by Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne
Flame roared through her veins, ignited in her belly, made her tremble even more than she already had been. Her pussy throbbed with need, the walls growing slick with moisture.
She was the sort of person that when she made up her mind to do a thing, she wanted to do it immediately. She tugged his shirt from his pants and slid her hands beneath the fabric, her palms against his warm skin. She could feel his scar, that indentation that ran in an arc beneath his breastbone, and it made her heart squeeze to think of him on a Chicago street as a teen, getting knifed and then going home to censure from his parents rather than love and gratitude he was alive.
She didn’t know his parents, but she took a rather dim view of them, considering how they’d treated him and his sister. Since she’d lost her parents so young, she’d never thought it possible they might not love her enough to accept her no matter what she did. It was a shocking truth to find out that some parents were capable of such a thing. Though logically she knew it happened, she’d never known a soul who had experienced it.
Nick’s mouth was another world, a revelation to her senses. She’d been kissed, but not quite like this. Not with this kind of all-encompassing attention to detail. His tongue stroked against hers one moment, delicately explored her mouth the next, and then strongly demanded a response from her.
She was helpless to do anything but kiss him back exactly as he taught her. He dropped his hands lower on her body, took her by the hips, and pulled her into him. The hardness against her belly made her stomach flip. He was big and ready, and she was afraid she’d be a disappointment to him.
What if she sucked at this? What if she did everything wrong and he thought she was a lousy lay? He wouldn’t tell her. She knew that as sure as she knew her name. He was too gentlemanly to tell her she sucked.
She pushed him back suddenly, breaking the kiss, and he immediately lifted his head and relaxed his hold on her.
“Change your mind? It’s okay if you did. Just let me know.”
She swallowed. God, she was already so bad that he’d just walk away if she gave the word. In the next heartbeat, she told herself that was ridiculous, that he was being kind and making sure she hadn’t decided against doing this.
“No. I… I just wanted to say that you have to let me know if I’m doing something wrong. If I’m horrible in bed, you owe me the truth. Don’t sugarcoat it.”
He snorted. “That isn’t going to be a problem, honey. Trust me.”
Funny, but he still had the ability to irritate her. She was trying to be honest, and he was dismissing her fears as if they were silly. “How do you know? I might be terrible. And you’re going to lie about it if so. Just don’t; that’s all I ask.”
He gathered the bottom of her T-shirt and started to push it up and over her head. She let him remove it, her skin prickling with goose bumps that had nothing to do with the coolness of the AC.
He dropped it on the floor and went for the button of her pants. “Victoria, I’m not going to let you be terrible. Trust me. And stop thinking so hard. Just feel.”
He slid her zipper down and pushed the pants over her hips until they fell on the floor and she stood there in her bra and panties.
Then he dropped to his knees, pressed his open mouth to her belly, and her goose bumps intensified. Her fingers slid into his hair automatically, clutching him to her as his tongue danced and teased its way over her skin. He cupped her breasts in his hands and then took the edges of the cups and pulled them away until her nipples were bared and her breasts sat high and firm.
Victoria didn’t think it was possible for her to get any wetter than she already was, but when Nick licked a stiff nipple, she gasped at the sensation rolling through her. She grew so slick and swollen that she thought she might die if he didn’t touch her there soon.
Her fingers tightened in his hair as he sucked her nipple into his mouth, rolling it between his teeth and flicking it with his tongue. Every sweet pull on her breast sent sensation streaking down into her pussy, making her ache and throb with need.
As if sensing that she needed more, he slid his fingers beneath her panties, down into the seam of her body and the hot slickness of her desire. He rolled a finger over her clit, and she let her head fall back, a moan escaping her. She spread her legs to give him better access, and he made a noise against her skin that might have been a laugh or a groan.
But he dragged his fingers through her wetness, then inserted one inside her. The walls of her pussy gripped him tightly, craving the invasion. His thumb circled her clit while he slowly moved a finger in and out of her slick core. It wasn’t a completely new sensation, but it was different because it was someone else doing it.
“Nick,” she gasped as her body wound itself tighter and tighter. She could come this way, standing here with his fingers on her body and his mouth sucking her nipples. She clutched at his shoulders, giving herself over to the decadence of his touch.
And then he stopped and she cried out. But he simply pulled her panties down her hips and she stepped out of them. Then he pushed her back onto the bed and pulled her to the edge, her legs spread wide.
“I have to taste you,” he said, his voice a low growl that sent a shiver of need rolling through her.
He put her knees over his shoulders and licked into the heart of her as she gasped.
“You’re so wet for me,” he said. “Fuck, what a turn-on.”
“Don’t stop this time. Please don’t stop.”
“I’m not stopping until you scream my name, baby.”
She didn’t think that was possible, really, but then he started licking her again, his tongue swirling around her clit, his fingers sliding in and out of her body, and every nerve ending she had lit up like a flame. He played her body with an expertness that stunned her. Oh, she’d expected him to know what he was doing—but to know her body so well, as if they’d had sex a hundred times already, wasn’t something she’d anticipated.
