His breathing has gone ragged, harsh pants against my hair.
I trace the shell of his ear with my tongue, slowly, then dip just inside, exhaling softly.
"Fuck!" The word is punched out of him.
His control is unraveling. I can feel it in the tremor running through his massive body, in the way his grip on me has gone from restraining to desperate…like he's trying to hold himself back.
I bite down on his earlobe again, a little harder this time, and his hips jerk forward.
"You're evil," he groans, and there's something raw and wrecked in his voice that sends heat swirling low in my belly.
I align my body with his…and rock my hips against the steely length of him.
His control shatters like ice.
His mouth is on mine in a millisecond, and the kiss is nothing like I imagined—and you better believe, I've imagined.
It's not gentle or sweet or testing. It's claiming, desperate, denial combusting into heat and hunger. His hand fists in my hair, angling my head exactly where he wants it, and his tongue plunders my mouth like he's been starved only for me.
I moan—needy and feral—pressing closer to him, trying to crawl inside his skin.
"This is insane," he mutters, as we finally break apart, gasping. But his hands are shoving their way under my shirt, calloused palms deliciously rough against my bare skin. "You're my brother's?—"
"Jayce dumped me six months ago. And I—" The confession tumbles out before I can stop it. "I was relieved. Harlon, Jayce wasn’t the one for me."
I watch as something fierce and possessive flash across his face.
"Piper." My name is a warning. "If we do this?—"
"Just tonight," I interrupt, even though the words somehow hurt coming out. "Let’s just have tonight."
He studies my face for a long moment, and in those eyes I see the final wall crumbling.
"Tonight," he agrees roughly, and then his mouth is on mine again.
His hands touch and explore my body with clear intent. He palms my breasts and when his thumbs brush over my nipples, I arch into him with a gasp.
"You have no idea," he mutters against my mouth, "how many times I've thought about this. How often I imagined getting my hands on you."
The words don't compute. "You acted like you despised me."
"I had to." His hands are everywhere now—my breasts, my waist, sliding around to grip my ass and thighs to cinch me tighter against him. "Do you know what would have happened if I let myself look at you the way I wanted to? If Jayce had seen me staring at his girlfriend like I wanted to devour her?"
Holy mother of?—
“That sea green sundress broke me,” he continues. “I had to leave the campsite for an hour because all I could think about was hiking it up and fucking you against a tree.”
"Harlon." My hands are shaking as I reach for the hem of his shirt.
His eyes go molten as he strips off his shirt, then mine, in one quick motion.
He growls in the back of his throat, as his gaze roves over my bare breasts like I’m presenting a feast.
"You're so fucking beautiful," he says on an exhale. Then his mouth is on my neck, teeth scraping, tongue soothing, and I'm pretty sure I stop breathing entirely. He works his way down, kissing and biting, until he reaches a breast and sucks the peak into his mouth.
My whole body detonates.
"Oh god," I gasp, nails digging into his shoulders.
