Breaking Her Bad by Michelle Mankin

 

 

 

 

 

Claire

Tingling with anticipation, I entered the stairwell behind Missy. She climbed all the way to the top and pushed open the steel door, stepping out onto the roof of the school. I exited a moment after her.

Kyle was waiting.

Even expecting him, I drew in a sharp breath and my heart skipped a beat. In faded jeans that fit him in a way that could sell a million pairs, and a tight Led Zeppelin T-shirt, he looked so handsome that I could hardly breathe as he came toward me.

“Did anyone see you come up?” he asked.

Not taking his gorgeous silver eyes off me, he held out his hands, and I placed mine in his without hesitation. He closed his fingers around mine. The tingles turned into wicked tendrils of heat.

“No one saw us,” Missy said. “The hallways are deserted.”

His gaze dipped to our joined hands. “Good.”

Kyle’s hands were so much larger than mine. He was so much taller than me, so much stronger, so much more knowledgeable. But I didn’t fear his size, his strength, or him. I trusted him to care for me.

Missy cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck like the fine hairs on it might be standing on end. “Well, since lightning seems about to strike, I’ll just leave you two to do whatever you need to.” She took a step back. “I’ll stand guard right inside the stairwell and make sure no one comes up. Tommy texted that he’s already in place downstairs. No one’s getting past us.”

I glanced at her. “Thank you, Missy.”

“You’re welcome, Claire bear.” She pressed her lips to her fingertips and blew me a kiss, then opened the big steel door. “Anything for you.”

Returning my gaze to Kyle, I didn’t see the door close, but I heard its click.

“She’s a good friend,” Kyle said low, and I vibrated like a tuning fork from his voice at that octave.

“She is. So is Tommy. I think we both hit the friend lottery jackpot.”

“I feel more fortunate than a lottery winner right now.”

Separating our clasped hands, he framed my face. I rested my hands on his forearms, humming with pleasure as he caressed my cheeks with his thumbs.

“It’s so hard to believe. I was afraid to dream to have you in my arms again.” His eyes glittered like magical stardust. “Yet here we are.”

“Oh, Kyle. That’s how I feel too.” My lids fluttered as he gently stroked one thumb across my mouth.

“Are you okay with this arrangement?” he asked. His gaze dropped to my mouth, giving me a much lower flutter. When his gaze rose again, his eyes were darker. “Meeting in secret, finding only moments like this where we can be alone together?”

“Yes, of course I am. I understand the need for secrecy.” I pressed deeper into the frame of his hands. “That feels so good.”

“It feels good to me too.” He continued to caress my skin, and I settled in his arms, warmth and certainty shimmering through me. “You’re beautiful. Your skin is so soft, your body so incredibly sexy. Come with me.”

Releasing my face, he stepped back and offered me one hand.

“Okay.” I placed my fingers in his, and he tugged on my hand.

“I wanna show you something.”

“Sure.” I nodded, and he escorted me across the roof.

The moment felt weighty. Important. But why?

Because we were an us now? Because it was dangerous to be together? Because I now knew how precarious treasured moments were? Or was it merely because I was with him? Being with Kyle always felt good.

Falling into place at his side felt right. I felt right, like the best version of myself inside a fairy tale. Kyle was my dark prince, protector, defender, rescuer. He hadn’t changed. But I felt like I was changing, evolving and adapting to my new environment because of him and our circumstances.

After we stepped around huge air-conditioning units, I saw outdoor loungers and side tables placed beside a waist-high wall that ran around the perimeter of the roof. My eyes widened.

“Oh, wow! Did you put these here?”

“Hell no. The drama department comes up here to practice when there are too many activities booked in the auditorium. I thought it might also be a good place for us to sit and talk, maybe even see some birds.”

“Thank you, Kyle.” Looking up at him, I let all I felt spill out of my heart. “I’d love that.”

“I remember you asking me to go with you to the arboretum back in Lakeside.” He gave me a sheepish look. “This isn’t as nice, I’m sure. But it’s something.”

“It’s perfect.” Perfect because he was beside me.

I moved to the wall and peered over the edge. Looking down, I could see the front of the school.

