by Ash Harlow
She had taught herself how to survive. He wanted to teach her how to live.
The depth of his reactions had surprised him. As a police officer, he’d seen a disproportionate number of emotionally damaged people. Marlo’s pain had screwed with him in a way none of the others had. He’d always managed to stay impassive. That’s how he kept himself balanced since Emma. Compassionate in his job without letting the filth mess up his private life. It would seem he had invested more in Marlo than he’d ever intended.
Her body was heavy now, exhausted and asleep. He carried her through to her bedroom. She was light in his arms, and cooperative while he slipped off her jeans, leaving her T-shirt and panties on. When she’d woken, he silenced her with a finger on her lips. As he went to leave to see to the dogs, she took his arm and asked him to stay with her. In her bed.
He took the dogs out before settling them for the night. Despite the excitement of the evening, Justice had been calm and responsive. Adam watched him move around the yard, sniffing and marking his territory with all the confidence of a dog whose needs were consistently met and who trusted they always would be.
Justice has been saved. Now it’s Marlo’s turn.
He kept hold of Marlo through the night, hardly sleeping himself. When she stirred, he clasped her and assured her she was safe. Before dawn, she woke.
“You’re here. I thought I was dreaming.”
He silenced her with a brief kiss.
Her hand traced his brow the way he had calmed her the previous evening. That touch set off a ripple down his spine that finished with a small shudder. She still wanted him, and he wanted her more. He buried his face into her hair, inhaling her scent with greedy breaths. He hadn’t had this kind of longing in years. God, he had to see her, needed to watch how she reacted to his touch, to his fingers and mouth.
He pulled away wrenching a small plea from her. “I’m putting the lamp on, honey. I want to see you.” He reached for his dark sweatshirt, draping it over the lampshade before switching it on so that the light was gentle.
“Look at me,” he said. When she met his gaze he reached for her, covered her lips with his mouth, holding still and waiting for her to respond. Her lips parted and gently she sucked on his mouth until he opened and she could find his tongue. Their tongues entwined, eliciting a groan from him as she pushed against him more forcefully.
He pulled away and smiled at her. “Slowly, now.”
She nodded and returned to his lips, her tongue reaching for him again.
He took her bottom lip and pulled it softly between his teeth, over and over, making it even more sensitive. She tasted so damned sweet, he wanted to dive inside. “You’re in control of this, honey. If you want to stop at any time, you tell me and we’ll stop. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me what you like.”
“I don’t know what I like.”
“Am I the first since…?”
She shook her head. “No, but it’s never been good. I’ve never been any good.”
“Oh, you’re better than good, believe me.” He reached down and traced her nipple though her T-shirt, and it instantly hardened. “Look at that,” he said, continuing to tease her. He watched her look down at his hand.
“That feels nice.”
“Exactly. It looks beautiful, and it’s begging for my mouth.”
“Go on,” she smiled.
“Take your T-shirt off.” She stiffened. Step by cautious step we cross the minefield. He waited until she relaxed again.
“Can you do that for me?” she asked.
“Of course, hon.” He reached for the hem of her shirt. She lifted her arms to help him as he peeled it off.
“Look,” she said, her breasts bared, and his heart lurched when he saw a coy flush spread across her face.
So fucking brave. “You are so beautiful. Have I told you that?” He lowered his head and drew her nipple into his mouth, feeling it pucker and tighten as he teased it with his tongue. He reached for her other breast and ran his fingertips from underneath up to her nipple. She wriggled underneath him. He lifted his head. “Ticklish?”
“It feels nice. It’s hard to explain.”
“I’m happy to stay with this until you find the words,” he teased.
“I want more.”
He pressed more firmly, drawing his hand toward her nipple, and heard a soft moan. “Better, huh?”
“Oh, yeah.”
He moved back to her, covering her with his mouth and her arm closed around him, clasping the back of his head, holding him against her breast.
“Nice,” he heard her whisper, and his cock jerked to full attention. He wanted to rip his shirt off, to press his chest against hers and feel her nakedness, but he struggled to gauge what might spook her. There was only one way to find out. He lifted his head. “Would you take my shirt off?”
Her fingers grabbed at the hem, fumbling and pulling until he sat up and reached to help her. When it was finally off he lay himself against her, skin to skin, a depth of contact that was almost unbearable. Both soft and firm, completely and gloriously her. He returned to her mouth, groaning as he pressed himself against her. She fought for his tongue, and he dived in, twisting, tasting, snaking inside.
He finally pulled away and looked down at her, his breathing ragged, like hers. “Jesus, Marlo, I’m barely holding it together here.”
And she smiled. A simple, beautiful, content smile.
Keep. It. Slow.
With his lips against the hollow of her throat he could feel the rapid pulse of her pleasure. Up he moved to that little spot right below and behind her ear, and she let out a whimper as she jumped in his arms. He continued to work his way down, along her collarbone, across her breasts, paying quick homage to each nipple before trailing his way to her navel, pressing it with his tongue.
“Uh.”
He lifted his head. “Not good?”
