“I never expected dirty business talk to turn me on,” I said. “But I accept your offer.”
She grinned, then pulled my already hard cock free. Watching her study it for a moment before taking it in her mouth gave me goose bumps. She felt so unbelievably good. Her lips were so warm, and her hot tongue slid across my crown, making my knees nearly give out.
I gripped her hair and watched, transfixed, as she bobbed her head back and forth. She’d occasionally open her eyes to gaze up at me, and those moments of eye contact were enough to nearly push me over the edge.
“I want to come inside you again,” I said, pulling her back.
She put her hands on the grass behind her and spread her legs so that her dress rode up, giving me a spectacular view of her pink panties, which were visibly wet. An involuntary growling noise rumbled in my chest as I crawled on top of her.
“I can’t believe I wasted seven years without you,” I said.
Miranda’s hands went to my face. She seemed to have a habit of roaming my features with her fingertips, which I was quickly beginning to find sexy as hell. “I was thinking the same thing. I was also thinking if we wrap this up quickly, we could still see some of the heavier watermelons at the end.”
I glared. “Just for that, I’m going to take my time.”
“Damn,” she said sarcastically. “Nick King taking his time while he sleeps with me. That sounds like torture.”
I smirked. “No, but telling you that you’re not allowed to come until I give you permission might qualify.”
“What?” she asked. “How am I supposed to control that?”
I answered her question by pulling her panties to the side and guiding my still-wet cock into her. The way her tight walls had to gradually stretch and relax to fit me felt sublime.
Her eyes closed, and her lips parted.
“Oh,” she gasped. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop it for long.”
I hiked her legs up so I could get even deeper and didn’t hold back. The idea of making her hold her orgasm was driving me wild, especially when I saw how much she already appeared to be struggling. Her fingertips dug into the grass, ripping small paths of dirt in their wake.
I increased my pace relentlessly, watching her face all the while. The wet sounds of our sex seemed particularly out of place among the distant chirping of birds and the soft breeze rustling the flowers. I grinned at the thought. I couldn’t have said how many times I thought of desecrating these same hills with Miranda Collins back when I was a teenager. The fact that I was finally doing it seemed too good to be true.
But it was more than that. The sex felt like an extension of something deeper. Something pure. Even back then, I think we both knew there was a connection between us that we couldn’t find anywhere else. We were wired the same way, but we’d taken different paths and still wound up circling back together.
Doing this. Being here. It all felt so fucking right that it hurt. It was almost frightening. My feelings for her were growing so quickly that I wasn’t even sure I was in control of them anymore. Stupid, hopelessly romantic thoughts kept bubbling up in my mind, threatening to turn into spoken words. Love. Marriage. Kids. I couldn’t tell if those ideas were coming to me because I was practical and they were the logical result of a relationship if it didn’t fail. But I’d never thought about them seriously with any other girlfriend.
Miranda’s eyes closed tight, and her hands clenched into fists, squeezing clumps of dirt out from between her fingers. “Nick—I can’t—” she gasped. “I’m going to—”
I slowed down and bent to kiss her neck. I pulled free of her but let the length of my cock rest on her clit so that each small movement of my hips would stimulate her. I took my time kissing her—tasting her—and just when I could feel her start to come down from the edge of climax, I’d use my hips to bring her back.
She was gasping for breath and moaning with each exhalation by the time I pulled her dress down and took her nipple between my teeth.
“Nick,” she breathed.
I wouldn’t admit it, but it was me who couldn’t hold back any longer. I brought my mouth to hers and buried myself in her as deeply as I could.
She felt so damn good. It was only minutes before she clenched tight around me. Her body curled up, and she dug her fingers into my back as she cried out. Watching her come pushed me over the edge. My balls went tight, and I filled her for the second time in twenty-four hours, which was a particularly enjoyable thought.
“Sorry for the mess,” I said, rolling off her.
She was lying on her back, staring up at the sky. “With you, it’s kind of hot . . . ‘the mess,’ I mean,” she added.
I smirked. “You like when I mark you, is that it?”
Miranda rolled to her side and returned my smile. “Something like that.” She bit her lip, then kissed me. “You know Robbie probably isn’t going to let us just walk off into the sunset together, right?”
“I was thinking the same thing. His deal with Max was an attempt to scare you into his control again. But if he was willing to go that far, I’m worried he’ll have something else planned.”
“I’d feel a lot better if I knew what it was that he was planning.”
I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “We’ll handle it. Whatever it is. Together.”
She nodded, then closed her eyes and nuzzled into me.
I let out a long, contented sigh. I might not know what Robbie was planning, but I finally knew what I wanted. I was done hiding behind half truths. It didn’t matter what label I wanted to put on my feelings for Miranda. Maybe it was already love, or maybe I was an idiot for thinking I even knew what that was. It was stronger than anything I’d ever felt, and it turned my life on its head. All the things that had taken priority were now in the back seat to this—to her.
I needed her, and I wasn’t going to let anything come between us. Not this time.
Chapter 27
MIRANDA
Max Frost’s story went live on the air three days after I left LA. As promised, it was salacious, sensational, and utterly ridiculous. Everybody in West Valley was buzzing with gossip the following day when I met Iris and Kira at Bradley’s. They had suggested we move our morning ritual to one of their houses to avoid stares, but I wasn’t going to hide.
“You sure you don’t want to go to my place?” Kira asked. She had even ordered her bagel in a to-go bag, I noticed.
“No,” I said. “I want them to have to look me in the eye while they spread their gossip. The story was a lie. Anybody who wants to believe it instead of asking me to my face is welcome to think what they want.”
Iris whipped out her nightstick, which she didn’t seem to have quite the same fondness for ever since finding Cade. “Or I could use the power of the law to compel them.”
“Isn’t that what they say during exorcisms?” Kira asked.
“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter what I say if I whack them hard enough in the boobs with this,” Iris said.
“Thanks, but really,” I said, “it’s okay.”
Iris studied me for a few seconds, then pointed at me. “What happened to you in Julian Ridge—other than getting T-boned by Nick, that is?”