Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (4 page)

“No, I didn’t,” she said hesitantly. “Hey, Dalton.”

“Yeah?” he asked, turning his head to peer over at her.

Katie’s long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, she had tiny
little diamond studs in her ears that twinkled every now and again when the
moon hit them just right, but what kept drawing his attention was the smooth,
sleek column of her neck. He just wanted to press his lips to the soft skin
there, to breathe her in, taste her. He wanted to see if she was as sweet as he
suspected she was.

Sweet. That was always the first word that came to mind whenever he
looked at her. She looked like the typical girl next door with her thin
sweater, short flowing skirt, her tan skin quite the contrast against the
off-white color.

“Are you gonna kiss me?”

Dalton kept his jaw hinged, not wanting to show his surprise. As much
as he’d wanted to kiss her, he tended to keep his desire to himself. Sure,
there were the few times he’d given in when the temptation had been too great,
but he still tried to keep himself in check. He never seemed to know just what
Katie expected from him. But right now, right here, with her posing a question
like that, his body was roaring to life once again.

“Kiss you?” he asked stupidly.

Katie smiled and her white teeth shone in the darkness. “Yeah. You
know, what a boy does to a girl when he likes her.”

“Is that how it goes?” he joked, all the blood in his body flowing to
one particular region, leaving him a little light-headed.

“That’s what I hear.”

Innocent.

That’s another thing he loved about this woman. She spoke her mind, as
long as it didn’t have anything to do with her personally, but she was
seemingly innocent when it came to so many things.

She just asked you to kiss her.

Yeah, well, there was that. Maybe innocent wasn’t the correct turn of
phrase.

Twisting just enough to face her, Dalton released her hand and slid it
up behind her neck, his eyes boring into hers as he studied her. He wasn’t sure
when the last time was that he’d catalogued when his lips touched a woman’s.

Maybe this was the first time.

Leaning forward, Dalton went slow. There was an inferno building deep
inside him, one that threatened to consume them both, but he managed to keep it
under control.

Barely.

However, when Katie’s lips touched his, he lost his grasp on his common
sense as well as his self-restraint. And when her arms came up and wrapped
around his neck, he damn near lost his mind.

This was unlike any of their previous kisses. Their lips brushed one
another’s briefly, but when he expected her to draw away, leaving him to savor
the brief taste of her, Katie surprised him. It wasn’t long before the heat was
turned up. The next thing Dalton knew, Katie was straddling his lap, the
blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her knees on either side of his hips, his
hands on her waist, and his tongue delving into her sweet mouth.

He growled, unable to help himself.

Lord, have mercy.

This woman…

Fucking hell, Katie’s tongue plunged against his, and that was about
when all thoughts fled.

Katie had no idea what had come over her or why she was now straddling
Dalton’s lap, eager to slide her fingers into the soft hair at the nape of his
neck or slip her tongue into his mouth, but here she was.

And wow! She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to stop kissing this man.

His body was hard as steel pressed up against hers, his thighs rock
solid beneath her, the chiseled planes of his chest a wall against her aching
breasts. And she couldn’t seem to get close enough, although she was
practically climbing his body.

When his big, warm hands gripped her hips, her body caught fire,
soaring several hundred degrees, and it single-handedly warded off the chill in
the December night air. By the time they came up for oxygen, she was coated in
a thin layer of perspiration thanks to her body heat and the blanket, but she
didn’t care. If she had her way, she’d lose the skirt and Dalton would lose his
clothes, right there on the tailgate of his truck.

Too bad it wasn’t warmer, because skinny-dipping would be good, too. At
this point, she just needed something to quench the incredible thirst she’d
acquired for this man.

“Katie,” Dalton growled, his hand palming the back of her head as he
stared back at her. “Damn, darlin’. You sure about this? Keep this up and
you’re gonna kill me.”

“Can’t think of a better way to go,” she whispered breathlessly.

Katie didn’t want him to stop touching her, didn’t want him to stop
kissing her. She was primed and ready, and even though he seemed to have a
little more self-restraint than she possessed, she wasn’t willing to let him
lead the way.

“Kiss me again, Dalton. Kiss me again, and please don’t ever stop,” she
pleaded, needing that human connection. It’d been too damn long since she’d
felt close to anyone like this. And never to this degree.

“Fuck,” he growled hungrily before crushing his mouth to hers, pulling
her closer until she was grinding against the hard ridge of his erection.

She knew she shouldn’t be doing this, shouldn’t be so aggressive, but
shit, she was so damned tired of the good-girl routine. So tired of people
believing only what they saw. Katie knew she was so far from good that she couldn’t
even see it with binoculars, but no one else did. And she wanted this.

