The Love He Craves (The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan Book 2)

by Jenkins, Gemma

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, sir.”

  “Where?”

  “Mostly, I feel like I’m going to vomit again, and my girlfriend feels like she has a mild sunburn.”

  The flash of anger in his gray-green eyes caused her to step back.

  “That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Onyx. You’re suffering needlessly,” he said. “I need to go shut off the lights. Would you like me to bring you back some antacid?”

  Nyxie hesitated before nodding.

  “What about your vulva. Do you need more first aid?”

  “It’s fine.”

  As Declan returned to the ground floor and finished straightening up, he thought about what she had said. What an ego he had, to have never considered that she would not wish to be married to him. Even now, he didn’t truly believe it. What woman wouldn’t consider him a catch, at least on a superficial level?

  Nyxie. He tried to get past feeling this was another of her self-esteem issues—although truthfully, he believed that was his biggest obstacle. It was all too soon for her. Unlike his love for her, her love was not just new to her, it was not something she ever envisioned for herself, except maybe in some fantasy she believed to be unobtainable. Declan shook his head. He needed to take a step back.

  He rattled a pair of fruit flavored tablets from the plastic bottle, grabbed his phone and the sheet he had covered the window with, and headed back up the stairs, shutting off the lights. The whine of his blow-dryer grew louder as he approached his room and he found her in front of his bathroom mirror, dressed in a periwinkle silk teddy, her hair lifting from her shoulders like a model at a lingerie shoot. He stood in the doorway of his bathroom until she noticed him and turned off the hair dryer.

  “Thanks,” she said, taking the two large tablets from his palm and putting them in her mouth.

  “That looks pretty on you,” he said, fingering the spaghetti strap of the short silky teddy, the sheet tucked under one arm.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  He thought about telling her to call him Declan, but decided she might feel he was trying to narrow the gaping chasm in their relationship.

  “Help me with this,” he said, holding out the wadded sheet.

  “What are we going to do with this?” she asked.

  “I used it to cover the window downstairs.” He watched her reaction—first anger and then relief. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

  “Apparently not.”

  They each took two corners and soon had the sheet folded. He set it down on the bench to put away in the morning.

  “Do you really want to go back to our original agreement?”

  Her head began bobbing up and down in small movements that grew larger as she gained confidence.

  Declan picked up his phone and made a call. “Hey, sorry to call you on the weekend…. I guess I had a change of heart…. Do you mind putting together a contract for Nyxie and me? I don’t care what you call it. She wants to go back to our original agreement—one year for every twenty grand, then we will divorce.... Right…. She’ll agree to no distribution of monies after the divorce…. Have you figured out your billables yet?” He made eye contact with Nyxie. “Yeah, I think it’s only fair that the cost of the adoptions be included.”

  Nyxie nodded her head in agreement.

  “How much? Are you joking? Don’t include them. I’m not going to do that to her.”

  He rubbed his temples as if he was getting a headache. “Hold on. She’s right here. He wants to talk to you.”

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Onyx, I’ve got some news about the younger girl’s father.”

  “Oh, God, does he want Reina?”

  A slight chuckle met her ear. “It’s not bad news—as far as your case goes. My investigator started cold calling everyone in the phone book with his last name, and found Reina’s grandmother, Esmerelda Hinojosa.” His pronunciation of the Spanish last name was flawless. “Reina’s father died several years ago.”

  “Oh my God. I don’t know if she knows. What happened?”

  “Mrs. Hinojosa said it was a drug overdose, but she doesn’t think it was accidental. She’s an older lady, so I don’t think she wants to fight you for custody, but she would like to see them. Apparently, they all lived with her and her husband for years. But when her son’s drug abuse became a problem, she and her husband kicked him out. They told Melinda, she and the girls could stay, but she refused. She begged Melinda to leave the girls when she left with Isaac, but she wouldn’t do it.

  “Melinda attended Isaac’s funeral, but she didn’t bring the girls. She’s been worried about them. It would be a kindness if you let the family see them.”

  Suddenly, Declan yanked the phone out of her hand. “What did you say to her?” he shouted at the lawyer. “I’ve been watching the color drain from her face. If you had bad news, you should’ve told me, and let me break it to her.”

  “Declan, I’m not a child.” She stood up on her toes and spoke loudly at the phone. “It’s fine. Give her my phone number. Reina probably misses them.”

  Nyxie’s voice cracked slightly and in an instant, Declan’s arms encircled her, pulling her against his chest.

  “I’ll talk to you later,” Declan said. He disconnected the call and set the phone down.

  Chapter15

  After turning off the lights, Declan climbed into bed, expecting there to be a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon separating them. Lying on his back, he wondered how to apologize for being a total tool? He rolled to face her, punching his pillow under his head and neck, searching his mind for just the right words.

  The covers lifted slightly and Nyxie surprised him by sidling up to him. She put her head on his bicep and wedged her arms between their bodies, her hands loosely fisted beneath her chin. Her elbow lifted when he reached around her to pull her closer, her upper arm settling over his.

  When he kissed her forehead, she lifted her face to his and kissed him. Their lips lingered together, neither one deepening the kiss. Her eyelids lifted. Even in the darkness of the room, she could see his eyes were open and watching her. She withdrew.

