by Faith Gibson
Kerrigan released Natalia’s hands and wiped her face. “I still admire you. Even more so now that I’ve heard your story.”
The back door opened, and Natalia quickly wiped her own face with her fingertips. She smiled at the other woman so Kerrigan would know Natalia wasn’t mad.
After War and Kerrigan left, Maveryck and Natalia got the twins into bed. She didn’t want things to become awkward. Natalia had never spent the night with a man, not that she knew Maveryck’s intentions. The few times she had taken a lover to bed, she was the one to walk away in the middle of the night after making sure the man was asleep. But this wasn’t a one-night stand, and Natalia had her own room. The chemistry had been there when they kissed, and they were both young. Maveryck was all male. She had no doubt he had a healthy sexual appetite. But she still wasn’t going to assume anything.
Just as she opened her mouth to say she was going to turn in, Maveryck’s phone rang. When he hung up, he smiled. “Your gun cabinet is here.” He held his hand out, and she automatically took it. She shouldn’t have. Natalia shouldn’t get comfortable being here in his home. You’re already comfortable. Mav hit the garage door button on the wall, and the two Hounds who Ryker had watching her house were standing there holding the heavy cabinet. “Set it over here,” Mav instructed.
When the safe was in place and the males stepped back, Natalia noticed it was fairly clean. One of the Hounds said, “We would have been here sooner, but we stopped by the clubhouse to clean the soot off the cabinet.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.” Natalia placed her hand on the scanner, and the lock clicked. When she opened the door, Maveryck whistled. She glanced over her shoulder. Mav was closer than she expected, and she took a step back. He narrowed his eyes, and she felt bad at her reaction. She wanted to step closer, not farther away, but she couldn’t allow herself to fall for the male any more than she already had. Turning to the Hounds, Natalia held out her hand and introduced herself. “Natalia Jones.”
Maveryck shook his head. “Sorry. Natalia, this is Sultan and Hawk.” Each male shook her hand, looking from her to Maveryck and back. She wanted to know what the looks were for, but she wasn’t about to ask.
Natalia turned her attention back to her weapons. She checked each one over while the three males watched. That didn’t make her nervous at all. Natalia saved her rifle for last. Since it was still broken down in its case, it had extra protection from the fire. She dragged out the case, holding her breath. She pressed her thumb to the sensor and raised the lid. Natalia carefully inspected each piece. When she didn’t find any markings or a speck of damage from the fire, she let out a breath of relief. She had a lot of money tied up in her babies, and it would have been a shame if they had been damaged. “Glad I spent extra on a top-of-the-line cabinet,” she said. “At least that’s something I don’t have to replace.”
“I take it you didn’t catch the shooter,” Maveryck said.
“Actually, we did. Ryker said he would take care of him,” Hawk replied.
“Do you know who he is? Was it one of my cousins?” she asked.
“The man was Russian, but he isn’t one of the three cousins we know about. His name is Yuri.”
Natalia sighed. “He is one of the guards at the estate. Where is he? Ryker shouldn’t have to deal with him. This is my problem.”
Hawk looked at Maveryck then back at Natalia. Mav crossed his arms over his chest. Ignoring the way her stomach fluttered with Maveryck’s eyes studying her so intently, she waited on Hawk to answer her. When Maveryck nodded at the male, Hawk smiled at Natalia. “Ryker said you had more important things to do tonight, and he would handle it.”
“Oh, here you go.” Sultan handed her the pistol she kept under her pillow while she slept. “I cleaned it up, but you can see the bluing is pitted. I’d probably take it to an expert to have it tested and restored if it means a lot to you. If not, I’d get a new one just to be safe.”
Natalia knew all this, but it made her feel good the Hound felt the need to warn her.
“I’m not attached to it. If it had been my rifle, however, I’d probably be in the fetal position crying like a baby.” Anatoly had insisted Natalia use a Russian Dragunov rifle, but when she got her first paycheck from Nexus, she purchased a Savage 10 BA Stealth and had it modified for use with her personal suppressor. It had taken a while to find someone she trusted to do the work, since the man she used before knew her as Tatiana. Now that she wasn’t sure what was going on at Nexus, being sold out was a possibility. Just another reason to stay away from the twins. She would never knowingly bring danger to their door. But you already have.
