by Dahlia Rose
“We’re here,” he said as he pulled into the driveway.
Christine looked around at the manicured lawn and the neatly cut bushes. She could tell he cared about the impression his home gave, and when they stepped inside it was confirmed. His house was furnished in contemporary furniture with a sunny island feel. Soft beige furniture was set off with chairs and a love seat that had a palm tree pattern. It also matched the window treatments that hung at the big bay windows and the sliding door. The kitchen and living room was separated by carpet that ended where the dark polished Spanish tile began. The color matched the marble inlay and backsplash in the kitchen and on the large kitchen island.
“What do you think?” Wes asked as she looked around.
“I like it. Comfortable and understated,” Christine answered. “I’m not a fan of ornate things. I’ve lived with all the baubles of my father’s wealth around me most of my life. I’ve come to appreciate neat and simple.”
“I can’t imagine not liking the finer things in life,” Wes commented as he walked toward the kitchen. “Come, sit and have a glass of wine while I get the rest of dinner together. The steaks have been marinating in the fridge.”
“You’re prepared.” She slipped her coat off and hung it over the first high back chair of the four that lined the long dining table close to the kitchen. She watched him open a bottle of wine and pour her a glass before grabbing a beer for himself. “As for the finer things in life, it’s all well and good except the man who has it may have made his money not in the most legal way and likes to cram it down your throat.”
He sat the glass on the table in front of her. “You can tell me to shove it if it’s none of my business, but I’m guessing his money is not part of your income.”
Christine felt comfortable around Wes and took a sip of wine before answering. “I stopped that while I was in college. I’m adopted, and dear old Dad likes to remind me that he and my mom took me from squalor to luxury. I’m sure if I was left to the care of the government till I was eighteen it would’ve been much easier.”
“I can’t believe your mother lets him say that,” Wes said.
She watched as he chopped vegetables and mixed them in a bowl before pouring a small amount of oil in a large copper pan and adding thick sliced sweet onions.
“Mom passed away from breast cancer two years ago, and he barely blinked an eye,” Christine said and masked the grief the best she could. “He was very abusive to her and unfaithful. I think she stopped fighting just to die and get away from him. I know she loved me, used to tell me that even while she was crying and sporting the most recent bruises. When she died I tried to break ties, but Leonard Chapel counts people as property, and he thinks me owns me.”
“Has he ever hit you?” Wes stopped what he was doing, and his voice was a dangerous growl. She looked up and saw the anger in his eyes and felt surprise at the intensity on his face. He barely knew her, yet she could see he wanted to protect her.
She shook her head. “No, airman, you can stand down.”
He smiled. “That sounds so sexy coming from your mouth.”
“I’ll have to make a note to say it again, if there is chance for an again.” Christine took a sip of her wine.
Wes winked at her. “There’s definitely going to be another chance.”
“Enough about my sordid life, what are you making and what can I do to help?” Christine asked.
“We’re having bourbon steaks and fresh sautéed vegetables, and for dessert…” Wes paused. “Tell me you like dessert.”
Christine laughed. “I love dessert. I usually eat it before dinner.”
Wes grinned. “Not this time, but for our after dinner pleasure we have strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream.”
She clapped her hands. “Yummy, yummy.”
Wes took up a bowl after he took the vegetables off the stove. “And now we go outside to grill steaks and you, ma’am, can set the patio table.”
“Isn’t it too chilly to eat on a deck, even by New Mexico standards?” she asked.
He opened the sliding door and invited her through the sliding door with flourish of his hand. “Wait and see.”
She understood as soon as she stepped onto the stained wood. Wes had a red brick outside fireplace, and the shade over the patio was made of varnished green heart thick pine boards that had trellis slats running up both sides. Vines twisted through the wood and grew over the top, and the lights gave the whole thing a sensual ambiance.
“Wow,” she breathed. “Did you have this built or did it come with the house?”
