Damaged Hart: Hart Pursuit Trilogy Book One

by Paige, Violet

  I needed to prepare myself for the fact that AJ did what he had to do to get us off the flight. Now that we were on the ground, I had to accept reality. We hadn’t been together for five years. He would make sure I was safe tonight, but after this I was on my own again.

  I towel-dried my hair after my shower and dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top I plucked from my suitcase. I wanted stretchy and comfortable. I padded into the kitchen, my hair damp around my face.

  “Fuck,” I heard him whisper more to himself than to me when I appeared.

  His eyes fell to my breasts.

  “What’s for dinner?” I asked.

  “I’m baking some mean frozen pizzas.”

  I laughed. “Sounds delicious.”

  “I do have a bottle of red we could open.”

  “What about the pain meds the doc gave you?”

  He reached for the corkscrew. “I’m not taking them.”

  “You’re kidding, right? You have two broken ribs. Cuts. Bruises. You should take something.”

  He poured the wine into two large glasses. The neck of the bottle glugged with heavy streams of wine. “Here.” He handed one to me. “I’m drinking with you tonight.”

  “No medicine?”

  He shook his head. “No. This is all I need.”

  I couldn’t help the tingle that spread through my core. In the shower I had managed to convince myself that everything that happened between us today was extreme circumstance creating sexual tension, but looking in AJ’s eyes I knew that it had only been the beginning. The tension was right here and now.

  I’d seen that look before.

  He was going to devour me before the night was over.

  Thirty-Three

  We finished off the bottle of red along with the two pizzas AJ had baked in the oven. We sat on the couch in AJ’s living room. The TV was on in the background, but neither of us paid attention to what was playing.

  I couldn’t look away from him.

  “Should I open another bottle?” he asked.

  He rose from the couch, towering over me. I couldn’t see anything beyond his broad shoulders and massive chest. I met his eyes.

  Could he read my thoughts? Did he know how dirty and needy they were?

  He leaned over me. “I know you’ve been through hell today, but all I can think about is taking you to bed. So tell me I’m being a dick and I’ll back off. I’ll give you all the time you need. We can open another bottle and talk about old times. I’ll even dig deep for those Econ 10 memories if you want. Or tell me you want the same thing I do, and we can fuck until the sun comes up.”

  My entire body seized with blistering heat. The promise of his words did everything to me.

  I nodded as his lips crushed mine. “Fuck me,” I whispered. I looped my arms over his neck as he lifted me from the sofa.

  We forgot we were injured, battered, and bruised. Or at least for those hours we didn’t care about the pain as much as we cared about being together. The bruises would still be there in the morning. There would always be healing to do.

  AJ lowered me to his bed. He peeled the T-shirt over his torso. I reached out to touch the layers of bandage against his ribcage. It blocked some of the sculpted lines of his abs. He crawled on the bed, yanking my yoga pants to my ankles with an expert jerk. I kicked them off.

  I moaned lightly, wanting everything at once. He kissed me. Our tongues met with fiery strokes. The taste of wine mingled with deeper and rougher kisses.

  My body tingled with anticipation. His hands roamed my body. He was tender and careful, but there was no doubt he wanted to seize every ounce of flesh. Savor my skin. Drink in my kisses. My hips bucked to meet his fingers as they slid under my panties. They spread my velvet folds, stroking me wildly until I panted uncontrollably.

  He kissed me as his fingers plunged inside me.

  Oh shit. My eyes rolled back as he pumped in and out, drawing the first orgasm to the surface. My nails dug into AJ’s shoulders. My eyes shot open as my lips parted and the moans escaped with pleasure.

  I shuddered and shook.

  “More,” I whispered. “Please, more.”

  My body still vibrated and my core ached while he worked the jeans and boxer briefs off his legs. I threw my tank top on the floor.

  Our bodies slid together. Familiar, yet different. He kissed my neck and throat. Our fingers clasped together. My legs spread for him as I felt the hard tip of his cock at my entrance. It was an intense beautiful pain. Not the kind of pain I’d felt all day.

