Night Break

by Carey Decevito

  Morgan began giggling into her husband’s shoulder.

  Theo spun around grinning from ear to ear. “Well, if it isn’t our little Hussy!”

  I could feel the blush spreading over my face. “You can stop calling me that now that you know my name, Theo.”

  “You’ll always be Hussy or Huss to us, Devolin,” he told me.

  Feeling shy, despite all we’d been through together, I nodded, while staring at my feet. “I’m glad you’re back safe,” I whispered.

  The operation was now deemed a closed case, but I hadn’t heard from Dalton in nearly twenty-four hours now, and that had me worried.

  Oh, I knew that he was on his way to drop Nadia off into Canadian officials’ custody, but I’d expected at least one call from the man, or even a few words in a text.

  “I-I guess I should get going. Morgan, give me a call if you need me.” Meeting Theo’s gaze, I forced a smile, then turned to leave.

  “Hey, Dev?” I turned to acknowledge Theo. “He’s okay.”

  Relief was potent, but seeing as I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, I figured a look of indifference would be more appropriate. Something about the way Theo sized me up though, told me he wasn’t fooled one bit.

  Shaking it off, I waved to both Morgan and her man, jumped in my car, finding Rex already buckled in the passenger seat, then drove off.

  “He called,” Rex said in that gruff voice of his.

  “Hmm?” I mumble absently. I was busy piling slices of meat and cheese, along with whatever else my fridge had to offer, onto the sandwiches I was making for lunch.

  “Dalton called,” he said again.

  “What are you talking about?” I turned to pick up my phone, intent on showing him that the man in question hadn’t when I stopped dead, to see the ten unanswered calls.

  All from Dalton.

  “You left your phone in the car’s console,” he reminded me.

  I had.

  But it still didn’t explain why I hadn’t heard from him until just this morning.

  Call me crazy. Maybe it was that I’d finally gotten myself some for the first time in my life, and when I did, the man left for another country, where I had to sit back and curb the urge to upchuck whenever he was in a dangerous situation. Okay, so it’s his job, I knew that. Maybe it was that we had yet to discuss where we stood with one another, despite the man’s two proclamations of love. Hell, maybe it was that I was one of those needy bitches I swore I’d never be. When it came down to Dalton, I’ve never been able to think or act rationally.

  Or maybe it’s because you know something is up around here, and somehow you think that Dalton knows all about it, and he hasn’t said anything, as of yet?

  I’d caught the long studying looks Rex had been giving me over the last week. I’d even caught the tail end of a conversation between the man and Dalton once, too. The way Rex had rushed out of my apartment to get rid of the trash the other day. The way he obsessively stared at my hand last night when Brycen had handed me that letter, as if he didn’t want me to read it because he knew who it was from.

  Choosing to go for nonchalant, I put my phone back onto the counter and said, “He did,” before turning to our food once more.

  It was early Sunday night, and I was tired of the day, wanting to see the end of it. So, I bedded down early.

  After lunch, I had tortured myself by listening to Dalton’s three voicemails then promptly erased them, sending him a text that all was okay. Then I’d powered my cell off and unhooked my landline for the remainder of the day.

  I even stayed away from Rex, giving him free range to my apartment, while I perused my book collection and settled for a sweet romance, something I didn’t normally read. I preferred the hot and dirty. The alpha male that knew what he wanted and brought it out in his woman. Being in a morose mood, one where I didn’t see any hearts and flowers coming my way anytime soon, I figured I’d get it from a book.

  The only time I left the comfort of my room was to hit the kitchen to grab myself a soda, a large glass of milk, a bag of potato chips, and Oreos.

  Somehow, between the massive family-sized bag of chips, the half-empty package of Oreo cookies, and a Bridget Jones marathon, I managed to fall asleep.

  Something was tickling the side of my face.

  Swiping at nothing, I settled down only for the same sensation to happen again, this time, a distinct fragrance hitting my nose.

  Stargazer lilies.

