To Hate Adam Connor

Adam

She didn’t listen to me. Of course she didn’t.

I opened the door and entered Lucy’s room. She was sitting cross-legged right in the middle of the bed. To be honest, I wasn’t all that surprised to see her waiting for me; it would be just like her to wait and see if I really did do what I said I’d do. When she saw me, her eyes widened and a small smile played on her lips.

“You son of a bitch!” she whispered in awe. “You did it. You actually broke into their house!”

I hadn’t. However, I didn’t see the need to correct her. I’d called Jason and asked if he could let me in so I could talk to Lucy, and he was kind enough not to question my odd request—although he did murmur, “Good luck,” after pointing out Lucy’s room to me.

Instead of mentioning my encounter with Jason, I leaned my back against the door and asked, “Why did you sneak out when I went to put Aiden in bed?”

We had watched “Happy Feet” per Aiden’s request and had a few slices of pizza each while he chatted with Lucy all throughout the movie, up until he fell asleep on the couch.

“Dan said he’d leave in a few, so I thought you could use some alone time with your bodyguard and your son.” She shrugged then drew in a deep breath. “Don’t just stand there, come on in then.”

“You know damn well Aiden was already asleep when I carried him away, Lucy. And I specifically told you to stay with us when we were in the pool.”

“The pool, right.”

We stared into each other’s eyes for a short heartbeat then she dropped onto her back, stretched out her legs, and opened her arms as if she was getting ready to be tied down.

“You can do it,” she said with a suffering sigh.

Confused, I asked, “I can do what?”

“Well,” she began, her eyes trained on the ceiling. “You broke in, so now I have to sleep with you. I mean, if I didn’t, it would be cruel of me. After all, you deserve it.”

When I didn’t say anything—because I was trying very hard to follow her logic—she propped herself up on her elbows and looked up at me.

“Didn’t you come here to fuck me? What are you waiting for? Come in and take me. I shall endure the process.”

I had to stop myself from laughing.

“To fuck you? You shall endure?”

She let out a dramatic sigh, and I smiled before she could catch me.

“You know, have sex, bump uglies, thread the needle, the lust and thrust, the horizontal hula, dip your four-inch wick, burry your four-inch bone, the grand slam—although with a four-inch tool, I’m not sure how grand it’d be, but…I’m curious and ready, so let’s do it.”

I walked farther into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, right next to her hip.

She followed my movements all the way to her side. As much as she was trying her best to look like a virgin sacrificing herself for God knows what, I’d caught the way she looked at me on more than a few occasions. More than that, she must have forgotten that I already knew that her body practically vibrated every time I touched her, that she couldn’t stop herself from pressing her body against mine whenever I kissed her. If we did end up having sex, it’d be no sacrifice for her.

“You really have a thing for four-inch dicks, don’t you?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I prefer bigger ones, though I’m sure yours looks cute on you.”

I smiled.

She gave me a tentative smile back.

“So you want me to bump uglies with you, huh?”

Her brows drew in together. “That’s why you said to stay at your place, isn’t it? I mean, that’s why you broke in here.”

“Actually, I asked you to stay over so we could talk, and so I could thank you for what you did for Aiden. What you keep doing for Aiden and me. We, both him and I, really needed today. I can’t say being blasted with cold water would have been my first choice, but…”

For a brief moment, disappointment flashed across her beautiful features, but she was quick to hide it.

My little liar.

“Oh,” she murmured. “When you kissed me like that back in the pool, I thought you wanted me to stay so you could do me. And you’re welcome, I love seeing the little guy laugh.”

“You’re making me dizzy with all this romantic talk.”

“I don’t do romance, Adam Connor.”

“The curse, right?”

She nodded, her eyes daring me to make fun of her.

My eyes dropped to her parted lips, and I couldn’t help myself. I reached out and gently ran a knuckle across her lower lip. She stopped breathing.

“You like how I kiss you?”

“You’re an awful kisser,” she forced out in a whisper as she shook her head.

“That bad?”

