Commanding Her Trust

by Lili Valente

  There was no way she could have kept living in Casa de la Hell without Blake, and no way Phil would have let a sixteen-year-old minor in his “care” move out to live with her boyfriend. She’d felt like she had no choice but to get out of town, way out of town, and make sure Blake wouldn’t be blamed for her disappearance. It was the best thing she could do for him at the time, the only gift she had to give.

  “You hungry?” he asked, releasing the curl he’d wrapped around his finger. “I’ve got the stuff to make waffles downstairs. And bacon and eggs, or yogurt, if you want something lighter.”

  “You know me, the more food, the better. I still have trouble keeping on weight. Even when I was—” Erin broke off, biting her lip. “Even when I’m getting to the gym as much as I should.”

  Shit! She’d nearly mentioned her pregnancy. She didn’t want Blake to know she had a daughter, or that she’d screwed things up so royally right out of the gate. He’d either hate her for letting Scott take Abby—they’d always sworn they would protect their kids if they had any of their own—or he’d decide to go wring Scott’s neck with his bare hands.

  As appealing as that image was, Erin didn’t want to be responsible for getting Blake put in jail. And she didn’t want him to feel obligated to help rescue her from the mess she was in, either. She already had a plan in place to rescue herself. She had some money saved and an appointment with the marketing head of Damned Naughty Lingerie next Friday.

  Kelsey Greer had always been a big “Angel” fan. She was certain he’d hire her on for the spring catalog photo shoot. Maybe not in her former position as the “it girl,” but the job would still earn her a few grand. Then she’d be in a much better position to keep Abby safe while she fought Scott in court.

  Or you could take that fifteen grand Blake’s offering and be in an even better place, even sooner.

  Erin bit the inside of her cheek, ignoring the voice of temptation. She didn’t want Blake’s money, especially not for letting him alter her tattoo. Even if she could convince herself that a slightly different fallen angel would serve her modeling career as well as the one she had, she didn’t want to look over her shoulder in the mirror and see anything but what she saw now.

  That ink had kept her connected to Blake, no matter how much time and distance had separated them. It had given her comfort in some of her hardest moments, that evidence that she had once been so special to another person.

  It was obvious Blake was more crazed than comforted by their matching tats, but she still couldn’t imagine having that part of their past wiped away. Losing this tat would be like losing a piece of herself, her last connection to the girl she’d been and the boy she’d loved so much she’d had no choice but to leave him behind.

  “So I guess that’s a yes for breakfast?” Blake asked, breaking into her thoughts.

  “Yeah.” Erin ignored the tightness in her chest. “Breakfast sounds good.”

  Blake cupped her face in his big hand. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She smiled, determined not to get her feelings hurt by the fact that Blake wanted to erase the evidence of their past.

  She’d known that’s what he wanted since last night. Why should it bother her so much more this morning?

  Because now you know you still love him, that you never stopped loving him.

  “I’m starving, let’s eat.” She tried to sit up, but a rock-hard arm closed around her waist, pinning her to the covers.

  “I haven’t forgotten my promise,” Blake said, his hand wandering down to her bare thigh, caressing her with a gentle insistence that had her body waking up faster than a double shot of espresso. “I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t starving you. You can’t live on love alone.”

  “Lust alone, you mean,” Erin said, but the joke fell flat, and Blake’s brow furrowed in response.

  He looked almost hurt by the correction.

  Could he be feeling the same way she did? The way he had when they were so young and stupid, but so very much in love?

  The thought should have been exhilarating. Less than eight hours ago she’d sworn to do whatever it took to make Blake fall for her again, and then use his feelings to make the weekend end the way she wanted it to end.

  But now, the thought of Blake loving her just hurt.

  It hurt so bad she couldn’t keep her face from crumpling or tears from rising in her eyes.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Erin

  “Babe, don’t cry. What’s wrong?” Blake pulled his hand away from her thigh, surrounding her with his arms and pulling her close to his chest.

  He was so much bigger and stronger than he’d been when they were younger, but the feeling of safety that coursed through her when he held her was still the same.

  God, why had she ever left him?

  No matter how bad things had been at her foster home, she should have stayed and found a way to wait for him.

  How had she ever thought she’d be okay without Blake?

  Of course, at sixteen, she hadn’t realized how precious he was. She’d known there weren’t a lot of good guys out there, but deep down, she’d assumed she would find another man to give her heart to and move on from her first love. But she hadn’t moved on, not even when things were good with Scott. She’d never loved her husband the way she loved Blake. And on those nights when she knew her marriage was beyond redemption and she’d cried herself to sleep, it wasn’t Scott’s arms she imagined holding her close, making her feel safe and loved.

  It was Blake. It had always been Blake. And it probably always would be.

  But that didn’t change anything. Blake didn’t want her, not really. If he did, he wouldn’t have written asking her to change her tattoo. He would have written asking to see her again, to see if they could reconnect, go back, or at least start over. He hadn’t known she was married. She’d kept her maiden name. Erin Perry was the name she was known for and certainly sounded more like it belonged to a lingerie model than Erin Sakapatatis.

