Justified

by Jay Crownover

  Before he could gather his wits to protest, I swiped my tongue across the wide head of his cock. The slightly bitter taste of pre-cum hit my tastebuds as I pulled the swollen head of his erection into my mouth. I felt Case’s body arch up from the seat. One of his hands landed on the back of my head as I bobbed down, the other went to the small of my back, sliding down my spine and into the waistband of my shorts. I felt his fingers on the curve of my ass and heard him gasp my name in an entirely different tone when I sucked hard enough to hollow my cheeks out. I used my hand to squeeze the base of his erection. Urging him without words to lift up so I could get more of him in my mouth and my hands between his legs.

  If he was going to argue about propriety and decency, the words died a pretty quick death when his jeans ended up around his knees, and his balls ended up in my hands. He was warm everywhere, and I could feel tension making all of his muscles vibrate. I appreciated the restraint, but I needed him to let loose. I needed him to feel as out of control and reckless as I felt. Maybe it wasn’t fair. I’d wanted him for a lot longer than he’d wanted me, but anticipation was killing me. I had to know if we would be as good together as I’d always imagined.

  When I used my teeth, just slightly, he swore, and his fingers dug painfully into the curve of my ass. A moment later I felt them glide through the valley between my cheeks, a feather caress that didn’t stop until it reached the wetness gathering between my legs.

  I gasped around the rigid length in my mouth. I moved too fast in surprise when I felt his fingers start to slowly, softly part my wet folds so he could stroke the hungry entrance to my body. A throb of pleasure made my inner muscles clench, and I wanted to know what it would feel like to have all those fluttering, quivering places he was touching moving against his heavy, hard shaft.

  I continued to work Case over with my mouth until he growled my name and started tugging on my hair in warning. He was almost down my throat, I was practically humping his fingers, my nipples were so hard they hurt, and we were both finally so far gone we could have been in the middle of a church service on Sunday, and there would be no stopping what was coming next.

  I pulled my mouth off of his straining erection with a wet pop. I scrambled to shove my shorts and underwear down my legs as he stripped my plain, black T-shirt over my head. I gasped when he lifted me up like I weighed nothing and put me back in his lap, only this time when I lowered myself down, it was so I could take his entire, throbbing, heated length inside of me.

  The initial contact forced my eyes closed and had him swearing up a storm. They popped back open when I felt his lips land on my cheek, and his hands on my waist pulling me closer. I dropped my forehead to his shoulder, realizing he was still mostly clothed while I was exposed. That shouldn’t have been a turn-on, but it was. Seemed like the new me liked a little bit of risk. Which was a good thing, since every inch of Case that was pushing its way inside of me was as raw and as naked as the want shining out of his blue eyes

  “Is this okay?” The rough question growled after the fact was almost endearing. It was kind of a pat to my ego to know he wanted me so much that I scrambled all his normal responsible instincts.

  “I’m clean,” he continued. “I told you, I’ve been alone a long time, and we just had our yearly physical for the department a few months ago. I’m Mr. Clean.”

  I let out a surprised giggle.

  We hadn’t talked about what was going to happen when we moved to the next phase of our budding relationship. It seemed like with everything else we did, it was all or nothing.

  We either loved or hated.

  We were either in or out.

  There was no middle ground.

  “It’s more than okay. I told you already that I got a clean bill of health when I left David last year. I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to have you inside me. I love that having all of you, that I can feel everything.”

  Right now he was all the way inside of me and I was feeling extremely loved. We shared a tender kiss, and I whimpered a little when he used his hold on my waist to lift me up and guide me back down. It didn’t take long to find a rhythm that worked, given the confines of the front seat and the impatience that had been hounding us.

  I rocked against him frantically, hands sliding under his shirt to rest on his chest, which was now slippery with sweat. One of his hands palmed my breast and I moaned into his mouth when he used his thumb to rub my nipple into an aching point under the silky fabric of my bra. He felt huge inside of me, and every single time I lowered myself down, so he was fully seated, I stopped breathing for a second because I felt completely consumed by him. There was no room for the past when Case was taking up every available centimeter of the room inside of me.

