He wanted to come all over her, right this second. But he also wanted to claim her from the inside. Yes, inside. Now. He spun her around and planted her hands against the wall.
“I want to see your ass in those little shorts,” he muttered as he kneed her legs apart.
Breathing fast, she rested her forehead against the wall. The submissive position made his brain sing with lust. The way her ass quivered under the micro shorts nearly undid him. Beyond the hem, he could see the shadow of her pussy, a glint of wetness.
He slid his fingers inside and found the crease between her legs and the drenched bit of fabric that formed the crotch of the shorts. He used it the way he’d used her top, sliding it back across her clit to stimulate and madden her.
With a low cry, she arched her hips back in eager invitation. Take me. Take me hard.
Abso-fucking-lutely. Just as soon as he’d finished driving her mad with lust. He reached around her, under her shirt, and found the nipples he’d already teased. Still erect, still swollen, still eager for his touch. She jolted as he spanned his hand across them, nipple to nipple.
“God, Darius.” Her groan tore right from her core. Her body trembled and shook. Her ass nestled right between his thighs, such a wicked temptation. With the hand that wasn’t on her nipples, he toyed with her clit. Each pulse and swell sent a shot of adrenaline through him. He slid a finger inside her, glorying in the wet heat he discovered. He brought it out to smear across her clit as he rubbed.
She buried a shriek in the crook of her arm.
“I got you, baby. I got you,” he told her roughly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the condom he’d stashed there. With his teeth, he tore it open, keeping one hand clamped on her pussy. The old one-handed condom roll.
When he was completely sheathed, he set both hands on her hips and tilted her ass toward him. He pulled down her shorts and let his hands linger on the bare, pale skin of her ass. God, she was something. The light and shadows playing across the globes of her ass, and the valley between, were sheer erotic beauty. She should have posed for that damn Kama Sutra rug.
He slid a finger along the seam of her sex, capturing a trickle of moisture and the pulse of her excitement. His cock jumped in response to the incredible silky heat. Inside. He needed to be inside.
He guided himself to her entrance and paused there, giving her a chance to adjust her position. She widened her legs, tilted her hips. “Come on,” she urged him in a voice like a hit of adrenaline. “Fuck me.”
Damn.
He thrust inside, hard enough to make her jolt, but easy enough to make her sigh. “Oh yes, that’s amazing, Darius. Oh my God. Right there.”
He found an angle that hit a spot he knew she liked—he’d catalogued it the other night. He added pressure on her lower belly with his right hand. There. That was the spot. Pinned between his cock and a hard hand. Thrust. Thrust again. Grit his teeth against the crazy pleasure that tried to capsize him before they reached their peak. Thrust again. Nibble her earlobe. Growl random words in her ear. Fucking hot. Come, baby. Come hard. I can do this all night, honey. And I will. I’ll fuck you so long and hard we won’t leave this house for a week.
When she finally exploded, she let out a cry of ecstasy that she forgot to muffle. She quickly bit it off into a series of whimpers as her body pulsed around him. Her tight muscular channel gripped him hard, demanding everything from him.
And he gave it to her. Every bit of him. The orgasm detonated through him with blinding force. He clamped his jaw shut against the shout that tried to burst from his chest. Holy hell, he wanted to yell. Holy frickin’ hell.
When they came back to themselves, he drew up her shorts and rolled the condom off his penis. “Stay right where you are,” he whispered in her ear. She spread her arms wide against the wall and leaned against it.
“You melted all my bones. I’m stuck here.” She looked so adorably sleepy that he grinned. He ducked into the bathroom and disposed of the condom. He looked at himself in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize the crazy-eyed, wildly satisfied man he saw there. When was the last time he’d looked that alive? That happy to be alive?
Probably around the time that Dylan was being conceived.
He came back to the hallway and heard a soft snore from Kate’s limp form. Had she actually fallen asleep with her face against a wall? That would take a special talent. Along with all her other special talents.
