“She’s my little sister, I was supposed to be looking out for her.” He laid his head against the window. “I can still hear her screaming his name. It was awful, Charlee. She thought Cade was dead.”
His voice was so full of anguish. “I’m so sorry.” She wanted to hold him so much. “Did you ever talk to Cade? You know he’d want to know.” Cade Tallbull had been raised by the Kings. Sam had brought him home after his father had been gored by a rodeo bull. He was a Native American. So was Charlee, or at least that was what everyone said. She sniffed. The Kings had a habit of taking in strays—like her. Cade had grown up to be a fine man. He was on the rodeo circuit now, like his father. They were all growing up. Justice had already graduated college and was playing a big part in running the ranch.
“She still refuses to let us say anything.” He turned to look at Charlee, his face shrouded in shadow. “So, you have to help me keep her secret. Abby was burned, and she doesn’t want Cade to see where…” Justice stopped talking and looked away, leaving Charlee to imagine what he meant. None of what came to mind was good. The whole thing just broke her heart.
Soon they were driving into El Camino. Even in the dark, the place was grand. “Did you tend to the horses? Are they okay?” Charlee asked as she came around to his side to help him out.
“I don’t need any help,” he slurred, but he didn’t push her away when she wrapped her arm around him again. Charlee hated to enjoy touching him so much. She felt like she shouldn’t, not under the circumstances.
“Hush, I’ve got you.” He staggered a bit, but Charlee stood her ground. The stench of burned wood, hay, and scorched galvanized metal still lingered in the air.
“God, my head hurts.” As they made their way slowly to the porch, a horse whinnied and a cow lowed in the distance. As if reminding Justice of her question, he began to talk. “The horses are fine. I came here and checked on things before I went to town. The hands don’t need a helluva lot of supervision. Rand McNeil’s wife is having a baby, did you know that?” He named their foreman. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”
“It’s okay.” She helped him up the steps and to the front door. “I’m coming in.” Charlee didn’t intend to take no for an answer. “I can’t believe you drank too much. This isn’t like you.” When he grunted and grumbled under his breath, she retorted, “Yea, I’m fussing a little. Sue me.”
“Just help me upstairs, boss.” His voice held that teasing note she’d heard so often years ago.
“Don’t you want me to fix you something to eat first?”
A groan was her answer to that question. “We’re alone.” He announced. The house was deserted. His parents and the twins, Trace and Trevor, were in Austin with Abby. All the rest of the boys were at school. Apparently Abby had insisted her injury be downplayed to such an extent that most of the family was going about their normal routine.
“Don’t worry, your virtue is safe with me.” She did some teasing of her own. The second and fifth stair creaked like usual. Charlee didn’t need to be told where Justice’s room was located. She’d snuck up these stairs or shimmed up the drain pipe to his window more times than she could count while growing up. “Let’s get you into bed.” She winced as he was getting heavier by the second.
“Sounds good to me,” Justice murmured. “I’m beat.”
“You’ll feel better soon.” She assured him, checking the thermostat, making sure his room was warm enough for him. He obediently stood next to the big four-poster bed. To her, he looked like a cross between a sexy teddy bear and an old west desperado. Justice always reminded her of Chris Pine in a cowboy hat.
“You smell good, like a woman.”
Charlee had to laugh. “You are drunk.” At his snort, she added, “At least something about me is womanly.” It sure wasn’t her shape. Charlee’s unfortunate chest was as flat as a board.
“There’s not a damn thing wrong with you.” His voice was low and raspy.
Charlee shivered. “Never mind. Let me get the covers turned back and I’ll help you get your boots off.” This wasn’t the first time she’d helped him to bed. Of course, the other times he’d been hurting with one of those damn headaches he was plagued with.
“I think I need help with the rest of my clothes.”
His whisper sounded a little suggestive, and Charlee blushed from her nose to her toes. “I think you need a cold shower.” She made light of his comment. Charlee had seen Justice flirt many times, but she’d never been the recipient. She’d always been relegated to the role of best buddy.
