Chapter 22: Breakaway: Chapter 22

THE MOMENT the words leave my mouth, I know I did something wrong.

Penny stiffens, and not in the way she did unconsciously just before my hand landed on her cute-as-hell bottom. Something about my suggestion has taken her far away from me mentally; already she’s shutting her eyes, shaking her head. She rubs her eyes with her fists and shudders out a breath. “No. Not that. Something else on the list.”

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, even though I don’t know yet what I’m apologizing for. “I didn’t mean to push you.”

She shakes her head, opening her eyes. They’re glossy with tears, and her small smile is rueful. “It’s just—it’s last on the list for a reason. I’m not there yet. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I kiss her cheek softly, more out of compulsion than anything. At least she hasn’t scrambled off my lap. I think I startled her, not scared her. Still, I’m an asshole; of course there’s a reason regular old dick-in-vagina is last on her list. I don’t know all the details, and I’m not owed them, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a massive idiot about the whole thing. “Take a deep breath for me.”

She blinks, nodding, her throat moving as she forces herself to swallow. “I’m okay.”

“You still want to do something? Whatever you want, I want to give you. You were so fucking good for me just now.”

She keeps her gorgeous eyes on me as she reaches between her legs and rubs her clit, panting softly. The small curves of her body, the tits I can suck on whole, if I’m so inclined, the fucking birthmark right next to her bellybutton that looks like a starburst—a real star, I mean, not the candy—it all adds up to a picture that has left me so hard up for it I can barely think. My cock is straining against my jeans, and I’m loathing my bright idea to wear a belt today. I can’t quite fight back the possessiveness running through me as I look at her. I know she’s not really mine, that this is just an arrangement, but I’m not going to anyone else for this right now, and neither is she. We’ve made that clear. It’s my name she said just now while I spanked her bottom red, and it’s going to be my name on her lips as she comes.

Her delicate fingers keep working between her legs. “Make me wait,” she says.

“More teasing?”

“As much as I can take.” She gasps as she hits a particularly good angle. “It’ll keep me focused on now.”

Focused instead of thinking about what, is the question, but I’m not her boyfriend, so I don’t try. Instead, I gather her up and set her against my pillows. She looks extra pretty like this, flushed all over as she settles against the slate gray sheets. I take off my belt, an inch at a time.

Fucking hell, she’s gorgeous. She’s a brat, but she’s a good girl, and right now, she’s mine.

“Hold out your wrists, sweetheart.”

Her eyes go wide, and she swallows visibly. That’s another item on her list, but why not do two at once? Bondage and orgasm denial. She’ll be at my mercy completely if she can’t use her own fingers to tease her swollen clit, and I’ll be able to edge her as long as I can handle. I’ve had some practice with this, so I get her wrists over her head, the belt holding her hands together against the headboard, tight but not tight enough she wouldn’t be able to get it off in an emergency. Just enough that the control tips in my favor once more. It’s how I like it best, and guessing by her labored breathing, she’s finding this hot as fuck, too.

She drags her front teeth over her bottom lip—and then spreads her legs wide, anchoring her feet flat on the bed. I groan aloud, pulling my t-shirt over my head and tossing it away. I fumble with the button on my jeans, unable to take my eyes away for even a moment. The red curls between her legs are dark and wet, her silky-soft core just as deliciously slick. I’m a goddam lucky bastard. My mouth floods with saliva at the memory of her salty taste.

“Everything good?” I ask. “If you need to stop, tell me and we’ll stop.”

“I have a vibrator in my bag,” she replies, in a tone that clearly says, I’m fine, don’t be an idiot.

I raise an eyebrow. “What, you carried it around all day?”

She gives me the defiant tilt of her chin that I adore. “Are you going to use it to help, or are you one of those jerks who thinks it’s cheating?”

I’m already rooting around in her bag for it. “Please. Toys and I have a special understanding. What’s good for you is good for me.”

She snorts. “You’re so weird.”

