“Raelynn…” he said, his cheeks turning ruddy.
“Oh, looky there,” I teased. “Are you going back to blushing when I flirt with you?”
He huffed a breath and rubbed at his brow.
“I mean… You already know how much I have to give.” I arched up just enough to test the strength of the strings holding my shirt closed and lightly dragged a finger through my cleavage. His eyes burned so intensely that I feared my shirt would singe away completely.
His jaw ticked, and his muscles bunched against the black T-shirt pulled tight against his thick arms. I held my breath, bracing for the attack, already feeling his hands and mouth consuming me.
Except…it never came.
Chapter Seventeen
Raelynn
In the next instant, Austin stood and walked away, leaving me there to stare at his retreating back, my jaw on the floor.
What the hell?
I blinked like it would bring him back to sitting in front of me, like it would make his reaction make sense.
I didn’t get it.
Shaking my head, I shoved enough of my confusion aside to go after him. The last thing I expected was to find his hands braced on the kitchen counter, his head hanging low between his hunched shoulders.
My heart lurched, jumping toward my friend, who looked in pain. Rarely had I ever seen Austin so distraught, and I didn’t understand anything other than wanting to make it better. Slowly, I approached, my hand reaching to gently press against his shoulder. The muscles flexed, but he didn’t pull away.
“Austin, are you okay?”
“Do you know how hard it was,” he started, his voice guttural, “to not take you as soon as you opened the door? To not pick you up and pin you to the wall. To not rip away that scrap of a shirt and feast on your tits.”
His words shot like electrical currents through my body, lighting up my nipples and core even before my brain could process it all. He stole my breath when he lifted his head just enough to level me with his burning gaze. “Goddamn it, Raelynn. I’ve spent the entire episode imagining pushing my cock deep between the valley of your breasts—gripping each full curve and wrapping it around my cock until I come.”
“I—I don’t understand.” The words escaped between panting breaths. The image he painted clouded my brain, leaving me confused. Why hadn’t he done it? Why hadn’t he taken me?
He looked down at the counter. “I have no idea what the fuck is going on between us, Rae. I don’t know the rules. I don’t know what’s next, what you want, or what it means.”
My needy pants tinged with panic.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. How did I answer that?
Doing my best to slow down, I considered my options. Maybe…Maybe I didn’t have to have an exact answer. Maybe not knowing was the answer itself.
Latching on to that, I closed the gap and ducked under his arms, pinning myself between the counter and his big body, forcing him to meet my gaze. “I don’t know either.” I studied the curve of his lips, the line of his jaw, and the faint lines around his eyes. With a shaking hand, I touched each feature, connecting myself to him. “What I do know is that I need you inside me again. I need to feel you,” I confessed. I couldn’t look in his eyes—I couldn’t watch him turn me away. So, instead, I stroked my thumb along his plush lips and uttered a word only he could make me say. “Please.”
As if taking scissors to a thin cord around his control, he snapped. Standing to his full height, gripping my jaw, he held me in place and kissed me.
But this was no simple kiss. Austin controlled me. Ravaged me. Claimed me.
It should have scared me how rough he was. Alarms did sound at the way his thumb dug between my jaw to force my mouth open, but all I had to do was breathe in his familiar scent and remember who held me. One breath, and I relaxed into his hold, letting myself go enough to realize how much I liked it.
I liked the way he held me.
I liked the ache in my jaw.
I liked it all.
Like savages, we attacked, hungry and desperate for one another. His hands gripped my top and carelessly tugged until the strings gave way enough to bare my breasts. His mouth crested down my neck to bite across my chest to my nipples. All the while, our hands moved frantically to unfasten the other’s pants.
I’d just pushed his cock free, ready to stroke him—to fall to my knees and taste him when the world spun.
He jerked me around, his palm pressing against my back until my chest pressed against the cold counter. He held me there and shoved my pants down enough to spread my legs.