Toxic (5 page)

That I was a St. Claire.

Jeremy grabbed his things and pulled me back behind the lounges. “I’m serious—I can’t get caught here. If I do, I’ll lose the opportunity for the Southe Pointe hookup.”

I nodded in understanding and huddled with him. The canvas cloth of the cabana brushed my bare back as I sat on the concrete in my
I’m trying to be a rebel
dressy shorts and set my shoes next to me. His body followed mine and I shivered.

As he sat down—flesh to flesh—our arms touched.

The contact was unlike anything I’d ever felt. There was something about him. I wanted to know more. I wanted more of him.

Two silhouettes walked hand in hand down the same path that I had taken to get here. As they got closer, I froze for the second time that night. One woman and one man—my mother and the club’s tennis pro. He kissed her and there was no mistaking he had done it before. As he fumbled in his pockets for his keys to the office, I cringed and felt like I might throw up. They kissed again and he practically pulled her clothes off before he even opened the door.

My world turned on its axis—my mother was cheating on my father.

“Don’t be shocked. It happens all the time,” Jeremy said.

I blinked, swallowed, blinked again.

“The tennis pro has a slew of women he fucks on a regular basis.”

Bile rose up my throat. He didn’t know that woman was my mother. I had to get out of there. I stood up and ran as fast as I could to the beach.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Jeremy called. He was on my heels.

“I have to go,” I managed to squeal over my shoulder.

My feet hit the soft ground and sand sifted through my toes. I made it just beyond the dunes before Jeremy caught up with me.

When he took hold of my wrist and tugged on it, I lost my footing and we both fell onto the sand. His hard body covered mine and those blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he looked at me. It was like he could really see me. Like no one else ever had. “Why are you running?”

I could barely breathe with him above me. “You said you had to go.”

He shook his head slowly. “I don’t.”

Butterflies played in my belly.

“You’re beautiful. You know that?” His voice was strong, warm, certain.

And as the words left his mouth, I believed him. It wasn’t a line he was using. And for the first time, a guy made me feel like I really was beautiful.

Not my clothes.

Not my house.

Me.

Just me.

I didn’t say anything to him but a strange pulsing between my thighs encouraged me to rock my hips into his.

He groaned when I did, and the sound he made caused my body to come alive. I stroked my hands along the lean muscles of his back, digging my fingers into his flesh. When he plucked the flower from my hair and handed it to me, I was completely charmed. “Spend the night with me,” he said.

Yet, I couldn’t answer him.

Instead, I stared at his mouth.

His lips quirked up as he leaned down and brushed his lips over mine.

He didn’t kiss me though.

With his eyes already locked on mine, we both lost ourselves in that moment, in each other. I couldn’t see anything but him. I didn’t hear anything but his breath. I could feel only his body against mine.

We were covered in sand.

I didn’t care.

I lifted my head as he lowered his and our lips met in the middle. Lush. Soft. Sensual. He kissed me soft and slow and he kissed me hard and fast. He kissed and kissed me.

I liked the feel of his lips.

I really liked the taste of his mouth.

And I loved the feeling of his body pressed against mine.

I started to tremble in delight as his mouth devoured mine.

He took all my air away.

I didn’t care—I didn’t need to breathe.

The kiss was sensual and delivered with a fierceness I wanted to eat up.

I could have kissed him all night.

I ran my hands through his wet hair. It was soft and I tugged on it a little. He groaned once again and the sound cascaded through me like an instant shot of arousal. His hands roamed my body and mine searched his with equal curiosity.

He pulled back. “We don’t have to do anything. Just say you’ll stay with me.”

I forgot I hadn’t answered him.

I lifted my gaze and locked it on his. “Yes,” I whispered.

He continued to stare at me with eyes that were full of intensity.

“Now kiss me. Just kiss me,” I whispered.

He did, and then he extended his hand. “Follow me.”

His motorcycle was parked around back and as I hopped on, I looked around and prayed no one saw me.

