Page 34 of Cody

I took another sip of coffee, smiling inside. I wondered if he was going to respond with a lie. A woman knew when a man was interested in her for more than just sex. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. If he tried to convince me I was imagining things, I would pour my lukewarm coffee over his head.

There was always the possibility that Cody didn’t realize what he was feeling for me, because it was unfamiliar to him.

He cleared his throat. “Maybe a little, and I don’t like the feeling.”

Huh. Hedidknow, and I liked that he was being truthful. “So it would bother you if I had sex with another man?”

He glanced toward the floor, clearly not wanting to acknowledge it. I watched his jaw work, wondering if he’d have any back teeth left by the time he was done grinding. “You know that works both ways, Cody.”

His gaze shot up to mine. “Yeah, if two people are in a committed relationship, and that ain’t going to happen,” he said with conviction. “I may not like the idea of you with another man, but I’m not going to stop it.”

As if you could,I refrained from saying aloud.

“I’m not going to change my ways.”

It felt as if he meant that statement for me and me alone. Was that his way of reminding me that he didn’t want a permanent woman in his life? That he wasn’t monogamous? He was so stubborn, and I had half a feeling that he was in a little denial too.

He was suddenly agitated, and he took several steps away from me, ran his hand through his thick hair, turned, and then walked back to me. I straightened against the counter when he stopped directly in front of me.

“Maybe I should have slept with Max,” I said brazenly, hoping to get a reaction out of Cody that would prove to him that he was just like anyone else, that he felt jealousy when someone he wanted was as casual about the way they treated sex as he was.

I couldn’t do that. The feelings going through me had caught me by surprise, but I didn’t want anyone else but Cody. It hadn’t been that long since I’d broken up with Eddie, and I’d been prepared to date around for a while and keep my options open, not fall instantly for the first man I’d come in contact with after returning home. I hated that my attraction to him was so strong.

An animalistic sound erupted from Cody, and I suddenly found myself boxed in against the counter with his body against mine. His expression was almost frightening. Dark. Pupils dilated as if in anger or arousal. His prolonged stare was intense, his mouth grew tight. I held myself stiffly, unsure of what he was going to do. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me though, not physically.

I finally broke the intense silence between us by putting my hands against his chest and teasing, “Do you want to hurt me Cody, or kiss me?”

An unnamed emotion flickered in his eyes. “I’d never hurt you,” he snarled, right before slamming his mouth down on mine.

It was the match that ignited the fire, and I was going to combust from the potency. His kiss was rough, hard, almost brutal, like the man, and I wondered if he realized how telling it was. Cody’s kiss was claiming ownership. He was putting his mark on me, whether he understood what he was doing or not.

The flavor of coffee exploded in my mouth as his tongue tasted and explored, causing my core to clench with arousal. I felt my shorts getting wet from the tingle between my thighs. My clit began to throb. I moaned loudly, hearing it echo through the kitchen around us.

As I wrapped my arms around his neck, he picked me up and set me on the counter. I wanted him up against me and parted my legs to make room for him. Our kiss combined in a pleasurable frenzy that would have been painful if he’d been anyone else. A hand gripped the hair at the back of my neck as Cody pulled away to suck in air. Almost instantly he began to run his mouth along the side of my bowed neck, leaving a trail of liquid fire.

I whimpered and shuddered beneath his mouth, and then a sharp cry escaped me when his hand glided beneath my top to curl around my breast. Touching it awakened a beast inside Cody. He growled impatiently, and then his hand glided up my body, taking my shirt with it as he bared my breast so he could put his mouth on me.

“Cody!” I cried, arching my body eagerly. His hand squeezed my flesh roughly as he sucked and grazed his teeth over my nipple.

“Fuck, baby, “he growled low as he moved over to my other breast.

I wanted to feel the scrape of his whiskers between my legs.

Someone knocked on the glass patio door.

I was thankful that Cody’s body was protecting mine from being exposed to whoever it was that had knocked. Our eyes met, and I watched as realization slowly filled his. Arousal dimmed with condemnation of himself for losing control. A second knock caused Cody to turn his head and snarl over his shoulder, “Be right there!”

I forced a small smile on my face in place of saying to him that it was okay, that I understood what he was feeling, and that he didn’t need to worry that I’d expect him to give me something that he couldn’t. If he was afraid that he felt more for me than he was comfortable with, that was his problem.

He set me on the floor. “Fuck...Alina...”

Was he sorry that we’d been interrupted, or was he afraid that he’d exposed too much? There was another knock on the glass door.

“You better go see what he wants.”

I moved around him and went to my room.

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