Chapter 170: Leaving His Mark
** Harper **
This was ... not what Harper expected at all, but she liked it. Loved it, every time when Eli let out this hidden side of him and showed her just how possessive he could get.
Maybe jealousy really wasn’t so bad of a way to spice things up?
She sighed in dizzying satisfaction as he dove hard into her mouth, claiming her breath with a greedy and urgent sort of hunger. Capturing her tongue, he suckled in a way utterly unlike the gentleness he showed the night before, and as she fumbled to catch up with the unfamiliar advances, his hand snaked around the back of her head, digging into her hair to angle her precisely the way he wanted for deeper access.
Even his scent was so overpowering, crashing over her in an all-consuming tide. The hint of his Manhattan still lingered on his tongue, and the herbal spiciness blended in perfectly into his own masculine taste, making her intoxicated. From effects that weren’t just a result of the alcohol itself.
"... Sex on the Beach?" Eli slowed their kisses just enough to breathe the words against her lips. Apparently he was doing exactly the same thing she was doing, savoring her drink as she savored his. "I’ve been waiting to try it this way since I saw you holding that cocktail glass," he added in a low whisper.
Hmm, not just jealousy then, Harper corrected the earlier thought in her mind. More of an impatience that had probably been brewing since morning ... Had he really been thinking about her like that the whole time while she thought he was distracted by Cecilia?
The realization made her grin, and she showed her approval with a nibble on his bottom lip. "Oh? You wanted to try Sex on the Beach?" she cooed. "Or you wanted to try sex on the beach?"
A muffled growl was the response she got. "You’re asking for trouble, little wicked devil." His tone suddenly turned dangerous.
Harper didn’t get a chance to say another word when the next moment, he gripped her hips and yanked her off of her feet in one swift scoop, making her yelp in shock. Taking three long strides into the kitchen, he carried her over to the counter, and the scene became strikingly familiar as he plopped her down, wedging himself between her legs and leaning in to drop hard kisses along her jaw.
Oh yes. It felt so good like this when he wasn’t holding back. Those gentle, feathery pecks had their own allure, of course, but it gave her a whole different type of tingles when he was rough this way, fingers digging into her skin and lips teasing the most sensitive spots along her neck with undisguised want. Harper tilted her head back, letting him reclaim freely what was taken away from him at breakfast, and as he suckled and—
Wait.