Page 108 of Dare To Fall

When I finish my drink, I refill my glass. I need something to numb me enough that I’ll just pass out. If I don’t, then I’ll just wake sobbing from the nightmares that have been steadily getting worse every time I close my eyes. The fact that the person who tied me up in the middle of the night is still out there leaves me unnerved and anxious.

I take my glass and the bottle to the couch. The fire is nothing more than embers now, but warmth still lingers in the air. I’m not sure how long I sit there, gazing into the glowing fireplace and sipping wine, before I hear the patter of rain against the windows.

Please don’t let there be another thunderstorm.

I drown my anxiety with alcohol. By the time I’ve finished most of the bottle, I’m feeling lighter, but the worry of there being another potential thunderstorm remains, even though, so far, there hasn’t been a single rumble.

I don’t want to be alone, and the wine hasn’t helped me forget anything. Not in the way I want it to.

I stagger up off the couch, and scurry along the hallway. When I reach Eli’s door, I open it quietly and sneak inside. The room is in inky blackness, but I know the direction of the bed. As soon as my knees hit the mattress, I crawl onto it and worm my way beneath the blanket.

“Ari?” Eli’s voice is soft.

Wiggling toward him in the dark, I wrap my arms around his chest. “I want to sleep here tonight.”

A hand strokes my hip. “There’s no storm.”

“I know.” I skim one hand over the contours of his body, along his shoulder to his neck. Sliding my fingers into the hair at the back of his head, I tilt my face upward, my lips clumsily find his and I kiss him, tasting the heat of his mouth when he opens for me. He kisses me back, cupping my jaw. My free hand roams over his chest, side, and hips—neediness flaring to life inside me. My pussy pulses with an eagerness to be filled.

Eli groans against my mouth. “What are you doing, Hellcat?”

“I want to be with you.” I roll my hips against his thigh and rub myself into the side of his body with a little giggle. “Touch me. Please touch me. Make me forget everything, Eli. Put your cock inside me. I want your hands all over me and your mouth between my legs. Fuck me. Please, fuck me, so I don’t have nightmares tonight.”

Chapter 73

Eli

Her mouth presses hot, wet kisses to my jaw, my shoulder, over my chest. Her tongue flicks over my nipple, and I hiss.

“Eli, please. I need you.” She clutches my wrist and pushes my hand between her legs over the thin cotton of her shorts. “Right here.”

The material is wet, soaked with her desire, and my fingers move of their own accord, pressing against her pussy. She moans, nips at my nipple, and rubs against my hand.

“So good. Yesss,” she hisses. “I need more. Please, touch me, Eli. I need you so much.”

I roll, pinning her beneath me, and push one leg between hers, trapping my hand against her pussy. She rocks against me and lifts her arms to wind them around my neck to pull my head down to hers. I let her. Our lips meet, meld, and devour each other with a heat, an intensity that takes over.

Her hands run down my back, over my spine, and back up again. For once, I don’t care that she’s touching my scars, that I have no shirt on. She’s shown me that they don’t matter to her, that it doesn’t change how much she wants me. Her touch sends a shudder through my entire body. It’s such an unusual sensation to have someone stroking a part of me that I’ve never allowed to be touched. But I like it. I like that her hands are on me.

My mouth leaves hers to kiss a path along her jaw to her ear and nip the lobe. A throaty moan leaves her lips, hardening my dick.

“Do you want me?” My voice is a raspy whisper.

Her nails dig into my ass, and her legs part to lift and wrap around my hips so she can rub against my dick. “So much.” She peppers kisses over my shoulder. “Feed me. Fuck me. Fight me. The three F’s.” She giggles. “I fought you. I fed you. Now I want to fuck you.” The words end in a little hiccup, and I pull back to frown down at her.

“Are you drunk?”

“No!”

I reach behind me and pull her hands off my ass to pin them above her head. Holding them there with one hand, I reach for the lamp on the nightstand with the other and flick it on. She blinks up at me. Her eyes are bright, slightly unfocused. I drop my head against her shoulder, and sigh.

“Fuck’s sake. How much of the wine did you drink after I left you?”

Her lips curve into a pout. “Just a little bit.”

“How much is a little bit?”

“Maybe the rest of the bottle.”

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