Loving Mercy

by Dena Christy

  She cried out his name, and he lifted his head to grin up at her. He dragged his tongue around her navel again, deliberately teasing her, and she rewarded his behavior by crying out.

  He moved his body around so that her legs were on either side of him and he caressed her thighs as he slowly parted them. She was so ready for him to touch her there, and she quivered when he dragged a finger over her moist flesh.

  “Alex,” she groaned. “Please, I need your mouth on me.”

  He didn’t hesitate to obey her request, and he lowered his face between her thighs and pressed the most intimate of kisses upon her aroused flesh. Her eyelids drifted shut as her entire focus was centered on the feel of his mouth on her body. He used his tongue to tease her clit and she could feel the pleasure inside her build. Higher and higher she climbed as he pleasured her until she found her release from the tension that had coiled inside her.

  Her orgasm exploded inside her as pleasure pulsed through her. The world melted away until the only thing she was aware of was the joy and ecstasy this man had gifted her with. She lay for a long moment, sprawled on the bed with him kneeling between her legs and running his hands in a soothing motion up and down her thighs.

  When she came back to Earth, she looked at him and she could see his need for her in the tightness of the skin across his cheekbones. But she also knew that he would not make a move until he knew she was ready for him.

  She opened her arms to him, and he needed no further encouragement. He maneuvered his body so that the tip of his cock was at the entrance of her body.

  He had prepared her well, and as he moved his hips forward, his entrance was slick and smooth.

  She groaned at how full and delicious his being inside her made her feel. He lowered his head, and kissed her softly, seeming to be in no hurry to move now that he was inside her. She could taste herself on his mouth and it aroused her further.

  Her arms went around him as she bent her legs and slid them up against his flanks. She moved her hips, and he took the hint. He looked down at her as he pulled back and slowly thrust his hips forward. The friction was delightful, and a moan escaped her.

  “You feel so good,” she whispered as she clutched at him.

  For long moments, the only sounds in the room were their sighs as they moved together. The pleasure inside her built and took her higher and higher. He increased his pace, grinding his pelvis against her at the end of each thrust. His name was an ecstatic cry as he shoved her body over the edge and sent her tumbling into orgasm.

  Her pleasure held her captive in a world where everything was right, and she was distantly aware of him finding his own pleasure in her body. They clung to each other as their lovemaking sent them tumbling into ecstasy.

  The weight of his body settled against her, and their rapid heartbeats thumped together as they held on to each other.

  Soon their heart rates slowed, and they came back to themselves.

  “I must be getting heavy.” Alex moved so that he was off her body and laying on the bed beside her.

  He put his arms around her and she settled her head on his chest. She felt boneless as she lay there, sated beside him. Laying here in his arms felt like it was where she was meant to be. And as she pressed a soft kiss against his chest, she couldn’t help but compare this to the last time they were together like this. Unlike that first time, she had no desire to run, no urge to get out of here and go back behind the wall she’d built for herself over the years.

  It seemed like something she should think about, but no thoughts wanted to intrude as he shifted and grabbed the blankets that were bunched at the foot of the bed. He pulled them over them and settled her against him again.

  The beat of his heart under her ear was reassuring, and she closed her eyes. The wall inside her was crumbling and she couldn’t bring herself to worry about it right now.

  He loved it when a plan came together, and his plan to break through the barrier Mercy had built around herself was working. He’d known her game from the second she’d looked at him after throwing that snowball at him. That she wanted to play, that she wanted to lure him closer to her, excited him. Made him want her. And when she’d reached out and pulled him to her for a kiss, he could see that there were no doubts in her eyes. It was the most arousing thing he’d ever seen.

  He’d been ready to take her from the moment they’d walked into the house, but he’d known he had time and so he took his time with her. Being with her again reminded him of the pleasure that he’d found with her the first time, and as he tightened his arms around her, he was glad that it was something he would get to experience again. There was nothing in her actions or in her eyes that told him she planned on bolting again. She was in his bed now and that was where she was going to be in the future.

  He ran a loving hand up and down her arm as he held her. He wanted things settled between them but he knew that with her he needed to cultivate patience and move slowly. He wanted her to be his mate, and not just because his baby was inside her and he was worried about a future man coming between them. Having her in his house, and now in his bed, was making him realize that he was falling in love with her. Or maybe he realized that his fall had happened the moment he’d seen her scared and vulnerable on the night they’d slept together the first time.

  It was not in his nature to hide what was going on in his head, but he thought it would be best if he kept his feelings to himself for now.

  She wasn’t ready yet to hear words of love from him and asking her to be his mate right now risked sending her running away from him. He wanted to bring her in closer, not drive her away.

  Her stomach rumbled, and she gave a soft laugh and it kicked him out of his own head and back here in the room with her. Neither of them had eaten anything, except for the few crackers she’d nibbled on and the coffee he’d drank.

