Still that didn’t stop the harsh breaths or her vision clouding over with unshed tears.
“Calm down, sweetheart. I didn’t mean for you to see those, but… ah, for fuck’s sake.” He backed up a step and raked a hand down his face. “You gotta understand, Willa. I’m not mad, baby. I understand more than you think why you would want to leave.” He wound his arms around her, holding her tight against his large, warm chest.
Willa pulled out of his embrace but couldn’t force herself to look in his eyes. He slipped a finger under her chin and lifted until her gaze locked with his.
“It’s not like I jumped into my decision to leave on a whim, Nathan.”
“I know, sweetheart. Like I said, I’m not mad. I’m hurt you didn’t come to me, and pissed you signed on with that ass-hat Johnson all the way in California no less, but I’d never turn my back on you if that’s what you want. Though I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove why you should stay.”
He feathered kisses across her forehead while his fingers trailed a seductive path down her back. Heat flushed her cheeks. She couldn’t lie—her selfish side wanted more of the proof he talked about. Hot liquid slipped from her entrance to soak her panties more and her entire body trembled with anticipation of the promises he offered.
He pulled back, raised their joined hands to his lips and trailed his lips over her knuckles. “You wanting to leave Chicago and your job is my fault.”
“You have to understand, Nathan. I couldn’t take seeing you and wanting you so much my heart ached and not being able to have you. It was torture.”
“I know, baby. I’m sorry.”
She cupped his cheek. “I wanted you to be my first. To think I would one day watch you with someone else…” deep sigh shuddered through her and unwanted tears. “I couldn’t do that and keep my sanity, so after your father passed I knew it was time to leave. I hope you understand it’s because I loved—love—you too much.”
“Oh, baby.” He kissed her long and slow only pulling back far enough to look into her eyes. “I’m man enough to know when I fucked up. And when it comes to you and me, yeah, I screwed up royally. I should have told your brother to fuck off—lovingly of course—but fuck off all the same. But,” He lifted her onto the dining table, their faces now level. “…this, right now, is not a mistake. I know I’ve kept my distance. I had a lot riding on my shoulders, now more so than ever. I guess I used the job for Uncle Sam as a wall to hide behind.” He worked his jaw a couple of tics before continuing. He pushed between her parted thighs. “I know you don’t understand and hell, I don’t completely understand, but it boils down to a promise your brother had no right to saddle me with. A promise I think he’d take back if he knew how much I love you.”
He was right. She didn’t understand. Her vision clouded with disappointment. And tears. Damn it! She refused to cry. Willa blinked back the waterworks, tired of being weak with her emotions.
Wait. What did he say? Her mind threw on the brakes while her heart raced ahead full speed.
“Willa, everything changes.” He grabbed the papers from her and tore them down the middle in one swift, loud rip.
And there went her heart.
“I found them by accident, but now I’m glad I did.”
She nodded, focusing only on what he’d said about a promise and love.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, still trying to wrap her mind around what just happened.
“Are you not listening? I don’t care about pieces of paper unless it’s a marriage license with our names on it. I want to fuck you until you know my touch by memory and want only me. I want to fill your tight pussy with my seed until your belly swells with my baby. And then I want to do it again until this home overflows with happiness and love. As long as it’s what you want… and believe me when I say that I won’t stop until I’ve convinced you of my undying love.”
He cupped her pussy through her soaked panties. “That makes you wetter, doesn’t it, baby? You want my dick sliding into your pussy, my fingers teasing and pinching your nipples while my tongue claims your mouth.”
She leaned back, hooked her thumbs in the band of her silk panties and slid them down the length of her legs. Thighs spread, she reached between her legs and parted her pouty lips.
He suddenly tensed and groaned as he watched her swirl a finger through her juices.
She pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth and bit down and crooked a finger. “Come here.”
Her breath caught in her throat when he obeyed her command.
God, he was sexy as hell.
He moved slowly and with great control, his gaze alight with fiery lust.
Soft lips brushed the tender flesh of her belly and she quivered from the tender touch that was in such contrast with everything that defined the war-hardened man.
Slowly his kisses melted her heart, unraveling the nervous concern knotted in her chest.
He looked up at her through her parted legs.
Those eyes tugged at strings connected straight to her heart.
“This time, no brakes, baby. It’s full throttle from here on out, and you’re not leaving me tonight. And hopefully, if I’m lucky, tomorrow you’ll let me convince you somehow to stay forever.”
A forever with Nathan? She liked that.
Maybe, if he continued working her clit like it was his personal mission in life to make her the happiest woman on the planet, she would stay.
Then again, his heart of gold was good enough for her.
Chapter Five
“I’ve wanted you since I turned seventeen and you marched through the front door in your dress blues. Your eyes were shadowed under your hat, but I didn’t need to see them to know something happened between us when we first touched. Like Greek fire meeting water. An inferno that can’t be stopped.”
He dipped his head as she talked, but her words hit a loud gasp when the heat of his tongue touched the slick wetness of her center.
She arched and panted when he did it again.
