Beat (The Beat and The Pulse #1) (14 page)

Ash buried his cock
deep one last time and held my spent body against his as he spilled the last of
his orgasm into me with a grunt that seemed to echo around the studio.

Staring up at him in
the mirror, I was mesmerized by the look on his face. Enraptured. That's what
his expression looked like. He'd fucked me like an animal and he was
enraptured.

When he pulled out,
he tugged me down to the mat, holding me tightly against his hard, naked body.
Our chests heaved in tandem and neither of us could speak. Really, who the fuck
could be coherent after
that
?

Squirming, the spot
between my legs already felt tender. Slick and tender. I'd feel him for days. I
didn't want to stop feeling him. I wanted to go again and by the feel of his
semi-erect cock against my ass, so did he.

Lips brushed my
shoulder as our sweat began to tack on our bodies, our breathing evening out. I
didn't want this to end. After weeks of teasing, fighting, pushing each other
away...I didn't want him to let me go.

“Don't let me go,” I
whispered.

Ash's hand glided
down my waist, over my hip and hooked around my knee. With one graceful
movement, he tugged my leg up and over his, opening me wide enough to rub his
cock through my slick folds.

“I want you again,
Spitfire,” he murmured, nibbling at my neck. “So fucking sweet. So fucking
responsive. You like coming on my cock?”

Moaning, I rubbed my
ass against him, urging his cock toward my opening. Fuck, this man. What had he
awoken in me?

I knew the answer to
that one as I felt the head of his hot length dip just inside. A sexual
deviant. A glutton for pleasure and pain and everything before, after and in
between. He told me he wouldn't be able to let me go once he'd tasted my body.
That sentiment went both ways.

“You like that?” he
asked. “You like the way I fucked you?”

Reaching a hand
behind me, I grabbed his ass cheek, digging my nails into flesh. Rolling my
hips back, I urged his cock deeper. He thrust hard, hitting home with a grunt
that shuddered through his entire body.

“I belong here,” he
moaned, sinking his teeth into my shoulder and circling his hips.

“
Mine
,” I
gasped, clenching as hard as I could, trying to make a point.

Fingers found my clit
and pinched. “Mine.”

He fucked me from
behind in long, steady strokes, our eyes connecting again through the mirror.
Hands palmed my breasts, pinching nipples as we watched the place where we
joined so completely. It was anything but vanilla. I doubted it would ever be
boring where Ash was concerned.

Teeth sunk into my
shoulder again, the pain adding to the sensation as he picked up the pace. Two
orgasms?
Two
? As I started to wonder if I could take it after the first,
I felt myself teetering on the edge and the fall was going to shatter me again.

“Ash,” I panted, my gaze
fixed on his. “I’m close.”

“So am I, Spitfire.”
His fingers found my clit again and my entire body shuddered against his.
“That’s it,” he whispered in my ear. “Let go, Ren. Let me give you want you
want.
Take it
.”

His words sent me
reeling over the edge of another orgasm, and I let it take me, not giving a
shit what I looked like or what I was saying. I let the sensation wash over
every nerve ending and rode what felt like a tsunami.

Ash starting fucking
me hard as I came, his cock slamming home again and again until his own release
joined mine. He buried his face into the crook of my neck, his grunts muffled
in my hair, arms holding my body tight against his.

Complete. I felt
fucking complete. It was the weirdest sensation I’d ever felt, but it was mine
and I was going to keep it. I was going to keep Ash and fucked if he had a
choice about it. Two could play at this alpha game.

As we started to come
back to earth and leave the stars behind, he pulled out and turned me over in
his arms, lips finding mine.

Sex was a poor word
to describe what we just did. There were no words, but I had a feeling we
didn’t need them.

I kissed him long and
slow and let my body convey my gratitude.

Chapter 24

Ash

It felt like hours
that we lay there on the mat, in the place we spent so much time together,
tangled, sweaty, sticky…naked.

