by Tricia Lynne
“Fuck, you feel good. I won’t last.” He started to move faster, hips flexing and retreating in short, deep strokes that set my nerve endings on fire.
“Declan, so good. You’re so good. Jesus.”
Moving back just enough, he adjusted the angle of his hips, reached down between us, brushing a fingertip over my swollen bud. So deep. He was so deep; his face strained with the effort to hold his orgasm at bay.
Then Declan brushed something inside me long hidden and dormant. I shattered moaned his name long and low. My body tightened as wave after wave of intense sensation rolled through me, wracking my muscles with shudders. My channel constricted and released, trapping him, drawing him in, relaxing long enough to gain a stronger hold.
“Avery,” he rasped, and with one final thrust, he buried to the hilt. A hearty tremor moved over him as a low groan escaped his lips. He swelled so big that I felt the kick of his shaft with each pulse his body gave as he jetted his orgasm inside of me.
Declan collapsed against me; his gaze looked dark and feral as he leaned his head to mine. “Jesus Christ. That was…” His breath sawed out.
“Religious.”
He smiled down at me, eyes dancing as he brushed silky lips over mine and smoothed the hair away from my cheek. “Yeah, it was. Did I hurt you? I meant to take that a lot slower.” The sentiment trailed off, replaced by a look of concern.
“I’m perfect.” I brushed his jaw with a finger. The gentleman had let himself back in. “I may walk a bit funny later, though.”
He chuckled, shaking the bed as he rolled to the side and pulled off the condom. Declan tucked me into the crook of his arm. With my head on his chest, I listened to his heart slow as we both grew quiet while we caught our breath.
Finally, “Avery?”
“Hmm?”
“I think you were made for me.”
Chapter 12
The fuck did he just say?
Panic and hope crept through my belly in equal measure in a stomach-churning combination I fought to push down.
“You got quiet over there.”
Resting my chin on his chest, I lied. “I was admiring your ink.”
“Mmhmm.” He knew it.
“I saw the wings onstage. They’re incredible. Must have taken awhile.”
“Thirty-two hours,” he said flatly, and I knew he was letting it go.
“Why bat wings?”
Declan rubbed a hand over his face, exhaled. “We’ve all got our demons, don’t we? Everybody struggles with something, some flaw. We carry that shit around, like monkeys on our backs. Demons seemed more appropriate for a back piece than monkeys.” He shrugged. “Definitely wouldn’t look as cool.”
“I don’t imagine a guy like you struggles much with his flaws.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Enlighten me.”
He paused. “Not now, when I’m still wrapped up in your scent.”
The last thing I needed was to get attached. If he wanted to play his cards close to the vest? Yeah, I could respect that. Especially when he leaned up to kiss me and his lips lingered against mine.
“Damn, your mouth is addictive,” he added, lying back.
I could say the same of him. The man was delicious. I wanted my mouth against his constantly.
“What about this tattoo?” I traced the outline of a gray-and-green Celtic knot inked over his ribs.
“A tribute to my roots. That tickles.” Wiggling, he grinned that sexy grin.
“Hmm, roots and wings? Bit of a contradiction don’t you think?”
“Depends on the perspective.”
Continuing my Lewis and Clark with his body as he brushed fingers over my naked back, I moved lower to the black script arched over his abdomen. Tracing it with my finger, the lettering was a beautiful, long and loopy, modern calligraphy. His stomach muscles tensed with a quick inhale. His grip tightened in my hair as he arched toward me.
Trailing my lips over his lower stomach, I dipped my tongue into his navel and he shivered. “Mr. Sensitive.”
“Not usually,” Declan retorted with a wry brand of confusion.
“Wretched Soul?” I fingered the script.
He exhaled another long breath. “Shakespeare.”
Shit. I was prying. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me…I just think they’re beautiful.”
His face turned smug as he lifted his head to meet my eyes. “You think the huge demon wings tattooed over my back are beautiful?”
