by Susan Hayes
“Are you actually speechless?” Val asked as she dipped her mouth to his ear and nibbled on his lobe.
“I let you get hurt, Val. Hell, I let you get eaten and turned!” His gut twisted with the guilt he’d been carrying around with him since the moment he’d realized she was going to sacrifice herself. “You didn’t trust me enough to protect all of you, and so you went and gave yourself to him.” He knew he was holding her too tightly, but he couldn’t let go.
“You didn’t let me do anything. I managed to screw things up all by myself.” Val lifted her head again, and he could see guilt and regret written all over her lovely face. “He got to me. I let him get to me despite all your warnings. I blew it, not you. You’re the reason I’m still here.”
“I should have been there,” he muttered, but the guilt that had been eating at him was less than it had been.
“I was in the army for eight years. Do you really think I don’t know how to sneak off unnoticed? You’re good, Aedan, but dhampir or not, you’re still mostly human.”
“Only mostly,” he muttered. “God, our kids are going to be hell on wheels.” The words slipped out before he even realized what he was thinking.
“Kids?” Val tensed and then burst out laughing. “Who said anything about kids? You haven’t even asked me out on a proper date yet!”
He cupped her cheek with one hand and smiled. “Valentina Farro, will you go out to dinner with me tonight?” He paused and then added, “And tomorrow, and every night for the rest of my life? You’re it for me, luv. Always have been, always will be. I just didn’t realize it until now.”
“That’s because you’re a little slow on the uptake.” Her fingers stroked his cheek. “I came all this way because I already knew you were the one. So yes, I will go to dinner with you, but only if you take me to bed first.”
“You have my solemn word.” He turned his head and captured her fingers in his mouth, suckling on them one at a time. “But first, I need to finish my drink.” He plucked one of the cherries out of the glass of whisky and held it to her lips. She sucked it into her mouth with a low groan, and a wave of lust crashed over him as he watched her eyes close in enjoyment. It brought to mind the first time they’d shared a glass of whisky and how he’d wanted to be the one to put that look of pleasure on her face.
“You are so amazing. Remind me again why I left you in Seattle?”
He snagged another cherry and devoured it, the remembered flavor of whisky and sweet cherry juice exploding in his mouth.
“Because you were an idiot,” Val answered, her eyes still closed. “When I woke up, Remington and Anya were there, but you weren’t. I found out later Remington, Sin, and Jase had been sitting with me around the clock for three days, waiting for me to come to. But the only face I wanted to see was yours.”
“I’m sorry.” He fed her another cherry, trying to move past the guilt her words were inflicting.
She swallowed the fruit and kept talking. “My first plan was to get better so I could find you and kick your ass for leaving me. When we get back to Seattle, you need to buy Anya a present. She’s the one who helped me get past my anger and explained you were my soul mate.”
“I’ll be sure to bring her something back from here—hang on. Who said I’m going back to Seattle?”
“You really are a bit slow today.” She leaned over to fish another cherry out of the glass and fed it to him as she spoke. “I told you I spoke to your employer. Once we got past all the trust issues and secret handshake nonsense, they were really quite reasonable. You’re coming back to Seattle with me. You can keep working for them and base yourself out of the city, or you can work for Paladin.” She smirked as Aedan nearly choked on the last bit of cherry in his mouth.
“What?”
Val drew out each word in a slow drawl. “You…are…coming…home…with…me.”
“And what’s this about working for Paladin?”
“That was Sin and Jase’s doing. They convinced Remington that having another supernaturally gifted member of the team was a good thing. So when I stopped threatening to garrote you with your own innards, they asked if I would be all right with the idea of working with you.”
Aedan broke into a grin and stood up, cradling her to his chest as he made a beeline straight for the hotel.
“Where are we going?” Val demanded.
“To celebrate my new job.” He threw back his head and laughed, spinning her around until everyone in the area was staring at them.
“I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, and you just waltz in and hand me everything I ever wanted. I think that’s worthy of celebration.”
“And just where is this celebration going to be held?”
“In my room, in my bed, which I don’t intend to let you leave for the next week or so. I hope you like room service.”
“Love it.” She pressed her lips to the side of his neck, hiding her face from the onlookers. “Love you, too.”
“Are you blushing, luv?” He already knew she was because he could feel the heat of her cheek where it lay against his skin.
“People are staring at us.”
“Is that what it takes to make you blush?” He chuckled wickedly, thinking of all the ways he could use this to future advantage.
“Shut up,” she muttered and settled her arms around his neck, further hiding her face.
