Caged Page 8

  I tugged her back round. “What are you doing here, Shelley?”

  “I already told you. I’m—”

  “Don’t …” I shook my head. “Please … just tell me the truth.”

  Her eyes flitted off to the side, but I didn’t miss the slight shine that visited them as though she fought against the threat of tears.

  “Shel?”

  “I …” The flesh at her throat moved, exposing her swallow, and she brought her gaze back around. “I didn’t want to be alone.”

  “So …” My jaw worked against my words in case hers held a completely different meaning to that which I thought. “Why not ask Mia to stay? She—”

  “Mia doesn’t hold me the way you did last night.” Her chest heaved, like getting the admittance out had been a huge feat, and her gaze shifted away when my shocked as hell stare refused to waver.

  Seconds passed. My heart drummed inside my chest. Beneath its heaviness, Shelley’s patterned my ears with a faster, more delicate tempo.

  “Say something,” she whispered.

  I took a deep breath and reached out for her thighs, cupping my hands around the back of them. She offered no resistance as I drew her forward over my lap and settled her where I really wanted her. My hands slid up, over her hips, across the tremor that swept through them. When I pulled her close, her cheek rested against my chest, caressing my skin with her breaths, and my arms folded around to embrace her.

  “Like this, you mean?” My murmur fluttered her hair.

  The nod of her head swished against me. “Exactly like this.”

  Two beats of Shelley’s heart seemed to induce a tap-tap against my chest, before mine thudded back at her—a quiet rhythm of sudden contentment.

  My chin tucked in as I peeked down at her. Her parted lips allowed her breaths to seep out, and the slight flutter of her lashes explained the tickle to my flesh.

  “You’re so warm,” she whispered. “I always imagined you would be.”

  My eyebrow twitched my surprise. “Always?”

  Her hair teased as she gave another nod, and she lifted her face. “Did you have to keep me waiting so long?”

  I took a moment to organise my thoughts beneath the intensity of her stare. “So, you weren’t pissed at me for kissing you?”

  Her eyes widened a little. “Is that what you thought? God, no. You …” She expelled a tiny breath. “I spent months trying to get you to notice—”

  “I’ve been a little blind.” I twirled a strand of her hair around my finger and drew it back from her face. “My vision’s a lot clearer now.”

  Seconds passed with Shelley’s attention locked onto me before her hand slid up from my chest. As she found the nape of my neck, she gave a tug, and my lips met with her waiting ones.

  The shifting of her body as she curved into me drew her pelvis to my stomach, the denim scratching against my skin, and my hands slipped beneath her butt to hold her there.

  Her fingers swept down from my neck. Both hands smoothed across my shoulders. Arms enclosed me; fingers wove into my hair.

  Her exotic element of arousal infused with the sweetness of female that belonged all to her, and desire and fear tinged an underlying perspiration. My nostrils flared wide as I drew her deep into my sinuses. As her tongue and hastened breaths added her personal flavour to an already delicious kiss, my dick perked to life.

  Shelley’s mouth took more, demanding my response until I strained against the restrictive fabric covering my midsection. I gave a low growl. The urge up of my hips did little to loosen the binding. Shelley’s gasp only increased my body’s interest further, as did the sharp rake of her fingers to my shoulders, and her catch of my lip between her teeth.

  She paused, holding me captive. When her teeth released me, replaced by the softness of her tongue, my resolve snapped.

  Arms encircling her back, my thigh muscles bunched, and I surged to my feet. A rolling snarl vibrated past my lips before I could leash it as I took a step for the bed.

  “No!”

  I froze in place, my breaths rapid beneath the effort. “Shel?” Roughness affected my voice.

  She pushed against my chest.

  I sat us back down, took her face in my hands. “Shelley, what’s wrong?”

  “Not like this.” Emotion clouded her eyes for a moment. Her fingers folded around my forearms as she stared into me. “I’ve never felt as useless in my life as I have since … this … this is the most in control I’ve been for days.” Her head gave the smallest of shakes between my palms. “Don’t take that from me.”

  I brushed my lips across hers. “The reins are all yours.”

  A high shine visited her eyes until they glistened beneath the lamplight. For seconds, she didn’t move. When she did, she took my hands from her face and lowered them to my sides. “Close your eyes.” Her whisper returned, fingers sweeping over my lids until I complied. “Don’t open them.”

  A slight shuffle of weight, and hers disappeared altogether. Cold spread through me at her absence, and my inhalations deepened, tracking her path to ensure she remained close.

  One footstep, a second, created almost inaudible crunches upon the carpet. A zipper, the swish of material, the quickening of her breath, all preceded the silence of innateness and the pumped out scent of her desire.

  My muscles tensed with the effort to stay put; a gentle thrum played in my chest.

  Another zipper. Rustling. The unmistakable sound of rummaging.

  My left eye opened to a slit, and I peeked through my lashes. As she fiddled within her bag on the floor, Shelley’s rear hovered a few feet before my knees, no more than a black strip of lace covering it. My other lid lifted, the first bead of perspiration broke out on my upper lip, and my mouth opened to share the growl rumbling at the back of my throat.

