tip of his tongue.
“So you’re into blood play? Is that what keeps the johns coming back?”

“Fuck
you.”

“Working
on it.” His gaze ingested her nude chest. She stilled the automatic response to
shy away. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
 

He
circled her like a jungle cat, patient, watchful, hungry.

Desire
and detestation warred within her. She felt like an extra bloody scrap of filet
mignon. As much as she wanted to deny it, she could understand why his harem
fought to maintain their hierarchy. Everything about him bespoke of raw,
masculine carnality.

Without
warning, he dove for her. Their teeth brutally cut into one another. Adonis
spun her into the wall. One hand leveled against his shoulder, she lashed out
with the other in a vicious swipe of nails across his chest.

Adonis
hissed and pushed her onto the table. Her back collided against wood. He didn’t
give her time to consider the pain and leaned over her. The angle levered him
directly between her legs. A breathy gasp wrested from her lungs at the
sensation. She squirmed as the grainy, broad expanse of his tongue swirled
around her areola before latching onto her nipple. Tess fisted her hands in his
hair as he sucked harder, a startled cry tearing from her lungs as electricity
wired straight to her groin.

He
switched to the other breast and alternated between nips and tugs and warm,
hungry suction. The combination overloaded her senses. He was trying to undo
her in one go round, displaying the extent of his dexterous, talented mouth.

Egotistic
even during sex, why wasn’t she surprised?

Not
to be outdone, Tess slipped a hand down his sculpted chest, lightly skirting
his navel before diving into his sweats.

Adonis
froze, every cabled and corded muscle in his body tightening. She nuzzled his
earlobe. “Not so mouthy now, are you?”

“I’ll
show you mouthy.” Adonis clamped his teeth around her nipple.

Gasping,
she gripped his arousal harder, milking a breathy groan from him.

Heady
pleasure flooded her with this control, this power she held over him.
Apparently this was the only place he showed vulnerability.

Breathing
hard, he abandoned her breast and locked her into his narrowed sights.

Tess
maintained the connection as she used one hand to pump him, the other to caress
the sensitive skin just behind his balls. She cleared moisture from his weeping
head with the pad of her thumb. The noise he emitted was a cross between a
jagged snarl and a plaintive whimper.

Growling,
he batted her hand away. Tess inhaled raggedly as he crushed his body against
hers. The barrier of cloth couldn’t conceal the scorching, steel-encased rod
digging into her juncture. She groaned as he ground into her, her heels digging
into his backside, craving more. It didn’t matter that they were in plain view
of both the back door and the front; that at any second Cameron or Riley could
step foot into the house and see them.

A
part of her wanted Cameron to see. To watch as everything he strove so hard to
ignore blew back in his face.

As
if sensing her distraction, Adonis pinched the string to her thong and peeled
it down her legs. Tess shivered, her skin puckering under his perusal. His
nostrils flared when smooth, hairless skin revealed itself. “Ah, you shouldn't
have,” he crooned, petting her bare mound.

Absorbed
in the sensation, Tess could only manage a halfhearted sneer. “That wasn’t for
you either.”

His
face closed, the lust cooling in his eyes. “To the victor go the spoils.” He
leaned down as if to kiss her and instead twisted her nipple punishingly.

Tess
cried out, her back arcing off the table. Fixing her with his gaze, Adonis
backed away to the counter and extracted a foiled package from the top drawer.
So they kept condoms in the kitchen. Why wasn’t she surprised?

Her
breath made itself scarce as he kicked off his pants.
 

Although
she’d felt him up, there was something visceral about seeing him up close and
personal. Long and impossibly thick, his arousal jutted proudly, curving upward
toward his belly.

Tension
wound her body.

Adonis
didn’t break eye contact as he gloved himself. When finished, he dipped his
fingers in her wetness, as if treating himself to a sample he hadn’t yet
committed to.

A
venomous retort locked and loaded, but was lost as his thumb discovered her
clit. He rolled torturous circles, changing direction and pace with an
unpredictability that kept her off balance. Tess bit her lip, fastening his
name under her tongue. She winced as his fingers entered her, forcing unused
muscles to adjust to the intrusion.

He
tensed minutely, surprised by the resistance. “Mm, been a while, has it?”

“Why?
Disappointed you were wrong all along?” she spat.

His
eyes flashed maliciously. “On the contrary, I’ll donate the proceeds to Cam.”

Terror
and fury fled as he plunged into her. They hissed as he filled a part no one
had occupied in years. He swiveled his hips, pulling out before sinking deeper
into her wet heat.

She
welcomed the uncomfortable burning, the forcible intrusion. It was nothing less
than what she deserved. It pushed away everything else.
All
of her insecurity and doubts and fear.
She never intended to derive
pleasure from the act. Not with him.

But
it happened gradually. Rather than draw out her discomfort, he sought to allay
it. He kept his thrusts shallow, teasing, accommodating her to his length and
girth.

He
wanted her to enjoy it—to stoke and compound her guilt.

Flipping
her brain a solid, middle finger, her body disengaged from her mind. A ragged
whimper tore from her before she could silence it.

Taking
the cue, Adonis rocked faster, harder, igniting a fire that corroded her spine.

Angered
that her most hated nemesis could bring her to such heights, Tess lunged upward
and mashed her lips to his. The new angle allowed him to reach a new depth that
nearly blinded her.

Adonis
growled into the cavern of her mouth. Spooling her locks around one hand, he
used the other to press down on her lower stomach, intensifying his presence
within her.

Like
a wild woman, she writhed, the pleasure-agony so intense she arched away from
it.