Chameleon Soul (Chequered Flag #1) (16 page)

“Hey you,” she gushed.

I smiled back, albeit hesitantly. This was a bad idea.

“Hi…uh…” I scratched the back of my neck and her smile dropped to form an accusing glare.

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

“Oh, I remember
you
all right. Your name is another matter.” Okay, that came out blunter than I expected, but I caught a glimpse of Raine exiting the changing room and I wanted to get rid of Blondie as quickly as possible. No doubt she already thought of me as an asshole, so what harm was it adding to her opinion?

“It’s Rosanne.”

I nodded absentmindedly.

Why couldn’t women take a hint?

My gaze fixed on Raine as she weaved through the clothes racks towards me. I couldn’t read her guarded expression.

“So what are you doing here? I didn’t think I’d ever see you in a shop like this.”

The way she spoke as if she knew me ticked me off. We’d had one night together and even that ended up as more like five minutes. We’d barely spoken.

“Shopping.” I held the bag up as if it was blatantly obvious, keeping my answers to minimal grunts in the hope she’d leave before Raine reached us.

Fat chance.

“Anything special?”

“Listen, I’m sorry but I really have to go.” My eyes flicked to Raine, who was within hearing distance now. Unfortunately, Rosanne followed my gaze, noting Raine with irritated intrigue.

“Your latest fuck buddy, or are the papers true?”

To Raine’s credit, her steps didn’t falter as she sidled up beside me and linked her hand with mine. I squeezed it, drawing her closer to me, and glanced down in apology.

“Are you going to introduce us, Teo?”

I hadn’t been planning on it, yet Raine beat me to it.

“I’m Raine, Teo’s girlfriend. And you are?”

I’d never seen Raine become territorial, and I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t like it.

“We fucked a few months ago.” Rosanne looked too pleased with herself.

My teeth ground together at the lie. “First of all, it was last year. Secondly, we never actually fucked.” I dropped Raine’s hand and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder, battling the urge to herd her from the store. Her expression remained unreadable, but I was sure she wasn’t enjoying the situation. I mean, since when did a girlfriend react well to meeting a guy’s previous fling?

“So how long have you two been together?”

“If you read the papers about everything else you should know.”

Disregarding Rosanne, I focused on Raine. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t freaking out. Not that I wanted her to.

“Want to head out? There’s time to change at the flat before dinner if you want.”

“Wow, you actually get a
meal
. No one I know got that kind of treatment.”

If Rosanne were a guy I’d have punched her for that comment. Then again, I wouldn’t have been in this situation with a guy.

“I’m his girlfriend. What do you expect?” Raine said around me, her tone bored. I could have kissed her right there in the middle of the shop. There weren’t many people who would act so calmly in a similar situation.

With my back to Rosanne I couldn’t see her, but her next comment had my body stiffening.

“Well good luck with him, sweetheart. He’s been around the grid a few times if you know what I mean. It also takes a certain kind of…activity to get him to perform. Although you probably already know about his secret ass fetish being his girlfriend, don’t you honey?”

So much for taking what happened between us to the grave.

Before Rosanne could dig me an even deeper hole, I swung Raine around towards the exit. Glancing over my shoulder, I caught sight of Rosanne’s smug expression.

“It’s never a pleasure, Rosanne,” I said.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Raine

I remained silent until we were back in the car, but finally I couldn’t hold back my laughter any longer. As soon as Teo shut his door, I burst into an uncontrollable fit that made me look like a crazy person. I clutched at my stomach, which was suddenly feeling too tight and beginning to ache from the giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Teo asked warily.

My laughter subsided enough for me to get some words out. I glanced across at Teo with a teasing expression. “You have a secret ass fetish, do you? I never noticed that when we were together.”

“That’s not funny, Raine.”

“I beg to differ.”

I knew Rosanne had been lying, though that wasn’t going to stop me teasing him about it. It served him right for being a man-whore.

When I’d first seen them I had pegged her for a fan, but she was too close for that to be it. For reasons I still couldn’t understand, her presence hadn’t threatened me. All of her attempts to belittle me had flown straight over my head. In fact, they worried Teo more than me. I think the nervous glances and uneasiness in his body language were what had me able to stay so calm. It had been obvious there was nothing between them, and I knew Teo only had eyes for me. He’d been loyal for two years until I broke up with him.

“What’s going on inside that head, baby? What are you thinking?” Teo asked, glancing at me then returning his eyes to the road.

“What happened between you two if you didn’t sleep with her?”

Teo winced. “Do you really want to know that?”

