Everything You Need (8 page)

She swallowed and her breathing accelerated.

His fingers slipped over her jaw, stopping at the side of her neck, where he could feel the rushed beat of her pulse. “I’m the kind of guy who would sleep with you and then the next day I might not be able to recognize your face.” He closed his eyes. Not that that would be ever possible with her. He had been dreaming of her face and he had more than a thousand drawings of it. “I’m the kind of guy who likes to live on the edge. I drink and fight, and I’m not picky about who I have sex with. And right now I want to have sex with you. I need to fuck you.” His eyelids fluttered open and his hand curled around her shoulder. He shifted backwards. “If you don’t want to, you should leave, immediately.”

“I don’t want to leave,” she said, without lifting her eyes to his.

Why?
he wanted to ask. Why would you sleep with somebody who had just told you that he might ignore you the next day? His hand glided lower over the curve of her shoulder. “I can’t promise you anything.” He was empty and hollow.

“I don’t expect you to,” she said in a low voice.

His fingers wrapped around her hand and lifted it up. He turned it around and brushed his thumb over her palm before he pressed her hand against his cheek. Soft, she was so soft and warm; she smelled like roses, like small pink buds that hadn’t awoken yet. But she didn’t only smell like a rosebud, she was like that, too. Like this shy, small bud, who didn’t dare bloom for fear that it would have been plucked if she did, not being aware that every rose had thorns to defend herself. “Do you trust me?”

“No.”

And that was how it should be. A smile curved his mouth as he leaned over her and pressed his mouth against her cheek. He left a wet trail as he kissed down her cheek, across her jaw and up until his lips touched hers.

Chapter 9

Kris’s hands curled around Ashton’s shoulders as she opened her mouth to the strokes of his tongue. He had been so brutally honest with her and his words should have deterred her, but they just made her want him. He offered her nothing and, where he was concerned, she had no expectations, his speech had erased them all. All that was left was a raw need.

He deepened the kiss and his hand glided over her shoulder and down her arm then up her side, it cupped her breast.

She embraced his shoulder and her fingers went into the black strands of hair at the back of his neck, loosening the tie that held them in a low, messy ponytail. He could take away her sanity so easily. She ended the kiss and shifted slightly away from him.

His mouth followed her.

She covered his lips with her hand.

“Kris?” The hand caressing her stilled.

“This is...” She bit her lip and glanced at him from under her eyelashes.

He looked so serious and slightly worried. “I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do. Just say no.”

It wasn’t about that. He wanted to sleep with her and the heat that pulsed in her core wanted that too. She wanted that too. “I’m not... not for money.”

He smiled, such a wide, sunny smile. “No, we are not,” he said and then his mouth captured hers in another hot, seductive kiss. He had said that he wanted to fuck her, and yet, as his hands and lips caressed her, it felt more as if he was making love to her. His fingers glided over her body, touching, stroking, caressing, while his teeth nibbled alongside her neck.

Raw pleasure spiralled through her while she held onto him, her knees weak and her body burning.

His mouth now trailed kisses down her neck and his hand slid down her thigh.

She arched her neck.

“You feel so good.” He wrapped his hand around her leg, lifted it up and hooked it around his waist. He half-turned them, so that his body pressed her back against the wall. He started to roll his hips, his hardness sliding over her so deliciously.

She moaned and thrust her pelvis forward.

“Look at me, please.”

She opened eyes that she didn’t remember closing.

He leaned his forehead against hers, one of his hands was at the wall beside her head, while he held her hip with the other. “I really, really need to be inside you right now.” His voice was hoarse and breathless, and his eyes so mesmerising.

At that moment, she would have done anything he asked, anything. She nodded, feeling warmth in her cheeks. But how could she even feel herself blushing when all of her body was on fire? For him.

He unbuttoned her jeans, tugged them down until the waistband cut into the skin of her thighs and forced her to hook the other leg around his hip. A rush of movements, a short rustle, and he had his jeans low on his hips and a condom on him. He pushed aside the crotch panel of her panties. He touched her and then he was sliding into her.

She gasped and her arms tightened the grip she had on him.

His mouth touched hers in a kiss that devoured the little sanity she had left, and then he moved inside her, with long, slow strokes.

