Until You're Mine (Fighting for Her)

by Cindi Madsen

  “Fair enough. Want me to give you a ride to the airport?”

  “Now that I’ll take you up on.”

  …

  Rain slashed at my windows and pattered against the roof of my Mustang as I circled the neighborhood Shane lived in two times. AKA I chickened out two times. Part of me was still beyond pissed at him. And I didn’t kid myself that he and I could work long-term. I was still going back to San Francisco and his career was about to skyrocket, I could just sense it.

  But we could spend time together until those things happened. Between his intensive training. And all the work I had to do to catch up the books at the gym. My brothers and Dad would strongly oppose, so we’d have to keep it a secret on top of everything else, which would also cut down the time we’d have.

  So there were complications. Like, a ridiculous amount of them. But I couldn’t get him out of my head. From his desire to protect me, even as it pissed me off how overboard he went about it, to the way everything in me reached for him whenever we were in the same vicinity. Every time he’d texted me or told me “now” about wanting to kiss me. As furious as I was, I’d nearly dissolved into a puddle of molten hot need when he’d brushed his thumb across my lip.

  His words replayed through my head: Now. Now, now, for the love of God now.

  Desire and affection melded together and streaked through my body, giving me the strength to turn into the parking lot in front of his apartment complex. I pulled into an empty spot, took out my phone, and sent him a text.

  Me: Ask me to come over.

  I followed the swiping blades of the windshield wipers. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thous—

  Shane: I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now.

  My heart sank, and I almost backed my car out of its parking space. But I’d come this far. My fingers trembled as I tapped out a response.

  Me: I need to see you.

  The day had left me a tad beat up, and I needed to know that he still wanted to see me. That I wouldn’t surprise him and find another girl there, or that I hadn’t imagined everything brewing between us, and because despite having an amicable breakup with Trey, I felt guilty for even thinking about rushing right over to see Shane the second I dropped my barely-exed boyfriend at the airport.

  Shane: If you do come over I’m not sure I can behave. Watching you leave today, knowing I made you cry. If you want to know the truth I’m a little drunk.

  Me: Shane, ASK ME!!!

  Shane: Come over.

  Of course he didn’t ask, something I’d have to take up with him once my heart wasn’t trying to beat its way out of my chest.

  I wrapped my fingers around the door handle, sucked in a deep breath, and then climbed out of my car. The rain pounded down in sheets, whipping at my skin, and I fled for the shelter of the apartment complex. I happened to pick the exact spot where the gutters dumped their runoff, and that finished the job of leaving me completely drenched. Guess it was good I didn’t waste time going home to change and redo my hair and makeup.

  I rushed up the stairs like I was in a fight-training movie. I even considered a Rocky-type fist raise when I made it to the third floor.

  I hope I have the right place.

  I pulled out my phone to double check the address and then stopped in front of apartment 307. The weight of what I was about to do hit me. Things would be different. I’d be putting myself in a vulnerable position. It couldn’t end well.

  Yet…if I didn’t play this out—if I didn’t take a chance—I feared I’d always regret it.

  Apparently my brain was stuck on the All-Shane channel because I heard him in my head again: Life is short, but it feels a lot longer with regrets weighing you down.

  Holding on to that thought, I raised my fist and knocked, hard enough it stung my knuckles.

  Each second Shane didn’t answer grinded by at a painfully slow pace, and after waiting what seemed like an inordinate time to answer the door, I knocked again.

  The door swung open, and he stood in the entryway, in baggy shorts that hung dangerously low on his hips, his torso gloriously bare. A bottle of Jack Daniels dangled between his fingers. His gaze dropped to my chest, and when I followed suit, I noticed that I looked like a wet T-shirt contest participant.

  “Yeah, it’s kinda rainy out,” I said. “Are you going to invite me in?”

