Sketch: A Steel Paragons MC Novel (The Coast: Book 12) Read online

  My fingers dug into her hips. I had to bend my knees but once I had myself lined up, I thrust in hard and fast.

  Her mouth fell open, a long moan spilling from her throat as her eyes rolled back into her head.

  “So fuckin’ hot,” I said against her ear as I began to fuck her. The sound of our skin slapping together spurred me on. My head fell forward and it didn’t go unnoticed how perfectly my forehead rested in the crook of her neck.

  It freaked me the fuck out.

  Thoughts like that didn’t belong in my brain. I didn’t get shit like that. I sure as hell didn’t deserve it. Fuck and be gone. Leave before they can figure out something was wrong. Run before they can strip you naked and find your weaknesses.

  But the last thing I wanted to do was run.

  There was plenty of wet and willing pussy out there.

  So why the hell did I suddenly not give one single fuck about anyone other than Melissa?

  Why did I care so much about making it good enough so she’d keep me around?

  Her hand threaded through my hair and thank fuck, it stopped my thoughts right then and there. I came back into the moment to hear her begging me to fuck her harder.

  So I did.

  “Shit,” I bit out, teeth gnashed together and a near snarl in my tone. “Fuck.”

  With every retreat, my balls drew up tighter and tighter. I felt it. I couldn’t stop it. And the way she was shaking against me, she was in the same boat as me.

  “Yes,” she breathed out. “Make me come, please, Sketch.”

  Hearing the way my name rolled off her tongue caused something weird to flicker in my brain. She was with me. I was fucking her and she knew it. She wanted it. From me. And it wasn’t like how all the other bitches wanted me. I couldn’t explain it, but there was something in the way she said it that fucking did me in.

  “Melissa,” I breathed out.

  Her pussy fluttered around me, then clamped down so tight I felt my ass cheeks clenching every time I thrust back into her.

  Then she was calling my name out in a chant. It wasn’t fake or over the top. Hell, it sounded like she didn’t even know she was saying it.

  My body fell into hers, plastering her to the wall, trapping her against me. I felt the sweat between us. I smelled her sweet scent. I heard her whimpers and whines and pleas in my ear. And as my mind began to spin, I reached up and interlaced my fingers through the hand still braced on the wall. She didn’t hesitate to close her fingers around mine and she held onto me for dear life, just like I was doing to her.

  And then I came.

  My body shook uncontrollably— violently, really. My vision went spotty. My teeth clamped together so hard I thought my jaw would break. Jet after jet spilled into the condom and I locked my knees so I wouldn’t fall to the damn floor.

  I didn’t even remember taking her lips, but I must have. I came back down to the most passionate kiss known to man. Fuck yeah, it was.

  It was over and I should have been reaching for my clothes. However, that was the last thing on my mind. The only reason I was thinking about grabbing my pants was for the purpose of fishin’ out another condom so we could do it all over again.

  “I’m glad I let you in,” she said with a hint of laughter in her tone.

  I opened my eyes to see a wide smile on her face.

  She was so beautiful and I found myself smiling too.

  I let out a chuckle and shook my head. I still wasn’t able to form words but I was sure I had a comeback somewhere deep in my mind. It would have been good, too.

  “You’re gonna be the death of me,” I finally said and let my head fall onto her shoulder. She laughed and gave my hand a squeeze. I hadn’t even realized I was still gripping her tightly. I relaxed my fingers but she kept me from pulling away. “They got room service up in this bitch?”

  “What?” she asked stunned but she was still laughing, so I guess that was good.

  “Food, woman. Need to refuel. The night is young and all that shit.”

  Reluctantly, I pulled away from her body making sure that I had ahold of the condom.

  “What do you want?” she called out as I walked to the bathroom.

  I looked over my shoulder to see that she’d stepped away from the wall and was on full display to me. My dick, wrung out as he was, twitched eagerly.

  “Whatever. I ain’t picky about what I eat, ” I said with a shrug as I tossed the rubber into the trash. I walked over to the shower and started it up as I heard her softly talking on the phone in the other room. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking. Matter fact, I didn’t think I was, my mind too worn out from what just happened. “I’m gonna shower. Join me when you’re done.”

  What the fuck?!

  Join me when you’re done.

  Nah, that wasn’t me. I didn’t shower with people and I sure as hell didn’t put the suggestion out there.

  That shit was too domestic and showed a level of comfort that I couldn’t afford.

  Panic shot through me and I needed to get the fuck gone right now.

  “Are you alright?” she said and I felt her hand tentatively rest on my back.

  I didn’t mean to jerk but I did. I tensed up so hard that I knew she had to have noticed.

  “I gotta go,” I said and shot out of the bathroom without looking back.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Melissa

  I stood there naked as the day I was born, my eyes blinking in disbelief.

  The shower was going and the steam was swirling around me, but I couldn’t move.

