Текст книги "Perfect Kind Of Trouble"

Автор книги: Chelsea Fine

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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

“No. It was just a glimpse. It could have been a different car.” She checks the mirror again.

I inhale, feeling unsettled as hell. “There’s no one behind us now, though. So relax. You’re safe,” I say. “You have me, remember?”

She smiles at me. “You’re right.”

I smile back but every nerve in my body stands on end the entire drive home. When we get there, Kayla parks in the dark and I try to keep her distracted with trivial conversation as we climb through the window. But my mind is spinning and I can’t keep my eyes from darting around the dark house as I hold Kayla’s hand and keep her as near to me as possible without alarming her.

We head to the stairs and just as I prop my foot on the first step, a deep, unfamiliar voice says, “Hello, Kayla.”

We turn around and I instantly tuck Kayla behind my back as I face off with a tall burly man with greased back hair, a skinny mustache, and a large potbelly.

“Who the fuck are you?” I demand, lifting my chin so he and I are almost at eye level.

He presses his fingers together in a steeple. “My name is Big Joe and I am the private lender of a personal loan Gia Turner secured with me. In her passing, Kayla is now the responsible party and I’m here to collect.” He looks at Kayla, thrumming his fingers.

“Get the hell out of my house,” I say in a commanding voice that sounds more confident than I feel.

“I’m afraid that won’t be happening until I get my money,” he says.

“Get out or I will call the cops.”

He inhales through his nostrils. “I’m pretty sure that won’t be happening either, since you obviously don’t own this house and therefore have no right to kick me out of it.”

“I already told you, Joe,” Kayla says, half-hidden behind me. “I don’t have any money.”

“Well, you see, that’s a problem. Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money. It’s the kind of money that doesn’t get forgiven just because someone eats too many pills. So you will pay off your mother’s debt. And if you don’t have the cash, then I’ll settle for our alternate arrangement of you working for me without pay.” He steps closer to Kayla and smiles lewdly.

My voice is low and menacing. “Back the fuck up. Now.” He’s got a few inches and a few dozen pounds on me, but I will fucking tear him apart if he even breathes in Kayla’s direction.

He steps back, but only an inch. “You need to come back to Chicago with me, Kayla.”

“No,” she says.

“No?” He rubs his steepled fingertips together. “No is not an option. You can say no all you want, but that won’t keep me from getting my money. I’ll drag you back by the hair if need be.”

I flex my jaw and step right up to him. “You’ll be in a shallow grave before you get anywhere near Kayla’s hair.”

He eyes me. “Big words. I’m not a fan of shallow graves, you see, so unfortunately for you, I brought some insurance.”

He tips his head at something, and suddenly four figures creep out from the shadows of the house and surround the base of the stairs where Kayla and I stand. One guy I could handle. Two would be hard, but doable. But five on one? I can’t win with odds like that, and a fight would only rile this guy up. Who knows what he’d do to Kayla if he was angry?

“Say good-bye to your boyfriend, Kayla, before someone gets hurt,” Big Joe says. “We need to get on the road.”

One of the goons reaches for Kayla’s arms and I knock his hand away, stepping in front of her more fully.

I look at Big Joe. “Let’s talk this out. You need twenty thousand dollars, right?”

He nods.

“Will you accept payment in diamonds?”

“Of course.”

“And if you get your money’s worth, you’ll leave Kayla alone—forever?”

He shrugs. “I have no business with Kayla other than her mother’s debt. If she pays up then I’m gone for good.”

I nod. “Kayla,” I say quietly, without turning to look at her. “Go get my mom’s necklace.”

I hear her suck in a breath. “But Daren—”

“Nothing in this world is more important than you—especially not a piece of jewelry,” I say in a serious tone. “Go get it. Please.”

A beat passes then she hurries up the stairs. I hear her shuffle down the hall and through my room, my eyes on Big Joe the whole time. She comes back downstairs with the familiar box and hands it to me.