  Shelley pushed up.

  I slammed my mouth and eyes shut before she could spot me, made an effort to control my breaths as they threatened to come too fast.

  No admonishment arrived, only a ripping crinkle of sound. More dainty padding of movement, a shuffle beside my foot, and the slide of flesh against my calf followed.

  I almost jerked at her feather-light touch over my hip. A tug tightened my towel, until a second released it, and a glide of her hands exposed my readiness.

  Her pulse tripled, joining my own in an erratic tune, growing louder the closer she came.

  Heat spread through my thighs at her touch as she slipped back onto my lap, and across my throat beneath her breaths and tongue.

  “Shel?”

  Fingers pressed to my lips, and her nose nudged at mine when she replaced them with her mouth. Her whispered, “Soon,” had my entire body vibrating with anticipation.

  Her chest met mine, brushing with such softness I could only presume her naked.

  A low groan filled the air, and I realised it came from me.

  Further oral caresses graced my face, my throat, my neck. I angled my head to the side, inviting her to continue. The scent of her saturated my mind until headiness kicked in, and I searched for more. “Do you know how amazing you smell?” Feral deepness possessed my tone.

  Her tremor hit me, inciting my own to affect every nerve ending, before her body moved away and snatched from me what I longed for.

  The density of my breaths added heaviness to my chest.

  Shelley’s rapid ones breezed across my face as moisture coated my thighs, announcing her heightened arousal.

  I awaited her touch. Tension consumed every part of me. The urge to open my eyes overwhelmed.

  “Shel?” More of a rumble than a word.

  Fingers encircled my hard-on. I sucked in breath through my teeth and it burst back out as she applied pressure to the tip. One stroke down my shaft. Another. A third. Although I rec
ognised the sound—and scent—of unrolling latex, with each fondle, my muscles tightened to implosive proportions, and risk of early explosion increased.

  “Shelley!” My voice came out a warning.

  She released me. Whilst my body screamed out for her to return, my mind cried relief. Her rear left my lap, yet she didn’t move away, only closer. With hands against my collar bone, and her breasts at my chest, her core balanced over my erection.

  An upward plunge would find what I craved. My body shook against the resistance.

  “Open your eyes, Ethan.”

  I obeyed her husked order, and could have dived headfirst into the glazed pools that greeted me.

  One hand combed into my hair, pulling me to her, but she did no more than nibble at my lower lip. As she slid over my engorged head, her mouth opened on her exiting gasp, and her eyes widened.

  My hands itched to grab her hips and take her the rest of the way, clenching against the effort of restraint.

  With agonizing slowness, she lowered herself until I filled her. A long, low cry accompanied her journey; her head tipped back as her eyes closed, and her nails pierced the flesh at my shoulders until my growl could no longer be tamed.

  Her hips rocked back and forward, and her lids lifted to draw me back in. “Hold me.”

  My hands swept across her back as hers smoothed to mine. Like silk, her flesh glided beneath my palms. With undulating thrusts, she gripped, released, each movement a sensual massage that sent shudders along my spine. Flames sparked from my groin. Tautness affected my muscles with each wave of heat that coursed through them.

  I dropped my face to her shoulder and burrowed into her neck, her hair feathering across my cheek. Sweat coated her flesh, lent saltiness to my sampling of it. As I suckled, lapped, and tasted, her arms tightened, her fingers clung, and small panting cries echoed through my mind until I became deaf to all other sound.

  Her contractions tugged me closer to the edge. Jolts of pleasure pumped through me at each throb. Erotic scent permeated the air to fog my mind.

  My hands grasped at her hips, urged her faster.

  Toes flexed, spasms attempted to move into my calves, snaking higher into my thighs.

  “Wait for me.” Her panted demand arrived no more than a whisper at my ear.

  I lifted my face to see her, to watch the high shine of her unseeing stare, to study the blush of her cheeks.

  A stream of gasps flew from her. Her muscles grew rigid. Once more, she penetrated my flesh, made her mark upon my back.

  With a loud mewling cry, her lashes lowered to half cover eyes that glistened, and her entire body stiffened, hauling me along with her.

  One final tug, the pulsations of her climax, and a constriction that sparked fire into every inch of my body brought me to the point of eruption.

  My body convulsed against Shelley. I fisted my hands against her back so as not to cause her harm beneath my strength. My teeth clamped against my snarl as the yearning to bite her and create my mate almost overpowered my senses.

  For minutes, my body wracked in aftermath. The compressed rumble in my chest fought to get out, filling the room with a quiet thunder.

  Shelley stroked my face, encouraging it back round to her from a position at her throat I couldn’t recall adopting, and lids to open that I didn’t realise I’d shut.

  She continued to tremble as she kissed me, as her tongue darted out and pushed between my lips to find mine. “Now,” she murmured with another brush of her lips, “now you can take me to bed.”

  12

  Shelley’s feet barely reached my calves, yet her body still moulded to mine like it was always meant to be there. My chest seemed mountainous beneath her delicate hands that continued to sear heat into my soul at their touch. Within her expression of sleepy contentment, her lips remained curved, and her sated stare could have held even the most unwilling at her mercy.