“The worst.”

“You’d never kiss me again, then?”

“Never.”

I leaned in and softly kissed her lips…first the top one, then the bottom. Her eyes fluttered closed, and I saw her hands tightly grip the sheets. Keeping my eyes on her face, I drew back and licked my bottom lip. “Even that is bad?”

“Worst ever,” she whispered, her eyes cracking open.

“I don’t want to be your worst, Lucy.”

She licked her lips and stayed quiet.

“You want me to do you?” I asked, letting my eyes wander over her body.

She shifted in place. She was still in the same clothes: black leggings and a Superman T-shirt. The gray shirt did nothing to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“No. I don’t want it. Becau—”

“Because you don’t like me,” I guessed, forcing my eyes to look away from the outline of her nipples.

She nodded. “But, since you broke in here, I feel obligated, like you earned doing me. Think of it as your prize for being adventurous and giving breaking and entering a try.”

I glanced away and tried to appear like I was thinking it over. I stretched my legs out on the bed and leaned against the headboard.

“Excuse me? What are you doing?” she asked with a small frown on her face.

“Getting comfortable. Come on, lie back down.”

“I’m fine, thanks. Why don’t you go and get comfortable in your own bed, your own house?” Suddenly she straightened up, giving me a harsh look. “You didn’t.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t what?”

“You didn’t leave Aiden alone in the house.”

“Is that a question or fact?”

“Question.”

I rested my head on the headboard and closed my eyes. “That’s why I like you, Lucy Meyer. Of course I didn’t leave him alone. Dan is at the house.”

She grunted. “What exactly are you doing here if we’re not gonna have sex?”

“Like I said, I came to thank you, maybe steal another kiss while we’re at it.” I opened my eyes and turned my face to her. “Since you keep telling me I’m a bad kisser, I’m trying to improve myself.”

“And I’m your guinea pig?”

“Since you’re the only one who’s been complaining…”

“Well, go try your moves on someone else. I’m done kissing you.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Did you come here to irritate me?”

I closed my eyes again. “Did you see the articles that have been floating around? The photos of Aiden?”

I felt her hesitation, then felt the bed dip. When I looked down, I saw her lying down again, her head in line with my waist.

“Yeah. Hard to miss.”

“I’m filing for sole custody. I never want that to happen again and as long as he is with her, I know it will happen. Maybe not next month or the next, but eventually it will happen again. I still have to send him to her until the judge decides, but I think they’ll be on my side.”

“And Aiden? Have you thought about Aiden?”

“What about him?”

She turned to me and looked into my eyes. “It’s his mother, you know. He loves her. We talked, and he said he only jumped out of the car even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to because he thought she forgot about him and would be sad if she couldn’t see him anymore. Do you think he’ll be okay with only seeing her every now and then? He is just a kid, Adam. He needs his mom.”

“Do you think, even for one second, that she spends any time with him? That she is a good mom? Oh, she was. In the beginning, Aiden was her world, but then the magic disappeared. She said she couldn’t bond with him like she thought she would. She realized it wasn’t what she wanted, wasn’t who she wanted. The only reason she was on that plane to New York with Aiden was because she needed to show him off to a director so she could get a role, Lucy—which she didn’t get, by the way. I won’t let her use my son.”

My son.

He was only mine.

He’d always been only mine.

“Not having a mother sucks,” Lucy said quietly, breaking into my thoughts. “It’s not my place to say anything. I know it’s not my place to say anything, but…just before you do anything, be sure that you’re doing the right thing for Aiden, not for yourself.”

“He’ll still see her whenever he wants. I’m not trying to stop him from being with her. I just want to make sure he is safe while he is doing that.”

“You should talk about this with Aiden, not me. Ask what he’d think about staying with you full time.”

“He is five years old, not twelve.” I needed to change the subject. “I found someone to look after him. Meredith Shay. She is forty-two years old, has good credentials, and she seems like a happy person. She smiles a lot, and I like that. I think it’ll work this time, but I know Aiden would still love to see you.”