  I expected him to run again like he did the last time, except I thought he’d do it sooner. He came again, which by what he’d said the previous time, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was something unusual for him. I didn’t even have the chance to ask him about it tonight because my need for him was so strong. I tried to resist it but I obviously failed. I couldn’t say that I hated my weakness though because the things he did to me were out of this world. I could only imagine what it would be like if I actually slowed down and took my time with him. Or him with me.

  However, there was no sense in wondering such things.

  He was not in a state of mind to stick around.

  It had shocked me when he told me to join him in the shower and there was a big part of me that felt giddy and young again hearing those words. But there was also a little part of me that was waiting for him to take off like a scared rabbit. Which he did, so I guess I shouldn’t have felt bad about thinking it was going to happen. Since I had been waiting for it, I couldn’t exactly explain why it still had shocked me. I guess since he’d asked me to order something, I thought I might have at least another hour or two with him. Something I would have gladly taken.

  I shut the shower off with a sigh. I probably should have hopped in and scrubbed this night and Sketch away. I wasn’t ready to wash the bliss down the drain quite yet even though my bubble had been popped the moment I heard the door close behind him. I wasn’t even sure that he’d been fully dressed by the time he left.

  Well, at least I’d ordered him a burger and I could now drown my sorrows in meat and grease and bacon, since he wouldn’t be eating it.

  Which was exactly what I did while numbly watching TV.

  This room was small but it felt even smaller now.

  I couldn’t escape him here.

  Sketch.

  I still had no idea if it was his real name or not but I could say I didn’t hate the way it rolled off my tongue while he was inside of me.

  There was no way it could have been his real name. Then again, you just never knew.

  I wasn’t sure how, but I’d managed to fall asleep at some point. I woke up feeling groggy and out of sorts. My mouth tasted like onions and mayonnaise, which was absolutely nasty. And though I couldn’t say why, I felt a little lonely and sad, too.

  I padded to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, all the while, trying to convince myself that everything was fine and dan
dy.

  I was happy to be on my own. Really, I was. My marriage had been dead for a few years now. I should have been glad that my ex-husband had been the one to finally cut the strings. I wouldn’t have done it no matter how sad and lonely I felt in my marriage. So why did I feel that way now that I was free?

  I’d spent nearly twenty years with the same man, it was perfectly normal to have some separation issues. Or that was what I kept telling myself. Fear of the unknown. The lack of comfort in my day-to-day life. The fact that the future could be anything. It was all overwhelming and exciting at the same time.

  I’d married Reginald young. Maybe too young. He was ten years older than me. He had been so charming and nice. I fell under his spell easily and stayed there. But I think it was Tripp that had sealed the deal for me. The little guy latched onto me the moment Reginald brought me into his life. Tripp had been so adorable and awkward and precious. His need for love hit me right in my heart and I wanted to give him everything. Perhaps if I wasn’t so young I would have seen how it wasn’t the best of situations. That Tripp shouldn’t have been the big reason why I’d married Reginald. Even knowing that now, I wouldn’t take it back. The years I’d spent taking care of Tripp were the best of my life. Even now that he was grown and doing his own thing, I liked knowing that I was only a phone call away if he needed me. I loved that he would still call me to check in. He might not have needed me the way he had back when I first met him, but he still saw me as his mom and I hoped that would never change. And I couldn’t say that Reginald was a bad husband, especially not at first. But as the years went on, it was clear that he had a type that I quickly fell out of. Youth didn’t last forever, unfortunately. I was lucky I’d held onto my looks this long, I suppose.

  Maybe I was a little bitter. It was hard not to be when it all boiled down to something I had no control over. Clearly, it was an issue that I was having a hard time letting go of. And though it was ridiculous, being divorced because your spouse considered you too old made you feel a little ugly and hopeless.

  Enough of this pity party.

  What I needed to do was pick myself up and figure out what my next step was. I had me to think about and in truth, that scared me. Tripp was old enough to take care of himself and he was doing an amazing job at it. From the few things he’d told me here and there about the club he belonged to, I knew he’d found himself a good bunch of people. Honestly, it was more in the way he talked about them, like they had taken him in and become this amazing family that was there for him. I couldn’t have been more grateful. To say that Tripp and his dad butted heads more often than not would have been an understatement. Besides the issue that Reginald wanted his son to be just like him, there was the fact that Tripp had always been his own person. He’d had a personality that didn’t fit within the guidelines of his father’s expectations. I’d always encouraged Tripp to go after his dreams. But there was this constant struggle inside him, part of him wanting to make his father proud, and the other part of him that never wanted to become his father. He had been torn between those two things for years. Up until he couldn’t take it anymore. Which eventually led to a father-son blowout, leaving me in the middle. Tripp left and I tried to keep the peace. I was happy that Tripp didn’t shut me out of his life the way he had done with his father. Then again, I hadn’t turned my back on him like Reginald had.

  I shook off everything and ordered a light breakfast. Once it arrived, I took it out on the small balcony that overlooked the ocean. The breeze was warm and left my skin feeling a bit sticky. But the salt in the air around me and the crashing of the waves providing a calm background noise kept me rooted in place for a long while.