  “Give me your hand.” He grumbled the order into the side of my neck where I could feel his teeth leaving a mark. I unlocked shaking fingers from his hair and put my hand in his.

  Watching me without blinking, he dragged my palm over my skin. Guiding over my chest, down across my belly, until it finally reached the place between my legs where we were joined. I opened my mouth in mute surprise when he put his fingers over mine and slowly started to manipulate my clit. I felt how wet I was, could feel the heat coming from our connection. It was such an erotic sensation to feel his hardness moving through all my softness.

  I threw my head back and moaned his name. He shifted so he could use his teeth on my still-covered nipple. My clit was tight and so sensitive under our combined touch. All of it was too much at once, and I shattered

  I yelped a shocked sound as my body locked down on Case’s. I felt my release rush around his still thrusting cock, but the drag and pull of competition he wrung from my body must’ve triggered his own, because a heartbeat later he stiffened underneath me and a new wave of warm, wet pleasure flowed between us. Case dropped his forehead to the center of my chest and moaned.

  His fingers were still locked with mine between my legs, and every touch sent lights exploding behind my eyelids. I rested my cheek on the top of his bent head and struggled to catch my breath. I pushed my fingers through the short hair at the base of his skull and muttered, “Totally worth going to jail for.”

  It was also totally worth waiting for. Case was right.

  Chapter 16

  Case

  My body was tired, happily worn out and sore in all the right places, but my mind was wide awake and running at a thousand miles a minute.

  After the unexpected interlude in the parking lot behind my sister’s bar, I took Aspen home and barely made it through the front door before I was all over her again. It was a rush to make up for lost time, and luckily she seemed just as desperate for the contact as I was. We took a short break to refuel before moving to my bedroom. After a shower that ended up doing more to get us dirty than clean, we fell into bed exhausted and blissed out. Aspen fell asleep almost instantly, her face serene and pretty as her eyes fluttered in time to whatever she was dreaming. Her parted lips were cherry red and swollen from too many kisses, and the elegant line of her neck was marred with tiny bruises left behind from my teeth. She looked thoroughly debauched and perfectly edible. I wanted to be greeted with the same sight every time I opened my eyes.

  Reaching out a finger, I gently pushed a stray piece of ebony hair away from her face. The ends caught on her lip and brushed over the tip of her nose, making it twitch and causing one of her dark eyes to pry open. She watched me sleepily as I used my index finger to trace the high arch of her midnight-colored eyebrow.

  “I was jealous of you when we were younger.” The admission felt like a dirty secret I’d been holding on to for a very long time.

  Aspen’s other eye popped open, and she shifted so one of her hands was settled on the center of my chest.

  “How is that possible? I was a mess back then. I spent so much time trying to be the opposite of everything my mother wanted me to be, I could barely figure out who I really was. And I had no friends. You were the only one who made an effo
rt to be nice to me.”

  I shook my head a little and pulled my fingertip down the delicate line of her nose. “I knew who you were, even if you didn’t. You were the girl who dressed how you wanted. The one who believed in something tangible and real, when everyone else was only concerend with status and being popular. You were the only person in our entire school who knew what it was like to live somewhere other than Texas, so your worldview was bigger and more interesting than anyone else’s. From the minute I was born everyone in Loveless knew my name. By the time I took my first steps everyone already had an idea who I was supposed to be. Other than you, I didn’t meet a stranger until I joined the military. My world was so small, and yours seemed so big. Even coming home after deployment, I was jealous. I hadn’t seen you in years but I heard all about you coming home and getting married. How you were this ugly ducklig turned swan…not that you were ever ugly…but you get the point I’m trying to make.” I sighed and looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “I had to come back here. I didn’t have a choice. You decided to come back. When you could have gone anywhere, lived a bigger life somewhere else. I was envious of your options. I think that may have been part of the reason it was so easy to hold on to a grudge for so long. All the things I’d wanted in my life that I lost my shot at, I felt like you had and tossed away.”