“I did all of it myself,” he admitted and walked over to the fireplace. He had it started in a minute and then focused on the grill. “It takes your mind off things when you work with your hands.”
“How many tours have you been deployed on?” Christine asked knowingly. She had researched the military and what soldiers went through when they deployed and came back home.
“My third is coming up in two weeks,” Wes said.
“How long will you be gone?” Christine felt disappointment, knowing she only had two weeks to get to know him.
“Nine months. But now I have someone to look forward to seeing when I come home.” Wes got the steak on the grill and walked over to help her with the table.
“I guess we’ll have to make these two weeks the best of our lives,” she said softly and met his gaze.
“It already is,” he replied.
They sat down to a dinner that was simply magnificent in Christine’s opinion.
“You are an amazing cook,” Christine said after her first few bites. “It reminds me of a blog I wrote.”
“I’m getting restaurant style compliments.” Wes grinned. “It may go to my head.”
“I don’t think you need my compliments for anything to go to your head,” she teased. “My blog was about military personnel integrating back into society after deployment. There was a program in San Diego where Wounded Warriors had a kind of Master Chef cook-off. I got to go, and the food created by disabled veterans was sublime.”
“That sounds like a good program. The physical and mental scars are hard to deal with,” Wes said.
“How do you deal with it?” Christine asked.
“I use my hands to create,” Wes explained. “I like art, to sculpt and draw and build.”
“A renaissance man, I like that,” she said.
“And hopefully to hold you,” Wes said in a husky voice.
“I think that can be arranged,” she said with a smile.
All through dinner as they talked, she immersed herself in the ambiance of his backyard and just being with him. Wes was unlike any man she’d met—he wasn’t afraid of who her father was or what he stood for. He didn’t think he could get ahead by dating her and trying to get into her father’s fold. He was true, kind, funny, sensitive, and his eyes held just a bit of danger. By the end of dinner, Wes invited her to sit and watch the fire in the fireplace. They sat close and enjoyed the warmth, sipping wine while their food settled in their stomachs.
Christine made her choice, a very bold one because she wasn’t the type take such steps. She was shy when it came to men and she blamed her father for that. She’d seen him be so cruel that wariness was the first thought when it came to relationships. Yet with Wes it was so easy to trust him and fall under the spell of what could be. She wanted to be with him and feel what it was like to be in the midst of passion with him. He sat with his arm around her shoulder, and he used his long legs to push the outside swing, rocking them lazily.
“Ready for dessert,” he asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes, you,” she answered.
“I could eat,” Wes said.
She shook her head and faced him. “No. I mean my dessert, I want it to be you.”
“Umm, what?”
Christine fanned her face nervously. “Okay, this is so not me, I mean my last relationship was so long ago, and he got chased off by my adopted fathe
r. I don’t do one-night stands, and I don’t know if you’ll like me after this. But I want to be with you tonight, it feels right and I’m going to go with it… Because…”
He caught her face between his hands and kissed her hard. “That’s my answer, but you were saying, because?”
“Because I like how you make me feel when you kiss me and I think it would be stupid not to, for once, jump in feet first,” she said weakly, looking up into his green eyes. “Gosh, you’re handsome and sexy.”
He chuckled. “I love how things just tumble out of your mouth.”
“It’s embarrassing.” She looked away from him.
“It’s refreshing, it means you don’t have anything to hide and I’d never want for you to keep any secrets from me.” He brought her face back to his and kissed her a longing, sweet kiss that made her toes curl. “Are you sure this is what you want? I can kiss you good night at your door and take you home.”
Christine ran her hands over his broad shoulders. “I’m so sure.”
“Then let’s go upstairs, and I can show you around my room, specifically the bed.” Wes grinned and stood.
“At least you didn’t say let me show you my etchings,” she teased and took his hands as he led her back inside.
“That’s so passé,” Wes chuckled. “Besides, this kind of magic doesn’t need anything to help it along, just us.”
