Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men Book 9) (16 page)

I backed away from him, still clutching my face and staring with wide, frightened eyes. “And why the hell am I telling you all this? Please, God, say you’ve been zoning out for the last thirty seconds of my rant and haven’t heard a word I said.”

He caught my shoulders and stopped me from backing away from him another step. “Oh, I caught every word.”

“Shit.” I closed my eyes and prayed to sink through the ground and escape this humiliating moment. “Shit, shit, sh—”

He cut me off by pressing his mouth gently against mine.

My brain short-circuited and by the time it took me to realize we were kissing, he was already pulling away.

My lips parted as I exhaled. Slowly, my eyes came open. Colton watched me with a pensive expression. Then he licked his lips. “Okay, so...yeah. I want to fuck you too. And fight with you as well. Like...bad. Like, it doesn’t matter what you say or do to me, how much you hurt me or piss me off; I get this raging hard-on every time you’re around. Every time you disagree with me, I just want to piss you off until you kiss me and rip at my clothes. And then I want to bury my cock so deep inside you I forget my own fucking name. And then I want to make you forget yours.”

I gulped and went back to clutching my face in shame. “So I
did
hurt you?”

He caught my wrists and pulled my hands away from my cheeks. “Forget about that and listen to what I’m saying here. If either of us has any hope of escaping this chemical imbalance shit stirring between us before we both go schizo, we
need
to have sex. I’m talking no-holds-barred, hanging from the ceiling, tearing each other’s clothes off, animal-fucking sex.”

His delicious description swept through me like a hurricane. My hormones stirred to life and licked their lips, ready to climb him right there.

But…

“I don’t know. Doesn’t that sound...wrong to you?” my stupid conscience prompted me to say as I pressed my hand to my forehead.

Colton grinned one of his panty-dropping grins. “Oh, baby doll. Wrong’s just the way I like it.”

“See...” I pointed at him, frowning. “You say shit like that, and I know I should get annoyed and offended by it and want to smack your arrogant face, but no…no. Stupid me, I just want to climb you like a freaking stripper pole, shedding clothes as I go.”

“It’s because of the chemical—”

“Imbalance,” I snapped, tossing him a sharp glare. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Which is why I suggest we get it the fuck out of our systems so we can move
past
it.” He sounded snippety right back at me, which almost made me turn the ire on him, but then his words struck me. He’d worded his suggestion differently this time around.

Tipping my head to the side, I echoed the phrase, “Out of our system?” as I studied him. Then he’d said
move past it
as if he wasn’t planning on some kind of relationship or typical dating...procedure. Hell, he made it sound like—

“Are you suggesting you just want to do it one time, like you think that’ll clear all this up and we never have to...again? You think just one time would get it out of our systems?”

He shrugged. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t. Most of this whole attraction bullshit between us is probably just curiosity. Wipe that out of the equation, and boom. No more erections in class while I’m trying to listen to the lecture.”

“I am
not
a one-and-done kind of girl,” I said primly, only to chase it with, “but…”

He grinned, the jerk. “But…?”

Tempted, I shook my head. I had never had a one-night stand before. I turned my nose up at them. But…

“One time is basically like it never even happened,” I tried to convince myself.

“Basically,” he agreed, shifting closer, looking eager and excited. “Just a couple minutes out of one day of your entire life. Not even a blip on the radar, really. It’ll be completely forgettable, and we can move on with our lives without ever wanting to jump each other’s bones again.”

Yes
.

Yes, that sounded perfect. This agonizing whatever-it-was-we-were-currently-doing was making me insane. I needed it out of me.

Besides, hadn’t my very own friends even encouraged me to have fun with no real commitment? This really
could
be perfect.

Except for the
minutes
part.

Arching an eyebrow, I said, “You mean a couple
hours
out of one day, right? I don’t want no sloppy, half-assed five-minute bang from you, boy. I want the full-service deal: foreplay, oral, deep penetration, and then maybe even a back rub afterward.” Yeah, a back rub sounded good so I could have a reason to maybe get my hands in his hair one last time before I never spoke to him again.

