By the time he finishes the song, I’m in tears. Good tears, again. The happy, sappy kind. I completely forget that we’re onstage. I leap off my stool and crush myself between his legs, his guitar hard between us, and kiss him deeply. He tangles his hand in my hair at my nape, kissing me back until the crowd begins to catcall and cheer, drawing us back to the present.
“I take it you liked it?” Colton asks, whispering in my ear.
I can only nod and try to compose myself so we can do the next number together without losing it.
* * *
We’re standing on the stoop of my apartment building, my arms around his neck. I’m on the second step, he’s on the ground, so I’m eye to eye with him, nibbling on his earlobe as he tries to convince me to just come back to his place with him instead of staying here.
“Colton…this is my apartment, my home. I’m paying rent, a lot of rent, so I have to get some use out of it. You can come up with me, though.”
“I have work in the morning. The guys are showing up at seven to finish the Hemi we’re rebuilding.”
“And I have class at eight. We’ll just wake up early.” I frown, realizing he’s doing the thing where he avoids something that makes him uncomfortable but doesn’t want to let on. “What’s the real deal, here, Colton? Why don’t you want to stay at my place?”
He shrugs, but then meets my eyes. “It’s just one of those things. After being homeless for as long as I was, it’s hard for me to sleep anywhere but my place. I don’t know how to explain it. I just…I like being at home. It’s not that I don’t like your place, or whatever. I just prefer mine.”
“Can you try? For me? I want you in my bed.” I never really thought about it until now, but almost all of the time we’ve spent together has been at his place, or out.
“You want me in your bed, huh?” He grins at me salaciously.
I pull him closer against me. “Yes. And I mean that in every sense of the phrase.”
“In that case, I might be able to try. For you.” He slides his palms down my back to crush my body against his, gripping my ass and lifting me.
I bite his neck and then whisper in his ear. “It’ll be worth it, I promise.”
“I know it will be. Any time spent with you, anywhere, is worth it. Even if we don’t do anything but sleep, it’s worth it.”
I unlock the door and lead him up the stairs, moving backward. “We’ll be doing a lot more than sleeping.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?” His voice is deep and dark and full of promise.
“It might involve my mouth, and certain parts of your anatomy.”
“I could get into that.”
“You could get into me.”
He doesn’t grin, but his eyes are smiling. “Oh, I’ll get into you. I think I’ll bend you over the couch and take you from behind.”
“Is that so?” I ask.
“It is.”
We’re at my door. I twist the key in the lock and pull him after me into the darkened apartment. I don’t have time to bother with lights. He’s got the door locked again and he’s tugging my shirt over my head, pushing my jeans and panties down, and then he’s somehow naked, like instantly, and then his mouth is on mine, glorious and soft and demanding.
His hands are everywhere, on my br**sts, in my hair, stroking my folds, caressing my ass, brushing a thumb across my cheek and sweeping hair away from my mouth. I gasp as his fingers probe into my core and circle my clit, noticing distantly as he rips a condom open with his teeth and slides it on himself one-handed, spitting the wrapper onto the floor.
“Ready?” he asks, his voice a rough demand.
“Take me,” I whisper. “However you want.”
I’m spun in place, and my breath catches, my heart hammering. Oh…shit. He wasn’t kidding. He’s moved us so I’m facing the arm of my couch from the side and he’s pushing me forward gently. His hands slide over my shoulders and twine our fingers, showing me how to brace my weight on the cushion. His toes nudge my feet apart, and I comply until I’m standing with my legs spread wide, bent over at the waist, ass high.
“Oh god…” I whimper.
“I haven’t done anything yet baby,” Colton growls.
“I know,” I pant. “I was just saying your name.”
He laughs, a low rumble in his chest, then slides one palm over my spine, under my ribs and cups one free-hanging breast in his huge hand. He pinches my nipple, thumbs it, tweaks it, rolls it, and I’m breathless already. Then his other hand slides down between my thighs to stroke my folds and I’m lost. I arch my back and lift my ass to give him better access, hang my head as he swipes and circles me into climax.
As I come, an initial shudder of ecstasy washing over me, I feel him nudge my entrance with the head of his shaft. I hold my breath, biting my lip, and then a second wave rollicks over me and he feels it, plunging in as the wave crests. I cry out as he drives home, burying himself to the hilt with a soft, satisfied grunt.
“God, Nell. You’re f**king incredible. So beautiful. I love the way you lift your ass for me. I love the sounds you make when you come for me. I love your pale skin and strawberry blond hair.” He strokes into me slowly, sliding deep every time he says the word “love.”
I push back into his thrusts, crying out softly at each in-thrust, whimpering when he draws out. He continues this way, slow and gentle and rhythmic.
It’s not how I want it, and he knows it. He wants me to beg for it. I’ll play his game. I turn to look at him over my shoulder, my hair curtaining to one side.
“Harder, Colton.”
His eyes go hooded and he lifts his chin slightly, curling up his lip in a smirk. “You want it harder?”
“Yeah, baby, I do.”
“How hard?”
“Really hard.”
“Beg me to f**k you harder, Nelly-baby.”
I don’t recognize myself, when I’m like this, lost in the moment. I like this woman, though, this shameless Nell who begs her man to f**k her. It’s far cry from the innocent sixteen year-old girl who shook all over in a Red Roof Inn as her first boyfriend touched her tentatively.
I bite my lip, just to make him crazy, pull forward as he draws back, then slam my ass onto him, driving him deep, hard. “Fuck me, Colton. Fuck me hard. Fuck me deep. Spank me when you f**k me.”
God, that was hot. I almost couldn’t get the words out. But it’s what I want, truly and madly. Him, all of him. I want him, Colton, as he is. Rough and raw and primal, gentle and loving and careful. I love what he does to me, how he makes me crazy, makes me want things I didn’t know I could ever want.