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  Blake let out a dramatic huff and lifted himself from the floor. He rested his hands on the bed and peered down at me, his arms flexed so the muscles were protruding. I swallowed hard, paralyzed.

  His eyes bore into mine. “When I say don’t move, I mean,” he leaned forward, sending me deeper into the pillow, “Don’t. Move.”

  “Sorry,” I whispered, looking up at him. I was lying on my side, one leg hooked over the sheet bunched between my thighs.

  “Just be still.” He took the sheet from beneath my neck and draped it so it rested just below my nipples. Tilting his head, Blake analyzed me intently. He twirled one long curl and laid it over the crest of my breast. My breathing became labored as I watched him place me back to the image in his mind. “There. Now. Hold still.”

  The bed dipped with the weight of his knee as he balanced himself above me, squinting into the lens. His body was taut, his muscles drawn in as he tried to remain as steady as possible.

  Flash.

  Blake took a few shots from above me and then lowered delicately so not to disturb my position. He walked to the end of the bed and captured a few more.

  My eyes followed him the whole time as he rounded the corner, back to my side, and bent on one knee so we were eye level. He was making love to me for the second time. First with his mouth and now with his mind. The guy was intense.

  Bent at the waist, he stretched across the bed to get closer to my face.

  Flash.

  Finally, he lowered the camera. “Perfect.” With hungry eyes never straying from mine, Blake placed the camera on the nightstand and crawled the rest of the way toward me, leaving his legs hanging off the sides. “You’re like a work of art.” He plucked a curl that lay over my shoulder and lightly brushed it aside. His thumb grazed my bare flesh, sending goose bumps rippling down.

  I couldn’t speak. The words were trapped in my throat and my body felt pinned to the very spot he’d displayed me in minutes earlier.

  Blake put his hand to my cheek, brushing it with his thumb, and then trailed one finger down my neck. He swiped his finger back and forth along my collarbone, searing my skin and bringing desire back to life in my core. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

  Swallowing hard, I shook my head no, my lips slightly parted to ease the difficulty I was having breathing.

  With the back of his hand, he continued down over the side of my breast, along my ribs, and then over the arch of my hip, coming to rest on my thigh. “You make me want to battle the world just to keep you safe. You do things to me I can’t even understand myself half the time. You’re everything to me, Evangelina. Every-fucking-thing. I never want to spend another minute away from you.”

  He walked two fingers up the side of my body like he’d found a treasure and was savoring it. My chest rose and fell in deep, drawn out successions.

  His eyes moved to the spot in the center of my chest where my heart lay, battering my insides beneath it. He covered my heart with his hand, like he could see it racing and was trying to slow it down for me, but the feel of him pressed there only sped it up further. “I love that this body is all mine now, and I can’t wait to make love to it, but this is the piece I want.” He held his hand steady over my galloping heart.

  “It’s yours,” I breathed in what little voice I could muster.

  “No, it’s not.” He smiled softly. “Not yet. One day soon, I hope. You’ll open up to me. Trust me fully. I want this piece of you whole-heartedly. I’m not going to settle for less.”

  “Blake, I—”

  “Shhh . . .” He put three fingers to my lips, silencing them. “No words. They don’t mean as much.” Inching forward, he removed his fingers and replaced them with his lips, gently guiding my mouth to follow its lascivious rhythm.

  I mewed softly and he drowned it out, deepening the kiss. A hint of myself still lingered on his lips, and I was reminded of how he’d ravished me earlier. The familiar heat of a blush creeped across my cheeks and spread over my chest. He was so selfless, even with this.

  Reaching over, I grabbed under his arms and pulled, trying to get him to join me on the bed fully. Without breaking the kiss, he leaned up on his knees and crawled the rest of the way toward my body. Not wanting any barriers between us, I tossed the sheet aside, leaving myself bared to him once again.

  That got his attention. Blake parted our lips and let his eyes roam my body, his index finger following his gaze, exploring. “I’ve dreamed about this very moment. So many times, I feel like I’ve actually lived it, but at the same time, I can’t believe it’s really happening.”

