Walking the Line (5 page)

Ellie loved junk food and old action movies
and drinking coffee at Circular Quay on a Monday morning. She hated
sports and politics and moths. And she adored city life in
Sydney.

She’d been so animated at one point, she’d
started spouting facts about the Cross like an encyclopedia and
while I hadn’t been particularly interested in learning the El
Alamein Fountain’s dandelion design done by a New Zealand architect
had been copied around the world, I was riveted to her every word
because she’d come alive.

Who knew the silent, truculent woman of the
past week loved to talk, and our six courses flew by. During each
and every one, I found myself falling under her spell.

What made Ellie more alluring was the fact
she had no idea how goddamn gorgeous she was. Strip away the black
leather and the plain singlet tops, the make-up and the chunky
jewelry, and the invisible armor that she wore with pride, and
Ellie was beautiful on the inside.

I wished I could articulate half of what I
was feeling as we walked side by side, so I settled for entwining
my fingers with hers instead.

She didn’t pull away. In fact, she sidled
closer, her hip bumping mine, making me a little crazy. Because
while I’d been enthralled by her chatty side over dinner, it didn’t
stop me wanting to take her up against the nearest wall.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, glancing
at me from the corner of her eye.

“You don’t want to know,” I said, my grip
inadvertently tightening on her hand and she yelped.

“Sorry.” I eased back on the grip and held
her hand up, running my thumb over the thick silver band she wore
on the middle finger of her left hand. “Did you know this design
looks Celtic?”

“Hmm,” she mumbled and removed her hand
quickly, like she didn’t want me studying the ring any closer.
Interesting.

“You always wear it. Sentimental value?”

She gnawed on her bottom lip and damned if I
didn’t get a boner that made me lightheaded, that much blood
drained south.

“Something like that,” she said, looking
increasingly uncomfortable.

“From an old boyfriend?” I persisted, needing
to distract myself from the increasing urge to push up against her
and let her feel exactly what affect she had on me.

“To forget an old boyfriend,” she muttered,
shaking her head, sadness down-turning her mouth as I inwardly
cursed for putting a dampener on this evening when things had been
going so well.

Needing to get us back onto more stable
ground, I captured her chin in my hand and raised it, so she had no
option but to look at me. “I can think of better ways to help you
forget.”

My implication clear, she stared at me for an
eternity, her expression unreadable in the darkness cast by the
alley behind me.

When the silence reached uncomfortable, she
did the unthinkable.

Splayed both palms on my chest.

Pushed me backwards.

Slammed her mouth on mine.

My back hit the wall but the pain ricocheting
down my spine was quickly replaced by a fireball of lust so swift,
so overpowering, I almost staggered.

My hands spanned her waist and held her tight
as we kissed like two people who hadn’t done this in a long time.
Passionate. Desperate. Frantic. Her pelvis grinding against mine.
My cock straining. My balls aching for release.

She hooked a leg around my waist and I slid
my hand between us. Wished she didn’t wear leather. Because as I
pressed against her clit through the layers, she growled, a purely
primitive sound that made me want to fuck her right here, right
now.

Wrenching my mouth from hers was the hardest
thing I’d ever done. “Need to get home. Now.”

As the madness of the moment passed, I
expected her to pass off what had just happened as an aberration,
something that could never happen again.

To my immense relief, she nodded. “Let’s
go.”

I didn’t need to be asked twice.

ELLIE

The taxi ride home should’ve sobered me
up.

Not that I was drunk as such, because we’d
been at Maik’s for hours and I’d topped up my earlier beer buzz
with a single glass of wine while stuffing my face with the divine
food. So technically, I had no excuse for my behavior; first at the
restaurant and later in the alley.

Finn was such good company and so easy to
talk to I’d found myself blabbing. Telling him little things about
myself. Small talk mostly but enough that we’d connected. And he’d
listened, appearing enraptured by every stupid word that babbled
out of my mouth. Heady stuff for a loner like me, having a sweet
guy actually interested in hearing me out.

