Your Fault (Culpable Book 2)

I’d fucked up. The fear on her face when she’d seen me confirmed it. But I didn’t care. She was there with me again, and I was dying to kiss her.

When her soft lips pressed against mine, I felt a prick where mine had been cut. But still, I didn’t resist. Noah must have noticed, though, because she stopped.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked, alarmed, her feline eyes, so adorable, roving my face, with their lashes damp from tears that, once again, were my fault.

“No,” I replied, distracted, wrapping my hands around her waist and pulling her close again. “This is a dream. I’ve been wanting to kiss you like this for weeks.”

But Noah stopped me before I could resume.

“You winced,” she said. “I can tell it hurts.”

What? “I didn’t wince.”

“You did,” she said and traced a line from my cheek to my lower lip. I clenched my jaw. Okay, it hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain of not seeing her for days, not kissing her, not making love to her. “Let me clean up your hands,” she said.

She turned, and I was no longer holding her. I wished I could have been quicker, grabbed her, tossed her over my shoulder, and taken her to the bedroom, but one of my ribs had a hairline fracture. I wasn’t even supposed to be out of bed…but there I was, like always, not listening to orders. I watched her go to the kitchen. At last, my apartment had life in it. The cat emerged from who knows where and started rubbing himself against Noah’s feet.

“Hey, N, how’s my pretty boy?” she exclaimed, effusive, bending over to pick the thing up. I sat down on one of the kitchen chairs while she cuddled with the cat and looked around for the first aid kit. When she found it, she sat down and spun the seat of her chair to face me.

“You look fantastic,” I said, loving the sight of her blushing.

“I wish I could say the same for you.”

I smiled. Parts of my face hurt that I hadn’t even known existed.

“Give me your hand,” she said gently.

I did so, and as she cleaned my wounds, which were barely bleeding anyway, I realized she was even prettier than before she’d left. Her hair was redder, with blond streaks here and there, and her tanned skin was an almost-bronze color that highlighted her face. Her lips were always swollen after she cried…and after we hooked up, and as she looked at me, I couldn’t stop thinking about all I wanted to do to her. To have those lips on my body, those hands on my back…

“Nicholas, I’m talking to you,” she said loudly, awakening me from my daydreams.

“Sorry, what did you say?” I asked, trying to express my flared-up desire.

“I said, how’s Lion?”

Lion… I didn’t even want to hear his fucking name.

“He was in the emergency room for a couple of hours, but he’s fine. He’s back at home.”

Noah was carefully examining my wounds as she cleaned and disinfected them.

“And Jenna?” she asked, bending over to grab some scissors off the counter. As she did so, I got a primo view of her breasts, and I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. Did we really need to talk about that now? I couldn’t give less of a shit about Jenna, to tell the truth. Sure, she knew what had happened. I mean, we hadn’t told her we were selling drugs—or, to be precise, that her boyfriend was selling drugs. She was taking care of Lion now.

“They’re together. I’m sure she’s being a pain in the ass,” I responded, impatient for her to finish up and look at me. She seemed nervous; I could tell by how carefully she returned everything to the first aid kit.

“I want to know exactly what happened. Tell me who it was, Nick. Who did this to your face?”

“Don’t worry about it, okay, Noah? It won’t happen again.”

“Fine, but I want you to tell me,” she replied.

“And I want to make love to you,” I said.

Now I had her eyes on me, just as I wished.

“You can’t,” she responded, standing with a slightly quivering voice.

I tugged her between my open legs. “Oh, I can.”

She looked doubtfully at my wounds and my bandaged midsection.

“No, Nicholas, you’re hurt. You can’t even breathe without your ribs aching, I’m sure of it,” she said, stopping my hands with hers as they began to climb her T-shirt.

“Don’t worry about me, Freckles. The pleasure will be stronger than the pain, I guarantee it.” As I uttered these words, I took off her shirt, leaving her standing before me in her bra. I was getting excited just looking at her.

I could feel her heart pound as I kissed her nipples, and her pulse in her neck, I could even see it; the blood was rushing through her veins, getting her ready for me.

I stroked her back—I had forgotten how soft her skin was, how perfect… Sometimes I couldn’t believe my luck. When my hand stopped on the clasp of her bra, she crept away from me.

“Goddammit,” I said, not even thinking.

“No, Nicholas, we’re not going to do it.”

I laughed.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she warned, pointing a finger at me that I immediately reached out and grabbed, bringing it to my lips for a kiss. As I nibbled it, I noticed how her body responded. Extending my legs, I trapped her, keeping her right where I wanted her. Now I moved my lips to that special part of her neck that I knew drove her wild. A sigh escaped her as I licked it.

She wrapped her hands around my neck and played with my hair, and in that moment, I knew I had won the battle. I turned my attention to the tops of her breasts as she rubbed my lower back. She shook; her nails dug into my spine. I hissed—I don’t know if it was from pain or pure carnal pleasure, and I didn’t have time to figure it out, because once more, she escaped me.

“Nicholas, you can’t!” she shouted, both aroused and angry.

Dammit! I reached out to touch her, but she resisted, and I could see the determination in her honey-colored eyes.

“You know perfectly well how this is going to end. You can either keep avoiding me and making me chase you, which will only make my aches worse, or you can stop fucking around and get back here.”

That must have gotten to her. She looked angry now.

“You want to see how fast I can walk out that door?”

“What I want is to fuck.”

Her cheeks turned blood red. I guess she wasn’t expecting that answer. Her reaction amused me.

“You’re being vulgar, you know that?” she counterattacked.

With a diabolical grin, I said, “I’ve always been vulgar, Freckles. It’s just that I usually control it when I’m around you, even if you make it hard for me.”

I was reaching the end of my patience.

Clutching her hands, I stood, leaned down, and kissed her, sliding my tongue into her mouth. My lip hurt, but I didn’t care. I’d had worse wounds than that, and nothing was going to stop me from kissing Noah that night. I’d been waiting too long.

A second later, she slackened, then responded with equal enthusiasm, her tongue caressing mine in little circles, then plunging in desperately. When she squeezed my back, I yelped in pain.

She stopped and looked at me with concern.

“Quit,” I said before she could utter a word. “In five minutes, I’m going to be making love to you. Don’t waste your energy on words.”

She obeyed. I could tell she was dying to do it, just as I was. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but it was evident that there was no turning back. But she didn’t go to the bedroom. She took my hand and forced me back on the sofa.

“What are you doing?” I asked, more turned on than I’d ever been.

“We’re going to do it my way.”

Her feline eyes glimmered with desire.

“The only way you know how to do it is the way I’ve taught you, Freckles.”

She straddled me, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. “I’ve been to France. I’ve learned all kind of things.”

I scowled. I didn’t like that comment one bit.

“Don’t be an idiot,” she said, pulling off her bra. The sight of her breasts made me lose the thread of my thoughts. “Now, you’re going to hold very still.”