“I want to feel you,” I demanded.
He smiled against me. “You will. But for now…” Mac caught my hands and dragged them over my head, stretching my body. It was both sweet relief and brutal obstruction, because as he brought my arms up, it forced him into closer contact which had him groaning and rocking up against me. It became another partial frustration because he stayed where he was, with his hips tucked too low for me to do much about his position other than shift around.
But I knew why he made love to me like this.
Bump.
He was protecting our baby.
Mac, on the other hand, could do plenty about his contact with me whenever he wanted, with his hips wedged against the bed and his upper body supported on one elbow. Like the magician he was, he seemed to truly work his craft right now. His skin could touch me in every place at once. Or at least it felt that way. His mouth on one breast, a hand cupping the other while still using his free hand to grip my hip. Then he was palming my ass, muttering in my ear.
My head spun, the room moving with it. It took a minute to realize it was just him, flipping me onto my stomach, giving himself access to my back. He slid his lips down my spine, pausing over each bump. His hands gripped my hips, pulling me up ass first. I shivered when he dragged my panties down.
A half second later, a strangled cry tore out of me as he pressed his face against me, his tongue licking into my pussy. Embarrassment and need twisted, twined, contorted through me and I tried to wiggle, to move away from him. “Mac… wait…oh God.” I was already so hot, so desperate, and one spiraling thrust of his fingers sent me over.
He kissed his way back up my spine and spread some of his weight out over me, arms propping up the rest. “I want to know every last inch of you,” he said, his voice a low growl against my ear. He cupped my ass, spreading the cheeks and sliding his fingers up and down the crease. “Every part, mon ange.”
There it was again, that husky-voiced endearment, sending hot darts of tenderness and want like an arrow straight through my heart, forever changing how it would beat for him—or skipped a beat, rather.
He let my body take some of his weight off of me, rocking back and forth against my ass. His cock was hard, thick, heavy. And the punch of arousal was so strong, I felt like it’d steal all the air from my lungs.
“Mac, please,” I whispered, reaching forward to try and grab his wrist.
He twisted away, grabbing both my hands and pinning them over my head. “It’s my time to play, sweet Angel.”
And play he did.
Rolling me once more onto my back, he worked his way down to my core. He used his thumbs to spread me wide, flicking at my clit with his tongue, laving, sucking on it, even biting until I could feel my pulse echoing right there. It was exquisite torture, and I didn’t know how much more I could handle. I moaned out his name, about ready to beg for mercy. Then he stopped, lifting up to blow a puff of air against me.
Jesus.
I shrieked and bucked upward.
Mac ducked his head and licked me along my slit, from the bottom to the top. And when I cried out, thrashing against him, he threw his forearm over the lower part of my rib cage, carefully avoiding the hard mound of my belly—and he started the torturous process all over again. Over and over again until I came against his mouth not just once, but twice.
And halfway through the second orgasm, he was inside me.
He didn’t thrust, didn’t pound in and out of me, didn’t move, just wedged his cock in me and held still as he waited for me to calm.
It was almost impossible with that pillar of rigid flesh impaling me. Everything in me felt stretched tight and sensitized, and I wanted, needed to feel him moving, burying deep and hard until we were both mindless from it.
But Mac simply held himself in place and waited.
“Look at me,” he ordered once my heartbeat had recovered somewhat. “Do you see me?”
“Yes. Mac, please…”
He dipped his head to kiss me, the kiss rough, almost desperate. It ended fast, his mouth tearing from mine only a few seconds later. Bump kicked Mac’s hand as I twined my arms around his neck.
“Please,” I whispered, hating how my voice shook, hating how much vulnerability he might hear in that simple plea if he only listened.
And according to him, I wore my heart on my sleeves.
I was an open book to him.
Mac tilted his face and rubbed his lips back and forth against mine.
“Mine,” he growled. “Mon ange.”
