Текст книги "Off Base"

Автор книги: Tessa Bailey

Соавторы: Sophie Jordan
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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

“Other women?” His gaze narrowed on her face, the softness of his mouth disappearing as his lips hardened into an unsmiling line. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re friends who just happened to sleep together. I get that. You don’t have to worry that I’ll want something more from you.”

He leaned back on the couch, tossing his arm along the back in a casual pose that felt anything but casual despite his calm tone. “You done?”

She nodded once, uncertain at his tone of voice.

He continued, “So that’s it then? We just had a romp in the sheets and it’s out of our system now?”

She nodded again, her uncertainty growing.

“I see,” he said, looking away, his gaze falling on the TV.

“We’re still friends. We’ll always be—”

“Friends,” he inserted, looking at her sharply. “That’s what you want?”

She held his gaze, no longer certain of anything. “You don’t want that?”

“You’re asking now, Huntley? Sounds like you have this all figured out. But hey, you’re moving back home. Right?” The words hung between them, a challenge waiting a response.

“Uh. I’m considering it.” What the hell was she saying? She wasn’t leaving. She liked her life here.

“Well, it makes sense to keep things casual. Just fucking for fucking’s sake.”

“Right,” she murmured, staring blindly at the TV, wondering why his words felt like such a slap to the face.

The ringtone of her phone jarred the silence between them. She grabbed it off the coffee table and answered it without looking to see who was calling, glad for the sudden distraction.

“Hey, Huntley, it’s Greg. How are you doing?”

Cullen tensed beside her and she knew he could hear Greg’s voice.

“Uh, fine. How are you?” He’d sent her a few texts since their coffee date. She replied to one or two but ignored most of them. She couldn’t even imagine seeing him again. Even if her heart wasn’t invested in Cullen, they weren’t a good match.

She snuck a glance at Cullen’s face, not hearing a word Greg was saying as she eyed him. His jaw was locked and his gaze drilled into her, bright and intense. There was a look in his eyes that reminded her of him at the coffeehouse when he had watched her with Greg. A dark little thrill raced through her as she remembered how that night had ended.

“Mm-hm,” she murmured to whatever Greg was saying. Something about another date.

Cullen inhaled sharply and she knew he could hear every word. She winced. God. She wasn’t trying to make him jealous. Truly. And he had no reason to feel jealous. They weren’t in an exclusive relationship. Her feminine hackles rose even as some other part of her wakened and trembled, craving his hands on her again. His body hard and strong, taking over hers and making her want things she never knew she wanted.

She gave her head a small shake and tightened her fingers around the phone, getting off on that glint in Cullen’s eyes that warned her he was close to losing it.

He stood from the couch and stopped before her, his belt buckle on level with her eyes. She gulped and flicked her gaze up to his face. Eyes like flint.

His hands circled her ankles and yanked her until she was flat on her back on the couch. She gasped into the phone.

“You okay, Huntley?” Greg asked into her ear.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She squeaked as Cullen slid his big hands up her legs.

He leaned down and bit the lobe of her ear, sending a sharp spike of lust through her at the pleasure-pain. “You’re more than fine,” he growled. “Why don’t you tell him you’re about to get fucked hard and deep by me. Again.”

She moaned. Her body reacted on a primitive level—sex tingling, breasts growing heavy with need.

“Huntley? Are you okay?” Greg asked worriedly as Cullen’s breath fanned hotly in her ear. A rush of moisture soaked her panties.

“Y-yes,” she choked. “I have to g-go.”

The words were barely out of her mouth before Cullen plucked the phone from her hand and tossed it aside.

His deep voice purred near her face. “No sense in stringing him along. You’re not going out with him again.”

She opened her mouth … to say what, she wasn’t certain. She didn’t want to go out with Greg. That was true.

His chest lifted on a ragged breath. “Right now you’re mine.”

How dare he act so high-handed? A roaring rush filled her ears. She didn’t think. Just reacted. She lashed out, punching him in the chest. Not a flicker of pain crossed his face. He didn’t even flinch.

