Devoted to Love

by Shayla Black

  How the hell was he supposed to do that when the job often sent him away from home and had him out of pocket for days, sometimes weeks at a time?

  “You and I have a lot to talk about, Maggie,” he murmured as he kissed her cheek, let his lips drift down her neck to her shoulder. He pulled her baggy gray sweatshirt off her shoulder—and froze. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

  The sly grin she tossed his way seemed like classic Maggie. “You want to talk about that? Okay, but I can only imagine the diatribe you’ll go on once you figure out I’m not wearing panties, either.”

  Though he suspected she was trying to distract him from meaningful conversation, instant lust jolted Josiah’s system. “You’re not?”

  She sent him a teasing giggle as he wrestled the sweatshirt from her torso and worked the stretchy yoga pants down her legs, tossing both garments aside. Staring down at her, he sat back on his heels with a groan. Maggie hadn’t been lying; she was naked as the day she’d been born. The morning sun slanted through the windows, turning her skin golden. Holy shit.

  He’d seen at least a hundred naked women. Why did this one take his breath away?

  “Clearly, you’re not.”

  Her grin widened. “Nope.”

  “I swear you’re perfect. All I can think about is tasting every inch of you.”

  “I thought you said there was more to life than sex.”

  “But I think the sex will be even better because it matters. Because we care. We should test that theory.”

  As he cupped her breast and teased her nipple with his thumb, she shivered. “Totally.”

  That was all the encouragement Josiah needed.

  He grabbed the back of his shirt in his fist, yanked it over his head, then lobbed it to the far side of the room. The moment he did, Maggie sat up and put her hands on him, palms brushing his chest, fingers curling around his shoulders. She skimmed her lips across his pectorals before she pressed her breasts to his bare skin.

  Josiah shuddered and shoved his fingers through her tresses, tugging until she met his gaze. “I think I already know the answer, but I look forward to proving my theory true.”

  Bending, he took her mouth in a soft kiss of possession, delving deep. He held her close, stroked her back. Maggie fit against him perfectly. Was it possible her skin was even softer than he remembered? Or was he just bewitched by her that much more?

  Time ceased to have meaning. The world faded away as he laid Maggie back on the frilly bed once again, covered her mouth, and fitted himself against her curves. He let his lips taste their way up her neck. He nipped at her lobe. He laved her shoulder. Every time, she met him with a touch or kiss of her own that inflamed him more.

  Sure, whenever he was with her, he wanted to take her, be one with her. This . . . was different. Today, he wanted to claim her—and not just temporarily. The intensity of his need fueled an urgency he’d never experienced. Maybe it was being away from her last night and being forced to lie beside Mercy. Josiah didn’t know, but he felt compelled to make Maggie belong totally to him.

  The longer he kissed her, the sweeter her lips tasted. He’d swear they were coated with honey, dipped in pure sugar. The bounty of her body was stretched out under him, and those addictive lips drove him to feast everywhere.

  Josiah kissed his way down to her breasts, lingering on the swells. He dragged his tongue across her nipples before closing his lips around the distended tips and sucking them deep. His reward was the bowing of her back and sweet whimpers escaping her lips. She filled his hands as completely as the sounds of her pleasure filled his ears.

  Back and forth, he shifted his focus between one tender bud and the other until they swelled. Then he caressed his fingers down her torso, to her folds. She was engorged here, too. Soaking wet. Josiah groaned, eager to arouse her until she burned. Until she surrendered every bit of her will, her body, and her heart to him.

  As usual, Maggie surprised him with plans of her own.

  She jackknifed and sat up, then gave him a little shove, forcing him onto his back.

  “What are you doing, baby?”

  “You’re always unraveling me. I want to do the same to you.”

  “You want to touch me?” He couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “You find me irresistible?”

  “Maybe. And maybe I just want you to feel the torment you heap on me.”

  More the former than the latter, but she didn’t give Josiah any other warning before she bent to him and licked his nipple, nipped her way across his chest and down his abdomen. Then she attacked his zipper until she was breathing on the head of his cock, her exhalations warm puffs on the most sensitive skin of his body. He stiffened at the shock of desire that hit his system. Then he melted into the mattress.

  Goddamn, this woman got to him.

  When she pressed the barest of butterfly kisses to his abdomen, around his protruding cock, everything inside him clenched and burned. And he knew his theory had been right. Sex had always been enjoyable. One of the greatest experiences in life, in fact. But this, the teasing brushes of fingertips, the worshipping touches of their lips? He’d never felt anything more perfect. If he’d had any doubt this woman was meant to be his, it was dissolving fast.

  “Maggie . . .” He hated not being in control as much as he loved it. He never knew what she’d do next. After spending the last three years with girls all too willing to say “yes, Sir” and never provide an ounce of challenge, she was the elixir that made him feel so fucking alive.

  “Josiah . . .” she taunted as she skated her tongue over the thin line of hair that led straight to his aching cock.

  “Don’t toy with me.”

  “The way you toy with me?” A little smile danced at the corners of her mouth. “You like it.”

  He couldn’t exactly deny that, not when he was harder than he could ever remember being, and she could see the effect she had on him with her own two eyes.