  "Sorry," she said quietly.

  "Sorry? For what?"

  She put her cheek against his collarbone. "I know you prefer to, uh, be the kisser, not the kissee."

  With a slight chuckle, Declan outlined her face with his finger. "It's not that; you just surprised me. I thought you were still mad.”

  "I said what I had to say. I'm mostly over it."

  "Are you? You got it all out of your system?"

  "I don't stay mad long."

  Declan wrapped his large warm hand around her thin upper arm and held her away from him, pulling back and sliding his other arm from under her head. "Stand up."

  "What?"

  "Don't make me repeat myself," he said in that deep, clipped tone that he used when he was all Dom.

  "Yes, sir," she said scrambling to get untangled from the bedclothes.

  Before she could climb out of bed, he was on his feet, and in two long strides, he turned on the lights around the crown molding, dimming them so the room was now navigable but not bright.

  She watched as he crossed to the armoire and removed a condom from a box in case the slightest capsaicin remained. Pushing the sheet off the bench, he sat down and ripped open the foil pouch with his teeth. "Sit on my lap facing me," he said rolling the Magnum onto his erection.

  There was a moment of awkwardness as she gained her perch, but it was soon forgotten as he fed the wide girth of his cock into her tight hot sheath. A husky moan poured from her throat on her breath. Her eyes rolled and closed at the exquisite sensation of being filled so fully by him.

  "God," she murmured as her body enveloped him and then withdrew to the point where only his glans remained inside her.

  His hands stilled her hips before she could begin her inevitable sprint to the finish. "You may not come," he stated.

  An involuntary whimper sh
owed her frustration, even as she re-opened her eyes and stopped fighting to move against his hold. "Put your arms around me and hook your feet together behind my back."

  Although she might have liked to have wrapped her arms around his torso to touch him more thoroughly, the niggling possibility that she might end up with her arm trapped, dictated she put her arms around his neck instead. His arms encircled her tightly, pressing their bodies together from shoulder to hip. Neither one could have explained why the skin-to-skin contact felt so amazing; they only knew they never wanted it to end.

  Declan's neck stretched to meet her slight height advantage, and his mouth ascended upon hers. His kiss was bold and forceful, taking her mouth as assertively as he lived his life.

  Without lessening his grip on her hips, his hands began teaching her the rhythm and motion for her to follow.

  At Nyxie's long drawn out moan of bliss, Declan disengaged the kiss, making her whimper again.

  "Don't come," he warned.

  "God, it feels so good. I'm so close."

  "Good, that's right where I want you. Make it last—stay right there. Stop moving your hips if you think you're starting to climax."

  He stopped her pelvis from rotating again, holding her in place, until her eyes focused on him. A slow smile formed on her lips a few moments later and she nodded to indicate she could continue.

  As her hips began to move again, Declan thrust upwards into her. Her breathing hitched and she stopped of her own accord briefly, but resumed after a short pause. At first, she stopped frequently, but with her concentration forming little lines between her eyebrows, she was able to stave off her pending orgasm. Her breathing synced with their movements, she inhaled a quick shallow breath as he commandingly filled her, and as she slowly rotated her hips, withdrawing as much as her position allowed, her breath filtered away.

  "I love you, Declan," she said, suddenly overwhelmed by her emotions, bringing a lazy grin to his lips.

  She looked like she was on the verge of happy tears. So beautiful. He watched her closely, hoping to see that emotional vulnerability he craved. When it didn't come, he increased the strength of his grip on her. He held her securely, as if he were afraid she'd vanish or float away if he didn't. She molded her body into his, bringing him a connection to her, on levels he had never known before.

  "Come for me, baby."

  His hands loosened, allowing her motion to increase and she rode him faster, their bodies coming together with more force. A cool breeze touched her hip as he lifted his hand. A stinging blow against her thigh and bottom startling her.

  "Oh!" she yelled. She hadn't been expecting it, so she hadn't had time to stop herself from reacting. As if anticipating a second hit, she automatically tightened the muscles of her legs and bottom. That was all it took to begin the cascade of her orgasm. As each wave of pleasure ran through her, her every muscle from her toes to her core seemed to constrict and lock. Her body hunched with new and overwhelming intensity. Even her expression when she came was anything but her usual smile.

  "Nyxie!" Declan cried as his own body reacted to the clenching of her dark passage. "Jeez-us."

  Slowly as their climaxes began to dissipate, her muscles began to relax and she melted into him. Declan’s body shook with a short laugh.

  "I think your vagina is lined with little ninjas. I thought you were going to squeeze so hard, my eyes were going to pop out of my head."

  Unhooking her feet from behind his back, Nyxie snuggled, lifting one hand and tracing his smiling bottom lip with her thumb. "Like one of those squeeze toys?" He nodded. "It's not my fault you gave me the world's best orgasm. You are right, this way was definitely better than rushing to the end."

  "When are you going to start trusting my judgment?"

  He said it lightheartedly, as if it was a rhetorical question but she suspected it was more reproach than question.

  "Be patient. This is all new to me."