He bent over her, his voice lethal. “Hit me if it makes you feel better. I can take it.” His dark eyes glinted and she knew he meant it. Maybe it even got him off a little.

Inhaling, she told herself anger at this situation was her most dominant emotion, but she knew that was a lie. Hunger stirred within her.

She moaned his name as he slid off her leggings in one move and flipped her over on the couch.

His broad hand smoothed over the rounded swell of her ass. “Not his. You got that?” His hand came down on her with a smack. She jolted at the contact, moaning low in her throat as a bolt of heat shot straight between her legs. She dipped her spine and arched her bottom higher in the air, asking for more, wishing her panties were gone, her anger from moments ago melting into air.

She trembled on all fours as he ran a hand up her thigh and slid it over her stinging cheek, giving her a hard squeeze before knuckling aside her underwear. With the same hand he cupped her sex, massaging it until all ability to speak fled her.

“This is mine,” he growled.

Her head swam. They had just established this was merely sex between them. This is mine. He didn’t mean it. It was just one of those things people said during sex. Passionate words blurted out during the throes. Sullen Cullen never stuck with any single female.

The ability to think vanished as he slid a finger inside her. She bowed her spine, thrusting her bottom in the air, drawing him in deeper.

His lips landed on her bared cheek, kissing her where he had spanked her. “Say it.” His voice rumbled against her, vibrating from somewhere deep in his chest.

“I’m not saying that.”

He bit down, his teeth sharp and punishing on her tender skin. She cried out and to her utter bewilderment, moisture rushed between her legs, edging her toward orgasm.

He slowed the pumping action of his finger between her legs, his mouth talking against the skin he just bit. “Your body says it loud and clear. You just got real wet for me, sweetheart.” His mouth traveled up to the small of her back, tender kisses dragging over her goose-puckered flesh. “Say it,” he commanded.

The tenderness got to her. She panted heavy breaths into the couch cushion, thrusting her bottom up at him, urging his finger to continue its assault. “I’m yours.”

His thumb pressed down hard on her clit in reward and she flew apart, coming in a muffled shriek, arms clutching the couch cushion, her fingers digging into the fabric. Her knees trembled, threatening to give out.

Cullen slipped his finger free. “There you go, sweetheart.” She heard the faint sing of his zipper over the crashing of her breath. He grabbed her hips in both hands, hoisting her up. “Grab the back of the couch,” he commanded.

She folded her fingers over the hard edge, still fuzzy-headed from her orgasm.

A hissing breath escaped her as she felt the plump head of his cock at her opening. He dragged the tip up and down her crease, grazing it over her sensitive clit.

“Oh, God,” she moaned.

He pushed in, just the head of him. “You feel that, sweetheart?”

She nodded and sounds passed her lips that might have resembled speech but sounded like something an animal would make.

He pushed in a little deeper and she whimpered. The walls of her channel stretched, fighting to accommodate him.

“You won’t forget me. No one is ever going to touch you like this. No one will make you come like I can. No ex-boyfriend. No other man.”

A sob welled up in her chest. He was already assuming she was gone. He was okay with that.

He didn’t give her time to adjust or catch her breath. He thrust deep, filling her. Seizing her hips, he hammered into her, leaning low, covering her back with his chest. His big hands slid beneath her tunic top, cupping her breasts as he worked in and out of her. His agile fingers tugged the lacy cups of her bra down until her breasts bobbed above the bunched fabric. He fondled the heavy, aching flesh, his fingers playing over her nipples until they pebbled hard.

She started pushing back against him, meeting the thrust of his cock, slamming her ass against him, wanting to punish him for talking to her like she was gone. He growled, his fingers pinching harder on her nipples, snapping some invisible cord that held her together. Sensation swelled through her, starting at her sex and rolling out all the way to her toes.

He chuckled, low and deep, the sound rasping against her nape. “That’s right.” He slipped a hand between them, rolling the tender nub of her clit. “Who owns this?”

She shrieked, convulsing against him, hating and reveling in his utter arrogance. As her orgasm ebbed and faded, she let go of the couch and squeezed out from under him, fully aware that he had yet to reach his climax.

