Craving (Steel Brothers Saga #1)(27)

“That’s it, baby. You scream. Show me you like it.”

He kept thrusting, thrusting, thrusting… He had just come in the shower, so he probably still had a long way to go.

As much good as it was, my body was tired, sated, I was ready to be—

“Fuck!” He pounded into me one last time, hard, and released, keeping his cock lodged in me.

With every convulsion, every spurt of his seed, my pussy became more his.

Only his.

When he finally withdrew, I straightened my legs and collapsed on my belly. God. I needed to go to sleep, but I had to get to work.

And what was Talon going to do? Was he now going to become distant as usual?

I didn’t know, and I was too relaxed and sated to care. If only I didn’t have to go to work today, I would lie there and bask in the beauty of what had just occurred.

The weight on the bed shifted, and I looked up. Talon had risen and was putting on his pajama pants. He looked down at me.

“That should do it,” he said.

“That should do what?”

He didn’t respond. He simply pulled his T-shirt over his head and left my bedroom.





CHAPTER TWELVE





TALON


I walked back to my own bedroom.

And already I wanted her again.

What would it take to get rid of this need? This all-consuming ache for another person? I didn’t even know her very well yet.

I had taken her this morning, just as I’d taken every other woman who came to my bed. She hadn’t offered herself to me like they had, but I had taken her anyway. She hadn’t resisted, but still I felt a twinge of guilt. For some reason, I didn’t want to just take her. I wanted it to be mutual. I wanted her to want me as much as I wanted her—which was really odd, since most women wanted me way more than I wanted them. I was simply taking care of the physical need. But with Jade…

Damn. A flaw in my reasoning emerged. I kept thinking that if I could have her once, and then once more, I would get rid of this all-consuming need. The problem was, the more I had her, the more I seemed to want her.

I was screwed. Completely screwed.

She wouldn’t allow me to fuck her forever. She would eventually either tell me to stop, or she would want more—a relationship. And that was the one thing I couldn’t give her. I had no business being in a relationship with anyone. Not when I was so messed up.

Shit. I had to get out to the orchards. Check on everything. But I needed some alone time first. I quickly texted my foreman and told him I’d be an hour or so late coming down. Then I opened the door to my room, shut and locked it, and lay down on my bed, closing my eyes. Roger jumped up and snuggled at my feet.

Maybe just another hour of sleep—if I could be so lucky.

“Hey, handsome.” Julie grabbed my arm and pulled me into her apartment. “Long time no see.

Whatcha been up to?”

The little cocktail waitress was still hot as hell. Small in stature but nice and curvy, she wore a tight T-shirt and athletic shorts.

I didn’t answer her. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. I was in the mood to fuck—to fuck the memory of Jade Roberts right out of my head. After a hard day in the orchard, I’d driven to Grand Junction for a quick bite to eat and hopefully a quicker romp in the sack.

Julie was a fun little fuck. She smiled as I grabbed her and pulled her tight little body into mine. I leaned down and kissed her, forcing my tongue into her warm little mouth. She was so much shorter than Jade. My neck was ready to break.

No. No thoughts of Jade.

I deepened the kiss, searching, wanting, waiting for…that champagne and strawberry flavor that intoxicated me. Instead I got fresh mint. Not bad. I could make that work. I pulled her up against my pelvis and ground into her.

Nothing.

No erection.

I wasn’t even breathing hard.

I broke the kiss.

“What’s wrong, handsome?”

I didn’t answer.

Julie took my hand and squeezed it. “Wanna go into the bedroom?”

I let out a sigh and shook my head. No use. Another woman wasn’t going to help.

Damn, nothing would help. Nothing except Jade. I wanted to lose myself in her.

“I have to go,” I said to Julie.

“Come on, handsome. Let me help you take the edge off.”

If only she could. “Not tonight. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, maybe another time…”

I walked out of her apartment and didn’t look back.

“Can’t reach it, boy?” Tattoo chuckled.

The boy didn’t know their names, but the one with the tattoo—some kind of colorful bird wrapped in flames and rising from what looked like ashes—always took the lead.

The glass of water sat less than an inch from the boy’s reach. Full, with ice, and the boy was dying of thirst, his mouth parched. His lips were so dry the bottom one had cracked in the middle, and he tasted the tang of blood on his tongue.

“Look at him reach.” The one with the low voice laughed.

This was a game they liked to play. And even though logically the boy knew he would never be able to reach the glass of water, still he tried, stretching his arm as far as he could, thinking maybe, just maybe, today was the day his arm had grown a little bit, or that he could stretch his muscles those few more millimeters necessary…