  She hummed a little sound that could have been one of sympathy or distress. I rubbed my thumb along the pillowy curve of her lower lip and let myself drown in the darkness of her eyes.

  “I didn’t want to stand out in a bad way when we moved here. In Chicago I was one of many, and no one needed another friend like me to fill the void. When I got here, no one knew what to make of me, so I was always left on the outside looking in. I felt like I was always searching for the place where I belonged. The first time you asked me if I wanted to come to a football game was the first time I’d ever been included. It made me feel special. You made me feel like I mattered, like I had a place here.” The long, tapered fingers resting on my chest tapped a rhythm matching my heartbeat. “I came back, not because I found a place I could fit in, but because I found a place I wanted to help make better for other kids like me…and like you.” Her eyes shifted to black velvet. “No one should have to live up to the kind of corrupt legacy you did. There should be an even playing field, so all of us can just be who we are and be accepted for the things that set us apart. I came back to fight for the underdogs.”

  I gave her a lopsided grin and curled my fingers around the side of her neck so I could tug her close enough to kiss. “My ego was hoping you were going to say you came back because of me.” I was only kind of kidding.

  A soft puff of laughter hit my lips, and I felt the impact of it right in the center of my chest. I was soft for this woman. Somehow, when I wasn’t looking, she’d reached inside of me and locked her hands around my heart.

  “Maybe there was a very small part of me that wanted to come back and see if you ever found your way out from under the cloud of being Conrad Lawton’s son. You know I always had a crush on you in high school. I thought you were so impressive, and maybe there was a touch of hero worship at play, but then you went to work for your father.” She sighed, and the edge of her nails dug painfully into my skin. “I was disappointed. But not in the same way the rest of the town was. I thought you deserved more.”

  I made a noise low in my throat and pulled her even closer. I skimmed a palm down her silky thigh, lifting it until It was resting along the outside of mine. The new position had my newly awakened cock brushing lightly against her soft, tender opening. I wasn’t a kid anymore, but my body missed the memo and started to respond to her welcome heat again. Her foot rubbed against the back of my calf as she shifted closer.

  “I had an agenda.” The admission was rough. Keeping track of the conversation grew more difficult when she kissed my collarbone and dragged her hand down my chest toward my stomach. My abs contracted under the caress and my cock thickened and lengthened even more. The tip nudged against her velvety entrance, toying with tender skin and playfully bumping against the tight bud of her clit. Aspen gasped, and I dropped a kiss on her head. “I wanted to make Loveless a better, more equal place as well. I had a lot of idealistic dreams, but then everything in my personal life turned into a nightmare, and I was busy trying to save myself. I forgot I promised to save everyone else.”

  I felt her fingertip dip into my belly button and then dive lower, tracing the line of hair that narrowed down to my now eager and very ready cock. I sucked in a breath when she fisted the wide base and squeezed. The pressure had my eyes threatening to roll back in my head. I liked the way she handled me—fearless and unafraid. There was never any question she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

  Her tongue flicked at the pulse hammering at the base of my throat, and her forehead brushed against the side of my neck when she nodded. “And look at you now. You are making it better. You pushed your dad out. You took over as sheriff, and you actually did something for this town. Even if it took a little longer than you planned. I wanted to do that but got caught up in perpetuating the image of a perfect marriage. When I was finally accepted, even though it was only for show, it felt so good, I also forgot I was supposed to be working toward doing good. I feel like we both found the path we need to get on in order to be get us to who we were always meant to be. And it’s kind of an awesome bonus we get to walk the last few steps together.”

  She hitched her leg higher on my waist and pressed even closer. My breath caught when she used the hold she had on my cock to guide the head of my erection through the satiny, wet slit between her legs. Every time the flared head of my cock bumped against her clit, her eyes widened and her breathing quicked. It was a delicious tease, soft and mellow, since we were both sexed-out and languid from a day spent devouring one another.

