Blade (Dark Falcons Book 5)

by Em Petrova

  Rio scuffed his knuckles over his jaw. “Soon.”

  Juliette eyed her brother, who had been keeping his own secrets. “Has she met Harley?”

  Blade’s attention bounced between her and her brother, taking it all in.

  “Yeah.”

  “Does she love her the way you need her to?”

  Rio’s voice thickened. “I’m pretty sure she does.”

  Her heart burst with happiness. She stepped forward and put her arms around her brother, squeezing him hard. The joy of knowing Rio had found someone who made him happy—and who loved his daughter as well—filtered through her embrace.

  “I’m so damn happy for you, brother.”

  He patted her in return and stepped away to settle his glare on Blade once more.

  She prepared to jump between them and edged forward.

  “You don’t have to try to protect him,” Rio grated out. “I got my point across to Blade.”

  He gave a nod. “You did.”

  “You can’t stand between us, Rio,” she said.

  Rio cocked a brow at Blade. “Well? Is it true? Do you feel something for my sister?”

  Her pulse rate spiked. Curling her toes into the floor tile, she held her breath as she waited for his response to her claim. Please don’t let it be one-sided.

  It wasn’t one-sided. Simple lust hadn’t made him kiss her the way he had.

  Blade didn’t look her way when he said, “Damn right I do.”

  Her heart flipped, and the air punched from her lungs. Relief and excitement tingled through her in a shiver. She swung her stare to his, and just like always, their eyes locked like two powerful magnets.

  Rio made a noise in his throat. He skirted her and Blade as he started out of the kitchen. On his way past, he shot Blade a hard look. “Don’t hurt her.”

  A tendon leaped in the crease of Blade’s jaw, but he didn’t speak.

  Rio smiled at her. “I’m happy for you too.”

  With that, he walked out. She listened to his footsteps fade and the front door close behind him.

  She didn’t move. Neither did Blade.

  The house then seemed to throb with the energy bouncing between them.

  She stared at his profile, carved from granite. A trickle of a sigh left her. Rio had given his blessing. She was more than eager for more with Titus—now the move was his.

  When he didn’t move or speak for a long minute, she started to doubt what she heard him say.

  Do you feel something for my sister?

  Damn right I do.

  No, she hadn’t been sleep-walking when she heard him utter those words.

  She started toward him, and he threw up a hand to stop her. Confusion warred inside her. “I thought…” She broke off.

  “I can’t touch you, honey. It’s wrong.”

  “Who says?”

  “I say. Everyone would say.”

  “Rio doesn’t say.”

  “Rio’s not thinking straight. I punched him too hard.” He gave a rare half-smile, and damn if she didn’t fall harder for him.

  “You never laid a hand on Rio. I saw your fight.”

  She reached across the expanse of kitchen floor between them and touched his forearm. He appeared so stiff and rigid that it shocked her anew at the warmth of his skin covering the steel beneath. He really was flesh and blood.

  If he would only let himself feel.

  Letting her fingers travel up his arm, she studied his face. “Sit down and I’ll fetch some ice for your jaw.”

  “To hell with my jaw.” The force of his words made her step back and her touch fall away from his arm.

  He turned to her then. When he took one step to close the gap between them, a gasp escaped her.

  Planting a palm on her spine, he brought her flush against him. Her head tipped at the feel of his touch.

  “I’m bad for you.” His gritty tone sent shudders of desire through her even as he slipped a hand under her and drew her mouth slowly…fraction by fraction…to hers.

  The kiss filled her with life.

  She sucked in a gasp and threw her arms around his neck, levering her body closer…needing to join him to her at last. After waiting months and months, she believed this moment might never come.

  He plundered her mouth.

  The rasp of his five o’clock shadow against her sensitive skin had her on edge, burning with need. She twisted her fingers in his hair, pulling him down. The pressure of his lips would kill her, and she was more than ready to die that sweet death.

  When he swiped his tongue over the seam of her lips, she opened on a cry. He thrust his tongue deep, seeking places no man had ever explored and at the same moment stealing the rest of her soul. She belonged to him—did he know it? By the end of the night, he would.

  She walked him backward until he came up against the counter. He broke the kiss and stared down at her, panting. Wordlessly, he lifted her. She tucked her body close to his as he carried her out of the kitchen to her bedroom.

  She dragged him down and took his mouth for her own. His answering growl told her he liked that, and the bulge against the V of her thighs gave hope that he wouldn’t hold back.

  As she kissed him with all the passion finally let loose, she dug her fingers into his thick shoulders. He stopped walking, holding her suspended in the air as if she weighed nothing.

  Tearing her mouth free, she twisted to kiss along his jaw. “Don’t stop. It’s too late for both of us.”

  A rumble vibrated through her, and he started walking again. At her door, he paused and dragged in a deep breath. “It smells like you.”

  She smiled against his cheek. “I know something else that smells like me. Take me to bed and I’ll show you.”

  “Fuck, Jules.” In a few strides, he hit the bed, cradling her on the way down and following her. When he sank down, he allowed her to feel the weight of his body for a brief second before he pushed away again.

  A second later, he switched on the bedside lamp. A golden glow flooded across the mattress.

