by Aly Martinez
I silently cursed all forms of alcohol and their mind-erasing effects. I’d gone an entire week without the memory of Rhion Park in the throes of ecstasy, her mouth open as she gasped for air, a round breast pushed up by her black lace bra, and my fingers plucking and rolling her perfect, pink nipple.
My cock swelled impossibly hard at the sight.
I’d been a rock since she’d brazenly stripped her shirt off, that fiery butterfly tattoo taunting me as half of it hid beneath her bra.
Fuck the deliverymen. I would have slept on a damn air mattress for the rest of my life in exchange for my current view.
“Yes!” she cried again.
“Start talking, Butterfly.”
Her blue eyes fluttered open, and she swept her tongue over her bottom lip before taunting, “I said I’d show you. No telling.” She teased a finger back and forth under the hem of my shirt. “Take this off.”
I tore the shirt over my head, and no sooner than it was on the floor had she sat up and begun working my neck with her skilled mouth.
I bent and balanced myself on a hand as she ravenously bit and sucked. “Fuck, baby,” I groaned, shoving a hand into the back of her hair. “Did you do this on Friday night?”
“Yes. You lifted me up to sit on the washing machine because you were too tall,” she replied against my neck.
Answers.
“What were we talking about?” I asked, using her hair to tilt her head back.
She shook her head and reclined, propping herself up onto her elbows. “This is the part where you became acquainted with my tattoo. You remember that part, right? Maybe, if you repeated the process, it would jog your memories.”
I smiled wolfishly. I could so fucking do that.
As I followed her down, her back formed an elegant curve, thrusting her breasts toward my mouth. I slid a hand beneath her and popped the clasp on her bra open.
“Did I do this?” I asked.
“No.”
With one hand, I pulled the lace down her arms and then sucked her nipple into my mouth, twirling my tongue around the peaked nub, relishing in her breathy mews.
“This?” I asked, gently pinching it between my teeth.
“Oh God.” She bowed up, her hands flying into the top of my hair.
“Is that a yes?”
“No,” she breathed, her fingers inching down toward the scars at the back of my neck.
I caught her at the wrist and pinned her hand beside her head.
“Jude,” she complained when I released her breast to find her other hand.
I guided it up above her head and clamped both of her wrists together. “Now, I’m sure I didn’t let you do that.” I nipped at her bottom lip and then ordered, “Don’t move your arms.”
She swallowed hard but nodded.
Straightening myself, I allowed my hungry stare to rake over her small body. She was mostly on the table, only her legs dangling off the end. Fuck, she was beautiful—sprawled out, watching me with pink cheeks, her bright tattoos contrasting with the pale-white skin on her stomach. But it was the waistband of her jeans that I honed in on. I had memories of my hand traveling through her wetness. I wasn’t sure what else I had done. But I knew, by the time she got off that table, I’d have claimed her completely.
With my Hands. Mouth. Cock.
With a growl, I shoved the surrounding chairs away. When one of them fell, her eyes flashed wide and her breathing sped, her round breasts rising and falling, taunting me, but she didn’t move her hands. I stopped at the corner of the table nearest her hip and palmed her breast, my cock twitching as she pressed up into my hand.
“I touched you like this, didn’t I, Rhion?”
“God, yes.”
I trailed a single finger down to her stomach and tapped below her navel. “Did I kiss you here?”
She swiveled her hips. “No.”
I smiled darkly. “We should probably remedy that, then.”
Her mouth fell open as I bent, allowing my breath to whisper across her skin. I kissed her all too briefly. A soft moan breezed from between her lips as I popped the button on her denim open.
“I remember touching you here. You were so fucking tight and wet.”
“Jude, please,” she pleaded when I didn’t press into her pants.
Instead, I strolled around to the other side of the table, allowing my finger to trace a path over her body.
“Damn it, Jude,” she groaned.
