by Em Petrova
Get a handle on yourself.
She took a deep breath that hitched twice before completely filling her lungs. When she let the air trickle out, a few words came with it. “I’m going home and cooking and then driving some back roads.”
“So the usual.” The corner of his mouth twitched up, giving him a carved appearance that had her libido sitting up and begging.
She was crazy. Was she seriously thinking of giving him a chance?
Seconds ticked by, and he wasn’t leaving.
She had to make up her mind, and fast. She also couldn’t fight him right now. Didn’t want to.
“Follow me home.”
He didn’t touch her—he hadn’t laid a callused fingertip on her burning skin, but she felt as though he had. And he was right too, about her panties being wet.
I’ve lost all sense.
But in the end, would she be gaining so much more?
Chapter Five
Cav didn’t for one second believe Arielle was accepting him back into her life this easily. But she’d let him through the door, which was step one.
With her lush curves this close, he was having a hard time keeping his distance. So he put the kitchen island between them and stood chopping a variety of vegetables she’d given him along with some herbs.
She had all her ingredients on the countertop and just watching her go through the motions of creating a cream sauce had him keyed up.
“My mother used to leave me instructions for making dinner every night when I was in high school,” he said.
“What did you make?” She looked up at him, cheeks pink. He looked at her harder. What was she thinking to put the color in her face?
He hid his amusement from her and continued talking. “I used to make a lot of spaghetti. Sometimes a casserole with cream soup and that sort of thing. Nothing fancy, not like this.”
“I like having leftovers, and cooking after a long day of teaching helps me relax.”
He reached for a pepper and sliced the top off. “I bet at times the kids have you questioning why you wanted to become a teacher.”
She nodded slowly. “There are plenty of trials, but so far, this is a good bunch. At first, they thought because I was new that I was a pushover, but I set them straight pretty quickly and they settled down.”
She moved to the range again, and his thoughts jumped to her parading back and forth in front of the bed, in a sexy dress and high heels, a come-hither look on her beautiful face.
Pressure built inside him and his jeans grew tighter in the fly, but he stifled his thoughts and continued slicing the pepper.
She had a skillet nice and hot. When she used tongs to place beef tenderloins into the searing hot pan, the delicious scents had his stomach rolling with hunger pangs.
“What are we making again?” He took the chance while her back was turned to mentally strip her. The dip of her waist and flare of her hips leading to the round curves of her ass in the leggings she’d changed into after school had his cock pushing hard at his zipper, but so did her being bare naked in his imagination.
He nearly cut off a fingertip when she suddenly turned.
“We’re making sear-roasted beef tenderloin with peppercorn cream sauce and roasted vegetables. Were you just looking at my ass?” Her lips were so damn plump, her breasts soft mounds underneath the oversized T-shirt and just waiting for his hands.
He set aside his knife. Unabashedly, he drawled, “Uh-huh.”
A flush climbed her neck and face, and her eyes grew brighter.
“You know we aren’t making it to the car to go on that drive, Arielle. If we even get through dinner without me ripping off your clothes and setting you on this counter so I can eat your pussy, it’ll be a miracle.”
A high squeaking noise came from her throat.
Yeah, that was all the invitation he needed.
He shoved away from the cutting board, the knife and the pepper and sauntered to the sink to wash his hands. As he slowly dried them off on a dish towel with tiny roosters on it, he kept his gaze fixed on her. She stood rooted in place. Behind her, the pan of beef smoked.
He reached over and switched off the burner. Then with very slow movements, he set aside the towel and stepped toward her, giving her time to shut him down.
She didn’t budge, not even to breathe, by the looks of it.
When he closed his hands around her shoulders, a stuttering sigh left her. He kneaded some of the tension away from her muscles and then skimmed his fingers down her arms, taking his time to learn the feel of her, unlike the first time in the car when he’d just been driven to make her feel good and stamp her on his memory until he returned again.
Her eyelids fluttered as he leaned in slowly. “Cav…”
“Shhh.”
“We shouldn’t—”
“Your nipples are hard and you’re trembling. Tell me you don’t want my mouth on yours. Then on these…” He fanned his fingers out over the sides of her breasts.
A hot puff of air left her, and he couldn’t stand to wait another moment. He swooped in and kissed her. At the same time, she threw her arms around his neck and molded herself to his body.
He lifted her as promised, setting her on the counter and plundering her mouth. Soft, throaty moans escaped, and he growled in response, angling his head to gain deeper access to the sweet depths of her mouth.
Gripping her hips, he tugged her closer, with her thighs on each side of his torso. Heat radiated from her center and drew him in. He had to touch her all over, taste her everywhere. And then fuck her till she had to stagger into school the next morning marked with his scent.
A craving took hold, and he cupped her breasts. She moaned into his mouth, arching into his touch. He strummed her nipples through her T-shirt and bra. Then in one swift move, reached for the hem and ripped the cloth overhead.
The blonde ends of her hair brushed her collarbones, and he latched onto her throat, kissing a path between her shoulder and her ear that raised gooseflesh in his wake. His cock was throbbing, his heart like a bass drum in his ears.
