Page 53 of The Space Between
“That’s not true.” He exclaims.
“Then, why’d you leave?” I ask.
He swallows, his throat working and I’m mesmerized by it. “Because I wanted to touch you. And I didn’t trust myself to stop.”
I stare up at him, heart pounding. “Maybe I wanted you tostay… totouchme.”
“Blakelyn—” I can hear the strain in his voice, but I don’t care.
“No.” I push to my feet. “Don’t give me the speech. Don’t do the fucking noble thing. I’ve hadenoughof fucking men trying to make decisionsforme. I decide for me!”
His eyes flicker but he doesn’t respond to me.
I wrap my fingers around the warm skin of his arm, wanting to touch him, unable to stop myself. “I’m notbroken, Gruene. I’m not some porcelain doll that’s gonna shatter if you touch me… if youwantme.”
His nostrils flare. “It’s notyouI don’t trust, Blakelyn. Do you even understand the darkness that lives just under the surface with me? You have no idea how fucking hard this is for me.” His fists are clenched, and his jaw is strained.
His words hit me harder than I expect.
He steps closer… slowly… deliberately.
“I haven’ttouchedanyone in six years,” he murmurs. “Not like that. Not with anything that mattered.”
I feel like I’m holding my breath.
“I didn’t leave last night because I didn’t want you. Idowant you… more than I have any right to. I leftbecauseI want you so badly it scares thehellout of me.” He stops a breath away. “AndbecauseifI touch you again, if you let me touch you again, I’m not walking away a second time.”
My hands are shaking as I reach up and curl them in the front of his shirt. I tug him forward. “I don’twantyou to, Gruene.”
His mouth crashes into mine. His lips aren’t soft. They aren’t careful. His kiss is fire with teeth and six years of silence cracked wide open in a single, brutal kiss. His tongue slides over mine coiling and racing it like he’s learning me, claiming me. His hand fists in my hair as he tilts my head back until I’m gasping into him.
He tastes like coffee and regret and guilt. But hefeelslike heat… like hunger… like every answer I’ve been too afraid to ask for and when he backs me toward his cabin with one tug of my wrist, I go willingly.
We don’t make it to the bed. As soon as we clear the threshold, I’m shoved against the front door. My hoodie is pulled off. My tank is shoved up over my breasts with one brutal jerk. I’m exposed.
His mouth meets the skin of my neck, drifts over my shoulder, and down my chest. He’s biting, licking, and sucking, marking me, until I’m arching into him like I’ll dieifhe stops.
“Tell me to stop,” he growls, his voice ragged.
“No.” I exclaim, arching further into him and raising his own shirt up and off. He lets me. I throw it.
“Tell me what you want.” He mutters still laving the pulse point in my neck from the spot he just bit me hard enough to bruise.
“You.Now.” I practically wail it.
His hands go to the button on my shorts. He releases it and pulls them down hooking my panties with his thumb on the way. They fall and I kick them as he drops to his knees and buries his face between my thighs like a man starved.
I cry out, grabbing the frame of the door to keep my balance. His tongue is filthy. He’s focused… maddening. He laps at my clit, before sucking it hard enough to make my knees buckle, then, circles it with obscene pressure. I can’t take it. It’s too much yet not enough. “Gruene… oh, Gruene…”
He holds me steady with hands that grip too hard. I’m going to bruise, but I don’t care. His nose presses against the crease of my thigh as he devours me, groaning into my body likeI’mthe one ruininghim.Ifist his hair and pull him into me tighter. Just as I’m about to come, he pulls back.
“Noooo,” I gasp.
He rises to his feet, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, and kisses me hard. “You’re not coming from my mouth,” he rasps. “You’re gonna come with my cock buried deep inside of you.”
I moan but before I can even breathe, he spins me toward the door. My palms flatten against the wood and my back arches, I push back against him, completely shameless.
I hear the sound of his zipper, then, his jeans drop to the floor.