“Huntley, what—”

She turned and pushed him back down on the couch, her palms flat on his chest as she straddled him, wrapping a fist around him and guiding him back inside her. She sank down on him, a huff of breath escaping her at feeling him like this. Impaled upon him. She had never felt a man so deep and hard. Not that she had a wealth of experience to draw from, but it was almost like he was reaching up into her heart. Truly a part of her. If this was to be their last time, then she intended for him to remember her.

His hands dropped to her waist. He gripped her, ready to move her up and down, but she wasn’t having it. She seized his wrists and pushed them up by his head. She locked gazes with him and held herself still over him.

“What are you doing, Huntley?”

“It’s my turn.”

Heat flared in his eyes. “Then start moving.”

She shook her head at him. “You’ve had your way. It’s my turn to do this my way.”

“Your turn? You’ve gotten off twice. I’d say it’s my turn now.”

Bending her head, she bit him on his pec. He made a short sound, part growl, part moan, as her inner muscles tightened around him.

“Feel that?” she asked, loosening her fingers around his wrists.

His hands came down and smoothed over the rounded swells of her ass. “Yeah.” He croaked, his fingers digging and flexing on her in a way that made her ache and clench around him again.

She framed his face with her hands and kissed him slow and deep, her tongue tasting, stoking the kiss until it became something hot and wild between them.

Her sex continued to pulse and squeeze around his cock as the kiss grew feverish and intense. He tried to move his hips and she broke the kiss, pushing a hand down hard on his chest, pinning him to the couch. “You don’t move,” she reprimanded.

“Fuck,” he gasped. “I have to move.”

The desperate words were almost her undoing. Her inner muscles worked, squeezing, wringing his cock, eager for increased friction and pressure.

He arched his throat on a moan. “I feel that. You want it, too. Let me go.”

“I set the pace.” She shifted, easing out a fraction and then coming down and seating herself fully, grinding on him and rocking her pelvis.

Leaning down, she kissed his throat, inhaling his scent, scoring the taut skin with her teeth. She trailed kisses all over his throat and collarbone, loving the salty taste of his skin. At his ear, she bit down on the lobe and lifted her hips, treating him to another slow and easy pump.

A hoarse, broken cry was her reward. As she came back down, she squeezed tight around his hard length, gasping at the friction. His fingers dug into her hips, hanging onto her like his life depended on it. His head rolled side to side on her couch, sweat beading his forehead. She had never felt so empowered—or so utterly feminine.

His jaw clenched, a muscle feathering the taut flesh of his cheekbone. She fanned her fingers against his cheek, kissing him and savoring his mouth before sliding her lips along his square jaw in a flurry of kisses.

“Huntley,” he begged in a voice she had never heard from him. From any man. Arching, she began to rock her hips, moving above him sinuously, sinking down slowly and dragging back up. She reached a hand around her and cupped his balls, squeezing them gently in her fist.

He surged up, his hips lifting her as he came in a guttural cry, releasing himself deep inside her, his fingers digging so firmly on her hips she knew she would bear marks later.

He collapsed back down, his face slack with pleasure, eyes closed. His beautiful chest slick with perspiration.

She dropped over him, their bodies glued to each other, breathing as one.

“As far as fucking goes, that might have been … the best.” His voice gusted over the top of her head.

She smiled, supremely satisfied with herself. “I might have to agree.” Her fingers rested on the hard plane of his stomach, tapping lightly.

His voice rumbled over the air. “I’m going to miss this.”

Her satiated smile slipped at the drop of his words.

Why the hell had he gone and said that?

Did he find it necessary to remind her that this wasn’t permanent? That it couldn’t be lasting? She hesitated for a moment before pulling away. Without looking at him, she snatched up her top and pulled it over her head, not bothering with a bra.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She looked at his face, not quite meeting his eyes. “Nothing.” As she slipped on her panties, her gaze grazed over him on her couch. Every gorgeous inch of him that wasn’t hers. She blinked against the sudden burn in her eyes.

