Getting Rough (18 page)

When my lips captured his earlobe and my teeth scraped it, his breath stuttered. I took great power from being able to affect this man in such a way. I’d found his button and my research was complete. But I wasn’t quite done with him. There had been one other thing I’d wanted that I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to do. It was a risk, but one well worth taking. So I suckled his earlobe one more time to hopefully guide him to a more receptive state, and then I kissed along his chiseled jawline to his mouth.

Casey hadn’t kissed me since the one and only kiss we’d shared before all of this began. I wasn’t even sure if it would be okay to go there again, if it was too intimate for him to handle. But kissing Casey wasn’t the plan. I simply wanted to sink my teeth into the meaty flesh of that damn bottom lip of his. So with the forward roll of my hips, I took his cock deep inside me, inhaling sharply and throwing caution to the wind as I covered his mouth with mine.

And oh, God, yes! Casey’s large hands splayed across my back and he held me to him, his mouth receptive and his tongue seeking the comfort of my own. His taste was sweet and I grew light-headed from the sugar rush. He was so hard inside me, so warm and naked against my skin, so fucking manly in every way. For one brave moment, I pretended I could have my way with him. My arms wrapped around his neck and I fisted his hair, pulling back ever so slightly and forcing him to release my mouth. And then I did it. I took that sin-worthy lip between my teeth and scraped the tender flesh with my bite.

Casey growled. Not in warning but in approval. I gave him my best seductive smile, the kind all the sassy heroines in my books gave their male leads to drive them bat-shit crazy with lust, and then I bit him again. This time I didn’t pull away. I deepened the kiss, taking control of it and giving him a taste of his own medicine. Maybe I was sweet, but innocent I was not. If this was the only time I’d ever have him in this way, I was going to make damn sure it was as memorable for him as it would be for me.

Holding on to his shoulders, I used my body the way a woman’s body was meant to be used in order to please a man. The arch of my back put me in the perfect position to ride his thick length while still teasing his lips with the brush of my nipple. I wanted him to take it, and he did.

Casey captured the pert bud between his teeth, gently scraping it with a delicious sort of pain. Though I was careful not to say a word – he still hadn’t given me permission to – I whimpered at the sensational tease. More. I wanted more. Reading my cue, he took the wanton peak fully into his mouth, suckling and licking, while looking up at me. There was a shift behind those eyes, and I got a glimpse of the man who lived to please his woman.

I watched as he moved from one breast to the other, kneading them both with his strong and roughened hands. Each draw backward and push forward of my undulation teased my G-spot and sent me higher and higher, like an elevator climbing to the top floor of a tall building. Anticipation to reach the final destination dueled with the impatience of the long ride up, but I knew once those doors opened, my orgasm would come flooding in.

Second floor… third floor… fourth floor…

Quickening my grind, my focus shifted to the sensation of my swollen clit against that sinful patch of hair on Casey’s groin. It tickled yet stimulated the highly sensitive button to my pleasure, so I bore down, pressing closer and closer. So enraptured was I – by the expression in Casey’s eyes, his mouth on my breasts, every minute detail of his engorged cock deep inside me – that I hadn’t even noticed I’d been biting down on my lip until it started to throb in warning that I was about to break the skin.

Fifth floor… sixth floor… seventh heaven.

Destination reached. No sooner had the doors opened than the elevator went crashing down, the sudden shift sending wave after wave of euphoria through every nerve ending in my body. My chest felt light and airy, almost cold in the absence of the blood that had vacated it to converge upon my center only to explode and then spread through my veins like a wildfire demanding the scorch and burn. I swooned and swayed, basking in the aftermath of a rush that left my head dizzy with bliss.

I’d only barely registered the stillness of my movements when Casey took over, pushing and pulling at my hips to prolong the event. The walls of my pussy gripped his impossibly harder erection, squeezing and tugging, begging him to join me in a place that should be shared by lovers.

And I almost believed we were exactly that. Until I opened my eyes and came face-to-face with reality once more.

The shift I’d seen only moments before had suddenly changed, like he’d snapped back to some reality I couldn’t fathom. Gone was gentle Casey, desperate Casey having resumed his place, and I found our positions changed yet again.

