My Sweet Demise (Demise #1) (35 page)

“Tell me about it,” he says, reaching over to take his plate from me. He sets it down on the counter and then grips my hips, bringing me against him. He smells like spice and clean skin. I inhale him with every breath. “The worst part is I was waiting for you. Whenever the neighbors made a noise I’d think it was you coming into the apartment. I’d hear you down the hall. I stayed up all night, all day, waiting for you. I knew you’d come back. You want to know why?”

“Why?” I grip his arms.

“Because we’re not done falling yet.” His lips find mine.

I wrap my arms around his neck and fall.

Our lips are swollen and tender by the time we pull away. Kent takes both our plates over to the coffee table and I follow, drawn to him in a way I’ve never been drawn to anyone. He is the flame and I am the stupid moth, wanting his light so badly I’m risking everything I thought I knew to have it.

“You like it?” he asks, smiling shyly at me as we sink onto the new couch.

“I do. Thank you.” I pat the leather seat next to me. “What happened to the last one? Did they take it to a lab to determine how many women you’ve bagged on it? Was the number so astronomical they’re nominating you for the Bagger of the Year award? Are you going to wear a suit or go nude? You know, keeping the theme going and all.” I smile sweetly at him.

He gawks at me. “I didn’t think that smart mouth could get any smarter. I missed it.” He leans over and taps my chin, planting a soft kiss to my lips. On the table his phone starts to ring. He releases me and leans over to check the number. “I don’t recognize it.”

“It’s probably Becca. Answer it.”

“Rain, baby? How are you in two places at once? I didn’t know you were a magician.” He chuckles darkly at her no doubt colorful response. “Becca, you need to know one thing. I love your sister. I do,” he insists. “Get used to it. I don’t want there to be this animosity between us. Rain doesn’t deserve it. I’ve put her through enough without her sister adding to it.” He pauses for a long time while Becca lays into him.

I can hear bits and pieces.
Scumbag. Not good enough. Manwhore.

“In that case I guess we’re going to have to make her choose. Who do you choose, Rain?” he asks, but he hangs up the phone. “Don’t answer. I would never make you choose between your sister and me.”

“What did she say?”

He runs a hand down his face tiredly. “What did I do to her?”

“Me.”

He smiles and shakes his head. “She’s going to call the police if I don’t give you back.”

I gawk at him. “I’m a grown woman. I can make my own choices. She told me to live. I’m living.”

“She doesn’t want you to live with me.”

“Too bad!” I growl. “I almost want to get away from Jacksonville, from her and her negativity. If I see her she’ll plant doubts in my thoughts. She knows what I fear. We can’t stay in this apartment forever.”

He’s quiet for a while. We both eat and watch television. This city has bred my doubts. It’s here they began. I start to hyperventilate, thinking of the years of torment my parents put me through. The uncertainty they created in my heart. It’s their fault I can’t take this man right now and say “Yes, Kent.”

“I want out. Get me out of this city.”

He touches my knee. “Shh,” he soothes. “Where do you want to go?” He looks away, like he knows exactly where we can go, but doesn’t want to go there.

“Where can we go?” I shove him. “Tell me.”

He relents in a rather unsexy manner. “Tampa. My parents have been nagging about my birthday and when I’m coming home. I wasn’t planning on going after you left. We could go there. If you want. Only if you want.”

“What about Willow?”

He blinks. “I don’t give a shit about Willow anymore. You shouldn’t either. Willow was my pain and my past, but not the issue. There’s a bigger issue. You’ll see why what she did killed me.”

I frown at him, trying to piece it all together. I have the pieces, but don’t know where they go. “Will it kill you still?”

“It’ll kill me forever. It’s no reflection of me and you, so don’t make that face. It’s between me and him.”

“You and who?”

“Do you want to go? Mom and Dad will be happy.” He doesn’t sound happy. “If you don’t want to go, then say so. Please say so,” he begs. He smiles hopefully. “I’d rather have lunch with your sister with a gun between us.”

