Locked Out of Love

by Mary K. Norris

  She wasn’t wearing a bra.

  Joel swallowed thickly as that need within him grew to nearly uncontrollable proportions.

  “Then stay.” His voice came out low and gravelly.

  Her gaze heated and she licked her lips.

  He wanted to groan at the sight. His pants were suddenly too tight, his cock straining against the material. Blood roared in his veins.

  Melanie lifted her fingers to trace the side of his face that wasn’t bruised and said thoughtfully, “I don’t want to think about what happened tonight or what it might mean. For right now I only want you.”

  That did it.

  Joel crushed her against his body, fusing his mouth to hers. She met him with equal fervor, like a damn busting open. She melted against him, lips parting, tongue tangling with his. Her fingers delved into his hair and she ground her hips erotically into his.

  Holy shit.

  He wasn’t going to last two minutes if she kept this up.

  Melanie pulled back and grasped the hem of his shirt to pull it over his head, nearly frantic in her movements. Her eyes blazed with uncontrolled desire, and when she stared up at him with that mischievous grin …

  His head dropped back.

  Yup, not going to last two minutes.

  She pulled him to her, her lips back on his, ravaging him. He dropped his grip from her waist to cup her ass. Taking the initiative, Melanie jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist, as if she couldn’t get close enough.

  Joel hadn’t been expecting the move and he stumbled with the added weight. His back hit the wall, something crashed to the floor, but Joel didn’t pay it any attention. With one hand holding Melanie firmly against him, he let the other explore underneath the oversized top she had on.

  He traced his fingertips up her spine, marveling at how smooth her skin felt and how she arched her back and seemed to purr from his caresses.

  He pushed off the wall and quickly switched their positions, so that Melanie’s back was now against the wall. He tore the peach sweatshirt from her body and his heart thumped erratically in his chest as the sight of her breasts. Her chest rose and fell with her heavy breathing, hypnotizing him. He dropped his head and started a trail of kisses along her collarbone. He could taste the sea salt that was still on her body, but underneath he could detect the faint trace of her white chocolate and strawberry scent. It drove him crazy and he thrust his hips against hers in need.

  She moaned, her hands pulling his head closer to her chest, urging him downward. He knew where she wanted him to be, and he wanted to be there, too, but first he wanted to make her beg.

  Keeping one hand firmly beneath her, he moved to cup her breast. He trailed his tongue down the center of her chest and slowly over to the nipple where he circled the peak, once, twice. She squirmed. He placed feather light kisses all around and then moved to the next breast, repeating the same torture.

  “Joel,” she begged.

  It was music to his ears. Taking pity on her, he gave her what she wanted—what his mouth watered to do. He took one nipple into his mouth and suckled it.

  He heard a thump as Melanie’s head dropped back to hit the wall. From his position at chest level he could barely make out her eyes shut in ecstasy. Her hips were already moving into his with an erotic rhythm.

  He tore his gaze away, afraid her wild sensuality was going to push him over the edge before he even got out of the gate.

  Fuck, he needed to be inside her. Now.

  He stepped back from the wall and released the hold on her bottom so that she started to slide down his body, her legs reflexively moving from around his waist to the ground, where he’d be better able to tear those hideous sweats from her sweet legs.

  As if surfacing from a dream, she righted her head and blinked up at him. “What’re you doing?”

  He grinned at her, slid a finger into the waistband of her pants, and gave a playful tug. “Liberating you from this fashion atrocity.”

  The flush already on her cheeks darkened. “They’re my aunt’s,” she said defensively.

  “I don’t care who’s they are as long as you’re no longer wearing them.”

  He tugged again and Melanie’s breath caught as he lowered himself with her pants, exposing all that beautiful flesh one inch at a time. When the sweats were nothing but a puddle at her ankles, he looked up at her with a predatory smile.

  He could have sworn her legs wobbled.

