Waking the Lion

by Lacee Hightower

  This time it’s an order instead of a question, and the air in my lungs catches deep in my throat at his gruff demand. For seconds, all I can do is pull my eyes up his sweeping chest and across his shadowed jaw. Rhett Gentry is a threat to all my good judgment. The affectionate way he’s looking at me is almost unbearable, and my hands, which are still on his chest, slowly move down, down, down.

  “My lips,” I whisper. “Please … God, just keep doing that to my lips.”

  His jaw clenches, our eyes engaged in a burning standoff as my fingers reach the waistband of his jeans.

  “This? Is this what you want, sweetheart?” His fingers resume outlining my bottom lip, his gaze on fire. Need blazes through me, and I don’t answer his question. I don’t need to.

  The air around us changes, and in seconds flat, we’re a twist of impatient pining bodies. Hands everywhere. Mouths all over each other. Groans rising up our throats. I reach for his tight shirt, tugging, as he pulls me closer and seals his mouth against mine, the heated look in his widely-open eyes touching me in a strangely deep way. He kisses me with a deep, ravenous gusto. Unable to control myself, I release his shirt and ease a hand underneath, sliding it across the firm middle of his chest. His tightly drawn muscles flex against my palm, and a pleased growl rumbles in his chest. I want this man so damn badly that every second I’m around him all I do is imagine myself beneath him and how wonderful the sensation of his body against mine might feel.

  “I don’t understand one single thing about you, Rhett Gentry. From what I’ve seen, you’re nothing but a whole lot of jumbled-up confusion and probably someone my daddy would tell me to run far, far away from.”

  If he gave a shit.

  “You scare me in ways I can’t even explain. Plus … I’m still not sure I even like you.”

  His tongue slides around his lips, the tiny expression so evocative and sexual, that my knees go limp. Anxious, I pull back, quickly squatting down to escape his tight hold, yet immediately missing the feel of his body.

  “Is there someone else, Kass?” He takes my arm between his hand, his grip tight and forceful against my flesh. “Is it Nielson? Are you fucking him? Or do you want to be?” His eyes are full of mystery, the tone in his voice deep and bitter. Shivers shoot up my spine at the carnal jealousy lingering behind his gaze. There’s only one man I want between my legs, and it’s not Nielson.

  “First of all, no. To both questions.” A long string of my own reservations fills my head at this sudden reversal of attitude. “I don’t even know him. He simply introduced himself and offered to help me stay on my feet.”

  “Or get you off your feet,” he mutters.

  “Oh please,” I whisper.

  He cups my cheeks, pinning me in a not so gentle way against the glass patio door that I’ve somehow stumbled toward. “Do you want me, Kass? Because it’s all I’ve thought of for months. I want you so motherfucking bad,” he whispers against my neck. His jaw clenches again, and his eyes deepen in color with the savage gaze he has on me.

  Icy chills shoot through my spine.

  Unable to move, or think, or any damn thing else, other than try to process all we’ve just admitted, neither of us speak as my head strains with confusion, questions … and heated desire so strong that my legs buckle. I want to mumble all kinds of words and get drunk on his body as he does the same, pulling me under his control more than I seemingly already am.

  He brushes a hand across my chest, his gaze softening just the smallest bit as he focuses on my nipple for a few beats before moving down my torso and over my thigh. With a throaty groan, he leans over, his mouth tilting over me before crushing his lips against mine, kissing me with a slow, deep, tongue-filled kiss full of hunger and need. And pure, unadulterated, blazing seduction.

  Oh … God.

  My hands rise up his chest and fall into the thick waves of his hair that I’ve pictured in my head a dozen times. I return his kiss, and we go on for minutes, kissing like two impassioned significant others who haven’t seen each other in long hours. I’m so needy that I’m shaking, and his impressive erection pressing against me is a sure guarantee how good he’s going to feel inside me. My tongue tangles with his as the fluttering in my core grows deeper with need and urgency. I want to touch every one of his body parts. Explore his skin with my tongue. Smell his intoxicating scent while my mouth brushes passionate kisses over his steel-hard chest. He swallows my sigh, and I shudder. Heat shoots like flames down my torso, the grip against my face tightening as his kiss turns severe and indelicate.