A bolt of lightning shot through me, straight to my balls, as she cupped my hard cock through my jeans.
“Touch me,” she demanded in frustration.
I pretended that my cock wasn’t about to fight its way out of my zipper to get to her and arched a chastising eyebrow. “I thought I said not to move your hands?”
Stroking my shaft, she said, “I won’t as long as you’re moving yours. Inside me.”
My lips twitched.
This. Woman. All shy, frightened, and innocent half the time. Then sexy, brazen, and greedy the other. I ached to draw my cock from my pants and see which side of her I’d get when I was driving into her. But there was so much of her I wanted first.
“You want me to touch you, Rhion? Maybe my tongue teasing your clit?” I plucked her nipple and then stepped out of her reach.
“Yes,” she breathed.
I moved to her feet, her wanton gaze tracking my every step. “I want that too. But, first, I’m going to need you to tell me something.”
“Jude,” she warned, her languid body suddenly stiffening.
I pried the top of her jeans open and began tugging them down her legs. When I got to her feet, I used the heels on her silly feathered shoes to remove them—one by one. They hit the floor with a clatter as she hurried to help me get her pants off.
Seconds later, she was in nothing but a pair of thin, black lace panties that spectacularly showcased the small cleft at the top of her sex.
My whole body responded. And not just in the way a male naturally responds to seeing a gorgeous, nearly naked woman laid out before him.
This was Rhion.
I stood there staring down at her for entirely too long. Or maybe it was only a second. But even that was a sin to waste when it came to touching her.
“You said that I was the only one who could heal you,” she announced in a soft, seductive whisper.
My lungs seized. What was the old adage about a drunk man’s words being a sober man’s thoughts?
But she wasn’t done yet. “You said you wanted to touch every part of my body, inside and out, so you could heal me too.” She shoved her fingers into the sides of her panties and shimmied them down.
My mouth watered as she bent her legs and opened them wide, revealing herself to me.
“Heal me, Jude.”
I couldn’t heal her. She wasn’t damaged. Perfect, head to toe.
I caught her legs behind her knees and dragged her to the edge of the table. Using my foot, I pulled a chair over, and the second my ass hit the wood, my mouth sealed over her clit.
“Oh God!” she cried as I began to feast.
My memories were correct: She was drenched, and I easily slipped a finger, then two, deep inside her.
She draped her legs over my shoulders, and I ate at her like she was my favorite meal.
And, with a single taste, that was exactly what she became. I licked and sucked as I pumped my fingers. Her body writhed beneath me, and my name whispered from her lips, drifting straight to my cock as though it were her hand.
As her muscles tightened around my fingers, the orgasm building within her, she suddenly sat up. Her hands snaked into the back of my hair as she held me to her. I ached to remove her hand, but maybe I had been right.
Maybe she was the only one who could heal me.
Her fingers burned at the back of my scalp as her climax against my mouth seared me in a different way.
Rising to my feet, I couldn’t get my pants off fast enough. She was still coming down as I r
etrieved a condom from my wallet and rolled it down my shaft.
There were no words spoken as I prowled up the table and caught her mouth in a kiss. Her lips were lazy; mine were frenzied.
“Look at me,” I demanded as I positioned myself at her opening.
Her dark, painted lashes fluttered open at the same time her limp arms folded around my shoulders.
With her burning gaze giving me all the permission I needed, I drove in hard, eliciting a blessed curse from both of us.
Our bodies rolled together, a fluid rhythm the likes of waves joining in the sea. My every push, she met with a pull. And, each time I’d slide out, she’d welcome me back in. Her breasts pillowed between us as she held me tight, her hands mercifully staying out of my hair as though she knew I couldn’t take it.
Not while I was inside her.
Not while a wildfire blazed in my chest.
When my knees began to ache, I climbed off her, standing at the edge of the table, and continued to fuck her.
Hard but gentle.
Slow but desperate.
Punishing but apologetic.
A sheen of sweat covered us both by the time she came on a reverent, “Jude.”
As she milked me, my release slammed into me. I wasn’t done with her—not even close. But there was no way to prevent it any more than I could have stopped the massive amount of pressure draining from my chest for the first time in four years.
“Butterfly,” I rasped as my release leveled me.
I fell forward and rested my forehead on her shoulder as shockwaves coursed through me. I was vaguely aware of her toying with the ends of my hair as I jerked and twitched inside her.
When I got my breathing under control, I hazarded a glance up.
I was nowhere near ready for the emotion shining in her eyes, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t do some warm things to my soul.
And when she smiled? Forget about it. That was a blast of heat to my entire fucking system.
“Hey,” she whispered like she was seeing me for the first time all day.
I touched my lips to hers. “Hey.”
She began tracing the ridges of muscle at my sides. “So. Bad news. Your bed isn’t here yet.”
“That certainly is bad news. You got any good news to follow that with?”
She patted her hand on the wood. “You have a very sturdy dining room table.”
I chuckled and kissed her again. “I gotta clean up. Any chance you can put that food in the oven?”
“After that workout, I’m sure you’re ravenous.”
I pushed up onto my hands and walked them down the table until I was hovering above her breasts. She gasped when I darted my tongue out to circle her nipple.
“It’s you who’s gonna need the sustenance, Rhion. We didn’t get to the part on Friday night when you were straddling me.”
A loud, life-changing giggle escaped her mouth, which was followed by a groan as I pulled out of her and an, “Oh. My. God,” as I felt her ogle my ass while I sauntered to the bathroom.
“Find it, Rhion,” I ordered, giving her nipples a tug.
We were in my bed, which had thankfully been delivered while we’d been eating her grade-A chicken pot pie. After that, I’d shown her all twelve hundred square feet of my sprawling apartment. She oohed and aahed appropriately. She’d even managed to fake interest as I’d explained the finer points of IKEA furniture. The woman had probably never owned anything that wasn’t custom built specifically to meet her decorating needs. Though, as she listened to me intently, she wasn’t judging. Rhion wasn’t like that. Yes, her shoes clearly cost a fortune, probably her jeans too, but she didn’t wear them in a way that screamed for people to take notice. I’d lived with April long enough to know exactly what that looked like. But that was not Rhion Park.
She was simple.
Understated.
Stunning.
For the rest of the evening, we lay on the couch, alternating between making out and laughing. On that worn-out sectional, there was nothing but two people getting to know each other. We didn’t talk about the fire. Or her family. I didn’t bring up Friday night again. In those moments, with her staring up at me like I was the most amazing man she’d ever seen and me staring down at her knowing she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, everything else became inconsequential.
When the clock hit midnight, I offered to take her home. I’d never forget as long as I lived the way her lips twisted adorably as she said, “And miss breaking in the new mattress? No way.”
I laughed.
And then I’d carted her off to bed, where we had officially broken the new mattress in.
And, now, at five a.m. the next morning, Rhion was riding my cock like she’d been born to do it. I was perilously close to coming, and she still hadn’t gotten off yet. But, if she didn’t speed it up, I was going to be late for work.
Gripping her hips, I thrust up hard.
“Jude!” she cried, but it wasn’t in ecstasy. It was in admonishment.
I’d been inside her exactly three times, and I already knew that my Butterfly liked her control. She liked riding me. Working me over until I was gasping for air.
And, truth be told, I liked all of that too.
I also like keeping my job, and that entailed my being on time.
After licking my thumb, I dropped it to her clit and rubbed a tight circle.
“Jude!” she cried. This time, it was in ecstasy.
I bucked beneath her again.
Her hands flew to my shoulders, where she balanced herself. “Wait!”