  He ran his hands up the backs of her calves, silently telling her that he’d catch her if she fell. He leaned in and pressed an open-mouthed kiss on the inside of her knee. First one leg, then the other. He moved up and pressed another set of kisses on the inside of her thighs. She quivered beneath his lips. He dragged out the torture, skimming his mouth up, up to her hipbone, then back down to slowly blow on her exposed flesh.

  Her hands dove into his hair again, trying to drive him to her wet center, but he resisted. “Not yet.” He chuckled and moved to her other hipbone. “I want to learn every last curve of you. I want to taste every last inch.”

  Melanie whimpered. “Joel, please.”

  Her fingers tightened in his hair, urging him—no, begging him—to take mercy on her.

  He followed the pull of her hands to between her legs. At the first lick she swore, her body going tense, nails digging into his scalp. He pushed her legs further apart and didn’t cease his pursuit. Her taste was intoxicating, and he slid a finger deep inside her wet heat. He slowly thrust with his finger, sucking her clit between his lips until her body bucked, the muscles around his finger tensing. She cried out in the throes of her climax, and Joel devoured the sight of her. He continued to thrust his finger in and out until she came down from her high.

  When she finally peeled her eyes open he stood before her. A satisfied grin pulled at his mouth. He waited till her eyes locked on his before he took the finger he’d pleasured her with and sucked it clean.

  Chapter 16

  She was in big trouble.

  She was done.

  Addicted.

  Joel had made her come so effortlessly, so explosively that she still shook from the aftershocks. And the way he’d licked his finger like he couldn’t wait for seconds?

  Her sex clenched in anticipation.

  He simply stood in front of her, male satisfaction rolling off him in palpable waves. His midnight eyes sparkled, his hair in complete disarray. He looked sexy beyond all reason.

  And she wanted more.

  So much more.

  His pants were strained at the zipper.

  She hadn’t realized he was still partly dressed. She snaked a finger through one of the front belt loops and tugged him closer. Close enough that her breasts brushed his chest. When that friction wasn’t enough, she leaned into him further and wantonly moved her chest against his.

  His eyes flashed with hunger and she smiled up at him while her hands quickly made work of the button and zipper on his pants. She pushed them down along with his boxers in one quick move, careful of the impressive erection he was sporting.

  Clearly the guys who used to bully him in high school never got a look at him in the locker room. There was nothing to tease about in that department.

  Wanting to deliver the same kind of torment, she placed her hands on the back of his ankles and dragged her fingernails up his calves with just the smallest amount of pressure. When she got to the back of his knees she stuck her butt in the air and rose into a half bent position.

  She could feel the muscles of his legs, coiled tight, as if fighting for control. All that restrained strength. Mmm …

  Her face was level with his crotch, and she called up to him in a husky voice, “Do you taste as good as you look?”

  ”Hell.”

  She smiled.

  She slipped one of her hands between his legs to cup his balls as she took him in her mouth. His body jerked, sliding his cock another inch deeper into her mouth. She moaned and sucked him long and hard.

  She
closed her eyes, finding her rhythm.

  She didn’t get very far.

  In a blink her back was against the wall again, his warm body pressing into hers in all the right places. She had no idea how it happened. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.

  He paused. “I can grab a condom from upstairs.”

  She shook her head. “I’m on the pill and I’m clean.”

  “Same. I mean, I’m not on the pill, but I’m clean.”

  She kissed him.

  And then he was inside her.

  She cried out as he filled her completely.

  He paused momentarily. “Are you okay?”

  She felt herself flush. So she was a little vocal in the bedroom. She couldn’t help it. “I’m good.”

  He arched a brow. “Yeah?” He pulled out and thrust back in. “How good?”

  She bit her lip to keep from moaning, but it escaped her anyway. “So good.” She clutched his shoulders and ground down on him.

  He growled low in his throat before increasing the speed and intensity of his thrusts. He pounded into her over and over again. She was consumed by the sensations. Pleasure overrode everything else, the tension in her body building. Joel continued his relentless attack and she arched against him until she came apart with a shout.

