Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights)(13)

Deciding to forgo the bra, Lita tugged the matching shirt down over her head. “Are you going to say anything?”

“Go eat,” James growled. “Before I eat you first.”

Game plan. Game plan. Lita launched herself into the bedroom, noticing the box of donuts immediately. Of its own accord, her hand lifted to clutch at her chest, an attempt to soothe the sudden hammering beneath. “Chocolate?”

His footsteps drew up behind her. “I always wondered why you picked donuts that night. I told you I’d bring you anywhere.”

She swallowed. “You were so intimidating in your suit. I thought maybe if I saw frosting on your fingers…”

“I wouldn’t be so scary?” His hand settled on her hip, giving it a squeeze, as if testing her resilience. “It didn’t take me long to disappoint you, did it?”

Knowing from experience that her reassurances to the contrary would do no good, Lita went to the basic, wooden table and selected a chocolate donut from the box. When she took her first bite, she faced James, remembering that night how he’d watched her chew across the plastic Dunkin Donuts booth, encouraging her to eat more. That night, she’d polished off four donuts and two paper cups of room service hot chocolate before saying uncle. Now, she could barely manage to keep half the pastry down, thanks to the butterfly rave taking place in her stomach.

“You’re done?”

“Yes.” Before he could argue, she rushed to speak. “What would you have done next? If you could go back.”

He looked away on a harsh laugh before gray eyes blazed back to hers. “I wouldn’t have behaved like a sick motherf*cker. Wouldn’t have made you crawl across the floor to me and beg. I wouldn’t have—” His words broke off when Lita came toward him. “What are you doing?”

She didn’t think, couldn’t think around the regret and pain radiating from his powerful frame. Nor could she restrain herself after hearing him finally acknowledge the fantasy she’d reenacted so many times in her mind. Over and over. So she went up on her bare toes and kissed his hard mouth….and…ohhh. Just like that, they were having their first kiss. Good Lord. The first taste of James was so outrageously right and delicious and sexual, she sagged against him, fingers twisting in his shirt to keep balanced. Man. He was coarse, unfiltered man. He tore his mouth away on a groan of her name before diving back in, yanking her off the floor and flush against his body.

Desperation gripped Lita when she felt his erection, a mountain of denim prodding her belly. She scrambled up his muscular body, wrapping thighs around already rolling hips, and received that first upward thrust between her legs. A pop of color decorated her vision, a montage of blinking lights. Their mouths ravaged harder, James the clear aggressor now, with Lita struggling to accommodate his hunger. Loving it. Figuring out new ways to greet his tongue, stroke it. She couldn’t get her mouth open wide enough. More. All. All, all, all.

When James broke away, she twined her fingers in his hair to pull him back, but he evaded, drilling her with tortured eyes. “I spanked you so damn hard. You were lost…hungry. You needed help and I f*cking failed you.”

“No. How can you say that after everything you’ve done?”

His hands roamed down her back, stopping just before her backside, clutching the hem of her shirt. “Nothing can fix it. Oh, God. You had…bruises.” He closed his eyes. “You ran away from someone who hurt you and I did the same thing. I was just another monster.”

Lita kissed his mouth until he looked at her again. “I made you leave the lights off so you wouldn’t see them. I did that.” Another soft kiss. “You didn’t know until the next morning. And it’s not the same.”

“Yes,” he grated against her mouth. “It is.”

“No. I enjoyed it. I…loved when you did it. The way you did it. We both wanted everything that happened. I’m sorry you don’t remember it that way.”

She didn’t realize they’d moved until her back landed on the mattress. James’s weight came down on top of her and she almost screamed at the necessity of that gravitational pressing of their bodies. Like a drink of cold water in the desert. In the sexiest move of all time, he pinned Lita with his hips and whipped the T-shirt over his head, baring his rough-hewn body. God, it was so hot, heat went straight to her clit, sensitizing the flesh, making her whimper.

“You don’t think I know you enjoyed it?” He drew her top up, past her breasts, baring them to his stark hunger. “You’ve spent every minute since that night trying to tempt me back here. Pressing your tight backside against my lap, then apologizing with those big, innocent eyes. Calling me into your dressing room, nothing but a scrap of fabric running between your legs.”

“I’m not sorry,” she breathed. “You should have given in.”

He drew a circle around her right nipple with his index finger, bringing the pink bud to a sharp point. “I held back that night, Lita.” His hand closed over her breast, squeezing. “Rough as I was, you enjoyed a restrained version of me.”

Yes, she did know that now. He’d only allowed her a small glimpse of his dark tastes, hoping to send her running. But it had backfired. Now her curiosity ran neck and neck with unrepentant desire. With the mention of his harsh treatment of her, James’s eyes were taking on a faraway look, though. Was he remembering? She needed to keep him here with her, in the moment.