My Sweetest Escape (43 page)

‘older brother.’

But you probably knew that.”

“I do now,” I said, kissing the tattoo

before going back to his lips, which became

more and more demanding as his tongue

plunged into my mouth, as if he was trying

to taste my soul. I let myself go, and he

removed my shirt and then my bra with

expert hands.

“One, two, three, four,” he said kissing

from my cheek down my neck and in

between my breasts. “Five, six, seven…”

“What are you doing?” It came out as a

semimoan as his tongue licked one of my

nipples.

“Counting your freckles. It might take a

while. Eight, nine, ten—” I grasped his head

as he took one of my nipples into his mouth

and sucked on it. He stopped counting as he

ravaged me with his mouth, and I wrapped

my legs around him and made incoherent

sounds, begging him for more.

He moved to the other breast, making

sure it got just as much attention, which

was very considerate. I nearly lost my mind

when, at the same time, he slipped his hand

under the waistband of my sweatpants and

stroked me there, as well.

He had done this before, and had

learned well, but I wasn’t going to ask. Who

really cared?

“Fuck,” I moaned in the grip of building

pleasure. He kissed down my stomach, his

hand still working, and he dipped his tongue

into my belly button. I had no idea how

sensitive that area of my body was until

now.

All I could do was hold on as he scooted

my sweatpants lower until I was completely

exposed. He still had his pants on, which

was hardly fair, but I couldn’t do anything

about it as his mouth joined his hand and

lights exploded in my head and I thought I

was going to die with the beauty and

intensity of it.

And then he started humming, his

mouth and lips vibrating against me in a

way that made me cry out. I thought I

recognized the tune, but shortly later my

brain gave itself over and I lost myself to

him and his mouth and the sweet ecstasy.

He hummed and kissed his way to my inner

thighs, which trembled as I felt another one

coming, only seconds after the first. This

really wasn’t fair at all.

I let go of his head and reached down,

but his pants were well out of my reach. I

made a little sound of protest and the

humming cut off.

“What’s wrong?” His head came up and

his hand stilled.

I was granted a momentary reprieve.

“It’s not fair. I want to touch you, too.” I

tried to drag him up my body, but he

wouldn’t let me.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said, as

he slipped a finger inside me and dipped his

head back down. “But I’m busy right now.”

With every word he moved his finger in and

out and moved his tongue, as well. He

added another finger and I was completely

helpless again as I burst into a million

shards of glittering pleasure.

Dusty took me to the edge again,

merciless in his attack with both mouth and

fingers until I was quivering and unable to

move.

“Now you may touch me,” he said,

sliding up my stillheaving body. My hands

were a little shaky at first as I tried to undo

his belt and then went for his zipper. Now it

was his turn to moan as I slid his pants and

boxers down, finally getting to touch him

everywhere.

I’d always been scared of this part, of

the actual sex part.

What if it hurt too much? What if I did

something wrong?

What if I was really bad at it? When I’d

been with Matt, those things had always

run through my head, but in this moment

with Dusty, as I stroked him and heard him

growl and say my name, I didn’t think of any

of those things.

I kissed my way down his chest and saw

that he was having trouble keeping himself

above me. I smiled to myself as I took him

into my mouth, and he was the one making

incoherent sounds. I had no idea what I was

doing, but he seemed to like it, so I started

humming and he nearly collapsed on me.

“Jesus, Red. You can’t do that when I’m

above you,” he said, putting a hand in my

hair and pulling my head away.

“Sometime I’ll let you do that again, but

right now, I just want to get inside you. Do

you have something?”

“I live with the queen of safe sex,” I said,

pointing to my nightstand. “Second drawer

in the back.” He reached over me, and I

started stroking him again, up and down,

twisting my hand a little.

“I can’t even remember my own name

right now,” he said, fumbling for the box

and moving so he was beside me.

“Are those okay? I don’t really know

what you’d like.”

Now was not the time to start babbling,

Jos.

He kissed me, and I took that as a “shut

up, Jos” as he pulled one out and tore the

package open.

“I can do it,” I said, taking it from him.

“Renee taught me how. That’s not as weird

as it sounds,” I said as I rolled it on and he

closed his eyes and breathed through his

nose. I got it on in one try. Renee would be

proud. Or maybe not. I should probably

stop thinking about her.

“Are you ready?” He moved so he was

above me. “Or if you wanted to do it

another way, we could—” I stopped his

question by grabbing him and moving my

hips up. He slid inside me and I prepared for

massive amounts of pain.

“Did I hurt you?” he said, once he was

fully inside me.

“No,” I lied. It was more of a dull ripping

feeling, as opposed to a stabbing pain. I

tried to let my body get used to having him

inside me. “Just give me a second.” He held

himself so, so still, and I let myself fall into

his eyes and get trapped there.

“I love you,” I said, tilting my face up for

a kiss. His head came down and our lips

met.

“I love you, Red.” I wrapped my legs

around him and shifted my hips back, and

he started moving. It hurt a little less the

second time, and a little less, and then I

could feel myself building again, the two

sensations of pleasure and pain mixing

together and overtaking me. I rocked my

hips up to meet him as he increased his

speed, hell-bent on destroying both of us. It

got rougher and I welcomed it, my

fingernails digging into his shoulders and

my voice asking him for more.