“Fuck, the sweetness, baby.” She could hear the strain in his voice. The control it took for him to not ravish her quickly and instead take his time devouring her from head to toe. She knew because she was right there with him.
“I’ve wanted your taste on my tongue longer than I can remember.”
“What made you so sure?”
There went that Marine Corps cockiness again. He wouldn’t be Nathan without it.
“Your stance. You stood in front of me as my brother introduced us just like you are now. Well, not like now, with my wet pussy in your face.”
“And want a sight.”
Even now her heart raced at the memory.
Holy hell he looked hot that day.
She quivered and shuddered as he pinned her legs higher and dipped his tongue lower until his tongue stroked over her ass. He nibbled on each cheek before laving a slow burn from hole to hole and not stopping until he wrapped his warm lips around her clit.
She cried out, digging her heels into his bare back, her nails into the flesh of his hard shoulders.
She panted her next words. “You stood…all…all…attention on me. Your gaze locked on mine, seeing all the way through to me it seemed. Like you knew I would belong to you.” She eased her hand over his heart before adding, “As if seeing your soulmate for the first time.” His silence said everything she wanted to hear. Kind of funny how at that moment the man’s strong suit for being silent gave his emotions away.
“I might not have understood all the whys behind what made me crazy for you, but there’s no denying everything about you called to me. Still does,” she added with a sigh as he slipped a finger into her drenched opening. All the hurt and fear of rejection now replaced with acceptance. She loved him, too. No amount of time or distance would change the fact.
This close, he couldn’t hide behind the wall he kept around his emotions. His pupils dilated, and the tic in his jaw kicked up a notch from the normal rhythm he
kept when something bothered him.
Amazed she managed to crack his hard exterior to expose the softer inside, Willa pushed her luck further. “You felt it then, too, didn’t you, Nathan? We connected that day in a way neither of us expected. And my brother stepped in, as always.”
“Your brother meant well. Don’t blame the man for caring for his only sister.” He pinned her in place with a hand to her stomach, his shoulders pushing her legs wider.
He dragged his tongue over her, kissed and sucked her pouty pussy lips until all thought nearly left her.
She thrashed her head from side to side to clear the lust-filled haze that swarmed her thoughts. “You have to listen, Nathan. You need to know why. You stepped in and made sure I was safe in a world where I would have been completely alone. You made sure I had a place here with your father’s company. And don’t think I don’t know about your phone calls with him every week or so. You looked after me. Now it’s time to listen to your heart and do what will make you happy. I want you. I want that family you talked about and I want you to fuck me. Hard. Right now.”
There. She said what she had to say.
Her heart pounded.
She’d given up on controlling her stomach a long time ago.
Words. Gah, what was she saying?
She clutched a handful of his hair and gasped as he nibbled the soft lips of her pussy. She had more but the rest could wait. Before she gave herself over to him, he had to know how much he meant to her.
Had to know he was her world.
And always would be.
He stood and leaned over her, pinning her to the table, his expression intense. “I’ve gone to war. Survived bombings and buried loved ones, but what you just said has left me gutted and has filled me with hope. You’re what makes me live.” He gathered her in his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her attention honed in on him until the world no longer existed.
“Marry me, Willa.”
She froze, unable to look away from the intense power of his gaze.
Her emotions waged a war between her head and her heart.
“Do you remember what I said to you the day we first met?” His words played in the hair against her neck while he settled his hand on her stomach. Chills tickled down the length of her spine in anticipation of the pleasure his tone promised.
She nodded once and wrapped her arms around his neck, her hard nipples pressed against his chest. “That when you close your eyes at night all you’ll see are my emerald eyes looking at you.” Her voice cracked on the last note.
In even, slow strokes he ran the tips of his fingers up and down her spine, soothing her.
His touch was light, but the fire from the simple contact infused her skin and set her libido ablaze. Her heart softened a fraction more for the man and the power his touch held over her.
As she spoke, he pressed his forehead against hers. “And I meant it, baby. I’ll never forget the way you look at me. The way you have touched my soul. The way your sweet mouth fits around my cock so perfectly as if made for me alone. We might come at this from different angles, but there’s no denying what we feel for each other. Not any longer.”
“Seems love should be easier than this, don’t you think?”
Nathan purred in her ear. “Nothing this good ever comes, baby. I let your brother down once. Before tonight, I saw the promise I made as my penance. Something I had to live with for the rest of my life.”
His lips found her neck and he sucked on her pulse point, jacking her need to feel him in other places of her body tenfold. Hands cupping her ass cheeks, he pulled her tighter against his hard body and his quickly hardening cock between her thighs. “All that changed today when I thought I’d lose you forever. There’s been too much loss around here and this…” he squeezed her just a little harder, “… is all about you and me now.”
She liked that.
A lot.
Chapter Six
“I think it’s time you make good on your promises.”
She dipped and swirled her hips to the sound of his deep groan.
In a single stride he pinned her flush against the wall. Nearby pictures clattered to the floor with only a small rug to break the fall.
