Chapter Twenty-Six

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Lucas

Being alone in the apartment left me with more time to myself than I knew what to do with.

Rosie had gone with Olly soon after he woke up, and as restless as I felt for staying behind, I understood why she had told me it wasn’t a good idea to tag along.

This was time that Rosie, her brother, and dad needed for themselves. As a family. And very much necessary time I could use to cool myself off after what I’d been so close to doing to Rosie earlier in the morning.

Besides, I had been counting on Lina dropping Taco off soon after Rosie departed. Of course, Lina, being the dog-hogger she was, had rescheduled. And now the plan was that Lina would bring Taco here later today when she picked us up to move Rosie’s stuff back to her apartment. Because Rosie was leaving today. She was going back to her place.

And I was coming with her. Unfortunately, not in the way I wanted. I was only going to help, even though I wasn’t going to be of much help. But I… needed to see her back to her apartment. Make sure everything was mended and sorted. See for myself that she’d be safe. Okay.

Liar, a voice in my head claimed. What you want is an excuse to spend more time with her. An excuse to haul her back here, with you, if something in her apartment is marginally out of order.

Yes. Yes. Because after kissing her and having her sleeping beside me, it was hard to ignore this part of me, this beating, pulsing, emotion inside of me, that wanted Rosie. Wanted her badly.

And now… now I was hard again. Just like I’d been the whole day, but worse, because now my head was busy with thoughts of her moving back to her place, of not seeing her anymore.

With a shaky sigh, I checked my watch and noticed I at least had some time before Rosie was back from Philly and Lina came over with Taco.

A shower. Cold. I needed to cool off before either of them showed up.

Slipping inside the bathroom in a rush, I undressed myself. I took a good look in the mirror, pointed a finger at my reflection. “Contrólate, Lucas,” I told my reflection, as if it would help. “You’re being a horny idiot, and this cannot stand.”

But the need in my expression didn’t get any duller and my dick didn’t get any less hard.

With a shake of my head, I turned on the shower—as cold as it’d go—and jumped under the stream of water, closing my eyes the moment it hit my shoulders.

I shouldn’t be feeling this way for a woman I had met just a few weeks ago. A woman I had promised she’d be safe with me. A woman who had become one of my closest friends. My closest friend.

How had this happened?

Rosie affected me in ways no other woman ever had. I wanted to do things for her, everything and anything if she let me. I wanted to make sure that she was okay. More than okay. Not good, but happy. That she accomplished whatever she dreamed of. That she was cared for, cherished.

And God, I wanted to fuck her. Venerate her body. Give her pleasure. With my hands. My mouth. My cock if I’d ever be so lucky. I wanted to treat her like she deserved to be treated, like a gift.

There was no way around it. All of that was there, bubbling under my skin. Demanding to be appeased.

My hands fell to my hips, and I… God. It had been a long time since I relieved all this pressure.

Our living arrangement had lots of perks, but it also had one big disadvantage: the lack of rooms. Of walls. Privacy. We’d proved as much this morning.

The image of Rosie, shifting in my lap, flashed behind my eyes, setting my skin on fire, making my hand slip low, encouraged by the water falling down the sleek planes of my body. Incapable of stopping myself, I finally gave in to the overpowering need I’d been trying to keep at bay for hours and curled my fingers around my cock.

A groan slipped out of my mouth.

Jesus, I was so fucking hard. I was shocked I hadn’t burst when I’d had her body tucked against my lap. Pinned underneath me.

With a labored breath, I stroked myself, base to tip. And my legs almost buckled beneath me.

Bracing my other hand on the cool and slippery tiles of the shower, I continued fisting my hard length. Slow, rough strokes that had me shut my eyes in pain and relief. Torture and pleasure.

My mind summoned images from that morning when it had been Rosie’s ass stroking me. I pictured myself flipping her on her belly, readying myself to make her scream the way I’d promised her. My fist moved up and down my length, keeping the rhythm as I imagined her taste, the feel of her soft body underneath mine, the pink of her skin, the curl of her lips when I finally gave her the orgasm we both craved.

Me vuelve loco.

She drove me crazy. Just the thought of her did, and I’d tell her myself. I’d gladly watch her squirm out of her skin with lust when I hummed those words in Spanish the way she loved so much. I—

Her voice broke through the haze, coiling around me like smoke.

Without stopping my hand, because I couldn’t, I just couldn’t stop, I turned around. Rosie stood in the open bathroom doorway, in her coat, her keys dangling off her hand. Her cheeks were a deep shade of pink I wanted to taste with my tongue, and she was transfixed. Her eyes on my fist as it closed around my cock.

Her throat bobbed and I saw her whole body reacting to the sight. At me naked, stroking myself under the water stream. The green in her eyes liquefied. Her blush spread. Her mouth turned into a beautiful O I was already fantasizing about. Over my skin, around my hardness, on my mouth.

My cock got harder.

Rosie’s gaze met mine. “Don’t stop.” Those glassy eyes confirming that she wasn’t appalled by my lack of control. Not at all. She was excited, flattered. In need. “I heard a cry, and I thought you were hurt.”

