Whispers and Wishes (Untouchable Book 4)

by Heather Long

  “But I hate that he had to do that.”

  “I know you do, because you care.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “Tell him.”

  She looked up at me, and my heart squeezed. “You make it sound easy.”

  “Nope, it’s not.” I rubbed my cheek against her hair. “None of this has been easy. But it’s okay to care about him. It’s more than okay. If you’re not ready to tell him, then you wait. Remember what I said to you a few weeks ago when I wanted to take you up to my room and kiss every inch of you?”

  One of the best nights of my life, hands down. The only thing I wanted to change was the shit that went down the next day. For a few hours, we’d had damn near perfect. Then I almost screwed it all up.

  We came back from that, though.

  She forgave us. Forgave me.

  “Tell you no, and you’d stop?”

  “Hmm. That’s part of it.”

  “And nothing would happen that I didn’t want to happen.” Trust glimmered in her eyes, chasing the shadows away. “Nothing did happen that I didn’t want.”

  “Exactly. Same principle applies here. You want Bubba? Go for it. If you’re not ready for that, then nothing happens until you’re ready for it to happen.”

  “I want to trust him, Archie.”

  “I know you do, babe.” I trusted him, now. But my point of view and Frankie’s were different. He’d screwed up, and he’d been paying for that. So had she. “No pressure.”

  She tucked her head against my shoulder. “Do you mind if I watch you work rather than do my homework?”

  “Nope,” I said. “Long as you don’t beat yourself up for not doing it.”

  Her groan made me smile. I knew my Frankie. “Fine.” But rather than move away, she tilted her head up, and I took the invitation and kissed her.

  I loved kissing her. What little hesitation she might possess would slip away, and she’d kiss me back with equal fervor. Sometimes our teeth clacked, sometimes we warred over whose tongue was in whose mouth, and sometimes I forgot that we both needed to breathe.

  Frankie was the drug whose addiction I never wanted to recover from. When she shifted, I put a foot against the coffee table and shoved it farther away, then helped her straddle my lap. The cast bumped against my arm, and I braced her biceps and leaned back to lift her arm to rest on my shoulder better. At her grimace, I smiled.

  “Was the kiss that bad?” The ache straining my cock promised me I was all in.

  “No.” Nose wrinkled, she gave me a glare that came off more sultry than pissed. I loved how her lips would get that swollen look after I kissed her a few dozen times. Just made me want to bite that lower lip and kiss her hard. “I just… I hate that stupid cast. It gets in the way.”

  She hated why she had to wear it more.

  “As long as it’s not hurting you at the moment, we can work around it.” I hadn’t been pushing. Between the nightmares, the trauma, and the pain she’d been in, encouraging sex had just seemed like a bad idea. I wanted it to be right for her, and I could be patient.

  “Not hurting me at all. Just unwieldy,” she complained as she smoothed her left hand over my shirt.

  “What can I do to help?”

  She glanced up at me from beneath those lashes, and all the blood in my body drained south. Frankie was a stunner. There was no getting around it. With a roll of her hips, she ground against me, and I hissed out a breath.

  “Help me get up?”

  Fuck. Not my favorite four words, but I dropped my hands to her hips and lifted her. She’d never seemed fragile to me before. I swore she’d lost weight the last few weeks. Once I had her on her feet, I started to stand, but she pressed a hand to my chest.

  “Not you.”

  I raised my brows and sat back. When she knelt, I said, “Frankie…”

  “Shh.” She pressed a finger to her lips. “I might need help in a minute, but I have this.”

  Then she reached for the snap on my shorts, and I groaned. It took her a moment to loosen them, and it took everything I had to keep my hands away from helping her. She moved forward on her knees, nudging my thighs apart, and I let them spread.

  The gentle rip of sound as she lowered my zipper sent tingles skating across my skin, and my balls grew tighter. The want was real. Frankie darted another glance up to me, and I licked my lips. “You’re beautiful.” The words slipped right out.

  She laughed as she tugged on my shorts. “Going to need your help again.”