A small smile played on her lips as she looked up at the ceiling. “So I’m getting fired from the nanny job.”

“You never accepted any money, so technically it wasn’t a job.”

She grunted and dropped back on the bed. “If you’re okay with it, I’d still love to see him too.”

“You love him,” I pointed out. “I watch how you are around him. I watch you, and I can’t take my eyes off that girl, Lucy. I’m glad you’re not worried about your curse with him.”

“Now who’s the stalker, Mr. Connor?”

I waited for her to make a snarky comment about what I’d just said, but instead we shared a heavy silence.

“I do love him,” she confirmed without hesitation. “He is just a kid. He deserves all the love he can get. And the curse doesn’t work that way. I’m allowed to love my friends and be loved by them, and Aiden is my best friend at the moment because Olive is pissing me off. Kinda. But not really.” She sighed. “I just can’t fall in love with someone who has a dick. As long as I don’t care about a guy too much, I’ll be fine. I’ll be different from them. I won’t be like them. The curse will end with me.”

Them being her grandmother and mom. Bullshit, I thought to myself. She was as unique as it could get, and with every passing day, with every smile and unabashed laugh, every smirk and scowl thrown my way, I was starting to like her even more.

“I think your heart is broken, Lucy,” I said, something I was sure she already knew and tried her very best to hide from everyone around her. Or maybe she wasn’t even aware of it after all this time.

She didn’t look at me, but I caught the sudden rigidity to her body. I’d struck a nerve; that was good. “I think they broke your heart a very long time ago, and you’ve been walking around, not sure what to do with it, not sure who you can trust to take care of it, ever since you were a little kid.”

Very carefully she rested her arms against her stomach and clasped her hands together tightly.

“And I think it’s time for you to get the hell out.”

She had a beauty mark just below her right eye, so close to her lashes. I’d seen it that first day I’d grabbed her wrist and held her close to my body. Like everything else about her, even that small, inconspicuous dot intrigued me. My eyes found it, and I stifled the urge to reach out and feel it with the tip of my finger.

“I’m not saying it to make you upset, Lucy,” I said softly.

“You’re not making me upset, Adam,” she retorted.

“That’s good then,” I said when it was clear she was shutting down on me.

I dropped my legs down, ready to leave her to her thoughts and get back to Aiden so Dan could leave for the night. Then my eyes focused on hers, and I changed my mind. Mind you, she wasn’t looking at me or anything. Her eyes were still focused on the ceiling, and I realized I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that I was the one who had caused that stiffness in her body when I wanted nothing more than to melt that same body under my hands. But she wasn’t ready for it. Not yet. She would be. But not yet.

So, instead of getting up and leaving, I twisted my body so I could get close to her, placed my hand next to her shoulder, leaned down, and stopped when my lips were close enough that she could easily feel my hot breath against her skin. She didn’t move a muscle, but more importantly, she didn’t stop me.

I sighed and reached out to touch the beauty mark under her eye. She had more of them, one on the tip of her nose, one close to her lip, one right under it hidden by the shadow her lip casted…just like she was hiding her heart.

“What did you wrap around your heart to protect yourself, beautiful girl?” I asked, letting my fingertip trail down from her cheek to her chin. Her eyes cut to mine, and I knew I had her attention. “I see you unwrap it, whatever it is you have around your heart, so I know it’s there. You change when you are with your friends, with Aiden, but as soon as you can, you wrap it back up. I hope it’s not a steel cage, Lucy. I hope you’re being gentle with your heart, taking care of it for me.”

She lifted herself up and leaned back on her hands, successfully pushing me away from her face. Her scowl melted into a smirk, but her eyes looked vulnerable. “Was that line from one of your movies?”

“Are you just a character, Lucy? A character that is written by others?” I asked. “Or are you a real person?”

The scowl came back. “Of course I’m real.”

“Then don’t ask me stupid questions. I don’t need to use movie lines to impress someone I’m starting to care about.”