I’d never fucked like
that. Period.

We didn’t speak, but
we didn’t have to. I’d said everything I wanted to with my cock and she’d
replied with her sweet pussy. We made our feelings known through sex and that
was enough.

“Where do you go?”
Ren asked, her lips brushing against my chest.

I knew exactly what
she was getting at, but I wasn’t going to tell her. “Nowhere.”

“Liar.”

I stiffened in her
grasp. She can't see it.

It's the place where
the beast lives. It's where he goes to satisfy his cravings for blood.

She can't see it.

Sitting up sharply, I
scooped her up in my arms and carried her across the mats into the showers, her
fingers biting into my skin. Turning on the water as far as it would go, I
dunked her underneath. Crying out, she slapped me and I set her down.

“What’s your
problem?” She shoved me, her tits swaying.

Fuck. Her tits.

“No problem,” I
muttered, winding an arm around her waist and tugging her body against mine.

Ren brushed her lips
across each tattooed star on my chest, licking droplets of water from my skin.
Fuck. I touched her. Regret spiked deep inside, but I wanted her. I'd never met
a stronger woman - physically and emotionally.

“Why won't you tell
me?” she asked. “I let you fuck me from-”

“Don't use sex as a
bargaining chip,” I hissed, pushing her back against the tiles. “I warned you
that if I had you I won't be able to stop. I will take.” I cupped one of her
perfect, perky breasts in my hand. “I will take whenever I want.” I pinched her
nipple hard, making her arch into me with a gasp, and my cock stiffened against
her stomach. “
Mine
.”

I pressed my mouth
over hers, taking what I needed, and her fingers dug into my biceps like she
was holding on for life. 
Fucking ride it, Spitfire.

Rubbing my cock
against her stomach, all I could think about was ramming into her over and
over. Coming, claiming, letting the beast free. Fuck, Ren was dangerous and she
didn't even know it.

“What are you worried
about?” she murmured as I sucked a path down her neck.

“Nothing,” I lied,
nipping at her collar bone.

“Who's using sex as a
bargaining chip now?” she huffed and I pulled back sharply.

“
Fuck
.”

Her brown eyes
searched mine, disbelief etched into her features. “I'm right, aren't I?”

“Don't ruin it, Ren.”

“Ruin what? Your
carefully placed facade?” She dug her fingers into my arm, stinging pain
splitting my skin. “When I said I wanted you, I didn't just mean your cock,
Ash.”

I let her go,
stepping back, the spray of water from the shower head separating our naked
bodies. She was staring at me, pleading with her eyes and my gaze dropped to
her perfect tits.

“What's the big
secret? Where do you go?”

I'd eat her alive,
but that place would take more of her than I was willing to share. She longed
to fight, just like I did, and once she got a taste, she wouldn't stop. I would
never see her hurt because she'd suffered enough. That place would make her pay
in blood.

“God,” she hissed.
“I'm not a doll wrapped in cotton wool.”

“The Underground,” I
bit out before I could clamp down. The cuts and bruises, the time I always
turned up at Beat, the need that I trained with...she was smart enough to get
it.

“An underground
fighting racket?” Her pretty eyes widened.

“Fuck Ren.” I fisted
a hand through my wet hair.

“What... Does anyone
know?”

I shook my head.

She stared at me for
a moment, her gaze not leaving mine. It said everything I wanted and feared all
at the same time. Awe, surprise, understanding...
interest
. Shit, I
wanted to fuck her again.

“You can't go.” With
one step I was in front of her.

“Why not?”

I jerked her up into
my arms, clamping my hands on her ass. Her legs wrapped around my waist, slick
heat pressing against my cock.

“Who's using sex as a
weapon now?” she asked, her voice thick with want.

I drew my hips back,
stiffness finding her opening. Her lips parted in a sigh as my crown pushed
just inside.