He smirked. “Trust me, I don’t do anything half-assed. Especially
that
.”

“Well, if you’re so sure you could keep up, then fine.”

“Fine,” he spat right back. “I will.”

And then we just stared at each other, realizing what we’d agreed to do.

Holy shit.

Colton shook his head as if to clear it. Then he squinted his eyes and hesitantly asked, “So…we’re going to have sex then? We’re really going to have sex?”

I blew out a breath, feeling dazed. “Yeah,” I said slowly. Ohmigod, what had I just said? And why did I add, “I guess so.”

“Okay, then.” His chest heaved and he once again shook his head as if he was trying to wrap his brain about this new development. “We, uh, well, we probably need to work out the when and where, huh?”

I nodded, still too shocked to think properly. “Yeah. Probably.”

This was so bizarre. We were discussing a hookup as if scheduling a boring study group. And yet when I looked up at him, I almost came. I was so turned on and ready for him now, my body was buzzing and super sensitive. But what made me really ache was seeing how hungry and ready
he
looked.

“I don’t work tonight,” I blurted.

He nodded. “Tonight’s fine with me.”

“Unless—” I started only to stop and bite my lip for being so impatient and wanting him sooner.

“Unless what?” he pressed, looking about as impatient and turned on as I felt for him.

I shook my head. “Nothing. I have class in five minutes. I shouldn’t skip.”

“Yeah.” He ran his hand through his hair, and oh shit…I was even more turned on now. I was
so
going to get my hands in that hair again when we got together. “I have class too. I shouldn’t skip mine either.”

But his jaw tensed as he watched me molest his hair with my eyes. A second later, he grabbed my hand and started striding deeper into the student union. “Dammit. We’re skipping class.”

J
ULIANNA’S
C
HAPTER
|
16

H
e only dragged me a few steps before reality struck home. “Wait, Colton.
Wait
!” I dug my feet in, stopping us.

He jerked to a halt and turned to me, looking distinctly in pain. I knew exactly how he felt, but one of us needed to be practical here.

“This is crazy,” I said, the God’s honest truth. Besides… “A quickie on campus is
not
going to cut it.”

“Fuck,” he whispered and blew out a harried breath. “You’re right.” Chewing on his bottom lip, he glanced around us. I could practically see his mind spinning as he tried to think up a way around our dilemma.

But all I could do was watch his teeth sink repeatedly into the fleshy fullness of his lip.

“Stop,” I croaked, holding up a hand. “Stop chewing on your lip like that.”

“What?”

When he paused mid-chew, his eyebrows crinkled in confusion, I confessed, “It’s sexy as hell and not helping the situation at all.”

His bottom lip popped free of his teeth as he gaped openmouthed at me. Then he shook his head. “Yeah, there’s no fucking way I’m going to be able to wait until tonight to get inside you.”

He ran his hand through his hair again and blew out a breath. I pressed my legs together, trapping the ache as tightly as possible between my thighs.

“What about an appetizer?” He snapped his fingers and grinned with accomplishment.

I frowned, confused. “Appetizer?” I wasn’t hungry. I was horny.

He nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Quick meaningless consumption to help quell the craving until you’re served the full course. And it’s all part of one eating experience, right, so technically we could still do something now, then the real deal later, and just group it all under one event. One and done.”

Ooh, an appetizer.

That was actually a genius idea.

I nodded, agreeing. I’m sure we both knew a freaking appetizer was utter bullshit. If we had a quickie here and now and then met again this evening for more, it would most definitely be two separate sexual encounters entirely.

But I found myself saying, “I love appetizers.”

“Me too.” He squeezed my hand briefly before glancing around. “So…where do we go?”

“No fucking clue.” I gulped, a bit panicky because if we didn’t find somewhere soon, I might just combust right here in the middle of everything. I was already embarrassingly wet. We needed some damn privacy. Soon.

“Dammit,” he hissed. “Come on. We’ll just…something available
has
to pop up if we keep looking.”