  She was still wrapped around him like a boa constrictor when he found his own release. He called her name, his body quaking.

  His hot breath fanned her neck for a few seconds before he got himself back under control. He leaned back, giving her room to drop to her feet and stand on her own two wobbly legs.

  He pushed off the wall but one palm still rested against it, as if he wouldn’t be able to stand otherwise.

  “Still good?” he asked with a smirk.

  She pushed her sweaty hair out of her face and smiled coyly up at him. “Beyond good,” she told him honestly. She stretched like a cat after a long nap, feeling all that delicious tension leave her body. She was abuzz with endorphins.

  She was ready to take on the world.

  She turned to Joel, who’d stepped back to give her room to stretch. He smiled lazily at her, eyes half lidded. He looked sated and ready to sleep.

  “You look sleepy.” She ran her hands through his hair like she’d always wanted.

  “You’re not?”

  She shook her head. As well as being a vocal bedmate, she was also one of those people who got a boost of energy after sex.

  Joel seemed to put that all together as he studied her, one brow arched in disbelief. “You’re really deflating my ego right now with the fact that I can’t keep up.”

  She laughed. “You had a long day, and I slept in the car. I’d say you’re entitled to being tired right about now. Your sexual prowess is still very much intact, but next time you better bring your stamina.” She winked.

  “Next time, huh?”

  She could see him growing hard again.

  “Come on.” He held his hand out to her. “Let’s head upstairs and I’ll show you the bedroom. I’m sure there’s something we could find in there to keep that energized body of yours entertained.”

  • • •

  Joel woke to the vicious vibrating of his phone on the hardwood nightstand. He threw one of his arms over his eyes, as if that would make the sound go away.

  It didn’t work.

  Beside him Melanie started shifting. Cursing under his breath, Joel snatched the phone and went into his bathroom so as not to wake her.

  “What?” he hissed into his cell.

  There was a shocked paused on the other side followed by Felix’s tempered voice. “I get a text message from my fiancé that you were in the ER last night after a car wreck and when I call to check on you, all I get is an annoyed, ‘what?’”—a brief pause—“and not only that, you texted Cali about your accident but not me?”

  Joel grimaced. He’d done it on purpose, of course, texting Cali and not Felix. He’d sent the message once they were released from the ER, and Joel knew with Felix's schedule as a baker he would have been awake that early. Cali, on the other hand, didn’t like to wake up before ten o'clock, giving Joel time for some much needed sleep as well as peace and quiet before having to deal with the guild’s questions and concerns.

  He glanced at the clock on his phone: 11:45 a.m. Bless Cali’s heart, she’d slept in much later than Joel could have anticipated.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to Felix. “I needed to rest. I wasn’t up to meeting the guild and rehashing what had happened.”

  “Joel, that’s not why I’m giving you a hard time. I’m your best friend. Why didn’t you call me right away? I would have been there in a second to give you a ride, to bring you donuts, anything.”

  Joel felt like a real jackass. Of course Felix only wanted to be there for him as a friend; this had nothing to do with guild business. Felix would have wanted a call if Joel had stubbed his toe and been admitted to the ER.

  Joel rubbed the back of his neck. “Shit, I’m sorry, man. My whole family was there, it was so crowded already I didn’t even think … ”

  Felix sighed through the line. “It’s all good, but next time call, all right?”

  “Sure.”

  There was another sigh and Joel could picture Felix running his hand through his hair. “You need me to pick you up?”

  “No need. My mom loaned me her extra wheels.”

  “That rusted piece of shit?”

  Joel grinned. “Yeah.”

  “It’s no problem for me to swing by and get you, you know.”

  Joel peeked out of the bathroom. Melanie was still sleeping. She’d already invaded his territory on the bed, lying smack in the middle, arms splayed wide. His chest swelled with emotion. “I appreciate it, Felix, but there’s no need. I’ll be by Syd’s after closing to debrief you guys.”