  It’s been so long since I’ve been intimately touched by a man. Since I’ve craved this touch. I pull back to catch my breath, and his forehead falls against mine, his breath heavy as his hand rolls over my denim-covered mound.

  “I’m still waiting for answers,” he mutters against my swollen lips. “I’ve fought this thing until I’m about ready to fucking combust. Tell me you want me or I stop touching you, because, Kass…” His palms cup my cheeks hard. “Once we start, there’s no stopping.”

  Heated desire bolts through me like a live current when I feel another surge of his neediness through my jeans. He takes a deep breath, his gaze filled with a lingering small hint of uncertainty, almost like he’s fighting his own whirlwind of feelings behind his rugged exterior and deep demands. Right now, he looks nothing like a big-headed professional athlete who’s considering his next easy fuck. The arrogant sneer that reeks anger is absent. All in all, the crude, strong Rhett Gentry looks unsure … and unsettled.

  His hand slides down my body, pressing against the perfect spot between my legs, a moan ripping through my chest as my head falls back in sweet, yielding submission. Heat flashing through my body, I’m dying to know what his thick erection might feel like sliding inside me.

  If his eyes will be open … or slip shut.

  If he’ll enter me slowly … or in one powerful thrust.

  If he’ll be silent … or moan against me in pleasure.

  “Rhett.” My voice is breathy, my body wet and shamelessly grinding against the small movement of his hand.

  A softness fills his eyes. “Christ, Kass,” he utters, his sensual tone and expression turning me into sin-filled globs of jelly. “I’m going fucking crazy. This need for you … it’s too much.” He reaches for my face, that long finger gently grazing my bottom lip again.

  Need shoots through my chest and back down my torso. Many inches taller than me, he’s leaning over, his fingers sliding away from my mouth and inching up through my hair as his mouth seals mine with a deep, sumptuous kiss. His warm tongue slowly forces its way through the bend of my mouth, caressing. Exploring. Kissing me slowly and impeccably. Every part of me on fire, I reach for the front of his shirt again, tugging against the soft fabric as I rock against his body. I’m so wet for this angry, confusing, beautiful as sin man.

  “My God.” I back away and whisper, “I want you. Please.”

  It’s the first time I’ve ever been so straightforward with a man, and I shudder at my lack of reserve. With my back now against the glass doors, his strong legs are holding me in place and I attempt to shift, but before I can, he’s attacking my shirt to get it over my head, leaning over and cupping both my breasts through the thin fabric of my bra as his fingers roll and tug at my nipples. Furious for his touch, I reach for the snap on my jeans, unbuttoning them myself, seconds from relieving myself if he doesn’t.

  He reaches for the hooks of my bra and it slides to the ground, his mouth clenching my tender nipple between his teeth the instant it’s free. Seconds from erupting, I grab furiously at the bottom of his shirt and tug it over his head, my hands shamelessly sliding down his bare torso and over the perfectly-formed V-shaped trail leading to the button of his jeans. I’ve wanted him for so long that I know the minute he touches the intimate spot between my thighs, I’ll be over the top in mere seconds.

  “Rhett, please.” I’m begging, pleading, surrendering and sliding my hand over his impressive bul
ge again, feeling how hard he is. How much he wants me. His eyes blaze with darkness as his mouth plummets to mine again, the deep surge of hunger I’m feeling shooting through me like a sharp dart. Everything inside me tenses. His lips are bruising, his hands tugging at my hair while his stiff erection grinds against my roaming hands.

  When we’re both rendered breathless, he stops kissing me, and my tongue slides across my swollen lips. He reaches for my jeans, never breaking eye contact as he drags them down my legs. He helps me slip off my boots and socks, and then eases my panties down and over my ankles, his palm pushing between my legs to get to my damp mound.

  Exposed in front of him for the first time, I feel pleasantly vulnerable and defenseless. Wet and achy between the legs. So ready for this that my sex clenches with need. I gulp back a moan. God, I want this. Everything feels right when I wonder if it should. A year hasn’t passed since he lost his wife. The thought of that stabs at me for second.

  “Kass,” he breathes, his hand brushing through my wet sex. “I knew you’d be beautiful. You’re so damn wet for me.” His fingers roll over my clit, rearranging my wetness and spreading it all over my mound. My legs shake as I cry out his name and reach for his hips, my fingers digging through his skin as my core constricts with every small move he makes.

