by Jennifer Ann
“Please fuck me, Michael,” I plead, pulling away from his lips. “I need it hard, and I need it rough. I want to be reminded of you every time I move.”
His eyes flicker back and forth between mine. “And I want to take my time…make it last.”
“We don’t have that luxury,” I insist, taking his thick jaw in my hand. “And I can’t wait any longer.”
As his mouth returns to mine, I feel him pull his cock from his pants between us. I shiver when its smooth tip makes contact with my overly-sensitized opening.
“Yes, God…oh please,” I whimper. “Slide it inside of me. Michael…I need to feel you.”
Grunting, he pushes his way inside. With the first thrust, again it’s as if he’s splitting my channel in two with his massive flesh. The metal table jumps, screeching across the tiled floor. We both freeze, waiting a few seconds for a knock. When it doesn’t come, I urgently whisper, “Chair.”
Without having to be told again, he scoops me into his arms and falls back, giving me no choice but to once again straddle him as he settles back in the chair. His hands grip my hips, guiding me as he slips inside until I swear I’ll explode. I don’t understand what voodoo can make something with his girth fit all the way into me, but I’m not about to question it when it taps every last of my nerves still dancing from when he made me come.
As our eyes lock, an intensity builds that’s almost too much to take. It’s like we’re making the kind of connection that can’t be undone. Accepting each other for who we are. Fusing our souls.
“When I get out of here, I’m going to take care of you the way you deserve,” he promises.
“Michael—” I begin, wanting him to take it back even though I like the sound of us having a future together. I should tell him the truth. I should tell him the plan Jack and I devised. But his cock taps the most vulnerable part of me, winding me up like a bottle of fine champagne about to be opened.
“Promise you’ll be there for me when I get out,” he pleads. “Say you’re mine.”
“I am yours, Michael.”
Then his mouth is over mine, once again swallowing my whimpered cries as fireworks burst throughout my chest, and a violent shiver rips from my womb down to my toes.
With a dark growl, he pushes into me one final time until his warm release fills me to the core. As his strong arms wrap around me and he continues to ravage my lips in a life-altering kiss, it’s like being caught in the world’s sexiest bear trap. I’m completely relaxed for the first time since we’ve met.
The reality that we may never have the opportunity to do this again seeps into my soul—whether because he won’t offer his forgiveness when I betray him, because my plan goes exactly as I hope, or because something goes terribly wrong. When a crippling wave of sorrow crashes into me, there’s no stopping the confusing rush of tears that follows.
8
Michael
The first time Alexa shakes in my arms, I figure she’s still feeling the aftereffects of her second orgasm. It seemed more intense than the first the way she was thrashing above me. But then I taste the bitterness of tears in my mouth. Pulling away, I grab onto her hips.
“Hey. What’s wrong?” I ask, trying to get her to look at me.
“Shit, this is embarrassing.” With her chin tucked to her chest, she carefully wipes at her eyes. “I never cry.”
“And I’ve never felt anything remotely close to what I feel when I’m inside you,” I offer. “Guess we’re even.”
She laughs in a beautiful, trickling noise. Then her watering eyes flip upward to hold my gaze. “What if I can’t get you out of here? I made you a promise…and I’ll do everything I can…I have an idea that I think will work…but what if that isn’t enough? You don’t deserve to be in this place. You deserve a better life.” Then she buries her face in my neck and her tears saturate my skin. “I’m falling for you, Michael. I care too damn much. The way everything is happening…it’s all wrong. You shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t have to be together like this. We deserve a real shot at making whatever this is work.”
I tuck a strand of damp hair behind her ear and kiss the top of her head. Damn, I adore the hell outta this woman. It makes me angry as hell to think that this could really be the end of the line for us. She deserves better.
“I have faith that you can make it happen, Alexa. But if you don’t, we’ll find another way. There’s always another way.”
