by Maya Banks
He picked her up, his mouth still sucking her nipple, and walked to the bed, where he dumped her onto the mattress. As she lay there, he loomed over her, his hands going to his pants.
God, she loved it when he stripped in front of her. She rose to one elbow, watching appreciatively as he yanked off his shirt. His muscles rippled as he moved his arms. His chest flexed and bowed and his six-pack quivered.
Finally his pants came off, and he stood in front of her, his huge erection fisted in his hand. His eyes glittered with promise as he stalked toward her.
She gulped and edged backward.
He merely smiled and crawled on to the bed. His hand closed around her ankle, and he yanked her back toward him.
“I believe I promised you we’d have a talk,” he murmured when she was completely underneath him. “And I’m pretty sure I said it would take place with you naked. Underneath me.”
“Well here I am,” she said breathlessly.
He cupped her cheek in his palm and stroked over her skin, gently pushing her hair behind her ear. His intense gaze roamed over her face as if he was searching. For what?
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
Before she could answer—and really, what could she possibly say to that?—he lowered his mouth to hers in a surprisingly tender kiss.
Heat blistered over her skin, but the warmth went deeper, beyond her heart and straight into her soul.
“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.
He drew away, still stroking her cheek with careful fingers. “I love you,” he said seriously. “Do you know that, Julie? Do you believe that?”
He kissed her again, sweeping the words away before she could speak.
“I wonder sometimes if you aren’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like maybe you don’t think I’m in this for the long haul.”
She let her hands wander up his arms, to the thick column of his neck and then down to his chest. One thing she wouldn’t do is lie. Not to Nathan. He was the one man she could be herself with, and that meant letting him see straight into her heart.
“Sometimes,” she admitted. “I don’t doubt you, Nathan. I’m just scared. I know I can be difficult, and I worry that one day you’ll decide I’m not worth it.”
He parted her thighs with one insistent hand and found her heat with his fingers. She arched helplessly into him, her mouth falling open in a tortured moan.
He stroked. Petted. Slid his fingers insider her and then eased up to her clit, spreading her moisture over the straining bundle of nerves.
“For such a smart woman, sometimes you can be so dense,” he muttered.
Her eyes narrowed just as he added a third finger and stroked the walls of her pussy.
“Ah hell. How am I supposed to argue with you when you’re doing that?”
He found her lips again, silencing her with his mouth. And then his tongue. Like rough velvet, his tongue stroked over hers, warm, spreading his taste, and God, he tasted so damn good. He smelled good. He felt good.
“I think the idea is that you’re not supposed to argue.”
“Me not argue? Like that’s ever going to happen.”
He smiled and withdrew his hands. She wiggled in protest, wanting them back.
“I have something better,” he murmured.
He shifted his body, pushing her thighs farther apart. He positioned his cock at her entrance and pushed in the tiniest bit.
“You’re such a damn tease!”
He chuckled and inched forward, barely stretching her. She wrapped her legs around him and arched up, trying to make him slide deeper.
Finally he accommodated her and thrust all the way in with one forceful push.
She cried out. No matter how often he made love to her, she still felt the shock of that first penetration all the way to her toes. He was big and thick and she pulsed around him like warm honey. He just made her go all gooey, and she loved and hated him for that.
Still buried deep inside her, he put his arms down on either side of her head and levered himself up enough so that he wasn’t crushing her. He looked down at her, his green eyes so serious that for a moment she was worried. Until she remembered that he was as deep inside her as he could be. Who the hell broke off a relationship while they were buried to the balls?
“We need to get something straight, Julie.”
“Hell of a time for conversation,” she muttered.
“Oh, I think it’s a damn good time because you can’t escape me. You can’t run. You can’t avoid me.”
He flexed his hips, and she tightened her grip on his shoulders until her nails dug into his flesh.
“I love you, woman. And you damn well ought to know that.”
“I do,” she gasped. “Now fuck me please.”
“I’m not leaving you. I don’t want anyone else. You’re it for me, Julie. It.”
Her eyes widened and she went completely still beneath him.
“What are you saying, Nathan?”
He let out a string of curses. “Nothing I haven’t said to you a million times already. I’ve told you with words, with actions. I tell you with my body every damn time we get together, but you’re so determined only to see what you want to see. When are you going to get it into your head that unless you kick me to the curb, then this is forever?”
She honestly couldn’t formulate a response to that. Her mouth hung open as she stared into his eyes. He was serious. There was no hint of deception in his gaze. Just earnest ... love.
“I’m never kicking you to the curb, dumbass,” she said in a low voice.
He withdrew and then rolled his hips forward, eliciting another gasp from her.
“Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I vote we talk about making our relationship a little more permanent.”
Fear, excitement, joy and trepidation all went a little nuts on her. But still she wasn’t about to make any assumptions. And not only that, but what she was almost assuming scared the shit out of her.
“How permanent?” she asked cautiously.