“Say the word, Ren,”
I murmured. “Say the word and I'll walk away.” One or the other. What a fucking
prick.

Muscles clenched around
the head of my dick and I groaned, every part of my body coiled and ready to
pound into her.

“
Mine
,” she
whispered, lowering her mouth to mine.

Thrusting into her, I
groaned, “
Mine
.”

We might say this
shit to each other now, but how long would it be true? If she saw the beast
that lived inside me, then those days were numbered.

She couldn't go...not
if I wanted to keep her.

Never.

She couldn't see the
beast. 

Chapter 25

Ren

I stood in the middle
of the coffee shop, a stupid grin on my face.

I felt sore. A 
good
 kind
of sore. My head was clogged with Ash and nothing else, so when Josie came in
and stuck her face right into mine, I jumped a mile.

“
Josie
,” I
exclaimed.

“Well, you were
standing there with a mental look on your face,” she declared. “It was open
season.”

“You scared the crap
outta me.”

“What’s his name?”
She gave me a suggestive wink as the coffee machine flared into life behind me.

“Will you be quiet?”
I exclaimed.

She let out a
startled gasp. “Is it Seth?”

“
Josie
.”

“Okay, not Seth.” She
paused, pretending to think. “Ash? Please tell me it was the Greek God.”

I bit my bottom lip.

“It was!” She was
more excited about it than I was and I was pretty up in the clouds the day
after what could only be described as our rabid animal fucking.

“You fucked him?”
Josie exclaimed, making me wince.

“
Josie
,” I
hissed, nodding toward Seth. I didn’t want him to hear about me having sex
right after breaking it off with him. That would go down an absolute treat.

“Oops,” she
whispered. “So, how was it?”

I winked, a stupid
grin spreading across my face.

“Renee Miller,” she
hissed. “You little minx! I must know all the details so I can live vicariously
through you. That man is something else. How big was he?”

I rolled my eyes,
absolutely mortified. “Oh my fucking 
god
.”

Josie start to laugh.
“That big, huh?”

Glancing at Seth, who
was oblivious to our conversation I said, “We’ve got a lot to catch up on
Josie.”

She glanced from me
to Seth and then back again, her face contorted in thought. “Did you and Se-”

“
Shhhh!
”

“Ren, I never knew
you had it in you,” she said with a wink. “Total proud parent moment.”

“Neither did I, but
at least I was honest about it.”

“So honest that you
didn’t tell Seth about Ash?”

“How did you-”

“Oh shit,” she said
with a laugh. “I was just taking a stab in the dark. I was actually right? I
think I’ve got ESP.”

“Sometimes I really
hate you.” I grinned at her.

“Order up, Josie,”
Seth called out.

She sauntered over to
the counter, picked up the takeout cup and slid a tenner into my cleavage.
“Catch up on the weekend?”

“Sure.” I pulled out
the money with a stupid grin on my face.

“I’ll text you.”

I ducked behind the
counter to ring up her order. “Okay, see ya.”

“Later, hot stuff.”
Josie shoved the door open with a wave.

The rest of the
morning went off without a hitch and for the first time since I walked into the
place, I found myself eager to get back to Beat.

Waving to Seth on the
way out, I almost ran. I wanted to see Ash and make sure that this whole thing
wasn’t a dream. Rounding the corner, I almost slammed into the man himself. He
was leaning against the wall, a stupid grin on his face.

“You look proud of
yourself,” I drawled, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of him. He’d been
waiting for me rather than going to Beat and I wondered what was up with that.

“I am,” he replied,
pushing off the brickwork and standing in front of me. “I had epic sex last
night.”

I flushed red.

“How do you want to
play this?”

“Play what?”

“Us.” He pointed
between our bodies.

“It’s really going to
piss off a lot of people,” I said, my lips curling into a grin. Monica
especially. At the thought of sticking one to her, I felt extremely pleased
with myself.