  “Yeah?” I glanced down to where her hand rested against my hip. “What can I do for you, babe?”

  “Take these off?”

  I hooked my thumbs into the sides and pushed them down. I braced my feet to lift my hips so I could them off without her having to move. As soon as they were over my thighs, she took over and tugged, leaning to let me slide them off my legs before she was in front of me again.

  “Better?”

  “Hmm,” she murmured, and stroked one finger over my erection through the boxer briefs. The fabric was thin enough I felt every inch of that contact, and not thin enough because it denied me the feel of her skin. “Almost. Think you could take these off, too?”

  Was that even a question?

  I dragged the briefs down and over. She leaned away and helped me get them off, and then smiled when my very eager cock bounced against my stomach as I settled back. The cold air did nothing to chill out the need at having her this close to me. The first time she’d touched me, I damn near came in her hand. If she did it now, I might just blow, but damn what a way to go.

  “You know, this is usually me going down on you,” I said as she rested her right arm against one thigh and spread her left hand against my skin. It was hot and cool in equal measure, and pre-cum leaked. I wanted her so bad, it was a physical effort not to drag her up and just kiss her before I got rid of her clothes, too.

  Speaking of which, to save time, I stripped off my shirt and tossed it behind her. Her pupils dilated, and I grinned.

  “You’ve never let me do this.”

  “Babe, it’s not a matter of let,” I told her. “Seriously, when we’re naked, I just want to sink inside of you. I love fucking into you until you’re screaming.”

  She shuddered.

  “I love that, too,” she said, and then slid her hand against my balls, and it was my turn to suck in a breath. “I love it when you kiss me and tease me and drive me crazy. But I like this, too.” Then she leaned in and licked across my tip, and I closed my eyes and fisted my control. I wasn’t going to blow my wad like a pre-teen in the middle of the best wet dream of his life.

  I’d had dreams of her like this.

  When she swirled her tongue over the tip, I bucked a little. It was too much and not enough. A tease. A promise.

  “I’ve wanted to try this on you since that first night.” Yep, that declaration sent a bolt of lust right through my system. The hot heat of her mouth wrapped around me as she fisted the base of my cock and swallowed almost half of it. Her tongue teased along the underside, and I let out another groan.

  “That feels so fucking good,” I told her, and dug my fingers into the sofa cushion, even as I reached with my free hand to tangle in her hair. Not responding other than to bob her head, she set up a rhythm that sucked every thought I had down to my balls.

  The brush of her breath as she exhaled through her nose on the downstroke teased against my abs. She sucked me deeper, and I had to fight to keep from thrusting up to fuck her mouth. The pace was just the right side of agony to keep my balls tingling, and not quite enough to push me all the way over.

  A little bit of drool escaped her mouth, and I tracked it for a moment.

  Even that was hot.

  Fucking drool was hot when it was her mouth on me, and I groaned as my cock hit the back of her throat. She made a gagging noise and eased back. I fisted her hair, ready to pull her off. “Babe,” I grunted. “You don’t have to.”

  The look she hit me with said ‘shut up, I want
to.’ Then she eased to the tip, and finally, I popped out of her mouth and we both let out a shaky breath. “I want to,” she verbalized the words. “But if you don’t…”

  “Oh, I do,” I promised in a hurry. “I want you to touch me. I love your hands on me, and your mouth is fantastic.”

  “Is it enough pressure?”

  “You could do more,” I said. “I won’t break. But whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  She studied me for a beat, then glanced down at my cock. I followed her gaze. The fact that she’d had her swollen lips wrapped around me was totally doing it for me, and my dick twitched.

  “You want to control the speed?” That offer almost had my eyes rolling back. She opened her mouth a little wider. “Do to my mouth what you like to do to the rest of me?”

  “Frankie…”

  “I want this,” she told me. “I want you, and I want to feel you.”

