Staking His Claim (13 page)

Chapter Fourteen

“Ah, God.” Matt’s eyes squeezed shut. “Please. I can do better than a parking garage.”

The raw agony in his voice, his words, heightened her own need, even as they brought on a surge of affection that had no place here. She wanted to push him past his breaking point. Couldn’t wait to see it. Her thumb brushed over the head of his arousal.

“Maybe you’re scared to find out how deep I can take your—”

“
Enough
.” With a growl, he opened the back door and pushed her down onto the seat. Rough hands yanked down the top of her dress, exposing her breasts. His cheeks were flushed red, teeth scraping over his bottom lip. He looked torn for only a moment before he slapped one of her breasts, just enough to sting, enough to draw a whimper from her throat. His fingers gripped her chin and tipped it up. “You’ll watch your mouth when you speak to me.”

“Yes, Matt.” When he released her chin, she leaned forward and ran her tongue up the underside of his erection. His knees bumped the seat as he moaned. “Do you like that?”

“Fuck yes, I like it.” He encircled the base of his arousal in one hand, guiding it to her already-parting mouth. “More. Now.”

It had been a while since Lucy did this and never with a man Matt’s size. She forced herself to relax and focus on what his body told her. What he responded to. Soon, she became lost in her own enjoyment. His taste. The strangled sounds she ripped from his throat. The way her scalp tingled as he pulled her hair, gently moving her fast, then slow, then fast again.

“You like the way I taste, baby?” His hips rocked forward. “No, you goddamn love it.”

Lucy hummed in her throat, locking her fingers around his girth, stroking him off in time with her mouth. She heard his breathing begin to grow choppy. The fingers in her hair grew punishing, telling he was close to reaching his peak. He tried to draw her away with frantic hands, but Lucy didn’t want to stop.

“You want me to finish in your disrespectful little mouth? You want to make my fucking life?”

Slowly, she nodded, relaxing her throat to let him slide deep, deeper than before, purring in order to send vibrations coursing through his hard flesh. Her mouth traveled up and down, increasing in pace, dragging her teeth lightly up the sides when he begged her to slow down. He was right at the edge. She wanted to see him come apart, was dying to witness it, but he dragged her mouth away at the last second.

“Next time,” he barked, digging a condom from his jeans pocket and rolling it down his straining erection. “Spread your legs. Let me see the part of you that squeezes me so tight.”

Lucy drew up her knees, letting her dress drift down to her waist. Her bare breasts were heaving; her lips felt heavy and swollen. Matt’s hot gaze between her legs made her squirm on the seat impatiently. “Hurry,” she whispered shakily, when he started stroking himself.

Matt grabbed her ankles and propped them on opposite ends of the doorframe, her high heels somehow still on her feet. He maintained eye contact with her as he ripped her panties off with a twist of his wrist, then leaned down to lick along her center. Two long strokes of his tongue that made her thighs begin to tremble uncontrollably.

“No screaming,” he rasped. She hadn’t quite processed his warning before he dragged the head of his arousal through her folds, then plowed deep into her. Lucy bit her lip hard, muffling the scream that ripped from deep inside her chest. The sound ended in a sob when he didn’t immediately move. She needed him to thrust, but he stayed still, so deep inside her she could feel him pulsing. “I swear to Christ, baby, you were made for me. You feel that?” He pulled out of her, then slammed home once more. “
Mine
.
My
Lucy. Let me hear you say it.”

No. She couldn’t give in to his words, even though she desperately wanted to repeat them back. They felt true, but she knew they weren’t. Her body might succumb to him, but her mind couldn’t. Even now, her lower stomach muscles were coiled tightly, preparing for the inevitable rush only Matt could provide. She struggled to hold back, wanting to tug him down for a kiss but biting her lip instead. After this, she would walk away. This couldn’t be about affection.

Matt must have sensed the tension in her because his eyes narrowed on her face. “You don’t get to hold back. Not when I’m ten inches deep, Lucy. I won’t allow it.”

She rolled her hips on the seat, felt a spark of satisfaction when his breath shook. “You’re the one holding back. Don’t you want to move inside me, Matt?”

His hands flexed on her thighs. “Not until you’re here with me.
Say it
.”

Why was he doing this? What did he
want
from her? “No.”

