Adrenaline Read online

  Son of a bitch. Everything is warm, and my muscles tingle with a sweet weakness. I have no idea how I’ll get through medical school with Jared around.

  I grab the back of his neck and push into him, pressing my lips into his and my body molding to his every curve.

  He lifts me up and on the counter, deepening the kiss.

  I pull back. “Wait, wait. Don’t get too hot. I’m still working.”

  He doesn’t even pause as he starts kissing my neck. “K.C.’s taking your shift,” he whispers. “Well, actually your co-workers are, and K.C. will help out. You have two hours before curfew, so you’re coming with me.”

  I thread my fingers through his hair. “Where are you taking me? The lake?” Our usual private spot for…privacy.

  His head pops up, and he narrows his eyes at me. “No, I’m done with that.” He fists my red necktie—part of my uniform—and wraps it around his hand, slowly bringing us nose to nose. “We’ve been sneaking around for months as if your dad doesn’t know we’re going to find some way to have sex. I’ve had enough.”

  Chills spread up my neck and down my arms. I clear my throat. “Jared, I’m sure he knows we’re finding the time. It doesn’t mean he’s going to support it.”

  He kisses my nose and between my eyes. “Well, I’m sick of it. My car, your car, my garage last week. Rushing around between the end of school and him getting home from work. It’s ridiculous, and we’re not doing it anymore.”

  Okay, now he was scaring me. “So what does that mean?” I pulled back.

  He smiled. I mean smiled smiled. To where I actually saw teeth. “It means I’ve got a present for the both of us. Come on.”

  He grabbed my hand, and I hopped off the counter.

  We drove for a while. Jax had brought his car, opting to stay at the bowling alley, so Jared and I headed to the other side of town. Houses started getting bigger, city lights started getting dimmer, and Jared remained silent, only nodded his head ever so slightly to Alice in Chains’ Would?.

  He pulled up the Boss to a huge black gate and punched in a six digit code while my heart started pounding in my ears.

  What was all this?

  I didn’t ask, but—damn—I was intrigued. We were heading into the Seven Hills community, which I’d heard of but never been and Jared had the gate code?

  The drive dipped, and we rode down a well-lit avenue lined in trees and tall hedges protecting the privacy of the houses behind them. Jared slowed and turned into a black brick driveway.

  Holy crap!

  My eyes couldn’t take in everything fast enough. The house—and I use that term loosely—sat bright and huge in front of us. It looked almost French in its architecture, but not over the top in its grandeur. The brickwork was light colored—beige, mauve, off white—while the trim was painted in deep red. Lights were everywhere. On the sides of the door, over windows, and in a few rooms of the house.

  “Jared, whose house is this?” I asked as he pulled onto another driveway off to the side of the house.

  “Madoc’s.” He put the car in neutral, set the e-brake and killed the engine “Wait here.”

  Climbing out of the car, Jared rounded the front and came over to open my door.

  “How did I not know Madoc was this rich?” I mumbled more to myself as he helped me out of the car.

  “I think Madoc likes to forget that fact.” He laughed under his breath. He led as we walked hand in hand farther along the side of the house. Brick stairs led up the side toward the rear, and I followed behind, completely confused as he pulled keys out of his pocket. I had no idea what was going on, but I had no idea what to ask next.

  “This part of the house is closed off from the rest,” Jared said back to me. “There’s another door into this room, but no one comes to this side of the…um…”

  “Mansion?” I offered.

  “Yeah.” He unlocked the door at top.

  We walked in slowly but immediately I felt different. The smell of new things, furniture polish, the leather in a car, and the faint smell of cologne filled my lungs, and I felt warm all over.

  Jared turned on the dim overhead lighting and switched on a lamp, all creating a soft glow in the very masculine bedroom. The walls looked freshly painted a very light tan color, the hardwood floors were accented with a spotless beige rug, and the king-size bed was adorned with pillows big enough for me to lie my body on. A rustic, stone fireplace sat along one wall, and I couldn’t remember ever feeling so safe and comfortable in a room before.

