“What does one step forward, two steps backward mean?” Mitch asks.
He’s married to Maddock’s sister. And Mitch knows Lorna well. I would have expected his new brother-in-law to reach out to him to inquire about her prior to speaking with Sin. I know that I would have if I was in his position.
“You really don’t know?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I look at Sin. “Go on. Tell them what’s happening.”
“Maddock Hendry wants to take a wife—a Fellowship woman—and he has expressed interest in Lorna. He’s asked to spend time with her, and I don’t have the option of refusing him because she hasn’t been claimed.”
“Well, fuck. Just when things seem to finally be turning around with you and your girl,” Jamie says.
“Tell me about it. Couldn’t have happened at a worse fucking time.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, mate.” Jamie truly is sorry. I see it in his expression.
Sin clears his throat. “I know that it’s not what you want or need to hear right now, but he called again this morning. He wants to see her tomorrow night.”
Son of a bitch. He’s not wasting any time.
“And your answer was?” I’m not sure why I ask. I already know the answer without Sin saying a word. Guess I just want to force him to admit it.
“You haven’t given me a legitimate reason to tell him no.”
Again with the legitimate reason. “I would love nothing more than to give you a legitimate reason, but it’s not even been a full day since Lorna and I decided to try this again. What do you think she would say if I asked her to marry me right now?”
“I get it, Leith. I do. But that doesn’t change the way that I have to handle this situation with Maddock.”
“Fuck, I can’t catch a break with her.” Why now? Why does another man have to try and step in at the exact moment that things are going right for us?
Lorna is going to be with another man tomorrow night. How in the fuck am I supposed to let that happen without entirely losing my shite?
Every man around this table has his woman. Each wears a ring on his finger that forever unites him with his wife while I sit here holding on to nothing but hope. I have zero guarantees. No one at this table understands the way that I feel right now.
Except Jamie.
“Your situation with Ellison wasn’t entirely different from the one I have with Lorna. You had to watch other men pursue the woman you loved. How did you handle that?”
“Not well. I hated it. Every fucking second. Each time I saw a brother try to win her over, I’d contemplate how I was going to kill him. And it was always slowly. Very… slowly.”
Contemplating about what I want to do to Maddock won’t ever be enough.
“You kept your shite together. How did you manage that?”
Jamie grins and chuckles. “I fucked her… a lot. Knowing that I was the only man who was actually having her is what kept me sane.”
Fucking… that’s an agreeable remedy for helping a man hold his shite together. And it gives me an idea.
“What time is Lorna scheduled to meet Maddock tomorrow night?”
“He’s picking her up at my house at seven. Which means that you’ll be arriving at what time?”
Sin knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“Five. Maybe sooner if I can get Kenrick to cover the bar for me.”
“All right. I’ll clue Bleu in, and she’ll make sure that Lorna is finished getting ready by then.”
“Thanks, mate.”
I had planned to take things slowly with Lorna, but that strategy is going to have to take a back seat. Maddock isn’t wasting any time and that means I can’t either. I just hope that I don’t sabotage my relationship with Lorna by moving too fast.
Bleu opens the door and she’s wearing a smile, one that says well played, sir.
“What?”
“This little strategy of yours.” Her brow lifts. “Showing up here unannounced right before she goes out with Maddock Hendry is a good move. She’s going to love it.”
“You think so?” I’ve gone back and forth on the idea all day.
“Don’t doubt this plan for a second. Tell her why you’ve come and she’ll melt.”
I wish I had the same confidence as Bleu.
“I’m not here to beat around the bush. I’m going to make my intentions crystal clear.”
“And you should.” Bleu winks at me. “She’s staying in the guesthouse.”
We’ll have complete privacy. Perfect.
“She doesn’t know that I’m coming?”
Bleu shakes her head. “I didn’t say a word.”
“Thanks, Bleu.”
I’m excited, nervous, scared as fuck. I don’t know what the hell I think I’m going to say to her. I probably should have sorted that out before now.
I enter the guesthouse and knock on the bedroom door.
“It’s unlocked,” she calls out.
I open the door and Lorna is holding the edge of the bed while she steps into the black heels on the floor in front of her. “I probably shouldn’t wear these stupid shoes. The right one always rubs a blister on my toe. I figure that I’m going to be miserable enough without adding that to the mix.”
She stands upright and stops straightening her dress when she sees me. “Leith…”
I close the door and lock it. In an instant, I’m across the room and standing in front of her. I can’t remember when I’ve moved so fast.
“You know that I have a—”
“A date,” I interrupt. “Yes, I know. I had to see you before you go to him.”
“Don’t say it like that.”
“How else do I say it?”
She shakes her head. “In a way that doesn’t make it sound as though tonight is my choice.”
“I know that you didn’t choose this.”
My hand follows her arm until my fingers reach hers, lacing them so they form a clasp. And then the song playing catches my attention. “You and your music choices.”
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s a little slow for my taste.”
“Slow?” She smiles and shakes her head. “I think that you mean romantic.”
I bring our clasped hands up and rest them between our chests, leading her to sway to the tempo of the music. “What’s the name of this song?”
