Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 615 -

*Caterina*

Hot.

That was my only thought as his large hands roamed across my bare skin. My jacket had long been discarded on the seat next to us as he peeled up my dress, his palm flat against my ribs and the other creeping up my back.

I could feel a hard pressure between my legs splayed out as I sat on his lap, neither of us making the move to pull away despite knowing how much of a bad idea this was.

His tongue dipped into my mouth, forceful and passionate and dominating as he held the back of my head, my hair held firmly in his fist so I couldn't pull away.

I doubted I would have even if I could.

I moaned as he pulled at my bottom lip with his teeth, barely breaking away for a heated gasp of breath before he came back once more, devouring me like a hungry beast. He was good, too... good at this, and it didn't take much before I'd lost my mind in a daze, anchoring to him as the only buoy in an endless sea of pleasure.

He thrust up suddenly, pressing himself into me and I gasped, shocks running down my whole body as I instinctively ground down with my hips.

"Fuck," I heard him pant out between kisses, going back for more in the next second as his tongue traced mine like he was savoring the taste of me like I was a delicacy he couldn't get enough of.

"Elio." I breathed his name like he was a god I was praying to, and that seemed to tear him out of the trance we were in.

He finally broke the kiss, his eyes dark with lust as he stared at me, swollen lips parted as he breathed out like a marathon runner.

I wasn't in any better shape, my overly heated skin feeling like a furnace now. In this brief moment of clarity, I caught sight of a red mark on Elio's bottom lip, having been bitten somewhere between the front door and the car, though I didn't remember doing so.

Pure instinct led me I reach out with my shaky hands, curling my fingers around his jaw as I gently touched the mark, fascinated with the way his plush lips folded under the slightest pressure. It was warm and wet from our kisses.

Before I could convince myself out of it, I leaned forward, pressing a kiss directly on the mark as gently as I could like I could heal it with my lips if I was just gentle enough. It was stupid-childish even-but I heard the catch of Elio's throat, and the way his hands tightened around my skin, and he let out a little growl in response, clearly holding something back though I didn't know what.

"You're going to be the death of me," he whispered, even his soft voice sounding too loud in the quiet of the car between us.

I blinked dazedly, my head still fuzzy from a lack of oxygen and drunk on his taste as he pressed his head into the crevice between my shoulder and neck.

I felt his lips press against the skin there, too warm as he gently took it in with his teeth, nibbling, and for a moment, I wondered if he was perhaps going to eat me, to devour me until there was nothing but my bones left.

What a bad idea, I thought deliriously, not even considering the thought of pulling away or telling him to stop. Whatever trance we were in, it had a hard grip on the two of us.

"Cat," Elio groaned, thrusting up into me.

I arched my back, savoring the jolts of pleasure that shot up my spine. I hummed in response, too utterly spellbound to do much else than cling to him and let him do whatever he wanted with me. "Come home with me."

Until the spell was broken.

As if I'd been dropped from the heat of a desert into a freezing pool of ice, the shock had me pushing away until my back slammed against the wheel. I winced, knowing there would be bruises later, but the pain helped me to wake up from whatever dream I had been in.

What the hell had I been doing?

Eyes wide, I glanced at the scene around us. It was undeniable, especially from an outside perspective. Elio and I making out in the car, me on his lap as we moaned and groaned like horny teenagers.

I could still feel the pressure between my legs, and I turned a deep red, embarrassment and shame hitting me all at once. For a moment, I was at a complete loss on what to do. I simply frozen in place as Elio finally noticed something was wrong.

"Cat?" he asked with a frown.

I spotted the mark at the corner of his lip, a reminder of this little escapade that was undoubtedly real and not the dream I wished it was.

How did this fucking happen? Where did it go wrong?

I traced my steps. Elio took me home and kissed me on the cheek, and instead of pulling away, I got swept up by my emotions. I let him take me back to his car, and I let him slide me over onto his lap. His hands were under my goddamn dress. And that was the moment it all went wrong.

I shouldn't have even come out on this so-called date, I thought. I'd been fooling myself thinking I could maintain distance... thinking I had deterred him from our previous kiss. It wouldn't happen again, that was what I had said, right? Fucking hypocrite, I scolded myself.

"Cat, are you okay?"

Back in my presence, I now had to deal with the aftermath of my bad decisions.

I shook my head, gripping his wrist and pulling it from under my dress as I hurriedly straightened my attire, sliding off his lap.

