Chapter 19

NINETEEN

I gripped the steering wheel. I should turn around and head back to my place. Hell, I should go anywhere but to Dahlia's, but my idiot ass turned toward Kensington Square instead of back toward the lake.

It was a Friday afternoon and while it was hot enough to blast the AC, it wasn't as oppressive as it had been a few days ago. The foot traffic increased the closer I got to Designing Women. Shops and eateries were plentiful in this part of the city.

But it was also nice enough that people were knocking off early and I found a spot a few buildings down from the design studio. I shoved my phone into my pocket as I slid out of my truck. As I crossed the street, I spotted her through the large picture window.

She was sitting cross-legged, with her feet tucked under her. A pizza box was on the table as well as a salad and sweating can of Diet Coke. I couldn't stop a grin as I noticed the salad sat untouched, but a pair of greasy pieces of pizza filled her plate.

I pushed the door open and the bell tinkled over my head.

She looked up, a welcoming smile on her face then her expression morphed into the annoyed snarl that had no business making me want to smile.

"Hellcat."

"So, the pizza lured you in finally?"

"Depends on how good it is."

She unwound her legs and crossed them at the knee instead. Her shoes had been discarded under the desk, leaving her sexy feet bare with that damn dark red toenail polish that reminded me of the other night.

Her foot against my chest, her legs open for me.

Waiting for my mouth on her dripping pussy.

"Well, don't just stand there glowering at me." She pushed the box toward the chair beside her. "You want a Coke?"

"Yeah, that'd be good. It's hot as hell."

She stood up and went to a cabinet beside the conference table. Inside was a mini fridge stocked with sodas.

"Oh, can I have one of the Mt. Dews instead?"

"Luckily, TJ just bought a new case." She slid the can down to me.

I grabbed it and cracked the top, taking a long drink. I flipped the box open to find half cheese and a half-loaded pie with hot peppers. Girl after my own heart. A plate sailed toward me as I lifted them out and I stopped it with the thin yet crispy pizza. I lifted the loaded one to my mouth and hummed around the spicy mix of veg and meat. "Good."

"Jimmy's is the best." She plucked a piece of pepper off hers and popped it in her mouth. "Spicy peppers make it."

I'd never known a woman to enjoy food as much as she did. Most of the ones I'd known—save for my sister—were more worried about counting calories than enjoying them. She ate with relish, and I was very glad that a table covered me.

"So, Gideon sent me the report. Did you have a chance to look it over yet?"

"I started to and got pissed off at how long it was." I took another bite.

She ripped off a piece of crust and dabbed it over her pizza to soak up all the good stuff. When I gave her a look, she shrugged. "I like to eat my crust first." She popped it in her mouth. When she finished chewing, she sipped from her soda. "I know it looks long, but it's a lot of little stuff. Bringing an old house up to code is a pain in the ass, but Gideon has a great team. Only thing that might slow us down is plumbing."

I leaned back in my chair, wiping off my fingers with a napkin. "Think that'll kill my bottom line?"

"It ain't gonna be pretty." She picked up her crustless pizza and folded it New York style and took a big bite.

"The real question I have is how long is it going to take?"

She put her slice down. "Gideon gave me a heads-up there. You're not going to like it."

"End of summer?"

She pointed her finger to say higher.

"Fall?" My chest tightened and a growl curled under my breastbone.

"Maybe by the end of fall."

I pushed my chair back and paced away from the table.

"Look, there's a lot of work to be done structurally. The windows alone are going to take time, especially with the stained-glass portion of them. We have a guy we use locally, and he's damn good, but there's a wait. Unless you know someone who does that as well."

I laced my fingers at the back of my neck. "No. I have a call in to Archer, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. Still off-grid."

She stood and followed me over to the panel that had my plans still pinned up. "Look, I get wanting things to move faster."

"Can I just throw money at it?"

"Just how much money do you have budgeted, Nolan?"

I glanced at her. "How much do you need to advance the timetable?"

She stared at me for a long minute. "You're serious?"

"Do I seem the type to joke?"

"No. Though you should sometimes. You're a real bear." She rolled her eyes when I didn't so much as smile at her. "You're the worst. Throwing money at it only does so much." When I opened my mouth, she held up a hand. "But it will work for the windows, which takes a big chunk out of your schedule."

"Any other places we can shave time?"

"Nolan, I'm not a miracle worker. This isn't Los Angeles, you know."

"Can I call in people from there?"

"We don't work with people we haven't vetted. Especially some fancy pants overpriced blowhard from LA."

I arched a brow at her. "Now who's the pain in the ass?"