“‘1000x.’”
“By who?”
“Jarryd James and Broods. Do you like it?”
“If you like this song, then I like this song.”
Lorna fists the back of my shirt and presses her forehead to my chest. “I don’t want to do this tonight, and seeing you right now is making it so much worse.”
Mission accomplished.
I’m not here to make Lorna upset. I just want to be fresh on her mind while she’s with him tonight.
“I hate this. You don’t know much.”
“Show me.” She lifts her face from my chest and looks up at me. “Show me how much you hate this, how much you don’t want me to go to him.”
I only know one way to interpret what she’s saying.
With my forehead pressed to hers and my fingers gripping her hips, I guide her to walk with me to the bed. Every step brings her closer to lying beneath me for the first time in four years. I swear that my throat feels like it could be closing because my heart has jumped into it and is beating a million times a minute.
Fuck, I’m nervous.
I’ve been with Lorna countless times. Been naked against her. Inside her. But I can’t remember it ever feeling this way.
My hands move from her hips to her back, and I use my grip to lower her body to the bed when we reach the edge of the mattress. In one fluid motion, her knees bend and her legs wrap around my body as I lower myself to lie on top of her. It happens naturally as though it’s something that we’ve done a thousand times—because we have— and yet this time feels brand new.
My arms press into the mattress on each side of her head. I stop moving and look at her eyes, now hooded by desire and seduction. They have the power to suck me in and never let go, holding me as her eternal prisoner.
There are so many things that I want to do with Lorna. I’m a man at an erotic buffet. I can’t decide what I want to try first, but kissing seems like the logical place to begin.
I’ve always loved kissing Lorna. She’s the only woman that I can say that about. And despite the number of times I’ve been with someone else since her, I haven’t kissed them. I couldn’t do it.
I press my lips to hers. Nothing special, just a closed-mouth kiss to begin with. Her lips are baby soft just the way that I remember, like pillowy clouds from the heavens above. It’s fitting because she feels like an angel lying beneath me.
Her lips move with mine and our mouths simultaneously open. Her soft, wet tongue glides over mine, and my cock jolts to life behind my zipper.
My cock has gotten hard many times over the last four years but it’s never been in response to the actual woman I was about to fuck—only the act itself. But that isn’t how it is with Lorna. I’m hard for her. Filled by need, want, and desire. Fueled by my love for her.
Pressing my hard cock against her body, I force her legs to spread farther apart. I want her to feel how much I want her, and I’m thrilled when she lifts her hips, grinding her body into mine.
I want her so fucking bad.
Gripping her wrists, I lift them above her head and pin them firmly against the bed. She doesn’t fight me or ask what I’m doing. She already knows. And it’s something that she loves. She always has.
This is my way of telling her that she is mine without saying the words. Mine to hold. Mine to touch. Mine to love.
Mine. Period.
Our kiss deepens and the pace increases. It threatens to reach a fiery, frenzied level at any moment, but it’s her frantic breath against my mouth that is my undoing. That’s when I become aware of how hard I’m grinding against her. I’m dry-humping her like a horny teenage boy not yet man enough to take the big leap. But I’m not alone. Her hips are rocking against me, increasing the friction of our bodies against each other. Her heels dig into my arse, encouraging me to thrust harder, and that strengthens the nagging impulse in my head to rip off her dress and fuck her into oblivion.
But I can’t. I won’t. Because Sin and Bleu’s guesthouse is not where this is going to happen. “I want you so much. But not like this. Not here.”
“I know this isn’t the right place, but I don’t want you to stop, Leith.”
A tingle jolts down my spine when she says my name, and I imagine her whispering it against my ear while I make love to her.
“I don’t want to stop either.”
And I don’t. Because I can’t. It’s impossible.
I’m so fucking weak when it comes to her.
Each time that I thrust between her legs, I tell myself that I’ll only do it once more, but it’s a damn lie. I literally can’t stop. It feels too fucking good.
I wish so badly that we were naked, my skin against hers with nothing separating us. I would give her everything that I had to give.
Is it possible for her to feel everything that she needs to feel through her knickers to be able to get off? Can I make her come like this?
I think I can.
I think I will.
My mouth moves down the side of her neck and I thrust harder. “Does that feel good?”
“So good.”
This immature foreplay is so many steps behind the things that Lorna and I have already experienced together. My cock has been between her tits and inside of her mouth, pussy, and ass. But somehow, this feels like one of the most sensual things that we’ve ever done.
Despite not being inside her, it still feels really good. Even through our clothing, I enjoy the friction of her body rubbing against my cock. And when she wiggles against me, I’m turned on even more.
I release Lorna’s wrists and her hands go straight for my face, grasping it with her palms. She pulls me closer, deepening our kiss until we are both breathless.
“Harder,” she says against my mouth.
Grasping the back of her legs and bending her knees, I push her legs apart until they can’t go any farther. Her hands move to the back of my head and her fingertips dig into my hair. With her forehead pressed against mine, she clings to me while we share the same breath.
