Tallulah Nights (Tallulah Cove Book 2) Read online

  His tongue tangled with hers while she held him to her mouth with her fingers slid into his short hair. Gasping for air, he tore his mouth away, dragging it down her jaw, over her neck, and over the top of her dress.

  His mouth played over her skin and down her breastbone before hitting the fabric over her belly.

  With a quick glance, he settled between her knees, and holy hell—he pushed her skirt up higher and kissed the center of her panties, making her cry out with the shock of it.

  He looked up at her, his fingers digging into her thighs, his eyes wild. “We’re so going to fuck on this car, but not the first time. The first time I want your hands fisting my sheets, your head thrashing with pleasure, and your screams. I want to swallow every gasp and cry from that plump, sexy-as-fuck mouth of yours.”

  Her head spun. Visions of what he wanted to do to her, the things she wanted to do to him, spun and tangled in her mind, leaving her an aroused, needy woman ready to claw her way through his expensive clothes, down to his tan skin.

  He lay her palms on either side of the trunk where it met the headrests of the back seat. “Hold on, sweetheart. This is just the beginning of your wild ride.” He pressed his mouth to the inside of her thigh and dragged his tongue down to her knee before hopping back into the front seat and taking off along the coast.

  The wind whipped through her hair as she sang along with the words. The saltwater of the Pacific hovering in the air stole every ounce of insecurity.

  And she felt.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lead the Way

  SEBASTIAN PULLED BACK INTO WHAT he’d started to think of as her spot at the beach, which turned out to be almost right under the balcony of his bungalow.

  When he started watching her a week ago, he’d figured he’d join her on the sand, find out her story, see if there was something there, and when his shoulder was cleared, he’d return to San Jose, and whatever time they spent together would be a fun memory.

  Nothing more.

  He turned off the engine, climbed out, leaned against the car, and studied her. Her hair had pulled from the loose bun, the waves falling around her face in a windblown mass just calling to his hands.

  Her skirt still rode up around her hips; the smile on her heart-shaped face banished every bit of worry in him about his career, the future, and who he’d be if he didn’t have his first love…baseball.

  “I wish you could see yourself right now. You’d never have another doubt. Not a one.” He held her stare and willed her to believe him. He’d do anything to banish every single hang-up she’d ever had.

  “It’s the dress,” she said with a laugh.

  “It’s the person wearing it,” he said.

  She slid the straps of her shoes over her heels, pulling them off and dangling them from her red-nailed fingers. “Help me out?” She reached out her hand to him.

  He wrapped her hand in his and tugged her to him. With her standing over him in the moonlight, her hands slid into his hair. She locked her fingers around the strands and tugged his head back, making him groan as he looked up at her.

  “Marry me,” he said. The words popped out of his mouth, completely unexpected. They should have horrified him, but instead he smiled up at her as they settled into place inside him.

  “Silly, silly boy,” she said, bobbing her head with the words. “Take me to bed.”

  “Marry me.”

  Her fingers stilled, and she narrowed her eyes. “You’re serious.”

  “Yup.” Now that he’d tasted the words on his tongue, and had a taste of her, he’d never been more serious about anything in his entire life.

  “No.” She punctuated the words with a hard shake of her head.

  “Why not?”

  “We don’t know each other.”

  “Sure we do. You have a sister you’d go to the ends of the earth for. You have a nephew who stole your heart the minute he was born and a niece you’d castrate predators for if need be. You have meddlesome parents who torture you twice a month at brunch now that your sister is happily settled.”

  “That’s surface stuff. All casual conversation details.”

  “You love forever,” he said quietly. “Your husbands have passed, but you still worry about them; you think about them; you miss them. You were genuine friends, with a mutual respect that made you happy to support them in their careers while you sidelined your dreams. You miss that friendship.”

  She shrugged. “Okay, so you know some.”

  “You cover your insecurity with humor and snark. You don’t know what it is about you that makes people want to be around you, and that makes you crazy.”

  She loosened her hold on his hair, and her smile slipped. “Okay, that’s enough.”

  “Is that a yes?” Why couldn’t he let this go? The idea took hold, and he just couldn’t shake it.

  “God, no.”

  “I think a part of you wants to.”

  “I think you’re about to lose your show and tell if you don’t get me up to that bed of yours. All this talk of marriage and insecurity and my girl parts are packing their bags and ready to head for the hills.”

  “We can’t have that. A truce. But I haven’t let this go.”

  “Of course you haven’t,” she said with a snort.

  “Come on.” He tossed her over his good shoulder, spun her with her legs out and kicking, and caressed her cheek with his free hand before lowering her to the ground.

  “Lead the way,” she said.

  He took her hand and pulled her along with him so she couldn’t turn tail and walk away. He took it slow, showing care for her bare feet moving over the sand-dusted rocks winding through the vegetation, before arriving at the steps leading to the door to the bungalow.

  They stared at one another as they stood in the warm glow of the lamp next to the door. A sexual tension and air of defiance hung between them as he studied her. His eyes roamed over her skin, the curve of her breasts, the way they rose and fell with her heavy breaths.

