Sanctuary (RiffRaff Records Book 5) Read online

  My jeans fell to the floor and I picked her up, laying her on the bed and covering her with my body. I stared into her eyes. “Tell me, dove.”

  She placed her hands on my face, her gaze never wavering. “Keep going.”

  I closed my eyes, letting my head rest against her collarbone while I tried to gather my composure. In that moment, I wanted Evie James more than I had ever wanted anyone. I wanted to take this from her. I wanted it to be mine. My body was almost shaking in anticipation. I was a fucking bastard. “Say it again.” I reached into my nightstand, grabbing a condom from the box. I stood on my knees, putting it on and looking only at her.

  “I want you to keep going. I want you to take it, it’s yours.”

  Mine. A piece of her would always belong to me, and that was the only thought on my mind when I entered her tight center for the first time. The feel of her pussy fisting my dick stole my breath. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I closed my eyes, trying real fucking hard to gather some composure. I was twenty-four. I’d been with plenty of chicks. But Evie James? This girl was something else.

  I met her stare, her gaze telling me the answer to my unasked questions. She was ready. I pulled out a little, and then surged back in, breaking through her thin barrier. I groaned and she whimpered, I moved slowly and she begged for more. I’d planned to be gentle. I’d planned to be a gentleman. But Evie had other ideas, apparently.

  “Please, Nick, more.” She dug her nails into my ass. “I’m fine, I promise.”

  I clenched my molars, fighting my impending release. She was fine, but I wasn’t. “You’re so fucking tight, dove. I can’t…” I didn’t want to hurt her, but I couldn’t contain myself. She wanted more, I’d give it to her gladly. I started thrusting into her, and she cried out my name. When she arched her head back, I couldn’t help but take her soft flesh in my mouth. Evie tasted as good as she felt.

  “Oh my god, Nick.” The awe in her voice made me feel like the luckiest man on the planet. I could feel her orgasm coming. I could feel her body start to shake. “More.”

  I hammered into her twice before she screamed out her release. Her tight pussy, my name on her lips, it was all too much. I filled her completely and then came harder than I ever have before. I stayed inside her. I didn’t want to leave. I hovered over her, my eyes closed, listening to her breaths start to even out. I was afraid to open my eyes. Afraid that she’d look hurt, or confused—or worse, regretful. She wanted one night, that was the agreement. That was always my agreement, so why the hell was I still inside her perfect body?

  “Nick?”

  “Yeah?” My voice was rough.

  “Are you okay?”

  I snorted and opened my eyes with a smile on my face. “Am I okay? Really?”

  She winced. “Well, you look kind of…pained or something.” She sat up, moving back in the pillows and causing my cock to slip from her pussy.

  I hated that I felt the loss. What was this chick doing to me? Had she drugged me? “I’m fine, dove.” I quickly tied and tossed the condom into the trash and then sat beside her on my bed. “Are you okay?”

  She put her hand on my arm. “I’m more than okay.”

  “No regrets?” I turned to study her expression, searching for lies.

  But she smiled, shaking her head. “None.” She grabbed a t-shirt from the foot of my bed where I’d folded laundry that morning, slipping it over her head and making my dick roar back to life. “Is that normal?”

  I looked down at my crotch, where she was pointing, an inquisitive look on her beautiful face. “My dick?” That would be a somewhat rude question coming from someone who hadn’t lost their virginity three minutes ago. “I mean, I like to think its above average but—”

  “No.” She laughed and the sound only made it swell more. “It’s still hard. Did you not, um…was I not…”

  I took her face in my hands, a chuckle on my lips as I kissed her. “You were perfect. And it’s not still hard, it’s hard again.” I kissed her a second time, tangling my tongue with hers for a brief moment before pulling away. “It likes seeing you wearing my t-shirt.” Because it was a traitorous bastard.

  “It?” She wrinkled her nose, which was really fucking cute.

  “It has a mind of its own, so it’s a separate entity.”

