Then I came back to my boat and passed out only to wake up sober enough to get it back to my slip at the marina and head to the bar to pick up where I left off.
The thought of calling Celia passed through my head once or twice, but when it did I chalked it up to being too sober and took three shots to drown out reason. Worked too. Until I stumbled home to find her fucking waiting for me with those big coaxing eyes and those damn lips that even the sanest man would sell his soul to taste, I fucking lost it.
And now she’s on her knees looking up at me as if I have the power to fix this. As if I’m the hero she’s been waiting for rather than the coward who’s perfected the art of hiding in the bottom of a bottle.
“Fuck.” I hold my hand out to help her up. This woman doesn’t deserve to feel the cold hard ground beneath her perfect skin, let alone sit out here in the dark alone waiting for an asshole like me. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your car.”
She takes my hand and once her warm palm hits mine I can’t help but tug her in and crush her to my chest. Her arms come around my waist and her body shakes with a silent sob as she leans on me for comfort.
“I’m not a good guy.” It kills me to say it, but she needs to know.
“You lost a friend, Aden.” Her fists grip the back of my tee and her breath skates along my skin. “You’re hurting. Don’t shut me out.”
I pull back knowing if I keep her close for a second longer I’ll take her to my boat and beg to get lost in her body. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
The soft mounds of her breasts press against my ribcage and I hiss as blood roars through my veins. “I tried to stay away.”
“I should let you go.” My fingers dig into the soft flesh of her hips going against the words that tumble from my lips.
“Or maybe you should hold on.”
I fork my hands into her hair and lift her lips to mine. The second they touch I know I’m not walking to her car. No force of will or military trained obedience can get me to release her.
I’m drowning in her.
In her touch, her effect, the way she looks at me as if she sees past the darkness in my soul to the man I was meant to be. The honorable man I was before. God, how I want to be that man again.
When I rip my mouth from hers, I punch in the five-digit code and grab her hand, leading her through the gate and down the dock to the boat.
She doesn’t speak or try to get away, but succumbs to my control as I help her aboard and usher her through the back door. I hold her hips from behind and steer her to my bed, the sheets balled up from a restless night’s sleep. Her thighs hit the mattress and I skate my hands up her sides, pulling her shirt up. She lifts her arms so I can tug it off and toss it to the ground. The moonlight casts her pale skin in an ethereal glow that makes her look otherworldly—an angel sent just for me.
I kiss a path from her shoulder to her earlobe, melting against the comforting warmth of her skin. “If you want to leave at any time, I won’t stop you.”
“I’m staying. As long as you’ll have me.”
I groan as her words soak through the drunken haze. “Always,” I whisper, and hook my thumbs into the waistband of her shorts to push them to the floor. “It hurts.” The weakness in my voice is humiliating, but I can’t help it. Being around Celia is disabling in the best way.
Nuzzling her neck, she tilts her head to allow me full access to the velvety skin of her throat. “I know.”
After I cover every inch with brushes of my lips I move to the other side. Goose bumps race across her skin and she goes weak in my hold.
Needing to feel her against me, I pull my tee off before wrapping a forearm around her chest and pressing her back to my front. “You feel so good.” With a hand in her hair I tug her head aside to get back to her neck, playing with her breasts until she’s arching and rubbing her round ass against me. Every stroke is like hitting a new button that lights her up even more.
Who needs booze when I have this responsive woman writhing with want in my arms?
I press between her shoulder blades, bending her over my bed. Following her down, I stretch her arms up over her head. “Stay like this. Don’t move.”
She sighs as I kiss a path down her spine, her skin like the sweetest silk on my lips. I move to her side and nip at the creamy mound of her breast that’s pressed to the bed. She arches her back, her ass teasing me until I’m painfully hard. All it would take is one slide of her panties to be buried deep inside, but I want to explore every inch of her body and bring her to the brink until she’s begging me to finish it. I want to be the man she thinks I am, strong and heroic, and hers.
With a frustrated grunt I flex my hips into her backside in a not so subtle request for her to be still. She whimpers and fists at the sheets as I move to her other side, nipping and licking until I’m bathed in the guttural sounds of her desire.
“You want this?” Another flex of my hips and she’s pushing back into me.
Beautiful.
“Never felt anything like this . . . Aden, it . . .” She sighs when I rotate my hips against her. “Aches.”
“Mmm . . .” I hum against her skin and kiss her lower back before sliding her panties down to her knees. My breath catches in my throat at the view of her before me and run my tongue up the backs of her thighs until her legs almost give out. “I want to take my time—”
“Please, don’t.” She rocks back into me. “I can’t take any more.”
“Shhh . . .” I cover her in worshipful swipes of my lips and tongue, making sure to linger on the spots that make her crazy. I remember telling myself one day I’d kiss every freckle and I intend to do just that.
I fantasized about feasting on her for hours and that’s exactly what I do until I can’t take another second of not being inside her.
I reach into a drawer at the side of my bed and pull out a condom, rolling it on quickly. I then push her panties to her ankles. “Keep these here.” She nods and I move her to her back before I nudge my way through the gap in her panty-restrained legs. Her thighs cradle my hips and she gasps at the feel of my hard-on resting between us. Her legs surround me like the warmest blanket and with her ankles locked behind my knees we’re fused together. “Want to feel you wrapped around me the entire time.”
Her hands lock behind my neck and she pulls me to her lips and kisses me softly once, twice, then slides her tongue along mine in a tentative stroke. I pull back as far as I can with her shackled ankles, and as I slide my tongue into her mouth I inch my way inside her body.
She rips her mouth from mine to groan in pleasure just as a long hiss escapes my lips.
“You’re so sweet, freckles. Every part of you, so fucking sweet.”