  The wetness pooling between my legs made it abundantly clear this was really happening. I’d dreamed about it too, but this was no fantasy.

  His chest was still bare, allowing me the proper view to admire it. He was chiseled, flawless. His skin was smooth like velvet, showcasing rippling muscles. He still wore those sexy fucking jeans, the edges worn, exposing white threads. Sitting back on his heels, his bare feet turned me on more than anything. They looked strong and powerful. I’d never seen sexy feet before. Never imagined they could be.

  As I drank in the sight of him, hovering above me, tracing every curve of my body, something pulled at me. The need to please him consumed me. To give him something I was still virgin to. Something that could be his and only his—something I’d never done before. My fingers itched to touch him. To claim him.

  I scrambled to my knees, causing him to straighten. Taking his face between my hands, I guided his mouth to mine. Our bellies were flush together and he trailed his fingertips along my spine, sending a fresh wave of heat coursing through my veins. He cupped my ass and pulled me to him, pushing his hardness into my sex.

  I couldn’t take it any longer.

  Dropping my hands, I placed my palms flat on his chest and ventured down until I hit the waistband of his jeans. I hooked my index fingers inside and slid them back and forth. His body bucked when I hit a sensitive spot. I smiled into his lips and kept moving toward the center until I reached the button.

  Effortlessly, I popped it open and lowered his zipper. I tucked my fingers beneath the waist of his boxers and delved my hand inside the fabric, feeling his silken sheath throbbing and anxious. Curling my hand around it, I circled my thumb around the head, feeling the wetness of his arousal already atop it. I sucked his tongue into my mouth, while I spread his juices over him and he moaned, his eyebrows pinched together in ecstasy. Loving the effect I had on him, I let him go, and he gasped as my hands came around to his hips to slide his jeans off the rest of the way.

  He looked as though he was straining for a breath as I slowly, deliberately lowered his pants inch by excruciating inch. My eyes widened when his erection sprang free. I pushed him and he bounced back on the bed. He helped me remove his clothes the rest of the way, kicking them off when they got to his feet before pulling me down on top of him.

  I’d been dying to get close to him with nothing between us for what felt like an eternity. And now, as his warm, soft skin coated mine and our bodies molded into one another, from our mouths to the tips of my toes, we felt like one being. It was an intense connection, as if we were one living organism.

  Evidence of his arousal sat between my thighs, reminding me of what had provoked this.

  I wanted him.

  I parted our lips, gave a small peck to his panting mouth, and began trailing kisses down his neck and along his collarbone before placing a love bite to the muscled peak next to his shoulder. Blake gasped as I took his erection in my hand and licked a path down his torso.

  “Baby, what’re you doing?” he asked, breathless.

  “I want you, Blake. I can’t wait any more.” I placed a kiss right next to his belly button.

  “But we’re,” his swallow was tight in his throat, “going to wait.” The poor guy was having a hard time putting sentences together.

  The lust-filled look on his face washed away any trepidation I had as I lowered my head, and breathe
d my words onto his swollen head. “I know. No sex. Just this. Let me do this for you.” My tongue flicked out to wet the tip before I slowly dragged it from the base all the way to the tip.

  Blake’s body quaked, and he dove his fingers into my hair. “Jesus.” His head dropped back, and his eyes pinched shut.

  Desire to have this man overpowered me. I toyed with his slit, sliding my tongue around the base of the bulged tip, and he moaned. He was so swollen it looked painful. All I wanted to do was alleviate his ache. Sucking the head into my mouth, I toyed with him a little before gliding him down my throat. I was tentative at first, learning him and testing myself. Each time I reached the tip, I’d stop to suck on it before venturing down once again.

  The muscles in his stomach pulled tight, his body partially raised as his grip on my hair tightened and I knew I was doing something right. “Holy fuck, Angel. You feel so good. I need to come.”

  Knowing I was giving him pleasure sparked something animalistic in me. His words shot straight down between my legs, and I tightened my thighs together, my own desire building. He used his hands to guide my head how he liked it, and I relaxed my throat, taking him as deep as I could. All I wanted was for him to feel a fraction of what he made me feel.

