The word you sharpened into a yelp when his palm landed on my ass with a sharp sting.
“That was for the fragile ego quip you made earlier. This…” Slap. “…is for the hallway. And this…” The hardest strike of all, one that made my body jerk on impact. “…is for driving me fucking insane.”
A pleading sob fell out of my mouth when Josh yanked my head back so his mouth hovered near my ear. “Tell me why I can’t stop thinking about you. Hmm? What the fuck did you do to me?”
I shook my head, unable to form a response or make sense of the pain and pleasure ricocheting through me.
I was on fire. Skin blazing, tears and drool pooling on the table beneath me, but it all burned so exquisitely I never wanted it to stop.
Josh’s low snarl rumbled down my spine and made my toes curl. “Hold on to the table.”
I heard the faint tear of a foil wrapper. I just managed to curl my hands around the cool wood before he was inside me, driving deep and hard into my pussy with each upward thrust.
I cried out, my mind emptying of any thoughts except the sensation of his cock pounding into me and the slide of his skin against mine.
No Max. No secrets. No lies. Just ecstasy in its purest, most undiluted form.
“Still hate me?” Josh’s fingers dug into my throat with just enough pressure to intensify the heartbeat between my legs.
“Always,” I gasped. I was getting lightheaded, but when I gripped his wrist, I didn’t know whether it was to push him off…or keep him there.
His mouth curved into a tiny smirk as he stared at me in the mirror above the table—his eyes glittering with lust, the skin over those knife-blade cheekbones stretched taut with anger.
“Good.”
The table banged against the wall with each savage thrust. My eyes fluttered closed from the sheer overload of sensation, but they flew open again when Josh gave my hair another sharp tug.
“Open your eyes, Red.” His other hand gripped my throat harder, and a fresh burst of arousal clouded my vision. The pressure, the ease with which his grip encompassed my throat, it all felt horrifyingly right, like I was made to wear his fingers around my neck. “I want you to see exactly whose cock you’re taking.”
My skin flushed hotter than it already was. I stared at our reflections, taking in my glazed eyes and swollen lips. Hands on the table, back arched, head pulled back by Josh’s firm grip. I looked humiliatingly wanton, like I’d been fucked within an inch of my life and still wanted more.
Behind me, desire carved harsh lines into Josh’s features, and his eyes burned into mine as he resumed his thrusts. Slowly this time, feeding his cock into me inch by inch until he was buried to the hilt.
He leaned down and tugged gently on my earlobe with his teeth. “Whose cock, Red?”
“Yours,” I whimpered.
“That’s right. Now tell me…” He pulled out and slammed back into me with so much force I would’ve slid across the counter had his hand not still gripped my throat. “Does this feel fragile to you?”
“Mmmph.” I managed a garbled reply, but even that faded into a string of moans when Josh picked up speed and settled into a punishing rhythm.
My first orgasm hit me like a lightning bolt, so sudden and explosive I didn’t get a chance to process it before the second one rolled in. Slower, then building up, up, up until it crashed over me and drowned me with mind-numbing pleasure.
When Josh finished with me, I’d come so hard so many times I was a boneless wreck. I collapsed on the table, my body quivering while he rubbed his palms over my ass and soothed the burn from his ruthless spanking earlier.
“You look so beautiful like this.” His gentle voice was at complete odds with the feral way he’d fucked me, but it settled over my skin like a warm blanket. He continued rubbing me with soft strokes until the burn faded and my breaths returned to normal.
He turned me around, cleaned me up with one of the paper towels lining the shelves, and pulled my dress down around my thighs before sitting me on the table.
“Feel better?” he asked casually, like he hadn’t just destroyed me in a club supply closet.
“Uh-huh.” I was too dazed to come up with a more coherent response, though part of me realized Josh knew all along what this was—a distraction I’d goaded him into giving me, as hard as he could.
His mouth twitched with amusement, though his eyes remained heavy-lidded with desire. “Good. Now say goodbye to any friends you came with. I have plans for round two, and they require more space than we presently have.”
Round two. Right.
My brain still wasn’t functioning properly, but round two sounded good to me.
I should spend the first night in my new apartment, but the prospect of lying awake in my room, plagued with panic over what to do about Max, seemed less appealing than eating dirt.
My stomach twisted when thoughts of Max and his amorphous favor crept back in, erasing some of my high.
No. Tomorrow. I’ll deal with him tomorrow.
I waited a few minutes after Josh left before I finally gathered the strength to stand on my own. I fixed my hair and makeup the best I could, but I wasn’t a magician. There was no way I could go back into the club looking the way I did.
I sent my friends a quick text instead, telling them I’d met a guy and I would check in with them later. They were used to me doing this in our college days, so they didn’t question me.
I snuck out of the supply closet and slipped out the back exit.
My stomach fluttered when I saw Josh waiting for me, his lean, muscled form silhouetted against the moonlight.
This was crazy. I was crazy for sneaking behind everyone’s backs to hook up with him. I didn’t even like the guy.
But like and need were different things, and right now, I needed what only he could give me.
I just hoped I didn’t get too addicted in the process.
23
JOSH
Jules and I barely made it into my house before I was inside her again.
We’d already had sex once tonight. That should’ve taken the edge off my need, but I was addicted to this. To her. Her taste, her smell, the little breathy moans she let out every time I thrust into her and the way her pussy clamped around my cock like it was made for me. I wanted all of it, all the time.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this ravenous over a woman. It would’ve been concerning had I given a single fuck, but I subscribed to the philosophy that we should enjoy the good things while they lasted. And I was enjoying the fuck out of myself…with one notable thorn in our encounter.
“Who was the guy, Red?” I slowed my thrusts so I could reach between us and stroke her clit. A dark smile curled my mouth when her head fell back and her lips parted at the touch.
I’d been distracted by Jules’s obvious provocation at Hyacinth. Now that I was home, something clawed at my chest when I remembered the way her old friend brushed her hair out of her face. It had been an intimate, knowing touch, the kind you only gave someone you’d slept with.
Given Jules’s reaction when he left, she hadn’t been thrilled to see him, but that didn’t stop the irrational beast inside me from rearing its ugly head.