More Than Meets the Ink (17 page)

“Tate, baby, you feel so good,” he breathed out while she hummed something he didn’t catch, mainly because his ears were so madly roaring he could only hear his blood rushing. He was losing it…again…like always where Tate was concerned.

And she knew it, for she kept pushing him, taking him deep in her tight throat while one hand gripped the base of his cock and the other caressed his balls—a killer combination. She was so sweet, so giving. And so wicked, loving. And killing his cock at the same time.

James tried to stay still, but his hips kept lifting up of their own volition while his hands held Tate’s head to him, forcing her to take more and more of him every time.

In a moment of clarity, he pinned her with his stare. “I want to come in your mouth, princess. Deep inside your throat. If you don’t want it, you better stop right now because in two seconds flat, I won’t be able to stop myself.” His tone was deep with warning as he caressed her hollow cheeks with his thumbs. He stared mesmerized at her, at those beautiful lips stretched over his dick. She held his stare, slowly releasing his cock.

James right away felt her absence and was trying to control his disappointment when she sweetly kissed the tip of his crown, her small fingers opened the small slit and her tongue took a hot swipe over it—in it. His cock jerked so fucking bad it was a miracle he didn’t come there and then.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said and sucked him in again, making him groan and curse.

He wanted to make it last, but that was a physical impossibility. Tate was taking him deep into her throat and then releasing him slowly, licking and sucking him until he thought he was going to lose his mind along with his cum. He was unable to control it all; the sex, his attraction to this girl, his response to her, it was all out of his control, his mind, his body, his feelings.

“Tate, baby, I’m going to come,” he said, halfheartedly trying to tug her head away. He didn’t want to scare her, and pushing himself all the way in her throat and filling her up with his cum would probably constitute scaring her.

She ignored him.

“Fuck, baby, I can’t hold it,” he said with a harsh growl as she mimicked swallowing and closed her throat on him. “Aw shit.” The pressure was unbearable, his whole body in overdrive, spikes of pleasure erupting all over him while she kept swirling her tongue around him, suckling him into oblivion.

He felt raw, his need to get deep inside her terrifying even himself. His hips went up, his back arched, and he shouted his release as Tate took all he had to give. He felt his orgasm all over his body, raging through him like a wildfire, from his toes to the top of his head, robbing him of his breath and his sanity while she sucked the last drop of cum out of him.

When he came back down to earth, she was tucking his dick in and taking a sip of water. An overwhelming need to have her in his arms overtook him, so he lifted her from the floor and brought her to him. She was so small yet so full of strength, able to bring him to his knees with just a wink of her eye.

He needed to kiss her. Weird, he’d always avoided kissing someone who had just consumed his release. Not now. He took her mouth gently, reveling in her taste and his. “Take me home, Tate,” he said urgently into her lips. “I promise you won’t regret it.”

James was as stubborn as the next man, arrogant and proud too, but he recognized a lost cause when he saw it. He was done in. He couldn’t walk away from her. And damn if he was going to allow her to do walk away from him.

She looked at him and softly laughed. “Well, it’s good that I live upstairs, uh?”

He didn’t wait for her to say anything else and lifted her in his arms. “Lead the way, princess.”

Laughing, she circled his neck with her arms and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

As he took the stairs two at a time and then put her down so that she could open the door, his head was already simmering with ideas, already plotting how to solve her current problems. She was living on top of her restaurant, in an apartment that as far as he could tell had seen much, much better days. She was overworked and overstressed with financial burden and employees’ grievances. Overwhelmed and sad, wary and grieving. Although he was dying to help, he knew she’d hardly accept any of it, so he decided to keep quiet for the time being. That didn’t mean he was going to sit in silence and let her deal with all those assholes on her own. No way. She wasn’t alone anymore, never mind what she thought. She was so strong, trying to do battle all by herself, not asking for assistance from anyone, but he wanted to help and take all those burdens away from her. He wanted to pound those suppliers into the ground, get her staff in line, make her smile the same way she’d done in Florida.

“Get naked,” he heard himself say once he was in.

