by Vera Quinn
I broke the kiss just long enough to beg her, “Let me take you to the bedroom.”
“Okay.” She was breathless, wanting, and I couldn’t wait to have her in my bed, writhing beneath me as I made her feel so good it made everything else just fall away.
Chapter Ten
Annika
I lay back in the softness of Brody’s bed as he laid gentle kisses all over my body. It was hard not to writhe, each touch of his lips sparking a euphoric wash over my skin, his hands warm where he trailed them over me, gooseflesh following in their wake. I barely remembered to breathe as he explored me so thoroughly, bringing my body alive with lust and the blush of desire wherever he touched.
He went slow, asking after every touch of his lips, “Is this okay?”
I smiled, touching his hair, twining my fingers lightly through it and answered, “Yes.”
“How about this?” he asked after another kiss, lower than the first.
“Mm, yeah.”
“And here?” He pressed his lips to my skin, just below my belly button. I giggled, the touch tickling me, and nodded.
“Mm-hm.”
His eyes captured mine as he stared up the length of my prone figure and the smile slid off of his face, his eyebrows going up in something akin to surprise, wonder in his eyes. I felt my breath catch as I asked, “What is it? Brody, what’s wrong?”
“Wrong?” he echoed. “Nothing is wrong, baby. Everything is right. I guess I just got a little starstruck.”
I laughed uneasily. “By what?”
“By you. You’re just incredible,” he breathed. “You’re beautiful, brave, and selfless and I can’t believe that you’re here. That you’re letting me love you.”
“Me? Selfless?” I asked incredulously. I mean, wasn’t just me being here selfish? I hadn’t done anything. I wasn’t the one who had just given up my bone marrow a couple of weeks ago.
“Yes, you,” he said and before I could continue the argument, he stole my words by pushing himself up right and sliding between my legs, his mouth coming down over mine, his cock, thick, hot and so erect, branding the inside of my thigh with its heat.
He kissed me, both of us writhing against each other, breaths rasping in an erotic cadence in counterpoint to one another. He moaned into my mouth and I whimpered in response. Just the feel of his skin against mine sent me close to the edge. His warmth, the hardness of his body, the way he devoured me from the mouth down as if he were a man starving.
All of it sent every one of my senses reeling and I wanted so badly for him to be inside me, but he wouldn’t be rushed. He took his time; kissing, licking and exploring every inch of me. His touch was so gentle, the play of his lips along my skin so enticing, and the way the warmth of his breath rushed over my skin sent me into delicate shivers of delight.
“You good?” he inquired lazily, and I smiled and bit my bottom lip coyly.
“Be better if you’d come back up here and kiss me,” I murmured.
“Not yet,” he smiled impishly. “I’m just getting to the best part.”
He went down on me, his tongue teasing as he lightly probed my pussy lips with it and it was a sensation I wasn’t all too familiar with but I could very quickly get used to.
“Oh my God!” I gasped, practically levitating off the bed. He put his arm across my hips and pressed me back down into the mattress, chuckling against my sex. The vibration from it caused my legs to twitch as electric pleasure crackled and sparked things to life.
I cried out his name, the sensations unfamiliar and edging toward too intense, but all at once he seemed to ground me by slipping a finger inside of me. The sensation of him gliding through my wetness, the long, elegant digit seeking out the places inside of me that’d only been touched once or twice before and never with such careful consideration sent my eyes to rolling into the back of my head, my body to writhing of its own volition.
Brody was patient with me, holding my legs apart with his shoulders when they tried to snap closed with my surprise. His mouth delicate on my clit, his finger, now joined by a second inside of me stroking carefully along my roof for what, I didn’t know but I certainly knew when he found it.
I panted, the euphoria unfurling up from my middle, somehow teasing my nipples from the inside, traveling lazily down my limbs. I shuddered in supplication beneath his attentions and practically melted from the pleasure but he was just getting started.
