Melly had been my first chance. That night, I saw myself as Danny’s last.
“Really?” Haley asked, surprised. I was just as shocked to know he hadn’t told her this before.
“Yeah. He came right up to me, looked me right in the eye, and told me we were going to be each other’s family from there on in.” He cleared his throat and took a drink of water. He wasn’t going into detail, and I didn’t blame him. Just the basics were hard enough to choke out. “There was another guy there. Told him I wasn’t his responsibility.”
“Ray,” I remembered aloud. He hadn’t understood that I hadn’t had a life. I was a dead man walking, all of the vitality of my skin, bone, flesh, and blood not nearly enough on its own to keep me alive. Ray thought I was Danny’s salvation. I knew that if I did my very best to do right by him, he would end up being mine.
“It didn’t even seem like you knew he was there,” Danny said directly to me.
I shrugged, the scrutiny of everyone at the table reddening my cheeks for perhaps the first time in my adult life. “You were all that mattered.”
His voice sounded like it was mottled by gravel, but Danny pushed forward. I imagined he figured getting the story out all at once would be easier.
I agreed, sweat from my anxiety starting to dampen the fabric at my neck. If he drew out the story much longer, I’d have my very own river running through the restaurant.
“Of course, the state doesn’t just give a kid to anybody who asks for him, FBI Agent or not. The case was ongoing, so I stayed in custody of the police for quite a while. Meanwhile, Wade was going though all of the proper channels, cutting through as much red tape as he could, and fighting to get approved to adopt me.”
“Obviously he won,” Haley stated.
“Yeah. Since they needed me to go into Witness Protection, they took what Wade was offering. That’s when we became us.”
Danny had no idea how many times they tried to tell me I wasn’t going to have him. I kept fighting until they changed their minds.
“Wow,” Haley breathed.
“I was a real asshole kid for the first couple of years too.”
“You were fine,” I protested.
“I barely spoke to you,” he argued easily.
Teasing, I joked, “I may have preferred you that way.”
I glanced at Allison to find her trembling hand at her mouth, but Haley’s sniffles pulled my attention away.
“What’s wrong, Hales?” Danny asked, rubbing her shoulder as he did.
“I just can’t believe I didn’t like you,” she said looking directly at me.
My chin jerked back into my chest and a finger came up to point at my chest. “When did you not like me?”
“I thought you were uptight,” she admitted, a snort bubbling up in the midst of her tears.
Laughter broke out all around the table.
Jesus. Allison had referenced a similar line of thinking. Had I been that serious the first time they’d met me.
“It’s really no surprise,” Danny continued without persuasion. “After spending his entire life in foster care, all Wade ever wanted was a family. The only shot he took came and went too fast.”
Silence descended again, and I had to fight the urge to stab him with my fork. Nobody asked him for those details.
Allison eased my frustration, moving her hand from my knee and skirting it up my thigh. When she found my hand in my lap, she wrapped hers in the clasp of it, turning it over and resting it on my thigh. Her thumb rubbed the outside of mine, and like magic, the rest of the table, the story, and everything else faded away.
“So you didn’t actually drive your dad’s Lincoln through the garage door?” Allison asked as we stopped outside the door to my room. She’d been silent the entire walk back from dinner, but as soon as the rest of our party went their own way, she’d taken my hand hostage again.
I wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or bad.
“Um, no,” I admitted with a slight shake of my head.
“I see,” she murmured with scary calm, turning my hand back and forth in her own to study it.
Shit.
“And the midnight flight off of the roof?”
Was it hot in here?
My free hand wiped the sweat off of my brow. “Well, not actually . . . no.”
“Right. So the whole point of that deceitful conversation was . . .”
Swallowing, I chose my words carefully, knowing that anything short of honesty could ruin it all. I was obviously already being held accountable for my only lies. To think it would work out any differently this time would be foolish.
“I couldn’t stand to be shut out anymore.”
She eyed me closely.
“I know it was my fault,” I admitted freely, “but I was willing to do just about anything to change it. Guilt and uncertainty turned into that story.” I shrugged, pulling her hand closer to me. “And it gave me an opportunity to tell you how sorry I was.”
Bathing in self-loathing, I chuckled. This was the sloppiest fucking apology slash explanation anyone had ever attempted. It had to be. “Am. How sorry I am,” I corrected, begging her to move on so I didn’t have to make a fool of myself anymore.
Unexpected but welcome, her body slammed into mine, pinning me against the unyielding door in the process. Her head was on the move up toward mine, and my lips were the destination.
Gifted with the green light, I took over, spinning her back to the door, turning the knob and gently pushing her through.
With what I was feeling, we were going to need a more private location than the hall.
Foregoing the support of the door, I headed straight for the bed, easing her down and letting my weight settle on top of her. I knew I was moving fast, turning her offer of a kiss into a full body invitation, but the feel of my hips sinking between hers was something akin to heaven, clothing barrier or not.
Heavily on the not.
I had to make that a reality, and soon.
Anticipation opened up my veins, easing the blood’s flow and sending it straight to the area demanding it. My mouth met hers, and my tongue didn’t waste time exploring every nook and facet. She tasted like sweet wine, the Moscato she’d had at dinner ripening the already intoxicating taste of her.
