Love, Baby: a Crescent Cove Romantic Comedy Colletion

by Quinn, Taryn

  I lost it. Every chivalrous and polite stone that had built me crumbled in her arms. I drove into her and chased a pleasure so profound I couldn’t possibly come out on the other side as the same man I’d once been.

  She found my mouth. The kiss was messy, wild, and imperfect, brought with biting lips and crashing teeth.

  It was us.

  Too fast—too soon—she threw back her head and shook around me. I followed her so quickly, it could’ve been nearly at the same time.

  I came so hard that my cabin faded from my periphery and there was only Veronica and her wild, colorful hair with her bottle green eyes.

  My heaven.

  Twelve

  Goodtothelastdrop: You’ve ruined me for all other men.

  Cabin Fortress: You’re damn fucking right I did.

  I lifted her limp noodle body off the kitchen counter. I wasn’t doing much better, but oddly, I was starting to feel reinvigorated after our little interlude. Very unusual for me. I had to admit I usually was ready for a nap.

  “You’re not the napping bear kind of guy?” She curled into me, her face in my neck as her breath tickled my ear.

  I secured her tight against my chest. “Normally, yes. Right now? I’m just going to take care of you, all right?”

  “If you take care of me any further, I’m going to have to be hospitalized for dehydration.”

  I brushed a quick kiss along her temple. “You’ll like this.”

  “Oh, I liked the last one just fine, Fortress.”

  “Fortress, huh?”

  She linked her fingers around my neck. “Well, you are built like one. Very fitting name.”

  I grinned. “This man is built to shelter you, girl.”

  “He so is.” She kicked up her now bare foot. “Onward. I could get used to this carrying thing.”

  “You fit in my damn pocket.”

  “I’m not that small.”

  “You are.”

  “I’m not six…what?”

  “Three.”

  “Mercy.”

  I laughed. “You should see my brothers.”

  “The famed Masterson brothers.”

  “Yeah, my older brothers. Me? Not so much.” I walked down the hall to my master suite at the back of the cabin.

  “Oh. You weren’t kidding about the fireplace.”

  “No, ma’am.” I’d had the option to do a gas fireplace, but I was more of a crackling wood guy. Even if it was messy as hell.

  “And the chaise is real too.” She met my gaze. “You’re the real deal, huh?”

  I shrugged and veered off from my king-sized bed to my bathroom. “I’m just a guy, Veronica.”

  “I doubt that very sincerely.”

  “Lights.”

  She gasped. “Did you just talk to your bathroom?”

  “I have a smart house.”

  “Like one of those sci-fi kinds? You know, where the shower attacks you with scalding water?”

  I laughed. “Not quite that AI, thanks.”

  “Sure, until the robots attack.”

  I turned us so I could get the large glass door open and set her on her feet inside my steam shower. I was a big guy and required a lot of room. “So, you don’t want a nice hot shower?”

  “Didn’t say that.” She nibbled her lip. “Maybe turn it on manually?”

  I laughed and pressed my palm to the plate on the wall to override the voice functions. “Do you like a hot shower or…”

  “Blistering.”

  I stroked the back of my hand down her back and she shivered. “On this soft skin?”

  “Like a lobster,” she said with a grin over her shoulder.

  “Fucking dream girl.” I reached back and programmed it to 102º. Three jets and an overhead rain shower started. “Good?”

  “Oh, sweet mercy.” She tipped her head back toward the gentle rain and held out her arms to feel the spray from the other jets. “I’m never leaving.”

  I’m never letting you go.

  I wasn’t stupid enough to say that part aloud. But I grinned down at her as she twirled once before dragging me under the hood with her. She turned her nose up, eyelashes starred with water and happiness.

  This particular mental snapshot would follow me to my grave.

  I lowered my mouth to hers and couldn’t help but smile into the kiss as she went up onto her toes to meet me. She hooked her arms under mine to grip my shoulders as we softly swayed under the rain hood. Lazy kisses led to lazy touches.