The building was long and rectangular. Made of brick. There were about a dozen windows but no doors. He led me around to the side and pulled out a key card. He slid it down and instantly a green light illuminated. The corridor was empty. I ran barefoot down the worn carpet with no idea where I was going. I could hear him stalking behind me. When I got to the end, I stopped and turned around. I had no place else to go. I was trapped. He took one step forward. I took one back.

My heart thumped in my chest.

He took another step and grabbed for my hands. Step by step we went, him forward, me back. We moved like that—a predator and his prey, until my spine made contact with a door. He was close. So close. He took one last step and his expression shifted from amusement to something more lustful, darker. We were chest to chest, hip to hip and when he pressed into me, his cock nudged my lower belly.

I gasped, trying to catch my breath.

Suddenly, his fingers encircled my wrists and he lifted my arms above my head. I blinked, realizing I was pinned to the door. I was his prisoner, held captive by his hands, his mouth, and his body.

But freedom from this type of captivity wasn’t anything I wished to be granted.

He kissed my open mouth, light flicks of his tongue wisped against mine. Sparks ignited and I swear my leg kicked up all on its own. I urged him for more, pushing my body so far into his we could have been one.

Breathing hard, he let me go and stepped back. “You sure about this?”

“Yes.” My voice was nothing more than a rasp.

He unlocked his door but before he opened it, he swooped down and took my mouth with a bruising force. He wanted me. I wanted him. We’d only just met but there was no reason to wait.

I reached behind and turned the knob. We both stumbled inside the small apartment, a tangle of arms and legs. In a fit of laughter, we stared at each other. When he slammed the door, my pulse raced.

We were alone.

In another swooping movement, he lifted me and my legs automatically wrapped around his waist at the same time my arms encircled his neck.

He had one hand inside the waistband of my dressy shorts and the other beneath my flowy top. He knew what he wanted and how to get it.

I liked that about him.

“No one’s here?”

He shook his head, just once, and then took my mouth again.

I pulled back. “Your mother won’t be coming home?”

He set me down. “She’s out of town.”

“It’s okay that—” I was nervous and babbling.

He cut me off. “Kiss me.” His voice was rough.

My toes curled and our breaths mingled. I placed my lips on his—he tasted of salt and sand and I wanted to eat him up. I licked up his throat, across his strong jaw, and back down. I unfurled my legs from his waist and set my feet on the floor for balance.

As soon as I did, his hands wandered. The tips of his fingers brushing the lacey fabric of my bra and then gliding down to my shorts. After a beat, he took my head in his palms and his lips made their way down my throat. “Is this okay?”

I threw my head back. “Yes.”

He kissed over my bare shoulder. “This?”

I closed my eyes. “Yes.”

This time, he pulled me forward, while he moved backward. Down a hallway. Through a door. We moved until his lips were no longer on my skin. Then I opened my eyes and looked down to see him sitting on a bed. If I had any second doubts, they were obliterated when my eyes met his intense blue ones—I wanted him.

All of him.

Every single bit.

His hands smoothed down my sides and when they went back up, they were under the flimsy silk of my camisole top. His fingertips dipped under the lace of my bra and my nipples peaked against them.

I shivered.

I think he did too.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

I nodded, unable to speak. I wanted to scream—anything is okay. Everything is okay. We’d spent enough time roaming each other’s bodies. I wanted more. I wasn’t in the habit of sleeping with a guy I’d only just met. But he wasn’t just any guy. I couldn’t explain it. I needed him inside me.

I was no longer drunk, but I was intoxicated—on him. Convinced of the fact that it didn’t matter who I was, I didn’t stop.

It was just him.

And me.

Two people who wanted each other.

“Take your top off. I want to see you,” he growled.

I didn’t stop there. I took my bra off too.

The hissing sound he made was reward enough but the way his palms moved to expertly cup my breasts, kneading and caressing them, drove me out of my mind. Then he pulled my body to his mouth and I went insane. His tongue licked around one of my nipples, while his fingers rolled the other one into a stiff peak. When he switched sides, he sucked on the nipple he’d just touched and the stimulation was so much I couldn’t help but moan.

