Audrey’s Inn

by Aycart, Elle

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a second she feared he was going to turn her down, but when he opened them again, they were raw and intense and full of need. “I can’t say I do.”

  “Good. I’d hate to think I’m molesting you.”

  He shook again with laughter. “Molesting me would imply I don’t want you. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

  His laughter died as they stared at each other. He put his hands on either side of her waist and slid them up, pulling her shirt up too. She went along, lifting her arms, pleased that he was initiating contact this time. Next her bra was flung aside, and he took her mouth in that sexy way he had, cupping the back of her head and taking full control, licking every inch with his tongue and then nipping her lips.

  He placed one hand on her ass and lifted her in his arms. Still kissing, he walked them to the bed and laid her on it. He moved to her throat, flicking his tongue here and there, until he made it to her collarbone. He cupped her breasts, squeezed softly, and growled as she moaned at the contact. “You not only have gorgeous tits, you have sensitive ones too.”

  “I guess?” she whispered. They’d never been that responsive before.

  Chuckling softly, he nuzzled them, his stubble abrading her tips and making her shiver in need. “I’m going to love biting and pinching your nipples until they puff up, swelling with blood and turning dark.” He stroked one stiff tip. “Already getting there,” he mumbled and caught her other pebbled nipple in his mouth and suckled hard.

  She arched her back, a flash of heat running through her body. He had to stop making sweet love to her boobs, or she was going to come undone right there, just from him fondling her chest.

  In no time he had her where he wanted her; her tits were aching and swollen and so sensitized, just his breath across her tips made her whimper. He wasn’t unaffected, though, if that big rod sticking into her thigh was anything to go by.

  “Let’s get rid of your pants,” she whispered, reaching to unbuckle him.

  He stood and she sat on the edge of the bed, helping him chuck his pants. He took his shirt off, watching her reaction carefully, as if expecting her to cringe. When she got up, his scars were mere inches from her face. She could clearly see all the ridges and ragged edges. They had butchered him. On purpose. She splayed both palms on his pecs and kissed his skin. Unlike his back, not all his chest had been carved, so she was gentle with the unmarred spots and then raked her teeth over the scarred tissue, while he hissed in approval. His cock jerked in complete agreement, begging for attention. She palmed him, hard, and he growled in warning. “Audrey.”

  Encouraged by his raw reaction, she climbed on the bed, positioned herself on all fours, and opened her legs, flashing her pussy at him. “Already wet. Ready for you.” She turned to look at him, and the view took her breath away.

  His eyes flared, dark and intent. His face was harsh, his jaw locked, his lips drawn into a thin line. Man, he was handsome, even when the vein at his temple pulsed madly and the muscles at either side of his throat bulged. His body was taut and sinewy, and not even the scars diminished his powerful beauty. He reached for her, slid his finger up and down her slit, from her clit to her ass, making her rosette wet. Her knees almost buckled, but she locked them and tried to stop herself from begging. Then he moved back to her clit, rubbing it. “You want me to fuck you?”

  She nodded, not able to make her throat work.

  “Not yet,” he said and flipped her over. “I really couldn’t give this pussy the attention it deserved before. I want to go down on you properly.”

  He went on his knees, his broad shoulders keeping her legs totally open, and blew at her sensitive core. At the contact with the cool air, her lower body jerked.

  “Easy, baby. I’m just getting started.”

  She watched his tongue lapping at her flesh, and a jolt of pure energy raced over her at the sight. He nipped her clit, gently, and she lifted her hips to him. Whatever he was doing, she wanted more. Now. Sensing her urgency, he obliged but kept her down.

  He licked her thoroughly, his tongue exploring every curve and valley, lapping at her folds and playing with her clit. Then he gathered more of her lube and moved to her rosette. As she felt the tip of his finger breaching that tiny hole, she froze.

  “You like ass play?”

  Oh God. Just those words made more liquid rush to her core. Her ass clenched on him.

  His arrogant chuckle didn’t help. “I see you like it. Nothing will make your pussy go off as explosively as adding ass play.”

  All she could do was whimper. Keeping his eyes on her, he sucked her clit and added two fingers into her pussy, fucking her deep, while his thumb tinkered with the door of her ass. The wave rose so fast and so high, she couldn’t stop it, and she came so hard she almost blacked out.

  Before she could recover her breath or her bearings, he was rolling on a condom and flipping her again. “Back on all fours, love. Not sure you can get knee burns from sheets, but let’s give it a try, shall we?”

  Then he rammed inside her. Aftershocks from the previous orgasm were still spasming in her core, the contractions pushing him deeper and sending her even higher. He fucked her with methodical strokes, grinding at her with every thrust, until the whole bed rattled and she was screaming, out of her ever-loving mind, from pleasure.

  The last thought in her head before she lost it completely was that she was going to hear from Red tomorrow.

  * * *

  Audrey woke up to an empty bed. There was some light coming through the window, but it was faint. It couldn’t be too far into the morning. She glanced at her watch. Five o’clock. She frowned, wondering why on earth she was alone. She remembered falling asleep, exhausted after having more orgasms than she cared to count. Con had been by her side then. Did he leave for his place afterward? She stilled. He wasn’t working in the back yard, was he? Or worse, sleeping out there?

