by Lora Leigh
A shift of his hips and, before Anna could stop him, he had her thighs spread, her knees gripping his hips. The full length of his cock notched between her thighs, pressing hard and hot into the mound of her pussy through the cotton panties she wore.
The full skirt she wore fell back, pooling between their bodies as he held her with one hand and dragged the hem of her sleeveless blouse from the band of her skirt.
Before Anna could do more than attempt to lower her arms, Archer gripped them in one hand, dragged the shirt up and over her breasts, her head, jerking it over her arms.
A second later her wrists were free and the shirt was gone, leaving her breasts covered by nothing more than her flesh-colored bra.
That did nothing to hide the hardness of her nipples though. They pressed against the lace of her bra as the swollen flesh of her breasts rose over the half cups.
“Why are you doing this?” Anna slapped at his hands as he released the catch between her breasts and quickly got rid of the bra.
“You’re not leaving me,” he growled, his hands cupping her breasts, his fingers finding the hard tips of her nipples and applying just enough pressure that she stopped fighting and stilled with a sharp moan of surprised pleasure.
“And you can’t make me stay,” she cried out. “I won’t stay, Archer, and you can’t keep me in a damned bed twenty-four hours a day.”
“The hell I can’t.”
His lips covered her, his tongue pressing against the lush curves of hers, pressing, easing past them until he owned the kiss he had taken. With his lips and tongue, the heat of the hunger that swirled between them, he stole her objection and her will to object.
She could have him, this one last time.
Her arms went around his neck, fingers spearing into his hair.
She could love him this one last time.
A moan pushed past their kiss as his hands stroked and massaged her breasts, his thumb and forefingers pressing and rolling the tender tips of her nipples until flames were shooting in a path straight to the swollen, heated bud of her clitoris.
As his lips left hers to blaze a path of pleasure down her neck to the sensitive curves of her breasts, heat trailed in their wake.
Her nipples throbbed. His lips moved closer, the threat of their firm pressure, the fiery dampness of his mouth and the wicked strokes of his tongue had them pulsing, throbbing in anticipation.
When it came, a whimpering cry filled the air.
Anna tightened her fingers in his hair, her head falling back against the wall as his lips began to draw at the tight, oversensitive peak he held captive.
Teeth rasping, his tongue flickered against her nipple as his cheeks hollowed, sucking with firm, even draws of his mouth as his eyes glittered between the thick cover of lashes.
How wicked he looked. How completely sexual and dominant.
One hand slid to her thigh, lifting her skirt further, and she knew what was coming.
Anticipation slid over her flesh in the wake of his touch, her pussy throbbing, clenching in need as she felt his fingers tighten at the side of her panties.
At this rate, she was going to have to buy new panties.
Before she could process the move, he released her breast from the heat of his mouth and turned. With a gasp, Anna found herself sprawled on her back, his hands gripping her panties and pulling them down her legs. The skirt came next, the elastic waistband making it even easier to dispose of.
Before he returned to her, his pants were shed, the heavy length of his cock spearing out from his body, flushed and dark with lust, the tip beading with pre-come as he came over her.
Quickly, the condom he pulled from the bedside table was torn open and rolled over his cock before he flipped her over on the bed and once again came between her thighs.
“What are you doing?” she gasped, trying to pull herself from the bed but only making it as far as rising to her knees.
“Perfect.” Hard hands gripped her hips as the head of his erection pressed into the slick curves of her cunt.
Her juices pulsed from her body, spilling their slick heat against the tip of his cock as he began pressing inside.
Anna moaned.
Pleasure began whipping through her body at the first press of his cock against the entrance, stretching the tight opening and pressing slowly inside.
The pinching pleasure-pain of the first few inches of his cock working inside her had the blood searing her veins, pounding harsh and overly fast through her body.
A deep, desperate moan welled in her throat, the need to bed him was nearly overwhelming.
As the width of his cock pressed deeper, her hips jerked against him, lightning strokes of pure sensation whipping through her body as her pussy began contracting around his erection.
Breathing in hard, the hunger burning higher by the second, whimpering moans coming from her throat. The fingers of one hand clenched in the blankets beneath her as she reached back with the other and gripped his hard thigh desperately.
Lust wracked her body. Ravenous, burning, it stormed through her senses and shredded her control.
“Anna.” Dark, deepening with need, his voice only stoked the flames higher. “Ah, baby. I love your pussy wrapping around my cock like that. Clenching and hot, sucking me in like your sweet, hot little mouth.”
Anna tossed her head, pressing her hips back, taking no more than an additional inch before the hard hands at her hips stilled the backward thrusts.
“Not yet,” he growled. “I want to feel it slow and easy. Feel every little sucking motion of your pussy as it draws me inside.”
Hunger pounded through her with thundering force. It rocked her body, burned her with the need for more.
Anna could feel her body trembling, fought to control it and lost the battle.
Pulling back from the advance inside her hungry pussy, he paused, only the head of his cock parting her entrance. The fierce throb echoed through her flesh, pounded at her clit, and clenched her inner muscles tight.
