Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  The tension ebbed from her shoulders as she slowly met his lips with hers. He tasted like an exotic blend of coffee, mint, and man, and his flavor was pure deliciousness inside her mouth – sinfully decadent without all those pesky calories to worry about. Bit by bit, moment by moment, all her reservations faded away as she fell into his embrace, enjoying the feel of his touch as his hands explored her body. “Better?” she mumbled against his lips.

  Zeke smiled against her mouth. “Like heaven. Let’s see if I can make it better for you, too,” he suggested thickly as his fingers began to stroke the inside of one thigh. Pulling back an inch, he looked into her eyes, his breath mingling with hers. “You trust me to do that for you? To make you feel good again?”

  “Like before?” God, she hoped he meant like before because that had been magical. Even now she felt her nipples tightening as the place between her legs clenched.

  “Sort of,” Zeke answered truthfully. “This time instead of focusing on your beautiful breasts, I want to touch you a bit lower.”

  “You’re already touching me,” Honor muttered, as she shifted in his lap, trying to adjust her body to relieve some of the discomfort building between her legs. God, she could feel herself growing wetter as Zeke’s eyes gleamed and he gave her a knowing smile.

  “It’s where I want to touch you that’s different this time, baby,” Zeke explained, sliding his hand higher up her thigh until his knuckles lightly brushed the tuft of hair covering her swollen folds. Fighting her embarrassment, she knew he could feel how slick and damp she was and she automatically jerked her hips away from his hand.

  “Easy,” Zeke whispered, his understanding eyes focused on her. “It’s just me here, and that’s just my hand, darlin’. It’s the same hand that made you feel real good just a little bit ago,” he reminded her patiently, moving to brush the back of his fingers against her mound again. “Tell me what’s wrong, baby?” he asked, when her eyes clouded and she bit her lip.

  “I can’t,” she denied, her humiliation almost physically painful. God, why couldn’t she just be normal for a few darn minutes? She wanted to be honest and tell him why she was suddenly so nervous, but the truth was just mortifying.

  “You can tell me anything, Honor. Always,” Zeke corrected firmly without moving his hand.

  “I just…it’s that… Zeke, I’m all wet down there! It’s nasty,” she confessed under her breath, feeling awkward and uncomfortable not only with her own body’s reaction to him, but because she knew he’d felt that wetness, too, as it saturated the spot on his jeans where she sat. Unable to hold his gaze, she stared at the strong column of his throat. “I think something must be wrong with me,” she mumbled as she tried to scoot off his lap and make a run for it. She wasn’t sure where she’d run to exactly. Maybe China. Zeke hated Chinese food. She might actually escape him there.

  Wrapping one unmovable arm around her back, Zeke held her against him. “Nuh uh. You’re not running away from this. Baby, what you’re feeling is normal. Your sweet body is aroused right now. That moisture between your legs is your body’s way of readying you for me. It’s your natural lubricant so that when I touch you, my fingers just slide easily through your folds,” he informed her huskily. “Look, baby. Feel,” he urged, gliding his fingers up her slit with one fluid sweep before she could protest. Reaching the top of her mound, he circled the tiny swollen bud he found there, watching as her eyes grew big, the look in them wondrous.

  Moaning as his fingers came to rest on a spot so sensitive that it pulled a violent shudder from her body, Honor’s hands automatically went to his shoulders to steady herself as her hips bucked involuntarily. “Wh-what was that? What are you doing to me?” she panted when those wicked fingers made another sweep and circle of her mound. Her nails buried in his skin as her core tightened and the empty ache inside her became almost unbearable.

  Pressing a damp kiss to the pounding pulse in her neck, Zeke swirled two fingers around the slippery button at the apex of her thighs before making another sensual foray through her heated folds. “What I’m doing is introducing myself to this pretty pussy you have, Kitten. Do you like the way we’re gettin’ acquainted?” he asked as he gently nibbled at her neck, reveling in her unique flavor.

  “Mmmmm,” Honor hummed as her hips chased the sensation he was creating with slow, but purposeful caresses.