“You’re perfect, babe.” He came behind me and wrapped his strong arms around me.

“Thank you.” I leaned back into his solid chest, reveling in his approval and absorbing his heat as a gentle breeze lifted my hair. “I was thinking this is perfect because we’re together.

“Ah, Claire.” His low voice rumbled from his chest through my shoulders. “I agree, though it’s not much of a view.”

He was right. The lawn below us was patchy and brown. The fence surrounding the school property was wrapped with barbed wire, which made Southside High seem like a prison. Half the businesses across the street were boarded up. Garbage bags were piled high on the sidewalks.

But with his arms around me, those details were sad, but they weren’t my focus. He was.

Kyle’s presence steadied me, filling me with warmth I’d lacked for months, and allowed me to see the world once again with hope.

With hope, I could imagine a better world. The lawn would be fuller, the grass greener in the springtime. The garbage would eventually be picked up. And the school wasn’t so much a prison, not with Kyle and my friends here.

“This is nice.” Tipping my head back, I rested it on Kyle’s strong shoulder. I pulled in a deep breath, appreciating that the sky was a beautiful blue and that a couple of barn swallows swooped within it.

“Do you see them?” I asked, turning my head to look at him.

“Yes. Very pretty.” But he wasn’t looking at the birds. His focus was on me.

“It’s quiet up here,” I said, holding his gaze. “Peaceful.”

“I guess it depends on your perspective.”

“You’re here,” I said softly. “I feel safe and secure when I’m with you.” I’d felt that way with him from the beginning.

“I’m glad. I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that you are.”

His gaze fell to my mouth, and my lips tingled. My heart thumped hard in anticipation as he lowered his head. The moment he pressed his mouth to mine, I melted, then melted more when he traced the seam between my lips with the tip of his tongue.

“Kyle.” I sighed and spun in his arms to face him. I started to place my hands on his chest, but he pulled back just out of reach.

He gestured to the nearest lounger. “Let’s sit for a moment and talk.”

At his words, a tiny ribbon of worry unwound within me. “Is everything okay?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you.” At my puzzled look, he explained. “I saw your texts last night. Your mom was mad. Did you get in trouble?”

“She was.” I exhaled heavily at the memory. “And yes, she laid into me.”

“I’m sorry, Claire. That must have been rough.” He lowered himself onto the lounger. Bending his long legs, he stared up at me while patting the empty space he’d created. “Sit here with me.”

“All right.” I sat on the end of the lounger, and he spread his legs apart, pulling me backward between them to lean against him. “I didn’t see her this morning, but she’s probably still mad at me.”

“She was worried, I’m sure. What happened?” He ran his fingers through my hair. “Did you have permission to be out so late?”

“Not really. She said some harsh things. Some justified, and some not.” My scalp tingled as he continued to play with my hair, combing his fingers through the long strands.

“What was the general consensus?”

“We didn’t reach one.” My brow furrowed. “But my aunt talked us down.”

“I like Addy. Bob does too.” Kyle’s fingers stilled. “Did you tell them about you and me?”

I shook my head. “I told them I was with a guy, but I didn’t tell them who. I want them to meet you.”

Kyle gave me a dubious look. “Not sure that will help.”

“I believe it will,” I said firmly.

If my mom got to know Kyle like I did, she would understand. He might hide who he was because he had to, but when he revealed himself like he did around me, he was irresistible.

“That’s where our perspectives are different.” After a pause, he resumed stroking my hair. “I’m amazed by the way you see me. I want to live up to your perspective. I’ll try my best to, but . . .”

He trailed off, his fingers stilling in my hair.

“You’re not changing your mind about us are you?” I asked nervously.

“No, Claire.” He slid his hand down to my shoulders. “I don’t have it in me to give you up a second time. I just don’t think you get all the bad stuff that comes along with someone like me.”

“And I don’t think you get that those things that are beyond your control don’t matter to me.”

“There’s a lot beyond my control.” His fingers flexed deeper into my flesh. “And you deserve—”

“I want you,” I said quickly, cutting him off. “I don’t deserve you. But I’m not giving you up. I refuse to.”

“You’re so determined, even now. I don’t know how you can be.”