“Babe, trust me when I say I am in no rush to have you climb off my cock. But we have to leave in fifteen minutes. And I still have to shower and get dressed.” I couldn’t stifle the chuckle when disappointment hit her eyes. Using her hips, I ground into her and finished with, “That does not include the extra few minutes it’s gonna take for me to pack a bag to stay at your place tonight.”
Her eyes lit, and my lips curled up in a smile.
However, just as quickly, my lips fell because Rhion got busy.
Half an hour later, she was exiting my Jeep in the Guardian parking garage. I could tell she was nervous, but it was nothing like it had been the night before. She was smiling, and she didn’t even wait for me to come around to open her door before she climbed out.
“What time do you think you’ll be off tonight?” she asked, looping her arm around my hips as we fell into stride toward the elevator.
I was tossing my arm over her shoulders when I tagged a man lingering in the shadows of the stairwell. I quickly stepped in front of her, and she bumped into my back.
“What the…” she cursed.
The man slowly emerged, but recognizing him didn’t quell the unease ricocheting in my veins.
His gaze was dark, and he looked downright malevolent.
“Levitt,” Johnson greeted as he strode toward us.
“Oh, hey, Aidan,” Rhion chirped behind me.
I allowed her to step out around me, but I kept her close. Something felt off. And, if I’d learned anything in my years working security, it was to trust my gut.
He scanned her from head to toe and then back again before asking, “Did your phone break?”
She shook her head. “No. Why?”
He took an angry step toward her and seethed, “Because I’m positive there has to be a reason you didn’t call me and let me know you were shacking up with Jude last night.”
I didn’t have time to process it before I slammed my hand against his chest. “Back the fuck up!”
His gaze didn’t flip to mine; it stayed leveled on Rhion.
“Oh shit,” she breathed.
I gave him a hard shove that shifted him back a step, but he still didn’t acknowledge me.
“Yeah, Rhion. ‘Oh shit,’ is right,” he replied.
I threw my arm out to stop her as she moved toward him, but she ducked under it and got right between us. “I’m so sorry. I
…I didn’t—”
He gritted his teeth and shook his head. And then, all at once, his shoulders rolled forward as relief rained down over him. It was quite possibly the most peculiar transformation I’d ever witnessed. One minute, there was no mistaking him as anything but a threat. The next, he was a man on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
“For fuck’s sake, sweetheart. Use your goddamn phone,” he said, hooking her at the back of the neck and dragging her into his chest. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good. I was with Jude,” she said, her words muffled by his shirt.
His gaze finally lifted to mine, and his lips split in a cocky grin. “I’m not gonna hurt her. You can quit glaring at me, asshole.”
“I’ll quit glaring when you let her the fuck go,” I shot back.
He harrumphed but released her.
Rhion didn’t delay in moving back to my side, and Johnson watched her closely as I slid an arm around her shoulders.
“Jesus Christ,” he cursed to himself. “Get her upstairs. Then meet me in Leo’s office. We have a client briefing starting in five minutes.” And then he was gone, jogging up the stairs rather than taking the elevator.
I looked down at Rhion and asked the rhetorical question, “What the fuck was that about?” It was only rhetorical because I knew I wouldn’t get an answer.
So I nearly stroked out when I got one.
“He sometimes pops in and hangs out with me in the mornings. He probably freaked when I wasn’t there.”
Dipping down, I kissed the top of her head. “I do not understand your relationship with that man.”
She laughed and—not surprisingly—didn’t bother to reply.
When we got to her door, I kissed her indecently and for too long, so when I finally broke it, I was forced to take the stairs two by two to get up to Guardian without being late—or later, as it turned out.
“How’s it going, Levitt?” Leo asked as I entered his office.
He was leaning back, his booted feet propped up on the desk. Johnson sat across from him, his arms crossed over his chest, but a genuine smile curved at his lips.
“Sorry I’m late,” I told Leo.
“You’re welcome for last night,” he stated matter-of-factly. “If it weren’t for me, this guy would have been beating down your door at midnight.”