She grasped his shoulders and clung as he lowered his mouth to the crest of one breast. Reaching behind her, he popped the clasp of her bra and tossed the garment to the floor. The flavor of woman mingled with the delicious scents of the unfinished dinner, and all he could think about was tasting her sweet pussy.
He lifted one breast to his lips.
“Oh my God, Cav.” She shivered and then cried out as he clamped his lips over her nipple.
Looking up at her, he watched her eyes close with pleasure as he laved his tongue over the hard bud.
Fuck, so beautiful, he chanted in his mind. So delicious, so perfect.
So his.
If she would let him have her—all of her.
There was no going back.
* * * * *
Arielle could hardly think straight. When was the last time she just threw everything away and let herself feel?
The other day in the park when Cav had reached under her skirt and fingered her.
Passion blasted through her, and she dug her fingers into his short-trimmed hair. The strands were softer than she’d ever expect on a man like Cav, but it added to the wonder of the moment.
He moved to her other breast, leaving small nipping bites on the curve before parting his lips over her straining nipple. She yanked him in, and he sucked on her needy flesh while juices soaked her panties.
Heat enveloped her inner core, and the pulsation of need took up residence there.
Suddenly, he lifted his head and bent her back over his strong arm, kissing her with deep passes of his tongue that left her breathless.
“I’m going… to… taste… every inch.” The scruff of his five o’clock shadow moving down her throat to her bare breasts left her burning. He laid her down on the cool countertop and divested her of her leggings and then panties.
When he pressed her thighs up and back, splaying her to him, she panted with desi
re.
“Do it, Cav.”
He centered his gaze on her. “Do what, baby? Tell me.”
She bit down on her lower lip. Never one for dirty-talking, she had no idea if she could utter the words to tell him exactly what she wanted. But he wasn’t moving until she did.
She drew up the courage and said, “Lick my pussy.”
His eyes flashed. “Goddamn right I will.” His hot tongue hit her folds, and she cried out his name. Exquisite pleasure consumed her every thought and every heartbeat until she pressed her thighs around his face and dragged him down.
He pierced her with his tongue, sinking into her pussy but nowhere near deep enough.
Too quickly he was gone, to suck on her clit until she rose off the surface. With his big hands under her ass, he drew her to his mouth and feasted on her.
“Cav… Cav… Don’t stop, I’m coming!”
Intense ecstasy took over, and she didn’t even register that she was in his arms till he laid her on her own bed.
He followed her down, mouth sealed to hers, and she held him close, heart beating far too fast for this to be simple animal lust.
* * * * *
Sweet nectar coated his lips and tongue, and he wanted nothing more than to dive between her legs and do everything over again. But his throbbing cock and the bluest balls he’d ever had in his life were driving him to take her. Now.
He pushed back on his elbows to gaze down into her eyes. A haze of passion made the chocolatey depths even more stunning.
“Cav, I want you.”
The soft words undid him. If he were lucky enough to die of natural causes and keeled over dead right now, he’d take those words to the grave with him.
He dipped his head, nuzzling her throat. “God, I want you so bad, baby. But you have to know that you won’t be pushing me out of your bed after this.”
She met his gaze. Something frightened and undecided slithered behind her eyes. Then they cleared.
“I won’t turn back. I need you inside me.”
A noise broke from him. “Jesus Christ, Arielle.” He moved to stand at the edge of the bed, his stare heavy on her beautiful body as he stripped out of his clothes. First his shirt followed by his boots and jeans. At last, he stood in only his briefs, his cock stretching the black fabric.
“You’re amazing,” she whispered.
He grinned. “So are you.”
She sat up and reached for his briefs. He helped her to push them over his hips. When he was bared to her, she stared at his cock for a long minute.
“I haven’t done this in a long time.”
“I’ll go slow.”
“You’re big.”
He smiled gently and brushed a fingertip along the curve of her jaw. “I’ll go slow,” he repeated.
She flicked her stare up to his. “Cav, what if I don’t want barriers between us? What if I—”
Holy fucking God. The woman was asking him to take her bareback, which only deepened the intimacy between them. Hell, he might as well head straight to the jeweler and buy her a ring, because he was never turning back now.
“I’m clean,” he grated out.
She nodded. “And I’m on birth control.”
Those words snapped his control.
He grabbed her up and kissed her, plunging his tongue between her lips and throwing her back on the bed. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, her slick pussy flush against his swollen tip.
He promised he’d go slow. He—
She whimpered and pressed on his ass with her heels to drive him inside her scorching heat.
With one smooth thrust, he filled her. Falling still, he gazed into her eyes. “All right?”
Slow be damned—she wouldn’t let him and pushed upward. She ground on his cock, eyes pinching shut and lips open on a gasp. “Don’t stop!”
A heavy burning took up residence in his chest, and damn if he knew what it was as he took her. Owning her mouth and claiming her breasts. Stealing her feminine cries even as he burrowed deeper and deeper into her clenching heat. The walls of her pussy tightened down on him till he saw stars.
