Page 5 of After Dark
The only marks she ever wore for any stretch of time were the ones he put upon her.
He got even harder, thinking such a thing.
Her eyes were a pale blue ringed with copper lashes and he had seen those eyes shine for him in too many different moments. Imploring him. Besotted with him. Furious with him, too, in turn.
She had a narrow sort of nose that made her look delicate. Refined. And her mouth had always transfixed him. Not only because he knew the many things that she could do with it, but because of those lips of hers. A little bit sulky. Plump and sweet.
God, but she made him hungry.
Her body was his weakness, and he was a man who preferred to have none. He’d made himself into a fortress and she alone had walked right in. It had pissed him off at the start. It had been worse after she’d left. But tonight he let his gaze move over her narrow shoulders to her full breasts. He eyed the way her torso narrowed, then flared into wide hips his palms itched to grip as he thrust into her. Her ass was plump and high. And the pucker of her assholewas a particular obsession of his. He liked to lick her there until she screamed, then plunge in deep.
Maybe being a fortress that only Josette could raze into rubble had its upsides.
Her pussy was, as far as he knew, the finest he’d ever beheld. And Arlo had a wide basis of comparison to work from on that. He’d liked to look at her, chained up in his bedroom or with her hands bound behind her back as she’d knelt at the door, her eyes glassy and her thighs wide.
She was always wet for him. So very wet.
And he’d like to keep her waxed bare, so he could see every fold, every furrow. So he could witness that proud little clit as it pushed itself forward, begging for his attention. He had slapped that pussy, licked it, used his teeth on that clit, and fucked her so many times, in so many ways, that surely he should have had his fill by now.
But here he was, staring at her as she stood there with her back against the wall in this shallow alley like he’d once again brought her into life by force of his fantasies alone.
Not that he believed in that kind of shit.
He hadn’t summoned her here, but she’d come ready to play as if he had. She was wearing one of those deliciously slutty little skirts of hers that had always made him feel greedy, heels that made her perfect legs look even longer than they were, and a button-down shirt just sheer enough so that he could see she wasn’t wearing a bra. And that her nipples were tight and hard.
All little gifts to him, he knew.
Gifts he supposed he could accept—as long as, this time, he knew better than to trust her. As long as he kept his guard up—something that was easy at the moment because she still hadn’t said a word.
“Did you think you could just show up?” he asked her,aware that his voice was little better than a growl. “Say nothing at all? It’s a year and a half later, Josette. Eighteen fucking months. Are you really that much of an asshole?”
He saw something flash in those pale eyes of hers, and thought,good. Whether she was mad or hurt or both, she deserved it.
She didn’t have to know that he didn’t like hurting her. Not like this.
“I’ve thought about what to say to you so many times it’s like the words cancel themselves out,” she told him, finally. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Don’t you? Let me help you out.” He held her gaze, and while she didn’t tremble, because she was significantly more stubborn that she appeared — something he would do well to remember — he saw a little sheen of emotion in all that blue. He liked that, too. “We’d been hitting walls for a while, you and me. I decided it was time to knock them down. You refused. I figured we’d talk about it in the morning, but you snuck out in the middle of the night instead. I thought you needed a breather. I wasn’t happy about it, but I understood. I made the mistake of thinking you’d observe common decency, Josette. Let me know you were alive and were okay. Let me know where you were. But you didn’t do any of that, did you?” He leaned toward her, slightly. “Kind of like you wanted me to suffer.”
“Did you?” she shot back. “Suffer, I mean? Because I have a hard time believing that, Arlo.”
“Not for long,” he replied. “Did you forget what I do for a living? I found you. Running back home, hiding out in the town you came from. The one you used to say you liked in the rearview mirror. What were you trying to do? Pretend you were someone other than who you are? How did that work out?”
She looked away and if they’d been in a scene, that would have earned her a punishment. And as much as Arlo might feel that every time they were near each other, breathing the same air, was a scene — it wasn’t. Not now. He had to remind himself that, forcefully.
Josette had broken the trust between them. She had upended the promises they’d made to each other. Why was that so hard to remember when she was standing right in front of him?
“So you knew where I was and that I was safe.” She looked back at him then, her pale gaze like fire. “Meaning, I didn’t actually have to feel all the intense guilt that I’ve been carrying around all this time.”
“It can’t have been that intense or you would have done the actual very least, picked up the phone, and called me. Hell, you could have sent a text.”
She shook her head, her mouth shifting into a line. “I couldn’t. I didn’t know what to say.”
“We were together for five years and you couldn’t think of anything to say? Not one thing? Bullshit, Josette.”
She blew out a breath at that, sounding like she was winded. “I don’t know what you want, Arlo. Do you want me to try to explain to you what was happening for me? Do you want me to simply grovel? I can do those things. Just say the word. But right now it seems like what you want to do is make me feel bad.” Her chin tipped up slightly. “I can do that too. I just want to know what the plan is.”
“There’s no fucking plan,” he bit out. “I didn’t know you were coming back today. I didn’t know you were ever coming back. Why don’t you tell me what your plan is and I can figure out how I want to respond to that. Maybe this time you can even do me the courtesy of letting me participatein what’s happening between us, or is that a bridge too far?”