As he started to move inside of me, I buried my face against his chest, overwhelmed by just how much I wanted that to be true. I wanted to be his—his angel, his woman, his everything.
I barely knew the man.
But I wanted to be his.
I already was, in truth. Whether or not Mac wanted me to be.
And dammit, I needed him to be mine.
16
Mac
Angel relaxed with me, her back smooth and tight against my chest. Cupping one swollen, taut nipple in my hand, I rested my chin on her shoulder and stared out at the dark shadows of the mountains.
I was drifting off when she spoke.
“I’m flying home in a few days.”
Well, that was a miserable ass way to break from the beginnings of a light sleep. Jerking upright, I blinked and shook my head to rid myself of any leftover fogginess. Had I heard her right?
“What?”
When the response remained the same, I scowled. She laughed a little, having turned on her back to stare up at me.
“I guess that means you’ll miss me.” Cupping my face, she rose upward and pressed a kiss to my jawline. “Then I think you’ll like my idea…I was thinking… you could come with me.”
Narrowing my eyes on her face, I studied the look in that soft, pretty ocean of blue in her eyes, then slowly, I nodded. I wasn’t much for families, but I’d heard how she talked about hers. I knew enough to surmise that not all of them were as fucked up or as twisted as mine were. Besides, if her parents were going to be actively performing the role of the bump’s grandparents, I should meet them. Sooner rather than later. Made sense.
“I’ll do that. You live in Canada, right?”
“Yes.” She smiled serenely. “Close to Niagara Falls. About a half-hour from the border.” She pushed at my shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go book you a ticket.”
“Don’t need to.” Now that she’d gotten me wide awake, I was good and hard—again. Dipping my head, I rubbed my lips over her left nipple. “The guys and I have a private plane. We can leave anytime.”
Whatever response she might have made was lost as I thrust in, her pussy still wet—wet from me, wet from her. I caught her right leg behind the knee, I pulled it up over my elbow as I pushed up onto my knees. “I could spend every night for the next six months doing nothing but this,” I said, grunting as she tightened around me, snug and silky and wet. “Do that again, mon ange.”
She whimpered and clenched down around me as I caught her hip, pulling her in closer, tighter. Thrusting with short, shallow pumps, I rode her, half mindless with want for her already. Angel’s moan shattered the air only seconds before I lost it, coming in her hard and fast as if I hadn’t already spent myself over and over again.
She was shaking, shuddering, twisting around my dick and crying when I finally emptied myself.
As we collapsed down against each other, she heaved out a sigh. “Here I was thinking I’d have to talk you into coming with me,” she said sleepily.
“I’m happy to fake hesitation, if that’s what you want.”
“Nah. I need some sleep.”
“You’re going home with her.”
Sly said the words like they were foreign to him.
Glancing at him over my shoulder, I said, “Do I need to say it in another language? My Cajun is pretty shitty these days. I know you don’t speak it either, but I can try, if you think it’ll help.”
“How about you try repeating it to yourself, in English, and hear how stupid it sounds?” Sly suggested. “You don’t even know this woman. And now you’re going to go meet Mommy and Daddy?”
Put that way…I shrugged and resumed packing. “I’ve already contacted Wes Grogan. He’s been begging to fill in for me on my show nights. Leonard’s handling the notifications for those who’ve bought tickets.”
“People are coming to see you, not Grogan,” Sly bit off.
“You know those disclaimers LeVan insisted the lawyers add to the ticket sales websites? Shows subject to last-minute headliner adjustments and cancellations. Ticket holders are guaranteed a refund. Remember those? It’s a good thing he fucking did that.”
Unconcerned, I grabbed a few shirts. We were leaving in the morning. I had the flight plan cleared and ready. All I needed to do was finish packing, then handle this part—telling the guys. Well, telling Sly. LeVan took it like a champ. No skin off his back—as always.
Sly was taking it like an asshole—as always.
Neither of their reactions could ever surprise me anymore.
