by Christa Wick
Chapter 19
Shane pulled back. Releasing his hold on her hair, he continued to trap her face with a relaxed touch. Velda could close her eyes, but she couldn't look away.
"What are you afraid of?"
Her mouth twisted in hesitation. Really, what wasn't she afraid of?
"Tell me, love."
The pain dulling his midnight gaze was too much to bear. She drew a deep breath, sorted through the many worries to find the one that coiled tightest within her chest.
"I don't want to become background."
Velda immediately regretted her words. The answer wasn't fair to Shane, not after the last thirty days.
His eyes drifted shut. Flying blind, he pushed forward, planted a soft kiss on her lips then retreated with a weary sigh.
"Baby, you've spent the last ten years being background at the shelter."
The accusation cut deep. Knowing it was true, she shook her head anyway.
"Don't get me wrong," Shane added. "Everyone loves you. They respect and rely on you. But none know you. Not really."
He released his hold on her face but kept her caged with his big, immovable body. In weak protest, she pushed at his chest.
"You're going to have to ask harder than that, baby."
His fingers brushed through her hair, feather stroked the exposed ear.
"I won't lie and claim I was attentive in college." His voice broke. For a moment, he glanced away, then pinned her with his dark gaze. "We were kids still. We had terrible role models. I only knew I wasn't making the mistakes my father had. I couldn't see I was making entirely new ones."
He rolled to the side, claimed the cushion next to Velda.
"I needed to provide for our future together as much as I needed to breathe. I substituted my father's extreme laziness with being a workaholic's workaholic. I equated the physical intensity I demonstrated in bed with emotional depth…"
Taking her hand, he brought it to his lips, kissed it once then held it against his chest.
"Baby, I've matured."
Velda tilted her face upward, stared at the ceiling as she tried to separate her warring emotions.
"I don't think I have," she confessed. "Everything that haunted me in college still scares me."
Shane took a deep breath, held it for several long, excruciating seconds before replying.
"If I told you that Georgia absolutely isn't competent enough—"
Velda jerked on her captive hand.
He chuckled before finishing his thought.
"Just as I thought. You'd have my balls."
"Damn right, I would!"
"But if someone said the same about you?"
Velda didn't think her chest could get any tighter. His question proved her wrong. Throat clenching, she stared at Shane.
"Baby, I would punch that person in the face. I would pound the stupid straight out of them."
She knew he was trying to be funny and serious at the same time, but her attempted laugh escaped as a choking bark. Angling into her, Shane draped one arm across her chest, blanketed her plump thighs with his muscular one. Lowering his head, he rested it on her shoulder, his beard tickling her neck.
"Velda, no other woman excites me. Only your presence comforts me."
Shane cupped her face and drew her into a deep, relaxing kiss. His mouth tracked right, traveled along her jaw and down her neck once more. She let him fold their bodies together until it was only the color of their clothing that distinguished where she ended and he began.
"I promise, there's nowhere I want or need to go that won't let you be right there by my side."
"Men's urinal?" she snorted.
The thick, black brows carved a deep line up the center of his forehead.
"Well, Langley and the Pentagon could pose the occasional problem." He softened the warning with a fresh smile that relaxed his entire face. "But I'll get you the appropriate security clearance for any such trips."
A weak smile flickered along her lips. Shane touched his head to Velda's, lightly squeezed her shoulder.
"Love, I can't pull you into the foreground. You have to step into it," he said. "I want you in my life, every single day, not one day less."
Velda curled a hand around his bicep, clutched at it like she was about to be sucked into a vortex and he was her only anchor.
"Okay," she whispered.
"A little louder," Shane teased.
She head butted him then smoothed her fingers up the line of his arm to secure the back of his neck.
"You're asking for trouble," she teased back.
"As long as that trouble is attached to the rest of you, baby."
Drawing a deep breath, she slid his leg from her thighs then straddled him. She knew the position wouldn't last long. He was too dominant. But she enjoyed the power of trapping his lean hips as she pushed the weight of her full breasts against his chest.
Her teeth played along the edge of his bristly jaw. His hands cupped her ass.
"I want you in my bed," Shane said.
Velda's muscles contracted at the raw, rumbling tone. Her knees squeezed at his sides, thighs tightening as fresh heat pulsed deep within her.
The physical reaction warming her skin was the only approval he needed. Gripping her tighter, Shane rose from the couch with her limbs wrapped around him. Reaching the bedroom, he rocked her onto the mattress. Her legs kept him locked against her.
She tugged his t-shirt off, threw it aside then attacked his belt buckle.
Shane grabbed her calves and spread her legs as he took a step back.
"Not so fast, baby. You take a piece, I take a piece."
Velda wanted to tell him that seemed fair enough, but her throat refused to unclench. She nodded instead.
He went straight for the button on her jeans. He had always liked to start there after the verbal foreplay ended. For Shane, her wet pussy was the main course.
And dessert.
Also frequently an appetizer.
Remembering all the times he had licked and fingered her to ecstasy, Velda exhaled a shaky moan.
"Yeah," he groaned, big hands seizing the band of her jeans and the panties beneath. "It’s definitely going to be one of those nights, love."
