Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

“Let’s talk about it at my house,” I tell her, tugging her hand.

She resists, and I start trying to think of the right words to use to convince her.

“Please,” I add, going with the whole begging approach.

She glances around as hesitancy mars her features. But I keep my mouth shut and wait.

“We’ll talk, Corbin. But that doesn’t mean you’re getting your way. I think we both know we missed our chance,” she finally says before walking by me and heading outside.

That’s not exactly promising, but I still have a plan.

CHAPTER 24

RUBY

A notebook page full of old dares, and I never even used one of them tonight. Humor would have killed the sexual tension that had been building, yet I didn’t use it. It’s almost as though I was asking for this, because Corbin’s triple dare was meant to cause that tension.

All I had to do was defuse it.

But I didn’t.

Now here we are, and the car is suffocating us with the awkward silence. Just last night we mended our friendship. Now he’s pushing for more. How did this happen?

“Coffee or liquor?” Corbin asks as we pull up at his house.

I get out just as he does, and we walk toward his front door while he studies me.

“I’ll let you know,” I finally say, not sure just yet how this conversation is going to go down.

As soon as we’re inside, I start to turn around to face him, but suddenly I’m gasping and grabbing the wall because that damn vibrator goes off in my pants again. As soon as he turns it off, I glare at him.

“So you’re going to seduce me into getting your way? Not happening. I’m taking these panties off.”

“Can’t,” he says with a grin. “The triple dare was to wear them all night, and it’s not midnight yet, Cinderella.”

I straighten back up, trying to get my breathing under control. Every time he does it, it gets worse. I’m all tore up and hurting for release. Not that I’ll admit that to him.

“It’s not going to w—” My words are cut short when he presses the button again, and this time he grabs me, pushing me against his wall as he bends down to my ear.

“It just might, Ruby. It might be enough to get you into my bed. If I keep you there long enough, you might forget what an asshole I used to be and see who I am now.”

His lips drag up my neck, and I try to make sense of what he’s saying. But I can’t. It’s all a haze of desperation as that need unfurls in my stomach. Just as he’s done all night, he turns it off, leaving me feeling bereft again. This time I actually cry out a little because of the ache it leaves behind.

His lips crash down on mine, swallowing the rest of my sounds, and my hands go to his shoulders to steady myself. He sucks my tongue into his mouth, and I moan as he toys with my tongue ring.

I’m so confused and conflicted. I want to pull him closer and shove him away at the same time. It’s maddening.

Finally, I do push him back enough to pant for air, and he stares down at me with hooded eyes.

“Sex isn’t the solution,” I whisper hoarsely, even though I’m forced to swallow the knot in my throat.

“Sex was the problem, so it’s the solution. Everything else between us is pretty fucking perfect, Ruby. That was our one and only glitch. I’m the same guy who knows you better than anyone else in the world, just like you’re the girl who knows things about me no one else would ever believe.”

He’s right and wrong in the same breath, and my head isn’t working right because he’s been fucking with it all day.

Just as he turns that stupid vibrator on again, I push away from him and start tearing at the button of my jeans. I may have to wear the panties until midnight, but I don’t have to wear the pants, and they’re holding it closer, making sure I get the brunt of the vibrations centered right where they need to be.

Corbin sucks in a breath as he kills the vibrator, and I breathe easier while I continue kicking off the jeans.

The lacy underwear is a thong, of course. Because it’s Corbin, after all. He got me vibrating underwear with a thong design just because that’s how his twisted mind works. So now I’m almost bare ass in front of him.

“I love seeing my name there,” he murmurs, coming closer to trace the letters at my panty-line, and I look up to meet his eyes.

This is the part where I’m supposed to push his hand away, but I don’t. He watches my eyes, waiting for me to stop him when his fingers toy with the lace, but I don’t.