by Marie James
I tug on Delilah’s hand as I pull her toward my house and Cynthia turns her grandmother around and guides her back to her house.
“She’s pretty,” Delilah says with a huff as I unlock my front door. Jealousy coming from Delilah Donovan has to be the best thing to happen since Harley came out with its Softail. “And she has your cell phone number. That’s lovely.”
I remain quiet as she enters my home for the very first time, but I can tell she’s working herself from mild envy of Cynthia to full-blown agitation.
“Does she come to visit when the old lady goes to sleep?”
I grab her by her shoulders and spin her around. “She has my number because sometimes her grandmother can’t hear when the phone rings and she gets worried about her. She’s never been inside of my home. Hell, I don’t know that she’s even stepped foot on my grass. And yes, Delilah, Cynthia is very pretty. A trait I’m absolutely certain her husband loves about her.”
A banging noise bounces off of the walls down the hallway. I give her a quick kiss on her stunned lips and head to my dog.
I whistle and the banging stops.
When I open the door to the nearly empty guest bedroom, Raider doesn’t even bother to act ashamed of the mess he’s created. He lunges for me.
“You,” I tell him scratching at his face as he licks my neck. “Are defective. I’m going to take you back if you keep this shit up. How does such a smart dog close himself inside of a bedroom?”
He yips, keeping to his inside voice and licks me more.
“You would never take a dog back to an animal shelter.” Delilah sounds thoroughly offended behind me.
Standing on his back legs, Raider is almost as tall as I am which makes it very easy for him to peer over my shoulder. I’ve never seen his tail wag so hard in the time we’ve been together.
“Shelter?” I laugh. “A shelter animal would be smarter than this dummy.”
Raider withdraws his legs and makes it to Delilah in less than a handful of steps. She’s knocked on her gorgeous ass before she can prepare herself for the dog’s attention
I snap my fingers, and he backs away immediately, a low whimper his only sign of discomfort.
“That’s impressive,” She says wiping dog spit from her face. Her smile is the biggest I’ve seen since before I left New Mexico.
“He’s not a shelter dog?” Sad eyes look up at me. “Please tell me you didn’t get him from a breeder. Tons of places breed animals in horrid conditions. Unless you visit there yourself, you never know how they’re treated.”
“He’s a therapy dog,” I confess waiting for the shame to hit me in the chest, but it never comes.
She grins back at Raider and pats her lap. The longing look he gives me over his shoulder is almost enough to make me let him go, but he knocked her down and could’ve hurt her. I don’t care how excited he is that another human being is in my home, that’s entirely unacceptable.
“He seems fine,” she says but frowns when the dog stays. “Does he have a brain condition?”
She pats her lap again and the dog whimpers.
“Raider.” His ears perk up, tail giving the slightest twitch. “Be gentle.”
He eases toward her, almost crawling on his stomach until his head is on her lap, tongue lapping at her hand for attention.
I sit beside them on the floor in the hall.
“He’s my therapy dog,” I clarify. “I was struggling about a year after I got here. Drew was living his life, doing better than anyone expected. He was busy with his friends, and even though I was working crazy hours at the shop, I was lonely. Da-Jaxon suggested a counselor, but I shut that shit down the second the word was out of his mouth.”
I expect her to laugh with me, but her face softens when she looks into my eyes.
“A week later he and Rob showed up with this asshole.” I rub the scruff on the back of Raider’s neck. “They told me he was super smart, knew every trick in the book, but as you can tell from his behavior just a minute ago they were fooled.”
Indignant eyes look from me and back to Raider. “How would you act if your person left you locked in a bedroom with no way to use the restroom, eat, or drink?”
I reach for her arm and guide her to the kitchen and point to his food and water bowl, both nearly full. She looks dumbfounded as I guide her to the back of the house and show her the dog door that gives Raider access to the backyard. “Do you really think I’m the kind of guy who locks his dog in a damn room?”
Her head angles in the direction of a soft click. “What was that?”
“Perfect timing,” I mutter and tug her arm once again until we’re standing in the hallway.
The door to the spare bedroom rattles and Raider whimpers from the other side.
“He shuts the door,” I tell her as I push it back open.
“You need to put a stopper under it,” she suggests.
“I’ve done that. He pulls it out and chews it up.” I stare down at the deviant who looks up at me as if he understands exactly what I’m saying. “I don’t know what else to do.”
“Put a dog door in,” she says and walks back toward the living room. She looks back over her shoulder. “Aren’t you glad you have me?”
I close the distance between us, wrapping my arms around her stomach and pulling her against me.
“So glad I have you,” I whisper in her ear before nipping at the spot on her shoulder that drives me wild. “How have I survived without you?”
A low moan escapes her lips as her arm reaches over her head and her fingers run through my hair.
“If it’s for my safety, then I think it’s best if you just move in tonight.”
Chapter 37
Delilah
I stiffen in his arms.
“Stop,” I demand as my fingers leave the silk of his jet black hair and claw at the forearms trapping me. “Why do you say shit like that?”
“Like what?”
