Page 18 of Grip Me Tight
I sigh. How she went from an amenable little girl who was happy to say ‘how high’ if I asked her jump to a stubborn brat tempting me to strangle her is a mystery. “Why do you want to stay down here?” I ask, turning to her as I back up towards the path.
“Listen, you interrupted me. I’m fine by myself.”
She lifts her hair off the back of her neck and lets it fall back into waves around her face. She’s so naturally beautiful my breath catches. Our eyes meet again, and she slows her movements, sweeping her hair over one shoulder and running her hand under the teeny strap of her shirt. “Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m just waiting for you to follow me back to the party.” Did she see the hunger in my gaze? The yearning to pull that strap down and lick her sun-kissed skin?
She folds her arms, the movement causing her full breasts to lift under the thin material, and I look away.
“Why did you kiss me tonight?”
I should say something mean, something to make her want to throw rocks at me, but I can’t. The softness of her plush lips against mine felt like falling and flying at the same time. I shake my head, not trusting myself to talk.
“Maybe I do keep your picture under my pillow.”
My head snaps up. “What are you talking about?”
“Before you kissed me. You wanted to know if I slept with your picture under my pillow, remember?” Her arms fall to her sides and she saunters towards me. “What if I do?” She stops just out of my reach. “You say it doesn’t turn you on.” Her voice drops to a husky whisper. “What if you knew what I do when I look at it?”
I can’t speak. I need to speak, I need to break the intimacy of the warm summer night, the sound of peepers in the grass and the soft rush of the waves against the dock cocooning us as if we’re the only people in the world, but I can’t. I can only see her plump lips twisted in a smirk, her eyes sparkling with mischief and the low, husky sound of her voice makes my heart twist in my chest.
What I wouldn’t give to hear that sound first thing in the morning as she lies warm and sleepy in my arms. My body tightens and she leans towards me, one hand cupped around her mouth like she’s telling a secret.
“What if you knew how I hold your picture with one hand while my other hand slides under the sheets and I touch myself pretending it’s you?”
9
Tanner
“Jesus, Silver.” My knees buckle at the image she’s painting in my mind. “Stop it.”
She bites her lip, uncertainty in her eyes, but takes another step forward and then another. “You’re not leaving, Tanner.”
I look up at the stars to distract myself from what is happening right in front of me. It’s everything I could ever want but shouldn’t and she’s right, I’m not leaving even though I know I should be running up that path as far away from the temptation of her words as possible. I feel her soft, warm breath on my chest and my fists clench to stop myself from reaching for her.
“I’m down here.”
I glance down, her angel face right in front of my heart and I wish I was the type of man who drank or lost himself in the oblivion of the drugs that are as common as candy in my world. I wish I was the type of man who fucked his way through every groupie who spread her legs and never ever thought about anything other than where my next high was going to come from and whether I’d have some grade-A pussy to sweeten the experience.
But I’m not that type of man. I’ve never been able to get her out of my head. Every woman I’d ever slept with felt like a betrayal, which is so fucked up because other than the one kiss five years ago, I’d made Sterling no promises. But I couldn’t shake feeling like being with anyone else was wrong, so finally I’d given that up too. And now here I am back on the same literal fucking path I was five years ago wondering why I can’t take what is being offered by the girl I can’t forget.
She holds my gaze and lifts her hands slowly, hooking them in the pockets of my shorts. I almost laugh. A couple days back here and I’m looking as preppy as Noah in my khakis and beat-up deck shoes. The laugh dies in my throat as she pulls my hips to hers, her eyes widening when she feels my hard cock against her belly.
“I thought you were leaving.”
“I am.”
Her hand drops between us, and I hiss a breath at how close she is to breaking me.
“Is this what happens whenever there’s a willing groupie around?”
I drop my forehead to hers. “Christ, no.”
“What is this then?”
Her hand brushes the front of my shorts and I feel like a fifteen-year-old virgin with his first girlfriend instead of last year’s sexiest man alive. “Don’t…”
Sterling pulls away slightly, but not enough for the heat of her body to stop seeping into mine. “Don’t what, Tanner? Don’t remind you how I begged you to take my virginity down here five years ago?” She leans in again and whispers, “don’t worry, I won’t do that again. You lost that chance.”
