Loving War (5 page)

The water shoots out, icing me down before warming up. I take my time getting the sweat and pool water to wash away. I really hate Kode Sterling right now. I might have been lonely and lost before sleeping with him, but now I’m lonely, lost, and confused.

Cursing him, I cut the shower off and wrap up in a fresh towel. After using my last clean towel to wrap my hair up in, I head out of the bathroom… and again I’m stumbling to a halt while my eyes gape in disbelief.

“You’re still here?” I groan.

The blonde-haired devil on my bed gives me a lopsided grin that has my heart betraying me with a racing rhythm. He pats the bed beside him, winking at me, and I mutter a curse before walking over to my temporary dresser. Why is he still practically naked?

“I think your room is actually better than my suite. It’s cozier.”

“Then I’ll trade with you if it will get you to leave me alone,” I mumble absently while searching for something to put on.

“You’re welcome to head up to my room. I’ll give you a five minute head start.”

I toss a glare at him over my shoulder, and head back to the bathroom to dress in a pair of skimpy shorts and a midriff-showing tank top. If he wants to play this game, then let’s play. I’ll torture him the way he’s torturing me.

After once again braiding my damp hair into twin pigtails and dressing, I head back in. When his eyes turn on me, his gaze heats, and I instantly regret the choice in wardrobe.

“Come sit down. I don’t bite, Tria. Well, that’s a lie. But you like it when I bite.”

My whole body turns about five shades of red, but I finally go to stand beside the bed.

“Why are you doing this? You know this thing between us is twisted. Possibly psychotic. You’re an asshole. And you hate me.”

I expect him to announce his master plan to use me for whatever sick reason. It’d be better than this guessing game.

His dark smile sends shivers down my spine, and he tugs my hand until I’m falling on the bed very ungracefully. I quickly shuffle around to get away from that hard bulge he is shamelessly leaving on display, and I sit down on the bed at a semi-safe distance away from him, crossing my legs.

“You hate me, too, but you still want me. So why the hell are you being such a pain in the ass about it?”

That earns him an eye-roll. “Gee, keep talking like that, and I’ll throw myself at your feet,” I mutter dryly.

He snickers softly before reaching over and running a finger down my leg. “I’m not exactly the sweet guy with Hallmark lines coming out my ass, Tria. Nothing new. But you didn’t mind it that night. Was it really just the alcohol?”

Blowing out a harsh breath, I shake my head. “I wish. It had nothing to do with alcohol. But it doesn’t mean I want it to happen again.”

That finger of his runs the line of my calf, slowly trailing down my ankle to my foot, before he runs it across the tips of my hot pink toenails.

“Why not? Just tell me what is making you so damned stubborn about this.”

Stubborn? That’s not the word I would use to describe me at all. Borderline crazy would be a better assessment, because I should not be sitting on my bed beside the one guy who has tormented me for too long.

“Fine,” I say, annoyed with him for looking so damn good while I try to regain my sanity. “If you must know, it’s because you’re still a playground bully.”

Vaguely I’m aware that those words sounded so much better in my head—where they should have stayed.

His eyes go wide in surprise before turning amused, and he stares at me, making me feel mocked before he even opens his mouth. When his lips twitch, all I want to do is take my stupid words back.

“So what are you saying, Tria? That I’m a kid in a man’s body? That if I pull your pigtails that means I like you?”

My cheeks heat because that’s not what I meant. At all. Just to make it more embarrassing, he tugs one of my braids and grins like the cocky asshole he is. I really hate that smile.

“You can’t do that stuff,” I mumble, pushing at his chest, but finding myself unable to quit touching him once my hand finds the firm lines of his flesh. I was a little too numb to fully appreciate the way he felt the last time my hands were on his body.

Every inch of his body has definition that only the perfect can possess. Those lines at his hips form that mouthwatering V that disappears behind his boxer-briefs. His golden skin has the perfect amount of tan, and his mouth is by far the sexiest mouth on any man.

He pulls up on his elbows, then tugs me down, forcing my head against a pillow before he covers my body with his.

“Can’t do what stuff, Tria? I’ll tug your pigtails some more if it makes you blush like that again.”

His body presses down on mine, and my breaths grow ragged. It’s embarrassing when my heartbeat kicks up hard enough for him to feel it against his chest.

“I’m not Rain,” I say in a shallow breath, trying to find the will to push him away, but finding nothing but a broken resolve. “I’m not a substitute.”

He frowns as he runs his fingers through my hair, his eyes moving to the dark locks.

“Is that why you dyed your hair? Because you didn’t want to look like her anymore?”

We really don’t look that much alike, which is comforting. At least people can’t use me that much.

“It had nothing to do with her. It was for me. Now, please go. Stop using me.”

A startled gasp falls out of my lips when he surprises me with a bruising kiss, and he starts running his hands over my body, grazing the undersides of my breasts with his thumbs. When he pulls back just barely to look into my eyes, I’m breathless.

“There’s only one way I want to use you, Tria, and it hasn’t got a damn thing to do with Rain. Now, shut the hell up and use me, too.”

If I was a girl who didn’t know Kode Sterling at all, I’d probably slap him for that. Unfortunately, I do know him, and despite his crude way with words, I’ve always been fascinated with his blunt honesty. Even when that honesty was brutal and hurtful toward me. If he says he’s not using me to get to Rain, then it has to be true. Right?

“And then what, Kode? Go another few days without speaking or acting like we know each other? Are you going to show up in my room every time you see another guy pay me attention?”

A frown mars his beautiful face, and I take the loss for words as a reprieve. But it’s only a short reprieve.

“Tria, I don’t know what’s going to happen when I walk out of this room—
tomorrow
. You want a commitment or something?”

