Deadly Beginnings

by Jaycee Clark

  She tensed in his arms. Not from anything they were doing, from the sound. She’d already said she didn’t like the noise.

  “Stay with me, Kaitie.”

  “I know it’s stupid,” she muttered. “The storms. I just can’t—”

  “I’ll make it so you don’t even notice the storms.” He pressed his knee to the mattress, laying them both on the bed, Kaitlyn under him as he pulled her arms from his neck.

  “Promises, promises.”

  “Well, you’re the one that issued the challenge.”

  She grinned. “I did, didn’t I?”

  “Oh, you did. From the moment we danced.”

  She laughed and helped him undress both of them. He wanted to go slowly. She didn’t. Kaitlyn was all flash and fire.

  Jock wanted slow, to enjoy. To cherish. He didn’t want to rush this.

  “We’ve got all night, slow down.”

  “I don’t really want slow,” she said, trying to roll him to his back.

  He leaned over her, throwing his thigh over both of hers. “I can’t let you have your way all the time, you’d be completely unmanageable then.”

  “Unmanageable?”

  “You wanted bright and beautiful, Kaitie lass. You issued the challenge. I merely accepted.” He laced her fingers with his.

  Her other hand snaked down and wrapped around him. “Well, at least you’ve risen to the challenge. Be sad if you hadn’t.”

  Jock laughed and twisted his hips, her hand sliding off. He hissed, even as he grinned. “A damned handful and a half.”

  “How would you know? You haven’t even felt them yet.”

  He laughed again. “Kaitie.” He leaned over and kissed one beautiful breast and the side of the other. “I don’t know where to start.”

  “The rumors are lies? Well, I did take several classes of anatomy and—”

  Had he ever laughed in bed with a woman? He didn’t remember ever doing so.

  Not knowing any other way to keep her from distracting him, he kissed her, easing into her mouth, slow and deep.

  Her tongue danced out to play with his. He ran his hand up her arm to her breast.

  A handful . . .

  He grinned.

  • • •

  Kaitie felt him grin against her mouth as he kissed her. The man made her nervous, and she’d fallen back on the old habit of rambling when nervous.

  Jock’s hands were so big, so strong. Yet with her, he was careful, gentle.

  His mouth slanted over hers as he deepened the kiss. She tasted the wine on his kiss as his tongue tangled with hers.

  Jock’s kisses made her reach for more, want more, need more.

  His fingers trailed over her arm, from their hands to her breast. His hand weighed her breast, caressed, lightly squeezed.

  She smiled against his mouth, feeling his widen again on a smile.

  His thumb circled around and around the center. He pulled his mouth away and kissed her neck, down her neck, his mouth hot and wet against her skin. He trailed his tongue across her collarbone.

  Kaitie put her hands on his shoulders. So wide. So strong.

  The man was muscled. All carved, like some ancient god.

  “A god?” he asked against her breast.

  Did she say that out loud? “Ignore anything I say for the next while.”

  His chuckle vibrated against her breast as he kissed the peak, his tongue circling, circling, until he finally pulled it into his mouth.

  Kaitlyn arched into him, not that she really could with his weight on her as it was. His leg was heavy.

  “Jock.”

  “I like the sound of that,” he murmured. “That little catch in your voice when you say my name.”

  She ran a hand through his hair, holding him to her.

  He shifted so he was more on her than off, his other hand playing along her head, his fingers tracing her face.

  He sucked her nipple deep as his hand slid over her stomach and lower.

  “Oh, God.” She tried again to arch and could only bend her head back into the deep plush pillows.

  Kaitlyn fisted her hand on the edge of the pillow.

  “Bright and beautiful, didn’t you say?” he asked as he moved lower, kissing the plane of her stomach.

  Kaitlyn parted her thighs and moaned as his fingers found her, parted her and slid against her.

  She was wet. She could feel it.

  Jock kissed lower and lower.

