Risking it All (Crossing the Line, #1)(70)

“Point made. Just paint my mouth.”

She watched his hand move, leaving a rosy shade of paint on the wall. Every few seconds, his gaze would flash to her mouth and each time felt like a bolt of lightning to her overwhelmed system.

She found herself wanting him to look at her mouth, felt it parting of its own accord, her tongue slipping out to dampen her lips. A pulse beat at the base of her neck and the sound multiplied itself in her ears.

Finally, Bowen stopped looking away, obviously sensing the change in her.

“Can you try not to look so goddamn f*ckable for a second while I finish this?

It’s important to me, Sera.”

The frustration in his tone cut through her haze of lust. “Why is it so important?”

With a curse, he dropped the palette and paintbrush, before planting his fists on either side of her head. He brought his face close enough to kiss her, then stopped. “I need something to prove you were here, all right? Are you happy?”

“No.”

His

flinch

sent

her

backtracking. “Being here with you makes me happy, Bowen. But I’m not happy you’re so worried about me leaving.”

He scoffed. “How can I be anything else when you won’t talk to me? When you want to play this no-talking game?”

His head dropped onto her shoulder.

“You’re here and I’m so f*cking grateful for that, but I don’t know why or what led to it. If I don’t know those things, how can I make sure I keep doing them?

You’re making me crazy, Sera.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to,” she whispered, shaken by his passionate speech. The events of the night were right on the tip of her tongue. She’d been played, used, by her only remaining family. Her brother, the sibling she’d always looked up to, had been flawed in a way she’d never imagined. Nothing felt concrete except Bowen against her, and she wanted to lose herself in him.

Forget everything, just for one night.

Tomorrow, she’d find a way to trust again and tell him everything, but right now? Her insides felt raw.

She ducked under his arm and picked up the wet paintbrush, making sure enough rose-colored paint coated the end. Then she turned toward the wall and wrote, in giant letters, SERA WAS HERE.

She started to set the brush back down, but changed her mind. Beneath it she continued with, BECAUSE OF BOWEN.

It wouldn’t be enough for him, but she simply didn’t have the words to give him tonight. His eyes were on her and she could feel them boring into her back.

When she couldn’t stand his silence anymore, she turned to face him.

Just in time to be dragged to the floor.

Her gasp of shock was swallowed by his mouth, but it turned into a moan when he settled himself fully on top of her.

She’d never felt anything like it, the weight of a man, pressing her body down into the hard wood, with nowhere to go. It felt divine, intoxicating. It made her feel so perfectly feminine, she threw her head back and reveled in it.

Frantic to get closer, to feel more, she spread her legs and Bowen dropped into the cradle of her thighs with a groan, rocking into her center immediately.

When he couldn’t get close enough, he yanked her skirt higher and melted into her with a desperate noise.

“You’re goddamn right you were here, Sera. You’re everywhere I look.” He pushed two fingers past her lips, which she sucked deep into her mouth. Her boldness shocked him, she could tell by his sharp curse, the flash of heat in his eyes. “You know what happens when I see you get all flustered? When you’re dying for a f*ck, but don’t know how to just ask for it? My cock gets so hard it hurts. Do you do it on purpose?”

With his fingers in her mouth, she couldn’t speak, so she shook her head.

“No?” He withdrew his fingers and gave her a firm pump of his hips. “Tell me what you want, baby. Right now.”

“I want you in my mouth.” She said it without thinking. Having his fingers there had brought back the memory of him standing above her, his face tortured and fraught with pleasure at the same time he slid past her lips. The way he’d begged and shaken as he came had given her such an incredible feeling of power, she would have done anything at that moment to feel it again.

Bowen held his breath as if he couldn’t quite believe she were real, then he hardened his jaw and slowly dragged his cut body higher, higher, against hers. Muscles slid over curves, drawing panting breaths from both of them, until he could kneel above her. His knees were on either side of her head, straddling her, in the most intimate position she could have imagined.

Bowen undid his belt and unzipped his jeans with shaky hands. “You think I’m noble enough to say no to that? When I know what your mouth can do?” He freed himself from his jeans, biting his lip on a groan, and held his swollen flesh just above her parted lips. “If you want it so bad, baby, lick for it. The way you were licking those pretty lips when I was trying to concentrate. Now, Sera.”

His desperation, his harsh words, flooded her with desire, and she didn’t hesitate to do as he asked. She swirled her tongue around the head, then traveled lower to lick him slowly, base to tip. All the while, she kept her eyes trained on him, his throaty sounds and panting breaths ratcheting her desire up until her hands clawed at the powerful thighs bracketing her head.