“Yeah. They’re definitely macabre, but no less lovely. It’s just a different kind of beauty.”
“I wouldn’t think a woman like you would find beauty in something so dark.”
“I didn’t think a man like you would find me attractive, either,” I countered. And knew as soon as the words tumbled out, it was exactly what he wanted.
“Well then, I guess it depends on the perspective, doesn’t it?”
“Ass.” I slapped his stomach with a crack, not quite hiding my sheepishness.
He snickered. “ ‘A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry…’ ”
I knew that quote. He hadn’t finished it.
“ ‘But were we burdened with like weight of pain, As much or more we should ourselves complain.’ ” A look of astonishment crept over Declan’s face. “Comedy of Errors?”
“Yeah…wow. Can’t believe you knew that.”
“I had a thing for Shakespeare in college. Why that line?”
“We really gonna get into this now?”
“Not if you don’t want to. I just think the words are evocative, and in that beautiful script. But I didn’t mean to make you uncomf—”
“It has to do with my dad.” Declan sighed, brushed a free hand over his face. “I don’t even know why I want to tell you this.”
I stayed silent.
“When my dad finally tracked down my mom, she sent us packing without hesitation. It broke him. Twisted him into someone else. He pined for her for years and drowned his sorrow like any good Irishmen—in the bottom of a whiskey bottle.” Declan let out a heavy sigh. “My senior year of high school, she died of an overdose in some seedy motel. She’d never tried to contact us, never gave a shit about the son and husband she left behind, but the old man kept tabs on her anyway.”
His brows drew together with the ache of memories best left in the past. “Unrequited love? The pain of what she did to him? And still he mourned her. I decided then I’d never allow myself to get into that position. Never let anyone have that much control over me.”
I was sure, then, that Declan’s running the night before had nothing to do with me. Getting our hands on each other had been intense. I’d felt his leash tighten around his neck and threaten his control. It scared him.
“I figured him for a fool. Falling for a woman who didn’t love him. Told him so. Told him he was pathetic. That we’d been better off without her and he shouldn’t mourn some junkie who threw us away like garbage.” He met my eyes and his guilt was palpable. “He didn’t have much to do with me after that. The tattoo is my reminder that I never know what other people have been through in their lives, and nobody’s pain should be mocked.” Staring at the ceiling, his face creased.
I could see Declan’s temper was something he regretted, and suddenly, it wasn’t hard to imagine the flaws he thought he had. “You know, when my brother died everything fell apart. Our whole family just crumbled. Then my mom died, too, and my dad…After that, he paid the bills, put food on the table, but I think I looked too much like my mom.” I met Declan’s gaze. “I’d become this tangible reminder of everything he thought was wrong with his life. Dead wife. Dead son. Stuck with a teenage girl he never wanted to begin with.” I shrugged, trying to lighten the burden of the pain. “I went from bei
ng transparent to invisible.
“I tried, for a long time, to be what I thought he wanted, but…”
I shook my head, let my eyes fall to the comforter. “He remarried when I left for college. He has a new family now. I’m not part of it.”
Declan brushed his palm up my back, soothing us both. “Kindred spirits.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I met his eyes with a hollow smile.
We seriously needed to lighten shit up.
Slinking up his body, I brushed my breasts against him as I studied another tattoo—a red-and-black sugar skull that covered one pectoral. The details crawled over his collarbone and up the side of his neck. It was a riot of bright colors paired with morose shading—life and death, and the beauty of both—or so I thought. Until I noticed the skull’s pierced tongue, which was actually Declan’s pierced nipple.
“And this?” I pulled the barbell between my lips, giving it a sharp tug.
His breath hitched. “You just notice that?” The quirk of his mouth was wicked and he laughed at the same time.
I nodded, bit my lip to keep from giggling.
“My first ink, I was seventeen and I thought it would look cool.” A wide grin built into a rumbling laugh as he wrapped a hand around my nape, tugging me into a kiss through our smiles.