  Eventually, I wandered out to the beach. I read. I rested. I enjoyed the sun. I did, well, basically nothing. Even refusing to let my mind drift into deep territory. Not my divorce. Or the sexy, young, tattooed, pierced, man that I couldn’t figure out, but had somehow come along at the perfect time. Or the way he made my body come alive. Though, that last one had been hard to not think about considering I could still feel him on practically every inch of my body. And the ache between my thighs, that even now as I sat here surrounded by people, seemed to throb and pulse with need.

  Unfortunately, I was only able to turn my brain off for so long.

  It seemed that no matter what I did, I couldn’t get the young man out of my head. It felt a little wrong. And also a little right too. It was just sex and I should have been able to walk away no problem.

  So why was I thinking about him right now?

  I lifted my hand and studied the now empty finger. No band there. Nothing but a faint callous that would fade more with time. I had this habit of playing with the ring whenever my hands were idle. It felt strange that I wouldn’t have it there any longer, but only for that reason. Which should have really told me that things in my life hadn’t been right for a long time.

  I’d been in denial.

  I had pushed everything to the dark closet in the back of my mind because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I took a good long look around and at my life.

  But now I was forced to, and that closet was so full that the door had blown off its hinges.

  I hadn’t been happy.

  Maybe at the beginning I had been, but there were so many years between then and now that I’d forgotten what that felt like.

  I let out a long breath.

  So much for not thinking.

  I didn’t want to be dragged down by this divorce but it was like I couldn’t just let it go. Reginald had moved on, so I should too. In truth, there was nothing holding me back there with him. I didn’t want him back, that was for sure. I didn’t want that life back. I didn’t even want his money. I had no problem finding a way on my own. It was never really too late to start over, right? And I was sure there was a happiness out there that I deserved. That I could find and hold on to. I didn’t have the faintest clue as to what that would be, but I believed I was strong enough to figure it out.

  Later, though.

  I deserved to take a moment to myself and enjoy things around me. No worries. No thinking. No sadness.

  Forget my failed marriage.

  Forget the sexy young man that could do things to my body that were out of this world.

  Forget the fact that I didn’t have a plan for the next stage of my life.

  This time when I took a deep breath in, I focused on nothing but the salt in the air and the warm sun on my skin.

  And when I went back up to my room hours later, I felt a little lighter. A little freer.

  I held onto that feeling as I crawled into the bed and took a nap. I didn’t have anyone to answer to, nor a schedule to keep, so why shouldn’t I rest my eyes in the middle of the day? I couldn’t come up with one single reason not to.

  A knock came at my door later that night right as I was slipping on my shoes. I had spent the last hour working myself up to venturing out for food. It had taken that long to convince myself that eating alone wasn’t all that bad and that I wouldn’t look like a pathetic loser.

  I finished slipping my foot inside my sexy, high-heeled shoe before going to the door. As I reached for the handle it was like I just knew who was on the other side.

  I might not be making it to that lonely dinner after all.

  Because even though I was hurt and confused, I knew I’d let Sketch in with little protest.

  “Hey, baby,” he said and if I wasn’t mistaken, he was trying to cover the fact that he was a tad bit nervous. “So, I was thinkin’ we could fuc—”

  I grabbed his shirt and yanked him inside, pressing my lips against his before he could finish that vulgar sentence.

  I swore this would be the last time.

  This time I was going to send him on his way before he had the chance to run.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sketch

  I hadn’t been lying when I said she had me trippin’. My head was a damn mess. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. And it
wasn’t just how good her tight pussy felt squeezing the life out of me. It was everything about her.

  Melissa was something my mind couldn’t even comprehend.

  Three times I’d been with her and two out of those, I ran like my ass was on fire. It was the third that had me scratching my head though. She’d let me in. She let me fuck her good— real good. But when she’d had her fill of me, she sent me on my way before I could even hightail it outta there. Which, for the record, I was trying my damnedest not to do.

  After I’d come once and she’d been on her second, I kept my brain distracted by bringing her body to life again. By the time I was completely spent, I’d lost count of how many times we’d both come. I’d been so worn out that I was contemplating staying the whole damn night, maybe even trying that snuggling and cuddling shit.

  But I didn’t have the chance to because she’d rolled out of bed, handed me my pants, and in a not-so-cryptic way, told me to get gone.

  The kind of get gone that said this whole thing was over.

  It had been burning in my gut for three days now.

  What made it worse was that I’d gone back to her room every night since then and gotten no reply. I’d even hung around for a while last night in hopes of catching her. I figured she was just hiding from me. But then I got impatient. I’d used my charm and managed to talk one of the cleaning ladies into opening the door to her for me.

  And you know what the fuck I found?

  The bitch was gone.

  There was nothing left behind.

  All her shit.

  Even her scent.

  Just fucking gone.

  The room looked as if it were ready for someone else to set up in it.

  I actually felt my heart sink as I searched for some clue that my eyes were deceiving me.

  But I didn’t find one fucking thing. Not even a stray pair of panties that had gotten lost under the bed.