I nodded, not because I thought that was a good idea, but because
any
idea to find a place to get him naked seemed brilliant right about now.

So he commenced to tug me down the corridor of the student union. When we passed a closed door with an electronic sign next to it stating its next use wouldn’t be until Friday, I tightened my grip on his hand to get his attention.

Colton glanced back and then followed my gaze to the door when I gave a silent tip of my head toward it. His gaze lit with interest before he reached out to jiggle the handle.

And holy fuck, it actually opened.

He glanced at me, his eyebrows raised in question. I gulped and nodded, and he led me inside. Two slim tall windows hugged either side of the entrance, but a person wouldn’t be able to see the entire room from the outside if they were trying to peek in.

After Colton eased the door shut, he whispered, “There’s a lock,” and flipped it.

He squeezed his grip supportively around my hand and led me to the one corner where absolutely no one could see in. All it contained was a sturdy wall and a red carpeted floor. I slapped my hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh because my nerves were going wild. Giggling was a super bad habit of mine when I was this wound up with excitement and apprehension.

“Colton,” I whispered, touching my hand tentatively to his back, the warmth of his flesh immediately soaking through the cloth to greet my fingers. I wasn’t really trying to get his attention, I just felt the need to say his name.

But he turned to me, his grin radiating so much happiness his entire face freaking glowed. A part of me was actually too intimidated to touch all that beauty while the rest of me wanted to overindulge.

He reached for my cheek, and I panicked.

“Wait, uh…!” I gulped and shook my head. Ohmigod, this was really happening.

“What’s wrong?” He dropped his hand, and his brow crinkled with worry.

“Nothing.” I sucked in more air and smoothed my bangs out of my eyes. “I just…we need to set some conditions first.”

Yeah, that sounded good.

“Conditions?” He narrowed his eyes. “What kind of conditions?”

“Like...” I bit my lip and winced. “I’m not sure how to word this.” Mostly because I wasn’t even sure what to say. I was stalling because I was suddenly scared.

“It’s okay. Just say it. What am I not allowed to do?” His shoulders slumped as if he thought I was reneging on the deal already.

Unable to disappoint him, especially when I knew I didn’t want out—at all—I was only freaking a bit, I clutched his arm. “No, nothing like that. Just…actually it’s the opposite,” I added when I realized there
was
a condition I would like added to our deal. “I want...I want...”

His eyebrows lifted. “You want...?”

“No, I guess it’s something I don’t want. I
don’t
want either of us,” meaning him, “to turn down any new ideas offhand, like...I don’t know. I’m just asking you to be open-minded to suggestions that might not be your norm, and maybe testing them out first before vetoing something offhand.”

“Oh, I’m definitely open to suggestions.” He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. “But now I gotta know what kind of kinky ideas you have stirring around in that amazing brain of yours.”

I frowned at the salacious grin he had going on. “I didn’t say I had
kinky
ideas, necessarily.”

He immediately stopped grinning.

I huffed out a frustrated breath. “I just don’t want to build this up in my head only for you to be a three-pump, missionary-position-only kind of guy.”

He tipped his head thoughtfully. “You don’t like missionary?”

I flushed. “No. I mean, I don’t have anything against it. I just—”

Grinning, he set two fingers against my lips. “Baby doll, do I really seem like I’m only
into vanilla sex to you?”

“No,” I admitted, feeling foolish for even bringing the issue up. My shoulders relaxed.

His smile spread so wide and beautifully I felt blinded and consumed by it. “Trust me,” he assured me. “As long as my dick ends up inside you, you can Kama Sutra me any way you like.”

I nodded and blew out a breath. “Good.”

He stepped in closer, making me catch my breath. Why did his nearness always make my heart beat faster and my breathing go crazy?

“My turn. Condition number one—”

“Wait. What?” I flashed my gaze to his face. “
You
have conditions?”

He shrugged. “Why not? You did.”

“But I...okay…I guess.” Inside, I tensed, worried what kind of regulation he was going to put on me.

