Forcing Gravity (37 page)

“I want to kiss you,” he murmured, his gaze drifting down to my lips. I watched him, watching me. “But I’ll wait until you say
it’s
okay.”

“It’s okay,” I said hoarsely,
not at all sure I wanted him to kiss me, but
before I knew what was happening, he was crushing his lips to mine.
And it was actually kind of nice.

He deepened the kiss,
hungrily moving his lips against mine,
and I
started to fall
right along with him, as his tongue sought mine out and teased it playfully
before he plunged even further, turning the sensual kiss into something more desperate and filled with need. His hand slid down to cup my backside, pulling me against him where I could feel his
sudden
erection pressing against my thigh. It was a heady feeling to know I could do something like that to a guy like Carter Jackson, who could have any girl he wanted
, but at the same time alarm bells went off in my head, and I was glad when he pulled back
.

“Thank you,” he said coyly
, his voice gruff
, as he appraised me
.

“You’re welcome.”

What else was I supposed to say?
I’d never been thanked for a kiss before. It was sort of strange, but at the same time, exhilarating.
That
was the momen
t in which I wished I had
more flirty lines in my arsenal, but I didn’t so
,
‘
you’re welcome
’ had to suffice.

“Let’s go take a walk outside,” Carter suggested. “I’ll show you my pool.”

As we passed another bar, Carter reached out and grabbed a bottle of champagne and two glasses.

“Champagne?” I questioned
.

“Only the best for you,” he said, and it came across just this side of cheesy, but I didn’t care. He was insanely hot, so he could get away with cheesy.
And he was
almost
taking my mind off the guy who I was trying to
forget.

Carter and I
emerged into his backyard, where peopl
e mingled and sipped cocktails. S
ome were even hooking up, even though it was pretty early in the night. He had a pretty sweet set-up with all the typical L.A. décor – outdoor bar and grill area, pool, hot tub, outdoor seating – but just on a smal
ler scale. Carter had arrived
,
but
you could tell he’d upgrade his digs as soon as he could afford something more expensive, more elaborate. He definitely struck me as the kind of guy who liked to impress others with his wealth.

“Over here,” he said, his hand guiding the small of my back as we walked around the pool. I was afraid I would fall in as I tried to walk on the stone patio in my four inch heels, but something told me he wouldn’t let that happen.

We passed
Jase
,
who was talking up a blond
,
who was gesturing exuberantly with her han
ds and spilling her martini
as she talked. His eyes shifted to me, catching my gaze, and I saw a visible reaction when he noticed who I was with. He probably wasn’t a fan of Carter, simply because Carter and Ethan were friends. It looked like he wanted to sa
y something, but he didn’t. Carter and I kept walking, and I told myself again that I needed to push him from my mind
, although his insistence that he was innocent kept filtering through my brain
.

Maybe he hadn’t been involved
in the rape
. But Ethan had said that someone had named him amongst the guys who’d been in the room with the girl who’d been raped. It didn’t make any sense.

Carter and I
settled on the other side of the pool, and I took advantage of the fact that I could take my shoes off. My ankles were starting to hurt. I let my legs dangle into the water and finished off my drink as Carter poured us both glasses of champagne.

“To seeing where the night takes us,” he said,
clinking
his glass against mine and keepin
g his
gaze
locked on me
,
as he took a long drink of the clear, bubbly liquid. He was very
intense.

“I’ll drink to that,” I said playfully, knowing the night wasn’t going to take us very far, but I could go along with his delusions.

Carter took a big sip and set his glass down. He took mine from me after I’d taken my first sip and set it next t
o his. “I have to kiss you
,” he murmured, the intensity flaring up in his eyes
again
.

“Oh, okay,” I said, caught off-guard. I
was not used to guys being so
forward.

The coolness of the chilled champagne made Carter’s mouth cold and hot at the same time as his tongue met mine, swirling around, tasting me as it seemed. I leaned into him and fell victim to the hedonistic way he
was possessing
my mouth.
Then s
uddenly it became too much, too fast, and I pulled away.

Carter groaned. “You taste amazing,” he said, his voice low and throaty. “I want to taste more of you, savor you.”

Okay, that
was
a
little over the top
. He needed to dial
it
back just a
bit
.

“Why don’t we have some more champagne,” I said, reaching for my glass. Resignedly, he followed my lead. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“You don’t want to hear about me,” he said, leaning toward me. “But I want to know about you.”

I blushed at the intense way he said that. Even the most innocent comment was laced with sex when it was coming out of his mouth. Instead of giving in to my sudden urges and kissing him again, I to
ld him about myself
as we sat and drank champagne.
I looked up a few times to see Jase watching me from across the patio, and it unnerved me.
I needed to forget him, but it was hard to do with his eyes on me.

At one point, Carter followed my gaze and saw what had
me
captivated.

“That guy’s a dick,” he said, as he refilled my glass.

“So I’ve heard,” I murmured
, but I kept my eye on Jase, watching him watching me
.