She lifted her eyebrows, clearly ready to give him some attitude, but he backed her to the table and took her mouth, licking at her tongue, while he let his hands go over her body, caressing her curves. She responded right away, her body undulating against his.

“I said clothes off, princess. If you don’t want me to rip them off you, that is. You know how I enjoy playing Conan the Barbarian…”

She smiled wickedly at him, her little teeth punishing her lower lip, and shimmied out of her black skirt. She had on thigh-high stockings and a lace piece of almost nothing covering her pussy that would make any grown man stutter. It left him speechless, then confused.

“Sexy underwear… Who were you expecting to meet tonight?” he asked, frowning.

She laughed throatily. “I always wear sexy underwear, never mind how uncomfortable it is. Didn’t you notice in Florida? It’s my only vice.”

“This is uncomfortable?” he asked, signaling at her crotch.

She slowly turned around. “A string up your ass? What do you think?”

“I think it’s the best invention ever.”

“I bet you do,” she whispered and smiled knowingly.

He dropped to his knees and kissed her lace-clad mound, a hot, devouring, openmouthed kiss that got her crying out. She was wet, her folds puffing, her clit quivering, the piercing in it shiny with her juices.

“I’m dying to see that precious clit ring of yours again,” he said while taking her panties off. She watched him, already out of breath. So fucking sexy.

“So you missed it.”

“I missed
you
. The ring is just a nice extra bonus.”

With those words and one swipe of his tongue over her bare pussy, her bragging attitude was gone. She leaned on the table, a sexy moan escaping her lips. She was slick and hot, halfway there already. He smiled against her tender folds, raked his teeth over them, played with the ring. He loved a responsive woman, one that got as excited taking pleasure as giving it. Without further instructions from him, she lifted her leg to his shoulder, her heel digging into his back, and ran her hand through his hair, keeping him at her pussy—not that she could have kept him away.

He’d missed her taste, her sweet smell, her clit ring, the way she arched, offering herself to him. The way she spilled hot girl juices on his mouth when she came. He’d even dreamed of it. He reached for her breasts and played with her nipples as his mouth sucked her clit. Just like that, Tate began panting. She had very sensitive breasts, amazingly responsive nipples that had her jerking madly in no time, her pussy throbbing in need.

“I’ve missed this,” he said with a groan. “The way you fuck yourself against my face.”

James would have loved to lick her forever, but Tate was getting very loud, pressing his face against her, lifting her hips to him, the muscles of her legs tensing, her pussy fluttering against his tongue. She was very close, and so was he. From his position, he could clearly observe her, the sexy curve of her throat, the soft swell of her breasts against that tiny blouse that at some point had been closed but was now half-open, missing a couple of buttons actually.

He was holding her wide open, spearing her with his tongue and rubbing her clit with his thumb when she came in his mouth. So beautiful, her inner flesh convulsing around his tongue. He could die happy if he could have that in his bed for the next forty years. The second he acknowledged that thought, it scared the hell out of him. His dick, though, was fearless and got even harder. Man, he really needed a lobotomy.

He stood up, shucked off his jeans and underwear, and rolled on a condom, his eyes never leaving her.

“You’re so fucking beautiful when you come,” he said, cupping her face, nuzzling her mouth. “Now turn around and bend over. I need to ride you.”

Tate opened her eyes and let out a shaky laugh. “Bend over the table? After being on my feet the whole night? I don’t think so, buddy. I want on my back, pronto.”

“And I want in you. Now,” he said as he lifted her left leg, hooked his elbow under her knee, and entered her. Her laughter turned into a gasp. Her pussy was swollen from her release and so damn hot he could hardly breathe. Foreheads touching, they both looked where they were joined, how his dick parted her puffed-up folds, impaling her.

“That’s it, sweetheart, watch my cock going inside you,” he instructed while sliding in and then pulled almost totally out, his shaft glistening with her juices. He surged all the way in and then nudged at the ring with his pelvis. Her pussy clenched, and her nails dug into his shoulders.

“You just came in my mouth, and now you’ll come on my dick.”

Her voice was just a whisper. “I don’t think I can come again right now.”