  Evie reached out with her finger, sweeping a bead of cum off the head. I watched, not breathing, as she brought her finger to her lips. Her tongue darted out to taste it and I worked hard to swallow. Her eyes met mine as she licked her perfect lips. “Can I, um, like, touch it?”

  “Evie, it’s been inside your body, you can do whatever you want to it.” I laughed. “Hell, it probably wouldn’t care if you cut it off as long as you played with it a little first.” I lay down on my back, switching the small lamp on beside my bed. I wanted to see her. I wanted to watch her. I wanted to be part of all her experiences. I wanted everything that happened tonight to be a perfect memory for her.

  As much as I wanted to keep her, I knew I couldn’t.

  Evie James had a life she was hell bent on living, and I wouldn’t stand in her way.

  Chapter Six

  Evie

  “Nick?”

  “My friends call me Nicky.” He kissed my shoulder, and I closed my eyes for a moment, reveling in the feeling.

  I pursed my lips, playfully, even though he couldn’t see me. “Are we friends though?”

  “Well, considering I’ve tasted every inch of you, I’d say yes.”

  I could hear the smirk in his voice, even though his face was against my neck, his breath tickling my back. I’d tasted him too. After we’d had sex, he showed me how to touch him. Then I’d asked him to teach me to give head. He didn’t speak or move for a solid thirty seconds, but then he wrapped his hand in my hair and told me he’d been trying not to cry.

  Nick was more than I deserved; he was more than most girls deserved, I was sure. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

  He sighed, trailing his fingertips down my arm. “You play dirty, dove.”

  I rolled to my other side, scooting down the bed a bit to face him. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  “Yeah. I know.” He sent me a sarcastic smirk.

  I snorted. “No. Like, I’ve never been mean like that. I’ve never been demanding or cruel. I’ve never threatened anyone in my life.” I shrugged one bare shoulder. “I’m just, I’m sorry I was a brat about everything. And I’m sorry if—”

  He put his palm gently against my mouth. “Stop.” His eyes searched mine, something he seemed to do pretty often. Could he see the tears I was barely holding back? “This wasn’t my first time, this wasn’t something I decided to do on a whim after a bad day.” He moved his hand away. “The only thing that matters right now is how you feel.”

  How did I feel? I closed my eyes and took stock of my body, my brain. I was sore, I was tired, I was…happy. I felt content and calm. I promised Nick that I wouldn’t regret tonight, and it turned out that so far, I hadn’t been lying. “I feel good.”

  “Really? Because a second ago you looked like you wanted to cry. And not a thankful cry like I was close to earlier when you asked to suck my dick.”

  I giggled as I ran my fingers through his dark hair, our colors almost matching. “It wasn’t sad cry, or a scared cry. It was more like an emotional cry, I guess.”

  “Well, dove, you have had a busy day.” He started ticking off points on his fingers. “New college, mean girls, first tattoo, first…everything else. And now this.”

  I smiled. It was hard to look at him and not. “And what is this?”

  “Your first naked sleepover.” He answered me like that should have been obvious.

  “We have to sleep naked?”

  “Yep.” He climbed out of bed, sans clothes. “As soon as we take care of that beautiful work of art on your thigh.” He held his hand out, helping me up and then leading me into his bathroom. “We’ll take a quick shower and then I’ll get yo
u all fixed up.”

  I didn’t deserve Nick’s kindness, not anymore. I’d backed him into a corner. I’d demanded something from him that wasn’t even close to fair. He’d taken care of me, he’d made sure that I was comfortable every step of the way. He’d made me feel good.

  He’d made me feel things that I could have never dreamed of.

  ***

  I was back in Nicky’s bed, naked as the day I was born. He was sitting in a chair, nude, his feet resting on the mattress and a sketchpad in his hands. After our shower he’d made me a sandwich and when I’d told him I was sore he brought me some ibuprofen, and then got under the covers and kissed it until it felt better.

  “Sitting here in silence is making me sleepy.” I yawned, covering my mouth politely.

  “No.” He looked at me over his sketchpad. “All the orgasms I keep giving you are making you sleepy.”

