by Shelly Bell
Dreama sighed. A little morphine could’ve really come in handy right now. “Mom. He’s more than a friend, but even if he wasn’t, he has every right to voice his opinion.”
Her mother frowned. “You didn’t even tell me you were seeing someone.”
If her head didn’t hurt so much, she’d be banging it against the wall. “There’s a lot I don’t tell you. Not because I’m hiding it, but because it’s none of your business. I know you worry about me and that’s fine, because you’re my parents, but I’m an adult. You need to accept that I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
Her mom’s eyes grew watery. “I just wanted to protect you from getting hurt.”
Dreama was so tired of everyone wanting to protect her. “I know, but it’s not your job anymore. It’s mine and I’m going to make choices that you may not agree with. Sometimes, I eat ice cream for dinner. I quit my job. I mix my darks, whites, and colors all together in the washing machine.” She wrung her hands together. “I just wish you guys believed in me.”
“You quit your job?” her mom asked.
It shouldn’t have surprised her that her mom had glommed onto the part about her quitting her job.
“Honey, that’s not important,” her father said, throwing his arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Dreama thinks we don’t believe in her.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth.” Her mom’s eyes turned watery. “We’re so proud of you.” She nodded, dabbing her tears with a tissue. “You’re right. It’s your life. You should be free to live it the way you want. But know that no matter what happens, we love you. We support your decisions. And we’ll always be here for you if you need us.”
Dreama wasn’t sure if her mom would hold to that promise, but it didn’t matter, because she was through letting it affect how she lived her life. Quitting her job had only been the first step. From this point on, she lived life on her own terms.
She shifted on the bed, angling toward her parents. “I’m sorry I haven’t been home since I moved out. I’ve missed you guys so much.”
Then she did something she’d wanted to do for a long time.
After hugging her mother, she held out her arms to her father. He stood from the chair, hope lighting up his eyes, and leaned over the bedrail.
For the first time in more than a year, she hugged her father. Engulfed in his warmth, she closed her eyes and breathed him in. He and her mother didn’t need to do more than this to make her feel safe.
“Well,” he said as he pulled back. “Your mother and I have been up all night. If you’ve got a ride home…”
She glanced at Cash. “I’m good. Go home.”
Five long minutes passed before they finally left. Cash had been awfully quiet. She had no idea what was going through his mind.
“So…” Cash lowered the bedrail and scooted his chair closer. “That’s twice now you’ve mentioned quitting your job. What happened?”
Her hackles went up. If he thought he could swoop in and make everything better, he had another think coming. “Yeah, I quit. Although Meg will write it up as a termination due to misconduct.” He motioned for her to continue. “Someone—I’m assuming Thomas—sent the photograph of us at Club X to Meg. After admitting she’d been yanking my chain about the promotion, she offered to give me a promotion for real if I broke things off with you.”
“And you chose me.”
She sidestepped his assumption. “Meg wanted to keep the competition going and I decided I didn’t want to play anymore. Anyway, there’s a chance there will be department hearing to determine if charges should be brought against me.”
“Whatever you need from me, let me know.” His eyes bulged out a little and the muscles of his neck grew taut. But to his credit, he kept his cool.
“You’re not going to tell me what to do about it?” she asked.
“No.”
“Or rush to the department of corrections and take the blame for everything?”
“No.” He gave her a little smile. “You can handle it.”
Maybe she had a head injury. “I don’t get it.”
He took her hand. “I thought I’d lost you.”
She yanked it back. “What makes you think you haven’t?”
“You’re alive,” he said as if it was obvious.
She rubbed the sides of her head. “If you’ve already groveled, I’m sorry, I have amnesia. I don’t remember it. You’ll have to do it again.”
Cash climbed onto the mattress. “Move over.”
“You’re being bossy.” But she shifted herself on the mattress to give him some room anyway.
“You’re in bed.” He settled beside her and took over the role of massaging her temples. “You know the rules. I am the boss.”
Ooh. Those large hands of his felt good on her. “I seem to remember you breaking up with me. That means you no longer have bossing rights in bed.”
“What if I tell you that I was wrong?” He stopped his massaging just long enough to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “That I had made a horrible mistake and I was sorry?”
He paused, but she didn’t speak, sensing he had more to say. “I never talked about it, but my mom fell apart after my dad died. For months, she didn’t get out of bed, and even when she did, she was a walking zombie. Rebecca was only a year younger than me, but I thought it was my responsibility to take care of things. And I did until, finally, Thomas convinced my mother to get professional help.”
How ironic that the man who’d once been Cash’s savior had later become his greatest enemy.
She wanted to give Cash a second chance, but she was scared. If she felt this deeply about him now, what would it be like in six months or a year? She wouldn’t survive the heartbreak if she was forced to walk away. “How do I know you’re not going to try to make a decision for me again? You heard what I told my mother. It also applies to you. I might make choices you don’t agree with, but you need to accept that right or wrong, they’re mine to make.”
He kissed her forehead. “I can say I learned my lesson, but you deserve more than empty promises. That’s why I’m going to ask India for a referral.” As if he couldn’t stop touching her, he swept her cheek with the back of his hand. “It’s time I dealt with everything else that’s happened.”
