Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights)(14)

Lita leaned up to bury her nose against his chest, his scent sending her pheromones into a swoon. “You smell so good.”

“Yeah?” James scrutinized her, a muscle jumping in his cheek. He clasped her wrists and drew them over her head. Slow, so slow. The higher he placed them, the harder his arousal ground against her center. “Enjoy it now. Because in around an hour, I’m only going to smell like your *.”

Lita started shaking. James had never spoken to her like that. Even that first night, he’d been so full of visible tension, every command had been issued through his teeth. Holding back. This man looming above her was one she trusted, but the nuances, the sudden edge to him excited her beyond words. “I want to smell like you, too.”

“Oh, you will.”

His hips were so heavy between her legs, creating such sweet pressure. And when he moved them in a rough circle, Lita’s eyes rolled back in her head. “Now. Please, now. I need you inside me.”

“Goddammit, Lita.” He dropped his head into the crook of her neck on an uneven groan, his hands tightening around her wrists. “Let me fix my mistake.”

Right. This was their do-over. His chance to replace his guilt from that night with something good. Something better. With his big body weighing her down into the mattress, his breath rasping in her ear, she was losing focus of that goal. But she couldn’t. It was too important. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “You’ve taken care of my ankle. Fed me…kissed me. What w-would you have done next?”

His stubble slid against her cheek as his head lifted. “First, you’ll say out loud what I did to you. I don’t want to be let off so easy.”

Lita swallowed and focused on the ceiling, her memory calling forth sounds and touches in the dark. “You tied my hands to the headboard…above my head. Then you…”

“Say it.”

“You put yourself in my mouth.”

He released one of Lita’s wrists to tilt her chin up. “That was after. After I made you crawl to me like a beggar, after I slapped the hell out of your sweet ass. That’s when I propped my knees on the pillows and I f*cked your little mouth. Didn’t I?” He visibly attempted to center himself but didn’t succeed. “You needed a savior and you found Satan, instead. Took you so many times, so many filthy ways in the dark, I lost track. And not once was I gentle. Did I leave anything out?”

Afraid that if she spoke, her words would be incoherent, Lita only shook her head.

Despite the regret he projected, she could see he was turned on. To an immense degree. Could feel his erection bulging against the inside of her thigh. Both of them were panting into the scant space separating them, heating the air. “You liked those things I did to you?”

“Yes. My answer isn’t going to change.” Goals. You have them. “The do-over ends at midnight, you know. We just have to make it to midnight and you’ll have made up for what happened.”

James’s frown was thunderous. “You’re making this up as we go, aren’t you?”

By way of answering, she lifted her legs to surround his waist, loving the way his eyes glazed over. Empowered by it. “I remember how you tasted in my mouth. Your ridges sliding over my tongue. How heavy you are down there.”

“I hear your little sucking noises in my sleep. Fuck.” His hand tightened its grip on her face but loosened as he exhaled. “I’ve had my turn, though.” He released her jaw, coasting his hand down her thigh and hiking up her skirt. “I’ve apologized to you, now I’m going to repent between your legs.”

James’s hand cupped her damp flesh, forcing a cry from Lita.

“Mmm. So wet. Does that mean she’s in a forgiving mood?” Lita didn’t dare answer as James slid his middle finger inside her. Pushed in deep on a low growl. “Yes, she knows. She knows I made sure no one touched. Kept her safe inside those panties, away from hands and mouths that weren’t mine.”

James dragged his mouth down between her breasts and lower, licking at her belly button twice before settling between her splayed thighs. Lita could barely wrap her mind around the image of James so close to her private flesh. She’d imagined it so many times, but the visual reality—James licking his lips and draping her thighs over his shoulders—almost climaxed her. Illuminated only by the distant bathroom light, he was a dark god, sent down to earth with one intention. To feast and give pleasure.

When he leaned forward and dropped a kiss over her clit, she strained on the bed, hands twisting in the comforter. “Oh, please.”

He laid another gentle kiss on her flesh. “So, so sorry, little girl.” His voice was a thick murmur. “I saw my Lita and got carried away, didn’t I? Couldn’t handle the way she made me feel. The bad things she made me want to do.” He parted her flesh with big fingers and gave a long lick through the middle. “Bad things I still want to do. To her. Only, ever, her.”

Lita’s thighs attempted to close, but only succeeded in hugging James’s head. That single stroke of her clit had already drawn her toward the finish line. So long, she’d waited so long. No fair that it could be over so quickly.

“Will your * forgive me for being a greedy bastard?” James flicked his tongue over her clit. Fast, too fast. “For not giving her what she deserved?”