Landon's Obsession: An Endless Series: Book 3 (Series 3) (45 page)

     I swallowed a shuddery breath at the profoundness of
his words. He sounded so sincere, and again I couldn’t deny feeling similar
emotions. The first time I’d seen Landon, that day in his bedroom, I’d felt an
instant attraction. He’d been so striking with his dirty blond hair with sun
tipped highlights, golden tan, muscular body, and model features. What teenage
girl wouldn’t have been attracted to that?

      However, I hadn’t been shallow enough to fall at his
feet just because he was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever see.  I’d stayed
away from him because my mother…and his…had made a point that I had to. But
Landon hadn’t stayed away. He’d searched me out, and then pushed me to go out
with him. It hadn’t taken much pressure on my part because by then my
attraction for him had been nearly consuming.

     After that things between us had moved fast. We’d spent
nearly everyday together, and when we weren’t together I’d missed him terribly.
Falling in love with him had happened quickly…easily, but I hadn’t been blind
to his faults. Landon was arrogant and sometimes brutal, both verbally and
physically, but he had been different with me. I knew he had shared things with
me, opened up to me, in a way that he hadn’t with another, and he’d been so
sweet to me.

     When Kris had done…what he did to me, I’d spent nearly
two days hiding in my room crying, trying by myself to deal with what had
happened. It hadn’t occurred to me that Landon hadn’t been trying to get a hold
of me because the time had been a blur, but then I couldn’t handle it alone any
longer. I’d called Landon, needing him…

    But he’d treated me like I’d been nothing to him. He’d
taken my bruised and aching heart and tore it from my chest. What Kris had done
had been bad enough, but Landon had completely destroyed me because I’d trusted
him, loved him. 

     Fingers stroking across my cheek tore me from past
memories. “Why are you crying?” Landon asked.

     My hand came up automatically to grasp his. I lowered
it and held it between both of mine, looking at him with sad eyes. “Landon,
while I understand why you acted like you did, and would have even thought the
same thing, those things you said to me left a scar on my heart.”

     Landon’s eyes closed and his head bowed, resting gently
on my stomach, but seconds later his head and lids lifted and he gazed at me
with both sorrow and determination. “I wish I could erase those words
completely from your mind. They weren’t the truth; you have to know that, Maya.
They were said because of the knife that was ripping into my own chest. When I
saw you and Kris together it destroyed a heart that had already been hardened
by the life around me.”

     Hearing the wretchedness in his voice had me raising a hand
to his brow to soothe him, and the truthfulness of his declaration squeezed at
my chest. I felt another tear roll down my cheek. “I don’t know if it’s possible
to move past everything that’s happened. Kris is your brother. We still don’t
know the truth of Nola’s parentage. What if finding out he is her father…” I
looked away and swallowed. “What if you can’t handle it? I know you say it
won’t matter, but emotions have a way of surprising us, Landon. They can never
be truly surmised until put to the test. Moreover, your parents are still
unaware of Nola and could become a problem.”

     His hands firmed on my hips. “My emotions have already
been put to the test, and in regards to you and Nola they will not falter a
second time. I no longer consider Kris my brother, and if my parents can’t
accept you and Nola then they’re the ones who will have made their choice. My
choice is the two of you.”

     I gaped at the resolve in his voice. Was he serious!? “What
do want from me, Landon; besides Nola?”

     He frowned. “I don’t want you because of Nola. I want
us to try again. I want us to have the chance we didn’t have four years ago; to
see where this relationship might have gone. See where it can go.”

     His passionate words flooded my head and heart with
hope, but…“So, what…you want to start where we left off?”

     I couldn’t deny that my body ached for him, more than my
body actually, but I couldn’t just fall instantly back into having sex with
him. What he was suggesting needed to be taken slow; for Nola’s sake, and
because it was scaring the hell out of me.

     Could my soul survive another round with Landon?  

     Hands that had been gripping my hips flexed and
kneaded, brushing faintly under my butt sending jolts of electricity through
me. Breathless, hot, and edgy, my body clenched for more.