I trembled finely, the ecstasy building until I felt as though I had been dropped into a fast-moving, warm river of euphoric bliss. I gasped and panted and vaguely was I aware of crying out wordlessly, loudly, in utter joy.
When the stars receded from my vision, it was to see Brody smiling smugly as he leaned down above me, smoothing my hair from my face asking if I was good to continue.
All I could do was whimper… “There’s more?”
Chapter Eleven
Brody
She looked up at me, slightly unfocused, incredibly dazed and so incredibly beautiful and asked in a lilting voice heavy with surprise, “There’s more?”
I laughed and positioned my cock at her entrance with my hand, pressing down on the base of it, and capturing my bottom lip between my teeth bit down on it as I fought not to go too fast or too hard.
I was a thousand percent sure by this point that Annika had never been properly fucked and while I was happy to be the one to introduce her to the concept, tonight wasn’t about that. Tonight, right now, was about loving her into a blissed-out coma. There wasn’t anything going on here as fast or impersonal as a good fuck. That could come later when we were feeling playful. The air was charged with too many heavy emotions, too much anxiety, too many firsts to fuck it up by going too fast or too hard.
She groaned in pure bliss as I slid into her, her pussy a slick velvet heat, drawing me in, welcoming my cock, and loving me back. I grunted and groaned myself, my eyes closing, my head bowing as I gave myself wholly to the sensation of being inside of her, my Annika, finally after having quietly fallen in love with her over so many late nights and honest chats.
I couldn’t tell you the amazing feeling that washed over me, having her in my arms, having her look up at me with her keen, bright, and interested gaze as I slowly began to move. Her hands gripped my ass, urging me to stay as she wrapped her long legs around my hips and I couldn’t honestly think of any place, any other woman I would rather be or want to be with.
God, I loved her. And I was so grateful for loving her, too. I had honestly been so afraid I had loved, and lost, and that I would never love again but then there she had been… on the night I had missed my wife the most and I just knew Maia had been there, guiding my hand to click on Annika’s post and that the very stars had aligned on purpose.
Now, here we were, and I was loving her and she was loving me and the world felt so right again and I swore as I drew back and surged forward carefully, as our moaning and panted breaths entwined, as our bodies expressed what our hearts and minds couldn’t put into words…
I would never let her go.
Not so long as she would have me.
I’d found love again and I would care for it, nurture it, and would be here for her always.
I’d answered her call, had answered the call to save a life and in turn had found that mine had been saved from a bitter and lonely fate and as I gazed into her eyes in gratitude, as I made love to her, I knew that this, with her, would be forever and always… the forever and always I thought I would have and that cancer had cruelly ripped away.
Somehow… somehow here and now, I realized that it had given back in a weird little roundabout way.
“Oh, God! Brody, don’t stop!” she gasped and I smiled.
“Never,” I promised.
I would never stop loving her.
Chapter Twelve
Brody
Weeks Later…
“You ready to go home?” I asked, looking over my shoulder and shoving some more of Luke’s accumulated thing
s from his hospital room into one of the hospital’s personal effects bags. His backpack was already straining at the zipper.
“You have no idea,” he said, rolling his eyes but then his look became somber. “I just wish Dad was going to be there.” I bit my lips together and nodded, Annika speaking before I could.
“I know, bud. But, he and Mom are trying to work things out and he’ll be there when you get there today.”
“Yeah, but it’s not the same,” he complained. “You’re moving out, Dad’s moved out, and you guys are leaving me all alone with Mom.”
Annika and I traded a look and laughed. It was true, their mother loved them, fiercely, but that sometimes translated to her having this weird inability to see either Annika or Luke as anything older than oh, say, five years old?
“Mom loves you, and even with as annoying as she can sometimes be, you know you love her too,” Annika declared in her best sisterly ‘don’t be such a drama queen’ tone of voice.
Luke rolled his eyes with an exasperated pre-teen sigh and declared, “I know!”
