by Louise Hall
“But that’s terrible,” Cate exclaimed, “It’s almost like they were encouraging the bastard.”
Kian led her out of the bathroom. There were a couple of armchairs in front of a working fireplace and he sat down in one of them and settled Cate in his lap.
“I can still remember the day that Liam got injured. I was only 16 but I was training with the first team by then. I still used to go and watch some of the Academy games with my dad. Rovers were playing Forest at home and Liam was playing on the right-wing. Forest had this 14-year-old lad playing for them in defence and he was massive, he looked like a fully-grown man. I remember my dad joking that they should ask to see his Birth Certificate because there was no way he was only 14. It was just after half-time and Liam got the ball, he raced to the by line and was about to put in a cross when this lad from Forest slid in clumsily. I don’t know for sure but I think Liam could have jumped over the tackle but he didn’t, he left his leg there. There weren’t many people watching the game, it was mostly just friends and family but I think everybody flinched, it was like we could hear his bone crack.”
“I knew it was bad when the lad who’d made the tackle, finally showing his age, ran over to the bushes at the side of the pitch and was violently sick. I found out later that Liam’s leg had been so badly broken that his calf looked like an l-shape with the bone sticking out through his sock.”
Cate was horrified. “With an injury like that, I can’t believe he ever played again?” Then another darker thought crossed her mind, “do you think he did it in purpose? You said you thought that he maybe could have jumped over the tackle?”
Kian shrugged, “honestly, I don’t know. I keep thinking that maybe it became the only solution for him in the end. That bout of pneumonia gave him a brief respite from the abuse and then the leg break gave him the chance to escape from Hunter for good.”
“I wish he’d had somebody to talk to,” Cate mused. She thought of her own guardian angel, Nate.
“I could, I should have been there for him,” Kian sighed.
“No,” Cate shook her head, “don’t you dare beat yourself up over this, Kian. You were a victim too. Liam’s friends and family should have been there for him. When Rovers found out about it from Sam, they never should have allowed it to continue and the police should have realised how vulnerable Liam was and offered him more support.”
She shifted on his lap and he felt a slight burn in his ribs which were still healing. “Let’s get into bed,” he suggested. “You look sleepy, angel.” He didn’t want her to know that she’d hurt him a little.
“OK.”
Kian walked across to the large windows and pulled the thick curtains closed. They had a gorgeous view of Puget Sound outside their window but tonight, he just wanted to be alone with his wife.
“Darn,” Cate cursed when she opened up her small, overnight bag. After the phone call from Sam, she’d packed in such a hurry that she’d forgotten to bring anything to sleep in.
When she told Kian, he said, “I haven’t got anything either. Why don’t we both just sleep in our underwear?”
“Are you sure?” Cate asked nervously. After everything that he’d told her tonight, she didn’t know how Kian would feel about being so intimate with her.
He looked a little hurt. “It’s not that I don’t want to,” she said quickly, eager to reassure him. “I do. I just don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”
“You think that seeing you in your underwear is going to make me feel uncomfortable?”
“I don’t know,” Cate sighed. “I guess I just don’t want to do or say the wrong thing.”
“You couldn’t, angel. I promise.” He slowly lifted her jumper up over her head and tossed it on the floor. The bruising between her breasts and around her belly button had long since disappeared.
Kian unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall to the ground. She shivered as he placed a hand in the centre of her back and gently pressed her against him, feeling her skin-on-skin.
“That feels good, angel.”
“It does,” she said shakily.
“I want more,” Kian pulled away slightly and immediately, she missed the feel of his skin.
He traced his fingers along the waistband of her jeans until he reached the front. The sound of the zipper coming down seemed to echo in the quiet hotel room.
“Kian,” Cate said breathlessly.
He knelt down and eased her jeans down her slender thighs. She trembled so beautifully for him.
After she’d stepped out of them, he stayed kneeling in front of her for a moment, letting his gaze roam up and down her half-naked body. Her bra and panties were white cotton and just the perfect combination of sexy and virginal. Her tightly-knotted nipples poked against the cups of her bra. Her breasts were gently swaying as she struggled to catch her breath. How could she ever deny that she was his angel?
When he stood up, he was about to undo his trousers when Cate put her hands over his, stilling him. “Could I do it?”
“I’d really like that.”
His skin sizzled when the backs of her fingers accidentally brushed against his abdomen. “I’m sorry,” she quickly stepped back.
Kian tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t stop.”
She continued unbuttoning the front of his trousers. He couldn’t control his reaction to her gentle touch and his cock strained against the front of his boxer-briefs.
“You’re hard,” she gasped and it was so adorable because it was almost as if she’d never seen him like that before.
“Angel,” Kian said softly. “You’re touching me. Of course, I’m hard.”
He stepped out of his trousers and held her against him, feeling her warmth and goodness infuse his veins.
With one of his hands cradling the back of her head and the other cupping her bottom, Cate felt so safe and at home in his arms. Tears trickled down her cheeks at how amazingly good it felt.
“Hey,” Kian tilted her head back so he could see her face. “Why are you crying, angel?”