The strain was beginning to get to him. His ridged abdomen dipped and shuddered, his voice sounding unnatural. It wouldn’t take much to tempt him into forgetting whatever mission he was suddenly on. Lucy trailed her hand up her stomach, brushing her fingers over her nipples.

With a strangled sound, Matt grabbed her wrists and tried to pin them behind her back, but she struggled to get them free. “Stop it,” she said, but the words ended on a gasp. The friction caused by her struggle sent shock waves through her body. Automatically, her legs wrapped around his waist, high heels digging into his ass.

“
My
Lucy.”

“
No
.”

“Your body disagrees,” he growled, pushing deep as a means of pinning her. “You want the hard fuck I’ve got saved up for you? Say the words.”

She hated him in that moment, even as she craved his body, the feel of him inside her, more than the air in her lungs. There were so many layers to this sensation of being restrained. The way he accomplished it with his powerful body, refusing to budge. His rejection yesterday opposing his wanting to claim her today. None of it made sense.

“What do you
want
from me, Matt?”

“I tried to tell myself wanting you, keeping you, was selfish. Maybe it is.” His lips brushed her forehead. “But I’m lost here, Lucy. I’m lost without everything you’ve got.”

It hurt. Not voicing the words of love threatening to burst forth, keeping them trapped inside, even as being held immobile by him made her body sing. Emotions, chaotic and contradictory, built in her chest until she could no longer contain it.

“I’m giving you what I have left, Matt,” she sobbed. “Take it.”

“You have more. Give it to me.”

Acting on its own, her hand reared back and slapped him hard across the face. For a brief moment, the only sound was their labored breathing, before Matt sprang into motion, finally succeeding in pinning her hands over her head on the leather seat. The now-familiar excitement gathered in Lucy’s middle and spread to every corner of her body, her mind.

Matt watched her closely, conflict in every plane of his face, his thick flesh still throbbing inside her. When he finally spoke, his voice was pure gravel. “Stop here or keep fucking you? I need an answer. And I need it
now
.”

She squeezed him with her inner walls before allowing her thighs to fall open in invitation. At the same time, she struggled to get her hands free. “Don’t give me a choice.”

“Lucy…,” he warned, even as his eyes darkened, then closed.

Refusing to give up on the feeling she was chasing, Lucy turned her head and sank her teeth into his forearm. The hands manacling her own tightened their punishing grip as Matt groaned. Lucy increased her struggle, bucking her body beneath his once, twice.

Slowly, his hips eased back, then pushed forward again. Euphoria shot straight through her body. She tossed her head back on the seat, reveling in it for a glorious moment, then began her renewed struggles. As she watched, Matt lost whatever battle he’d been waging inside himself and began to drive into her. When Lucy twisted on the seat, in a halfhearted attempt to dislodge him, he only threw her legs over his broad shoulders and pumped harder.

“Don’t you dare try to keep that pussy away from me. It’s mine.
You
are mine.”

Somehow Lucy managed to speak around the pleasure spearing through her. Oh God, she was so close. Just a little more. “No.”

With a frustrated sound, Matt brought his body down on top of hers, bringing her knees even with her shoulders. Angling his body above her, he pounded down, grunting with exertion. “Give it up, baby. I feel you shaking for me.”

She tossed her head on the seat, but couldn’t vocalize her denial. He looked so male, so dominant above her, demanding a release she didn’t want to give, but couldn’t refuse herself.

Matt kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue deep. “I remember what it feels like when you’re getting ready to blow. It’s seared on my fucking brain. Any minute now, you’re going to tighten up on me like a vise.” He nipped her bottom lip. “And I’m going to fuck right through it.”

Lucy didn’t sail or drift over the edge, but catapulted headlong into a black chasm. She vaguely registered Matt’s hand covering her mouth as she shouted his name, but pleasure overrode any other thought. Her body, already hot, reached a boiling point as she climaxed. It wouldn’t end either, continuing to pummel her senses as Matt drove into her again and again.

Finally, he buried his face in her neck and let go, moaning scattered words against her fevered skin. “Sexy girl, my girl. Please. Baby, baby, baby. So good. So tight.”

