Page 97 of Lead Me On
“That was part of it. I wanted to make him proud, to repay him for loving me. And I wanted to be better than my mother, instead of worse. Most of all, that night…once the pills wore off, I was so horrified and ashamed of what I’d done. And so scared of what might’ve happened. And I knew that cop hadn’t offered help because he thought I’d deserved what I’d gotten. It was like I needed to feelthatawful, that low, for any emotion to soak through the rage and alcohol and defiance.”
Chase brushed his lips over her forehead, breathing in the scent of her hair. The burning in his chest started to fade, but some of it just migrated to his eyes. “I can’t believe you actually pulled yourself together after that. At sixteen? That’s amazing.”
Now her fingers were tracing his tattoo, running slowly up and down the black lines. Her weight pressed him down. Goose bumps raced across his skin.
“It didn’t matter. That’s my point, Chase. It didn’t matter that I’d changed. All anyone saw was who I had been. My good behavior was suspect. People at school and in town said I’d had a baby or that I had AIDS. They said I’d been a prostitute and I was on probation. The boys I’d once hung out with were cruel, but the girls were worse. Sometimes it does matter what people think of you.”
“Sometimes,” he acknowledged, “but not anymore. You’re not sixteen. You’re not in high school. You have a good life now and you should be proud of yourself.”
“Well, I’m not. Not when I think of that. I need the security of pretense and appearance. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”
“It’s not the truth. I love who you are now, Jane, but part of that love is because of who you used to be. The changes you made… I don’t know anyone who could have done that out of sheer will. Don’t you want someone who knows who you really are? Wholoveswho you really are?”
“No. I want someone who doesn’t even know that world exists.”
Chase rolled his eyes. God, she was thickheaded, lying on top of him, caressing his tattoo and claiming to want someone like Ned Flanders. “Okay, what about the rest of your wants? You’re going to marry some upstanding white-bread kind of guy, and then… What? Keep someone like me on the side?”
“No!” She put her hand on his chest and pushed up to glare at him. “Why would I do that?”
Chase curved his hand around the back of her neck, spreading his fingers over the heat of her. “Because I turn you on. Because those high-class guys don’t do a thing for you.” He pulled her down until her lips were only an inch from his. “Good girl or not, you’re passionate as hell, Jane.”
He tried to kiss her, but she twisted away. “Stop it!”
“You want to live your whole life like that? Hiding from yourself?”
“Yes! I don’t need this.I don’t.”
He held her still when she tried to push farther away from him. “Yes, you do.” Her heart hammered, her pulse vibrating through his ribs. “You were starving for it.For me.”
When he pulled her down, she resisted again, but when his mouth touched hers, her lips opened. The kiss was hungry and hard. She devoured him, her hands clutching his head. Now instead of struggling to get away, she seemed to be fighting to sink into him.
Her kiss was violent, her fingers digging into his skull, but Chase didn’t care. He was hard within seconds, thrilled to be used.
Aside from framing her face with his hands, he didn’t touch her, but Jane touched him. She dragged her hands down his neck, his shoulders, arms. Her mouth followed, biting and sucking at his skin.
He closed his eyes when she reached for the button of his jeans, then sucked in a deep breath when her hand wrapped around his dick.
Her hand slid down all the way to the base of his erection, then back up, slowly. She watched her own movement, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she worked him.
Chase shuddered, watching her jack him off. Her cheeks flushed, her nipples hardened beneath the thin shirt, her fingers squeezed tighter.
“Ah, God,” he gasped.
Her eyes flew to his, flashing triumph. She let go of him so she could whip off her shirt and wiggle out of her panties. Then she leaned down and came up with one of the condom packages he’d dropped in his hurry to have her earlier.
By the time she rose over him, Chase was panting, but he still didn’t touch her. Instead he clenched his hands to fists as her hot sex touched him, as it slid down, taking him in, squeezing him.
Jane threw her head back and sighed, the lines of her face relaxing. He knew how to make her look that way. He knew how to make her laugh and scream and smile and cry. He knew her. Whether she liked it or not, he knew her.
She began to ride him, and Chase let her take what she needed. Not that it was hardship. She was beautiful, lost in her own pleasure.Sexwith her was beautiful, and it made his heart twist every time.
Despite his vow to let her have her way with him, Chase soon found his hands holding her thighs as he surged up to meet her. He watched the place where their bodies joined, watched his dick sliding in and out, and it was nearly too much. He’d just come a few minutes before, but his body was already tightening to an ache.
Sliding his hand higher, Chase pressed his thumb to her clit.
“Yes,” she whispered as he rubbed her. “Chase.Please.Yes.”
His fingers brushed the slick heat that coated his shaft, and Chase shivered.