“We’ll get out of your hair. Mayhem, let us know if you need us tomorrow.” The men inclined their heads to Natalia, and she thanked them again.
“Thanks, Hawk. You too, Sultan.” While Maveryck walked the Hounds to their truck, Natalia closed the safe and made sure the lock engaged. She didn’t wait on Maveryck. Instead, Natalia went upstairs. She looked in on the twins and couldn’t stop the tears when she took in the way Marshall snuggled a stuffed toy to his chest, or the way Major was angled crossways. After a few minutes, she made her way to the spare room where her bags were, closed the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed. She was tired, physically and mentally. It really had been a shitty day. And now more than before, she knew what she had to do. It was going to kill her, but Natalia had no other choice.
The house was quiet, so she heard when Maveryck closed the door from the garage. She waited for him to come upstairs and knock on her door. After sitting there for twenty minutes, Natalia figured he had decided to remain downstairs. She didn’t know what the male’s routine was at night. Maybe he sat outside on the patio drinking. He might turn on the television and watch a movie. If she had been home, she would have poured a glass of wine and read a book to lose herself in an imaginary story to try and forget the events of the day. She didn’t have that luxury tonight. She had a job to plan. Ryker might be in charge where he and the Hounds were concerned, but it was Natalia’s fault they were involved in the first place.
Since she didn’t have wine, and her e-reader was probably melted and under a pile of rubble, Natalia opted for a shower. She grabbed her sleeping clothes out of her bag along with her toiletries. Just as she stepped out of the bedroom, Maveryck was entering his. Either he didn’t see her, or he was avoiding her, since he shut the door behind him. Natalia had retreated without a word, so if he was giving her space, it was probably because he figured she wanted it. She did, and she didn’t. Natalia wanted Maveryck. Wanted to spend time with him. Kiss him. Get closer to him. But that wasn’t what he needed.
When Natalia walked out of the bathroom, finger-combing her damp hair, Maveryck was leaning against the opposite wall. Since she didn’t know him all that well, she couldn’t tell what kind of mood he was in since he wasn’t smiling.
“Is everything okay?” she whispered.
“You tell me. You’re the one who disappeared while I was telling Sultan and Hawk goodbye.”
“I was giving you some space. I appreciate you letting me stay here, but I don’t want to intrude on your routine.” That sounded legitimate, didn’t it?
Maveryck’s eyes hooded as they traveled from her face down her body to her toes. “I haven’t gotten into a new routine since the twins showed up.” His eyes did a slow perusal back up to her face, and Natalia didn’t miss the heat in his gaze. “And I don’t need space. Not from you.”
“I...” Natalia had no idea what to say. Maveryck didn’t give her a chance to figure it out. He stepped close enough to cup her cheek. Tipping her chin up, Maveryck leaned over and pressed their lips together, nibbling on her mouth. Since she’d left her toiletries on the bathroom counter, her hands were free. Free to grab onto his hips. Free to fist his T-shirt. Free to untuck the soft cotton from his jeans and slide her hands along the skin underneath. Mav sucked in a breath at the first contact of her fingers on his sides.
“Princess,” he murmured against her mouth before plunging in, teasing her tongue, tracing her teeth, exploring every inch he could reach. When he licked the roof of her mouth, Natalia sucked on his tongue, pulling on it like she would if she were giving a blowjob. Or at least how she thought she would give one, since it was something she’d never done. All previous thoughts of staying away from Maveryck fled her brain as her body took over. Would it be so bad if she gave in to her lust?