As if I was going to allow him to sweep everything aside. There was too much comedic potential and I needed a good laugh.

When I nodded, Teo let out a strangled groan.

“We were going to hook up, but she was into some weird shit. How much detail do you actually want?”

“Everything.”

Teo puffed the air from his cheeks. “If you tell anyone this—”

I giggled. “Get on with it.”

“We were in my hotel room and she was sucking me off when her fingers started probing my asshole. I couldn’t get out of there quick enough and ended up crashing in Zeke’s room. He wasn’t happy I interrupted his night.”

Was it weird that story gave me a minor amount of satisfaction? It was like his punishment for sleeping around.

“You know I never loved any of them, right, Raine? They were there as a distraction. I wasn’t coping well and kept losing races I should have won. Those women enabled me to keep my head in the game and win again. If I knew we’d be at this point a year later I never would have done it.”

I raised my head, trying my best not to laugh at his obvious nerves. That didn’t mean I could stop my lips from turning up at the corners.

“Why are you smiling?” His brow crinkled with confusion and it became too much. A bubble of laughter rose in my throat.

“I knew all of that. I wanted to make you sweat.”

“That was cruel.”

I shrugged and picked up the bag of fudge I’d left on the floor. I bit into a chunk of banoffee. “I can have a jealous fit if you’d prefer. Maybe shout and scream a little?”

Teo rolled his eyes. “You’re unbelievable. Why aren’t you freaking out though?”

“How can I be mad at something I made possible? Do I like that you were with all of those women? No. However, it’s in the past. I know you’d never cheat on me, so why should I feel insecure? On the list of things I have to worry about, it’s down pretty low.”

All of the tension drained from his body, his shoulders lowering to a natural level. The relief flowing off him was palpable, and when he looked at me his eyes were swimming with emotions.

“I love you, Raine.”

He reached for my hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Love you too.” I squeezed it back. “Do you fancy staying in tonight instead?”

It took a second for him to answer. I assumed he was trying to compose himself since his Adam’s apple kept bobbing as he swallowed and his breaths were long and drawn out.

“Sure,” he finally said, “but there’s one condition.”

I arched an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

“You have to wear the new dress. You’re not getting out of wearing it because we’re staying in.”

“I can live with that.”

“With no underwear,” he clarified.

I stared at him sceptically. “Why does it matter what I do or don’t wear underneath? Who said you’re going to be able to check?”

“That’s the deal, take it or leave it.”

“Fine, but you can’t wear any either.”

“Who said I’m wearing any now?”

“Uh…I…I…” I stuttered, not sure how to reply to that as I pictured what was—or wasn’t—beneath his denim jeans. It took me a minute to realise I was staring right at his crotch and the noticeable bulge there. Heat pricked at my cheeks and I turned to look out the window while Teo’s deep, rich chuckle filled the car.

* * *

In hindsight, a restaurant may have been the safer option. It would have limited the amount of touching Teo could bestow upon me, unlike in his house where he used every opportunity to brush up against me, wrap his arms around me, or kiss me.

Now we were both curled up on the sofa watching a movie. If I was honest, for the last half an hour my focus had been solely on Teo’s hand running languidly up and down my body rather than the TV. The warm trails he left behind raised goosebumps, making it the only sensation entering my mind. It was especially difficult when his fingers dipped under the thin spaghetti straps of the dress he’d bought me.

His hand slipped around my front, pulling me back further into his body, and he placed kisses behind my ear, moving down my neck. Every time his lips touched me, my breath caught and it transformed the simmering heat within me into a raging fire that pulsed with need.

I could feel every inch of him against me, and I don’t mean
those
kinds of inches, although I could feel that too. Every hard ridge of his body pressed against my back as he held me, wrapping me in a warm cocoon of safety and pleasure.

When his hand started travelling lower down my body to my hip I tensed, knowing what he was about to find.

“Raine…” He punctuated my name with a kiss to my bare shoulder, disabling my ability to form anything other than a hum in response. “What’s this?”

I gasped when he snapped the waistband of my underwear against my hip through the dress.

“I thought we had a deal,” he mumbled, his words muffled against my shoulder.

I broke the contact to twist in his arms. We were then face-to-face, our noses almost touching.

“Who’s to say you kept to it?” My voice came out husky, breathless.

Teo fixed me with a challenging and heated stare. Taking my hand, he guided it down between us and placed it at the waistband of his jeans. “You can check if you want.”

My body responded to him like it always had. The velvet timbre to his voice had desire shooting through me, need for him overpowering every other thought. Without hesitation, I dipped my hand into the waistband and gulped when my fingers grazed bare, hot flesh.