More than her next breath.

Katie slid her hands around to Dalton’s back, pushing them beneath his
jacket and then under the cotton T-shirt he wore, her palms gliding over the
hard ridge of muscles she found there. She moaned into his mouth, her
fingernails raking across his skin as though that might possibly bring them
closer.

“Katie,” Dalton said, pulling back.

“Please don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t warn me that this isn’t the right
thing to do. That it isn’t the right time. That it isn’t the right place. You
and I both know those are just social niceties, and I’m so far past that—”

“Are you sure?” he asked again, cutting her off midsentence.

“More than sure. I don’t want anything else,” she answered, pulling him
closer, pressing her breasts firmly against his rock-hard chest while she
nipped his lower lip.

“Oh, hell,” Dalton mumbled before surprising her when he launched to
his feet, his hands cupping her ass and holding her astride him.

Wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, Katie
held on to the blanket and to him for dear life, not wanting him to drop her.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he muttered, his lips pressed to hers.

God, if he only knew how much she wished that were true. And she wasn’t
just talking about right here and now.

Dalton carried her to the passenger side of the truck, but he didn’t
deposit her in the front seat as she expected. Instead, he opened the back door
of the truck and set her on the edge of the backseat. Not willing to let him
go, Katie pulled him, forcing him to climb in the truck with her.

Only when he said he had to start the truck or they were going to
freeze did she let him go. But even as he reached over the front seat to twist
the keys in the ignition, Katie worked to release the button and the zipper on
his jeans, easing her hand inside before he joined her again.

“Darlin’,” he crooned.

“I love when you call me that,” Katie told him as she wrapped her hands
around the silky- smooth length of him. Even in the darkness, she could see the
pure ecstasy on his face as he stared down at her, his hips thrusting forward
ever so slightly as she stroked him.

“Oh, damn. That feels good.”

No, what felt good was when he pressed his knee between her legs,
grinding against her aching sex. She moaned, unable to control the gentle
rumble that started in her chest, but he quickly swallowed the sound when his
mouth came down and met hers.

Katie whimpered; the burning desire to have him right here in the
backseat of his truck overwhelmed her, stole her breath. She was sure she’d
regret this tomorrow, but right now, getting her hands on him was the only
thing that mattered.

It would seem that they were on the same page, because Dalton managed
to shove his jeans down over his hips, freeing his thick cock. Katie gripped
him with both hands, stroking slowly, firmly, loving the rumble that erupted in
his chest as she continued.

Dalton’s forehead came to rest against hers as they both fought to suck
in air. “This wasn’t exactly my intention for tonight.”

“Are you sayin’ you don’t want this?” she teased.

“Oh, darlin’, I want this more than anything. But when I fantasized
about this, it wasn’t in the backseat of my truck.”

Katie met his dark gaze in the shadows. “I can’t think of anywhere I’d
rather be,” she told him.

“Me, either.”

Katie felt the emotion that was behind those two words, and her heart
actually trembled.

“I want to feel you, Dalton,” she whispered, releasing him from her
grasp and sliding her hands beneath his shirt, pushing it higher as she went.

“Then this ain’t the position to be in,” he said, and she heard the
smile in his voice.

Before she knew what was happening, Dalton had resituated them so that
he was sitting on the seat, his jeans pushed down to his ankles while she sat
astride him.

“Hold on,” he instructed as he reached around her, searching the floor
for… “Condom.”

Katie smiled at that. Her mind had been elsewhere, so she loved the
fact that he’d been thinking about their safety.

That was, like, the third or fourth time she’d referenced loving
something about him in the last few minutes, and part of her was beginning to
worry. As much as she wanted to keep herself distanced from him, she knew she
wasn’t built that way.

This might’ve just been sex to him, but to her it was … everything.

“Work with me, darlin’,” Dalton murmured, easing his hands between
them.

Katie laughed and then shifted so that he could roll the condom over
himself.

“How much do you like these panties?” he asked her, his face serious.

“I don’t know. Why?”

The heart-stopping grin he gave her should’ve eliminated the panty
issue altogether, but it was then that she realized what he was saying.

“They’re not my favorite,” she tacked on.

“Just what I wanted to hear.”

And then her panties were no longer an issue because Dalton had torn
them off her and… “Oh, my God,” she groaned as he guided himself inside her
without preamble.

“Fuck.”

Burying her face in his neck, Katie bit her lip, fearful that she would
draw blood. The pain was … excruciating, but she didn’t want him to know.