  As a result, my dick refused to calm down—had been that way the whole fifteen minutes we’d been in bed.

  “So, remind me what you were saying about it being Kyle’s fault you’re here all night.” The tone of her voice matched the languidness of her body.

  My gaze lifted toward the wall dividing my room from Kyle’s, my ear brushing the cotton pillow beneath my head. “You really want to talk about what he might be getting up to in there?”

  Her quiet laughter sent her breath across my throat. “No. But you sounded mad about it earlier.”

  “That was then.” I returned to her where she lay before me and stroked my hand along the arc of her back. “I have plenty reason not to be pissed any longer.”

  “What reason could that be?” Amusement remained in the curve of her lips.

  “I’m looking at it.” My arm beneath her shoulder gave her little choice but to join the roll of my body. A nudge of my knees parted hers, allowing me room to snuggle into her warmth as my lips found her ear. “Why the hell did I not see what was right under my nose?”

  Shelley’s body trembled beneath me. “You’ve been blind, remember?”

  “That’s right.” I brought my face around to hers and claimed a brief kiss.

  “But now you can see how amazing I am.” Her smile affected her eyes with a sparkle.

  “Hmm-mm.” My mouth skimmed hers again.

  “And how hot a babe I can be.” She gave a small nod as though to emphasize her point.

  My eyebrow flickered. “Hmm-mm.”

  “And you’re realising the benefits of finding yourself an older woman.”

  I gave a quiet chuckle. “By a whole two years.”

  “They say mature women are better in bed.” Her hands smoothed across my shoulders and down my back until I shuddered beneath them. “What’s your take on that?”

  I smiled as a thrum began its opening chord in my chest. “In general? No idea.” I dipped down to stare into her. “But you?”

  The twitch of her eyebrow tugged a jerk from my dick as though Shelley had the powers of a puppet master, but it didn’t dampen the intensity swelling within me as our gazes remained locked.

  “No one’s ever made me feel the way you have tonight, Shel.”

  What seemed like minutes passed without words—only the hastening of her heartbeat drumming against my chest before the disappearance of drowsiness from her eyes gave me her response.

  “So, you’re not going to tell me this is a one-off?” she said at last. “There’s not going to be heaps of awkwardness when we wake in the morning and you decide this was all a mistake? You’re not—”

  “Mistake?” My eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me?”

  “So …” Her eyes danced about, like she needed to gather her thoughts, before they resettled to hold mine steady. “… you’re not running off at the first opportunity?”

  “Only a crazy person would do that. I’m not going anywhere.” I lowered in search of her mouth again, smoothing my hands up to cup her shoulders as I brought my lips to her ear. “And you damned well hadn’t better either.”

  “You can count on it,” she murmured.

  From her neck, I feathered my lips across her collarbone, heading in search of breasts I’d still to taste. Shelley urged them up to greet me as my tongue discovered their flavour, and I teased over nipples already hard.

  The weave of her fingers into my hair guided me, offering encouragement, as did the gentle gasps that bristled the strands at my crown. She trembled beneath the hand I swept down the length of her torso. The lift of her thighs to circle my hips nestled me deeper into the embrace of her body, and her hands took my face until my gaze met with hers.

  “Make love to me,” she whispered.

  “I intend to, Shel.”

  My upward shift reunited our lips, and I drank in the sigh that drifted from her. With a
ripple sweeping beneath the surface of my flesh, I thrust into her on a snarl and took my turn for control.

  • • •

  At the jolt of my body, my eyes flew open.

  The rush of my pulse buzzed in my ears.

  Everything smelled wrong, nothing at all like my room, and I stared about through the darkness, trying to blink myself awake.

  Pale walls offered no enlightenment. Only a deep inhalation and the quieting of my inner swarm allowed me to detect the human scent and additional heartbeat at my side.

  I smiled as I recognised the softness of her hair against my collarbone, the gentle weight of her arm across my chest, and the contour of her shoulder blade beneath my palm. “Shelley?”

  My whisper did nothing to stir her—telling me she’d played no part in disturbing my sleep.

  My lids drooped back into place, and I steadied my breathing, relaxing my mind. The pillow against my shoulders murmured its welcome with the resettle of my mass.

  Shelley’s breaths swirled across my skin, and I lifted my free hand in search of hers in a need for entwinement.

  At a quiet tapping, I froze. For a few beats, I lay innate, trying to decipher if I’d really heard the sound or it had been within the beckon of slumber.

  Another tap—as timid as the first.

  My lids lifted. Nothing more greeted me than had moments before.

  Tap. Tap.

  My eyes shifted to the left with the twitch of my ears—toward the door.

  Tap. Tap.

  Kyle?

  I abandoned my search for Shelley’s fingers and instead reached for my mobile. Hitting the keys illuminated the screen. One-thirty glared at me.

  I dropped it back down with a groan. “This had better be good.”

  Shelley whispered some incoherent mumble as I slid my shoulder and arm out from under her. Her hands grabbed at my flesh as though to keep me there, but reached bedding instead. With her fingers folded over the cotton, she drew the fabric up to her chin, and curled into a ball I wished I could be the centre of.