by Knight, JJ
My body responds like a lightning strike, lurching against him. I can’t suppress the sound that escapes, a strangled cry.
He cups me hard then, his hand firm between my thighs. His fingertips bend in, applying exquisite pressure. I rock against his hand, loving it, wanting more, desperate.
Colt shifts over me and grasps the waist of my jeans to peel them down. Goosebumps erupt along my skin as it is exposed to air. My panties are simple, pale yellow cotton. He slips a thumb along the lace edge until my legs part for him.
“That’s it,” he says. He lies down next to me, propped on his side. “Just let it come.”
His eyes are on my body. I feel a rush of wetness, and it all makes sense. Of course. That’s how it works. Then his thumb presses against me, and I can’t think anymore.
He runs his fingers along the outside of my panties. I can barely take it, wanting so much more. Pleasure flashes through me from his touch. My mind feels erased, like there has never been anything but this. He eases the fabric to one side, and his skin connects with mine.
I cry out again. Colt is so careful, so slow. He runs his fingers just inside, pausing at the top of the folds to circle the nub. I’m lost, desperate, forgetting I want to wait for him, needing to cross that peak. I lift to meet him, trying to increase the contact, wanting it all. But he pulls away and slips his fingers in the waist of my panties to tug them down and away.
He rolls over me and covers my mouth with his, our kisses deep and frenzied. When I push up against him, my naked hips grinding into his soft boxers, he presses down. I can feel each solid inch, separated only by the fabric. He teaches me the rhythm, the speed and pressure. His hands come beneath me, lifting me to him. I’m starting to peak again, sparks flying from our connection. I feel constantly on a knife’s edge, teetering on a brink.
Colt lowers me to the bed and lifts the bottom of my shirt, slowly this time. I know he’s concerned about my last reaction. But we’re so beyond that now. I raise my shoulders, and he lifts my shirt away. For a moment, he just holds me against him, skin to skin. I realize this contact is something he’s longed for. I clasp his back and revel in the feel of him against me, warm and breathing.
He lowers me to the bed again, his lips returning to my mouth. But he doesn’t linger, moving down my body to capture a nipple. His hands rest lightly on my hips, but his thumbs begin circling lower. I’m not sure where to pay attention, I’m feeling so many things at once.
He sends little nipping kisses along my ribs down to my stomach. When I realize his destination, I almost seize up, embarrassed. But his hands slide down my thighs, keeping them wide and relaxed. When his warm mouth lands on my mound, it’s like an explosion. I am no longer shy. I lift my hips to meet him. He finds the nub and sucks it, and I’m so close. My body moves on its own, establishing a rhythm Colt follows. His tongue flicks against my folds, and I am almost there. I forget that I want to wait, and I know that soon I won’t be able to.
His fingers slip into me, and that takes me over the top, crashing against him, every muscle in my body going tight at the same moment. I know I’m crying out, but I can’t hear it in the blast of pleasure that’s coursing through me. Colt teases it along, then lets me come down only when he decides to. I feel the sheets against my back and realize I’ve been arched against him.
I relax in waves, like a tide going out. Colt withdraws his fingers, spreading soft kisses along one thigh to the inside of my knee. My leg is draped over his shoulder.
When my breath has settled, he looks up at me with a small smile. He lets my leg drop back to the bed and stands up.
I see he’s going to pull his boxers down. I sit up quickly and grab his hands. He understands that I want to do it myself, and lets go.
I’ve seen most of Colt over and over again during workouts. Fighters don’t wear a lot. But there are parts of him that are still new. I swallow hard and run my fingers along the elastic of his waistband. I know I’m lucky. How many women ever get so close to a man this fit, this sculpted, this perfect?
I slide the boxers down slowly. The chiseled indention that begins at his waist near his hip continues down. As the elastic moves lower, I follow its path toward his thighs. The cut of this muscle doesn’t stop, delineating his belly all the way to a trimmed thatch of hair.