I hold up the bullet vibe. It’s a truly atrocious shade of fuchsia, but ends in a pair of cute rabbit-style ears. When I click quickly through the different speeds, her breathing stutters, and her hips jerk up like she’s dying to get closer. I grin as I settle on the bed. “Should I put on some music to cover up your screaming? Metallica could work nicely.”

She glares at me. “I’m not coming to Metallica. And I’m not a screamer.”

“Who said anything about coming? This is about denial, sweetheart.” I turn on the vibe, dragging it down her stomach as I kiss her breasts. I take one into my mouth, lavishing her nipple with attention; she lets out a soft little cry. I let go slowly, looking her in the eyes all the while. “A brat like you could use some more discipline.”

The words do exactly what I intend; she blinks rapidly, her chest heaving, and lets her legs fall open even wider. I reward her by pressing the tip of the vibrator right against her hole, using her slick for lube. She stutters out my name, but before she can beg, I give her a taste of what she’s after, using the tips of the vibe to massage on either side of her clit.

My cock is straining for attention, pressed up against her thigh, but I ignore it in favor of continuing to tease her. I scratch my blunt fingernails down her soft skin as I rub her clit with the vibe. She rewards me with sweet, quiet moans, as if aggressively trying not to make noise, which I’m sure is true, because if there’s anything I’ve learned about Penny, it’s that she’s stubborn. I hold the vibrator against her clit as I stroke down her folds, and little by little, the way she’s rocking up against me gets desperate; enough pressure and she’ll gush. Instead, I ease off, kissing her on the mouth; she bites down on my lip, hard. When I gasp, the sharp half-second of pain pulsing straight through my hard-as-granite dick, she smirks.

“You’re a menace,” I tell her. “Do you want to come at all?”

“You’ll let me eventually.”

“Oh?”

“You like watching me come too much not to.” She tugs at the belt, but her wrists stay bound. I give my cock a long stroke, considering just getting myself off and leaving her there to sulk, but she’s right, I want to see her eventual orgasm too badly for that. I settle between her thighs again, using the vibe on her clit as I lick at her hole, taking in each of her moans with greed. She’s so slick it drips down my chin; she arches her back, trying to get more contact. I bury my face between her thighs even more deeply, tracing patterns into her skin, nipping at the soft parts of her thighs. She cries out, louder this time, which is music to my ears; she might not be a screamer, but I can get her to lose her inhibitions.

When she’s shaking hard enough that I know she’s on the edge of coming, I ease off again, leaving her right at the peak without the extra push she desperately wants. She continues to tremble as I suck hickeys into the skin of her inner thighs. I give my cock another jerk, thumbing at the head. My balls are tight and aching, but I ignore the urge to keep going until I come into my fist.

Her betrayed expression tugs at my heart. “Cooper,” she whines. “Please…”

Her voice breaks. I take pity on her and switch the vibrator to a higher setting as I work her clit again. “Get louder for me, baby,” I say. “I want to hear you.”

She obliges me with a moan loud enough I need to swallow it with a kiss, grinning against her mouth as I do. As I pull back, she smiles too, soft and just for me, and I swear, I almost come from that. From a fucking smile. It’s like she just gave me a present, and it’s one I never have to share with anyone.

“I’ve got you,” I say as I put pressure directly on her clit. I angle it just right while I wet the fingers of my other hand with her warm, slippery slick. I’ll bet her ass is still aching, marked red from my palm. I press my fingers against her asshole with enough pressure to make her cry out. Next time, I’m going to spank her harder, and then I’ll keep her on her hands and knees to fuck her sweet little bottom. The thought alone is enough to make me wobble on the edge of climaxing, but then she seizes and comes with an honest-to-God sob, wetness flooding over my hand, and if I wasn’t about to blow my load then, I do now, right on her belly.

She’s crying. For half a second, caught between the wave of pleasure reverberating between us both, my heart thuds with fear. I undo the belt, rubbing her wrists. “Pen. Good tears or bad tears?”

