by Eric Asher
“Promises, promises,” she says before biting my neck again, harder this time.
My growl is more animalistic than I meant for it to be, but it’s how I feel so I roll with it. I grip her ass, and in seconds I have her straddling my lap on the couch.
“Just for that I’ll make you work for it this time.” I groan when she clenches tight, sucking my cock even further inside her. Rocking my hips, I aim and hit her sweet spot until she gasps.
“There’s no way you could possibly be ready so soon,” she says, shaking her head and laughing. Her smile, goddamn that smile, it reaches right in and punches my gut. A knockout made just for me.
“How much would you like to bet?” My grin is cocky; I can feel it. At the same time I can feel myself grow even thicker. I need to pull out and change the condom, but I’ll get to that in a second. She feels too good.
“Again? Now?” She's incredulous.
Those honeyed browns grow wide and damn if they don’t twinkle like the stars in the sky. I realize that’s not possible, but her eyes are dancing with humor and the lift of the right side of her mouth says,try me or bite me or both. Yes, ma’am; I can do.
Laughing feels good with her; it’s a new kind of warmth in my chest. “We don’t have much time. I need to leave a lasting impression.” I realize when saying it that there’s a fine line between scaring her off and reeling her in. So far, so good I’d say, based on the smile stretching across her face and the coy tilt of her head. I could never tire of looking at her, especially in moments like this when it’s apparent I’ve been there. It’s my hands that wrecked her hair. My mouth that devastated her lips. I left the red marks trailing from the line of her jaw down her neck, and am responsible for the pink flush of her orgasm that’s yet to fade. All mine.
“The just-fucked look looks good on you.” The tenderness in my voice isn’t overshadowed by the teasing comment. Shit Faith, don’t panic now. I wait for her reaction, prepared for battle if I have to go there. But it comes in the form of a giggle and relief sinks through me like a weight.
“Oh, God. I must be a mess.” She laughs, showing no sign of being embarrassed, no shielding of her naked body. I like that a lot. I like her arched back as her hands rake through her hair to tame the crazy waves.
“I like it this way. Reminds me of where I was five minutes ago.” I especially dig the tight tip of her tits as they jut into my face. With a flick of my tongue, she moans into the silence. When I suck her deep into my mouth, her back curves like a goddamn ballerina and I'm in heaven. Angels are signing. Or maybe it's just the musical pants of her breath as I move to the other side. Did I mention heaven?
Heaven with Faith is an interesting place. It’s not so pure, but a whole lot of raw, carnal need. If she grips my hair any harder she’ll yank me into next week, but at least I’d be with her then. As her fingers trail over my face, I grab and pin them to my chest.
The thought of leaving in a few hours crashes into reality, my lips stumbling over the roadblock forming in my brain. How do you leave perfection?
Before I can move to devour her mouth, she’s distracted by my medallion. Her eyes turn from playful to curious. “What’s this?”
The long silver chain is entwined through her fingers like a snake, the medal held lightly as she strokes over the front before flipping it to the back. “My grandfather gave it to me before I was deployed. Saint Christopher is supposed to protect and provide safe passage to others. Gramps thought I could use the extra help when I left home.”
“Is your job dangerous?”
“There’s the potential for it to be. Why? Will you worry about me when I leave?” I ask, interested in knowing if she will and if she’d admit it.
Shrugging, her eyes grow darker and lose some of the ease we just found with each other. Her fingers continue to stroke the medal while she remains deep in thought. And then she does the exact opposite of what I thought she’d do. I thought she’d say no and pull away, but she sighs and tucks her head into my neck. “Maybe.”
Ah, the sweet joy of progress. Smiling into her hair, I hold her for a long time. The moon is the only source of light in the room, but it’s bright enough to cast shadows. My fingers rub in the hollows of the two dimples just above her ass and sweep up to her shoulders and back again. I’ve never felt skin as soft as Faith’s.
When she tenses beneath me I know it’s time to fight for her. When her muscles coil, waiting to spring, I clamp down on her hips to keep her steady.
