Page 45 of Laurels and Liquor

“Well, I’m calling bullshit. You most certainly mix business with pleasure, with both Rhett and Lucas. I guess I’m asking… was—is it me you don’t want to fuck?”

I look up at him in surprise, caught completely off guard. His face is so open, so vulnerable, and he’s never looked more beautiful. His arms are steel bands around my waist, no room for escape from his question. My heart beats wildly, and I blink a few times as I try to get my brain to form a response. Every moment of my silence that passes, I can see the heat filling his eyes, challenge and invitation mixing together. My skin breaks out into goosebumps, and our chests brush each other with each breath. The last note of the symphony we’ve been dancing to for years fades, leaving only the undeniable truth. One that I’ve denied for too long, but no more.

Reaching up, I grab him by the back of the neck, pulling his lips down to meet mine.

Chapter twenty-one

Mateo

Ifreezeforamoment as my lips meet Lex’s, but then something switches in my mind. One of my hands tangles in her hair, loosening the messy bun she’d thrown it in earlier, while my other hand pulls her tight to my chest, fingers digging into her side. I feel her trying to pull away, but I can’t let her go. She tastes like bay laurels and liquor, and I’m drunk off the first taste. When she breaks for air, I kiss down her neck, the salty taste of her skin making my cock hard. She sighs, clinging to my shoulders for dear life.

“It was never about business and pleasure, Mateo. I have needs, and I didn’t know back then if either of you could handle me. Rhett has proven himself, but you don’t play like we do. Or at least you claim you don’t,” Lex nearly purrs, her body pressed to mine.

“Just because I’m not into whips and chains, that doesn’t mean I can’t handle you,” I retort into the juncture of her neck and shoulder, hackles rising at her challenge.

I grip her tighter and try to walk us backwards toward the couch, but she doesn’t move. We’re kissing again, lips moving together, but she won’t yield. I growl low in my throat, and she growls right back. Then her hands are in my hair and she’s yanking my head back hard, but the pain is secondary to the sudden throbbing in my jeans. Her teeth scrape the column of my throat, catching on my Adam’s apple for a moment before she tries to claim my mouth again. Her laugh, low and sensuous, only adds fuel to the fire in my lower belly. Moving before she can stop me, I grab her wrist and pull her fingers from my hair. The motion puts her off balance and I use the momentum to my advantage, dropping my opposite shoulder and hauling her off the floor and across my back.

I only manage a few steps toward the master bedroom before she recovers and starts scratching and kicking. An elbow to my back makes me grunt, and I stumble sideways as I cough. Using my moment of weakness, Lex manages to wrap her legs around my waist, forcing me to let go of her arm as her weight shifts, and I grab her under her thighs so she doesn’t fall. Her hands are back in my hair, and then we’re kissing again, a vicious meeting of lips and tongues and teeth, like we’re trying to devour each other and can’t get our fill.

Her legs grip me tight, but I stumble forward until her back meets the wall of the hallway leading to the master bedroom. She’s grinding her core against my crotch, and I dig my fingers into her hips, matching her rhythm, then pressing her forward and trapping her body with mine. With her ankles locked behind my back, I reach up and grab her throat, pinning her head against the wall. We finally break apart to breathe, but her hands don’t stop moving through my hair, down my neck, and across my shoulders, nails scraping hard. I almost lose myself in the sight of her, wearing my hand like a necklace made of the finest diamonds. Her chin lifts, hazel sparks in her eyes as she waits for me to make my next move. Her lipstick, that signature crimson war paint, hasn’t moved an inch.

“If you think I’m going to be your obedient little fuck toy, you’ve got another thing coming, princess,” I pant, squeezing her elegant neck a little tighter.

“Promises, promises, Mateo. I hope you can cash the checks your mouth keeps writing,” she purrs, completely undeterred.