“Will you take one with me?”
“A shower?” She choked back a laugh. Was he tormenting her on purpose? “Not a good idea.” Charlee fluffed the pillows and turned on the bedside lamp, anything to keep her eyes off the handsome hunk who was unbuttoning his shirt and eyeing her like she was a tasty treat. How many times had she dreamed of this moment? The only problem was—the Jose Cuervo talking, not Justice.
“Come here. I need to hold you.”
The teasing tone had left his voice completely. This sexy Justice was almost more than she could handle. “Hush. Let me help you. You’re making a mess.” She stepped close to him, her whole body quivering at the sight of his gorgeous chest, lightly furred, muscles rippling as he struggled with the shirt which was behind him, still fastened at the cuffs.
While she was so near and he was otherwise occupied, Charlee dared to do something she’d only dreamed about. She placed a small quick kiss over his heart and felt hers jump in her chest.
“That’s good. Now kiss me up here.”
Caught. She lifted her eyes, and he was staring at her with unmistakable heat. “Sorry.”
“God, don’t be. I need you.” He tossed the shirt across the room and began tugging at his pants. “Damned buttons.”
“Justice, you don’t want me.” The words slipped from her lips unbidden even as her hands joined his, tugging to get his belt out of the loops.
“Yes, I do. I want you. I need you.” He bent his head, and she felt his lips on her neck. “Feel.”
He took her hand and moved it below his waist—and he was right. She could feel him big and hard. For her? Not possible. Unable to resist, she shyly cupped him, marveling at the way he throbbed in her hand. “I’m not your type, you said so. Remember?” Each word tore a little bit of her pride away.
“You’re my friend. A guy isn’t supposed to lust after his friend. But I can’t help it.” His words were still a bit slurred, punctuated by kisses as he licked a path from her cheek to her collarbone. “Don’t think I’ve missed those hot little nipples pressing against your shirt, or that wild flush on your cheeks when we sit close. You want me, Parker.”
“We don’t always get what we want, Justice.” Charlee tried to muster up some fight, some strength to push away his hands. But she couldn’t. She had wanted him forever. By age fifteen, she’d been aware of Justice as a man and by the time she was eighteen, she’d burned for him.
“I do, I’m not afraid to reach out and take what I want when I see it.”
God, he was potent. “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy,” she offered as she tilted her head to give him access. Frissons of excitement covered her skin.
“I want your soft touches, like how you used to caress my forehead when I was sick. Now, I want you to whimper for the pleasure I can give you.”
Right on cue, she moaned for him as he skated his hands up under her shirt. “Justice.” She gasped his name in prayer.
“Your skin is like toffee-colored silk and your hair drives me mad.” He ran his fingers through the long thick chocolate colored waterfall.
“It does?” Charlee was losing her mind. This was surreal. His hands were now working on her clothes. Soon she would be naked in his arms.
“Yea, I love the taste of you. Sugar cookies. You’re sweet on my tongue.” Justice kissed her neck again, this time sucking a bit of soft flesh between his teeth. God, he was so excited, he was seeing st
ars. “Are you gonna let me love you?”
Did she have a choice? Her mind might be wary but her body was melting at his touch.
Justice slipped an arm around Charlee and lifted her to him, his other hand making quick work of the remainder of their clothes. Wrapping Charlee’s hair around his fist, he pulled her head back and claimed her lips with his own.
Their first kiss.
He had known this girl since he was nine years old. She had been the singularly most important person in his life—including his family—and he’d never dreamed she could singe him with such fiery heat. God in heaven, she’d been worth the wait. “Kiss me back, Charlee.”
As if being set free, Charlee exploded in his arms. Her whole body shuddered, and she melded herself to him, fingers weaving through his hair, tugging its length even as she urged his head down so she could reach his mouth easier.
“You feel good, Justice. So good.” She strained up to meet him, going up on her toes. She would have climbed into his body if she could have.
