Wait For Me: Swoon Series

by J. H. Croix

  Stepping closer, he reached for my hand. I didn’t know what I expected, but I didn’t expect him to place it over the hard, hot length of his arousal. “This,” he said, the word coming out dark and heavy, weighted with something, “is what I’ve been dealing with ever since I sat down beside you at dinner.”

  “Oh.”

  I couldn’t help it. I curled my palm over the length of him and slid my hand up and down lightly.

  His breath hissed through his teeth. “Dammit, woman. You are going to fucking kill me.” At that, he yanked my hand away, holding it fast in his as he turned, pulling me swiftly behind him.

  We stumbled into my cabin. Lucas kicked the door shut behind us, spinning me around. My back bumped against the door right before his lips collided with mine.

  He had kissed me enough that I thought I had a sense of what his kisses were like. This kiss took everything to an entirely new level.

  He devoured my mouth. This kiss was commanding, demanding, and left me reeling. It spun me so forcefully into the desire between us I thought my heart might pound its way out of my chest.

  We broke apart roughly, both of us gulping in the air. Plastered against me, Lucas had every hard inch of him pressing into my softness. His eyes met mine, the dark desire in his gaze sending my belly into a free fall.

  He closed his eyes for a moment. With his chest pressed to mine, I felt the rise and fall of his breath. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze was almost pained.

  His voice was low and hot when he spoke. “Here’s the thing, Valentina. I want you. I’d like to fuck you right here, right now against this door. But you need to know that all you have to do is say the word and it stops. At any point. Do you understand?”

  One of his hands cupped my cheek, his thumb tracing my jawline. I couldn’t imagine why he would think I would want to stop any of this, yet I sensed it was important to him that I understand. I could barely think through the blood rushing through my ears with every beat of my heart. I managed a shallow breath.

  “I understand,” I whispered.

  The stark tension in the lines of his face eased slightly. He took another breath before taking a step back. I instantly missed the feel of him pressed against me. There was something simultaneously overpowering and protective about him.

  I loved it.

  Sliding a hand down over my shoulder, he caught one of my hands in his and tugged me away from the door. As we stood at the foot of the bed, I wondered how to get from this to whatever was next.

  I suddenly remembered the mortifying chain of events that set this into motion. My hot pink vibrator. It was still sitting in the top drawer of my dresser. The Bible my mother had given me was in the bottom drawer, safely quarantined from the vibrator.

  Impatient, I reached for him. Leaning forward, I dropped kisses along the side of his neck, and I thought he might let me have my way—my way being to hurry things along and get to the good stuff.

  But, oh no. He gave me a moment, loosening his grip on the reins of this encounter just enough for me to drag my tongue along the salty skin of his neck.

  He threaded his hand in my hair, his fingers cupping my nape. He exerted just enough pressure to force me to lift my head and look at him.

  “Not yet,” he said gruffly.

  In all my life, I never paid much attention to the way a man’s voice sounded or how it made me feel. Perhaps that was because no man had ever made me feel the way Lucas did. When his voice had that slightly roughened edge to it, the timbre low and deep, it sent shivers chasing over the surface of my skin.

  I was about to ask a question, but he shut me right up with a kiss. I didn’t mind that. Not at all.

  Lucas could kiss me forever.

  He angled my head to the side and stepped closer, his other hand gliding down my back in a path of burning heat. He cupped my bottom, his arousal rocking into me as he held me tight against him.

  I moaned into our kiss, and he tore his lips from mine, almost savagely. I didn’t hear what he said because his lips were on my skin, but I was pretty sure he growled my name.

  I forgot everything—everything but the feeling of him surrounding me. His hands mapped my body as his lips teased me with kisses on my neck, trailing over my collarbone into the little dip at the base of my throat, and back to my mouth.

  He drew back, tracing along the V of my T-shirt, cupping a breast lightly as he watched me. I couldn’t help but clench my thighs together, anything to ease the throb there.