Gently, he peeled her off the wall and tucked an arm under her knees. He lifted her off her feet and strode toward her bedroom.
“I wasn’t actually snoring,” she murmured against his chest. “That was a joke.”
“It was a cute one. Very cute. But I’m still carrying you to bed.”
“You just really like carrying me to beds. Admit it.” Her sleepy demand made him smile.
“I have no problem admitting that. I’ll carry you to bed any time you want.”
“Works for me.”
He tumbled her onto the mattress where they’d spent so many blissful hours. She reached for him, beckoning, so he stretched out next to her.
“I should probably get back. Early morning tomorrow.”
“Just snuggle with me for a minute,” she murmured.
He cupped his body around hers, like a bear protecting a cub. She wriggled her body to get into the perfect comfy position. “How are you so warm and snuggly-riffic?”
“Snuggly-riffic?”
“Mmm, hmm. Snuggly-riffic,” she repeated. “Cuddle-tastic. You’re even better than a weighted blanket.”
He chuckled deeply. “Never heard that before. I hear good things about weighted blankets.”
“Yeah, well, they can’t fuck like you do. They can’t make me feel the things you do. No one makes me feel the things you do. No one ever has.”
In the hush of the night, those quiet words held nothing but blunt truth. The kind of truth Kate might not be willing to share if she wasn’t half-asleep.
In the morning, would she even remember that she’d said them? Would he?
Hell yes, he would. He wasn’t likely to ever forget those words in Kate’s husky voice.
“Same,” he said gruffly. He could say more than that, but he didn’t have her way with words. Hell, she’d just invented some new ones off the top of her head. He liked to demonstrate rather than explain, and as far as he was concerned, he’d shown her exactly how he felt—with his body.
Maybe in time he’d say more. He was patient.
He heard another soft snore, and smiled to himself. Good thing he hadn’t taxed his brain to come up with the perfect words. They would have been wasted on her sleeping ears.
He nestled closer to her. He should probably go back downstairs. If he fell asleep here, he’d never want to leave.
The next day was a Saturday, and he didn’t have to work. For once, he wanted to be around when Dylan woke up. Make him breakfast, hear how things were going with his community service.
Maybe give him a hockey lesson. Hockey skills would go a long way toward making the Lost Harbor kids accept him.
Despite his best intentions, sleep dragged down his eyelids. He was almost entirely under when Kate spoke again.
“I almost forgot.” She sounded drunk with sleep. “My old firm called and offered me my job back. Imagine that.”
He waited for more, his breath caught in his chest. Was she leaving? Heading back to the Kingdom of Cities? Why wouldn’t she? She’d always had one foot out the door.
Another snore told him he wasn’t getting an answer tonight. Well, hell.
He slid out of her bed and dressed, then padded down the outdoor stairs into the dawning blue of the next day.
Chapter Thirty
The Olde Salt Saloon always smelled as if they served turpentine and varnish on tap. With a garnish of sea kelp and a whiff of stale beer. It had always smelled that way, as far as Kate could remember.
She and Maya and another friend, Toni, had
talked their way into the Olde Salt when they were sixteen and just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Maya had walked out in disgust. Kate had struck up an entertaining conversation with a deckhand from Dutch Harbor. And Toni—for some strange reason—had decided she wanted to bartend there some day.
“Hola, stranger.” She poured Kate a shot of something amber and unnamed from a flask. “Haven’t seen you in a hundred years.”
“I’ve been living that ancient curse, may you live in interesting times.”
“Tell me all. The real story, not the gossip I pick up from the motley crew here.” She wrinkled her forehead at the weathered and whiskered fishermen slouched at the bar. You could always tell a fisherman because they never quite lost that faraway horizon gaze—and they often had a stray fish scale or a bloodstain somewhere on their clothing.
“I want to hear the gossip first.” Kate tossed back the shot, which was strong enough to be either varnish or turpentine, but was probably some kind of whiskey. “It’s only fair.”