  “You sure like to toot your own horn, don’t you?” Not that he was wrong, and not that there was anything about him not worth celebrating. He was kind, funny, caring, and generous. Hot as all get out. Artistic, a good sandwich maker, and exceptionally good with his mouth. Not that I had anything to compare it to, but I’d enjoyed myself.

  I yawned again, making him chuckle. “Don’t go to sleep yet. I only get you for one night. Remember?” He was using his fingers, almost as if he was shading something on the paper.

  I didn’t want to talk about me leaving. I didn’t want to bring the mood down. “You know what you need? A dog.” I nodded. “A house isn’t a home with a dog.”

  “I’m a bachelor. I work a lot.”

  “You work in a tattoo shop less than a mile from your huge loft-style apartment. You could handle a dog.” For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of Nicky being here alone. It made me sad. I wanted to know that there was someone for him to come home to.

  “Maybe.” He was concentrating on his drawing, his teeth biting on his lower lip. Wow. Did he think it was that sexy when I did it? No wonder he was always watching my mouth. “Tell me about your family.”

  My good mood started to dim. Was this the part where he wanted to know all about my rock and roll upbringing? Was he curious about the Devil’s Share, like so many other people I’d met? “Um, well, my dad joined the band after he—”

  “No.” He shook his head, laughing again. “Not the band stuff. Tell me about your cousins and your childhood. The good stuff.”

  The good stuff was about me, not my dad and uncles. That made me smile, and it made me want to tell him everything. “I have a younger sister; her name is Emmie. She’s a dancer, like me, only she’s much better and she’ll probably be invited to the Austin Ballet after high school.” I’d danced for as long as I could remember, and I’d loved it. But the older I got, the more I came to see that ballet wouldn’t be my future.

  “I have nine cousins. Landry, Beau, Halen, Cash, Crue, Avory, Jett, and Marley. I fit in after Halen, and Emmie is the youngest. Landry is in medical school; she wants to be a surgeon. My mom is a P.A., and Landry has always loved to go to work with her and hear about her day. Beau is Landry’s younger brother and he’s a really talented photographer. He left home recently, after his breakup with Halen.”

  “Halen? Your other cousin?”

  I’d been staring off into space, chattering away about my family without remembering that everything about them, about us, was hard to understand for outsiders. “None of us are actually blood related or anything. We were raised on the same land, went to the same schools. We’re inseparable. Some of us in different ways I guess.” To me, Halen and Beau weren’t taboo. But I could see how it looked to everyone else.

  “You miss them?” Nicky was back to sketching, his attention on the work in front of him.

  “I’ve been gone only for two days, but yeah, I do.” I shrugged. “Honestly, when I saw your shop today, I was feeling so homesick it was like I was drowning.” I crawled down the bed, putting my finger on his sketchpad and pushing it down. I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to see the truth in my eyes. “You made me feel like I could breathe again, Nicky.”

  His eyes bore into mine. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that to me, dove.”

  “Why not?”

  He tossed his book on the floor beside his chair and wrapped his arm around my waist, pushing me to the mattress. “Because it makes me want to keep you.”

  He kissed my lips, tangling his hands in my hair. I could feel his cock against my thigh; it was hard again. I put my hands on his firm ass, arching into him. I wanted Nicky back inside my body.

  I wound one leg around his back, making his dick meet up with my center. He drew back, a question in his eyes. I knew he’d never hurt me, and I knew he’d stop me if he should. But he didn’t. He slid inside me bare and perfect and slow. His hand was on my jaw, his cheek against my cheek. His every breath was against my neck and I could feel the tight cords in his back as he thrust inside me. This wasn’t like before—there was no hesitation, no chase. It was sensual and leisurely. I couldn’t help the whimpers coming out of my mouth any more than he could help whispering my name over and over.

  I was so close to the edge, and I had been from the moment he’d started to move. “Oh my god, please don’t stop.”