Lying flat on my back with my arms pinned to the bed above my head, I felt exhilarated. Yes, I wanted this.

“Wider,” was his order, and I was his to command, though he didn’t give me the chance to comply. Instead, he hooked an arm under one knee and spread me to his liking. Angling his hips, that very thick cock entered me again with a delicious stretch and fill. Sweet Jesus, but I wished I had the power to rewind time so I could feel it again.

Holy shit, but his glorious cock was abundant and… and glorious. It was also unyielding in its selfish endeavor. Casey pounded into me hard, each punishing thrust shoving my body forward on the mattress with only a quick reprieve before being jostled again.

Although he was rough, I craved the next retreat and advancing drive. But as they had been at the start, these thrusts were not for my benefit. They were for his. I was merely a willing participant. He could use me for his purpose. I didn’t care. I just wanted to feel him, just wanted to keep him inside me, just wanted to have that one fleeting connection with him. His pleasure was my own.

Casey’s grunts became more anxious, his hips more insistent, his rhythm direct and hurried. And then finally, his cock was free of my pussy and lying thick in the crook of my thigh and pelvis. I felt it throb with each stuttered release of his erupting orgasm and relished the carnal sensation of his teeth at my neck while hot semen coated my skin.

Closing my eyes, I held him to me because I knew I’d never feel him like this again. I wished I could say that for that one moment in time he was mine. But he wasn’t. He would never be mine because he would forever be hers. What a stupid, stupid girl Cassidy Whalen was.

Breaking free of my hold, Casey rolled off me to rest at my side. The chill of the room was unwelcomed against my flushed skin and I was aware of my nakedness for the first time. Chancing a glance at Casey, I found him with an arm arched over his head, his eyes shut, and his chest heaving with breaths he was trying to get under control. I wanted to lay my head over his heart to hear its loud pounding. I wanted to snuggle into the crook of his arm and throw my leg over his, peppering his sweaty skin in thanks. But I wouldn’t because I couldn’t. He was not my boyfriend and we were not lovers. We just were.

Casey’s eyes popped open and he turned to look at me. No doubt he’d felt my stare. I turned away, not quite sure what to say in the awkward silence that followed or if I should say anything at all. I had my answer when he jumped up and grabbed his pants, pulling them up in a hurry and not even bothering with the button. His socks and boots were next as he sat on the edge of the bed. He didn’t look at me as he went about his task, didn’t utter a word. When he finished, he stood and grabbed his shirt, holding it in his hand with his back, toned and fanned like a cobra’s hood, to me.

“Sorry,” he said, and then he made for the exit like he couldn’t get out of my room fast enough.

Once I heard the door click into place, I chanced my own words. “I’m not.”

I’d barely slept a wink all night. Not because of the storm but because I’d been contemplating the meaning of life. Okay, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration, though not by much. I had nearly lost my life the day before, after all. Shit like that tended to make you take stock of the things you had and didn’t have. Not the materialistic stuff I’d coveted for most of my life, but all the other more meaningful things those self-help gurus wrote about. Things like family, happiness, self-actualization, core values… and time – what I had left of it and how I was going to use it. I’d thought those things were absolute bullshit before. Not now. Now, instead of a warehouse full of shiny toys, all I saw was a prideful waste of space. Needless to say, I wasn’t very proud of who I’d become.

Despite all my efforts to be nothing like my parents, my selfishness had made me
exactly
like them. My father’s greed and my mother’s addictive personality were both nestled inside a bouncing baby boy who wasn’t a bundle of joy, but rather a giant pile of regret fueled by a lifetime of self-indulgence. If I’d died in that ocean, there’d be no legacy, nothing of Shaw Matthews left behind.

I’d never wanted that before, wouldn’t have given two shits about it. But now I was obsessing over it. What the hell had changed? Damned if everything in my noggin wasn’t topsy-turvy and in complete disarray.

To add to the chaos, I’d come inside Cassidy. And that just wasn’t the type of shit I did. So I’d been trying to figure out why I’d done it in the first place, and why Cassidy. That was enough to explain the restlessness on its own, but then there was also the matter of my not wanting to miss a second of that woman sleeping in my arms. The way she fit into my side perfectly, her quiet snore, and even the endearing way she drooled just a little bit made me one happy and content motherfucker. Happy, content, and befuddled.