Holding her close with one arm, I rub her back with the other, and drop kisses in her hair until she’s calm and drawing lazy circles with her fingertips beneath my shirt. The ragged beats of her heart pound against my chest until I swear my heart has taken on the same pace.
“We’re going to be okay,” I promise, squeezing her tight.
The fact I’ve suddenly become optimistic of my situation is laughable considering I had lost hope a couple months back that I’d ever be a free man again. But since meeting Alexa, I’ve become more determined to break out of here than I have been about anything else in my life.
“I should move in case Smith decides to pay a surprise visit,” she decides after a few minutes of silence.
Though I know she’s right, I grunt in dismay before releasing her. First thing I’m going to do once I’m free is spend an entire week with this woman in bed, refusing any interruptions. I couldn’t give any less of a shit if I don’t do anything more than hold her.
Before she slips off my dick, she presses one last soft kiss to my lips. The cold, brutal absence of her body when she stands stings like a motherfucker. She goes to work in fixing her hair and clothes until she appears as cool and collected as when she entered, only with rosy cheeks and glossed-over eyes. Between the evidence on her face and the faint odor of sex in the air, it’s always possible Smith could catch on to what we’ve been doing. But with any luck, everything will fade over the next forty minutes.
As she releases the chair from the door, the reminder that she’ll be gone again in less than an hour all at once becomes crippling. The days between our short visits are becoming unbearable. We need more time.
“The other day you told me you don’t have any family,” I say as I’m straightening my pants. “No parents? Siblings?”
Arms crossed beneath her lush breasts, she returns to my side, leaning back against the table. She seems annoyed by the idea when she sighs. “I was an only child, thank God. I was transferred to state custody at the age of five. My parents died together from a heroine overdose five months later. All my grandparents were deceased long before I was born, and the only other blood relative I had was an aunt in New Orleans who wanted nothing to do with her sister’s child. I spent the next twelve years in ten different foster homes. I was finally emancipated after my seventeenth birthday.”
“Shit, that’s rough. Didn’t the state try to have you adopted?”
Her thick lashes flutter when she looks away. “No one wanted a kid that was born premature to a junkie.”
The idea of a young Alexa being raised by druggies has my stomach churning. And who the fuck wouldn’t want to adopt someone like her? It’s inconceivable that she was either a brat or unattractive at any point in her life. I imagine she was cute as hell when little, full of vinegar with beautiful blue eyes too big for her face. The fact that she became an attorney despite being dealt a shitty hand from the start speaks volumes to her determination and character.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” I say.
“You didn’t.” She offers a smile, but I can see right through it. She’s lived a lonely life, a lot like mine. “I survived. That’s enough.”
Fuck! I want to kill every last asshole that caused her the amount of pain reflected in her eyes. Relieved that she’s at least close enough to comfort, I run my fingers along the inside of her thigh. Leaning into my touch, she hums and rests a hand on my shoulder.
“Maybe that’s part of why we’re so drawn to each other,” I suggest in a gentle voice. “I didn’t exactly have the best
upbringing either.”
“At least you had Jack. He seems like a good man.”
I nod, unable to dispute the fact. I’m still bothered as shit that she doesn’t have anyone to call family. “You keep in touch with any friends from the service? Law school?”
“I met my best friend Tatum our freshman year of undergrad, and we’ve been like sisters ever since. We get together almost every night for drinks. For awhile we considered getting a place together, but in the end decided it’d be too awkward whenever one of us was dating.”
A boulder drops in my gut as I imagine her bringing guys back to her place. Not just because it makes me jealous as fuck, but I don’t like the idea of her being vulnerable to anyone. “Any old boyfriends I’ll be competing against?”
“I don’t really make time for dating.” She clears her throat as her fingers work on massaging a knot from my shoulder. “What about you? Any sibling-like friends? I imagine you’re pretty tight with the other guys in your club.”