Hearing her sandals, jeans and panties hit the floor together, Velda had just enough functioning brain cells left to object to the count.
"That was three pieces," she groaned.
"Shoes don't count," he answered, sinking to his knees at the foot of the bed.
"They do."
Shane kissed the inner side of her shin then chuckled as his hands patted around the floor. Finding her sandals, he returned them to her feet then pulled her ass to the edge of the bed. Locating the spot where he had kissed her leg, he kissed it again. Then he kissed a little higher.
Then higher still.
Two-thirds up Velda's thigh, he started licking.
Nipping, too.
His head bounced from leg to leg, hands firmly manipulating a location as soon as his mouth abandoned it. The brush of his beard was foreign but exhilarating. She had been too overwhelmed in the attic to truly process it as a separate stimulation. Now she could feel each stiff bristle.
Reaching her spread labia, he deeply inhaled. His eyes drifted shut
"Fuck, I missed your scent."
She missed being scented by him, missed the slow lick along her clit that always followed.
His tongue found its target. With a month of pent-up fantasies, her flesh was hypersensitive to his touch.
A moan rattled in her throat.
"Don't pop yet, love."
Velda moaned again, this time in protest.
Rising to his feet, Shane repeated the warning as his hands moved quickly to peel the rest of his clothing away.
She stared with heavy lids. Time had matured his body. Every change was for the better. The light dusting of black hair that ran from his cock up to his belly button had thickened. So had the spread along his chest.
Muscles that had already been well defined were thicker, the tendons and veins standing out in sharp relief as his body swelled with need.
As all of him swelled with need.
"Piece for piece," he rasped, stepping between Velda's spread legs.
Grabbing around her elbows, he pulled her into a sitting position. She wanted to touch him, to run her hands against his bare abdomen and chest before wrapping her fingers around his long, thick cock. But his plans included peeling her hoodie and t-shirt off.
Velda snuck her arms free. Her fingertips glossed across his nipples, rippled over his tight abdomen. Shane groaned her name, his hands racing after Velda's to capture her wrists.
"You have to be sneakier than that," he warned, lifting her arms above her head. His other hand reached between them to pop the front clasp on her bra.
"Sneaky like you?" she asked.
The dark eyes glittered with mischief and intent.
"Sneakier."
Velda blinked, found herself tits down on the mattress, Shane's big body blanketing her. His fist wound through her hair, tugged until she turned to face her left shoulder. A thousand plus memories flooded through her of how he had taken her in this position.
But he wasn't taking her, not yet. His cock slid against her bottom. The tickle of his silky pubic hair over the sensitive flesh of her ass and back of her thighs left Velda squirming and gasping.
"Open," he ordered.
She obeyed immediately, thighs parting, ass lifting and nudging.
Fingers slid into her, drove deep. Then they left her, replaced by his thumb as he fingered her swollen clit.
"I need your cock," she whimpered.
Lowering to his knees, Shane nipped at the side of her waist then at one fleshy cheek.
"Tippy toes, love."
This was new, she thought, forcing her ass higher.
Shane rewarded the change in position with a hard lick. His slick tongue ran from the top split of her labia, dipped into her pussy then floated over her perineum to the tight star of her ass.
Air trembled between her lips.
Really, really new.
"Baby?"
"Yes?"
"You're going to pass out tonight."
"O-kay…"
"More than once."
Velda repeated her consent, the word chopped into a dozen pieces as it escaped.
"How do you feel about heels?"
Shaking with need, she managed to look over her shoulder and shoot off a tart reply. "Depends on who is wearing them."
A grin cracked his face a split second before he smacked her ass.
She gasped, quivered, pushed her bottom even higher.
"Hold that position," Shane growled. "I need to ring room service."
Chapter 20
In Velda's world, "thirty minutes or less" was reserved for pizza deliveries. At the resort, the same amount of time and a fair amount of cash produced a pair of red-soled, open-toed Louboutin pumps and scarlet lingerie in the finest silk imaginable.
The shoes were an easy fit. The lingerie gave her heart palpitations. With ties at the side, the panties were little more than a triangle of silk to cover her mound. The bra was a balconette with a triangle of supportive straps that barely kept her from spilling out.
Well, she didn't spill out when she stood upright.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, face twisted in horror, she bent forward and placed her forearms flat against the sink's counter.
Examining the results, Velda breathed a sigh of relief.
"Crisis averted."
She took a second, deeper breath meant to induce calm. Even if Shane hadn't intended the outfit and shoes as a test, wearing them was exactly that. If she couldn't put them on and "step into the foreground" when it was just the two of them, she didn't have a chance in his life.
Repeating a mantra she had tried to instill in the women and kids at the shelter, Velda exhaled and took her first shaky step for the bathroom door.
"Confidence begins at home."
Opening the door revealed a room filled with lit candles, their flames flickering from an ocean breeze. Looking toward the terrace, she spotted Shane leaning against the rail.
On the bed, a hint of modesty waited in the form of a robe in the same scarlet silk as the bra and panties. She slid into it, smiling as the hem skimmed just above her knees.