“Good,” she says. She laughs wetly as I wipe the tears from her face. “God, Cooper, I’ve never squirted without penetration before.”

I crush her lips to mine, tangling my wet hand in her hair as I rub my come into her skin. The vibrator gets swept onto the floor somehow, landing on the hardwood with a loud buzz that reminds me of the indignant squawk of a bird. We burst out laughing, kissing in between bouts; I wheeze so hard my chest aches. Penny is a trembling mess against me. We hold on to each other for a long moment, catching our breath. I’d be willing to bet that’s the most intense she’s ever been in bed with someone else, so I’m going to need to lay on the aftercare especially thick.

“How do you feel?” I ask as I stroke her hair.

She tugs my arm around her. “Good.”

I take the hint and hug her even tighter. As I press a kiss to her head, I breathe in her lavender scent. “My good girl.”

We’re still for a moment, but then she digs her nails into my taut back and kisses my Andúril tattoo—and bites down. I pull her hair in retaliation, and as I expect, it makes her grin.

“What is this?” she asks.

“The Flame of the West, baby.”

She squints at me. “It’s not just a random sword?”

“Absolutely not. It’s the sword re-forged from the shards of Narsil in Rivendell. Aragorn renames it Andúril. Flame of the West.”

“Aragorn?”

My mouth drops open. “Come on. If you haven’t read it, you’ve at least watched the Lord of the Rings movies.”

She just shakes her head. “No, never.”

I reach over and switch off the vibrator. It’s covered in dust, which is a gross reminder that I need to clean my room, so I set it on my nightstand before she can notice and grab my computer from my bag. “Okay, let’s start right now.”

“We have homework,” she reminds me. “And aren’t they like, a million years long?”

“We can multitask. Plus, that was intense. I was going to cuddle you either way, so if I were you, I’d just surrender.”

She smiles. “What makes you think I’d even like it?”

“I saw the book you were reading while you waited for class to start. It’s fantasy, right?”

“Fantasy romance,” she says, a touch of defiance in her tone. Like she’s waiting for me to make fun of her. As if I’d do that; I’m fully aware I’m a nerd where media is concerned. I’m happy to play Call of Duty with my bros, but I prefer Legend of Zelda. I’ll read Fitzgerald and Sontag and Baldwin and enjoy it, but I’d still rather read George R.R. Martin. It makes perfect sense to me that Penny enjoys a good romance novel. Judging by the couple of paperbacks I’ve noticed in her dorm room and the stickers on her Kindle, she likes ‘em sexy. I wonder if that’s what she writes, too. I haven’t gotten her to admit what the book she’s writing is about, but it’s cool as hell that she’s doing it in the first place.

“Hey, I like romance in my fantasy too. You’ll like the love story in these movies.”

“Okay, fine. But I’m using your shower first.”

I tuck my hand under her chin, looking her in the eyes. “You sure you’re good? Can I get you anything?”

She nods, biting her lip. “More pizza?”

She looks so pretty I can’t help but kiss her. I put my palm against the Celtic knot tattoo on my chest. “Ah, a woman after my own heart.”

She rolls her eyes, trying and failing to hide a smile, as she picks up her clothes. She makes a face, looking down; my come still streaks her stomach, and her inner thighs must be getting stickier by the moment. I still can’t believe she squirted; that was hot as fuck. While she’s in the bathroom, I’ll change my sheets, so she doesn’t get embarrassed about the wet spot. She grabs my t-shirt and throws it on.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” she says, poking me in the chest with her index finger. “I just don’t want to get my clothes dirty.”

I salute her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“What, no m’lady?”

I grin at her. “Turn around so I can see my handiwork.”

Right before she opens the door, she pulls the shirt up, giving me a view of her cotton candy-pink ass. I whistle, and she gives me a faux outraged look, but I just wink.

Then I get down to the serious business of queuing up The Fellowship of the Ring.