She moaned and held onto him tightly, as he pressed her more roughly against the wall and quickened the rhythm of his thrusts, his fingers digging into the curve of her ass.

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed out against her mouth.

She couldn’t say anything, she couldn’t think, there was blankness in her mind -- no, it was filled with him. He was everywhere, in her mind, around her, inside her, thrusting into her with powerful strokes that made her gasp. He had said he wanted to imprint himself onto her, and he was, with every thrust of his hardness. She buried her face against his shoulder, just holding onto him, her fingers clawing the fabric of his shirt. The pleasure spiralling up was so intense, too intense, so intense that it bordered on pain. She bit into his shoulder. The tension inside her snapped, her limbs jerked and she was tossed in a magnificent silver whiteness. She was lost and free.

The whiteness faded and shudders that coursed through her body, making her spasm around him, calmed, and yet, he was still there, inside her, hard as a rock, moving, prolonging the waves of shuddering that pulsated through her. Gasping for air she gazed up at him.

Black strands clung to his temples and forehead and his breath was harsh and shallow, his eyes fixed upon her. He pushed her legs higher, as high as he could with her jeans around them, grabbed her hips and dug his fingers into her skin, his gaze never moving away from hers. He quickened his pace, ramming into her, while his blue irises burned into her.

She got lost again, in the gaze of his eyes and in the friction of his body. The tension climbed higher and higher and there was no way but down. She came again, and then a few minutes later, she came the third time, this time with his name on her lips.

He groaned, leaned on her and froze. His breath rushed in and out of his lungs and brushed against her temple.

The heaving of her chest slowed and having him so close, it felt nice, almost comforting, if not for the unpleasant arch of her back, the waistband of her jeans cutting into her skin and the cramps that numbed her legs. “Could you…?” She wiggled in the embrace of his arms, the heels of her shoes pressing into the small of his back.

“Do I have to?” He gave her a small smile and before she could protest, he pulled out of her, then gently lowered first her right leg then her left.

Her knees buckled and redness coloured her cheeks as she hung onto him with her arms, which she had kept hooked around his neck.

He pulled up her jeans and buttoned them, then carried her to the couch before he turned his back on her and fumbled with his own pants. After he got rid of the condom, he returned to her. He slumped on the sofa beside her and grabbed her hand, his fingers laced with hers.

It’s so surreal and at the same time so normal
, she thought as she stared at their hands.

“Hey,” he said.

She lifted her head.

“You look troubled.”

“I’m not.” She was slightly dazed, with damp panties; still feeling his fullness inside her. She felt warmth sneak into her cheeks and she wiggled her hand out of his and averted her gaze.

He shifted closer and she could distinguish worry in his voice when he asked her, “Are you sorry?”

“No.” She wasn’t sorry. “I enjoyed it.” The warmth in her cheeks transformed into heat.

He grinned. “I’m glad to hear it.”

It was just a tumble, but an amazing tumble that filled her with awe. The last time she’d had sex was a year earlier, just a week before Peter dumped her and alienated her from their friends by starting rumours about her mother, because he couldn’t understand why her mother took priority over him. Peter hadn’t been bad in bed; he had given her pleasure, but rarely an orgasm. And she’d just had three in a row, with man who was a mere acquaintance. She believed in soul-mates and true love, even though she hadn’t found it yet; she had hoped that it was something that could be built with trust and affection. The boy she had dated had proved her wrong, just a few months after her grandfather’s death, and with her mother occupying almost all of her free time, she hadn’t had time for love and she had given up on it. Since she had believed that she needed it for sex, she had given up on that too. Not that she had ever thought that she would be able to have no-strings-attached sex with a stranger. Ashton was an exception. He was not a stranger, but he wasn’t a friend either.

“Kris?” He rested his forearm on the back of the sofa behind her and twisted his body so that he was turned toward her.

“Hmm?”

His fingers brushed the outline of her face. “What are you thinking about?”

“I never knew that you could do it with your panties on.”

He chuckled and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “You are adorable.”

She lifted her eyes to his, about to tell him that he shouldn’t say things like that to her, when he interrupted her.

“Are you hungry?”

“Huh?”

“I’m famished.” He stood up, pulling her up with him. “Let’s go eat.”

“What?”