  She put on some clothes, taking a piece of cake while she was at it, and hurried to the back yard. There was no one tending to her plants or lying around. Then she noticed a light was on in the cottage.

  Barefoot, she sprinted there to find Con working on the living room, stripping the old, warped baseboards.

  His expression softened the second he saw her. He dropped what he was doing and wrapped her in his arms. “Baby, what are you doing here? It’s too early. And too cold. No jacket?”

  She shrugged. “I woke up and you were gone.” She was going for a neutral tone, but she feared he caught the reproach.

  “Sorry, love. I felt like working a little.”

  She scrunched her nose. An old couch, swathed in a tarp while the remodeling had been going on, was uncovered and cleaned up. “You slept on that?”

  “Nah,” he tried to reassure her. “I just rested my eyes after finishing some things in the bathroom.”

  His resigned smile killed her. She hugged him as hard as she could.

  He chuckled. “You trying to smother me?”

  Audrey loosened her embrace and looked him straight in the eye. “Remember what you told me yesterday, about doing your house elf duties later, instead of in the middle of the night?” At his nod, she continued, “Please come during the day. I want your nights to be for me. Yes?”

  He was visibly struggling to give her an answer when something must have startled the neighboring dogs. They started growling and barking, and Con’s face turned white. He let her go and took a step backward.

  “Connor?”

  No answer. He was in front of her, but he felt miles away. He started trembling and sweating, and his breath turned labored.

  She reached for his hand, trying to calm him, but he wrenched away.

  He was having an attack—and she’d just startled him.

  Chapter Nine

  Con’s eyesight had dimmed and narrowed. All he could hear were the dogs barking. Louder and louder, which, rationally speaking, he knew was an impossibility because there were no dogs
near him. His body didn’t care. Neither did his mind. His heart was pumping in his mouth, and he couldn’t get enough air. He had to run away. He was in danger.

  He struggled to think. There was someone in front of him, talking, but he couldn’t hear the words. Something touched his hand, and instinctively he wrenched it away. The dogs were ready for their pound of flesh. Soon the flaying would start.

  He had to get away, but he was shaking. Blood roared madly in his ears. He could hear his name. Someone kept calling him. He tried to concentrate on that, but it was too hard. He couldn’t breathe or think. He was going to suffocate or have a heart attack. Probably both.

  A voice came through the fog. A voice he knew. A voice he trusted.

  “Con, love. Breath slowly. I’m here; you’re safe.”

  He focused on the figure in front of him. Was that… Audrey? Yes. Relief blanketed him.

  “Breathe in and out. You’re going to be okay.” Her voice competed with his desperate heaves for air and the roaring in his ears and the dogs’ barking, but gradually her voice prevailed.

  “You’re here, with me,” she said. “There’s no danger.”

  He closed his eyes and tried to slow down his breathing. There were no dogs waiting for his flesh. He was going to be okay.

  Little by little he calmed down, his fight-or-flight instinct quieting.

  She noticed. “Now, open your eyes and tell me five things you see.”

  He did as he was told. He focused his gaze on his surroundings. His sight wasn’t dimmed anymore, and he didn’t have tunnel vision. Of all the things he could see now, there was only one that mattered. “I see you. Blue eyes. Pursed mouth. Few clothes. Barefoot.”

  She scrunched her nose. “Four things you can touch.”

  With a shaky hand, he reached for her face and cupped her neck. “I can feel your soft skin. Your lips,” he added, brushing them with his thumb. “Your silky hair between my fingers. Your vein pulsing here.” He caressed the base of her neck.

  “Three things you can hear,” she whispered, her teary eyes never leaving his.

  “I can hear your breathing. And your teeth chattering. And your worry.” It was loud and clear, and it killed him.

  “Two things you can smell.”

  “The vanilla scent of your skin. The sex we had.”

  She didn’t have to ask the last question, because he knew. He moved closer and brushed her lips with his tongue. She opened up for him. “You taste like chocolate, baby. You had time to eat cake but not get properly dressed before coming to look for me?”

  She sagged. “You’re back.” Then she threw herself at him, hugging him hard. He staggered, almost losing his balance, and she loosened her hold right away. “Sorry,” she apologized, releasing him, but he didn’t let go. Couldn’t.

  “Hold still. Just a second.” He buried his face in her hair, in her warmth, filling his lungs with her scent. “Thank you, baby,” he whispered. “But you should have run away. Or knocked me down. Just in case.”

  “Oh, shut up, you idiot,” she admonished, her voice almost breaking, and hugged him even tighter.

  * * *

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” Con asked after they put all the supplies they’d bought at Home Depot in the car.

  “Nah.” Audrey sat behind the wheel. “I feel like driving.”

  “You sure you know the way back to Alden?” She’d been a little distracted while picking up the materials for the cottage. And he’d noticed that, while standing in line at the cashier, she’d been looking up driving directions on her cell.

  “I’ve been there before, house elf,” she said with a smile.

