Blaine, Destiny - Roping in Forever [Forever 1] (Siren Publishing Allure) (6 page)

“I look young there,” he said, returning to the easel and finding the drawing.

“That sketch is my favorite,” she remarked, joining him there and taking a seat on the stool. “And you were young. You were—”

“Twenty-one,” they said in unison.

Again, the silence separated them, but at the same time, brought them together.

“I’ve waited a lot of years for that kiss,” she finally said.

He moistened his lips. “I’ve been waiting, too, Bella.”

“No, you haven’t. But I understand.”

He was overcome with guilt, remembering Maria and realizing precisely what Bella had witnessed. “You shouldn’t have gone to
San Antonio
.”

“Maybe not, but you shouldn’t have paid for something I was willing to give you for free.”

Chapter Ten

A loud boom sounded out beneath them, interrupting the most wonderful moment of Corbin’s life. He was just about to kiss her again, when several repetitive noises followed the first, alerting him to a potential problem downstairs.

“What is that?” Bella asked, gripping his biceps.

Corbin had his suspicions. He hoped to hell he was wrong, but after an undeniable tempo alerted him to various possibilities, only one made sense. He was pretty certain Travis and Bella’s mother hit it off and found a way to entertain one another. He hoped they left the furniture intact and the walls in place, but by the sounds of how things were going, he had his doubts.

“I’ll be right back,” Bella said. “I need a drink of water.”

“I’ll get it for you,” Corbin hurriedly offered. “You really shouldn’t be up movin’ around until the alcohol and drugs wear off. Besides, I can’t let you go down there and face the unknown.”

Before she protested, he left her room, rushed down the stairs, and entered the kitchen. “What the hell do you think you’re doin’?” he rasped, meeting Travis at the refrigerator.

Travis’s hair was disheveled, and he was naked. “I’m looking for something to drink. What about you?”

“Shit, man. Bella is up!”

“She is?”

“Yes! And she was on her way down here until I stopped her, so I suggest you go back to momma’s bed and keep the old lady busy. Do me a favor and try your dead-level best to do that as quietly as possible.”

Travis grinned. “Want me to tell her mom she’s awake?”

Corbin reached in the fridge and retrieved two bottles of water. “Why don’t you do a friend a favor and keep her content until later today?”

“Trust me, you’ll be doing me a favor if you keep Bella in bed for the rest of the month.”

“I’m not taking advantage of her.”

“You would if you knew what her momma says she’s been savin’ just for you.”

“Her mom said that?” he whispered.

“Said Bella has dinner offers all the time and she turns ’em down. In fact, her mother said she was surprised Bella went out with Benson. She’s never mentioned Benson. Plus, Bella told her mom she was waitin’ on you.”

“What else did she say?”

Travis put his hands over his cock. “Uh, if you don’t mind, could we swap information maybe later, say tomorrow?”

“What else?”

“The only thing she said is what I told you…oh, and, uh, that she’s been waitin’ for ya to reach the age of maturity.” Travis chuckled as he strutted toward Mrs. McDermott’s bedroom. “By God, I had to laugh at that. Age of maturity? Bella’s kiddin’ herself if she thinks you’ll ever be that old!”

Bella was waiting for him to grow up, huh? Humph, well maybe he’d just trot on up those stairs and show her why he was certainly worth the wait.

* * * *

Bella jerked when he reentered her room. She’d dozed off again.

“Everything still okay in here?”

“Yes,” she replied, cursing herself for acting like an excited schoolgirl when she saw him. “I’m still groggy. Maybe once I get some sleep, I’ll feel better.”

“I’m sure you will,” he said, handing her the bottle.

“What was that noise downstairs?”

Corbin cleared his throat. “Travis. He’s such a nuisance sometimes. He was in the kitchen trying to find something to eat. I can’t keep the boy fed.”

She arched her brow. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“No,” he said, grinning. “I’m lying like an evangelistic preacher caught with a prostitute and recorded on film.”

“I don’t want to know, do I?”

“Probably not.”

“So I shouldn’t ask?”

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he said, uncapping his bottle and taking a swig.

“So you never explained how I ended up here.”

“There’s not much to tell. Travis carried you out of the club. I hit Benson a few times, asked him if he fucked you, and threatened him.”

“Right, not much to say about that, huh?” she asked, taking a gulp of water in an effort to hide her smile. She was actually surprised Corbin left Benson alive.

* * * *

Corbin shrugged, remembering how he’d laid claims to Bella in front of a club full of Doms and subs, but more importantly, some of their neighbors. If he didn’t tell her about
that,
someone would.

He’d rather her hear it from someone else.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

“Actually, I was gonna put on pajamas while you were downstairs, but I’m so lightheaded, I couldn’t make it to the dresser.”

He set his bottle down on the nightstand. “Which drawer?”

“You can’t go through my lingerie.”

“You have…but of course you do.”

“Corbin!”

Her smile was weak, and she was extremely pale. He should’ve been shot for thinking what he was considering right then. She was too weak and probably still intoxicated. The last thing he wanted to do was take advantage of her drunken status, especially since Benson did enough of that already.

Trying to be a gentleman, he said, “I could carry you over there.”

“Are you trying to seduce me?”

“By toting you across the room? No, darlin’, if I wanted to seduce you, you’d be seduced in that bed right there.”

“Then do it,” she challenged him.

“I’d like nothing more—”

“But…”

Corbin’s cock twitched under his breeches. He was so hard, he was dangerous. Bella couldn’t handle the kind of loving he wanted to give her, and yet here he was looking at her, thinking she was too irresistible to deny.

