“Not at all,” I said lightly. I sat near her without touching.
The lightning flashed rapidly. Just as thunder struck, I said, “Should we take bets on who’s going to make it?”
Her wince at the sound this time was smaller, briefer. Replaced by a sexy grin. “Detective versus detective,” she mused. “I bet our investigative skills and ability to read body language should help.”
“Surely two people with advanced understanding of human nature can guess who’s going to make passionate love to each other,” I said mildly. She snorted, head falling to her knees.
“Surely,” she agreed. She turned her head. I could barely make out her face beneath a curtain of hair. “Thank you, Abe.”
Her gratitude wasn’t necessary. And the more Sloane revealed her secrets, her fears, her sweetness, the faster I was falling for her.
Which was—surely—going to be a problem.
31
Sloane
I woke a few hours later—disoriented, unsure of the time. Hazy morning light filtered in through the curtains, and the alarm clock read 7:18 a.m.
And Abe Royal was asleep on top of me.
I had nodded off eventually after our third episode of Love Island. As the storm ebbed away, he kept me laughing with his dry humor. We didn’t speak again about my parents or his father, my past or his. He kept things light and distracting, reading my needs perfectly.
For which I was unbearably grateful.
My body, my muscles, even my heart felt tender. Last night had been a true unburdening, and it was actually painful. Every time I’d laugh at a joke, I’d catch him watching me with a cautious, but obvious, affection. A friendly affection that respected my boundaries.
It appeared he had also read my boundaries and needs as we slept. Deep down, I wanted this man with a blinding lust, and my subconscious had made sure we found each other. Abe’s head rested on my breasts, my arms holding him there tightly. My bare legs hooked around his waist.
His hand had slipped beneath my white sleep shirt, palm hot on the bare skin of my ribcage. His long fingers were splayed there, barely brushing the sides of my breasts. Every time he exhaled, his breath caressed my nipples, already hardening through my shirt. And against my hip I could feel his cock, hard and heavy.
No fucking no fucking no fucking, I chanted. My fingers caressed his hair. His fingers caressed my bare skin. What had he said last night? My attraction to you is all-consuming.
His back muscles flexed beneath my wandering hands. His head moved slightly, breath hot on my collarbone.
No fucking no fuck—
“Sloane.” The man’s voice in the morning grated like boulders. It literally dripped with sex.
“Abraham.”
“It appears we’ve broken our rule,” he said. “Again.”
My thigh moved higher around his hips. His palm skated down my ribcage, exploring.
“We can’t be trusted in our sleep,” I said, smiling against his hair. If this was wrong, and we’d declared it to be wrong, why did it feel so deliciously good? We were melded to each other in what was essentially a sleepy weekend cuddle. And my body was on fucking fire.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped. He turned his face, dragged his open, hot mouth along my skin.
“Please don’t be,” I gasped. His fingers traced the swell of my breast. Tentative. I wanted more. Harder. Rougher. I wanted dirty from Abe Royal. “I’m probably at fault here.”
“Why is that?” His nose caressed my throat. I actually whimpered.
“Based on our positions, I’d say I captured you.” I tightened my hold on his body to prove my point.
His laugh was low, sleepy. “Is that so?”
“I broke the rule.” I traced the shell of his ear with my finger, and he shivered.
“I’m fairly certain I was a willing participant.” He cupped my breast inside my shirt, rolling my nipple beneath his palm. My entire body arched clear off the bed with a breathless, grateful moan. He responded with a frustrated-sounding growl against my neck. “Why did we have this goddamn rule again?”
“I don’t know,” I panted. I gripped his hair. Gave it a hard tug. His open-mouthed kiss became a bite at my throat. His ragged groan became snarl-like. “I can’t remember why we made it.”
“Distractions.” Abe’s tongue lapped at the mark he’d left. Then he bit me again. “We can’t be distracted right now, Sloane.” His thumb circled lazily around my nipple. My eyes fluttered closed.
“Uh huh,” I sighed. His mouth moved lower, hovered over my shirt-clad breasts. He nudged his nose against my nipple. Sucked it right into his mouth.
Through my fucking shirt.
I didn’t even recognize the sound that clawed its way from deep in my body.
“And this… this is a distraction.” My legs rode higher on his hips. He settled his body more firmly onto mine, face against my breasts. One hand was still palming, kneading, my breasts beneath my shirt. The other was languidly stroking up and down my thigh, teasing it higher until he could hook it over his shoulder. He increased his suction, sending hot, electric jolts to my core. “And this will only lead to devastation.”
“A distracting devastation,” he murmured. “Remind me why fucking you is going to devastate me again, Sloane?”
I couldn’t fucking remember. I couldn’t— “Because if our fucking is anything like our kissing, there’s no going back, is there?”
He stilled completely. I gripped his face with both hands, needing to anchor myself to him through this once-in-a-lifetime feeling I’d never experienced before.
“No,” Abe said. “There’s no going back.” He kissed my palm. “The problem being, not fucking you is now the distraction. I’m not sure I could focus on this case right now if it was a matter of life and goddamn death.”
I traced his bottom lip with my thumb. He nipped it with his teeth. Beneath his hips, my legs began to shake—a sure-fire sign of impending orgasm for me. My hips rolled, mindless. He noticed, his eyes burning into mine. His lip curled back into a snarl, and his composure was this close to snapping. I’d craved this from the moment I’d seen him, restrained as hell in that tailored suit.
“If we hadn’t been interrupted at that bar,” I said, “I would have gotten on my knees right there and—”
“Sloane, don’t.” His hand landed over my mouth. Hips pinning me harder. “I’ll lose my damn mind if you say it.”
I arched my brow, defiant. I snatched his hand from my mouth, wrenched my hips up, had Abe Royal on his back a moment later.
As his look of surprise turned wolfish, I pressed his hands into the mattress and lowered my sex onto his erection, straining at his sweatpants. “Sucked your cock.” I whispered the words against his mouth. But when he reared up to capture my lips, I kept us separate. Just like that night, before our kiss, when Abe made absolutely sure I was prepared for what happened next.
“Do to me what you will,” I said. “Fuck me until we can’t stand and I’ve forgotten my name, your name, the date, and where the hell we are.” I dropped my mouth to his again. “Ravage me, Mr. Royal.”