Chapter 6

CHAPTER

SIX

Most adults probably fantasized about the actual act of sex, but somehow for Ella, when she'd thought about Colton, her daydreams had always centered around kissing.

She'd had fantasies about what was happening right now for years—an embarrassing number of hours thinking about his mouth on hers. The reality didn't disappoint, especially now that Colton had taken over.

The kiss started as gentle, searching—his lips exploring hers, learning them like how he'd obviously learned the mountain he'd be snowboarding down tomorrow. All she could do was melt into him. This was definitely better than what her imagination had come up with.

She slid her hands up his chest to wrap around his neck and pull him closer. Wanting more. But he was taking his time, sipping from her lips with slow, deliberate motions.

Warmth flushed through her body as he used his hand in her hair to hold her just how he wanted. A little moan escaped her as his lips moved along her jaw and down to the side of her neck.

"Be careful, Butterscotch. That sound is going to get you carried over to my bed pretty damned quick. "

There was nothing more she'd like than to be in his bed, but she had to laugh at that. "I'm too heavy to be carr?—"

"Hush." The sentence was cut off and the laugh disappeared as he shifted, and she found herself swept up in his arms. "Or, on second thought, don't hush… Make that sexy little moan again."

She was still self-conscious, but he didn't seem to be having any trouble carrying her, so she didn't argue. Then couldn't argue when his lips took hers again. A few moments later, he lowered her onto the bed and covered her body with his.

And yeah, that moan escaped her once again when his lips found her throat with gentle nips.

Was this moving fast? Yes. But she didn't have any desire to stop it. It was so much better than what she had imagined in her head.

This was Colton .

He slid his hand down the outside of her thigh, hitching her leg up so that he was more fully pressed against her. This time, they both moaned.

She pushed away the insecurities that wanted to grow inside her mind. The ones that could visualize the location of every roll of fat and inch of flabby skin anywhere on her body. The ones that said her nose was too crooked and her eyelids too droopy.

The ones that could run through every supermodel Colton had dated over the past few years. None of them looked like her. Ella was never ever going to be mistaken for a supermodel.

"Hey." He lifted his head, and all she could see were those chocolate-brown eyes. "You still with me? Do we need to slow down? That's more than okay."

"I'm still with you. I don't need to slow down."

"Thank God."

He uttered the words like a prayer, causing her to relax. He wanted to be here—that much was obvious by the hard length of him pressing against her.

And she wanted to be here just as much. She refused to let her insecurities ruin this.

His lips found hers again, and Ella let herself sink into it. The way his tongue teased and dueled with hers? The way he nipped at her bottom lip then soothed the gentle pain with his tongue? She could keep kissing him all night.

But she wanted more than that. If she only got one night with Colton, she wanted more than just kissing. So when he eased back so he could sit her up and slip her sweatshirt over her head, a few seconds later, she had no thoughts of stopping him.

Especially when he was staring at her breasts like he couldn't wait to devour them once her bra quickly followed suit.

She arched into him, a breathless sigh falling from her lips as his mouth found one nipple and began to play with it, sucking, nipping gently, and teasing. She threaded her fingers into his hair, keeping him pressed against her.

"Fucking beautiful," he muttered.

She knew those were just words said in the heat of passion and she shouldn't take much stock in them, but she didn't care. She was panting by the time his lips left her breasts and made their way down her stomach. He pulled off her shoes and socks then unbuttoned her jeans and eased them down her hips along with her underwear.

Insecurity crept back in when she realized she was totally naked while he was nearly fully clothed. "Off," she demanded as she tugged at the front of his dress shirt. She wanted to feel his naked chest against hers.

"Yes, ma'am." His arms moved away from her as he reached to shrug off his dress shirt and toss it on the floor, before kissing her again. Both of them hissed out a breath at the feel of skin on skin.

He met her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Are you?"

His laugh was deep and sexy as he grabbed her hand and pressed it against him through his dress pants. "More than sure."

She nodded, smiling as she helped strip him of his pants and boxer briefs.

This was really happening.

"I need to get protection. "

"Um, I'm on birth control, if you're comfortable with that." She could feel her face burning. She wasn't used to having this type of talk and wasn't sure if she was making things awkward.

But his gaze turned almost primal. "If you're okay with that. I always use a condom since…"

He trailed off, and she didn't want to think too hard about what the rest of that sentence would be.

Since he slept with three different women a night?

Since he had so many supermodels throwing themselves at him?

"Oh." She wasn't sure what else to say.

He grimaced. "I just mean, I'm clean. It's part of my quarterly check-in with my physician. And there's nothing I'd love more, since I trust you, to not have to leave this bed to go find a condom. To just feel you."

"That sounds perfect to me."

She loved the smile that crept over his face before he laid her back against the bed and kissed gently over her cheeks and eyes.

She ran her hands up his shoulders as he moved his lips down her jaw to find her neck once more. He shifted his weight to the side so he could slide his hand down her body and in between her legs.

This time, Ella's moan was closer to a hiss. It had been so long, and even then, it hadn't been Colton.

Those brown eyes met hers. "So wet. So delicious."

She couldn't manage to force words out, could only feel and enjoy as his fingers teased her closer and closer to the edge. It wasn't long before her hips were rocking up toward him—a silent appeal for more.

"I want you inside me." She hardly recognized her own voice, but she loved the shudder that shot through him at the words.

He moved so he was fully on top of her, hiking one of her legs up over his hip. Slowly, eyes on hers, he slid inside.

It was the single most intimate moment of her life—her gaze held captive by his as he filled her inch by inch. There was no way to escape him, not that she had any interest in doing so.