  I let my hand trace along her ribs, climbing until I could palm her breast. I hummed in satisfaction when I felt her nipple dig happily into the center of my palm. She was such a perfect handful—like she was made just for me.

  Her arms wrapped around my side and shifted just enough to lodge the first few inches of my cock inside of her. Her inner walls fluttered around me, like an internal kiss. I nudged her head back so I could reach her mouth, lips barely touching as my tongue moved on her lips. The kiss turned from a leisurely, slow seduction of her mouth to something far more aggressive when I used my weight to roll her onto her back so I could settle more fully against her. I mimicked the rhythm I started following between her legs in her mouth. In and out at an unhurried pace, drawing the sensation from overstimulated senses slowly and deliberately. Her legs wrapped around my waist, ankles digging into my ass as I started to thrust. I loved the way her body enveloped mine with zero hesitation. It was the sweetest feeling on earth.

  Her fingers drifted through my hair. Her eyes slid closed, and we moved together like we’d been doing this dance in the dark for ages. It never even occurred to me that there should be any kind of barrier between us. My entire relationship with Aspen was about knocking down walls and finally allowing myself to be naked, without any mask or facade to hide behind. She was the only person who saw me for who I really was. I wanted her to have all of me, and I wanted to be able to have all of her, whatever may come.

  I braced one arm above her head, hand fisting in her long hair as we rocked together, the pace increasing along with our breathing and heartbeats. I rolled her nipple between my fingers making her arch up into me. I grunted in surprise when her fingernails scored a line of fire down either side of my spine. I was going to have marks on my skin tomorrow, and I couldn’t wait to see them. I kept our mouths sealed together, tasting her moans over and over again as we slowly, leisurely climbed toward the crest of pleasure.

  I felt my orgasm start to coil and wind tight around the base of my spine. My hips kicked in reaction, moving more intently, pounding harder to chase after the all-consuming feeling leaving no part of my body untouched. I released my ho
ld on Aspen’s pert breast and moved my hand to the curve of her ass, tilting her hips higher, aiming for that spot inside of her that would break her apart. My rhythm faltered as my orgasm broke me apart. My forehead fell to rest against hers, causing our noses to brush together as her body unraveled much more languidly and lazily around mine.

  Her sigh was a whisper of sound against my mouth as I wrapped my arms around her and flipped us, so she was sprawled across my chest. We smelled like sex and each other, the darkness of the evening wrapping us up in a private, cozy veil. I wasn’t ready to let her go.

  Aspen nuzzled her nose in the hollow of my neck, keeping her face hidden as our bodies slowly slipped apart. She hissed a satisfied sound and tightened her arms around me. All of her responses and reactions were so honest and real. It was so refreshing to be with someone I could trust.

  I sighed and held her close. “Being with you means so much to me.” Because it was so unpredictable what the future held. She almost took a bullet, and I never knew what kind of dangerous situation could go south on me on any given day.

  She kissed my shoulder again, and I could tell she was getting sleepy.

  As I held her, I thought about how she had changed me since the very beginning. I was drawn to her because she was so very different from everything I’d ever known. She was new and exciting, smarter than anyone I’d ever met. Now, I was pulled in by her strength, her resiliance, her loyality. She was always special, and I found myself trying to improve because she deserved someone as special as she was.

  I was good at my job, gave my all to it every single day. I really considered it a calling, which was why I’d always had so many issues with how my father ran his office. But I’d always been emotionally removed from my duty and the badge. It took having someone I cared deeply about being smack dab in the center of one of my cases to make me realize what I did was always going to be so much more than an occupation. I was starting to see how being personally invested in the lives and well-being of the people I protected might make me a better sheriff and a better man. Regardless if so many of those people wanted to see me fail. Having Aspen believe in me, knowing she held on to that secret all those years, was a game changer. Her faith in me lit a fire inside of me that had been snuffed out a long time ago.