Stone Deep: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance (Stone Brothers Book 3) (2 page)

Chapter 4

Britton

My heart was racing. It could have been because I’d chugged the heavily caffeinated drinks or because a complete stranger, albeit an extremely hot and ridiculously confident stranger, was racing my car along the winding coastal highway. Or it could have been that I was still pumped up about what I’d done. It hadn’t gotten me any closer to Damon, but it had felt good to scare the crap out of his creepy brother, Kyle, for a few seconds.

Kyle and his thickheaded lackeys were still tailing us. I looked at the guy behind the steering wheel of the car. Oddly enough, he seemed to be enjoying himself. “Sorry I got you involved in this. I’m Britton, by the way.”

“Slade.” His extremely green eyes kept shifting from the rearview to the side view. “And, technically, I got myself involved.” He put his hand on the shifter. “We’re about to hit the one straight stretch of highway. If the other side is clear, I’m going for it.”

“Going for what?” I asked just as his foot pressed down on the clutch. My body was tossed back against the seat as the car shot forward. My fingers grabbed the edge of my seat as he swerved into the opposite lane and passed a truck and two cars before slicing back into the lane. The motorcycles were left behind.

“Ha!” He smacked the steering wheel. “I really need to get me one of these. Where did you get this one?”

I turned and glanced out the window. The sea looked rough and impatient as white, foamy crests rolled in toward the rocks. “It’s my sister’s car.”

“She’s got good taste in cars.”

“She’s dead.”

He grew quiet. “Sorry.”

“That’s all right. You didn’t know. There’s the motel across the highway.” I looked back over the seat. “I don’t see them anymore. Guess it’s good I handed my keys over to
Bolt
, the race car driver.”

His smile added two thin lines next to his mouth. “See?
Bolt
, it works, right?”

“My god, is there anyone more cocky on this whole planet?”

“Actually, yes. I have two brothers.”

I pointed to the parking lot entrance. The ‘no vacancy’ light was flashing, but there were only three other cars parked in front of the shabby, pale pink motel.

“Let’s see if there’s any place to park behind the building.” He drove the car to the end and maneuvered between the trash bin and the last room. A small open space covered by weeds and trash that had blown from the dumpster was just big enough for my car. He parked.

I looked around. We were hidden from the road. “Very smart. Hopefully, the manager won’t have it towed. I looked over at him. He filled up the front of the little car with his broad shoulders and big arms. He had a lot of tattoos and looked like a guy who’d done plenty of sketchy things in his short life. There was no way to deny that he was incredible to look at. “I’m guessing from the way you handled all three guys at the bar, and the way you managed to out maneuver them on the road, that you’ve done something like this before.”

“What? You mean carry a hotheaded, gun-wielding girl from a crowded bar? Every other night.” He turned off the engine and handed me the keys. “Sweet ride. I’ll walk you to your door and make sure you get inside.”

“Do you live nearby? How are you getting home?”

“I live about six miles south. I’ll figure a way home.”

We stepped out of the car. A lacy fog was beginning to drift onshore. Even though Slade looked like the kind of guy who could handle just about any hazard standing in his way, a walk along the highway in fog made anyone, even a tall, hunky man, completely mortal.

“I feel bad leaving you stranded.” Everything in my life had been peeling off in crazy ass directions, and tonight, I’d pulled something completely bonkers. It hadn’t gotten me very far but it’d felt damn good, almost therapeutic. Now I was amped up on caffeine and being walked to my sleazy motel room door by what had to be one of the hottest men I’d ever met, and suddenly, it seemed completely appropriate to continue on the same, absolutely wild, totally careless path.

I fished for the key in my pocket and turned back toward Slade. A layer of coastal mist floated past his face. With his deep green eyes, he looked a little out of this world, like the devil himself had sent one of his men down to walk me to my room.

“So, I was thinking—” I looked back at the pink door with the number six on it. “I believe that when you’re staying in a cheap motel on the interstate, you’re required to have tawdry, uninhibited sex with some secret lover or a stranger or”—I waved my arm in front of him—“or your partner in crime.”

His brow lifted. “I like where this is going.”

“And since I’m completely hyped up on caffeine or whatever the hell rocket fuel they put in those damn energy drinks, and since I probably won’t be able to sleep for hours, and since the room is just a little too small for pacing properly and since I’m standing here with
this
—” Again, I waved my arm in front of him.

“
This
?” he asked.

“You know, really hot guy with the muscles and the ink and the cocky confidence, and, damn—you took on three guys at once with the ease that a mortal man takes on swatting a fly.” I was rambling and I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It had been that kind of a night. Hell, it had been that kind of a year. “Anyhow, you look like you might be—how should I put it—?”

“Skilled with the ladies?” he added.

“Yes. Eloquently put, by the way, because I was going to say a fun fuck.”