“So you think you impressed me? You think I’m that girl who’d melt at your feet just because you said something someone else wrote?”

Instead of answering, I kept at her. “I’m a pretty straightforward guy, Lucy. I don’t play games. Not that I can’t or don’t enjoy certain ones, but this kind of game”—I gestured between us—“I don’t want to play. We have one shot at this life, so I’m not gonna spend my time playing games with anybody. I’m not about that. What you see is what you get with me, and the more I look at you, the more I’m around you, the more I like what I see. It’s not just your face, your smile, or your beautiful eyes that tell me all kinds of stories every time I look into them long enough. I like how you are with my son, how you actually enjoy spending time with him, how you enjoy the banter between us. I like how you are trying your hardest to protect your heart from me at the same time you’re trying not to show how hard it is to do so. I’m telling you that I’m going to give you what you want from me, what you wanted from me from that first day you watched me over that damn wall. I’m going to sleep with you, Lucy Meyer, and I’m going to kiss you, my unexpected stalker. I’m going to kiss you without having to trick you,” I announced. Her confused eyes slid back to me. “I’m only telling you because I know you need to prepare yourself for it.”

“I don’t sleep with guys. I fuck them or let them fuck me and then I ask them to leave. And thanks for the pity sex offer, but I’m not in the mood anymore.”

“That’s good, because I didn’t mean now. I’m not planning on sleeping with you until you admit that you like me too. I’m not expecting a declaration of love from you, but it’d be nice to hear something other than ‘I hate you’ coming from your lips.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I got there before her.

“Yes, Lucy, even though I sent you to ‘prison’, you still like me. I’m sure it’s eating at you, too.” I smiled a little when anger sparked in those beautiful eyes.

I reached up to touch the beauty mark closest to her lip, and she slapped my hand away. I chuckled. It wasn’t a hard slap. With us, it was pretty much foreplay at that point.

“But when it happens—‘it’ being you acknowledging the fact that you like me—I need you to unwrap that protective shield around your heart. I won’t…bump uglies with you while you’re so busy trying to protect your heart that you’re missing what’s happening around you.”

“Nothing is happening, Adam. Whether we do the grand slam or not, nothing will ever happen. I don’t even think I want to bump uglies with you anymore. I feel like I’d have better luck finding someone to get me off on Tinder. If you think you can make me fall in love with you, you have another thing coming. I suggest you get over yourself.”

She turned her face away and attempted to get up from the bed, but I caught her chin between my thumb and index finger, and she stilled, half of her body facing away from me.

“I have a son,” I told her, stating something she of course already knew. “I don’t fuck around. If we get into bed, it won’t be a one-time thing. I’m not that guy. If something happens between us, I’ll be a different guy for you.”

“You were married; you didn’t have enough time to fuck around yet. And fucking around is fun. Be a guy, go have fun.”

“It’s been a while since I separated from Adeline, Lucy.” I let her chin go, and she settled down. “I had plenty of time and a lot of opportunities. But, like I said, I have a son. I’m not planning to parade a long line of women in front of him. I’m not going to be that parent who leaves him with the assistants and the nannies while I’m off shooting a movie, having the time of my life in another country. And even if there were no Aiden, I’ve never been that guy. I’m not the life of the party; that never interested me. You’re not the only one who doesn’t want to end up like their parents.”

“What do you mean?” It took her a second to get what I meant and when she did, her eyes bugged out. “Your dad cheated on your mom? The great Nathan Connor cheated on his Helena? And you knew about it?”

“They both had sex with other people, Lucy. I don’t think they’d call it cheating. Their idea of love and marriage is different from other people. They worked hard and believed they had the right to play hard, too.” I shrugged. “Their choice. Doesn’t mean I want to follow in their footsteps. If I wanted to do that, I wouldn’t have married Adeline.”

“So they had an open marriage.”

“Something like that.”

“Huh. Didn’t see that coming. Color me surprised.”

I relaxed. “Do you want to know what a director told me one day?”

“I guess I have time.”