Wes was right. In his bedroom, done in the same contemporary style as downstairs, she stood facing him. The footboard of his king size bed was so close to her side that she could run her hand over the carved sleigh shape. Wes pulled her into his arms and nuzzled her neck.
“You taste like heaven,” he said huskily.
“You make me feel like it,” she murmured. “Kiss me, Wes.”
They stood in front of his bed, and Wes held her close to him. She could feel every muscle of his back through the shirt he wore. He used his finger to tilt her head upward and sampled her lips. She could taste the hints of his drink in his mouth and opened her lips to invite him to take more. Wes groaned and accepted her invitation, and his tongue penetrated her mouth. She made a sound of pleasure in her throat when his hands ran up her sides and under her top to cup her breasts. Wes reached behind her and with deft fingers unhooked her bra.
He filled his hands with her breasts and she whimpered when he used his fingers to bring her nipples to hardness. In one fluid motion, Wes took her sweater off and she slipped the bra from her shoulders. He kissed her neck down to her collarbone and got to his knees so his mouth was in direct line with her breasts. He took the tight bud deep into his mouth down to the areola. Pleasure speared through her and she arched into his mouth. Wes’s hands were at her back, and he pulled her closer so he could gorge himself on her luscious flesh. He switched to her other breast, and she moved with restless excitement in his arms.
“Oh, don’t stop, please don’t stop.” She gasped.
“There’s more to come. I plan to love you hard and kiss every part of your body,” he murmured. She looked down to see him circling her wet areola with his finger. “I’ve never seen nipples so big and utterly delicious. I don’t know if I should suck on them more or make you come with my hand. Hmm, decisions, decisions.”
His words infused her with heat, and when she met his gaze she said one word wantonly. “Both.”
Wes groaned as he sat on his bed and pulled her down next to him. Their lips met again, and Christine ached to feel him above her and inside her. They moved to get each other undressed. He laughed huskily when he took his pants down and forgot to kick off his shoes in his haste. Finally they were free of the confines of the material they wore, and he eagerly reached for her. Wes wiped every thought from her head when he touched her, but Christine wanted to make him burn with desire as well. She slid her body languidly over him as they kissed, and then she moved down his body with her tongue. The muscles of his torso flexed beneath her lips and his hips bucked when she kissed the tip of his engorged flesh.
“More.” His voice was gritty with need.
Christine shot him a sexy smile before she wrapped her hot mouth around his cock and slid it deep into her mouth. Wes’s breath hissed from between his lips, and he sank his fingers in her hair. She swirled her tongue around the shaft and then the head of his rod, tasting a hint of salty pre-come that escaped. He groaned, and she worked her fingers and mouth around the steel hard shaft of his cock until his hips were matching the rhythmic movements of her hand and lips.
“Oh God, baby, you do that so damn good,” he groaned out between clenched teeth. “I want to give in, but God I want to sink myself inside you.”
“I wouldn’t mind tasting you on my tongue when you come,” she said honestly.
Wes groaned and pulled her back up to him and cupped his hand at the back of her neck. “I don’t know if your words are so innocent, or you’re saying this to tempt me, but damn, darling.” She was torturing him; she could see it in the desire filled depths of his green eyes. “It’s my turn to make you burn.”
And he surely did, because under the onslaught of his lips and his touch, Christine felt like she was melting from the inside out. It was as if Wes couldn’t touch her enough, as if he wanted to immerse himself in everything about her. She’d never felt so loved or luxuriated in being made love to. She was beneath him now, and Wes kissed his way from her lips to her neck, biting softly before sucking at the sensitive flesh at the base of her collarbone. Christine wrapped her long legs around his upper thigh and she lifted her hips seeking relief of the ache within her. She wanted Wes to take her and begged him silently with the movements of her body.
He looked up at her. “No, darling, not quite yet.”