Our eyes meet when I take it and, right here, in this crazy moment, I know what real love looks like. What it tastes like, smells like. I know what real love feels like, and it feels like home. It feels like Kayla Tuner, believing in me. It feels like everything I’ve ever done right in a pair of bright blue eyes. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. No necklace, no amount of money, not even the very last breath pulled from my chest is more important than the girl standing beside me.

I hand the box over to Big Joe. He opens it and examines the string of diamonds with small noises of approval.

He slants his eyes to me. “This is a hefty piece of bling. You might be ripping yourself off here.”

I glance at Kayla. “Not even a little.”

I have the most priceless thing in the world.

Big Joe inhales through his nose again. “Tell you what. Me and my associates here will leave the two of you unharmed tonight, and I will arrange for these diamonds to be authenticated by someone I trust. If these are, in fact, real then the two of you will never see me again. However, if these diamonds are fake, and you’ve wasted my time, you will see me again and there will be much…” He eyes Kayla then me. “Harm. Understood?”

I nod, wishing I had the power to rip his limbs from his body. “Understood.”

“Very well.” He motions to his goons to leave then stretches a smile over his face. “Have a good evening.”

They exit the house and I immediately turn around to face Kayla. “Are you okay?” I touch her head, her arms. I know she wasn’t hurt but I just need to touch her. I lead her up the stairs and away from what just happened.

“I’m fine,” she says, looking at me in concern. “But you just gave away your mother’s necklace—your favorite memory.”

I shake my head as we reach my bedroom. “It was a token of a happy time with my parents, nothing more. There’s no amount of diamonds I wouldn’t give up for you.”

“Daren…”

“I’m being serious.” I step closer and hold her face, swallowing. “I know this sounds crazy, but I love you, Kayla Turner. And I’ve never loved anything more.”

39 Kayla

My lips part as I stare up into his deep brown eyes in the moonlight streaming into his bedroom doorway through the upstairs hallway window. Is Daren Ackwood really confessing his love for me? My heart flutters as I search for the right words to convey everything I’m feeling.

“I love you, too” is all I come up with. There really aren’t any better words. “So I guess we’re both crazy.”

He smiles. “I guess so.”

I smile back and then his lips are on mine, kissing me desperately, again and again until I’m out of breath and grasping at his shirt collar. Tugging and pulling, I manage to pull his shirt off so I can feel my body up against his. I like how strong and big he is when we’re standing together, how he can look down on me but not make me feel powerless. He walks us inside his room, shuts the door, and presses me up against it in the now total blackness of his room, kissing my neck and throat as I exhale in bliss and savor the feel of his mouth on my skin.

I go for his pants but he traps my hands at his zipper, moving us over to fall onto the mattress as he starts kissing me all over again. His touch conveys unspoken things, filling me with hope for the future and peace for the present. And his lips pour into me beauty that’s unseen and worthiness that’s unearned.

“Wait, wait,” I say breathlessly and Daren pulls back. I climb on my knees and tug the piece of cardboard from his bedroom window, letting the moonlight fill his room so we are no longer in complete darkness. “I want you to see me.”

A wide smile stretches across his face in the soft blue light of the moon. Returning to the mattress, I stretch out on my back as he crawls over me and looks into my eyes. And oh my God, he is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Not because he’s handsome and symmetrical, with a broad chest and rippling ab muscles. But because he has a loving heart. And that heart loves me.

40 Daren

I take her face in my hands, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks as I tilt her head to the side and kiss her. My tongue slides into her mouth and roams over the tender flesh inside, loving how soft and warm she is.

Her body melts against mine instantly, and she relaxes in my arms, running her own up the sides of my body so she can bury her hands in my hair. Gripping the hair at the base of my neck, she tugs on it and I groan into her mouth.

Her soft hands, running over my skin and moving around my body, wrap me in a comfort I’ve never experienced before.

She arches her back and lifts up, her body trying to get closer to mine, and I run my hands down her rib cage and to the hem of her shirt. Pulling it up, I expose the pale skin of her belly before lifting it higher and taking it off completely, leaving her in only her bra. Slipping my hands around her back, I remove that too, exposing the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. Large and full and perfectly round, they lie in my hands as I squeeze them gently.

