Bound in Blue
Page 23
“Bundle up,” he instructed me. I was practically foaming at the mouth to get a glimpse of fresh air so I chose to obey him without a fight.
Fully dressed in a coat, hat and gloves I met him at the door. Even though it was early April, it would be chilly on the open road. I considered foregoing the gloves so that I could keep my hands tucked in his pockets, but I didn’t want to risk him reneging on the ride.
“You good, buttercup?” He asked as we mounted the bike. I nodded enthusiastically, loving the sound of his carefree laugh. It took a long time for him to relax after the attack, so I enjoyed when he let go.
The distinct rumble of Harley pipes brought a smile to my face. Mack revved the engine a few times, and I felt a tingle start between my legs. All that raw power I was straddling was really starting to turn me on. Then again, it wasn’t very hard to do considering how hard up I was right then.
Holding onto Mack tightly, I slipped my hands under his leather coat and squealed in delight when we shot away from the curb. The more miles that came between us and the city the more relaxed I became. My eyes closed as I breathed in the crisp spring air. This was exactly what I needed. To leave all the hideous memories and subsequent stress behind me.
For hours Mack drove without purpose—for me. When we were a few miles from the city limits, I decided it was time I set about seducing him. We had yet to consummate our relationship since we both admitted we loved each other. It was high time he saw to my needs and me to his.
My hand snaked down and cupped him through his jeans. I was immediately rewarded when I felt him harden as I rubbed his length. Unable to take his hands from the handlebars, I had free reign to torture him and get him worked into a frenzy. My fingers pulled down his zipper, carefully avoiding catching his skin. I removed my glove and my hand dove in for skin on skin contact. He was so hot and hard, that I didn’t need to worry about my fingers chilling in the wind.
I continued to work his length until we hit the outskirts of the city and traffic picked up. My efforts were still successful though, because when we came to a stop in front of my house, he had my head spinning with how quickly he got me in the house and up to my bedroom. I was truly surprised we even made it that far. He seemed so worked up that I was sure he’d take me on the floor of the foyer.
The whole way up the stairs and into my bedroom, he kissed me like he was starved for me. It was so consuming that it made my fantasies pale in comparison.
We stripped each other with precision in our haste to the bed. I fell backward onto the mattress with him coming down on top of me.
“What do you want?” He asked me with his hands working magic between my legs.
“More,” I demanded breathlessly.
He quickly obliged me by sliding down my body and adding his tongue into the mix. When his mouth sucked on my clit in short, hard pulses, I came undone—writhing underneath him and clenching the sheets in my fists as I cried out with release.
“Oh God,” I moaned as the aftereffects of a really great orgasm subsided.
“Not sure he had anything to do with that. It was all me, buttercup,” Shane joked as he crawled up my body.
“Can we play?” I asked him in between kisses.
He pulled back and studied my face. “What did you have in mind?”
I gave him a coy smile. My hand snaked down his body and gripped his hard cock, slowly running up and down its length. “I really liked the blindfold and ball gag. We could do that again.”
“No ball gag,” he said adamantly. “And no blindfold for that matter.”
“How come?” I asked taken aback by his choice. “I’m not some wilted flower, Mack. I’m fine.”
“Buttercup, for eight hours I longed to hear your voice and see your beautiful, brown eyes again. I’m never going to use something that will keep them from me again. No.”
What the hell could I say to that? It was obvious from his over protectiveness that Mack was still fighting the demons from when I was being held hostage.
“Okay, but can you at least tie me up?” I asked hopefully.
He gave me a sexy smirk and raised himself up over me. “I’ll be right back.”
He returned to bed with handcuffs, and I felt a spasm deep inside as he restrained my hands in front of me.
“This way you can still touch me when I want you to,” he said by way of explanation. “Hold onto the headboard and don’t let go until I say so.”
His body descended further down the bed and settled between my legs. Within minutes, his talented swirling tongue and his magical probing fingers had me crying out in another orgasm.
With two glorious orgasms under my belt, I felt the need to stretch sleepily like a cat in the sun. My body hadn’t felt so limp and relaxed in a long time.
“Too much,” I murmured when his tongue continued lapping at my wetness. He raised up over me, his fingers picking up the motions of his tongue, which was now plundering my mouth. I sucked on it, loving the way I tasted on him.
My mouth broke free of his and my body twisted to the side as he built my pleasure. “Too much,” I told him again. I felt like I was going to snap in two if I came again. I was so oversensitive and overstimulated. His hand plunged deeper, ignoring my pleas.
“You’re going to come again and again until I decide we are done. It’s going to be a long night, buttercup.” He nipped my earlobe sending me over the edge again. I screamed and thrashed with the intensity of it.
His wet digits stroked down my inner thighs, leaving a trail of goose bumps. His mouth descended and took a taut nipple in his mouth. His tongue flicked the tip relentlessly, sending shocks of electricity all through my body. I tried to close my legs and gain some friction now that a pulse was picking up tempo there, but his hands gripped my thigh, keeping me open and exposed.
“More,” I demanded when he switched breasts, but still didn’t touch me where I needed it most.
“I thought you said too much,” he spoke around my nipple before sucking so hard I thought I saw stars.
“Oh God,” I began chanting. “Please.”
With practiced ease, his thumb pressed my clit while two fingers plunged inside, making me cry out with my fourth orgasm of the night.
My restrained hands moved from the headboard and took his length between them and pumped hard and fast. “I need you inside me. Now,” I told him.
“Fuck, I can’t say no to you,” he gritted out as he slammed home. My head flew back, and I came again. Slipping my cuffed hands over his head, I held him to me as he fucked me with a punishing rhythm. My tongue traced his lips, our breaths mingling as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“Oh God. I’m going to come again.” My body tensed, and my legs locked around his hips as it hit me with the force of a freight train.
“Megan,” he shouted as he planted himself inside me and came along with me. His back arched and his muscles twitched as he spent himself.
“Mmmm,” I moaned. “It would seem eight weeks of no sex makes for one explosive romp in the hay.”
He chuckled against the skin of my neck and murmured his assent, telling me how much he missed me. He planted a wet and sloppy kiss there before getting up. When he went to get a wet cloth to clean me up, I stretched and sighed my contentment. Life was good again. Finally.
* * *
Lying in Mack’s arms, I continued to bask in my post coital bliss even hours after we finished making love. