Rebel (18 page)

His mind chugged, chugged, failed. “Aren’t you on birth control?”

“Yes, but…”

He tested the water with his hand and stepped in, pulling her with him. Water hit him from every direction, and Wes put his face directly beneath a stream until his head—and the chocolate—cleared. Then he wiped the water from his eyes.

“I have some,” she said. “I’ll get them—”

“I’m clean,” he said, curving an arm around her waist and pulling her back. “I haven’t had sex in three months and came back clear two months ago.”

She turned her face up to his, those beautiful eyes hazed and heavy lidded. Christ, she was painfully beautiful. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Three months?” she asked. “Why not?”

He slid his hands over her small waist, the flare of her hips, around her ass. Smooth. Firm. Warm. Beautiful.

Heaven. Fucking heaven.

“You’re the only woman I’ve wanted.”

He leaned down and kissed her. She was soft, so giving, so fucking hot she blurred his brain. He needed to be inside her.
Needed…

“Rubi,” he groaned.

“Let me get—”

He caught her arm, twirled her back, and took her face in both hands. Her hair was damp and midnight black, her eyes bright ocean green. “Baby, do we need them?”

“I… No, I guess… I mean, I’m clean too. I’ve just always used a condom. I just—”

He pulled her mouth to his, kissing her with all the hunger he’d built up over the months. While their tongues danced, he wrapped her in his arms, lifted, turned, and pressed her against the smooth rock wall. She opened her legs to him, wrapped his hips, and pulled him close with her feet at his back. The feel of her wanting him made his chest so tight, he ached.

“I want to be different, Rubi,” he said between kisses. “I want to feel you. Every inch of you.”

Reaching between them, Wes stroked the head of his cock over her opening, seated himself, then, unable to do anything else, he thrust. A sound bubbled from her throat, one echoing the delicious pleasure riding his own nerves. She gripped him with her heat, and his mind blanked out. His legs shook.

“Fucking. Perfect,” he breathed.

“God…” Her head tilted back against the wall. Plump pink lips parted. Eyes closed. So much pleasure tightening her face, need yanked at his limited control.

He retreated slightly, bent his knees, and thrust deeper. All her softness and heat parted for him. Then surrounded him. Clung to him. Squeezed him.

“Oh
yes
.” Her throaty approval corresponded with the pinch of her nails in his skin and jolted lust through his lower body. He pulled out to thrust again. And,
fuck
, had sex ever been this perfect before? Had he ever needed to come so fast?

“Yes, yes, yes,” she cried.

His body overrode his mind, and he thrust again.

“Deeper. Harder,” she demanded. “Fuck, Wes,
more
.”

No, he needed to slow down. Needed to make this more than just a fuck. The same fuck she could get from any guy. Bringing a woman pleasure had never been so important to him. “Rubi…”

She growled, tilted her pelvis so her hips pulled away. His length dragged against her supple walls, bathed in heat. Another fireworks display lit off behind his eyes. This time they extended down his spine, and he didn’t have a chance to gather any control before she dropped both hands to his ass, dug her nails in, and pulled while thrusting her own hips forward. He sank deep, deep,
deep
into her lushness.

“Mother
fucker
.” His voice shook along with his control. This was bliss. Sheer fucking bliss. Elation that filled him until he needed to explode with it.

She pushed into him again. And again. And again.

Her pussy a strong, wet, hot…deliriously
perfect
fucking grip around his cock. Her perfect breasts jiggling with each move. Need, lust, desire, they coiled and sang down his spine. Fire embedded in his groin. Tension grew across his hips.

“Rubi…baby…slow down…”

But she’d found a rhythm. A perfect, hypnotic rhythm, stroking him long and deep. But a rhythm that would take him to the peak way too soon.

“You feel…” She leaned in and kissed him. “So good.”

Another zing pushed him closer to climax. He huffed a thick, dry laugh. He’d never make it as long as he’d hoped. “Dammit.”

Her teeth sank into his shoulder. The pinch brought him back from the edge. To her nails digging into the skin of his ass. To the little sounds of growing pleasure. To the way her hips moved faster, harder.