  “I want to see you,” he rasped.

  Staring up into his eyes, hot emotion took hold of her insides. A desperate need to have him—all of him and right this instant—gripped her.

  She made a noise in her throat, and he responded by cupping her face in his broad palms.

  “I shouldn’t touch you.”

  She leaned up and kissed him into silence. When she felt him succumb to her and knew he’d stopped coming up with reasons to hold her at arms’ length, she slid her hands over his muscled chest. The leather vest he wore the guys called a cut, and Titus’s bore the Dark Falcons patches.

  The leather was warm where it came into contact with his skin, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she eased it off his shoulders. He shifted to help her to remove it. When she opened her eyes again, she found him staring down at her with an expression she’d never seen him wear before.

  Tenderness had her gulping in her emotions. Being with this man after so many minutes…hours…days of yearning had her on the verge of breaking down.

  Or being set free.

  She traced the line of his jaw with a fingertip. The rasp of his beard growth under her fingertip sent need zapping through her body. “Titus…I’m yours. I have been for a long time.”

  His throat worked on a swallow. “Don’t say things like that.”

  “Why?” She searched his eyes. “It’s true.” She drew him down for a kiss, and the world stopped spinning the second his masculine flavors filled her mind.

  A low groan filtered from him into her, passed through tongues and lips and oh God, she couldn’t wait anymore—she needed him.

  Gripping his T-shirt, she yanked it upward and delved her hands under the heated cotton. The carved planes of his spine called to her fingers, and she ran them up and down, learning every inch. When she pulled off his shirt, he grasped the hem of her nightgown and in one long swipe, stripped her.

  Her lips parted on a gasp, and h
e kissed her hard. Twisting his tongue over hers, he drew small squeaks from her as he palmed her breast in the softest of touches.

  “Christ, you’re like silk.” He dipped to capture her nipple in his mouth.

  Scorching, exquisite heat left her writhing. She scraped her fingernails lightly over his spine, and he responded with a growl.

  Thrashing, she rasped, “Harder!”

  He raised his head. “Fuck, baby doll.” He took her nipple again, entrapping it lightly between his teeth. The hard grit shot her upward. Her panties were drenched. Her insides on fire. Her swollen pussy ached to be licked, touched…filled.

  She rocked into the bulge in his jeans, and he released her nipple. The damp tip hardened even more in the cooler air as he moved to the next.

  For long minutes—maybe hours—he sucked and nibbled at her breasts until she quaked. When she thought she might ignite from the sheer desire burning through her body, he moved downward.

  He lapped at her navel, circling it with light flicks of his tongue. Her stomach dipped from her sharp intake of air. He edged down her body until he reached her baby blue satin panties that matched her nightgown.

  He paused. “Did you wear this for me?”

  She felt heat creep into her face. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “For who then?” he demanded.

  “For me. I like the matching sets.” One of her little luxuries on her teaching salary was a hefty bill every few months at Victoria Secret when the new collections came out.

  Hooking his fingers in the sides of her panties, he paused. Then in one quick jerk, he tore them off her.

  Her scent of arousal hit him first. He barely mastered himself before he spotted her glistening wet folds.

  Gripping her thighs, he spread them wide. Then like the pervert he was, he dragged a fingertip through her sweet nectar and brought it to his mouth.

  Her eyelids fluttered, and damn if he didn’t look down to see her pussy clench. The sweet pulsation had his dick edging over the elastic of his boxers.

  Demands lay on his tongue, but he refused to speak them. If he opened his mouth, he’d ask her to promise herself to him—to say she belonged to him and no other. But he couldn’t do that to her.

  If he had one night with Juliette, it would be the best damn night of his life. He’d relive it every day until the moment his heart quit beating. But right now—he was going to make her his in every sense of the word.

  Dragging two fingertips through her slick folds, he found her clit nestled between her puffy lips. When he applied pressure to it, she bucked and cried out. He watched her face, her skin take on an angelic glow of arousal. Her juices slicked his fingers as he circled her stiff nubbin.

  When he slipped his fingers down her seam again and poised at her entrance, he stared into her eyes.

  Her breaths came faster. “Titus,” she whispered hotly.

  “Say my name again.”

  “Titus!”

  He plunged his fingers deep into her, spreading her walls, his mind exploding in a haze of fireworks even as his cock nearly burst in his jeans.

  “Titus!” she cried as he pumped his fingers into her wet heat. Her inner walls clutched at him. She bit into her lower lip to stave off the screams about to erupt.

  As he settled the pad of his thumb over her clit and began to work it too, she arched. Beautiful breasts pointed to the ceiling, her body flushed, her eyes wide. She started to come for him, shaking at first and then tightening on his fingers.

  She gave one hard shudder and came, mouth open on a silent cry she never released.

  “Mmmmm.” He leaned over her and took her mouth, kissing her as he continued to coax more pulsations from her.

  She reached for his fly. Slowly, he withdrew his fingers and brought the wetness to her nipple. He smeared her juices over one and then the other. Following his fingers with his mouth, he sucked her clean while she scrabbled at the sheets and his spine. She dug her heels into the back of his thighs, and damn if he could grasp the control he needed to take things slow. A wrong brush of her touch against his cock would have him spewing.