  They drove for a while in silence until she broke it. “I reckon the dogs barking is a problem, right?”

  It took a second before Con understood what she was talking about. His freak out the other morning. “If it catches me with my guard down. Although anything could potentially trigger the panic response.” A sound, a flickering light. He was still trying to figure out how his fucked-up mind worked.

  “But the dog barking is a constant?” At his nod, she studied him for a long second. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yeah.” He did.

  “Then trust me.” And she took a sharp turn.

  “This isn’t the way to Alden, little girl.” They were very busy; tomorrow the inn was hosting Amantis’s press conference and party. Plenty of shit to do and no time for road trips.

  “I know. Bear with me.”

  Con was not familiar with that part of the county, not to mention after several turns, there wasn’t much more than forest. They parked near a fence.

  She turned to him, looking nervous. “I signed up to walk shelter dogs.” She lowered her gaze. “They don’t have enough volunteers. I thought you’d like to come with me.”

  So that was an animal shelter.

  She still was unable to look him in the eye. “There’s a lot of space around here to walk the dogs. And we could choose calm dogs first. We… I thought…”

  She was sweating bullets. Con crossed his arms, amused, and waited for her to lift her gaze. It took a while. Finally, probably worried about his silence, she gathered the courage to look at him.

  He stifled a laugh. “You’re trying to desensitize me, right?” The doc had suggested something similar, but he’d ignored it. Ignoring Audrey was going to be more difficult. God, she was so cute, chewing at her lip, afraid he was pissed.

  “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Man, she was such a lousy liar. Chuckling, he brought her to him and kissed her. “Were these the directions you were looking up in the store?”

  She nodded. “Are you angry?”

  How the fuck could he be angry at her? She was too adorable. So were her intentions. “Are you a dog person?”

  By her expression, that was a no. “How difficult can it be to walk them?”

  Oh God. “You said your brother had PTSD too, right?”

  Now she looked uncomfortable. “Something like that. He was one of the first responders to a huge train accident. Not exactly like combat PTSD.”

  Trauma was trauma. He tipped her head up. “Did you make him your project, like you’re doing with me?”

  “You aren’t my project. You’re…”

  He waited for her to continue. “What? What am I?”

  She faltered, blushing. Then she cleared her throat. “More. You’re more than a project.”

  Con would have loved to hear her call him her man. Heck, even “boyfriend” sounded pretty good to him at this point. And he’d cringed at the use of that word many times before. But “more than a project” was a start.

  “Come on, Miss Diplomacy. Let’s give this a try.”

  She must have thought he was going to refuse, because at his words, a big smile spread over her face. She kissed him on the lips, looking excited.

  They entered the shelter and took care of the paperwork. Then he stayed back while Audrey and one of the volunteers went to pick out two dogs. He heard growls and barks coming from the cage area, but the sounds were faint, and he was braced for it, so it was fine.

  Until Audrey came back, sporting a shaky smile and two big-ass dogs.

  Con took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes nothing.”

  * * *

  “Stop making me laugh. I’ll pee myself,” Audrey said between giggles, trying unsuccessfully not to drop any liquid from her cocktail. She and Connor were sitting by the pool, drinking and laughing and overall too tired to move.

  They had just made it back from the shelter. She would have liked to get cracking on supervising preparations for the upcoming event, but after two hours of walking hyperactive dogs, she was exhausted. Connor didn’t look much better.

  “I’m serious,” Con continued, that sexy smile of his so at odds with his otherwise severe demeanor. He looked much younger when he smiled. “You should have seen your face when that dog got away from you.”

&nb
sp; “Mine? You should have seen yours, mister.”

  “I’m the one who was supposed to freeze and panic, not you, Aud.”

  True. That was what happened when two people with dubious knowledge about dogs took eight eager hounds, two at a time, for walks. She had been caught off-guard by how hard some of them pulled at the leash—so much so that she’d even dropped one. Before she’d had time to react, the clever animal had taken off running. The more they chased him, the more he thought they were playing with him. The one Connor had thought they were all having a blast and insisted on participating.

  The only good thing to come from the whole mess was that Connor hadn’t freaked out, not even once.

  Audrey had warned the volunteer who chose the dogs for them that she and her companion were afraid of dogs who growled and barked excessively, so he’d appeared to be careful in his selection. They didn’t get model-perfect Yorkies, though. Apparently, cute, small dogs weren’t abandoned as often as big or aggressive-looking ones. So yeah, she counted it a success that Con had been able to keep his cool.

  She motioned for him to come closer and lowered her voice. “You better get over this particular trigger soon, because I’m dead.” The shelter expected them to volunteer again in a week. Her shoulders were busted, her neck and legs too. Thank God he agreed to skip the gym after their workout with the dogs. “We should have started another day. Tomorrow is the party, and I need to be at my best to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Not to mention the security team would show up at noon to check the premises.

  “You nervous?”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe,” she acknowledged with a smile. “They want a low-key party of close friends, with the press only allowed in at the beginning, but this is Amantis, after all.” There was no such thing as “low-key” with super-famous rock stars. This event could make or break a small place like hers.