Page 52 of Home to the Hollow

That fucker. He spouted that tripe just to rile me up!“Look, Teddy, about the other night…”

Taking the room in three quick strides, he stands toe to toe with me. His expression is softer than I’ve ever seen as he cups my cheek and brushes his thumb over my bottom lip. “I didn’t know how to handle it. The past… the present… the things you don’t know. I still don’t.”

I swallow hard, unwilling to let all of it go. Whatever is going on with Teddy isn’t like the quiet siege of Wolfie and Presley—they slid into my life like they’d always been there.

This is so much more complicated, and if I still don’t know how I feel about them, how can I know what I feel about my tormentor becoming my bedmate? It’s like there are parts of me straining to be freed, and my mind is fighting their release. I don’t understand why everything has reversed since I stepped foot in my hometown, but I can’t get a grip on anything.

Teddy leans in, brushing his lips over mine before he speaks again. “My...family...has a long history in this town. There have always been expectations, even when I was little.

Unfortunately for my father, his aspirations for me are not possible, even if I wanted to fulfill them. When I grew up, it hit him like a feed bag to the face. So now... I can be me without reprisal. He doesn’t dictate my actions, and neither does my mother.”

Frowning, I tilt my head and look at him. “They did before? You were always the bad boy of the elites. You ran a statewide gambling operation, Teddy.”

“Run,” he grins, his white teeth flashing as he grins. “The Honorable Edgar Olivier Boone III, bookmaker extraordinaire, at your service.”

“Are you shitting me, Teddy? Youstillrun the state betting...as ajudge?”

He shrugs, his expression roguish as he pushes his hair out of his eyes. “Who better to keep a multi-state operation that brings in millions of dollars in revenue secret? No one wants to rat it out for fear of the gossip making its way to my courtroom.”

I push him away, putting pieces together in my head. “You asshole! Are you the reason my background check failed? Is your... ring... on the F.B.I.’s radar? Do they think I’ll lead them to your crime empire?”

One of his large hands grabs my wrists, and before I know it, he has me pinned against the back wall of the studio. His free hand slides up my side to rest on my throat, giving it a little squeeze as he whispers in my ear. “Drugar, they don’t even know I exist. I’m the Kaiser Soze of the underworld. My connections are much deeper than my little hobby.”

He’s not keeping me from breathing, but the pressure is doing something else to my body. Every cell screams I should teach him a lesson—that I’m in charge here—but other parts of my mind whisper it’s okay tochooseto let him lead.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to focus my mind, but I can’t. Too many sensations and thoughts are flooding my senses. It’s like when I forget to—fuck. This happens when I forget to take my meds, but at this moment, I don’t care. I’ll deal with the aches and pains later; future Jolene is going to be sore, anyway.

A low, rumbling growl echoes from his chest when I slide my legs on either side of his to fit our hips together. The hand holding my wrists lets go, and he uses that arm to tug on my thigh until I wrap my legs around his waist. The thumb on my pulse caresses gently, and I give him a lazy, heavy lidded expression. I’ve acquiesced, and that’s as much confirmation of my submission as he’s going to get.

After all, he’s notreallyin charge, now is he?

Level Up

“You know, I’ve half a mind to suggest you wore a dress for a reason,” Teddy murmurs. His teeth nibble along my jaw, but the hands moving up my thighs are more demanding.

I don’t answer, deciding he can wonder whether I considered liaisons with him or anyone else this evening. Besides, it’s amusing to feel the growls vibrate across my skin when I frustrate him, and before I know it, I get what I was looking for. When he lifts his head with eyes full of fire, I smirk. “I could ask the same thing about these easy access athletic pant things you’ve got on. I mean, one yank and you’re on display, Teddy bear.”

This time, he snarls. “Watch it, Tilly. If you poke the bear, you’d better be ready to handle the paws.”

“I’ve been ready for five minutes at least. Are we going to fuck or swing our dicks around, Teddy bear?” I shoot back, enjoying his ever tightening grip on my body as I agitate him. He can’t decide if he likes the Teddy bear thing or not, and I can’t help but continue to push his buttons until he cracks.

“Your mouth is less annoying when it’s put to good use,” he mutters, diving in to kiss me so thoroughly that I can’t breathe. When he lifts his head, he whips us around, walking away from the wall and over to the wide work table nearby. Dropping my ass on it, he smirks back when I yelp. “The landing is the hardest part, right?”

I rear back and punch him in the arm, but that only seems to make him grin wider. The son of a bitch likes a little pain, does he? That’s information I’ll find handy later, I’m sure. For now, I want him to quit playing around and give me what he’s promised. “If I’m not coming in the next five minutes, Edgar Boone, I will find someone else to do your job.”

His eyes narrow, and he drops to his knees. “I love a challenge, Tilly. Make sure you’re keeping time.”

Before I can retort, he yanks the thong clean off me and licks his way up my thighs. The fight’s not gone out of me, but I’m distracted. No way in hell I can time anything, and something tells me he’s serious. I lift my arm and mutter to my watch, asking Siri to set a timer for five minutes. The bitch isn’t getting laid, so she can track Teddy’s prowess. A dark chuckle vibrates over me, and the Honorable Judge Boone pushes my thighs apart and dives in like he’s starving.

My eyes roll back into my head as he thrusts two fingers inside of me, pumping them as he nibbles and licks along the most sensitive parts of me. I’ll give Teddy one thing: he does nothing half-way, and my back arches off the table when he suckles my clit. I can’t scream or it’ll draw attention, so I focus on biting my lip and rocking into his touch. The noises he’s making aren’t loud enough for anyone but me to hear, but they’re so primal and hot that a fucking nun would beg for more. It’s like he’s possessed.

Fingertips curl inside of me, and I almost lose control of myself. I dig my nails into the wooden table, arching into his mouth. “Teddy…”

He doesn’t stop; instead, he slips a third finger inside of me, pushing me faster and harder towards the inevitable. When the trembles take over my body, I feel my skin heat like before and my chest tighten. The sensation of something breaking free within me slams into my gut, and I raise one of my hands to muffle the moan that I can’t hold in. The raven haired fiend is covering me in a blink, yanking my thighs up as he slams into me with a force hard enough to make the table scoot.

“Drugar,” he murmurs into my ear. His voice is low and dark, like a velvet glove running over my body. “I can feel the heat of your skin; let yourself go. Don’t fight it, Tilly.”

His hips piston against me and I squeeze his cock like I’m trying to wring every drop of cum from his body. I have no idea what the hell he wants me to let go of, but in this moment I’d turn myself into fucking Elsa if he keeps fucking me like this. I open my eyes and turn my head, meeting his gaze as our bodies move. A languid, drunken haze slips over me as the next orgasm builds, and I must be drunk on dick, because his eyes flash black and then a brilliant red as he looks at me. “Teddy, what in the—oh….”

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