  Stepping back slightly, he lifted the hem of my T-shirt, his hands sliding up my sides. “Arms up,” he murmured.

  I obeyed immediately, a little thrill skittering through me when I saw his mouth curl up slightly at one corner. My T-shirt fell to the floor. Without a word, he flicked the clasp between my breasts. I shimmied my shoulders, my bra sliding off and falling to the floor. I wanted him to touch my bare skin, but he didn’t. Not yet.

  He hooked his hands over the stretchy waistband of my skirt, dragging it over my hips slowly. He deftly caught the edges of my panties, bringing them down over my legs where they fell with my skirt in a rumple at my ankles.

  I looked down, and a little giggle escaped. I was naked, save for a pair of blue tennis shoes and socks to match. When I looked up, I found Lucas smiling slightly. At the sight of his smile, my belly spun in flips.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Valentina

  Lucas crouched at my feet, bending on one knee. As I looked down at his dark, mussed hair, he deftly untied my shoes. I stepped out of each one and kicked them loose to the side along with my skirt and panties. I didn’t know if he forgot about my socks or just didn’t care, but he straightened swiftly. He stopped and stared at me for a moment, the heat of his gaze making my entire skin flush. I was so wet, the insides of my thighs were damp.

  I wanted to see him.

  To touch him.

  To feel him.

  Stepping closer, I curled my hand around the hem of his shirt and drew it up. He reached behind his neck and yanked his shirt off, slinging it to the floor behind him.

  I sighed in delight, dipping my head and dropping a kiss in the center of his chest. I wanted to eat him up, but he didn’t give me a chance. Once again, he took control of the situation.

  He lifted me with ease, sliding my hips onto the bed and smoothly pushing my knees apart to stand between them. Then, his lips were on mine again. He tugged my hips to the edge of the mattress and trailed his fingers through my drenched folds.

  Meanwhile, his lips made their way from my mouth to my earlobe, sending a hot shiver through me, and down along my shoulder to capture one of my nipples in the warm suction of his mouth. As he teased my nipples, he sank one finger and then another into my channel.

  I was breathless, awash in sensation with my hips rocking into his touch and my fingers tangling in his hair. I fell back on one palm, arching into him as his lips mapped their way across my abdomen. I felt the tickle of his beard on the inside of my thighs, a hot kiss on the hypersensitive skin there, and then his tongue licking through my folds.

  I was nearly incoherent, gasping, occasionally murmuring his name, and pleading. He didn’t draw it out too long tonight. He fucked me deeply with his fingers, his tongue swirling around my clit before he gave it a gentle suck. Pleasure struck me, a sharp, hot, piercing brand right there at my core before it scattered through me.

  When he rose, I whimpered because I didn’t want this to stop. Ever.

  The weight of dragging my eyes open took an effort. My belly clenched tight, need boiling inside again at the look on his face. Dark and intent, he seared me with his gaze, and my mouth went dry. The lamp in the corner cast a soft glow on his bronzed skin. His fingers were damp from the juices of my arousal. I could feel them where they rested on my hip.

  “So fucking hot,” he murmured.

  I tore at the buttons on his jeans. His cock sprang free, a pearly white bead dripping from the tip. I wanted to taste it, so I did. Leaning
forward, I caught it with my tongue. I glanced up through my eyelashes, expecting him to have something to say. I might not be an expert, far from it, but I already knew he liked to control the pace.

  His eyes were on me, the rapid rise and fall of his chest, giving me a little thrill of power. I could tell he was controlled, his fingers tensing slightly where they rested on me.

  Shifting closer, I swirled my tongue around the tip, a sense of satisfaction rolling through me when his breath hissed through his teeth. Then he took control. Again.

  “Not now. Your sexy mouth is going to make me forget my promise.” The intent contained in his words sent another wash of heat through me.

  He stepped back, and I watched as he reached in his rear pocket, flicking out his wallet and a condom. Everything happened quickly as anticipation coiled so tightly inside, and I thought I might burst into flames.