  “Okay, time to get up and get something to eat.” He shifted over and got out of bed. He pulled on his jeans and looked over at her. She leaned up on one arm, her dark hair was tumbling around her shoulders and breasts. Her topaz eyes practically glowed, drawing him in like a siren’s song.

  He wanted to say screw food and get her back underneath him and thrust his body inside her. But there was more than just what he wanted to consider. Their baby needed nourishment, and caring for her and that child was more important than any desire he had at the moment. Once they’d had something to eat, then he could indulge in his other hunger.

  He reached a hand out and pulled her up off the bed.

  “I need to go to the bathroom first, so why don’t you go make something for us to eat and I’ll join you in a moment.” She smiled up at him, and it took an iron will to turn away from the sight of her nude body and head out the bedroom door.

  There would be plenty of time for them to be together. That thought, and that his baby came first, was the only reason he could walk away from the temptation she represented.

  He went down the hall to the kitchen and quickly put together two sandwiches with some cut up apples. He poured them both a glass of milk and he was putting the food on the table when he heard a noise coming from the entrance of the kitchen.

  She stood there, smiling at him while wearing one of his button-down shirts. She rolled the sleeves up and the shirt was huge on her, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen anything sexier. He knew that he was probably reading too much into it, but her wearing his shirt was almost like her proclaiming that she was his.

  It was wishful thinking on his part no doubt, but he reassured himself by thinking that with time she would be his woman. And that thought sent a wave of possessiveness through him. The wolf inside him knew his mate when it saw it, and it was only a matter of time until she realized it too.

  She came forward and sat down at the kitchen table and he joined her.

  “Thank you, I’m starving.” She picked up a sandwich half and took a bite.

  He took pleasure in watching her eat, and although the meal was simple, it
was nice to watch her enjoy it. He ate his food in record time, partially because he was hungry but mostly because the need to have her again was rising inside him and that hunger soon eclipsed his need for food.

  Once they’d finished eating, he pulled her to her feet. She drifted toward him, and he settled her against him. Even now there was no doubt in her eyes when she looked up at him. Could this mean that she was on her way to seeing a future for them, together, that went beyond them raising a child?

  It was too soon to tell, but one thing he knew was that making love to her earlier hadn’t been enough. He wanted more.

  He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on her lips.

  “It’s way too cold outside to play in the snow. What should we do instead since we are stuck indoors and can’t go anywhere?” His words were playful as he kissed the side of her neck. He knew what her answer would be by the way she pressed herself against him.

  “I’m sure if we go back to bed we can think of something.” She sank back down on her heels and stepped away from him. Even though there was only a whisper of space between them it was too much for him. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, and apparently, she was on the same page.

  She took his hand and together they walked back to his bedroom.

  Once they were in there, standing next to the bed, she turned to him. Her hands drifted over the buttons of his shirt, and she undid each one slowly. The excitement inside him revved up a notch as smooth expanses of her skin was revealed with the unfastening of each button. She seemed in no hurry to reveal her treasures, and his body was so hard watching the show that his jeans were uncomfortable.

  He shed them in seconds, and he stood in front of her, hard and ready. The last button was undone, and the cotton shirt slid from her body, revealing her naked body in all its beauty. His eyes drifted over her, from the curly dark tumble of her hair to her full, firm breasts and down the smooth skin of her stomach. He paused there as he imagined the swell that would soon come as his child grew large inside her.

  He took a step toward her and closed his eyes for a second as her warm, nude body pressed against him. She felt so right, standing there naked in his arms. It was like she was made for him to hold.

  She pulled his head down, and he obeyed her by kissing her. He devoured her mouth as her tiny hands stroked over his body. With her mouth still fused with his, she moved back a fraction so that she could reach between them and grasp his cock.

  Her touch made him pull his head back and grit his teeth. Each stroke of her hand felt better than the last, and soon his excitement reached such a pitch that he didn’t know if he was going to be able to hold back his release for much longer.

  “Jesus, I don’t know if I can wait much longer to be inside you, woman.” His words were gritty as he growled and lowered his head. She smiled at him with a look that had been invented by Eve, and he knew that he was lost. He would do whatever she demanded as long as he found his release in the promised paradise of her body.

  “Good thing you don’t have to.” She moved away from him and her hand fell away. For a second he felt bereft of her touch, but when she moved him toward the bed and shoved him down, he soon consoled himself that he could glut himself on her flesh in a matter of moments.

  He lay down in the center of his bed, his flesh alight with anticipation as she came down on the bed beside him. He moved as if to press against her when her hand on his chest prevented him from moving.

  She pushed him so that he was flat on his back, and moved to straddle him. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything more gorgeous than her luscious body on top of him.

  She moved so she could grasp his cock and put him at the entrance of her body. He trembled in anticipation of joining his flesh with her and closed his eyes with a groan as she sank down on him, inch by slow, agonizing inch.