I can’t help feeling it’s about Willow, and though I won’t show it, I’m pissed. I want her gone once and for all. “I want to go to your birthday party.”

His face falls but he tries to mask it with a weary smile. “I’m bringing a girl home. This ought to be interesting.”

I take a deep breath to expunge Willow from my thoughts. She’s in there. Some rodent nestled into my brain. She’s eating at me, at my happiness. What if when he sees her she’s all he wants again? I can’t imagine falling in love with someone else. Yet Kent has. Which one of us is fake?

He watches me closely. “Stop it. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“You loved Willow.”

“This again? Yes, I did.”

“You love me now.” I don’t enjoy his tone.

“I’m starting to wonder whether I ever really loved her, or whether it was her betrayal I couldn’t get over.”

“How did she betray you? You’re the one who cheated on her.”

He looks away. “I’ll never cheat on you. There isn’t another pussy in the world worth losing you over. I risked Willow, but I’d never do that to you, Rain. Never.”

I suppose this is where trust comes into play. I have to trust his words for what they are to him: the truth. To me they’re a tenuous promise that could become a lie.

I smother my doubt for once and take a deep breath to banish it. “Do you have to be so dirty all the time?
Pussy
,” I mimic, saying it the way he does. All breathy and husky. “Why do you have to say ‘pussy’ that way?”

“Be careful. I want your pussy,” he warns, sucking some mustard off his thumb. “I want to taste your pussy.”

I’m aware suddenly I’m not wearing any panties. “On the couch?”

He drops to his knees in front of me. I am lit. He takes my knees and moves them apart slowly, draping my legs over his shoulders. He stares at my vagina as he talks and I swear it knows it. It moistens under his stare.

“You’re worth more than the couch,” he reminds me. “Even if I’d like to bury my tongue deep inside of your tight pussy and taste you until you come. Let’s go to bed.”

I swallow at the look in his eyes. “Bed,” I manage.

He stands up and holds his hands out. I take his hands and he easily lifts me in his arms. I lick my lips, staring up at him. Our eyes are connected the entire time. He doesn’t break away when he kicks the door closed or when he gently yet purposely drops me on his bed. His cream sheets envelop me. He lies down beside me. I’m confused.

“What’re you doing?”

He waves his fingers at me. “I want you on my face.”

I frown and blush at the same time, having an idea what he means. “Really?”

“Yes. Leave my shirt on and come here. Put your thighs on either side of my head and rest on my chest. I’ll do the rest of the work.”

His order makes me tremble. I reach down and touch myself, and sure enough I’m teeming with want. I have an idea and reach over and touch his lips with my wet fingers. His eyes close and his mouth opens in bliss. His tongue darts out to taste.

“Rain, on my face now. I need to taste more of that pussy.” He pats his chest, sounding all beast and caveman. As if his thoughts can’t stand to be coherent. They’re visceral and needing.

I bunch the shirt up in my hand around my waist and move so I’m resting on his chest. I am nerves and want. They clash, creating a heady feeling I know I’ll never ever get used to. Kent reaches up and grips my bare ass, sliding me forward until my middle is resting directly over his mouth. My thighs are already trembling and my heart is pounding. But most of all I am so hot and turned on I can’t think straight. My brain collapses when his tongue finds me. I reach down and grip his sheets, needing something to hold on to. I want to bury myself against him and ride his tongue.

I start to move my hips involuntarily.

“Stay still.”

I bite my lip and smile at the same time. “I love you, Kent.”

He pulls back, his lips wet with me. “I bet you love me right now.” He licks the length of me, then teases my entrance. I watch him tease me. “Sweetest fucking pussy ever.” He brings me down over his mouth again.

I moan, unworried about how loud I’m being. I’m being loud. I try with all my might to remain still and not move my hips. But the intensity of my pleasure is too intense, and I give in a little and circle his tongue, unable to stop myself.

