Free The Test by Ava Claire Page A

tangled
sheets, letting out a second as he circled the swollen nub. Every
part of me tensed, locking as I brushed my fingertips against the
warmth of climax but he kept pulling me back. Grounding me.
    “I want to feel you unravel around me.” His
dark eyes tore into me as he rose up, like some tattooed, muscular
dream. Some wild thing that only existed in fantasy because there
was no way he was mine.
    He slid between my thighs, swollen and poised
at my slick entrance. “I want to look at your face when you
come.”
    Our eyes locked and I gazed into his hazel
depths. I never left those eyes, needing to memorize every gleam
because as soon as our bodies met, I would be all sensations. I
didn't want to forget this moment. I didn't want to forget how
passion turned his eyes gold. He tilted my chin upward and I
watched the quiver of lust ripple from his gaze, flutter across his
face, and land solidly on his lips. My eyes drifted shut as he
pressed them against mine in a kiss that I felt in my heart. I
wanted nothing more than him. Nothing more than this.
    I felt him at my moist opening, his flesh
against mine. His trembling lips parted.
    "I love you, Cass."
    And he drove inside. Expanding me. Changing
me. I would never get tired of this feeling, this bliss. Never.
    We were a sweaty, breathy mess but neither of
us cared much. I turned my head to look at him, smiling at the
exhausted look he wore.
    "Better than a run, huh?"
    He chuckled, propping his head up and moving
closer. "Infinitely so." He made a slow, methodical circle on my
hip as he gazed at me intently, his expression heavy and
contemplative. "You know I'd do anything for you, right?"
    I rolled my eyes. "Yes. And that's why you're
falling on your sword."
    "That's why I'll do what you asked," he
corrected. "I'll keep our secret as best I can, until you walk
across that stage.” He smirked. “Just as a warning, I might hump
you in full view of the graduating class of 2013."
    I gaped at him, sure the mind-blowing sex had
knocked something loose. "What?"
    "I'll lie in my statement," he answered. "And
no, it's not the sex talking." His eyes searched mine until he was
sure that I understood he was serious. "You were right. I'm not
ready to be apart from you, even if leaving is not a sure thing. If
I have to lie in public so I can love and ravage you in private,
I'll do it." He leaned in and kissed my stunned lips. "I'd do
anything for you, Cassandra."
     
     
     

 
     
    ****
     
    I ducked into my apartment with a singular
mission: get a change of clothes and get back to the car where
Chance was waiting. I didn't even bother locking the door, just
shooting to my room with my feet barely touching the ground.
    "Cass?"
    I froze.
    I could pick my mother’s voice out of a
crowd; the slight drawl that became full on South when she talked
to my grandparents on the phone, the disarmingly sweet tone with
something deep and strong resonating underneath.
    That strength speared into my US History
teacher my senior year of high school when he decided my last name
was cause to pick apart my assignments mercilessly, with so much
red that my paper looked more like a murder scene than analysis of
world events. He’d probably heard Mom’s voice over the phone and
thought nothing of it, but after she had one meeting with him, he
never looked at me sideways again.
    And then there were all of the times she
stood up, spoke up when I was too afraid to. At Dad’s funeral I
couldn't read his favorite poem without shattering. She was there
to pick up the pieces, helping me find my own strength as we said
the lines together.
    Even when she hovered, suffocated me with
texts and called like I’d end up in a ditch otherwise, I still
admired her. She had a draw, shining even in Dad’s shadow. She told
me stories of practicing law before they got married, defending
people who had nothing to offer her besides ‘thank you’ and every
casserole dish under the sun as payment.
    She always made sure