Page 24 of Dirty Deal

She moans softly, arms tightening around my neck.

And suddenly I’m done teasing her. I’m done drawing this out and making her hold her breath.

The truth is, we’rebothdesperate for this—and if I don’t feel the slick evidence of Lena’s need for me soon, I’ll crack a molar.

Does she want me too? Is this real?

“Oh.” Lena’s head tips back when my thumb traces along her seam. It’s the same way I touched her before, but now there’s no fabric between us. Nothing to stop me from feeling howdrenchedshe is, needy and aching; how her whole body arches, trying to press me deeper.

“So fucking perfect,” I mutter, circling the tight bud of her clit. It’s already a done deal: Lena’s breathy moan will play on a loop in my brain until the day I die.

“Weston,” she says, head tilted back, eyes closed.

“You have no idea, baby. No fucking idea the effect you have. Everywhere you walk, men want to fall to their knees.”

And as I speak, that familiar old rage rears its head, bursting into flame inside my cracked chest. That old anger that I’m not good enough for a Merritt, could never be enough, that she’ll never see me as more than a temporary plaything.

My mouth tastes bitter and my throat is tight, and all the while my thumb is stroking, teasing, taunting. Working Lena’s body until she’s like a plucked string, taut and quivering.

“What would Hugh Merritt say if he could see us now? What would your father say, princess?”

Lena’s eyes crack open, and she spears me with a warning look. Her nails dig into the back of my neck. “Don’tcall me that. Not now.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue, every bad instinct inside me howling to say it again. To push my luck, to ruin this, to prove all those twisted fears right. To get the desolation over with.

Because I’mnotgood enough for Lena Merritt. Even if I work my whole life, dedicating myself to her happiness, I never will be.

But you don’t have to be such a prick about it, a voice in the back of my brain points out. The voice of reason, finally cutting through the bitter haze of my anger. Thank god.

Because Lena Merritt is in my lap right now, isn’t she? The fact that she’s letting me touch her like this means something. And if I break her trust now, if I throw this gift back in her face, there will be no recovery. I’ll never win her back.

“I’m sorry.” The words are alien on my tongue, because I didn’t build myself up from the gutter by admitting weakness. Ever. But weirdly… I don’t mind saying them to her. “Baby. I’m sorry.”

Lena relaxes in my hold again, her eyelashes fluttering back down. Her hips roll forward, urging me on, but I’m not done yet. My lips move to the shell of her ear.

“I’ll never call you that again in my life, Lena. We’re going to grow old together, you and me. We’re going to spend every night of the rest of our lives wrapped around each other, and you’ll never hear that name from me again. I swear.”

A shiver wracks through my girl, and goosebumps raise on her bare arms. Is it a potent fantasy for her too? Us being together that way? Or am I fooling myself, getting lost in wishful thinking?

Lena’s lips part when I slide a finger past her entrance. Not far—just to the second knuckle, so her tight little body can adjust. The searing heat inside her is enough to make my throat bob.

So slick. So tight.

How would it feel to press my cock inside her? To join our bodies that way, as close as we could possibly go, and to feel Lena’s most intimate muscles clutch at me?

I want that so badly, I’m dazed.

Distantly, I hear a smattering of applause travel around the club, muffled by the music. The performer is changing, but I don’t care enough to even glance over.

“Are you going to let me in here, Lena?” Her body softens around my finger, letting me press deeper. I stroke in and out, rubbing her sensitive walls, and mutter my words against her cheek, her ear, her throat. “Will you let me fuck you here one day?”

Her nod is wobbly. “Uh-huh.”

JesusChrist.

It’s too much and not enough. More than I ever dared hope for, and so much less than what I want from this woman. What Ineed.

Do I desperately long to sink balls deep inside her perfect body? Yes, obviously.

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