She answered with a hand at the back of his head, pressing him into her. He spent some time in the concave of her stomach. Heaven. She smelt so delectable, all vanilla and musk. A teasing hint of her hipbone protruded from the top of her cheeky low-rise pink-and-white striped panties. He mapped his way along the top of the soft lace trim waistband, from one side to the other, savoring the quickening of her breath.
With care, he brought his hands down and rested them against her hips. When he checked, her head was back, her eyes were closed, and she had a tooth digging against her bottom lip. He took hold of her panties. “Are you okay with this?”
She nodded and backed it up with a smile.
“Lift your hips.” Compliance. At the same time, he worked her panties down her legs, he moved the bedcover completely off her. And paused. Sure he’d seen her legs before, but from this angle, looking all the way up, he could feel that delicious sense of anticipation. He slowed his breathing and waited and watched. Delay was a rush to be treasured, because once he started this journey, his knowledge of her would be altered forever.
He grasped a foot and drew it to his mouth, licking around her ankle, trailing tiny kisses along her instep, nipping with his teeth and encouraged by her sounds of pleasure. He ran his hands up the backs of her calves, squeezing, massaging until he reached behind her knees, and she groaned. The sound was loud and promising…and about to make him lose his mind.
“We’re a bit out of sync, here, Adam. Time you lost your pants, too.”
Yes! “With pleasure.” He kicked off his boxers, all the time his eyes holding her steady.
Her smile broadened, her tongue flicking over her top lip, and the rise and fall of his chest intensified in response.
He weakened first as he drank in the sight of her lying before him, completely naked. A quick sweep of her body and he let his gaze lock back with hers as he sank to his knees between her legs. He grasped her hips while reaching for a pillow. “Here, lift up.” He slipped the pillow under her. “Are you comfortable?”
“Yes, and a litt
le exposed.”
He laughed. “Now lie back and think of nothing. Just feel.”
His hands worked smoothly up her thighs, calmly parting them at the top, and she dropped her head back and surrendered. He stroked her silky hair, cupped her mound and held her firmly until he heard a small moan escape her. Parting her lips, he slipped a finger over her, back and forward, deliberately gentle, watching for her reaction to discover the bits that really worked for her.
He placed a finger at her entrance, teasing and pulling away when she tried to bear down. She held still after a couple of futile attempts. “Clever girl, now you lie back and let me do this,” he whispered as he slid one finger deep inside her, and slowly withdrew, repeating, loving how her muscles clenched as they tried to grasp him and hold his finger inside.
Then he removed his finger.
“Don’t stop!” she protested.
“Not stopping,” he smiled as he added a second finger. “So hot, so wet, so freakin’ tight,” he murmured, playing his fingers in and out of her. He ducked his head, reached down and carefully parted her lips, spreading her then leaning in to stroke her, once, with his tongue.
She was becoming more vocal, her hips rising beneath him. He placed one hand on the flat of her stomach, holding her still as he found her nub and teased it with the most delicate flicks, from the tip of his tongue.
“More,” she groaned.
He lifted his head. “More? Getting demanding now, Marlo?” She tried to push her hips toward him, and he kept her in place with the pressure of one hand on her smooth belly. “Uh-uh, stay still.”
“Please,” she begged.
“Please? I like please. That might work.” He parted her again and went back to slowly drawing his fingers within her folds, occasionally brushing her clit, enjoying how she jumped when he did so. “I wish we had a mirror here. You should see how beautiful you are, wet and swollen and ready for me.”
He lowered his head again and drew her nub into his mouth and started to suck, tease, and drive her right over the edge. His fingers curled inside her, pressing against the front wall until…yes…the spasm and gasp told him he’d found the right bundle of nerves that might blow her mind.
“Adam, please…”
She tried to sit up but kept his hand on her, keeping her in place.
“Adam!”
Her voice was more insistent and suddenly he remembered what he was dealing with. Whoa, slow down, you’ve scared her. Idiot. He lifted his head. “Sorry, hon, I got a bit carried away there. Are you okay?”
“Better than okay.”
“Better… oh, good.” He could scarcely catch his breath.
“It’s just…”
“It’s just, what?”
“I want you in me.”
There again, that coy smile was so unbearably sexy. He raised himself and lay across her body, pressed his aching cock between her thighs. “I want in you, too, but one problem. No condoms.” He saw her disappointment and laughed. “Let’s continue along the path we were traveling, which seemed to be going pretty well as I recall.”
She nodded.
He reached for her. “Kiss me, taste yourself.” Her mouth was tentative at first, and he held back, letting her explore. He pulled away. “Like that?”
She grinned and pulled his head back to her.
Good answer, babe. Perfect score.
He reached back between her legs, his fingers so slick now with her juices. “I think it’s time for you to come.” He lifted her legs over his shoulders and moved back in. This time she was without restraint when his tongue met her clit, and he thrust his fingers into her, finding her ‘just there’ spot and relentlessly guiding her toward an orgasm.
