19. Naomi

I glanced over my shoulder.Laughter and the hum of conversation drifted after me. Colder walked backwards down the hallway and I followed. It was similar to our side of the building, but there was a touch more opulence.

The art deco flavor was heightened with dark wallpaper that drew in the light, leaving a matte finish with a slight sheen in a feather pattern. The sconces were smaller, and the light refracted along the pattern, adding to the illicit nature of sneaking away.

My overactive imagination activated as my heart throbbed like a drumbeat in my head.

He paused at the storage door and flashed his key fob at the scanner.

I glanced back down the hall again.

"Naomi."

I jumped when his hand firmed on my hip.

"Lesson of my choice, remember?"

I swallowed. "Yes, I remember. Even if you cheated."

His lips twitched in the low light. "I can't help it if you get distracted by me. It's only fair since you've been distracting me since the day we met."

That couldn't be true.

But then he drew me into the storage room and left the door wide open.

Dear God, I could still hear all the people in the lobby. Anyone could come down here. Could come down and see what we were doing.

I didn't have time to ask a question or to even think about what kind of lesson we were indulging in. There was only his mouth on mine.

Hard and fast, the liquid lust flooded my system like a drug.

He pushed me up against one of the steel shelves and the jangle of something like bells—maybe Christmas decorations—dented the haze, but then his big hand was on my breast.

No easing in.

He lifted me onto my toes and nudged my thighs apart with his knee. He wrapped one hand around my wrist and pinned it above my head, stretching me out farther. His other hand raced over my breast and then down between my thighs.

"Still wet for me from the elevator, sweet Naomi?"

"No."

He shoved his hand past the stretchy waistband of my yoga pants and into my underwear. "Lying to me?"

"No."

Was this a game?

Was I supposed to play along?

"Your pussy says otherwise."

My blood heated as he found my clit with brutal accuracy. The first time we'd been together, he'd been so sweet. Accommodating and worried about my feelings.

This wasn't the same Colder.

A new game?

A new lesson?

I wanted to file away the details, the smells, the rough touch, all of it.

But there was no time to assimilate it all.

He scraped his teeth down my neck then back up to my ear. "This pussy is mine. For the next seven minutes, you'll be my heaven. That's the lesson. You're mine to use, to fuck, to own. No softness."

"Yes."

The need unfurled. I didn't even know it was inside me.

"You sure? Once I start, it's on. You ready for this?"

What brought this on?

Why did I want it so badly?

Research.

Surely, this was just hands-on research.

"Think you can survive this lesson?" His voice was edgy and sharp.

Yes, a lesson. There was safety in the analysis. I'd indulge in all the sensory details to pick apart later. For the science of it.

Liar. You want it for you.

I wanted to say that, but instead, I whispered a simple, "Yes."

"We'll see." He shoved up my sweatshirt and latched onto my breast through my cotton bra.

I hadn't dressed for this. No cute, sexy undergarments to entice. Just me.

But it didn't seem to matter to him.

He drew on my nipple through the material and the heat of his mouth, and the friction ramped up the excitement. He released my wrist and crouched in front of me to drag my yoga pants down.

He stared up at me in the dim light from the hallway. His silvery eyes felt otherworldly as he flicked his tongue over my clit, then he latched onto me. He shoved my knees apart as far as they could go with the pants trapped at my ankles.

The lurid lashes of his tongue mixed with my undeniable wetness left me off-balance. I'd never been one to be so ready so fast, but all it took was the right man.

The right Colder.

No.

Just the moment. The excitement.

It was Colder.

I reached up for purchase on the steel shelving unit, praying it was bolted to the wall because holy shit. I bowed up, my back arching as he sucked so strongly onto my clit that my whole body throbbed. Then he released it and it was as if he'd flipped a switch inside me.

I came so fast I didn't know what hit me.

But then it was his fingers chasing the spasms as he finger-fucked me with two, then three fingers until I was a single swollen beat of release.

I must have shouted because he stood and covered my mouth with his. "Shh, baby. Don't bring us company."

I didn't have words to reply. It was too much, too fast, but I wanted more. I reached between us and jerked at the button of his jeans.

"Want me inside you now? Want me to fuck you, sweet Naomi?"

"Yes."

"It's gonna be hard. So hard and fast."

"Yes, yes." I dropped my head back for a second as I dragged in a breath. "More. Yes."

His face was all angles and shadows and silvery blue eyes as the crinkle of a condom dented my euphoria. Then the rhythmic staccato of a brutal thrust again and again. I transferred my hold from the shelves to his shoulders and folded myself around him. My ballet flat dropped off my foot as I pulled my leg out of the stretchy yoga pants.

I needed to be tighter around him.

I needed him closer.

I wrapped my leg around his waist and the angle was even deeper. I was up on my toes of my other foot and every muscle burned, but I didn't want to stop.

Couldn't.

We were lost to the rattling, punishing pleasure. Sweat slicked his shoulders and neck as he bore down on me as if he wanted to climb inside me too.

"Fuck." His voice was little more than a growl. "Fuck, so good. So good."

My nails dug into his shoulders. My breath backed up in my lungs as my muscles locked and black dots formed at my periphery. Too much, but not enough—I couldn't go over.

Then he bent his knees and thrust up at a better angle and I blew past the plateau to a shimmering orgasm that was like a black wave. There was only my breath and his breath, only my body and his body.

I gave into it.

I didn't really have a choice.

My fingers slid up to cup the back of his head as we held onto each other. I felt the jerk of his hips and the guttural groan as he followed me over.

Distantly, I heard Callahan's voice calling for the next round.

Colder pulled out of me.

"Seven minutes are over."

I sagged against the shelves. "Colder…"

"No. We're done, lesson over."

"Colder, wait."

He jerked up his jeans and drew back into the shadows.

"This was the lesson. Just the fucking."

I already missed his touch and I wanted to know what he was thinking. But he left me in the room and escaped down the hall.

He'd warned me of no softness.

The excitement faded into loss. It was what I'd agreed to, but suddenly, the lessons didn't feel so special.

I pulled my sweatshirt down with a shaky hand.

How was I supposed to go out there now? Everything had tilted and shifted.

Class was definitely dismissed, but I wasn't so sure I was ready for the next lesson.