UNTOUCHED (Midwest Alphas) (Book 1) (23 page)

Oh, Berlin… I love it here already.

My inner muscles quiver with delight as he nibbles and scratches at my skin. I fight to catch my breath as my limbs turn to jelly. I never expected this shy man I stumbled upon to be so rough, but I’m certainly not complaining.

He grabs me and flips me over onto my belly. I moan loudly when he quickly enters me again from behind. My fingers keep an iron grip on the old and tattered bedspread. His cock pushes in deeper, forcing me over the edge one more time before he yanks me up by my hair to steal a kiss from my lips.

I whimper and purr as he takes his time on me. His thick arms wrap around my body as he scratches and grabs at me. His fingers spider up my arm and lay to rest around my neck. I shake at his strong grip, the fear of it magnifying the desire inside. He squeezes my throat, then loosens his grip only to flex his fingers even tighter the next time. I moan louder, urging him on and calling his name until I can barely breathe. He takes me faster and faster until we both climax against each other one last time.

Lukas releases me and I topple to the mattress below. I roll over onto my back and take deep, steady breaths to calm my light head. My brain throbs from the lack of oxygen, making every nerve a little more sensitive than usual. I love every second of it.

“Es tut mir leid, wenn ich dich verletzt,”
he whispers, a smile curling his lips.

I laugh at him and run my fingers through my tangled hair. I make note of his words, but I probably won’t remember them by the time I get back together with Mandy anyway.

***

Mandy glances at the clock when I return to our hotel room. “Eight hours.”

“What?” I ask as I close the door. She’s already dressed in jeans and a thick sweater with her bags stacked on the bed, ready to go. Her hair is turban wrapped on top of her head, still wet from a wash.

“Just letting you know how long we’ve been in Germany, just in case you’re keeping track of how long it takes you to mount a foreigner in each country we drop into,” she jokes.

I grin. “I’ll be sure to write all about it in my diary,” I tell her.

“Dear diary…”
she begins as she smears a bit of cherry balm along her lips.
“I don’t remember his name, but I’ve named his big dick Gunter!”

I lean in as I pass by her bed. “His name was
Lukas
,” I say.

“Oh, so we’re making note of their names now?” she laughs.

“I think I’m going to remember this one for
a long time
, actually.” I slide my jacket off and drape it across my pillow. “At least, until I meet the next one in Munich. Is there some hot water left?”

“Plenty,” she answers. “Don’t take too long, our train is in an hour.”

“I’ll be quick.”

“You always are.”

“Ha, ha.” I close the bathroom door behind me with a smile on my face, eager to wash off what’s left of Lukas’ sweat and bodily fluids. My cheeks appear pink in the light, that perfect shade of rouge I always strive for, but can never obtain through make-up alone. I lick my lips. I’m still throbbing inside and out. It feels too damn good not to savor.

I strip naked and let the hot shower water cleanse me from head to toe. Being here, in a foreign land, surrounded by people that don’t know me (nor do they give a flying fuck about who I am) — it’s a sweet awakening. For the first time in my life, I feel completely naked. I don’t have to keep my secrets. I don’t have to whisper quietly into Mandy’s ear and hope no one else can hear me. I don’t have to be anybody except who I want to be.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Piper Lynch.

This is the real me.

And I’m not going back.

I step out of the shower and wring the remaining water from my long hair. As I stand up, I wipe the condensation from the mirror and pause as my eyes notice something different on my pale, white skin. I lean in and see the mark forming on the left side of my neck, a red and bright purple love bruise where Lukas’ hand held me. My lips curl into a delicious smile. My first instinct is to grab make-up, just as I always did at home to conceal marks such as these, but I stop and stare at it instead.

I don’t have to hide it anymore.

I wrap my body in a towel and step out of the bathroom.

***

We arrive at Berlin Central Station with just over fifteen minutes to spare.

I drag my rolling suitcase behind me with my ticket and my copy of our itinerary clenched in my free hand. “Looks like our compartment has four seats inside,” I note.

“Oh, yeah?” Mandy asks, glancing up from her phone as we walk across the station towards our train.

I grin. “This means we might have two strangers to cozy up to for the entire six-hour trip.” I say it with a bit more excitement than I intended and Mandy regards me with a knowing glance.

“Strangers, eh?” she says. “And are these strangers tall, dark, and handsome?”

“They are in my head.”

“You waste no time, do you, Piper?” she laughs.

“I’m just eager to travel the world and meet new people, Mandy,” I say with a grin. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re implying.”

“I’m
implying
…” she moves her brown hair to one side of her neck as she fans herself off with her phone, “that this country might not be the only thing
in
heat
right now.”

I laugh and give her a quick shove as our train comes into view. “I told you not to pack a bunch of sweaters,” I tell her.

“I thought Europe was supposed to be dreary and cold.”

“I don’t think anywhere in the northern hemisphere is dreary and cold
in August
, Mandy.”

“Well, I’m starting a revolution then. Germans are known for that, right?”

I shake my head. “Not the good kind.”

She shrugs and goes back to scrolling through her phone. We wait patiently in line as other passengers board the train ahead of us. My eyes scan the people and buildings around me, taking in one last dose of Berlin before the train takes me someplace new. I fill my lungs with the air around me and listen to all the different voices and dialects. It’s oddly familiar, but insanely different than the echoing halls of Belle Academy.