“That’s it,” he growls. He tosses me off of him and is in his dresser before I know what hit me. He rips the condom wrapper open and rolls it over the length of him. Then he takes two large strides and is on the bed again, nestled between my legs.

I grin up at him. “Oops.”

He enters me without warning with one quick, painful, beautiful thrust. “Oops,” he teases back. Except he isn’t teasing and his mouth is slightly open, portraying his pleasure. “Next time,” he says, pulling out and filling me fast and quick. “Stay still.” He pulls out a second time and then fills me roughly.

He doesn’t give me a chance to catch up. Kent pounds into me this time, filling and stretching me unapologetically while I succumb. Eventually I give up and let the pleasure I feel building power over me. I wrap my fingers around his arms as he thrusts into me, slamming into my ache in a way that makes it painfully pleasurable. I shout when my orgasm hits like a brick wall.

Our bodies burst into flames.

He slides down and rests his head on my chest over his t-shirt. I rub his hair as I try and catch my breath.

“Now you know why I say pussy that way?”

I smile tiredly. “I have an idea.”

“Just an idea?” He lifts up, eyes ablaze.

“Fine. I have an entire manuscript portraying your love of pussy. It starts kind of like this: ‘Raina, that smart mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble.’” I mimic him and he smirks. “So far, Kent, you’re nothing but trouble.”

He rests his head back on my chest, running his fingers down my thigh. “I warned you.”

“You did.”

“I’m glad you didn’t listen.”

“Me too.” I kiss his hair. “Now I need a shower. You mind if I wear your clothes?”

“I’ll bring you some.” He lifts off me and rolls out of bed, beautiful and naked, to grab his briefs. I didn’t recall seeing him take his briefs off. Impressive. “Shower,” he reminds me, probably wondering where my thoughts are and knowing they’re on him.

“Right away, sir.”

“Rain.”

I roll out of bed before he can get me and run for the bathroom, attempting to shake off the distracting quality of his lovemaking. There’s something he’s not telling me, which means it has to do with Willow. I’m getting tired of her. I angrily wash my body, specifically my
pussy
, and think about how I’m going to stand being in the same room as her. How Kent will stand the same thing. What if she isn’t in the past and I become a memory to him? Clearly his parents want her around. That is bothering me the most. Who will I be to them? Some replacement girl to the one he’s supposed to be with? My heart sinks. Did they want them together?

The bathroom door opens. “Your clothes are here.”

I peek around the shower curtain. “Am I really meeting your parents?”

“Having second thoughts?”

“What if they don’t want me there?”

“Oh, trust me,” he replies, laughing. “They’ll want you there. You’re everything they want from me.”

“Why?”

“Because you make me happy. That’s all they want from our girls.”

Our girls? I bite back my frown. “I’ve never met parents before.”

He smiles endearingly. “You’re nervous. It’s adorable.”

I glare. “What will I wear?”

His smile grows. “Nothing.”

“Kent. Be serious.”

“I’m always serious when it comes to your naked body. But if it makes you feel better we’ll go shopping.”

“Your dad’s not buying me clothes.”

He’s near laughing. “My dad’s going to be buying you everything you ever own. When I graduate in a year I’m going to work for him. I’m going to be making as much money as he is. You’re going to be my girl. You’d better get used to me buying you everything. In fact, you better be careful or I’ll buy a ring.”

I duck back into the shower and he laughs so hard I can hear it all the way in the living room. I know his propensity to buy engagement rings. I love him, but I’m not ready to be Mrs. Nicholson yet.

Even if the name is a thrill to think.

He’s brought me a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt. I tie it into a knot around my waist so he knows I have some sort of figure, despite how many times his hands have traced it. When I exit the bathroom I hear his voice arguing quietly.

“I love her, Becca. Look, I know you’re worried about her, but you don’t have to be. I’m not going to hurt her. She’s safe with me, I promise.” He sags in relief. “Thank you. I promise I won’t hurt her. We’ll be in Tampa for a while. Call my cell. I’ll tell her.”