  I don’t know who thought consent wasn’t sexy, but fuck me. “Yes, I want to. Ease back a little.” She moved back on her knees, and I grabbed a cushion, then helped her kneel on that while I stood. It would be easier for me to thrust at that angle. “Hand on my thigh.” She slid her left hand up, and I reached around to tug the coffee table. “Right arm there.”

  She gave me a grin. “Lot of set up for this.”

  “Yes, but then we’re doing it my way, right?”

  “True.” Her lips quirked, but it was laughter and heat in her eyes, and the combination made me harder.

  “This is how it goes. Relax your jaw, suck and lick as much as you want, but I’ll push. If I go to deep or you can’t breathe, you slap my thigh once, and I’ll ease off. Deal?”

  My balls were tingling at the thought of it. I was still half-tempted to just strip down her shorts and eat her out until she screamed, then fuck her. I pocketed the first half of that for later. If she was doing this for me, she was going to come as many times as I could make her.

  “Deal,” she whispered, then pressed a kiss to my tip, and I groaned. When she opened her mouth and sucked against the tip, my thoughts splintered. She threatened to shred my control, but I had to hold onto it. I was not going to hurt her.

  Gathering a handful of hair, I murmured. “We’re going slow at first. Just relax, this is how I’ll control the rhythm. I’ll try not to pull.”

  “You can pull my hair.” The vibration of the words against my dick sent lust streaking through me like a wildfire. “I like it when you pull my hair.”

  I had, usually when I fucked her from behind, and now that image painted itself across my eyelids as I worked my way past her lips and tugged her head forward to let her take me as deep as she could. At the first hint of gag and spark of dampness at her eyes, I eased back.

  Twice more, then I had it.

  “Ready, babe? I don’t know how long I’ll last.” I wanted to come so bad, at this point, it wasn’t funny.

  She nodded a little, then smiled around my cock. Someday, I wanted a picture of that. I wasn’t likely to forget the image, but I still wanted one. She sucked me deeper, and I rocked my hips forward, guiding her head. Slow at first, shallow pumps, and every stroke of her tongue was exquisite torture. Then faster, fighting to keep it careful, I pushed a little deeper, a little further each time, always easing off when the choke of her gagging escaped.

  Tears trickled down her face, and I almost hesitated, but she dug her fingernails in and moaned. A real moan, she was getting off on this, and that did it to me. I let go, and she took every thrust until my balls dragged up tight.

  “Babe, I’m going to come…let me…” She dug her nails in again and fought to stay with me. Then bliss ripped up my spine and spilled out of me in a heated wave as she swallowed around my cock and I shuddered.

  Best fucking feeling in the world. My legs were weak when she pulled off of me, and I sat abruptly. When she pressed her head to my thigh, I stroked her hair.

  “You’re beautiful,” she whispered, and I cracked my eyes open to find her watching me.

  “Nah,” I said, still trying to catch my breath. Sweat trickled down my chest, but all I needed was another moment, and then it was so her turn. “You’re the beautiful one in this relationship.”

  “You’re beautiful when you let go and trust me,” she corrected. “And I had the best view in the house.”

  Chuckling, I dragged her back up carefully and kissed her. Sweeping my tongue into her mouth, I half-tasted myself still on her tongue, and if that wasn’t the sexiest fucking thing, I didn’t know what was. “I beg to differ, babe.” Then I scooped her up, and she let out a shriek of laughter as I stood.

  Oh yeah, my legs were still wobbling a little.

  “The best view is the one I’m about to have,” I informed her as I carried her toward her bedroom.

  “What about our homework?” Playful tease licked each word.

  “It’ll still be there.”

  Five minutes later, I had her naked and sprawled in front of me. Like I said, best view in the house.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Love Bites

  Jake

  “Hey, Baby Girl, you ready?” I called as I let myself in. Football practice had run late. Coach ripped into all of us. Fine by me. I was about ready to put Barry Jenkins out with a permanent injury. I had zero doubt who was behind sabotaging Bubba’s bike. He might not be the only guy behind it, but he was definitely in on it.

  “Yeah,” she answered, coming out of the hall to her room. The tank top and sweats look was really working for her. “It’s colder, isn’t it?”

