Tempting (12 page)

I lifted up harder, pistoning my hips with as much force as I could in the limited space. The white heat shifted and grew, barreling down my spine, making my balls tighten up. So I dropped my head when she lifted up again, latched my mouth onto the side of her throat and bit down, sucking the sensitive skin hard.

We came at the same time, her pussy clenching on me in tight pulls, me moaning into the firm flesh of her throat, knowing I'd just marked her. I think she said my name, but I couldn’t be sure. I’d been so busy trying not to stop breathing from the force of the orgasm that I may have blacked out.

Sitting in the dark car, wrapped around each other and breathing heavily, I had a hard time remembering the last time I’d felt so good. So content.

“Thank you for my coat.”

I smiled and pressed a soft kiss onto her shoulder. “I’ll buy you a hundred coats if that’s what I get in return.”

The delighted laugh that I got in response made my previous feeling of contentment increase a thousandfold.

I
t didn’t actually hit
me right away when I got home. It wasn’t until my phone lit up with a message that I noticed how few lights were on around me. I hadn’t immediately flooded the room with brightness, like I normally did.

It felt good. Not needing light bulbs to artificially banish my loneliness. And when I saw that the message was from Adele, who I could still smell on my skin, an easy smile covered my face.

So long, it had been so long since I’d felt anything close to this. And then I laughed, shaking my head when I read her words.

F
or a few seconds
, I pretended like I was actually capable of not going directly to my car and searching it. About five, to be exact. I didn’t even take the time to respond, grinning while I contemplated what she might have left for me. I was in the car with her the entire time so she’d been sneaky. After opening the door and looking in the console, under my seat, and in the glovebox, finding nothing, I sank into my seat and sighed.

It felt like I’d regressed back to high school days, playing silly games that you already know you’ll outgrow as soon as people expect more from you. It was a lightness blanketing my soul that I hadn’t felt in years. Of curiosity and expectations, that feeling where even though you had no idea what would happen when you opened your eyes the next morning, you just knew it would be good.

Adele was making me feel that way; in one short week, I was excited to open my eyes in the morning. That’s when I saw the edge of pink lace sticking out from behind my visor.

“How the hell did you manage that?” I snatched the delicate corner and pulled it out. As soon as my eyes caught on the underwear in its entirety, on the row of black ribbons that wove through the edge along the top, my breath whooshed from my lungs. Bright, white spots danced in front of my eyes when I flung it away from me, the memory of one of my last nights with Diana flooding my brain.

“
A
re
you sure you have to leave right now?” Diana asked, poking her head out from around the corner of our walk-in closet. I could see her bare shoulder from where I sat on the bed tying my shoes.

I grinned, knowing exactly where she was going with this, but still wanting to play. “Why?”

She shrugged lightly, dark brown eyes tripping down my body. “I got something new, thought maybe you could stay home with me tonight. Help me break them in.”

Sitting up and stretching my arms over my head, then bracing them behind me on the bed, I jerked my chin up. “Show me.”

Her head disappeared in a cloud of slick brown hair. “Oh, I don’t think you deserve to see. Ditching me on this yucky, rainy night to go meet your boys.”

“Show me.”

Of course, she made me wait for a moment, then walked out and faced me. I was hard instantly. Her trim, lightly muscled body was completely on display, except for a small pair of light pink lace underwear, black ribbons woven through the edge on the top. Her firm, high breasts lifted when she took a breath and set her hands on her hips. “You can look all you want, Easton. But unless you stay home with me tonight, you do not get to touch.”

She turned in place, showing me the perfect heart-shaped ass that I loved so much. I let her walk into the bathroom before I chased her, delighting in her surprised squeal that I instantly quieted with my mouth.

I
pressed
my hands into my eye sockets, focusing on calming my breathing so I didn’t succumb to a panic attack. It was what always happened when I let myself indulge in the good memories, the overwhelming heartbreak of recalling how happy we’d been. Because of course, the next time I had seen her, after walking out the door that night, had been when I was claiming her broken, lifeless body.

The tingling started in my hands and shot up my arms, so I launched myself out of the car and braced my hands on the roof. Running through the list of things I’d been told to do to stave off the anxiety that was roiling through me, I focused on five things.

