by HELEN HARDT
Her touch both soothed and agitated me. So much she didn’t understand. “I know. Believe me. I received so many thank-you notes and care packages…” I rolled my eyes.
“And that was a bad thing?”
“Yeah, it was a bad thing, Jade. These people were thanking me, wanting to do things for me, wanting to somehow repay me for saving their loved ones, and all I had been trying to do was get my ass killed.”
“But as I said, the end result was the same. You saved those men.”
“Not all men. One was a woman.”
“You saved someone’s mother maybe. That’s a great thing.”
“She was young. No kids.” I heaved a sigh. “Having the local story was bad enough. People came to the house bearing gifts. Produce from their farms, wine, booze, cakes and cookies, and casseroles. It was never-ending. Jonah and Ryan played hosts, and once Marjorie got back from school, she helped as well. I just wanted to be left alone.”
Damn, if it had made national news, the networks would’ve been after me for interviews, the fucking talk shows… I wouldn’t have been able to take it.
I’d told Jade before, and I’d told my brothers countless times. I was no hero.
Jade stood, still holding onto my hand. “I didn’t know you then, and I don’t know why you were so determined to get yourself killed over there, but let me tell you one thing.”
“What?”
“I, for one, am damned glad you’re alive. I wish I understood why you felt you had to end your life, but I thank God you’re here. With me. Now.” She pulled me out of the chair to my feet and wrapped her arms around me, snuggling her face into my chest. “You smell so good.”
For the second, I echoed her sentiments. I was damned glad I hadn’t died that day. I inhaled the coconut scent of her hair. “So do you, blue eyes.”
She just held me. She didn’t try to kiss me, didn’t grab the bulge in my pants, which was now visible. She just held me close to her.
And damn, it felt good.
It felt fucking good to be held.
I kissed the top of her head, her silky hair tickling my nose. Oh, I wanted her. I wanted to strip her down and shove my cock into her wet heat right this minute. But I also wanted this closeness, this tenderness.
I squeezed her harder, trying to prolong this moment for as long as I could. “I…”
She let out a sigh. “What is it?” she asked.
I wanted to say “I love you.” I wanted to say it so badly. The words ached to spill out of me.
But I couldn’t bring them forward.
Then the strangest thing happened. She pulled away from me and pierced my gaze with her blue one.
“Talon, I love you.”
My knees nearly buckled beneath me. My lips trembled. She must’ve mistaken that for getting ready to speak, because she covered my mouth with two fingers.
“You don’t have to say it back. I know you’re probably not ready. You may never love me. I understand that, and I don’t want to pressure you into anything you’re not ready for. I know you said you won’t love me. And that’s okay. But I want you to know that I love you. I want you to know that you are worth something to me. Not because you saved someone I love. Not because you’re a hero. Not because you’re my best friend’s brother. And not because you’re gorgeous and muscular and physically perfect.” She smiled. “Just because you’re Talon Steel, and I’m really glad I met you and that you’re in my life. And if what I have with you lasts no longer than the next minute, I will still be glad I met you, and I will never regret falling in love with you.”
My eyes stung. Yes, tears threatened. My body was simultaneously numb and coursing with every emotion imaginable. I love you too, Jade. I love you too.
She continued, “And now, I really want to go to your bedroom and make love with you.”
My hard cock thought that was a great idea, but what I really wanted was to savor her, to make this about her, good for her, more than I had the other night. And maybe, just maybe, I would be able to repeat the words she had said to me. Never before had I longed so much to say those words, but I was truly scared. Scared that I wasn’t what she thought I was…and I knew I was not. When she found out about me, she would no longer love me.
I cupped her cheek and stroked it softly with my thumb. “You didn’t need to say all of that, blue eyes. I’ll be happy to make love with you.”
“I didn’t say it for any other reason than I wanted to say it. Although I do think that’s the first time you’ve referred to the act as making love instead of fucking.” She let out a giggle.
“Come with me.” I led her down the hallway to my suite, Roger following along.
I would take her slowly this time, even though my cock was straining.
I pulled her pink sweater over her head and tossed it on the chair. I unclasped her bra and freed her beautiful breasts. Her nipples were hard and taut, and I pinched one of the pink-brown nubs.
She jolted. “God, I love it when you do that.”
So did I. Her nipples and breasts were a fucking work of art. The finest sculptors couldn’t have carved anything more beautiful.
She reached for my T-shirt, but I swatted her hand away.
“Let me,” I said. “Let me take care of you this time.”
I pushed her down on the bed, removed her sandals, and then unbuckled her jeans and slid them over her hips. Only her leopard-spotted panties remained between me and her luscious body. I didn’t want to go straight for her hot pussy, even though I knew it was wet. I could smell her musk, and it was making me crazy. No, I would do something for her. Even though I hadn’t been able to give her the words she had given me, I could at least give her tenderness with my body.
I leaned over her, still fully clothed, and kissed her softly on the lips. She opened her mouth to meet my tongue, but instead of taking it, I moved to her cheek, raining tiny kisses over the apple, up to her temple, and then down to her earlobe. I tugged on it lightly and nibbled around the outer shell of her ear. She sighed softly. I probed into her ear with my tongue and then continued down the side of her neck, kissing little trails across her jawline, her cheek, to her other ear, where I repeated my action. Then I kissed her neck, giving her little love bites, refraining from sucking hard and marking her, even though I yearned to do so.
