Bastard Boss

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Tyler

I stroke my thumb over her cheek and say, "Challenge accepted, baby. Now you're going to undress for me."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll bend you over and fuck you and then it's just over. And it would be a damn shame to waste this pent-up fuck energy on a quickie, don't you think?"

She scrapes her teeth on her lip, a nervous energy to the action as she asks, "And if I undress for you?"

"Then we fuck properly, with our mouths and hands first, all over each other." I scoop her backside and mold her hips to my hips. The thick bulge of my erection presses to her belly, while my cheek presses to her cheek. "I'll finger fuck you and tongue fuck you until you can't take it anymore. But I won't let you come. That way, when I slide my cock inside you, Bella, you'll be so tight and wet for me, you'll buck against me and beg for more. You'll get me so hot that I'll be fast, and we'll have to do it all over again. The next time, nice and slow."

Her nails dig into my shoulders, and she pants out a breathy, "Tyler," which is one step closer to "Please, Tyler." We'll get there, I think. We will most definitely get there. I cup her face and force her gaze to mine, a mix of vulnerability and challenge in her eyes I find sexy as hell. "I feel like I've wanted to be inside you for a lifetime, Bella. And now I wait for your decision. Undress or—"

"Undress," she says, wetting her lips and pushing out of my grip. "I'll undress, but you just made a lot of promises you have to keep."

My lips quirk with her fiery reply, but I can feel the nervous energy wafting off her. I decide her ex, Travis, who I've met and disliked, obviously didn't know how to take care of his woman. She is too confident and secure in herself to be this resistant to good sex. Either something happened to her, or she's just plain had bad lovers who didn't pay attention to what she was telling them. I won't make the same mistake.

And what she needs is for me to slowly earn her trust and learn her body, and that means time. I'll never get that with her. She'll never touch me again after I pick this ridiculous, fake fiancée. I have tonight with her, and I plan to make it count. I close the space between us and catch her hip. Her eyes warm with the action, and she says, "What are you doing? I thought—"

"Take off your boots, baby." It's the least intimidating command I can give her.

She searches my face, looking for an explanation for this turn of events, and I don't know what she finds, but I hope it's a man who never wants to hurt her but knows he will. I can't stop it from happening. It's too late. Whatever she sees in me, for once, she obeys. She grabs my arm and uses me for the stability I intended as she tugs one boot and then the other off and tosses them aside. "You're shorter than I thought you were."

She laughs. "Five-four isn't short. You're just tall."

"Six-three," I say, tenderness I am not accustomed to feeling rushing over me as I stroke her hair behind her ear, and I don't miss the way she shivers in response. There is something about this woman. Something unfamiliar and addictive.

"As big as your ego," she teases.

"I should have seen that one coming," I say, aware of the new territory I am in. I told her I fuck away my problems. And I do. I just fuck. I don't talk. I didn't even talk to Allison, but I'd tired of the revolving door. I'd just fuck. This is not the right headspace. Or maybe it is. This is getting too personal. This is one night. That's all it can be.

I catch Bella's hip again and drag her against me, cupping her head. "It's been too long since I kissed you. My mouth slants over her mouth and kisses the fuck out of her, and holy hell, I want to drown in everything that is this woman. My hands are all over her, and I want to be buried so deep in her, I'll never find a way out.

I catch the hem of her sweater, and her hand captures mine. "I thought you wanted me to undress for you. You're not getting away with that fast fuck and it's over. You made a promise." Her eyes are brimming with mischief and that confident side of her I know well has settled back into place.

Because it became about me and her, and whatever this connection we have is not just sex.

Damn it. I am getting this all wrong, but I don't seem to want to be right because I want everything I don't deserve with her. I sit down on the bed and Bella starts to undress. And it wouldn't matter if the ground shook with an earthquake or if the biggest client at Hawk Legal called me right now. Nothing is taking me away from Bella.