I grit my teeth together. “Stop,” I mutter.
But he doesn’t. His kisses only get lower, trailing over my hip bones as he eats me up, and warmth pools between my legs, almost burning with needing something there.
“Stop,” I mouth.
He gets my shorts and panties down over my ass and comes down, sucking my lower belly, just an inch above my clit, and I rise up, growling as I slap him across the face. “Stop, I said! Stop!”
He freezes, looking at me in the eye and glaring. Sweat glistens down his neck, and his breathing is ragged as he digs his fingers in my hips, fisting his hands.
“When someone tells you to stop, you stop!” I bark. “Can’t you fucking understand? Are you stupid or something?”
And he snarls, grabbing me by my upper arms and scowling down at me. A whimper escapes, but I scowl right-the-fuck back.
His chest heaves, and I can feel the heat on his breath and still see the desire in his eyes, and I feel it, too, even though I hate to admit it. For a moment there—maybe longer—I wanted to do this. For a moment, I was soft again.
It was hard to stop.
But this is his fault. I told him to stop like six times, and I certainly didn’t invite the attention, so his blue balls are on him. I don’t have to love the first person I fuck, but I don’t want to be scared, either. He’s like a machine.
He glares down at me, not letting go, and I stare back.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey,” someone says, rushing into the garage. “Stop! Man, get off her.”
Noah comes up, pulling Kaleb’s fingers off my arms and pushing him away.
“Dude, she ain’t a townie,” he tells Kaleb, holding his shoulders and looking him in the eye.
But Kaleb’s glower is still on me. I quickly slide off the hood of the car and fix my shorts, seeing his gaze fall down my body again. Not a townie? Like it’s okay to treat anyone like that?
“Dude, look at me,” Noah barks at him.
Slowly, Kaleb pulls his gaze away and finally meets his brother’s.
“It’s Dad’s… brother’s daughter,” Noah explains, and I hear humor in his tone. “Remember? The step-brother he hates? This is his kid.” Noah gestures to me. “She’s family. She’s staying with us for a while. You can’t fuck her.”
And then Noah releases him, laughing under his breath.
“This isn’t funny!” I snap. And then I glare at Kaleb, now able to finally find my goddamn voice. “What the hell is the matter with you? Huh?”
“Just cut him some slack,” Noah says. “He’s always starving when he comes back from being in the woods this long.”
“Then eat!”
“That’s what he was doing,” Noah shoots back, glancing at me.
Eating.
Eating me.
Oh, you’re fucking clever, aren’t you? Assholes.
Kaleb watches me, cocking his head a little to the side again, and then he brings up his thumb, wiping the corner of his mouth like you do after a meal.
In the woods. In. That’s what they meant. Kaleb disappears into the forest for spells.
Maybe he should disappear again.
“Why do you keep answering for him?” I ask Noah.
“Because he doesn’t talk.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t speak, Tiernan.” Noah turns his head only enough for me to see his lips move. “He hasn’t spoken since he was four years old.”
I look at Kaleb, not sure how to process the information. A touch of pity winds through me, but I think he sees it, because he glares down at me as he refastens his jeans and yanks his belt free, the end of it snapping in the air with his anger.
I flex my jaw. “Is he deaf, too?” I snap. “I told him to stop.”
“He can hear you just fine.” Noah sighs. “He’s just not used… to women…”
“Saying no?”
“Women like you,” Noah retorts.
Like me? There are plenty of girls like me in town.
Kaleb casts me one more look before he turns around and heads up the stairs, back into the house, and Noah faces me, his eyes taking in my clothes. I quickly pull my shirt down, but I’m too mad to be embarrassed.
I can’t remember why I came to the shop in the first place.
Mute? He’s mute? He can speak. Noah said he hasn’t spoken since he was four, not that he lost his ability to speak when he was four. Why doesn’t he talk?
And what does he do in the woods by himself?
I still see his eyes, looking down at me, when he pushed me into the wall and rested his forehead against mine. The way he looked at me…