I smiled and shook my head at her. She was full of it. “It was my first time working with him. Douglas Trent.” I lay down next to her and our arms touched. She didn’t pull away. “I think I was eighteen when we started shooting the movie. It was one of the biggest roles I’d gotten so far, and I was working my ass off to prove to everyone on set that I’d auditioned and gotten that role because I’d deserved it, not because of who my parents were.”

“You’re talking about the movie The First Day?”

“Yes. Great cast. Big names. My first day, I was late to the set. My sister…something came up, and I couldn’t leave her alone at the house. When I finally made it to set, Douglas met with me in my trailer and laid it out to me. I remember his no-bullshit attitude and it impressed me. Before him, everyone tried their best around me because of my parents and their influence in the industry, so I knew nobody would’ve minded if I was an hour late for my scenes. He told me that before I set foot on his set, I’d have to decide what mattered to me, what would matter to me in ten years. Did I want to become a Connor, or did I want to become Adam Connor. There is a big distinction between those two, and I was shocked into silence that he could see that after meeting with me only twice. I was impressed because people seeing the difference between those two things is important to me. Don’t get me wrong, my parents were great actors, they still are, but…that’s another story for another time.”

“What else did the director say?” Lucy asked.

“He told me a lot of things. There was one big name among the actors that didn’t think I could shoulder the role and keep up with them. We had a lot of scenes together, and he didn’t think I was the right choice, and when I was late, I just proved him right. So Douglas asked if I could handle it: the hours, the work, everything. He asked me what mattered to me. Was it the interviews, the fans, the public attention, the women, the money? I told him it was the energy that filled me when I heard the words action, it was the camera, the director, the cast, the script. It was the crew, the preparation for a role. Those were the things that mattered to me. Sure, I’d take the money and the fans and the interviews—all that came with being an actor, but that’s just it: those are the things that come with being an actor. They are not what matters. They are not the reason I do this. I do this for myself because I seem to have the talent and it is what I want to do. So,” I said finally as I turned my head to glance at her. “What matters to you, Lucy? Where do you see yourself in ten years? Will you be busy making sure no one touches your heart again just so you won’t end up like your mom and grandmother? Or will you be living your own life on your own terms? Is your life about not being like them or is it your own story?”

“You do know I just broke up with someone, right? It’s not like I’m not capable of love. I’m just practical. I know what will happen, so why step off the cliff if I know I’m just gonna fall into the ocean? And like I just said, I did step off that cliff just a few months ago and look what happened.”

“I never said you aren’t capable of love. And what happened exactly? So you jumped off the cliff and told the guy you loved him. Then you fell into the ocean, and what? Did you love him so much that you will never ever fall in love again?”

She let out a frustrated sigh and sent me an annoyed look. “It’s not that. Of course I walked out of the ocean. Just because a guy cast me aside doesn’t mean I’m gonna wallow in my tears and secretly love him for the rest of my life.”

I pulled her down and under me, causing her to release a sound between a gasp and squeak.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

“I really, really like you, Lucy Meyer. So I’m doing some thinking,” I replied, keeping my gaze on her face.

“About what?”

“About how long I’ll have to wait until you get over your hang-ups and I get to touch you like I want to touch you.”

She gave me a lazy smile and before I could take my eyes away from her smiling lips, she somehow managed to surprise me enough to push me onto my back and maneuver herself over me. The next thing I knew she was straddling me—not all the way down, she made sure our bodies weren’t touching, but she was close. We were close. I lay there, completely shocked, completely hard, and utterly pleased with her. I’d let her do whatever she was planning to do until I had to stop her. I wasn’t interested in playing with her, not like she wanted to. Or maybe that was wrong. I was very interested in playing with her, exactly like she wanted to, but not on her terms. Not a quick fuck. Not when every word out of her mouth turned me on beyond any reason.

She placed her hands on either side of me on the bed, leaned down with her body, causing her boobs to press against my chest, and stopped when her lips were only inches away from mine. My hands found her hips, and I lightly held her above me. “You’re so sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she whispered. “Probably always had girls throwing themselves at you since you were what, fourteen, fifteen? Well, newsflash, Hot Dad, I’m not your fan, not anymore.”