“When I was younger, maybe, but most of them were older and more like uncles.” I lean back and close my eyes. Her magical fingers have me so relaxed that my hand slows on her thigh. “I keep in touch with a few guys from my Recon unit, but they’re scattered all over the country.”
“Do you think you’ll return to the Tampa area when you’re released?”
I look up at her in time to catch the tail-end of her hopeful expression. “I’m willing to go anywhere I’m wanted. I can find work in Miami.”
“Michael…” Her fingers move up to the back of my head. “I don’t know that it’s practical for us to plan a future together when all of this is still new. This could be nothing more than mind-blowing sex.”
“Bullshit,” I growl. “We both know there’s more going on here.” I hook my arm around her waist, drawing her near. “Do you always do the practical thing, baby girl?”
“Well no, but—”
“Then let’s follow our gut instincts. Throw caution at the wind or whatever the fuck that saying is. I’m not suggesting that we live together or anything remotely permanent—at least not yet. I just think we should see where this thing will go. Give each other a chance.” I nuzzle my face against her stomach and stroke my fingers over her panties. “Do you want that?”
Her lips part with a soft pant. “Yes. But…”
I apply a little more pressure, sinking a finger into her beneath the lace. “Will you wait for me, Alexa?”
“I want to,” she answers in a throaty voice that’s thick with desire and sexy as fuck. “Oh God, I really do. But—”
With a series of rapid bangs on the door, she lets out a noiseless gasp and springs around to the other side of the table. Not a second lags after she’s sitting before the door opens and Smith steps inside.
“Everything all right in here?” he asks, narrowing his eyes on me.
“There’s no need to check in,” Alexa snaps in an authoritative tone. I imagine it’s reminiscent of her days in the Army when she ordered grunts around. “The warden allotted us an hour, and I need every minute of that alone with my client.”
Pretending to cough, I cover up an unexpected chuckle. Yeah, I’m undoubtedly in love with this woman. Nothing she could do or say at this point could make me change my mind.
The way Smith’s lips press flat as his gaze jumps between us, I’m certain he’s onto our secret, knowing something’s off. But then he grunts and turns back to the door.
Alexa rolls her eyes to the ceiling the second he’s out of sight. “We’re going to have to be more careful with Captain Ass-wipe on guard.” Then she sets her open palm out on the table, smiling when I set my hand in hers and squeeze. “He won’t be our problem much longer.”
As she launches into attorney-speak about an upcoming motion and her professional plan of attack, I begin to fear what will happen if her plan doesn’t work and I’m forced to let her go. Worse yet, I’m terrified what she’ll do if my walls crumble around me and she stumbles across the truth.
The next two days I somehow survive once again without hearing anything from Alexa. I’m granted overtime in maintenance, working on repairing a series of holes in the dining hall created by a frustrated inmate, and time slips away like it’s nothing. But being without Alexa is everything.
She’s never far from my thoughts. Last time she left me with a lingering kiss and a downward gaze, almost if she was afraid it would be the last time we were alone. There wasn’t time to ask what was bothering her before Smith returned, but I could feel her reluctance electrifying the air. And that shit made me uneasy.
I jolt when someone barks my name like it’s a fucking swear word.
Smith stands over me, a sneer on his face. “You have a visitor.”
My heart skips around in my chest like a little kid’s on Christmas morning. But any chance of it being Alexa disappears when he adds, “Clean up this mess and get your ass down to the visitor’s center.”
Unless she’s forced to visit me as a civilian because they revoked my attorney visits for some reason—and I hope to shit they didn’t find one—it won’t be her. Several minutes later, as I shuffle into the stuffy room filled with sniffling family members and a handful of kids excited to see their pops, I nearly drop to my knees.
Dryden Hayes, the current president of Four Brothers and uncle of my former girlfriend, sits waiting for me at a table near the back of the room. He’s perfectly calm and collected as if waiting for an old friend. He’s always been a smooth looking son-of-a-bitch—the kind that turns women’s heads. Even with his temples peppered in gray, his steely eyes and smooth features are that of a movie star gracefully aging into their golden years. He’d look more at ease in a suit and tie than the black t-shirt and his club’s leather cut he’s wearing.