  “Relax,” he murmurs. “Let me make you feel good.”

  He carefully pushes a finger deep inside me, curling it with absolute perfection to brush my velvety sensitive spot. My body showers with moisture as he moves tirelessly in and out of me, my cries growing with every thrust as I move against his gliding fingers.

  “God, I fucking want you,” he says, his words, his touch, his everything making my body alive in just the way I want to make his.

  My heart is racing, my chest hammering. He’s going to make me come. Building way too quickly, he slides a second, then third finger, and plunges deep. Then deeper. Stretching my core, he spreads his fingers inside me and I can’t hold back a pleasure-filled moan. Jesus, it feels good. I’m so close.

  “You’re so warm and wet.” Rhett’s breath heavy, his face burns with lust. “I can’t wait to come inside you. Make you look in my eyes when you lose control and come hard around me for the first time.”

  I’m trembling, my sex swaying around his plunging fingers as everything inside me tightens. My grasp against his hips clench as my fingers curl through the skin right above the waistband of his jeans until I’m easing underneath the denim and over his wide shaft, the thick, round tip beaded with moisture.

  “Fuck,” he groans, sliding his fingers from me and moving my hands away as he quickly kicks off his boots and drops his pants and skin-hugging black boxers. My gaze locks on his body, and instantly, I’m wrapping a hand around him again, feeling every broad vein, my thumb gliding over the crest to swipe at the leaking pre-cum. Everything about him is genuine, superior male, just as I’ve known it would be.

  He pushes me away from the window and lowers me onto the chaise section of the couch, sliding me up until my head meets the back of the sofa. “You’re gorgeous, Kass.”

  The slick sheen between my sex creeps down my thighs and a small bead slowly trickles onto the sofa.

  “Holy fuck, that’s hot.” His gaze blazes seduction as he hovers over me. I reach for his hips, moving toward his firm, rounded ass cheeks, and pull his thick erection tighter against my belly.

  He lowers a hand again and shoves his fingers back inside me. My back instantly arches, shamelessly grinding against every seductive move he makes, my head and body in no place to feel humiliation.

  “Rhett. Oh, please…”

  “Please what, Kass? You want my cock inside you, doll?” His brazen question sets off a wild fire of nerves. His tone is so sensual, so deep. His stare so piercing. I ease my legs up, slowly sliding the balls of my feet over the leather underneath me. He rubs a thumb over my clit, then places pressure, sending a flood of delicious satisfaction through me.

  “Yes!” I all but scream, my body throbbing. Aching heat rushes through me, and I reach for his hard shaft. He’s so hard. So thick. He takes a long breath, then pulls back.

  A muscle jerks in his jaw. “Goddammit, Kass. I don’t have a condom.”

  I’m Floored by his unthinkable statement, and the fact that he doesn’t have cases of condoms on hand makes me rethink my initial thoughts that maybe he really isn’t like most other professional athletes, fucking mile-long lists of women just as quickly as they can muster. I reach for his steel-hard erection again, squeezing it between my hand and settling it against my opening.

  I cut my gaze, knowing what I’m about to say is foolish and unwise. “We don’t need condoms. I’m on the pill, and I’m clean. Unless you don’t … or you’re not…”

  “Thank Christ,” he utters, releasing a deep sensual moan and kneeing me open. I curl my legs around his waist and he pushes into me in one long, hard thrust, his thick shaft warm and filling my core with a perfect tightness as the heat in his eyes takes my breath to a whole new level of silk and seduction.

  “Kass.” He gasps the minute he’s all the way in and his hands brush my cheeks. He’s long and thick. Stone-hard. The sound of my satisfaction impels him, and he thrusts as deep as my body can accept, going harder and deeper, tilting me up into an angle that has him brushing a sensitive area inside me.

  Driving. Thrusting. Bumping every tender spot with perfect precision.

  The sounds coming up his throat are so sensual. So carnal and lustful that it makes me shudder from the inside out. My feet bend and brush the leather sofa again as he slides in and out of me in deep, delicious moves before pushing as far as humanly possible and stopping for a few seconds, breathing warm breaths against my neck.