“Declan?” I sobered, sat back on my heels.
“Yeah?”
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re stinky again. Not like skin after the beach.” I added, and gasped as he leaned forward to suck the tip of my breast into his mouth, whirling his tongue around it before he let it pop free.
“We need a bath.” Rolling me to the side, he stood. Every inch of the man’s body was glorious, but the carved V at his hips? Mmmm. And even soft, his cock was impressive. When my eyes finally returned to his face, he winked, giving me that sexy half grin. Fucker. “Fix us another drink. I’ll start the water.”
I watched him move down the hall. God, that was a fine ass. I itched to smack it, hear the crack my hand made across his skin. Just the thought warmed me to a shudder and I sighed wistfully as I rolled from the bed.
Wrapped in the sheet, I made two fresh drinks and knotted my hair on top of my head.
“You coming?” His gritty bass echoed off the bathroom walls as I rounded the corner with an impish grin and two glasses of bourbon.
“Not yet, baby, but give me some time.”
He smirked, adjusted the water temperature in the oversized pedestal tub. “I really do like that mouth but lose the sheet.” He squirted body wash under the running water and I watched as he righted, the muscles of his back shifting in sinuous lines. “I didn’t tell you to cover up.”
“I didn’t fucking ask, now did I?”
His amusement was blatant, but he settled it when he tugged the fold between my breasts and the sheet fell to the floor. Yes, Declan had already seen me naked, but it made me so uncomfortable that if I hadn’t been holding the glasses, I would’ve had to fight the urge to cross my arms. I couldn’t, however, control the blush heating my cheeks with the way his eyes drew over me.
“Now, that’s pretty. Hot, naked, and holding my bourbon.” Continuing his leisurely perusal of my body, his heavy shaft started to stand up and say “Hi.” Absently, he ran a hand along the length. “Damn.”
That was all it took for my body to liquefy. Immersion therapy at its finest.
“You aren’t too hard on the eyes, either.” I gestured to his semi.
He looked down, then gave me that fuck-me grin with heated green eyes. “Mmm, not yet, sweetness. But give me some time.” Oh, he was a clever one. My bad boy with a sweet streak was smart, too. Irresistible.
Shit. I’d do well to remember it was only a fling.
Declan took the lowballs and set them next to the tub. “You know, I’ve seen a lot of boobs living here, plus I’m in a band. But these, are without a doubt, the best set of tits I’ve ever laid eyes on.” He brushed one of the stiff peaks.
“Yeah, you and the rest of Bourbon Street,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What was that?” Declan plucked, fascinated, at a tight bud. “You have the prettiest nipples. So big and pink. The same color as the lips between your legs.”
How observant.
My cheeks heated again, but I lost my train of thought when he sucked said nipple into his mouth and pinched the bead between his teeth, “Ahh.” I gasped at the quick shot of pain and arched forward.
“You like a bite of pain with your pleasure, sweetness?” Declan’s breath tickled over my ear as he scooted me to the tub. When his cock brushed over the cleft of my ass, I shuddered.
Latching onto my hips, he rubbed against me. “Damn, you’re so responsive. Like a cat asking me to scratch an itch.” His rough finger skimmed down my spine, lingering between the top of my cheeks.
I stepped into the tub slid forward to shut the water off, hiding the small roll of my stomach in bubbles, and waited for him to get behind me. Winding his legs around the outside of my hips, he slid into the water, then handed me my glass. I sipped relaxed against his chest, knowing the roll would disappear as I leaned back.
Declan ran a bar of soap over my shoulders. “What do you do back in Dallas?”
I’d skated that tidbit at Grand’Mère, and luckily, it hadn’t come up again. “I’m a mechanical engineer.”
He dropped the soap with a splash….And that’s why I hadn’t mentioned it, because of that reaction. It was like men couldn’t reconcile my boobs with my brain. The men who I worked for had made it clear that the only way a woman would make partner would be to become one of the boys. Not that far of a stretch since I’d already had so much practice.