My chest rumbled to contain my moan, but failed, the vibrations buzzing straight from my busy mouth into the back of her elongated throat.
If I didn’t get inside her soon, I feared I might just eat her alive.
EAGER hands roamed my body, pulling at clothes at the same tempo with which his teeth pulled at my lip. I was starting to familiarize myself with his moves, and a lip nibble was one of his returning favorites.
Luckily, familiarity didn’t mean boring, and the feel of his teeth scraping the surface of my skin thrilled me at every turn whether on my mouth or otherwise.
My pulse pounded rhythmically into the palms of his hands as he pushed my wrists above my head and trailed his lips to taste the same cadence at my throat. An arch formed under my back, the pull of his suction encouraging my whole body to comply as it lifted up off of the plain white comforter. My legs were restless, begging for more contact, more skin, more everything.
He smelled unlike anything I’d ever experienced before, masculine and clean and like he had something extra under his skin designed solely for the receptors in my nose.
If I’d conjured a smell that would drive me wild from magic, he would have been it, and yet, it had happened by accident. Soft kisses trailed over the tender ache of his making at my throat and then skated downward over the ridge of my collarbone, along the line of breastbone, and straight to the swell of his favorite part of me. At least, physically.
Arousal pooled between my legs, and my thin clothes felt heavy, the push and pull of their soft fabric now rough against my over-sensitized skin. Attuned to the language of my body, Wade seemed to know, pulling away and forcing the length of his tan fingers roughly under the hem of my dress. The swi
rly tips dragged my skin slowly, working the fabric into a growing pool as it crawled up my body, over the heave of my chest, and past my blush-swept face.
His swollen mouth found mine again and punished it, nearly bruising my lips as his tongue worked to find new realms of my mouth. The edge of his tongue played with mine, licking and rolling in a dance that had me fighting to keep up. Choreographed moves couldn’t have been better, the skill he used suggesting he’d had some practice.
But for once the thought of that didn’t frighten me. Perhaps it was the fifty-two years he’d had to accumulate it or my own age ticking away. Whatever the cause, I found it comforting that he could lead me to bliss, decisions and knowledge taken out of my hands and placed willingly into those of someone who would do a better job.
I knew my body, but I had a feeling, if I gave him the chance, it wouldn’t take him long to know it better, the keen perception in his eyes hinting at the intensity with which he waited for my reactions and then studied them.
Each moan and gasp meant something to him, and when he moved back to the line of my ribs under each large swell of breast, I knew he learned quickly.
I thought he’d get to the penetration straightaway with the way he’d taken charge of the situation, moving me straight to the bed and ridding me of my clothes.
But instead, he seemed completely unhurried, pushing himself off of the bed and removing his own clothes at the foot while I watched.
His body was truly magnificent, each inch of skin he revealed seeming better than the last. His eyes absolutely blazed, the brown wood of his normal color burning red and orange with the flame of his desire. No matter the intensity of his drive, it was controlled. Measured. Calculated.
Ignoring the newly formed third appendage standing straight between his legs, his hands met the skin of my thighs and massaged, trailing slowly up to my hips as they did. When they got there they didn’t force, but rather, coaxed me to roll over so that I lay face down.
Nervous energy rolled through my body like a wave, starting at my scalp and ending what felt like past my toes.
Long-fingered hands palmed the globes of my ass, but they didn’t squeeze. At least not anything other than gently. Thumbs dug into the epicenter of my tension as though he had a map, and I couldn’t stop the long-suffering moan that expanded my chest.
“Good God, that feels good,” I purred, never knowing the true pleasure I could get from something as simple as a butt massage.
His fingers worked honestly, searching for and hitting all of the right spots before traveling to explore the more sensitive skin of my inner thighs.
“Wade,” I called out, stretching my arms out to my sides and throwing my forehead into the cushioning of the mattress.
His lips came down on my lower back in answer, the dimple right above the merging of each cheek lighting up with sensation and digging even deeper into the muscle.
Weaving a path upward he kissed each side of my spine alternately until he reached the base of my neck. A sharp hand came down on the cheek of my ass instead, snapping my neck backwards in both genuine surprise and unexpected pleasure. He didn’t dwell and he didn’t smack again, but the slow burn radiated outward, rippling to meet the arousal at the center of my legs almost instantly.
Before I could recover, firm hands gripped my hips and twisted, landing me on my back with a confused tangle of hair in my face.
Throwing it back with a fast arch of my neck, the clearing of my hair made it possible to see his eyes light up.
That move had turned him on.
Insistent hands spread my legs at the knee, skating down the inside of my thighs before curling around to the back and lifting. He was inside me in one smooth stroke, the condom he donned in place as if by magic.
“Hey. There’s a condom there,” I commented stupidly, the swift melding of our bodies mottling my mind.
His smirk danced with mischief as he answered. “You bet. After last time I made it a priority to be more prepared.”
“For random sex?” I asked as he leaned his weight into me.
“No,” he denied with a nuzzle of my neck. “For sex with you. This way we don’t have to fight our decaying eyesight to read anything.”