Maveryck grabbed Natalia’s ass, lifting her off the floor. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and with their mouths still fused together, he walked her into his bedroom. Mav closed the door with his boot and pressed her back against the wall. His erection was nestled in the juncture of her legs, and she couldn’t help but writhe against him. Her body ached with need. Using his strong thighs, Maveryck held her aloft while tearing her T-shirt over her head. Since she’d planned on sleeping, she had forgone a bra, so now her small breasts were bare. Natalia held onto his shoulders as Mav bent his head and latched onto one of her nipples. His soft beard tickled her skin, but the sensation was quickly replaced with just the right amount of pain as he sucked hard. Natalia’s head banged against the wall with each lick and nip. The more he worked it, the wetter she became.
Mav moved to the other bud, giving it the same rough treatment. Her fingernails dug into the skin of his back as she wiggled her ass, looking for friction. One of his hands moved between them, and Mav released the button on his jean before lowering the zipper. “Are you on birth control, Princess?”
He wasn’t asking permission to keep going, but that was the point where she could have told him to stop. Should have told him no. “Y-yes,” she managed to stammer. Natalia wasn’t having sex very often, but she didn’t trust a stranger to keep her safe. She always insisted on condoms as an added layer of protection. But she trusted Maveryck. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to put her at risk.
With his erection freed from his jeans, Maveryck slid it against her sleep shorts. Natalia gasped as she felt something different. When she looked down, there was a large piercing threaded through the end of Maveryck’s cockhead. Wow. The thin barrier of her shorts was the only thing keeping him from entering her. He rubbed back and forth against her clit, and her shorts were getting wetter with each slide of metal. She tried to push her shorts down her legs, eager to have him inside her, eager to see how the piercing felt, but her position made it impossible. Maveryck growled low in his throat, and he leaned back, releasing the claws of one hand to shred her shorts. He ripped the material away from her body, and in one fluid motion, his hard cock entered her wet heat.
“Oh, god,” she moaned. Maveryck wasn’t huge, but he was larger than any of the men she’d been with or the toys she played with. The real thing was so much better. Mav rocked his hips, filling her, then slid almost all the way out before slamming back in. All Natalia could do was hold on.
“Fuck, Princess. I’ve never...” Retreat, slam. “Felt anything...” Retreat, slam “So fucking good.” Retreat, slam. “It’s like you were made just for me.” Retreat, slam.
Natalia’s slickness made it easy for Maveryck to slide in and out, and the harder he gave it to her, the more she wanted.
“Please,” she begged.
“What do you need, baby?”
“More. Harder,” she begged.
Maveryck wrapped his arms around her back, his cock buried deep, and walked them over to the bed. He placed her gently on the edge and pushed her calves over his shoulders. “Hang on, Princess.” Maveryck gave her what she asked for. He kept his eyes on hers. The tingles started soon after he laid her down, and she fisted the bedding beside her hips as she used her ankles to dig into his shoulders, meeting him thrust for thrust.
“Mav... oh... god... Mav!” She gasped when her orgasm tore through her core, her channel gripping him tight as she pulsed through her release, her eyes squeezed tight.
“Look at me,” he demanded. When she did as commanded, Mav’s lion was in his eyes, and his sharp teeth dug into his bottom lip as he pumped into her, grinding his groin against her mound. The friction against her clit had her coming again.
Maveryck gritted his teeth. Veins pulsed, pushing at the taut skin of his straining neck, and a guttural cry left his throat as he found his release, spilling his seed inside her. He shortened his strokes with each pulse of cum he pumped into her body. Natalia had never seen anything more exotic. Had never felt anything as powerful as Maveryck Lazlo making love to her.
His harsh breath mingled with hers as he brushed his beard against her cheek and nuzzled her neck. Her previous question came back to her as he released her legs and lowered his body so they were chest-to-chest. Would it be so bad if she gave in to her lust? Yes. Now that she knew what being with Maveryck was like, she would never be able to give her body to anyone else without remembering what just happened. Natalia would never be able to give her body to another man, because Maveryck now owned it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maveryck
Maveryck hadn’t planned to have sex. When he went upstairs, he only wanted to make sure Natalia was okay after the day she’d had. But his Gryphon had other ideas when she came out of the bathroom in her barely there sleep shorts. He had to taste her, so he kissed her, but when she sucked on his tongue, his plan to talk went out the fucking window. When she writhed against his dick and he scented her arousal, all rational thought was gone. If he never got to touch her again, he had to have her in that moment.