  “I’ve fucking missed you, Syd.” He bit his lip as he slammed inside me with an owning thrust. As if I’d been his this entire time. As if five years apart, were still five years he owned my body. Every inch of flesh. Every ounce of blood pumping through my veins. My breaths were his. My soul was his.

  He pushed inside again. This time deeper and harder. I whimpered. “Oh, God, AJ.”

  His fingers wound against mine lifting my hands above my head. He angled against me, plunging once more, bringing a cry from my lips.

  “Don’t stop,” I whispered. “Don’t ever stop fucking me.”

  He growled as his thrusts became more primal. “You know you’re mine.”

  I nodded. “Always.”

  He released my hands and AJ pulled out as I rolled to my stomach, lifting my ass in the air. He grabbed my waist and buried himself deep inside me. I reached for fistfuls of the gray comforter as he slammed into me.

  He kissed my lower back, making a trail with his lips, along my spine, brushing over my shoulder blades until he reached my ear. I hissed as his teeth pulled my ear. His cock was so deep inside me. He stretched and soothed me at the same time, pumping in and out. My hips took over a rhythmic dance, drawing him to my center.

  While one forearm helped him hover over my back, his other arm circled under me, tugging my nipples with possession.

  “Oh shit. I’m going to come if you keep doing that.”

  He growled, nipping my shoulder. “Then I think you should fucking come.” He twisted my tit between his thumb and finger and I groaned from the pleasure and pain. It would only take one more move like that and I’d explode.

  “Oh, AJ,” I mewled. “It’s too much.”

  He slammed into me, charging my body with untamed electricity and I stopped trying to hold on to the climax. I stopped trying to control it. I stopped limiting it.

  “Fuck me, Syd. Just fuck me, babe.”

  I let go in the most exquisite and freeing way my body had every experienced. I gave in to the impulses and the need. I gave in to my animalistic wants. I fed my instincts.

  AJ grunted in my ear as his climax grew. We had almost lost everything today. We had almost lost each other again—forever. The more I gave myself to him. The deeper he fucked me. The freer. The faster. The harder. The more I fell in love with him.

  “I love you,” I whispered. It claimed me just as AJ roared toward the ceiling.

  Our bodies vibrated at their own frequency. He twitched inside me as the last wave hit him.

  “I love you, too, babe.” He kissed my back before rolling on his side with an exhaustive exhale.

  I pushed off the bed enough to look in his eyes. “I missed that too.”

  He laughed. “We don’t have to miss it anymore.”

  “I think I was wrong about today.”

  “What do you mean?” He tucked my hair behind my ear.

  “I thought maybe it was just the intensity of everything that happened on the plane that brought us…closer,” I searched for the right word to use.

  “I hope not.” He furrowed his brow and winced when he made the cut over his eye move.

  I sighed. “I don’t know how we do this.”

  “I don’t either. But we’re doing it.”

  I cracked a smile. “Aren’t you going to get in trouble at work,” I teased.

  He blew a breath toward the ceiling. “About that. They aren’t going to want me to stay on your detail,
but I am. Fuck them if they think I’m not protecting you. We’ll get it sorted out tomorrow when you go in to debrief.”

  “I don’t think I can talk to anyone about what happened. Only you.”

  He ran his thumb across my cheek. “I’ll be right there. You don’t have anything to worry about. And you can finally get the full picture on Project Compass.”

  I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to think about the FBI. I didn’t want to go into the Bureau tomorrow to debrief. After the hijacking, I hadn’t been any more interested in joining the special team than I had the first time AJ mentioned it.

  I wanted to stay here in this sex bubble.

  I looked at him. “How about that second bottle of wine?”

  He winked. “I’ll get it right now.” He threw on a pair of pajama pants and jogged out of the bedroom.

  Thirty-Four

  AJ walked back in the bedroom with the bottle and two refills already poured in our glasses. He kicked the door closed behind him with his foot.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thank you.” I stretched my naked body along the bed, still warm and satisfied. Yet, watching AJ play shirtless bartender stirred my thirst for him again.

