The Sound of Us

Chapter Seventeen. “Bad Girls” by M.I.A.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Bad Girls” by M.I.A.

DANTE

Everything I did had a purpose. My degree, the summer internship, and my legal research job were stepping stones to becoming a lawyer. Music—both the band and the radio show—was my escape; it fed my soul. I had no room in my life for anything else—relationships, friendships, sports, or even recreation. So, what was I doing breaking into the social science building with the WJPK crew late at night? At first, I told myself it was for Noah and the station—I was being part of the team. And then it was to keep everyone safe.

I didn’t expect to have fun.

Racing through the empty corridors of a three-story building at night with only the glow of streetlamps through the windows to light the hallways and my phone to illuminate darker corners was nothing short of exhilarating. I couldn’t remember the last time I had done something for the sheer enjoyment of it, to feel my heart pound and my cheeks ache from smiling. I also couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Skye, but now that I knew Nick was the seeker, I was desperate to find her.

I heard shouts, a slam, the pounding of feet. I caught a glimpse of Nick heading in my direction through the glass door and ducked into a dark alcove under the stairs. A minute later, I heard footsteps, a gasp, and then Skye barreled into the alcove and slammed into me.

“Skye!” Nick bellowed. “I saw you.”

It wouldn’t take Nick long to find us under the stairs. I grabbed Skye’s hand and we ran down the hallway, checking door handles along the way.

“Here,” she called out. “This one is open.”

We made it into the storage closet and closed the door only moments before Nick’s heavy footsteps rang down the hallway. It was almost pitch-black inside, save for the faint light spilling under the door from the hallway. The air was stale and musty and heavy with the scent of cleaning supplies. Skye turned the lock and then pressed her ear to the door.

“He’s not moving,” she whispered. “I think he knows we’re here.”

I heard the rattle of a doorknob and then another and another. My pulse raced as if the danger were real. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt such an adrenaline rush. Nick’s shoes squeaked and suddenly the doorknob rattled. Skye jerked back and spun around into my arms.

We held each other, hearts pounding together, until his footsteps faded away in the distance. Skye let out a ragged breath. “I think he’s gone.”

That was my cue to release her, but I didn’t want to let her go and she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave. I could feel every inch of her soft body against mine. So close. Too close. There was zero chance she didn’t know what she was doing to me.

“Dante.” Her voice was soft and smooth like whiskey, with a ragged edge that I felt in my core.

Zero chance.

I couldn’t kiss her—shouldn’t kiss her—just like I shouldn’t have kissed her in the basement. I needed to stop the freight train of desire that was taking away my power of rational thought. I’d made a promise to Noah. The risks were too high.

“So…” I swallowed hard. “You and Ethan.” I’d wanted to punch Ethan when I saw the way he’d been looking at her, his gaze roving over her body, mentally stripping away her clothes. I knew that look. I knew the thoughts. I was that man when I met an attractive woman. But Skye wasn’t any woman, and Ethan’s blatant hot dog seduction had flipped some kind of switch in me that I didn’t know I had, and all I could think was mine .

She let out a rough breath. “What?”

“Ethan said you guys went out.” She was still locked tight in the circle of my arms and every time she shifted her weight, the brush of her hips against my cock was an exquisitely painful pleasure. “Are you going out again? Was tonight supposed to be the night you and Ethan—?”

“Shut up, Dante.” She pressed her lips to mine and kissed me.

Every shred of conscience I possessed disappeared the moment I tasted those sweet lips. Fuck Ethan. Fuck not wanting to get between her and someone who wasn’t bound by a promise to stay away. Fuck being a gentleman and not wanting to risk being caught.

She kissed me with an enthusiasm that wiped my mind clean of everything except her. The bittersweet taste of vodka on her tongue as it tangled with mine. The fresh scent of flowers as I brushed back her hair. The pillowy softness of her lips and the sound of her desire as she groaned into my mouth. Damn. The girl could kiss.

We were both desperately out of breath. She whispered my name again and this time I took control, threading my hand through her hair to hold her in place. Our mouths crashed together, lips hard and demanding. We kissed like we were desperate, ravenous, possessed. I backed her up against the wall, running my hands up her sides and under her shirt to touch her warm skin.

“Skye… is this…?”

“Yes.” Her hands tightened on my shirt, nails digging into my chest, a painful pleasure that went straight to my cock. “Unless you don’t want to.”