If she was on her feet, she’d swoon. “You’d go to therapy for me?”
He lifted her on top of him, so that they were eye level, and cradled her face in his hands. “Don’t you know? I’m in love with you, Dreama. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do for you. You’re the first woman I’ve ever loved—and if you’ll have me—my last and only.”
She could make him grovel some more, but then again, she had made the decision to start living her life and there was no time like the present. She smiled. “I love you too. And when I get out of here, I plan on showing you how much.”
THIRTY-ONE
Spread out on her couch, her feet in Cash’s lap, Dreama tossed the empty bag of potato chips onto the coffee table. For the second night in a row, they were watching television. And while she appreciated he had eight seasons of Supernatural to catch up on, there was something she’d rather be doing right now. Him.
Two days out of the hospital, Dreama was ready to grab the bull by the horns. Or rather, she was ready to get laid by one. Since bringing her home, Cash had been super sweet. Too sweet. He’d been treating her as if she were made of glass. Whenever she’d tried to initiate sex—a kiss, a grope, or anything remotely sexual in nature—he’d give her a chaste kiss on the lips and ask if she wanted a glass of water.
The answer was no. It was always no.
What she wanted was his tongue in her mouth and his dick in her pussy.
Tired of giving hints, she climbed onto her knees and turned to him. “There’s something I need from you.” She whipped off her blouse. Her nipples protruded from the lavender lace covering them. “Your cock. I want you to fuck me.”
Not make love. Not have se
x. She wanted their boundaries pushed and their fantasies realized. She craved a no-holds-barred fucking with Cash in control and her at his mercy.
He swallowed hard. “Are you sure? If you’re not ready, I’ll wait until you are.”
“I’m so ready, if you don’t fuck me, I’m going to empty the entire box of sex toys onto my bed and have an orgy for one with them.”
His gaze didn’t leave her breasts. “I don’t want to scare you.”
She smiled wide. “I want to be scared.”
Not the kind she’d experienced during her assault. That was like falling out of an airplane at ten thousand feet without a parachute.
But being scared by Cash? Not only was he the one pushing her out of the plane, but he was also her parachute, keeping her safe.
Cash held his hands out, midway between their bodies, at level with her rib cage. “Tell me your safe word,” he said hoarsely.
“Marathon.” She couldn’t stop staring at his hands—those blunt fingertips, those thick digits, the light dusting of hair. “Don’t hold back.”
His lids grew hooded. “You don’t know what you’re asking for. I might hurt you.”
Magic words for a masochist. “Cash, I want to be scared. I want to be hurt. I want to feel you inside of me with nothing between us.” They didn’t need condoms. They were disease-free and there was no chance of her getting pregnant.
Her heart was sprinting a mile a minute. She watched his hands moving closer. Roughened fingertips swept across her skin. She shivered, feeling it not only wherever his fingers made contact with her skin, but everywhere.
There was no fear. No pain. No flashbacks.
Only immense pleasure and heat—so much heat in that whisper of a touch. She was burning alive from it.
He groaned and wrapped his hands around her waist, yanking her to him. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“That’s the general idea,” she teased.
His hands skimmed up her sides, roaming until they settled on the middle of her back and unclasped her bra. Then he slowly peeled each strap down her arm, taking his time as if he was savoring the moment. “Your skin is so soft.” His lips caressed her naked shoulder. “Softer than I ever imagined.” He kissed her other shoulder as her bra fell to the mattress. “How does it feel to have my hands on you?”
She slid one of her hands up his chest while she curled the other around his neck. “It feels as if they belong there.”
And then his mouth was on hers, crushing and demanding. Taking everything she had to give without restraint. He tasted like a man who not only knew what he wanted but refused to settle for anything less. This was the Cash who’d been buried beneath his civility. The Cash who’d been waiting to be released from his shackles. And now that he’d been freed, he was wild in his abandon, hungry for that of which he’d been deprived.
There was nothing for her to do but surrender to it.
Her mind went fuzzy, as if all her thoughts were blurry around its edges. She was drunk on Cash’s passion, his bruising lips, and powerful tongue. She reveled in the capable hands that were desperate in the exploration of her body.
One hand gripping the back of her neck, he held her tight to him, while the other hand pinched and stroked her breast. He twisted and pulled her nipples until she moaned into his mouth. She held on for dear life, bright white stars dancing in front of her eyes.
“Clothes off,” he said against her lips. His frantic hands moved to her waist. “You have ten seconds to get these fucking clothes off before I rip them off you.”
She’d never hated cotton more.
Her trembling fingers went to the button of her pants. It took her three tries before she finally got the damned thing through the opening.
“Time’s up,” Cash growled by the time her pants were down to her knees.
In one swift motion, he had her on her back and her pants off. On a loud rip, he tore her panties clean off her body and his head descended. Before she could process that he’d managed to tear her panties using only one hand, he maneuvered her on the couch, lifted her legs straight into the air, and threw her feet over his shoulders. Then without pause, he positioned his face between her thighs and speared his tongue into her soaking channel.