I chuckled and with the rest of his accumulated belongings in hand, his nurse wheeled him out, his sister at his side while I brought up the rear. I was glad to be closing this chapter of my life. I was looking forward to beginning a new one with Annika who smiled at me over her shoulder. We went out the doors in the front of the hospital, Luke’s mom and dad waiting for him, the car door sitting open and my chest swelled with pride that I’d done something good here. That I had saved a life, and my gift in return was that mine which had lain in ashes and ruin had been picked up by one of the most beautiful and selfless women I had ever met.
“Ready to go home?” Annika asked me, smiling.
“Yeah!” Luke answered, figuring she was talking to him. I smiled big and couldn’t stop smiling.
“Yeah,” I echoed and her smile just grew bigger.
The End
Also By AJ Downey
The Sacred Hearts MC
1. Shattered & Scarred
2. Broken & Burned
3. Cracked & Crushed
3.5 Masked & Miserable (a novella)
4. Tattered & Torn
5. Fractured & Formidable
6. Damaged & Dangerous
The Virtues
1. Cutter’s Hope
2. Marlin’s Faith
3. Charity for Nothing
4. Stoker’s Serenity
The Sacred Brotherhood
1. Brother to Brother
2. Her Brother’s Keeper
3. Brother In Arms
4. Between Brothers
5. A Brother’s Secret
6. A Brother At My Back
7. A Brother’s Salvation
Indigo Knights
1. Her Thin Blue Lifeline
2. His Cold Blue Command
3. A Low Blue Flame
4. His Wild Blue Rose
5. Her Pained Blue Silence
6. A Cold Blue Call
7. Her Reluctant Blue Cavalier
8. Forged Under Fire
9. Under A Blue Moon
The Sacred Hearts MC - PNW Chapter
1. Over the High Side
Paranormal Romance (with Ryan Kells)
1. I Am The Alpha
2. Omega’s Run
3. Hunter’s End
About the Author
A.J. Downey specializes in writing real and relatable contemporary romance stories. She’s from Seattle, WA and loves the Pacific Northwest. She finds inspiration from her surroundings, through the people she meets, and likely as a byproduct of way too much caffeine. An avid reader all of her life, it’s now her turn to try and give back a little, entertaining as she has been entertained.
Stalker Information:
Website
www.ajdowney.com
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http://eepurl.com/dkQiIH
Facebook Group - AJ’s Sacred Circle
https://www.facebook.com/groups/authorajdowney/
It begins with You
R.S. James
I’m dedicating this to;
My mom,
You are braver than you believe
Stronger than you seem
Smarter than you think
And more loved than you will ever know.
Cancer won’t know what hit him.
Chapter One
Colton
Whoever says you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, they’ve never had alcohol and a line of coke. I see you judging me; I wasn’t always like this. I had the perfect life. I had the wife, the kids, and a dog. I had it all, and because I’m a selfish asshole, I let it all slip through my fingers. Well, I didn’t “let it slip,” I cheated multiple times with multiple women. Do I regret it? Yes and no. I regret hurting Claire, Carly, and Carson, but the cheating brought Caitlynn into our lives. I’m not proud of cheating with my then wife’s twin sister and not being careful enough not to bring another child in the world.
With that, I still whole-heartedly believe Claire would have left me, and she would have had every right to. You wouldn’t even know me if you knew me when Claire and I were together. I had my own construction company, and I dressed nicely. I was a part-time parent; I was there when it benefited me. Like when Carson played football, and all the moms would be there to check me out, hell yeah, I was there or when Carly ran track, and again moms and coaches checked me out, hell yeah. When they were in trouble or needed help, sorry, Dad’s busy. Claire always defended me. I’m telling you, I had it all. Once Claire left, she didn’t stick around long after the kids graduated high school, and really why should she? To have Clarissa and I shoved in her face at every turn? I mean, we were arrested with drugs in our possession. When Clarissa’s mom showed up, she did so with paperwork for us to sign our rights over. I mean, what kind of parents were we, driving around at two o’clock in the morning with our three-month-old? I mean, I know when the twins were babies, we would drive around the block, and they would go to sleep but not at two in the morning. Hell, I don’t think we ever took them out past ten at night.