"I've been burned by cutting corners. Rushing and not meshing with people can set a job back months. You sure you want to take that chance?"

I growled.

"All right, all right. I'll make some calls. I might have a few ideas."

"Good."

"You know you can't just growl at me like a beast and think you're going to get your own way. Welcome to small town life, pal. Things don't go as fast as you want."

"Got my way today, didn't it?" I stepped closer to her. "And the way your nipples are staring at me, you like when I growl, Hellcat."

She lifted her chin. Every time she did that, I wanted to kiss that smart mouth of hers. "It's the AC." She turned and went back the desk.

"Dahlia..." I'd stepped over the line. One that I'd drawn.

She whirled back and stalked back to me. "You're the one who wanted to keep this professional." She poked me in the chest. "You're the one who flounced like a pissed-off kitten after you were done with me."

" Done with you?" I crowded into her. "I'd never be done with you—" I cut myself off.

She went onto her toes. "You could have fooled me. Rolled off and disappeared just like the asshole you are."

I gripped her ass, dragging her to me. "I might be an asshole, but it didn't stop you from coming on my dick again and again." I stared at her mouth. "On my tongue. Flowing down my beard because you were so wet."

She licked her lips. "So what? Every woman makes a mistake or two."

"Six?"

"You wish."

"I felt you. I tasted you, Hellcat. I know how many times you came."

"I just made sure to make extra noise to make you feel better."

The chill that skated down my spine almost got me. Pity fuck.

No.

She was lying.

The pride and the sting of her words melted under the direct stare. "I didn't mean it that way." She dug her fingers into my shoulders. She was pushing me away as much as she was digging into my muscles. "You make me crazy."

"Ditto." Then I covered her mouth.

The spice of the pizza danced on her tongue, and I twined mine around hers. The kiss was carnal and heady. There was no breath between us. Instead, we fed on one another as if we were creating it.

She tore her mouth away. Her lips were swollen from mine and my beard.

I dug my fingers into her hips, lifting her onto her toes so she could feel how hard I was for her. I flicked my tongue along her lower lip, slowing the blazing heat that made me want to steal everything from her. Drag all that passion and fire into me. To warm up the cold blankness that lived inside of me.

Slowly, I drew her in deeper. She sighed into my mouth and surrendered.

Her body went lax against me, molding around me with her arms. Those long, agile fingers sank in my hair, the edge of her nails ramping me up again. The kiss went harder and spun out hotter. I worshiped her mouth, daring her to pull back.

I watched her as she fell further into the kiss. Her head drifted back, and my lips coasted over her chin to her neck. That honeyed peach scent of her was always strongest behind her ear. She shuddered and I knew to keep going there. I read her body as I had that first night.

Her map was in neon, thanks to her sighs and the way she arched up for me. She may have called me a spitting kitten, but she was a happy and satisfied cat as she rubbed against me. Looking for more with each nibble across her neck and to her shoulder. I pushed at her shirt with my nose to suck on the two freckles I found there.

She gripped the back of my neck and her hum of pleasure let me know I was in the right area. My fingers lowered on her ass to lift her leg up to hook it against my hip, letting me grind my rigid shaft against her.

Her head fell back enough that her ponytail dusted my other arm. I tangled my fingers in the thick length of it and pulled.

She hissed out a delighted moan. "More."

I wrapped it around my palm and jerked her back farther. I dipped my head to her breasts, sucking through the cotton and lace. But she was too short for me to get anywhere without lifting her up.

I released her hair and hoisted her up. "Legs around me, Hellcat."

She locked her ankles at my waist.

"Where?"

Startled, she finally realized where we were. She glanced over her shoulder at the door. If someone walked in right then, I'd possibly commit murder. "My office." She gripped my shoulders. "Wait."

"What?" My jaw locked.

"Detour. That way." She gripped my hip with one thigh tighter than the other.

"I'm not a fucking horse."

"You're still turning that way, aren't you?"

I growled. "Where?"

"Unless you've got another magic condom in your wallet..."

"I do not. Drugstore?"

"God, no. Too far." She dug her heel into my spine. "Second office door there. TJ's."

"I'm stealing more from TJ?"

She gave a quick laugh. "Seems like it, doesn't it?" She bit my ear. "Promo condoms from a trivia night. Desk drawer."

"On it." I backed us through the door, thankful for the handled kind. I set her down and raced around to the surprisingly wide desk. "Which?"

"Middle drawer." She leaned back, knocking her pen cup over. "Wait. Not that one. The secret one." She spun herself around and slid across the desk, which about killed me.

She was bendy as fuck.

