Chapter 11

11

LARKIN

A ll the lights and television went dark with a quiet pop somewhere in the second Matrix movie. Rhodes had won the movie choice, but I was counting it a win since I had spent three hours snuggled against his side.

I sat up suddenly, the only light in the room coming from the moonlight glinting off the snow and the fireplace. Rhodes had lit it before we started watching movies. He knew I was a sucker for winter and cozy fireplaces.

“Guess the snow and ice got too heavy for the power lines,” Rhodes commented off-handedly.

The stark quiet was deafening between us.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked hesitantly.

He sighed. “I guess we’ll never know if they find the Source.”

I glanced back over my shoulder. “Like you haven’t seen this movie a dozen times.”

He shrugged, but grinned at me. “We could play a game.”

I perked up, turning to face him on the couch. “Like Clue? Monopoly?” I had a serious love of board games.

He winced and laughed softly. “Baby girl, that’s not what I had in mind.”

Narrowing my eyes, I leaned my shoulder against the back of the couch. “Okay, Mr. I’m-Too-Good-For-Board-Games, what game do you want to play?”

His eyes sparkled sinfully in the low light. “Truth or Dare?”

“I am not sitting outside in the snow in my pjs,” I quickly protested, shaking my head. At Katy’s thirteenth birthday party, she convinced us all to play Truth or Dare. I wound up sitting outside in the dark for twenty minutes, alone, in my pajamas.

Remy and Rhodes had decided to scare the hell out of me. I screamed so loud that it woke up Remy’s parents.

Rhodes snorted. “Like I want any part of you getting frostbite.” His smile turned predatory. “The only bite you get is from me.”

I shivered, ducking my head. “Pick a different game.”

“Never Have I Ever?” he asked after a second.

“Isn’t that a drinking game?” I wasn’t crazy about the taste of alcohol, and I knew Rhodes avoided it like the plague. He never would admit it, but I think he was worried he would become as addicted as his father.

“So we play for different stakes,” he answered smoothly. Something in his tone had my stomach clenching.

Okay, and other parts clenching.

“Like?”

His hand reached out, his fingers plucking at the hem of my shirt. “Instead of taking a drink, you take off an article of clothing.”

My stomach swooped and dipped so fast it made my head spin. My brain was still trying to process his suggestion, but my core throbbed at the idea.

“I’m kidding—”

“Okay,” I said softly, cutting him off before he could brush off the suggestion as a joke.

His brows flew up. “Lark, I was teasing.”

I leaned forward. “Never have I ever... had sex.”

His jaw dropped open for a second before he snapped it shut, his dark eyes narrowing. “Cheap shot, baby.” But he didn’t hesitate to pull his shirt over his head and toss it to the floor.

I swallowed hard, trying to look anywhere but the sculpted planes of his chest and torso, the way his muscles rippled and moved with every breath.

“My turn?” he asked, his tone amused. I looked up to see him smirking at me.

“Go for it,” I said, squaring my shoulders bravely even as my insides shook.

“Never have I ever shoplifted,” he said smugly.

“Rhodes!” I slapped his arm. “One freaking time!”

I had shoplifted. Once.

I had wanted a candy bar when I was six and my mom told me no. I took it anyway, but finally broke down crying in the car before we even left the store parking lot, the chocolate melting in my pocket. I told her I didn’t want to go to jail forever.

And Rhodes only knew this because at Katy’s birthday party, I had to answer the ‘What was the worst thing you ever did?’ question during a round of Truth.

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” he said with a grin.

“Maybe we should play a game that doesn’t involve how well we know each other,” I muttered, pulling off my shirt. I wished I had put on a camisole or something, but all I had now was my bra as my shirt joined his in the discard pile.

At least it was the black lace bra and matching panty set that Katy had convinced me to get a few months back. She argued girls needed to feel sexy for themselves.

Judging by the way Rhodes’ throat was working, I owed her a thank you.

He cleared his throat, his voice rougher. “Your turn.”

I sucked in a deep breath, thinking, but fully aware of the way his gaze tracked the heavy rise and fall of my chest. My nipples tightened, and it wasn’t entirely from the chill in the air.

“Never have I ever lived with an alpha,” I said.

He rolled his eyes, but pulled off a sock.

“Never have I ever gone vegan.”

Now I rolled my eyes. A few years back I had the brilliant thought to go vegan because I read The Jungle for an extra credit project. I definitely didn’t factor in my wolf’s need for meat in my diet. It had lasted all of fifteen hours until the next morning when I had eaten almost an entire pound of bacon for breakfast.

I yanked off one of my socks, making a show of dropping it.

“Never have I ever jumped off a roof.” I made a face at him as I said it, remembering when he and Ryder dared each other to jump off the roof over the front porch of the Brooks Ridge cabin at school.