He propped up on his elbows, watching her closely. “You just went from hot to cold in ten seconds flat. Is it what I said?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

Nothing except that he seemed eager for her to move back to Georgia. It would make all of this easier. Give whatever this was between them an end date.

She stepped into her leggings, her movements stiff with anger.

His dark eyes narrowed. “Let’s not bullshit each other here. If you’re angry say it.”

“Fine. I’m angry.” She planted both hands on her hips, feeling liberated at admitting it.

“Really? You’re mad?” He shot up off the couch, standing in front of her without a care in the world for his nakedness. “Because you’re the one talking about moving right after we started sleeping together. I’m not the one leaving.”

She stared at him, outrage washing over her. “Beck and my family want me to move back. I—I haven’t decided.”

“Any why not?” he accused. “Why haven’t you decided, Huntley?”

This was it. The moment she could declare herself and say: I’m not going. I’m staying because of you. Just a few words, but they terrified the hell out of her and stuck like a golf ball lodged in her throat. What if he didn’t feel the same way about her?

She squared her shoulders, her pride surfacing. Why couldn’t he say it? Nothing was stopping him. Why did it have to be here? Why did she have to take the risk?

Cullen watched her, unblinking, his eyes fastened on her face. His naked chest lifted on a breath and his eyes cut her like glass, dark as night waters. “Maybe you should just go.”

The words cut, burrowing deep. She watched his face carefully. Nothing. His expression was impassive.

“Maybe I should.” The words tumbled out of her, a stupid mistake the minute she said them and yet she couldn’t take them back.

They stared. After a long moment, he turned, grabbed his shirt off the floor and tugged it over his head. He snatched up his briefs and jeans next. “You need to do what’s right for you, Huntley. What makes you happy.”

The words weren’t issued with any heat. There was no anger in them. On the contrary, he actually said them kindly. Magnanimously. But they still felt like the cruelest jab.

He didn’t care.

She nodded stiffly. She wanted him to be selfish. To demand she stay for him.

Her chest hurt, the ache there so intense, so stabbing and profound. Like nothing she had known when she and Jackson broke up.

He nodded. “Let me know if you need any help moving.”

She sucked in a deep breath. That was the final nail in the coffin. He had actually offered to help her pack. This guy did not want her around. At least not badly enough to try and persuade her to stay.

She blinked burning eyes and turned her attention to tidying up the couch cushions.

Why did they have to sleep together? Sex always ruined everything. At least friendships. If they had kept their hands off each other, she wouldn’t now be facing a move. A pang punched her in the chest and she rubbed at her breastbone, her fingers massaging the tender area.

“Will do,” she replied through suddenly numb lips, not bothering to correct his misapprehension that she was moving. It didn’t matter. He was out of her reach.

He nodded once, brusque, turned for the door, and stepped out into the night.

As soon as the door clicked shut, she dropped down on the couch. Dry sobs sucked in and out of her. She pressed one hand against her chest and closed her eyes in a long blink. Was there any choice in the matter? The moment Cullen made his move, her heart and body were his. Logic stood no chance. The fallout was unavoidable.

She lifted her chin and stared unseeingly ahead. Unseeing and yet seeing. She would live in close proximity to Cullen. She’d cope. Hopefully, they could still be friends.

Maybe someday they would even look back and laugh over their fling. She winced. It was hard to imagine that now, but maybe.

She’d stay here. This was her life. Her home. Even if Cullen wasn’t a part of it.

Chapter Eleven

Cullen stormed into his house and flung his keys against the wall. He dropped down on his couch and scrubbed both hands over his face before standing and pacing a hard line in his living room.

Had he actually offered to help her pack?

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The knock at his door pulled him up hard. He stared at it for a long moment, then his heart kicked into gear, pounding like a drum. Huntley.

In two strides he yanked open the door and stared at Beck standing there.

“Beck,” he said numbly, his heart deflating.

With a tight smile, his friend walked into the house. He looked around before facing Cullen.

“It’s late,” Cullen said rather dumbly. “What are you doing here?” From his last glimpse of Beck, he didn’t think the guy would pry himself off Kenna until well into next week, but here he was. Alone.

