I planted myself in front of the escalator and scanned the crowd. With each minute that ticked by, my pulse sped up. I felt like I was thirteen again, waiting for Jill Learner to walk out of school. She’d been my first crush. My stomach had hurt whenever I was around Jill. Lacey made me feel that first crush again and again. Crazy shit.
I fidgeted. I was nervous and excited at the same time. On a slow blink, my breath caught when I latched on to her sultry green eyes. Time stopped, and so did my heart. She held onto the moving stairs, her brown hair in a mass of waves spilling over her shoulders. Her skin had a sun-kissed glow, no doubt from the California sunshine. As I followed the length of her curves, my dick hardened. She wore those over-the-knee fuck-me boots I so loved. All I could picture was her on a bed with nothing on except those boots. I was so screwed. No way was I going to make it out of this airport.
Chill, man. Be a gentleman.
That was my problem. I didn’t want anything but rough. What with all the pent-up frustration over the last three days coupled with Pitt’s enlightening conversation and all the shit with Sullivan, I wanted to strip her naked and bury myself in her.
A middle-aged guy behind her was staring at Lacey like he wanted to attack her. Seriously? She was jail bait to him. Then my antenna went up, and Pitt’s words roared in my head. They’ll use Lacey as a pawn or worse. I straightened, ready to pounce and beat his face red to match his hair. Then he turned to the lady behind him and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. Relief washed through me as I switched my attention back to the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.
She waved, and her tongue darted out before she touched her lips. I almost fell to the floor. Gone was the need to kill. In its place was a need that grew inside me like wildfire. I was going to explode if she didn’t get off that fucking escalator. A little old lady shuffled off first, taking her time. Damn, if she didn’t move, I was going to pick up the fragile woman and carry her off the thing.
Finally, the people in front of Lacey exited. As she drew closer, my heart fluttered, beat hard, stopped, beat again. I would’ve run to her like a love-struck dude, but my jeans were so fucking tight it hurt to move. She dropped her bag near my feet then jumped into my arms, wrapping those toned thighs around me.
Fuck me. I buried my face in her hair, inhaling her tropical scent of orange and sunshine. With my hands on her butt, I anchored her to me.
She tugged on my hair, and I almost threw her against the nearest wall. She knew I loved it when she did that.
“We’re in the middle of an airport, baby,” I drawled in a husky tone. I was surprised I could even speak.
“And I want you, Kade,” she breathed as she squeezed her thighs against my waist.
“Oh, fuck. Lace, you’re going to have to recite some nursery rhymes or something. Otherwise, I’m not going to be able to walk out of here.”
She giggled against my ear. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…”
I laughed, the act freeing for the moment. Even a nursery rhyme sounded sexy coming out of her.
Chapter 7
Kade
Silence filled my truck as Lacey and I drove back to her house. I was so thankful her old man hadn’t come back with her. All I could think about was holding her in my arms all night, keeping her safe, our bodies intertwined—legs, arms, lips.
Lacey peered out the truck window into the nighttime snow. “What happened to your lip?”
I touched the bruised area. “Nothing. Just brothers fighting.” I raised her hand to my mouth and kissed her palm. “I’ve missed the crap out of you. And, right now, all I can think about is you underneath me.” I wasn’t ready to tell her the real story. She’d freak, and then we’d argue. Both were a mood killer.
“Tell me more.” She closed her eyes and leaned on the center console.
I shifted my gaze back and forth between the road and her. We were two blocks away from her house. I would’ve slammed on the brakes and taken her right there if the roads hadn’t been slick from the recent snow and freezing temperatures.
“Well?” she said.
I lowered our hands to the console. She loved when I gave her a play-by-play of things I wanted to do to her. The woman took foreplay to a whole new level.
“Nope. Not tonight. You’re just going to have to wait.”
She stuck out her lower lip, batting her luscious green eyes.
“Can you tell me another nursery rhyme?” I begged.
With a seductive smile, she snaked her fingers between my legs. When she found what she wanted, she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Nursery rhyme,” I said again. Not that I really needed to hear one now. I couldn’t get over how erotic it was to hear her recite “Humpty Dumpty” in her sultry voice. She’d had to recite a couple of them to me before I left the airport.
“Oh, no. Tit for tat. You’ll just have to crawl into the house.”
“Careful, Lace.” I rolled into her driveway. “I’ll take you here in the truck.” I threw the gears into park, almost growling.
She giggled, the sound warming my heart. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“You know what I’m capable of.”
“And you know what I can do too.” She tightened her grip on my groin.
Did I ever. The woman had a mean kick. The second time I’d ever seen her, she’d kneed me in the balls. It hurt like a motherfucker too. And with that thought, I didn’t need any more nursery rhymes.
“Baby, if you want me to make love to you, I do need what you’re holding.” I ground my teeth together.
She snaked her icy hand underneath my shirt, a welcome relief on my heated skin. “Who says you’re getting any?”
The corners of my mouth curled up slowly, very slowly. Then, without a word, I jumped out, circled around to her side, and opened the door.
“Not speaking?” She took my hand eagerly.