“What time is it?” He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his pants to glance at its display. “Seventeen past four.” He put the phone back into the pocket. “The Granny is still open. Let’s go there, grab something to go.” He tugged her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her middle. “Then I want to paint you, in silver and red.”

She blinked.

He took her coat and started to put it on her. After he buttoned it, he wrapped her scarf around her neck, and put the cap on her head. Then he slipped into his jacket that he took from the wardrobe beside the door.

“Is this new?” She pointed at the wardrobe, wondering how she hadn’t noticed it before.

“Yes.” His hand glided down her arm and he curled his fingers around hers. “Come.” He pulled her with him, through the door, down the stairs and out onto the street. His hand gripped hers firmly as they rushed down the street. He glanced at her at every third step, a smile on his face.

He looked happy, almost giddy, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. She stumbled.

He caught her.

“Could you slow down, please? My legs...” They were still slightly weak because of the intensity of what they had done.

“Oh.” He slowed his step and glanced at her over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault, we shouldn’t have done it against the wall. Next time we’ll do it on the sofa or on a bed. I’ll buy a bed.” He turned forward.

Next time
, she silently repeated as she stared at his wide shoulders. He was counting on a next time? Anticipation pooled in the pit of her stomach and she bit the inside of her cheek. Having a next time with him was a bad idea, and yet, if he expressed a desire for it right then, she would have yielded to him without hesitation.

#

The door opened and Camden, her co-worker, leaned his hip on the door frame. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Kris passed him and stepped inside into the small foyer of her co-worker Rose’s apartment.

“You’re glowing. What happened?”

“What are you talking about?” Kris touched her cheek and she glanced in the mirror hanging above the shoe cabinet.

Camden closed the door and locked it. “You’re smiling and you never smile to yourself. Something good must have happened.”

Her finger glided over her lower lip. Yes, she was smiling more and it was all
his
fault.

“You better wipe that smile off your face or risk being subjected to Rose’s third degree.” With his foot, he pushed slippers toward her.

“As if she has time for that.” She took her shoes off, glided her feet into the slippers and slipped out of her coat, which she gave to Camden.

“She’ll make the time.” Camden hung the coat on the hanger.

Kris peeked around the tall wardrobe that divided the foyer from the living room and saw Rose, a petite red-haired girl, sitting on the beige and brown couch, her boyfriend Kalen beside her, with Callie sitting on Rose’s other side. They were all looking at the photographs displayed on the telly.

“Are those pictures from their trip to Switzerland?” Kris asked Camden.

“Yes.”

“Why are you two dilly-dallying?” Rose yelled. “Is there something we need to know about you two?”

“Don’t be silly.” Camden walked into the living room. “Kris, do you want some tea?”

“Yes, please.” Kris followed him.

“Sit beside me,” Rose ordered her.

Callie moved aside and Kris sat down in the spot between her and Rose.

The telly showed an image of Kalen dressed in a thick coat, lying on the ground in the snow.

“Here is where Kalen fell.” Rose pressed the pause button. “He’s so clumsy.”

“I only fell because she pushed me,” the blond said to them over his fiancée’s head. “And then after she took the picture, she tried to bury me in the snow. She’s so childish.”

Rose scowled at him. “Is that a compliant?”

“No. I think it’s cute.” Kalen smiled and pressed a kiss on Rose’s red curls.

“You’re weird that way.”

Camden brought a cup and put it on the coffee table in front of Kris then sat on the carpet beside the table and leaned back against Callie’s legs.

“Yes, I’m very weird.” Kalen gave her another kiss, this time on her temple.

“We have company.” She elbowed him, a small smile playing on her face as she pressed the play button. “Anyway, here we are at the biggest hotel restaurant -- a waiter was kind enough to take a picture of us. I didn’t think he would, since it’s such a posh restaurant. It was really expensive. For the cost of that dinner I’d be able to buy groceries for a month.”

“It’s not like Kalen is short of money,” Camden said.

“That’s true.” Rose wrapped her arm around Kalen’s back and leaned on his shoulder. “I managed to score big. Look at him.” She faced Kalen. “Such a gorgeous face and so well-built. His abdomen is like it’s made of granite.” She glanced at the girl, a twinkle in her green eyes and a big grin on her face, before she focused back on Kalen. “And he’s rich. My mother is so proud.”