by Liliana Hart
Zeke knew he was pushing. And he didn’t care. He moved closer, boxing her in until her back pressed against the refrigerator.
“I don’t think so, baby. And it’s time for both of us to stop running and face the facts. We both failed each other.”
The last seven years had haunted him. The mistakes they’d both made. The angry words and demands. And when it came down to it, the biggest issue was that they were both too stubborn and had too much pride. When she’d told him she was done with undercover work and that she wanted them both to move to a different area of law enforcement since it had become too dangerous, his ego had immediately reared its head.
Somewhere deep down he knew she’d been right. That getting back in the game was something he might not come out the winner of. And that was the thing—he’d wanted to win at everything—the argument, the job—and his own stubbornness had made them both losers.
The realization of what they both had to gain just by giving in a little made the tension creep from his shoulders. His body was still on high alert—how could it not be with her standing there looking flushed and angry and fuckable?
Her face was scrubbed clean, but she had a natural beauty that had no need of makeup. Her hair was pinned up in a messy knot and strands had come loose so it framed her face. The clothes she’d put on weren’t meant to entice. Just lounge pants and a long-sleeve T-shirt, but he could see how hard her nipples were beneath the cloth and he wanted nothing more than to peel her out of the layers and rediscover her body.
“You always did have an oversized ego,” she sneered.
The corner of his mouth curled up in a smile. “That’s not the only thing that’s oversized right now. Have I mentioned how much I love a good argument with you? How wet are you, Mia? Should I take you fast and hard so we can work out the frustration, or keep you on that edge and make you beg for it?”
Her eyes dilated and her lips parted as arousal flushed her cheeks. His head dipped down and his lips hovered just above hers, giving her the chance to protest. But her dark eyes widened and stayed steady on his, and then her hands came up and rested on his chest. He thought at first she was going to push him away, but then her fingers trailed down—slowly, slowly—until they rested just above the button of his jeans.
Bombs exploded in his head and fire rushed through his nervous system. Her touch could take him places he’d never been before, and he couldn’t remember ever wanting anything as badly as he wanted Mia in that moment.
His arms circled her waist and his lips moved over hers, their tongues clashing and colliding in a familiar dance. A moan escaped her throat, and her fingers jerked at the button of his jeans. He grabbed her hands.
“Too fast, baby. I’ll never make it if you touch me right now.”
She tasted of beer and woman, and he drank her in like a man who’d found an oasis after being lost in the desert. He pulled her closer. He wanted to consume her, surround her, until his body was part of hers. She went to his head like a drug, and a barely leashed hunger raged inside him.
“Zeke, please. Enough waiting.” Her head fell back as his teeth nipped at her neck. “I can’t take it anymore.”
“Oh, you’re going to take it, baby,” he whispered. “Over and over again.”
His hands moved over her, memorizing the shape of her. From her full breasts, down to her waist, and then farther down to the flare of her hips. His. The claiming was unmistakable.
He untied the drawstring at her waist and let the lounge pants fall to the floor. And then his hands roamed around to her ass.
“Jesus, Mia,” he groaned, feeling bare skin where he’d been expecting the lace of her panties to be. He lifted her, the hard length of his cock notching against her clit. He could feel her heat, even through the denim that separated them.
Her nails bit into his shoulders and she cried out as he pressed against her. He slid a finger down her backside, over the tight bud of her anus to the creamy folds of her pussy. And then he slid a finger inside and felt her unravel in his arms.
* * * *
Every nerve in her body was screaming for more—for him to fill her completely. But even that small touch was enough to give her some relief from the glorious pleasure that had been building inside her all day. It had been too long since she’d felt Zeke hot and hard against her.
She’d always been a sexual creature, needing release like some needed food. But she’d long since grown tired of the toys she kept in her nightstand drawer or her own fingers. There was nothing quite like the feel of a hard body pressing you into a mattress.
Heat infused her and a startled cry escaped from her lips as a small orgasm ripped through her body. Her clit was swollen and rubbed against him, and she moved her hips, hoping to draw it out. But the quick release trailed off before it had barely begun and left her wanting more.
“God, Zeke. More. I’m going to go crazy if I don’t have all of you.”
Her hands grasped at his shirt, pulling at it until it was over his head and tossed on the floor. She wanted to feel him flesh to flesh—the hard contour of muscles beneath her fingers. He was always so fun to touch—to look at. The shadows cast his face in a savage light, the dark scruff of his beard a contrast to his chiseled cheekbones and square jaw. He was, quite simply, beautiful.
His hands tightened on her ass and her legs wrapped like a vise around him, looking for another quick thrill before they got down to serious business. No one could command her body like he could—a maestro of touch, building crescendo after crescendo until she screamed at the pinnacle of pleasure.
He moved quickly toward the bedroom and jerked back her comforter, laying her down on the cool white sheets. He discarded her shirt and looked his fill. His finger touched the scar just above her breast and his face darkened. If that scar was just a hair to the left she wouldn’t be here. And she realized it was the first time he’d seen her naked since she’d gotten it.
