by S. M. Butler
“It’s yours.”
“Tonight we talk,” he said darkly, and she nodded, licking her lips. Her tongued darted against his thumb, and he pushed in, making her suck his finger.
In a rushing fumble of fingers and cotton, she got his shorts open, then leaned in and kissed him through the black stretched cotton of his boxer briefs. She smiled. He smelled like her soap. “You used my shower this morning?”
“You sleep like the dead. You need a bodyguard.”
Are you volunteering? She tugged down his waist band, her fingertips grazing paler skin and dark hair before circling around hot, throbbing skin. Oh, she remembered this. Remembered him in her hand.
She did a first, tentative stroke, then got bolder, jerking him as she got closer. Really close. Licking her lips and almost swiping him close. But she still waited. She wanted to push him like he’d been pushing her. Wanted to drive him crazy and make him beg.
Her mouth was watering, and still she waited.
His legs flexed, his hips rocked, and his hands tightened and relaxed on her hair, but he didn’t take over. Didn’t demand.
“So patient,” she whispered as she parted her lips and gave a wet kiss to the end of his erection.
His legs bowed for a second and he jerked toward her, but he didn’t say anything. She stroked him again as she licked down to his base, then glanced up as she swept her hungry tongue up and around the flared crown.
“Cariño,” he grunted. “Only so much patience in this world, huh?”
She smirked, but he was right. No more teasing. Opening wide, she slid him deep into her mouth, sucking lightly on the way back out. Her hand followed, moving faster over his now-slick flesh, squeezing harder as he responded.
“Oh fuck yeah, so good,” he muttered. “Your mouth. Yes, harder.”
She listened to each little sound, her heart swelling with each groan and grunt, and she adjusted her technique as he praised and pleaded in equal measure.
But when he tapped her shoulder and said she should stop, she shook her head. No, she wanted him to finish. This was too much fun to only do part-way.
She wanted to be his complete undoing.
The salty tang of his musk intensified in her nose as he thrust faster, and she imagined his arousal beading up on the head of his cock, dropping onto her tongue. Swallowing was never her favorite thing to do, but she wanted to do it now. She went as deep as she could on each stroke, relaxing her throat, willing herself not to gag.
Shoving his shorts further down his legs, she reached her other hand between his legs and cupped his balls, now pulling tight against his body. She stroked the taut seam bisecting his sac, then squeezed as he buried himself in her throat with a strangled cry of her name.
Breathing through her nose, she swallowed his release, ridiculous proud of herself. She stroked his shaking hips and slowly let him slip out of her mouth before she reached for her bag to grab a bottle of water.
She took two heavy swigs, and it was good she’d finished her last sip before looking up at him, because when she did, she started laughing.
“What was that?” he demanded, glaring down at her.
“I think it’s called a blow job.” She mock-glared right back up at him. “And I’m pretty sure it just rocked your world.”
He stroked her cheek. “It did. But seriously, we need to get on the same page. I don’t come before you. That’s a rule.”
“That’s a stupid rule. Right up there with you trying to help me out of a boat when your hands are full.”
*
Vince didn’t have enough brain cells left to argue with her.
“Come here,” he growled, holding out his hand, and she took it, jumping to her feet. He swept her into his arms, storming her mouth that still tasted like him. “That was amazing. You have an incredibly talented little mouth. And now it’s my turn to taste you.”
She shivered as he shoved out of his shorts, keeping her tight to his side as he made a pallet out of his clothes for her to lie on. He followed her to the swept wood floor as she lay down, bracing his hands on either side of her head as he kissed her again. She’d sucked him dry, but he was already half-hard again as she shifted beneath him, her nearly naked form touching him in so many places.
Larken. He knew just exactly how lucky he was to have this second chance with her.
They’d talk tonight. He’d make a fire and share all that had happened with his family, and tell her about his new obligations. But right now, he needed to give her pleasure that rivaled the blow job she’d just given him.
Show her with his body what she wasn’t ready yet to hear from his lips.
He reared up on his knees so he could see her stretched out beneath him. Her long limbs were lightly bronzed, thanks to the Caribbean sun, but skinny little tan lines criss-crossing her torso showed her natural paleness. He tugged her bikini bottoms down, searching for more of that never kissed-by-the-sun skin that he loved so much.
His breath caught in his throat as he dragged the fabric down her hips.
She was completely bare.
That was new.
His dick thumped against his leg in appreciation. He licked his lips and met her amused gaze. “Where did your pretty blonde curls go?”
“Got rid of them when I moved to an island where I spend ninety-nine percent of my time in a bathing suit,” she whispered.
“I like you like this, too.” He traced her cleft with his finger, a feather-light touch just enough to tease. She rocked her hips, parting her lips there just enough to show him how wet her pussy was for him. “You’re soaked,” he said hoarsely. “That from sucking my cock?”
She nodded, then gasped as he fell forward onto his hands, covering her with his body again. His shaft slid against her sex, some of her slippery juices slicking him up. To sink inside her… His gut clenched. God, he wanted that. He wanted to be inside her bare, to fill her with his seed.
