Page 24 of The Shadow

“I like your clothes,” he says softly, tilting his head down to touch his lips softly against my neck. “And your shoes.” He does it again, this time against my jaw. “And these lips.”

His hands slide up my body, tangling into my hair as he tilts my head and slides his tongue into my mouth. All tension slips from my body. I wrap my own arms around his neck as he nips and sucks at my tongue. I’ve never experienced passion in the form of a kiss, slow and needy like he’s completely consumed by me, the way I am by him.

When he finally pulls back to look at me, it’s with a hunger in his eyes I’ve never seen before. There’s no mistaking what this man wants. This is desire. This is unbridled lust that he can’t control anymore or maybe he doesn’t want to control.

This is nothing like how Connor looked at me. I thought that when he saw me it was passion, but it was nothing but opportunity. A means to an end that he could manipulate.

“Aspen,” he says again, only this time it’s rough and deep, like a plea. “You need to get the fuck out of my apartment.”

I stand confused, my shirt askew, pulled off one shoulder slightly, my hair a tangled mess from where his hands were. I’m unsure what to do so I walk slowly to his door, about to grab the handle when I stop and turn back to face him.

“Why?”

“You know why.”

“I don’t.” I place my hands behind me, leaning against the door.

His expression grows darker. “Are you telling me no, Aspen?” I nod my head slowly and he takes the few steps until he’s standing right in front of me. “Say it out loud.”

I tilt my chin upward, looking him in the eyes. “No.”

“You do know what’s going to happen to you then, don’t you?”

“Yes.” My voice shakes through my false bravado, his low throaty chuckle telling me he sees right through me. He places his hands against the door, one on either side of me.

“Tell me.”

My stomach drops.

I’m completely out of my depth here in this provocative game of cat and mouse. All of my insecurity about not being sexually confident like my friends, not knowing how to seduce a man come flooding back. I swallow it down, reminding myself that I am a grown-ass woman with needs and desires and I have a god of a man in front of me, ready to fight himself to keep his hands from me.

“Fuck me.” I say the words as confidently as I can for a person who only uses the F-word in extreme cases of frustration or anger and that’s usually only to myself or under my breath.

“Just hearing you say that word…” He leans in toward me with a low groan. “…sounds filthy in your delicate voice.”

His arousal presses against me, long and firm. He gives me a teasing kiss, one that has me leaning forward for more, but he presses his forearm across my chest, pinning me to the door. “Is that what you want me to do to you, fuck you?”

“I-I,” I stutter nervously, unsure what to say, suddenly worried that our vast difference in experience might get me into something I can’t handle, not to mention the size of his… “What do you want to do to me?” I ask, feeling like an idiot, like he’s going to laugh and tell me to go home, realizing that I’m not like the other women he’s been with.

But the expression on his face tells me the exact opposite. He picks me up, tossing me over his shoulder like I’m as light as a feather, and turns toward the hallway. When we reach his bedroom, he pulls me from his body, placing me back on my feet before reaching down to pull his shirt off, tossing it to the side.

His muscles flex and jump with his movements. The black ink that normally disappears beneath his sleeves now winding all the way to join the others on his neck. I physically hold myself back from reaching out to touch his warm skin. My body aches with a deep need I’ve never experienced, and I finally understand the way my friends described their now husbands back when they first met them.

“I want to strip you naked,” he says with eyes burning into mine as he reaches for the hem of my blouse. “And then want to lay you back on my bed and lick and eat your pussy until you come.” He pulls it off in one quick motion, leaving me in just my bra and skirt. A second later, he’s removed my skirt.

“By the time I’m done, I want you dripping from my beard.”

Chapter 10

Harvey

“Mmm,” I lick my lips as I drop to my knees in front of her, her hands perched precariously on my shoulders. “Look at you.” I swipe my thumb gently over her sheer panties that give me the perfect glimpse of her pussy.

“Wait.” She pushes against me when I lean in to kiss her through her panties. “I haven’t…” She looks unsure.

“Showered?” I smile. “All the better.”

“Shaved,” she says quickly.

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