“He treats women like shit,” Carter said, as he leaned forward to rest his lips on my neck. His tongue darted out and tasted my skin.

“I heard there was an incident a few years ago,” I said, leaning my head back to give him better access to my neck, where he continue
d
to lick and suck and taste. It was making me light-headed, but in a really good way. It also could have been the champagne
. I wasn’t sure how much I’d dru
nk. Carter kept refilling my glass, and I kept drinking.

“E, told you?” he asked, and I nodded.

“He told me I should stay away from Jase.”

“He’s right,” he said, as he moved down to my collarbone. “The only reason I let him come here tonight is because where
ver
he goes, a slew of hot women follow, but had I known you’d be here, I would have told him to go home. I don’t need any other women when I have you.”

“Seriously?”
I asked, feeling skeptical but powerful at the same time.

“I can’t keep my hands off of you,” he said. “What do you think?”

I swallowed. “I think I like that you can’t keep your hands off of me.”

Carter pulled back and looked at me. “Can we take this someplace more intimate then?”

In a less intoxicated s
tate
, I would have said no, but I was definitely not thinking clearly in that moment, and his cologne was filling my nostrils
,
as the feel of his lips was still fresh on my skin. I
figured, what c
ould it hurt?

“Sure,” I said, and Carter helped me to stand.

I
was a little wobbly as I grabbed my shoes and
he guided me over to the pool house that had been dark all night. Punching in a code, he opened th
e door and turned on the lig
ht. Just then a guy with long
blond hair came up behind us.

“Hey man,” he said excitedly, and Carter turned to face him. The guy gave him a look that Carter seemed to understand. “Give me twenty minutes, okay?”

“You got it, man,” the guy said, as his eyes shifted to me. “Twenty minutes.
Right on.
What about
Kev
and
Dex
?”

“Just
Kev
,” Carter said warningly.

“Right on,” the guy said, and with that he grinned and turned away.

“Wait,” Carter said, and the guy turned around. “See if Superstar wants in on the action.”

“Right on,” the guy
said,
the excitement in his voice building.

I had no idea what
they were talking about
, but I figured I had twenty minutes of alone time with Carter until he got pulled away by his friends.
That was fine with me. I wanted to find Ethan and Henley an
y
way.

“Do
you want something to drink?” Carter
asked,
as we stepped inside the pool house,
but I just shook my head.
I’d had enough.
He smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that. Come on.”

He
took my hand and
led me into a back bedroom
. He turned to face me
, and
I dropped my shoes on the floor and smiled at him.

“I’ve wanted to get you alone all night,” he said, his eyes drinking me in hungrily.

“Well, now
that
you have me alone. What are you going to do with me?”

See, I could flirt. I just needed some alcohol to aide me.

He smirked. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

In one fluid motion his arms were around me,
and I was suddenly beneath
him on the bed. His kisses became more urgent, as he licked and sucked his way from my mouth to the top of my dress. Looking up, as if to ask permission, he grinned when I nodded my head
,
and
he
tugged the top of my dress down. I was glad he was being a gentleman.

H
e tugged my strapless bra down, and h
is mouth immediately found my nipple, sucking and tugging it with his teeth. I moaned involuntarily, feeling the heat from his mouth spread throughout my body and pool below my stomach. As nimbly as I could in that moment, since the daze from the alcohol and his touch had me almost incoherent, I started to undo the buttons on his black shirt. Things were definitely fuzzy around the edges.

When I reached the last button, he paused
long enough for me to push the shirt back off his shoulders. I tugged the gray t-shirt he was wearing over his head and tossed it to the floor, revealing his
tanned and
toned-to-the-maximum chest. Running my hands up the pla
nes of his skin, I decided that
was as far as I would go with him. I wasn’t about to lose my virginity to a guy I’d just met, in the pool house of some party.

“You taste amazing,” he said, as his hand, ever so slowly, began to push my dress up higher as it grazed gently over my thigh. When he reached the lace of my panties, I froze, and he looked up at me.

“What’s wrong?”

The way he said it should have been a wa
rning to me, but in my drunken state
, his tone didn’t register. To my ears it came across clear that my reaction was childish, and I should in no way have a problem with someone like him taking things further.

“Carter, we just met,” I said, as his fingers ran along the line of my panties and slipped under
neath
, ever so carefully.

“And I’m really glad we did,” he murmured, his lips moving from my breast to my neck to my ear. He sucked gently on the lobe, making me forget that I didn’t want to go further than we were.

“Me too,” I said, my breath becoming ever shallower as he slipped one finger inside me.

“Damn, you’re so tight,” he said, as he started to move his finger slowly in and out.

I let my head fall back, trying to stay in control but slowly losing my grip. But as soon as Carter pressed his erection against my leg, I came right back down to earth.

“I can’t wait to be inside you,” he said, as his lips pressed over mine in a commanding way, and my radar was up.

“I’m a virgin!” I said quickly, and instantly felt my face flush scarlet as he pulled back, although his finger never stopped moving inside me, massaging me and urging me to get out of my head.