  His teeth grazed my ear. “Now you’re taking one of my first, dove.” My brain was having a hard time processing at the moment. But luckily he clarified for me. “I’ve never been inside anyone like this, bare.” His forehead dropped to my chest. “You feel so goddamn perfect, baby.”

  His words made me come, instantly. I dug my nails into his back, screaming his name as wave after wave crashed over my body. His hand tightened in my hair, and his thrusts became rougher, more deliberate. In an instant, he pulled out, fisting his dick and coming all over my stomach. He collapsed on the bed, his breathing heavy and panting. He threw his towel from earlier against my middle and then dragged me back against his body. He didn’t speak, and neither did I. This moment didn’t need words or explanations.

  And we fell asleep, tangled in each other’s arms.

  Chapter Seven

  Evie

  The sun was barely up, the light coming through Nicky’s bedroom window much more pink than white. He was curled against me, his forehead against my shoulder blades and his arm over my waist. We’d fallen asleep maybe three hours ago, maybe two? A big part of me wanted to stay. Wanted to roll over and snuggle down under the blankets and in his arms. But a slightly bigger, and more selfish, part of me wanted to leave. Wanted to sneak out quietly and go start my new life. I had a sorority mixer this evening, a few bitches to put in their place, and I had some new clothes to buy. My excitement for my new life overrode my desire to stay. But in a way, so did my fear. We’d said one night, and our night had been better than I ever could’ve dreamed. If he woke up and wanted me gone, it would shatter me.

  So I slipped out of bed, as quietly as I could, tiptoeing around the room gathering my clothes. I was stealing the shorts he’d lent me yesterday, since my tattoo was sore. Heck, my whole body was sore. My, uh, core…was really achy. I needed more ibuprofen and an ice pack. Right before I walked out, I spotted Nicky’s sketchbook on the floor where he’d left it. The image he’d drawn last night staring back at me, made me smile. It was me, naked and smiling tangled in his sheets. I picked it up, flipping it over.

  Nicky,

  As promised, I don’t regret a single thing that happened between us. Not the tattoo, not the cheeseburger, and certainly not the sex. Or anything that came before it. Orrrr after it. I swear that I will always think of this night with this same smile on my face and warmth in my heart. You were kinder to me than I deserved, and I will be forever grateful.

  Thank you for everything.

  All my love, but not in a clingy way.

  Evie

  PS - Get a dog.

  Chapter Eight

  Evie

  Present Day

  “Tell me again why we’re here.”

 
“We’re here because you insisted on tagging along. I’m here because I want more ink.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder, reminding myself I needed to book an appointment to get it cut. I wouldn’t go back to my long, straight, boring hair; I’d gotten rid of it the day after I’d gotten rid of my virginity.

  “And why do you want another tattoo?” The whining tone in the interloper’s voice was starting to make me angry.

  “I’ve wanted a new one for a while.” Make that ever since I got my first one. I’d been craving the feel of the needle on my skin for almost two years now. “Fucking Hannah graduated and is no longer a pain in my ass, so I’m getting another one.” Plus I didn’t have to go home over the summer. I wouldn’t have to explain anything to anyone. Since I was in charge of rush for the fall, I told my parents I needed to be at the sorority house over the break to prepare.

  They bought it; they had no reason not to. In my parents’ eyes I was thriving, beautiful, popular, and did a shit ton of charity work. All of that was true, technically speaking. But reality was a little harsher. I mean, wasn’t it always?

  I waved my hand in the direction of the busy street. “You can go. I don’t need an audience.” I gave Chasity an annoyed side-eye. She wasn’t my favorite fake friend. She hung on my every word and it was irritating AF.

  “I’ll stick around for a bit.” She sent me a smile that looked a lot like a sneer. “Make sure you don’t get molested by one of these gross tattoo people.”

  “Tattoo people? You mean artist?” Dumb fuck. Most of my sorority turned down their noses at anyone different than them. The only reason I got away with my tattoo, leather leggings, and vintage Alexander McQueen bags was because I was their token rock-star offspring. It was a part I played, a part I’d perfected over the last two years.