  No, Blake didn’t want her back. He was clearly up for a weekend fling, but what Blake truly wanted was his freedom. Whatever it was he still felt for her, he wanted those feelings gone, and he thought modifying her tattoo was the way to make that happen.

  Who knew, maybe it was. Maybe the connection between them would finally be severed when they no longer sported matching ink.

  The thought made her sadder than she’d been since the day Scott walked out of her apartment with her baby in his arms.

  “I’m okay.” She sniffed, wishing she had a Kleenex. Seconds later, Blake plucked one from the bedside table and pressed it into her hand, reading her mind again, the way he always did.

  The small act of compassion was nearly enough to get her tears going again, but she pressed her lips together, fighting for control.

  “Listen, I meant what I said,” Blake murmured in that deep, sexy voice of his. “I don’t want to hurt you, and I really don’t want to make you cry.”

  “I know.” Erin wiped her nose, breath rushing out when she glanced up to see Blake’s eyes tight around the edges. “You look scared.”

  “A crying woman is a scary thing.” He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Especially you. I can count the times I’ve seen you cry on one finger.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I wasn’t much of a crier back in the day.” She sighed, remembering the tough nut she used to be.

  Of course, it had only been a smokescreen, a front to hide how scared and sad she truly was. Her years in Carson City had been fraught with fear, every minute lived under a dark shadow, except those moments when she and Blake would steal away and escape into their own world.

  “It’s all right,” she said, swiping the tears from her cheeks with her fist. “I cry all the time now. It’s no big deal.”

  “Sounds like a big deal to me.” His brow furrowed. “What’s been making you cry? Your ex?”

  “Let’s not talk about my ex,” Erin said, tossing her Kle
enex to the floor behind her. “In fact, let’s not talk at all.”

  Before Blake could say a word, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. And then another kiss and another until he groaned into her mouth and rolled on top of her, crushing her into the mattress with his weight.

  Slowly, all her fears and worries vanished in the wake of the heat that flared between them. Erin wrapped her legs around his hips, a moan bursting from her lips when she felt how hard he was beneath his blue-and-white-striped pajama bottoms.

  He captured her bottom lip, suckling it deeper into his mouth, raking his teeth over the sensitive skin as he pulled away. Her breath rushed out and her nipples pulled tight. She’d never realized she enjoyed being bitten so much. But she enjoyed everything Blake did to her, even the stuff she was sure she hated.

  Like it or not, he’d been right to make her wait. She was even more eager to have him now than she’d been last night, and when she finally came, she knew it was going to blow her mind. And probably her heart, too, but she wasn’t going to think about that now.

  She wasn’t going to think about anything except how amazing Blake made her feel.

  “I can’t believe we’re still in our pajamas with the sun that high in the sky,” she said, reaching down to run her fingers under the waistband of his pants. “I think it’s time we got out of them.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” he rumbled against her lips, making them tingle.

  Soon, they were pulling at each other’s clothes, breath coming faster as shirts and pants were tossed aside and sighing as their bodies came back together with nothing to separate skin from skin. And for a moment, as her breasts pressed against Blake’s hard, lightly furred chest and her lips met his—teeth bumping together as they kissed with enough passion to set the world on fire—Erin felt safe and happy.

  As safe and happy as she’d always felt with the only man she’d ever truly loved.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Blake

  Blake pulled away from Erin, looking down at where she lay naked beneath him, her hair glowing gold in the morning light. She’d washed off the makeup she’d had on last night and looked the way she had eight years ago. Even the look in her eyes was the same, that raw, vulnerable, needy look that had always made him feel like the focus of her entire world—at least for the moment.

  She was a ghost come back to haunt him and it would have been enough to make his heart ache if he’d let it. But he wasn’t dwelling on past losses or betrayals now, not when he was about to fuck the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  And not when, unexpectedly, he felt happier and more content than he had in years.

  “I want to eat my pussy,” Blake said, running his hands up and down her soft thighs, his cock pulsing hungrily between his legs.

  “Are you sure?” She wiggled her hips, grinding her center against his erection, her breath coming in sexy little pants that drove him crazy. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait? Fuck me now and have your pussy for dessert?” A pained expression flashed across her face. “I want you inside me so bad, Blake. So bad.”

  “I need to taste you first, sweetness. I was dreaming about getting my tongue inside you all night.” He dipped his hand between them, capturing her wetness on his fingertips and bringing them to his lips. He moaned as the intimate flavor of her spread across his tongue.

  She tasted as amazing as she ever had—clean and sweet with an edge of salt and a feminine musk that was enough to drive him crazy. To him, the taste of Erin was the taste of pure desire. It was enough to make him even harder, thicker. He shifted his hips, grinding his cock against where she was so wet and ready. It was tempting to forget his plans and drive straight into the sweet pussy he’d been dreaming about since he’d left her last night.

  But she’d proven she could keep her promises. Now he was going to prove he could keep his.

  He truly was dying to get his mouth on her. He wanted to see if Erin was as responsive as she’d been the last time he’d lowered his head between her legs, and to show her he’d learned a thing or two about giving a woman pleasure since his eighteenth birthday.