I kissed across her chest to her shoulders, down her arms to her hand, where I sucked each of her fingers into my mouth. I kissed back up her arm and across her chest again, reveling in the soft sweetness of her flesh. Ignoring those amazing breasts demanded all my willpower, but I did it, determined to show her all the tenderness I never thought I could. I kissed over to her other arm, grazing over the soft skin with my lips.
“Talon, please. My nipples.”
“Shh,” I said against her skin. “In good time.”
I kissed a spiral pattern around her breast, not stopping until I made it to the areola. Then I gave the boob a squeeze and moved to the other one.
She squirmed against me. “I’m going crazy here. My nipples need you.”
I chuckled against her silky skin while spiraling around the other breast. Her skin was like the finest silk under my lips as I kissed it, swirled my tongue into it, tasted the sleek texture of her.
She squirmed more but didn’t ask me to pleasure her nipples again. I slid down to her abdomen and rained kisses over it. When I got to the beautiful pussy between her legs, I summoned every ounce of self-control I had to make a detour and kiss down her thighs, knees, all the way to her beautiful feet, toes painted light pink. I kissed each toe and glided back up again, avoiding her pussy and sliding down the other leg.
My cock was ready to burst out of its confinement. But I was single-minded. She had done so much for me, had tried to make it about me so many occasions. This was her time.
I kissed back up to her abdomen.
Finally, I flicked my tongue over one turgid nipple.
“Oh, God, yes,” she sighed. “I’ve been
waiting for that, needing that. No one sucks my nipples like you do, Talon.”
“No one’s nipples are as beautiful as yours, blue eyes.” I sucked one into my mouth while pinching the other one between my thumb and forefinger.
She writhed beneath me, and her musky scent drifted upward. I inhaled deeply, still sucking on her nipple. God, I was so fucking hard.
I ached to free my cock and sink into her moist heat, but I was determined to give her what she wanted, and right now she wanted the nipple treatment. Not a hardship to focus on her beautiful nipples. I sucked, nibbled, bit, kissed…and underneath me she continued to writhe, convulsing, sighing, moaning my name…like candied nectar for the ears.
She gripped two fistfuls of my T-shirt and tried to pull it forward over my torso.
I gave her nipple a hard bite. “Not yet, blue eyes.”
She tried to pull my shirt up again, and I bit her again.
Ah… She liked the hard bite. She had liked the nipple clamps the other night. She liked harsh nipple play.
I certainly had more of that in store for her, but I was trying to be tender today. No more bites on her nipples. Even if she tried to pull my shirt off.
Finally, when her nipples were good and worked over, I slid her panties off her and let my hand drift between her legs and part her silky folds. God, so wet, so juicy. I pushed two fingers inside her and massaged her G spot.
She jerked beneath me. “God, Talon. I want to come so bad.”
“Oh, you will, baby. You’re going to come a lot today.”
And right after I said those words, I found her clitoris and sent her over the edge.
She gripped the comforter as she screamed her release. “Oh, God, Talon, I love you, I love you.”
Had she realized she said those words?
She was in another world, a world of nirvana, of rapture.
But even so, the words soared into me, giving me strength, hope.
I knelt between her legs and pressed my mouth to her wet cunt. It was still pulsing after her orgasm, and her juices warmed my mouth. I shoved my tongue into her deep recesses. Her flavor was like a juicy apple laced with female musk. Not even the finest Western slope apples from my orchard could rival Jade’s intense flavor after an orgasm. I lapped at her, feasting on her, determined to suck every last ounce of ambrosia from her mouth-watering body. Then I turned to her clit, wrapped my lips around it, and sucked.
And she flew into another climax.
She grabbed my head, grinding my face against her pussy. “God, yes, Talon. Just like that. Eat me. Eat me raw.”
Her words fed my desire, as I sucked at her clit again, this time thrusting not two but three fingers deep within her channel. I massaged that special spot, sending her over the edge again and then again.
She writhed, shivered, shattered, begged me to stop. “Enough, Talon. I need your cock. Now, please.”
But I was not to be deterred. My woman wouldn’t just come today. She would keep coming and keep coming until her body was so sated, so exhausted, she could do nothing except fall asleep against me.
After that orgasm though, she scooted herself upward, breaking my suction on her pussy with a loud smack. “Talon, I can’t take it anymore. I have to have your cock. Please. Now.” She sat up and grabbed fistfuls of my green T-shirt, pulling it up my torso.
This time I couldn’t say no. I raised my arms and let her rid me of the shirt. Then she unbuckled my belt, unsnapping and unzipping my jeans before pushing them and my boxer briefs over my hips.
Her silvery eyes turned a smoky gray as she glared at me. “Now,” she said through clenched teeth.
Without even taking off my boots and jeans, I pushed her back on the bed and thrust into her welcoming warmth.