“God. You’re beautiful,” I say.

Lowering my mouth to one of her nipples, I cover it with my lips—but I don’t suck on it, not yet. Instead I watch her squirm beneath me, wanting my wet mouth to pull her nipple into its hot depths, but not being able to control it.

With my mouth set against one nipple, my fingers play with the other, gently grazing over it before softly plucking at it over and over. She arches her back even more, and now her hips are shoved against mine.

“Daren…” she breathes out. “Please.”

I pull her nipple into my mouth fully and she moans in pleasure. God, that’s a hot sound. I press my body between her legs, keeping her from arching any more than she already is as I move to her other nipple and do the same until both nipples are wet and beautifully erect in the moonlight from the window.

She wiggles and moans as I suck her tight nubs into my mouth and squeeze her breasts. Then, moving back up to her mouth, I kiss along her jaw and over to her ear before running my lips down her throat. She thrusts her head back, carefree and trusting with my mouth against such a fragile place. As I gently lick a trail up and down her windpipe, I run my hand down the center of her chest, lightly touching each of her nipples before moving to her stomach and then into her pants.

I slowly slide my hand inside her panties and between her legs, where she’s already warm and wet, and cup her softly as I move my mouth back to hers and kiss her deeply.

She wriggles against my hand, but I refuse to make more than light contact with her most sensitive area. Instead I tease her, lightly brushing a fingertip over her clit. Then I pull my hand back completely before running a finger along the crease of her thigh. Then up to every tender spot on her flesh—except the one she wants me to touch.

She starts to pant and I smile against her throat, lightly tapping her center with my finger.

She jerks then whimpers. I kneel above her and slide her pants off, tossing them to the floor before tucking my fingers into the sides of her panties and dragging them down her legs and over to the floor by her pants.

With nothing on but her desire for me, I run my fingertips up her legs and over her knees. A quiet gasp escapes her mouth as the pads of my fingers trail up her inner thighs, skipping her neediest spot, and brushing up her hips and stomach.

I watch her eyes light up and her body writhe in want as I touch her lightly, and smile to myself. Kayla, who was always so modest, is lying open and waiting for me with passion and love in her eyes. Love for me.

41 Kayla

It’s a foreign thing, this meshing of love and lust deep inside my chest, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. I want to both please him with my body and comfort him with my soul, and the odd—yet satisfying—sensation tugs at my heart in a way I’ve never experienced. Sex and love two completely different species, but when put together they’re a beautiful force.

I run my hands down the hard muscles of Daren’s chest and stomach then unbutton his pants so he can spring free. He helps me take his pants off completely, then his underwear, until we’re both naked on his virgin mattress in the moonlight.

My skin feels cool all of a sudden, but when he hovers over me, his body heat instantly warms me. He leans down and kisses me while I spread my legs apart and pull his hard body against mine. Moving from my mouth, he starts to kiss a trail down my body, his hot mouth lighting me on fire everywhere he goes. He kisses beneath my jaw, soft and quiet. Then he places a kiss upon my collarbone, sliding his mouth along its length, branding me as his. His lips press above my heart, sure and steady like the rhythm inside my chest, then move to the spot just above my belly button, teasing and wanting. The trail drifts down to my lower hip and he places a gentle kiss on the inside, causing my muscles to flex with the touch, so sensitive and intimate. His kisses are little pieces of him, laid upon my body.

He kisses lower still and my legs start to shake out of pure anticipation. I see him smile against my stomach as his hands glide up the inside of my thighs and opens them all the way.

I arch my back so he can see me completely and tip my head back as I feel his hand travel to my core and lightly touch every part of my swollen wetness, except my neediest nub.

I swear he’s trying to kill me.

His hot mouth moves to my leg then licks a trail along the crease of my thigh before placing featherlight kisses against my folds. As his soft lips graze my wanting center, he moves his hands to my hips and holds me gently. Then he slips his fingers across my ticklish belly and back down to my thighs.