I let my forehead drop to the glass door of the shower, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. “I am in pain, ángel.” I pushed away, straightening my back, looking at her straight in her eyes, giving her a show if that was what she wanted. “So much I had to fuck myself.”

She shifted, her gaze returning to my fist. My cock. And I stroked myself harder. Bringing myself closer and closer to the edge. Her eyes moved lower, and I saw the shock, the concern, in her eyes when she noticed the scar on my knee.

She obeyed. And soon, her hand absentmindedly going to her chest, her palm moving down to rest between her breasts.

She nodded her head. “So much.”

Fuck.

She swallowed, and we were suspended in time for a long moment. Then, slowly, very slowly, she let the keys drop to the floor. She opened her coat, revealing the plaid button-down shirt I’d watched her put on that morning. Very delicately, like we weren’t in a rush, and she didn’t know that I was about to come out of my skin with pure lust, she let her coat fall to the floor.

A groan rumbled in my chest, climbing up my throat and leaving me in a burst. “You want me to tell you how to tease your beautiful body the way I would? Want to give me a show and make me crazy like only you can?”

She nodded, her eyes tipping down to my fist, and back up to my face.

I felt myself baring my teeth, the beast unbound, severing and slipping out of the leash.

She did, and my pulse sprinted, my cock throbbing in my fist.

Rosie whimpered, palming her breast while she never stopped watching me.

She nodded and I swallowed, wishing it was my hand around her breast. My fingers on her. My tongue on that rosy peak I needed to see.

My voice dropped when I spoke next. “Bring down the bra.” And turned into nothing more than a rasp when I continued, “Let me look at you, preciosa.”

The sight of her breast, with her standing there, panting with her shirt half open, could have brought me to my knees, but instead it broke something else. My restraint to stay away. To keep myself at bay.

Gritting my teeth, I opened the shower door with one hand as I teased my shaft with the other. Her gaze dropped again, and she let out a whimper. “Do this to your nipple, Rosie. With your palm, then your fingers.”

Rosie did as instructed, and she moaned again, her eyes fluttering closed for an instant only to open back up and zero in on me with a hunger that I knew mirrored the one etched in my face.

I stepped forward, ready to get out of this shower and fuck her against the floor like a goddamn animal, forgetting all the reasons why I shouldn’t. But Rosie moved at the same time, desperate need pouring out of her as she slipped out of her shoes and stalked in my direction, joining me under the stream of water, drenching her clothes. Her palm fell on my chest and red exploded behind my eyes.

In one swift motion, I had her back against the slippery tiles. In the next, I watched her unzip her jeans, revealing the white lace of her panties.

A growl left my lips and I instinctively thrusted into my hand. “You want to watch, Rosie. Then you can watch me up close,” I panted, my fist moving roughly over my pulsing length. “You want me to guide you, then slip those fingers inside of you, please. Please. Slip them before I do.”

She brought her hand inside her panties, obeying. And, oh, the moan that left her mouth brought me so close that I could feel myself dripping with pre-cum.

The sound of our breathing overpowered the water falling on top of us, and I couldn’t stop myself from coming closer, I couldn’t stop my hand from rising to her neck, closing around her throat very gently.

She gave a curt nod, as if incapable of more. “Yes. Oh my God, yes.”

Both our motions turned quicker, more desperate, our hips thrusting as if we were fucking each other and not our own hands.

I pressed my thighs against hers, tightened the pressure of my fingers around her throat only slightly, held myself back until she came. “Come, Rosie,” I growled, letting go of my cock and moving my hand over hers. “Just like I have been fantasizing since Halloween. Ride our fingers and come for me.”

She exploded with a loud moan, just like I wanted, and before my eyes, her eyelids fluttered and her whole body trembled. And when her hand became limp with the wave of pleasure rocking her, I took over, riding her out of the orgasm.

My forehead fell on hers, and I waited for her to open her eyes once again to resume my own strokes. She licked her parted lips as I thrusted into my hand, roughly, as roughly as I ever did, my spine tightening, everything coiling in down, bringing me to my limit. “This is what you do to me, Rosie.”

Her hands fell on my shoulders, moved to my pecs, her nails grazed my skin down my stomach.

I hissed a breath, fisting myself desperately, nothing but need left. “Can I come on you, Rosie, ángel, please?”

Rosie lifted her shirt, forcing the rest of the buttons open, and I stroked my cock one more time before bursting. With a hoarse groan, I came on her smooth skin, squeezing until the last drop with my fist. Wishing I was inside of her. Wishing this would have lasted for hours, for days.

We stood under the stream, foreheads together and heaving chests for a long time, until eventually I turned the water off and picked her up in my arms without another word. My leg complained, and Rosie noticed, demanding to be put down, but I refused. I didn’t have much time left with her, and that made me reckless. That was probably why instead of letting go of her, instead of putting distance between us and talk about what had just happened, I placed her on the ground and stripped her of her wet clothes. I kissed her lips again. I helped her putting fresh clothes on. And then, I let her do the same to me.

Because time was working against me, now. Everything was. And perhaps, it had always been.