Page 76 of Rhodes

"Yeah. That would be the responsible thing to do."

She leans in, her hand coming up flat against my chest where my heart's going too hard for a man sitting still. She looks up at me, and there's no question left anywhere in her face.

"Tallulah."

"Don't." Her fingers curl into my shirt. "Don't fix this one."

She's the one who pulls me to her. Her mouth opens under mine, and every wall I built goes at once, like none of them were ever load-bearing. I get a hand in her hair and the other flat against her spine and drag her in, chest to chest, and the sound she makes in her throat is the one I've been hearing in my head for weeks, finally real, finally against my mouth.

"Let's go to my room," I get out against her jaw. "Now. Before somebody⁠—"

"Then move."

We make it down the path, half-attached, her hands dragging my shirt loose, mine already learning the shape of her through her dress. We close the door to my villa behind us, her back against it, and I kiss her like I've got time to make up.

"Zipper," she says against my mouth, and turns, and gives me her back.

I drag it down as fast as I can without breaking it, and the dress goes loose off her shoulders, pooling at her feet. She steps out of it and turns around, and Christ. Bare except for a scrap of black, all that sun and muscle and the working strength of her, her breasts high and tight in the dark. I've spent a month telling myself I hadn't been picturing exactly this, and now that it's in front of me, it's all I can do not to stare.

"You're staring," she says.

"Yeah, well. God, you're beautiful, Tallulah."

"Do something about it."

I put my mouth just below her earlobe and work down from there, slow enough that she has to wait for it. I stop once I've got a nipple between my lips.

She arches into me with a curse, her fingers fisting in my hair, holding me there. I use my teeth to pull at her, and she swears again, louder, and grinds against the thigh I've got pressed up between hers.

"Off." She hauls at my shirt, and I rip it over my head. Her hands are on me before it hits the floor, palms dragging down my chest, my stomach, working my belt open. When she gets them down, I kick out of them, and her hand is immediately around my cock. I have to plant a fist against the door and breathe.

"Tallulah."

"Don't." She strokes me slowly, watching my face the whole time. "Don't slow it down, don't do the noble thing. I want you tonight, and I don't want you to stop it."

"I have no intention of stopping you."

"Good."

I walk her back to the bed, and she goes, pulling me down over her. I get the black scrap off her and my hand between her thighs. She's soaked, slick and hot against my fingers, and when I push two into her, she goes tight.

"Rhodes, yes, right there."

“That’s your spot, huh? Right there.”

"There," she gets out. "God, right there, yes."

I work her like that, thumb where she needs it, until her hips are chasing my hand and her breath's gone ragged. Then she grabs my wrist.

"Now. I want you in me now, I don't want to wait⁠—"

"Hold on." I reach down and drag my pants up off the floor, get my wallet out of them. The foil packet is shoved behind my cash. My hands are not as steady as I want, and she takes it from my fingers and rolls it on me herself.

Fucking hot, holy shit.

I settle between her legs, and she wraps them around me. I pause with my tip right there, her pussy pulsing.

The thing I've been outrunning since she showed up at my house. The girl I’ve known my entire life, Cooper’s little sister, is now the one I want.