I could feel the cool, smooth roof of my car.

I could smell the paint thinner on the shelf behind me.

I could count my heartbeat.

I could focus on the broken rake hung up on the wall across from me.

After going through that list three more times, the feeling returned to my hands and I could close my eyes without seeing Diana laying there, ready to be prepared for her closed casket service.

There was no way I could do this anymore. Because if I’d seen those underwear when they’d been
on
Adele, I’d have lost it. And I didn’t deserve these pockets of happiness that she’d been giving me anyway. Every minute of loneliness and ounce of guilt that had been heaped on my shoulders for the last four years was completely justified.

So I walked back into my house, flicking lights on as I walked through the rooms to find my laptop. Numbness crept through my veins as I clicked the keys. I couldn’t even care that I was taking the coward’s way out. But I knew enough to know that facing her right now, after what had happened in the car, I wouldn’t be able to stay strong. I stared at it one more time before I hit send, imagining how she’d take it.

I
clicked send
, then deleted all of her emails.

Suddenly exhausted, I stared at the blank screen of my computer for a few minutes, struggling to understand why that action made me want to break every item in my home, then set it all on fire.

I
ripped
the gloves off my hands, sweat pouring down my heaving chest. When I’d hung the punching bag in my basement, I’d never considered that I’d need it to relieve tension from ending a non-relationship with one of my students.

Sleep hadn’t come, even though I’d tried. Instead I’d laid in my dark, quiet room and stared at the ceiling, wondering if Adele had seen my email, or if she’d responded. So I gave up after an hour and went to blow off some steam, the only other way that might work, given that sex wasn’t an option.

So I beat the hell out of the red, weighted bag. Not relenting in the slightest until I thought my shoulders might separate from the rest of my body, the muscles hot with overuse. I was taking a pull from my water bottle when there was a pounding on the front door.

12:03 AM.

There was only one person who would be attempting to rip my door off its hinges in the middle of the night.

“Shit,” I muttered and bounded up the stairs, not keen on letting her in, but definitely not wanting her to wake the neighbors. Wrenching the door open, I didn’t even wait to look at her face, I just yanked her in and slammed it behind her. “What the
hell
are you doing here?”

Oh, she was pissed. Adele squared off in front of me, body shaking with rage. I knew it was rage and not the cold because there was holy fire burning in her eyes. But when she lifted both hands and shoved against my chest, I was so surprised that she actually managed to make me stumble backward.

“You are such a fucking coward I can barely even stand to look at you right now,” she seethed through clenched teeth.

“Well then maybe you should leave.”

She laughed, one sharp burst of sound. “There is no way I’m letting you get off that easy. Not even an hour, not even
one hour
after I walked into my apartment, you’re telling me it’s over. That you’re doing what’s best for me?”

“Adele,” I said, voice low with warning when she went to shove at me again, “you need to leave.”

She speared her hands into her hair and stared at me. “This is all so fucking familiar, isn’t it? Me showing up uninvited, you telling me to get the hell out of your house. But you do
not
get to write me off so quickly this time, Nathan.” Before I could blink, she ripped her shirt off, still wearing the hot pink bra from earlier, her breasts rising dangerously with her deep, panting breaths. Then she pointed at her neck and I had to look away, struggling to stand still, struggling to keep my temper in check. “You marked me tonight, you asshole. You put your teeth on me and you bit so fucking hard that I’ll have the shape of your mouth on me for days. And before it can even show up on my skin, you’re telling me to
trust
you, to
respect
your decision, to
not fight
you on this?”

This time when she dropped her hands and shoved me, I braced my legs so I stayed in place. My fists trembled at my sides from the effort it was taking to not shove right back. When I didn’t move, she got right up in my face.

“Fuck you, Nathaniel Easton,” she yelled, so close to me that I could smell wine on her breath. “Fuck you and your patronizing emails and your—”

I snapped, my vision clouding at the edges and my pulse roaring in my ears like a freight train about to flatten me. I gripped her upper arms and shook, my fingers denting into her skin so hard that I knew she’d bruise again.

“You think you’re the only one pissed off right now, little girl? Huh? Well, I’m fucking pissed too, okay?” Shoving her from me, absolutely terrified that
she
didn’t look afraid of my reaction, I just needed her
away
from me.