     “No. I want to start new. I want to get to know you all
over again. I want to date.” He grunted.

     More hope exploded inside of me. Could we start
new…forget the past…work through the issues? The presence of the hope was
evidence that I wanted to, as were all the other feelings and emotions bursting
inside me.

     My fingers unconsciously drifted up and through his
hair.
So soft
. “You think it could work?” I sighed softly.

     His hands moved around to cup my butt and he tugged me
back down onto his lap. Unable to stop him, because I just didn’t want to, I
stared at him in quivering bemusement.

     “Without a doubt.” He answered assuredly.

     Surprisingly, I found myself smiling at that. “You
always were arrogant.”

     He grinned back, a fierce expression in his eyes. “I
think you always liked that about me a little bit.”

     My mouth twist and I didn’t refute him. His arrogance
had made me hot for him, I don’t know why. Arrogance in other men had totally
turned me off, but in Landon I knew it was mostly superficial, because when he
showed me his sweet side I knew that was his true self. Luckily, he’d shown me
his sweet side first when he thought I couldn’t speak English.

     Landon’s hands began roaming over my lower back,
massaging and stroking. “Damn, Maya, I’ve missed holding you.” He said gruffly.

     His actions would have been relaxing…if they weren’t so
arousing. Each stroke of his hand on my back had my sex rocking against his
hardness.

     “Landon.” I gasped. “If this is our first date than I
think we might be going too fast.”

     He tugged me closer, his expression darkly intent. “I
promise, I’m not going to go too far, but each day with you has pushed my
willpower to an excruciating degree. I have to touch you.” His hands dug into
my flesh—not painfully—but to illustrate his point.

     I don’t know how any woman couldn’t be moved hearing
such possessive longing coming from the man they…
What the heck was I
thinking?
His touch was messing with me. I pulled back.

     “Landon, I know you heard what Gabby said about me…about
my nonexistent social life, so this really isn’t fair.” I panted.      

     His eyes narrowed. “Since you brought that up…”

     “I am not discussing that with you.” I scowled.

     “Why do you feel like you need to hold
something
against me?”

     He surprised me with a question I wasn’t expecting, but
it was another one I didn’t feel comfortable answering. “Uhh…just forget I said
that. I didn’t mean it.”

     Expression probing, he went back to rubbing my back.
“Do you feel you
had
to forgive me because of what I saw and thought?”

     I frowned. “Well of course I had to forgive you. What
you saw had to be pretty convincing.”

     “But did you
want
to forgive me?” He asked,
brows drawn tight.

     I inhaled. What could I say to that? Probably the
truth, I guess. “I wrestled with myself for three months on that question. It
was touch and go for a while because I was really angry with you, and hurt. I
felt you should have known I wouldn’t have done something like that to you. But
we hadn’t been together long, and then I remembered that story you’d told me
about that first girl you were with and it swayed me more to your side of
things. You were accustomed to women using you. I just became another one in a
long line.” 

     He stared at me somberly for a moment. “I did think
that, but you weren’t using me. Are you still feeling some resentment that I’d
believed it so easily of you?”

      My chest tightened as he shined the light on my
emotions. “Landon…I know what you thought was understandable, in my head, but…”
I sighed.

    His fingers danced gently down my spine leaving tingles
in their wake. “Hey, if you can understand why I thought what I did, then I can
understand why you feel like you do. I just hope with time those feelings of
resentment and bitterness will fade.”

     I had to really focus on our conversation as his hands
repeatedly moved over my skin. “I don’t want to feel resentment, Landon. I can
see how much all of this has affected you…”

     “But you feel what you feel.” He broke in wearing a
sad, accepting smile.

     I felt a twinge of guilt and was the tiniest bit
surprised he was so compliant. “Really? You have no problem that I still have
some lingering bitterness toward you?”

     He gave me a twisted grin. “I’m not thrilled about it,
but I understand.”

     I exhaled loudly. “Damn, both of us are just so
understanding.”

