Perfectly Toxic (Sterling Shore 9)

“And it hasn’t bothered you to just not see me all week?” he muses, but it sounds like he’s daring me to say the wrong thing.

It’s been three days… But yes, it’s driven me insane.

Telling him that I’m intentionally trying not to think about him is probably not the best answer. But since he took such good care of me when I was sick, I’ve found myself disturbingly getting attached too much too soon. So maybe a step back was needed to get my head right.

I don’t confess that. I don’t say anything at all.

“Bella?” he prompts.

“Yes,” I finally say quietly.

“Yes what?” he asks, moving another step closer. Then another.

“Yes, it’s bothered me.”

That’s apparently what he wants to hear, because he’s suddenly on me, pushing me against the wall as his mouth descends on mine, kissing me like he can’t stop himself. His tongue invades, and I kiss him back with just as much pent-up frustration and need.

I moan into his mouth as he rips my shirt up, only releasing my lips long enough to get the shirt over my head. His hands run down my bare skin before catching the hooks of my bra and stripping them open. As my bra slides to the floor, I reach for the bottom of his shirt, still kissing him and struggling to do two tasks at once.

He leans back and helps me tug his shirt over his head, tossing it aside as he bends and captures a nipple in his mouth without warning. My eyes cross, and my hands immediately go to his shoulders, clutching him.

We’ve been skipping foreplay, because we’re both too greedy for the main event. Just this tiny amount of buildup is already driving me insane. I’m used to being thrown against the wall and taken by now. Instead, my nipples are ice-cutting hard, and Ethan is driving me insane with them, swapping his attention from one to the other.

He makes some carnal noise in the back of his throat before his lips leave my breasts and find my lips again. His hands are everywhere, exploring me like he’s committing everything to memory.

I don’t even notice him taking off my pants until they’re missing, along with my underwear. When he lifts me, I expect him to take me against whatever hard surface is closest, but he carries me toward my room instead.

The sounds of a wild kitten running around behind us barely even register when he kicks the door shut, still holding me as his lips consume me. With a slow, methodical grace, he lowers me to the bed, coming down with me as he continues to kiss away every thought I’ve ever had.

By the time he breaks his lips away from mine, I’m a panting mess beneath him, completely turning to mindless mush just from a kiss. He leans up, raking his eyes over me in scandalous appraisal, and my entire body heats. When his lips come back down, they connect with the sensitive skin on my neck, and he slowly works his way down, kissing me almost reverently, as though he’s tasting every bit of flesh as he slides down my body with an agonizingly slow pace.

Considering the rough, urgent sex we’ve been having, this pace is almost killing me, because he’s taking his time, kissing my skin as though he’s planning to make this last all night.

By the time he makes it down to my lower body, I’m squirming in need, almost desperate to take over and end the suspense, but he holds me down like he can hear my inner thoughts. His lips fasten onto my clit with zero warning, and surprise melds with pleasure like a shot of heat through my body.

Some unintelligible noise passes my lips, and I buck against him as praise comes out of my lips in the form of nonsensical gibberish. He growls, and the vibrations only add to the intensity as he devours me, holding me down and forcing me to take all of his sensual assault without mercy.

It’s too real, too powerful, and too mind-blowing to form words when the pressure builds in my core and crackles across me with explosive power. I try to arch, but he continues holding me, forcing me to experience every ounce of pleasure at its most intense peak.

Stars detonate behind my eyelids, and I must blackout for a second, because when my eyes lazily open again, Ethan is slowly working his way back up my body, kissing the overly sensitized skin on my body and eliciting a small shudder from me.

When his lips seal over mine, I moan into his mouth. I’m not sure when he got rid of his jeans, but he’s bare between my legs when he thrusts in deep, taking me slowly, sinking in as far as he can.

I’m a little addicted to Ethan Noles even more now than I was before.

Chapter 41

ETHAN

“So you’re a nurse?” my father asks as Bella shifts awkwardly in her seat.

He’s been silently studying her since he joined us ten minutes ago—late. Considering Bella knows about the fact he has a bad heart and can’t run a company anymore, I think she was expecting a meek old man. Instead, my father is just as tall and broad-shouldered as I am, though he’s lost most of his muscle due to the fact his exercise options are a little more limited than they used to be.

He chooses not to get out as much, since everyone always insists on asking how he is.

“Yes,” Bella says, swallowing around a mouthful.

Mom beams at her, and considering she hugged her for five straight minutes when we arrived, I’m fairly positive she’s already getting measurements for her wedding dress. Fucking eh.