“Yes.” Still holding her wrists, I backed her up against the bed until she had no choice but to fall backward onto the pillows. I straddled her and pinned her arms above her head. “Now, why don’t you let me kiss you first? It’s only polite before you start pulling my clothes off.”
She nodded and swallowed as I lowered my head to hers. We were a breath apart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
AVERY
Bad idea.
Bad idea.
Good.
Oh my hell.
Was that his tongue?
So.
Knees buckling, I held on to his firm body to keep myself from collapsing against him.
Good.
I shivered as the aching tension between us intensified past anything I had ever experienced.
Why hadn’t I jumped into his bed before? This was a splendid idea. His lips trailed up and down my neck, causing me to shiver, and then his fingers moved to my dress and tugged it down my shoulders. My flesh was too sensitive for words, and that was just from kissing.
Something about the way his lips caressed my body—something about the way he held me—signaled what we were about to do was a way bigger deal than anything he had with his other girls.
Was this how he treated all of them?
With awestruck worship?
Because it could get addictive—his touch wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced. You know it’s bad when the way someone touches you alters the way you feel about yourself. No longer was I the young, inexperienced brat he’d grown up with.
In Lucas Thorn’s arms, I, Avery Black, was a woman.
“You’re shivering.” His lips nibbled mine before he took a step backward and pulled his shirt off over his head.
I sucked in a breath. “Can you do that again? Maybe slower next time?”
His lips spread into a wide, arrogant smile. “That depends. Will you gasp louder next time?”
“Ladies don’t gasp, and if they do, a true gentleman wouldn’t point it out.” My lips were moving, but my eyes were locked on his insane chest.
“Good thing,” he said as he took a step toward me, “I’m not a gentleman.”
“Good thing,” I repeated, my voice sounding airy, nervous as he very slowly snaked his right arm around the back of my neck and tugged me forward against his solid wall of muscle and heat.
With a moan, I pressed an openmouthed kiss to his chest. “I may just hang out here for a bit.”
I could feel his chuckle against my mouth—I hated how good the vibrations felt. I hated how they made my heart pick up speed, and how warmth spread from my head all the way down to my toes when his grip on my body tightened possessively. I hated all of it.
Not.
“You know this has to be the slowest seduction ever,” he grumbled. “I’ve been waiting years to see you naked, and you nearly pass out when I take off my shirt.”
“Years?” My ears perked up. I waited for details while his hands ran down my back, his fingers locating the zipper to my dress and pulling it.
“Years,” he repeated. “Years.”
“You’ve said that twice—no, three times.” Cold air hit my back as Lucas slid my dress all the way down.
Lucas stepped back and cursed. “Oh, Avery, the things I’m going to do to you.”
I gulped.
His eyes seemed to darken as if a switch had been flipped. I was in his territory, where he ruled—and I had no idea how to proceed.
The last time I had sex hadn’t been so great.
It was rushed.
It was a blur.
It was messy.
Awkward.
Embarrassing.
I left with one sock.
“Tell me if I hurt you,” he warned, his voice on edge like he was about to pounce or something—and then, with a wicked grin, he charged me, gripped me by the hips, and flung me farther up on the bed.
Like he was a freaking superhuman.
I’d love to say being manhandled was horrible. Lucas Thorn, boo, you suck in bed—well, may as well make my grocery list while he does what guys do.
Nope.
False.
I bounced once.
“Don’t move.”
I licked my lips and watched in utter fascination as black slacks fell to the floor.
He made black boxer briefs look too sexy. But of course he did.
And then he tilted his head and ran one hand up my right leg, pulling my thong down with his fingers before tossing it on the floor. I hadn’t worn a bra with my dress, so now I was naked.
What happened to fast?
Like, Oh look—let’s take off our clothes, have sex, and get the awkward staring at each other part over with?
He didn’t do fast.
His hand slid up my right leg again, and then the man hooked my leg up on his shoulder and flashed me a cocky grin. “You’re gorgeous.”
I would have argued, but I had no voice.
We locked eyes.
And I almost passed out when he lowered his head. I opened my mouth, assuming he was going to kiss me.
“Thorn!” I yelled. “Totally not necess—” Words. I lost them completely as he pressed his lips at my center and swirled his tongue. Warmth pooled where he was kissing, and my entire body went red-hot and then cold again, only to get hotter and hotter as he worked magic that mere mortals with penises should never possess! I accidentally smacked his head and used the opportunity to grab a fistful of his hair. At the moment holding on for dear life and trying not to lose my mind while he devoured every inch of me like I was his own brand of chocolate seemed like a good choice.
His head popped up. “You were saying?”
“Nothing.” I sighed, aching for more of what he’d just been doing. “Absolutely nothing. I’m silent. Mute.” I released his hair and sucked in a breath as his eyes locked on mine.
“Well, we don’t want that either.” He disappeared again.
My muscles flexed, contracted. He added fingers to his tongue until I felt so thoroughly worked over, I was certain I would explode. Fire raced through my veins and gathered where he was sucking and licking and thrusting with his fingers. The room dimmed, and I realized I’d forgotten to breathe. When I gulped in air, my arms and legs went numb and tingly. Is that what Lucas Thorn did? He gave women strokes in the bedroom?
I released his head a second time as a white-hot sensation rushed over my lady bits, slamming into me in rapid succession. I let out a scream. “THORN!”
He said my name against my skin, sent a vibration through me, giving the impression that I had the most beautiful name in the world. He murmured it once more, and little aftershocks rocked me.
I became lost in my own desire again.
I was happy to stay there forever.
Or until he got tired.
Amazingly, the man’s mouth was good for something. “Thorn!”
I needed him to stop.
Or keep going.
Or just give me a two-second time-out before I lost my mind. Just when I felt like I couldn’t take any more of his moves, he jerked away from me and said gruffly, “I can’t take it anymore.”
“Oh thank God!” I reached for his head the minute he reached for mine, our mouths fused together in a frenzy of tongue sucking and near teeth knocking. I tasted what had to be me on his lips, and it only made me want him more. In the hazy distance I recalled this was Thorn. Lucas Thorn. Someone who’d broken my sister’s heart, someone who cheated, someone who was bad, but was still so, so, so good . . .