  “Alexa, play ‘Into the Mystic’.”

  She ran her nails lightly down my back to grip my ass. I definitely rose to attention, though I’d been halfway there anyway. She rubbed her middle along my shaft as I rained suds down on us. Her rainbow hair coated her skin, leaving her tight pink nipples to peek out and drag against my chest as we slowly circled with the song.

  There were no words, just Van Morrison’s serenade and the water dancing at our feet. Suds teased between us and foamed around my aching cock. She brought her hand between us and stroked me lightly, then more firmly until I was the one tipping my head back to the rain coming down.

  “Veronica.”

  She stroked harder before stepping back for the water to sluice down between us, washing the soap away. Before I could stop her, she crouched down and took me between her lips. She moved us a step away from the rushing water, and I had to slap my hand against the tiled wall as she took more than half of me into her mouth.

  Between her hold and suction, I was so far gone. I couldn’t do anything but watch and pray I didn’t embarrass myself. I tried to urge her to her feet, but she wouldn’t be deterred. With hot jets of water stinging my back, I tried to protect her from the deluge of water. I didn’t have the brain power to turn off some of the shower heads since she’d told me to turn it to manual.

  All I could do was take it.

  She held me captive with her witchy green eyes and a mouth made for sin.

  I tucked her hair behind her ear, trying desperately to let her know she needed to pull away, but she wouldn’t hear of it, just doubled her efforts and I growled her name as the steam and her touch blurred my vision. I widened my stance and simply held on as the orgasm reduced me to rubble once again.

  She was destroying me stone by stone and I only hoped I could rebuild myself if she marched away from me with my heart and possibly a baby.

  I pulled her up, curling my arms around her shaking body. It was steamy and warm, but the water wasn’t reaching her anymore.

  I did all I could do. I pulled her back under the hood and warmed her through. Both of us were weaving like drunks. Me because I was fairly sure my rainbow siren had tried to kill me with her wicked mouth, and her because of the steam. We chuckled as we shared my fluffy washing scrubber.

  There really weren’t any words I could come up with, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. No, it was intense and comforting at the same time. Finally, I turned off the water and pulled her out to wrap her in a fluffy towel.

  She shivered and I pulled out a second towel for her hair. The gray towel swallowed her with enough room for two more people. “Sorry. I only have me sized towels.

  “How handy, I like you sized towels.” She blotted her hair dry as she crossed to the huge window.

  She looked good in my space. Too good. Especially for the number of times I’d imagined her right there. Firelight turned her rainbow hair gold and the room felt right for the first time in a long time.

  Dangerous thoughts, son.

  “Hungry?”

  She turned around, her lips quirking as she lowered her towel to show her fire-kissed shoulders.

  I cleared my throat. “For food.”

  “I could eat.” Her gaze flicked down my chest to my waist.

  I gripped my towel at my hip and glanced down. Was she checking me out?

  No.

  That was crazy. I moved to my large armoire and pulled out clothes. I turned and swallowed hard. She was right next to me. I ha
nded her one of my Henleys.

  “I don’t need my clothes?”

  “Oh, you’re not going home.”

  She took the shirt and let her towel drop to the floor. “Is that right?”

  Dear God, she was going to kill me.

  She pulled the shirt on, then sat on the edge of my bed and tugged back on her unicorn socks.

  I stepped into a pair of sweats, trying my damnedest to ignore the fact that she was nude. I needed to feed her and as much as I wanted to keep her naked, I needed to get my head on straight.

  I was already so far gone over this woman. She was going to see it and run back to town on foot.

  Play it cool, man.

  I took her hand. “I’m not done with you yet. Chaise and fireplace, remember?”

  She clasped my wrist with her other hand and trotted after me. “I do. But if you feed me, I’m going to snuggle into that king-sized bed and sleep.”

  I paused before we got to the door. “I’m willing to take a chance.”

  “So, you don’t just want me for sex?”