She lifted her boobs, cast her eyes down, and looked in between our bodies. I didn’t have to follow her eyes to see that my hard-on was noticeable. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

I tightened my grip on her hips and pulled her slightly forward. She lifted her eyes back to mine, and I watched her throat work as she swallowed. She must have realized she was pressing her boobs against my chest because suddenly she jerked her body upward and did her best to avoid touching my body.

“Why don’t you have a seat, Lucy,” I suggested, fighting the urge to rip her pants off and guide her down onto me. “Get comfortable.”

She pressed her lips together and kept hovering over me.

Just when I thought she was about to climb off me… “Do you know what I like, Adam Connor?” she asked and kept talking instead of waiting for an answer. “I like tattoos; I find them to be very sexy on men. Like, I give you permission to rip my clothes off and take me right where we are standing kinda sexy. I also like a big cock because it feels amazing when a guy knows how to use it.” She leaned in farther. “You have no idea…no idea whatsoever how much I love a big, hard cock that can give a good, rough fuck, Adam. The way it feels when I come on them, around them…like it’s too much, but not enough at the same time.” Her lips stopped next to my ear, and she released a small moan that came from deep in her throat and reached right down to my dick. “And believe me, they make me come very hard,” she added.

I closed my eyes and smiled before she could catch it. She lifted her head and kept talking, not realizing that she was digging herself deeper into me. There was nothing, nothing that could ever be sexier than a woman who knew what she wanted from a man in bed, who didn’t have any issues with sharing what got her off, or how she wanted to get off. And Lucy Meyer was already dangerously sexy in my book.

Right at that moment, Lucy Meyer was pushing herself under my skin without even realizing it, and I was about to push myself right under hers, even deeper than I already had.

“I like a man who knows what he can do with his tongue, his hands, and his cock. I like a man who makes me beg for more, who makes me burn for him, over and over.” She kept going. “He’ll have to know how to take everything from me.” She patted my chest with her hand and her tone changed as she backed off. “You’re not that guy, Adam Connor. You look like you could be that man, but no, you’re not.”

“You really think I’m not that man?”

She nodded. “I’ll even give you an explanation free of charge. First of all, you’re not a good kisser. You make me feel nothing at all. We learned that the hard way. And we also established the fact that you have a small cock. Small for me,” she corrected hastily. “I’m sure some girls would be into that since you’re a movie star and all. And hands…” She licked her lips. “Okay. You have big hands. I’ll give you that much. But I’m doubtful you know how to use them properly.” Standing on her knees, she straightened up. “So, as you can see, we don’t match. You’re a good actor and all, but I need more than good acting in bed.”

She lifted her knee to get off me, and I used that moment to take back the bit of control I’d let her have.

She dropped to her back with a shocked gasp and this time it was me hovering over her, inches away from her lips.

“You want to hear what I’d like to do to you, Lucy? What I’m going to do to you when you stop with all the acting?”

“Goody. Can’t wait to hear it.” Her words came out breathlessly.

I nudged the side of her nose with my own and gently forced her to bare her neck to me. Then quietly and unhurriedly, against her throat, I said, “First, I’m going to kiss you until you forget your very own name, Lucy Meyer. I don’t care if it takes hours to taste every inch of this beautiful mouth, I won’t stop kissing you until you’re a dripping mess for me and your heart is beating out of your chest with excitement about my kiss.” I curved my hand right under her neck and let my thumb gently caress the soft skin. Her eyes glazed over with lust. “While I’m still kissing you, Lucy…” I whispered, ghosting my mouth right over hers. Her lips parted, and I realized her eyes had already closed on their own. You’re not that guy, my ass.