I ground myself against her heat. “Does this feel like I don’t want to?” I wanted her. Needed her. Here. Now. If I was honest with myself, I’d wanted her since the moment we met.

“It feels perfect.” She rocked her hips against the rigid fly of my jeans, and raw desire ripped through my body, fast and jagged as lightning.

“Do you know what you’re asking for?” I gritted out. “I’m not a hugs and caresses kind of guy. I like to be in control. I’m not…” Good.

“I know what you are. I listen to your show every night. You are in every song you choose to play. You break rules. You don’t give a fuck about what others think. But you care about people—your listeners especially. And right now, you are what I want. I don’t do things like this. I’ve only ever had sex in a bed. But you make me want to do things… bad things… things I’ve only seen in movies or read in books.”

Fuck me.

I slid my hands under her thighs and lifted her to my hips, groaning as her legs wrapped around my waist. “I knew you were trouble.”

“I’ve never been trouble. But I want to be trouble now.” She nipped my bottom lip and I felt that bite in every inch of my cock.

Christ. I couldn’t believe this was happening. She wanted me and not baller boy. Me and not someone else. My blood heated with possessiveness. Mine. I ground against her core, torturing myself by drawing a needy whimper from her lips. “Do you really want our first time to be in a storage closet?”

“Storage rooms seem to be our thing.” She tugged up my shirt, slid those soft hands across my chest.

If I’d thought my heart was racing from an hour of running around the building, it was nothing compared to the way it was pounding now.

“Can you be quiet for me?” I licked the side of her neck, tasted the salt, breathed in the scent of her body, her honey-fragrant hair as I lowered her to the ground. “Or will you scream when I make you come?”

“Such a dirty mouth.” She pushed my shirt up and over my head, then smoothed her hands over my chest, pulling a growl from my throat.

“You’ve got no idea.” I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. The narrow beam illuminated metal shelves filled with cleaning equipment, a few mops and buckets and… Skye. So beautiful . I placed the phone on the shelf before yanking her tank top and bra off in one swift motion. I took a long moment to drink in her perfection in the dim light. “You’ve got beautiful breasts, buttercup. I wondered what you were hiding under all those flowers.”

A smile teased her lips. “Were you really?”

“Fuck, yes.” I ran my hands up her rib cage to cup all that softness. “My imagination didn’t do you justice.” I bent down and swirled my tongue over her nipple before sucking it hard into my mouth. Skye cried out and then slapped a hand over her mouth.

“You can’t do that again,” she said breathlessly.

“Did you like it?”

“Yes, but…” She trailed off when I took her other nipple between my teeth, giving it the same attention. This time when I sucked, she buried her face in my neck and groaned.

“How long do you think we have?”

“Not long enough for me to taste you the way I imagined.” I made quick work of her clothing, sliding her jeans and panties over her hips until she was gloriously bare. My fingers brushed over slippery skin. I recognized the feeling of scars, although I couldn’t see them in the shadows. My heart ached for her. I knew how it felt to have your skin permanently marked, because I had scars, too.

So damn perfect. Her body was a delicious combination of lean muscle and soft curves in all the right places. I was so fucking hungry for her I could barely think straight.

“Your turn.” She yanked on my belt and opened my fly. Soft hands wrapped around my cock. The sensation was so hot a tremor rippled through my body. She tightened her grip and my cock surged in her hand, taking me dangerously close to the edge. It was a painful effort to gently move her hand away.

“I want you soaking wet for me before I give you that.” I drew her close, pressed my lips to her neck, breathing in her scent as I slid my hand down her body and parted her thighs. “Good girl.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and shuddered against me. Fuck. Could she be any more perfect? I got off on being in control, and knowing she got off on being praised did strange things to my stomach.

I cupped her breasts, gently squeezing the soft weight in my palms as I rubbed my thumbs over her nipples. She trembled and dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. With a groan, I trailed my fingers over her belly, through the soft down of her mound, and then along her hot, wet center.

She moaned and her head fell back against the wall. Taking my cue, I pushed a finger deep inside her slick heat.

Skye cried out and clamped around me. My blood rushed downward and I rocked the heel of my palm against her clit.

“I’m going to take good care of you.” I brushed my mouth against her ear, nibbled the delicate shell.

“Yes.” Her breath came out in a rasp. “Please.”

I dropped to the floor in front of her and her eyes widened. “What are you…?” Her words fell away when I brought my mouth to her pussy.