  I realized that while I’d been absorbing every nook and cranny, Jared had stopped moving.

  “It’s beautiful.” I locked eyes with him. “Almost like a cave.”

  He leaned against the dresser, watching me. I shifted my eyes to his left and noticed a picture sitting pretty in a black frame of us at Homecoming last fall.

  Wait a minute.

  Heading to the chest of drawers, I yanked on one of the handles and spotted some of Jared’s clothes. Opening another drawer, I saw some t-shirts.

  I had to force back my smile before I turned to face him. His eyes were waiting, but I could see the smile inside.

  “So…” I started, “you have clothes here. And some t-shirts for me. We have keys and a gate code. This is our room, isn’t it?” I guessed.

  He inhaled deeply and pushed off the dresser. “Madoc’s parents are always gone, and we’re going to be here a lot this summer with all of his parties. There’s not much I can do about your curfew, but at least now we have our own space. With a lot of privacy and comfort.”

  “And a bed,” I added.

  “It’s not about that.” He blinked. “Well, it kind of is.”

  I met him halfway and wrapped my arms around his waist.

  “I’m just done with quickies and sneaking around, Tate. It feels like we’re doing something dirty.”

  “Oh, we are,” I waggled my eyebrows and whispered before snatching his bottom lip between my teeth.

  He sucked in a breath, and we nibbled at each other in short, soft kisses. Lifting me up, I wrapped my legs around his waist and moved my hands over his shoulders and onto his back.

  “Ugh,” he grunted, pinching up his face, and that’s when I noticed the slight ridges and crinkly sound coming from underneath his shirt. It felt like a plastic bag.

  “What is that?”

  He laughed out his nose. It looked like his teeth were clenching together. “Your other present,” he forced out.

  Lifting up his shirt, I pulled it over his head and lost my breath when I saw his shoulder wrapped up in a plastic, black bag secured with medical tape.

  “Jared!” What the hell was this?

  “It’s okay. It’s just a tattoo. Help me take off the wrapping.”

  I followed him into the bathroom, and that’s when I saw it.

  The rest of the tattoo.

  “That’s why I had to come up with a story of being unavailable tonight,” he explained as I helped him take off the tape and bag, throwing the trash into the sink. “I needed to buy time. Aura was taking longer with the tattoo than I anticipated, and she couldn’t finish until tonight. It took five sittings. I was going to surprise you at home, but then you picked up a shift, and I had to get K.C. and your work friends to help get you out of there early.”

  Jesus. My mouth went dry, and I could only stand there.

  His back was to the bathroom mirror, and I faced him, studying the image in the reflection. It was unmistakable.

  It was our tree. Down to the last branch.

  The trunk travelled up the right of his back, and then the branches and leaves started spreading out about halfway up. Some of the leaves went over his shoulder and down the back of his arm. It was all in black, and my stomach felt like it sat in my feet.

  I could barely speak. “Jared. You’re beautiful.”

  Jared

  Beautiful? I laughed to myself. It wasn’t really the look I was going for, but I guess a tree tattoo wasn’t th
at badass.

  Tate always saw what she wanted to see in me, and I loved it. I still didn’t see the man I wanted when I looked in the mirror, but every day I felt better and better about who I was.

  The tree was for her, and it was for me. I wanted my scars covered, and I wanted to take the tree with us to New York in the fall. Aura saw a picture and wasted no time drawing it up and getting started. It had cost a lot of time away from Tate and some stealth maneuvering so that she never saw my back, but it worked. Aura saved the last part for today. The part that I wouldn’t be able to hide from Tate that traveled down my arm and over my shoulder. The skin still burned to the touch, but there was no way I was telling her not to touch me tonight.

  “Enough talking.” I reached out and grabbed her hip, pulling her to me. “We haven’t showered together since your birthday, and we only have an hour left.”

  “Why? Do you have somewhere to be?” She leaned into my ear and whispered. “Because my dad texted two hours ago that he had to hop a plane to Colorado for business until Tuesday.”