  The temperature outside had dropped into the fifties, and the sun was already on its way down. The cold front sweeping in promised a chilly Halloween. “Yep. Need help with a sweatshirt?”

  We both looked at her cast.

  “I bet I can cut one of mine for you.” It was a suggestion, but she made a face. “And I can braid your hair,” I offered. “If you want.”

  She laughed. “I managed to brush it today.”

  “I know, I still like doing your hair.” I caught her fingers and tugged her back to the bedroom. “How was your ‘me’ time?” After school, Coop had taken her home, and she’d said she wanted a couple of hours just to herself. Coop texted that he wasn’t gonna run deliveries so he could be close by, and I headed over as soon as practice ended.

  “I liked it,” she said. “I even went and checked my own mail.”

  In her bedroom, she perched on the end while I went through the clean clothes stacked on my duffle. It looked like Jeremy had swung by. The man popped by two or three times a week, and always did something around the apartment. It was tidier each time. Even Frankie had noticed, and she always got this little exasperated look on her face.

  It would be amusing, except the fact that she had limited mobility was making her crazy, so I did my best to refrain from teasing her. I found one of my football shirts, it just had the team logo on it. I think we all got these back in junior year. Didn’t matter. I only wore it to work out or run on really cold mornings.

  “Scissors?”

  She pointed to her desk. “You don’t have to cut up your clothes for me.”

  “Come on, Baby Girl, do you know how sexy it is when you wear my stuff?” She rolled her eyes, but there was a pleased little smile on her face. “Besides, we’re going to get our Halloween costumes tonight.”

  “Yeah, about that…”

  I pulled the scissors out and then cut the cuff off so we didn’t have to squeeze it over the cast. “You decide to be Catwoman after all?” Archie painted an excellent picture of Frankie in leather. I could definitely get behind this idea.

  “No,” she muttered, and thumped me when I reached her. “You guys all have sex on the brain.”

  “You in leather?” I snorted. “No, that’s us all having you on the brain.”

  That snagged me another smile, but it faded too quickly. I pulled the sweatshirt over her head. The thing dwarfed her, but it worked to cover her arms, and I
tugged it down. “What’s going on, Baby Girl?”

  “Haven’t decided on costumes yet.”

  “Uh huh, that doesn’t make you moody.” I helped pull her hair out from under the collar before I stood to grab her hairbrush and some ties. “Talk to me.”

  “I got mail.”

  Apprehension crawled up my spine. “Yeah?”

  She ducked her gaze when I faced her before she rose and walked over to her desk. Opening the top drawer, she pulled out two envelopes.

  “Early decisions.”

  It hadn’t even been four full weeks. That would have to be the fastest on record for getting any decisions. The envelopes were small.

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” I told her as I walked over. “You heard the same overview as I did, a lot of stuff is online, so they don’t send these giant packets anymore.”

  “I know, but I’m kind of terrified to open them. Which is stupid. These are the things I’ve been dying to hear about, and I’m scared to open them.”

  “Is it Harvard?” I’d bet money neither was. Not yet. No way she’d hold off on opening that.

  She shook her head and moved to sit in her chair when I pulled it out for her.

  “Okay, so who is it?”

  When she held them up, I read the return addresses—NYU was on the first one, and Fordham on the second. Those were both in New York.

  “Kind of Harvard adjacent,” she joked, but it fell flat for her, and I didn’t push it. Instead, I just started brushing her hair so I could braid it. She let out a shuddery breath. “What if I didn’t get in? They weren’t my first picks.”

  “What if you did?” I countered. “You’re pretty awesome, you know.” They still weren’t her first pick. “New York could be cool.”

  “Have you seen what apartments are like there? They’re so tiny.”

  I grinned. “We’ll make sure we have space for a big enough bed, and we can all pile onto it.”

  Her snort made me grin wider. With a few careful twists, I began gathering her hair back into a loose French braid, more to get it out of her way because we would be trying on costumes.