  Her eyes pierced him just shy of a glare, but also with the sexual heat that started in the club. She’d say it started with the dress.

  The thought of that made him smile.

  “What’s that look?” she said, nodding her chin in his direction.

  “Just wondering who you are outside of the dress.” He took her hand and opened the door by punching in the code on the electronic keypad over the doorknob.

  “Fancy,” she murmured.

  “Yeah, I’m not sure I like it,” he said.

  “It can always be changed.”

  “It’s only a month rental, and then I won’t have to deal with it anymore.” He tugged her in and against him, kicking the door shut behind him. “You want me to show you around?”

  She danced her fingers down the front of his shirt and settled them against his belt buckle. “No.”

  He backed her through the living room and down the hall. “What if you need a drink of water?”

  “I’ll make you get it,” she said, unbuttoning his shirt, the knuckles of her fingers grazing his chest.

  “What if you need a fast escape?”

  “I’m not a runner, so unless there’s a fire, we’re good.”

  “And if you need a quiet area to call your sister and tell her how phenomenal I am in bed?” he said, pushing her into the master bedroom and shutting the door behind them.

  “She can wait until tomorrow for my assessment of your abilities.”

  “Then let’s get started.” He kissed her hard. Harder than he’d intended, but just right to send his blood racing through his veins. His cock throbbed in his pants, just aching to be free of restraint and buried inside her wet heat.

  With his arms on her waist, he spun them so she was against the door. Breaking the kiss, he flipped her around so she faced the cool wood, her back bared to him.

  The ridge of his cock strained at the front of his pants, a mere inch from her round ass.

  He took her wrists and flattened her palms against the door. “Hands up. And keep them there.”

  “What if I have a hard time following directions?”

  He thwacked her ass with the back of his hand and delighted in her hiss. “Then I’ll spank you.”

  “No one has ever done that to me before.”

  “And?”

  “I like it.”

  “You’re dirty,” he whispered just behind the shell of her ear. He found her zipper and, careful to not catch her delicate skin, slowly dragged it down her back.

  He traced his lips over the shallow hollow of her spine, from the top of her shoulder all the way down to the pretty thong nestled between her round, full cheeks.

  She whimpered with the attention he lavished on the spot, his tongue dancing over the sensitive flesh, her scent filling his lungs, making him want.

  “Hands down, but for just a minute.” He worked her arms out of the dress, his throat going dry at the sight of her skin bared to him, inch by creamy inch.

  He flicked the clasp of her bra, and the lace fell to the floor in front of her. All he had to do was turn her and he could have those nipples nestled on the center of his tongue, but he didn’t go there.

  Not yet.

  He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. They’d already hung so much on their short time together.

  He wanted more.

  She was scared.

  So they had tonight.

  And he’d do every last bit of it right and make sure no matter what she decided, not a part of her, not one single cell hadn’t been marked by him.

  Kate’s battered heart rose in her throat and took residence there, making it difficult to speak and, at times, breathe.

  His palm lay flat against her spine as he pushed her forward, leaving her flushed breasts pressed against the door. The cool wood teased her aching nipples, both torturing and soothing a fierce arousal that started on the beach the day before.

  She didn’t know where he would go. She hated giving up control. But God Almighty, the desperation to feel, to climb out of the fucking hole she’d been smothered in for two years, overrode any part of her that screamed to take over.

  He snaked a hand down between her thighs and tapped. “Legs apart, sweetheart.”

  She did as he told her, her eyes drifting shut at the cool air that nestled between her thighs with the stance.

  “Up on your toes,” he said, sinking his hand into the back of her hair, tugging, turning her face to the side.

  She rose up and pressed her hot cheek to the door, surprised at the relief it offered. His palm slid over the bare skin of her ass and down her thigh, his satisfied grunt sounding in her ear.

  “Fucking perfect.”

  His fingers glided over her skin, between her legs, and dipped just under the scrap of lace covering her.

  Hot sparks of arousal shot through her, driving her to slap her palm against the door in frustration. She wanted his fingers inside her. His cock inside her.

  She wanted to be taken in a way she had never been taken before.

  She’d married considerate lovers.

  Oh, they had been good at lovemaking, but polite.

  She wanted wild and unyielding.

  The fingers that had touched her so intimately appeared against her lips, and on instinct she sucked them into her mouth, the intimacy of the action sending a flood through her.

  He gasped. “Yes, that’s it. Get them nice and wet.”

  She swirled her tongue over them, tasting her musk on the pads of his fingers, rough from the years of baseball. The contrast to her softness brought all of her womanly prowess to the forefront, and she surrendered to him. To all of him.

  When he pulled his fingers from her mouth, her body tensed, waiting for the sweet assault.

  She cried out, the most exquisite pleasure exploding inside her when he buried those two fingers deep. He kissed her shoulder and rested his mouth there as he thrust in and out of her.

  If this was all they did, it would have been the single-most erotic, satisfying experience of her life.

  With a groan, her eyelids drifted shut, and she started to slip off her tiptoes.