He needed to hit the fucking pause button on that thought.
But her words from earlier were swimming through his head. That he’d hurt her, badly, when he’d gone to the SEALs. They’d had a summer together, and it had been amazing, but they were both young and… And nothing. He couldn’t even remember the end of their relationship.
He was a complete dick.
They’d left things kind of open-ended, he remembered that. Maybe they’d see each other at Christmas, but then he’d gone for his initial training and ended up with only a few days before reporting out to California for the next stage.
He looked down at this beautiful woman beneath him and his heart cracked open. “Cariño,” he said, kissing her lips softly. “I’m not a kid anymore. You can trust me this time, okay?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re still using a condom.”
He burst out laughing. “Yeah. I’m talking about with your heart. Of course I’ll use a condom.”
“Oh.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “That’s okay. My heart is made of concrete now.”
He didn’t believe that for a second. “Well, I’ll be careful with it all the same.”
She made a not-caring hum as he shifted down her torso, kissing between her plump little breasts, loving first one tight nipple, then the other, sucking them deep into his mouth. She was damn responsive there, writhing beneath him, spreading her legs wide. He trailed his hand ahead of his mouth, lightly running his fingers through her wet folds as he savored the unique taste of her skin, sweet and salty. Down her quaking belly, he pressed kisses to the dip between her hip bones, then up over her sexy-as-sin bare mound. He could lick and suck all of her this way, and once he was between her legs, he settled in to do just that.
This wasn’t the first time he’d had Larken all spread out for him, but twelve years earlier, he’d been so intent on not getting caught in a fellow candidate’s pants, or jizzing in his own, that he hadn’t taken time to truly appreciate how beautiful she was. How pink and shiny and gorgeous her pussy was, blooming ope
n for him. He did that now, kissing her all over as he told her that she tasted good—and she did, like sunshine and the ocean and pineapples all wrapped up in a heady sex-sundae.
He found her clit, first with his tongue, then his fingers, and she made the best sounds when he circled it, desperate little moans that made him feel ten feet tall.
He found a rhythm that worked for her, long, slow licks of his tongue that started a delicious climb toward her first orgasm. By the time her legs were clenched tight around his head, his cock was fully hard again, and when she exploded, rocking helplessly against his mouth, he gently licked her down.
Then he slid on a condom and, bracing one hand on the floor beside her head, fisted his cock, finding her entrance warm and snug and ready for him.
He groaned her name as he stroked into her, sinking a few inches as she cried out, a breathy sound of pleasure he wanted to hear over and over again. Rocking his hips, he brought them together twice more, and on the fourth thrust, he sank fully into her. She sighed, echoing his own bone-deep satisfaction, and deep inside her he swelled. Home. Yes, this was right. This was perfect.
And then it got even better when she rolled her hips, encouraging him to move. He could move. He could move mountains and part seas for her. Loving her with his body would be the easy part.
It didn’t take either of them long to wind back up to a climax, and soon Larken had one hand between them, stroking herself as he drove into her. Faster. Harder. She panted his name as everything in his body started to spark, as they streaked past the point of no return, where his brain went into tunnel vision mode and all he could think about was losing himself in her body. Of drowning in her skin.
Te amo. It was too soon, but the unexpected thought pulsed through him and he couldn’t deny it. If she gave him half a chance, he’d pursue her to the ends of the earth.
With her name on his lips and possession in his heart, he thrust into her one last time, trapping her hand between their bodies as she cried out.
No, it had never been like this between them before.
And now that he’d found this connection, he was never letting it go.
Te amo.
Chapter Seven
‡
The sex had been stupendous, but it wasn’t a magic pill. It took a while for the glow to fade, because they’d lain together, kissing and laughing and quietly talking about nothing. And that had been perfect.
But as soon as they got dressed again, Larken’s shell snapped back into place.
Ridiculous woman. Didn’t she know he now had zero compunction about busting right through it?
They hiked up to the highest point on the island, the top of a grass-covered rocky cliff, and she told him what she knew about The Exumas chain of islands.
Vince stretched out on the grass and stared up at the late afternoon sky. “Why did Rik set up camp here?”
She sat down, not too far from him, but not in reaching distance—so yeah, too far. “Calli’s from Miami. I think they fell in love here.”
Easy to do. “And when you get a mission?”
“We usually go to Miami and fly out of there. Sometimes Grand Bahama. You know what it’s like. There’s prep time and planning. That happens while we’re in transit. He also has property in the States and in Europe. We set up a command post wherever makes most sense.”
“And he’s really only doing one mission every month or two?”
“He’s retired. It’s legit. He only gets involved in a case if he’s compelled. For the most part, he’s done with the shenanigans of the world.”
“But he can afford to pay us.”
She looked at him sharply. “Yes.”
“It’s…” He took a deep breath. “I’ve got responsibilities now.”
He was used to her narrowing her eyes at him. Them flaring wide…that was new. “Like what?”
“Just family stuff.”
“Vince Nash, do you have a kid? Because I swear, that’s the kind of secret one does not keep from a woman when you’re sleeping with her.” She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Although if you have a kid, that’s… Kids are cool. Your kid especially. I’m going to shut up now.”
