Page 55 of Screwed

The groan that came out of his mouth sounded nothing like him. For the first time, his hips stuttered in their rhythm. He was breaking as I wanted him to. But I didn’t think this was part of his plan.

His arms around me tightened, and he pulled his face from my neck to look at me. Like a child peeking around a safety blanket. Those big, beautiful brown eyes were unguarded. “Say it again. Please, just say my name again.”

It was a whisper, and this time, definitely a plea.

Although I was completely spent and on the edge of becoming useless, I ran my hand through his hair and kept my eyes locked on his. “You feel so good, Nate.”

His mouth popped open, and he rolled us around until he was on top of me, our bodies still connected. The tip of his nose brushed against mine, and the stroke of his hips changed. It was languid now, deeper but more intimate in a way that felt significantly more dangerous.

“Say my name again,” he whined. “Please, Ava.”

My heart felt as if it would burst. This was an entirely different realm of connection, and even though my body felt like it was short-circuiting beneath his, my mind suddenly grew crystal clear. I cupped his face in my hands. I said his name over and over again, moaning it out helplessly as he continued to move and then—

“Three,” he said softly, lowering his forehead to mine as I came undone in his arms. My last climax came in waves of pleasure, from the top of my head to my toes. It felt encompassing, and I was sure that my heart stopped beating for just a few seconds.

Then Nate came after with a low moan, his body tensing against mine. He slumped against me, and I just held him, raking my fingers through his hair as both of us tried to catch our breath. There was nothing but the sound of the rain outside, the crackling fire and our breathing, and it felt as though we were truly isolated in some secret part of the world where nothing else existed.

I pushed aside thoughts of the consequences. I didn’t even think of Jules. I just wanted to savor the moment and have it last as long as possible. I felt him kiss my chest, then my jaw. When I looked at him now, the mask was back, but not all the way.

“You really put it on yourself to reach every single goal you set, don’t you?” I asked, giggling softly. “Three exactly. No more, no less.”

Nate grunted, kissing my cheek before pulling away. I felt his absence instantly, the sudden withdrawal of his warm body plunging me into the coldness of the cave. I frowned. “You know, you don’t have to go right back to being Mr. Hardass, right?”

“Don’t I?” he asked, reaching over to hand me my clothes. I stared at him for a moment before grabbing them.

There was no way.

I began dressing quickly, shoving my clothes back on with an anger that Nate picked up on instantly but seemed prepared for.

“You’re pissed,” he said simply.

“No shit,” I answered, struggling to clip my bra back on. He reached out to help, but I swatted his hands away. “You’re not hard to read. Not to me. What I can’t wrap my head around is how a man could experience what we just did and suddenly turn cold. How do you go from wanting to punish me and fucking me like you hate me to making love to me like…” His gaze wavered. I sat down, using the excuse of tying my shoes so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. “How do you go from that to just treating me like I’m a one-night stand?”

“I don’t think of you as a one-night stand. And I don’t want this to be a one time thing.”

My head shot up.

So far today, I’d seen more expressions on Nate’s face in less than an hour than I had the entire duration of this reno job. And here was another new one to add to the Rolodex. He was looking at me with a different type of heat, one that was underpinned with his trademark stubbornness.

He leaned down and cupped my chin, tilting my face up to look at him.

“I understand that you’re entitled to have your fun,” he said, his voice a low murmur. “You can choose who you spend your time with and do whatever you want with them. But that doesn’t mean I like seeing it.”

I opened my mouth, but no response came out. His thumb grazed my lower lip.

“I meant what I said. I don’t want this to be a one-time thing, Ava. But I also don’t want to share you with anyone else.”

32

Nate

We trudged up the narrow, muddy path cutting through the overgrown brush in the early hours of the next morning. The cabin loomed ahead, quiet against the fog. I guided Ava up the worn steps of the wraparound porch, cringing at the creaking and making a mental note to sort that out sooner rather than later. She gave me a look as I moved my hand to her lower back and tugged my jacket a little tighter around her shoulders.

I flicked my eyes to the heavy door instead. I didn’t want to risk getting distracted again. I’d already allowed myself to lose my control in that damn cave. And more than once, at that. Three times, specifically, and every single one of Ava’s orgasms were seared into my brain forever. The way she looked when she was overwhelmed with pleasure. The feeling of her soft skin, wet with rain and sweat, shivering under my hands. The taste of her, and the way she said my name when she was close.

Shit.

This was why I’d always kept a tight leash on my professionalism. I was fighting against every urge in my body to reach out for her, even here, right in front of the other two guys. If anything, that made me want to do it even more. But she was still my client and worse—she was Jules’s best friend. How would she react if she knew I’d slept with Ava? Let alone that I wanted to do it again.