After hopping down, she nudged my hands aside and pushed on something. Like magic, a little drawer popped out with three condoms in the center section. "Do I need one or two?"

"Take all three."

She grinned up at me. "Forward thinking, I like it." She tucked them into her bra.

No . I should have just said one, but as my dick was a steel spike digging into me, I knew it for a lie.

She jumped into my arms, and I barely caught her. Her heels dug into my lower back as she climbed me like a spider monkey. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight. The playfulness activated another level of animal inside of me. The one that wanted to wrap her scent on me and never let go.

I never seemed to mirror her mood.

The lighter she was, the darker I became. My mouth was rough on hers, her laughter swallowed down into the winding lust that threatened to drag me under.

She slipped her fingers through my hair and held me tight, meeting my wild with wild.

I crashed back into the bookcase in TJ's office. Maybe we wouldn't make it out of her room. I spotted a bench underneath the window and turned to sit on it, straddling her over me.

Her dark eyes blazed hot as our bodies aligned. She rubbed against me, rolling her hips as if she could finally scratch that itch.

"You gonna come with those jeans on?" I said against her mouth. "Grind on me until you come?"

She moaned. "Sure you want the denim burn?" She rolled again and hissed out a slow breath. "I'm close."

I jerked at her zipper and dug my fingers into the soft denim, finding lace and then her heat. "Wet for me. Always wet for me."

She gritted her teeth. When I teased her clit and drove two fingers into her, she cried out.

"Yeah, you are. Soaking my fingers." Dragging my hand out of her pants, I sucked my two middle fingers into my mouth and licked them clean.

Her eyes widened.

I gripped the back of her neck and dragged her in for a hot, twisted kiss. She moaned into my mouth, digging her tongue inside to take all of her taste into her.

I wasn't sure how I got any harder, but I did. Painfully so.

I fumbled with my belt and freed myself enough to take some of the pressure off.

She slid down my thighs and held onto my shoulder to stand. She swayed in front of me, and I nosed into the gap of her shirt to get to skin. I cupped her other breast and groaned as she wiggled out of her jeans, leaving the navy thong on as she straddled me again.

Her slim fingers took me in hand, her grip intense enough that I growled into her neck."Let me inside, Hellcat. Ride me."

"Let me see you, Nolan." She tugged the head of my cock across her belly, and I could see my precum on her skin, which set me off faster than I could comprehend.

She pushed at the hem of my shirt, her nails lightly skimming the hair above the base of my cock.

I snatched one of the condoms out of her shirt and handed it to her. I stared into her eyes.

This was all I could give her right now.

She dropped a light kiss on my mouth and ripped it open to cover me. "Help me."

I pushed her thong over, and slowly, she lowered herself onto me. Her eyes went wide and soft at the same time as she took each inch within her clasping body.

The heat of her wrapping around me from throat to cock was unmatched.

She curled her arms around me, and she dragged my face into her chest as she took me again and again.

I wrapped my arms around her back, banding her tight to me as I lifted my hips to meet hers over and over. Driving into her until there was no space between us.

Until her breath synced up to mine, her knees gripped my hips, and the telltale rippling clasp of her pussy around my cock threatened to pull me under.

I lowered my hand to slip between her thighs and felt us joined, syrupy thick with her wetness. I slipped between the cleft of her ass to graze her there, spreading her wetness until the tip of my finger slipped past the muscle and her breath went to a pant. I drove up into her again and again and she shattered for me.

The way she shook around me unleashed the last of what I'd been holding back. Her cries let the beast inside of me out.

Finally .

I tightened her against me and poured myself inside her. Both of us shook in the aftermath of it, but she didn't let go. She held on and tucked her face into my neck as our skin cooled.

As the sweat changed into a shiver against the air conditioning in the room.

I didn't let her go this time.

She didn't deserve that.

And I liked her wrapped around me way more than I should.

Finally, she eased back and met my gaze. "Why is it like that every time?"

"I wish I could tell you."

"Would you wish it away?"

"Do you want the truth?"

Her dark eyes shuttered. "No." She stood and slipped away from me.

My cock snapped back against my belly. As usual, I was still hard for her. Even coming inside her couldn't kill the need, just sated it enough for me to think again.

I grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to me. I pressed my cheek against her stomach for a moment. "It's not you, Dahlia. It's me."

"Sure."

I let her go. She grabbed her jeans off the floor and rushed out of the office.

I tipped back my head and slammed it against the window behind me. "Jackass."

Fuck, I'd hurt her again.

The lie would have been better. Even if she didn't deserve the lie any more than the truth.