“Because you matter to me,” I whispered. “You’re worth the effort and the risk.”

My eyes stinging with emotion, I turned to face him. Placing my arms on either side of him, I balanced my weight on my hands.

“I’m going to kiss you,” I said, like he had once upon a time. “You can stop me.”

“I don’t want to stop you, Claire,” he said low, his words and his voice filling me with certainty and excitement.

Permission granted, I lowered my head and kissed him.

His hands smoothed down my body, shaping me and making me hot and restless. When I slipped my tongue into his mouth, I tasted him. He was the decadent chocolate of a dark fantasy, and the sweet fulfilment of a dream that I’d almost given up on. Groaning into my mouth, he grabbed my hips and brought me down, fitting me and that needy part of me right over the rigid hardness of him.

I gasped out, “Kyle, yes. I want you.” Turning my head, I ended the kiss to catch a breath.

“Here?” Moving his hands to my face, he framed it and searched my gaze.

“Yes, here,” I begged. “Please.”

“Your wish is my pleasure to fulfill.”

“Your pleasure is my pleasure.” I lifted a brow.

Within the curtain provided by my hair, his chiseled lips curved.

“Then we’d best get started.” He grabbed fistfuls of my cotton shirt. “I want to see you. More of you than I saw last time.”

“And I want to see more of you.” I leaned back so he could pull my tee over my head.

“Incredible,” he said after tossing my shirt aside.

I stared at him as he began to touch my breasts. His brows lowered, he followed his fingers with his gaze, running them over one rounded slope and then the other. My nipples hardened visibly through the lace. He lifted his gaze and looked at me, watching me as he pinched one through the fine fabric.

I gasped. Fire sparked along a taut wire that seemed to connect the pleasure at my nipple to that needy place between my legs.

“You like that?” he asked, twisting it gently.

“Yes,” I murmured as more fire spiraled through me.

“Me too.” Watching me closely with darkened eyes, he tweaked my nipple again.

I moaned, feeling more fire and wetness.

“You’re so beautiful, Claire. So honest about what you feel, so responsive. Let’s do the other.”

His gaze lowering, he pinched and twisted again, only on the other side.

“So good,” I whispered, peering at him through my lashes as I licked my lips. “I feel it between my legs. I ache, throb for you.”

“Good, because I burn for you, babe. Sparring with you earlier . . . hell, just looking at you turns me on.”

“My turn to look.” I grabbed handfuls of his T-shirt. As if we’d planned it, he’d worn one today with his favorite band on it too.

Drawing the soft black cotton up over the ridges of his abs, then the chiseled masterpiece of his chest, I eventually lifted it over his head. His inky hair settled into a more unruly style as I tossed his shirt to the side.

“Wow.” I sighed, staring at his velvety-smooth skin stretched tight over his sculpted muscles.

“Babe, fuck. You just looking at me is foreplay. I can’t take any more. My cock is aching. I need to be inside you.”

I lifted my head, focusing my eyes on his handsome face. Chest or face, both were excellent views. “I want you inside me too.”

“Then hop up a minute.”

His biceps bunching, he lifted me and set me on my feet beside the lounger. His strength astounded me.

“Get those sexy jeans of yours off,” he said in that low voice of his that always made me shivery. “I’ll work on mine.”

“Okay.” My hands trembled as I bent to undo the laces of my boots.

His black Daytonas landed at my feet before I was done. Finishing, I tossed my boots, then my socks, beside his. I straightened to undo the top button of my jeans. Lowering the zipper, I bent again to peel the tight denim down my thighs.

“That ass of yours,” he hissed from behind me. “Smoking hot, but let me help you.”

Grabbing me by the hips, he tugged me backward. My skin tingled everywhere as I fell, sprawling on top of him. His grunt made me giggle, but then I felt him. His hot skin, his hard body, his even harder cock. He was already naked, and knowing that made me desperate.

“I’ll get my jeans.” I clawed at the denim, my breaths sawing in and out. “You can unclasp my bra.”

“Gladly.”

He deftly undid the clasp while I removed my jeans. Kicking them off my ankles, I shivered as he caressed my skin, sliding the bra straps down my arms.