“Make me.” He threw down the challenge, certain she wouldn’t be able to resist.
Her teeth closed on his bare shoulder as she muttered something under her breath.
“Hey!” he yelped and twisted his wrist just enough to deliver a pinch to one butt cheek.
“You’re going to pay for that,” Val threatened him as they crossed into the cool shade of the lobby.
“I sure hope so.” He managed to hit the elevator call button and then leaned his head down to kiss her hungrily as they waited for the doors to open.
They kissed all the way back to his room, never stopping even as he fumbled at his pocket to retrieve the key and then manage to get it into the lock one-handed. The moment the door swung shut behind him, he let himself go.
Her dress was in shreds on the floor in a matter of seconds, and his cock surged to its full length as he realized she wore nothing underneath. “Where is your underwear?” he asked as he kicked off his sandals and tore his swimsuit off. He needed to feel her next to him, skin on skin.
“I thought I’d save us some time,” she sassed back at him, already heading for the bed.
“Naughty girl, if I’d have realized that, you’d have had a lot more to blush about back there on the beach.”
“I don’t like public displays of affection.”
“Liar. You displayed yourself just fine to Sin and Jase as I recall.”
Val laughed, and her cheeks flushed bright red again. “I wasn’t the one on display that time.”
“You’re splitting hairs.” He followed her across the room, and the moment she went to lie down on the bed, he hauled her back into his arms and whisked them both out onto his private deck.
“Aedan! We’re outside!”
“Mhmm.” He turned her around and placed her hands on the railing, his cock nuzzling the crack between her ass cheeks as he coaxed her to step back and spread her legs for him. “Don’t move. No one can see you like this.” He swatted her ass playfully, and when she moaned, he grinned and added, “At least not unless you start making a lot of noise. You do that and they’ll all know what we’re up to here.”
“I want to go back inside.” She turned her head to look back at him over one shoulder, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and arousal.
“No, you don’t. You just think you do.” He grabbed a towel and tossed it onto the floor at her feet before kneeling in front of her. His back was to the slatted boards that made up the balcony wall, and Val’s naked body was arched over him.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, her head bo
wed so she could watch his every move.
“If you would give me a moment to get settled, I intend to make you come. Hard.”
“Bastard.”
“You bring out the best in me.” He winked at her and then leaned in to nuzzle between her thighs. Despite her protests, her pussy was already wet. “I missed you,” he told her and reached up with one hand to part her labia, exposing her swollen clit. He blew a stream of air across the gleaming pearl and heard her gasp above him. “Remember, you need to stay quiet.”
“I’ll try.”
Aedan had no intentions of making it easier for her. He buried his face deep into her pussy and drew his tongue over her honeyed flesh. She shuddered, and he heard her utter a strangled moan. He worked his tongue over and around her clit, teasing and flicking at the hard little nub. Her legs parted further, and she rocked her cunt against his mouth. He sucked the delicate pearl of her clitoris into his mouth and bit down lightly as he slid two fingers deep into her pussy, scissoring them against the tight walls of her channel.
She moaned again, louder this time, and he knew she wasn’t going to last long. He released her clit only to suck it deep into his mouth, his tongue laving it again and again as he hooked his fingers and tapped the magical spot high on her inner wall. She bit back a cry and ground her pussy against his hand and mouth as her lust overwhelmed her need to stay quiet. He felt her walls clench around his fingers and a shudder passed through her. He drove a third finger inside her channel, and she came, muffling her screams against the heel of her hand as her pussy gushed honey over his fingers.
Her legs were trembling as she slumped against the railing, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Aedan sat back and tipped his head up to grin at her, pleased to see the look of pure bliss still lingering on her face.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.” His cock throbbed between his thighs, and he wanted nothing more than to be buried deep inside her still-quivering pussy and claim her for his own.
* * * *
Val finally managed to regain breath enough to speak, though she could still hear her pulse thundering in her ears as she gave him a slow, sultry smile. “You’re not too bad yourself.”
Her body was still shivering with the aftershocks of her orgasm as she lowered herself into Aedan’s lap, pinning his cock between them. He groaned, and she clung to his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She wanted him inside her, and it didn’t matter anymore if anyone saw or heard what they were up to. All she wanted was Aedan.
He gripped her ass and lifted her just enough he could free his cock from between them, and then he lowered her back down, gliding into her slick pussy. As her heated flesh enveloped his cock, they both groaned in unison.
“Nothing else will ever feel this good.” He moaned and kissed her, his tongue tangling with hers as soon as she parted her lips. He leaned back against the balcony wall and bucked his hips, filling her completely.