Ryder had broken his wrist, and Rhodes had severely sprained an ankle. It scared the hell out of me seeing him slam into the ground.

Off went his second sock.

“You have more clothes on than I do,” he said, touching the strap of my bra.

I arched a brow. “You picked this game, remember?”

“Never have I ever broken curfew.”

“You’ve never had a curfew!” I sputtered. Rhodes’s dad had barely been coherent most days. He could hardly manage himself, let alone parent Rhodes.

“And?”

With a huff I jerked off my last sock.

“Happy?”

“Elated,” he deadpanned dryly. “I’ve always had a huge thing for your toes.”

Lifting a foot, I jabbed him with my toes playfully. He caught my foot, tickling the arch. With a shriek, I pulled away laughing. I tucked my foot under my body to protect it.

“Jerk.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

I barely managed to get my tongue past my lips before his mouth was on mine, his tongue sweeping into my mouth and his breath mingling with mine.

Rhodes pulled back, his nose barely brushing mine. “Next time you want me to kiss you, just ask. You don’t have to flash your tongue at me.”

I wanted to laugh, but a steady pulse started pounding between my thighs as soon as his mouth touched mine.

I was seriously in trouble.

Clearing my throat, I smiled at him. “My turn,” I whispered.

He stayed close to me, his eyes studying my face.

“Never have I ever...” I paused, gathering myself and trying hard not to blush. “Gone down on a girl.”

His eyes flared wide, something dark and hungry swirling there. He never broke eye contact as he reached down and undid the button on his jeans, lifting his hips and tugging them down. He kicked them off impatiently.

I bit my lip, my eyes catching the impressive length tenting his boxers. My mouth watered, remembering the taste and feel of him in my mouth.

“Never have I ever,” he said softly, reaching over to trace my jaw, “given a blow job.”

His thumb traced the seam of my mouth, and I sucked it in, my teeth sinking into his flesh as I swirled my tongue around the pad of his thumb. His breath caught, eyes drooping as he watched me.

I let him go and stood up, pulling my leggings down and stepping out of them. Instead of going back to my seat on the couch, I moved between his spread legs, looking down at him. His hands slowly teased the skin of my thighs, deliberately skirting away from any area covered by my panties.

“Never have I ever touched myself thinking about someone in this room,” I said, my voice barely a breath as I watched his expression turn ravenous.

Reaching back, I undid the clasp of the bra, letting it fall to the ground in a whisper of fabric. Rhodes groaned, the low sound making me slick and wet.

Exhaling a ragged breath, Rhodes reached down and slipped out of his boxers. I helped pull them the rest of the way off when he got to his knees. His cock sprung curved up, hard and ready, resting against his abdomen.

I slowly straddled his thighs, easing my weight onto him.

His fingers grazed the center of my panties, my hips jerking.

“You win,” he murmured. His eyes lifted to mine. “Name your prize.”

I looped my arms around his neck, pulling his face to mine.

“You,” I replied. “I want you .”

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me flush against his chest and kissing me hard. His mouth slanted over mine, demanding and hot and wet. I opened to him, yielding with a low moan.

He kept one arm banded around me, but the other slid up my side and around the front, slowly teasing my breast, tugging at the hard peak.

With a gasp, I jerked my mouth away, my head falling back as he rolled my nipple between his skilled fingers. His lips attacked my neck, moving across the column of my throat. His hips lifted, thrusting up into me, his length hitting my clit just right.

I cried out, my hands fisting in his hair and I tried not to topple over from the sensation.

After a few minutes of grinding against him as he plucked at my nipples, teasing and tormenting them with equal attention, I grabbed his shoulders.

“More,” I begged, rolling my hips again.

His hands moved to my panties, shoving them aside and sinking a finger into me, his thumb stroking the side of my clit.

“ More ,” I demanded, riding his hand.

He added a second finger, watching with rapt attention as his fingers disappeared into my body.

I scraped my nails across the back of his neck, twisting my hands into his hair and jerking his head up.

I almost came from the expression in his dark eyes alone when they bore into mine.

“More,” I whispered. “I want all of you.”

Understanding dawned in his eyes, the steady slide of his fingers through my wet flesh becoming less rhythmic as his control slipped. His chest heaved.

“Larkin.” He swallowed.

I reached down, circling him with my hand and dragging the tip of his against me.

I gasped the second his hot skin touched mine, branding me. My head fell forward onto his shoulder.

“Rhodes, please ,” I whimpered.

“Larkin, look at me,” he said softly.

I lifted my head, stunned to see the hesitance warring with want in his face. His jaw was tight, his body trembled under mine as he tried to restrain himself.

“I’ve never...”