  “Do you?”

  She tipped her head in that ridiculously cute, inquisitive manner that pretty much did me in the first day I met her. Everyone else called me Moose and she tipped her head and asked for my real name. Never called me Moose. Ever.

  Was it any wonder I’d been interested? Even though it had been my name since high school, hell…junior high, to be honest. She didn’t seem to see me as the big, clumsy, shy guy. And around her, I wasn’t. Well, I was shy, but I’d managed to grow out of the clumsiness, even if the name had already stuck.

  “We both know I have plans, Murphy. But no, sex and your swimmers are not the only thing I’m interested in.”

  “Good.” I drew her down the hall into the wide open plan of my house. “Why don’t you serve up some of that stew and I’ll stoke the fire?”

  She sighed. “The fact that you have more than one fireplace is unfair.”

  I checked on Latte and found him snuggled down in his blanket, dreaming puppy dreams. “Well, when I built this place—”

  “Wait, you really built it?” She opened cabinets and found the large bowls and ladled out a hearty portion for each of us.

  “Yep. I mean, not only me. But I worked with an architect and designed it with him. I knew what I wanted. After I sold my third game to a pretty large company, I had enough to do what I wanted.” I tossed a few logs on the embers of the fire from before she came and got it moving with a few well-placed newspapers.

  “Wow. What kind of games?” She set the bowls on the table and went back for the bread. “Butter?”

  “Fridge.”

  She twirled and made a little strangled sound as she saw my restaurant-sized fridge. “Wow.” She swung open both doors. “You have all the toys.”

  “Fridge is smart too,” I said as I came up behind her and slipped my hand along her hip.

  “Oh?” She stilled with the fridge still open.

  I traced lazy circles on her thigh. “Camera inside so I can check when I need milk.”

  “God, that’s so hot.”

  Laughing, I twirled her back around to face me and shut the doors. “I worked up a powerful appetite.” I toyed with the hem of my shirt and cupped her ass to drag her in closer.

  She rested her hands on my chest, grinning up at me. “Then stop distracting me.”

  “It’s a fridge.”

  “I’m a baker. Do you know how many supplies I could hold in there? I could climb in there.”

  “Let’s not test that theory. But my kitchen is yours.”

  “Don’t offer up things like that, sir. I will take advantage.”

  Take advantage. Please. “I cook for you, you bake for me. I think this is a win-win.”

  “Deal.” She laughed and slipped away to perch on the edge of a chair at the dining room table. “I gotta say, I’ve never eaten half naked at the table.”

  “The table part is the exclusion?” I sat next to her and unwrapped the bread. Thankfully, it was just a little extra crispy, not burned.

  “Who hasn’t raided the fridge in the middle of the night?”

  I choked on the spoonful of food. “Naked raiding?”

  She ripped a piece of bread and dunked it into her bowl. “Gets hot in my apartment in the summer.”

  I groaned. “Cruel, cruel woman.”

  She took a bite of bread and gave me an answering groan. “Did I mention I’ll be sleeping?” She looked around suddenly. “Where’s Latte?”

  “Burrowed in his blanket.”

  “Aww. I can’t believe you kept him. That’s so sweet.”

  “I didn’t really have a choice. He climbed up my arm like a damn monkey. Then climbed in my coat and wouldn’t leave me.”

  “So gruff, but you know you love him.”

  I shrugged. “He’s all right. My brothers will give me hell for having a little dog.”

  She picked up her spoon and tried to cut up the huge cubed meat.

  “Sorry. I tend to make a pretty big bite.”

  “Works for me. You should see what I put away.” She grinned around a spoonful. She chewed and swallowed before giving me the head tilt again.

  “What?”

  “Your brothers give you a hard time?”

  “I’m the baby, besides my sister. I think they believe it’s their job to toughen me up. Doesn’t matter that I’m thirty-damn-years-old now.”

  “Sounds nice.”

  “If nice means getting the crap beat out of me on the rink, the field, and any other place they can find me, then sure.”