She broke their kiss and received a deep growl and a nip to her lip. She slid her tongue along the tender flesh and watched in awe as his gaze followed her every move. Like he couldn’t get enough of her. Her heart beat against her ribcage, threatening to burst with the love that filled her.
“Take me, Nathan. Not for just a night, but for now, and as long as you’ll love me. I’ll take it. I want you.” She felt vulnerable, unsure what to do now that she’d set it all out there. So she let her body react for her.
“Baby, this isn’t a one-night kinda thing.” His hands parted her ass and she gasped, feeling his big cock pulse hot against her drenched pussy lips.
Warm air of his breath enveloped her a second before the softness of his tongue found her hardened nipple. Live wires shot through her body, sending warm liquid to wet her folds. She couldn’t take it.
“More.”
Her nipple throbbed for the same attention he lavished on the other. She reached for it, but he pushed her hand aside. “Mine.” He squeezed the nipple between his thumb and finger with a delicious pinch to drive his point home and she withered in his embrace, eager for what he would do next.
Lips found her tender nipples, making her gasp and moan.
Pleading was on the menu too if he dared stop.
She could feel the sticky pre-cum from his cock smearing across her abdomen and she wanted more of it on her.
In her.
He let a nipple slip from his mouth with a juicy pop before moving to the next. It was all she could do to keep from dry humping him through her underwear.
She swallowed, panting.
“Get these things off me, now, Nathan.”
“Bossy little virgin. Not yet. I am still waiting for an answer. Give me what I want.”
She cried out when lips latched on a nipple and tugged before moving to the next.
Solid muscle slid between her legs, opening her up to him. A heady rush of eagerness shot through her on contact. Heat pulsated through her body. Delicious waves of desire stole her breath away, knocking her off-kilter.
“Do you want to come for me, Willa?”
“Yes, God, yes,” she panted her answer, head thrashing against the wall as he stroked his cock along the seam of her clenching pussy until the fat head stroked against her swollen clit.
“Stop teasing, me.” She moaned.
She dug her hands into his shoulders to pull herself closer to his warmth. Her back arched from the pure pleasure that radiated up from her core. All thoughts pushed to the back of her mind to make room for the happiness that overwhelmed her.
She couldn’t deny the fire between them any longer. Didn’t want to. The constant pain that ate at her no longer controlled her. For the first time in over a year, she could finally breathe. Without a doubt, she knew neither of them would let the past extinguish the flame.
His lips crashed into hers, and she melted against him.
He devoured her words of pleasure with his mouth. Sweet remnants of whiskey and her juices flavored his tongue. He pulled away only to dive back in, stroking the heat a hundred degrees hotter. If he could do that with only his mouth… tingles of excitement rushed her.
Tears rimmed her eyes.
Only this time out of joy.
She loved how much he wanted her. She wanted him just as much, and knowing he’d only been acting on her brother’s wishes made tonight all the sweeter. Nathan pulled back and let her nipple slip out of his mouth. “Beautiful and delicious.”
Pent-up need begged for release with each delicious second of torture he administered. Nathan tightened his grip on her hips and continued rocking his bare cock between her soft lips to nudge her aching clit. She tossed her head back and let out a moan that consumed her whole body. She couldn’
t hold back much longer.
He slowed and she groaned.
“Answer me then. If you want to come all over my big cock, I want an answer. Tell me you’re mine and I’m yours.”
“Yes, Nathan, Yes! I’ll marry you. Now make me come.”
His grip on her ass cheeks tightened as he pumped harder. Every muscle in his body rippling beneath her hands.
Her orgasm detonated around her like a million explosions going off inside her body. It wasn’t a slow climb but an instant blast of sensations felt in every cell of her body.
She gasped for air and clutched Nathan with all her might.
“Let go, Willa. I’ve got you. Let go.” And she did.
The command in his voice freed the part of her she held back. Power she’d never known before wrapped around her soul, releasing the full force of her orgasm. Waves of fire lapped at her insides while her body arched in pleasure. Strong arms wrapped around her, holding her close. “I’ve got you. Just hold onto me.” His words melted her heart just a little more. Much more and she would never be the same again.
Willa blinked back the tears formed at his tender words coming on the heels of the hottest orgasm she’d had since…well, she could never reach the clouds Nathan just took her to with any toy.
Still high from her orgasm, he eased back only to lift her into his arms. She never played the damsel in distress, but for now she knew he needed to care for her, show her what he was willing to do.
And if she wanted to be honest with herself, she liked the way his muscles tensed and bunched against her body as he walked them into the living room.
She rested her cheek against his firm chest and silently thanked the Marines for all the delicious male she currently had wrapped around her.
“If handing in my resignation is what it took for this,” she motioned with a finger between them, “to happen, then don’t count on an apology.” Her words rolled off her tongue with a hint more accent than normal and gave away how much he affected her.
She turned her head to the side just enough to see his trademark smirk. “Leave it to you to be the tactical one of the family. Marines have nothing on you, baby.”
Red Hot Steamy Romance Boxed Set: A Steamy Military Romance Series Collection Page 4