Pushing against my chest, she whips her head back and says, “You need to go.”
“Don’t.” I’m harsher than intended, but she’s pulling away, and so is the condom. “Stop. Ah, fuck . . .” It’s too late.
It might be funny, if it weren’t so fucking disastrous. Faith, naked, standing and staring wide-eyed with her arms out to the side. I remain silent and open-mouthed, still as a damn statue.
She recovers before I do. “Goddamn it, Kyle,” she screams, leaping for the bathroom with my come running down her leg.
I let my head fall to the back of the couch, the heels of my hands gouging into my eyes. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is not where I thought we’d end up. The one thing I want to do is stay naked with her, but somehow I think we’re going to need some time to talk so I slip into my jeans, leaving the fly open just in case I’m wrong.
She’s taking forever, so I pace back and forth and then lean my head against the door, waiting for it to open. I remain silent, because what can I say?
FAITH
The reflection in mirror is what scares me the most. I remember the face staring back at me. She’s full of hope and trust, and she believes in a future that doesn’t exist. Kyle did that to me. Damn it, this was supposed to be only tonight, but now the rippling energy under my skin is hinting at wanting more. More than this minute and more than what I can give him.
Swinging away from my reflection, I pull on a robe and then stalk to the door with a solid resolve to end this now. It’s time for him to go.
When I yank it open, Kyle stumbles into me and grabs my waist.
“Hi, gorgeous. Everything okay in here?”
His endearing dimple is back, and for a minute I’m lost in it and him. I long to run my hands through his crazy hair, to have his eyes rake over the naked contours of my body and feel his fingers push into me one more time. I can’t let that happen, so I close my eyes instead and count to three.
The weight of his hands distracts me. The subtle pull to drag me from the bath and into my apartment all happens in the dark. I can’t look at him, so I turn my head and look out the window. The moon provides the perfect silhouette to watch the palm trees sway in the breeze. I’ve come to love this island and the serenity it brought me in my time of need. Now it’s time to say my peace. “It’s time for you to go. I had a really great time, but I’d like to be alone . . .”
“Stop,” he says, and my gaze snaps to his. Anger bubbles to the surface and I break away to spew it forth.
“Don’t stop me, Kyle. This is my house and my life.”
“Then why are you afraid to live it?”
I close my eyes, wishing for the life of me that I could wish him away, but I can’t. A large part of me doesn’t want to. I’ve had more fun in the last five hours than I have in the years since I stepped foot on this island. But I don’t want tonight to turn into a deeper dive. Not into my mind, or what keeps it closed up tight.
“I’m not going there with you. It’s none of your business. Just because you’ve been inside my body, doesn’t give you the right to know more.”
“What if I want in?”
“You’re not invited.”
“I call bullshit. I was right there, until you freaked out.”
I sigh; it’s long and drawn-out, and it shares my frustration. “Nothing is making any sense; you’re supposed to be one night with no questions. Why are you doing this?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. You’re right. It doesn’t make sense, yet everything does at the
same time. I don’t know what drew me to you, but I damn well know I want to stay. I don’t know anything about you, yet I know when I do, I’m going to fall for every quirk and angry flip of your hair. I’m not afraid of your past or mine, because what we can do is make our own tomorrow. That’s the basics. Seems like we’ve got a good foundation to build from.”
“How? None of this is possible, Kyle. You live all over the world and I live here.”
“That’s what planes are for, Angel.”
My breath is crashing in on me like Niagara Falls, brutal and beautiful at the same time. What he offers is hope for more than I have today. But I won’t give him anything unless he gives me the truth.
“How do you know my name?”
Silence stretches between us, his chest rising and falling under the weight of my question. Minutes pass, his eyes never leaving mine, and finally he answers. “I asked around . . . and then I called in some favors from my colleagues at the Bureau.”
I let my head fall into my hands, and I’m not sure if it’s out of anger or relief. I should be pissed he researched me, but it’s more of a release from the ties that have held me hostage for the last two years. He knows and he hasn’t held it against me.