I yanked her to me, hard, blocking her from stepping off the running board. “You don’t want my lips all over you?” My body was on fire for hers.
“I want all of you.” She locked her hands around my neck.
That’s my girl.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and helped her down. Without another word, we made our way to the front door. I was grateful the lights were on. If not, Lacey might’ve been traumatized. A dark house was one of her triggers—a major fucking trigger. The first time I ever brought her home, the house had been pitch black, and she freaked out to the point where she threw her body into the garage door until she passed out.
Tonight, once she was inside, she went over to a panel near the front door and punched in the security code for the alarm. I didn’t move until the beeps sounded. When we were in the clear, I pinned her to the wall between the door and the window. She slipped her cold, delicate hands into the waist of my jeans. My heart thumped, and so did my dick. I crushed my mouth to hers.
“I need you, Lace. I need every inch of you.” Edging back, I slowly swept my gaze up then down, stopping on her boots. Fuck, I wasn’t going to last a second.
She bit her bottom lip as her green eyes darkened. Her cleavage peeked out from the scoop-neck sweater she wore. Her cheeks flushed red as she erotically dragged a hand down one side of her leg. Tilting her head, she caught in her hand a strand of hair that had slid forward.
“You’re beautiful.”
“Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to do something about him?” Her long lashes fell, and she gazed pointedly at my crotch.
I closed the tiny distance between us, framing her face in my hands. “If you ever leave me again, I’ll hunt you down.”
“You’ve captured your prey, Maxwell. No sense in making threats when I’m a willing participant.”
I kissed along her smooth cheek until I reached her ear. “You know I d
on’t want you too willing. I like it when you fight back.”
She bent her neck to one side. “Not tonight,” she breathed. “I’m all yours. Any way you want me.”
I nibbled on her earlobe. “Any way?”
“As long as it involves him,” she said as she pressed her hips into me. “So tell me then.”
“Tell you what, Lace? How I’m going to bury myself deep inside you? How you’ll scream my name again and again? How I’ll kiss and lick your entire body?”
She squirmed, fumbling for my belt.
I reached between us and steadied her hand. “Patience, baby.” I wanted to savor every moment. I wasn’t sure I could. But I had to try. She deserved to be worshiped, and all I wanted was rough, wet, hot, steamy, hair-pulling sex.
“Shower,” she said as if she’d read my mind. She squirmed away from me and darted upstairs.
I tore after her. I barely had one foot on the bottom step when my phone rang. Fuck. I checked the screen. Kelton. I was going to ignore his call before I remembered that the triplets had gone up to visit our mom. “Is Mom okay?” I asked into the phone, my voice breaking as my pulse sped up.
“We just wanted to make sure Lacey got in safely,” Kelton said in a serious tone.
I wanted to tell him to fuck off until I heard Kody ask, in an even deeper tone, “Well? Did she?”
“Yep. Everything is good.” Then Lacey called my name. My gaze drifted up, and I stumbled.
She was posed on the top landing like a model with her hands on her hips, wearing nothing but a ball-squeezing pink thong. She batted her long lashes. “You shouldn’t keep your prey waiting.” Her hand slowly moved over her abs up toward her breasts. When she touched one nipple, my dick pounded for freedom.
I pushed End on my phone then sprinted up the stairs and stopped two steps below her. Perfect height. I sucked in one nipple as she played with the other, moaning.
“The shower is ready,” she said.
She could’ve told me the world was ending. I didn’t want to move from that spot. I was about to rip off her thong when she backed away, pivoted, and tossed a sexy smile over her shoulder before wiggling her beautiful ass as she disappeared into the bathroom.
I shed my clothes as fast as I could. By the time I reached the bathroom, she was already in the shower. Steam swirled around, fogging the mirror and the glass-encased shower. I opened the door and climbed in. She stood under the spray with her head tilted back. I watched, relishing the sight of the water cascading down over her breasts. I followed each drop as it slid lower down her body over her abs to her hips, and my gaze shot up to her face then back down to the tattoo of a polar bear on her hip.
She grasped my hand as she moved out from under the water. “You don’t like it? It’s just a tattoo.”
No, it wasn’t. It was more than that—way fucking more.
“I can’t wear jewelry playing baseball. So I decided I wanted my good luck charm on me at all times.”
I’d given her a polar bear charm for her birthday. But neither the sentiment nor the tat was what had my heart in a frenzy. The letter K was inked on one paw and M on the other. I softly rubbed two fingers over the small, tasteful creature, careful not to hurt her. The area around it was red.
Then I lifted my gaze to find tears in her meadow-green eyes. “I fucking love it.”
“It doesn’t look like you do.” She worried her bottom lip.
I gently brushed my lips over hers. “You’re my unconscious beauty. You’re my whole world, Lacey. I love the tattoo.”
Need rocked my body so fucking hard. I shaped her hips, easing her back until her shoulders touched the tiled wall. Her eyelids slid shut when I pressed against her. All the self-control I’d had earlier vanished.
Tangling my fingers in hers, I raised her arms over her head. My heart pulsed uncontrollably. I kissed her chin and down her smooth neck then back up. I gave both sides equal attention, covering every part of her before I made my way down to her breasts then lower until I reached her tattoo.