Planting myself in the doorway, I growl to myself, ready to tear the vindictive man apart. I’d give my left nut to have five minutes alone with the bastard.
“Move it, Harrison,” Ryks barks at my side, wiping a line of sweat from his brow. He’s normally one of the most passive of the guards here, but for some reason he seems especially impatient, shifting his weight back and forth.
“I didn’t approve of this visitor,” I reply, shaking my head. “There must be a mistake.”
“Take it up with the warden.”
“You can’t make me go in there,” I tell him with a dark sneer.
He huffs impatiently, stretching his neck back. “What’re you, ten? I can make you do whatever the hell I want.” Though he’s a good fifty pounds heavier than I am, mostly as his belly is round with fat, I could easily take him in the outside world. Here, where I’m bound by rules and the threat of more time in this cesspool, he’s absolutely right.
Turning, I look him in the eye. “What do you care if I see this guy or not?”
As expected, he squirms beneath my stare. “I don’t. I’m just doing my job.”
“Bullshit,” I mumble to myself. I’d be willing to bet all my commissary stash that Dryden bought his way in to see me. Knowing Ryks barely gets paid over minimum wage and has three kids to feed, I can’t say I really blame the guy for taking a bribe. Just wish I could’ve helped him out some other fucking way.
When Dryden catches me coming in his direction, his lips quirk with a maniacal smile. “Well, well. The mighty Mad John Harrison, reduced to little more than slavery. How you likin’ the company here, boy? You find yourself a strappin’ young man to keep your bunk warm at night?”
The rumbling baritone of his voice has my stomach churning as I sit across from him. “Why the fuck are you here?”
He pretends to balk. “Now what would your momma say if she heard you using such foul language?”
Heat spikes my veins as I picture leaping over the table to strangle the life from him. It takes all the willpower I can muster to stay seated. “Don’t you dare talk about her,” I warn, nostrils flickering uncontrollably. “What the fuck do you want, Dryden? I’m not in the mood to play your bulls
hit games.”
“Fine, we’ll do it your way.” His lips tighten as he leans in with a gaze as hard as steel. “I’m here because there are rumors goin’ around that you hired someone to dig into my club’s business ventures.”
I’m suddenly sick, concrete coating my insides. What in the hell has Alexa been up to? Since Dryden seems to be gaging my reaction as he continues, I attempt to at least look stoic.
“Now I know you’re not that stupid, boy, or I would’ve taken care of it by now. You, Jack, anyone who’d be of any importance, could simply…disappear in the blink of an eye. You know how that works, don’t you, MJ?”
My veins run ice cold. If he discovers there’s an attorney trying to bust me out, even if he doesn’t know that she means the world to me at this point, he wouldn’t bat an eye at including her in the threat. What if he also bribed someone into giving him a copy of the visitors log? Now that I know he’s watching me, it’s too fucking dangerous for Alexa to return.
I suddenly want to scoop the asshole’s eyes out for taking away the only thing I have to look forward to in this dump.
“I haven’t hired anyone to do shit,” I sneer through a clenched jaw.
“That’s interesting, because I know you were digging around in club business right before they arrested you for gutting my brother.” His eyes narrow, overflowing with poison. “What did you think you were going to accomplish, MJ? And what the fuck did you do with my niece?”
Without breaking his hard stare, I say, “Look at me. I’m in prison…for life. How could I have done anything with her?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. We both know she went missing right after you killed Rambone.” His lips bend with a scowl. “I’m only going to warn you this one time to keep your nose out of club business. You’ve destroyed my family. I’ll be damned if I let you destroy everything I’ve worked for too. Everything your father worked for…at least up until he tried to take the coward’s way out.”