  He left the bottle on the dresser. “Oh wait. I’ve got something else I think you’ll like.”

  I took a sip of wine. He returned with two large pillar candles, a carton of ice cream, and two spoons. He lit the candles on the dresser and sat next to me on the bed. He handed me a spoon.

  “I remember how much you loved chocolate ice cream.”

  I smiled taking a spoonful. “I still do. Even if it’s not really paired well with red wine,” I joked.

  He dipped his spoon in the cartoon. “Damn. Ice cream tastes good after sex.”

  I laughed. “I think it tastes good all the time, but it’s especially good right now.”

  He leaned over and kissed me; the heat of his mouth mixed with the cold of the ice cream. I balanced my wine glass carefully so I didn’t spill it. I purred when his tongue flicked along mine. He grabbed the glass from my hand and placed it next to the bed.

  I giggled when he kissed me again.

  “I want you, Syd.”

  “We’re going to get ice cream on everything. And I kinda like this comforter.” I twisted my lips together playfully.

  He ran the spoon over the top of the chocolate and let it drop on my stomach. I watched with a combination of disbelief and arousal as it began to melt and pool at my naval. He wasn’t, was he? Before I could protest his mouth lowered to my stomach as he began to lick and eat the ice cream from my abdomen. It was cold and sticky. But as I watched him devour me, I realized it was one of the hottest things he had ever done.

  He grinned devilishly. “You’re fucking delicious, Syd.”

  “And I’m going to need another shower,” I pouted.

  He scooped another heaping spoonful and let it dribble over my breasts. “I’m going to help you with that.”

  “Oh shit,” I whimpered when he assaulted my nipples with his tongue. I squirmed under him as he sucked harder and faster. They formed hardened points that ached for him to release them.

  “Do you want some?” he asked.

  I nodded as he ran his finger through the carton. He brought his finger to my lips and I sucked greedily when he pushed it between my lips. I reached for the hem of his pants, tugging them off his hips. He moaned as his shaft bobbed free.

  He quickly shoved my knees wide so that I was open and exposed to him. Slick with want. Eager for him to fuck me again. His eyes lit with a new kind of fire. He knew it. He knew just how much I wanted him. How wet and ready I was.

  He sank into me with sudden force. Our bodies ready to dance again. The nerves and anticipation were behind us and we could relish the way we fit together. The way it felt to have AJ inside me again, pushing and pulling. Filling me the way no other man had been able to, even though I had tried. I had tried like hell to forget this man. I wanted to move on. I wanted to fall in love again. I wanted a life that didn’t include him. But as he pumped in and out of me. As our bodies climbed higher and higher. I wondered if there had always been a reason that no one else could ever compare. There was no one else for me but this man.

  He thrust.

  One. “Oh shit.”

  Two. “Fuck me, harder.”

  Three. “You’re mine, Syd. Mine.”

  The lava erupted between us as we clawed and bit. Kissed and loved. Fucked and screamed while our bodies mended us through one earth-shattering orgasm after another. They bound us together, threading the tears and rips in our relationship.

  He pumped inside me, hilting himself like he never had until I screamed his name. My back arched and I gave him everything I had. I wanted him to know and to feel that I had forgiven him. I needed him to know we were healed this way. Whole. We didn’t have to be tattered and torn. As he pushed inside me, I knew we could be at the beginning again. We had another chapter that started tonight.

  “Syd, I’m going to come. You’re so fucking incredible,” he growled, steadying himself for another primal thrust.

  I looked in his eyes, urging him to make me feel it. To remind me why he was the one I could never forget.

  His release washed inside me and he fell on my chest in an exhausted heap. I ran my fingers through his hair. We tried to steady our breaths.

  “God, sex with you is always insanely hot. Do you know that?”

  I laughed. “That’s the ice cream talking.”

  He grabbed my ass, squeezing it roughly. “Maybe you didn’t get enough ice cream.”

  The laughter ebbed and my heart started to race again. “You promised me a shower. I somehow got extremely dirty and sticky in your bed.”