“I’m sorry,” she blinked really fast. “It’s just… I’ve missed you so much, Kian.”
“I’m here now,” Kian soothed her. “If you still want me with all my broken bits and sharp edges, I’m here.”
“Of course I still want you,” Cate snuggled closer. “Your broken bits fit perfectly with mine.”
There was a small, brown teddy bear on the bed. Kian picked it up and put it on the desk, facing away from them. Cate giggled. “I don’t want an audience tonight,” he explained.
She pulled back the covers, “I thought we were just sleeping?”
Kian turned off all the lights except the one by the fireplace and joined her in bed. “Do you want to do more than that?”
She wriggled a little and he chuckled. He guided her on to her back and settled between her parted thighs. She whimpered a little as his erection rubbed up against her softness.
“Can I touch you?” Cate asked.
Kian nodded.
She danced her fingers over the bumps and dips of his muscles, almost as if she was relearning them. He groaned as she accidentally touched his nipple. “Do you remember the first time we made love?” she asked, looking up at him with those big, black eyes. He frowned, not wanting to think about the night he’d so recklessly taken Cate’s virginity. “Not that night,” she clarified, “that’s when we had sex for the first time. I’m talking about when we made love for the first time, on our wedding night in Vegas. I was so nervous and you wore those pasties for me.”
Kian laughed. After he’d ripped them off, his nipples had been so fucking sore.
“I kissed you like this then,” she dipped her head and keeping her eyes on his, she slowly circled the tip of her tongue around the flat disc of his nipple.
Before she could ask whether he liked it or not, he pushed his hips harder against hers.
“Can I…?” Kian looked down at her breasts, which were straining
against the soft cotton of her bra. They’d never been so tentative with each other before but in a way, that’s what made it so fucking erotic. “Can I touch you, angel?”
Cate reached behind her back and unfastened the clasp of her bra. Kian tugged the straps down her arms, slowly baring her breasts to him. In the half-light, she looked so fucking beautiful, she took his breath away.
He bent his head and just like she’d done with him, he circled the tip of his tongue around her swollen, throbbing nipple. “Oh,” she made this little noise at the back of her throat, her back arching up off the bed.
Kian suckled on the sweetness of her breast, teasing her with gentle flicks of his tongue.
She buried her hands in his dark hair, letting him know just how much she liked what he was doing.
He kissed his way across her warm flesh to her other breast and gave that one the same love and attention.
He heard a sniffle and when he looked up, he realised that she was crying again.
“Hey,” he lifted his head so they were face to face. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, “I don’t want to ruin the mood.”
“You’re not ruining anything,” Kian reassured her. “Talk to me.”
“You left me,” Cate felt like her heart was breaking. Kian was finally in her arms again and it felt so good but at the same time, it felt so fragile. She couldn’t ignore the fact that he’d had divorce papers drawn up.
Kian wiped away her tears with his thumb. “I didn’t want to, angel.”
“Then why did you?”
“You,” he struggled to find the right words to explain it to Cate. “The night it happened, I came downstairs to the kitchen to get a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer to put on my bruise and you and Sinead were there helping Mum with dinner. Sinead accused me of throwing ice at her and I said she was a drama queen. When I looked over at you, you smiled at me and just for that one moment, my day wasn’t quite so shitty anymore.”
He laid his head down on her chest and she reached up and stroked her fingers through his hair. “I call you my angel but it’s not just a term of endearment, it’s who you’ve been to me ever since that moment in the kitchen, on the darkest of fucking days, when you smiled at me and it was so bright and pure.”
“I hate that I don’t remember it,” Cate whispered.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kian said softly, brushing his lips over the top of her breast. “It wasn’t just that one smile, Cate. You have saved me so many times over the years without even knowing it. Your purity wins out over my depravity; your light chases away my darkness.”
Although his words were so beautiful and poetic, Cate still felt a heavy weight on her chest. “Is that… why you wanted to be with me? When we first got together, I was a naïve virgin.”
“No,” Kian shook his head. “When I say pure, I don’t mean sexually. I was talking about your spirit. When my sister smiled at me, it was usually because she wanted something. You smiled at me that day because you thought that our stupid, little argument was funny. On the night of my dad’s funeral, you didn’t come upstairs with me because of my money or fame; you let me take your virginity that night because you wanted to comfort me.”
“That’s why I left, Cate. I felt like I had oil-stained hands and you were this perfect, white dress. I didn’t want to permanently ruin you. I didn’t want you to find out that the man you’d married, the father of your children, was really a horrible monster.”
“Will you stop saying that,” Cate cried, “you’re not a monster, Kian. You’re not.”
Kian looked up at her and she could see the pain had returned to his dark eyes. “If it was a choice between hurting you and the children or walking away, I would walk away from you every single damn time. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Cate said softly. She reached for his hands and gently pushed them down to her hips. “But you could never ruin me. Being with you only makes me stronger.”
His fingers dipped under the waistband of her panties. “Take them off,” she urged.
“Cate?”
“Please,” she begged, “It’s been too long. I need to feel you inside me.”
