by Reina Torres
She felt a twinge of worry even as she smiled. Vicente stepped closer and Roan took a step back, but he didn’t try to leave the room. She fixed her gaze on her brother. “Crois is my partner. I was just with Burke for that patrol.”
He nodded and squeezed her hand before he too leaned over and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “So I heard from your Sergeant. She’s told me that San Antonio can’t have you back. I do believe she threatened to kick my ass if I tried to take you with me.”
She felt warmth flood her chest and smiled. “That’s Kate. I’m glad to hear she still wants me around even though I got her in trouble.”
Vicente grinned back at her. “That’s just part of your charm, Princesa.”
She felt a blush in her cheeks, warming her face as she looked from Vicente to Roan and back again. “You two had a chance to meet?”
Her brother nodded. “We did. Like one of your favorite movies, ‘While You Were Sleeping.’”
“I guess it worked out, the two of you are still breathing.” She sighed, starting to feel the lingering effects of the wound that had put her in the hospital in the first place.
Vicente must have seen her exhaustion, gesturing for Roan to come back to her side. He even put her hand in Roan’s. “I told him that if he did something to hurt you that I have every confidence that you’d kick his ass.”
“Oh?” Pilar had to work to keep her eyes open. “You’re not going to kill him?”
The two men laughed and Roan pulled a chair to the side of the bed. “I think you’d take care of that, baby.”
Vicente set his hand on Roan’s shoulder and nodded. “But I told him I’d dig the hole. Now, get some rest. I’ll be back in the morning with Sloane and Lora.”
She felt like she was glowing from head to toe. The tears that had momentarily gathered on her lashes disappeared at the thought of seeing her niece again. “Okay,” she sighed. “I’ll get some sleep.”
The last thing she heard before she fell back to sleep was Roan whispering in her ear. “I’m so glad you’re here, Pilar. Te necesito. I need you.”
16
Two Months Later...
Pilar opened the door to her apartment and stopped short. For a split second she closed her eyes and breathed in the scents of the kitchen. When she opened her eyes, she saw Roan looking at her with a broad smile. “That smells great.”
He set the lid on the pot and turned off the burner. “It’ll be ready when you’re done with your shower.”
She set her bag down on the table and shook her head. “I’m that predictable, huh?”
He walked up beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist, pressed a kiss to her temple. “Not predictable, I just know your schedule.”
She turned just enough to peck a kiss on his lips. “Like I said, predictable.”
He shook his head and turned his gaze to the envelope in her hand. “What’s that?”
She made a little non-committal sound and turned it over. “Something from Sloane.” Using a key from her keyring she cut open the top of the envelope and pulled out the contents. “Oh, I needed this.”
She leaned into Roan and felt him wrap his arm around her.
“Hey, I haven’t showered yet.”
He scoffed at the idea. “Like I care.” Leaning in closer, he looked at the picture. “Is that the elephant we sent her?”
Pilar smiled and nodded. “Looks like it tastes great!”
Lora was grinning at the camera with the stuffed elephant’s ear between her teeth.
“I miss her so much.”
She felt him touch his cheek to hers. “She misses you too.”
“It’s hard to believe it was just two months ago that she was here and I couldn’t do much more than touch her face. Brush her hair back from that beautiful face.”
“And the next time we see her, you’ll be able to hold her tight.”
It was true. What he said.
The next time she saw Lora she would be back to full strength, maybe even better. The guys down at Furious Gym were the best. They were her biggest cheerleaders through her recovery.
Well, biggest in that they were all ripped, but her best cheerleader was the man holding her against him.
“Tomorrow’s my big day,” she began, “going back on patrol.”
She didn’t feel a moment of hesitation in the way he held her, held himself.
Things had changed a lot since the morning she’d woken up in Cole Medical Center in the ICU with a splitting pain in her chest and a foggy memory of how it got there. She spent over a week in bed before she was allowed to get up and move around.
Sometimes taking a breath felt like sucking in fire. The bullet had nicked her shoulder blade and cracked her rib. It was her rib that punctured her lung. No matter how much breathing sucked, it was still better than the alternative.
There were some long looks and sobering conversations with doctors and rehabilitation therapists. There were no guarantees that she’d get back full range of motion, but they didn’t count on her fighting spirit, her family’s support from over a thousand miles away that came through loud and clear over the phone, and they certainly didn’t count on having an almost in-house doctor to help her with every ache and pain.
And Roan was very... very good with helping her work the strain from her muscles. When she’d been cleared to return to intimate activities, she found that toe-curling orgasms went a long way to loosening up muscles all over her body.
He was a very thoughtful man.
“I picked up your uniform from the dry cleaner while you were out,” he slipped his hand under her t-shirt and smoothed his palm over her taut belly. “I wish I could be there with you when you go in.”
She laughed and leaned back against him. “It’s already going to be a circus. I’m guessing Walker will be there.”
He murmured something against her hair.
“So, it’s almost like having you there.”
Roan answered that with a growl. “Not quite.”