“You can’t bite your lip when you come this time.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“At the wedding, when you came…” I flushed because I’d never discussed sex so openly with a guy before. But then… most of the stuff I’d discussed with Colton was confidential. I rarely—if ever—shared that kind of shit with anyone, so I guess it made sense to open up more with him about this too. “…You fought it the entire way through.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did. You locked your muscles, hid your face, and I know you bit this lip.” He reached out and softly slid his finger over my bottom lip as if to ease it from the bite I’d given it nearly two weeks before. Without telling myself to, I swiped out my tongue to taste the salty flavor of his finger.

He smiled at me and ran the back of that very same digit up my cheek. “Just promise to try to let yourself feel the whole thing, okay?”

“Okay, fine.” I rolled my eyes, still convinced I hadn’t held anything back. I mean, it’d been a pretty powerful orgasm. I remember being almost scared of it because it’d started off stronger than I was used to. And then…shit, I had tried to shut it down because it’d been overwhelming.

But I couldn’t tell Colton he was right, so I sighed and tried to make myself sound impatient. “Assuming you can make me come again, I promise I won’t try to hold it all in this time.”

With a chuckle, he kissed the end of my nose. “Oh, I’ll make you come. I plan to make you come a lot.” His chin dipped as if he were easing in for a kiss on the lips. But the moment I lifted my mouth to meet his, he murmured, “Condition number two.”

“Two?” I squawked! “You can’t have two. I didn’t have two.”

“Well, I have two. And I don’t want Brandt to know about this.” He suddenly wasn’t teasing or grinning anymore. I fact, he looked ready to walk out the door if I didn’t comply.

I gulped. “That’s fine.” I didn’t particularly want Brandt to know about it either. I mean, awkward much? But still…why was Colton so against it?

He didn’t explain. He just added, “Actually, I don’t even want his name brought up between the two of us. Ever.”

Unease slithered through me. I wanted to apologize to him once again for what I’d said that night. I must’ve hurt him a hell of a lot more than I’d initially realized.

Suddenly, this whole one-time-deal-just-to-get-it-out-of-our-systems agreement sounded like a really bad idea.

“Just curious, but...why...” I licked my dry lips. “Why don’t you want him to know?”

“Because he wouldn’t like it,” he said. “He knows you still have a thing for him, and he’d think the worst. I don’t want him thinking—”

“Wait!” I held up my hands, completely not expecting that last part. “What do you mean, he
knows
I have a thing for him?”

Colton closed his eyes. After a moment of deep breathing, he opened them again and said, “Who do you think sent me over to distract you at his wedding? He didn’t want his wife to worry about anything if she caught on to how persistently you were watching him.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered. I covered my mouth before slapping my arms over my chest to hug myself. “You were
sent
to me?”

He seemed to realize telling me that little detail was something he never should’ve done when his face froze as if he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I…”

“So, what…?” I demanded, feeling just…really, really shitty. “He tossed me a pity bone? Like
I don’t want you, but here’s my little brother. Enjoy?
You really
were
my consolation prize? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

“No, it wasn’t like that at all.” He grasped my shoulders gently and looked into my eyes beseechingly. “Jesus, baby doll. That is not what happened. He actually told me not to touch you. No, actually, that wasn’t how he put it. What did he say?” He winced, trying to recall the exact wording before he refocused on me to relay, “He said I didn’t stand a chance with you.”

“Oh.” I shoved his hands off me so I could back up enough to glare at all of him. “So you decided to prove him wrong, huh?”

“No.” He didn’t sound so insistent this time. He was almost defeated as he explained, “I didn’t think I stood a chance either. But you looked so miserable, I wanted to help you. I thought I could annoy you away with my flirting like I usually did, and it would chase you off so you’d stop torturing yourself. But then…then I learned what your fucking earrings meant, and…Jesus, Juli. You were there. You know what happened just happened. I didn’t
plan
that.”

I believed him. I don’t think I would’ve believed anyone else who’d fed me an excuse in that moment, but I believed Colton. Because I
had
been there. There’d been nothing planned or diabolical behind our encounter in that room.