I glance up. “Did Kimi from the salon do that?” I ask.
He laughs. “I have a little harem that sees to those details.”
For that, I bite him on the hip. His hands go to my hair, to steady himself. I see that he is not unaffected. His control is not complete.
I push the boxers the rest of the way down. His erection springs free. I have to lean away. I was brave just a moment ago, but now I am terrified.
Chapter 15
“It’s all right,” he says. “We’ll take our time.”
I can’t stop staring. It’s long and thick and more detailed than I had imagined. Blue veins stand out along his length. I touch it, and it leaps toward me, making me jump.
“It doesn’t bite,” Colt says.
I look up at him. He towers over me like a Greek statue. He could crush me. Flip me over and just slam into my body. I couldn’t fight him off. I think these thoughts will frighten me, but my pulse quickens. I want to wrestle with him, really struggle, naked. But I will wait until I’m stronger, until I know a few tricks. When I can surprise him.
I’m planning our future when we haven’t even done this one time yet. But we’re through the worst, I think. He knows who I am. What I’ve done. And he’s still here.
I reach out tentatively. When my fingers surround him, Colt grabs on to my shoulders. I hold him loosely, sliding to the end. His breath catches, and I know I’ve done the right thing. I move back to the base, against his belly, and do it again.
“Jo,” Colt says. His voice is different now, strained. He’s been waiting for me, patient, all night.
I let go of him and slide farther back onto the bed to lie flat. “Is this the easiest way to start?”
He nods. He finds his jeans and pulls a square wrapper from the pocket. His body crawls over me like a lion, golden maned and powerful. “I want you to tell me if anything hurts.” His eyes are lit up, looking over my body, splayed out for him. “I’ll do my best to make it go easy.”
“Is it like jumping in a swimming pool, better to just go fast?” I ask.
“I don’t think so,” he says, and his grin floods me with warmth. “But I’m not sure I’ve experienced this from your end.”
He rips the corner of the packet. The closet light falls dimly on his hands as he rolls it down his length. I watch carefully. I want to know what he’s doing. I want to be able to do it to him myself next time.
When he moves over me, I try not to shake with nerves. It will be fine. He’s not expecting me to act like a porn star. Even if this one isn’t good, we’ll try it again. I can learn. “Is it like the speed bag?” I blurt.
His eyes meet mine, curious. “Is what?”
“This.” I gesture to our bodies. “Is it like how you described learning to punch? Where some people have to be taught, but others pick up the rhythm naturally?”
He smooths hair away from my forehead. “It’s already come pretty naturally for us.”
This soothes me. I’m glad to know he already likes what we do. I have no idea. I only know what I’ve picked up from street talk, and television, and random crappy Internet porn that people have tried to show me before I push it away.
He adjusts over me, reaching between us. I realize he’s guiding himself to the right spot. I brace myself for something terrible, but then his mouth is back on mine. I close my eyes, focusing on his lips, the warmth of his breath. Then he’s pushing at the entrance, shifting down.
He doesn’t go far, just rests against me. He moves up and down the folds, like he did before with his fingers and tongue. I relax into this, letting the pleasure course through me. Just be in this moment. Don’t think of the next one.
Colt smiles down at me. Then he shifts his hips, and I feel it, a small stab of pain. I tense up, and he stops. But this makes it worse.
“It’s like the pool,” I manage to say. He nods, and without hesitation, plunges the rest of the way inside.
I suck in a breath. He holds his position, careful and still. “You okay?”
I can’t believe it’s already over. “Yes. I’m pretty sure you slammed right through it.”
He chuckles. “You should write Valentine’s cards.” He leans down to kiss my neck.
Carefully, he lifts his hips and eases back down. I prepare myself, but this time there is no pain. As he glides out, I find that I want him back in, faster. I splay my hands low on his back, pressing him down. When he keeps it slow, I push harder. He obeys, picking up speed.
It’s so different, so deep. The pleasure that just totaled me a minute ago is back, but down inside me. When Colt pushes in, he reaches it. When he pulls away, I just want it back.