  After kicking his jeans off, he rolled on the condom in no time. The mattress dipped with his weight as he stretched out beside me, lifting me farther up on the bed until the pillows were cool against my shoulders. Although little aftershocks from my climax were still rippling through me, anticipation and need were already building inside again like a tide rolling in and out.

  As he came against me, his skin was hot and slightly damp. His features were cast in shadow as he brushed my hair away from my face. I was restless, rolling against him and stringing kisses everywhere my mouth could land.

  With practiced ease, he took the reins out of my hands by pressing my knees apart. With his lips on mine, I was tumbling right back into the swirl of sensation.

  He stilled, and I opened my eyes. I was about to protest, but he beat me to it. “Now would be the time for you to let me know if you want to stop.”

  I shook my head sharply. “No,” I said forcefully.

  His eyes searched my face, so I clarified my answer for good measure. “Don’t stop.”

  His mouth kicked up at a corner, and he closed his eyes briefly before dipping his head and dropping hot kisses just behind my ear. His weight came fully over me, his hips settling into the cradle of mine. My body acted on instinct, my knees shifting open wider, inviting him in. I ached to the point of desperation. I needed him to fill me.

  I felt his cock slide against my folds. He was long and hard—velvet steel. My hips rocked into him, and I let out a little gasp when he slid over my clit, still so sensitive from my climax.

  “Tell me if I go too fast,” he said, lifting his head briefly from where he had been teasing one of my nipples.

  I was so overtaken with sensation that I couldn’t even track where his touch was. It felt as if he surrounded me completely in a shimmering web of desire and pleasure.

  I nodded my head jerkily, my eyes falling closed on a whimper when he rocked his hips into me again. He barely shifted between my knees, adjusting the angle of his hips. I felt the thick crown of him press into me as he moved at a controlled pace. He sank into me slowly, inch by inch. At first, the sensation was one of pressure. And then, there was a subtle burn. My body went tight, and Lucas froze. I felt him looking at me, but I couldn’t even open my eyes.

  “Too much?” he asked.

  I didn’t want to wait and rocked into him. There was a sharp, stinging pain as he was suddenly inside me, filling me completely.

  I opened my eyes to find his concerned gaze staring back at me. “Valentina, are you …?”

  His question trailed to nothing when I shook my head. “I’m fine,” I insisted.

  After several deep breaths, I felt myself relaxing around him. It did hurt, but I was also completely fine. That sensation of fullness was profound. Even through the pain, it was what my body wanted. It slaked the pressure multiplying and intensifying in my core. He held still.

  The soft sound of our breaths soothed me. I could feel his heart pounding, hard and fast, against mine. After another moment, my hips shifted restlessly. Every nerve ending felt as if it were on fire. Arching up, I pressed kisses along his collarbone. He leaned down briefly and caught my lips in a kiss, his tongue slicking against mine before he drew back, his head falling into the dip of my shoulder.

  I loved the feel of him filling me, the stretch and burn of it, and his weight over me. I felt encompassed by him—his strength and his raw masculinity banging up against his quiet tenderness

  Chapter Twenty

  Lucas

  Sheathed inside Valentina’s slick, tight, hot core, it was all I could do to go slow. She felt so damn good. Her hips shifted restlessly under me. She’d torn the doors off my heart. Every step of the way, she took the edge, pushing a little farther, again and again.

  “Valentina,” I choked out, “hold still.”

  “I can’t,” she said, the low moan coming from the back of her throat nearly undoing me.

  I breathed in the scent of her, along the side of her neck, savoring the feel of her skin under my lips.

  My cock was so hard it physically hurt. The next time she arched into me, I drew back slowly, expecting her to tense up again. She did slightly, but she flexed into me. The slide back inside her was delicious.

  “You feel so fucking good,” I murmured, my voice slurred. If it was possible to be intoxicated on desire, I was.

  I was supposed to be the one with experience. Hell, I knew I was jaded. I was cynical.

  Yet here I was, brought to my knees in every way by a virgin. The depth of her response to me, her artlessness, slayed me. I’d had enough experience to know I was ruined.