Normally, when Sly got stuck in a rut with one of these moods, I ignored him until he mellowed out. But I was part of the reason he was in this mood—and another part of the reason was the baby. Well, I wasn’t going to let him take it out on her or her mama. So, after putting a few more things in the suitcase, I turned around and met Sly’s gaze. He needed to hear me break it down for him.
“Dude. Come on now. I’m not kidding anymore. You need to understand something before you end up taking this too far for us to ever fix it. I don’t know how Angel and I can make things work, but we’ll have to do it—as in just Angel and me. You’re my friend and my business partner. That’s all, dude. Not chief life decision maker, or consultant to my drama, or a prying, nosy as fuck son of a bitch. This is life, dude. Things change. Thing have to change at some point for the three of us. LeVan’s been dropping hints for months now that he needs more time off than what he gets. He’s getting hitched. That’s a given. And when he said he wanted to take three weeks for his honeymoon, you started up with the same shit, acting like he was walking out on us. You need to chill. Or get a stable woman. Or just…chill.”
Sly’s mouth clamped into a flat, straight line, red flags standing out against the pale skin of his high cheekbones. “I just asked—”
“You didn’t ask shit,” I said. “You ordered. Stuck that fucking nose where it didn’t belong.”
Sly stared at me, brilliant blue eyes firing hot. “We have commitments,” he said with a scowl. “For the next eighteen months straight, we have performance obligations. Am I the only one who remembers that?”
“No, you’re not. But you’re also not the one getting married, and damn straight you’re not the one who has a baby on the way. So deal with it. Take up the slack. Or shut the fuck up.”
“I see. What you’re saying is because I remember to keep my dick in my pants and didn’t have some girl show up preggers out of the blue from ages ago, that means it’s okay for you to screw over our fans?”
“Really think hard about how you talk when it comes to anything about me and Angel, all right?” I pointed my entire extended hand in his direction. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t let LeVan hear how you’re talking about him and Thea.”
Sly, looking disgusted, turned away. “I don’t give a shit who hears me. Neither of you seem to give a damn that all this outside shit will ruin everything. You’re both assuming it can’t fall apart, everything we’ve worked our asses off to do, every sacrifice, everything we’ve achieved. All the stuff we were hoping to achieve. Don’t get so complacent that you assume it can’t all crumble to dust.”
“Why?” I asked bluntly. “Because I’m going to visit Angels parents and figure out who they are? Because I want to hope that this baby will have a chance at…oh, I don’t know, a normal life? Something like LeVan had, nothing anywhere close to the two fucking shit storms you and I survived growing up, dumbass.”
Sly opened his mouth but I cut him off.
“I’m sick of listening to you bitch and whine and groan and think you can lay down the law. Nagging like an old woman about how all of this is affecting you. You think LeVan and I aren’t aware that things are changing?” I squinted as I looked at him, still stewing silently. “We know. I’m sorry you feel like we’re screwing you over. I can assure you that no matter what happens, you won’t ever have to worry about money. Homelessness, poverty, hunger, victimization…they’re all off the table. Just don’t go on like you didn’t know about Thea all along. We both did. As for Angel...”
I shook my head. This shit got old so fast. It was a wonder I’d spent this much time and so much of my patience on him this evening. Lifting one shoulder, I debated on how to address our situation.
“I wasn’t planning on her. I wasn’t planning on a baby. I took every precaution against that because the last thing I wanted was to pass on the screwed up genetic material that created me. But it happened. And now that it did, I’m kind of glad it did. Because I wouldn’t have chosen it, but maybe it’s exactly what I need, you know? It chose me.”
Something about Sly’s features shifted, then softened. “It’s not you that’s screwed up, you know. It’s not your fault that your father…” he stopped and looked away. “Look, it was them, all along. You have to know that.”
I didn’t address the comment, mostly because I didn’t want to think about that crap from my past. His face folded back into blank lines as I continued.