He knew just when to increase the pressure and just when to ease off to stop the wave building inside her from breaking. She could see her release hovering so close, could taste it, and yet he kept her from throwing herself into it.
She wasn’t sure whether she was grateful or frustrated that he kept the tension building. But oh, his tongue. It did magical things to her, swirling and licking and tasting until she was panting from the overwhelming sensations churning inside her.
She’d imagined this, of course. Imagined what it would feel like to have a man give her pleasure this way. But imagining and experiencing were two entirely different things. It made her wonder how she’d resisted sex for so long if it was always this way.
She threw her hands over her head, grasping handfuls of the sheets, and arched her hips, seeking release from the torturous cycle of pleasure kept on the edge for too long.
And Nick let her go this time. Victoria heard her voice, heard his name breaking in her throat, but she had no time to marvel at the fact he’d done what he’d said he would do.
No, she was overwhelmed with a bright, hot euphoria that exploded inside her and raced through her veins like a brush fire. Everything centered on that one spot of pleasure—and then it didn’t. It flowed over her and through her while she broke apart, clutching the sheets and gasping for breath as her body disintegrated.
When she came back to herself, Nick was still there, stroking her sides with his hands—roughened hands, but soft and tender too—and a wave of embarrassment flooded her suddenly.
He’d just witnessed her losing control, and she wasn’t sure how that made her feel. Plus she was naked, disheveled, and he was still dressed.
“You okay?” he asked, and fresh heat flared inside her.
“Yes.” She sounded hoarse. Probably from all that moaning and screaming she’d done.
“You’re beautiful, Victoria. Amazing. If you still want more, I want to be the one to give it to you.”
She blinked. He was asking her if she wanted to continue? After w
hat he’d just done to her? He must be aching with his own need for release, but he’d still asked her if she wanted to continue.
“I do,” she said, and she meant it. Yes, she was embarrassed by what had just happened—but she was amazed too, and she couldn’t imagine stopping now. “All in, Brandon. I told you that.”
He got to his feet slowly. She thought about getting up and helping him undress, but then he dragged his shirt up and over his head and her breath caught at the bulge and ripple of his muscles. He was in phenomenal shape, of course, and it was utterly breathtaking.
“Wait,” she said when he reached for the button of his cammies after setting his gun on her night table.
He stopped, his fingers hovering just over the fly, and her heart thumped. He would stop, right now, if she asked him to. She knew it, and it made feelings swell inside her that she didn’t quite understand.
“Take them off slowly.”
Nick grinned. He flicked open the first button and then reached for the next. “You like a little show, Vic?”
She raised herself up on her elbows. She was self-conscious about being naked in front of him, but the room was shadowed and she told herself it was okay. “I do want a little show. I want to remember this.”
He undid his pants and pushed them down his hips. He must have taken his boots off earlier because the pants disappeared, and then he was standing there in his briefs. Tight, white, bulging briefs that made her heart skip. Her gaze roamed over him, taking in every delicious inch.
With abs and thighs like that, he could be an underwear model instead of an elite sniper.
He hooked his thumbs in the wide band of the briefs. And then he stood there for a long minute, watching her.
“You really want to do this? We’re in the middle of a fucking war zone, we’ve got an unknown target, a terrorist who might be coming for you even now, and it’s very likely your adrenaline is kicked up so high it’s making you do things you wouldn’t otherwise do—”
She got to her feet and pressed her hand over his mouth before he could continue.
“I want you, Nick Brandon. I don’t know why, but I do. Badly. You’ve been under my skin since the first moment I saw you back in training, and while I have no fucking clue what I’m doing, I think I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t do this with you. I want you inside me, taking me over the edge. I want your tongue in my mouth, your hands on my body, and your cock inside me. I need it, and I feel like I’ll die if you don’t give it to me.”
He let out a breath when she slowly lifted her hand away. “Fuck, you sure do know the right things to say to a man.”
He took her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. It was a tender move when they were both aching so badly for something far more raw and primal.
“You’re special, Victoria. Incredibly special.”
Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes at his sweet words. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had told her she was special and meant it.
But she wasn’t about to cry. She knew if she did, it was over. He would think she was too emotional, not thinking straight, and he would end this. And then she’d never know what it felt like to be with him. Sure, her body was sated after the way he’d just taken her over the edge with his mouth, but it wasn’t quite enough.
She wanted more. Much more. And so she slipped her fingers into his briefs and pushed them down because she needed something to do.
His cock sprang free, big and full and ready, and she dropped to her knees in front of him. Her nipples were tight, aching buds, and her belly flipped even as her core throbbed with need.
“You don’t have to—” he began. But he didn’t get to finish because she took him in both hands and sucked the tip of him into her mouth.
Another first.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the foreign feel of him on her tongue. He was firm but soft, and he tasted salty. Not unpleasant, but not quite expected either. Victoria opened her mouth a little wider, took him deeper, just to the edge of where she would gag if he went farther.