“But you didn’t know you would sleep with me again,” I remarked, foolishly stopping his motion with my inability to stop talking.
His face left my neck, and his pupils dilated as they locked onto mine. “I’m learning that it’s not so bad to hope.”
As his hips swirled into motion strategically, he struck a nerve that ran all the way from my G-spot to my toes.
Hope was a good thing, I thought with a sigh, rolling my hips into his and enjoying the ride.
I’d done it again. Evidence of my activities ached deep into the root of my thighs and radiated out into all of the muscles in my body. It was safe to say, at my age, in this stage of my life, I would never go through a round of sex with this man and not thoroughly remember it.
He wasn’t rough, but he was passionate. Not demanding, but, instead, overly generous. Both tired my body in the best possible way.
My muscle memory was just the beginning of it, though. My mind was sure to remember as well.
Falling victim to his wiles was never part of the plan but, annoyingly, always part of the result. Of course, the memory of his skin on mine, all of it laid out and bare before me as he slept had me thinking that maybe that wasn’t completely a bad thing.
No.
Get up.
Get out of the bed.
Go through your door and pretend this didn’t happen.
At least for the next couple of hours.
Shuffling as quietly as possible, I stubbed my toe on the hard corner of the bed frame, jumping and dancing and twirling my way to a nearly silent recovery. His muscular shoulders shifted slightly, and I froze. Adjusting in his sleep, his head turned toward me, and the look on his face had me struggling to get going again. He looked peaceful, and a small, sleepily-hopeful smile curved just the corner of his lips.
I knew the likelihood that I was responsible for the smile was low. He was sleeping. Dreaming. And dreams didn’t have limitations based in reality. He was probably living in a room full of bare breasts padding the walls or something; whatever men dreamed about when they went to their happy place. But Danny’s words about Wade’s lack of hope through pretty much the entirety of their time together pulled at my heartstrings.
The sound of a door slamming shut in the hallway snapped me out of that dangerous daydream. The sight of Wade shifting again in his sleep lit a fire under my ass.
Jesus, Allison. Focus!
Must retreat!
Panic and hysteria swirled deep in my chest, threatening to find its way out with no more welcome than honest to God vomit.
My bra fought me valiantly as I tried to snap it, squirming and death rolling like an alligator caught on a bait line. I finally whipped it into submission, finding the mate to each hook and forcing each swell into the chamber that waited for it.
My nipples were still slightly raw, and the roughness with which I forced them to comply with the lace had me yelping out in pain.
“Fuuu—Ow!”
Tiny hairs on Wade’s arms ruffled with the puff of his breath as I pulled my dress over my head and slipped the less than ideal day old underwear on underneath it.
I tip toed to the door, turning the handle as slowly as possible and jumping to fill the light that entered the room with my shadow. Once in the hall, I pulled the door to, easing its closing with the brace of my shaking shoulder.
No one else roamed the halls, the early hour keeping them in the warm beds of their lovers like sane people tended to do. Yet, with all that space, I still felt like the world was caving in on me, crushing and straining and wringing the life out of me until I had no more to give.
My room was right next door, but I never even considered it, taking off down the hallway at a near sprint while my unused shoes dangled off the pinky finge
r of one hand.
I knew what I needed, and I needed it now.
“I need you,” I said as soon as she answered the door. She looked sleepy and ruffled, and I imagined I looked largely the same. But this was zero hour, and in our twisted-awesome relationship, when I ran out on a man, I needed my daughter. Stat.
“Uhhh, bed bad . . . bed empty. . . . uhhh . . . brrr . . . cold,” Danny groaned in the background, very obviously still tangled in bed. It was just before six in the morning, so I really couldn’t blame him. We were at sea today and there was no need to get up.
Unless you were in a post-sex panic like me.
“He likes to cuddle,” she said by way of explanation as he continued to moan and root around the bed noisily.
“Ugh!” I huffed unsympathetically. “Tell him to get a dog. I need you now.”
Her eyes lit up with mischief and she bit her lip to stop a laugh. “This is not the kind of cuddling he could do with a dog. Not and not end up in prison.”
“Haley!” I snapped impatiently. “I don’t have time for his hormonal overages. Get dressed.”
“Uhhh,” Danny moaned again, the sound of his suffering drifting through the open sliver of the door.
Finally registering the proper amount of comical panic in my eyes, she smiled and agreed. “Okay, okay. I’m coming.”
I gave her a skeptical eye. Once she shut the door, Danny was going to do everything in his power to keep her.
“Mom. I promise. Let me just get dressed.”
A sharp nod from me had her shutting the door gently in my face. Sagging against the opposite hallway wall, I waited as patiently as possible. It was a constant battle, fighting the ants in my metaphorical pants, but overall I did well.
Haley reappeared just a few minutes later, being there for me when I really needed her. She may be crazy, but she was always there when I really needed her. Without fail. Nothing would stop her. I knew that would never change no matter what.
Grabbing her by the scruff of her collar I hustled her down the hallway, anxiety and uncertainty driving me close to the brink of madness.
Accidental Alpha Page 15