  “Really?”

  I laughed. “It’s not that bad.” Lies. My brothers were hell on earth. I loved them to death and would die for them—even probably kill for them—but they were not easy to live with.

  “I’m not even sure where my mom is right now. She checks in every few weeks, so I know she’s alive. Last check in, she was in Bali.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah. My mother’s last name should be wanderlust. She loves to travel. Doesn’t have a plan, just a stamp in her passport for every port, country, and map dot she can find out there in the world.”

  “And you didn’t want to travel with her?”

  She shook her head. “I’d had enough of that as a kid. I never knew which school I’d be transferring to. We zigzagged all over the US before I was eighteen. Once she was legally free of me, she was gone. I’ve pretty much been on my own ever since.” She stood and took our bowls.

  I hooked my arm around her waist. “Hey. Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?” She wiggled away. “Cleaning up is what I do.”

  I followed her into the kitchen. “Not here you don’t.”

  She went to the sink and turned on the faucet. “You cooked, I clean. That’s the rules.”

  “Who’s rules?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Always the rules.”

  I turned off the water and drew her over to me. “They’ll keep.”

  “I can’t leave dishes.”

  I lowered my mouth to hers. “You can, and you will.”

  She tried to brush me aside. “It’ll just take…”

  I twirled her out to make her laugh.

  “Murphy…”

  “Veronica.” I drew her in closer then bent down enough to toss her over my shoulder. “I have other plans.”

  She squeaked and hung her arms down my back. “You’re a closet caveman.”

  “Not so closet.” I strode down the hall to my room. “I told you I have plans for you.”

  She smacked my ass.

  “Is that mosquito bite supposed to hurt?” I lowered her to the floor in front of the fire, then gently eased her onto the chaise.

  She flipped her hair out of her face. “Animal.”

  But I could tell she wasn’t mad. From the state of her nipples, I’d say she liked it. Before I could talk myself out of it, or backtrack and play it safe, I flipped her borrowed shirt off and crow
ded her farther back onto the huge chair.

  “I’ll show you what kind of animal I can really be.” I inched down a little and dragged my scruffy chin down her skin. It pinked up in the golden light, but she arched into my touch. I didn’t want her to ever think she had to be alone again.

  But again, it was way too early to say that aloud.

  Seeing her sad about killed me. My family may be a pain in my ass, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything. So, I wouldn’t allow her to be upset. That one thing, I could take care of with the ultimate distraction.

  I drew her tight little nipple into my mouth and watched as she tipped her head back in pleasure. I mapped out all the spots that made her writhe under me, and the ones that tickled. Veronica Dixon didn’t skimp on anything in her life, let alone showing me just how much she enjoyed my touch.

  But this time, I let her do an equal amount of touching.

  We kissed like we had all the time in the world. Until our lips were swollen and laughter drifted into broken groans. I drew her hands above her head. “Keep them there.”

  She looked up at me, her green eyes flickering with gold from the fire. A light sheen of sweat dotted her chest and her need slickened her thighs. I opened her wider and found a trio of freckles on her belly just above her pussy.

  I licked them and slowly connected the dots again and again as I feathered my fingers through the light strip of curls over her slit.

  One of her hands dropped to my hair.

  “Un-uh. You’re going to need something to hold onto.”

  She lifted one brow. “Is that right?”

  I nipped her inner thigh. “I didn’t have dessert.”

  “You had your dessert before dinner, pal.”

  “Appetizer.”

  “Didn’t we go over this? I like touching you too.”

  “And you will. In one hundred seconds.”

  “What?”

  “Count back from one hundred.” I lowered my mouth to her pussy. “If you can.”

  “Of course I can.”

  I nodded. “Sure you can.”

  “One-hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight…”

  I licked her gently, then a little rougher, my tongue lingering inside her warm flesh. Her words stuttered around the eighties as I gently sank two fingers inside her and brought my thumb up to circle her clit.