“Rubi, wait…” God, if she didn’t stop… “Rubi, baby—”

Her legs tightened around his hips as she pressed her face into his neck. Her high-pitched sound of pleasure rocketed through Wes, speared his cock, and he was gone. He let go of the restraint with a deep growl, grabbed her ass and drove into her. He used every muscle in his thighs, his ass, his abdomen to gather strength for each thrust. Driving, driving, driving…driving so fucking deep.

“Wes… God…
Please
…” She didn’t make any sense, but he understood perfectly.

He clenched his teeth to hold out for her second orgasm. And, Christ, it was harder than the first. Her walls fisted around him with such perfect softness, he exploded. Spilled into her.

So base. So primal. So fucking
hot
.

His orgasm wrung through every muscle in his body, lasting for what felt like forever. The pleasure rampage trailed into deep, exquisite bliss…and a muscle in his ass cramped. Pain shot through his cheek and into his hip. He grimaced, shifted his weight, and huffed a laugh.

Rubi had gone limp. Her head tipped back, resting against the wall, eyes closed, arms hanging loose at her sides, muscles of her thighs soft around his hips. And her chest rocked with a chaotic mix of quick breaths and a hammering heart.

“Christ, Lawson…” she breathed, “I knew it would…be like this…”

He hadn’t. He’d expected a thrill, but…no, not that… God, how did he describe it? Animalistic, wickedly erotic, consuming… He might be a few brain cells short at the moment, but he knew without any doubt it had never been that good.

He held her up with his weight and what little strength he had left. Forced his eyes to stay open enough to watch her float back to earth. His smile stemmed from happiness spiraling through his chest and a deep, deep satisfaction—physical and emotional. She’d opened up to him. Trusted him. Taken a chance.

He wanted to spend the rest of the night rewarding her. Proving she’d made the right choice. But he wouldn’t press that issue. He knew it would be the quickest way to lose her. He could only hope she wasn’t done with him now.

Wes reached up and angled one of the water streams between their bodies. Staying inside her—where he damn well belonged, he’d decided—he poured soap into his hand and leisurely stroked it over Rubi’s breasts and down her flat belly, making him remember the ice cream. Where the hell that wild compulsion had come from, he had no idea. He’d never done anything so spontaneous. So ridiculously…decadent. So carelessly…playful. He couldn’t imagine any woman he’d been with in the past open to something so frivolous, so messy, so…fucking fun.

“You’ve got an awfully cocky grin on your face, Lawson.” Her soft voice brought his gaze up. Her eyes were open, but so heavy her black lashes concealed all but the sparkle.

He chuckled, lifted his brow, and shook his head. There were no words to describe their first encounter. “That’s happy, not cocky. I’m…truly speechless.” When she didn’t comment, just remained relaxed, a light, happy grin on her face, a little pinch of fear sparked deep inside him. He snuffed it, leaned in, and kissed her gently. “You’re amazing.”

Her hand came up to his face, the touch sweet as she curled her fingers and ran her knuckles across his jaw. Her eyes slid closed, and she kissed him back, slow, sweet, her tongue lazily making blood pool at the base of his cock again.

He knew he needed to be the one to leave before she suggested it. He needed to leave her while she still wanted him. Which, by the way her hand was tightening in his hair, would be now.

Damn, this had to be one of the hardest things he’d ever done.

He broke the kiss and pulled out of her grip when she tried to pull him back to her mouth. Leaning away, he let the warm water wash the soap off her skin. “I’d better tuck you in and get home so we can both get some sleep.”

The disappointment that flashed over her face shot a hot stream of panic down his chest. “You’re leaving?”

He lifted her by the waist while bending his knees to pull out of her. Sensation streamed over his cock, spread deep into his hips, and Wes groaned with the pleasure of it. “Do you usually have guys sleep over?”

She tilted her head to the side and looked up at him with the same alluring glance she’d used the other night at the club. “I never have guys sleep over. I’ve never even brought a guy here.”

His chest tightened, and Wes’s breath left his lungs in a slow sweep. His mind warred—one side telling him he should stay and cinch that third link in a chain of firsts for her. Another voice whispered that leaving like this made their sex
just
sex, when he knew he wanted more. Yet another told him that if he wanted this to be different for her, different than her previous encounters with other men,
she
had to be the one wanting him again. He needed to maintain control—because she was the one who held it with every other man.