“Oh no, the gossip is just plain unbelievable.” Toni grabbed the bottle and scooted farther down the bar, out of earshot of the others. “I’m off the clock,” she called to the fishermen. “You’re on the honor system.”
Kate followed her into the dark shadows at the far end of the bar. It was mid-afternoon and outside the sun was blazing. Not California blazing—it was still only around fifty degrees. But warm and very welcome. Even so, here in the Olde Salt it could have been a winter night. The Olde Salt knew no seasons.
“Does that actually work? The honor system?”
“Yes, because they know I’ll kick their asses if they abuse it. Or at least ban them from the Olde Salt, which would be like death to these guys.” She splashed another shot into the glass. Toni was a badass in her own right. She’d studied martial arts and had once broken up a bar brawl involving three competing oil tanker crews. Maya might know everyone in Lost Harbor, but Toni knew all their darkest secrets.
She also knew to keep them to herself, which was why people confided in her. That, and because they were drunk.
Kate took a sip and made a face. “What is this?”
“Truth serum. Now spill, Naughty Kate. Are you really sleeping with the super-hot fire chief?”
Kate spluttered the rest of her mouthful of “truth serum” into a napkin and decided to bluff it out. “Seriously? Seriously? That’s what people are saying?”
“Okay, so that one’s obviously true.”
So much for bluffing.
Just then, Jessica slid onto the stool next to Kate. Her bright smile and auburn ponytail could have been a sunbeam lighting up the dark bar. “What’s obviously true? If we’re talking about Kate and Darius, someone needs to fill me in.”
“Oh cripes.” Kate dropped her forehead onto her folded forearms. “This is why I like cities. No one knows who you are or gives a crap about you.”
“Oh, don’t be such a baby. Woman up. Who cares what people say?” Toni gestured at the degenerate group farther down the bar. “Just look at them.”
It wasn’t so much that she cared what people said about her. She’d given up on that long ago. It was the idea that she and Darius hadn’t been existing in their own personal universe all by themselves. Other people had noticed. “I’m just not used to it, I guess,” she muttered into her forearms. “I like my privacy.”
Jessica gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have hooked up with the intriguing and wildly attractive new fire chief. Just food for thought. But I suppose it’s too late now, right? It’s pretty hot and heavy, or so I hear from my morning muffin customers.”
Kate made a face at her. “You’re just as bad as Toni. Something I never thought I’d say.”
Toni laughed as she added another finger of whisky to Kate’s glass. “So just how hot and heavy is it? That’s what we really want to know. No one can hear. It’s just us. Your summer sisterhood.”
Finally, Kate straightened up. “Very hot. Very heavy.” A dreamy smile spread across her face. “So very hot and heavy. Quite down and dirty too. Some wild and crazy thrown in.”
“Wow.” Jessica sighed and gestured for the bottle. Toni handed it to her and she took a long guzzle. “Gosh, that’s vile.”
“Yup. Have some more.”
“Okay.” She took another sip. With a revolted face, she pushed the bottle back to Toni. “You should pour that into a burn barrel and start a bonfire.” She turned back to Kate. “You have all the luck. You waltz into Lost Harbor and snag the hottest new guy in town. I’ve been hearing some crazy things at the bakery.”
“Me too,” said Toni. “I keep telling people they shouldn’t spread such ridiculous rumors, but you know how people are. What have you heard, Jess?”
“Someone said Darius just found out he has a son he never knew about.”
“Yup, heard that one.”
They both looked at Kate. “That’s true,” she admitted.
“Whoa.” Toni’s green eyes widened. “But it can’t possibly be true that his son has been setting all the fires around here.”
Kate glanced around the Olde Salt making sure they couldn’t be overheard. “That part’s true too, but please don’t say anything.”
“Oof.” Jessica winced. “Well, that’s certainly an awkward situation for a fire chief.”