“Besides, it’s going to be hard enough seeing Burke again.”
She’d already seen him while she was in the hospital. Just the sight of him had left her off-kilter. Lying in bed, hooked up to pain meds and monitors, it made her feel at a disadvantage. There he was standing beside her bed, looking down at her. She couldn’t help but tense up, waiting to see what he was going to say.
She hadn’t expected what happened next.
A thank you.
Pilar hadn’t thought him capable of that kind of gesture. And it confused her even more when he sat down beside her bed and apologized. She couldn’t remember everything he said, but she heard the pain and regret in his voice as he told her that he hadn’t been able to sleep since she’d been shot. He didn’t make her any promises. He didn’t explain why he’d treated her the way he had, but he was sorry and she truly believed that he meant the words.
Kate had already warned her that he’d been put on probation with the CCPD and sent to additional training at the Academy.
Pilar hadn’t expected them to fire him. His family connections weren’t going to allow that, but she was happy... satisfied that he felt remorse for his actions and the way he’d treated her. She could move on from there.
There wasn’t any choice to do anything different.
Center City was her home and the CCPD was where she belonged.
Roan understood that too.
She knew how scared he was that she was going back to work, but he was hiding it well.
Well-ish.
She turned and stepped out of his arms. Her sharp eyes saw the momentary confusion in his expression. “I think you deserve a reward.”
“Reward?” There was that hopeful lift of his brow that made him look boyishly handsome. “What’s that?”
She reached down and grabbed the hem of her t-shirt. With one long pull, up and over her head, she stripped it off and tossed it at his chest.
He dragged his gaze away from her to
the shirt in his hands. “A shirt? It’s not... really my size.”
She smirked at him and backed up toward the open doorway to their bedroom. “It’s not the shirt... but the girl underneath it.”
“The woman,” he corrected as he took steps toward her, “underneath it.”
She licked her lips and pulled a strap of her athletic bra off one shoulder and then the other. “I don’t suppose you want the bra too.”
He moved closer, almost crowding her, but leaving enough room that he could look down over her breasts and down to her feet. “I really want the woman. The clothes can all go.”
She hooked her thumbs into the top and pushed it down, enjoying the way her nipples tightened at the heavy pull of fabric. She left it sitting on her hips as she reached her arms over her head in a stretch.
Roan’s eyes were fixed on her breasts and his hands followed, cupping them in his palms and brushing his thumbs over her nipples making them painfully tight and aching for more.
“That feels so damn good.”
“You feel good,” he practically groaned as her hands covered his and she pressed her breasts higher and closer together. He backed her up against the wall of the bathroom and leaned down to take one painfully erect peak into his mouth and then the other. His tongue worked its magic on her body, drawing soft gasps and a long groaning sigh from her before she could find her voice again.
“Turn on the water.”
He looked up into her eyes and frowned just a bit. “My hands,” he reminded her, “are busy.”
So she reached out her arm and managed to turn the water on in the tub. The rush of water from the spigot was a comforting sound. The growing heat from the water that permeated the air brought a sigh to her lips.
Just as his teeth lightly brushed the swollen tip of breast she arched away from the wall. “Roan.”
He pulled his mouth away from her breast. “I love how you say my name.”
“Take off your clothes. Get in the tub.”
He backed away, holding his hands up in surrender. “Yes, Officer Bravo.”
She watched him toss his own t-shirt onto the floor, followed quickly by his slacks and his briefs. Roan Ashley looked so damn good in everything he wore, but he was spectacularly gorgeous when he was naked. She let her gaze travel over his body from head to toe, stopping a few times along the way and when her gaze moved over his erection, she swore she saw it twitch.
“Don’t get me wrong, Officer,” he put one foot in the tub and then the other, “but doesn’t this fall under abuse of power?”
She crooked a brow up at his question. “How so?”
He gestured at her. “You’re still half-dressed. I feel like I’m at a disadvantage here.”
With her gaze firmly planted on his cock, she hooked her thumbs around her bra and into the waistband of her leggings and pulled them down to her feet, stepping out of them before straightening up to look him in the eye. “That better? Do you feel that we’re even now?”
Roan held out his hand. “Come on in, and we’ll see.”
She loved the way he held her hand. Strong and supportive, just like the times when she’d needed his help to walk upright as she began her recovery, and still gentle to show how precious she was to him.
Stepping into the tub, she found herself in Roan’s arms. He kissed her hungrily, his tongue delving into her mouth with her first gasp. Tangling with her own he slid one hand down to her lower back and further until he had his hand over the firm curve of her ass.
Pilar clutched at his shoulders and tilted her head so that she could pull him deeper into her mouth.
He loved it when she fed on him. Her mouth was hot and hungry, the sensation of her tongue against his, so damn erotic it made his knees weak. To think he’d almost lost her because of his own fear.
Never again.
He’d never even think of letting her go. He’d always reach for her and fight for what they had. It was the only way to keep air in his lungs and blood pumping through his veins.
