“But how?—”
The pad of his thumb traced my bottom lip. He leaned forward, his nose grazing along mine as he pressed into me, insisting, “Take what you need, Alta. Take it from me, take it out on me. Take whatever, baby. Just make sure it's with me.”
And he kissed me.
Soft at first. His cushiony lips pressing over mine in a mirror of the way I’d pressed into him the other day. A question, a precursor to what came next. Waiting for my response, I shuddered, the feeling just as good now as it was before, but not as simple. Not with the way he soon pressed further, his hand finding the back of my neck and tilting my head the way he wanted. My lips parted on a soft pant and he used the opening to slide his tongue inside.
He groaned when I touched mine back to his and growled when I pushed in further, desperate to explore him more. The hand that was not controlling my neck was firmly gripping my thigh, squeezing and stroking in a way that elicited an ache at the center of me.
All over, his touch made me heated. Teleporting me from being in the tattoo shop to being in the clouds. I liked the way he controlled everything, from the position of my neck to the pace in which he ravaged my mouth. He had this, and he knew how to make it feel good. Showing me, just like he said he would.
But something about the way Gus responded to my own touch.The vocal ways in which he hummed, moaned,groanedwhen I did as little as respond to him had me remembering that this was my show. He said so himself.Take it out on him.
And even though his lips were already making me feel loose, maybe even a little too loose as I slipped a little closer to him, my legs tightening around his hips, I wanted to try it.
I moved my hands. Sliding them up his chest and circling them behind his neck. Then I tugged him over me. It wasn’t soft either. The force pulled him so far down that he had to catch himself and me with a palm pressed to the counter and another to the middle of my back. I didn’t stop there, especially not when he growled his approval and kissed me harder as a result. I met him with just as rough of a kiss. Our mouths scraping together with friction and fervor, our tongues hot yet soothing as they passed over and over each other, and our bodies smashed together like they were next.
In my haze of taking, my hips slid even further. My chest arching up into his as he held onto my back like I was hanging over a cliff. And when that part of me connected with nothing other than his freaking belt. A whimpering moan fell out of me so hard that I trembled.
Harper pulled away, our lips breaking apart but our heads and bodies continued to press together. Our breathing was ragged and out of tune as we both sucked in air.
“Shit, Alta,” he hissed, and another tremble passed through me at the guttural sound of his voice.
Had I done that to him?
I peeled my eyes open, my head tipping back slightly so I could peek at him. What I saw made me want to do it all over again.
Here was a man who smiled at every turn, who constantly teased me and challenged me. Here was a guy who, until recently, I was sure I’d never seen with a serious bone in his body. And he was staring at me like he wanted to eat me alive.
In a good way.
Clearing my throat, I leaned backward against my hands to keep my balance. I managed to meet his eye as I asked, “Like that?”
“Yeah, baby.” He was still looking at me in a daze. Clearing his throat, he added, “Just like that.”
My stomach somersaulted at his husky words. It took me a while to place it, but I realized after a moment that Gus Harper wasflustered.
I couldn’t help it, I giggled at his astonished expression. I also couldn’t help the electric sense of triumph that raced through my body.
I finally let it out.
Chapter Fourteen
AUGUSTUS
This was a bad idea. A terrible idea. I should have known it was going to rip me apart.
Two things were becoming abundantly clear in the days that followed the little brunette coming into my shop and rocking my world. One. Alta Fernandez could fucking kiss. And two. She knew how to make a man wait.
I knew when I noticed her jogging halfheartedly in front of the shop that day, something would happen. That she was finally going to break.
I didn’t know it was going to feel likethat. Like my world was suddenly in flames and she was holding thematch. And now I couldn’t go a second without thinking about her lips, her body, her tiny little moans…Her smile when she laughed.
I remember wanting to kiss her more, but that laugh had stopped me cold. She looked so free, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. And so different, like her ever present guard was finally down with me. I’d been speechless. And hungry to do it again.
But the week following was not one that inspired many kisses or laughs for that matter. She was all over the place, hustling and bustling in preparations for her big party. So I could only sit back and watch her as she took the world by storm.
Now, flashes of booths and games and that surprisingly familiar face stripped my brain of all thoughts of Alta and brought it back to my past. To summer camp in Connecticut where I fought a boy at breakfast and we’d become friends by lunch. When I left Connecticut and my family behind, I’d left my contacts too. I didn’t need them where I was going, and I didn’t want the reminder.