With a throaty scream, she exploded in contractions of bliss.
He stared down at her, heart twisting in his chest like a knife blade, but it wasn’t pain he was experiencing. It was joy.
Now Cav had stood in the face of the enemy and controlled himself. He had battled his own demons, some of them recent too. But there was no human way to restrain himself from this.
He poured his orgasm out in heavy spurts, each marked with a groan. The stars blacked in his vision, and he collapsed onto his elbows so he didn’t crush her, still joined and pulsing inside her body.
For long moments, he couldn’t think.
He felt her hands roaming over his spine, pausing on all the small scars he’d gained over the years in the Marines, as a trooper and a Texas Ranger—and more from Ranger Ops.
He let her explore, half afraid she would tear away from him, jump up and run for the hills.
But she didn’t.
He didn’t claim to understand the loss she’d suffered, but the Arielle he’d known then—and now too—was steady and level-headed. He guessed she was just nervous for a repeat of her past.
Pressing a tender kiss between her brows, he shifted to the side and drew her into his arms. The silk of her hair under his chin raised a protectiveness he’d never known before now.
“Tell me about it, Cav. I need to know.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Ranger Ops is a division of Homeland Security, like I said. Operation Freedom Flag Southern US division, and there are three teams between Texas and Louisiana that keep watch of the border, squash terrorists and… more.”
“Where were you last?” Her question came with a note of hesitation.
He found her hand and clasped it. “On a bomb threat.”
She sucked in a breath. “That bomb a few weeks ago—”
He nodded against her hair. “It was me who set off the explosive. It wasn’t my intention. I entered a code to defuse it… and those hikers were killed.” Somehow, talking about the event with her was easing the strain he’d felt for days.
She was silent a long minute. Then she threaded her fingers through his, meshing them. She wasn’t pulling away, and the action spoke volumes.
He continued, telling her all the shit she wasn’t supposed to know, but withholding from her would only end in his torment and hers too. When he finished, he moved back enough to look into her eyes.
She didn’t appear to be terrified. Her face wasn’t a mask of fear. But she was still flushed from him bedding her, and her lips were swollen from his kisses.
“All right?” he asked again, this time for a different reason.
She nodded. “I think so.”
“I’m not supposed to tell you all this. You know that. But I want you to know you can ask me anything anytime, if it helps you feel better.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He brushed his lips across hers, and she curled a hand on his nape, drawing him in. He was already hard, and her slippery pussy leaking his cum. The thought brought a growl from him as he rolled her atop him and settled her over his erection.
* * * * *
Cav’s body was flawed. And beautiful. Chiseled into steel, his pecs rounded, his abs cut in all the right spots. His tanned skin bore a lot of scars, and instead of averting her eyes from these, she found herself studying them, stamping each on her brain.
Knowing him on the outside would help her better understand his insides. Maybe both would help keep the gnawing wolves of fear at bay.
The man scared her, if she was honest, because her reaction to him was… Well, she’d never believed she could feel anything for another man, and in mere days, Cav had burrowed his way into her mind and more.
With her tongue moving over his and her hips working on their own, she took what she wanted from the big man. She stroked the pad of her thumb across his nippl
es, and he groaned against her lips. The rumble was pure heaven, a sound she could get used to hearing.
“This beats cooking,” he rasped.
She gave a throaty laugh. “You’re no Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen.”
He chuckled and bit down on her lower lip, tugging her in for another long, tongue-dueling kiss. When he planted his hands on her ass and spread her cheeks, and then worked the tip of his finger over her untouched pucker, insane pleasure hit.
Blindly, she pushed back for more. The tip of his finger slid easily into her netherhole.
Oh God, this couldn’t really be happening. She wasn’t usually so adventurous. Maybe she could call this her newest hobby.
She nearly giggled, but she cried out instead as he continued to stroke her backside. Another few strokes and he was buried to the knuckle as she simultaneously took his cock in her pussy.
Pressure built. Her body surely couldn’t handle a big cock along with a long digit, but damn if she could stop moving… stop seeking more.
Her breath rushed through her lungs. He pumped his finger in and out in time to her thrusts. She was building toward something she didn’t understand and had no clue if she could make sense of.
She… She…
Exploded.
Noisy screams left her lips, and Cav took complete control of her body and steered her toward a cataclysmic end. Her entire body tightened and loosened. Ecstasy hit in waves, and she clung to him and rode through every pulsation.
His churning movements grew jerky. He let out a primal growl, and then the first splash of his release wet her inner walls. The liquid heat, the feel of the man underneath her, all seemed too much.
Maybe she really couldn’t handle a man like Cav. He wasn’t only military—strike one against him—but he knew how to possess her, strip away all the bricks of the walls she’d spent two long years erecting. Strike two.
He exposed her, leaving her vulnerable. But if she thought on it a minute, and she could hardly focus to do so, he gave her power as well. She couldn’t make sense of it, but in a short time he’d drawn her out of her bomb shelter and given her a need for more out of life and a voice to ask for it.