Sleeping alone would just plain suck now.

Cassidy stirred in her sleep, snuggling closer though her head was already on my chest, her legs entwined with mine, her beautiful breasts pressed against my side, and her arm draped around my waist. Fuck, was I smiling? Yeah, I was.

Turning toward her, I pressed a kiss to her forehead while stroking her hair, loving the way she settled in with a sigh of contentment as if my attention had been what she’d been seeking. Whether it was or wasn’t, it didn’t matter. She had it. She had my full attention. And like the creep I apparently was, I sniffed her hair because her scent was simply amazing and did some shit to me that I couldn’t explain.

I was going to make her mine. Though the fear that she’d reject me was scary as hell. If she’d have me, if she’d give me just one chance to prove myself to her, I’d make damn sure she’d never regret it. Christ, I was willing to relinquish the title of partner at Striker Sports Entertainment, the same title my little ice queen and I had gone toe-to-toe over, because I knew it was the only way we could be together openly. I didn’t care. Cassidy Whalen was fucking worth it.

Yep, Shaw Matthews was on some new type of shit, all about becoming a better person, someone she might be proud to call hers. But the kicker was that I wasn’t going to make changes to make only her happy; I was going to do it to make myself happy. And there wasn’t a damn thing selfish about that.

First things first, I needed to check on Abby, who just happened to be the sweetest lady in the world and who was quickly changing my perspective on the whole parental thing. Jesus, this perma-grin thing was going to get painful after a while.

While I knew Abby had Thomas and Casey to look after her, I’d taken on that responsibility as well. It was a badge that a good son – adopted or not – wore with pride, after all. I was going to be that for her. I was going to make her proud, and I’d even try to get along with Casey because I knew it would make her happy. Not that I’d have to kiss his ass because, you know, sibling rivalry was a real thing and all, but still. We had something in common now. Something other than the fact that we’d had our cocks inside the same woman. Which made me growly to think about, so I smashed and banished the thought from my mind, never to be heard from again.

Cassidy was my girl, Abby was my mom, and nothing else fucking mattered. Period.

Except the fact that I was going to have to wake up Cassidy in order to get out from under her. Not that I wanted to – because, hell no, I didn’t – but I knew we couldn’t stay there like that forever and my help would be needed for whatever shit storm the hurricane had left behind, and I was all about pitching in. The problem was, I was suddenly a nervous wreck about waking her. What if she’d have the same reaction she had the morning after we’d spent the night together in Detroit? It had been fine then, but now I’d messed around and caught some feelings for her. Funny thing about feelings; they were some fragile motherfuckers, prone to hurt. Hence the reason I’d avoided them all my life.

Nah, I wasn’t going to go back behind that brick wall. If she flipped out, she flipped out. I’d deal with it and find some way to move past it. But I’d damn well respect her wishes. Either way, I couldn’t avoid the unavoidable.

Giving her a slight shake of my shoulder to nudge her awake, I kept my voice soft to avoid a total freak out. “Sweetness?”

Yeah, I called her “sweetness.” So what?

She stirred with a “Hmm?” and her hair fell over her face.

I brushed it away with my fingertips and tried again. “Sweetness, we need to get up.”

“No,” she mumbled in this pouty sort of way that made me want to flip her onto her back and kiss her hard.

“Aww,” I fucking aw’d like the girly man I’d apparently become. “Is someone still sleepy?”

Cassidy’s eyes remained closed, but she answered nonetheless. While snuggling in even closer, I might add. “No. I’m just really comfortable and don’t want to move.”

Fuck it; I wasn’t going to make her. Except damn it, I had to.

“I’d be perfectly content with letting you stay right here for the rest of forever, but the truth of the matter is that reality is right outside the door, and before long, your father will be as well.” I leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “Gotta tell ya, I do not want to be caught naked in bed with Duff Whalen’s baby girl when he comes knocking.”

Cassidy giggled. “He’s not going to do anything because he likes you.”

“Yeah? He likes me?” Admittedly, I found this new information a little hard to digest. I’d fallen overboard from the man’s boat, while brawling with a guy he’d considered a part of his own family, for Christ’s sake. Oh yeah, and I’d been screwing his daughter on the regular.