  “Fuck!” he groaned, his eyes bursting open to watch me taking all of him.

  I surprised myself when I began to move quicker, deeper, my own need fueling me, then he cried out my name, shaking and convulsing, and I felt his desire seep into my mouth.

  Blake’s body sunk into the mattress, and his cock gave one final twitch as I slowly dragged my mouth to the top and placed a kiss to the tip. “All mine.” I licked my lips and laid my head on his belly.

  “I sure as hell am,” he sighed. He peeked down at me. “Get up here.”

  I crawled up his body and lay in the crook of his arm, resting my head on his chest. The steady rhythm of his heart was still beating in double time as he kissed my scalp. “You’re amazing.”

  “Only for you,” I replied, placing a kiss to his pec. “And I mean . . . only for you. That was a first for me. I wanted to give you a piece of me that could just be yours.”

  Blake’s relaxed voice touched my ear. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to. Just having you near me is enough.” He released a contented sigh. “You feel like heaven. My own little heaven with my own personal angel.” I felt him smile against the lobe.

  Our legs tangled together and we both scooted a little tighter, as though we were trying to melt into one another. When the enormity of how that felt was too much to bear, I lifted on my forearm and kissed him until I wasn’t sure which air was mine and which was his.

  Blake feathered his fingers along my skin, touching everywhere he could reach. Laying my forehead against his, I wanted so badly to say the words hanging on the tip of my tongue. It amazed me how much I’d changed since meeting him, but I wasn’t ready to admit it out loud. My heart tucked him into its pocket, content to hold him there and carry him around with me.

  I laid my head back on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart, wondering if his had pockets, too. “This feels so right, no?”

  “You’re asking me? I’ve been trying to tell you that for months now. Maybe from now on you’ll stop being so hard-headed and listen to me for a change. Blake knows best. Repeat that three times.” I felt his smirk on the top of my head.

  “Idiot.” I smacked him on the stomach, and he flinched, expelling an ‘oof’.

  I settled back into him. “It’s just been such a crazy day, I can’t seem to shake it. It’s one of the worst and best days of my life at the same time. Every feeling will stay with me forever.”

  “And with me.” He smiled.

  Thinking of Sandra, I reluctantly sat up. “I should probably call Jessie and check in. I’m sure she’s at the hospital by now.”

  Blake unwrapped his arm and gave me a gentle pat. “Go ahead.” When I glanced self-consciously at my naked form, he pointed to his dresser. “T-shirts are in the second drawer. Throw one on.”

  “Thanks.” I retrieved my crumpled panties from the floor and pulled them on before choosing one of Blake’s oversized white V-necks.

  He propped his head in his hands and drank me in as I slipped it over my head. “So sexy.”

  I shook my head and gave him a shy smile.

  My bare feet padded to the living room as I rubbed the back of my neck, the weight of the day bearing down on me. I grabbed my phone and settled on Blake’s couch, tucking my knees to my chest. Shit. I had ten missed calls from Jessie, ranging from the time I first texted her until about a half hour ago. With everything going on, I hadn’t even thought to look at my phone. I hoped she wasn’t too upset.

  Her frantic voice answered on the first ring. “Jesus, Eva. Are you okay? Where are you?”

  I cringed. “I’m at Blake’s. I’m sorry I didn’t answer. I’ll explain later. Are you at the hospital?”

  “Yes. I can’t believe this. Thank God you were there.” She sighed. “This is so scary. How the hell did it happen?”

  Fresh tears welled in my eyes as the picture played before me again. “I saw the whole thing, Jes. It was horrible. I was so scared she was dead.”

  Jessie expelled a trembling breath on the other end of the line. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “How is she?”

  “She’s okay. Groggy and out of it, and she doesn’t want anyone fussing over her. She’s trying to make jokes but I can tell she’s in pain. She nods off every now and then.”

  “Tell her I’m sorry I ran out, but there was something I had to do. She’ll understand.”

  “Okay, babe.” She sounded calmer now.