“Bella, I can’t.”

She arched a brow. “You don’t like me?”

“Like you?” he screeched, realizing he sounded truly desperate then.

“Well?” she asked, running her hands over her breasts and down her sides. “Don’t you?”

He gasped. Now he didn’t have to wonder. She was still drunk. The Bella he knew would never come on to him in such a manner. Bella would never touch herself in front of him. Would she?

“I’ll get those pajamas,” he said, backing away from the bed.

He opened the top dresser drawer and stared down. “What have we here?” he muttered, fingering the thongs and other soft lingerie inside the bureau.

His mind played a million tricks in one right then, right there. He saw her sliding over him in a crotchless lavender number. Wearing a red-hot sequin-covered teddy, Bella straddled him while touching herself the way she’d earlier demonstrated. Finally, he picked up a paisley short-style pajama set and, oh goodness, he could almost see her bent over, her ass presented to him like a partially opened birthday gift.

“Something wrong?” she asked, stark humor driving the mischief in her voice.

“What about this one?” he asked, opting for a flannel gown instead of one of the numerous silky—slinky—other options.

“No,” she answered him firmly. “Find something pink.”

Pink? His breathing changed as he thumbed through the selections. Everything pale was revealing. Then again—he glanced back to the bed—nothing compared to what she was wearing already.

Choosing a translucent baby pink slip-style short night-dress, he closed the drawer and returned to the bed. “Here,” he said casually, turning his back.

He waited. And he waited. If she’d moved behind him, he hadn’t heard her. “Are you done?” he asked a few minutes later.

“Let me ask you something,” she said, pausing. “How can you buy time with hookers and then act like you’ve never seen a woman before when you’re with me?”

He cleared his throat and turned around. Her back rested against the square pillows behind her. The nightgown was folded across her lap.

Rubbing his lips with his forefinger and thumb, he silently cursed his tented pants and himself for getting himself in this situation. “You’re not like those other women, Bella. I’ve always known that.”

“Why?”

He turned his head and stared out the window. The sun would be rising soon and he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do than sink down to that bed and make love to Bella until the sun was high above the morning sky. But he knew it was wrong. He was staring at the woman he wanted to one day take as his wife—and that much he was certain of after what happened at the club—and best of all, she’d saved herself for him.

By damn, he wasn’t about to screw this up.

Chapter Eleven

Bella was confused. She thought she’d detected a rise in his jeans, but she hated to stare. She’d thought Corbin was attracted to her, but he acted like he was afraid to touch her. What was she supposed to make of his behavior?

“You don’t want me, do you?” she finally asked after he’d placed far too much distance between them.

“That’s not it, Bella.”

“Then what?” she asked, crossing her arms and realizing she probably looked like a sulky teenager.

“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you,” he replied. “I’m scared I can’t give you what you need or if I do, I’ll still hurt you sometime down the road.”

“Because you’ll never settle down?”

“Because of who I am, what I like, things you know nothing about, Bella.”

“Like being tied up?”

He gulped. “Oh God, Bella.”

“I saw what you did to that girl in
San Antonio
. I remember everything, Corbin. I stood outside and watched.”

“What did you see?” he asked in a deep voice, his eyes darker than before. “Tell me, Bella.”

“I saw you tie her up. I saw you gag her, first with some kind of ball, later with your cock. I witnessed everything, Corbin.”

He jerked. “You shouldn’t have been there.”

Was that regret she heard in his voice? Anger?

“You
should’ve
been there,” she said. “Only you should’ve been there with me.”

He stalked the bed then. He sank to the mattress and placed his fingertips against her belly, caressing the area under the ribbons. The warmth of his palm seared her skin where the lace ties failed to cover her.

Their gazes met in another enchanting moment, and slowly his hands moved, his fingers crawling up her middle as he released the long strings of thin material. She held perfectly still until her breasts were no longer confined and the leather only sparsely covered her. Her next breath caught in her chest, and he stopped his pursuits, leaving his palm flattened between her mounds.

“I’m in love with you, Corbin. I’ve always been in love with you.”

“I know,” he said. “And that’s why, right now, I can’t do this, Bella. Don’t you see? If I make love to you now, you’ll regret this for the rest of your life.”

“No, I won’t,” she stated firmly.

“Yes, you will,” he promised her, rising again. “Get changed. I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m checking on something,” he grumbled. “Then, I’m gonna hold you all mornin’ while you sleep in my arms. Just so you know, I may never let you go.”

* * * *

Corbin pressed his head against the tile wall of the bathroom. He tugged his length through the palm of his hand over and over again. Shutting his eyes, he pictured Bella beneath him, arching for him, looping her slender arms around his neck and giving herself to him freely, unconditionally.

Good God, he was hard. Bella made him as horny as he’d ever been, and the fact that she was so honest, so pure, made him crazy.

She’d been right about something. He shouldn’t have been with the girl in
San Antonio
. He shouldn’t have been with any of the women he’d taken to his bed because every woman he’d had there in recent months reminded him of what he didn’t have, what he couldn’t have, until now.

He cupped his sac, his balls feeling like weighted water balloons. He continued pulling for his release, tugging for some measure of satisfaction. He imagined Bella on her back, spread before him, begging for his cock, arching for him, bucking against him, and then—“God bless!”

“What are you doing?” she screeched, slamming the door and stepping inside the bathroom. Looking down at his swollen shaft like she was completely mortified, Bella’s eyes returned to his, and they were wide, wild, and so filled with lust, just the sight of her almost made him come.