Still, she’d resisted.
Then, last week, he’d again had to stand on the sidelines and watch as her stress level had spiked once again when her decades old car had broken down on her yet again, leaving her stranded on the side of the road at two in the morning after she’d worked the late shift at Jumpin’ Jacks. He’d nearly come unhinged when he’d woken up at 3 am and seen she still wasn’t home. After calling her cell and having it go straight to voice mail, he’d jumped in the car and driven the route she would have taken to get to his place. He’d found her, standing outside in the rain beside her stalled car holding her dead cell phone in one hand as tears poured down her face. Seeing her looking totally defeated, he hadn’t even had the heart to admonish her for not having a charged cell phone. Nope, he’d taken one look at her tearful face and pulled her into his arms, letting her cry out her frustration. That night, she’d let him call Triple A for a tow, but had steadfastly refused to allow him to buy her a more dependable vehicle. Instead, she’d had the mechanics at the garage make yet another futile repair to the rapidly decaying engine.
It killed him that she was driving around in a dangerous car. It gutted him to know that she was working herself into the ground by working two full-time jobs and going to school. And it flat out pissed him the hell off that she was doing these things because she was too damned scared to admit to him and to herself that, yes, they were in a fully committed long-term relationship with each other.
It was time for the nonsense to stop, damn it!
He loved her. Not in a temporary, as-long-as-its-convenient kind of way. Fuck, no. The love he felt for her was endless. Timeless. Bottomless. Waverlee was everything to him. He no longer even knew where he ended and she began… she’d become that much of an integral part of who he was, as essential to him as the air he breathed. The mere thought of ever being without her was enough to make him begin to panic.
She wasn’t just important to him. She was the leash that kept him tethered to his sanity. He’d go mad without her.
Which was why he needed to do everything he was humanly capable of doing to keep her safe, and that started with convincing her that they were a couple. A caring, committed couple. If he could achieve that, then hopefully the rest would fall into place.
Wincing as he heard her overly-loud motor, he had to smile as he spotted her old Neon puttering up the driveway toward the house. Thanks to Waverlee’s lack of a working muffler, or any muffler at all if he got technical about it, he could hear her coming from miles and miles away. God, it was a truly ugly car. Once white, now it was mostly brown thanks to the corrosive rust pervading the body of the vehicle. Shaking his head, as he waved at her through the large bay window, he turned to walk toward the entryway. Most days, he tried to greet her at the door to relieve her of the heavy backpack she used to lug around her college textbooks as quickly as possible. Protective? Sure. But he had his reasons. Recently, he’d noticed his girl had been struggling more than usual when trying to lift heavier items. Since she’d dropped about fifteen pounds in the last couple of months that she could ill afford to lose, he tried to help her out as much as she’d let him. And right now, that meant meeting her at their front door to unburden her hands. Hell, he’d meet her at the car every day if she’d let him, but the last time he’d tried that, she’d informed him that she wasn’t a shrinking violet, and he didn’t need to wait on her. Meeting her at the door was the only compromise he’d been willing to make.
His smile widened as the door finally opened and his woman appeared. “Hey, baby,” he greeted his woman happily as she stepped inside the house. Her smile was tired as her exhausted eyes met his and he felt his stomach twist as he noted the circles under her eyes had gotten even darker in the eight hours they’d been apart. He needed to do something about this shit fast, damn it.
“Hey, honey,” she greeted him back. “You have a good day?” she asked, shrugging off her jacket and hanging it on the coat tree by the door.
Dressed in a wrinkled, bright pink pair of scrubs that were too baggy for her petite frame, she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and he could feel his dick responding to her proximity. But there’d be time for loving later. For now, he needed to concentrate. “It was okay. Got a couple of bids put in on some projects I’m interested in doing. What about you? How did your Cost Accounting final go this morning?” he asked. She’d had to leave extra early this morning to get to her seven a.m. class at the community college. Luckily for them though, this was the last one until next semester.