  He threaded his hand in her hair and pulled, tilting her head back with a firm but painless pressure.

  "I may have to just beat the trust into you," he said with an ill-concealed grin.

  "Oh, sir, you say the sweetest things," she said batting her eyes, barely able to keep from laughing.

  Gravity made his half flaccid cock slip from her depth.

  "Go grab a hand towel, baby," he said.

  Nyxie climbed off his lap and darted into the bathroom and quickly returned with a pint sized towel. Without instruction, she dropped down on her knees before him and cleaned up the mess, smiling mischievously as she gave extra attention to peeling off the condom and wiping his beautiful cock.

  He put his finger under her chin and lifted her face to meet his. "Next time, ask permission to touch me first."

  "What?"

  "A submissive doesn't take the initiative. Maybe I wanted you to wear the towel as the bib and lick it up."

  At her grimace, a slight grin curled one side of his lip and quickly disappeared.

  "That is what you wanted, isn't it?" he asked. "Don't you think you should know what you're asking for?"

  Biting her lip, she nodded timidly. He had already given her a small taste of what he could be like as a Dom.

  "Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I was just trying to be helpful."

  "I realize that. I'm not mad. I just want you to wait for instructions."

  "Sorry," she repeated.

  "Go put that down the chute."

  Declan watched her scurry off to follow his instructions and caught her looking at the hand-shaped welt on her upper thigh in the mirror. He quietly crossed to the doorway to watch her expression as she looked at it. Their eyes met in the mirror and she twisted her body to get the best angle. "It's so pretty," she said touching the raised edge. "It looks lonesome there all by itself."

  "It's not up to you, Nyxie," he said. "Let's get to bed. If you are going to be my sub, you need lots of training and that starts in the morning."

  She shut off the bathroom light as she stepped around him. Suddenly, his hand flew, swatting her bottom in a hard, stinging impact on the opposite side. Nyxie jumped, then twisted around to smile at him.

  "Can’t have a lonely handprint on your ass. You are going to be the most spoiled sub ever."

  Smiling widely, Nyxie climbed into bed and waited while he turned off the other lights and joined her. As soon as he was beneath the covers, he spread his arms wide in silent invitation.

  "I think if I ever got a tattoo, I would either get the welts from your handprints tattooed or the bruises from your belt arranged in a nice pattern."

  "If I allow you to get a tattoo, I will pick it out. But don't hold your breath."

  "You wouldn't want to see your marks on me permanently?"

  "Not really. And I doubt if another man would either."

  She fell silent as she thought about that. Did she really want to be in a relationship that was finite?

  ~*~

  Nyxie loved lying in his arms after sex. Whether brain chemicals from orgasming made her feel the intense love for him or if it was truly love, she felt closer to him than to anyone she’d ever known. He tightened his hold on her, pulling her back even more tightly against his chest. She ground her bottom into his cock, making him moan.

  “Stop that,” he said gruffly.

  “Sorry, I was just getting comfortable,” she lied, smiling into the darkened room.

  “Go to sleep. I have big plans for us in the morning. Is your vulva feeling better?”

  Nyxie felt her face grow warm. She hated to admit she didn’t know her female parts’ names.

  “Which part is my vulva?”

  There were a few seconds of silence before he spoke again. “Really? You don’t know what your vulva is?”

  “All they teach you in health class is your uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes and cervix. They don’t teach you about the outside parts. Even if my mother was still around, I wouldn’t have asked her. I was afraid if I looked it up on the library computers,
someone would catch me. The whole thing is my vagina, right?”

  “Technically speaking, no. The whole thing would be called your genitals. Your vagina is where I put my cock.”

  Nyxie could feel her face growing warm with embarrassment. She was probably the only adult female on the planet that didn’t know that.

  He scooted away from her and released one of her wrists, but continued to hold the other. “Roll this way a little and spread your legs.” He waited for her to comply and reached his hand inside of the waistband of her silky panties. “The whole outer structure is your vulva. Are you planning to let your hair grow back?”

  “I hadn’t given it much thought. Do you have a preference?”

  “Visually, I don’t care, but when my face is between your legs, it’s nice when you’re clean-shaven. But if you’re not going to maintain it, just grow it back out.”

  “She is a bit five o’clock shadowed, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah. Anyway, this is your mons pubis,” he said caressing the area. “Or sometimes you might hear it called mons of Venus.” He reached his hand further but did not penetrate her folds. “This is your labia majora, lips—labia, easy to remember. I know you know what your clitoris gland is. The skin over it is called the clitoris hood. These little dangly parts are your labia minora.”

  “That’s what everyone is suddenly worried about how big they are and cutting them off?”

  “You’ve heard of labiaplasty?”

  “There was a waitress who worked at the truck stop for a while who told me if she ever won the lottery, that was the first thing she planned to do,” Nyxie said. “Is mine okay?”

  “I love your girlfriend. I love everything about it. But even if you had unusually large labium, I would love it and not want you to change a thing. It’s funny the way culture tells us one thing is beautiful. Did you know in some African countries women actually stretched their labium? I say just leave it alone. Big, little, whatever. Love what you’re born with.”