“Things are already changing, Sly. Whether or not you choose to accept them…that’s what’ll determine how things are for all of us in the future.”
I turned back to my closet and forced myself to focus on the task of packing. Behind me, Sly was silent. It seemed to stretch out forever, but finally, he thought of a comeback and cleared his throat.
“You’re right, I knew about Thea, but I didn’t think she’d actually come looking for him. I mean, they were kids. I was used to LeVan pining for her all this time, but then she did the same thing that Angel’s doing now. She showed up out of the blue and shocked the fuck out of what you, me and LeVan have going on.”
He laughed then, the sound dry and humorless.
“No. I gotta correct that. The big shock was you going and falling for some chick you’ve known less than a full day. I can’t even begin to comprehend that. The fact that you want to support the baby, well, that doesn’t surprise me. Your wanting to be involved in the baby’s life, that doesn’t really surprise me either. But it seems like you don’t just want to be involved in the baby’s life—you’re getting all into this daddy thing, and you’re getting all into Angel, too. Jesus, Mac. You’re going to meet her parents. Her fucking parents!”
Fuck, this man was an expert at grinding on my last nerve. I turned back to him. “I get the point. It’s out of character. I’m the loner. Beyond the stage, I don’t do people. I get that, okay? This is different.”
“It’s not just out of character,” he shouted. “This isn’t you! It’s like…shit, it’s like fucking watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers!”
“I get it.” Glaring at him, I clenched my jaw. “I’m not acting like me, I’m not responding like me. You know what? I know that. Chances are, I’ll fuck it up too, and all this energy you’ve been wasting on lecturing me will turn into a total waste of your fucking time. I know that.”
“Hell, Mac…I didn’t say that,” Sly said, looking away. “It’s not about whether you fuck up or not. I don’t think you’re going to do that. That’s not what I’m getting at. The point I’m trying to make is that you went and fell for some chick you don’t even know. Or you think you did. But what about when you wake up and realize you’ve been fooling yourself. Do you know how she’ll react? Hell, do you even know how she feels about you?”
“The fuck? How she feels? What the fuck is this? Some Hallmark movie?”
Shit, why would I know how Angel fe
els? That required talking to her, and all that relationship stuff was more than I was ready to tackle.
“You haven’t even talked to her, have you?” Sly ran his hand through his mass of red hair, but he didn’t look surprised. “What are you going to do when she up and walks away. And takes that baby with her because you fooled the fuck out of yourself and her. Then you’re stuck with a couple of weekends a year with how our schedules work? It happens, man. It happens all the time.”
“You’re thinking light years into a future you have no business worrying about. I’m thinking about right now.”
He left then, shoulders rigid, head held stiff. I didn’t ask him to stay. Thank fuck he was finally leaving so I could get some peace and quiet.
Except the bastard did leave something behind.
Every detail of my worst nightmare.
Hours later, I got to the airport with Angel and kept working hard at not letting Sly’s warnings get to me. I was brooding and I knew it. I was also in denial. Despite my best efforts, his words had already gotten to me.
Angel and I didn’t talk at all about the future. She was with me in Las Vegas for nearly a week. Christmas loomed on the horizon, only a week away. A week after that was New Year’s and she’d have to head back to Mexico for her job soon afterward.
And save for those few words we’d exchanged when she first got here, we didn’t talk much at all—at least not in any way that could be considered relevant. Or crucial.
I hadn’t gone and fallen for her.
Not like that.
I liked her. A lot.
But I didn’t know her.
And she sure as hell didn’t know me.
I wasn’t falling in love with her. I loved the idea of seeing her hair on my pillow like it had been that morning, but that wasn’t the same as being in love. I loved it when she sat there murmuring softly under her breath and when I asked her what she said, she’d blush and bashfully tell me she was talking to Bump.
Bump.
Ruin Me: Vegas Knights Page 11
