Read Online The Missing by Shiloh Walker - Free Book Online

from her long enough to tear open his shorts and shove them down. His hands shook as he tore the rubber open, and they shook when he put it on. He stared at her the entire time, shifting his gaze from the wet heat between her thighs to her pretty, flushed face, and back again. He couldn’t decide what he wanted to see more of, and if his dick didn’t hurt so much, he might have just kept on staring at her.

    But he did hurt. He settled between her thighs and looked up. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said softly.

    Taige smiled. “I don’t care if you do.” Then she reached for him, and he went into her arms and kissed her.

    Her body went stiff under his as he pushed inside. He knew he was hurting her. Tears formed in her eyes, and he tried to slow down, but she was so hot, so wet and tight. “Want me to stop?” he gritted out through his teeth.

    “Don’t you dare.” She slid her hands down his back and cupped his butt, pulling him closer, and Cullen lost it.

    He shoved inside her, hard and fast and he couldn’t stop himself from doing it again and again, even though he knew it was hurting her, knew she wasn’t feeling the same thing he was feeling, but he couldn’t stop. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he muttered against her lips. He kissed her, and he could taste the salt from her tears, and he hated himself, but he still couldn’t stop.

    It ended too soon for him. He came hard and fast, and when he sank down against her shuddering body, he knew he had totally fucked it up. “God, Taige, I’m so sorry,” he whispered, feeling sick inside. He lifted up, almost afraid to look at her.

    She had a shaky smile on her lips. A smile. “Sorry for what?” she asked.

    “I . . . I hurt you.” Blood rushed to his cheeks and he stumbled a little as he said, “I didn’t—I couldn’t . . . You didn’t like it, did you?”

    Taige shrugged. “I didn’t not like it.” She bit her lip, something she did when she was nervous, and the sight of it eased just a little bit of his own anxiety. “I knew it would hurt. It gets better, right?”

    You are so amazing. He had thought that about her for so long, but he hadn’t ever said it to her. She’d think he was a total loser, gushing like that, right? But she really was amazing. Beautiful. Funny. Mysterious even, with this weird psychic thing she had going on. She didn’t act a damn thing like any of the girls Cullen knew at school. She was oddly more adult, without even trying. At college, he was surrounded by girls who were still just confused, scared kids trying to fit into the grown-up world, the same way he felt most of the time.

    But Taige didn’t have any of that. She had no pretenses, she didn’t try to change to fit what others thought she should be. When a lot of the girls he knew had been having sex just to be cool or get guys to like them, she hadn’t. She had waited until she was ready—and she’d chosen him. “You’re amazing,” he whispered, finally voicing the words that had lived inside him for so long. He leaned forward, kissing her gently. He kept his weight off of her and tried to be gentle when he pulled out. He pulled the condom off, grabbing the wrapper and tossing them into the small plastic bag they had brought for garbage. When he looked back at Taige, she was reaching for her shorts.

    But he grabbed them and tossed them to the other side of the blanket. “It gets better,” he whispered. Then he lay between her legs and kissed her. She bucked against him, a soft, strangled shriek escaping her. “You just need to tell me what makes you feel good.”

    OUTSIDE, it was pouring rain.

    Inside the screened-in porch, Taige and Cullen lay on a worn quilt, wrapped in each other’s arms and not talking at all.

    Rose had left for a weekend in Biloxi with some friends, and Taige had asked Cullen to come for dinner Friday night. That had been two days ago. They hadn’t left the house even to go swimming. Cullen’s dad had