I slowed my hips. “You’ve never what?”

He glanced down at where I had been sliding against him. “I’ve always used a condom. I’ve never-”

Wait, was Rhodes actually blushing?

That made no sense. One of the best parts of being a shifter, or so I was told, was that we were immune to most STIs that normals dealt with. An added benefit of our mixed DNA or healing. Since females didn’t become fertile until they were at least in their early twenties, pregnancy wasn’t an issue either.

From what I understood and heard, condoms weren’t a thing most shifters used.

“You used condoms?” I tried to figure out why he was telling me this now.

He nodded slowly, his gaze unreadable as he watched me.

“Okay,” I said softly. “Go get one.”

“No,” he said, frowning. “I always used one because... it didn’t feel right. The same way I couldn’t go down on another girl, the idea of marking her didn’t seem right either.”

He lifted the hand not currently still inside my body to my face.

“Until you. It’s always been you.” His whispered words cracked open something in my heart. “I don’t want to use one with you.”

“Then don’t,” I told him, leaning forward to kiss him slowly, deeply. “Just be with me.”

His mouth moved against mine, gentle at first, then growing hungrier. His fingers found the maddening rhythm from before until I broke our kiss with a cry.

“Rhodes.”

He stood up in one fluid motion, lifting me in one arm and moving us to the floor. He laid me down in front of the fireplace, kneeling between my spread legs.

With agonizingly slow movements, he peeled my panties down my legs, his gaze turning molten as he stared at me, completely bare and exposed.

“You’re fucking stunning,” he told me, smoothing his hands across my hips.

Instead of the uncertainty and shyness I had expected, I relaxed against the carpet, letting him look all he wanted. There was no room for embarrassment with the way he was gazing down at me, a mix of lust and love in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

I lifted a brow, a smile tugging at my lips. “I’m sure that if you don’t do something soon, I’ll finish this without you.”

A low growl rumbled out of his throat. “Not fucking happening, baby.”

He lowered himself onto me, kissing his way from my collarbone to the place where my hip met my thigh. Spreading my legs open more, he swiped the flat of his tongue across me, my back arching off the floor.

Using his thumbs, he spread me open further, feasting on me until I was writhing and crying out, just this side of exploding.

When I was about to scream, he lifted up, reaching down to position himself at my opening. He flexed his hips towards me, a shallow thrust that made me gasp.

He was barely inside, but I already knew he was bigger than the two fingers he had slid into me earlier.

“Breathe, Lark,” he encouraged me softly, making sure to watch my face the whole time.

I sucked in a deep breath, tentatively lifting my hips to take more of him into me. The pressure was like nothing I had ever felt, my body stretching around him. It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t the most pleasant experience either.

“Hey,” he said quietly, waiting for me to meet his gaze. “Are you sure?”

I reached up, framing his face with my hands. “I’ve been in love with you since I was thirteen,” I whispered, watching his eyes go wide and wondrous. “It’s always been you .”

With a single thrust, he seated himself fully into me. I cried out at the sudden, sharp pain, tears pricking my eyes.

Wow, that hurt more than I expected.

I focused on breathing, adjusting to the feeling of him inside of me.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered, his tone absolutely gutted. His arms shook as he forced himself to stay perfectly still above me, inside me.

“It’s okay,” I gasped, the pain starting to ebb. All I was left with was a heavy fullness that made me dizzy.

After a few long seconds, Rhodes slowly pulled almost completely out of me and then slid back inside. My body still flinched at the intrusion, but each thrust was easier, better, than the next. By the fourth time he slid back into me, I was lifting my hips to meet him thrust for thrust.

“Faster,” I urged, needing him to pick up the pace. The orgasm he had nearly wrung from me earlier was roaring back to the surface, but I needed more .

“Hold onto me,” he choked out, his hips snapping faster against me, grinding down harder with each pass.

I wrapped my arms around him, sucking in a breath through my teeth as my body tensed, chasing that high I knew was right there .

He lifted my hips, angling me so his thrusts went deeper, hitting a spot inside of me that made me cry out in sheer pleasure, the feeling so intense it bordered on too much.

He slicked his finger in firm circles around my clit, teasing and pressing until I tumbled into oblivion. My body shattered, convulsing and clenching around him, my nails scoring his back viciously as I tried to find anything to tether me to this world.

With a roar, Rhodes followed me over the edge, jerking into me several times.

He all but collapsed on me, his body heaving on top of mine as we both came back down, came back to earth.

I stroked his hair softly, my heart thumping in my chest, blood pumping in my ears.

He lifted his head, his brown eyes soft and full of love. He kissed me slowly, gently, as we both came down from the high.

“I love you, too, baby girl,” he whispered against my mouth.