“I’ve felt things for you that no other woman has ever made me feel. I’ve wanted things from you I’ve never wanted from another person. I’m pissed, but don’t think for a second I’m going to turn my back on you and feed you to the wolves.”
“Then, what are—”
Covering my mouth with his, he molded me against him. “I’m going to kiss you,” he said between hot kisses. “I’m going to be selfish and kiss you because it’s the only goddamn thing that makes sense to me right now.”
Dizzy when he drew away, I dragged him back to me. “Touch me,” I said. Because I didn’t know what would happen between us tomorrow or the next day. I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to feel him like this again.
“Here?” he rasped against my throat, and I nodded.
I shivered as his hands skimmed my hips, arching my back when his fingers found the hem of my dress. Burrowing his face to my neck, he inhaled my scent—the perfume that drove him crazy.
He shoved the blue and white dress up around my mid-section. “I can’t say no to you.”
“Don’t. Just ... touch me.”
He leaned me against the desk and dipped his fingers beneath the lace of my panties. Dragging them down slowly, he stopped a few times to kiss the insides of my thighs and various spots on my legs. On his knees in front of me, he touched his mouth to my hipbones, and I sucked in a harsh gasp.
“Ticklish, Gemma?” he asked, and all I could do was nod.
He’d called me Gemma.
Still holding my breath, I reached out to grasp his hair, but he grabbed my hand. Kissing the inside of my wrist, he ripped my glove off and then did the same with the other hand, stuffing both gloves deep in his pockets.
“Now,” he rasped and parted my legs to tongue my clit. When I whimpered, he lazily finished, “Now you can touch me however you want, beautiful.”
Sifting my fingers through the soft brown locks, I tugged until he came to his feet and took possession of my mouth greedily. Our hands were all over the place, and a few seconds after I heard his zipper open, he picked me up.
“How do you want me?” I whispered.
He rubbed the head of his erection against my pussy and licked the corners of my mouth. “Slowly,” he drawled, and I tightened my legs around his waist.
“Slowly?” I panted.
“You heard me the first time, Gemma.” He eased himself inside me just a fraction before giving me a sexy grin. “Very, very slowly.”
For what seemed like an eternity, he teased me like this, gradually entering my sex—drawing the moment out until it was agonizing. Finally, I let out a frustrated noise and bucked my hips until his cock filled me.
I sighed with pleasure, and he chuckled into the crook of my neck. “I love your impatience. Love the way—”
I brought his lips to mine to silence him.
Then, with the noise of the party that was taking place in the courtyard fading into the background, and the sound of him breathing me in, he kept his word, taking me slowly. And I realized just how hard I had fallen for Oliver Manning.
*
My tryst with Oliver was still in the front of my mind during work the following day, but if I expected my stepmother to mention the dance her son and I had shared in her courtyard, she surprised me by giving me my usual lists of tasks before waving me off.
She’d done a complete one-eighty overnight, and it played with my head almost as much as everything else she was up to.
Focusing on Margaret’s sudden lack of interest as I drove home from work, I was still deep in thought when I entered my apartment building, so I didn’t realize someone was waiting by my door until I nearly ran over him.
“You’re all over the place, Gem,” a familiar male voice teased, and I stared up in relief at Linc Connelly’s out-of-control beard and wide smile. “Pen told you I was coming this weekend, didn’t she?”
“She did, but I didn’t realize you were already here.” Still, I was ecstatic to see him. With Oliver’s promise to keep my identity to himself and Linc being in town, I was hopeful for the first time in days. “You don’t know how relieved I am to see you.”
He leaned his shoulder to the wall. “Apparently my sister isn’t as enthusiastic about me being in Los Angeles. She was supposed to be here when I showed up, but she’s not answering her texts. Good thing I stuck around a few minutes—I’m exhausted.”
Thinking about all the legwork Pen had done for me the last several weeks, I bit the inside of my lip. “She’s been busy,” I explained as I jiggled my key in the lock. “Stop giving her such a hard time.”
“I’ll stop giving her a hard time when she does the same for me.”
Opening the apartment door, I gave Linc a dark look as I motioned him inside. I kicked off my heels and gestured toward the living room. “Make yourself at home. When Pen comes in ... there are a few things we need to talk about.”
I started to leave the foyer, but he grabbed my arm. “Is everything okay?” Before I could say anything, his phone buzzed, and he lifted a finger. “Hold that thought.”
“Five bucks it’s Pen,” I laughed nervously.
A second later, he wiggled the screen close to my face. “Speak of the devil.” Scanning the message quickly, he snorted. “She said she’s doing some work, but she’ll be here shortly.”
“Like I said, Pen’s been busy.”
“Hacking,” he said with a smirk, and I scowled. “Don’t even deny it, Gem, because we both know it’s true. If she doesn’t pull it together soon, she’s going to be stuck in a loop for the rest of her life.”
Jabbing my tongue in my cheek, I prepared to defend my brilliant friend, but the shiver moving down my spine stopped me. “What did you just say to me?” I asked, my voice hushed.
“I said that if she doesn’t pull it together soon, she’s going to be stuck in a loop for the rest of her life,” he repeated, and as I listened to him, I heard a similar statement in the back of my mind.
“Unless you want to be stuck in the loop you’re in for the rest of your life. Your body will only get you so far.”
My mouth dropped open, and red spots pranced in front of my vision.
When they faded, I stared up at the man who’d come into my life, bringing my best friend and a sense of family after I lost mine. I took in the short dark hair and green eyes that belonged to a person who’d been like a brother to me. And when those green eyes widened, and the emotions reflected in them went from surprise to recognition to shame, I knew I was staring at the person who’d encouraged me to turn my life upside down.
Before I realized what I was doing, I heard a sharp echo through the silent apartment as my hand flew across his face.
Chapter 21
Reeling back from my blow, Linc clutched the side of his face, his forehead wrinkled in an angry scowl. Like he should be angry. “What the fuck was that for, Gemma?” he demanded, and my nostrils flared.
“You know exactly what it was for! I know what you did.” Clenching and unclenching my hand to shake out the pain throbbing through it, I took a few steps backward, glowering at Linc until it felt like acid clung to my lashes. He didn’t move an inch. He just stared back at me, his expression crestfallen as he scuffed the soles of his Vans against my foyer floor. “What you just said about Pen is the exact wording you used the night you called me six months ago.”
“Calm down and—”
“Don’t tell me to keep calm! Don’t you dare tell me a damn thing other than what your real reason for calling me was.”
The veins in his neck straining against his skin, he lowered his face, offering me a better view of the bright red handprint on the left side of his cheek. I was glad I put it there. It matched the smack in the face that was dealt to me when I figured out he was the person whose call had started all this.
“You disguised your voice. You tricked me.” Clearing my throat, I added, “And please don’t say it was for my own good. If that were the case, you would have come right to me.”