She was everything to him.
Everything he wanted and needed in life. He wasn‘t going to let another day go by where he didn’t show her how much she meant to him.
“Roan?”
Pulling away, just an inch from him, made him want to back her up against the wall and take her mouth again. “Yeah?”
“I... we... we make this last... later.” He felt her hands roam over his back and lower, grabbing his ass with her hands, pulling him tighter against her body. “I need hard... I need fast... I need... I need you.”
The way she looked up into his eyes, her deep brown eyes reaching into his soul, it made him feel like a king. And yet, his only need in that moment was to treat her like a queen.
She owned his heart after all.
Before he could say a word, she turned her back to him and braced her hands against the wall. The heated spray of the water washed over him as he stepped up behind her, his hand wrapping around his cock, slowly moving up and down as the water mixed with his need and made each stroke a tantalizing prelude to the tight walls of her body.
He touched one foot against hers and with his other foot, he nudged her other leg further, until a simple curl of his hips made his cock glide between the rounded perfection of her ass.
Slowly, he slid his cock between her cheeks, enjoying the coursing water that fell over both of them.
He knew she wanted hard and fast, but there was something he had to do first. Reaching up a hand, he traced the scar on her back. It was high on her torso, but off to the side, curved along the shoulder blade where the bullet had entered her back away from her Kevlar vest. At first, she’d hated the scar and let him deal with all of the dressing changes during her recovery, but eventually she’d come to accept it for what it was.
Evidence that she’d survived.
As he traced the scar with one hand, he wrapped his hand around her hip with the other.
“I finally figured out what your scar reminds me off.”
He heard her soft intake of breath just before she spoke. “A fault line?”
Shaking his head even though she couldn’t see him, he traced it again. “It looks like someone removed your wing.” He felt her tense under his tender exploration. “You’re an angel, Pilar.”
She was silent for a moment, her head dipping below her shoulders. It made it harder to hear her voice, but not impossible because she ground out the words, “A fallen angel.”
He leaned forward, leaving one hand on her hip, and pressing the other to the wall beside one of her own. His lips traced her scar, tenderly pressing kisses along its entire length. When he was done, he turned his head, pressing his cheek to her back and pressing his whole-body flush with hers so that the tip of his cock was nestled against the curve of her lower back.
“You’re an archangel. A defender. A fierce protector and a light to anyone who knows you.”
He felt the sudden indrawn gasp through their bodies and heard a soft sob from her lips. “I’m just me.”
“You're everything,” he pressed a kiss along her spine and then up against the nape of her neck, “and I love you so much it aches.”
She groaned and arched her back against him. Taking his hand from her hip, he wrapped his hand around the base of his cock and slid it between her legs, drawing the tip of it along her folds. Pilar pushed back against him, trying to fill herself with his length. He wasn‘t going to make her wait and pushed all the way in on the first thrust.
“Yes,” her head tipped back, “again.”
He couldn’t fight it and didn’t want to. He gave her what she wanted. Hard. Fast. Relentless. He filled her over and over again until he felt her knees buckle slightly and then he wrapped an arm around her, his hand sliding over her belly, his fingers pressing through her slick curls and finally, his fingers circling her clit as he thrust into her even deeper than before.
She came apart with a shout, her voice echoing off the tile walls and into his ea
rs. He continued thrusting into her body as her walls clenched tighter around him like contracting fingers that touched every inch of him at once, sending him catapulting over the edge and into oblivion.
Feeling each pulse of his release arching through her body, he felt like he was in heaven. Loving her, making love to her, was his privilege and his pleasure. While Pilar continued to lean against the wall, he used his hands and a washcloth to gently cleanse every inch of her body.
They were barely out of the tub when she looked up at him, her eyes hooded with the lasting effects of her arousal. “Can we just lie down for a minute?”
As if he would say no.
He took two oversized bath sheets and laid one on the bed. She laid down on it, leaving him enough room to spoon up behind her. He did so with a smile on his lips and draped the other towel over them. He kept her warm and slowly dried her off with the top towel as she relaxed against him.
Roan reached behind them and picked up a box from the windowsill.
As he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, he reached his hand around and set the box on the mattress. “I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“Hmm?” Her voice was soft and dreamy. “What?”
He flipped open the top of the box and pulled the ring from the velvet cushion within. Slowly, he slid the ring onto her finger. “Pilar Bravo.” He placed a kiss to her shoulder and another one to her neck, he couldn’t get enough of her skin against his own. “Will you marry me?”
Turning onto her back, she held up her left hand so that the twilight coming through the window sent purplish sparks over their bare skin. “There’s nothing I want to do more.”
He shifted, bracing himself up on his elbow as he looked into her face. “Eres el amor de mi vida.”
He saw the tears in her eyes and felt the gentle touch of her hand as she cupped the back of his neck.
“You’re the love of my life too.”
After she pulled him down into her arms, he felt their hearts beating a wild rhythm between them, and there was nowhere he’d rather be.