I can’t help but laugh at how confused he looks. He’s either really unrehearsed with repeat encounters, or he’s used to getting his way without resistance. I’m guessing it’s the latter of the two.

“No, Kode. I really don’t want that. But I also don’t want to have sex with you and have to feel like an idiot tomorrow. No more pushing me into pools.”

When his lips brush mine teasingly, my hips arch up involuntarily, pushing against the part of his body I want the most.

“No more pools,” he agrees.

“And can you not be a dick to me in public?” I ask hopefully.

“I’m a dick to everyone,” he admits, and for some bizarre reason, that makes me laugh.

His grin comes up fully as he stares into my eyes, and I gaze back into the pools of grayish-blue that are almost silver.

“Don’t be an extra big dick to me just because you don’t want to want to fuck me.”

He laughs lightly before messing with the bottom hem of my short shorts, slowly moving his hand up my thigh.

“That’s a mouthful, but I won’t be an extra big dig just because I don’t want to want to fuck you. Right now, I’m perfectly fine with wanting to fuck you.”

I’ll probably strangle him at some point, but this could work out to my benefit. If Kode isn’t making my life a living hell, then the others might be nicer to me. I’m not naïve enough to think he’ll ever be nice, but as long as he’s not being an over-the-top jackass, it could be better.

“So until we work this out of our systems, you’re going to be pleasant?”

He nods, his grin growing as he starts working my shorts down my body, only shifting away from me enough to get them down.

“I’ll be as pleasant as I can be. Very few people can tolerate me even then, though. I’m not Dane.”

I snort derisively, because he makes it sound as though that’s what I’m looking for. Obviously that was meant for my sister, more so than me.

“And I’m not Rain. So if you’re using me to get to her, it’s not going to—”

He kisses me. Hard. And for a brief moment, I forget he’s the enemy while I spread my legs wider and dig my heels into his ass. When he withdraws from the kiss, I bite back the urge to demand he resume kissing me.

“I’m not using you to get to Rain, Tria,” he says against my lips, his hands doing a slow exploration of my body. “I’m a dick, but I know what it’s like to feel used so that someone can get to your sibling. Not my style.”

“Someone used you to get to Dane?” I ask, surprised.

His eyes don’t look so cold when he’s being so genuine.

“A lot of people have used me for a lot of reasons. And a lot more have tried. Can you shut up and let me remind you what all I can do to make this night a little more fun? I really don’t want to talk about my brother or your sister while I’m trying to get you worked up.”

His cocky smirk returns, and his eyes shift from genuine to mischievous. Grinning, I pull him down to me and kiss him, deciding to be the one to initiate things for a change.

“But this stays quiet,” I add, breaking the kiss quickly.

“I agree,” he says while letting his lips trail down to my neck, slowly working his way down my body in a way that has my breaths coming out short and quick.

“People will think we’re crazy if they find out, and it’ll distract Rain and Dane from their wedding plans.”

“I won’t say anything, Tria,” he assures me absently while pushing my shirt up and latching on to a nipple.

Whimpering, my body starts to squirm beneath his long frame, but it only gives him the incentive to work me over harder. His finger dips inside my panties, pushing in to find my heat, and I moan while he growls.

From there, everything changes. It goes from a slow seduction to a primal claiming. My panties are unceremoniously stripped from my body and cast aside like an offensive article. Roughly, he pushes my legs apart farther, and my head pounds the pillow while my back arches off the bed when his tongue—his amazing, talented, devilishly divine tongue—connects with that bundle of nerves at my center.

“Easy, Tria,” he says, grinning against me. “I’m going to make sure you don’t forget it this time. That way I never have to work so hard for a
yes
again.”

A litany of curses fly from my lips in a dirty praise that would have roughnecks blushing when Kode makes good on his word, sucking, biting, and flicking his tongue in a pattern that has me almost seeing stars in a matter of moments.

I sure as hell don’t know how this part of our first night together got lost amongst my fuzzy memories, because I’m fairly positive I might have begged him in front of everyone to give this to me again.

My fingers shamelessly tangle in his hair and pull him to be impossibly closer. The heat of his breath mixed with the ungodly things he’s doing with his blessedly relentless mouth becomes too much, and his name comes out with a worshipful breath that will have me hating myself later.

I shudder as he kisses the inside of my thighs, my body overly sensitive to the point I’m ticklish. He grins as he trails his lips up my stomach, kissing and nipping at me all the way up to my breasts where he stops to devote more attention.

He leans up when I start pushing his underwear down, and his erection springs free to pop me across my stomach, eliciting a flinch and tiny whimper from me. His throaty chuckle is too sexy as he slowly moves closer once again.

He reaches under the pillow to pull out a condom package he apparently stashed there, but we both freeze when his bare tip pushes against my wet center. Swallowing hard, he pushes just the head in, and I groan in protest when he quickly pulls it back out and starts fumbling with the foil packet.

“I swear you’re making me crazy,” he says as he rises up and slowly encases himself in the latex sheathe.

If I’m making him crazy, then he’s driving me mad.

With one hard thrust, he pushes himself inside me, and we both moan as though it’s the best thing we’ve ever felt in our lives. My whole body relaxes against him, feeling far too familiar with his touch, considering there has only ever been one other night.

His lips come down on mine as he rocks in and out of me, driving me closer to the edge with every toe-curling stroke. It’s hard, rough, and… Kode. And I love the way it all feels.

Our attempt to kiss is futile, because our wildly thrashing bodies make it impossible. Breathing becomes harder as the pace quickens, and he pushes his thumb down on a spot that elicits a spasm in my muscles while my body tries to buck off the bed. The double stimulation of him inside me, claiming me without any inhibitions, and his thumb spinning circles that can only be described as divine is too much.