Taming Keys: Charon MC Book 12

by Wren, Khloe

  He nodded against my throat before lifting his face up to stare down at me.

  “I missed you somethin’ fierce.”

  I smiled up at him as a few tears leaked from my eyes. “Missed you too.”

  He released me and cupped my face again, wiping my tears away with his calloused thumbs.

  “You gotta stop crying, babe. Your tears destroy me.”

  “They’re happy tears. I’m not upset. I’m just so… overwhelmed to finally have you back with me, safe and sound.”

  Chapter Three

  Keys

  My woman killed me with her sweetness. For as long as I lived, I’d never forget the way she looked earlier, bursting out of her house and bolting across the lawn to me like she couldn’t wait another second to be in my arms.

  I gently kissed away the last of her tears, all the while murmuring words of love and devotion to her. This woman was it for me. I knew it in my soul that Donna was my ride or die. The only one I’d ever love for the rest of my days.

  Lowering my hands, I gripped the bottom of her shirt and started to strip it from her. She wriggled and lifted her arms, trying to hurry me up. As much as I wanted to rush the process to get her naked and under me as fast as I could, I forced myself to slow down. To savor every moment.

  “Keeeys.”

  She groaned out my name, reaching to tug at my shirt, trying to strip me. Then, when that didn’t work, she moved to unbutton her jeans. I stilled her hands with a chuckle.

  “Slow down, darlin’. I want us both to enjoy every moment of our reunion. I promise, I’ll make it worth your while.”

  Her pupils dilated as she stilled. Yeah, my woman knew full well I’d make it worth it. Unable to resist, I leaned in and took her mouth again, kissing her slow and deep, until she was putty in my hands. As she was sighing in pleasure, I got back to getting her naked. Once I was done, I stepped back and admired her in her bare glory for a few moments before I started stripping myself.

  After carefully taking off my Charon MC cut and hanging it on the back of her chair, I made fast work of the rest of my clothing. As much as I’d enjoyed slowly revealing all her sexy curves, now that she was standing naked in front of me, burning me alive with her lust-filled gaze, my patience had evaporated.

  Once I was done, I grabbed a condom from my jeans pocket as I started using my words to get her even hotter than she already was.

  “Hop up on the bed, darlin’. I have got to get my mouth on you. Haven’t had your honey down my throat in way too long. It’s past time we correct that, dontcha think?”

  Her body shuddered as she stepped over to climb up onto her bed, waving her sexy ass at me before she rolled over to lay on her back. I gripped my cock firmly, and with a stroke, took in the sight she made before I concentrated on getting the damn condom on.

  “Spread your legs for me, darlin’. Show me what’s mine.”

  I cleared my throat but knew it wouldn’t take the gravel out of my voice. From the first touch at that Halloween party, she’d brought out my inner caveman. With a cheeky smirk, she oh-so-slowly inched her legs apart to reveal her neatly trimmed dark curls, already damp with her arousal.

  A groan tore from my lips at how incredibly sexy she was. Part of me wanted to just climb up and slam straight into her, but I wanted to taste her first.

  “You are so damn beautiful.”

  Leaning forward, I rested a knee on the mattress between her legs then dropped down onto my arms, so my mouth hovered just above her pussy. Nuzzling my nose into the junction of where her thigh met her torso, I inhaled. The scent of her apricot body wash was nearly drowned out by her arousal, and it had my heart rate thundering in response. While gazing up at her face, taking in her lust-glazed eyes and parted lips, I lowered and swiped the flat of my tongue up her center, flicking her clit before I groaned as I paused to savor my first taste of her for the night.

  “Hmmm. Now that’s a taste I’ve been craving. Brace yourself, darlin’, because I’m gonna make a meal out of you before I’m done here.”