     Chuckling, Landon suddenly sat forward and hugged me. This
entire time I’d purposefully kept my hands away from him because I knew if I
got a hold of him I wouldn’t want to let go, but he was surrounding me now and
there was no way not to touch him. So I just sort of sagged right into him.

     Ahhhh…man, he felt so good, so hot…so hard. I melted
into him further, absorbing him in, breathing him in. Ahhh…I remembered that
smell; dark and musky loaded with massive amounts of Landon pheromones. The
embrace, his scent, it all went straight through me, causing my breasts to
swell and core to clench with want. 

     Landon’s arms constricted around me crushing me to him.
“Shit, Maya, you feel so good.” He groaned.

     Unable to stop myself I returned the embrace, digging
my fingers into his hard, muscular back. We were connected from chest to groin,
exchanging heat, and my breasts swelled achingly. Landon’s hardness was
perfectly positioned under my sex, giving me a teasing taste of delight, and I
whimpered at the spark of desire that wanted to rise up consume me.

     He returned my whimper with a groan, and his hips
punched up making the spark become a blaze. “Fuck, I need just a little more,
Maya. One kiss…” Hands palmed my face and warm lips breathed against mine.
“Just one, I promise.” And then his mouth covered mine.

     It had been so long…over four years since I’d been
touched and kissed like this, and I felt drugged by it. My mouth opened,
accepting everything he wanted to do to me, and mercifully, he didn’t hold
back. It was like he was starved for me; his lips ate at mine, his tongue
thrust, retreated, and then thrust deeper, and his teeth nipped and bit frantically.

     It was our lips doing all the work but my whole body
felt it. His mouth was like a plug to my outlet, electrifying me, and this
electricity necessitated movement. My hips automatically began to rock on the
hard erection pressing up into me and the sensations that burst inside of me
were nearly too much to handle. I grappled at his shoulder and hair in
helplessness, whimpering and panting. Landon had always had a powerful effect
on me, going straight to my head worse than alcohol.

     Leaning back with me Landon’s hips rolled with mine and
he gave what sounded like a desperate groan against my mouth. “Your taste...the
feel of you…nothing compares, Maya…nothing,” A hand splayed on the back of my
head and I felt another grip my butt firmly as the urgency of his rocking hips intensified.

     It had been too long…too long. My wits fled and my body
was in complete control. I gasped for air, powerless against the intense
sensations exploding inside of me. “Landon…oh god!” I gasped.

     Hot hands burrowed under my thin sweater to stroke over
my naked back, and then one moved to cup my silk covered breast. It squeezed,
molded, and then the thumb circled my distended, sensitized nipple before
pinching and tweaking it. The shooting bolt of delight had warm wetness gushing
from me, soaking my panties. I needed more. My hips pushed harder into the
enormous rigidity under me wishing there was nothing between us. I was
so
close.

     “Fuck, darlin, it’s been so long.” Landon grunted,
squeezing my breast.

     For some reason his words cleared my haze of lust just
enough to make me aware of what we were doing. Shocked, I pulled away and shot
off his lap.

     “Oh my, god!” I stumbled back into the table behind me
and would have crashed on my backside if Landon hadn’t reached out to steady
me.

     While I appreciated the save his touch didn’t help my
thrumming nerves. I skittered sideways away from his reach. I couldn’t believe
I’d let myself lose all control like that. I needed to be more responsible.

     “Shit, Maya.” Landon rose but stayed where he was and I
couldn’t stop myself from taking him in. His pants were tented with a very
prominent, massive erection, his shirt hung open displaying his heaving muscled
chest and that incredible tattoo, his features were strained from unanswered
passion, and his cheeks wore red flags of arousal, but there was marked regret
in his gaze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go that far.”

     I was having a hard time catching my breath so I raised
a hand needing a moment. We’d gone from zero to intense in seconds.

     He frowned, his gaze turning anxious, and then angrily dismayed.
“Son of a…Are you having flash backs to what Kris did to you?”

     His question hit me like a sudden slap. “What!?” I did
not want to be thinking about his brother right now…or ever.