  “Open your legs. Spread them wide for me,” he said, his breath coming faster as Erin obeyed. She reached down, grabbing the inside of her thighs and pulling them apart, baring her pussy to his gaze.

  His cock throbbed as he took her in. Her delicate outer lips were a deep pink and plump with the force of her desire. Just above, her clit stood firm and erect, and between her folds, her entrance glistened, already dripping. She was hot and ready for him, and he was past ready to have another taste of his girl.

  “Wider.” He grunted his approval as she moved her hands behind her knees, tugging them up and out, baring every inch of her sex from clit to ass, offering herself to him completely, without hesitation or fear.

  It was enough to snap the last of his control.

  With a groan, he lowered his face between her legs, forcing himself to start slowly, to trace the swollen folds and tease her into an even greater state of arousal. He ran his tongue up one side of her entrance and down the other, intensifying his pressure until she moaned and arched closer to his mouth. Only then did he drive slowly inside her, once, twice, her addictive flavor coating his stiff tongue, making his hands shake as he brought them to her hips. His fingers dug into the full flesh there as he began to fuck her with his mouth. In and out, in and out, he penetrated her with his swift strokes, coaxing more cream from her body.

  “Yes! So good.” Erin’s hands dropped to his head, her fingernails tunneling through his short hair and digging into his scalp.

  Blake moaned, humming against her swollen flesh, making her cry out as he moved his thumb to her nub. He circled her clit with a slow, insistent pressure even as the thrusts of his tongue grew faster, deeper. Erin’s pussy tightened around where he worked inside her and her thighs began to tremble. A glance up the landscape of her body showed her nipples were drawn into tight points and her head thrown back in prelude to ecstasy.

  She was close, so close, but he wasn’t finished with her just yet.

  Without missing a beat, Blake moved his mouth from her entrance to her clit, swirling his tongue around and around the erect bud. Two fingers took up the rhythm inside her pussy, while his thumb found the puckered ring of her ass. She was already slick from her own juices, so there was little resistance as he penetrated her, easing his thumb inside the tight hole.

  “Yes!” Erin gasped and spread her thighs even wider, giving him unimpeded access to every inch of the paradise between her legs.

  She clearly didn’t have a problem with having him fill her anywhere and everywhere. It made him ache to have his cock in her ass. Anal wasn’t his favorite way to fuck—not by a long shot—but it was the only way he hadn’t had Erin and he wanted to fuck her everywhere. He wanted to mark her mouth and her pussy and her ass, fill her up with him until she couldn’t remember any cock giving her pleasure except his.

  The thought made him impossibly harder. He wanted to explore every inch of her body and make it clear she belonged to him, would always belong to him.

  “Oh please, oh please.” Erin panted above him, eager sounds issuing from the back of her throat. “Can I come? Blake, can I—”

  “Come for me, beautiful. Come on my mouth,” he mumbled against her aroused flesh. He sucked her clit, drawing hard on the nub until Erin came with a wild cry.

  She bucked beneath him, heels digging into the mattress, pelvis lifting into the air. Blake moved his hands back to her hips, holding her still as he gently lapped away the slickness rushing down her thighs. Only when her breath began to slow and some of the tension left her muscles did he increase the pressure of his strokes once more, playing through her folds with his tongue, teasing her clit with the barest pressure.

  “I don’t know if I can go again,” she whispered, hands shaking as her fingers combed through his hair. “It was so amazing, Blake. So intense. I’m not all the
way back in my body yet.”

  “You will be,” he promised, continuing his tender torment, licking and probing until Erin’s hands fisted in the sheets and her soft whimpers of arousal filled the air. Finally, her needy sounds and the smell of the fresh heat pooling between her legs was too much to resist. He needed to be inside her, needed to fuck her with all the desire coursing through his veins like a runaway train.

  Blake surged over Erin’s trembling body, positioning himself and shoving his engorged, aching cock into where she was so hot, so wet.

  “Fuck, Erin.” He groaned into her mouth, meeting her eager lips with his own, slipping his tongue between her teeth and letting her taste her own salty heat.

  She wrapped her legs around his hips and squeezed, urging him even deeper inside her welcoming sheath. “Yes! You feel so good, Blake.”

  The head of his cock bumped against the end of her and his balls fit snugly in the crack of her ass, but still Erin flexed her muscles and tilted her hips as if she couldn’t get him deep enough. Blake knew how she felt. He wanted to get closer, deeper. He wanted to share her skin, to fuse their separate bodies into one mass of pulsing, aroused flesh.

  With a growl, Blake pulled back and slammed home, again and again, burying himself to the hilt in Erin. Slow, savage thrusts all too quickly became swift and desperate as his control slipped, burned away by the heat they generated together. He rode her hard, shoving in and out of her slick sheath, setting a brutal rhythm Erin matched with eager lifts of her hips.

  “Yes, Blake. Yes!” She came without warning this time, her pussy clamping down on where he moved inside her, triggering his own release so quickly he barely had time to realize he wasn’t wearing a condom.