Off Base(44)

He released one of her wrists and slid a hand between them. Dark eyes fastened to her face, he ran a single finger against her wet folds.

She was making all kinds of embarrassing sounds now, lifting her hips for his questing fingers.

He impaled her with a finger, penetrating deep and curling his middle finger slightly inside her, hitting that place she never quite managed to reach on her own.

The shudders started again, working up from her toes, traveling to her core and out from every limb. She was close. So close. He withdrew that finger and plunged it back in again. “You’re so f*cking tight, Huntley.” His thumb found her clit and he bore down on it as he worked a second finger inside her.

“Oh!” Everything squeezed tight and twisted, bursting into a thousand pinpricks of sensation as he stroked deep inside her, wringing out a shrieking orgasm from her body. Her vision grayed at the edges. She fisted the sheet as her climax ripped through her. She gasped, trying to recover her breath as she dropped back on the bed. She pressed a palm to her cheek, fighting to steady her racing pulse. Impossible.

Emotion surged through her and she wasn’t certain where it was coming from. Tears blurred her eyes and she blinked fiercely. With her freed hand, she lowered it to his bare shoulder, the muscled flesh slick and flexing under her palm.

Her body gradually floated back down, her pulse steadying.

Oh. My. God. What just happened?

She lifted her chin. Her gaze collided with Cullen’s. He still looked intense and fierce and a little frightening. She shifted slightly beneath him and felt his raging hard-on, still there, still very much unsatisfied against the inside of her thigh.

“Cullen…” She moistened her lips, unsure of herself.

Something flickered in his eyes. She held her breath, waiting for him to speak. To assure her that he was glad this had happened. That this was not the worst thing to happen to him in the history of ever. That he had wanted it.

That he wanted her.

He looked at her beneath him as if seeing her for the first time and blinked once. “Shit.”

With that curse, he sprang off her and dropped to the floor in one deft move.

She inhaled a shaky breath. Okay. That hurt. But at least she knew where things stood. She shoved her skirt down and scooted to the edge of the bed, scanning for her panties and trying not to show how much his rejection stung.

“Huntley, listen—”

“No.” She whirled around and faced him with the bed between them. “There’s nothing to say. Forget it.”

Before he could add anything else, or worse, before she broke down and started crying, she rushed out into living room, grabbed her bag and ducked into the hall bathroom.

Flipping on the light, she stared at her reflection in the harsh fluorescent glare. Her eyes looked overly bright and huge in her face. Her skin was flushed. Even her lips looked redder, puffier. She realized with a start that he had not even kissed her. Well, he hadn’t kissed her on the mouth. She traced her lips with fingers that trembled the barest amount.

Her sex tingled and clenched, ready for round two. Or ready for the real thing. Him between her legs. Pumping inside her. Claiming her.

She groaned and dropped her head. This was too mortifying. Clearly, he was horrified things had gotten so out of hand. She had to end this and get things back into proper perspective between them. They were friends. Good friends. He was her brother’s best friend.

Resolve squared her shoulders. She reached inside her bag for her phone. After a quick search, she dialed for a cab to pick her up. Hanging up, she slipped her underwear back on and ran fingers through her wild hair, wondering how long she could hide in the bathroom. She stared at the paneled wood. It wasn’t exactly like he was knocking on the door. He’d probably be relieved to see her go.





Chapter Four




Usually women didn’t dive into bathrooms after making out with him. Not that Cullen usually made out with women. He wasn’t seventeen. When he was with a woman, the outcome was sex. Pure and simple. They were both in it for the same thing, and that expectation was clear on both sides going in.

Tonight though, with Huntley, had been something else. Something organic. Something wild and unprecedented for him.

And they hadn’t even had sex. A fact that both tormented and relieved him. On one hand he wanted her so badly his teeth ached. On the other hand, there was still time to salvage their friendship.

Huntley had been in the bathroom for ten minutes before she emerged. She paused when she saw him sitting on the couch. He’d thrown on a T-shirt and jeans. Partly to make her feel more comfortable, but mostly in case his dick decided to misbehave again and rise to full-mast.

To say he was sexually frustrated would be an understatement. Seeing her again only drove home how much he wanted her. She looked well-pleasured. Her face flushed and her eyes shining.

“Hey,” she murmured, flags of color staining her cheeks. “I called a cab.”

Those words doused him in cold. “What did you do that for?”

“I don’t think I should stay the rest of the night, do you?”

“I can sleep on the couch.”

She shifted on her bare feet, looking uncomfortable. “I want to go home.”

“So I’ll take you home. I’m sober enough now.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”