We step inside and I check our tickets one last time to verify the compartment number.

“It should be just down here,” I tell Mandy. My heart races with each step I take, knowing that every breath I take leads to a new experience. A new face. A new emotion. A new
life
. Everything around me wreaks of the unknown and all my senses buzz with excitement.

I grip the handle to the compartment and pull it open.

Oh, hell no.

Hell. No.

Chapter 6

Kai

“What the hell are you doing here?” she shouts at me. I’ve seen Angry Piper before, but I have never in my life seen her
this
pissed off. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bring me great pleasure watching her nostrils flare out like they are now.

She stands with her little fingers gripped on the compartment door handle. Her hair hangs down over her shoulders, clean and straight, blending in with her pitch black shirt. But I really notice her eyes first. Piper has never been known to wear make-up outside of her own natural shades, but right now, she wears thick, black eyeliner with smoky-gray lids. It’s a new look, and not a bad one for her either.

I stand up from my seat with enthusiasm. “You made this trip sound so
wonderful
we thought it’d be fun to tag along. Isn’t that right, Shawn?”

Her eyes dart downward at him in his seat, as if she never even noticed the second person in the room.

“Piper—
move
. Who is it?” Mandy Black squirms underneath Piper’s arm and spills into the small compartment. When she sees me and Shawn, her jaw drops with a precious smile. “Holy shit, guys. What’s up?”

“Don’t
what’s up
them, Mandy. They aren’t supposed to be here —” She turns back to me. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

“It’s Europe Party Town, population
we
,” Shawn says. He blows a thick bubble with his pink bubblegum until it pops back against his face.

“It was all your dad’s idea,” I say.

“Excuse me?” she asks, her voice falling low.

“Well, after dinner the other night, he and I talked a little more about
his
concerns
for your safety…” She stares at me like an angry viper, eager to rip my eyes out. “And long story short, we decided to surprise you!”

“Surprise!” Shawn adds.

Mandy steps towards me and sits down in the seat across from Shawn. “Sounds good to me.”

“That’s the spirit, Mandy!” I raise a hand and she high fives me. When I look back at Piper, I notice she’s staring her friend down, but my girl Mandy gives zero fucks in return. “Come on in, Pipes. You’re blocking the corridor.”

She refuses to budge. “How did you know we’d be here?” she asks.

It’s an obvious solution, one that I know she’s clever enough to figure out herself, but I answer her anyway. “Your dad gave me your itinerary.” I bend over and grab it from my bag. It’s a series of xeroxed pages stapled together haphazardly — because fuck her cutesy organization system. I drift towards her. “I know exactly where you’ll be everyday for the next five days. Shawn and I have already booked the adjacent rooms in all your hotels, so we can have sleepovers.” I smile a little wider, baring my teeth as I stare down at her.

She’s fuming.
Really
fuming. I feel my cock twitch in triumph, but the game isn’t over yet.

I still have five days to finish this.

Belle Academy Female #13. Piper Lynch.

It’s your turn.

***

The city of Berlin drifts away on the horizon behind us and soon, the window frames the lush and green German countryside for us. Piper sits in the seat across from me in the compartment with her head down and her itinerary in her hands. I catch the occasional angry glance in my direction, but it never lasts more than a second — not nearly long enough for me to flash her a cocky smile or a wink as I’d like to.

Shawn sits beside me with a big grin on his face as he and Mandy chat casually with each other. When I pitched this trip to him, he immediately agreed to it — knowing full well that it could end with him losing our bet. Coming on this trip meant I would be preoccupied with Piper while he kept Mandy Black company. He’s had a thing for Mandy for as long as I’ve known him. I thought sleeping with her as part of our bet would have torn our friendship a new one, but he couldn’t care less as long as I filled his head full of information about how she likes it. (
Rough
, in case you’re wondering. She likes it rough.)

“Mandy, how about you and me go check out the bar car?” Shawn says as he stands up and stretches his legs.

“Sure,” Mandy says. She gets up and I notice Piper shooting her a glare, but Mandy counters with a passive shrug.

“Drinking age is eighteen in Germany, right?” Shawn muses. He passes me a not-so-subtle wink as the two of them slide the door closed, leaving Piper and me alone with each other at last.

I look across the compartment at her. She’s ignoring me, of course. Her smoky eyes hang low, studying the printed map lying on her thighs. She’s got the entire trip marked out on it. A red line begins in Berlin and travels south to Italy, then back north to France and… England? I crane my neck and get a better angle to confirm it.

“You know, Piper,” I begin, clearing my throat. “I don’t think dear old Daddy will appreciate you straying off your itinerary—”

She grips the paper with sharp nails and slams the clear plastic cover down. “Go away, Kai,” she snaps as she pulls a German fashion magazine from her bag and whips it open to pretend to read it.

Fuck.

If I intend on sealing the deal during this trip, I’m going to have to warm her up a bit. She’s already pissed off with me, so I’ll have to be stealthy about it.

“Hey, Pipes,” I say.

“What?” she grits through her teeth.

“Has anyone ever told you how pretty you look when you’re angry?” I ask.

“All the time.” She doesn’t even glance up from her magazine.

“I figured, but I thought I’d say it just in case…” I keep my eyes on her, hoping to catch the sudden sight of chinking armor, but she’s giving me nothing to work with. “Looking forward to Harvard next week?” I ask.