Page 19 of Free to Run
After catching up with a few former classmates, I wandered around the room, looking for Jared. Caleb had mentioned in passing that he was bringing Alison as his plus one.
I saw her almost the minute she entered on Jared’s arm.
Across the ballroom, I caught glimpses of her crystal-encrusted dress skimming her luscious curves from where I was. Every time she moved, the crystals on her dress shimmered, brightening the room almost as much as her smile.
My reaction was visceral. I wanted to pick her up in my arms. I wanted to find a private corner to be alone with her. I wanted to pull the front of her dress down with my teeth and see what she was wearing underneath. Hopefully, nothing.
Now that she’s standing in front of me, part of me wants to break her damned neck for how little there actually is to that damned dress. The straps holding it up could be snapped with a quick yank. Her entire back is exposed. Any finger—hell, a full hand—can trace her smooth skin from her shoulder to the top of her tailbone.
I decide it’s time to stop playing. I’ve asked myself some serious questions about the delectable Alison Freeman, and I decided the answers were simple.
For as long as it lasts, we’ll check our tempers.
For as long as it lasts, we’ll balance our family and the fucking.
No more trying to second-guess wanting to bury my cock in her so deep she’ll scream my name. I want to squeeze her ass in my hands as I’m pounding into her dripping pussy from behind. And those tits. They’re mine too. I’ll flick her nipples and make her moan.
I don’t deserve Alison Freeman, but I can’t deny myself anymore.
She’s the kind of woman that makes a man beg for forgiveness.
It’s too bad. I don’t plan on asking for any.
You’d never know those thoughts were running through my head as I step forward, controlled, after she bumped into me. I’ve been observing her for too long with the unknown Army major. Observing their intimacy, their familiarity. I’m not pleased with the conclusions I’ve drawn. Alison knows him intimately, if I had to guess.
I want to dole out a little punishment for that.
I realize she doesn’t know I’ve decided that we’re not done, despite her throwing me out at the wedding, and our blowup at dinner the other night. She’s mine. Another man should not touch her with such familiarity. Then again, it was his mistake that he left her alone.
I slowly shake my head back and forth in frustration as I look down at her. This woman drives me out of my mind in more ways than one. It’s been like this from the moment we met outside the doors of this very hotel a few years ago. Nothing has changed, from the push and pull between us, or the urge to grab her and fuck her while pushing her away to keep her heart whole. I know the man I am and the man I come from. Her presence pulls me in like no other woman I’ve been with before or met since. I can’t help my attraction to her.
Everything around us falls away until it’s just the two of us. Her glossy lips are slightly parted. I know the color has intensified not only on her face, but down the column of her neck and in between her remarkably luscious breasts. I’d also bet my last dollar her nipples are puckered beneath her square-cut dress. My dick hardens when I find her sexy cobalt-colored orbs peering at me. I feel seared, scored.
“How’s my sister?” I ask, trying to appear casual. I’m hopeful that talking about the impending additions to the family will lighten the mood. I expect her to bathe me in her glow as she goes off in a montage of all things baby related, but I’m shocked when the light in her eyes dies. It’s like I struck her. The glow that was there moments ago shut down. Extinguished.
What the hell?
Her color fades. “Cassidy is wonderful, Keene. When I saw her earlier today, her baby belly was leading her into the room. It’s adorable. She mentioned you two spoke recently, and that she’s been keeping you up-to-date on her and the twins’ health.”
Alison’s worrying her ring around her finger, twisting it so hard, I fear it’s going to either pop off and hit someone in the eye, or she’ll lose it forever in the hotel lobby. She stopped to rub her hands up and down her arms, taking a small step away from me.
Her awkwardness hits me like a boulder between the eyes.
Guilt. She heard what I shared with Jason and Phil, and now she’s berating herself for the way she spoke to me, trying to protect her family. Sighing heavily, I raise a hand to the back of my neck and rub it vigorously.
God, what a fucking mess.
She’s throwing up her walls for defense, but she’s not fast enough. There’s unspoken agony on her face.
“Alison, don’t.” The words are out of my mouth before I even know I’ll say them.
She bites her lower lip and shakes her head, her mouth opening and closing as she shifts back and forth in her pencil-thin stilettos.
This won’t do.
Pulling her closer, I slide my hand around her back. Even in heels, the top of her head only grazes my throat. My fingers trail over her exposed lower back as I lean down, putting my mouth next to her hair to inhale her scent. Chanel. “Alison. Eyes on me.” I lower my head and say softly, “Please.” A word I rarely use does the trick.
I watch as her head slowly lifts.