She felt exposed, even though he’d seen her laid out before him a thousand times before, but that thought quickly passed as his eyes darkened with desire and his breathing grew heavy. His finger trailed from the scar down to the rosy tip of her breast and she felt powerless beneath his touch. And then she remembered that she wasn’t without her own brand of power.
“Mmm, you’re bigger than I remember,” she said, eyeing his broad chest with appreciation.
“Working out becomes an obsession when you don’t have a personal life.”
Her hands skimmed up her stomach slowly and his eyes followed, until she was cupping her breasts. They were full and heavy and ached with the need for his mouth. She tweaked her nipples between her thumb and forefinger and moaned as frissons of pleasure went straight to her clit.
“Christ, Mia. You’ll make me come before I can get inside of you.”
“Better hurry and get inside of me then,” she dared.
“Witch.” He loomed over her, the muscles in his arms bulging as he supported himself. And then he lowered his head and his tongue flicked a rigid nipple before taking it in his mouth completely. Her back arched as she pressed against him, her hands holding the back of his head so he’d never leave her.
He blew a cool stream of air across her nipple and she shivered in response. “I once could make you come just by touching you here,” he said. “They’re so sensitive. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’d rather feel you inside me,” she panted as his teeth clamped down on a nipple. The sizzle rippled through her nervous system, and her clit throbbed with the pounding beat of her heart. She shivered and convulsed as he bit a little harder, just so there was a slight edge of pain, and then he suckled her, massaging her other breast at the same time. The suckling grew more intense, until she could feel each tug between her thighs. And then stars exploded behind her closed eyelids and she was crying out as wave after wave of pleasure consumed her.
She felt the bed shift and his weight lift as he discarded his jeans, but she was too relaxed t
o open her eyes and watch. She could’ve curled up like a cat and gone to sleep.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Zeke said.
She could hear the smile in his voice and her eyelids fluttered half open as he crawled back on the bed. And then her eyes widened and she cried out as he slid inside of her straight to the hilt. Her breath caught in her throat and her hips arched against him. She was wet, but the tissue inside her vagina was swollen from the small orgasms she’d had and his fit was more than snug.
It was like coming home after a long journey. Foreign and familiar all at once. The feel of his skin against hers, the way his chest hair abraded her nipples. She couldn’t deny it. He’d always held her heart.
“God, Zeke. Love me.”
She regretted the words instantly, and then had the hopes that maybe he hadn’t heard her after all. His chest rumbled and an animalistic growl escaped from his throat. His dick went impossibly hard and grew in size as he came closer and closer to his own orgasm. He continued to pummel inside her relentlessly and she held on, her mouth open in a silent scream as the head of his cock touched somewhere deep inside of her—to a place that made the world go dark and explosions detonate from her womb and spread through her limbs until the muscles went rigid and the beginnings of an intense pleasure spiraled from the inside out.
She wasn’t sure she could survive it, and knew he’d branded her like he never had before. Sensations built inside her until a deep, pulsing starburst of pleasure erupted through her core, coursing through her body. Her muscles spasmed, her limbs stiffened, and she cried out his name as he called out hers. Hot jets of his semen filled her and she tightened around him, wanting to take him all.
And then there was nothing but darkness as sleep consumed her.
* * * *
Zeke had never dreamed with such clarity before. Where his senses were primed so every sound was magnified and the slightest touch could send his body soaring. He had to be dreaming because nothing outside of dreams could feel like this.
His eyelids felt weighted down and he barely had the energy to grasp at the sheets beneath him as the liquid heat of Mia’s mouth clamped around his cock. Her tongue swirled around the sensitive skin of his head before swallowing him whole. And she repeated the pattern over and over until his hips arched and he was fucking her mouth in earnest. And then she stopped and pulled away, and he groaned in protest.
“It’s my turn,” she whispered. “You’ll lie there and take it.”
And then he realized maybe he wasn’t dreaming after all. He forced his eyes open and looked down the length of his body to see her between his thighs, his cock hard and sticking straight up and wet from her mouth, the veins bulging.
A small amount of light seeped in through the blinds from the porch light she’d left on. Her eyes were dark and seductive and her smile was wicked. She was in a playful mood.
“I thought I was dreaming,” he said.
Her brow arched and her tongue flicked out, making his cock jerk. “Reality is always better.”
“So I’ve discovered.” He gritted his teeth as her hot little fist wrapped around the base of his cock and her tongue continued to wreak havoc on his system.
“I’ve always loved the way you feel. The way my mouth and tongue have learned the shape of you. Every ridge. The way you swell in my mouth just before you’re going to come and the taste of you as I drink every drop.”
“Jesus, Mia,” he panted, his hands going to her head, his fingers tangling in her hair.
“Mmm,” she moaned, swallowing him whole once more.
Her head moved up and down between his thighs and her mouth clamped tighter around him, milking him with every stroke. His balls were tight and he’d be done for in a couple more strokes if she didn’t slow down.
“Enough,” he begged. “I don’t want to come yet.” His gaze met hers as she looked up from the object of her focus. And the sight of his cock in her mouth while she stared at him out of those gypsy eyes was one of the sexiest fucking things he’d ever seen.
