Cease Fire (Blackbridge Security 9)

“I don’t want you to be a gentleman.” Her words are a purr and hit me right below the belt.

“Why?” I ask again, because her laughter earlier wasn’t an answer.

“People in the wedding party are supposed to hook up.”

I shake my head. “I’m not part of the wedding party.”

I’ll be damned if I cross this line with her just because of some stupid expectation of what people think happens between others at a wedding.

“You’re the bro—you’re you,” she says, and I know she stopped herself from saying I’m Beth’s brother.

Neither of us needs that fucking reminder right now. I used that excuse as to why we never got a chance together because admitting the truth, that she just didn’t see me that way, was too hard for my tender ego when I was younger.

At thirty-two, I thought I’d dealt with all of those self-esteem problems, but maybe I haven’t.

“If you don’t want to,” she says, stepping so close that I can feel the warmth of her skin through my clothes. “I won’t pressure you.”

“Jules.” I groan once more when she lifts her hand, her pink-tipped fingers scraping down the front of my shirt.

“Touch me, Kit.”

“What is this?” I’m getting on my own damn nerves with all these fucking questions, but she’s not some random woman I’ll never see again. She’s not Angie, the bridesmaid. We have history. She’s going to be at my parents’ house again at some point. We can’t just pretend we don’t know each other.

“Sex, Kit. That is, if you’re interested.”

My cock jerks, interested in anything she has to offer.

“It’s just sex.” I know I sound like I’m bartering with myself right now.

“Just sex,” she agrees.

She doesn’t emphasize the first word, but that’s how I read her. I know I should take a second to consider what getting her naked and under me means, how I’ll feel when it’s done. But my body has craved her for so long, it seems like the best idea in the world.

“What do you say, Kit?”

I answer her the only way I can, by tilting her chin up with a single crooked finger and pressing my lips to hers.

She moans with the pressure, her mouth opening just enough to allow me to gain entrance. One brush of her tongue against mine is all it takes to race right across the line of no return.

My hands are on her in the next instant, and I press her against my chest.

“Fuck,” I hiss when she pulls back, her fingers working open my belt. “Wait.”

I grab her hands and pull them from my clothes. I need to slow down. I need to savor her, spend the rest of the night tasting her, getting my fill even though I know it’ll never be enough. I know before she even drops to her knees in front of me that I’m going to be left used and broken, but I no longer have any blood in my brain. My ability to listen to reason was effectively locked away before she ever closed the damn door.

“Wait?” she asks as she drops to her knees, once again reaching for my zipper. “Are you sure?”

I shake my head, hands cupping both sides of her face as she brushes my straining length and the rasp of my zipper fills the heated air around us.

“Mmm.”

The pleasure of seeing my cock as she pulls it free nearly tips me over the edge, and that is not how tonight can go. I refuse to blow just for the sake of reaching that pinnacle because something I’ve always imagined and never experienced is happening right now.

I grind my back molars together as the warmth of her breath gets closer.

“Never in a million years did I imagine you like this,” she confesses. I don’t know if she’s referring to us being in this situation together or the silver bars running along the underside of my dick.

“Jules,” I whisper, and I can’t tell by my own ears if it’s a plea or a complaint.

I’ve barely touched her and her cheeks are already stained pink from her own arousal.

“Tell me what you need,” she says, her small hand stroking the length of me, her fingers careful not to catch on my jewelry.

I shift my weight from one foot to the other. “Everything.”

That one word encompasses so many things. I want her body, her time, her love… I just want her.

But it’s just sex, and I have to wrap my head around that fact and accept it. Just sex is more than I could’ve ever hoped for before now, and there’s no way I’m going to relinquish that gift, despite how I’m going to feel about it tomorrow.

“So this?” Her plush, warm lips wrap around the tip of me, and I nearly lose my balance. The pull of her teeth as they make contact with my piercings makes my fucking knees weak.