  She moaned as she arched her hips, offering her sweet pussy for me to hurry up and do as I’d promised. With a grin, I lowered back down and thrust my tongue in deep as I used my thumb to tease her stiff, little clit. She cried out and took fistfuls of the bedding as I continued to fuck her with my tongue and torment her nub until she was shaking beneath me, on the edge of coming. Lifting my mouth, I thrust two fingers in deep, stroking until I found her g-spot. The moment I had it, I shifted to suck on her clit, flicking it with the tip of my tongue as I continued to pump my fingers inside her, making sure I got her sweet spot on each thrust.

  “Keys!”

  With my name echoing around the room, she came, coating my fingers with her sweet cream. Moving my hand away, I gently lapped at her, catching every ounce of honey she gave me, not wanting to miss a drop. Once she settled and was lying limp on the bed, I pressed a soft kiss to her thigh before I moved to crawl up the bed. I made sure my body dragged over hers, so that by the time my face was level with hers and she was caged beneath me, she was squirming with arousal again. I fucking loved how responsive she was.

  “I love you, Donna. So fucking much.”

  Her expression softened, her lips tilting up into a smile as she lifted her palms to cup my face and pull me down to kiss her. I went willingly, dancing my tongue with hers, giving her a taste of herself mixed with me. When we broke apart, we were both panting.

  “And I love you, Ben. Forever.”

  As she finished speaking, I flexed my hips and buried myself inside her deep, hating that I had to wear a fucking condom with her. But maybe if I didn’t re-enlist and stayed home, I’d be able to convince her to be my old lady, my wife, and to start a family with me. A shudder ran through me at the thought, and I groaned as the image of her round with my child rocked through me.

  Donna

  Every single time this man touched me, he rocked my world. No, that’s not right. He didn’t just rock it, he blew it away. I lifted my hips to meet his with each thrust, trying to urge him to go deeper. I needed more, wanted everything he had to give me. With a growl, he pulled out and before I could say a word in protest, he flipped me over. Then with a firm grip on my hips, pulled me back until I was on my hands and knees. I’d barely been able to take a full breath when he slammed back into me from behind, forcing all the air from my lungs.

  “Oh, fuck…”

  He seemed to always know just want I needed. This new angle took him deeper and hit all the hidden nerves inside me just right. Within a few thrusts I was vibrating on the edge of another climax, chanting his name as my arms threatened to give out. Just as I would have fallen forward, his hand left my hip and slid up my front, pulling me up until my back was flush against his sweat-slicked chest.

  He groaned near my ear. “Fucking love you, babe.”

  With one hand wrapped around my right breast, kneading the flesh, he slipped his other hand from my hip over to tease my clit. I reached back, gripping his hips tightly on either side as he set about flicking my hard, little nub in time with his quickening thrusts.

  “Come for me, Donna. Shatter for your man. Give it all to me.”

  With a shudder, I did as he asked. My body tightened then blew apart in a massive climax that left me shaking and mindless in the aftermath.

  My awareness returned to find myself lying under the blankets with Keys beside me, feathering kisses along my jaw as his fingers stroked from my shoulders down to my hips before returning to stroke again. I lazily slid my hand up his arm until I could wrap it around the back of his neck to bring him close so I could get another of his kisses, which he willingly gave me. I could lie here and kiss this man forever and be happy.

  Eventually, he pulled back and with a contented sigh, rested on his side beside me, his head on his hand as he looked down at me with a lazy smile.

  “Damn, but I missed you like crazy, darlin’.”

  I trailed my fingers over his chest, play
ing in the light dusting of hair there. “Me too. I hate that you have to be gone so much. I worry about you out there. So many are dying or getting injured.”

  He frowned and it was as though a veil of darkness settled over him at my words.

  “We all know the deal with we sign up…”

  His voice trailed off and my instincts flared, telling me something had happened.

  “I’m sensing a but. Clearly, you haven’t been injured. Was a friend? Did you lose someone on this last tour?”

  His eyes closed tightly as his hand squeezed my hip in a bruising grip. The last of my post-sex glow evaporated as my worry for my man overtook everything else. I reached a hand up to cup his jaw.