She was trembling—good, sexy trembling—and he played her, teased her, bringing her to the brink of coming then slowing her down, pulling back until she begged for release. When she could take no more of his teasing, she grasped a handful of his hair, holding him to her.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she groaned, and as her legs tightened and drew up, he sucked her into his mouth and added a finger to the turmoil until her undulations and cries told him she’d come. He continued to stroke her, drawing out the last tremors until her breath came slowly and the tension left her body.
He moved up alongside her to take her in his arms. He slicked her hair from her face and kissed her before drawing back. “Just can’t get enough of you, you beautiful creature. You taste like heaven; you are heaven.”
“That was amazing.”
“You were amazing.”
“It’s never been like that for me before,” she whispered.
“That’s a pity.”
“But what about you?”
“Me?” Adam grinned.
“You seem to still have a pressing problem. I can, ah, feel it. Can I help with that?”
“No, really, I’m fine.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Yeah, really so not fine, but he’d live.
“Liar.” Her hand reached for him.
Oh, yes, she saw right through that.
“Show me what you like,” she whispered, running her fingers from the base of his cock to the top, using her thumb to circle the slippery head.
He covered her hand with his. “Yup, this is going to work for me.”
Chapter Twenty
During summer, the dawn chorus was Marlo’s wake-up call. They had both slept again after their lovemaking, and now she eased herself from Adam’s hold and went through her normal morning routine. She put Justice and Fala into the yard with their breakfast and took a shower. She leaned her head back and let the warm water run over her before soaping up her body. Her new, responsive body that tingled and came to life every time Adam touched her.
She still had her eyes closed when the shower door opened.
“Don’t mind me.” Adam leaned a forearm at the open door and watched her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m striking off something from my fantasy list. You have no idea how often I’ve imagined you wet in the shower with the suds running down your body.” He licked his lips. “And the real thing is even better than I’d hoped.”
She threw a sopping washcloth at him and without taking his eyes from her, he snatched it from the air with one hand. Water and suds flew in a fine arc, covering them both.
“Oh, dear.” He grinned. “Now it’s war.”
Marlo pressed herself against the wall as Adam stepped into the stream of water. “Not much room in here,” she gasped and was quickly silenced by a pulse-raising, early morning kiss.
He released her. “That is what you get for leaving the bed without saying goodbye.” He leaned back in. “And this is what you get—”
She put his hands against his chest, holding him away, grinning. “Remind me to do that more often. Now, at the risk of being called a killjoy, I am presuming we have a day from hell ahead of us. I need to prepare.”
He caught her as she stepped past him. His lips pressed up against her ear. “We’ll get through the day together and continue this tonight.”
Later in the kitchen Adam drained his coffee mug and stood. “Right, time to go and put out some fires.”
Marlo grimaced. “Am I in trouble?”
“I can’t see why.”
“But Justice is in trouble, isn’t he?”
Trouble? Well, that’s one way of putting it.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Justice. I don’t know how that sort of thing works over here. I’ve got first dibs on Butch this morning to talk this over, so you hold tight here, okay? Screen your calls until I can let you know what’s going to go down.”
He climbed into his rental car, put the key in the ignition and drummed out a rhythm on the steering wheel with his forefingers. “Someone got his tension temporarily relieved…until I reach the station.”
Butch pointed at a chair across from his desk. “Sit,” he ordered before stabbing at a button on his
intercom. “Margaret, need two coffees, now.”
Margaret was Butch’s P.A., and the rumor was that she filled that role in private, too. Not that anyone was brave enough to ask the right questions to confirm it. She rolled in a few minutes later and placed two steaming hot mugs onto the police chief’s desk. “Next time, say ‘please’, or you’ll wear it.”
“Next time, wear a shorter skirt and show more cleavage, or I’ll send you home to get changed.”
Adam had been shocked when he’d first heard their banter, but it appeared they’d carried on like this for years. And God help anyone else who tried to take the same line with Margaret. She would kick the person’s ass, with Butch waiting in line to complete the job. Butch may have sounded Neanderthal, but the guy couldn’t have been softer or more protective when it came to women.
He leaned back in his chair, cradling his coffee. “So, Kiwi, what went down last night?”
“You talked to Barrett yet?”
“Yeah, briefly.”
Adam reached for his coffee. “Tell me the score.”
“Condensed version. Barrett says he went around to Marlo’s, as per his orders. Once he was in the house, he made some sort of remark that he supposed could have been construed to be offensive—you know what a jerk-off he is. She went nuts and set the dog on him.”
“I see the attack gave him amnesia.”
“Full-blown.”
Adam blew in his coffee, and tried a sip. Still blistering hot. He returned the mug to the desk and looked up at Butch. “What Barrett tried on Marlo…that was attempted rape. When I got there, he’d locked them in the house, the dog and Marlo were going nuts, Barrett was bleeding all over the place and mouthing off about shooting the dog, and Marlo was half-naked.”
Butch leaned back in his chair. “Barrett’s a fucking moron. He thinks getting a hard-on is personal growth. I’ll deal with him, but I need to talk to Marlo.”