He gazed down at me looking a little baffled.

The confidence this crazy night had given me suddenly vanished. “Of course, if you don’t want—”

Before I could finish, he had me in his grip and pushed up against the warped room six door. His mouth covered mine, and as his kiss deepened, my body felt more and more relaxed in his arms. He was a complete stranger. All he’d done was take hold of my waist, press his hard body against mine and kiss me, but I’d never felt so completely comfortable and ready in my life. It was the rush of the crazy night, I told myself. It couldn’t be anything else.

“Key?” His deep voice floated through the delirium he’d already kicked up in my head.

Not completely convinced I could manage to fit it into the lock, I held the key up to him. His tongue still stroked my lips as he reached one hand forward, and, without even looking at it, unlocked the door.

I stumbled back as the door flung open. He grabbed me to keep me from falling onto my butt and shut the door with his foot. His hand reached back and flicked on the light. It cast a fluorescent yellow glow over the shabbily decorated room.

He hadn’t missed a stroke. His mouth covered mine as he reached down and took hold of my sweatshirt. Our mouths parted long enough for him to sweep my sweatshirt and the shirt beneath up and off in one fluid movement. I could hardly catch my breath between kisses. When he yanked off his shirt, I felt nearly dizzy with desire. I couldn’t ever remember wanting someone as badly.

“Jeez,” I muttered on a long sigh. “Are you for real?”

His hands took hold of my waist, and he stared down as his fingers encircled me completely. “Funny, my hot little pixie, I was just thinking the same thing about you. What fucking enchanted forest did you float out of, cuz I’m starting to believe in little winged people.”

I smiled. “I was only a pound and a half when I was born. I guess my mom could have kept me under a toadstool if she’d wanted. Fortunately, she didn’t.”

His fingers reached up, and he slid my bra straps down my shoulders, exposing my naked breasts to his gaze. Warm moisture pooled in my pussy as he smiled admiringly at them.

“Tiny or not, these pretty tits are more than enough.” He rubbed his thumb over my taut nipple. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. Something about him made me want to forget anything that troubled me and throw all caution and reason and rational thought to the wind.

I hopped up on my tiptoes and kissed his neck. He smelled of soap and beer and sex, and my senses were running on overload. My skin warmed instantly as his hands caressed my back. He dragged his hand around my waist and found the button on my jeans. This was really happening. Physically, there was just no way I could stop in the middle of this now. I wasn’t sure if it was the thrill of standing in a cheap motel room with a completely intoxicating stranger or if it had just been so long since I’d felt like this, but there was no way I could back out now.

A sobering thought occurred to me as he unzipped my pants.

“Uh, Slade, do you have—”

His mouth tilted up. “Yes, I do.”

“I guess I should have figured. With
this
and everything.” I leaned back and waved my hand in front of him like I had out in the hallway. “Okie dokie. I’m going to stop talking now because I’m extremely horny, and I don’t want to ruin the mo—”

He silenced my blathering with another kiss. This one was more urgent. With clear, precise movements, he pushed my pants down below my hips. “Shoes off, Tink.” His warm breath tickled my ear as his mouth pressed against it. “I want you naked.”

I needed no prodding. His demand to see me naked only intensified the ache in my pussy, and all I could think about was him between my legs. I clutched at his arms for support as I lifted up one leg at a time and pulled off my shoes.

I started to push my jeans off, but he lifted his hand and motioned for me to turn around. “I want to watch from behind as you shimmy those jeans off, and take it nice and slow cuz you have the cutest ass to go with the rest of you. Oh, and lose the panties at the same time.”

I circled my bare feet around and took a deep breath. Knowing he was standing directly behind me, watching me, made me shiver with pleasure. I hooked my thumb in my panties. “Just so you know, I don’t go around doing stuff like this often.”

“Do you mean pulling guns on people or inviting strangers into your motel rooms?”

“Well, both.”

He’d moved behind me so quietly, I hadn’t heard him. But I could feel the heat of his body just inches from mine. His large shadow fell over me, and I could hear each breath he took.

“Hey,” he said quietly over my shoulder, “if you don’t want to do this just say so. I’ll be heartbroken and disappointed. Fuck,” he groaned, “really disappointed, but just say the word, Tink, and I’ll leave.”

I stood there for a second looking at his giant shadow on the wall in front of me. I slowly pushed my jeans to the floor, and my panties dropped with them. Without turning around, I reached back for his hand. I pressed it between my thighs, and his fingers curled into the hot, moist folds of my pussy.

A low, deep sound rolled up from his throat. “Guess that means you want me to stay.” His fingers slid through the moisture and inside of me.

