by S. E. Smith
She shut the door behind them and looked up at Ashure. She hoped he remembered his promise that he would stay with her tonight. She parted her lips in anticipation when he gently removed his coat from around her shoulders.
“You remembered,” she murmured, caressing his face.
“I will never lie to you, Tonya, and I will never forget a promise,” Ashure swore.
“Thank you,” she whispered before she stood on her toes and kissed him.
Emotion threatened to overwhelm her when he kissed her with a tender passion that left her weak in the knees. She threaded her fingers through his thick, wavy hair. Their tongues tangled, and their breath mingled.
“My room,” she murmured against his lips.
He pulled back and looked down at her. His eyes blazed with desire. She swallowed when he stepped back and held her hand. They walked up the stairs and down the hallway to her room. She looked at him in surprise when he stopped at the doorway and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He gave her a rueful grin. “I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am that you have a large bed. The one in MJ’s room leaves much to be desired,” he confessed, kicking off his shoes.
“You have something against bunk beds?” she teased.
“Only when I wish to sleep. Even the bunks aboard the pirate ships are superior to that contraption. Especially since MJ insisted that the top bunk was mine,” he said with a shudder.
“Well, perhaps I can make up for that,” she said with a suggestive smile.
They kicked off their shoes as they entered the bedroom. Tonya moved close to him and began to undo the buttons on his shirt. His swiftly inhaled breath told her that she was doing a good job of giving him something to look forward to.
She kept her eyes on her fingers. Once she finished unbuttoning his shirt, she slid her hands underneath and touched his heated flesh. She caressed his hard abdomen. With the pads of her thumbs, she traced the line of hair that narrowed at his belly button. She sighed as she moved her hands up his torso and slipped her fingers through the curly hair on his chest.
“I love touching you,” she murmured, leaning forward and kissing his chest through the gap in his shirt.
He moaned, reached out, and gripped her hips as she pushed his shirt off. A shaft of desire hit her hard when the evidence of his excitement pressed against her stomach. She smiled up at him as she slid her hands down to his waist.
“Once we do this, I will always belong to you, Tonya. Will you take care of my heart?” he inquired in a voice filled with desire.
She rose up on her toes, slipping her fingers between his skin and his trousers to hold herself steady. She looked into his eyes as she leaned into him. She had never been more sure about anything than she was at this moment. She wanted to be with him—forever.
“Yes—and the feeling better be mutual, because I’m trusting you with mine,” she whispered against his lips.
He breathed a shaky sigh. “Oh, it is definitely mutual.”
Ashure resisted the urge just to rip off Tonya’s blouse. Not that it would have mattered since the soft material was already ruined anyway. While he knew she wasn’t in any pain, thanks to the spell he had cast to stop it, he knew her arm would be tender from where she had been shot.
He slipped his hand between them as he kissed her. He tried to work loose the buttons on her blouse, but it was an almost impossible task considering he was more focused on kissing her. She kept her lips pressed against his while she pulled far enough away from him so that he could finish the task.
Once it was completed, he gently pushed the material off her shoulders. Their tongues danced as he dropped her blouse to the floor. He placed a trail of kisses from her lips along her jaw to her throat.
“I have dreamed of this moment for so long,” he groaned.
She fumbled with the button and zipper on his jeans. Once they were free, she grabbed each side and pulled down his jeans. She gasped in delight when she saw that he was not wearing any underclothes.
Ashure hissed, and his cock bobbed up and down when Tonya’s hand brushed his ankle. He lifted his foot one at a time as she pulled his pants and socks off. There was something extremely sexy about a woman who was in control, knew what she wanted, and wasn’t afraid—
“Great Goddess!” he hoarsely choked out.
He clenched his hands and watched her through half-closed eyes as she wrapped a firm hand around his cock and literally sucked his length between her sweet lips. Fire raced through his blood and pooled in his cock and balls. He was wound up tighter than a clock spring.
“And—this—is—what—I’ve—been—dreaming—of—doing,” she replied, speaking each word when she reached the tip of his cock.
“Keep dreaming. Sweet Goddess, please keep dreaming,” he implored in a strained voice.
He rocked his hips back and forth with the movement of her lips. He didn’t bother to smother his loud moans of pleasure. Although he wouldn’t wish anything bad to happen to Tonya’s family, he was glad they had the house to themselves for their first time because it would be next to impossible to be quiet tonight!
With a hiss, he tensed when she reached between his legs and squeezed his firm butt cheek while she stroked his shaft with her other hand. Sweat beaded on his brow. If he didn’t do something soon, he would have an orgasm far too quickly, and their first time would end before it began.
That would not give the best impression of me as an accomplished lover, he wryly thought.
All thoughts disappeared when she began licking the rim of his bulbous head. He trembled from the intense pleasure.
“Have mercy on me, Tonya. I have yet to finish undressing you and you already have me at the point of no return,” he confessed, his voice thick with passion.
Tonya’s warm breath caressed him when she chuckled. He breathed a small sigh of relief when she released him, though her lips brushing the inside of his bare thigh was only a small reprieve. He held his hand out and helped her stand.