She mewed little noises as her body writhed against me.
I smiled against her tat. I fucking loved seeing my initials on her smooth skin and in a place only I would see. I licked it gently. She arched her back, shoving her breasts higher.
“What do you want, Lace?” I whispered, snaking my hands around to the small of her back. “Is it this?” As I kissed my way back up her toned body, I drew her to me, hard to soft, sucking one breast then the other. She tasted like all kinds of sugar, refined and yet raw.
I’d barely released her nipple when she climbed up my body, twining her legs around my waist. I braced my legs as I anchored her against the wall.
“Please, Kade,” she whimpered, digging her delicate fingers into my shoulders.
Rough or gentle? I was torn. I wanted to savor her tropical scent, the honeyed taste of her skin, the heated feeling coursing through my body. She gave me a rush like I got when I skydived—euphoria.
She bit on my ear. A rumble barreled up my chest. She dug her heels into my ass and yanked on my hair. Gentle went out the fucking window. I became a madman. Our slick bodies slid together as she bit my ear hard. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to be inside her. One of the best things about sex with Lacey was that I didn’t have to wear a condom anymore. She was on the pill, and we were both clean. My old man made sure of that. He made all us boys get tested at least once a year.
“I love you,” she said between moans.
Slowly, with her body pinned between me and the tiled wall, I entered her.
She mewled. She was tight and wet as she squeezed her legs harder against me.
“Holy fuck, baby.” I stilled. Breathe, man. I couldn’t lose it so fast.
“Kade.” She rocked forward.
Christ, between the way her body fit perfectly with mine and the way she purred my name, my legs damn near gave out.
The hot water continued to beat down, the sound a whisper, the feeling subtle.
She traced the outline of my mouth with her tongue, biting, sucking, then nipping everywhere except where it was cut. I guided her body as we moved together, making certain I had her secured comfortably.
“Heaven,” I whispered against her lips before plundering my tongue inside the cavern of her mouth, claiming what was mine.
Our rhythm picked up. She held on tightly to my shoulders, her nails scoring my skin. Then her body tensed.
I tugged gently on her hair. “Look at me, baby.” I had to see her beautiful face as she went over the edge.
Holding me prisoner with her lustful gaze, she arched her back slightly. Then a soft moan escaped her as she quivered against me.
My heart rate ramped up, and so did my pace. Her nails dug deeper into me, sending me that much closer to the cliff. She gripped the sides of my waist with her thighs. A tightness grew low in me, and with one last thrust, I exploded.
Goddamn. I held onto her as the tremors wracked my body.
“Amazing,” she finally said, planting kisses all over my face. “So freaking amazing.”
“You are,” I said, trying to catch my breath. I couldn’t believe this woman was all mine.
“Kade?”
“Mm.” I inhaled her female scent again, making sure it was imprinted on my brain.
“The water is freezing.”
Funny, I hadn’t even felt the water turn cold. My mind was still fogged, and my body still burned. I released her gently as she slid down, almost falling.
I steadied her with both hands. “Can you walk?” I wasn’t sure I could.
“My legs.” She hugged herself, teeth chattering. “I need warmth.”
I didn’t. As she went in search of a towel, I stood under the cold shower. The icy droplets felt wonderful. After a cou
ple of minutes, I shut off the water and stepped out.
She had a towel wrapped around her and held one out for me.
“Bed,” I said as I dried off. All the pent-up energy and adrenaline slowly dissipated, and my body was shutting down fast.
“I need to dry my hair. Give me a minute.” She lifted up on her toes and lightly kissed me. “You can get the bed warm for me.”
“Baby, the bed will be hot when you get in it.” That much I was sure of.
Her plump lips split into a smile.
I dried off quickly and made my way across the hall and into her room. I switched on the bedside lamp. Posters of Lacey’s two favorite major league players, Jacoby Ellsbury and Clayton Kershaw, hung over her bed. I pulled back the comforter and slipped in. Sleep threatened, but I wanted to wait for her and enjoy every waking minute I could with her. I’d never liked cuddling until Lacey. For me, the act was too intimate, and before I’d met Lacey, I didn’t do intimate.
The hair dryer droned, lulling me toward sleep. No sooner had I relaxed than a cold naked body curled up against me.
“Hey.” I rotated on my side so we could spoon. “You’re shivering.” I rubbed my hands all over her silky body.
“California was so warm.”
“Tell me more about your visit with the cops.” The other night she’d only told me about the lead then changed the subject. She had a habit of switching topics when she didn’t want to talk about something.
“Do we have to talk about it now?” Her voice began to trail off.
If I pushed her, it would send off alarms, or worse, she might have a panic attack. I pulled her tighter to me. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some rest.” After the weekend I’d had, I needed sleep.
“Kade, do you like… my tattoo?” She was fading.
“I love it, baby.” I smoothed a hand over her hair.
“You’re… not freaked out by your initials inked on me, are you?”
“You know my brothers might be.”
The Maxwell Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3 Page 41