  Around the same time the smell hit me, so did the solid heat pressed against my back.

  My body stiffened.

  “I know you’re awake, Devolin,” Dalton cajoled.

  “No,” I groaned petulantly, “I’m having an amazing dream where you’re being sweet and not an ass at all. Let me sleep.”

  The bed began to shake with Dalton’s silent laughter. “I said I could be sweet, didn’t I?” He tickled my shoulder with the bloom, running it down my arm, where goosebumps followed its trajectory.

  Then his lips brushed my temple, trailing down to my cheek, my shoulder, up into the side of my neck, where he buried his nose. Inhaling deep, he then chucked the lily he was wielding onto the bed beside us, before wrapping his arms tightly around me.

  “Jesus fucking Christ I’ve missed you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t call until this morning. I know you’re pissed.”

  “No, I’m not,” I argued even though I had been; now, not so much. Not with him finally being here, with his arms surrounding me, his heat warming me from the inside out. Not with him being sweet like he was, when I knew he probably was exhausted from the last week. If my alarm clock was anything to go by, he’d come to me the moment he’d landed. Hesitating, I confessed. “Well, I was. But I’m not now.”

  The mattress shook again as he pressed his lips against my neck again. “Okay, sweetheart.” After a lengthy pause where neither of us said anything, he sighed, “I’m staying.”

  “I kind of figured as much,” I said, smiling into my pillow. “Now sleep, Kip.”

  “Mmm.” He squeezed me against him then mumbled, “Love you.”

  Chapter 38

  Dalton

  I could have sworn I heard her whisper, “Love you too, Kip,” but I was too far gone to know what was real and might have been a dream. Instead, a smile spread on my face as my body melted toward hers, the darkness of the early morning hours taking me within its grasp.

  I woke up on a groan the following morning, Devolin’s ass fidgeting against my hard cock.

  “Stop,” I whispered.

  “I would if you’d let me go, you oaf!” she snapped in a low tone. “I need the bathroom.”

  My arms released her immediately as I mumbled, “Sorry, babe,” then rolled over to my back, watching her as she left the bed with her barely covered ass and that see-through tank, before covering my eyes with a forearm. I didn’t move from this position, even when I felt the mattress dip with Devolin’s return a few minutes later.

  She burrowed into my side, playing an indiscernible pattern over my chest with her fingertips as I savored the calmness of the morning.

  “Did you send Rex home?” she murmured against my pec.

  “Yeah.”

  “So…”

  That suggestive tone of hers had me rolling her onto her back, pushing her hands up by the headboard, and fitting my torso between her thighs.

  “I can’t believe I left this for an entire week after finding it,” I whispered against her jaw, giving her left hand a squeeze before releasing it, then trailing my right hand down her arm, to her side, where her shirt lifted to bare heated flesh.

  “What would you have done had you stayed?” She nuzzled at my nose.

  “I would have drowned myself in you,” I told her, pulling back to gauge her reaction. “I wouldn’t have let us come up for air. I would have fucked you on my desk. I would have taken you on yours. Up against the wall.” That netted me with a
whimper. “Whenever. Wherever. If the mood struck me, I’d take you. And you’d give in to me.” I nipped at her lips. “Because you’d want it just as much.”

  Her vehement nod was joined with a purred, “Yes.”

  Her response had me smirking as I released her other hand, then proceeded to push her tank top up and over her head, leaving it in a tightened tangled mess at her wrists.

  My palms skimmed the smooth skin of her chest, downward until I reached those tiny short shorts. Devolin’s eyes flared with an even more intense heat as she lifted her hips, granting me with an easier chore of removing them.

  “Fuck,” I muttered. She’d gone commando. “I thought this skimpy little bedtime outfit was enough to make me sweat.” I lowered myself until my face hovered above her sex. “Knowing you were wearing nothing but this, while Rex was here and I wasn’t, makes me see red.”

  “He didn’t see me—”

  I reached up, pinching a pert nipple, making her squirm. “It also makes me hungry,” I growled against her pubic bone, inhaling her scent.