  Was he . . . ?

  She tensed, not sure if . . .

  “Trust me, Kaitie,” he said, looking up at her.

  Kaitlyn held his stare and slowly nodded. He leaned in and kissed her. She could only close her eyes and feel.

  Feel so damned much.

  His mouth.

  His tongue.

  His fingers.

  She got lost in the feelings. Too many feelings, too much at once. A storm she couldn’t control.

  He slid one long finger deep into her as he did something with his mouth.

  Kaitlyn moaned and bowed.

  He hummed against her and she squirmed. He held her hip with one hand and continued to love her with his mouth. Even as his finger slid deep, then withdrew, building, building . . .

  She felt it as he added another finger and still his mouth worked her.

  “Oh, God. Jock!” she yelled and shook her head. The feelings didn’t stop. Only seemed to build a wave sliding easily against the shore, knowing a larger one was coming.

  His fingers slid in and out. Slow and steady. In and out.

  “Please. Please. Please.”

  He twisted his fingers, sucked her into his mouth and she yelled, the wave crashing over her, sucking her down, and spinning her every which way so she didn’t know what was up, down or sideways.

  His fingers gentled, his mouth slowly left her, his tongue easing.

  Kaitlyn felt weightless.

  That’s what they all talked about. She grinned and finally opened her eyes. Jock was watching her, his tongue running up her stomach now, back to her breast, to tease, to torment.

  “Oh, please,” she said, shifting.

  “My Kaitie, always in a rush.” He kissed one breast, then the other. “God, you’re tight.” He added another finger, stretching her. His thumb rubbed across a bundle of nerves and she shuddered.

  “Jock.”

  He kissed his way up her neck, finally licking across the seam of her mouth. “I don’t want to hurt you, Kaitie.”

  She cupped his face. “You’re not the kind of man who could hurt me. Break my heart, maybe, but never hurt me.”

  Again, he turned and kissed her palm.

  “Wrap your legs around me again.”

  She did, then hissed and trembled as his erection brushed against her.

  “Hurry, Jock.”

  His eyes locked with hers, so dark in the dim light coming from the hallway.

  He settled against her, reaching between them to guide himself inside her.

  She felt the stretch. Jock was a big man, well proportioned to his size.

  But she didn’t care. She just wanted him. Wanted more. Needed him inside her.

  “Be still,” he said softly.

  Kaitlyn stilled.

  “Look at me, Kaitie.” His deep voice graveled across her nerves, making her tremble.

  “Jock, please.”

  Her eyes locked with his again. He waited, looking at her, his eyes scanning her face.

  She felt him press deeper, winced and hissed at the sharp sting of pain as he thrust hard.

  Kaitlyn held her breath, her eyes locked to him.

  “Kaitie,” he said softly. Then he grasped her hand, linking their fingers. “My Kaitie.”

  She could only stare at him as he stayed still, staring at her.

  “Baby, breathe,” he whispered. Then, “Oh, God. I hurt you, I—” He started to pull out.

  Kaitie pressed him deeper with her heels, held him there with her thighs and groaned, trembling a
gain.

  She bit her bottom lip then said, “You promised me bright and beautiful. I’ve had the bright.”

  “Demanding woman.”

  “I think I saw stars before.” She smiled as she leaned up and licked a trail up his neck, tasting the salt of his skin, the tang of aftershave, just as he sank back into her.

  She moaned into his mouth as his lips stole hers, slanting over hers again. “Ah, Kaitie,” he breathed.

  She wanted him to move. “Jock.”

  He withdrew, then slowly sank into her again, all the while his eyes never leaving her face. She knew because she was watching him, her hands on his strong shoulders.

  A muscle bunched in his jaw.

  She met him when he sank into her again.

  Jock kissed her and started to move. Kaitlyn met his thrusts, wrapped her arms tightly around him as the feelings built again, harder and faster than they had the first time.