Her lips flattened and her eyes practically froze in her face, they looked so cold. “Oh yes, I could sense a wealth of emotion in that fucking email. Sounded like it was written by a robot. So yes, I’m absolutely
overwhelmed
by how much you’re feeling right now.”

I slammed a fist into the wall to my right, and she finally jumped a little. Good. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Her arms flung out to her sides, face incredulous. “Then tell me. You think you can order me not to ask questions, not to wonder just a little bit why you’re shoving me to the side mere hours after you screwed the hell out of me in the driver’s seat of your car?”

I almost laughed: here I’d been overwhelmed with guilt at feeling happy. Now I was very much not fucking happy. “I think you need a little reminder of whose idea that was. It wasn’t mine, honey.”

“Grow up,” she snapped, eyes flashing. “Did I rape you, Professor Easton? Did I tie you down and take advantage of you? Did I ignore your protestations and just shove your cock inside me? ” God, my veins were humming when she stalked toward me. I gave her a warning glare, but she straight up ignored it. I probably would’ve too, if I’d been her. Because wearing my loose gym shorts, it was painfully obvious that I was hard as fucking nails. Adele leaned up on her tip-toes, tilting her mouth so that we were only a tiny move away from touching. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “You’re a liar and a coward. And you’re scared of how fucking good it is between us. So if you’re not man enough to handle me, then just say it.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, I felt my restraint snap like it hadn’t been this iron bracket that I’d wrapped around myself. With her verbal challenge, it became a gossamer thread, slit clean in half with a butcher knife.

“Take your pants off.” Until I’d said, I hadn’t even really noticed that she’d changed since earlier. If she’d been wearing that skirt from before, I may not have even asked, just taken.

She started at my quietly spoken words, dropping down to the heels of her feet. “What?”

“Take your pants off, turn around and brace your hands on the wall.”

I clenched my jaw while she studied my face. She wanted to see how I felt? Wanted to know if I was man enough to handle her? Done. She’d get it in spades. I saw the instant she decided to play, saw the switch flip in her eyes.

“No.”

Ahh, so that’s how this would go. Instead of smiling like I desperately wanted to, I nodded once. Then I leaned down until our noses almost touched. “Take your fucking pants off, or I will do it for you.”

The crack of her hand across my face was so sharp and so unexpected that it stole my breath. If I hadn’t seen the hard points of her nipples through her bra, I’d have thought she seriously wanted to make me angry. We glared at each other, me rubbing a hand across the stinging skin on the side of my face, her taking a small step backward. I stepped forward and we both froze, waiting for the other to make a move.

When Adele pivoted and started running toward my family room, I bounded after, catching her after only a few feet. I wrapped an arm around her waist, easily lifting her and swinging her around. She screamed, kicking her feet backward and making contact with my shins.

We didn’t kiss. That wasn’t the right word for the way our mouths met. Our teeth clashed and our tongues stabbed, her hands formed claws that she raked down my chest. I tore her bra off and shoved her backward over the arm of my couch. The awkward angle made her ribs stick out from her flat stomach, her breasts aimed like up a gift. Only I wasn’t feeling worshipful. And this wasn’t about her pleasure. It probably wasn’t about mine either, so I didn’t touch them and tug them and taste them like I wanted to.

Instead I gripped her hips and easily flipped her over onto her stomach, so that her ass lined up perfectly where I needed it. She kicked backward and I cracked a hand over her ass, stilling her immediately.

“You keep fighting me and I won’t let you get off.”

“Fuck you, asshole.”

I bent forward so that my chest was pressed completely against her back, every breath she took making me lift up. Wrapping my fist in her hair, I yanked it back so that her ear was right next to my mouth. “Don’t worry, Adele. You will.”

The groan that came from her mouth made me want to reward her. It was so raw and obscene that I could have come right there. Instead I straightened, yanking the jeans over her ass and down to her knees in one rough movement. They hadn’t been unbuttoned, so maybe it hurt. I didn’t really care. Her ass was bare underneath her pants, and I ran my hands up and over the firm flesh, spreading them open and running my thumbs down the crack, stopping just shy of dipping them inside of her.