“No shit? I never would have guessed.”
I stiffened, leaned forward. “What? Women can’t be engineers in your narrow little world? Or am I not smart enough because I have big tits?”
“Huh? No, wait. Not what I meant. I just…I can’t picture you all buttoned up in business suits, hunched over a desk. You seem more like…I mean you run around in Vans and concert T-shirts and shit. That fucking dress that drove me insane all night. I would have guessed you did something more artistic, less analytical is all. Believe me, I have no doubt about how smart you are.”
I forced my shoulders to relax. Declan started to soap my back again and I exhaled the rush of tension. “Sorry. I guess I’m oversensitive about having a vagina in a career field full of dicks.”
He chuckled. “Honestly, this closeted nerdy thing I’m imagining is hot. Do you have reading glasses?” I smiled over my shoulder and the last of the tension melted away. “Seriously, it doesn’t sound like you’re happy. Why do it if you don’t like it?”
“Mmmm,” I groaned as he worked over a knot in my neck. “Truth is, I love design. But my firm—they’re prestigious, but not real female friendly. I’ve had to fight my way through a lot of assholes to get where I am, and if I had a dick to go with my balls, I’d already be a partner.” I sipped, swallowed. There were generally two kinds of women allowed in the good ol’ boys club at my firm: Women who slept their way to the top—and still had to step and fetch—and women who did their best not to be women at all.
“I’ve grown to resent it, trying to be one of the guys, pretending to be someone I’m not. Biting my tongue for the sake of my career path.” All to be the first female partner, when they’d already choked out the little bit of femininity I’d cultivated. I also resented how much of their work I did while they took the accolades. I was tired of being the workhorse and watching men get promoted for my work.
“Not a chance in hell.” Declan’s breath tickled the hair loose at my nape. “You’re far from one of the guys. Very far.”
It was exactly what I needed to hear. “And here I thought I really did have a set of balls,” I joked.
“Oh, no doubt you do.
Big fucking balls, sweet. But you need a man who has a set as big as yours.”
“You think your balls are big enough, huh?”
“Avery—” Declan tensed. “I don’t do the relationship thing. If that’s what you thought when I said that—”
“Slow your roll, ego-monster. I’m just here on vacation. Plus, as you said, I have my own balls. I don’t need another set.” He chuckled and relaxed. “Now that I’ve assuaged your relationship fears, tell me why you don’t do them.”
“Simple. I know I’m screwed up about women. Truth is, I don’t think I’m capable of that kind of love. To subject a woman to me long term? I’d only be leading her on. So, I’m up front about what she can expect from me, and if she ends up with a broken heart, she can only blame herself.”
I sighed. “Well, at least you’re honest. And your theory on ball size would explain the orgasm thing.”
“What orgasm thing? I felt you come. Fucking A, did I feel it.”
“Oh, yeah. I definitely came. It’s just…that’s the first time it’s happened with a man inside of me.” I shrugged. “I usually can’t get off that way. I didn’t think it was a big deal until tonight.”
“You’ve never had an orgasm during sex? Jesus. You’ve been screwing the wrong guys, sweetness.” Declan placed an openmouthed kiss on the back of my neck, soothing the harshness of his words.
“No shit. You’ve been enlightening. I have a hard time shutting things out and focusing on sensations during sex. That’s not a problem with you because you overwhelm my senses.”
Declan didn’t say anything for the space of several seconds, then he pushed his arms underneath mine and squeezed my breasts up and out of the water, thumbing the tips. My nipples puckered at the cool air and my body came to life. “You haven’t been with a lot of guys, have you?”
“No, why? Was it that bad?” My laugh sounded cynical even to my own ears.
“Mmmm, you’re amazing.” His hands skimmed down my sides and the ache in my abdomen sharpened. “I think you already know that. I’m no two-stroke donkey, but I had a hard time hanging on…and I never lose control like that.”