“Take your shorts off,” he demanded around his ministrations to my breasts.

He sat on the bed while I stood before him. I would have knelt before him if I had the courage. That’s how much I wanted him.

I stepped back and looked at him. His eyes were half-lidded and his expression was something new. I could see how much he wanted me. No one had ever looked at me like that before. I was always the tall, gawky one, with a boylike figure. But I could see that wasn’t what he saw.

With trembling fingers, I stripped out of my shorts and stood before him wearing only a tiny triangle of white lace.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.”

My pulse raced. I believed him.

He leaned forward and grabbed my ass. His fingers caressed along the outline of my thong and then up the middle and back down. Over and over. All the while his tongue traced around the triangle that was now completely wet. I’d never let a man put his face where his was. I had never wanted to. Oral sex was an exchange and I never felt like giving, so I never asked to receive.

“Take your panties off, I want to make you feel good.” His voice grew hoarse.

I knew he could.

“I want to lick you, suck you between my lips, taste you, eat you until you scream.”

My breath caught on his words.

His mouth was already on my clit and it felt so good. I couldn’t imagine what it was going to feel like with no barriers.

I wanted to know.

I slid my panties down and stepped out of them. As soon as I did, his mouth was on my bare flesh and his tongue was circling my clit. Over and over he licked and sucked me until I arched in ecstasy and cried out as the sensations took over. I had to remind myself to breathe. I grabbed his head to stop my knees from buckling beneath me but then he inserted a finger inside me and I knew it must have been him holding me up because my body was a tingling mess.

“You’re so tight. So wet,” he groaned.

I closed my eyes and lost myself in his voice. It happened before I knew what it was. My toes curled as pleasure ripped through me. I thought it was so cliché when a woman said she saw stars. But I saw stars, the moon, and every planet in the solar system. I never wanted the amazing feelings to end. When I finally stopped moaning and floated down to earth, he pulled his face away from my pussy.

I missed his warm breath there immediately.

He pulled me onto the bed and up toward the pillows. Before we settled, I reached for his shirt. He shook his head. “This was about you. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“I don’t. I want to make you feel good.”

The bright gleam in his eyes told me he wanted that too. “Take your shirt off,” I told him and had no idea where my commanding tone came from.

He laughed and I thought he wasn’t going to do as I’d asked, but then he did.

He stretched so we were facing each other and I ran my fingers down his smooth chest, tracing every line and muscle. When I reached the top of his jeans, I looked at him.

His face was filled with desire.

“Take your—” I started to say but stalled. I took a deep breath. “Can you take your pants off?” My voice was void of any forcefulness.

His eyes sparkled with amusement and when he did what I’d asked, his cock sprung free. He was long and hard and beautiful. I couldn’t wait to touch him. I had him in my hands and was stroking him before he had even lain back down.

He covered my hands with his.

“What?” I asked.

“Let me show you.”

I should have been embarrassed but I wasn’t.

His hand moved mine slower, up and down his erection in smooth even strokes. I wouldn’t have ever thought I could be so turned on but my sex clenched as my palms rubbed over his silky smooth shaft.

He reached over to the bedside table and pulled out a condom. “Fuck me,” he said to me as he ripped it open.

I couldn’t wait.

As soon as he put the condom on, he pulled me on top of him. I was on my knees and stared down at him. At his flat belly that was tight with muscles. At his strong arms. At his face. At him.

Just him.

He positioned himself with ease and I lowered myself down.

He filled me and it felt so good. His hands were on my hips and he guided me. Moving me up and down—slowly at first, then faster, much faster. His hips were surging forward. He was groaning. My lower belly coiled with tension and my thighs began to vibrate.

He was fucking me hard and I knew without a doubt that I was going to come again. As he thrust deeper, I placed his fingers back on me and it wasn’t long before I was coming again. I thought I’d come before this night but if this was what an orgasm was—I knew I never had.