I drive my hips up to him, increasing the pace. I don’t know exactly where it’s going, or how it will end. But I need it. I need to feel this, and I can’t wait any longer. “Colt,” I say, not even knowing what to tell him.
“I know,” he says, and then he really lets loose. He’s plunging, holding my hips. The world is erased, and it’s more intense than the hurricane.
I feel like I’m erupting, the spasms begin so deep inside. When Colt begins to groan, it triggers a reaction and I’m clasped against him. I can’t breathe or think. I can only feel this never-ending wave. I’m saying his name again, over and over, like it’s the only word I know. He holds still, and our bodies pulse together in a rhythm as I quiver around him.
I come down slowly, letting his weight settle me onto the bed. His face is buried in my hair. The urge to weep is overwhelming. I know I was right on that first day. I knew he was the one, even though I never thought it could happen. And now it has.
I’m in love with Colt McClure.
Chapter 16
We don’t wake up until almost noon. The room is charged with light. We’re tangled together. He’s so beautiful, his arm thrown over his head. I trace the lines of the intricate tattoo on his bicep. I’m learning every curve and turn of the ink.
Almost nothing on him is covered in the twists of the bedding. I take my time admiring each pocket of muscle in his abs. His belly button goes in, and I have the urge to dip my tongue inside.
The fuzz of perfectly trimmed hair intrigues me. I run my hand along it. I wonder how he gets it so flat and even. Something moves, and I peek beneath a swath of the sheets. Colt can’t be completely asleep. At least part of him is waking up.
“Planning to take advantage of me?” he murmurs.
My head pops up. He’s watching me, amused. I wish I were good at this sort of banter. I just look down again. “I want to take a picture of it,” I say.
He laughs so loud that it echoes off the walls. “Come here.” His broad hands lift me up to him. I’m dragged into a long kiss.
Tingles throughout my body wake up all the parts that needed rest. Between my legs I feel a soreness, but it’s quickly wiped out by need.
I roll on top of him, maintaining the kiss. It’s so different being up here when we’re naked. I feel insatiable. I don’t want to mess around. I just want him. I want to make up for lost time.
His erection pokes at me, and I think, why not?
Then I remember and lean over to the floor to search his jeans. I find more shiny squares. “Six?” I say. “You came well stocked.”
He doesn’t answer, but waits, lying on my bed. Just seeing him there sends a charge through me.
I try to remember what he did the night before and tear the corner off the condom wrapper. I’m not sure which way it rolls, but I guess right and it slides down the length of him with ease.
I straddle him again. I wonder if it will hurt again, but I don’t care. It didn’t last then. It won’t now. I lean down for a kiss as I lead him inside me. Colt can’t keep the kiss as I slide down. He grips my waist and lets out a long strangled groan.
I feel a momentary ache on the way in, but by the time I slide back up, it’s completely gone. I get to control everything this way, and it’s heady. This muscled fighter is below me, but he’s at my mercy.
His eyes are squeezed shut, and his fingers on my flesh are holding tight. I lift up, taking it so far to the end he almost slips out. On a whim, just to see, I slam down with all my might.
He lurches against me. “Shit, Jo, God.” But I don’t let up. I lift up again and again, feeding this need, this crazy urge. It’s powerful.
Colt doesn’t open his eyes, his brows furrowed together. I know he’s concentrating.
I slow down, braced on my hands. I can go any direction, up and down, in circles. Colt groans again. I can tell he wants me to stop. But I don’t. I keep pushing, keep driving him harder.
I know when he’s going to lose it, so I hold still. He breathes raggedly. “Jesus, Jo.”
He launches both of us from the bed, a powerful move that shows off his incredible strength. His hand goes beneath one of my thighs and pulls my leg around his waist. We’re standing in the middle of the room, naked, the light streaming through the broken blinds. He lifts me, and then he’s back inside, filling me up. I have no control at all, arms clasping his neck.