“I figured you would be back from Huntley’s by now,” he finally said.

Cullen watched his friend closely. He hadn’t left Huntley’s until a good while after Beck and Kenna bailed.

“Yeah?” He scratched the back of his head, tension hovering between them. As Cullen stared down Beck, he was hard pressed not to think about what he had been doing to Beck’s sister just a short while ago … and harder pressed not to feel guilty about it.

“Yeah.” Beck nodded once. “Thought it was time we talked about what’s going on between you and Hunt.”

Everything inside of Cullen locked tight in battle-readiness. He stared at Beck warily as he circled the living room. “What do you mean?”

Beck smiled humorlessly. “C’mon, man. It’s obvious you’re sleeping with my sister.” He shrugged one massive shoulder. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to look after her, but if you’re going to treat her with the respect she deserves, then we won’t have a problem. She’s an adult who makes her own decisions. A fact my girlfriend might have mentioned several times on the ride home.”

Cullen exhaled, not about to lie or deny the allegation. He knew touching Huntley had broken a code, but he wasn’t sorry for it. In fact, the only thing he regretted at the moment was how things went down between them back at her house.

Beck arched a brow and looked pointedly at Cullen. “So. Do we have a problem?”

Cullen shook his head and dropped back down on his couch. “She’s going back to Georgia.”

Beck studied him a moment. “Is that a fact?”

Cullen nodded once.

“And you’re down with that plan?”

“It’s her decision. I can’t make her stay here if she doesn’t want—”

Beck threw back his head and laughed. “Are you really that stupid? You have to give her a reason to stay. Same way I gave Kenna a reason to go. Have you asked Hunt to stay at Black Rock?”

Cullen’s hands opened and closed into fists. Was it that easy? He simply had to ask? “Maybe it’s best if she goes.” He dragged a hand over his head. “I only know that I can’t let her down.” He failed his father. He failed Xander. He couldn’t fail Huntley, too.

“Maybe you don’t want her to stay,” Beck challenged. “Maybe you had your fun with her and now you’re done.”

“Hey.” Cullen surged to his feet, forgetting for a moment that this was Huntley’s brother. He grabbed Beck by the front of his shirt and shook once. “It’s not like that.”

“No? Then what is it like?” At Cullen’s silence, Beck nodded. “Maybe you need to figure that out before she’s gone. Because my sister is strong and she’ll move on, while you’re sitting here, wondering how the hell you let her get away.” He moved for the door and pulled it open. “Think about that.”

Thinking about that was all he did for the rest of the night.

He didn’t sleep a wink, staring into the dark, wondering when he had become so thoroughly fucked. He’d fallen in love with his best friend and had done everything wrong … everything to send her packing and walking out of his life forever.

It dawned on him then.

The exact thing he didn’t want to happen—failing Huntley, losing her—was happening.

Shit. If he didn’t fix things with Huntley now, it would be too late.

Maybe it already was.

* * *

“There’s a patient complaining of chest pains in exam room five,” Nancy, the senior nurse on duty, said as Huntley walked up to the nurse’s station after assisting one of the doctors with a broken arm in exam room three. She’d seen it time and time again. Alcohol and foosball did not mix.

Huntley eyed the clock, eager for when she could take her break and grab a latte from the food truck outside. “And I’m guessing you want me to take the patient?”

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“Course not.” Busy was good. Busy stopped her from thinking too much about Cullen. When she returned to her empty house tonight, she would have plenty of time for that.

Huntley took the chart and started down the hall, stopping when something occurred to her. She looked over her shoulder. “Exam room five?”

The other nurse shrugged, smiling mysteriously as she drifted in the opposite direction down the hall. Chest pain was usually prioritized into exam rooms one or two. Unless triage had deemed the patient low priority for some reason.

She continued, pushing open the door, a greeting on her lips as she flipped open the chart, ready to glance over the patient’s basic information—and found it blank.

Huntley looked up, her heart stopping at the sight of Cullen sitting on the exam table. Her chest squeezed at the sight of him. Those molten chocolate eyes. The hard body unmistakable beneath his fatigues. He braced his hands on each of his thighs in an anxious manner.