  “I’m gonna take that as a yes.” Zeke grinned as he teased her entrance with the tip of one careful finger. Waiting until her head fell backward and her face was a mask of ecstasy, he covered her lips with his, swallowing her shocked gasp and tangling his tongue with hers as he used his thumb to press and rub circles around the puffy nub at the top of her mound.

  Tearing her mouth away from Zeke’s as the sweetest, sharpest pleasure seemed to radiate throughout her body, she focused her dilated eyes on his. “Oh, God! Right there,” she whimpered her hips churning as she tried to press herself harder against his fingers.

  Zeke’s grin became positively devilish as he stared into her face, aglow with a fine sheen of sweat. “You like that, don’t you?” he asked, brushing his thumb a little faster against that special spot. “You know what this little nubbin is, baby?”

  Honor shook her head wildly as a wonderful pressure began to build inside her, with the epicenter being that delicate supersensitive spot where his hand worked between her legs. “N-no,” she answered brokenly while her taut body strained toward some invisible peak.

  “That slick little button is your clit, Kitten. When this little nub gets stroked and petted, it makes a woman feel good. See?” Taking her hand in his, he guided her hand toward her pussy and pressed her fingertip to the swollen bud. “Feel, baby. Touch it real gentle-like,” Zeke instructed as he brushed her fingers over her clit again. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

  Honor nodded before hastily drawing her hand away. She liked it better when it was his hands on her. Releasing another low cry when he resumed stroking that tiny nubbin a little faster, she inhaled deeply, her hips jerking as she tried to prolong the sensation.

  “Oh, my,” she gasped, biting her lip as she felt one of his fingers begin to slide inside her. Stiffening, she tried to pull away but he distracted her by pulling one tight nipple between his lips. “Relax, baby,” she heard him order around her flesh as he again found another delightful spot – this one deep inside her. Wailing as his fingers crooked inside her, he stroked some hidden patch of nerves inside her that created a bliss so acute that it caused her eyes to roll back in her head. “Zeke!” she screamed, rising up on her knees as he added another finger to her core, thrusting them in tandem and knocking against that miraculous place that dwelled within her again. She was so close to something. She had no idea what it was…but she was nearing some bottomless abyss at breakneck speed. She only wondered what she’d find when she finally tripped over the edge. Dimly aware of someone’s frantic cries, she slowly realized those lusty sounds were coming from her. But, sweet God, she was powerless against the strength of the feelings descending on her.

  “Zeke! Oh, God, something’s happening,” she whimpered, her eyes drifting closed as his fingers seemed to plunge a little deeper and move a bit quicker.

  “Just let yourself go over the edge, Kitten, and cum for me,” he urged against her cheek. “I’ll catch you, baby. I’ll always be there to catch you.”

  Suddenly, colors exploded behind her closed eyelids as she felt her core begin to spasm around his fingers and she began to orgasm in his arms, her slight body shaking violently as passion overwhelmed her. “Zeke!” she screamed, slightly terrified by the intensity of her release as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and collapsed against him.

  His fingers, coated with her essence, glided smoothly now as he slowed his movements. “That’s it. Let it just carry you away,” he breathed against her temple while her too long neglected body soaked up the last ounce of pleasure like the soil soaked up the first rainfall after a dry spell.

  Long
minutes passed as Honor lay heavily against Zeke, sweaty, satisfied and more than a little stunned. “Wow,” she said, exhaling a long breath as his hands ran up and down her back. “So, that’s what Bree wanted me to feel?”

  “That was it, Kitten.” Zeke rumbled, his arms tightening around her. “What did you think?”

  Smiling sleepily against his shirt, she felt her eyelids growing heavier. “I think that from now on that maybe you should help me with all my homework assignments even though I’m pretty sure Bree’s gonna consider this cheating.” Resting her head against his chest, Honor felt Zeke’s low chuckle vibrating underneath her cheek.

  “Nah, baby, this wasn’t cheating,” Zeke replied quietly after his laughter died away. “You just tell her that I said this was us skipping ahead a few assignments. Just let her know that I plan on bein’ a real devoted study partner and I’ll practice those assignments with you every chance we get.”