“I’ll get you there, princess,” he said reassuringly as he carried her to the bed without leaving her tight embrace. “You can be sure of it.”

* * *

“We’ll have to do something with this bed. One whole night sleeping here and I’ll be injured for life,” she heard James murmur into her shoulder.

“Why? Planning to make yourself at home in my bed?” she asked, still half-sleep.

“Yes.”

Those words entered her sleep-fogged mind slowly, but when they did, all sluggishness disappeared. Her eyes opened to find James wrapped tight against her back. Oh dear Lord, she’d had sex with him and fallen sleep with him in her bed.
Very smart, Tate, way to go
! She tensed her muscles and got ready to jump out of the bed when she realized she was sore all over. Yeah, gymnastics with James at two o’clock in the morning was not the best of ideas. Hell, gymnastics with James wasn’t the best of the ideas at all—for her heart, mainly. She furtively glanced to the window. Still dark. Well, that was good; they hadn’t spent the night together, so not all was lost yet.

This guy would break her heart. It was unwise to have a sex-based relationship with someone that could do that to her, much less invite him to get comfy in her bed. That was a sure recipe for disaster and heartbreak. She should screw only those who couldn’t emotionally touch her or get inside her head. As things stood, James had gotten there, among other places.

She swung her legs over to the side of the bed and tried to get up. “James, I don’t think this is a good id—”

Before she could finish her sentence, James had grabbed her and tossed her back onto the bed, his strong arm encircling her waist.

“I won’t let you walk away from me, princess. Not out of fear. You don’t have to fear me,” he whispered in her ear.

“You know how we agreed this was just sex…” she began.

“You agreed this was about sex. You were the one putting on all the conditions. I wasn’t given a say. But if you just want sex, then sex it is.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve changed my mind. This isn’t what I want.” She couldn’t afford to have sex with him again. She couldn’t afford to have anything with him, period. Too risky.

“Great, because this isn’t what I want either.”

That threw her off. “If you don’t want sex, what is it that you want?”

“More. I want you, Tate. All of you, not just the sex. Although I’m not going to lie to you, that I want badly.”

Oh boy, worse worst-case scenario. “I can’t give you what you want.”

“What is it that you’re so frightened of? You want me. Just look at you; your body beams, and you’re rosy and satisfied, humming with residual pleasure. You obviously find me attractive; I can make you come like crazy and make you laugh. Why can’t you give me a chance? Come on, Tate, don’t be scared.”

“I’m not scared, I just think—”

“Don’t think.”

“Don’t you tell me what to do, much less what to think, you big lout!” she said, squirming. “I’m very capable of doing that by myself.”

Although no one would have guessed it with the way she was letting him get away with everything. He didn’t answer, just chuckled and kissed her head. The condescending bastard.

She frowned at him over her shoulder. “Are you hearing me?”

“Nope.”

“You don’t really know me. That happy-go-lucky Tate down in Florida was not me. The raving lunatic crying her eyes out down there, that’s me. The crazy person hiding in this shoebox, that’s me.”

She began ranting about how she couldn’t deal with a sex relationship, and how he couldn’t offer her more, how he was the frilly black hole that would suck her in and yada yada. How her life was all screwed, how she didn’t have time for him, how this was not smart. To drive the point home, she should have said she didn’t want him, but that was such an outright lie she knew she couldn’t get away with it. She continued rambling, working herself into a frenzy, while he kept silent and held her tight, sometimes snorting, sometimes chuckling. He held on to her until she ran out of steam.

His whisper caressed her ear. “Listen to me, baby. We’ll go as slow as you want; you don’t need to freak out on me. Let me get to know you. I promise I won’t place any unreasonable demands on you. We’ll take this one tiny step at a time. We’ll go out, get to know each other, have wild sex every other second—just the usual, baby.” She snorted, but he didn’t relent. “I haven’t dated for a very long time, and I’m a bit rusty, but I really want to try.”

“James, don’t do this to me. I can’t take a chance on you.” James was out of her league, and by the time he’d finished with her, she’d be mincemeat. “We better stop right now…”