by Monica Rush
“No kidding. Will he call later?” I jump as the lights suddenly flicker on, alarms blaring throughout the house as the clocks regain power. Suddenly all the candles in the room seem stupid, and I move to stand, then sit back again, remembering my half-clothed state.
Dean grins as I gesture to my shorts across the room. “You mind?”
“I do, actually,” he says, rolling one shoulder and making no move to retrieve my shorts. “I’ll get the clocks. Paddy has this thing about time and has clocks everywhere.”
He leaves the room without a backward glance, and I stare after him, my irritation growing by the second. I do, he says? Then he walks out? Does he want to see me naked or not?
And why did the lights have to choose this freaking minute to come back on? There’s no reason for me to stay here if the stupid power is working. And the thought of tromping back across the half-flooded yard to my own cold and lonely cottage seriously doesn’t appeal.
“Will you pull yourself together,” I hiss to myself, launching off the couch and stalking across the room with the blanket trailing behind me. I drop it as I reach my shorts, glancing around for the panties that are nowhere in sight. I’m totally going to need to track those down before Paddy comes back, but right now, my shorts will do. I pull them on roughly, grimacing as the damp fabric slides up my legs, and head for the kitchen.
Maybe if I can get the dogs something to eat I can justify staying for at least a little while longer. It’s already dark outside, the night falling way too fast this time of year. I can barely see my little cottage through the sheeting rain. It’ll be my luck that I’ll get all the way over there and find that while this house is cooking along, mine is still cold and dark.
I open a kitchen cabinet and pull out the cans of dog food I keep over here for nights like this. Paddy doesn’t approve, but it’s not like he ever uses the cupboards. He never has any food in them. A bright flash of lightning suddenly whitewashes the landscape outside, and I jump despite myself, moving quickly. I need to get all the cans out first before I even try to pop one, because the dogs will respond to that noise like heat seeking—
Boom!
A crack of thunder loud enough to rip the sky apart shakes the entire house at exactly the same moment the lights blink out again, and I can’t help it, I scream at the top of my lungs. Instantly the dogs burst into a chorus of howls in the living room and I hear Dean’s heavy footsteps pounding through the house. A second later he races into the kitchen, his sharp command keeping the dogs at bay.
“What?” he yells next, whipping around and trying to find me as his eyes grow accustomed to the dark. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry!” I don’t even try to keep up my bravado and run directly for him, his arms opening only a split second before I bury myself against his chest. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scream, I didn’t mean to get scared!”
“Babe, babe—it’s okay, truly.” Dean’s arms move around me almost instantly and he cradles me against his body, feeling like a mountain of safety no matter how furiously the storm is blowing outside. I can’t seem to stop shivering, and I try to press even closer. His voice lowers as his words come out slower, gentler, as he calms me down. “Shh, Bobbi. I’ve got you, baby. I’m here now. There’s no reason to be scared. I’m not going anywhere.”
Promise?
“I—I know I shouldn’t be scared,” I say again, my teeth chattering as I cling to his chest, tears threatening to fall. “I used to get so scared when I…when I was younger, being babysat while dad was on a job. And I’d get in trouble when I wasn’t brave enough. Some sitters gave me stuffed animals I could hold tight, sometimes I made up stuffed animals with pillows and socks and I just gathered them close and pretended they were the scared ones and I was there to protect them and—” I hiccup again, trying desperately not to sound so lame, but it’s already too late. No way is he going to find anything about me desirable, not now that he sees what a hot mess I am. “I’m sorry, Dean. You must think I’m being a big baby.”
“I think you’re being human,” he counters and kisses the top of my head. “It’s no wonder you have so many dogs all the time. You’re their protector. They’re the scared ones, so you focus on comforting them to distract you from your own fear.” He pulls me closer, hugging me so tight I feel his heartbeat against my cheek.