“I know.” He reached
out for my hand, fingers tangling with mine.

My skin began to
tingle where he touched and the image of us in the mirror last night flashed
through my mind. I felt my face begin to heat and Ash chuckled.

“You’re thinking
dirty thoughts,” he said. “I like it.”

“I can’t help it.”

Ash closed the gap
between us and leaned down to steal a kiss. It was a quick peck on the lips and
all I wanted was to taste him again. Pulling back, he hissed through his teeth.
“You’re trouble, Ren.”

“I’m trouble?” I
slapped him on the chest. “Why aren’t you at Beat? Shouldn’t you be training by
now?”

He hesitated, running
his free hand over his face. “Some guy is there fixing all the crap I broke.”

“Ah, I see. Wanna go
back and do a round in the gym, then?” I didn’t say anything else about his
meltdown, I let that one slide for the moment.

Ash glanced down the
street toward Beat. He looked conflicted for a moment before shaking his head.
“I think I should sit today out.”

“Ash Fuller, the
machine, taking a 
day off
?” I exclaimed.

“Lets do something,”
he declared, ignoring my smart ass comment.

“Like what?”

He shrugged. I
wondered if this was man code for wanting to keep me to himself for a little
while longer. Sounded great to me.

“Well, it’s a nice
day out. We can go to a park someplace and have lunch?”

“A picnic?” Ash
scoffed.

“What, does that ruin
your manly fighter cred or something?”

He grinned at me,
eyes sparkling. “Yes.”

Somehow, we found
ourselves in a park near the city center, with a plastic bag full of
sandwiches, juice, strawberries and one of those cans of whipped cream. Ash
grumbled the entire way like a five year old, but I reminded him that taking a
day off was his idea.

We’d downed the
sandwiches, or I should say that Ash inhaled most of them, in easy silence. It
was just bordering on awkward when Ash picked up the cream, aimed it at me and
squirted. My mouth opened in a gasp as a long trail of cream splattered into my
cleavage.

“Ash!” I shrieked at
him.

“Here,” he crawled
over to me. “Let me lick it off.”

He shoved his face
into my breasts and licked, smearing cream all over his face and we fell
backwards onto the grass. Laughing, I fisted my hands into his hair and shoved
him deeper into my cleavage.

“I really fuckin’
like your tits Ren, but I also like to breathe,” Ash grumbled, rolling off me.
He held me against his chest, wiping the cream with a finger and letting me
lick it off. Groaning as my tongue wrapped around each of his fingers and
sucked, he flexed his cock into my thigh.

“Cream makes you
horny?” I asked with a smirk.

“Your mouth sucking
it off me does,” he said through a heavy breath.

I sat up as he went
to shove a hand up my top. “We’re in the middle of a park.”

He followed me,
sliding a big hand over my thigh and zeroing in on the sweet spot. “I’m a beat
away from not giving a shit.”

My pussy began to squirm
at the thought of Ash taking me and I suddenly wished we hadn’t gone on a
picnic, and had found someplace quiet and 
private
, instead.

“What is it about you
that-” I clamped my mouth closed. I thought dirty things about him all the
time, but saying them? Shit.

“What?” He tried to
find a way into my knickers, pushing a hand up the leg of my shorty shorts.

“That-” I felt my
face start to burn.

“After last night,
you’re embarrassed to tell me all the dirty fuckin’ things in your head?”

I gasped as his fingers
almost came in contact with my clit and I slapped his hand away.

“Tell me,” he
whispered into my ear.

Gazing into his eyes
I said, “I wanna fuck you all the time.”

He palmed my ass,
eyes darkening. “You have no idea how hard I am, Ren.”

I wiggled against
him. “Oh, I think I can take a guess.”

“Fuck this park,” he
whispered into my ear.