  “Tell me, love. I’ll hold your secrets safe. What happened?”

  His lids opened and I stared into the chocolate-brown orbs, sensing the internal battle he waged in regard to telling me whatever it was that had him hurting. I dropped my hand from his face and went back to tracing a finger through the hair on his chest, drawing little patterns there in an attempt to soothe him.

  “Seven months ago, we were on shore leave. Ace and I were in this bar.” He paused to clear his throat. “I fucked up, Donna. We knew the locals didn’t like us foreigners in there, but we went anyway. It was hump day — we were halfway through the tour — and we wanted to get off the ship for a bit, you know?”

  I nodded and continued touching him, wanting him to get this all out and hopefully feel better afterward, even though I knew it was going to be bad and probably leave me with nightmares from just hearing about it. It didn’t matter. If it took the ghosts I could see haunting his eyes, it would be worth it.

  “When we go on shore leave, we always go in at least pairs. We watch each other’s backs while we’re away from the ship.”

  He paused and when I looked up into his eyes, the pain there had my breath catching.

  “What happened?”

  “I fucked up. I went to the can — the bathroom. You’re allowed to do that. Go alone. But dammit, I should have made sure the others from our crew that were in the bar were keeping an eye on Ace while I was gone. I didn’t do that and when I came out, he was gone.”

  Tears pricked my eyes as all sorts of horrors flashed through my imagination.

  “Is he—”

  I couldn’t finish my question, couldn’t voice the word but Keys knew what I was asking.

  “He’s alive. He’d been chatting up a woman and some locals took offense. They’d snatched him and driven him out to the desert. By the time we found him, he was in a bad way. He ended up losing his right leg to just above the knee.”

  “Is he in California? Did you get to see him before you came here?”

  He shook his head. “He’s back at his home in Spokane. I called him after we docked, and he didn’t sound so good. I needed to see you first so I came here, but I need to check on him soon.”

  His expression and the way he clung to me showed how torn he was on where he should be at the moment. I swiped the tears from my eyes and smiled gently at him.

  “You should go see him. I’ll be working most of the time for the next couple weeks anyway, so go visit your friend, then come back to me. I’ll take some leave and we can be together round the clock over the Christmas-New Year break, yeah?”

  The relief he felt was easy to read as his body relaxed and he nodded. He closed his eyes and blew out a deep breath before he reopened them and looked directly into my eyes.

  “You’re the best, babe. And if I’m heading out again in the morning, I’d better make the most of tonight to show you just how fucking perfect I think you are.”

  Pushing me onto my back, he caged me beneath him again and with a happy sigh, I basked in the way my man loved me.

  Chapter Four

  Keys

  It was with a heavy heart I watched Donna drive her car from her driveway to go to work as I started my bike to head up to the airport. I’d found a flight heading to Spokane later this morning, so I needed to get my ass to the airport before I missed the thing.

  Riding this early in the morning was cold as fuck, but thankfully since it rarely snowed in the south of Texas, I didn’t have to switch out my bike for a cage in the winter months. I’d take the cold on a bike over the heat of a cage any day. There was nothing quite like the feel of the wind against your face and the freedom of all the space riding down an open road.

  After getting my ride into long term parking, I checked in and when I got to the gate, I had a few spare minutes, so I unclipped my cell from my belt to call Ace to let him know I was coming. It was nice being back on US soil and having things like my mobile phone. Damn thing didn’t work once you left the country.

  Ace didn’t have a cell, so I called his house phone. Unease ran down my spine when it rang out, unanswered. Ace didn’t have an answering machine, so it just rang as long as I let it. The speakers announced boarding was about to commence for my flight, so I didn’t have time to try again. Praying he was just in the shower or something, I boarded the plane.

  As soon as I’d been able to after landing at Spokane Airport, I’d switched my phone on and tried to call Ace again. When he still didn’t answer, my instincts were screaming that something wasn’t right. I headed straight to the car rental desk and took the first thing they offered me. Needing to get to Ace as fast as possible, I didn’t even bitch when they gave me the keys to a tiny little hatchback that wasn’t much bigger than my Harley.