“Cullen? What are you doing here?”

Cullen was here. In front of her.

She snapped shut the chart, knowing she had been sabotaged. A quick glance up and down his lean body confirmed that he looked as hale and hearty as ever. He had to get Nancy’s help for this. “Shouldn’t you be at work?” she demanded.

He placed a hand over his heart. “I hurt. Right here.”

Her lips twitched at the utter seriousness of his expression. “That so?”

Pulse racing, she set the chart down on the counter and walked forward. Clearing her throat and ignoring the sudden constricting of her own heart, she feigned seriousness. “When did this pain start?”

“A few nights ago.”

“I see.” She swallowed against the sudden dryness of her throat and resisted the urge to fling her arms around his neck. “Can you describe the pain?”

He nodded solemnly. “Yeah, at first my pulse raced and it felt like my heart might explode.”

“Hm. Interesting.”

“And then last night, the pain changed.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” His hands closed around her hips, hauling her between his thighs. She suddenly didn’t think she was the only one whose heart might explode. “When you started talking about moving back home, leaving Black Rock, leaving me … it felt like a knife was stabbing me right here.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart. His eyes crawled over every inch of her face, his gaze penetrating past skin and bone, burrowing deep into her soul. “It still does.”

“Oh,” she breathed, her too-tight chest lifting, trying to pull in air. She supposed she could tell him she had no intention of moving. Maybe later. After he said everything he came here to say.

“Oh,” he echoed. “There’s only one way to make it stop. Only one way to fix me.”

She moistened her lips. “Well, then tell me. I’m a nurse. It’s my responsibility to—”

He silenced her with a kiss, his mouth slanting and moving on hers until she forgot whatever it was she was meant to say. He pulled back, leaving her gasping, his hand cupping her cheek. “Stay.”

“W-what?” Her voice trembled from her lips, but it was nothing compared to the way her heart shuddered inside her chest.

“I need you to stay. To live here. With me.” His fingers tightened over hers. “I need you to love me back.”

Her heart overflowed at those words. “Cullen,” she choked. “You love me?”

“I love you. I always have. I just didn’t know. You’re in my blood, Huntley. If you go, I’m lost.”

She nodded jerkily, blinking, trying not to cry. “I’m not going anywhere. I never intended to. This is my home.”

Relief flashed across his face. “Well, that’s good to know.”

“As far as loving you,” she continued. “I do. I have. For a long time.”

He brought his other hand up, framing her face in both hands. “So. Are you moving into my place, or am I moving into yours?”

She laughed. “Isn’t that a little sudden? A little bit—”

“Sweetheart, we’ve been dating for years. We just didn’t realize it.” He smiled, but his eyes drilled into her—intense, solemn. “And I don’t want to spend another night without you.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “You don’t waste time.”

“I know what I want.” His thumb traced her mouth. “And all this time we could have been having sex.”

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” she agreed, bringing her other hand up to his chest, reveling in the hardness of his flesh beneath her palm and hating the clothes barring her from complete access.

“Why don’t we get a new place together?” he suggested, kissing her jaw, her throat, inching toward the collar of her scrubs. “A fresh start for both us?”

“We might as well.” She nodded in approval.

“Some place big enough for all the kids we’re going to have.”

“Kids?” Her heart jumped wildly in her chest. She tugged his face back up.

“Well, yeah, we’ll get married first, of course. But there will be babies, Huntley.”

Tears burned in her eyes; there was no stopping them. She wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. She tried to speak, but a broken sob escaped instead.

“This isn’t very romantic, is it?” He frowned as if the idea just occurred to him. “Proposing this way. I should have—”

“It’s perfect.” She sniffed, her fingers curling into his shirt, gripping hard. “It’s beautiful. It’s you. I wouldn’t want anything different.”

“I won’t fail you.” He smoothed a hand over her hair.

“I know you won’t.”

“I’ll try to give you everything, Huntley.”

“Just love me.”

“Done.” He kissed her again, slow and deep and forever.