“It went okay. I think I scored well. Unfortunately, I was fifteen minutes late to work though, and Dr. Stein wasn’t too happy about that. Evidently, making his own coffee is not in the good dentist’s skill set.”
Yeah, Shaw definitely wanted to tell Dr. Stein where he could pour his fucking coffee. He was constantly expecting Waverlee to do things that definitely weren’t in her job description, and he wished for the fiftieth time that his girl would just come work for him. He needed a good receptionist and God knew that he’d treat her better than Dr. Stein. “You know that offer to work for me still stands, sweet girl,” he reminded her softly as he followed her into the living room, watching as she collapsed onto the oversized black leather sofa.
“You know I can’t do that, Shaw,” Waverlee denied quietly as she leaned her head back against the cushion and lifted her feet to the matching leather ottoman he slid in front of her seat.
“I know you think you can’t do that, but…”
Opening her eyes, Waverlee stared at Shaw with a kind of fatigued resignation. “Do we have to do this tonight, Shaw? You know how I feel about working for you. I’d feel as if you’re paying me to have sex with you.”
“Woman, that’s insane. I’d be paying you to answer phones and do my billing. What happens after that when we get home would be a completely separate issue.”
“And I disagree. Vehemently.”
“Why the hell won’t you even consider it, Waverlee Lynn?” he asked impatiently. “I can assure you that I’d treat you a damn sight better than Dr. Stein. At the very least, I’d be fine with getting my own damn coffee.”
“Honey, please. Can we not have this argument tonight? Trust me when I tell you that us working together would be a bad idea. If we spent that much time together…”
“What? What awful thing do you think might happen, woman? Would the sky fall? Would the world end? What?”
Obviously hurt by his dismissive attitude, Waverlee blinked back tears and he felt like an ass. Opening his mouth to begin apologizing, Waverlee cut him off.
“I’m afraid you might get tired of me, okay?” she informed him with a voice that cracked.
Stunned, Shaw could only stare at her for a long moment. “Waverlee, that could never happen. I love being with you. Aren’t I always saying that I wished we had more time together? Why do you think I’m constantly begging you to give up one of your jobs, huh? In additions to the fact that you’re working yourself into an early grave, I fucking miss you. Baby, some days we barely see each other.”
“We see each other,” Waverlee mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose as she squeezed her eyes closed.
“You mean in the middle of the night when you crawl into bed beside me?”
“Would you rather I went to my apartment instead of coming here?” she asked weakly, her body growing still as a statue on the couch.
“Of course not! I’d rather that dump not even be an option for you to threaten me with!” he retorted, throwing his hands up in the air.
“I’m not threatening you! I’m asking a question. If I’m bothering you coming to your home so late…”
“First, it’s our home, Waverlee. Ours. And there will never be a time where I will EVER consider you to be a bother. What I’m trying to say is that we don’t see each other enough, darlin’.”
“What?” she questioned, her voice small and forlorn as she stared at him with rounded eyes.
�
��Waverlee, I want to spend more time with you. Time that we’re not just making love. Don’t get me wrong, babe. I LOVE our sex life. What we share in our bed is something that I would never trade a moment of, but I do need more. I want time for us to talk and laugh and plan. I want to hear your hopes and dreams. I want to share mine with you. I want you to have time to re-charge your batteries. And then, I want to make love to you some more.”
“I… I don’t know what to say, Shaw,” she trailed off, shaking her head as she reached up to pull the ponytail out of her hair and run her fingers through the strands restlessly. “I’ve only ever committed to one more night with you and…
“Oh, cut it out, Waverlee!” Was this woman ever going to admit that they were more than just the sum of the nights they’d spent together?
“What?” she yelped, jerking on the sofa at his harshness she heard in his voice.
“You know we’re more than that. That ‘one more night’ business is bullshit and you know it,” he growled.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” she returned tightly, her tired eyes narrowing on him. “Can we please talk about this later? I only have an hour and a half to get showered, changed and over to Jumpin’ Jacks for my shift. I don’t want to spend that time fighting, Shaw.”