He just read me like an open book and I love it, love that someone other than Paddy knows that about me. “Thank you for understanding. Again, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Dean rumbles again. His hand is moving rhythmically along my back now, and I can feel my heart rate gradually slowing, my breath evening out. “You don’t have to apologize, I’ve got you now. You and the dogs are safe here, no stuffed animals required.”
I sigh against his warm chest, the heat of him steaming through his tee shirt, and drink in the fresh, outdoorsy smell of his body, warmed by sunshine and now wood smoke. I feel myself relaxing and…and then I feel something else, something hard between his legs, and it’s now pressing against my stomach.
Dean’s definitely aroused. By me.
The very last vestige of my fear disappears in a poof of rekindled desire.
Experimentally, I rock my hips against Dean’s groin. “Is that…”
His shaft thickens further and he chuckles low in his throat. “You need me to spell it out for you? That’s my cock, sweetheart, and it’s harder than fucking concrete.”
“Because of me?”
“For you,” he growls and holds me to him. “Always for you, Bobbi. You’re mine. Tonight and every night.”
I don’t know why I’m shocked by this, but I am. I’ve wanted Dean to say those words to me since that day last summer, but now that he’s said them, I’m not sure I believe them. He says he wants me tonight and every night now, but what about tomorrow and the day after that? He’s a gorgeous beast of a man who could have any woman his age, a woman with experience. How can I possibly compare to that? I’m neither.
“Stop,” he tells me softly. “I see those wheels turning. Stop thinking I’m going to disappoint you. Stop thinking I’m going to leave you. Stop. I can tell you that I’ll do neither. Not tonight. Not ever. Now come here.”
The dogs are still in the other room, apparently content to be laying in a heap by the fire, and I lean away from Dean, my back arching against the counter. With the lights out and no candles in this room, he can’t tell that my entire body is consumed with a blush, I’m pretty certain. His words sink into me, convincing me. For now. I need to make this happen before the electricity kicks in again.
Dean leans down to nuzzle my cheek with his soft lips. The movement is so intimate, so affectionate, that my heartrate ticks up again, but this time for only the best of reasons. “I want to do right by you, Bobbi. Your first time shouldn’t be slammed up against a kitchen counter. But if you don’t stop wriggling around like that, that’s exactly what you’re going to get.”
The deep, sensual heat of his voice arrows straight through me, and everything south of my ribcage turns completely liquid, until all I can do is cling to Dean’s hips, his powerful legs braced wide.
“I’ll take you any way I can get you,” I finally manage, practically dizzy with need. “Any way you want to fill me up.”
Chapter Six
Dean
“Oh, I’ll fill you up, buttercup.” Even as I say it, I know she’s going to reject that pet name too, which is fine by me. I never want to repeat that phrase again. Talk about cheesy.
“I think I like princess better.” She grins and rocks her hips, rolling against my agonizingly hard cock and driving me wild. “Don’t waste any more energy coming up with a nickname for me. Please, Dean. Make me yours.”
Can this finally be happening? Am I really lifting Bobbi in my arms, cupping her ass with my hands, and carrying her to my bedroom? I fight the urge to take her to the counter and then literally take her. Someday, I tell myself, but not today.
Despite how badly I want her—and I want her so bad my cock is throbbing, protesting that I’m not already buried deep inside her body—I won’t let her first time be me plunging into her on a kitchen fucking counter.
“Where are we going?” she asks, tightening her legs around me. I slow and suck in a breath. I can feel the heat from her pussy penetrate through the fabric of her shorts and the thick material of my jeans, and soak right into my dick. It jumps in response, begging to be released. If she does that again, we won’t make it to the bedroom.
And then she does.
“Bobbi,” I groan and press her to the wall, trapping her in place as I hold her chin with my hand so she can’t move. Only then do I close the gap between our mouths and slant my lips over hers. I’ve never tasted such want, such undeniable need before. In us both. I’m desperate in my drive to explore every recess of her beautiful mouth.
“Right here,” she whispers against my lips.