Moaning, he crashed their lips together, his tongue sweeping through her mouth even as his hand slid between them to find her breasts. That was when Charlee froze. “No.” She tried to stop his hands. “Don’t.”
“Why?” He sat down, pulling her between his legs. His mouth lifting, seeking those tender buds which pushed out from her chest as if they were offering themselves to him. “You don’t think I’ve seen these little nipples, wanted them? You may hide how you feel, but you could never control this little body.”
She shifted in his embrace, her arms coming up to cross over, shielding her breasts from his eyes. “I’m too small. Not like—”
“Shhhh,” he hushed her, pulling her arms down, exposing her to his mouth. “Delicate, dainty, exquisitely feminine—that’s what you are.” He kissed the tender swell, and she arched into him as he swirled his tongue around her areola, then sucked the nipple into his mouth.
“Justice!” she keened.
He felt his cock throb. God, this was good. He kneaded the small of her back as he nursed at her breast, his lips suckling the tender tip. “Sit.” He urged as he slid his mouth from one side of her chest to the other.
Charlee did as he bade, easing herself down on his muscular thigh, which pressed hard between her legs. “Oh, oh, oh,” she whimpered as the dual sensations of his mouth on her breast collided with the pressure in her clit as she began to move on him, riding him almost mindlessly as he sucked at her nipple. None of her fantasies even came close to what Justice was doing, scoring her nipple with his teeth, then lashing at it with his tongue. The pleasure was swirling around her, and she was dizzy with it, clutching his shoulders as he fell back with her on the bed.
Justice lay beside her, but he didn’t stop the incredible things he was doing to her body, his mouth ravishing her breasts, giving each one of them the attention they so desperately craved. Of their own volition, her thighs parted in invitation, and she felt his hand cup her heat, his fingers delving deep where no man had ever touched her before. Charlee lifted her hips in supplication as he rubbed up and down, massaging her pussy, driving her crazy as he speared up inside her, then swirled his fingers up to pleasure her clit. “Justice!” she cried, unable to stop the heat which rose, swelled, pulsed and exploded between her thighs.
“God, you’re precious,” he growled as he lifted his lips from her well-sucked nipple.
“Give me what I need, Justice. Please,” she begged, for what, she didn’t know. He spread her open, and she arched, bucking gently as he pressed the hot swollen head of his dick against the folds of her femininity.
“This is what you need, I’m what you need.” He took her by the waist and angled her body, draping her legs over his thighs, then he lowered himself to her. Slowly he pushed his way into her. Charlee tossed her head from one side to the other, her fingers wrapped around the thick muscles of his forearms.
This was her first time. Even through his alcoholic haze, Justice was aware of the need to be gentle. But she wasn’t making it easy. Her tight pussy was grabbing onto him like a hot hungry little mouth, sucking him in inch by inch. She chewed on her lip and made the sweetest sounds as her snug channel hugged the wide crest of his cock. He couldn’t stop. She didn’t want him to stop. “Do it, Justice. Don’t make me wait,” she moaned. “I’ve wanted you so long.” Her voice rose as he surged over her, pressing deep as he gave her the penetration she seemed to crave.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “You’re so damn sweet.”
Charlee wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her legs even wider, spreading herself open like a butterfly, her hips undulating as she felt her femininity giving, stretching to welcome him. If there was pain, it was inconsequential compared to the sheer ecstasy of becoming his.
“Put your legs around me and hold on,” he instructed her as he pulled out, pushed back, thrusting and pumping. There were just no words. The pleasure was so intense that Justice thought he might black out. And he didn’t want to miss a moment. This was pure, raw rapture.
“I had no idea,” she murmured as she kissed his shoulder then sought out his mouth, kissing him hard and deep, her body accommodating him, her mouth eating at his with desperate hunger.
Her passion turned him on like nothing ever had. She was his. She’d always been his. How had he resisted her for so long? Giving himself over to the bliss, he filled her over and over again. Justice didn’t hold back, didn’t try to control the impulse to cover, dominate—possess.