  With her red curls framing her face, her soft skin sliding against mine, and both of us sticky from the heat, I was drowning. She had freckles everywhere, and I wanted to kiss every single one. And the sounds she made? Sweet Jesus. When I heard the little catch in her throat, it made my heart speed up every time.

  I clung to my control because I was going to make sure she found her release before I did. It might kill me first, but I was determined.

  I kept the pace slow and the roll of my hips into hers subtle. The pull and glide of her core nudged me closer and closer to the edge of my control.

  I opened my eyes. I had to see her fly apart. I propped myself up on my elbow, adjusting my angle as I reached between us to tease my fingers right at the point of our joining. Her clit was swollen and wet. Her eyes opened wide, and she cried out, her channel clenching hard on my cock.

  My own release had been building, so tight inside. I finally let go, drawing out of her once more and doing my damnedest to control my surge inside her. Even then, I knew it was rough. Electricity sizzled at the base of my spine as my balls tightened. Everything spun loose and harsh pleasure thundered through my body.

  I shifted my weight to the side, rolling so that Valentina was resting on me. I was fucking laid flat. By her. I felt wrecked and washed ashore as I tried to catch my breath and make sense of what just happened.

  I was still inside her and could feel occasional ripples from the aftershocks of her climax. I didn’t realize it, but I was idly sifting my fingers through her hair, the silky locks sliding in loops.

  After a few moments, I felt her lift her head. Opening my eyes, I found her wide gaze waiting for me. Her cheeks were still flushed, and her lips swollen from our kisses.

  That was all it took. Just one look and I wanted her.

  Again.

  I wasn’t accustomed to feeling like this. I’d wager I never had. This was different. It stirred deep waters, sliding into the dark corners of my heart that I thought would stay permanently cast in shadow.

  At first, Valentina’s gaze was contemplative, but a little glint flashed in her eyes. I felt her smile coming before I saw it.

  “That was perfect,” she said.

  I’d admit, I felt damn good. I felt my lips twitching. Instead of fighting it, I gave in with a chuckle, untangling my hand from the ends of her hair and tucking several curls behind her ear.

  She startled me by pressing on her hands and rising up. Sweet hell. Valentina sitting astride me jus
t might kill me. Her rosy pink nipples and those freckles—oh my God, those freckles. I loved every single one.

  “Easy,” I murmured when she shifted, and I saw the slightest bit of a hint of pain pass across her features.

  Valentina twisted her lips and cocked her head to the side. “You’re bossy.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t remember the last time I laughed with a woman like that. Maybe not ever.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Lucas

  Rain struck my cheeks, coming down fast and hard. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the sky lit up with a bolt of lightning, bright enough to illuminate the mountain ridge nearby.

  “You got that?” I called over to Dawson.

  “Got it,” he replied, his words barely audible through the downpour.

  The storm had rolled in late this afternoon. Slashing winds brought a tree down across the highway and into the path of a car. Dawson and I were both on duty for the crew this weekend. We’d driven out to the accident scene together to rendezvous with the EMT team and the police.

  By some miracle, the three passengers in the car didn’t appear injured; however, they were definitely trapped. Our chief had called ahead to get the power cut here because on its way down, the tree had knocked out two power lines.

  I was frankly surprised the power hadn’t gone out on its own. From the looks of the sky earlier, I’d known this storm was going to be bad. It wasn’t even dark yet, but it might as well have been.

  Dawson and I were tasked with getting this tree off the vehicle and out of the way. We were using a series of ropes with an assist from a man who lived nearby and had stopped with his chainsaw. Dawson deftly tied the rope I had tossed over around one of the massive limbs before he stepped back and gave it a good yank.

  We worked in the heavy rain with thunder and lightning rumbling around us for a solid hour. When all was said and done, the parents and their young son were more scared than anything else. The tree had fallen across the front of the car, cracking the side of the windshield and crushing part of the roof, but otherwise, it missed them entirely.