“I’m going to undress you so I can touch every inch of your body. With my lips, my hands…” I kissed a path down from the edge of her lips to the neckline of her T-shirt and let my hand travel down to her waist. When I reached the hem, I ordered my cock to ignore her harsh intake of breath and reached under her shirt to touch her skin. “So soft,” I murmured as I pressed my lips right underneath her ear and let my palm wander upward, slowly heading toward her breasts.

Her breathing quickened, and she opened her eyes.

Storms. Two beautiful storms looking right into my soul.

She was angry, I could see that much, but she also looked hungry, so I gave in and gently kissed her lips. My hand tightened around her waist when she started shifting her hips under me. Her tongue came out to wet her bottom lip, and I softly bit into it, pulling a low moan from her.

“Just a small taste,” I said. “Just to hold you over.” Her scowl came back in full force. “Maybe I’ll put my cock right in here and let you have a taste before I do anything else. Or maybe I won’t. Maybe I won’t be able to stop myself from going deep inside you before I make a mess in your mouth and watch you swallow it all.”

“Who said I’d swallow?” she asked as her hands made little fists.

I grinned—I couldn’t help it—and watched her eyes flick over to my mouth. “Oh, you can’t wait to swallow it all up, can you, Lucy? Just like how I can’t wait to lick every inch of your pussy.”

Seconds ticked by as we stared at each other.

Finally, she swallowed. “What else would you do? Not that you’ll get a chance, just curious…”

“Oh, I’ll do a lot of things to you, Lucy. I’ll definitely let you do a lot of stuff to me, too, because I know you’ll enjoy getting your hands on me.” I looked down at her body where my hand had pulled her shirt up, and I could see the bare skin of her stomach. Don’t ask me how I managed to stop my hand from going higher, but I did, and covered her up again.

“Too bad I can’t just tear off your clothes and show you how many things I can make you feel if only you let me, how loud I can make you cry out when I overwhelm you in the best possible way as your pretty little pussy contracts around me,” I murmured, looking into her eyes. “I bet you have a greedy pussy. I bet you’d beg me to give you more.” If I thought seeing and touching her bare skin was too much temptation, the look I saw in her eyes was the killing blow. “Too bad I need to leave and can’t have you to myself all night.”

She cocked her head and pulled herself up on her elbows as I leaned away from her. And then she was pushing against my chest and climbing up on me again.

“You should stop doing that,” I mumbled as I reached up to hold her hair away from her face, away from those beautiful eyes I couldn’t seem to look away from. Seeing her cheeks slightly flushed and her chest rising and falling with deep breaths made my already hard dick jump in my pants.

“Are you ready to admit how much you like me?”

She shook her head. “Every time I tell myself maybe I don’t hate the guy, you go and do something to show me that I actually hate you very much.”

Surprised, I asked, “What did I do now to earn your hate?”

“You’re speaking. And touching me. And whispering. And leaning in too close. And looking into my eyes. You’re making your voice go all throaty. Stop it. When I tell you we can’t have sex, you talk about my heart and all this stuff that isn’t your concern.”

I let go of her hair and raised my hands up in surrender.

“I didn’t know you wanted to have sex with me that bad, Lucy.”

She groaned. “I don’t! That’s my point. But you made me talk about big cocks that know what they’re doing and…” Unexpectedly, she grabbed my wrist and pushed my hand right in her pants.

I could’ve stopped her. I could’ve pulled her down on me and told her to behave right before I took her lips in a crushing kiss. I could’ve done a lot of things instead of curving my fingers and letting them slip into her slick heat, but she was too intriguing, and I was too damn curious to see how she would explain her dripping wetness while insisting she felt nothing when I put my hands and lips on her.

“So this happened,” she explained lamely in a breathy voice.

“Look at that,” I murmured, softly playing with her pussy lips and clit, spreading her wetness all over her. “This happened because I made you talk about cocks?”

She nodded eagerly, and my eyes fell down to her hands, which were still gripping my wrist in an effort to keep my hand in place.

“I guess I should apologize for this,” I relented, pushing my middle finger a little deeper until it passed through her tight muscles. “For making you this wet, I mean.”

She tipped her head back, just slightly, and her hips jerked, pulling my finger in deeper.