That didn’t calm his fear of leaving her alone to rationalize why they should never do this again. Or the sizzle of panic working its way over every nerve, urging him to stay.

He cupped her face and lifted her gaze to his. “What do you want, Rubi?”

Her hand stroked his shoulder, his bicep, her fingers curling around his forearm. Her face was flushed, her lids heavy, lips swollen. And he was growing hard again. Those beautiful eyes searched his. Then a furrow appeared between them, and she shook her head, her gaze dropping away. “I…don’t know.”

His heart dropped. But it didn’t break. This was a minor setback. No big deal.

At least that was what he told himself.

He turned off the water, sidestepped her, and pushed the door to the glass enclosure open. Reaching for a cabinet, he found towels and pulled one out. Wrapping the fluffy terry around her shoulders, he used the ends to dry her body, kissing his way down until he was on his knees in front of her. Her belly was flat, that diamond stud sparkling in her dark skin. Her waist curved in, then flared gently at her hips. A tiny triangle of dark, cropped hair decorated her pussy. He couldn’t begin to put her physical beauty or sexual attractiveness into words. He only knew he could look at her forever.

Fuck.
Walking out that door was going to kill him.

But he settled the towel around her shoulders and pulled another from the cabinet for himself. After drying off quickly, he pulled on his pants, tucking his new erection away with a wince.

Rubi chuckled. She had her towel tight around her body now, her arms crossed, the nail of one thumb between her teeth. And the kittenish grin she shot over his body almost took him back to his knees.

“I’ve got that ugly early call tomorrow,” he forced himself to say. “And sweetheart, you wrung me out. I’m going to head home.”

He swung his arm around her shoulders and walked her out of the bathroom. As soon as they entered the bedroom, Rodie uncurled from his spot on Rubi’s bed and jumped down to follow. Wes put his hand down to pet his sleek head.

“I miss having a dog,” he said, trying to ignore how amazing he felt. How satisfied, how comfortable, how…high. He felt like Rubi was in his bloodstream.

“Why aren’t you pushing to stay?” she asked, her voice matter-of-fact. “The wild-child type isn’t as exceptional as you thought?”

He paused in the living room by the sofa and took her arms, turning her to face him. “Are you serious?”

Her gaze darted away, and she shrugged. “It’s not a secret that I’m not your type. Who knows what those sweet girls give you that I don’t.”

Her show of insecurity was a sweet blow to his chest. “Rubi—”

“Friends, right?” She laid her warm palms against his belly and lifted her eyes to his again. A thin shell veiling her expression. “No hard feelings if you…if this…isn’t what you want.”

Isn’t what
he
wanted? Wes’s brain tilted.
What the…?

Then he searched her eyes again, and he saw it—vulnerability. Such deep vulnerability, Lexi’s words about Rubi’s childhood flooded back.

“The fact that she’s pushing you away tells me just how important you are to her. Maybe too important.”

His chest constricted again, so strong it choked off his air. Still holding her arms, he dropped his head to get himself together. He wanted to jerk her against him and smother her with all the affection and attention she missed growing up. Yet, he was sure that would be the very quickest path to losing her.

When he met her eyes again, he could clearly see the brave front she’d pulled up, one thinly veiling hurt beneath. Her lips parted, and Wes knew what she was going to say. Knew what she was going to do. She was going to push him away out of fear.

He pressed his fingers to her lips. Took a deep breath. “You are more woman than all my others put together. Your sexual confidence is the ultimate turn-on. And it lets me feel just as secure, just as free. More open than I have with anyone. Ever.” He grinned to lighten it up. “I’ve certainly never considered smearing ice cream all over a woman.”

The fear softened, and she smiled before lowering her gaze. “That was definitely…different.” Her tone hinted that it had been different in a thrilling way.

Yes.
This was what he wanted. He wanted to be different to her. Unique. Not someone she could replace with anyone she randomly picked up at the club. She couldn’t just turn her back on him now and pretend things hadn’t changed between them. Or even inside herself. A good start.

Now he just had to figure out how to hold on to this connection.

“But I get the feeling you might pull back into yourself if you have to cuddle with me all night—’cause, yeah, I’m a snuggler.”