That First Kiss (12 page)

16

“That night we met,” Tate began as he slid closer to her, boldly skimming his hand up her thigh. He watched her face, monitoring her reception. “I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.”

              Piper snorted. “Right. I’m sure you say that to all the girls. Right before you haul them into the bathroom and screw their brains out.”

             
Tate smirked. “If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly a talkative person.”

             
“Yeah, I kind of figured that one out all on my own, thanks.”

             
Tate sighed. “Look, could we scrap the attitude for a minute?”

             
“Could you get your hand off my leg?” she retorted. Piper slapped at his hand, but he squeezed it harder, determined to keep it right where it was. He’d come this far. He wasn’t about to lose any ground now.

             
“Not going to happen, doll,” he said sternly. “Now, I am going to speak, and you are going to listen.” His voice rose to drown out her protest. “I knew when I laid eyes on you that you were something special. I watched you talking with your friends for a while, gauging your mood, studying your mannerisms. Did you know that when you laugh, your whole face lights up?” He continued, not willing to let her speak and derail his thoughts. “Then you looked at me, and I swear, my heart stopped beating. For just a moment, it was like we were connected by some invisible string and I knew then that I was going to talk to you before the night was through. I just had to wait for you to break away from all those women.” He chuckled, recalling how hungry those women looked that night. They were on the hunt and men were on their menu. Piper was the only one who didn’t have that primal look in her eye that night. Everything about her said that she was there to enjoy herself, and he had been drawn to her because of that.

             
“When you left the table with your friends to dance, I saw my chance and I took it.” His finger stroked the inside of her thigh, seeking higher ground as his thoughts rolled forward. Piper’s eyes trained on his face, hanging on his every word. “I didn’t intend for things to get as heated as they did, but as soon as I touched you, I needed more. I couldn’t help myself. You
possessed
me.”

             
The glazed look in her eye told him that she was remembering that night as vividly as he was. Placing both hands on the cushions on either side of her body, he hemmed her in, bringing their faces so close that when he spoke, his lips grazed hers. “The way you danced that night, pushing that sweet little ass of yours against me. It’s haunted me, Piper,” he whispered. “You need to understand, I tried to resist you, just like I have
been
trying to resist you, but you drive me crazy. When I’m with you, it takes everything in me to stay away. All I think about, all I
dream
about is burying myself inside you.”

             
Piper licked her lips and Tate zeroed in on the tiny movement. “I want to suck those plump lips into my mouth,” he murmured. Shifting, he brought his knee up so it rested on the couch alongside hers and hovered over her. Her face was flushed and her chest rose and fell heavily. She wasn’t unaffected.

             
“You need to leave,” she said weakly.

             
Tate chose that moment to drop his head into the crook of her neck, nuzzling her. She smelled faintly of roses, and his cock jumped at her soft, feminine scent. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked softly.

             
He could feel her softening beneath him, her breath coming out in shudders as he skimmed his lips lightly up her neck to her ear, where he licked the pulse beating rapidly beneath her sensitive skin. “Yes.”

             
The single word left her on a stilted breath, only solidifying his need to get inside her. “I don’t think you do,” he murmured. With sure hands, Tate grabbed the backs of her thighs and yanked her toward him, seating her firmly beneath him on her back with her legs spread wide. He dropped his hips, moaning when his hardened cock pressed against the heat radiating from her core. “Fuck, I like you like this. Under me. Around me.” He hadn’t fucked a woman face-to-face in over a year, and what better way to start than with this woman.

             
Piper’s eyes squeezed shut and her hips bucked once, instinctively drawing him closer, seeking release. Tate moved slowly, pushing into her through their clothes as his hands found her breasts. “You want this. You want me. Tell me you do, Piper.”

             
“No.” She shook her head, her hands coming up to push against his chest.

             
“You do,” Tate insisted. He suckled her neck, running his tongue up and down the soft column of flesh. She gasped, and the hands that had pushed him away were now gripping his shirt, pulling him closer. This was the response he was searching for. He knew she wanted him, her body practically cried out for him to take her, but her head kept interfering. “Don’t over think it. You want this,” he told her again. “Remember what it felt like the first time? Do you remember how it felt to have me inside you? I do,” he grunted in her ear as he ground his hips against her. “You were so wet, baby. So fucking tight. You made me come so hard. Let me inside, baby. Say yes and I will make you feel so good.”

             
Her answering moan was all he needed to hear. Tate wasted no time. Reaching between them, he found her wet heat and nearly lost it. “God, you’re panties are soaked, baby.” Moving the delicate, lacy material to the side, he slid two fingers over her slick opening.

             
“Tate,” she gasped, her eyes flying open.

“Are you still bleedi
ng?” he questioned as he kissed a path to her breasts.

“My cycles are short,” she panted. “It ended this afternoon.”
Her hands clutched his shoulders as he pushed two fingers inside, meeting no resistance, and worked them in and out.

             
“Do you like that?” he asked, though he knew she did. With their eyes locked, he crooked his fingers inside her, and she nearly shot off the couch. “You do,” he crooned, repeating the motion. “Mmm, just think, if my fingers feel this good, how good my cock will feel. Do you want that? Do you want me inside you, Piper?”