Christine whimpered and closed her eyes as his lips moved down her body, tasting her flesh and leaving nips of heat in his wake. He came to the core of her, her pussy that was wet and ached to be satisfied. Wes gave the slit one slow, delectable lick and evoked a cry from her lips. This time he delved between the sensitive folds of flesh with a low groan, and she spread her legs wide seeking more. Christine tried to reach down to grab his shoulders and could only feel the smooth skin and no way to hold on to him. Each sensation was like trying to catch lightning in a bottle, gone before she could catch it. In its wake there was another flood of sensations even more heightened than the other. She could hardly catch her breath until suddenly it was like a star burst behind her eyes, and she climaxed. Her whimpers turned to cries of pure pleasure.
“Now, Wes, take me please!” she begged breathlessly.
“Damn darling, I couldn’t stop myself if I tried,” Wes answered.
He covered her body with his own and she watched his eyes turn smoky green as desire took hold when he entered her slowly, inch by torturous inch. He was buried to the hilt and then reached between their bodies to rub her clit. Christine gasped and lifted her hips, feeling his cock tease the sensitive walls within her pussy with each move. She could feel herself clenching around his rod, and he thrust hard within her, driving them both higher in passion. With each deep arch of his hips she heard him groan or whisper her name. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, and Christina couldn’t stop the tiny moans that escaped her. She lost control and lifted her legs high and locked them around the firm muscles of his ass. She used the strength of her thighs to encourage him to take her harder, tightening her legs around him. Wes pumped into her and fisted his hand in her hair before kissing her fiercely.
“Wes, I need, oh God, I’m going to come!” she cried out and arched her head into the pillow.
She felt his cock throb within her and knew he was ready to follow into the abyss of pleasure that beckoned them.
“Yes, darling, I’m there with you.” He panted against her ear. “God, you feel so fucking good wrapped around my cock.”
Christine lost herself to the intensity of her release and cried out his name as heat washed over her. She heard Wes’s long, guttural groan before she felt his come fill her with each thru
st until they were both spent and lay in the aftermath of their lovemaking. She was breathless trying to comprehend how one man could rock her world with kisses and caresses. How they formed such an intense connection that quickly, yet she wouldn’t change it for the world. She hadn’t felt so amazing in such a long time. To be with someone who didn’t fear her father or thinking it may give them a leg up in the business world. Wes was neither of those things, and a few times that night he showed her that it was all about her. The next day he took her home and made sure she was safely inside with a soft kiss and a promise to see her on his next day off base.
“Call me, text me, do both and a lot,” he whispered against her lips.
“Okay.” She smiled. “Will you do the same?”
“Try and stop me.” Wes nibbled at her lips. “You’re the best Christmas gift a man could ask for.”
“See you in a day or two,” she said and he got another swift kiss before he left her house.
It was in full view of the black sedan and its occupants that were fixed back in front of her apartment again. This time she didn’t care. Not even they could ruin her happy moment. Last night she’d started something wonderful, and this time her adopted father would not be able to ruin it. She wouldn’t let him.
Chapter Three
Wes came outside and got into his car. He felt like he was walking on air, and that was because of Christine. He’d finally get to see her this weekend after forty-eight hours of work and getting ready for deployment, and he’d get an entire weekend with her. Wes had plans and was thinking all about them when he noticed the black sedan following him. These fuckers. Wes glanced in the rearview mirror angrily. He’d asked Gary about Leonard Chapel, and from what Gary told him the man wasn’t known for his charity work and helping the poor.
He was dirty and in a bad way, dealing with criminals and men with unsavory character. He liked to control everyone and everything around him, including his daughter. Gary told him to be careful, and he would be, but there was no way he would be scared off. Wes also would not be followed like he was some errant school boy. The road was empty, and he made an unexpected swerve in the middle of the street. It took the driver of the black sedan by surprise, and he had to apply the brakes quickly. Wes was already out of the car waiting when they finally came to a stop. He watched the two burly men from before step from the car and open the door for their backseat passenger. Leonard Chapel. Wes assessed the older man who tried to pull himself a full height and look like he was the dominant male. It did not impress or scare Wes in the least.