“You work tonight? I thought you had the night off,” Shaw complained, growing more frustrated by the moment.
“I did,” she replied regretfully, “But Brad had two waitresses call out on him. He could have made it work with one of them being gone. But both? There’s just no way. I can’t leave him in the lurch like that. Not after everything he’s done for me. Don’t be upset. It’s only a four-hour shift. Then Wendy is gonna come out from behind the bar to cover the floor.”
Shaw forced himself to breathe deeply before he said something he couldn’t take back. “Okay.” He nodded. “I get it. Brad’s your family. You don’t want to leave your family in the lurch.”
“Exactly,’ she acknowledged softly without looking at him.
“Waverlee, baby, please look at me.” Waiting until she reluctantly gave him her eyes, he lowered his body to sit on the ottoman by her feet and pulled them into his lap. “I love you, sweet girl. Love you more than I ever thought I could love anything. You’re mine. Not just for one more night either. Forever. I’m harping on you because I’m worried. You are running yourself into the ground, darlin’. And you refuse to let your man help you.”
“I can’t let myself depend too heavily on you, Shaw. What if things didn’t work? What if you wanted me to leave?”
Surprised at her fears, Shaw’s hand tightened on her foot. Had he failed to show her exactly how much she meant to him? What more could he do? “Waverlee, I’m never going to want you to go anywhere except into my arms. I’m not going to get tired of you. You’re my entire world.”
Waverlee’s eyes brightened and her face softened as she heard his words. “You are more important to me than anyone else in my life ever has been, Crenshaw. I just need…”
“One more night?” he supplied dryly as he returned to rubbing the arch of her foot with his thumb.
Sighing when he hit a particularly tight spot, she nodded. “Yes, for starters,” she returned with a slight smile. “But also, I was going to ask you to give me tonight to think about things.”
Shaw nodded. “Fine. Take tonight and think, sweet girl. Think about anything but leaving me. That isn’t an outcome I’ll accept from you.”
Waverlee laughed lightly. “I think I got that, Shaw. Now, I’ve still got an hour and fifteen minutes and I still desperately need a hot shower.”
Shaw’s smiled turned positively sinful. “Feel like some company?”
Arching one eyebrow as her grey eyes twinkled, she grinned. “You wanna come wash my back?”
“Among other things,” he replied with a flirty wink as he gently dropped her feet back to the floor and reached for her hands, pulling her off the couch to stand in front of him. “Sound like something you’d like?”
“Sounds like something I’d love,” she returned with a giggle as she began to hurry toward the master bedroom. “Last one in has to grab the towels!”
Growling as he dove toward her, Waverlee’s squeal of delight as he gave chase lightened the heavy weight in his chest. God, he loved this woman to distraction he thought as he pursued her through the house, pausing only long enough to snag a couple of soft bath sheets from the linen closet.
That slight delay, however, gave his woman enough time to change into his favorite outfit – her birthday suit. Watching as the firm alabaster globes of her gorgeous bare ass disappeared into their spacious walk-in shower, Shaw’s grin grew even bigger. And when he felt his dick twitch behind the fly of his jeans at just that short glimpse of his woman’s naked body, he wasted no time in peeling them down his legs, kicking them to the side as he tugged off his shirt and tossed it in the direction of the hamper.
Opening the glass door quietly, his breath caught in his throat and his dick flexed against the inside of his thigh as he found his woman standing underneath the steamy spray of the shower, her hands stretched high above her head as water sluiced down her phenomenal body. “Now this is a view a man would happily kill and die to see,” he rumbled, startling her.
Jumping at the sudden sound of his deep voice, Waverlee’s foot slipped on the slick tile beneath her feet and if it hadn’t been for Shaw’s quick reflexes she would have taken an ugly fall. Thanks to him, instead she fell into his arms, his hands going to her hips to steady her. “Well, that was a close call,” she laughed breathlessly as she tilted her head back to see her savior.
“You should know by now that I’ll always be around to catch you when you fall, sweet girl,” Shaw chided as he watched a dreamy smile spread across her lips as her hands slid up his chest.
