by Taryn Quinn
At least he’d had one last night. Obviously, unlike me.
“I yanked a violet out of the pot where I’d been trying to keep it and its friend alive and came over here to do my duty.”
“Aww, you ripped it away from its friend?”
“That’s the part you land on?” He touched my chest right above my heart. “Soft. I never guessed.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, August Beck.”
“I know. I want to learn every last thing.” He leaned forward and sniffed. “Your hair smells like strawberries and cream. So fucking delicious.”
“Ivy’s shampoo,” I said shakily.
He fingered one of my ringlets, hanging so close to my breast. “I was going to be a gentleman and leave. Until you asked me to stay. You told me how wet you were for me. How much you wanted me inside you with no condom.”
I closed my eyes, because his soft undertone was going to kill me. Every bit of it was coming back to me now. He’d stayed so stoic and hadn’t let my pleas sway him. He’d done the thinking for both of us.
Protecting me even as I begged him to rip all the shields away.
“I remember.”
He tipped up my chin with his fingertip, giving me no choice but to meet his gaze. “Then what happened?”
“Then you got down on your knees and made me come.”
“I definitely did that.” He slid his hand around to the back of my neck, massaging the tension out of my muscles. “I want to again.”
“You’re a very giving lover.” It wasn’t what I intended to say, but it was worth the mirth in his eyes. He didn’t smile enough when we were together.
That was probably my fault.
“I try to be, but gotta say I do hope to receive this time too.” He rubbed his lips against mine, so softly I nearly sighed.
Sense kicked in and I jerked back. “One second,” I yelped, fleeing into the bathroom.
My mouth tasted like a sewer, and morning needs were making themselves known. There was no way we could make out and possibly do other things before I’d tidied up a bit.
Once I’d taken care of business—including brushing my teeth twice with the spare toothbrush I kept at Ivy’s for our occasional sleepovers—I stepped back into the bedroom. My hair was semi-tamed, and I’d even swiped on lip gloss.
August stared at me as if I was a mirage.
“Damn, you’re gorgeous.” He gestured for me to come closer and I responded as if I had no say in the matter.
Once my knees hit the mattress, he leaned across it and hooked his hand around my hip. He nudged up my nightshirt with his nose and aimed right between my legs, giving me a long, slow lick that weakened my knees.
He was so good at that. And if I let him continue down that road, we’d never talk. We would never set the ground rules we needed to.
Just so everything was nice and clear.
“Wait. You said—you said—” I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and scrolled through texts once face recognition let me in. “You said you’d give me a baby. Why would you say that?”
“You asked me to.”
“What?” I nearly shouted the question and then sent up a fervent prayer that the noise I could hear in another part of the house was the TV.
Rory and Ivy didn’t know August was here. No one knew. So when we flamed out—as we were going to do any moment now—it wouldn’t be a thing in town. People wouldn’t ask how I was doing after such an awful event, and Ivy wouldn’t be forced to pick sides. She probably wouldn’t pick mine, because no one ever did.
Not that I knew anything about that.
But I didn’t want to put her in the middle anyway. She loved her brother, last night’s hushed argument on the stoop aside. This whole situation was messy and unnecessary, even if my inner thighs were quivering and the minty scent of August’s soap was making my head spin.
“You asked me to,” he repeated calmly, leaning closer to resume licking me as if he had all the time in the world.
I tried to breathe. To think. “I was drunk.”
“You were perfectly coherent.” He moved back and slowly swiped the back of his hand over his mouth in the most seductive way imaginable before tugging me down to sit beside him on the bed. “And you took two pregnancy tests.”
Despite the still obvious tingling between my legs, I rubbed my phone against the hollow ache in my chest. “I wanted to be sure.”
“Yeah. And you were disappointed.” He averted his gaze. “As am I.”
He couldn’t be serious. Most guys didn’t want kids. At least not in a situation like this. We weren’t even technically dating, and he had no concerns about a biological clock. It was my egg timer suddenly dinging in my head, not his.
But he didn’t even say he was disappointed, as in past tense. He’d made it present.
“You were?”
“Yeah. Crazy, right?” He let out a low laugh and scraped a hand over his adorable bedhead. His hair was normally as neat and tidy as everything else was about him. Not right now. Spikes were sticking out in all directions.
Just like my feelings for him. It was getting harder to put a lid on them when he went and said stuff like that.
“We’ve been on fast forward since the wedding. I guess this is just one more part of it. So if you weren’t just drunk rambling, if you want to go for it… Well, I do too.”
Shock echoed in the pit of my stomach. Had he lost his mind?
For that matter, had I?
“I didn’t suggest eating a gallon of ice cream for dessert one night.” I lowered my voice just in case my best friend was standing near the door. “I suggested making a baby.”
“Mmm-hmm.” He slipped his finger underneath the collar of my nightshirt. “Ivy loaned this to you, didn’t she? Her husband is filthy.”
“He loves her madly.”
“Lucky for him, because he would’ve been left for dead in a ditch otherwise.”
I had to grin, more than a little wistfully. “I’ve never had a defender like that. I always wanted a brother or a sister. Someone so I wouldn’t—” I broke off. Nope, this wasn’t the place for those kinds of declarations. I didn’t talk about my background, not even with Ivy.
I’d left all of that behind.
“So you wouldn’t what?” he asked gently.
“So I wouldn’t always get in trouble of course.” I forced myself to smile, determined not to let the familiar memories seep in and ruin this. Whatever the heck this was.
I didn’t know for sure, but there was no denying the mad locusts circling in my belly. He wasn’t saying no. He didn’t think I was crazy. Or if he did, he was crazy too.
We could make a baby and be crazy together.
“Defenders come in all shapes and sizes. Family is definitely more than blood.”
I lowered my head before he could see the quick prick of tears. Normally, I wasn’t a crier, but something about recklessly planning for a baby with my best friend’s brother was messing with my tear ducts.
“What would Ivy say?”
Almost instantly, his jaw firmed and his eyes fired. “About what?”
“You know about what. Us. This.” I gestured between us. “Us having sex and making babies. She’d be shocked and upset—”
“The only reason she’d be shocked and upset is because we didn’t tell her. But that’s your call, not mine.”
I fell silent as his little truth bomb detonated my resistance. At least for a second.
“But I get that you’re worried. You love her. You’re afraid to rock the boat. Except if we succeed…” He took a deep breath. “If we succeed, she’s going to have to know about it. Because there’s no way in hell we’re creating a child without me being there one-hundred percent.”
My chin lifted. “We didn’t discuss that part.”
“We are now.”
I set my phone back on the nightstand, my gaze catching again on the tiny violet. He truly was the sweetest guy. I’d missed
so many of the small kindnesses he offered while I was busy snarking and sniping at him.
“I didn’t think all this out, in case you figured I’d come up with some big plan. Just after the scare, it stuck in my mind. I knew I should be relieved. But I wasn’t.”
“Same.”
His agreement bolstered me to continue. “I’ve always wanted a baby. I’d thought maybe it would happen with—”
“Valet dude,” he said tightly.
“It didn’t. I was too young in any case, and I had other dreams too. Ones I could attain for myself even if the kid thing wasn’t in the cards.”
“Who said it wasn’t? Did he?”
When I didn’t answer, he raised my chin until our eyes were level. “You can tell me.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t swallow. “He said some women weren’t marriage material. So, of course, that meant I wasn’t mother material either, at least in my own head. I’d always hoped they would go together.” I let out a self-conscious laugh. “Yet here I am, setting up baby booty calls. Leave it to me.”
“Kin, you know that’s bullshit, right? What does that even fucking mean?”
“It means I was too focused on my plans for my business and not on making him happy.” I held up a hand when August would’ve leaped off the bed and punched a wall—or gone to look for a man he couldn’t even identify.
August was right that defenders weren’t always related. When I wasn’t looking, he’d become mine.
“His view,” I said carefully. “I knew it wasn’t necessarily accurate, but let’s just say I had some concerns of my own and what he said didn’t help.”
“Which means you internalized his crap and boxed away what you wanted. Until you admitted it to me.” He grabbed my hand and held it to his chest. “Me, Kin. Not just some random dude. You trusted me with that part of yourself, and I’m so grateful. We can do this,” he added quietly. “Our way. In our own time. We don’t need to ask anyone’s permission.”
My throat was so tight I couldn’t do anything but nod.
“Every step of the way, we’ll do it together. Okay? From the tests to the doctor’s appointments to the buying baby clothes and picking out schools and—”
It was impossible not to laugh. “We haven’t even practiced yet, and you’ve already got the kid in elementary school. It might not happen. There are so many variables.”
But good goddess, I adored him for thinking so positively when it was far too easy for me to get lost in the what ifs.
“Of course. However, you remember where we live, right? Crescent Cove is only the procreation capital of the world. And I drink a lot of water from the lake.” He shifted me underneath him and cupped my breast, rolling his thumb slowly over the hardening tip. “The question is, do you?”
“I drink a mix of lake and bottled.”
“Might want to stop that. Anything to up our odds.” August grinned at me and shoved down his boxers.
I goggled. There was morning wood and then there was…that.
“Is the prospect of no condom that exciting to you?”
“Still some leftover from tasting that sweet pussy.”
Right. I’d just let the bright flags of color surely dotting my cheeks do the talking for me.
“This is my first time ever going bare.” He parted my sticky thighs with a groan. “I love the easy access. I was so smart to toss those panties last night. Good fuck, you’re wet.”
It was hard to argue about the location of my perfectly good panties when his long, insanely skilled fingers were stroking my clit before sliding lower to slip inside me. One, then two. I clutched the sheets, trying to remember if I’d read somewhere that an orgasm first helped swimmers to swim.
Whatever, I was on my way to having one. Quickly. That didn’t mean I could stop myself from teasing him.
“Not toss like throw out. Right? Because I loved that—mmm, right there.”
“They’re under the bed somewhere probably.”
“We need to find them.” The word lengthened to several additional syllables as he slid his hands under my ass and just scooped me up toward his mouth.