Kyle’s with me now, hands on my shoulders, drawing me into the warmth of his chest. “You know everything about me then . . .”
He tightens his hold. “I know what happened to you, but that’s not who you are. James Marshall and what he did doesn’t define you, Faith. Why do you let it weigh you down?”
What? I shove him away and release the two years of pent-up frustration rolling up my spine. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to wake up one morning to find out you’ve lived a lie? I do! My life turned into a national bestseller when the man I was going to marry left me to climb out of the house of cards that fell around us. He killed himself, Kyle. He stole millions of dollars from our friends and his firm, people who trusted him. Then he got caught and he left me to deal with the anger and the lives he destroyed. Including mine.”
I dig my fingers into my hair as if I can bury the memories from existence in my mind. “If that doesn’t define someone, I don’t know what does. I believed in him, just as everyone else did, when I should have known. I think about it everyday—what signs did I miss? Was I stupidly gullible or did I turn the other cheek? Did I just let it go because I liked what I had and who I was with?”
I need to know the answer to that. It’s what I’ve been searching for over the last two years. I want the answer to be no, but I’m afraid it’s yes. And if it is, I deserve to remain in my self-imposed exile with limited connection to life.
I can be nobody or maybe somebody, but unless I figure it out for myself I won’t be anybody.
“Oh, Faith.” He’s taken the steps toward me so he can cradle my face in his hands, more compassion than I deserve shining in his eyes. “You’re taking on his burden when it’s buried with him. If I could pull the stars from the sky for you, I would. But even if I did, you wouldn’t know what to do with them. Stop hiding behind the bar in the middle of nowhere and engage in your life. Don’t drown in his.”
My heart clenches. If only it were that simple. Leaning my forehead against his, I say, “This is my life.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
I fist his hair, pulling until it must sting. “What do you want from me?”
His smirk is back, the playful, devilish lift to the corner of his mouth that has my insides quivering like Jell-O. “I want more than just this minute; more than tonight. I want to break down your walls and all of your rules.”
We both groan when he rocks the growing length of his erection into me. “You're making me think and feel. I don't want to care about you, and what happens to your tomorrows.”
“Too late, Angel. I found a way to sneak inside your forever.” Tipping my chin back, he finds my eyes. “Someone I have a lot of respect for once told me I’d find my way to the right fit. I believe it. Now that I found you, we’ll find a way to be together. It might not be tomorrow or next week, but we can figure it out.”
This man. As crazy as the hair on his head, he’s given me more hope in one night than I’ve felt in years.
“I’m not on the pill.” I blast it like someone just hit a car horn accidentally. Subtle, Faith, real subtle.
He shrugs and sweeps my legs out from under me so I have to grip his neck out of self-preservation. Holding me in a vice-grip next to his chest, he says, “Everything happens for a reason. We’ll have to wait and see where life takes us. In the meantime, I’m taking you to bed.”
KYLE
“I’m going to take my time with you,” I say, tossing her on the bed. The robe she put on loosens, exposing her full breasts, her nipples tight and long, waiting for my mouth. Closing my eyes, I try to slow my thoughts that are racing ahead of me. I’m not feeling refined, more like wild with a side of out-of-control. I want to lick and taste every part of her, eat her like a meal and then have a buffet for dessert. I want her in my mouth, wrapped around my dick, and I want to fuck her until she’s screaming my name so loud it becomes a part of her.
I drop my pants and kneel on the mattress. On my hands and knees, I stalk my way over her until we’re mouth to mouth.
“Eyes on mine,” I say, to draw her gaze away from my cock that’s bumping into her clit. The frantic sway of her gaze follows every line of my chest before taking hold. “We’re not sleeping, Angel. I have five hours to show you my sweet side and then the wicked one, and if there’s enough time, I’ll let you make me come with your mouth.”
I laugh at her rounded eyes and then gasp when she takes me by the balls.
“I’ve no desire to sleep, Cowboy. And let’s be clear—when I want you in my mouth, I’ll have you there.”