  He gestured me inside, and I turned to close the door behind me. When I spun back around he’d closed the distance, and he no longer had hold of the bottle of Jack. He braced one hand against the door, right next to my head, the way he’d done in the locker room. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. Breathless and too hot and too cold, but sure. Totally okay. Faced with this tall, muscled hunk of a dude, I found it harder to say what I wanted to—probably because I didn’t even know where to start. Just spit it out. Say something…

  “Want a tour?” he asked.

  “Sure.” That’d buy me some time to get it together.

  Shane didn’t move. “Living room’s here, bedroom’s back there”—he jerked a thumb over his shoulder—“and I have a kitchen and a bathroom.”

  I bit back a smile. “Informative.”

  His free hand came up on the other side of my head, his body caging me in, and his eyes bored into mine. “What are you doing here, Brooklyn? Besides lookin’ to get yourself into trouble.”

  I reached up and twisted one of my wet curls around my finger. “It’s sort of a long story that I don’t really want to get into right now, but the gist of it is that Trey and I broke up. I don’t have a boyfriend anymore.”

  Shane’s eyes darkened in a flash, something primal overtaking his features, and it sent a spike of awareness through me.

  “Wrong,” he said, the word so short, sharp, and final that I almost questioned if I’d broken up with Trey. “You have one now, and he’s a jealous asshole who sometimes loses his shit. But good news…” He lowered his body so that it pressed me flatter to the door, and his growing erection ignited a pulsing need between my thighs. “He’s really fucking good in bed.”

  A whimper escaped as he pushed into me. He trailed his lips over my jaw and then nipped at my earlobe. “I think this is the part where you tell him to prove it.”

  I ran my hands up his muscled back, feeling all the exquisite dips and grooves. “Do you have a script typed up? I guess you better hand it to me so I can—”

  He rolled his hips, the delicious friction making me moan, and a cocky smile curved his lips. “No script. But spoiler alert: there’s going to be more moaning and panting, and then there’ll be screaming of my name.”

  I circled my hands around his biceps, needing to hold on to something solid so I didn’t melt right to the floor. “Well, get on with it, then. I want to see if you’re right.”

  He brushed his lips across mine, more a teasing than a kiss. “It’s your turn to ask.”

  I lowered my eyebrows. Then it hit me. I reached up and ran a hand down the side of his face, his scruff scraping my palm. “Kiss me.”

  Our eyes met and held, the air charged with everything that had been building between us all month. Then he crashed his mouth over mine. One arm circled behind me, anchoring me to his body, and the room spun as his tongue parted my lips and swept inside.

  “I almost went insane thinking of you with him,” Shane said, bringing his hand to my neck and using his thumb to tip up my chin. The urgent, intense way he claimed my mouth fanned the fire he’d ignited inside me earlier today, and I took charge of the kiss, rolling my tongue over his. His deep groan vibrated through me, and I arched against him, needing more, taking more.

  His lips moved to my neck, and I reached for the waistband of his shorts, wanting the extra fabric out of the way.

  He caught both of my wrists in one of his large hands and pinned them up over my head.

  I stuck my lips out in a pout. “But how can I get you undressed if I can’t—” I attempted to pull free of his iron grip, and he pres
sed me harder to the door with a growl that traveled right down my core and intensified the pulsing ache between my thighs.

  “You need to catch up first.” He hooked a thumb under the hem of my shirt and slid it up, so torturously slowly that I thought I might combust. The more I squirmed in his grip, the slower he went. He paused to palm one of my breasts, and then he brushed his thumb over the lace covering my hardened nipple, back and forth, back and forth until sparks of light danced across my vision.

  “Shane… uhnn…”

  Finally, he ripped my shirt off and tossed it aside. He covered me with his body again, the skin on skin sensation driving me higher. His lips returned to my neck, where he placed hot, open-mouth kisses that sent shockwaves cascading through me, each one stronger than the next.

  “How drunk are you, by the way?” I asked through labored breaths. “I’d hate to take advantage of you.”