“Now, it is my turn,” he declared.
“Let’s take this to the bed,” she invited.
His eyes darkened with desire as he followed her to the queen-size bed. He kept a grip on her hips to keep her from turning around to face him. Torture was a two-way street. He would bring her to the precipice just as she did to him. He knew that when they finally came together, it would not take long.
It may be difficult to last every time we make love, he grudgingly admitted to himself when she looked over her shoulder and shot him a sexy, knowing smile.
Goddess, please give me self-control so that I will not make a fool of myself, he thought with wry humor as he reached up and freed her breasts from the cloth binding them.
Ashure tossed the lacy apparel on the floor, grateful that it did not take as long as a corset normally did. He truly would have disgraced himself if he had to undo a dozen or more hooks. With a moan, Tonya bent forward and placed her hands on the bed when he slid his hands up and cupped her breasts. The movement caused him to press his cock against her backside and brush against the soft material of her jeans.
He pinched her taut nipples as he caressed her soft skin with his palms. His hands moved down to her waist where he unfastened her jeans and quickly dispensed with them along with her lacy panties.
He caressed her legs as he removed her socks. Moving slowly upward, he memorized every inch of her. She parted her legs, giving him access to the soft, dark brown curls that covered her sweet mound. He rose to his feet and pulled her against him so that she could feel his arousal nestled between her legs. He cupped her small but firm breasts and caressed them.
“I want you, Ashure,” she groaned, rubbing her buttocks against him.
“And you shall have me, Tonya. Every delicious inch of me over and over again,” he vowed.
She twisted around and wrapped her arms around his neck. They tumbled onto the bed, rolling until she was on top o
f him. Her eyes glittered with a wicked light of determination. She gripped his cock and slowly lowered herself until her folds were touching his throbbing shaft. Her gaze dared him to deny her this moment of pleasure.
“We can tease later. Right now, I want hard, fast, and dirty,” she instructed.
The smile on his lips grew with each of her hotly stated demands. This was his kind of woman! He spread his legs, forcing her to open wider.
“Take me any way you wish, my Lady. I am definitely at your pleasure,” he replied.
She slid down on his shaft, impaling herself to a chorus of loud moans, accompanied by the squeaking of the mattress springs. He reached up, cupped her breasts, and pinched her nipples hard as desire swept through him. His hips lifted off the bed as she rode him, driving his cock as deep as it could go inside her. Their breathing increased, and the heat continued to rise from the friction of their joining.
The tingling started in Ashure’s lower extremities and moved upward until he thought his balls would burst from the pressure. When he parted his lips, Tonya bent forward and captured them. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled, trapping her beneath him. She deepened their kiss as he moved his hips in fast, hard, possessive strokes. She lifted her legs, giving him deeper access until he swore the tip of his cock was stroking her womb.
She moaned and tightened her legs around his waist as she came. Her orgasm washed along his cock, drenching his shaft with her sweet crème, and her feminine depths squeezed him tightly. He drove deeply into her and released the tenuous hold he had on his self-control.
He broke their kiss and tilted his head back as a cry of pleasure was ripped from his throat. The muscles throughout his body tensed as he poured out his hot seed. His teeth ground together at a pleasure so intense that it bordered on pain. He closed his eyes as his cock throbbed inside her and her channel rippled around him.
It was nearly a minute later before he shuddered as the last of the pleasure gripping him released its hold on his body and mind. He opened his eyes and stared down at Tonya with a look that held a measure of vulnerability and possessiveness. Her expression was soft with understanding as she touched his chest.
“I felt it, too—the connection,” she whispered.
His throat tightened, and he lowered himself down on top of her, careful not to put too much weight on her or jostle her arm. He slid his arms under her and tenderly held her against him. Burying his face in the curve of her neck, he pressed a hot, emotional kiss against her heated skin.
“I love you, Tonya,” he murmured.
She caressed the back of his head and kissed his temple. He tightened his hold on her as he thought about how close he had come to losing her tonight. If the bullet had been a few more inches to the left, tonight would have been so much different.
Once I find the lost soul, nothing will stand in our way, he vowed.
22
“For the last time, I’ll be alright! Hell, even MJ and Angie are being uncharacteristically agreeable, which is downright scary,” Max growled several days later.
Ashure tried not to grin. He understood why Tonya wanted to return to Yachats this evening—for the same reason he did. It was driving them both crazy that he had to wait for MJ to fall asleep before he could slip out of the bedroom and into Tonya’s. He repeated the exercise in the wee hours of the morning before anyone woke.
At first, he hadn’t understood why Tonya was so adamant about it. After all, they were both adults. She had stumbled and stuttered, trying to explain before she bowed her head and groaned in frustration and finally confessed that she had promised Max and Angela that she would never sneak a guy into her room because it would set a bad example for MJ and Angie.
Of course, he still did not understand. He had never experienced any such restrictions. If he wanted a woman, and she wanted him, it was no one else’s business. Tonya had pointed at the ceiling and muttered that this was Max and Angela’s house, and so she lived by their rules.