             
She nodded, and he was happy to see that he already had her panting for her release. “Tate, I need…I need…”

             
Well, he aimed to please. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll take care of you.” Leaning back, Tate slipped his fingers free of her eliciting a small whimper. Hooking her panties with his thumbs, Tate drew them down her legs and tossed them aside. “God, look at you,” he told her. “You’re so beautiful.” Laying there, her face flushed, her lips swollen from her biting them, she looked good enough to eat.

             
Gripping her knees, Tate pushed her legs open wider, letting his eyes drift down between them. “Fuck.” Her pussy was swollen and pink, glistening with her juices. “I want to kiss you here.” He glanced up at her to make sure it was okay. She nodded slightly, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as he shifted, getting down onto his knees on the floor. He pulled her closer, angling her body until her ass met the edge of the cushion.

             
“I bet you taste incredible.” Lifting her legs to rest on his shoulders, he bent his head and swiped his tongue up her slit. Piper cried out. He nearly came in his pants. “Fuck, I was right. You taste like heaven dipped in chocolate.” All talking ceased as Tate dipped his tongue into her slick channel, lapping up her cream like he was starving. He swirled the tip of his tongue around her swollen clit, his thumbs parting her lips for him to feast. Piper panted and squirmed as he teased her. When he sucked her clit between his lips, she fisted his hair, lifting her hips to his mouth.

             
Tate was like a man possessed as he fucked her with his mouth. He couldn’t get enough of her. For as many women as he had slept with, he’d never spent much time making sure they got off. His pleasure was more singular. But with Piper, he was driven. He wanted to see her come apart around him. He wanted to feel her release on his fingers, against his mouth, around his cock. He could think of nothing better. Her pleasure was his.

             
“Tate, please,” Piper begged tugging on his hair. “More.”

             
Tate flicked his tongue over her clit faster, focusing on the tight little nub. He could feel her body tensing, her legs on his shoulders locking down on him. She was close, but she needed something more. He found her aching pussy and drove his fingers inside, and his eyes rose to meet hers, watching from between her legs as she splintered apart.

Piper’s whole body convulsed, her back arching off the sofa as she cried out his name. Her pussy became drenched, soaking his fingers. He held them inside her,
relishing the feel of her clenching muscles, imagining what it was going to feel like wrapped around his cock as he came deep inside her. The thought alone threatened to pull him under into his own explosive climax.

With one last shudder, Piper slumped into the couch cushions looking completely sated. Tate withdrew his fingers from her body and rose up on his knees. His cock was throbbing painfully. He was dying to get inside of her, to find his release
, too.

“What are you doing?” Piper asked, alarmed. She sat up and looked at him with wide eyes. Tate paused, his fingers still pinching the button of his jeans.

“Taking my clothes off?” He was confused by her reaction.

She shook her head adamantly. “No, you’re not.” Shoving against his chest, Piper scrambled to her feet and righted her clothing. “You need to leave now.”

“What?” Tate stood, watching her with barely concealed rage. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Appearing completely unfazed by his anger, Piper stared at him with her hands propped on her hips. Like he was annoying her or something. “I just gave you a damn orgasm and you’re kicking me out?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had better.”

Tate’s jaw clenched and his fists balled at his sides. He could just throttle her. “Unbelievable. You know, for someone who let me fuck them in the middle of a public bathroom, I never would have figured you to be such a bitch. I don’t know why I ever thought we could have something. I must be a fucking lunatic.”

She slapped him, her open palm connecting with his face
with a deafening crack.

Tate took a threatening step forward, and Piper, seeing the rage in his eyes, wilted before him. The effect didn’t last long, and he watched as she drew herself up tall, her spine going rigid with determination.

For a split second, Tate thought he might have glimpsed a spark of hurt in those brown eyes, but no, that was just merciless, unforgiving fire dancing in their dark depths. “Oh? And just what was it you thought we could have?”

Tate smiled cruelly
as he turned his back on her and swung open the front door. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He couldn’t slam the door hard enough. Piper had made him weak, but no more.

He didn’t bother with the elevator, opting for the stairs and taking them two at a time. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough. A
s Tate stormed out of the building and onto the street, he swore to never let Piper Donovan get under his skin again.

***
**

“That douchebag called you a what?” Shelia screeched in her ear and Piper had to pull the phone away to save whatever hearing she had left.

             
She had called her right after Tate left. Well, after she had stopped crying, that is. Why did his calling her a bitch and storming out cause her to act like a blubbering idiot? Hormones. That had to be it. At least that’s what she was telling herself, because the ache in her chest definitely wasn’t caused by him. Probably heartburn. “You heard me,” she said dismally.

             
“Well, that asshole,” Shelia breathed down the line. Piper could practically hear the steam coming out of her ears. “And to think that I was going to do you a solid and take that piece of hotness off your hands. Well, he can just think again!”

             
“Thanks, Sheila. Your generosity knows no bounds, truly.” Piper couldn’t help smiling a little. There was a reason she called this woman her friend, and it was because she always knew how to make her smile, even when it was the last thing she felt like doing.

             
“That’s what I’m here for, doll.” Piper cringed at her chosen endearment, her thoughts reflecting back to when Tate had used it on her. She didn’t want to think about any of that. “So, are you going to kick his ass, or should I do the honors?”

             
Piper stared at the door Tate had blown out of less than an hour ago and sighed. “I just want to forget about all of this.”