coloring her tone. I put both my hands on her face and tilted her head back so that we were eye to eye.
“I can’t change the past, Casper, not any of it. I can’t make any of those girls or the fact you walked in on them on Sunday mornings time and time again disappear. I can’t bring Remy back or go back in time and not call him for a ride that night. There are probably a million and one regrets I have, and if they are going to be between us here or in bed, then let’s just stop it now, because I’m not going to do combat over my past when my future is finally starting to be something I want to invest in.”
She lifted her hands up and grasped my wrists; at first I thought she was going to push me away but she didn’t. She leaned forward and let her forehead hit the center of my chest. “Rule, if this goes bad it’s gonna be so, so bad.” Her voice was just a husky whisper against my chest.
“True, but if it’s good, it’s going to be so very, very good.” I tunneled my fingers through her hair and she let her hands fall to my shoulders. We weren’t a perfect match; she was a lot shorter than me, and I had to admit that I knew logically we made an odd pair physically, but there was just something about her. Something about the way she curved into me, the way she sighed my name like a prayer, the way she smelled like sunshine and sweetness and everything yummy all wrapped into one bite that made none of that matter. It made her the only girl I could ever remember wanting to hold on to for more than a fleeting minute of time.
She started to pull my shirt over my head and I laughed a little when she got mad when it got stuck on my spiky hair. She made a face at me and tossed it over her shoulder onto the floor. She used a finger to poke the front tip of the spiked-up hawk and lifted an eyebrow. “You look hot with a Mohawk, Rule, but I gotta say this hair is more trouble than it’s worth.”
She trailed her hands over my ribs and stopped to look at the artwork imprinted there. On one side was a grim reaper that ran from under my armpit to the top of my thigh. On the other side was a beautiful angel and in between them on my back was a massive Gothic cross that went from shoulder blade to shoulder blade and ended at my tailbone, scrolling from shoulder to shoulder and on an elegant banner was “Remy” in bold script. I had more inked skin than not and although I normally didn’t think anything about it, being naked next to her in all her pale, perfect-skinned glory it seemed slightly overwhelming. Her hands moved lower and before I had even kissed her she was messing with my belt buckle.
“Remy would have loved that piece, you know? He always used to tell me he was so glad when you started getting tattooed. He said someone having the same face as him was always too weird, but then you started looking so different. He was glad it was you because there was no way he could tolerate sitting still long enough to get anything done.”
It was true. Remy was always moving, always fidgeting and twitching. He would have never been able to sit long enough for a session, and every time I had come home with a new piece I wanted to show off, he had been the first to see it. He had promised to let me draw up something for him once I completed my apprenticeship, but he died before I finished. It was one of those million regrets I had mentioned earlier.
Shaw was making short work of my pants and I had the sudden need to slow her down, so I picked her up like she was a little doll and tossed her onto the center of my bed. She bounced and ended up sprawled on her back spread-eagle. I toed off my boots and let my pants fall the rest of the way off, since I typically just went commando. When I crawled up over her I was naked and she was still fully dressed. Her eyes got big because I put my hands under her shirt and dropped down to plant a bunch of kisses along her throat.
“You’re like good whiskey, Shaw. You go to a guy’s head quick and smooth. Last time we blazed through a bunch of the good stuff. Why don’t we slow it down a little this time?” I let my fingers brush over the halter top and felt her body get tight. She bent her legs so that I was cradled in between and, despite our size difference, we fit together just fine. She let her hands roam all across my back and I felt the edge of her nails bite into my skin and the press of her heels into the curve of my ass—it was awesome.
“I was afraid last time that if we slowed down to think you would stop and I felt like I would die if you stopped.”
I had my hands under her top now and she was making little gasping noises that made me harder than I already was. I got her shirt off by untying the laces and letting it fall around her waist in a pool of fabric and sealed her mouth shut with mine. She didn’t hesitate to kiss me back and I decided then and there that kissing Shaw was probably as close to heaven as I was ever going to get. There was just the right amount of give and take, just the right amount of tongue and teeth, just the right amount of breathless pull that made me see stars and want to tear her pants off and forge ahead like a marauder. She wasn’t kidding about liking the jewelry in my mouth. She rubbed her tongue across the barbell and rubbed her bottom lip across the hoop in a way that had my eyes drifting closed and almost making me forget that I was supposed to be showing her that there were lots of good stuff we had flashed past last time.
“See, I don’t think we spent any time here.” I ran my thumb over her nipple and watched as it puckered instantly at my touch. “You are so pretty and pink, Shaw, and I don’t think you even know the half of it.” I let my tongue run across the base of her throat and down until I had one peak in my mouth. She tasted as sweet as she smelled, and the idea that I was the only one who got to do this to her, that she was mine, just mine, made it all even better. She muttered my name and arched up as I worked her over pretty good with my mouth on her breasts. She was undulating under me, pulling me closer to her with greedy hands and rubbing against the part of me that was fully agreeing with her that I was moving too slowly. I let go of the flesh I was torturing with a soft pop and kissed her breastbone. “See, good stuff.”
She sighed. “Totally.” I propped my weight up on an elbow and traced a path from her throat to her belly button. The taut skin on her belly quivered a little when I traced a pattern around the small indent. I liked the way my tattooed skin looked against her much clearer canvas. I also got a little kick out of the fact that when I flattened my palm against her belly that my name went from one side to the other, claiming what I was quickly starting to consider my very own. I let my thumb hook under the top of her jeans and rubbed a pattern that made her wiggle enticingly against me.
“Rule.” There was a hitch in her voice. “What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing.” I kissed her again and took my time about it. I wanted her to know that she affected me just as much as I seemed to be affecting her. Normally, when I was with a girl, I was all about instant gratification. There was no buildup, no anticipation. I mean, I liked to think that I had developed some pretty good moves over the years, but I was also a big fan of getting to the finish line in as little time as possible. I wasn’t there to create memories; I was there for a mind-numbing orgasm and a minute of peace. But Shaw was different. With her I was different, and this thing happening between us was most definitely different.
I got under her supertight jeans and was surprised to find that she hadn’t bothered with anything underneath. I pulled my head up and grinned down at her. “Commando?”
She shrugged and shifted a little when my fingers brushed over all her soft and warm parts. “What? These jeans are practically painted on and no matter how tiny the panties are, they show, so no underwear was the only option.”
“I would never have pegged you for the type.” She gasped my name out as I made my way into her damp heat. Her whole body bowed up against mine and I caught her across her back to keep her there under my ministrations. The friction between what I was doing and her tight jeans was making her quake in my arms and I knew it was only a matter of time before she came apart in my hands. “You’re always so proper and put together, who knew underneath was such a naughty girl?” She was slick and fluttery,