  Jock slid out. Then in. Out. In. Out. In.

  “God, Jock. Please.” She wiggled into the next slide. “I need . . . I need . . .”

  “I know, baby.”

  Still his thrusts were slow and controlled until Kaitlyn was begging, pleading. She raked her nails across his back, her hand fisting in his hair.

  Jock’s control slipped as his thrusts increased.

  His hand gripped hers, hers his as both their moans met and tangled in kisses and breaths. He built a storm of passion in her as fierce as the one raging outside, but more. Stronger.

  Faster.

  Bigger.

  Thunder ripped the room apart just as Kaitlyn shattered. Locking her legs tight, her hand squeezing.

  Kaitie flew apart.

  “Yes!” she screamed, ripping her mouth from his.

  Jock could only watch as passion rippled through her, clamping tight, so tightly down on him. Her face flushed, her neck flushed, her eyes were closed, and she trembled.

  He glanced down where they were joined and closed his eyes as he sank back into her.

  He was lost in her sleek, damp heat.

  So hot.

  So wet.

  So fucking right.

  Her inner muscles squeezed him, again and again.

  When her legs and arm tightened around him, he lost his hold on his body.

  He knew he should slow down. He didn’t want to hurt her.

  She yelled again and kept gripping him.

  Jock groaned, his back arching as he thrust so deep he didn’t know where she stopped and he began. His orgasm ripped through him and he yelled, staying right where he was until he could take a breath.

  “Kaitie mine,” he muttered into her neck, withdrawing slowly, then sliding back into her heat.

  She shivered and he groaned.

  Her breath panted against his ear, her limbs still locked around him, her muscles still spasming, keeping him hard inside her.

  Her heart slammed against his, her body slick with sweat under him.

  Under him. He was probably crushing her.

  Taking a deep breath, he rolled and pulled her with him.

  Kaitie sprawled across him. For several minutes it was only the sound of their breaths mixing in the room.

  “Oh, my God, is it always like that?” she asked him between pants. “Because if it is, I’m wondering what I was waiting on.”

  He couldn’t help but grin. He slapped her ass. “You were waiting on the right man. Me.”

  He remembered her comment about gods or something. “Then again,” he said, tilting her chin up, “only muscled gods like me—”

  “Ancient gods, not muscled.”

  “Still, I think I like being considered godly.”

  She snorted. “You would.”

  He grunted and jerked the covers out from under them. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  He’d get up and run them a bath in a bit, but for now he just wanted to hold her.

  Once he had them settled with the covers over them, he asked her again, “Kaitie, are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  She blew out a breath. “Was it the yells and screams that worried you?”

  “Kaitlyn.”

  “You didn’t hurt me, Jock.” She stacked her hands on his chest and looked up at him from under those lashes. “And if you did, I’d ask you to do it again. Later, when my heart doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode.”

  He chuckled and pulled her closer to him. “God, you make me laugh.”

  “That’s not all I made you do.”

  “Kaitie lass, I’ll blush if you keep it up.”

  She sighed and yawned. “I was hoping you’d keep it up.”

  “Damned handful.” He snorted and kissed her forehead. “Rest for a bit.”

  She squirmed and shifted until she was comfortable, her head on his shoulder.

  “Why Kaitie? My name’s Kaitlyn.”

  “Does it bother you? Kaitie?” He realized then it might.

  She shook her head. “No, not like—No.”

  He didn’t say anything for a minute.

  “But why Kaitie?”

  He thought about it for a minute. “I’m not changing your name. Kaitlyn’s a perfectly great name, but I like Kaitie.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s mine,” he told her truthfully. “A piece of you that no one else has.”

  She snorted a laugh. “Like you didn’t get that already.”

  “Oh, I got it and you.” He settled them down, her head fitting perfectly in the curve of his shoulder. His fingers trailed absently along her arm, hers on his chest.