  “I love you, girl,” I told her, feeling emotional again. I guess this was the day for it. “I need for you to know that. You guys are my sisters from other misters.”

  She chuckled. “I love you, too. Soul sisters for life.” Her voice went soft as she added, “I’m just grateful we’re all still here.”

  I gulped. “Me too. Tell San I love her, okay? And tell her I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “I will.”

  I kissed into the phone and hung up, then made one more call to Jace and, without thinking, my fingers dialed the next number.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Mom.” I’d only made the necessary weekly phone calls home in an effort to distance myself. I saw now how foolish that was.

  “Eva? Is that you? Are you crying, honey?” My mom’s concerned voice made me feel so small. I missed her comfort.

  “Yeah.” I sniffled.

  “What happened, sweetheart? Are you okay?”

  “I’m all right. Just a little upset.” I went into the story then, tearfully filling her in on all the details—how scared I was for Sandra and the what-ifs about my own mortality. Of course, I left out Blake. That was a story for another day.

  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” She sounded beside herself with worry. “Thank God you’re all right. Where are you now? Maybe you should come home. I don’t like the way you sound.”

  My spine straightened at the mention of home. If my poor mom only knew there was no comfort in home anymore. Although, if I was being honest, all I really wanted to do was crawl into her lap the way I used to and have her tell me everything would be okay.

  Taking a breath, I composed myself. The purpose of this phone call wasn’t to make my mother nervous. “No, I have to stay here. I’m at a friend’s right now. I’ll be fine.”

  “You sure? I’m sure it’s okay for you to miss a few days.”

  “No, I want to be close to her. She’s not in good shape.” I inhaled a steadying breath. “I’ll be all right. I just needed to tell you I love you.”

  “I love you too, baby. Always.”

  “Tell Dad I love him too, okay?”

  “I will. Call me tomorrow so I don’t worry about you, please.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Mom.”

  “Bye, sweetie.”

  “Bye
.”

  I lowered the phone between my crisscrossed legs and stared at the grains in the wood coffee table. I missed my mom. Missed my family. I’d give anything to go back to the way it was—when I was innocent and whole and there were no secrets between us.

  Movement out of the corner of my eye broke the deep trance I was in. Blake sauntered down the hall in only his boxers, his hair all mussed, his face drawn in with concern. The cushion dipped as he sat beside me. Bending forward, he rested his elbows on his knees. “I want you to stay here tonight. I don’t want you to be alone.”

  I hadn’t thought about where I would sleep, but a sense of relief washed over me. For the first time in longer than I could remember I didn’t want to be alone either. “Okay.”

  His shoulders relaxed, and a relieved smile emerged. “Good, then it’s settled.” He inched closer and slid his arm around me, pulling me into his chest.

  I closed my eyes, savoring the protectiveness I hadn’t realized I’d been craving. “Thank you, Blake. Just . . . thank you.”

  He kissed the top of my head and then stood up abruptly, dragging me with him. “Come.”

  Pulling me by the hand down the short hall, he took me into his bathroom, picked me up, and placed me on the counter. He rested his hands on my thighs. “Lavender or jasmine?”

  “Excuse me?”

  He stepped over to the tub and turned on the faucet, testing the temperature. “Lavender or jasmine? Which would you prefer in your bath?”

  “Lavender, I guess? Wait. You have bubble bath?” I gaped at him in awe.

  “Yeah, my sister’s a bath nut. When she stays over, she makes sure I have her favorites. But I’m not gonna lie and say I don’t enjoy a good bubble bath myself from time to time.” He winked.

  I shook my head. “You just get better and better, Mr. Turner.”

  He poured the soapy liquid under the stream of water, screwed the cap back on and placed the container on the ledge of the tub. Biting my lip, I watched him walk toward me like a predator stalking its prey. Settling between my thighs, he commanded, “Arms up.”

  I raised my arms above my head, never taking my eyes off his. He placed his hands on my hips and pulled at his oversized T-shirt, tugging it from under my butt, and then dragged his hands up my sides, his thumbs grazing my nipples on their ascent. He removed the shirt the rest of the way and then folded it neatly, placing it on the counter.