He rocks me up and down, his hands grabbing me, spreading me even wider so he can drive more deeply into my body.
I feel like I’m flying. There’s no earth, no gravity. I’m so lost, the only real thing is the friction of him entering me. The pleasure builds inside me again. Before I even realize I’m starting to go, my voice is crying out, calling his name. He slows it down for me, drawing it out. The muscles of my body clench around him. When my forehead falls to his shoulder, he turns around and lays me back on the bed.
He sets a leisurely pace. I watch him, so beautiful, so intense. He seems perfectly in control, then I can feel a shift in him. He’s shuddering lightly, about to lose it. I touch his cheek, and he opens his eyes.
His gaze penetrates me as he clutches my hips and releases into me. I realize I want to feel it all, to have that rush of wetness flow through my body, no condom in the way. I’ll have to go somewhere, get on a pill or shot or something. I want every bit of him.
He collapses on me. His thighs are trembling. My fingers caress the back of his neck. I thought I would feel so secondary to him. As though everything we did would be about his control over me, his expertise trumping my inexperience. But it’s not that way at all. It’s equal. It’s back and forth.
I’m the luckiest girl in the world.
Chapter 17
I’m pretty sure everyone at the gym knows what’s going on with me and Colt. On Monday we laugh and run around like little kids in a theme park.
I worry that I’m distracting him from his training. But Colt seems focused. Everything is brighter and more intense. His punches knock his sparring partner into the walls of the cage. Colt hustles through the workout like he’s on speed. I start to see why his nickname is Gunner.
Even Brittany notices. I can tell she worries that something will happen. That Colt will get hurt worse than last time. But at least she doesn’t interfere.
Colt’s manager sets up another secret fight for the weekend. I have no doubt at all that Colt will win this one. The challenger is a newish fighter, mostly untried. He goes by Jumpstart, since he’s been knocking out the second-tier fighters in one round. But he’s never taken on a league fighter, not yet.
The day before the match, Colt’s whole team sits around a screen set up in the corner of the addition, watching Jumpstart fight. Colt is on a bench, and I sit on the floor between his knees.
Colt’s trainer, Killjoy, is hilarious to watch as
he takes in the match. He’s got this big flap of hair that bounces as he pantomimes the hits. “He’s a gunner like you, Colt,” he says. “You’re going to have to outgun him.”
Colt’s fingers stroke my neck as Jumpstart pummels his opponent. “He’s cocky,” I say. “He’ll be his own worst enemy once he gets in a cage with you.”
“He’ll be nervous this time,” Killjoy says, still punching the air. “He knows Colt is the real deal.”
Colt squeezes my shoulders. “So, are you going to be my ring girl or just watch from the chairs?”
I remember Throwdown’s girl in the shiny crop top from the last fight. “I don’t think my sweats and hoodies will make much of an impression.”
Brittany grunts her agreement. “Don’t ruin her image before she has a match, Colt. Ring girls and fighters are two separate species.”
“The women win,” Colt says. But he leans close to my ear. “I know you’re going to wear the silk bikini for me, though, right?”
“As long as it gets me what I want,” I shoot back.
He chuckles.
Killjoy frowns at us. “Pay attention, or I’ll have you do so many knee kicks that your cock falls off.”
On the screen, Jumpstart has found his opening. His gloves are a blur as he blows into his opponent like the other guy is a bag on a chain. The first tendril of fear curls through me as the other man drops to his knees, then goes out cold. I shiver.
“You all right?” Colt asks.
I nod. “You’ll cut him down,” I say. “He won’t know what hit him.” But inside, I’m anxious.
The night of the second fight comes faster. I wonder if Colt has even recovered from the last loss. I have to go alone because Zero has a show. Colt sends his driver to pick me up.
I sit in the back of his Mercedes alone. Colt will already be there with his trainer and team. He’s asked me not to come to the back, but just to watch from the regular seats. I can respect that. He needs to focus.