As for the way I’d jumped him in that alley…I
had another two minutes to come to my senses. Change my mind. List
every logical reason why we shouldn’t have wild, climb-the-walls
sex.

But as I locked the back door behind us and
reset the alarm, I couldn’t think of any.

“Go on. Get it out of your system.” Finn
trailed a fingertip down my cheek. “Tell me why we shouldn’t sleep
together.”

Unnerved that he could read me so easily, I
aimed for levity. “Who said anything about sleep?”

He smiled, the dim hall-light illuminating
his teeth. “That’s my girl.”

Three words to rattle my common sense into
reawakening.

I could never be his girl, his or any other
guy’s. Relationships built expectations and needs, and if those
needs couldn’t be met…I’d end up alone and shattered. Again.

“I’m not your girl.”

I squared my shoulders and dragged in a deep
breath. “I’m ten years older than you. I have no interest in
anything beyond a one-night stand. And I don’t want to discuss this
tomorrow. Capish?”

“You’re bossy.” His fingertip trailed from my
cheek to my jawline to the dip between my collarbones. “It’s a big
turn on.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like you need the
encouragement. You’re just a walking hormone at your age.”

Disappointment downturned his mouth as his
hand fell away and irrationally I missed his touch. “I’ve had sex
with two women in my life. Lost my virginity at nineteen, then had
a relationship with the girl next door for three years.”

He dragged a hand through his mussed hair,
frustration lacing every word. “It’d be nice if for one second
you’d believe I’m not some bullshitting guy out to score while I’m
in town. That I think you’re incredible. The most incredible woman
I’ve ever met. And that you’d forget about the age difference
because it’s not relevant when two people share the connection we
do.”

I stared at him in open-mouthed shock. No guy
I’d been with had ever been so blunt, so articulate. It made me
flounder even more.

“Dammit, Ellie, I care about you. Why can’t
you accept that?” He cupped my cheek and despite the urge to run, I
finally gave in and rested against his hand.

“I’ll try,” I whispered, the admission
wrenched from deep within, from a deliberately sheltered soul who
had given up believing anything that came out of a guy’s mouth a
long time ago.

He studied me, nerve-rackingly somber. What
seemed like an eternity later, he said, “Your place or mine?”

I laughed. At last, a question I could answer
unequivocally. “Yours.”

I may be willing to let Finn into my heart a
tad tonight, but no way was he seeing the real me by entering my
apartment.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Ignoring my inner self-preservation cynic
screaming that I was doing the wrong thing, I walked upstairs with
Finn, hand in hand. Pausing to kiss on the middle step. On the
landing. Outside his door. Until all I could think about was
getting naked and sweaty and forgetting every logical reason why I
shouldn’t do this.

He opened the door to his room and we
practically fell inside. Staggered to the bed. I tore his button
down shirt open, enjoying the ping of plastic against the
floorboards. Unfortunately, leather wasn’t conducive to tearing and
after several fumbled attempts at the zipper on my pants I stilled
his hands.

“Let me.”

To my amazement he blushed and sank onto the
bed. Propped on his outstretched arms, he watched me with an
intensity that made my skin pebble.

I shrugged out of my jacket and let it fall
to the floor, enjoying his hungry gaze on my braless breasts. I
peeled my cotton singlet overhead and flung it away, as he made a
half-strangled sound. I unzipped and wriggled out of my pants, he
murmured, “Fuck me…”

“I intend to,” I said, unashamed to be
standing before him in my black panties. Because I could handle the
lust in his eyes, the burning need for sex. What I couldn’t handle
was the way he’d looked at me a few minutes ago, with tenderness,
as he told me he cared.

I hooked my thumbs into the elastic of my
panties. “Should I do the honors or you?”

“Come here.” His command was gruff, hoarse,
the deepening of his voice and his delicious accent sending a
tingle down my spine and zeroing in between my legs.

I stepped forward and he surged toward me,
burying his face where I wanted him most.

“I want to taste you,” he said, easing my
panties down my legs and off. “Spread your legs.”

“You didn’t say please.”