I growl and pull her away from the wall, striding toward the bedroom with purpose. Careful of her head on the doorframe, I slam the door closed with a solid kick behind us. The room is dark, but I find the bed with ease. It takes more of my strength than I would have anticipated to get her to let go, but when I do, I send her flying backward onto the mattress. I whip off my shirt before she even hits the covers, and then I’m pouncing on her while she’s stunned.

My hands find her breasts and squeeze hard, kneading the soft flesh as my mouth finds hers again. She’s not wearing a bra, so my palms brush her nipples even through the material of her shirt. I swallow her moan, positioning myself between her thighs and grinding my rock-hard length against the apex. Her nails drag down my back, adding a bite of pain that makes me hiss and draw back slightly. She hooks one of her legs around mine and leverages me onto my back, pulling my hands from her tits and pinning them above my head. Sitting up slightly, her dark hair cascades around her gorgeous face, her lips pulled up in a smirk as she rolls her hips.

I curse at the bolt of pleasure zipping up my spine, matching her rhythm even as she tries to maintain control. I use that moment of distraction and twist my hands free, one of them going back to her throat and the other into her hair. Flipping us again, I bite her lower lip as I press her hard into the mattress. She’s smirking as I pull away, but it fades to a gasp as I roll my hips, the rough material of my jeans hitting her right on her clit. Her eyes roll back for a moment, and I smirk in triumph.

“Feels good, doesn’t it, princess?” I purr, letting her hair go and trailing my hand down her chest.

She’s too lost in her pleasure to notice when I take fistfuls of her shirt and pull hard, tearing the material and revealing her bare chest. She gasps, eyes flying open at the sound. My mouth descends on her right nipple, sucking hard and biting. She bucks, hands threading into my hair and holding me to her breasts. But then I ease off, teasing licks across the swells, down to the valley between, and then back up to the other.

“Fuck me,” she groans, trying to flip us again, but I use my weight advantage to hold her in place.

“That’s the plan, Lex,” I retort, unable to keep from laughing even as I bite her other nipple hard.

It feels good to sink my teeth into her soft flesh, and judging by the little sounds she’s making, she’s enjoying herself, too. I drag my nails down her stomach, teasing the skin along the hem of her leggings. She’s lost in the feeling of my mouth on her breasts, and I want to keep her there. She deserves to let go, and if I have to exert every ounce of dominance and willpower I have in me to get her there, then I will do it gladly. But she recovers quickly, snarling low in her throat. I look up at the sound, and watch as she cocks her hand back, as if going to slap me. But I’m faster. My hand darts out, wrapping my fingers around her wrist and pinning it to the bed, and grabbing her slender throat again, and squeezing.

“None of that. Not a fucking chance,” I snap, sitting up slightly.

“Don’t like being smacked around by a girl?” she taunts breathlessly.

“No, and if you want to talk shit, I’ll find another use for that fucking mouth,” I retort.

Lex laughs, the sound grating on something I didn’t know existed inside of me. It’s like a switch flips and I feel this overwhelming need to see her submit to me. I use my grip on her throat to drag her to the nearest edge of the bed, shoving her down to the floor while my free hand frees my aching cock from my jeans. I only shove my pants and underwear down enough to allow it to spring forward, already throbbing and leaking.

“Suck,” I order, pulling Lex up until her face is level with my erection.

Now that my eyes have adjusted more to the darkness, I can see her looking up at me through her lashes, eyes wide. I shift my grip from her neck to her hair, pulling hard enough that she gasps, and I press my advantage. The warmth of her mouth, the wet slide of her tongue on the underside of my cock, makes my knees buckle, and I curse again. Lex closes her lips around me, bobbing eagerly up and down my length without any prompting. She takes me farther and farther down her throat until her lips are brushing against my swollen knot. Then she has the audacity to look up at me again, and something between a growl and a purr spills from my throat.

“Just like that, fuck. Such a good girl,” I babble mindlessly as she retreats, swirling her tongue around the head.

Lex pulls back with a gasp, panting hard. Her hands take over where her mouth had been, stroking in tandem so my entire length is stimulated at once.

“I’m not your fucking good girl,” she says once she’s caught her breath.

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