He held me there, his gaze locked on mine while his tongue swirled and dipped and made the most beautiful mess of me. I forgot about my panties and what Ivy and Rory might hear, clinging to the sheets with one hand and August’s crazy morning hair with the other. He wasn’t being quiet, and I couldn’t be either.
Right now, I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“You taste incredible.” Even muffled against me, the words lit a fire in my blood. He finally lowered me to the mattress, but I still felt like I was suspended.
I arched and clutched at his hair, incapable of being gentle. Already lost, I slid my hand down my belly toward where he was so hard at work, belatedly realizing that he didn’t need my help. But he captured my hand, daring me with his gaze to do exactly what I’d almost done in my mindlessness.
With those intent green eyes focused on me, I could do anything.
I let my fingers wander lower to where I was drenched. He made a low sound in his throat, pushing his fingers into me harder and deeper. Making me release his hair so I could grip the sheets and rock into his strokes. I couldn’t be shy now about touching my clit. Not when I was so close and he was licking at my fingers as they moved over the swollen bit of flesh. Adding more friction and more wetness.
“I’m gonna come.”
“Yes, baby. Yes.” He swapped his fingers for his tongue and I cupped his scruffy cheek with fingers still damp from me.
Eyes locked, I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to keep it together while the world spun and shattered.
He never stopped.
Wrung out, I writhed against the bed. I was already starting to climb again. He was working me as patiently as he would one of his creations, content to spend as long as it took to get the result he sought. His fingers and mouth were relentless.
Not coming again was impossible. I grabbed the pillow and bit down to stifle my cries.
He coaxed me through my orgasm, still sucking my clit with every slick stroke of his fingers. I was pulsing all over for him and straining for more.
Just the way he wanted me.
When he finally drew back to breathe, he licked his lips. Slow and oh so dirty.
“I could spend my life between your thighs.”
His lips and chin were wet with me. I wanted to kiss him. Wanted to share that with him too.
As if he knew, he leaned up and fisted a hand in my hair to bring our mouths together, the kiss all clashing lips and teeth. He tasted like me. Every suck on his tongue just made me crave his cock.
Bare. Nothing between us.
We were really going to do this.
He shifted his kisses to my neck before pushing back my hair. “Look at that.” His voice was thick with wonder as he traced the pad of his finger behind my ear. “Ladybug.”
“Yeah.” I shifted my head to give him more access to explore. “My only tattoo. For luck.”
“It’s lovely and delicate, just like you. But strong underneath.”
“Don’t flatter me.” I reached down to grasp his insanely tight ass. “Just fuck me.”
His cock jerked between us. “As you wish.”
I dug my nails into the firm flesh, dragging him on top of me, moaning at the feel of his hard length nestling into the cradle of my thighs as if he belonged there.
Because he did.
“Wanted to make this last,” he mumbled against my lips. “I can’t.”
“In me. Don’t hold back.”
He planted his fist beside me on the pillow and flexed his hips, sinking into me to the hilt with a long rumble of pleasure. He bit my lower lip, pulling it between his teeth as he drew back and did it again. His big hand enfolded my breast and I tipped back my head to haul in air when he pinched my nipple. The flash of pain shot right to my clit and I tightened around him, so full of him that I couldn’t even move. All I could do wa
s press my legs into his sides and hang on as he retreated and drove in again.
I reached up to frame his face in my hands, holding on to him while he thrusted in and out. The bed was rocking so hard I was sure someone would hear. Had to. But I couldn’t ask him to stop. Not now.
He grew almost imperceptibly inside me as he scraped his teeth down my throat. “Last chance,” he gritted out. “I’m going to come.”
“Yes. Inside.”
“You sure?” He reared back enough to stare down at me, the cords in his neck defined in sharp relief. Little droplets of sweat clung to his hairline, where the faintest hints of silver were just starting to show.
Every part of him appealed to me. Inside and out.
“Yes. I’m sure. And me too.” Yet another thing I couldn’t stop. He was taking me with him, possessing my body as if only he knew the combination to my lock. All of them were snapping open for him even as I fought to hold on.
He pushed back into me one last time. “Kinleigh,” he panted against my neck before he finally gave in.
I could feel him filling me up. Probably it was half my imagination. Half my own desperate longing. But the sensation sent me careening and I spasmed hard around his cock. He grunted in my ear, praising me for having no reserves left against him.
“That’s it. Let it all go.”
I had no choice.
He dropped on top of me for an instant before he rolled off onto his back to wheeze for breath. “Give me five and we’ll do it again.”
I managed to lift my heavy eyelids. His arm was draped over his face and his chest was heaving. “We will?”
In lieu of an answer, he slid his hand between my legs, cupping me where I was so swollen and soaked. When I got what he was doing—metaphorical gesture or not—I had to bite my lip around a grin.
“What’s so funny?”
“You, trying to fight gravity.”
He shifted closer and pulled down the collar of my nightshirt until my breast flowed over it, obscenely on display. He drew the tip between his teeth, sucking while I squirmed. “I’ll make sure you stay nice and filled, don’t you worry.”
I pressed my damp thighs together, trapping his already exploring hand. “I don’t doubt it.”