  “You can’t blame me. Can you?”

  “For what?” The candles flickered on the dresser, but it was enough light to read his expression. His tone wasn’t playful.

  “For wanting you. For wanting to make up for lost time. For trying to fuck us back together.”

  “I kind of like the idea of fucking us back together,” I admitted. “We’re so broken. It feels like it’s where we have to start.”

  “You’re right.” He cupped the side of my face, drawing my mouth to his. “We have a lot to answer for. I know you have questions. I made promises to you today that I’m going to keep. But tonight, I need this.”

  I nodded. “I need it too. We can talk later.” I climbed on top of his waist. “There’s too much to talk about tonight anyway. I promise to ask you a thousand questions tomorrow. A thousand and one,” I corrected, losing myself in the moment.

  I ran my nails over his stomach, and fisted his cock, pumping lightly. He reached forward, twisting my nipples until they were hard again. I looked down at how his shaft had come to life in my palm at the same time.

  His eyes closed as he pushed inside me and my hips began to move, taking him deeper and deeper. I was careful not to press on his chest or slide forward. I leaned back, pointing my tits toward the ceiling as I rode him to another orgasm.

  We were in a cloud of sex. The kind of cloud you don’t escape. A beautiful storm had found us and we were going to ride it out until there was nothing left of either of us.

  Thirty-Five

  AJ was asleep next to me. My eyes blinked open when I heard the buzz of my phone. I wasn’t sure why I checked it. Why wasn’t I a sound sleeper like the sex machine next to me? It was mostly dark, but I could tell the sun was starting to rise outside the blinds. I hadn’t been able to sleep much. After sex, we took a shower, climbed into bed, and had more sex. Eventually, our eyes closed as our bodies tangled together. We were both the kind of exhausted that penetrated our bones, only I couldn’t let myself sleep. I wouldn’t let it creep in and take hold.

  I didn’t have the kind of injuries AJ did. He needed sleep more than I did. I could sleep later.

  I picked up my phone, grabbed a T-Shirt, and tip-toed to the living room. I settled onto the couch and read the
messages. There had to be at least ten from the same number. But who was it? It wasn’t someone in my contacts list.

  I pulled my hair back and tried to focus. It was an absurd concept. Focus? Now? After everything I had been through? After being with AJ again? After being sleep-deprived and emotionally exhausted?

  The texts babbled. They didn’t make sense. But when I strung them together in a different order, I realized that whoever had sent them did have an order. They were just delivered to my phone out of sequence.

  Oh my God. Oh my God.

  I jumped up from the couch. I had to go. I needed to get on the road now.

  I looked at the leftover pizza on the cookie sheet. The empty bottle of wine on the counter. The TV we had left on before we spent the rest of the night in AJ’s bed. I buried my head in my hands.

  I couldn’t leave him. Not when I just got him back. Not after he swore to keep me safe and love me.

  But I held the texts in my hands. I didn’t have a choice.

  I dressed quickly and silently, heaving my bag of gear and carrying my bag to the front door. AJ never moved.

  My eye fell to his gun on the counter. I grabbed it before I could talk myself out of it. There were a lot of things I was going to have to atone for after this.

  I scribbled a note for him on the counter. I hoped he understood. I hoped he could forgive me. He was going to be pissed I left before the debrief. He was going to be hurt I walked out like this.

  I stared at the alarm code on the wall and took a chance. I entered my birthday.

  The alarm beeped once and I opened the door. I looked over my shoulder, but forced myself into the hall.

  There wasn’t time to wake him up and explain. There wasn’t time to convince him he had to let me go this once.

  I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. Everything in my body told me to go back inside and crawl in bed with AJ. To wrap myself around him and wake up next to him like any normal woman would have after toe-curling, orgasmic make-up sex. I should have. But that wasn’t me. It wasn’t the Sydney Miller that had grown and changed over the past five years. I couldn’t let this go. I couldn’t ignore the texts. And I sure as hell didn’t want to talk to the FBI.