“But—rules are made to be broken,” he had protested.
She shook her head. “Not this one,” she contradicted.
“Why?” he stubbornly persisted.
It was her response that had shaken him. “What if it was our daughter, under our roof, with a man that said he might take her away from you forever? How would you react?” she asked.
“I would kill him,” he had retorted.
“Exactly,” she hissed.
He probably should have thought his response through a bit more. Still, humans were a funny species. Tonya was passionate—just the memory of her response made him shift in discomfort—and yet she couldn’t act on those passions here, at least not without restrictions.
“What do you think, Ashure?” Angela asked.
He blinked. “Could you repeat your question? I’m afraid I drifted away from the conversation for a moment,” he admitted.
Angela raised a knowing eyebrow. “I suggested that Max and I come and visit you this weekend with the kids. It would get Max out of the house and be a nice mini-vacation since the kids have a three-day weekend,” she suggested.
“I think that is a marvelous idea,” he said.
“Really? Because I was telling them that maybe it would be best for them to postpone their visit until after everything is back to normal,” Tonya said, glaring at him.
“Why? Will I have to sneak back into my own room if they visit us like I have been doing here?” he asked in a perplexed tone.
Max spewed coffee across the breakfast bar while Angela burst out laughing. Tonya lowered her head to the bar and groaned. Ashure watched Angela gingerly pat Max’s back while he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and tried to hold his injured shoulder as he coughed. Ashure grimaced when he replayed his response before shrugging. There was no undoing what was done.
“Tonya—” Max growled in a hoarse breath.
Angela leaned over and kissed Max’s cheek. “Come on, love. Why don’t we give these two lovebirds a few minutes alone?” she suggested.
“A few minutes alone? If you ask me I’d say they’ve been alone far too much already,” Max protested.
Angela winked at Ashure as she gently coaxed Max out of his chair. Tonya lifted her head far enough to watch her adoptive parents shuffle out of the kitchen before she turned her glare on him. The pirate gave her a weak smile.
“I guess we don’t have to worry about them finding out now. They handled our being together much better than you expected,” he said with an optimistic expression.
The bar stool screeched against the tile floor as she pushed it back and rose to her feet. She looked at him, shook her head, and sighed.. He walked over to her, and she turned into him and rested her forehead against his chest while he rubbed her back.
“I guess we should hit the road before it gets any later,” she finally said.
“Hit it? Why? Aren’t we were taking your vehicle?” he responded.
A soft chuckle shook her shoulders, and she looked up at him. He caught his breath at the love he saw reflected in her eyes. He wasn’t sure if Tonya even realized how she was looking at him, but he did. He had seen it in Drago and Carly’s eyes, Orion and Jenny’s, and the others. She loved him, shadows and all.
“Yes, we are taking my car,” she clarified.
“Can I drive?” he asked with a hopeful grin.
“Absolutely not,” she replied, patting his chest before stepping around him and walking out of the kitchen.
“Well, I still have a few more minutes to convince her while we say goodbye,” he murmured as he rubbed his hands together and grinned at the challenge of convincing her otherwise.
“I don’t like this,” TJ muttered.
“What’s not to like?” Austin said, lifting his beer bottle to his mouth and draining the remains.
“Don’t fuck with me! You know exactly what the hell I’m talking about. Do you really think almost killing a cop is okay? If they find out what we did, they are going to bury us under the
jail. I have no desire to get caught,” he snapped.
“You worry too much, man. You need to chill out a little,” Austin mocked.
“I didn’t sign up for this shit. Killing Ashure Waves is one thing, but killing a cop is another,” he muttered.
Austin leaned his arms on the table and looked him in the eye. “The cop didn’t die. Neither did the girl. This Ashure guy cares about this girl; that means we care about her. We find her, we find him. We kill her—” he said, drawing out the last word.
“We can kill him,” TJ finished.
“And you will have a life that you’ve only dreamed of having, my friend,” Austin promised.
“You’re sure this will work?” he asked.
“Of course,” Austin said confidently.
Hannibal remained still as the two men in the booth behind him rose to their feet and left. He looked over his shoulder as they walked out of the pub on the outskirts of Portland. He had been following TJ and Austin per Ashure’s orders.
He had seen them shoot the cop—or at least he heard what sounded like gunfire from the corner where he had been parked. Within minutes, it seemed like more than half of the Portland Police department was on the street. Now he knew exactly why.
Hannibal placed his untasted beer bottle on the table and rose from his seat. He didn’t know why a punk kid from Yachats and a disgraced drummer wanted an alien from another world dead.
“This whole world is turning fucking crazy,” he muttered.
He pushed open the door and pulled up the collar of his jacket. It was raining again and a cold fog was rolling in. He muttered another curse and headed across the parking lot.
There was no way to contact Ashure and warn him. I can’t believe an alien wouldn’t know he needed a cell phone when he got here, he silently scoffed as he pulled his truck keys out of his front pocket.