Finally, he shuddered above me and fell

against me, being careful not to crush me.

Both of our chests heaved and we were

slick with sweat. He kissed my lips and tried

to pull out, but I grabbed his butt to stop

him.

“Stay with me.”

He kissed my nose and moved my hair

out of my face and then pulled me close.

We were as connected as two people could

possibly be, and in that moment of clarity, I

realized that it didn’t matter. Whose fault it

was about Nathan. Dusty and I were both

alive, and he wasn’t.

We were getting to do all the things he

wouldn’t. But that was okay. He always told

me I needed to find a guy who appreciated

me, who knew how lucky he was to have

me. Little did he know it would be his

brother. Or maybe he did know.

I wasn’t a big believer in anything, but

this would be just the kind of thing Nathan

would have dreamed up. Bringing us

together, but making us work for it first.

The thought of telling him that I had finally

found someone, and the look on his face

made me start laughing. Dusty finally pulled

out because he had to, but he didn’t move

away from me just yet.

“What are you laughing about, Red?”

“I’m just thinking that Nathan is

somewhere laughing at the two of us for

being idiots.”

That made his face split into a smile so

wide I thought it was going to break his

face.

“You’re right. This is exactly the kind of

thing he would pull. I know he definitely

wouldn’t have set you up with me in my

before state.”

“Ditto,” I said, shifting a little and

wincing.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dusty said,

stroking my arm. I gave him a kiss. “I’ll live.”

“And live, and live, and live.” He tapped

his finger on my shoulder and I realized two

things at once.

One, that everyone in the house had

probably heard us, and two, that I was

bleeding. Either one of those things was

enough to turn me into a human stoplight,

but both made me want to die.

“Oh, my God.”

“What? What is it?” Dusty was on the

alert.

“I need to go and take care of

something,” I said, trying to get up so he

wouldn’t see the results of what we’d just

done, but he stopped me and then looked

down.

“Oh, Red. It’s okay. Why don’t you go

wash up and I’ll take care of this?”

“It’s not just that, Dusty. This room isn’t

soundproof.” I pointed to the ceiling and he

looked up.

“I completely and totally forgot we

weren’t the only two people in the world.

Well, it was nice knowing you. Renee is

probably going to kill me now and chop my

body into little equal pieces and scatter

them everywhere so no one will ever find

me.”

I gingerly climbed over Dusty and

grabbed the first thing I found to cover

myself with, which turned out to be his

shirt.

“Oh, this is bad, bad, bad.” I went to

open the door, but Dusty stopped me with

a hand on my waist.

“Joscelyn, the only bad thing here is that

I can’t take you back to bed right now

because I want to. I wish there were some

way that we could just stay in bed together

forever and never leave this room. I wish

we could make these little moments, right

here, right now, last forever.”

I turned in his arms.

“Well, I can make this last a little longer.

Come shower with me?” His hands dipped

under the shirt, eager to get me naked

again.

“I would love to. Almost as much as I

love you.” He pressed me against the door.

“I can’t believe no one has come down

to drag your ass upstairs for a good

old-fashioned beat down.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s coming. So, if these

are my last moments, I want to spend them

naked with you.” He growled and swept me

into his arms and I squealed as he carried

me toward the shower.

“So. You have deflowered my sister,”

Renee said, pacing in front of us. Dusty and

I were on the couch, hand in hand.

“Renee!” I said, my face going scarlet.

She held her hand up for silence.

After the lovely shower with Dusty, we’d

gone back to my room and gotten dressed

to face the judge, jury and executioner.

When we’d emerged from the cave, the

house had been quiet, but I could hear

people talking on the second floor.

“Maybe they gave us some privacy?” I’d

said, shocked.

“Or maybe they’re lying in wait,” Dusty

had said behind me. “Let me go first.”

He’d sneaked up the stairs, with me

right behind him, and we’d found everyone

in Darah’s room, except for Mase and

Hunter, playing with Napoleon.

The moment Renee looked up and saw

me and Dusty, she’d grabbed both of our

arms and dragged us downstairs, and here

we were. Getting reamed out by the best.

To his credit, Dusty hadn’t run away,

which was a plus.

It was nice to have someone to hold on

to while Renee was on the warpath, even if

I was more scared for him than I was for

myself.

“So,” she said, pivoting on her heel.

“So.”

I waited for her to say something else.

“Did you use protection?” Of course that

was her first question.

“Yes,” I said, beating Dusty to the

answer. “Condoms and the pill.”

Renee narrowed her eyes and glared at

Dusty.

“It’s true,” he said, his hand holding

mine a little tight. I almost laughed. The

confident Dusty Sharp was scared of my

sister. Scared shitless.

“How long have you been planning

this?”

I started to answer, but Renee turned

the glare on me.

“I want to hear it from him.”

I shut my mouth and looked at Dusty.

“Honestly? I’ve been trying to be with

your sister since the first time I saw her.

Right about the same time I realized that I

loved her.”

Renee nodded and started pacing again.

“You fell in love with me at first sight?

Really?” I’d heard of it happening, but

always just chalked it up to lust instead of

love.

He brought our joined hands to his

mouth and kissed them.

“Of course. I told you, it was like I met

you and I knew.

Took myself a long time to realize it,