  “My virtue will be just fine, bruiser. But yours”—his teeth sank into the skin where my neck met my shoulder and satisfaction heated my veins—“that’s another story.”

  I dragged my nails down his back and then tugged his hips to mine. “Less talking, more banging.”

  His mouth recaptured mine in a punishing, searing kiss as he reached behind and unhooked my bra. He yanked the fabric down, fully exposing my breasts, and then he took a step back and let his gaze roam over me. “Fuck, Brooklyn. I’m going to need a minute.”

  I thought he meant to compose himself—his arousal was pretty obvious in those baggy shorts, which really needed to go already—but then he dipped his head and sucked one nipple into his mouth. It felt so amazing that I didn’t bother being embarrassed about the needy sound I made in the back of my throat.

  “Make that two minutes,” he said, and then he did this incredible circling with his tongue that sent one spectacular sensation after another tumbling down my core. He moved to the other breast, and I drove my hand through his hair, desperate for more even as my body teetered on the edge of being unable to take much more.

  “There’s the panting.” His deep voice rumbled across my skin and pushed me closer to euphoria. Then he unbuttoned my pants, roughly jerked them down my thighs, and tossed them aside. “Now, let’s see if we can’t get to the screaming of my name.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Shane

  I took a couple of extra seconds to fully appreciate the sight of Brooklyn standing there in nothing but a tiny pink scrap of silk, her blond hair curly and wild, her lips red and swollen from my kisses, and those tits—I’d spent a lot of time building them up in my mind and I’d still fallen short.

  Part of me was still having trouble believing this wasn’t just a dream. I’d been miserable and alone, well on my way to drinking myself stupid, and then Brooklyn showed up at my door like a delivery from the porn gods. I hated to agree with her ex about anything, but right now I could see the angel thing.

  I hoisted her into my arms, hands planted firmly on her ass, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. She moved her lips to my neck as I carried her toward my bedroom. My imagination definitely wasn’t this good, which meant she truly was here and in my arms and real and—holy shit—I could feel her growing damp against me.

  Oh, I had plans to see just how wet I could get her, and I wouldn’t stop until she’d been satisfied in every possible way.

  I tossed her onto the bed, grinning at her squeal, and then I crawled over her, distributing my weight onto my elbows so I didn’t crush her. The feel of her curves and soft skin pressing against me nearly drove me to the brink of insanity, and if it meant having her like this forever, I’d gladly dive right over and embrace madness.

  I peered down, into those blue eyes, and a hint of vulnerability crept into her features. I brushed her hair off her face and cupped her cheek. “You good?”

  “Better than good,” she said. “Just…Wow. This is actually happening.”

  “If you want to stop, all you have to do is say the word. I’d never do anything to hurt you. You know that, right?”

  She swallowed and nodded.

  My dick launched a complaint against what I was about to do, but I couldn’t let this go further if she was going to regret it later. When I took her, I wanted her to be all mine. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask, because all I’ve wanted since we’ve met is you in my arms and that other guy out of the way.” I brushed my thumb over her enticing lower lip, reveling in her soft exhale of breath. “But are you sure you don’t need some time to…do whatever it is girls do to make them feel better after a breakup?”

  She wrapped her hand around my neck, her fingers toying with the ends of my hair, and I just about went to purring like a big tomcat. “I’m pretty sure this will make me feel better. And it has nothing to do with him. I’ve been afraid to let myself admit it, and I’ve certainly tried to talk myself out of it, but I want this. I want you.”

  Just when I didn’t think this night could get any better. I searched for the right thing to say, to make her feel as amazing as she’d made me feel with those words. I wanted to assure her that everything would work out okay, even though I knew that wasn’t a promise I could keep. It wasn’t even something I believed was possible, not when it came to her and me and the different paths our lives would inevitably take. “For most of my life, I’ve been afraid to want anything. It went along with hope. But I want you, more than I’ve wanted anything in a long time.”