Charlee’s world was tilting out of control. Her lips pressed kisses to his neck, she buried her face against him, raking her teeth on his skin even as she dug her nails into the strength of his back.
“You’re so wild, I love it.” He held himself up, watching her face.
“Suck my nipples some more, please?”
“Will you come for me if I do?”
She giggled, the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. God, she was hot. She blistered him with her sensuality.
“I’m going to cum anyway,” Charlee confessed, feeling secure. “Did you know I masturbate every night, dreaming about you? I call your name when I climax.”
“Damn.” He couldn’t hold out any longer. She was too much. Bending his head, he closed his mouth over her nipple and suckled hard, opening his mouth wide, devouring, pulling the red bud deep into his mouth.
The sweet suction caused her to writhe, her inner muscles clenching and unclenching around him in time with the pressure of his mouth. “Sweet Jesus,” she moaned.
“Can’t stand it any longer,” he muttered. He shifted upward, taking her hips in his hands, angling her so he could finish the deed. His hips churned, his cock pistoning in and out of her, pushing them both to the edge of reality and beyond. Bending, he captured her mouth as she came, inhaling her sweet cries even as his hips flexed and his cock ravished her pussy.
Charlee understood then, she realized what she’d been missing, what she was created for. The orgasm that swept over her was more than just a physical release, it was a branding—a possessing.
She was owned.
Justice pulsed within her, each spasm of pleasure so intense he thought he would die from it. “Sweet God, Charlee.” His chest rose and fell as he panted, fighting to breathe. Fire ripped through him as he exploded. He came so hard his vision blurred.
The only noise in the room was their breathing. Neither one of them said a word. Justice hadn’t moved, most of his weight rested on her body, and Charlee never wanted the moment to end. With deliberate care, she soothed her hand over the damp skin of his shoulder, placing a single kiss on the pulse-point at the base of his neck.
Finally, she whispered, “Thank you.” Charlee couldn’t think of anything more appropriate to say.
Justice chuckled. “No, thank you.”
He pulled out, and Charlee closed her eyes, her mouth opening in a small ‘O’ as they separated.
“I want to give you something,” Justice said as he settled himsel
f next to her. Sitting up, he reached behind his neck and released a clasp, taking off the necklace he always wore.
Charlee’s eyes grew wide. “Your star?” It was a small silver star on a simple leather cord. His grandfather had given it to him, she remembered. It wasn’t expensive, just something the old man had picked up in Mexico. But Justice had always said it was his lucky charm.
“Yea, I want you to wear it. To remember what we did tonight.” While she waited, he fastened it back and slipped it over her head. “There, now you won’t forget me.”
“No chance of that.” Charlee patted the warm metal resting on her bare skin. What did this mean? “I’ll never take it off.”
“Now, lie down with me. I’m so tired and sleepy. I drank way too much tonight.” He shut off the light, holding out his arms, and she went into them, happier than she’d ever been in her life. Finally, her dreams were coming true.
CHAPTER TWO
Still eight years ago…
Charlee awoke with a start. Where was she? She was so warm, so comfortable. Her mattress was so…hard. “Oh, my gosh.” She squeaked. It wasn’t a dream. Charlee was in the bed, in the arms of Justice King! And he was holding her tight, his breath feathering against her temple. She could have stayed here with him forever, but the sun was rising. It was time for her to get back to the house before her father realized she’d never come home the night before.
Justice needed his rest, so Charlee was careful to ease out of his arms and off the bed without waking him. For the past couple of years, she’d helped her dad at the clinic, serving as his receptionist. That and the classes at A&M kept her busy. Tiptoeing, she came to Justice’s side of the bed and began picking up her clothes. Being ever so quiet, she leaned on the chest of drawers and quickly dressed. She couldn’t help but grin. The sight in front of her was pure eye-candy. Once she’d moved, Justice had relaxed, hogging the bed. He took up the whole mattress, his arms spread out, powerful legs sprawled.
Loving Justice (El Camino Real Book 2) Page 2