Matt released her hands and they went to his hair, sinking into the thick strands, stroking his scalp. Unconsciously offering comfort and praise. His weight on top of her felt unbelievable, as did clean the scent of his shampoo. She wanted to stay like that forever, unconventional a setting as it was. A sense of contentment tingled along her spine.

That’s when Lucy knew she had to get the hell out of there. As she lay there, cradling Matt to her chest, holding him as his body vibrated in the aftermath of their lovemaking, it became brutally obvious she had serious, incurable feelings for him. She’d been stupid to think she could give him a mind-blowing sexual experience and walk away whistling Dixie, secure in her retained pride. With every encounter, sexual or otherwise, this connection she felt between them grew. Once again, she’d been too impulsive and it would cost her now.

But she had to go. Continuing like this, maintaining a physical relationship behind closed doors, would kill her. She inhaled deeply of his scent one final time, then wiggled underneath Matt until he stood back outside the car. Penetrating her with his eyes, he helped her sit up and fix her dress with gentle hands, so different from how they’d been minutes before. She did her best to keep her gaze averted as she searched the car for her purse.

“Lucy. Look at me.”

Allowing a smile to form, she kept the rest of her face blank. As in,
would you like fries with that?
“I have to go.”

His eyebrows shot up. “The fuck you do. Not like this.”

A hot clench in her belly had Lucy grinding her teeth. That forcefulness in Matt could be her downfall if she wasn’t careful. “I have a job interview.” Another lie. Might as well swing for the fences.

“At seven o’clock at night?”

She shrugged and tried to hop off the seat. “Is this the city that never sleeps, or isn’t it?”

Matt blocked her. “Why are you still interviewing?” His voice thickened with some unnamed emotion. “You’re taking the Paris job. You told me on the drive from Syracuse that you loved it there.”

Oh, that did it. She couldn’t remain cool one second longer. With both hands, she shoved against his chest. He barely moved, inciting her wrath even further. “I’m
not
taking the Paris job, you moron. But don’t worry, my staying in New York has nothing to do with you. I know the score. So don’t worry about me. I know what this is.” She skirted past him. “It’s
nothing
.”

“Bullshit, it’s nothing.” He planted a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the coffee shop. You never
leave
me.”

Dammit.
Tears gathered in her eyes. “I’m leaving you now.”

“No,” he breathed.

“
Yes
. You can’t just show up whenever you feel like screwing me, Matt. I’m better than that.”

Her words brought him up short. “Jesus, Lucy. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” He fell back against his car. “You’re better than
me
. That’s what this is about.”

Lucy’s anger took a nosedive. “Explain that to me.”

“You actually have to ask me after I fuck you in a parking garage?” His throat worked as he glanced toward the opposite end of the underground space. After a stretch of silence, he pushed off the car and closed the distance between them. Lucy couldn’t breathe, the look in his eyes was so fierce. “Listen to me, I—”

Sirens. The loud, continuous sound drowned out whatever Matt was going to say. It didn’t stop, but continued to grow louder, the sound of speeding police vehicles above their heads impossible to ignore. Lucy and Matt exchanged a glance that she didn’t need words to interpret. She nodded once and he strode back to his car, pulling his cell phone from the console. As she watched him closely, his muscles went rigid under his T-shirt, right hand flexing at his side in a familiar gesture. She remembered seeing it when he spoke about being a sniper. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

“What’s wrong?”

When his gaze met hers, it was perfectly blank. That alarmed her even more. “Everything will be fine, but I’m needed downtown.”

Lucy forced her lips to move. “It sounds like everyone is.”

“Get in the car. I’ll drop you off on the way.”

She waved him off. “I’ll be okay. Hayden’s place isn’t far from here.”

“I’m not leaving you here.” His voice was deathly silent. “If I don’t get you home, I won’t be able to concentrate. Get in, please.”

She didn’t ask why he needed his full concentration, just moved as quickly as she could toward the passenger side and climbed inside. He peeled out of the parking spot and had her in front of Hayden’s town house within minutes. She tried not to let panic set in as sirens flew past them on every single avenue. Lucy wanted to ask what was happening, if he would be all right, but was terrified of the answer. Minutes ago, she’d been prepared to walk away from him, but in light of the danger she sensed, the very idea seemed absurd. She wanted to throw her arms around him and beg him to stay. His stiff posture forbade it, though. Wherever he was headed when he left her, it had his full attention.