  Once she had seated herself fully on top of him, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. She smiled at him in a way that promised untold pleasure to him, but he knew that she was going to milk every moment getting there.

  He slowly slid his hands up her thighs as she slowly undulated her hips on top of him. His fingers dug into the full flesh of her hips as he fought the urge to thrust up inside her. He wanted to see where she was going to go with this, and he was rewarded for his patience when she ground her hips against him in the most pleasurable way.

  She grasped his wrists as she rode him, moving his hands up her body as she leaned toward him. She put his hands on her breasts, and he toyed with the hard peaks of her nipples as she moved faster against him.

  She rode him well, and soon his excitement took hold of him in an iron grip and wouldn’t let him go. He moved on instinct as his body clamored for his release. He pulled her down on top of him, grasping her as he rolled them so that their positions were reversed.

  Excitement flared in her eyes as she lay beneath him, with him fully embedded in her body. He thrust hard inside her and she cried out for him. She writhed beneath him, which fanned the flames of his desire to a fever pitch.

  Mine.

  That one word pounded in his head over and over as he moved inside her. Higher he climbed, and her body tightening around him as her cries grew in excitement told him that she was right there with him on their trek to heaven.

  A few more hard thrusts were all that was needed to send her over the edge, and the sound of her voice as she found her release was like the sweetest music he’d ever heard. Her body clenched around him, tighter than any fist, and it dragged him into orgasm.

  As his pleasure poured out of his body and into hers, he knew without a single doubt that she was his woman. There would never exist another who could take him to the heights he now found himself in.

  He rested against her as his sated body came slowly back to earth. He rolled to the side so she would not be burdened with his full body weight. She cuddled up next to him, and it didn’t take long before the sound of her even breathing came to him.

  As he settled blankets around them, he held her body to him. There was nowhere else in the world that he wanted to be. Soon enough the world would intrude again, but for now, the only world that existed for him was the one they’d created for themselves in this room. She was in his bed, where she was meant to be, and soon enough she would come to realize that what they had together was special. She was his woman in every sense of the word, she just didn’t know it yet. But soon, she would.

  10

  It was three days after the big snowfall, and Mercy sighed as she settled down to work. Alex had just had his two regular days off yesterday and the day before, and they’d spent a big portion of that time in bed. Something about the two of them together with nowhere they had to go had created an insatiable appetite in both of them. She’d never needed someone as much as she needed him, and it sent the tiniest prickle of fear inside her.

  Sharing Alex’s bed had been the right decision to make, and she didn’t regret it at all. But she wondered how long it would all last. Experience told her that even the most wonderful experiences had to end sometime.

  She shoved the thought aside. She wouldn’t do this, the same thing she did every time she was with someone new. She wouldn’t analyze everything to death, to walk around in anticipation of things turning sour. Alex was not like anyone she’d been with before, and she had no reason to believe that what was between them wouldn’t blossom and grow into something permanent. They were going to have a baby together, for Christ’s sake. There was nothing more permanent than that.

  She settled down to work, and soon the world faded away as her entire focus went to her writing. The time slipped by, and when there was a knock on the front door she was jolted back to reality with a startled cry.

  She closed her laptop and stood up, stretching the kinks from prolonged sitting out of her body as she moved toward the front door. She hadn’t even heard the car pull up, but that was nothing new. Whenever she was working she got into hyper-focus mode.

  She went i
nto the vestibule, and a happy smile bloomed across her face when she saw Honor grinning at her through the window on the front door.

  She hadn’t been expecting her, but so much had happened in the last couple of days that they would talk about it all for a good long time. She pulled open the front door.

  “Come on in,” she said as she stepped to the side so Honor could walk through the door. “It’s great to see you. What’s going on?”

  “I came here to find that out from you.” Honor stepped in the door and took off her coat. “You don’t call. You don’t text. I had to come here to make sure that you were still alive.”

  Honor hung up her coat and looked at Mercy with a grin. There had been several texts from Honor over the weekend, but unfortunately, she’d hardly looked at her phone. She’d seem them this morning and promised herself that she would respond as soon as she was finished work. She should have known that Honor would be here to see if she was okay.

  “As you can see, I’m alive and well. Come on in and I’ll make some tea.” Mercy turned and walked out of the chilly vestibule with Honor close behind her.

  “I didn’t realize that you were working.”

  Mercy turned to look at Honor and she could see that her friend had spied her laptop sitting on top of the coffee table.

  “It’s okay, I need a break anyway.” Mercy led the way to the kitchen and Honor sat down at the table while Mercy moved around, filling the teakettle with water and putting it on the stove. She opened one of the lower cupboards and pulled out the brand new teapot that Alex had bought for her when he realized that she liked to relax with a cup of tea in the evening. It was a thoughtful gesture from a thoughtful man, and it made her smile for a moment.

  “Are you feeling okay? First, you don’t text me back, and now you're okay with not being buried in your work? Who are you and what have you done with the real Mercy?”