Page 79 of The Roommate

Had another man ever been so confident? So fluid and lupine as he stalked toward her.

Josh’s skin was hot and sweat-slick as Clara leaned forward to run her hands across all the places she’d consumed with her eyes. “Your body is unreal. I know you know”—ab muscles contracted under her fingertips—“but I thought it was worth repeating.” She dipped her thumbs into the harsh curve between his leg and his groin. “Really . . . ten out of ten.”

Josh withstood her appraisal, let her take her time, until she caught his gaze and traced her tongue across her bottom lip.

“If you keep eye-fucking me like that, this is all going to be over before it starts.” His voice had turned into a mixture of smoke and flame.

Bending down, he captured her mouth again, threading his hands in her hair. Between each of his drugging kisses, Clara’s breathing grew more ragged.

She didn’t want to laugh, knew you shouldn’t laugh at a gentleman recently divested of his pants, but she let a small nervous giggle escape against his lips in spite of herself.

He pulled back. “What just happened?”

Clara covered her face with her hands. “Sometimes I have inappropriate reactions to stress.”

This time the laugh came from him, and some of the tension left his shoulders. “Is my dick stressing you out?”

Clara curled her lips into her mouth and gave a tiny nod.

Josh winced and ran a hand down his face. “I get it.”

“You do?” Had he guessed that she was too inexperienced to accommodate him? Was it somehow physically obvious?

“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure you’re turned off thinking about my job. Probably wondering if I’m even capable of having sex without cameras . . .” He waved his hand in a broad sweeping gesture below his waist. His whole body carried signs of defeat, although to his credit that erection didn’t budge.

Clara’s eyebrows jumped together. Turned off? Was he crazy?

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and leaned forward. The quickest way to show Josh she loved his dick didn’t involve words.

“What are y— Oh God.” Josh sighed as she took the tip of his erection between her lips. His fingers shook as he slid them through her hair, and she lifted a hand, wrapping it around the base. He groaned as she ran her tongue around the head. Clara lifted her eyes, only to have her heart skip as Josh stared down at her with naked lust. Usually, her insecurities do

minated this exercise, but this wasn’t about her. It was about showing Josh how he drove her wild.

Judging by the way he swelled against the back of her throat as he held her gaze, Josh didn’t care about her lack of finesse.

“Holy shit.” Each expression and response rewarded her for her efforts. He pulled her hair away from her face into a messy ponytail, but still, he applied no pressure. Instead, he ran his fingertips soothingly against the base of her scalp, making her sigh around her mouthful.

“You’re driving me insane, Clara. Look at what you do to me.” His fierce brown eyes held intensity she hadn’t expected, and when she balked and dropped her gaze he guided her head gently back up with his thumb across the apple of her cheek.

She took in the strain in his jaw as she moved, the way his eyes had gone heavy-lidded and hazy, how his neck went taut. Josh, usually so calm and collected, looked enraptured.

Clara kept her eyes trained on his face as she brought her hands to his ass. When she sank her nails in lightly, he threw back his head. The pulse in his throat jumped. Emboldened, Clara tried something she’d only read about in Cosmo. She hummed.

His grip on her hair tightened and he hissed through his teeth. “Clara.” Her name came out more breath than word. Josh took a step back, his eyes tortured, frantic, as he pulled her to her feet so her back rested flush against his front.

“I’ve wanted you for months,” he said against the shell of her ear. “I’m done waiting.” Josh traced his hand along her rib cage and hip before moving between her legs, inserting two and then three fingers while his other hand held her in place at her waist.

She gasped, clenching around him, breathless at the promise of being filled. All the oxygen in the room evaporated. Clara had to work twice as hard for every breath. Blood pounded in her ears so loud she worried it was affecting her vision. Every atom in her body demanded more. “Condom?”

He untangled himself from her long enough to pull out a foil packet from a bedside drawer and roll it on.

She lay back down, feeling languid and wired at the same time.

“Are you sure about this?” He returned to the bed to pour his body over hers.

The adoration in his eyes, both vulnerable and possessive, made her heart clench. In answer, Clara wrapped her legs around his waist.

The muscles working in Josh’s throat highlighted his elevated pulse point as he positioned his hips. Clara sucked in air like someone had outlawed it as he entered her. The stretch of him was deep enough that she could almost feel it in her teeth. She had to breathe through her nose for a few seconds. Each time he exhaled the tiny movement felt like pressing her tongue against a live wire.

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