In just my lacy thong, I flipped over. I should have been cold. After all, it was fall in Seattle. Probably should have been self-conscious since we were outside, and this was my first time having sex in a public place.

But I wasn’t either of those things, not with his heated, appreciative gaze on me.

“Tits, ass, legs.” He ran his gaze over me before drawing me on top of him and framing my face. “You are perfection.”

“I feel like I am with you.” I placed my hands on his hard chest. Beneath my palms, his heart raced.

“Good. You should. Because you are.”

Diving his hand under my hair, he curled his fingers around my nape and brought my mouth to his. He moved his lips insistently, urging mine to part. Sliding his wet tongue inside my mouth, his tongue dueled with mine, this sparring more pleasurable than the earlier verbal type. He kissed me deeply and wetly. Masterfully, he wrapped my hair around his fist. Tugging, he got the angle he wanted and kissed me deeper and wetter.

My breasts grew heavy. My nipples ached where they scraped his taut skin. Heat built inside me as he thrust his tongue repeatedly inside my mouth while thrusting his turgid cock against my needy pussy.

“Kyle.” I turned my head to gasp out a breath. “Too much. I’m close.”

“Good, close is where I want you. Always.” He ran his hot mouth along my jaw. Capturing my earlobe with his lips, he sucked on it.

“Oh, Kyle.” I moaned, wetness rushing to my throbbing core.

“Thong off.” His hands at my hips, he slid it off. “Are you ready for me?”

As if he needed to ask with me wet, aching, and sprawled on top of him.

“Yes,” I said, staring into his dark gray eyes. “I’m always ready for you.”

“Right answer.” His lips curving, he reached over to the side. “Condom today since there’s nowhere for you to clean up.”

Shifting beneath me, he rolled it on while I watched. His cock was thick and hard.

Eager to climb on it, I planted my palms on his chest and threw one of my legs over his hips, straddling him. Sweeping the pad of his thumb across my entrance, he made me shiver as he aligned the end of his cock. After, he brought his glistening thumb to his mouth to suck it, and my pussy spasmed.

“You’re definitely ready,” he said, and when I showed him how ready, sliding down until every delectable inch of his cock was inside me, he let out a long breath. “Baby . . .”

His smoky gaze hooded, he stared at me, and I didn’t look away. The expression on his face while being connected to him was just too glorious.

“I keep thinking my memory exaggerates how good this is, but it doesn’t. It’s always good.”

One hand flat on his solid chest, the other gripping the back of the lounger, I moved up and down on his cock while he cupped my breasts. He flicked his thumbs across my nipples, and fire shot from the tight tips to my throbbing clit.

I had to move, needed to, so I did. Slowly at first, then faster and more urgently as he strummed my nipples. Faster, I rode him, and harder and faster, he strummed. Tingling from scalp to toes, aching tits to throbbing pussy, I burned from his touch. He set me on fire.

“Kyle . . .” I panted, my breaths ragged. “Yes.”

“Claire.” He grabbed my hips. Bringing me down hard on his cock, he lifted his own hips.

That felt so good. The penetration was deeper, more perfect.

“Yes, Kyle.”

I closed my eyes as he hammered into me. My pussy clamped around his length, my breasts bouncing.

“Fucking yes.” He groaned, pumping into me harder and faster.

As I stared into his dark, hungry gaze, he stared into mine. Giving and taking. Moving in sync. It was hot.

“Don’t stop.” Tightly, I gripped the back of the lounger.

The feet of it scraped the concrete, lifting off the roof with each of his powerful thrusts. With my other hand, I gripped his muscular shoulders and held on as the ride got bumpy and rough. The cool air tightened my aching nipples as he drove into me again and again. Wetter, hotter, I could feel my release coming, and strained for it.

“Fuck, Claire.” His eyes squeezing shut, Kyle slammed in deep, and I felt his magnificent cock stiffen inside me.

I moaned. That was it, just what I needed. Him.

On fire, I went up and straight over the edge. Groaning, he flew with me. Pulse after white-hot pulse, Kyle filled me.

We were reborn in the fiery forge of pure passion, remade within the flames of our love.