Page 19 of Grip Me Tight
Something in my head breaks as she steps away from me and my hand shoots out, gripping the soft, thin cotton of her shirt to pull her back. I know it’s insanity but an electrical crack of jealously jolts me into action. I knew I couldn’t have her then. I know I can’t have her now, and I want her to be happy but the image of some douchebag putting his hands on my angel sends spike of anguish through me.
Sterling looks down at our linked hands. “Don’t act like you’re mad.Youwalked away fromme.” She tries to shake me loose, but my grip tightens.
She’s right of course, but at this moment in time I don’t care. All I care about is the glint of the moonlight on her hair and the way her chest is rising and falling rapidly as she stares at me. I can’t have her.
But I can have tonight. And it will have to be enough.
I tug her back to me, my arm snaking around her back so she’s locked against me. “Do you want me, Silver?”
Her perfect mouth drops open and she struggles to pull away. “I’m not going to embarrass myself again, Tanner, just so you can laugh and walk away.”
“I wasn’t laughing five years ago, and I’m certainly not laughing now.”
“You left.”
“I did. And I’ll leave again.” I would. I can give in to temptation tonight and then we’ll be leaving for our Chicago show. After that I’ll be holed up in a little cabin with nothing but a lake and some ducks for company. And after that, we’ll be away on the European leg of our tour and maybe finally, after tasting a little bit of heaven, I’ll be able to move on. Only a taste though. I can never take more from her than that.
She deserves better.
But knowing the feel of her skin, learning the sounds she’ll make when I make her come, feeling her body respond to me – maybe it will break this obsession I have.
Finally.
Maybe.
Her gaze clashes with mine. “I’m all grown up now.”
“Do you still want me?” I hold myself very still, her fidgeting causing havoc with my control. “I won’t chase you, Silver. You have to say yes.”
She bites her lip, her uncertainty evident despite her earlier teasing. “You won’t chase because you’re the ‘sublime star’, right?”
That stupid moniker stuck from some article last year about my seemingly endless state of singleness. “Funny you know all this about me, bug.” I shift, sliding my leg between her thighs, watching as her teeth dig deeper into her plush pink lower lip. “But, to answer you, no, it’s not that. I won’t chase you because you started this and if you want to end it, you’ll have to tell me. No more games.”
“It’s not a game.”
“So, what’s it going to be, Silver?”
Deep red tinges her high cheekbones and this time it’s not from anger. “I still want you,” she whispers.
“Even if you know this will go nowhere?” I need her to understand I’m not the guy she can pin her happily ever after on.
Even if I wish I could be.
Her mouth twists into a scowl. “I’m not a little girl, Tanner. Are you afraid I’ll turn into some stalker because you’re just so good?”
I can’t stand it any longer and I slide my hand up her back, under the mass of heavy hair and slowly lower my head, giving her every chance to change her mind, even though if she does it will probably shatter the last little shard of my heart that remains to give a shit about anything. “No, it’s because I’m afraid once I have you, I’ll never be able to let you go.”
I catch the scent of her again, sunshine and memories and my cock twitches, wanting to press itself into her softness. She’s breathing hard, little choppy bursts of air, while her chest rises and falls against me. I want to devour her, and she knows it.
Her lips curve into a smile. “Well, have me then,” she whispers, rubbing her taut nipples against my body.
Her words break through any control I thought I had. My hand grips the back of her neck while my other hand comes up cupping the softness of her cheek, as our mouths crash together. The kiss is hot and hungry. I’m starved for her lemon-sugar sweetness and I’m drowning in the sensation of her tongue brushing against mine, her cool hands gliding under my t-shirt as she rakes her nails lightly down my back.
I can’t believe this is finally happening.
I’m going to hell.
10
