First to Fail (Unraveled #3) - Marie Johnston Page 0,20

arms. “Chris.” I was about to quit when she went liquid and rocked her hips up into me. The move stroked my finger along her clit and she moaned.

Emboldened, I circled her nub again and was rewarded with another breathy moan. Those sounds were going to haunt me each night I went to bed alone. I’d never be able to go to sleep with a cold shower and stroking one off again. I’d been deluding myself for years that I wasn’t missing this.

And I wasn’t really. I wasn’t losing out on anything with the wrong person. I was missing this with the right person.

She fit me perfectly.

I changed positions to rub her clit with my thumb and thread a finger inside of her. She was wet and tight and so hot I didn’t need any stimulation to worry about coming in my pants. Her hips thrust against me, seeking a release. She groaned and moaned, giving me a glimpse into the uninhibited woman who could dress like Valaria and play a contact sport like roller derby. How many saw this side of her?

I was selfish to hope I was the only one.

“Chris,” she whined again. Oh yes. A guy could get used to a woman begging for her release in bed. I’d never felt more powerful. Not after I won the election, not after Arcadia’s opening day, not in any other intimate moment. No other woman made me feel like I should don a cape and stand proudly with my hands on my hips.

I wanted to kiss her again but muffling those erotic noises would be a sin. Instead, I licked and nibbled along her neck as I circled and thrust with my hand.

Her legs had untangled from around my waist until they were drawn to her sides.

My forearm threatened to cramp, but I adjusted my position.

“Don’t stop,” she barked. At some point, she’d wound her hands through my hair, pinning my head into the crook of her neck.

Heat flooded my hand and she tensed. “Chris!” She bucked and cried out.

My hair got pulled as she jerked and shuddered, but I could only smile. I was in a state of pain with the throb of my erection, but I was a happy man.

She stilled and her grip eased. I lifted my head, unable to hide my huge grin. I kept my hand where it was, still inside of her but no longer stimulating the bundle of nerves.

“You look proud.” She sounded accusatory, but the smile playing along her lips ruined the effect.

“I kinda am. That was pretty spectacular.” I slipped my hand out. Desire flashed in her eyes. I couldn’t bring myself to withdraw from her clothing entirely. She was everything warm and feminine I’d been dreaming about in a woman, someone who didn’t laugh off my interests and hobbies as juvenile.

“For me, yes. You did all the work.” She placed her hands on my shoulders and was starting to push me back, a predatory gleam in her eyes, when the Batman theme song from the sixties burst through the room.

Crap. Jaycee was calling. I couldn’t exactly ignore it.

Natalia reclined back, leaving me half sitting up. “I’m guessing only the really special people in your life get that ring tone?”

I chuckled and grabbed my phone off the table. My heart sank when I saw the screen. Collapsing into the opposite corner of the couch, I met Natalia’s gaze. “She wants to FaceTime.”

A flash of panic passed through Natalia’s eyes. She pushed into a sitting position on the opposite end of the couch. Once she gave me a nod, I answered and Jaycee’s green goop-covered face filled the screen. No wonder she didn’t just call. She didn’t want to get her phone dirty, and she liked to try to shock me. This kind of startle I didn’t mind.

“Hey, kiddo. What’s up?”

It wasn’t unusual for Jaycee to call on the weekends she was gone. Her grandparents alternated between smothering her and neglecting her. And there was always the lunch with Cierra. I never knew how that’d sit with my daughter.

I shifted into a more comfortable position. Once I’d seen my daughter’s name, all lust had vacated the premises.

“Nothing. Nana has friends over. Some stupid work thing. Papa’s helping her out.” Nana and Papa had an aversion to the “grand” part of parenting. Nana had insisted Jaycee call her that since before she could talk. So to be devilish, Chris had always called them that, too.

“Boring AF?” I used her father-approved substitute for