  Apparently, Maggie wasn’t content to restrict herself to visual confirmation. No, she had to wrap her hands around his erection, squeeze, and force a long, low groan from him.

  “I do. But I’ll definitely be paying you back.”

  As she bent to him, mischief danced in her eyes. But it was tempered by something he’d never seen her bestow on him: affection. She wasn’t hiding how she felt behind bluster, sarcasm, or one-liners. And the way her eyes glittered with something hot and needy as she worked her hands up and down his shaft completely jacked with his self-restraint.

  “I’m looking forward to it,” she vowed as she took him in her mouth.

  The moment she wrapped her lips around him, drew him deeper, then began to suck her way up to the head, he was utterly done. There would be no hiding how completely he wanted Magnolia West.

  His fingers slid into the silk of her hair as the moment swept him up. Her lips enveloped his length. She exhaled against his skin. He let loose a gravelly moan. He had a feeling that the months—hell, the decades—in front of him with Maggie would be an adventure. Yeah, they had to work out the details. They didn’t reside in the same state. They lived totally different lives. But if Cutter and Shealyn, an operative and a TV star from opposite ends of the country, could make it work, then there was no reason he and Maggie couldn’t do the same.

  “Oh, baby. Damn. That’s so fucking good.”

  She didn’t answer, simply groaned around his sensitized flesh, her lips teasing their way up again before they tormented him on their way back down.

  “You taste like man.” She laved the crest before she slipped it in her mouth and drew on it until her cheeks went hollow and he thought he might explode. “And salt. Your musk hits my nose, and I want to spend a year down here cataloging every trace of that scent. You wouldn’t mind that, right?”

  “No,” he blurted once she dragged him back into her mouth with a powerful
pull. Then his brain flickered to life and he realized what he’d said. “Wait, yes. I mind. I want inside you.”

  “Eventually,” she promised. “I seem to remember someone who doesn’t relent from touching me until he gives me lots and lots of orgasms. I should make the same demand. It only seems fair.”

  “If you do, I’m only going to insist on more from you,” he threatened in a low growl.

  “Promise?”

  The vixen had played him. She’d wrapped herself around him, dug under his skin, turned him inside out at the same time she’d scrambled his brain and wormed her way into his heart. He didn’t mind bending to make her happy, but he’d be damned if he’d let her undo him without giving as good as he got.

  “Baby, I won’t get up from this bed until I’ve made you beg for—” Nope, he would not say Mercy. He would not even think about that whack-job right now.

  “Your leniency? Your forgiveness?” Her teasing smile wished him good luck with that.

  “No. You’ll be torn between begging for more and begging me to stop.” While she grappled for a reply, he took control back from her, rolling her back to the mattress and covering her squirming body with his. “And I can’t promise which one I’ll give you.”

  In his arms, she shivered. She might surprise and poke him. She might say she didn’t like when he commanded her. But he knew how to get to her. Right now, she felt more comfortable showing her affection between the sheets than she did when she looked into his eyes. He’d change that someday. This morning, he’d make sure she knew he was knocking at the door of her heart and he intended to bang away at whatever resistance remained until she let him in.

  Josiah didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He was done talking, taunting, teasing, or otherwise wasting time on anything except the toe-curling pleasure that bound them together.

  He bent and kissed her, nudging her lips open before he swept deep. Maggie wrapped her arms around him and clung. Their breaths mingled as he crushed her mouth beneath his and tasted her sweetness. Her hint of tart chased it, balancing her flavor to perfection.

  Josiah didn’t break their connection as he eased to her side and skimmed his palm down her abdomen, straight between her restless thighs. The second his fingers dipped between them, she opened and welcomed his touch.

  He definitely intended to savor that—just before he took her in every way a man could take a woman.

  While he nipped at her lip, he thumbed her clit, rubbing her in slow circles, watching raptly as she tossed her head back and cried out his name. Then he slipped his fingers inside her, gratified when he glided in easily and felt her clench around him.

  “I’m going to work my cock right here,” he promised against her ear. “Every inch of me is going inside you. You’re going to take me and come for me, aren’t you?”

  “Uh-huh.” She bobbed her head as she lifted her hips for his touch.

  He withdrew and circled her clit again until she bucked and clenched the sheets, until her heels dug into the mattress and she let loose another unintelligible sound of need that burned his blood.

  When she was on the edge again, he pulled back, relishing her whimper and the way she reached out to draw him close. Maggie might have trouble allowing herself to become attached, but the moment she gave herself over to the pleasure they shared, she was at her most open. She didn’t fight him then, simply surrendered. Well, mostly. Josiah had a hunch he could use a shortcut to cajole her into giving those hidden parts of herself she held back.

  Dragging his fingers back through her slick valley, he traced his way down, circling where he’d never touched her before. Had anyone else?

  “And here.” He pressed against her rosette, slipping one drenched digit inside her as he worked his way down her body. “I’m going to work my way deep inside you here, too.”

  Maggie’s eyes flew open. She tensed. Her breathing picked up speed. But she didn’t say no.

  “Josiah . . .”

  He understood her unspoken question. Was he serious? Would he really do that? Could it possibly feel good?