I pull back and study the dark hunger swirling in her emerald gaze. “Here?” It’s a fucking hallway. She deserves something better.
She nods quickly. “Please, Dean. Right here.”
Kissing her hard, losing myself in the connection, I find some way to remove her shorts. I’m pleasantly surprised to find she’s not wearing her sexy little boy shorts beneath. Her bra is the last to go so that she’s perfectly, gloriously naked, and wrapped around my body.
Instinctively, as if she reads my mind, she leans back far enough to pull my shirt over my head while I kick off my jeans and briefs. Her hard nipples brush against my chest as I adjust us, nudging the head of my cock to her slippery virgin opening.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Nothing matters but giving her everything she wants right now, however she wants it.
Her answer is her locking her ankles behind me and rolling her hips, pushing my cock deep inside her body. “Oh god! Dean!”
We both freeze and stare into each other’s eyes. There’s no way I’m doing this without watching her and making sure she’s watching me in return. I want to see her as I accept the gift she’s giving me, and I want her watching me as I take it. “Bobbi, baby, look at me. Watch me.”
She’s so fucking tight, like a fist, as our bodies become one. Her eyes glaze over as I slide my cock out and back in even deeper, rocking my hips over and over until I work my hard flesh into her. I’m now buried to the hilt and hold us still. Her body spasms as it adjusts to my size, taking all of me, accepting me as a part of her.
“Kiss me,” she pleads and I’m powerless but to give her exactly what she wants. As I consume her mouth with mine, I plunge my cock deep. She cries out and locks her ankles tighter, pulling me further into her world. I’m lost, so completely lost in her. Her body is mine, and I don’t mean in just the physical sense. There’s something else happening, something almost spiritual, which is a first for me. I feel her. I fucking feel her.
“My Bobbi,” I say as I tear my lips from hers to feast on her neck. “My beautiful Bobbi. You are perfect. Fucking perfect.”
Her legs start to shake and her pussy tightens on my cock. “Dean,” she whispers. “I—I don’t… I’m so—Dean!” She throws her head back and cries my name again when I thrust so deep I swear I feel her in my soul.
I work my thumb on her clit, flicking against the tight bundle, lifting her higher as I pump into her, joining our bodies over and over. When I press down, she cries out and arches her back. And I know she’s ready.
“Bobbi,” I growl and thrust into her body, slapping our hips together and edging us that much closer to paradise. “Come with me.”
“I—I don’t… ah!” Her body clamps down, and I’m done. I’m so fucking done. She screams into the darkness and claws at my back as her orgasm grips her. Jesus and Christ, that shit hurts. It also drives me to my own release. I explode deep inside her channel, coming hard, giving her everything I am. I catch myself before my knees give out as my body drains into hers, filling her hole with my seed.
Before I lose all my strength, I lower her down so as not to drop her. She shudders out a breath. “Holy…”
“Shit,” I finish for her.
“Now what?” she gasps, her wide eyes suddenly full of warmth and something I’ve never seen—especially from Bobbi. Trust.
Trust!
Guilt strikes me fast and hard. She wants to believe the best about me, I can feel it in my bones. But how much will she trust me once she finds out the truth of why I’m here? I should tell her everything, right now. She deserves to know before we do anything—
“Can I stay here tonight?” Bobbi asks, that look of innocent hunger flashing in her gaze driving every other thought right out of my mind. I know how to feed that hunger. I want to feed it, too.
I nip at her lips. I’ll tell her the truth tomorrow, I decide. Tonight, with the storm raging outside and the fire surrounding us with a rosy glow, is meant for more immediate pleasures. “Only if you sleep naked,” I tell her.
“Then you have to, too,” she sighs, her mouth curving into a smile.
I pull her to me, kissing her soundly. “Deal.”
Chapter Seven
Bobbi
The high pitched, almost desperate whine drags me out of some of the most amazing dreams ever. I’m a goddess wrapped in the arms of her fierce and mighty god, protected and loved and cherished and fucked within an inch of my—
My eyes fly open and I stare straight into the face of several sets of soulful, pleading gazes.