  And as Honor’s eyes drifted closed, she decided that sounded like a reasonable explanation to her.

  Chapter Twenty

  July 1, 2016 – Dr. Aubrey Daniels’ Office

  Honor

  “That’s cheating, Honor.”

  Honor’s shoulders slumped as she faced her therapist. “I just knew you were gonna say that,” she complained, pursing her lips as she shot the woman sitting in the armchair across from her a harassed look.

  “The point of the whole exercise was for you to get to know your own body. A woman needs to be comfortable touching herself and be able to be responsible for finding her own satisfaction. It’s a lesson in empowerment,” Bree remarked, spelling it out for her confused patient.

  Honor frowned. “Listen, I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m not exactly comfortable discussing this topic, but I’ll have you know that Ezekiel did introduce me to my body, and it and I got on quite nicely if you must know,” she informed her irritating counselor primly.

  “Is that so?” Bree drawled, raising one eyebrow as she studied her young charge.

  “Yes, it’s so,” Honor snapped.

  “So, you were able to achieve a climax with manual stimulation?”

  Honor clenched her teeth at the intrusive question before exhaling heavily. It was clear that Bree would wait until grass grew underneath her feet to get an answer and no amount of ignoring her would dissuade her from her course. “Yes,” Honor returned through barely moving lips.

  “His or yours?” Bree continued.

  “Pardon?” Honor blustered as she began to feel that telltale burn in her cheeks.

  “Did you or Zeke supply the stimulation that was required to achieve an orgasm?”

  “I… he…I mean, we both played a part,” Honor returned sharply. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. He showed me what I needed to know about my body without me havin’ to use something that sounded like a sick weed-whacker and nearly scared me to death between my legs! I had the blasted orgasm you were so keen for me to experience! It was… well, it was…” Honor floundered, searching her mind for the right word to describe those incredible moments in Zeke’s arms.

  “It was, what, exactly, Honor?” Bree inquired as Honor fumbled to find a word.

  Man, how was she even supposed to put into words what Zeke had managed to make her feel? Wonderful and miraculous? Awesome and heart-stopping? Dangerously addictive? Finally, she settled on a succinct but honest representation of what she’d experienced last night. “It was mind-blowing, Bree. Truly and without a doubt the entire opposite of what I’d built it up to be in my mind,” she finally shared in a rush.

  Bree’s smile widened. “Is that so? Imagine that.”

  Honor’s eyes narrowed on the beaming woman. “You know, I don’t think it’s exactly politic for my therapist to sound quite so condescending. Maybe you should try and curb that,” she grumbled.

  “Or maybe not,” Bree denied with a light chuckle. “Honor, when we spoke last, I think you’d half managed to convince yourself that you were dead from the neck down.”

  “Oh, please,” Honor huffed. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

  Bree shook her head. “Well, you weren’t the most doubtful patient I’ve ever encountered, but you definitely took your run at the title. I’m serious, Honor. A few days ago, you were about half a heartbeat away from self-diagnosing yourself as frigid. So, you can bet the bank that I’m thrilled to know that you’ve realized differently.”

  Honor bent her head to hide her own smile since she was thrilled to have come to the same conclusion. She knew she wasn’t magically cured, but she also was proud to be able to say that she’d come a really long way.

  “Now, do you want to tell me exactly what happened between you and Zeke?” Bree questioned pointedly.

  “We only fooled around a little. Nothing else. I wasn’t able to go the entire way with him.”

  “Fooled around could encompass a lot of things, Honor. Do you want to maybe expound a little on that for me?”

  “Has anybody ever told you that you’re kinda a little nosy? Tell the truth. You’re really just researchin’ for some kind of dirty book, aren’t ya?” Honor asked critically.

  “Nope, no book deal yet. Just a pretty serious work ethic. It’s sorta of my job to be nosy, but if it helps you to know this, my brother often accuses me of being a busybody. In my defense, however, I am right a whole lot more than I am wrong. And right now you, Ms. McKinnon, are stalling, but I refuse to be distracted. What exactly does ‘fooling around’ mean for you and Zeke?”