  Her breath quickened. “Please.”

  “You mean this?” I teased her opening with the back of my index finger.

  She shook her head from side to side. “Your mouth,” she pleaded. “I want your—”

  Lowering my mouth to her pussy, I gave her one long lick from bottom to top before diving right in.

  Devolin’s entire body went taut, her back bowing, mouth open in a soundless scream. Her orgasm had me damn well near coming in my underwear.

  I fused my mouth to hers, dizzy from watching what I did to her, and mindless with the need to be inside her.

  Rolling us over, so her body lay over mine, I gave Devolin the opportunity to pull away. Instead, she managed to disentangle her wrists from her tank top, chucking it to the floor, then proceeded to use her hands along with her mouth to explore.

  Her delicate tongue circled one of my nipples, sending an electric jolt of lust straight down to my groin. To stay grounded, and not take matters into my own hands, I busied them by sifting them into her hair. When she shimmied down my body, I fisted the sheets.

  I lost purchase on my sanity when her mouth covered the middle of my shaft and blew warm air through my underwear before pulling them down to my thighs.

  Knifing up to a sitting position, I grabbed onto Devolin’s hips and pulled her against my front. Settling onto my lap, I could feel her slickness coating my cock which was nestled against her folds.

  Her breath fanned against my face in short pants. Our eyes connected, hers filled with urgency.

  “Lift up, sweetheart,” I whispered.

  Her thighs flexed as she did, and I guided myself to her entrance as she held on to my shoulders. Without prompting, she let herself slide down onto my length, sheathing me from root to tip on a keening moan. Her chest pressed against mine. Her neck on display. I couldn’t help myself. I bit down on the tendon gently, adding a little suction. Her muscles twitched around my length. Once she started to move, I knew I was absolutely lost.

  I held on for the ride.

  Bodies slicked with sweat, chests sliding against one another, eyes fused. We were as close as two people could get, and I still didn’t feel like it was enough.

  Until her pussy began pulsating around me, clutching, sucking at my length, greedy as it pulled me further into her depths. The way Devolin let go with abandon at that peak moment of her climax had mine railroading me.

  Flipping us, so she was under me, I slammed myself into her twice before I roared my own release, realizing—albeit a little too late—that I’d fucked up.

  Chapter 39

  Devolin

  I knew what Dalton was getting at around the same time he uttered, “Fuck me!” into the curve of my neck, his fist clenching the pillow beside my head.

  We hadn’t reached for a condom.

  Feathering my fingers through his hair, I kissed his temple. “It’s okay.” It sounded hesitant, but I hoped that it was reassuring enough. “I uh…I—”

  “You’re on something?” Dalton said, lifting his head expectantly.

  I shook my head in response, biting my bottom lip. “Not exactly.”

  His brows furrowed in confusion. “Then what, exactly?”

  “I can’t get pregnant,” I confessed, turning away from his gaze.

  I hadn’t planned on telling him like this. I didn’t want to tell anyone about the fact that getting pregnant would be like winning the lottery for me. That it was damn well near impossible.

  I could feel Dalton’s gaze boring into the side of my face. Being the man that I knew he was, he was assessing how to approach the conversation at hand. His doing so had tears filling my eyes. Tears for me. Tears for any relationships I would end up having, because surely Dalton wouldn’t want to stay, and every other man after him would pale in comparison and leave me alone with my inadequacy. The tears were also for Dalton. If he so chose to stay with me, he’d be denied a proper legacy.

  That’s if he even wants kids, Dev.

  Regardless, I was defective.

  Less of a woman.

  What man would want that?

  Stuck in my own head, the touch of Dalton’s hand on the side of my face, tilting it to force our eyes to connect, had me back in the here and now.

  “Sweetheart?” His eyes were filled with sadness, but not the pity I expected to see.