I pressed my back against his chest and wrapped my hands around his arms for support. “Yes,” I whispered. “Stay.” He continued his erotic exploration of my pussy, nearly stroking me to the edge of an orgasm using just his thumb and finger. With his free hand, he unzipped his jeans. His hard cock pressed against the small of my back. It was slick with wetness and it pushed urgently against me, begging for relief.

I sighed in disappointment as he removed his hand from between my legs long enough to push off his jeans and shoes. I turned around and gazed down at his naked body as he ripped open the condom package with his teeth. He was a perfectly sculpted hunk of a man.

I couldn’t hold back a smile. “I am so glad I didn’t just tell you to leave. If nothing else, I can die knowing that I spent a long, passionate night in a motel room with
this
.” I went to wave my hand in front of him again, but he grabbed my wrist.

He pulled my arms up around his shoulders and cupped his hands under my ass. He lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me a few steps to the wall and pressed my back up against it. His kisses were hard, almost bruising, and I was just fine with that. I was nearly crazed from wanting him.

“Fuck me,” I whispered in his ear, “and in this, I don’t want lightning fast,
Bolt
. I want slow and deep.”

His mouth turned up in a grin as he kissed me. His hands dug into my ass as he held me tightly and drove his cock inside of me. I’d wanted it so badly, a low, involuntary moan of relief ushered from my mouth.

“God, baby, I’d knew you’d feel this good. You are fucking sweet as honey wrapped around my cock.” He held me tighter against him and pushed deeper with each thrust of his hips.

Then, he did something I wasn’t expecting. He lifted one hand and pressed it against my face. He looked at me in way that made my chest ache. He kissed me lightly. “You’re the last thing I expected when I walked out of the house tonight, Britton.”

It was the first moment that I’d experienced a slight regret at my decision to do this. But the regret wasn’t from having sex with a man I’d only just met. It was a dull ache that started deep in my chest, a tiny glimmer of heartbreak in knowing that after this quick, wild night I’d never see him again.

He lowered his hand between our bodies, and his thumb stroked deliciously over my clit. I writhed in his grasp, bracing myself against the wall to feel the full impact as he pumped his cock inside of me. As my body flowed to the edge, I grabbed his arms. My head dropped back against the wall. “Yes, hell yes,” I cried.

“That’s it, come for me, baby.” His erotic plea was all I needed. My body spilled over into a raging orgasm as my pussy clamped around his cock.” He moved faster and harder and the waves of pleasure continued to pulse through me as he brought himself to climax. His powerful arms tightened around me, nearly squeezing the life from me as he came.

I dropped my shaky arms around his neck, and he carried me toward the bed. Our ragged breaths and the occasional passing car on the highway were the only sounds in the room. He reached down and yanked open the covers with one hand. I climbed onto the bed and watched his beautiful and completely intimidating physique as he crossed the room. Every thick, well-toned strand of muscle moved as he reached up to turn off the light.

I pulled in a quietly stunned breath. Interspersed with the black ink of his tattoos, scars crisscrossed the skin on his back and shoulders. Belt marks or strap marks that looked as if they’d been there for awhile. Some of them were stretched as if he’d been much smaller when he’d received them. He plodded back toward the bed and sat down.

I reached up and dragged my fingers along the ridges of the scar on his shoulder. He froze for a second, and I was sure I’d made a mistake by touching the scars.

Then his deep voice floated through the dark room. “My dad was a first class asshole. But he’s gone now. Those are the legacy he left behind. Some dads leave an important family name or a fortune or great memories. My old man left my brothers and me with the scars.” He leaned back, and I wasn’t completely sure he would welcome it, but I curled up against his chest.

His arm wrapped around me and pulled me a little closer. “Strange. I never talk about those marks. Don’t know why I did just now.” He turned his chin, and I peered up at him. “Maybe I’ve been bewitched. Or maybe it’s those incredible brown eyes. Or just maybe it’s because we went through that whole Bonnie and Clyde thing together tonight.”

“Only we didn’t get away with any loot,” I reminded him.

“But you did break the motorcycle mirror.” His fingers caressed my shoulder. “I only caught part of it, but it sounded like you were looking for someone. Someone named Damon.”

I shut my eyes briefly and lost myself temporarily in the feel of his strong arms. Everything in my life had unraveled in the last six months, and all the strands were waving so wildly in the wind, I couldn’t gather them back up. I’d been lost since my sister’s death, and I was floating aimlessly, wondering when or if I’d ever hit land again. “Damon was my sister’s horrid boyfriend. I think he had something to do with her death.”

“Damn. I wasn’t expecting that answer. That’s rough, Tink. I’m sorry. That’s got to be hard.”

“Perris and I were born three minutes apart. We were identical. She could finish my sentences, and I could feel her happiness or sadness even if she was a hundred miles away. I knew she was in a lot of pain when she was with Damon, but I couldn’t convince her to leave him. He had this awful control over her. I have to find him.”