  “Titus, please,” she breathed. “I need you inside me.”

  He’d never been more certain that their bond was already half formed. She knew it too—he saw in her eyes that she did.

  She popped the button of his jeans and eased down the zipper. He watched pleasure cross her beautiful face, marveling that a woman such as Juliette would ever want this from him.

  Then she reached into his boxers and cupped his length. The warmth and softness of her touch left him spiraling out of control.

  He leaped off the bed and shucked his clothes and boots. When he gripped his cock at the base with one fist and lashed his heavy balls to his body with the other, he let her take in his appearance.

  “If you take me, it’s bare, baby doll. I won’t have any barriers between us. I’m clean, and it’s been over a year since I was with a woman.”

  “No barriers,” she said at once. “It’s you and me. Come to me, Titus.” She spread her legs in invitation, and damn if he could resist sinking between them. The tip of his cock burrowed between her folds, seeking the deepest point. She kissed him as he sank the rest of the way in.

  To the hilt.

  Buried in her tight, perfect heat.

  He swung his hips, gliding his cock partway out. She twisted her face against his shoulder and he felt the sharp sting of her teeth on his skin.

  The little vixen surprised the hell out of him. After all these years knowing her as Rio’s little sister, he saw a whole new side of Juliette—the strong woman making demands of him.

  She claimed him long before this moment.

  She held his heart in her small hand, and he never wanted it back.

  He thrust in balls-deep. She found his nipple and sucked it. He shook as ecstasy pounded through his core. Stopping now wasn’t possible. Even if the entire Engers clan burst in, he would finish making Juliette his—at least for a little while.

  He fucked her with deep, slow strokes, listening to her small cries and pleas. When she rocked fast into him, he knew she clung to the brink. Seconds later, a harsh rasp left her lips and she stiffened under him.

  Christ, she didn’t pulse once before he let go. Cock shooting spurts of hot cum deep into her pussy, he kissed her hard. The pressure of his release spread through his body. He couldn’t still if he tried.

  On a swing of his hips, he pulled out completely. Diving between her legs, he went for the treasure of sucking her clit as the last of her orgasm ripped through her.

  Chapter Six

  Shock jolted Juliette as she realized Titus just came inside of her and now went down on her.

  The act was so hot…so dirty…so forbidden.

  Then she realized nothing was off-limits when it came to loving him, and if she wanted to suck her juices off his cock, he’d probably love it just as much.

  She wiggled her body into position to do just that. The instant she drew his length into her mouth, he shuddered with pleasure. More hot cum oozed from the tip, and he lapped her as she sucked him until the final aftershocks of their release faded away.

  She pulled off his cock and lay her head against his rock-hard thigh. His hot breath washed across her quivering folds.

  Looking down her body, she met his stare. Hot and bright and filled with excitement and…

  She dare not think that the man loved her, though her heart had long ago given itself up to him with wild abandon.

  “You’re dirty,” she whispered to him.

  “Yeah?”

  She grinned. “I like it.”

  Leaning forward, he pressed a tender kiss to her clit that had her arching all over again. Suddenly, he snaked out his tongue and swiped it over her throbbing bud.

  She rolled away from him, and he maneuvered on the bed until he lay on his back beside her. Turning her head, she stared into his eyes up close. The depths held so many mysteries she couldn’
t decipher. Other than his hard teen years and the mess with his father going to prison for murder, she could only guess at what he’d lived through.

  He stared back, studying her just as intently.

  “What do you think when you look at me?” she whispered.

  He closed his eyes and slowly opened them. “That you’re the most beautiful woman on Earth.”

  A soft smile brushed over her lips.

  “And you’re too good for me.” The rough grit of his voice had her skin lifting in goosebumps.

  “Don’t say that. I’m not perfect.”

  “I’ve watched you grow up. You were always Rio’s little sister to me…then one day you weren’t. And I realized you were out of my league.”

  Butterflies of awareness mingled with some of her fear that he’d walk away from her after they finally…after all this time…connected.

  “You’re mistaken.”

  “Jules, look at you. A schoolteacher. I didn’t even finish high school. I’m a rough neck who heaves concrete. And you don’t belong with the Dark Falcons.”

  Blinking rapidly, she tried to make sense of what he was saying. But none of it added up in her mind.

  She twisted onto one side and propped herself up to stare at him. “My career path isn’t more important than yours. As for the Dark Falcons, I never felt like I belonged anywhere until the day Rio took me into that clubhouse.”

  He didn’t speak, and she lay her palm on his chest, over his beating heart.

  “I spent a lifetime wondering what was different about me and why I wasn’t happy going out with the other teachers for drinks on a Friday night or to their Superbowl parties. The men I dated…”

  He looked at her harder.

  “They were too tame for me,” she admitted.

  His chest inflated and a scowl crossed his rugged features. “You need someone besides me.”

  She flipped atop him. Skin to skin, eye to eye. Glaring down at him, she said, “You can’t tell me who I need or don’t need. You think I’d be happier with some second grade teacher whose biggest interest is reading his tax form?”