He stared at me while
I stared up at the sky, watching clouds skim across the blue. I had so many
questions I wanted to ask but I would end up sounding like a broken record. I
didn’t know which ones I was allowed to ask and which ones would push him over
the edge. Why he’d snapped the other day, why he’d been such an asshole to me
all this time, why I couldn’t see him fight at The Underground. I got that he
was all alpha male and felt the insatiable need to protect what was his, but I
didn’t need it. I didn’t want to be wrapped in cotton wool.

“What are you
thinking about?” Ash asked.

Turning my head, I
studied his features from his emerald eyes, his brow that was still marked from
that cut he obviously got at The Underground...

“Why do you go
there?” I asked, wiping cream off his face with a thumb.

His eyes narrowed,
giving away that I’d asked the wrong thing and my heart did a nose dive. I
pulled back, breaking contact, fear rising hot and hard. If I did the wrong
thing he’d leave, but I couldn’t go on with all these secrets between us. 
His
 secrets.

“Ren,” he said
thinly. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“You can't see it,”
he exclaimed, fisting his hands into his hair.

“Why not?” I cried,
scrambling to my feet. “What are you so afraid of?”

He stood and
straightened to his full height, leveling his gaze to mine. “I'm not afraid.
Never dare think for one second that fear lives in me, Ren.”

“I wouldn’t dream of
it,” I bit back with ultimate sarcasm.

“You’re not going.”

“Why?”

We stood staring at
each other like stubborn children.

Finally, Ash started
to cave. “They’ll use you to get to me.”

“Let them try.”

“Ren, you don’t
understand. They’re not nice people…” He ran a hand over his face. “They’ll try
to hurt you.”

Is that why he fought
us for so long? He didn’t want me to get hurt? It was like I kept telling my
Dad, I was a grown ass fucking woman who could make my own decisions. I was as
tough as they came and I wouldn’t let anyone touch me. If they did, then they’d
better be willing to pay the consequences.

The thought must have
translated to my face because Ash stepped forward and wrapped an arm around my
shoulders. I fell against his chest with a sigh and held him close.

“I don’t want them to
touch you,” he murmured into my hair.

“I’m not a dainty
little flower, Ash.”

He started to laugh,
his chest rumbling. “No, you’re not.”

“Who was on the phone
the other day?” I asked. I didn’t have to elaborate because who could
forget 
that
.

“Ren.” His grip
tightened around me like he was afraid I was the one who’d run from him. He had
it so fucking wrong. “There’s things I’ve done that I don’t know if I can ever
tell you about…”

“You don’t have to
tell me straight away,” I whispered as a pair of joggers passed us.

“I lost everything,”
he said suddenly, fingers biting into to my arms. “I'm trying to get it all
back, but-”

“But what?”

“What if I lose it
again?”

My heart did a little
flip-flop and I glanced up at him. “You won't.”

“How do you know?”

“I don't. I just-” I
hesitated and Ash cupped my face, his gaze searching mine like I had all the
answers. “I believe in you.”

He captured me in a
kiss, his tongue grazing my bottom lip. Opening up to him, I pushed him to go
deeper, to take what he needed from me. His comfort was my pleasure and I
needed it more than he knew.

He pulled away first,
brushing his lips against mine. “I know I can trust you, Ren. But I can’t trust
them.”

I doubted I would
ever know what was going through Ash’s mind, but this was a start. At first
there’d be a trickle. A thought here and there, and before long, we’d know
everything. I wanted to give him everything.

“If you say you trust
me, then you should be able to trust that I’m strong enough to handle it.”

Ash stared at me and
began grinding his jaw. It was a glaring indicator that he was about to give me
a severe case of emotional whiplash. Abruptly, he picked up our rubbish and
grabbed my hand, dragging me across the grass like a caveman.

“Where are we going?”
I almost stumbled trying to keep up with his long stride.

“The Underground,” he
spat over his shoulder. “When you see it, you’ll understand why I never want
you to go back there. If you see it, then maybe you’ll shut the fuck up about
it.”