  “I can’t have kids,” I repeated, my voice hoarse. “After two bouts of leukemia and the chemo, they said that there might be a possibility that everything would be okay,” I explained. “But when my period became more and more irregular…They’d warned my mother and I that if that happened, that the likelihood of getting pregnant would be slim to none. Then there’s the anemia and the lupus. Did you know that you can get that from too much chemo?”

  Dalton simply shook his head, no.

  I didn’t realize that I was full out crying until his hands were cupping my face, thumbs brushing at the tears.

  “I want kids,” he whispered against my lips, his eyes never wavering from mine. “But I want you more.”

  “But—”

  His fingers covered my lips. “Sweetheart, I want you more,” he reiterated. “I’ll always want you. Your being able to give us babies isn’t a deal breaker for us, Devolin.”

  “Don’t you want a kid with your blue eyes? That dark hair? A boy you could teach…I don’t know…how to skip rocks on a pond, how to fish, hunt, how to be a good man like you?”

  Dalton’s soft smile made me feel a little smidgen of hope. “All of that can be taught to any kid, baby.” He smiled. “As for the dark hair and the blue eyes? If I were to picture a kid, a biological one, I’d picture a little girl with your auburn hair, in pigtails and black ribbons because pink isn’t her thing.” This made my lips hitch up slightly at the edges. “Our little girl would be as hilarious as her mother, and tough as nails like her old man.”

  “Kip,” I whispered.

  “No.” He was adamant. “This is heavy shit we’re talking about first thing in the morning, but we’re done with this subject for the time being.” He kissed my forehead. “Right now, I want you out of your head.” He trailed his lips gingerly down to my cheek. I could feel him rising to attention inside me. “I want to make love to you,” he whispered over my lips. “I want to tell my woman I love her and watch her face change like it is right now.”

  I melted into the mattress at his words. My eyes filled with tears once more. Ones of joy this time. I’d heard him say those words before, but this time…this time, I knew he meant them with all his worth. I could see his emotions swirling in his dark baby blues, the conviction in his face. I heard the sincerity in his voice. He hadn’t thrown those words at me before, and he certainly wasn’t now.

  “How…” I struggled with getting the words out. “I…” I tried again. Sucking in a deep breath, I gave it all I had. “I love you too, Kip.” My voice came
out shaky, but it held the depth of my feelings for him. “I’m terrified that this is all happening so fast, but I can’t help the way I feel.”

  “Say it again,” he pleaded, voice gone gruff.

  Grabbing on to the sides of his face, I anchored my eyes to his. “I love you.” His dick flexed inside me, making me grin.

  “I fucking love that you gave me those words while I was buried deep inside you.” This caused me to giggle. Humor shone in his eyes, even as his expression softened. “Sweetheart, I don’t give a shit if anyone thinks it’s fast. For all intents and purposes, and from where I’m standing, what’s going on between us has been a year in the making. It felt right a year ago, and that feeling’s only gotten stronger since you fell into my life again.”

  I agreed with him. There’d been something that set Dalton apart from the rest of the team that night when we worked together to find Morgan. The pull I felt toward him never faded. If anything, it had intensified. Giving into him, into this version of us, had been the only option. As it turns out, the smartest decision I’d ever made for myself, too.

  Chapter 40

  Dalton

  The idea of spending an entire day in bed with Devolin had proven to be too good to be true. At least we’d made it through lunch before reality came knocking.

  From the kitchen fridge, I heard Devolin’s panicked “Mom, what’s wrong?”

  Bottles of water forgotten, I slammed the door shut and rushed into the room, only to find Joleen’s eyes red-rimmed and her face pale.

  Devolin led her to one of the chairs, easing her down in it.

  “I was on my way over when I got a call from your uncle’s lawyer,” she announced. Joleen’s eyes found me and rounded with surprise. “Dalton?”

  “Hey, Jo.” I gave her a small smile in greeting and made to leave, sensing that perhaps Devolin’s mother would be more comfortable without my being there. It didn’t take a genius to know that whatever was plaguing the older woman would weigh heavy on both women before this visit was up.