She swirled her tongue around him, learning the texture of all that velvety skin.
“God, Victoria.”
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. His eyes were shadowed, but she could see the intensity on his face.
“I used to dream of this,” he said, his voice rough. “Your mouth on my cock. Made the nights in training so fucking miserable, I have to tell you.”
She removed him from her mouth, ran her tongue up the underside of his penis. “Tell me what to do. Tell me how to make this good for you.”
His laugh was broken. “It’s already fucking fantastic.” He reached down and tipped her chin up gently. “You’ve never done this before either?”
She shook her head. She supposed it was something she could have done, but she’d honestly never been motivated to try it before.
He showed her where to grasp him. “Stroke while you suck. But not too much because I’ve got to tell you I’m pretty much on edge. Too much and this is over too soon.”
Victoria’s pulse hammered in her veins, her throat. But she loved the intensity in his gaze and the way he swallowed hard when she took him into her mouth again. She pumped him the way he’d showed her, swirling her tongue around the head of his cock as she did so. She moved her mouth up and down on him, taking him as far as she could before she had to back off again.
It was exciting in a way she hadn’t considered it could be. It was all about him and his pleasure, but feeling the twitches and jerks of his body, hearing the sharp breaths and harsh groans he couldn’t contain, she felt a power she hadn’t known existed. She was pleasuring him, and it made her feel powerful and beautiful.
And excited. If she weren’t using both hands on him, she’d use one on herself.
Suddenly Nick swore. And then he reached down and pulled her to her feet. His eyes were bright as he searched her gaze.
And then he crushed her to him and kissed her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The kiss liquefied her bones. Nick’s tongue swept into her mouth, his lips firm and demanding against hers as he walked her backward. Her knees hit the side of the bed and she stopped, clinging to his shoulders before she fell.
But that’s what he wanted, because he gripped her hips and lifted her onto the bed before coming down on top of her. Automatically her legs went around his waist. His cock slid firmly against her clit and she moaned into his mouth.
“Condom,” he said, breaking the kiss. “Need a condom.”
“I’m on birth control. An implant under the skin.”
He blinked and she felt herself reddening.
“It was in case… I’m a woman in a war zone. I had to protect myself.”
His grip on her tightened, and she felt the tremor of anger roll through him. “In case of rape, you mean.”
She swallowed. “Right.”
It hadn’t been something she’d wanted to take a chance with, though God knew she would have fought tooth and nail if any man had tried to force her against her will. But she knew she was a woman in a man’s world out here, and in a man’s profession, and the possibility existed. She’d decided to protect herself.
“Obviously, I’m healthy,” she added, though it was unnecessary.
“We get tested regularly in the Army. You know that.”
“Yes.”
He lowered his forehead to hers. His skin was hot. “You’re turning me inside out, Vic. Every time I think I know which way is up, you flip it on me.”
“I’m sorry.”
He ran a hand down the side of her body, under her ass, cupping her. “You’re fucking beautiful, you know that?”
She felt suddenly shy. Here they were, skin to skin, his cock poised to enter her body, and she was shy whenever he complimented her. Sassiness was her default setting when she was embarrassed.
“Are you going to fuck me or talk to me all night?”
He dropped his head
and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. His tongue rolled around the tight peak and she arched her back, amazed at how she always seemed to want more.
And then he moved his hips and she felt him, right there at her entrance, hard and relentless, and her pulse shot into the hot zone.
“Relax, sweetheart,” he crooned. “It might hurt at first, but it gets better. I promise it does.”
He began to move, the head of his cock slipping into her wetness, spreading her wide. It was a foreign feeling—and an amazing feeling.
He sank deeper, slowly deeper, and she moved her hips to try to accommodate him.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She didn’t have a hymen after a couple of pelvic exams at the doctor’s office, but she still expected it to hurt. Nick wasn’t a rubber vibrator, after all.
And it did hurt, but not badly. It was the stretching of tissues that were unaccustomed to such an invasion, the foreignness of a large male entering her for the first time. Maybe she should have used a bigger vibrator…
“You’re so tight,” he said after a few moments of not moving at all.
“No miles on this thing, remember?”
He busted out laughing, and she felt it reverberate through her. What a sensation to be joined so intimately and feel your partner laugh.
“Jesus, how can you make me laugh when this is serious? And why are you cracking jokes anyway? You’re supposed to be incoherent with passion right now. Not doing my fucking job right if you aren’t.”
A wave of emotion washed over her. He made her happy. He made her feel as if she were important. And he made her forget, for the time being, everything but what it was like to be with him.
“Maybe you aren’t as good at this as you thought.” She loved teasing him, even when her nerve endings were raw and her body was on fire.
He lifted her to him with that one broad hand on her ass and slid the rest of the way home. Victoria gasped and Nick made a sound that was half growl, half groan.
“Not good at this?” he said tightly. “You’ll pay for that, Vic. With a lot of begging, I might add.”