Cassidy nodded, her cheek doing this cute little smooshy thing against my chest. And she wasn’t freaking out. Not in the least.

“What about you? Do you like me, too?”

“Maybe a li’l,” she mumbled, and then this smile pushed at her cheeks that made the cute smooshy thing go away, but I couldn’t be sad about it because, yeah, she fucking liked me.

“Oh, maybe a li’l, huh?” I mimicked her, which made her giggle again, so of course she had to be punished for laughing at my pain.

While the fingers of one hand found her ribs, the tips of the other slipped beneath her arm to give her dainty armpit a tickle. Cassidy startled and bucked, those gorgeous green eyes of hers popping open while her pearly whites stole center stage with a hearty laugh accompanied by a snort that wasn’t anything near dainty.

Good God, but she was beautiful.

Seizing the opportunity, I rolled with her and assumed the dominating position overtop to continue my tickle siege. Cassidy laughed so hard, slapping at my shoulders and doing her best to push my hands away, to no avail. There was even a really close call between her knee and my boys, but I managed to dodge that unnatural disaster with a quick juke of my hips and some pretty fancy footwork that earned me the spot between her thighs. Eat your hearts out, every pro running back who ever existed.

My girl’s head was thrown back, her hair a tangled mess on the pillows, and tears of delight glistening at the corners of her eyes, and all I could think about was how much I wanted her to always look like that. It wasn’t until Cassidy began to show signs that she was having a hard time catching her breath that I eased up.

Before she had a chance to come down completely, I took advantage of our position and pushed inside her. Yeah, my cock was fucking hard as all get out and even if morning wood wasn’t a thing, we were both still naked and rolling around together, and that tended to do shit to a man.

Cassidy gasped at the unexpected intrusion, but not in protest. All that
hee-hee–ha-ha
’ing was replaced by a moan that made me want to come on the spot. Holy fuck, but I loved this woman.

“What’s wrong?” Cassidy asked.

It wasn’t until then that I realized I’d stopped moving and was just staring at her. Raging hard-on inside a beautiful woman aside, my befuddlement suddenly made sense in a nonsensical way. I loved her?

“Baby? Are you okay?” Cassidy’s brow was furrowed with concern while her nails brushed through the hair just behind my temple in an endearing sort of way.

She fucking called me “baby”… and I suddenly felt like the Grinch on Christmas morning, my heart swelling to three times its size.

“Yeah. Leg cramp,” I lied. An absurd kind of lie, at that. But I didn’t want to press my luck on the whole “Cassidy not freaking out” thing, and balls deep inside the woman of my dreams wasn’t the proper time to blurt out something I needed to evaluate further. I’d never loved anyone other than myself. Did I even know what it meant?

Faking the shake off of the cramp, I found my stroke again and settled on the pace she seemed to favor from last night. Deep and purposeful with a grind that brought us as close as any two human beings could physically be without wearing each other’s skin. But I’d flay myself alive, too, if she’d wanted that.

Christ, she felt so good around my cock – warm and tight yet soft at the same time. It was all too much and I was going to come way too early like this. Easily fixed, I flipped us over so that Cassidy was on top, a move she clearly hadn’t been prepared for. Then again, I’d been throwing us both for a few loops this morning already, so what difference did another make?

Cassidy giggled at my abruptness, the walls of her pussy constricting my cock with each contraction of her abdomen. My brain started concocting all kinds of ways to make her do it over and over again, but it wasn’t necessary because my girl was riding me, her fingernails were digging into my chest, the tips of her hair were tickling my face, and her fucking gorgeous breasts were full and round with hardened peaks that begged to be palmed and plucked. It occurred to me then that it didn’t matter which position we were in, who was in control, or whether I was all up in my feelings or not. She just did things to me that no other woman before her had ever done. And I’d been with a lot of women.

Cassidy Whalen was special. Cassidy Whalen was… the one.

So I let her have her way with me because, truth be known, she always had. And though she was wrapped around my cock at the moment, I was wrapped around her little pinky. Yeah, I fucking loved her. Now if I could just figure out a way to tell her.