Val flexed her inner walls around him, milking his cock as hard as she could. He lifted her up again, and she mewled in protest, tightening her legs around him as she fought to draw their bodies back together.
He broke their kiss to laugh at her. “You’re forgetting who’s got the supernatural advantage here. Now stop arguing and let me fuck you.”
Val stuck her tongue out at him and then licked his lower lip as she relaxed her legs again. “Show off.”
“It’s not my fault my mother got bitten by a vampire, luv.” He cut off her response with a brutal kiss that was timed to coincide with a thrust of his hips that buried his cock to the hilt inside her again. With her legs pinned between Aedan’s back and the wall of the balcony, Val found it impossible to affect Aedan’s rhythm. She muffled her low moans against his probing tongue and gave herself over to him at last, surrendering herself completely.
His powerful arms lifted and lowered her as he drove himself into her pussy time and time again, pushing her pleasure to new limits. His mouth plundered hers, and she lost herself in the heat of his kisses, her nipples diamond hard as they brushed against the wall of Aedan’s chest with every shift in their positions.
She felt his thighs tense beneath hers, and his cock thickened, hardening to iron as he quickened the pace. Val loosened her hold on his shoulders and leaned back, crying out at the pleasure she felt as she opened the angle between them. His cock stroked high up her inner walls, and tiny starbursts filled her vision as an orgasm hit her hard, sending her senses tumbling. Somewhere in the fog of pleasure she heard Aedan call her name, and then he was slamming his cock high and hard into her body, hot spurts of cum filling her.
She leaned into him and let her head droop until she was resting it against his shoulder, her pulse still racing. Aedan’s cock still twitched deep inside her, and his breath was a hoarse whisper by her ear.
“I should never have left,” Aedan said in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Just don’t do it again and I’ll forgive you.” She nuzzled his neck and smiled as a familiar scent struck her nose. “Are you using my brand of soap now?”
“It reminded me of you.”
“Well, now you don’t need any reminders. You have me.”
He held her close and steadied her as he got slowly to his feet, still buried deep inside her pussy. “Yes, I do.” He carried her back to the bed and settled her gently on one side before coming around and sprawling out beside her. “So how long until we have to go back home?”
“We need to be back by the end of the month.”
“Three weeks? I’m not sure that’s long enough.”
“Well, it’ll have to be, lover. We’ve got a double wedding to attend, and I’m the maid of honor.”
“A double wedding?” Aedan lifted his head and grinned at her. “Jase must be making an honest woman of Jazz, but who else got suckered into matrimony?”
Val laughed at the expression of pity on Aedan’s face. “Sin. He claims he couldn’t let Jase make him look bad, seeing as how he’s been dating Michelle nearly a year now. He’s blaming Jase and complaining bitterly, but we all know it’s a sham. He can’t stop grinning these days. ”
“Poor fellow.”
“Hey, didn’t you ask me to have dinner with you every night for the rest of your life not an hour ago?” Val gave him a poke in the chest. “There are some who might say that was a proposal.”
“Oh, you think so?” He grabbed her hand and tugged her close. “I’ll let you in on a secret.”
“Mhmm?”
“It was.”
“What?” Val blinked at Aedan, stunned.
“I’m not letting you out of my life. Not now. Not ever. We can get married in a year, a month, or tomorrow, but we are getting married.”
His hazel eyes gleamed with determination and love, and Val felt the last of her doubts melt away. “I can’t marry you tomorrow. I don’t have a thing to wear. Hell, I really don’t. You tore up my dress, and my luggage is still downstairs at the front desk. If you hadn’t been happy to see me, I was going to book a room somewhere else!”
Aedan shot her a wicked grin. “They can keep your clothes until tomorrow. If you’re naked, you can’t leave this room. I vote we start the honeymoon now, and worry about the wedding later.”
“I second that motion.” She snuggled into his arms and kissed him happily. “I love you.”
“Which only proves what I suspected about you the moment I saw you,” he said as he drew her into his arms.
“What’s that?”
“You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan lives out on the Canadian west coast, surrounded by open water, dear family, and good friends. She’s jumped out of perfectly good airplanes on purpose and had lunch next to the queen of Denmark by accident. She’s worked for local law enforcement, been a freelance wordsmith, and bakes what she claims are the world’s best double-chocolate-and-caramel brownies. She’
s passionately in love with the written word (and a few of her more hunky creations.) Writing is her joy, her escape from reality, and the only way she knows of to quiet the nagging harridan of a muse she claims the universe assigned to her.
For all titles by Susan Hayes, please visit
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
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