With my legs shaking and my heart pounding I whimper, “Please, Daren.” I can feel my wetness dripping from my body as his hot tongue slips out of his mouth and licks one long streak around me in a circle, but still not touching the cluster of nerves I need him to.

The tip of his heavenly tongue trails over more of me, wetting my folds on either side of my clit and making my core tighten with need. My legs shake. My belly tightens.

“Daren. Daren. Come on,” I say, completely out of breath.

He gently kisses my clit, just a peck, his lips brushing the place I need him to but not quite satisfying my hunger. His tongue slips out of his mouth as he exhales hotly against me. Then he licks me once, a long, slow stroke of his soft wet tongue as it rolls over my clit and I whimper, tossing my head back because I want more.

I grip his hair, trying to push his mouth lower to my aching body, and feel him smile against my needy flesh.

I’m just about to beg and moan, when he thrusts my thighs even farther apart and licks at my core, rolling his tongue over my clit again and gain. I cry out and clutch his hair, holding his mouth against me as my body splays out on the bed and my legs begin to tremble more violently.

He starts to lap at my folds, driving me wild and making me blind with desire until I feel myself about to fall to pieces. Gasping, begging, whimpering, I pant as his sweet tongue sucks and licks at my tiny clit relentlessly.

Unlike anything I’ve experienced before, I’m not afraid to want this, not afraid to enjoy it. For the first time in my life, I’m able to embrace pleasure and let it move through me, setting wild pieces of my soul free.

He groans against my sensitive flesh and licks at me more ferociously until a blinding orgasm rips through me and my entire body begins to quiver and jerk. Gripping two fistfuls of the sheets in my hands I cry out with his head still between my legs.

Now a wet quivering mess, I can’t do anything other than beg him to push himself inside me. Which is exactly what I’m doing. Begging in short, clipped sentences.

“Daren. Now. Please. Oh God.”

I hear the smile in his voice. “Hold on.”

“No. Now. Come on.” I look down to see him putting a condom on and, once it’s in place, I try to pull him into me.

He waits. With his thick penis set between my legs but not yet inside me, he waits.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I whine.

“No,” he says with a smile. “I’m trying to savor this.” Then he slowly eases into me and my aching body tightens around him. I hold on to his shoulders and feel him deep inside of me, but just briefly before he eases back out.

I pull at his body again and this time he gives in, sliding into me and filling me completely. I cry out again.

This is the best thing I’ve ever felt. Pure ecstasy. Not just the sensation of his hard body, stretching out my soft, tight one, but the feeling of Daren inside me, connected to me.

He starts to pump in and out of me, my aching core gripping at his hard length as hot skin rubs against the greedy nerves inside me, and I sink my nails into his back, holding on for dear life.

I was wrong. This is the best thing I’ve ever felt. The hot friction of his thick body rubbing against my soft wet core and easing the pulsing ache inside is almost more than I can stand.

I watch him in the pale moonlight, his square jaw tightened, the corded muscles of his neck pulling taught, and my desire to please him ignites even more. I grab his hips and hold him inside me so we’re locked together and he can’t withdraw, then I say, “I want to be on top.”

He blinks down at me and grins. “Yeah?”

I nod. “I’ve never been on top before.”

“Really?” His grin widens. “Holy hell. This is going to be fun. You’re going to like it. Trust me.”

In one swift movement, he rolls us over so I’m straddling his hips while his erection still fills my core, and in this new position, he feels deeper. Fuller.

“Oh wow,” I whisper, shifting over him slightly. The movement sends a dart of pleasure up my spine and my eyes flutter back. “Oh God.”

He smiles up at me. “Told you.” His smile melts into a look of hunger as he watches me move, however, and a low, appreciate curse word leaves his mouth.

I rock against him, slowly at first then gain momentum as I get used to the feel of our entwined bodies, until suddenly I’m on fire. I’m sexy and beautiful. I’m powerful and strong. The moonlight shines down on my nude body as I ride Daren and his eyes watch my bouncing breasts, swollen with passion, with great appreciation. I love that he can see me, my nakedness, my desire for him.