He slid his hands down her body again, cupping her ass as he hauled her up. Now on his knees, he drove relentlessly into her, the force of his thrusts making her breasts jiggle uncontrollably.
“Shit, I love it when they do that,” he muttered as he lowered his mouth to one straining peak.
He devoured her breasts, moving from one plump swell to the other. There wasn’t a part of his body that wasn’t touching hers. His hips met the backs of her thighs, and his balls slapped the crack of her ass. He rode her hard, and when he was hopelessly deep, he lowered himself back to her, gathering her tenderly in his arms.
“Very permanent,” he said gruffly. “So permanent that you’ll never doubt how much I love you and how much I want to be with you.”
“I think I could go for that,” she said softly.
He paused and looked deep into her eyes, and for the first time she saw vulnerability that took her breath away. He was worried. He was as scared as she was.
Feeling shattered, she reached up to touch his face. Her fingers smoothed over his forehead, down his cheeks and then over the roughness of his goatee.
“I want forever, Julie. Marriage. You tied to me, legally, emotionally. The whole nine yards.”
Her heart fluttered in panic, but at the same time a tidal wave of sheer joy swamped her from head to toe.
“My ring on your finger,” he whispered as he swept her lips into another kiss.
“I like jewelry,” she murmured.
“And I like you. Naked.”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She followed suit with her legs, curling them around his waist.
“Ah damn I love it when you wrap yourself around me,” he groaned. “You’re so damn warm and soft. I love how you feel.”
“I love the way you make me feel,” she said seriously. “You make me feel beautiful, Nathan.”
He scowled, his brows drawing together
until he looked positively ferocious. “You are beautiful. You’re fucking gorgeous. I swear to God I can’t breathe around you sometimes.”
“You have to stop or, swear to God, I’m going to cry.”
“Ah hell, anything but that.”
He gathered her tight, holding her so that no space separated them. Flesh against flesh, her breasts molded to his chest, her body curved around his.
His hips flexed, his body arched as he thrust into her, keeping a leisurely pace.
What she’d said was true. He made her feel so very beautiful. No man had ever made love to her the way Nathan did. Sure, they had hot, dirty sex, and she loved every minute of it, but just as many times he took things so slow and loved her so sweetly that it was all she could do not to burst.
Her chest ached. Her soul ached. She couldn’t live without this man. She didn’t want to.
Just jump.
Take the leap.
Fly.
And she did. Straight into his arms. He held her tight as she burst into a million tiny pieces. Love and warmth flooded her. She soared. She floated. He was there to catch her.
“I love you,” she said brokenly as her orgasm splintered through her groin.
He buried his face in her neck, kissing the tender skin just below her ear. “Ah, I love you too, honey. So damn much. Hold on to me, baby. I’m coming.”
She arched upward, gripping him tightly. Her nails dug into his back just the way he liked, and then she slid her hands down to his tight ass and cupped him as he pumped into her body.
His teeth sank into the column of her neck and an agonized groan burned over her skin. His entire body tensed over hers, and his warmth flooded her.
He collapsed onto her, driving them both into the mattress. She lay there, holding him, stroking his back up and down. He didn’t stir right away and she was content to lie there, with him in her arms.
She kissed his muscular shoulder and then ran her hand over his bald head.
“Stay,” she begged when he started to move away.
“Don’t you know, honey? I’m never going anywhere.”
He kissed her again and then rolled to his side, carrying her with him. He was still buried inside her, and their limbs were all tangled up like some crazy knot.
“I love you,” he said gruffly. “That ain’t going to change. Ever.”
She smiled against his chest and for once didn’t begrudge the shimmer of tears that welled in her eyes.
“You know, Tucker, I think I just might believe you.”
CHAPTER 23
M icah balanced the tray and headed up the stairs toward the private rooms. He’d mentioned sleep, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep until he’d had Angelina again. Far from sated, his entire body ached with unfulfilled need.
When he pushed open the first door, he saw her draped naked across the bed, her long hair fanned out. Her arms were folded, her head resting at her wrists as she lay on her belly.
He hardened all over again.
She looked up when he entered, but she didn’t move. She simply waited.
He set the tray aside, knowing the sandwiches would keep. In a matter of seconds, he had his jeans off, and he strode toward the bed, eyeing the delectable curve of her ass. He’d take her there later, when he had time to prepare her. For now, he wanted inside her so badly that the need consumed him.
He grasped her ankles and pulled her toward the edge of the bed. When her ass was level with his cock, he cupped her full bottom and lifted and spread, baring her pussy to his advance.
With no work-up, no preamble, he shoved into her, sliding deep into her silken clasp.
He fell forward, his hands slapping the mattress on either side of her body. It wasn’t a time for slow, easy loving. That would come later, when some of the edge was gone. She was a need that fired deep in his blood.
There was desperation to his movements. His hips pumped forward in quick, jerky motions. His hips slapped against her ass with little finesse. It reminded him of a crude, quick fuck. And it was.