  My nerves fired, and my eyes widened. “Hell, yes!” I took no time scooping her up and planting a fat kiss right on her mouth.

  She pulled back and pointed her finger at me. “You’re not allowed inside the house, though.”

  “I don’t want inside the house. I want inside you. Right now and at two A.M. or whenever the hell I feel like it tonight.”

  The idea of waking up next to her in the morning, or—hell—even in the middle of the night, and having what I want right there made me feel all kinds of selfish, but I didn’t care.

  I loosened her necktie, and pulled it over her head while she unbuttoned her white dress shirt. In no time at all, she’d shed her bra, too, and I pulled her naked chest against mine, feeling the very familiar fire pool in my dick. I had three levels of of horny: 1. Eh, I can if I want to. 2. Wow, I wish Tate was around. 3. Now.

  And with Tate naked, it was always number three.

  I unbuttoned her black pants and slipped my hands inside the back, cupping her ass and bringing her up against me like glue. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I ignored the slight discomfort on my back. Who the hell cared?

  “Are your shots up to date?” I asked in between kisses.

  “Yeah,” she gasped as I took her breast in my hand and nibbled her neck. “Jared. So much time now. What will we do?” she teased, rubbing me through my pants.

  Shit.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and hot air poured in and out of my nose. Backing us up, I opened the shower door and turned the knob. Two shower heads sprayed water from both sides, filling the small area with thick steam. I pulled away from her but kept my eyes trained on her panting face. Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips glistened. She’d taken out her ponytail, and I could see her nipple peeking out from under her hair. God, she was beautiful.

  All fire and passion. All mine.

  Yanking off my belt, I tossed it and tore out of the rest of my clothes. She did the same with her pants and backed into the shower, not losing my eyes for minute. I probably looked like the lion stalking its prey, but that wasn’t it. She was the predator luring me in.

  Closing the door behind me, I watched her watch me as she leaned against the shower wall, waiting for me. Even though Tate was the one in control, she always let me feel like I was hunting her. I loved that. Pressing the length of my body against hers, every muscle tingled with chills. I was warm and high.

  Lifting her leg, I held it at my hip and put my fingers between her legs, rubbing long, slow strokes as I looked down at her. Tate preferred my cock to my fingers inside of her, but she loved to be rubbed. Slow. Always slow.

  So slow that I could see the exact moment when her body started to lose control, and it was addictive. Her breathing dipped, and she almost lost eye contact when her lids fluttered.

  The water poured around our legs, and the steam made our bodies stick together. The air was thick and hot. I used the tip of my tongue to lick her bottom lip. “Fuck my hand, Tate,” I whispered against her mouth.

  She moaned, and her eyes closed as she grasped my shoulders and started rocking herself against my hand. Soft and slow at first. Then the friction started getting harder. She pushed against my palm rougher and faster, more demanding. I felt her wet against my fingers.

  She grabbed onto my hand, and I hooked her at the neck, tasting her lips and feeling her orgasm spring up from her throat and echo into mine. She shook and rocked against my hand, slowing down more and more. I swear I could hear her heart pounding.

  “Goddamn, Tate,” I gasped out as she shuddered against my body. Pulling up her other knee, I guided her legs around my waist, and pushing her into the wall, I slammed inside of her.

  “Ahh,” she cried out again. “Jared,” she whimpered.

  I grasped her thighs hard, probably leaving bruises, but she felt so good.

  We’d stopped using condoms two months ago. I got tested, she got on birth control, and we never looked back. After that first time without one, there was no way in hell I wanted to go back to using them. Feeling her, not having that barrier between us, was as close to Heaven as I’d ever get.

  “I like it when you moan my name.” I took her bottom lip between my teeth and drew it out while I slid in and out of her. “You’ve been turning my world upside down for eight years. I can’t get enough of you.”

  “Never enough.” She brought her mouth to mine, covering my lips. Her tongue tasted mine and darted out to flick my lip.

  Never enough.

  Jared

  I blinked awake in the nearly pitch black room to my phone beeping. Looking at the clock on the bedside table, I saw that is was just after one in the morning. Tate and I had only been asleep for about an hour.