I rub against him more fervently and another orgasm tears through me, lighting every inch of my skin on fire as I fall apart on top of him. Daren pulls me down to meet his mouth and kisses me as he rolls us over once again.

With my body a wet, spent mess of quivers and spasms, I’m not sure if I can handle more of Daren inside me. But as he, once again, pumps into me I only feel more bliss run through me. Who knew sex could bring so much pleasure? So much love? So much… everything?

I give my body over to Daren completely, arching my hips and tossing my head back as I claw at his large shoulders, taking him into me, begging for more. We rock against each other in the soft glow of the moon, me whimpering for more and him groaning in pleasure, until our bodies both climax and every muscle in his body grows rigid. We collide with each other, breathless, sweating.

There are no handcuffs binding us, but we’re connected just the same. Not by steel but by love. Visible love. Valuable love. A love that sees me just as much as I see him. And I’ve never felt so beautiful.

42 Daren

I’ve never woken up with a girl by my side before—at least not one I’ve had sex with. I’ve had a crazy night filled with sex before, sure. But I never stayed afterward and cuddled. Or woke up the next day to chitchat.

But this morning, when I opened my eyes and saw Kayla’s small face and naked shoulder nuzzled against my chest, I couldn’t imagine waking up any other way. The smell of coconut wraps around me and I can’t help but smile.

I trail my eyes along the soft lines of her face and wonder just what the hell I’m going to do now.

Kayla isn’t like any girl I’ve ever known. And sleeping with her isn’t the same as having sex with anyone else. She’s the real deal. And it doesn’t even freak me out that I’m thinking these things.

She knows me, the ugly parts and the hard parts, the shameful pieces and the broken ones, she knows all of me and she still cares for me. I’m dirt-poor and homeless, for God’s sake, and the girl still told me she loves me.

Now the only question is, how can I convince her to stay in my life?

She stirs beside me and her lashes flutter before opening. Her blues eyes stare up at me in the hazy light coming in from my window. They widen and I tense, waiting for her to remember last night, and worried that maybe she’ll think it was a huge mistake.

But her features melt into a soft smile and she settles closer to me, burying her face into my neck.

“Good morning,” she says against my skin.

Happiness fills my chest. I run my fingers down her bare arms and grin when tiny goose bumps rise. “Good morning, beautiful.”

Under the sheets, she moves her silky body over mine and snuggles even closer. “You’re so warm.”

God, I love this. I want to wake up with this girl in my arms every single day—is that crazy?

I wrap my arms around her and tuck her into me. “And you’re so soft. I could get used to this.”

I hear the smile in her voice. “Me too.”

“I’m serious,” I say. “I want this. I want you. No one else.”

She props her chin on my chest and looks at me with big blue morning eyes. “I’m right here.”

I swallow. “Yeah, but I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want to go back to being who I was before the handcuffs. Kayla. I was unhappy before you. And now I’m… I’m perfect.”

She shifts closer and looks directly into to my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Before you, I was lost. And now I’m… home.” She kisses my chin. “So I’m staying right by your side, with or without handcuffs.”

I trace the shell of her ear. “Promise?”

She slowly nods. “Promise.”

Pulling her close, I draw her up to my mouth and kiss her deeply, softly. When we break the kiss, she leans back and smiles.

“So what now, pretty boy?”

I give her a crooked grin. “Well I was thinking we could do a repeat of last night.”

She laughs. “Well, naturally. But what about after that?”

I exhale loudly. “Well I’m homeless.”

She exhales as well. “And I’m penniless.”

“And I don’t have a car anymore,” I say simply.

She nods. “And my car is falling apart.”

“So just to sum up. We’re broke, homeless, and nearly car-less?”

“Yep.” She smiles.

I smile back. “Then I think the only thing we can do is have some chocolate for breakfast and spend the day in bed.”

She kisses my chest. “I like the way you think, handsome.”

“And I like the way you taste.” I pull her lips up to mine, flip us over so I’m stretched out on top of her, and start kissing my way all over her body.