He scrambled to his knees, shaking his head. “No, no kid. Jesus, no. I wouldn’t keep something like that from you.”
“What kind of family responsibility?”
Sinking back on his heels, he shrugged helplessly. “My dad passed away a few years ago, and my mom hung in there. But my grandfather died earlier this year, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s, and that just broke her. Both her and my grandmother. They’re managing the truck stop on a day to day basis, they have a decent manager, too, but someone needs to care about the big picture, and that’s not either of them anymore. They were late on their quarterly taxes twice, and shit like that. So I gotta be there more. I came home from Iraq for my grandfather’s funeral, and getting the office straightened out there was a shit-show. Plus I’m not really a business guy. But with the economy the way it is, it’s not like we can sell the business, either. So…”
As he spilled his guts to her, her face softened, and when he finished, she was kneeling right in front of him, holding one of his hands. “Wow. Vince, that sucks.” She gave him a hug, a soft press of her curves against his constantly-held-under-tension body, and he let himself lean into her. “I’m so sorry about your dad. He was a lovely man.”
“He liked you, too.”
“The hussy you brought home? They wouldn’t even let us sleep in the same room!”
“I think it would be the same rule now, though. My mother glories in her old-school Cuban rules.” He wouldn’t know what her current stance, was, though. Larken was the only woman he’d ever brought home.
“So that’s…” she pulled back just a bit and frowned at him. “So that’s your plan? You’re going to live in tiny little Bolton most of the time, and join us on missions?”
“Not all the time.” So what if his skin crawled at the idea? “Just be there enough to make sure stuff is sorted out.”
Hopefully the routine would be Camo Cay—and Larken—most of the time, and home once or twice a month. Short visits.
“And are you going to find a sweet little Georgia girl to marry? Carry on the family business, make you cookies, and have cute little half-Cuban babies?” Larken shoved to her feet.
“Did you just take offense to something imaginary happening in your head?” he yelled at her as she stalked off.
“Nope,” she shot over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Come on. We have more team-building exercises to do.”
Jogging after her, he gave her enough space to realize she was being snippy. He replayed the conversation in his head, but couldn’t figure out where he’d gone wrong.
“Help me out,” he finally said as she started gathering firewood back in the clearing. “What did I say to piss you off?”
“I’m not—”
“Don’t even start, Larken. You threw some nonsense at me about a wife and kids. Given that we just made love, that’s out of left field.”
“We had sex, Vince. Don’t worry, I didn’t over-romanticize it.”
I did, he wanted to point out, but this definitely wasn’t the time. “Is this about me splitting my time back and forth between here and Georgia?”
“Nope.” But she said it like it was definitely that. Definitely.
Shit.
“I’ll be here as much as possible.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Hey.” He said in his drill sergeant voice because he’d had enough of this.
She snapped her back straight, then turned slowly and gave him a hard look. “What?”
“I wasn’t worried about it. I thought it sounded like a fine plan. Clearly you have a different opinion, and I’m standing here, telling you I’m fucking interested in your thought process. So do me a favor and open the fuck up, okay?”
“Nothing to open up about,” she said bitterly
, picking up a piece of kindling and whipping it at the pile. “I’m not asking you for anything. I don’t have any claim on you. I appreciate your honesty, and I’m sure we can keep fucking when you’re around.”
Oh, hell no. He stormed across the clearing and picked her up, flinging her over his shoulder.
“Put me down!”
“No.” He turned in a circle while she whaled on his back with fists of fury. He didn’t care. Stomping over to the wooden platform, he sat down and pulled her into his lap.
“What the hell?” he yelled at her, not loud enough to hurt her ear drums or anything, but loud enough to be impolite. “When did I ever give you the impression that I just wanted to ‘keep fucking’?”
Her lower lip trembled as she glared at him.
“Last time I…” he trailed off. The last time he’d looked her up had been ten years ago, and he’d done it on the sly. She’d still been in the Army then, in Iraq. A lot must have happened in the next decade. Hell, she’d told him as much, hadn’t she? “When did you start working for Rik?”
She glanced away. “Just a few months ago.”
“And in between?”
She gave him a tight, unhappy smile. “Let’s not do this memory lane thing. It’s not fun.”
Jesus, this woman. He pressed his forehead against hers and glowered. “Me encanta tu temperamento.”
*
I love your temper.
Larken blinked. He what? She swallowed hard and tried to cover her reaction. “Tempera-mento?”
“You’re such a hot head. Let me spell this out for you. I don’t want you to be my fuck buddy on or around missions. Fate or God or something has brought us back together, and I’m…temperamento and all, I like you, Larken White. A lot.”
“Okay.” She should tell him the feeling was mutual. She opened her mouth again. Nothing came out.
He sighed and shook his head slowly as he gave her a look. “What are you scared of?”
“Nothing.”
“Look, tough girl. I’m scared of shit. I’m scared that my mother’s health will deteriorate and my grandmother’s occasional absentmindedness will turn into full-blown dementia.”