  She raised up enough to touch her lips to mine. “We’ll just hope and allow ourselves to want something for a night, and then we’ll figure out what to hope and want next.”

  I drove my fingers through her hair and then tugged her head back a few inches so I could deepen the kiss. I knew exactly what I wanted next. Her, all of her, from her fiery personality to her unbelievable body, to the steady, centering sensation I experienced whenever she was around.

  My lips found a sensitive spot on her neck that made her squirm underneath me, and then I kissed my way down her torso, touching and kissing every soft inch I could get my hands on. I dipped my tongue into her belly button and then kissed the spot right below it.

  I licked her inner her thigh, desire firing hotter and higher when she moaned. I slipped off her panties, kissing my way down her legs as I removed them, and then kissing and licking my way back up.

  The needy whimpering noise she made when I continued to tease her, lavishing attention on every spot but the one she wanted most, spurred me on.

  “I swear, Shane Knox, I’m about to—”

  I licked up her center, circling my tongue over her clit and then sucking it into my mouth. She gripped the sheets in her fists, her body arching in this fantastic way that allowed me to get my eyes on even more of her. “I heard my name, but that wasn’t exactly a scream. Let’s try that again.”

  “Mmm,” she said, gripping the sheets tighter. I put my mouth on her again, and she tasted so fucking good that I considered slowing down and savoring this sweet spot between her thighs a while longer.

  I met her half-lidded eyes, her obvious pleasure turning me on even more, and I was already hard as a rock. I continued the circling of my tongue as I slid my hand up her body. I got my hand on one of her perfect tits and pinched and twisted her nipple.

  She bucked, her oncoming orgasm tightening all the muscles in her body, and I increased the pressure of my tongue. Then she was screaming my name, over and over, until she fell back on the bed, flushed and sated and crazy beautiful.

  I shed the last of my clothes and grabbed a condom, and by the time I rolled it on, Brooklyn was propped up on her elbows, giving me a come-hither look that I couldn’t wait to answer.

  I planned on crawling over her body again and then sinking myself deep between her thighs, but she tugged on my arm, and I let her pull me down next to her. Then she climbed over me, straddling my lap and giving me another awe-inspiring view of her body.

  “Oh, you think you get to be in control now?” I asked her, running my hands up her s
mooth thighs.

  “I’m never really in control when I’m with you,” she said, sinking farther onto my lap, her wet heat dragging over my hard, ready cock.

  “Me neither, babe. And I rather like being reckless with you.”

  She tilted her head, her eyes taking on that fiery edge that I could never get enough of. “Rather?”

  I gripped her hips and pushed into her, growing even harder when she shuddered around me. “I fucking love being reckless with you.”

  “Better,” she said, the roll of her hips ripping a groan from my throat. We settled into a steady pace, and I’d never had to work so hard to hold on to my control—I was all for being reckless, but there was no way I was coming before she had another orgasm.

  Sweat dampened our skin, and each bounce of her body had me seeing flashes of black.

  Until finally I couldn’t take it anymore.

  I flipped her onto her back, pinning her underneath me, and drove into her. The keening noise she made told me I’d found the right spot. I grabbed her hands, slipped my fingers between hers, and brought them up over her head. I’d seen her body from about every angle now, and every single one was my new favorite—without a chance of giving up the others, of course. I was going to make a serious case for her to never wear clothes around me again.

  “Shane. I’m…”

  “I know, baby.” I thrust into her harder, faster, and then she tumbled over the edge, her walls clamping me tight enough to trigger my release.

  We fell to the bed, working to catch our breath. Then I pulled Brooklyn to me and kissed her, slowly bringing her down while showing her I didn’t plan for the pleasure to stop anytime soon.

  She smiled against my lips, her happy hum traveling across my skin and settling deep inside my chest. The fact that I could wring so much satisfaction from her made me feel more powerful than I’d ever felt in the cage, and I held on to that high, allowing myself to want something without holding back.