Chapter Twenty-Two
One second, Cricket was staring up into Radley’s eyes in confusion and shock. The next, his lips were on hers. Much like their first kiss, Radley was very much claiming her but where the first kiss had lasted barely moments, this one went on and on and on until she was no longer sure she was breathing. Certainly, they were sharing air and, any moment now, she was going to grow fuzzy with lack of oxygen.
Radley’s lips moved over hers, tasting her. One of his hands speared into hair and clenched, holding her and directing her where he wanted to go. His other hand curled around her waist and jerked her closer, until the V between her thighs pressed against his hard length. Clearly, the wolf was aroused, and for once, she knew her dust hadn’t elicited the reaction. This was all chemistry, a tug between them they’d been fighting since the beginning. Hate had kept them apart before. Now, that hate was revealed as something far more potent. Lust.
With a savage growl, Radley pressed her back against the rear end of the Ferrari, but though it was a low car, the back wasn’t low enough to make such things ideal. Before Cricket could voice her opinion—if she would have found the air that is—Radley was gripping her ass in his palms and lifting her until her legs were wrapped around his waist. Without much effort at all, he carried her to the front of the bright race car and laid her out on the hood, coming down over top of her. Not once did he break the kiss. Not once did he release her.
Cricket broke the kiss when her lungs gave a strangled shake in her chest, a request for air that she was nearly unwilling to give them. She’d keep kissing the alpha if she had her way. Falling into the fade under such ecstasy seemed the perfect way to go.
Upon finding her gasping for breath and his own strangled breathing escaping his lips, Radley dipped down to the column of her throat and began to nip the sensitive skin there. Cricket had never felt so thoroughly claimed. No fae had ever been this complete of a lover. They were either selfish or too engrossed in pleasing her that they didn’t do a great job. None of them had ever so perfectly dominated her. Of course, it would take an alpha to do it. Cricket was so slick between her thighs, she didn’t know what to think.
“I thought you said this would be a bad idea,” Cricket panted, spearing her fingers into his hair. Luckily, the hood of the Ferrari was reinforced so they didn’t dent it. It would surely make the news if there was a perfect Cricket-sized dent in the hood of their car for the Games.
“It probably is,” he growled against her skin. “But I don’t care. I want you.” He lifted his head and sniffed before his eyes lit with flames. “You clearly want me. Why deny ourselves?”
“There are at least a million reasons why we shouldn’t,” she argued, unsure why she was even attempting to think logically at a time like this. She should just go along with it and enjoy her pleasure. That’s what this was about. It didn’t have to mean anything, right?
“And there’s only one reason that matters why we should do it,” he countered, tracing a claw down the middle of her tank top, splitting the fabric until her breasts were revealed to his eyes.
“Which is?” she croaked, arching her back when he cupped on of those breasts, careful not to mark her skin with his claws.
“We’re two consenting adults, and we want each other. That’s reason enough.” HE paused. “Unless you’d like me to stop?”
“No,” she grunted too quickly. “I mean, you’re right. We’re adults. We can do what we wish.”
The grin that split his lips was all hunger. “Precisely.” His head tilted sideways as he studied the jeans on her hips, and he looked into her eyes while he flicked the button free. “And right now, I wish to fuck you on top of this car, your wings spread wide beneath you as you shake with your release.”
Cricket gasped and without waiting for anything else, she began to kick her jeans from her, helpfully tossing the shoes off her feet to the ground. She laid naked on the hood of the car before he even removed a single item of clothing.
Eyes alight with desire, Radley took her in, a low growl rumbling in his throat. “Beautiful,” he rasped. “You sparkle so bright.”
“We fae tend to like glitter,” she mused, teasingly spreading her thighs for him until his eyes locked on her slick core. With a hum of satisfaction at the effect she was having on him, she grabbed at his neck and left a smear of her dust behind.
His back arched as the dust touched his skin, his pupils blowing wide. Without waiting for anything else, he tore off his clothing, shredding them in a way she knew they would never be worn again. They were nothing but scraps of cloth at that point, but she didn’t have long to focus on his discarded attire. He came over her with a furious snarl, his hair falling over his forehead in a way that made him look both feral and sexy at the same time.
Cricket arched her back just in time for him to wrap his arm beneath her hips, lifting her so that her core lined up with his throbbing length. His nostrils flared when he got another whiff of her scent and he bared his teeth.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I laid eyes on you,” he said, and then slid home inside her heat.
Cricket cried out as he pressed inside and bottomed up. She was so aroused, there was barely any resistance at all. There was no waiting for her to adjust. Neither one of them wanted slow and steady. Cricket dug her nails into his shoulders and held on as he began to pump inside her, skin slapping against skin, desire sending shivers along her flesh.
“Radley,” Cricket moaned, which only seemed to push him harder.
He leaned down and swiped his tongue along her nipple, pulling at it hard as he thrust inside her over and over again. “You feel so good,” he groaned against her. “Just like I imagined.”
She could barely breathe, let alone speak, but still she managed to get out a husky, “is this how you imagined me?”
Pausing in his strokes, Radley blinked down at her. “No, I imagined you like this.”
Without waiting for her to respond, Radley lifted Cricket into the air without breaking their point of contact. He stayed nestled inside her as he turned them and laid himself on the hood of the Ferrari, so Cricket sat astride him on top of it. Feeling as if she’d fall, Cricket grabbed onto him roughly to hold her position, her knees digging into the metal on either side of his hips. Wings flaring wide to steady her, Radley groaned beneath her.
“Just like that, sugar plum.”
The big bad wolf liked that she was in control, apparently. Cricket wrapped her small fingers around his throat and began to undulate her hips against him, dragging guttural noises from his throat she’d never heard before from a lover. He didn’t hold himself back, but he also didn’t put on a show. Every noise out of Radley’s mouth was because he was enjoying himself, enjoying her.
Radley’s large hands clenched tightly at her waist, steading her the last bits so she could move on top of him. He helped her move, grinding against her clit with every movement until they were both a symphony of moans.
Cricket stared down at the alpha, her eyes half-lidded. Her hair was wild around her. No doubt she looked as wild and wonton as the fairies of old, but she didn’t care. She’d wanted Radley from the beginning, hadn’t dared to hope for this outcome, but now that he was beneath her, now that he saw her, she wanted more. She wanted everything.
With her release coming quickly, Cricket flared her wings wide behind her. The movement drew Radley’s eyes, and he stared at the rain shower of faery dust floating on the air around them as if it were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen before in his life. She didn’t know the picture she made above him as she ground herself harder against him, as she moaned out his name, but the way he watched her, she felt as powerful as her ancestors had been.
“Yes,” Cricket cried out, riding the wolf there on the hood of their Ferrari. She should have been focused on other things, like the Race they needed to win, but instead, she was struggling to hold her release back, to wait for the alpha beneath her.
“Fuck,” he growled. “Let go, sugar plum, or I’m going to finish before you.”