Her hips tilted up, following the motion of my hands, and if I hadn’t been able to smell how turned on she was, I damn well could see it. Adele was fucking soaked, clearly loving this as much as I was. I stepped back, pushing my shorts down before I stepped out of them.

“Are you just going to stand there or will you eventually do something with that dick of yours?” Adele asked, looking over her shoulder at me, ass still sticking up in the air like it had been her idea. I walked forward, letting my cock rest in between her ass cheeks. When I moved forward, coming over her, her eyelids fell shut from the contact. Instead of gripping her hair again, I wrapped a hand around her throat and turned her head toward me.

Her eyes popped open when I lightly squeezed. “I’m going to make you scream, little girl. And by the time I finally let you come, you’ll want to kill me because of how long it will take. But you won’t, because you know I’m the only one who will ever make you feel so fucking good.”

Then I rammed my cock into her with one sure thrust. I cursed and she moaned like a damn pornstar, it sounded so lewd. Oh God, why did this feel so fucking good? She was a burning fist around my cock, so tight and so wet, that I took my time pulling out, stopping when just the tip of my cock stayed inside. Then I pushed back in, tilting my hips up right at the end.

Adele’s arms stretched out over her head, and the motion made her back curve in toward the couch. The shift in motion pushed her hips up slightly higher.

“Fuck yes, that it’s, baby. That’s it right there.”

“Harder, Nathan. Please, please, please, harder.”

I slowed my movements, even though I always wanted to slap myself because of how difficult it was to do so. That’s when it hit me.

No condom. No wonder it felt so damn good. I didn’t halt my movement though, knowing how this would end. I smiled, knowing she couldn’t see my face, because Adele really might want to murder me once this was done. I picked up my speed, the sounds of slapping skin and harsh breaths the only thing in the room. One of her hands pulled down, sliding under her, and I knew she was going to rub her clit, so I snatched it before she could.

“Uh-uh, it’s not happening like that.”

“I hate you.” She tried to pull her arm from my grip, but I wrenched it behind her back, thrusting back in so hard that she cried out.

Then I pulled out, whipping her up and around to face me. Her face was flushed, pupils dilated. She looked perfect.

“You have two choices, Adele. I can come in your mouth, or on your tits. What’s it going to be?”

Surprisingly, her mouth curved up at the edges. “Tits, please. I want to see what your come feels like on my skin.”

“Good girl.” I lightly pinched her stubborn little chin between my thumb and forefinger, tilting it up. I touched my lips to hers, the only softness I’d allowed since she’d knocked on the door. “Now get on your knees, and don’t even think about touching yourself.”

She complied instantly, dropping to the floor and rubbing her hands up my thighs to cup my balls. I fisted my cock, making hard, rough movements. Her eyes never left mine, and the trust that I saw pulsing there made me tug harder, breathe deeper, as I felt my orgasm racing through my body.

I grunted my relief when the first stream lashed her skin. The second pulse was slower, hitting her lower. I cupped her face, watching while she dragged a hand across her breast, smearing my come. She licked a finger, humming, then spread the rest around her nipple piercing.

Maybe I’d lost this battle by fucking her again. But I couldn’t feel an ounce of regret about it. Not at that moment. I felt invincible. I dragged her up to her feet, crashing my mouth to hers. She wound her arms around my neck, her still-wet breasts pressed up against me.

Adele pulled back first, licking her lips and grinning. “My turn?”

I watched her face, running a hand down her back, only stopping to slap her ass again. “Do you think you deserve to come?”

“Yes, Professor Easton. I think I was a good girl tonight, don’t you?”

It was sobering, her attempt to play cute. And she instantly saw the change in my face.

“Hey,” she said, giving a light shove at my shoulder, “it was just a joke. If you don’t get me off, I can just do it myself.”

I pushed her backward, and she fell back onto the couch with a laugh. I wasn’t smiling though, I crouched in front of her, pulling her legs up over my shoulders. Adele quieted, shifting to get more comfortable. I couldn’t play the game anymore. I didn’t have the strength to draw this out, to tease her like I’d fully planned on doing. It wasn’t until I was about to close my lips over her clit, wanting to suck it into my mouth that I stopped. All of this felt too real and too intense, the way the entire day had been so much more than I’d expected from this thing with her.