And he wasn’t gentle about it either.
Spreading her past the point of comfortable, he used his tongue, fingers, lips, and teeth to completely consume her. The rough hairs on his chin burned the inside of her vulva. The sensation of it was like lighting a match against her skin. Her thighs shook from the intensity and from having this carefully controlled man out of control with want for her.
There was no holding back from the approaching climax. If she was supposed to ask for permission to come, she’d have to take the punishment. She was incapable of speech or rational thought. She was simply his. A moaning, writhing, woman on the precipice of something too big to name or deny.
Her fingers curled into her palms as she burst into violent flames. Over and over, her pussy clamped down on Cash’s thrusting tongue as spasms wracked her sex and flowed outward, bathing her in liquid heat.
Cash raised his glistening mouth from her pussy, his chin soaked with her release. His gray eyes had turned dark, the pupils blown to the size of a full moon in the midnight sky, and his nostrils flared. He almost looked possessed. “Run,” he warned.
Slow to process, she blinked.
“Go. Run!” he commanded.
She quickly rolled off the couch and sprinted toward her bedroom. Her thighs were slick with her climax and his saliva, but she couldn’t allow it to slow her down. Heeding his warning, she raced away, growing more aroused with every step she took.
Outside her room, she looked both left and right, not sure which way to turn. She heard a growl and a rustle as Cash removed his clothes. With mere seconds to decide, she darted inside her bedroom. Before she could close the door, Cash caught up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, then throwing her onto the mattress.
He covered her naked body with his own, pinning her to the bed with his weight. His hand plunged into her hair, tugging on it hard enough to tilt her chin up and expose her neck. “Did you honestly think you could get away from me? There’s not a place you could run where I wouldn’t find you.”
“Fuck you,” she spit out, torn between fighting and surrendering.
He yanked her hair harder, hard enough to make her eyes water and her pussy clench. “That kind of language isn’t going to help your case. I’m going to hurt you.” He lowered his mouth to her ear as if he didn’t want her to miss what he was about to say. “The only question is how much.”
“Please don’t hurt me,” she said, playing her part. “I’ll be good. I promise.”
“Words aren’t enough.” He released his grip on her hair only to flip her onto her stomach and turn her around to face him. “Prove it to me.” He curled his fingers of one hand around the base of his cock and the other cradled her skull. “Suck it, baby. Show me how much you want it.”
Last time she’d had his cock in her mouth, he’d been cuffed to the bed, but tonight, he was the one in control. She opened her mouth wide in submission. His cock slipped between her lips and over her tongue. He tasted like a salty treat and she savored the flavor. With his hands on both sides of her face, he worked himself in and out of her mouth, going farther and farther each time until he hit the back of her throat. Tears leaked from her eyes as she gagged.
He laughed darkly. “Gagging and crying only makes me harder. If you knew how many times I’ve made myself come thinking about you choking on my cock while your mascara runs down your face, you would’ve run a lot faster.”
Even as he said those nasty words, he was easing his cock back.
She looked up at him, giving him her silent consent to continue.
He lovingly brushed his hand down her face. Then he fucked her mouth as if it belonged to him.
Cash’s act of dominance gave her permission to surrender. Her mind went blank and
her muscles relaxed as she sank into that place where her only goal was to please him.
Suddenly, he ripped his cock out of her mouth. “I’m not ready to come yet. Not until I’m in your pussy.”
He moved to the other side of her body and slid his hand between her thighs. “You’re drenched, baby.”
His fingers grazed her throbbing clitoris, causing her to shudder. A moan spilled from her lips as he shoved his fingers into her pussy. She couldn’t stop from squeezing around him. “Fuck, you’re tight.” He pulled out and rubbed her clitoris before plunging inside of her again. “That’s three. You’re ready for me.” He lowered his mouth to her neck. “I can’t wait any longer. I need to fuck you.”
For all his threats of hurting her, he’d made sure that she was ready for his cock. “Please,” she begged. “I need you too.”
Holding her in place with a hand on her hip, he drove himself inside of her on one hard thrust. Even with his preparation, her pussy burned as his cock stretched her. It had been more than a year since she’d last had sex and none of her previous partners or even her vibrators could compare to the length and thickness of Cash’s cock. He filled her completely, igniting every sensitive nerve inside of her and sending pulses throughout her pussy. Even if he didn’t move, she didn’t doubt that she could come just from him inside of her.
He didn’t allow her the chance to confirm it. Clasping her waist, he slid almost all the way out, then yanked her back onto his cock, driving himself farther, deeper, and harder into her, hitting that spot inside of her that made her eyes roll back in her head and senseless pleas spill from her lips.
Cash’s sharp bites pierced her neck and her shoulders until pain and pleasure blurred together. Like the love she felt for Cash, her climax crept up on her fast and without warning. It was so overwhelming, she was sure it would blow her apart.
“Let go, Dreama,” Cash said against her ear. “I’m right there with you.”
His permission pushed her off the ledge. She shook as liquid bliss blasted through her core. Over and over, her pussy clenched and released in blinding climaxes that knocked her world off its axis.