I lick her lips and then bite them. Sweet baby Jesus, this girl has most definitely found her way into my future. Somehow we’ll make it work. “First thing’s first: I need a little taste before we really get started.”
I touch every part of her smooth skin. Her muscles tighten under the pressure of my mouth, and I can feel the hum of energy under her skin. She’s alive and feeling every part of me as I suck on the pulse points in her neck, between her breasts, in the hollow of her elbow and then her wrist. My eyes find hers when I sink into her flesh and take in the sounds of her gasp before licking the sting away. I save the best for last, kneeling between her legs to lift her ankle to my mouth and spreading her other leg wide so I can see all of her.
Having Faith is a beautiful experience. Having her in my mouth is another one altogether. When I kiss my way up her leg, stopping on the pounding beat of her femoral artery, hidden in the crease of her thigh, I look up through my lashes. I’ve had many women, but none were like Faith. She’s not looked away once, watching every move I make, so she can see it and feel it. It makes everything that much more intimate. This isn’t something I’m doing to someone; I’m making love to her. That’s what this is.
“I like you watching me,” I say and then lick the wet slide of her skin. Smiling as she gasps, I spread her open with one hand and my arm wraps under and over her hip, to hold her down with the other.
Her voice is a breathless whisper when she says, “I like watching you touch me.”
She’s propped up on her elbows, a good vantage point to see my head dip down to take her into my mouth for the first time. I’d laugh if I had it in me, when she falls back on an “Oh God” groan and grabs the comforter on either side of her hips, but I can’t. I lose myself in her heat and her sweetness, sucking on her clit and then licking up one side and then the other before I fuck her with my tongue.
“Kyle,” she moans my name, and it sends me into a new kind of wild. That and the incomprehensible sounds she beats out in time with each thrust. I shift, pressing her thighs farther apart with my shoulders so I can sink two fingers inside her. She’s so wet, the slide is easy, and it brings about the roll of her hips up and into my mouth. Fuck me. T
hat’s exactly what she’s doing. She’s lost in the freedom to take what she wants to get off, to let go with me between her legs. I fucking love it and I go at her clit, flicking it, rubbing the flat length of my tongue over it again and again.
I watch as her hands leave the sheets to dive into my hair. Holding me against her, she grinds her pussy into my mouth so I have nowhere to go but suck her in.
“Don’t stop, please . . .” Her eyes are back on mine. “Please. I’m . . . I’m . . . so close.” Her breath is coming in panting waves, her perfect breasts rising and falling with each gasp.
I suck her clit so hard my mouth hollows out, and I have to hold her to the mattress when she bucks up. Sinking my teeth around it, I flick her with my tongue. She cries out loud enough to wake the neighbors and when she adds my name, fucking screams it while clutching my head to her pussy, I almost lose my load into the white thread count. Christ, this girl calls to me on an elemental level to fuck her bare. I want to expose her feelings so she’s raw to them, make her feel me, and the life going on around her.
I don’t let go. I take in the flush of her first orgasm, lapping it up and then going at her one more time. Why not repeat perfection? Because that’s what this is. I’m greedy now for all things Faith. I take in her wild and let lose on own. We move together and this time she tightens into me, a beautiful rigid arch from the bed as her body shudders under the steady pull of my mouth.
She has to beg me to let go. I can’t get enough. It’s only on her second “Please, Kyle” that I loosen my hold on her clit, kissing it once before sinking my teeth into her inner thigh. I like the thought of leaving my mark. Much like the tattoo not too far away. I want everyone to know this woman is mine.
She arches from the bed again as my teeth sink in and my name eases from her, not as loud this time, but with just as much meaning. I make my way past her hipbone, stopping long enough to read her tat out loud. “Until next time.”
I arch my eyebrow in question, and even through the haze of her orgasm, which I know by her dilated pupils and funny lift of her lips is still pulsing through her blood, she answers, “My mom died when I was eighteen. Before she closed her eyes she said until next time.” She shrugs, and my heart tightens for the pain I know she feels. “When I left the hospital, it was the first thing I did. I didn’t want to forget.”