He held still for a moment, eyes still on hers, once he was completely seated—giving her time to adjust. Making sure she was still okay.

"More," she whispered.

That slow grin spread over his face once again, before he reached a hand into the bend of her knee and hooked her leg up higher, opening her wider, his body now pinning hers completely to the bed.

And he began to move. Slow thrusts at first, giving them both the chance to bask in the connection. Then faster, harder.

All Ella could do was hold on. There was no escaping the tiny bolts of pleasure ricocheting through her body. Not that she wanted to. She wanted it to last forever.

But then she saw him grimace.

She gripped his shoulders, a black hole growing in the pit of her stomach. "What? What's wrong? Do you want to stop?"

"Are you kidding? No." He slowed his thrusts. "I'm trying to figure out how to not make this embarrassingly short. I can't seem to find any control around you, Butterscotch."

She felt like her smile would split her whole face. She loved every single thing about that statement. The thought that she could make him lose control?

"Then don't worry about control. Let's both just feel."

That was all the permission he needed, evidently. With a growl, he wrapped both her legs around his hips and began to move in earnest, angling himself in a way that made her gasp.

It didn't take long as pleasure washed over her, and her orgasm almost caught her off guard. Her head fell back as she called out his name.

Colton's thrusts never stopped, as he hooked one arm under her leg and lifted it toward his shoulder. The position opened her more fully and left her almost helpless to whatever he wanted to do.

The pleasure gave her no respite, building up again, crashing over her as he found his own release with another sexy growl.

It took them long minutes to catch their breaths and get their hearts beating at some sort of normal rate again. She trailed her fingers up and down his back, relishing the feel of his collapsed weight on her and his face buried in her neck.

She could lie here forever.

But when he moved away, she knew she had to let him go, despite wanting to keep this connection between them. He got up out of bed and walked to the bathroom, leaving her wondering what she should do.

What was proper protocol? Did he expect her to get dressed and go? Was this it? Sex was done, and now Colton was done with her?

But a few seconds later, he came back out of the bathroom, washcloth in hand. She could hardly take her eyes from his naked body as he walked toward her.

"I just wanted to get us cleaned up." She sighed as he sat down next to her and gently ran the washcloth between her legs. "And if you'll give me an hour to nap, I'd like to show you that I'm capable of going longer than forty-five seconds."

Her eyes flew up to his as a giggle escaped her. It had been much longer than forty-five seconds, but the fact that he wanted another go thrilled the deepest feminine parts of her.

She winked at him. "Yeah, but it was a pretty great three-quarters of a minute."

He threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, you're in for it, Butterscotch. Just you wait. Power nap, then you're all mine."

He threw the washcloth back into the bathroom then got into the bed, pulling her close to his side.

Definitely better than her fantasies.

They were both nodding off when Colton muttered, "Man, I owe Lincoln a drink. That's for damn sure."

She chuckled but had no idea what he was talking about. "Why is that?"

"He's why you're here." Colton's yawn was huge. "Thank God Lincoln is Lincoln and he doesn't have much of a filter."

She could feel Colton's body relaxing, drifting toward sleep. Hers was doing the same. She let out her own yawn.

"Oh yeah? "

"Yeah." It took so long for him to respond, she thought they'd both fallen asleep. His words were almost mumbled. "But damn, I'm glad he told me about your crush."

Her eyes blinked open. Had she just heard him right? "What?"

Colton gripped her hip, then rubbed little circles with his fingers. "I'm glad you have a crush on me. Made my day to hear it."

Ice pooled in Ella's veins.

What? Lincoln had told Colton she had a crush on him? That's why he'd invited her here?

She froze, having no idea what to say. She felt like mortification would consume her from the inside out and burn every other part of her to ash. What was she supposed to say?

Colton's soft snore saved her from having to say anything at all and galvanized her into action. She couldn't stay here. Couldn't go for round two after a nap, knowing he'd only brought her here because she'd been served up as a sure thing .

Or worse. She couldn't bear the thought of that.

She eased out of his grip and slid off the bed, silently finding her clothes. She took them into the living room area to put them on, wanting to make sure not to wake him. She could not bear facing Colton right now.

She didn't even put on her shoes. She had to get out of there.

She made it out the door, shutting it silently behind her. She closed her eyes as she leaned back against it and took a breath.

God, she'd made such an ass of herself. To actually think that Colton had magically felt some attraction to her after all these years and invited her up?

That was not what had just happened. She knew what had just happened but didn't even want to allow herself to think of the phrase. At least not until she got back to her own room and could fall apart.

"I'm telling you, Colton's suite is right down here. I paid a bellboy a lot to find out."

Ella's eyes flew back open at the conversation. Two women— young, slender, blonde…definitely Colton's normal type—were walking down the hallway and almost to her.

"Money well worth it if we can casually run into him, right?" the other woman responded.

"Yeah. I mean, we might have to camp out in this hallway to make it seem like a casual encounter, but…"

"So worth it," they both said at the same time, giggling.

Ella pushed away from the door, but they were too close and could obviously see that she'd just come from the room they knew was Colton's.

"Oh." Both of them stared, eyes flicking from the shoes she held in her hands to what she was sure was her mussed hair and makeup.

Ella didn't say anything, just walked past them, glad when they stepped out of the way.

It was silent for a moment, but then she heard snickering and whispers. Most of it she couldn't make out because she was trying her best to get down the hallway as quickly as possible.

But one phrase was definitely clear. The one she hadn't been allowing herself to think at all. The one that encapsulated the whole night with Colton.

Pity fuck .