After all, she was pretty sure Dalton Calhoun wouldn’t have touched her
if he’d known she was a twenty-three-year-old virgin. Needing a distraction as
her body adjusted to his size, she trailed kisses along his neck until she
reached his mouth. Plunging her tongue inside, she whimpered as he eased deeper
inside her.

“Katie,” Dalton moaned, his hands moving up to cup her face and pull
her head back.

A tear trickled down her cheek as he stared at her. She prayed he
thought she was just emotional, because that was the lesser of two evils.

His voice lowered. “Have you…”

Katie was grateful that he’d cut the sentence off. She didn’t want to
lie to him, but she didn’t want to tell him the truth, either. Instead, she
crushed her lips to his once more as she lowered herself onto his thick
erection.

It wasn’t long before the pain subsided, replaced by an overwhelming,
intense pleasure.

While Katie’s body adjusted to his size, she explored his mouth with
her tongue, and Dalton slid his hands beneath her sweater, forcing it higher
until he was pulling it over her head. His fingers fumbled with her bra, but it
didn’t take him long to release the hook, freeing her breasts. He once again
broke the kiss, forcing her to look at him. Their eyes met, held briefly.

He knew.

It was right there in his beautiful brown eyes. He knew what had just
transpired between them. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he leaned
forward and wrapped his lips around one painfully hard nipple. Katie cried out,
instinctively latching on to the back of his head and holding him to her.

“Yes,” she moaned over and over, as she began rocking her hips. Between
the intense friction of him inside her and the wondrous suction of his mouth on
her nipple, Katie wasn’t sure she was going to actually last long enough to
call this sex.

∞ ∞
∞ ∞ ∞

“Katie.” Dalton released Katie’s nipple from between his lips and
slipped his hands beneath her ass, pulling her closer, forcing him deeper
inside of her. “You feel so good.”

Too good. He had to do elementary math problems in his head just to
keep from coming too soon.

But she was fire in his arms, and honest to God, he hadn’t expected
this. Not tonight.

Sure, he’d fantasized about it plenty, but to have her wrapped around
him, her pussy milking his cock… It was more than he’d imagined.

And he never wanted it to end.

For a brief moment there, he’d nearly panicked. When he had first slid
into her slick heat, he’d been met with resistance. She was so fucking tight,
almost painfully so. And that’s when a single thought had crossed his mind. Was
she a virgin?

Was he the first man she’d given herself to?

The idea of being her first nearly leveled him.

Using his arms, he rocked her forward and back, his cock sliding deeper
and then withdrawing only a fraction before he was once again thrusting into
her. He was still trying to be gentle, not wanting to hurt her. The tear that
had leaked from her eyes had his heart skipping a beat, the thought of hurting
her enough to deflate any hard-on. But then she’d begun to move, thrusting her
hips forward, sending him deeper.

She was so wet, so warm. So very, very tight.

He would’ve much preferred a bed, someplace he could have her sprawled
out beneath him so he could have had his way with her, made this last for
hours, if not days. But he wasn’t going to complain, because the heat of her was
threatening to send him over the edge as it was.

“Faster,” she pleaded, and Dalton thought his head might explode.

“If we go faster, this is gonna be over, darlin’,” he admitted
honestly.

“Whatever it takes,” she said with a sweet chuckle. “Just please fuck
me.”

Oh, motherfucking hell. Katie Clarren just dropped the F-bomb. Dalton
knew he wasn’t supposed to find that so fucking hot, but he did. Sweet little
innocent Katie had a dirty mouth, and he wanted to ask her to talk some more,
to tell him just what she wanted, but he didn’t.

Instead, Dalton eased down into the seat just a little, holding her ass
up off his legs, her knees resting on the seat on each side of his hips. “Don’t
move from right there,” he instructed, meeting her eyes in the dark.

“Okay,” she said and he could see her grin.

Without much room to gain traction, Dalton had to make do with what he
had, so he began to thrust up inside her while digging his fingers into her
hips. He didn’t hold back, fucking her hard and fast as she moaned and
whimpered, her head falling back.

She was the sexiest woman he’d ever met in his entire fucking life, and
taking her here in the backseat of his truck was the hottest thing he’d ever
done. Only because he was with her.

“Dalton, yes. Oh, yes! Fuck me!”

Dalton nearly exploded. Seriously.

Those words from her lips nearly launched him into the ether, but
somehow he managed to keep himself grounded, unwilling to come until she did.

“Come for me, Katie. Come on my cock, darlin’.” He was testing the
waters, unsure how she would take him talking to her like that, but he didn’t
worry when she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, meeting his upward
thrusts with her own.