Page 36 of Riding Dirty

He dips his chin slightly, his smile still firmly intact, before he lowers his head, and his lips brush across my own. I suck in a breath, holding it for a moment as his mouth glides across my jaw and to my ear.

“You can ask whatever questions you want, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be answering them.”

I know his words shouldn’t turn me on, but they do, probably more because his warm breath washes over my ear with each word he says. I wrap my legs around his hips, squeezing gently.

Coast moans.

The sound sends chills over every inch of my skin, and my entire body breaks out in goose bumps. God, I want his arms wrapped around me. I want him inside me. I want him. All of him.

But then the sound of reason knocks on my door. There is a loud noise, a banging, on the front door, and I know who it is. Alex. Coast grunts, grinding his pelvis against my center. He’s not hard, but I have a feeling he could be… with a little encouragement.

But then there is another loud knock.

“Fuck,” he hisses, pushing up and hovering above me, his eyes focused on mine for just a moment.

“You’re moving out of here, Haze.”

I open my mouth to tell him no, I’m not, but he doesn’t let me say anything. He stands, and, bare-assed, walks straight for the door and then wrenches it open. I close my eyes, bringing the sheets up to my chin, trying not to show off everything before I sit up. Not that Alex hasn’t seen it all before.

“Well,” Alex says before he lets out a whistle. “Looks like you wasted no time. Not that I expected any different.”

Coast steps aside, allowing my cousin to pass through the doorway. I don’t bother telling him to stop or anything like that. Alex will always do what he’s going to do. Tilting my head back slightly, I look up to meet his gaze.

He stops at the end of the bed, crossing his arms over his chest before he tips his chin slightly.

“I want to go on record that I don’t agree with any of this shit,” Alex announces.

I open my mouth to ask him what else he’s got to say. I know he’s got something on the tip of his tongue. There is no way Alex walks through the doorway that a naked man opened for him and stands at the foot of a bed and doesn’t have something to add.

“But since you’re going to do it anyway, and loudly, might I add, I want some assurances that we don’t go down for anything.”

I hear clothes rustling, but I can’t look away from Alex. I know that Coast is probably putting his pants on, which is a sight I would actually like to watch, but Alex has me completely mesmerized.

His eyes are sparkling, and with that glint, I know it’s his apology. He won’t ever say it. He doesn’t ever need to—I know. And that’s that. The fight, the spat, whatever it is, it doesn’t matter anymore.

I start to stand up from the bed, keeping the top sheet wrapped around me, when Coast appears. He moves up and stands at the end of the bed, slightly in front of Alex, before he turns to face him.

“You have my full assurance that nothing is happening to either of you. You’re protected in anything that happens, but there won’t be anything, because there’s nothing.”

“That isn’t ominous or confusing at all,” Alex says with a snort.

My lips press together because I don’t know how to add to any of that. I’m with Alex, that this is scary as hell, whatever it is. But also, Coast is promising me that everything is fine and we’re in no danger at all, and I want so badly to believe him.

I want to believe everything he says. And I choose to. I have to, because I’m falling for him. Coast touches me like he owns me, kisses me like he’s consumed by me, and I let him, because I want to be owned by him and I am consumed by him.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-NINE

ELODIE

I’m not really sure what to say here. Alex and Coast are chatting in the kitchen like besties, which is weird as hell because Alex looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in the same room with Coast not too long ago.

But they decided we’re going down to Fat Boys for Sunday afternoon drinks and snacks. I’m mainly going for the snacks, and I have a sneaky suspicion that Alex and Coast are going for the drinks part.

Staring at my reflection, I press my lips together and roll them a few times, trying to decide what the hell I’m even doing. I’m not sure whatever this is with Coast is the right choice, but when I think about the way he feels, touching me, kissing me… inside me, I can’t imagine anything or anyone else.

He’s erased the concept of someone else… ever. I understand it now, how people say they fall for someone and the rest of the world just… vanishes. Shifting my attention back to my reflection, I release my lips and really look at myself.