Oh, the glory, the glory of finding the one who had been sculpted just for me. For that’s what Jade was. No one gripped me like she did. No one gloved me like she did. I thrust inside her, and then I had to wait, willing myself to hold off. I wanted to plunge into her one more time and release my seed inside her.
Like an animal, I wanted to spread my seed, impregnate my mate.
She was on the pill, so that wouldn’t happen. I had never wanted children before, but the thought of her swelling with my child excited me, surged through me like primal joy.
I pulled out and thrust in again, and she sighed beneath me, that soft sigh that always escaped her like a sweet breeze when I entered her.
I brought my mouth down to hers and kissed her deeply, our tongues twirling together, letting her taste her own flavor from my mouth. She kissed me back with so much fervor, so much passion, that I thought I would come right there.
But again I held off. Determined to make this last. Determined to make this about her for once—not about me.
She moved her thighs upward so her knees were right at my armpits. God, the angle was so deep, so perfect. I thrust and I thrust and I thrust once more, and then, with an explosion of stars behind me, I released into her honeyed pussy.
My breath came in rapid pants as I held fast, not moving, just letting my cock stay embedded in her wet heat.
Emotion swirled thick around me, gutting me. And when I finally opened my eyes, hers were piercing me with that silvery-steel gaze.
I could no longer stop the words.
“God, Jade, I love you. I love you so much.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jade
The warmth of a summer day burst through me. Had I heard him right? I didn’t want to ask, for fear he might take the words back. Perhaps they’d only been said in the throes of his orgasm.
No. That couldn’t be. Talon was too closed off, too walled in to bring forth words he didn’t mean.
As I stared into his dark, blazing eyes, I knew he had spoken the truth.
As much as I wanted to ask him to repeat the words, to say them over and over again until I tired of hearing them… What a crock. I would never tire of hearing them.
But I wouldn’t ask him to repeat them. They had been hard for him to say, I could tell. The last thing I wanted was for him to take them back or regret saying them. I wasn’t going to be one of those needy women who had to hear her lover profess his devotion over and over again.
I had been that way with Colin.
But with Colin…
Things had never been like this with Colin.
As much as I’d thought I was in love with Colin, those feelings paled next to what I felt for Talon now. Never had such a primitive force taken me over, demanded obedience…demanded Talon. It was lust, it was desire, it was passion, and it was…love. Love like I’d never known or imagined.
I simply smiled at Talon and hoped the smile said what I feared my words couldn’t.
He stroked my cheek and pressed his lips gently against mine. Then he rose and sat on the bed next to my supine form. He removed his boots and socks and then his jeans and underwear, which were still down around his knees. He lay next to me, still silent. For once, the silence seemed natural. I reveled in it, in the emotion that was thick around us, in the love we shared.
I didn’t delude myself into thinking this could be something permanent…even though I wished with everything in me that it could be. Talon still had too much he needed to work out, and plus… What would he think when he found out I was investigating him and his family for Larry?
What a conundrum. I didn’t want to quit my job. I needed it, even though I didn’t have a lot of respect for my boss. And on a personal level, I wanted to know more about Talon and his family. I wanted to know why he had tried to get himself killed overseas when he was saving all of those troops.
Something poisoned him inside, and he needed to work through that before we could even think about being together in the long-term.
But for now, I simply wanted to lie next to him, feel his closeness, his warmth. With all my soul, I wanted to help him through whatever was nagging at him. I just wasn’t sure he was ready for that yet. I would have to be content to
do for him what I could at the moment, and that was to be here for him. To love him. To let him know how important he was to me.
“I meant it,” he said.
I smiled again, looking to the ceiling. “So did I.”
He turned to me, got up on his shoulder with his head in his hand. “But I don’t know if I can…”
I pressed two fingers to his lips. “Don’t worry about anything right now. Just know that I love you, and I don’t have any expectations. All I need to know right now is that you love me. We don’t have to think about anything past the end of today. At least not yet.”
He cleared his throat. “Well, there is one thing I do need to talk to you about.”
His gaze was intense and fiery, his eyes serious.
“All right. What is it?”
“I don’t want you to get a tattoo.”
The calming love permeating me morphed into a defensive knot in my gut. “Why not?”
“I just don’t.”
I sighed, willing the calm to return…and failing. I had been dreaming of a tattoo for years. I loved them, and I really felt that they could tell a story, be a part of me inherently. “I don’t understand. Why would you have anything against a tattoo?”
“I hate tattoos.”
“Then you don’t have to get one.”
He sat up, clearly agitated, gripping the bed clothes. “I would never mar my body like that.”
“That’s your choice, Talon. And I respect it. I just need you to respect mine. I think tattoos are beautiful when done tastefully. And I do plan to get one.”
“I forbid it.”
This time I sat up, the defensive knot rising into indignation. “Did I just hear you forbid me to do something?”
He looked at me, his eyes glaring. “That’s correct. I forbid it.”
I let out a laugh and shook my head. “I really can’t believe you just said that. You can’t forbid me from getting a tattoo.”
“I just did, didn’t I?”
I stood and gathered my clothes. “I do love you, Talon.” Oh, I did. In spite of everything. “But if this is how a relationship with you is going to be, I’m not sure I can participate.”