Skye gasped and her hand threaded through my hair. The scrape of her nails on my scalp sent a sizzle of heat to the tip of my cock. I wouldn’t be able to do this for long without losing my fucking mind, but the feel of her hot, wet heat beneath my tongue, the salty-sweet taste of her arousal, and her soft moans were impossible to resist. I licked her clit in a slow, teasing motion, gauging her response. When her moans became more desperate and her hips rocked toward me, I eased two fingers inside her and pushed them deep.

“Are you going to come for me like a good girl?”

I was rewarded with a loud whimper and the clench of her pussy around my fingers.

Fucked. So fucked.

My fingers curled inside her as I drew her clit into my mouth. She came with a choked scream, muffling the sound with her arm as her inner walls clenched so tight, my cock throbbed in response.

“You good, buttercup?”

“So good,” she whispered, pulling me to stand. “But I want more.”

Don’t tempt me.

“They’ll be looking for us now. Nick is probably heading this way.”

She grabbed the belt hanging from my open jeans and yanked me close. “Then you’d better be fast.”

It was an invitation I couldn’t refuse.

I shoved my clothing down and sheathed myself with a condom from my pocket. “Look at me.”

Her gaze snapped to mine, her beautiful eyes clouded with lust as I lifted her against me, supporting her back against the wall. “You are so fucking sexy. I could spend hours eating your pretty pussy. Next time I won’t just take a taste.”

Skye’s face flamed and she dropped her gaze, thick lashes brushing over soft cheeks. I put a finger under her chin, lifting her face back to mine. “Kiss me.”

I didn’t usually kiss much during sex. I enjoyed women. I loved giving them pleasure. But I didn’t need the intimacy that came with a kiss. Skye was different. I didn’t want this to just be another encounter where we’d both get off and never see each other again. Not just because we had to work together, but because I felt something for her—a connection I still didn’t understand.

My tongue tangled with hers as I slid my cock into her hot, wet heat. She moaned into my mouth and the sound vibrated through me, taking me to the edge before I’d even started to move.

“Fuck.” She was so hot, so wet, so damn tight, I groaned at the sensation. It took every ounce of effort not to come right then. I curled my hands under her ass and pushed deeper, stopping to let her adjust. “Are we still good?”

Skye nodded. “You can be… rougher.”

Holy fuck.

I braced myself against the wall with one hand and slammed into her until I was buried to the hilt. Her breaths quickened and I picked up the rhythm, my abs flexing with the power of my thrusts. Skye wrapped her arms around my shoulders and moved with me, her breasts bouncing, hard nipples brushing against my chest.

“Ask me to make you feel good.” I searched her eyes, making sure she was still with me. “Tell me you want it.”

“Yes. I need it,” she gasped. “I want it. I want you.”

Her words scrambled my brain. I skimmed one hand over her hip and across her smooth belly until I found her clit. Soft, swollen. I rubbed it with my finger, tracing gentle circles while we moved hard and fast together. Her soft groan finally broke the last threads of my control and we came together, riding out the waves of our orgasms until we collapsed against each other in the flickering darkness.

For a long moment we stayed like that, a crush of limbs and sweat and clothes. I was afraid to move. Afraid to see her face in case I’d gone too far. Afraid of what would happen tomorrow when I thought about implications of what we’d done.

I pulled her up and studied her flushed face. She looked like she’d just rolled out of bed, with her hair partly out of its tidy ponytail and her cheeks so pink and pretty. I kissed her softly, holding her weight as she collapsed against my chest.

“Are you… is everything okay?”

“Yes.” She pulled back, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. “You may have ruined me for other men.”

Other men?

“That was the plan.” I tried to lighten my tone as I stood, but I couldn’t get her words out of my head. Other men . What other men? Was this just a one-off for her? A box to tick in her quest to experience everything she’d missed in her years of training? If so, I should have felt happy. I didn’t do relationships. I was a one-off kind of guy and I’d made that promise to Noah.

So why did the idea of Skye with other men make my stomach tighten?

“We should go,” she said as I gently lowered her to the floor. “We’ve been away a long time.” She gathered up her clothes and we quickly dressed. She was cool and calm. Detached. I could feel the distance growing between us even before she stepped out of the closet and into the light. It unsettled me. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t the first one to walk away.

“Skye…” I reached for her hand to pull her back. I needed something. A touch. A kiss. Some form of connection that would ease the strange, pent-up emotion that had knotted my stomach. My hand waved through the empty air. Skye was gone.