“I think you’re lying.” I snap open the button of her shorts and she whimpers, closing her eyes, my grip on her chin firming.
“Uh-uh, pretty girl. Eyes on me while I touch you.” I slip my hand to the front of her little scrap of denim and her panties and instantly find her soaking. Her eyes snap open at the same time her mouth does. “Mmm, just as I thought.” I lunge forward, slamming my lips on her and kissing her with all the desperate need that is building inside me. “You’re fucking soaked.”
She groans and then her fingers are in my hair and pulling me harder against her. I circle the tight little bud between her legs, soaking up her whimpers with my tongue. She is a fucking delicacy; her sounds, her taste. And even when I fight for control, to bring her to her knees, it’s me who is utterly ruined by her perfection, and yet again I find myself wanting to worship at her altar.
“Fuck, Rosie.” I push two fingers inside her, curling and stroking her in the spot I know sends her over quickly. “Tell me the truth,” I grit through clenched teeth.
“I hate you.” She squirms in my hands as I pump faster, using my palm to circle her clit.
“More pretty lies, Rosebud.” I reach down, sucking on the sensitive spot of her neck below her ear, a little reminder of who owns all her thoughts, who she denies to be crazy about, even as my fingers work faster, driving her closer to the point of no return.
“Oh shit.”She moans and I feel her body clench, her nails scraping at my hair, and with complete satisfaction, I wait for the telling response of her pussy fluttering against my fingers before I rip my hand out of her shorts.
Her groan of protest is pained. “No, what are you doing.” She’s perfectly breathless and I let myself take all of her in, committing it to memory, for later.
“Tell me you think of me, that youneedme. Tell me that this is something other than just fucking to get it out of our systems. Tell me something other than the lies you tell yourself and I’ll make you come so hard you can’t walk.” I watch as she nervously bites her lip, her pulse hammering away in her neck, and I take a step back.
“Caleb.” She protests, though she doesn’t reach for me, or close the distance.
“Say what I want to hear, Rosie.”
She grunts and folds her arm over her chest. So incredibly stubborn, and so fucking beautiful.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I can see the internal fight between keeping all her cards close to her chest and actually allowing herself to accept something other than the life she’s always known.
“Hope your imagination is working for you then, Rosebud.” I smile, pleased at her frustration.Good,it’s nice to have someone else feeling the utter misery of being so desperately obsessed. I take a quick step forward to kiss her pretty cheek that is pink with the flush I had her worked up into.
“Sleep tight,” I whisper, my lips briefly brushing hers before leaving her in the hall, closing myself in my dark and lonely room. I don’t know why I tortured myself this way. It would be so easy to discard everything I said and drag her into this bed and fuck her brainless, just like we do best. But Rosie has herself wrapped completely around me and I’m a breath from falling off an edge I don’t know how to come back from. And I need to know she’s right there with me, or at least on her way, before I can leap.
I can hear her quiet Spanish curses and the slam of the door. Satisfied she’s in her room, I take a cold—freezing—shower and thankfully fall into a somewhat restful sleep. It’s not long and it feels like I’ve been hit by a bus when I wake up the next morning.
Determined to tease my little vixen some more, and even just to get a glimpse of those dark brown eyes, I head for the kitchen in nothing but my boxers. Rubbing away the sleep from my eyes, I stretch and look over to the windows, basking in the early morning sun that lights up the city that I love and miss. When I search the kitchen again, a little piece of paper catches my attention. And my heart sinks when I read it.
Caught the early flight, see you in NYC.
R
She’s gone.
CHAPTER 29
the rug was pulled
Rosie
“Iread that manuscript and I love it! Set up a meeting and chat with the author to get an idea of what they’re after. I have a great feeling about this one.” I beam at Jasper, who sits in the chair opposite me. In my corner office. Because I’m the editor in chief of my very own imprint, Blush Books.Really I thought it was hilarious to announce it to Chris, who is Mr. Blush himself.
“On it. So, how’s boss life, I feel like we don’t see you anymore.” Jasper leans forward, his smile cheeky as he quickly types something on his phone and then turns back to me. I flick over my calendar and emails but don’t note anything pressing, so I allow myself the few quick minutes to touch base with my friends. I do kind of miss them.
“Uh, it’s amazing.”
Halle storms through my office door, closing it behind her and skipping into the other seat opposite me. “Heard it was gossip time.” She giggles, with another strip of red licorice in her mouth. How her teeth haven’t fallen out, I will never know.
“It is not gossip time, it is precious work time.” I eye them both but then get a little ball of excitement in my belly at the prospect of spending just five minutes talking smack with these two. I check the time again and then lean back in my chair. “Okay, fine. Five minutes trash time. Go.”
“Okay, you and Mr. Thirteen?—”
“You can just call him Caleb.”