Then he moved, plunging forcefully into the tight channel as Anna screamed her pleasure. Bucking against the impalement, desperate for more as he lodged to the hilt inside her, she could only wait, quivering in his arms.
She felt poised on an edge of insanity. The need for him twisted inside her, spiraling through her body with a force that left her begging for more.
Moving behind her once again, Archer began working the broad length of his cock inside her, pushing into the clenched depths of her cunt as the slickness of her juices spilled along his rigid flesh.
He was moving too slowly. She needed—she ached for the heavy hard strokes filling her, shafting inside her with destructive pleasure.
Hard fingers tightened on her hips as he began moving, slowly at first, working his cock inside her with steadily increasing thrusts that rasped and raked along delicate, naked nerve endings. Tunneling inside her over and over again, stretching the intimate depths with each tight clenching of her vagina until pleasure and pain began to merge and become a sensation so heated and powerful Anna was pleading for release.
She could feel it building, burning in the swollen bud of her clit, clenching around the burrowing length of his cock and triggering tiny, fiery explosive sensations that became stronger, deeper—
“Oh God, Archer—” Shock, deepening rapture, and a sudden flaming expansion of the sensations rocking her began to surge across her nerve endings.
Archer came over her. One arm slid around beneath her, his hand tucking between her thighs as his hips moved faster, harder.
Fucking inside her to the hilt before pulling back, then thrusting hard and deep again. Capturing her clit between two hard fingers and tightening them on the tender bud as he fucked her with deep, desperate lunges of his hips, was that one sensation too much.
Anna exploded.
Screaming out his name, her back arching, her head tipping back, she began to shake, to shudder from the deep, breathtaking surges of ecst
asy that attacked her.
Clamping down on his cock, her inner muscles began to clench and milk the shuttling flesh as her clit pulsed with fiery sensation and her body came apart in his arms.
His groan echoed in her ears, vibrating with the same desperate pleasure as she felt him thrust in hard, then again, before his body tightened, slamming against hers and trembling as she felt his cock expand and begin throbbing in release.
Deep, desperate surges of sensation rocked her body until Anna collapsed, feeling Archer follow her, his thighs holding hers braced apart, his fingers still snug around her clit.
Anna shuddered again, her fingers tightening, twisting in the blankets beneath her, little cries erupting from her lips as the powerful quaking sensations erupted again, leaving her shuddering against him until they eased.
Exhausted, sexually replete, Anna lay beneath his body, refusing to open her eyes, to accept that this changed anything.
Easing from her, the feel of his still semi-hard flesh pulling free of her body dragged a weary moan from her and an exhausted little shiver of delight. She loved his body more than he could know.
She loved him more than he could know.
“My sweet Anna.”
Archer’s hand curved over her cheek as her head lifted, bringing her lips to his. He kissed her, caressing her lips with his, sipping from them. The gentle caress pulled all the emotions she had fought to push back, suddenly surging forward until Anna caught her breath and felt her eyes filling with tears again.
“Stop.” Pulling from him, she shook her head, gaining only a few inches between them. “Please, Archer, I need to sit up.”
He let her go slowly, watching as the slender, delicate line of her back tensed with what he was certain would become a confrontation.
Hell, he didn’t have the will to deny her any longer, and Archer knew it.
The long, softened strands of her hair caressed her back, tempting his fingers. Archer stilled the need to touch her, rolling to his back instead and pulling the condom from his still-hard dick before rising to his feet and pacing to the bathroom.
Disposing of the latex, he washed, then returned to the bed, carrying a warm, wet cloth and towel.
Before she could do much to protest, he pushed her back on the bed, spread her legs, and began cleaning her gently. Glancing up at her, he saw the confusion in her face and the wariness in her eyes.
Drying the soft flesh, Archer tossed the washcloth and towel aside, then sat on the bed next to her as she eased up.
“Anna, let me say this first.” Laying his fingers against her lips for a second, he waited until she nodded. “When you came to stay here I really didn’t care how long you stayed. To be honest, I never considered the day when you would leave. Let alone the day when I would push you into staying.”
Tears glittered in her eyes. “I don’t need lies, Archer,” she said.
“Damn good,” he growled. “Because I’m not lying to you. So would you shut the fuck up for two minutes and let me finish this?”
Her lips pressed together tightly.
“If you leave me, Anna, if you walk out of that door, then, I’ll say you’re weak as hell.” Her head jerked back, her gaze widening with indignation.
Archer pressed his fingers to her lips again and kept them there.
“I’ll say it,” he repeated. “But I’ll know better. Just as I’ve always known you are one of the strongest women I know. But you’re also one of the gentlest, and one of the most loving. And if I have to watch you walk out my door, my heart’s going to break.”
He lowered his fingers, but she didn’t say anything. She just stared at him somberly; her green eyes, though, they were filling with hope.
Her eyes began to fill with tears again.