“Are you giving me orders?” she purred sweetly, licking him once more, like a cat, from base to tip.
“Has it ever done any good outside of an undercover op?”
“No,” she said, smiling cheekily. And then she released him and sat up on her knees, steadying herself on his muscled thighs.
She looked like a goddess rising over him—powerful and wicked and just a little bit dangerous. Dark hair fell over her shoulders, covering one of her breasts completely and leaving the other exposed. Her muscles were toned—years of discipline and exercise keeping her fit even after she left the job—and his eyes were immediately drawn to the silver bar piercing at her belly button.
“I meant to tell you earlier that I like the piercing, but I was too busy fucking you.”
Her lips quirked and her hand left his thigh to skim across her stomach, tracing the bar with her finger. “Yes, you were. Now it’s my turn to fuck you.”
His cock jerked as she said it. He’d always loved when she talked dirty. And then he lost his train of thought as she straddled his hips and sank down all the way to the hilt. She fit him like a fucking glove and his jaw clenched and his hands went to her hips as he struggled for control. His body was an inferno and he was surprised it was physically possible to withstand that kind of heat.
Her muscles contracted around him and then she threw her head back and rode him with abandon, her hips undulating and her vaginal muscles squeezing him in perfect time. Until he thought he’d lose his mind with the pleasure.
Then he felt the liquid heat of her surround his cock, the ripple of contractions and her screams of pleasure as her orgasm ripped through her. And he was helpless to stop himself from following after her.
Chapter Five
The shrill scream of the alarm coming from her phone jerked her out of a deep sleep. Three loud raps at the door followed soon after.
“What the hell?” Zeke asked, rolling out of bed in a fluid motion and grabbing his duty weapon.
“That’s the alert for my shop alarm system,” she said, turning off the phone.
Mia grabbed the gun she had in her nightstand and moved in a crouched motion to the chair in the corner where a gray pair of sweats were folded. She dressed quickly, but Zeke had already pulled on his jeans and was heading to the front door.
“Wait, dammit,” she hissed. “It’s my house.”
“It’s Cooper,” Zeke said. “I looked through the blinds in the bedroom.” He moved to the side and let her answer the door.
“My shop?” she said to Cooper, by way of greeting.
Cooper nodded. “There’s been an attempted break-in. I don’t know how bad or if they breached the inside. I was just on my way into the office this morning when the alarm company called through. The deputy on duty called me and I figured it was faster to stop here first.”
She could smell the soap from Cooper’s morning shower and his black hair was still damp at the tips. He was dressed for work—a chambray button down shirt with the Surrender Sheriff’s Office logo embroidered over the pocket and a pair of jeans and boots. He wore a shoulder holster and his badge was pinned on the left side of his shirt.
“I’ll meet you there,” he said.
“Thanks, we’ll be right behind you.”
Mia headed back to the bedroom in a daze. She heard the mumble of Zeke and Cooper’s words as they talked, but everything was buzzing in her head and all she could think about was her shop and what that small piece of land and the building that sat on it meant—it was the symbol of her new life, of her independence. And now someone had violated that. It didn’t go unnoticed that the breach and the appearance of Zeke had happened all in the same twenty-four-hour time period. That was something to think about later.
She looked at the clock and hadn’t realized it was just past five. It was still dark outside and the air was bitter with the chill. It wouldn’t be long before the first frost hit. Clothes were easy—a pair of je
ans, a sweatshirt, and her boots. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and topped it with a baseball cap. And then she grabbed her holster from the hook she’d hung it from the night before and strapped it on.
It didn’t go past her notice that she and Zeke had fallen into a familiar routine. They’d lived together for a couple of years on and off, depending on if she had to live with a family to give the illusion that she was a student. They knew where to move and which order to do things in to be the most efficient so they could get where they needed to go.
By the time she grabbed her car keys and backpack, he was holding the front door open for her. They were both cautious as they approached her 4x4, scanning the area for signs of a threat. But all was clear and she got behind the wheel. He always hated it when she drove. It was funny how those memories came back now, when she’d forgotten the little details of their relationship during their time apart.
“Anything you want to tell me before we get there?” Mia asked.
She drove down Main Street—the lights were on in the bakery and early birds were coming in for breakfast. Lights were on or flickering on in a few of the other shops, but she barely glanced at them. They were all looking at her as she drove by, however. There was no doubt the word had already started to spread about her shop. At least ten people she knew of had police scanners and kept everyone informed of any misdoings in the community.
She drove past Charlie’s Automotive and then climbed the hill that led out of Surrender. Fiery fingers of the blazing morning sun crept over the landscape as she peaked the hill and then began the descent down the other side.
All in all, it wasn’t a long drive. Maybe fifteen minutes. But it had felt like an eternity.
Zeke went still and quiet beside her. She recognized the blank look on his face. It was the same one he’d always had whenever he was trying to keep something from her.
“Let’s just check it out and see if any damage was done,” he finally said. “Maybe it was someone looking for some fast cash.”
