Page 49 of Crossroads

Now there were two paparazzi scumbags at the gate, trying to use their telephoto lenses and get whatever shot they could.

They plastered my name everywhere they could, doing their best to connect my sister’s drug use to my existence, and I didn’t have a good answer for that. I didn’t have anything for that.

I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do, rather than hide in here, and that wasn’t something that I thought I could do for long. Not when I had been making friends here. I had plans in town. I wanted to find a little sense of normalcy, even though my life was anything but normal.

Bodhi came up to me then, a scowl on his face, and I couldn’t help but feel like I had ruined his life once again. Some people were relentless when it came to bringing his past back to light. They just couldn’t move on and treat Bodhi like a person. Instead, he was a soundbite. A headline.

“I called the sheriff. They’re on their way. And you are famous. Stop putting yourself down. We are going to have to spank that ass of yours.” He gave me a look before going back to his phone, his thumbs moving quickly as he texted back whoever was on the line.

I blinked at him, my face growing red at his words. He did not tease me like that. This wasn’t Bodhi Ashford. The growly, secluded man who didn’t threaten me with a good time.

When he looked up at me again and raised a brow, I blinked. “Oh. Well.”

He set his phone down and moved toward me. “The vultures will be out of town within the next few hours. We’ll be able to walk around in peace soon.”

He slid his thumb along my jaw, his fingers bracing the back of my neck. My lips parted as I stared up at him.

“You can do all that?”

“The town can. To protect its own. They don’t like people taking advantage of others. The town uses each and every old law that they can to get the media out of here.”

The same town that had turned its back on him. At least some of them had. I knew not everybody, and that was something we both had to remember. But in that moment, it was hard for me to think with him touching me.

“I’m sorry for bringing it all here, though.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

The anger in his tone didn’t quite persuade me. I knew he wasn’t completely angry at me, but I still couldn’t help the guilt riding through me. Then he narrowed his gaze and lowered his face. When his lips brushed mine, I swallowed hard before putting my hands on his hips. He moved closer, grinding himself against me, and I grinned against his lips.

“Trying to distract me?”

“Maybe. I did like the way that your cheeks pinked when I talked about spanking your ass. That means I get to make those other cheeks of yours all pink.”

“That was a terrible joke,” I teased.

He leaned forward and bit my lip.

My eyes widened. “Bodhi?” I whispered as he pulled away.

“No more talking. I’m done talking. All I’ve been doing this past week is talking to people. I don’t want to do that anymore.”

I nodded, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Okay. I think we can do something else.”

Then he crushed his mouth to mine, and I didn’t think anymore. Instead, I tilted my hips so the long, thick line of his cock pressed against my belly, and I shivered in his hold. He cupped the back of my neck, tilting my head so he was in control, and he deepened the kiss.

It was hard to think with his mouth on mine, but then he began to nibble across my jaw, down my neck. He tugged on my clothes and I tried to do the same to him, but then he used one hand to pull my arms away from him, gripping my wrists in one hand so that he could be the one in control.

I didn’t know what it was about this, but I had fallen for him. And I wanted him to touch me, to tease me.

“I’m going to taste every inch of you. I want your cunt on my face as you ride me. I want you to put your face down on the bed, your ass in the air, as I slide deep inside you. Do you think you can handle me? You think you can handle my cock stretching that sweet little cunt of yours? Because I’ve been gentle before now. And I’m not gentle.”

My breath came in pants at his words, and I nodded, eagerly wanting everything that he had just said and more. He leaned down and bit my nipple through my shirt.

“Bodhi!” I gasped. He smiled and then bit my other nipple. With the piercing there, it edged the pain just a little bit more, and I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, there was just Bodhi. Then he leaned back, pulled my shirt up over my breast, and tugged my bra down, before squeezing my nipple between two fingers. He did the same to the other breast as I pressed my thighs together, rocking into the motion. I wasn’t a painslut, but with that slight edge that he brought, everything felt far too hot, the awareness nearly boiling. When he licked at my nipples, easing the sting, I moaned, pressing my breasts closer to his face. He leaned back, slapped one breast, then the other.

“Well?” he asked, his voice rough.

“I didn’t know I liked that.”