When their breathing returned to normal, Mav slid down her body, pushing her thighs apart, and licked at her folds. Natalia gasped, grabbing for his hair. As he lapped up every bit of wetness, she writhed against his face. It wasn’t his intention to bring her to orgasm again, but it didn’t take long once he focused on her clit. Natalia rode his face, and Maveryck licked and sucked, giving her no quarter. He had no idea if they had more than one night together, and he was going to make the most of it. When her body convulsed, Mav shoved two fingers in her slick pussy, massaging the top of the entrance where one of her pleasure buttons was. Her head was rocking back and forth as she muttered incoherently.
He removed his fingers, sucking them dry. His spend was mixed with her juices, and it was the best thing he’d ever tasted in his life. His beard was soaked. Mav placed soft kisses to the insides of her thighs. One side then the other, until she relaxed her hands at her sides. He kissed his way up her flat stomach, stopping to lick inside her cute belly button, and when she giggled, he smiled against her skin. He didn’t put his mouth to her breasts because he wanted them to come down from their high. When he reached her face, he looked into her eyes. Eyes that were bright. Not with tears, but something else. Something he refused to hope for.
Mav picked his Princess up and took her into his bathroom. He held her close as he started the shower, and as soon as the water was warm, he stepped under the spray sideways so it rained down on them both. He turned his face toward the water to rinse his beard, but Natalia grabbed his jaw, turning it back toward her. When she leaned in and sucked at the strands, he just about came again, right then and there. His Princess liked his beard. He already knew that, but having her suck their juices from it? That was something he’d be jerking off to for years to come.
She released his whiskers and found his lips. As much as Mav wanted to make love all night, he needed to hold her more. He slowed their kisses before setting her on her feet. They washed the evidence of their lovemaking from each other, and then took turns drying the other off. When they returned to the bedroom, he set her on the edge of the bed and picked up her T-shirt, sliding it over her head. He grabbed a pair of briefs and put them on. “I’ll be right back.” Mav went into the guest room and dug through her bag until he found another pair of shorts. Before returning to his room, he checked on the twins. Thankfully, they were still asleep, because in his haste to have Natalia, he’d forgotten to lock the door.
He helped her into her shor
ts and pulled back the covers. Mav turned out the light and slid into the bed, pulling Natalia down next to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She rested her cheek against his heart and drew circles on the smattering of hair between his pecs.
Neither one said anything for a few minutes. He was afraid of what she would say if she found her voice. He didn’t want what just happened to be a one-off, but with her silent retreat earlier, he didn’t know if Natalia felt the same way he did. When thirty more minutes passed and she was still quiet, he thought maybe nothing needed to be said. Maveryck pressed a kiss to her damp hair before closing his eyes. Once again, he sent up a prayer to Zeus. First thanking him for his boys, then thanking him for bringing Natalia to the three of them. Just before sleep claimed him, Natalia pressed her lips to his skin and snuggled closer.
The morning had not gone like Maveryck expected. First, he’d woken up alone. It not only bothered him that Natalia had slipped out of bed at some point during the night, but he hadn’t woken when she did. When he went downstairs to start coffee, she was already dressed and sitting on the patio with a cup cradled between her hands. The twins were dressed and running around the backyard. He poured his own cup before joining them.
When he stepped outside, she glanced up at him, smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Was she regretting the night before?
“Daddo!” Major yelled. Maveryck couldn’t help but smile at his son. Both boys were so full of life, but Major ran at full throttle twenty-four seven.
“Morning, Buddy.” Maveryck took the seat next to Natalia. “Y’all been up long?”
“About an hour. The boys were hungry, but since I didn’t want to traumatize them with my cooking, I gave them cereal.”
Maveryck hated the defeat in her voice. “I love cereal. Always have. Especially the kinds with marshmallows. Did you eat?”