  “Debrief?”

  Joel’s free hand fisted. “Yeah, it appears our men in black are getting bolder when it comes to approaching us.”

  Felix swore. “They’re the ones that hit you?” He cursed some more.

  Joel hesitated. Did he tell Felix the rest?

  He was still debating if he would tell the guild about him and Melanie. Their bonding still felt so new, he didn’t want to share it with anyone. Hell, he’d been denying it all to Felix. Felix would probably gloat until the end of time. But after he left Felix in the dark about being in the ER, Joel owed it to him.

  “That’s not the only thing.” He interrupted Felix’s colorful language tirade.

  Felix’s voice cut off instantly.

  After a tense moment, he said, “What else happened?”

  “Melanie was with me when they attacked. That’s how I know they’re behind it; the guy we saw loitering outside Syd’s clinic pulled me from my car when we went over the bridge.”

  “Fuck, you went over a bridge? What bridge?”

  Joel waved his comment away even though he couldn’t see over the phone. “Newport Boulevard. We landed in the bay. Melanie’s seat belt wouldn’t release … ”

  Joel drifted off as his rested mind started to put the puzzle pieces together. The man outside his car. Melanie’s seat belt. Getting hit into the bay.

  They’d planned everything. But down to pulling him from his truck? Effectively leaving Melanie?

  It didn’t make sense. Why would they want Joel but leave Melanie to die? Why orchestrate that whole fiasco?

  “Joel? You there, dude?”

  “Yeah,” he said, distracted. “I’m here.” He told Felix the whole story, ending with how he and Melanie had bonded. Then he waited.

  It didn’t take Felix long.

  He let out a low whistle. “And who was the one who thought Melanie wasn’t his Mirror Mate?”

  Joel pinched the bridge of his nose. If he didn’t answer, Felix would only continue to bug the shit out of him. “I was,” he conceded.

  “I’m sorry, I think my phone broke up there for a second. What was that?”

  Joel could he
ar the shit-eating grin in Felix’s voice.

  “I said go to hell.”

  Felix laughed. “Fine, fine. I’ll take what I can get. Congrats, man, not on the accident, of course, but on bonding. How do you feel?”

  Joel rubbed his chest. “I feel fine.”

  “Fine? Just fine?”

  Joel leaned against his doorway, double-checking on Melanie again. “You don’t understand,” he said in a hushed tone. “Our time was rushed. Melanie didn’t reach out for me—or whatever you want to call it—because she wanted me, she did it because she was scared. It was almost like it was forced upon us, and that’s not exactly how I’d envisioned bonding with my Mirror Mate.”

  Felix made a sympathetic sound on the other side. “I hear you, but you have to remember that no one can force you to bond, so something had to be there in the first place. It might have been a bit rushed, like you said, but think of it as a shotgun wedding. You got the major part over with faster than most of us and now you only have to smooth out all the bumps and grooves. And, you know, hope Melanie’s not some secret psycho that you’re accidently bonded to for life.”

  Joel grinned despite himself. “Thanks, man.”

  He hung up but stayed where he was in the doorway of his bathroom, watching Melanie. His mind whirled, trying to piece together everything that had happened. He somehow felt he was missing something, something big, and he hated every second of it.

  What if it was right in front of his face?

  He stared at Melanie, unseeing, as he tried to force his tired mind to work everything out, to go over every detail.

  What was he missing?

  He sighed and rubbed his face. All he could do was wait for this mysterious new group to make their next move.

  Chapter 17

  “What do you mean I’ve changed?” Melanie stuffed another forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. She’d awakened nearly an hour ago only to find that it was almost time for her shift at work. She’d showered and changed back into her aunt’s horrible sweats before finding Joel in the kitchen, making her food. She expected idle chit-chat, maybe some awkward morning-after sex silence that sometimes happened, but nope. Joel had launched right into business. Starting with a topic she rather not think about: soul mates.