  “And I got you.” She took a deep breath and snuggled closer to him. “Bright and beautiful,” she whispered.

  “And then some.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “I’m going to draw you tomorrow. A nude.”

  He started at that. “Excuse me?”

  “With the art supplies you got me.” She smiled against his shoulder, he could feel it. “That way I’ll always have it.”

  He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

  “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt,” she told him.

  “I know that.”

  “Yet, you don’t like the idea.”

  “I’ll let you draw me, if you let me take a photo of you.”

  “A photo?”

  “A nude.”

  He thought she’d say no, so he was surprised into silence when she said, “That’s fair.”

  She yawned again and stilled against him.

  A nude photo of her? That was his? He grinned, staring at the ceiling. He noted the thunder had faded, though he could hear the rain dripping off the roof and hitting the balcony.

  The sound of the wind, the soft rain lulled him, as did the woman beside him.

  “I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” she said softly.

  He waited but she didn’t say anything else.

  “Kaitie?”

  “Hmmm.”

  “What do you mean you’ll be able to sleep tonight?”

  Her chest pressed against him on her inhale. For a minute she didn’t answer, then finally she said, “I’m safe. With you. Here. I’m safe.”

  He pulled her tighter against him and kissed her head again. “Yes, baby, you are. Always.”

  “Bright and beautiful,” she repeated, slow and sleepy.

  He waited until he thought she was asleep, her body relaxed against his, her breathing deep and even.

  “And then some,” he repeated. She didn’t know it yet, and he had no idea how he’d convince her, but Kaitlyn was his.

  He wasn’t going to let her go.

  Chapter 5

  He looked around the living room. Perfect. The crystal tumbler bit into his hand.

  Where the hell was she?

  He’d looked. He’d tried to find her.

  She was making him look bad. They had an engagement this evening they were supposed to attend together.

  Instead she was God knew where, with God knew who.

  He’d th
ought he’d found the right one this time.

  He still believed he’d found the right one. She’d been the most trainable of them all, or seemed to be.

  Perhaps he’d been mistaken.

  He took a sip of scotch and studied the shadows.

  The bookcases were cleaned just as he liked them, and he’d checked. This was the fifth cleaning service he’d hired since moving into this house.

  He had plans.

  He had plans that needed the perfect woman at his side.

  He was not giving her up. Not this time. He’d given others up, but not this time. Every other time he’d known at some point she wasn’t the right one, and then he’d have to find another woman.

  But this time . . . this time, he’d found her. Right there in his own ER. She’d looked at him and smiled.

  And he’d known.

  She was his. He might have to work with her for a bit, he’d thought, but she’d come around.

  Women wanted home and family. That was what they were made for. Sometimes, though, they just had to be reminded. Especially with the stupid feminist movement that seemed to disease so many of the female minds.

  But Katherine, Katherine wasn’t like the others. Under it all, she was traditional, she wanted the family. Her idea of continuing to work in the ER simply wouldn’t do. His wife needed to be there for him, not trying to get off of work if they had dinners or galas to attend. He wanted to be chief of staff, and to attain that he needed a wife to make a home. A home where he could entertain.

  He swirled his drink, the heady scent wafting up to him. He reached over and lifted a sweater he’d taken from her apartment. Her apartment that was empty.

  He’d already packed up all her clothing, or at least the clothing he approved of, the ones he’d bought her.

  The rest he’d donated. He hadn’t donated or tossed everything. Some things were still in boxes. He’d left those in the middle of her floor along with her plants. She needed to go through them and decide what she wanted to keep, what she could give away. He’d wanted to toss it all. But then that would anger her.

  Where the hell was she?

  He stood.

  He’d already gone to her friends to find out, and none of them would tell him a damned thing.

  He’d even stooped so low as to ask her boss, as he knew she was supposed to work this weekend.

  Nothing.

  The damned head nurse in the ER and the doctor down there would tell him nothing, looked at him as if something were wrong.