“You didn’t make me wet,” she whispered, releasing a small moan when I swirled my finger inside her and then roughly pushed all the way in. The way her body came alive right in front of my eyes, the way she bit her bottom lip as a small gasp escaped her lips…every little thing she did was pulling me right to the edge of insanity.

“I didn’t?” I pulled my finger out of her tight pussy and ran my finger over and around her sensitive clit. “That’s too bad then.” Before I could take my hand out of her panties, she stopped me.

“Wait! Wait!”

“Yes?”

She scowled at me and let out a frustrated sigh. “This is why I don’t like you.”

I pulled my hand out.

“Wait! Goddamnit!” Determined, she grabbed my wrist and pushed it back in. God, her eyes really did something to me, that determined but unfocused look combined with that stormy color. She was a storm all on her own. Hell, she’d been a hurricane ever since she had tumbled into my life.

“Fine. Fine, your voice did me in,” she admitted finally.

“Hmmm,” I murmured, gently pushing my finger back into her pussy. “You like my voice, and my hand. For a girl who claims she hates me, you seem to like a lot of things about me.”

“Just your hand and your voice. Everything else about you…I hate it.”

Pressing my free hand against her back, I flipped her under me again.

“Hate is a very strong emotion, Lucy. And you know what they say about love and hate: it’d be so easy for you to tip over that edge into love.”

She opened her legs to me willingly and then got in my face. “Keep dreaming.”

I smiled at her.

“We’ll see.”

Widening her legs a bit more, I pushed another finger inside her burning heat and watched her eyes lose focus again.

“I think—”

Sneaking my free hand under her neck, I held her mouth to mine and kissed the words out of her mouth while I enjoyed her arousal soaking my fingers. Every time I kissed her, I could hear the blood humming in my veins. And more than that, I could feel her trembling under me, her body vibrating with the need she was trying her best to conceal.

Even though I knew it would piss her off, I had to take my raging hard-on and leave. So I pulled my fingers out of her pussy, gripped her chin, and deepened the gentle kiss I was giving her just before I let her lips go and got up from the bed to saunter to the door.

“What?” she mumbled, looking up at me in confusion. “What are you doing?”

Damn those beautiful boobs of hers. The way I could see those perfect nipples moving up and down as her chest moved with her labored breaths was pushing my cock’s patience to its limits. “Good night, Lucy.”

Her face sobered, and she gave me a blank look. “You’re leaving? Now?”

“I’d love nothing more than to listen to you moan under me all night as I bury my cock in a certain part of your body, but you don’t even like me, remember? Tell me you like me and maybe I’ll change my mind.”

“I don’t like you.”

I nodded. “That’s what I thought. Besides, I need to get back to Aiden.”

When she heard Aiden’s name, her shoulders seemed to relax a bit, and she pulled her knees up to hug them against her chest. “So you weren’t planning on staying even if I lied and said I liked you. Nice. What a standup guy.”

I shrugged and opened the door. “Maybe not. But I would’ve definitely taken you with me.”

“I wouldn’t have come.”

Stepping out of her room, I looked back at her and smiled. “I think you would’ve, my little stalker. Actually, I think you would have come more times than you ever did with any other guy.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she paused as if she wasn’t sure if she should speak the next words, but it didn’t take long before she did. I found myself wondering if she ever held anything back. “Thank you for stopping before I could make a big mistake.”

Damn it, but with every word out of her mouth she issued a new challenge I just couldn’t not accept. And that was the biggest turn on for me—after her beautiful face, those stormy eyes, and those nipples, of course…and I guess it wouldn’t be fair to leave out her perfect ass.

“You’re welcome,” I agreed readily. “You might be onto something. I wasn’t sure you could keep up with me or satisfy me enough, anyway. I’d hate to try and fake it just to protect your delicate feelings.”

I heard her little growl and closed the door before the pillow she threw could hit me in the face.

I couldn’t wait to watch those beautiful eyes of hers roll back in her head.