Anna tensed, her eyes widening, her breathing becoming ragged as Archer lifted her hand and placed it against his chest, leaning closer to her. “Feel my heart, baby? It’s racing. I’m terrified of what I feel for you. It fucking gives me nightmares, because all I can do is see my father’s face the day he realized he couldn’t save my mother. The second he accepted the fact that cancer couldn’t be fought with his strength, his diligence, or his training, and that he was losing her.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek as he turned her more fully to him. “Since the day you turned eighteen, every time I’ve seen you, I’ve ached for you. I dreamed of you. I fantasized about you. And each time I tried to reach out for you, that was what I saw. Because, Anna.” He cupped her face in his hand, staring into her eyes, begging her to believe him. “I love you. I’ve loved you since you were eighteen. I’ve hungered for you. I’ve lain in my bed and stared at the ceiling and swore I didn’t love you. That it wouldn’t kill me if you were suddenly gone. Until the night Amory took you and I had to face the fact that I could have already lost you.”
“No. Stop.” She shook her head, her voice ragged now and filled with disbelief.
“Don’t you dare call me a liar again.” Gripping her shoulders, he held her in place, refusing to allow her to jump from the bed and desert him. “Don’t you dare walk out on me, Anna. Because I swear, if you do, if you leave me and walk away from me, I couldn’t blame you, but God as my witness, I would grieve every fucking day of my life.”
She jumped from the bed, moving away from him to grab a long shirt from the nearby chair and slip it on. “You believe love is a fairy tale.”
Archer narrowed his eyes on the white fabric.
So that was where his favorite shirt had gotten off to.
Wrapping it around her, she held it closed in desperate hands and stared at him as though somehow, some way, some divine intervention would allow her to see inside his soul.
Archer reached down and pulled his pants on. This was evidently a discussion that required clothes.
“Are you going to deny it?” she demanded fiercely. “Pretend you didn’t say it?”
“Only if you’ll let me,” he retorted as he turned back to her, his hands going to his hips in irritation. “Hell yes, I’m going to deny it. It didn’t happen, Anna. That was a very, very bad dream you had, baby.” He gentled his voice and moved to her, gripping her shoulders and staring down at her in sympathy. “Come back to bed, and I’ll make all the bad dreams go away for you.”
She blinked up at him. “You so are not serious.” She couldn’t believe he would joke about something so serious.
The hell he wasn’t, Archer thought.
“It must have been something you ate,” he mused with all seriousness. “You know, I heard if you eat mustard before going to sleep, it will give you nightmares. What did you eat?”
Her eyes narrowed. “This is not a joke.”
“Hell no, it’s not,” he agreed as though it was the height of seriousness and wondered if she would actually let him get away with it. “I take your nightmares very seriously, Anna.”
Was that a twitch he saw at the corner of her lips? A hint of a need to smile?
“Don’t play games with me, Archer.” Desperate, uncertain hope began filling her eyes. “If you care anything at all about me, please don’t play games with me.”
Lowering his head, his gaze holding hers, he touched her lips with his. “I love you, Anna. You gave me a gift no one can ever take from me but you. A gift that will only be a part of me as long as you are with me. The truth, baby.”
Her lips parted as the question rose in her eyes.
“Shh,” he shushed her, kissed her lips with the utmost care before pulling back and explaining.
“You showed me that fairy tales do exist, and the illusion was my fear of having you taken from me. A fear so fucking deep and strong that I almost pushed you away so I wouldn’t ever have to face you walking away from me.”
Her gaze searched his for long, long moments.
“I can’t even swear you won’t ever have that nightmare again,” he sighed regretfully. “Because I’m just a real dumb man, darlin’. One that’s spent a lot of years loving
a woman so damned pretty, so damned smart, and sweet and gentle, that sometimes it just messes with his mind and makes him forget all those lessons she taught him over the years.”
“And what lessons were those?” she asked, her voice husky with those unshed tears.
“Acceptance. Gentleness, and most of all, Anna, love. You taught me to love. And if you love me at all, then you won’t leave me. You won’t be able to leave me. Because God knows, I can’t let you walk out that door.”
Her lips were trembling.
Tears spilled from her eyes now, but it wasn’t pain that filled the emerald orbs. For the first time in all the years he had known her, Archer watched her eyes fill with joy.
“You really love me?” Her voice quivered, a hint of a sob in her voice as she reached up, her fingers shaking as she touched his face.
“Anna, baby, I don’t just love you,” he swore. “I’d die for you. I’d kill for you. You own my heart, and you’re my soul. If I lose you, then I’ve lost everything important in my life.”
And only then, only in that second did Archer realize he’d shed his own tear or two.
All for Anna.
For the heart he was terrified he’d broken, for the gentle spirit and loving heart he hadn’t known he would die for, until he had almost destroyed it.
“Archer—”
He saw it then. Slowly at first, almost hesitant. So hesitant, that at first he was terrified it would happen.
Then it bloomed.
The sweetest smile on the face of the earth. That soft, gentle smile only his Anna had, because only his Anna could infuse it with all the love she felt for him.
“I love you,” she said, and with the smile came her tears.
Tears born of happiness, joy, and love rather than the dark fears and betrayals that had marked her life for so many years. A smile so bright, so filled with every part of Anna’s heart that Archer swore it made his knees weak.
“Oh God, Archer. I love you so much.”
She was in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck, her lips pressed to his, but before he could hold them, her lips were touching the dampness of the tears he’d shed, his eyes, then his lips once again.