Sitting here looking at the coke in front of me on the coffee table, I wish it would finally kill me. I went to see Carly, and when I had seen how much damage I’d done to her, I was at a loss and didn’t deal well. I begged her for money for my next fix. Yeah, I know, I’m not proud of it. She was always a daddy’s girl. She only ran track because I did, and it was our thing. In the offseason and during the season, we’d run together—yes, again when chicks see you running; it’s like a turn on for them. I told her I’d be there for her state track meet and completely blew it off. Claire, being who she was, defended me. Hell, when Carson and I got into the fight, and he broke my eye socket, she supported me until Clarissa got in her face. Then my Claire cocked her arm back and let it swing. She has never hit anyone or anything in her life and ended up breaking her hand.
I think in that minute. I fell in love with her all over again, but my dumb ass had already fucked it all up. Honestly, I can’t blame her for not waiting to make it work with me; I couldn’t be faithful to her if I tried. Honestly, the only thing I’m committed to is this coke and alcohol. You would have thought when Clarissa overdosed; I’d have stopped, but nope not me—it actually encouraged me to use more. I wanted out. I don’t like the person I’ve become, and I don’t know how to change that. I used to watch Carly and Carson’s Facebook pages for updates on Claire and Caitlynn, but I can’t do that anymore. Carly begged me to leave her alone. I’ve hurt her so much, so me watching from a distance is the least I can do. I traded my old phone for a fix, so now I have a track phone just so my mom can contact me. I’m such a shit dad; I don’t even have my kids’ numbers. I don’t know if Carly married that guy she was with and pregnant by or if she is still single. I don't know anything about my kids anymore. Caitlynn doesn’t have my last name; the guy Claire married adopted her. I am nothing but a failure to everyone, and I don’t even know how or why I wo
uld try to change now. I mean, I feel like it’s too late. Well, until I got the call. I don’t even know why I answered. I stood there with my line all ready for me, but the ringing of the phone set something off in my gut, telling me to answer it. “Hey, Mom, you okay?”
“No, I’m really not. I-I need you to come over. I got some news I need to talk to you about.”
Looking at the line, I ask, “Can I come tomorrow? I’m kinda in the middle of something right now.”
“Colton, I don’t give two shits about the bitch you’re in or what drug you’re using to try and kill yourself; you get yourself to my house in twenty minutes. I’m giving you time to shower and be here, or else you will go to rehab. I’m not kidding. This is important.”
“Mom, you're kinda scaring me. Are you okay? I mean, physically?”
“No, Colton, I’m not even close to being okay. Just get in the shower and get here.” With that, she hangs up. Pulling the phone from my ear, I look at it then head down the hall to shower. Something tells me my life is about to change drastically, and I’m not sure I’m ready for it.
Chapter Two
Emily
I go in every year for my yearly physical—both the lady one and a complete physical. I lost my mom to breast cancer, so I want to try to prevent it as much as possible. I’m going into work late today for this appointment, and I’ll work late to make up for it. I always get high anxiety when the doctor leaves the room so I can get dressed, and then he comes back to talk about things his concerns. He comes in and tells me he will call me in a couple of days with the results. Leaving, I feel something niggling in the back of my mind, but I can’t put my finger on it. I know something is amiss. I make my way into work and try to work and stay focused. On my lunch break, I make my first mistake by looking at the patient portal. It states there are nodules on my left lung. I can feel the anxiety and panic start to rise. I call my sister, who is a medical assistant. Leaving her a message asking her to walk me through what it means in a language I can understand. While I wait for her to respond, I head back to my desk. I have a stack of papers that need to be put in the system and filed. I’m lost in my own world; I almost miss my cell ringing. Glancing at it, it’s the doctor’s office. Oh, shit, I knew something was wrong. “Hello.”