He teased her panties down her legs and tossed them on the floor at the side of the bed. The only barrier between them now was his boxer-briefs.
He lifted himself up from the warmth of her body and tugged down his briefs.
Cate felt the brush of his hot, male flesh against her belly and she shifted, parting her thighs wider so he could fit between.
“Fuck,” Kian grunted, as his cock nudged between her slick folds. She was so warm and wet. He rocked his hips a little, rubbing the head of his cock against her perfect, pink clit.
“Mm,” she bit her lip, her head falling back on the pillow. She arched upwards, her bare breasts still damp from his kisses.
He rocked his hips back and forth, sliding his cock between the lips of her pussy. “Kian!” Cate complained, clawing at his back.
“Hey,” he chuckled, “what’s the rush, angel? We’ve got all night.”
He reached down and lifted her legs up around his waist.
“Yeah,” she knew she sounded like a petulant child, “but I really want you inside me.”
“Somebody needs to learn some patience,” Kian teased. He slid his hand into her inky-black hair and gently brought her head up to meet his. He kissed the corners of her mouth.
“You’re killing me.”
He loved the soft little grunts she made when she was this turned on. As he circled his hips, she dug the heels of her feet firmly into his buttocks.
He brushed his lips against hers once, twice, three times.
“Please,” she begged him again, her hips shifting restlessly beneath him.
“Oh God,” she let out a harsh, guttural cry that felt like it came right down from the pit of her belly as he worked the blunt head of his cock inside her silken warmth.
“Is that what you wanted, angel?”
“Yes,” she tilted her hips, trying to take him deeper.
Kian thought he was going to lose his fucking mind as he took her with slow, ever-deepening thrusts. Her body opened up to him, caressing him, enticing him so deep that he almost couldn’t tell where he stopped and she began. They hadn’t made love since the night before Valentine’s Day, which was over a month ago.
Cate felt that beautiful burn as the head of his cock compressed up against her cervix. Every hard, throbbing inch of him was tightly sheathed inside her body.
“Are you OK, angel?” he asked shakily.
Cate looked up at him, his dark eyes shone in the half-light. “I’m perfect.”
His lips met hers. At first, they kissed softly, slowly exploring each other. But as their hips crashed noisily together, so did their mouths. He coaxed her lips apart and his tongue dove hungrily into her mouth, searching eagerly for hers. When he found it, they danced and played together like two children on a playground.
The headboard knocked rhythmically against the wall.
Kian lifted up his head; he could tell that she was perilously close to the edge. “Come for me. Let me feel you, angel.”
“No,” she shook her head, “not unless you do.”
“I’m going to come, angel.” His hand slipped between them, the calloused pad of his thumb stroking her clit.
“You’re not…” she gasped, so awash with sensation. “You’re not playing fair.”
“Let go,” Kian urged her. “Let go for me.”
“Oh God!” Her cries were so loud; he indulged them for a moment before covering her mouth with his.
“That’s it,” he grunted. “That feels so good, angel. So fucking good.”
Before he knew it, he was coming so fucking hard; it was like he’d been starved of sex for millennia rather than just a few weeks. Even when he thought it was over, she shifted a little, inadvertently squeezing his still-hard cock and he kept coming.
After the mos
t intense sex of her whole life, Cate fell back on the damp sheets, breathing heavily. “What was that?”
“That,” he brushed a tendril of damp hair off her forehead, “was you and me, angel.”
Eventually he had to pull out and Cate felt so empty, she wanted to cry. He went into the bathroom and came back with a warm, damp cloth to clean her.
He reached up and switched on the lamp at the side of the bed. “What are you doing?” she asked, shielding her eyes.
“I want to see you, angel,” he said, gently pushing her thighs apart.
She blushed, two pink spots dotting her cheeks.
Kian kissed his way from her knee up her inner thigh.
“I’m sure I look really gross down there.”
“You look beautiful.”
He smoothed his hands over the damp curls framing the lips of her pussy and then, using his thumbs, he gently parted her folds.
Cate jumped when she felt him kiss her centre. “What are you doing?”
“Just relax, beautiful.”
He looked down at her entrance which was overflowing with his release. He circled it with the tip of his finger. “Kian,” Cate shifted restlessly.
He eased the tip of his finger inside.
She was still a little tender down there but it felt so good.
He pulled out and replaced it with two fingers, stretching her just a little more.
“I can’t.”
Kian kissed the C-section scar on her abdomen, “you can.”
He hooked his fingers inside her and even though she was flooded with warmth, he could still feel that beautiful bumpy patch of nerves. He rubbed his fingers up against them.
“I know I said it before,” Cate grabbed a pillow and held it over her mouth, “but now you’re really killing me.”
Kian chuckled. He felt like the most blessed man on earth. He’d splayed himself wide open for Cate tonight, showing her the darkest and most shameful parts of him and instead of disgust and loathing, she’d given him her love and acceptance.
He circled his thumb over her sweet clit, feeling it swell and throb again. “My angel,” he whispered into her skin as she shifted restlessly beneath his fingers. She was squeezing him so tightly; his release trickled down between her buttocks and spilled on to the sheets.