Teo let out a breathless moan at my touch, encouraging me to be more daring. I undid the button on his jeans and lowered the fly. Then, dipping lower, my hand encircled his shaft, hard and rigid beneath my touch.

I moved my hand gently up and down, stroking him. Teo flexed his hips against me, pushing himself into my hand, and his lips descended on mine, crushing into me demandingly. I opened my mouth for him, allowing his tongue to enter. The taste of the chocolate we’d eaten after dinner still lingered on his tongue.

He pulled on my bottom lip, drawing a whimper from me as I arched into his body. I removed my hand from his jeans, running it up under his shirt to feel every contour of his chest. Teo’s hand moved up to my cheek. He tilted his head to the side and plunged into my mouth again. I matched his movement, the burning fire within me growing stronger with every second.

I wanted him.

I had never stopped wanting him, and he’d rekindled the intense desire and need that I’d ignored for the last year. It returned with a fierce intensity and I couldn’t stop it.

Teo shifted so he lay on his back and lifted me on top of him. I straddled his body, the wet spot on my panties aligned perfectly against him. Rotating my hips, I ground against his arousal, which became even more obvious in this position.

“Raine,” Teo groaned, his voice gravelly and his breaths laboured. His hands found my hips, stilling my movement as he gazed up at me through hooded eyes. They were dark with hunger and it took every bit of strength to stop me. “If you don’t want to go further, you need to stop.”

I wiggled my hips teasingly, a sultry expression on my face. I knew exactly what I was doing and I had no intention of stopping.

“Raine, seriously, you’re going to have to stop now…if you don’t want this to go further.”

The change in his voice sent even stronger bursts of pleasure through me. That I could have such an effect on him had sparks of elation flowing through my body.

I placed a hand on either side of his head, lowering my body down to rest against his chest. My face burrowed into the crook of his neck and I placed a series of kisses along it, slowly moving higher until I could nip on his ear.

“Who said I want to stop?” I whispered and his whole body tensed beneath me.

“Are you sure?”

I pulled back to gaze down at him. “I’ve always been sure about you, Teo. I want to be yours completely again.”

Within seconds we were both off the sofa. My legs were wrapped firmly around his waist and my arms locked around his neck as he carried me up the stairs. He moved faster than I thought possible, until we were in his bedroom.

Teo lowered us both to the bed so I was lying on my back and his body settled between my legs. He supported himself over me with an arm, using the other to brush away the strands of hair that had fallen into my face. The love pouring off him was indescribable. It shone in his eyes, and showed in even the tiniest of caresses as he inched towards me. When his lips touched mine softly, it was such a contrast to how he’d kissed me minutes ago.

“I love you, Raindrop,” he murmured against me, the vibrations tingling and causing me to shiver.

“I love you too.”

My vision was suddenly filled with his taut chest. Stretching up over me, Teo reached into the drawer beside the bed and pulled out a condom. He placed it next to us and then he rested back over me.

With deliberate slowness he moved towards me until his lips caressed my skin. Using soft, feather touches he travelled over my jaw. At the same time he used one hand to slide my dress up over my body then his lips disappeared to trace the same line. Moving over my stomach, his lips left a fiery trail behind his hands as he inched towards my breasts.

“Lift your arms,” he ordered and I complied without hesitation. Teo pulled the dress off over my head and dropped it to the floor. Immediately his lips were back on my body, his hand dipping lower between us as his nose skimmed over my nipple and I gasped. When he drew it into his mouth I arched my back, rising off the bed to meet him.

“Teo,” I called out, breathless. I didn’t want slow. That could be next time. At that moment I wanted him to take me…for us to be together totally again. I couldn’t stand the building pressure inside me, the fire consuming my body.

“I know, baby,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. He crawled down my body until he was between my legs. His stubble scraped against the inside of my thigh as he tilted his head, the burn replaced by pleasure when his lips followed. My legs fell open, allowing him better access, and his mouth skimmed over my panties.

“Teo, please,” I begged, relief flowing through me when he reached up to my hips to slide the frustrating scrap of fabric down my legs. He drew back to remove his shirt and kick off his jeans. There was no show made of it; he ditched them as quickly as possible, and his erection sprang free. When he crawled back up my body to reach for the condom, I didn’t think I could wait a second longer.

He tore the packet open and rolled it down his shaft with ease. Within seconds he was back on top of me, his tip pressing against my entrance. Meeting my gaze, his eyes shone in the setting sun as he thrust into me, filling me completely.