He doesn’t release me but rather turns me in his arms so I’m facing him.
I lower my voice to sound manlier. “Move in. I’ll be making love to you for the rest of my life. Take your time, Princess. I’m not going anywhere.” I swallow around the lump forming in my throat. “Is this all a damn joke to you?”
“I mean every word I’ve said to you.” His brows draw together, and I resist the urge to run my thumb over the crinkles.
“You can’t ask me to move in fifteen minutes after I step inside of your house for the first time.”
“I just did.” His eyebrow raises in challenge.
“You claim you’ll be making love to me forever, but you denied me last night.”
“Princess.” He cups my cheek and brushes his lips over mine. They part of their own volition as my breathing grows shallow. “You were exhausted. So bone weary, you were asleep seconds after you suggested…”
I love the rush of heat that turns his cheeks pink as he clears his throat.
“After you mentioned us making love.”
I shake my head, a smile marking my face as my frustration slowly begins to fade away. “That’s not even close to what I said.” He grins back at me, hips grinding against mine. “Do you not like it when I talk dirty to you? You can dish it out but can’t take it?”
He leans in, mouth less than an inch from mine before he begins again. “You were asleep seconds after you suggested you hug my cock with your tight. Little. Cunt.”
My insides quiver. I knew I’d propositioned him and that he turned me down, but I didn’t know exactly what I’d said. I just knew it didn’t sound anything like ‘make love.’
“You said you weren’t going anywhere, yet I woke up alone this morning.” My voice cracks and he holds me tighter.
“If I woke you to tell you goodbye, and you looked up at me exactly like you’re looking at me right now, I never would’ve gotten out of your bed.”
His lips devour mine in a heated kiss that sets every inch of my skin on fire. I’m panting yet reaching for him again wh
en he pulls away.
“And if my tight. Little. Cunt,” I punctuate each word just as he had with a smack of my lips against his, “wanted to give you a hug right now?”
“That word on your lips makes me as hard now as it did last night.” His tongue snakes across my lips tracing the upper curve.
“I’m a dirty girl.”
“My dirty girl.”
My heart pounds in my ears as his fingers curl against my ass.
“Can I hug you?” I beg as his tongue teases the dips and curves of my neck. “With my pussy.”
“Filthy mouth,” he praises against my skin.
I stiffen and push his head back until his eyes meet mine. “Make one suggestion about my lips wrapping around your cock, and you’ll never see me again.”
“Delilah.”
“No,” I tell him taking a step back but not fully escaping his arms. “Hard limit.”
He nods, understanding why I can’t bear to hear that coming from his mouth again. Greasy hands run over the top of his head, and he looks harder, noticing the smear of dirt on his forearm.
“Shit,” he grumbles. “I bet I ruined your clothes.”
He spins me, eyes lowering to my ass.
“Jesus, D. Those shorts will have to be trashed.” His eyes look up into mine as I peer over my shoulder at him. He’s more upset about stains on my clothes than I am. “I’m so sorry.”
“They’re just clothes.”
“Let me get you something to change into, and I’ll grab a quick shower.”
“Okay,” I agree quickly.
His eyes search mine. “You’ll be here when I get out?”
I smile at his insecurity, and the longer I look, the easier it is to tell just how genuine this man is.
“I don’t plan to walk home, and I don’t want to be arrested for taking your truck.”
He laughs as he clasps my hand and pulls me toward his bedroom at the back of the house. Raider, the most amazing dog in the world, tracks us with his eyes and lumbers behind us once we’ve cleared the threshold to his room and he loses sight of us.
Having forgotten about the possibility of his mouth comment just as fast as I’d imagined it, I shake my head when he offers me a shirt to change into.
“Don’t need it.”
I watch his mouth go slack as I tug the loose shirt and camisole over my head in one movement. My lacy shorts hit the ground next, revealing that I didn’t bother with panties before leaving the house today.
I stand in front of him completely naked for the first time ever.
“Ten minutes,” he mumbles. “I’d say seven, but I want to make sure I’m clean.”
“Ten minutes,” I repeat as he backs out of the room and smacks his head on the open door.
I can’t help the laugh that escapes when he turns and sprints down the hall. His boots tumble to the floor in the hallway, and a sock flies past his bedroom door, a pair of jeans comes a split second later.
“Ten minutes is going to seem like forever,” I tell Raider as I climb under Lawson’s comforter and get lost in his scent.
I’m tracing the stitching on the side of the pillow when I feel his mouth trail kisses along my spine.
“Sorry I took so long,” he whispers against the curve of my ass. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself again.”
I turn over to face him, not realizing until it was too late that my new position put his mouth hovering right over the apex of my thighs.
“You pre-gamed in the shower?”
He nods, the stubble on his chin scraping in the most delicious way on my inner thigh.
“You said I came too fast in the truck.” His tongue parts my most sensitive flesh, but his eyes never leave mine. “I didn’t want to disappoint you again.”
I shake my head, the overwhelming sensation coming from his mouth’s contact with my body making the movements jerky and violent.
“I came, too. You didn’t disappoint me.”