Unaccustomed to heels, she walked slowly toward Shane. His head tilted to the side at her approach, then he slowly turned to watch her take the last few steps.
If his gaze devoured her, she didn't know. She had stopped looking at his eyes to appreciate the bare chest and black silk pajama bottoms.
Bare feet—lucky bastard.
"Amazing, love."
She looked up, need flowing through her as she read the lust stamped across his strong features.
With the sudden feeling that a life with Shane was possible, Velda was hit with an equally sudden worry about the future of her shelter.
"I can't dress like this every day," she warned.
Shane looked at the dark sky, stared at the moon for a second then dropped his head and hooked her gaze once more.
"Sun's down, baby."
Velda nodded, exhaled.
He pulled her to him.
"You could be prancing around in a t-shirt and bare feet," he murmured against her ear. "And you would still be the hottest woman I've ever seen."
His mouth dipped to kiss her jaw. His hands moved up to capture her head.
"Time to go inside, close the drapes and fuck you blind."
Every limb trembled as Shane led her to the bed, centered her at the end and pressed against her shoulders so that she was once again positioned with her tits down and her ass up. He left her like that for the few seconds it took to close the drapes. His return was marked by the possessive cupping of his hand against her silk-cloistered pussy.
"Mmm…how long do you think it will take for you to soak through?"
The question was rhetorical. She had already soaked through. There was barely a gusset to the panties. All that really separated her flesh from his was the robe, the silk so thin it could have been dyed gossamer.
"Not long," he answered with a husky whisper.
Grabbing the bottom hem of the robe, he draped it across her lower back. Velda expected a touch, maybe a lick. Her thighs clenched in anticipation. Labia slick with need rubbed against one another as muscles elsewhere pulled tight.
Shane kept his hands behind him for a few seconds then turned away completely. He walked into the outer room and brought back a desk chair. Placing the chair a few feet from her exposed bottom, he sat down.
"You look absolutely edible, love."
So eat me! she thought, need and frustration trembling through her.
"The way that ass rolls when you think about me touching your pussy."
Ah, hell, he just had to mention it and—
"Yeah," he softly laughed. "Just like that."
He inched the chair closer until he was within arm's length. His knuckles grazed the back of her thigh. One finger dipped behind the gusset of the panties and pulled it tight. The tip of something cuddled the tight ring of her pussy. A single knuckle, perhaps. Not the end of a finger because she tried to push onto it and was denied.
"Eager, wet…"
The chair scraped closer. Shane reached out with both hands and peeled the panties down to her thighs. Grabbing both sides of her bottom, he spread her cheeks. Together, his thumbs pushed into her pussy.
Velda's eyes did a hard roll upward as her face pressed into the bedspread. She exhaled a hot breath, the warm air and moisture reflecting back at her.
Shane brought his hands together as if in prayer. The palms pressed together, every fingertip lined up with its counterpart. The thumbs stayed inside her clutching pussy. Slowly, he seesawed back and forth, slow thrusts in and out of her sex as the top row of fingers rubbed over and over against her clit.
She pre
ssed her forearm to her mouth, bit at the flesh to control the deep moans bubbling inside her.
His tongue touched her, flicked lightly against the star of her ass. Her chest seized, her thighs trembled.
Climax was imminent.
"Oh, love," he teased, pulling away. "I'm not letting you off that easy."
A second later, she felt his silk pajama bottoms brush against her heels as he shed them. His hands seized her hips, pulled her straight onto his lap, pausing only long enough to align his cock with her pussy.
Raw need strangled her throat as the fat head and thick shaft penetrated balls deep into her pussy. Reaching around, he teased the fabric shelf of her bra down a quarter inch. With the thick, pouty nipples freed, he began to pinch and twist.
"Pull your hair aside."
Breathing in rapid gasps from the fullness invading her, Velda pawed her hair until it gathered and spilled forward across her right shoulder. Shane's teeth pressed into the padded meat of her left.
Biting was also new, but it didn't hurt any more than the sharp tugs and twists to her nipple. With his cock stretching her and endorphins streaming into her blood, it didn't hurt at all.
Only her stomach ached from all the need coiling in her gut.
He kissed and licked at the indentations his teeth left. When the flesh was soothed, he pushed Velda forward without unseating her.
Forward, back. A slow, deep-driving teeter-totter.
The first time Shane rocked her all the way back, she was certain she would pass out. Pleasure spiked inside, her vision grayed.
"Breathe, love."
Her chest bunched too tightly to obey. Her concentration focused on the muscles of her coiling pussy and the way the fat pommel of his cock butted ruthlessly against her cervix.
"Shane…I…"
Velda tried to warn him.
He already knew.
Still inside her, he rose, pushed her face down onto the mattress. All feeling left her legs as he roughly ground his lean hips against her ass.
Her fingers began to tingle, then her face.
Moans twisted past her lips, their needy pleas freed by the erratic jerk of her hips as Shane rammed harder and deeper.
Her pussy sucked him deeper still, lipped at the base of his shaft, mouthed its length. His groans joined hers. Everything pulsed inside her, squeezing and manipulating until she drew one last breath…