  Grabbing my phone, I opened a text from Jax.

  Home, it said.

  I smiled to myself, surprised by how much him being safe comforted me and by how quickly he’d come to think of my house as his home.

  I had started asking him to check in with me, just to let me know where he was. Since Tate and I had gotten together, Jax and Madoc had grown closer, and who knew what trouble they’d get into together.

  I shot a text back. Madoc?

  Should be home. He left the bowling alley an hour ago.

  Awesome. At least Tate and I had been asleep by that time, so he wouldn’t have heard anything.

  Night. I texted and put my phone down.

  Rolling over and sitting up, I saw that Tate was turned onto her stomach and hugging a pillow underneath her body. She was faced away from me, but I could see the soft moonlight coming through the windows landing across her face and naked back. The sheet sat at her waist. Peering over, I smiled at her relaxed features and swollen lips.

  Even though I knew I should just let her sleep, I leaned down on my elbow and ran my other hand up and down her back. I couldn’t not touch her. Like hard candy that I could suck on nonstop or an ice cream cone that I wanted to lick, Tate was food. After only a few months together, there was no part of her body that I didn’t have memorized. I knew that she liked sex in the mornings, that running my fingers through her hair immediately melted her, and that her sweat was the only perfume I wanted her to wear.

  Getting up on my hands and one knee, I leaned over her, straightening my other leg over her sleeping ones and began…not leaving her alone. Coming down on her back, I touched the tip of my tongue to her skin and left a moist trail up her spine.

  She squirmed. “Baby…” she mumbled, her words muffled by the pillow.

  “I want you,” I breathed out, and sliding the sheet down off of her, I opened my mouth and took her ass between my lips and teeth.

  “Jared!” she yelped and whipped her head up. “What…?”

  But she trailed off when I continued nibbling and kissing, and her head fell back down to the pillow.

  “You awake now?” I taunted. I’m sure she heard the smile in my voice.

  She sucked i
n air through her teeth, tensing up her body, looking like she was in pleasure or in pain.

  I got my answer when she suddenly squirmed off the bed, and I had to rear back to avoid her kicks as she landed on the floor.

  “It’s ticklish,” she squealed. “And it freaks me out.”

  My stomach swam with flutters, and I laughed. “I didn’t actually bite you. At least not hard.”

  Her eyes darted down to the extreme hardness between my legs, and I raised my eyebrows at her. She looked so cute, legs drawn up to her chest and leaning back on her hands, looking at me like she was ready to run.

  “Are you going to take care of this or what?” I gestured to my cock, purposely trying to act like a dick.

  What can I say? Tate and I had a weird kind of foreplay.

  She pushed herself off of the floor and grabbed the white bed sheet, wrapping it around her body.

  “My ass is a ‘no’ area,” she stated firmly, looking at me with her big blue eyes and a lot of fear.

  “A ‘no’ area?”

  “Yes. Your hands are fine. But not your mouth or…” she stuttered, gesturing up and down my body, “anything else. Got it?”

  I smirked, teasing her with mischievous eyes. “What else could I possibly do to you there?”

  Her eyes dropped, and she moved her lips left to right, thinking. I chuckled, climbing off the end of the bed and slipping on some black pajama pants I’d left on the floor.

  “No part of you is off limits to me, Tatum,” I warned with a grin, and I immediately saw her eyes flare at the mention of her full name that she hated. “Come over here. Now.”

  She didn’t.

  She launched herself across the bed, and bolted for the bathroom. I moved like a bullet, darting after her so she wouldn’t have a chance to lock me out.

  “Nooooo,” she screamed and laughed at the same time as I caught her.

  This was how Tate and I played. I knew she wouldn’t come when I ordered. She never did. She gave chase, and I always followed.

  And she knew I had no intention of trying to put my dick anywhere new on her tonight. I’d never done that before, and that made me happy. Since I hadn’t been able to give Tate my virginity, at least I could say she was my first with that. Someday.