“I don’t want to rush tonight.” Another swipe of his addictive tongue. “I want to savor you.”
My back arches, the glorious licks of his tongue too much and not enough all at the same time.
His eyes close on a soft blink as he teases my entrance. His warm breath, although hot on release doesn’t compare to the burn, the need in my clit. My flesh cools with the gusts then heats again on his inhale.
“You’re torturing me,” I hiss and grab his hair. My hips grind against his mouth.
My legs are spread even further as he devours me. My vision narrows as all the sensation in my body shrinks down to the tiniest pinpoint before exploding over every nerve in my body. I whimper, begging him to stop all the while pushing harder against his face.
“Fuck you’re beautiful when you come.”
A weak smile is all I’m able to offer him as he kisses up my body. He didn’t bother to dress when he finished his shower, and I’m grateful he doesn’t have to waste a second taking off clothes.
His fingers trace the lips of my pussy before diving in an inch and dragging back out.
“Just fuck me already.”
He shakes his head, but a lascivious smile spreads across his beautiful face. “I have to make sure you’re wet.”
“I’m so fucking wet,” I pant and wiggle my hips.
“I thought you were last time, too, but when you feel me for the next two days, I want it to be from overuse not because I dry fucked you.”
I groan and cover my eyes with my forearm. Why I teased him about that is beyond me.
I hiss, my neck lifting off of the bed when his fingers are replaced with his thick cock.
“Damnit.” His breath ghosts over my lips. “I don’t think pre-gaming is going to even matter.”
I start to laugh, but it comes out as a moan when he circles his hips and pulls my thigh higher on his. The soft thatch of dark hair at the base of his cock works wonders on my bare, waxed skin. The contact is absolute as he mumbles and pleads with his cock not to fuck this up.
“Hey,” I manage between pleasure filled sighs as I look into his eyes. His hips slow, but that is the last thing I need. “Make love with your mouth, but fuck me hard with your cock.”
He swallows my cries as his hips piston me through another earth-shattering orgasm, and he’s still thrusting after he crashes over the edge himself.
“Jesus,” he pants as he pulls his cock free and sits back on his heels.
I mewl like a kitten when his finger sweeps across the overly sensitive bundle of nerves.
“I never thought your pussy could look more amazing, but my cum dripping out of it tops all I’ve ever seen.”
“What?” I look down, and sure enough, there’s a puddle between my legs. “You didn’t use a condom? Why didn’t you use one?”
I’m frantic, pushing at him with my feet so I can climb out of his bed.
“Why are you freaking out? I’m clean, D. I swear it. I’d never put you at risk.”
He clasps my shoulder before I can get away.
“And if I get pregnant?” I ask turning on him like a rabid dog.
His eyes waver between mine and my stomach, with a longing look in his eyes that heats my blood and somehow makes it run cold at the same time.
“My baby growing in your stomach would be the best thing that could happen to me.” I glare at him.
“You can’t be serious. So that’s your plan? Get me knocked up so I can’t walk away from you?”
“I felt your IUD jab the head of my cock on the first thrust, Delilah.”
“So what,” I say shrugging off his arms. “You think that gives you the right to creampie me?”
His eyes light up, and a chuckle falls from his lips.
“And now you laugh at me. Perfect,” I mutter and reach for my clothes on the floor.
“Don’t,” he says with humor still in his voice. His arms wrap around me from behind. “I’m not laughing at you, but the words creampie coming from your pouty lips is funny.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“We fucked,” I say stating the obvious. “It’s time for me to leave.”
“Stop,” he says turning me to face him. There’s more anger in that one word than I’ve ever heard from his mouth before. “Quit running from me.”
“You got what you wanted.” I lower my eyes. “Just let me leave.”
“Got what I wanted?” He catches my left hand and holds it against his chest. “I won’t get what I want until there’s a ring on your finger and our vows have been spoken before our friends and family.”
“It was just sex,” I insist even though I know the words are a lie.
“It’s not just sex with you, and you know it.”
I shake my head, rejecting his words before they can sink into my heart and make me want things I don’t deserve.
“If you keep running from me, I’ll never be able to prove to you how much I care.”
When he pulls me against his chest this time, I don’t push him away. I let myself give in to the fantasy.
“Stay with me,” he pleads as he inches us closer to the bed.
I don’t say yes, but I don’t stop him from lowering his mouth to mine and spreading me out on his tangled sheets.
Chapter 38
Lawson
As if I can sense the empty bed in my sleep, I wake with a sheen of cold sweat covering my body.
“This is not happening,” I mutter as I climb out and pull on a pair of jeans.
The house is empty, my truck keys left abandoned on the counter in the kitchen, right where I dropped them off last night.
We’d made love a second time before falling asleep tangled in each other’s arms. I’d cleaned her after releasing on her flat stomach, not willing to take the chance of another outburst.
“Where did she go?” I ask Raider as if he’ll be able to tell me. His head cocks to the side, and I know he’s calling me an idiot. “How did she get home?”
The clock on the oven says it’s after three in the morning.
“Fuck it,” I hiss and head to the bathroom.