I liked teasing him at a time like this. It
surprised me, how comfortable I felt with Finn.

“Do it.” He muttered his command through
gritted teeth. “Please.”

Considering how tortured he sounded, I took
pity on him and took a step sideways with each leg. “Better?”

“Hell yeah.” He licked me with a long, sure
sweep of his tongue and I bucked against him as he flicked my
clit.

“Oh yeah, just like that,” I murmured, my
fingers finding purchase in his hair as he tongued me repeatedly,
my orgasm building far too quickly.

I wanted to prolong it but was powerless as
the tip of his tongue circled my clit with just the right pressure,
faster and faster until I climbed. Tensed. Shattered. Floated back
down to earth as he guided me down onto the bed.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, kneeling at
my feet, his eyes devouring me, his fingertips skimming my skin.
Dipping into the hollows. Tracing the bony bumps. Contouring the
curves.

It felt divine, my skin alight with his
leisurely exploration, my nerve endings tingling. But I wanted
more.

“I want you inside me…oooh…” I ended on a
moan as he captured a nipple in his mouth, laving it, nipping it,
while pinching the other between his thumb and forefinger.

He raised his head to grin at me. “I do
believe you omitted the magic word.”

“Do me. Now.” As he resumed sucking my
nipple, the suction intensifying the throb between my legs, I all
but yelled, “Please!”

“With pleasure.” He pushed into a standing
position and it was my turn to enjoy the show as he unbuckled,
unzipped and stepped out of his jeans.

I zeroed in on the bulge in his boxers, my
mouth dry as he took them off with an expression akin to bashful
pride. And he had every reason to be proud, considering the length
and thickness jutting toward me.

“Impressive,” I said, beckoning him with a
crooked finger. “So come impress me.”

He laughed and I joined in, taken aback again
by how good this felt, how right. I never laughed during sex. I
never felt this relaxed.

Very occasional sex took the edge off for me.
A quick strip, a quick fuck, a quick exit. None of this…foreplay
that extended beyond the physical and was so darn appealing.

“Seeing as you asked so nicely…” We grinned
at each other, a couple of idiots, as he donned a condom from the
bedside drawer. Watching him slide the latex on served to ratchet
up my excitement and I squirmed with wanting him inside me.

He sat on the edge of the bed and hauled me
onto his lap. Breasts to chest. Face to face. Intimate.

That’s when it hit me, why this was so
different from other sexual encounters.

The intimacy.

I didn’t do intimacy. Not anymore. It
frightened the crap out of me. Besides, it didn’t make any sense.
I’d known Finn a week. How could I feel so at ease with a guy I
barely knew?

“You still with me?” His hands cupped my
face, demanding I return to the moment and stay focused on what was
important. The two of us slaking this undeniable thirst for each
other.

“Does this answer your question?”

Bracing my hands on his shoulders, I lowered
myself onto him. Inch by exquisite inch. The fullness making me
gasp. Until I enclosed him.

He groaned, his hands sliding from my cheeks
toward my breasts, where he kneaded as I started to ride him. I
started slow but couldn’t maintain the pace, the delicious friction
of him filling me so completely making me crave more.

Sensing my need, his hands drifted from my
breasts to my hips. Anchoring me. Guiding me.

Then he started to move, upward thrusts that
made me cry out.

“You okay?”

“Never better,” I ground out, my fingernails
digging into his shoulders as he pumped upward. Harder. Faster.
Urging me toward another climax.

He shifted slightly, changed the angle and I
screamed as I came, my orgasm slamming into me so fast my head
spun.

For some inexplicable reason, tears stung my
eyes. Maybe too much pleasure did that to me, I was that unused to
it.

As Finn yelled my name and I clung to him, I
wondered if I’d ever be the same.

FINN

The view that greeted me when I stepped into
the cellar was Ellie’s cute arse in the air as she bent to check
hoses.

After the week we’d had, where we’d spent
every spare moment in my bed, my first instinct was to cross the
short space between us, rip her panties off and bury myself between
her legs.