Page 59 of Careless

Once he releases me from the kiss hot enough to make my knees weak, Rian looks around the room and I wonder what he’s looking for. Is he looking for someone specifically?

“Fuck this,” he growls then effortlessly tosses me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing at all, the pressure of his shoulder against my stomach making it ache.

“Rian!” I screech as his arm wraps around the back of my legs and he walks through the crowd of drunk teenage dancers. “What are you doing?” I demand.

“I’m getting you out of here. You’re too much of a temptation in this sexy costume of yours.” He says it like this is a huge nuisance to him.

“Jealous much?” I joke, knowing his problem is with other people looking at me.

“If someone touches you, they lose a hand. If someone looks at you, they lose an eye. You’re mine. If there was any doubt after tonight, I have no problem claiming you in front of everyone. But then I’d have to kill them all.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

HER

Rian pulls his car in front of my house and hastily turns it off. “Where’s your dad?”

It’s unusual for my dad to not be at home this late, except for the past week. He’s gone out every night and tonight is no exception. However, he must have special plans tonight because he told me I shouldn’t expect him back until morning.

“I have the house to myself all night,” I say with a smile I hope comes off as salacious, and from the twinkle in his eye, I think it worked.

“Want some company?”

“Do you even need to ask?” I tease.

The night is cool so I’m grateful when we climb out of the car and he wraps an arm around my shoulders, guiding me up to the front door.

The last time we were here, Carmen interfered. We won’t have that problem tonight.

I may be a little drunk, but that doesn’t change how I want tonight to end—with us in bed together.

I click the deadbolt into the lock position and we head to the kitchen. I grab him a beer since he remained relatively sober at the party, and get one for myself. He’s not going anywhere so he can drink as much as he wants. We make our way to the living room and sit together on the couch, chatting about everything that’s happened these past few weeks. Granted, I had planned to rip his clothes off and ride him as soon as we got home, but being with Rian is just so natural that I don’t realize how much time passed while we were just talking. After an hour and a few more beers, I’m feeling a bit more inebriated, but I love it.

“I’ve really fucking missed you,” he admits, showing that sliver of vulnerability in his baby blues. His fingers trace the freckles near my cheekbone, and a blush crawls up my neck to my face. I don’t know if it's from the alcohol or how Rian affects me.

“I missed you, too.” I bite my lip.

His eyes zone in on the act and his gaze darkens, his grip on my knee tightening with tension.

“What did you miss about me?” he rasps. Fuck, I want his hand to touch more than just my knee.

Other than the obvious answer of his tongue and magical fingers? “I missed fighting with you and pissing you off,” I admit, unashamed.

He raises a brow as if my answer stunned him into silence, but then he tilts his head back and chortles. “I knew you did that shit to get a rise out of me.”

“Not all of it,” I confess. “But, a good portion was to piss you off. In some ways, that was the only time when you showed me any kind of emotion. Plus, I may just be a little bit of a brat.”

“I could’ve told you that, kid.”

“What did you miss about me?” I ask, wanting to see what his answer will be.

“Your smile,” he answers so quickly. I wonder if he even had to think about it. “The way your laugh sounds when it's genuine and you’re not just doing it because other people are. I miss the way your body responds to my touch, the feel of you writhing under my hands. I missed kissing you, touching you,tastingyou.” My breath catches as he runs his thumb over my bottom lip in a wicked tease. “I missed the way you taunt me, Sorcha. The way you drive me crazy with your every move. I want to devour you, to taste every inch of your body, to consume you.” I moan, desperate for his touch, as he continues to tease me with his words. “Is that what you want? He whispers, his breath hot against my ear. “Do you want me to consume you?”

“Yes,” I whimper, surrendering myself to his seductive game.

The word barely has time to leave my lips before his crash into mine, his fingers digging into the flesh of my thighs. Our teeth clink against each other from the urgency of this moment as he drags me to him and pulls me onto his lap, straddling his waist. Without a second to adjust to the new position, Rian is grinding into me, trailing his kisses across my jaw and down the column of my throat.

My core tenses in anticipation as I run my fingers through his hair, moaning at the contact my body has craved and been deprived of for weeks.