“Guys!” I gasp at the dogs as behind me, a giant of a man mutters and shifts, his heavy arm sliding off me as he rolls over. I turn around, equally disoriented to see Dean laying tangled in the sheets, naked and glorious and—
Dean!
I slap my hand over my mouth, so startled I nearly fall out of the bed. Catching myself in time to avoid squishing the scattering fur balls, I trot quickly out into the hall. There I’m greeted by more dogs, all of them wagging their tails so hard and dancing so earnestly I’m surprised they haven’t already turned the kitchen into a public bathroom.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” I promise them as I stop briefly in the hall to retrieve my shirt and shorts. Dragging them over my body, I can’t help but grin as I think about what happened here last night—here and in the bedroom, in the enormous shower in the master bath, and once again in the hall on the way back to bed. I’d never really had an opinion about the hallway before today, but now it’s one of my favorite places in the house.
I hold the door open and the dogs bound outside into Paddy’s sturdily fenced back yard, all the animals deliriously happy to be running in the early morning sunshine. There’s no sign of last night’s storm, thank heavens, but the grass is still soaked through. The dogs don’t seem to mind, but I don’t have my rain boots here, and my bare feet nearly freeze within two steps into Paddy’s back yard.
I glance over to my cottage, more to make sure it hasn’t blown away in the storm than anything, and stiffen. The landlord’s car is there, the man himself staring at me beside the vehicle with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
“Mr. Greaves!” My first thought is one of elation—he’s come to fix the water! The roof! Anything at all! But as I hurry toward him, exiting and relatching Paddy’s back gate as I ignore the bevy of cavorting dogs around me, I quickly read the tension in Mr. Greaves’ body, the scowl on his face. “Ah—hi there,” I say as I draw near, careful where I step since I’m in my bare feet.
He doesn’t waste any time. “What are all those dogs doing here?” he snaps, jerking his thumb toward the pooches in Paddy’s yard.
“They’re all staying over at Paddy’s,” I say quickly, though I can tell Mr. Greaves doesn’t believe me. He knows I volunteer for the shelter, and he’s already caught me several times with more than the allotted two pets at his rental cottage. I square my shoulders. “I should think you’d be worrying less about what my neighbor does with his yard and more about the fact the roof is bare
ly holding together on your cottage. I thought we talked about you fixing it before the storms got bad?” I point to the sagging corner of the house. “Well, they’ve gotten bad. That’s not going to last.”
“The roof?” He stares at me as if I just suggested he take a walk on the moon. “I’m not doing a thing to this house until you and your filthy pack of animals are out of there, which is going to be sooner rather than later. You’re violating your lease, and I can have you evicted at any time—and the dogs removed as well. Permanently, if necessary.”
“Whoa, what?” I stare at him, hardly able to believe my ears. “Did you just threaten my dogs?”
“They’re not your dogs, they’re your neighbor’s, remember? And if they’re on my property, I’m well within my rights to protect my interests. You’d best be thinking of that the next time you leave my back yard full of dog shit.”
He doesn’t even wait for me to wince, but turns and angrily opens his car door. Of course, he’s looked in the back yard, and of course, I didn’t have time to clean the little fenced-in space before the rain started pouring down. He’s got me cold, and he knows it.
“I’m sorry, Mr.—” I begin, but he turns the key in the ignition before I can get the words out, then peels out of the driveway, making me lurch back to avoid getting hit by gravel. I step on a sharp rock and bite my lip as I watch him roll down the sloped drive, clearly not noticing any of the broken pavement as he bounces onto the county road.
This…is not good. It’s totally not good.
I step inside the cottage and grab the rain boots sitting by the front door, surveying the cramped space. I never really liked this little rental, but it’s where I’ve called home for the past two years. Where will I go if Mr. Greaves actually makes good on his threat? And where will the dogs go?