“Dylan is…a little troubled. He’s had a rough time. Mother, stepfather…anyway, I shouldn’t say anything more. The situation is being handled. Dylan—that’s Darius’ son—has been doing community service at the firehouse.” She shouldn’t even say that much. But she trusted her friends. “Anything else in the rumor mill? Are we up to speed now?”
Jessica rested her elbow on the bar and propped her head on her hand. “Here’s one. Is it true you might be going back to LA?”
“What?” This time she was genuinely blown away. She’d just barely gotten the offer a few days ago. “People know about that? How is that possible?”
Jessica laughed and put a comforting hand on her arm. “Don’t worry, no one else knows about that one. I was setting up a flower delivery schedule with Emma and she seemed very upset. I asked her what was wrong and got an earful.”
“Whew.” Kate let out a breath of relief. “I was starting to wonder if there was a surveillance camera in my house. It’s true, my old law firm invited me to come back.”
She still savored every second of that phone call, which she’d memorized word for word. “We were highly impressed with your testimony in the Kramer case and have come to see that you behaved ethically under the circumstances. We’d like you to consider coming back to work for us. Take a few days to decide.”
After she’d finished dancing across her Kama Sutra carpet hooting with triumph, the other side of the equation set in.
Darius. She wasn’t ready to leave Darius.
“I haven’t decided yet,” she told her friends.
Toni cocked her head and folded her arms across her chest. “I know you, Kate. You’re trying to be logical about it. What are the pros and cons?”
“The pros are that I’d get my old life back. I’d have to find a new place to live and buy a new car, but at least I’d be practicing law again. The cons are…” She hesitated. The biggest one—besides leaving Darius—was that she still wasn’t sure LA was safe for her. But her friends didn’t know about that part. “I’d miss the peony harvest, and I promised Emma I would help. But with S.G. and Dylan and a few other helpers, she can manage without me.”
“She’d miss you,” said Jessica softly.
Her heart twisted with regret. “She would. And I’d miss her. I’d miss you guys too. But I can always come visit, so that doesn’t seem like a big deal.” She made a weighing gesture with her two hands, with one hand coming way up, the other all the way under the bar. “High-paying legal job versus part-time peony farmer. Honestly, logically, there’s not much to debate here.”
“No no.” Jessica waved both her
hands, as if wiping away those words. “This isn’t a situation for logic. It’s about gut instinct. What is your heart telling you? Not your brain.”
“My heart is too busy pumping blood through my body to have an opinion,” Kate said dryly.
“Do you want me to consult my pendulum for you?” Jessica offered. “I get very reliable guidance from it.”
Toni snorted and gave an epic eye roll. “Don’t get her started on her pendulum, Kate. Just let me ask you this. Do you want to be a peony farmer for the rest of your life?”
“No, but—”
“That’s not the right question.” Jessica interrupted with a frown for Toni. “You know that saying, ‘Even if I could go back, I wouldn’t belong there anymore’? Everything you said was about ‘getting your old life back.’ But is that really what you want? If you ask me, you’re not the same Kate Robinson anymore.”
“It’s only been a couple of months.”
“Time is irrelevant. It’s more about the soul growth you’ve gone through. ”
Toni wagged a finger at Jessica. “How many times do I have to tell you the Olde Salt is a no-soul-growth zone? I’ll pour tequila on that shit.”
“Someday, Toni Tequila, you’re going to come begging to consult my pendulum,” said Jessica, tossing her head so her long auburn hair caught the dim light. “That will be one of the happiest days of my life.”
Kate burst out laughing. “I love you guys, but this is a decision I have to make by myself.”
“Of course you do,” Jessica said soothingly. “We’re just here for support.”
“And shots,” added Toni, picking up the bottle.
“Oh, I’m done.” Kate covered her glass with her hand. “Any more and I’ll be singing sea shanties to a spider, the way Old Crow used to.”
They launched into stories from their summer boardwalk days, but in the back of her mind, Kate was still sorting through pros and cons and gut instincts.
Naughty All Night Page 21