That fucking moan of hers. I haven’t heard it in four years, and I swear to God that it alone is nearly enough to make me come.
Lorna’s hands move to my shoulders and she digs her fingers into my flesh. Although it’s through my shirt, there’s a twinge of discomfort, but I welcome it. It means that she’s on the edge of an orgasm.
“Please… Lei… th,” Her voice breaks halfway through my name, and I hear her anguish. Her desperation to come mirrors my own.
“Don’t worry. I’m going to give it to you.”
Her hands drift down my body and grab my arse, pulling me hard against her. “More.”
Fuck, this is hot. She’s hot.
I push my upper body away from her and kneel between her legs. Grasping her hips and pushing up her dress, I position her perfectly so I have complete control over the way I rub her panty-covered folds.
Her face is red, her lips swollen and parted in preparation for the orgasm that is about to happen. Almost there, baby. Just a wee bit more.
Her arms stretch toward my chest and she fists the front of my shirt. Her body jerks and her eyes close while her mouth forms the most perfect O that I’ve seen. “Ohh… uhh… mmm.”
“Open your eyes, Lorna. Look at me.”
She obeys and our eyes lock. I’m not even inside her and I’m still in heaven. The moment passing between us is so intimate that my body follows her cue and jolts with pleasure.
Oh fuck. I’m exploding.
“Ohhh…”
My beautiful girl’s cheeks flush a deeper shade of red and her mouth gapes as the sexual explosion surges through her body. She blinks slowly, the lust is heavy upon her lids, and I swear that it’s the sexiest thing that I’ve ever seen.
My hand moves beneath her head, and I fist the back of her hair, forcing her head to tilt to the side. I lower my mouth to her neck, kissing and sucking her skin. Marking her. As I do it, I know that I shouldn’t, but that doesn’t stop me. And she doesn’t tell me to quit.
I’m leaving evidence of this tryst for him to see.
I know when her orgasmic high is ending because her grip on my shirt releases and she quietly sighs. Her mouth is no longer a perfect O. It’s a lazy grin because she’s drunk on bliss.
Love her post-orgasmic smile. Nothing in this world beats it.
Rolling off of Lorna, I lie on my back beside her. I’m sweaty and winded so I unbutton my shirt, allowing it to fall open. “Shite, it’s hot in here.”
Lorna turns and looks at my open shirt. She sits up and places her finger against the dip at my throat and drags it down my chest, gliding it through the patches of hair and slick sweat.
“I’ve missed touching you.”
“Same. But touching is only one of many things that I’ve missed.”
Lorna leans down and places a soft kiss against my chest. The kiss is soft and delicate, even precious and innocent, but it still stokes the burning desire for this woman that can never seem to be extinguished.
I’m not a patient man. I’m dying to claim Lorna as my mate. Anxious to make her my wife. Eager to fill her with my seed and watch her belly grow with our child.
Into me you see. Those words are going to be exchanged between us soon. I won’t be stupid enough to let her slip through my fingers again.
We’ve waited too long. I want it all with her right now. Tonight. But that isn’t going to happen. Instead, she’ll be spending her evening with Maddock Hendry.
I grab her wrist and bring her hand to my mouth, kissing her palm. “I don’t want him to to
uch you. Not even his hand on your lower back when he opens a door for you.”
“He won’t touch me. I won’t let him.”
She moves her hand back to my chest and glides her fingertips up and down my chest and stomach. Fuck, she’s making me hard a second time, and I’d love to play around again, but we need to talk.
“I wanted us to take this slowly and do things the right way so you’d know without a doubt that I was in this with you for the right reason. But Maddock Hendry is ruining everything that I have planned for us.”
“His decision to take a wife from The Fellowship has nothing to do with us and our relationship.”
She’s so wrong.
“It has everything to do with how I must treat this relationship. He wants you, and as long as you’re single, Sin is obligated to send you to him to pursue the possibility of marriage.”
“His family leads The Order and I haven’t been groomed to be the wife of a leader. That’s going to become apparent to him very quickly, and he’ll lose interest in me. You’ll see that I’m right about this.”
He’s going to take one look at her and say to hell with leadership grooming. “You clearly don’t know what goes through a man’s mind when he sees a beautiful woman.”
“What goes through your mind when you look at me? How do I make you feel?”
I want to tell her, but it doesn’t come easy for me. I’m a Fellowship brother who was raised to ignore his emotions. I’m an uneducated bartender who was lucky to finish secondary school. I pour whisky and beer and mix cocktails to earn my way through life. I’m not exactly a poet.
“I’m not good with words, and I’m even worse at expressing how I feel.” The last four years have been proof of that.
“I don’t need fancy words. I just need to hear what’s in your heart.”
Her eyes are begging me to tell her everything that her heart wants to hear. And I’m probably going to fuck this up but here goes.
“I’ve always felt compelled to protect you. Even when you were just a wee little lass, but I feel that drive even stronger now. Without a bit of hesitation, I would give my own life in place of yours.”
“That’s great. I’ve always wanted a big brother.”
Complete Sin Box Set Page 118
