Page 25 of Hellhounds Never Lie

“You don’t have to do this, Ash,” he said. “Let’s do whatever makes you the most comfortable. If you want to keep your shirt, then keep your shirt. If you want to do this in the dark, we can put a blanket over the window and keep the lights off. But just listen to me for a second. I know you don’t believe me even though you know I can’t lie, but I promise you, nothing you can show me will make me desire you any less than I do right now.”

My eyes burned but I sucked in a breath and grabbed my shirt with more determination this time. I managed to lift it, just an inch or so. Then I froze. I didn’t move. Dillon didn’t move.

The longer I sat there with just a few inches of my stomach exposed, the more I felt the possibility of sex slip away.

Dillon put his hands on mine and pulled them away from my shirt.

“We don’t have to do this,” he said.

“But I want to…”

“Have you done this before?”

“Like sex?” I asked as my cheeks heated. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I was a virgin, but I hadn’t really ever just talked about sex. My former lovers and I had just got on with getting it on. “Yes.”

“So what’s different with me?” He tried to keep his face blank, but I could tell it was an effort. And I could also tell under that carefully neutral look that I’d hurt him. I couldn’t let him think I didn’t want him, because the truth was I wanted him too much.

“I don’t usually get undressed. They’re usually quick and dirty hookups.”

Dillon cleared his throat and the flames blazed brighter in his eyes. Okay. He obviously didn’t like that too much. Was it because I’d talked about having sex with other people? Because, honestly, I could understand that. I didn’t want to think about him getting it on with anyone else either.

“I shouldn’t have asked.” Dillon clenched and unclenched his jaw.

“I don’t want that with you.”

His eyes widened.

“I mean… I don’t want quick and dirty. I want…” I didn’t know how to talk about what I wanted. I wasn’t even sure I’d figured it out myself. It was way too early in our relationship—actually, could we even put a label on whatever was happening between us? It was too soon.

“So don’t undress.”

I blinked at him. “I mean we could do that, but… I thought… It just seemed…”

“Whatever is going on between us feels special to me too,” he said, as if reading my mind. “But we don’t have to have sex for it to be like that. Or, if we do, we don’t have to be naked, not if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”

I sat back and stared at him. “Are you sure?”

“We have time. We just met… Although I’d swear it feels like I’ve known you my whole life, we can’t expect to share all our secrets within hours of meeting.” He squeezed my hands, which I’d forgotten he’d been holding. “But when you are ready, I’ll be here for you, and I’ll listen to whatever you want to share.”

I blinked away the stinging in my eyes. He was right. It did feel like we’d known one another longer, but I’d only picked him up from the side of the road last night. I didn’t understand how it could feel like so much more than that. And it was pretty wild that he was feeling the same way. Did that mean he was sticking around for a while so we could get to know one another?

Was it too soon to want that and more?

My past had taught me to take things slowly and to be cautious, but Dillon was making me break all my rules. I didn’t want to slow down, even though I swear I could hear my former therapist in my head saying if I wasn’t ready to share this part of myself with Dillon, maybe I wasn’t ready to have sex with him. But she’d have been wrong. So fucking wrong.

“So you’d be okay if I kept my shirt on?”

“Whatever you need.”

I flung myself into his arms and we fell back onto the mattress. I kissed him. We both moaned.

And then he was pulling at the rest of my clothes, and I was pulling at his. The ones that didn’t immediately obey were ripped away until we were naked. I refused to think about my scars anymore or the fact that he was carefully avoiding my shirt. Besides, I had better things to think about… like trying to touch every part of him.

Spells and curses, this guy… He was perfection, like every one of my wet dreams since I hit puberty all rolled up into this god-like man, from his wide shoulders, rippling abs, and muscular thighs to his long thick erection bobbing between us. A pearly bead of precum coated the crown of his cock, and I couldn't resist the temptation to taste him. I reached out and drew my thumb over his flushed skin and wiped away the drop. Dillon shivered and moaned under my touch. Then I locked gazes with him as I raised my thumb to my mouth and licked it clean with my tongue. He tasted like heat and smoke and absolute perfection.

"I want to lick every part of you. Taste you. Memorize you. But later. Right now, I want to fuck," I said.

"Top or bottom?"