  “Yes, baby. I want to take you. Everywhere. In every way.”

  Without waiting a beat, he licked his way down the flat expanse of her stomach, nipping at her hip bone, while he pressed a second finger into her backside. She rewarded him with something between a grunt and a groan.

  “Ever had a man touch you here?”

  She couldn’t find words, merely shook her head.

  “Do my fingers penetrating you somewhere ‘forbidden’ give you pleasure?”

  At his words, she bit her lip and clenched, tightening on him. Slowly, purposefully, he invaded even deeper, to the hilt, until he couldn’t press inside her any more.

  With a cry, she nodded frantically.

  He smiled as he worked his body down, planting his face between her legs and taking a long, lingering lick of her most sensitive button. “If you think that feels good, you’re going to come apart when I get my cock inside you.”

  She gave a strangled cry that morphed into a growl as he swirled his tongue around her clit one more time. He stayed, lingered, savored. In less than a handful of minutes, she went taut, gasped, then flew apart in his arms.

  Seeing her in rapture undid him. Her eyes closed. She tossed her head back. Her cheeks flushed. Her wail rose between them as her body writhed and glowed. Magnolia West was stunning. Okay, he might be biased, but no other woman affected him this deeply.

  “Gorgeous,” he muttered against her skin as he crawled back up her body.

  She was still panting and limp when he covered her lips again and drew her closer, losing himself in their connection. She seemed to do the same. When he finally lifted his head, she sighed and cuddled against him like a contented kitten. The silent show of trust thrilled and stunned him. Maggie had never been the sort to linger or nestle against him or in any way want to prolong their closeness. She’d always been about the next orgasm or she’d been eager to put distance between them.

  In Josiah’s estimation, this was a big win. But he was greedy; he wanted more.

  He wanted all of her.

  Curling up beside Maggie, Josiah peppered her face with soft kisses. “You okay?”

  She gave a lazy stretch, then exhaled every bit of starch from her body and peered at him with a loopy smile. “I’m great. You do terrible and wonderful things to me, Mr. Grant. I should make you stop.”

  The way she bantered and teased was adorable. He’d always taken sex seriously, but with her playing seemed second nature. And so perfect. “All you have to do is say ‘stop’ or ‘no.’ ‘Please don’t do that’ would work. So would ‘get the hell away from me.’ If I hear any of those, I’ll back right off, baby.”

  She cocked her head, seeming to consider his words. “Somehow, once you start touching me, most of my vocabulary disappears. Stringing a whole sentence together seems impossible. And then you say sexy, filthy things to me that rob me of all ability to think, and I find myself giving in to you in ways I shouldn’t.”

  “So it’s all my fault?”

  “Totally,” she assured, tongue firmly planted in cheek.

  Josiah laughed. Responsibility and the outside world waited for them, he knew. Zy and Trees would be back in an hour or two, and he’d have to shift focus to whatever they found on Enlightenment Fields’ back forty. They’d have to plan and figure out some way to keep Maggie safe. When he was with her, it was easy to get lost in the bliss between them and hard to imagine that someone might want to snuff out her bright light for a piece of land. But if he wanted a shared tomorrow with her, he had to end this threat. The rest of Comfort had rolled over and played dead, allowing Coleman, Mercy, and their fellow crazies to do whatever they pleased. That stopped now.

  “Well, I guess I need to see what other dirty, debauching acts I can seduce you with. Besides, I promised
you more orgasms and I swore I’d make you beg, so . . .” He gave her a mock sigh. “I should get busy.”

  Maggie reached down to squeeze his turgid cock. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with how hard you are.”

  He gritted his teeth to hold in a groan. “Nothing at all. But to be on the safe side, don’t do that anymore.”

  When he nudged her hand aside and broke her grip, she tsked. “So all this dirtiness is one-sided?”

  “Basically. At least today.” He stood at the side of the bed and shucked his unzipped pants, reaching into the pocket for a condom. “Get on your hands and knees.”

  “Why?” She froze. “Josiah, you’re not really going to . . .”

  “Have anal sex with you? Yeah. That’s the plan.”

  Maggie gathered her arms to her knees. “I’ve never . . . What if it hurts?”

  Josiah bent to kiss her. “I know, and it definitely shouldn’t. That’s often an issue when someone doesn’t know what they’re doing.”

  She got even quieter. “And you do.”

  “Baby, I’ve had more than my fair share of sex. I was hardly a monk before you.”

  “Me, too, but . . .”

  “This is different. I get it.” He shrugged. “Look, we don’t have to. I’m certainly not going to make you. But before you decide, can I tell you why I think this is important?”

  “Okay.”

  “First, you’re going to enjoy the hell out of it. The sensations from anal penetration are different, as you just saw. And you respond. My fingers were enough to send you soaring. Right?”

  She looked reluctant to admit the obvious. “I guess.”

  “It was a ‘hell, yes,’ baby. The next step will feel even better. Which leads me to my second reason: I want you to trust what I say to you, that I know how to give you pleasure, that I will take care of you, that you can give me parts of yourself you’ve never given anyone else and you’ll be okay.”

  “I don’t know if I’m ready for all that.”