No words, no gentle endearments. It shamed him even as pleasure sizzled through his groin and painfully through his dick.
He was getting off quick, and it didn’t really matter if she did or not.
You’re a bastard. You have no business touching her.
It didn’t matter that he’d warned her. He’d been brutally honest with her. She knew what to expect and she’d accepted that. And still, guilt ate away at his gut.
He slammed into her, driving harder as he felt his orgasm flash over him. One ... two more quick, brutal thrusts and he was spilling himself inside her.
As he eased away, his cum smeared over her skin, and it turned him on all over again.
He turned away in disgust, reaching for the tray. He’d turned into an animal. Always, always he’d put a woman’s pleasure above his own. He loved and cherished women, and yet he treated Angelina with contempt almost. All because she claimed to care about him.
His hands shook when he set the tray down on the bed. Angelina slowly got up and walked into the bathroom. When she returned, no accusation reflected in her eyes. No animosity. He could swear they still brimmed with affection and trust.
She crawled onto the bed and sat cross-legged next to him. He handed her a plate but didn’t look at her.
“Do you have the remote?” she asked.
He reached over to the nightstand to get the remote and handed it to her.
They ate in silence, the television covering the awkwardness. She ate the sandwich he’d fixed and periodically switched channels. After the thirteenth channel, he cast her a sideways look.
“I thought guys were the serial flippers?”
She grinned. “Can’t help it. Short attention span. It used to bug the shit out of David. Hannah would leave the room when we started arguing.”
For the first time since Angelina had burst into his well-ordered existence, he didn’t experience a surge of pain when she talked about David and Hannah.
“She never did like arguing. She was a born peacemaker.”
Angelina nodded. “And I was a born hothead. Not sure where I got it. David said our dad was a lot like Hannah. Quiet, reserved. I think David took after him. He was always so even keel. He used to tease me and tell me I got all the Latin genes.”
She put her sandwich down and turned her soft dark eyes on him. “Do you ever see your folks, Micah?”
He recoiled and looked away. Where the hell had that come from? How much did she know about his family anyway? He never talked about them. As far as he was concerned they didn’t exist. His family was David and Hannah, and they were dead.
“No,” he said shortly.
“Why not?” she prompted. “It’s been a long time. David said you hadn’t seen them since you left home all those years ago.”
“Then you have the answer to your question.”
She sighed. “I thought maybe you’d gone to see them after David and Hannah died.”
He turned back to her, his expression hard. “Why would I do that? They aren’t my family, Angel. My family died.”
She frowned unhappily. “What happened with them? Why do you hate them so much?”
His laugh cracked and sounded pretty pathetic. “I don’t hate them. To hate someone you have to feel. I don’t think about them at all. They donated genetic material to me. That’s the extent of the credit I give them in my life.”
“Wow,” she breathed out.
“There won’t ever be any Hallmark make-up moments with them. They stopped existing the moment I walked out of the door when I was eighteen. I’m happy with the arrangement, and I don’t really give a shit whether they are or not.”
“What did they do?” she asked softly.
He shook his head. “That’s been years ago, Angel. No sense dragging it back up. It just doesn’t matter anymore.”
She turned her attention back to the TV and continued flipping the channels until he was ready to snatch the
damn remote from her hand and knock her in the head with it.
“You done?” he muttered as he reached for her plate.
“Mmm hmm.”
He gathered the dishes and the tray and trekked downstairs to return everything to the kitchen. When he got back upstairs, Angelina had burrowed under the covers, the remote still firmly in her grasp.
He stripped down to his underwear and stood by the side of the bed.
“If you promise not to knee me in the balls, I’ll ditch the underwear too.”
She looked up and laughed. “Have problems with women being too active in their sleep?”
He grunted as he slipped out of his underwear and climbed into bed.
“You try getting your balls rearranged in the middle of the night. Not a nice way to wake up.”
She giggled and quickly burrowed into his side. She made a sweet sound of contentment and lifted the remote to turn off the TV. Thank God.
“Micah?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Did you, David and Hannah all sleep together? I mean in the same bed?”
He paused. Where the fuck had that come from?
“Angel, honey, you lived with us. Surely you ought to know the answer to that.”
“I never ventured into your part of the house. I was never sure how much you were comfortable with me knowing.”
Micah frowned. “Hannah never talked to you? I mean I thought women dished about pretty much everything.”
“Hannah wasn’t like that. You know how private she was.”
“We had two bedrooms but more often than not, we shared the same one. Sometimes if one of us wanted some private time with Hannah, the other would bunk in the other bedroom for the night.”
“I always thought yours and David’s relationship was pretty special. You were there before Hannah, I mean with David.”
Micah nodded. “I met David right after I left home. Your father had just died and he was taking care of you.”
“Yeah, I remember,” she said softly.
“I met Hannah after we got out of the academy. Since David and I were so close, we all naturally spent a lot of time together. I suspected they had feelings for each other, but both were too honorable to act on them. They were both afraid of hurting me.”