  “Ah, ah, ah, stay up there just a little bit longer, sweetheart. I want to see those sexy legs of yours flexing when I make you come.”

  “I can’t. Oh, God, it’s too much.”

  “Yes, you can. I want to feel you coming on me, around me. I want to watch you lose yourself. It’s okay to let go. I’ve got you.”

  The tension built in her, and she found herself dropping her heels just a bit to force him deeper. She beat her fist against the door, thrashing with the building tension, until he tilted his hand forward as he thrust, brushing his knuckle over that tight bundle of nerves nestled in the heart of her, the sharp stab of pleasure robbing her of her breath.

  His teeth sank into her shoulder, and she sucked in a harsh gasp. His fingers deep once more, she broke free, screaming his name over and over as every thought and feeling collided, riding the wave through her, changing her irrevocably.

  She crumpled, but he caught her and led her to the bed. She lay boneless as he scooted her up, curled his hands around the backs of her knees, raising them up, and parted her before him.

  With a yank, the lace at her center tore away, the scraps remaining dangling from his fingers as he worshipped her with his gaze.

  “I’ll never be the man I was before you. Never again,” he said, the words laced with wonder before dropping her destroyed panties to the floor and sliding off his belt. The button at his waist going next.

  She could only stare as he shed his pants and boxer briefs, leaving a human Adonis standing before her.

  Hard.

  Lungs heaving.

  Aroused.

  All by her.

  He lowered his head between her thighs and dragged his tongue over the center of her.

  The air shuddered from her spent lungs. She needed him inside. She needed her arms around him. She needed it now.

  “Sebastian. Please. Inside me. Please.” She clawed at his back, trying to pull him to her.

  “Easy, give me just a sec.”

  She heard the tear of a wrapper, grateful he had thought about it because she hadn’t. With them both protected, he held her hip with one hand, his cock with the other, and with a slow thrust eased himself inside her.

  Buried to the hilt, stretching her, he reared his head back, his nostrils flaring, before returning his gaze to her with a pleasure-filled smile spreading over his face.

  He pulled almost all the way out of her and thrust back in, making her back arch. He reached out and rolled her nipple between his fingers, then dipped his head to taste the tight bud.

  “Mmm,” he hummed against her skin.

  She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him to her, needing to touch as much of him as possible. Needing him surrounding her when she lost complete control of her senses and flew apart in his arms.

  As if he knew, as if he could read her mind, he wrapped his arms around her, settling his hands at her back, thrusting faster, deeper. He growled against her skin, taking her over and over.

  No fancy moves.

  No dirty talk.

  Just a pure, timeless taking that had everything building inside her once more. He reared up and slammed into her. His thrusts grew desperate, his jaw clenching, his eyes, almost black now, locked on her, seeing inside her, stealing her soul.

  She reached for him, her fingertip grazing his lower lip. He parted his lips and sucked the finger into his mouth. The strong suction sent her right over the edge of reason and had her bucking beneath him, clutching the sheets, and drenching them both in her release.

  His harsh shout and the heaving of his lungs that followed told her he’d found his pleasure.

  And she had found home.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Walk of Shame

  “YOU SLUNK OUT OF MY bed without saying goodbye.”

  Sebastian’s voice washed over her, and all the still-aching parts of her from two nights ago sat up and panted.

  Not that she could blame them—one night with Sebastian had launched her into the stratosphere, leaving her wondering how she could have ever found her previous sex lives satisfying.

  Crushing guilt assaulted her at the thought, leaving her a bit cranky. Her mood churned like the murky sea before her under a rare, heavily clouded sky.

  William sat next to her, adding to her guilt.

  She turned to face Sebastian, craning her neck to find him glaring down at her. “I didn’t slink.”

  “I’m a light sleeper. You had to have slunk.” He started to drop down next to her.

  She stuck her arm out. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

  His eyebrows shot up. “I’m sitting.”

  “Not without giving me that cup you’re not.” She put her hand out and wiggled her fingers.

  “Seriously? This again? I would think my having been in you for hours would have upgraded our consumer/troll relationship.”

  “Yes, but obviously you came out here to find me, and you didn’t even bother bringing me a cup. Rude. So now you must throw yourself on the sacrificial sword and give me yours.”

  “You don’t deserve a cup after your disappearing act,” he said.

  “Oh, I deserve a cup after the shameless things I did to you,” she said.

  “Then I deserve to sit for making you come, oh, I don’t know, was it seven times before we finally fell asleep?”

  Heat rose to her cheeks. “A gentleman wouldn’t brag.”

  “A lady wouldn’t have tied me to my bed with my ties.”

  Yeah, it was kind of inspired. But telling him to ‘stay still’ hadn’t worked. He was a shit listener, and she wanted to explore his rock-hard baseball body without interference.

  “The right kind of lady would.” She sighed. “Sit, but seriously, I need a sip. I’ve been out here for an hour, and I forgot my water.”

  He dropped down next to her and immediately wrapped his arm around her before handing her his cup.

  “I thought you would have come out to find me yesterday,” she said before taking a gulp of the hot brew. The heat stung her throat, but she didn’t care. All was right in the world again.

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