  “There are truly no boundaries in therapy,” Honor muttered, pushing a nervous hand through her hair and clenching it around the soft locks.

  “Glad to see you’re learning that,” Bree replied as she tapped her pen against the pad of paper in her lap.

  Clearing her throat, Honor focused on the watercolor picture behind Bree’s left shoulder. “If you must know, Zeke caught me wrestling with that stupid vibrator you insisted I get. I was trying to follow your stupid directions and it wasn’t going so well. He must have heard me and been worried because he burst into my bedroom and caught me red-handed!”

  “I get the impression from your tone that you hold me responsible for that?” Bree queried.

  “Well, I certainly wouldn’t have been messin’ around with one of those things of my own free will,” Honor retorted, dropping the hand that had been in her hair heavily in her lap. “At any rate, I was disgruntled and embarrassed to say the least, and after Zeke made himself scarce in my bedroom, I collected your stupid toy of terror and decided that I’d dump it outside and burn it. Zeke… well, he distracted me from my mission.”

  “Oh, did he? How’s that?”

  Honor’s face softened as she recalled the way Zeke had quietly talked her down from her snit. “He just made me understand that there were more than one way to experience that release you said I needed to have. And then…well, he… he…’

  “Demonstrated?” Bree supplied helpfully.

  “Exactly,” Honor sighed. “And he didn’t need a piece of vibratin’ doodad to do it,” she added pointedly.

  “Alright, Honor. You’ve made your position clear on the sex toy. I won’t push any further pleasure enhancers your way if you can tell me that you’ve gotten to know your body.”

  “Considering the fact that Zeke gave me a fairly thorough introduction to it last night, I think it’s safe to say that I now know where most of the important places are located, and I do plan on visiting them again at some point in the future.”

  Bree nodded. “Now, that’s great news. Overcoming your fear of your own body is tantamount to having a healthy physical relationship with another person.”

  “I won’t say there isn’t still work to do,” Honor admitted. “I mean, I still freeze up when I think of a man actually putting his you-know-what…”

  “His penis, Honor. C’mon. We’ve worked on this,” Bree chided.

  Honor closed her eyes and swallowed. Hard. “Okay, fine. His penis. When I t
hink of that going inside me… I feel like my whole body is paralyzed. I can’t move. I can hardly even breathe,” she whispered painfully.

  “Even when you picture that man as Zeke?” Bree clarified.

  “God help me, but yes. I mean, I think maybe, eventually I could get past the anxiety, and Zeke is probably the most patient man on the face of the planet, but… up until last night, I would have sworn what happened to me couldn’t happen, you know? So maybe there’s hope.”

  “There is always hope, Honor. This whole journey to emotional health isn’t a sprint. It takes time, and based on what you’ve told me, you came a long, long way last night. You were intimate, and you liked it! That’s huge progress.”

  Honor bit her lip. “I really did,” she confessed huskily. “Part of me feels like I should be ashamed of saying it, but another part wants to shout it from the rooftops that those animals didn’t completely ruin me.”

  “I think that’s natural. You’re a conservative woman, but you’ve had a breakthrough you never thought you could achieve. It’s okay to be proud of that.”

  Honor nodded, willing to accept that explanation. “I just don’t want to give Zeke false hope,” she confided.

  “I can understand that. That’s why I wanted you to experience your initial sexual releases on your own rather than with a partner, but what’s done is done. And what happened wasn’t a bad thing. It was consensual on both your parts and it worked out well. However, Zeke is all you’ve ever known on the intimate side of things. And I’m not just talking about your physical relationship. Outside of your family, he’s the only man you’ve allowed anywhere near your innermost thoughts and feelings. It’s time for you to branch out a little. I say this for two reasons. One, you need a little experience dealing with the opposite sex, Honor. Women your age have been dating for years, and you’ve never even entertained the notion. Before you settle in with one man… you need to take a chance and at least go out with a few men. I’m not saying you have to kiss them or touch them in any way that you don’t choose. But, I want you to spend some quality time with a few.”