A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men 5)

Then his mouth attacked mine. I opened for him and kissed him back, hard and hot. He kneaded my breasts, his grip slightly rough, reminding me of the times he’d pulled my hair. I liked it when he wasn’t so gentle. When he was consumed with a mindless, ravenous passion.

I started to wind my legs around his waist when he jumped back, cursing and wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Damn it,” he muttered. His face was flushed and eyes were wild and glassy. “Damn it, we can’t do this again.”

The metaphorical slap of cold water did not feel good. “Oh my God, will you stop going from hot to cold and just make up your damn mind already? Do you want me or not?”

His eyes flared as he looked into my face. “You know I want you. That’s the problem. I want you but I can’t have you.”

I set my hands on my hips. “Well, you already have had me. Repeatedly. And you’ve had me when you knew good and well who I was. We’ve already established how thoroughly you can have me. The question is...are you going to keep me?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed nervously as he swallowed. His eyes grew haunted and tempted as he gazed over my body. Then he squeezed his eyes closed and gritted out, “No.”

My eyes filled with tears. I gulped in air, trying to dry them before he opened his lashes, when they flashed up as if he could hear my agony.

Immediate regret clouded his face. “Caroline.” He started to reach for me, but I held up a hand.

“No. Just stop right now. I’m done. I’m out. You and your stupid spotted dick can just go to hell.”

He froze. “My spotted...what? Shit.” He glanced wildly around the room before hissing, “I’m going to kill her.”

When his face drained of color, I frowned. “Huh?”

He didn’t even hear my question as he ranted on to himself. “I cannot believe Blondie told you about that.” His gaze seared into mine, suddenly intense and desperate. “And it’s not spotted like there’s a bunch of dots. It’s one fucking birthmark. That’s it.”

I shook my head. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Wait.” His eyes flared with shock. “You mean...ah, fuck. She didn’t tell you, did she?”

“Tell me what?” I let out a strange laugh. “You don’t really have a spotted dick, do you? I mean, I thought up that scenario because you’ll only do it in the dark and that’s really the only part of your body you haven’t shown off in public to, like, everyone. It was just a...theory.” My eyes began to grow wide as I realized how strangely he was watching me. “But, wow...” I blew out a long breath. “It’s true, isn’t it? You honestly have a spotted—”

“Birthmark,” he growled. “One fucking birthmark.” When he glanced away, I noticed how pale he was. “One...really big birthmark.”

“So I was right?” I laughed out loud. “That’s incredible. I am so awesome.”

His scowl totally disagreed with me.

I cleared my throat and calmed down because the topic clearly unsettled him. “Sorry. I just...I knew there had to be a reason you’d only do it in the dark, and...” I shook my head. “Does that actually work? I mean, none of the girls I overheard gossiping about you in the bathroom mentioned it, and they mentioned everything else, so I’m sure they would’ve. I can’t believe no one you’ve been with before has ever seen it.”

He shrugged one of those uncomfortable, I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-it shrugs and wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Two other girls have seen it…besides Blondie.”

My back straightened. “And why has Zoey seen your penis?”

He opened his mouth to answer but paused when he saw my face. His lips quirked into a smirk. “Are you jealous? Of Blondie?”

I sniffed and sent him a glower. “No.”

Yes, totally.

His grin only grew. “She walked in on me in the shower once; thought I was Hamilton.” Smile suddenly dimming, he glanced away. “To say the least, she totally flipped out. So did the other two.”

I don’t know why it bothered me that three women had seen his penis, but it really, really did. I pulled back, my chest tight with pain, even as I forced casualness into my voice. “Oh, yeah? How’d they freak out?”

“How do you think?” His gaze was hard and penetrating. Then he gave a hard, sniff-like, self-derisive laugh and shrugged. “The first time was...well, my first time. I didn’t even think about hiding it or being ashamed. I didn’t know it was a

fucking abnormality. Everyone in my family knew about it and had seen me run around naked when I was younger. No one ever told me, ‘Hey, this could totally freak out some girl later on in your life.’”

“So, she didn’t see it until after you two had...?” I motioned with my hands, wondering why I was talking about this with him while we were naked and in bed together, arguing about completely unrelated, more-important things…like our possible future together.