Heat tinged her cheeks and she ducked her gaze to the ground to hide how affected she was by him. “I can make you something to eat,” she said softly.
His attention stayed focused on her with every step she took into the kitchen.
When she reached the counter where a loaf of bread sat, he was behind her. His fingertips drifted to her hips and he turned her slowly. “You don’t have to do that.” He gripped her waist gently and lifted her onto the counter. “Let me.”
“Okay.” Trina locked her arms against the counter and watched him pull a carton of eggs from the fridge. She couldn’t help but think of how different it was in this home compared to Manning’s. Her King had a fancy, huge mansion that served a huge Murder. She had a room she shared with Ren, and they had minimal furniture but it was nice, and the room clean, and the kitchen was all granite countertops and fancy backsplash. Everything was clean and well designed and should’ve felt like a home, but it didn’t. It felt empty.
Here, in this old dilapidated trailer with Nuke, with its minimal furniture and uneven floors, dinged-up woodblock kitchen counters and scuffed cabinets…it felt warm. It felt full.
Perhaps that was because Nuke existed here.
“I was always supposed to cook where I come from,” she said.
“For men?”
Trina nodded. “I always hated cooking because I was supposed to do it. It was a part of my job, I guess. But last night I looked up something for a meal my mom used to make. Spaghetti was my favorite when I was a kid. She didn’t make it some fancy way, where her sauce was from scratch or anything. It was a boxed kit that came with noodles and seasoning and parmesan cheese. She added hamburger meat and tomato sauce, and made garlic bread, but really it was just hot dog buns cut up longways and dipped in melted butter and garlic salt and toasted in the oven for a few minutes.” Trina shrugged up her shoulders. “Anyway, it wasn’t anything fancy, but I remember making it with my mom and my sister and we had fun. And eating it was fun. There was no ‘supposed to’ about it.” She gripped the edge of the counter and smiled at Nuke. “Everything feels different when you have a choice.”
“You want to cook it here?” he asked. “I’ll cook with you, if you want.”
And that…that was the difference between Nuke and Manning. Manning demanded service, and Nuke only seemed to want time with her—time where she was comfortable and relaxed. There was no ‘supposed to’ with Nuke.
“Do they still make the spaghetti kit?” he asked.
“Yep. I found it. They sell it at grocery stores still.”
Nuke eased her knees apart and settled between them. “I like when you tell me the real stuff.”
“Oh yeah?” She hooked her hands behind his elbows to keep him here, settled near her as she relaxed on the counter. “Well, whiskey makes me mushy, I’m clumsy most days, I don’t like bacon but I like bacon bits, I’m choosy about what pens I write with, I feel prettiest when my toenails are painted bright colors, I want a puppy someday, sometimes I have entire dreams of me eating whole meals, I’m scared to death of flying cockroaches, I tie my shoelaces strangely, I love sleeping in oversized T-shirts, I’m really bad at ordering food at drive-throughs because I can never choose what I want that fast, and I have…” Oooh, she’d almost blurted something she didn’t mean to.
The smile drifted from his face. “You have what?”
Just say it. She was too chicken to look him in the eyes when she said it, so she looked down at the perfect line his pecs made against his T-shirt. “I have a crush on a boy who intimidates me a little.”
The only sound in the room was his soft breathing. “Why does he intimidate you?”
“Because he’s very handsome, and very strong, and very dominant.” She swallowed hard. “But he’s also very kind and understanding, and for some reason, that scares me worse than him being a dragon.”
He hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. “Why?”
“Because I’ve never met anyone like you, and sometimes you feel very big.”
Nuke’s eyes drifted to her lips for only a moment before he kissed her. With a soft sigh, she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he yanked on the backs of her knees and dragged her to the edge of the counter. His hands drifted everywhere and he created heat with every inch of skin he touched.
She wanted him, plain and simple. She’d never wanted anyone like this in her entire life. It wasn’t controlled or easing into touching each other either…it was gasoline thrown on a spark.
With a gasp, she parted from him just enough to peel her shirt over her head.
“Oh my God,” he murmured as he looked at her bra. She was wearing her favorite black push-up today. His hands found the fullness of her breasts, massaging as he kissed her again, and then his hand was at her back, unsnapping the bra. Nuke yanked the obstacle off her arms and leaned in, drawing the tight bud of her nipple into his mouth as he dragged her closer to him. Trina arched back and yelled out, her hands in his hair. Desperate for more, she pulled his shirt over his head and threw it on the ground, and now she could feel him. His skin was fire, too hot to be human. The rumble in his chest was consuming, and she lost her mind entirely when he pulled her other nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.
“Tarek,” she whispered shakily.
Nuke’s snarl got louder as he pulled her hips against his waist and yanked her off the counter. She curled around him and kissed him, parting her lips so he could slip his tongue against hers. God, his skin felt divine against hers.
Trina’s back hit the mattress and she drove her knees farther apart, rocking her hips upward against his. She could feel how excited he was. His big, thick shaft was hard as stone against his jeans.
With fumbling fingers, she reached between them and unsnapped his button, ripped his zipper downward, and shoved his jeans down his thighs. He lifted just enough to slide out of the fabric and when he settled back onto her, she moaned again. His dick was laying right against her wet folds.
Gripping the back of her hair, Nuke lowered his lips to her neck and sucked hard, rocking against her sex and oooh it felt so good.
He was so close. So close. Every time he moved against her, he got closer to her entrance and she wanted to feel him. Needed to.
Trina moved with him, begging silently for more, and when he lifted his lips to hers again, she knew he would give in. He would give it to her. The head of his cock slid into her, and she arched back and cried out.
Nuke eased out and then slammed deep into her, and nothing else existed. Nothing else mattered but the movement of his body inside of hers.
“You’re doing so good at taking it,” he murmured against her ear. “So wet for me. So tight.”
His words dragged her to climax faster. The pressure was real, and building, and she couldn’t stop the wave of pleasure that consumed her body. Pulsing deeply, she gripped the back of his hair and yelled a string of curses she hadn’t even realized she knew how to use.
Nuke’s snarling was getting louder, and he drove deep, deep, dredging up every aftershock from her body. And when they were done, he began to build the pressure inside of her again. Only this time, he was slamming into her faster, harder, his body tensed and flexed and hard as stone against hers. She could feel every flex of his abs as he pumped into her and that was it. She was there again. “Nuke, please,” she begged. “Go deep, go deep!”