  Fingers laced through his thick waves of hair, I sigh against his chest as he starts moving again, my hips rhythmically swaying against his. He tilts my body again, raising me and pushing through my sex over and over again with such a perfect balance that I’m close to tears. His lips close over my nipple, and he sucks my breast, my entire core tightening. As his hips pound against mine without break, both of us groan through every strong, frantic stroke. He’s keeping his eyes open. His gaze is so blue, so sensual. My body shudders with something so heavy and deep that I quickly try to shake off the feeling.

  “Fucking hell,” he growls, his breath warm and raspy against my neck as his glare softens. “I’m sorry, Kass.” His long hair tickles my sensitive skin as his body stiffens, and I know he’s already about to come. “I’ve just wanted you for so long.” He slams inside me hard, his chest growling with a deep groan as he strains, driving through my sex in uncontrollable savage thrusts as I lock my thighs tighter around his waist.

  “Jesus Christ. You feel so damn good.”

  After only a few seconds, he’s jetting inside me, pulsing, shuddering, and clutching my hips so tightly that I feel every surge of his thick erection pumping warm streams of ejaculate inside me.

  “Oh yes, Kass … fuck.” His voice cracks while he empties inside me.

  Sweltry gratification pulses through me, and I cry out his name and screw my eyes shut, tingling all over with an equally quick orgasm that burns through me like heated flames, my fingers digging through the flesh of his butt. He’s still tight against my body, and pleasure bursts through me as he pumps one last time, trembling against me and burying his length so deeply, I feel like I’m being split in two.

  My God. I knew it would be amazing. I just knew. But this, the sexiest, most erotic minutes of my life, is way more than anything I’ve ever daydreamed about. And for some ridiculous reason, I have the urge to bust a gut laughing. A slight inkling to tease him. Quick and urgent, watching the powerful Rhett Gentry lose himself to me so quickly makes me giddy.

  But I’ll keep the hankering to myself, knowing he might look at my teasing as disappointment. And it’s not at all. It’s story book. Something great.

  Something amazing.

  Chapter Twenty

 
; Rhett

  Sometimes beginnings are harder than endings. Breathe… Let go… Start over.

  An hour, maybe two, have passed. My lips are around her nipple again. Her pretty eyes, still filled with a growing appetite, blink up at me, while soft sighs fall from her lips. She tastes so good as I suck hard and reach for the other, giving it a firm roll between my fingertips. Her gaze blurs with vulnerability, her stiff nipples like two delicious, ripe berries. It hardens my dick. Lifts my balls.

  A thought from the past tries sidetracking me and I quickly wonder if Kass would enjoy having her bare ass spanked, or her sweet pussy clamped. Her legs bound and spread wide. Somehow, I don’t think so and don’t see myself headed that direction. I enjoy kink, but don’t need it to feel satisfied.

  “Rhett,” she pants. “Rhett…” Her small cries are a colossal aphrodisiac, her soft voice so sweet and feminine that it triggers a boiling lust inside me so intense that it lacks sane reasoning.

  With a hand sliding down her silky torso, I reach her clit and flick it with my finger, kissing my way down her belly until I’m tasting the sweet, slightly musky flavor of her heated pussy. My hand moves over the curve of her ass, toying with the small puckered hole between. She shudders at the brush of my finger against the spot I hope to become familiar with when the time is right. Clenching and tightening around my lips, she claws at my shoulders, and my tongue plunges deep inside her again and again before I nip at her clit and lick my way through her swollen slit. She’s trembling with chest-filled moans, and I push two fingers inside her and pump slowly but deep. Our eyes locked like magnets, she finally goes limp, giving into sweet undivided gratification.

  Right now, I don’t even know if the sun is rising or if it’s still dark outside. Time stopped the minute I felt her come on my dick for the first time, awakening familiarities I thought I’d lost. It’s been so long since I’ve touched a woman or smelled the female scent, and an eternity since I first laid eyes on Kass. My dick has been hard with desire ever since. Present time being no different, I want her again and again, her wet heat willingly opening up to me every time I turn hard. I want her in my bed. My domain. Kissing, touching, fucking, making love, making her body quake with satisfaction so many times and so intensely, that no matter what happens in the end, she’ll never forget what we shared. But, it’s not the right time. I’m not quite ready to take her to my bedroom yet, settling for the spare room instead.