"Cat, what-"

Before he could say anything else that could tempt me into another spell that would get me to do even more, I opened up the door and practically rolled out onto the pavement. The chill of the night air hit me, and I finally felt like I could breathe properly. I got to my feet, glaring at Elio, though I wasn't really mad at him. I was mad at myself for getting carried away like this.

"Good night!" I slammed the car door, ignoring his bewildered look as I ran from him and into the house.

I barely took a moment to catch my breath and make sure the door was locked before I rushed upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Back in the safety of my room, I pulled out my phone from my pocket and immediately dialed the first number I saw.

I paced around my room, listening to the ringing as my heart thumped loudly in my chest. But finally, I heard the line pick up and the grumpy voice of Anna.

"I thought I told you I was with Daniel, so why-"

"We need to talk."

"About Elio?" she asked with no hesitation at all despite the urgency in my voice.

I heard shifting on the other side, mumbling from a distinctly male voice, and then silence.

"How " I sputtered, my face flushing at her direct answer. "How did you know?" "Please."

I could almost see her rolling her eyes even through the phone.

"It was blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes. So did you finally make a move, or did he wake up and realize you had the hots for him?"

"I don't have the hots for him!"

"Uh-huh." Her disbelieving tone said everything.

"Look, I got emotional at Thanksgiving, and he came and comforted me and somehow, it may have ended with our lips together-"

"And you're only now telling me?" she gasped. "I'm your best friend! I need the deets, Cat!"

"Well, I was hoping we could both ignore it, and it would go away!" I defended myself, realizing how ridiculous it sounded outside of my mind. At the time it seemed like a good plan, one that had absolutely betrayed me in the end. "That's not how these things work, babe," Anna said, disapprovingly.

"Yeah, yeah, but then tonight he called me out for a drive and a walk in the park-"

"At night?"

"So, we did and he brought me home "

"You went?" Her voice kept getting shriller, the sheer incredulousness in her voice making me feel even more like a child getting scolded.

"And he kissed me on the cheek, and I don't know what happened from there. I lost my mind or it was witchcraft or something because the next thing I knew, we were in his car and...."

I trailed off, cheeks flaring up like a tomato as I remembered his hands and body so tightly bound around me.

"You had sex with him... in a car?" she demanded, sounding horrified.

"No! We were just... making out... and his hand went under my dress but-"

I fell silent, realizing there were no excuses I could give. Maybe we could ignore a simple kiss, but this... even I couldn't deny we had started down a path neither of us was ready for.

"Well, at least there's that," Anna hummed indifferently, "though making out with him in his car wasn't the best idea."

"I know," I groaned.

"But then again, considering how long you've liked him and kept denying it to yourself, I'm surprised you lasted this long. A less dense woman would've exploded and full-out fucked him." "Anna!" I scolded her.

"Please," she scoffed. "You're both grown-ass adults. If it's something you want to do, then go for it. Sounds like he wasn't complaining and even started this shit, so I say just see where this takes you. Though, is that really what you want?" "I... I don't know... I'

I couldn't help but glance at my wrist, the one with the mark that was slowly fading but also still a reminder to me. "I don't have the best judge of character. Maybe it'll... turn out the same."

"Cat," The sympathy in her voice was also mixed with a sharpness. "You can't think every man is the same as that bastard. Not every relationship will turn out like Paul's. Elio is... he's nothing like him."

"I know," I said quietly.

And she was right. While Elio was effortlessly charming and handsome, with a sense of responsibility that was bone deep despite how much he may have playfully complained about it, Paul was everything he wasn't.

Paul had been kind of like the sun-bright and kind of harsh yet having a way to guide you and light your way, until it was too late to realize how utterly destructive getting too close could be. The sun could burn at the slightest glimpse, let alone being right next to it. A person would be devoured.

Elio, on the other hand, reminded me of the moon. He had always been there, even when I couldn't see him. Even after the fight where I'd left for university, he would always send me text messages, emails, and packages to make sure I was doing well.

I ignored most of his calls, but I had saved those voicemails. They had gotten me through some sleepless nights better than any medicine.

Elio was cool and calm, like a ripple on a lake. He and Paul were nothing alike.

But that didn't mean being near him was safe, either. There was a reason I had avoided my feelings all these years and had denied them so vehemently.

"I know Elio's a good person," I said cautiously. "I know he would never treat me badly like... but me and him together? It can't happen, Anna."

I glanced out the window through the curtains, where I could spot the light in the window from the house beside us. I swallowed, wondering what he was thinking right at that moment.

I steeled myself, locking down the feelings that had just started to slip out back into their cage.

This wouldn't happen. I couldn't let it.

"I know a bad idea when I see one."