  Once I was out on the road, I followed the directions I’d looked up earlier and quickly found his small house. He lived in a nice area of town. His place was tucked in at the end of a cul-de-sac. Back from the road, the house was nearly hidden from the view of the road with overgrown trees. Trust Ace to work out how to live in a city but make it as though he was in the middle of the country. He’d told me how he’d bought two lots and built near the back in the center, so he could grow shrubbery around him and hide from the world.

  I’d been born and raised in Bridgewater, a relatively small town, so I’d understood his need for some space. Didn’t understand why he had to try to make it happen in the middle of a fucking city, though. Why not just move to the country and be done with it?

  I shook those thoughts free as I parked in the drive and rushed up toward his front door. When I pounded my fist against the wood, it swung open in eerie silence. The lock didn’t look like it had been busted in, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t an intruder inside. Cursing inwardly, I went on alert. I didn’t have a weapon, but with all my training in hand-to-hand, I was confident I could take out any threat that might be in the house.

  With silent efficiency, I cleared each room. Finding no signs of life, I only had the master bedroom left to search when I paused. I took a minute to just stare at the closed door, dreading what I was going to find when I opened it. I didn’t want to go in. Didn’t want to see what I knew I’d find within.

  Emotion stung my eyes as I reached up and turned the knob. Then froze, unable to push the door in. Like maybe, if I didn’t go in, it wouldn’t be real. Ace wouldn’t be…

  With a growl at myself to stop being such a pussy, I shoved the door open and stepped inside. My world tilted on its axis as I took in the room. Like the rest of the house, it was immaculate. Not one thing out of place. Including the man laying completely motionless on the bed. Ace was in full dress blues, the lower half of his right pant leg lay flat against the mattress, making the missing limb a scream in the room. Snapping out of my shock, I stumbled my way over to the side of the bed. I reached for his wrist to check for a pulse, praying I wasn’t too late. But the moment I touched his cold skin I knew he’d been gone for some time already. Rigor mortis had set in, freezing my friend in his final position.

  All my energy drained out of me, leaving me falling to my knees on the carpet beside Ace. Tears ran down my face, but I ignored them. I’d failed him again. First, I’d not stopped those fuckers from taking him, and now I hadn’t been here to help him
through the adjustment of knowing he’d never be able to be an active service Marine again. That he’d always be missing two-thirds of his right leg. I should have come straight here, convinced him to move south with me. Got him into the Charons, with a family who’d always have his back. Instead I’d gone to Donna. I’d been selfish and it had cost my friend his fucking life.

  I had no idea how long I knelt there, staring at Ace’s now peaceful face before I finally managed to snap the fuck out of it and stand up and really take in the rest of the room. The empty orange prescription container on the bedside table explained how he’d done it. So like Ace, to find a way to do it that was neat and didn’t make a mess. Would the slip of folded paper beneath the container explain the why? Did I even want to know? Maybe he wanted to rail at me for failing him. Closing my eyes, I shook my head. I was being a fucking fool. From the start, he’d refused to let me take any blame for what had happened to him.

  I was the only one who blamed me.

  Blowing out a breath, I did what I knew I had to. If I didn’t read it, the what ifs would do my fucking head in. I was careful to not touch the bottle as I slid the paper out from beneath it. I knew I had to call the cops in and report what I’d found, and I didn’t want anyone thinking for even a second that I was the kind of man who’d force pills down a friend’s throat. Best I limit where my fingerprints were.

  The note was short and to the point. Classic Ace.

  * * *

  Keys,

  Sorry you had to find me like this, but I just couldn’t do it.

  None of this is your fault.

  Forget about me and go marry your woman, have a bunch of kids and live a full life for us both.

  Until we meet again.

  Oorah

  Ace

  * * *

  The tears started up again. “Fuck, Ace. Just fuck…”