“I’m a pretty lucky woman then,” she murmured, gently trailing her soft lips across his chest until she reached one of his flat brown nipples.
Groaning as she ran her tongue across the small nub, Shaw hissed in a breath as her teeth caught it, nipping sharply. “Alright, vixen, that’ll be enough of that,” he growled, backing his girl against the Italian tile wall. Dropping a hand to her waist, he pushed gently. “Turn around. Bend over. Hands flat on the wall,” he ordered, knowing this was one of her favorite positions. Hell, his, too. Although, any position he got to fuck his girl in automatically became his new favorite.
“Mmmmm,” Waverlee hummed happily, following his directions quickly. Turning to shoot him a saucy smile over her shoulder as she spread her legs slightly and bent at the waist and propped her hands against the wall, she asked, “Like this?”
Running his hand across her ass, Shaw dipped his fingers between her legs, testing her readiness. “Just like that,” he rasped as he found her slit soaked and slick. “Somebody feels excited,” he murmured, dropping a kiss against the back of her neck. “You been thinking about this today, darlin’? Dreamin’ about having your man bend you over and fill you up?”
Hanging her head as she lifted up on her toes to try to coax his fingers deeper, Waverlee nodded. All day long,” she admitted, moaning when he rewarded her by swirling his fingers around her aching clit.
“Did my sweet girl miss me?” Shaw asked, dropping his lips to her rounded shoulder and licking away a few beads of water as he circled her opening with two fingers.
“Yes,” she whimpered, gasping as Shaw drove two fingers inside her, twisting them in a way that made her toes curl and her back arch. “Shaw! Please!” she begged.
“Something you need, precious?’ he asked, licking his way up her neck until he reached her ear. “You want me to make the ache stop?” he asked, using his other hand to slide around her waist until he could reach her swollen clit while he continued fucking her with the two fingers he had buried inside her.
“Please, yes!” she moaned, tilting her head back until she could reach his lips. “I need you so much,” she breathed against his parted lips. “Make u
s feel whole again, Shaw,” she urged, squirming against his hand as she pressed her ass back against his thickened cock.
“No way I can resist that kind of invitation, is there, angel?” he growled, pushing his tongue into her mouth as he pulled his fingers free of her snug pussy. “Your little cunt doesn’t wanna turn my fingers loose, baby,” he whispered between wet kisses as her channel sucked at his retreating digits.
“It’s missed you today,” she smiled against his lips. “We both have,” she confessed as the warm water continued pouring over their aroused bodies.
“Can’t have that,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the shell of her ear. “What kind of man would I be if I didn’t take care of every one of my woman’s needs?” Gripping the base of his cock, he ran it through Waverlee’s passion-slick slit, getting it wet enough to slide easily inside her. “I love you so much,” he whispered as he notched the head of his cock at the mouth of her pussy.
“Yes, Shaw,” she breathed as he slid the first inch of his length inside her. “Don’t stop.”
“I’ll never stop, Waverlee. Never.” Gripping her hips in his hands, he thrust the remainder of his length into her, groaning as the walls of her pussy embraced him, pulling him deeper into the wet depths of her heat. He wanted to go slow, take his time and make this last, but the feel of her perfect little pussy strangling his dick was too much for him to withstand. “God, baby, I’m trying to hold back, but…”
Tipping her ass higher, Waverlee shook her head as she nipped his chin. “Well, don’t! I need you in whatever way you’ll give yourself to me. I’m not going to break, Shaw. Fuck me,” she demanded hoarsely, purposefully squeezing her already tight pussy around his throbbing dick.
“Ah, fuck!” He cursed, his head falling back on his shoulders at the incredible feel of her body caressing his. “I can’t get enough of you,” he panted, his hips lunging toward her as he slid deeper. “I’ll never get enough of you.” Fucking her with deep, hard strokes of his cock, he could feel her core growing wetter…hotter.
Sex, Vows & Babies: One More Night (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6
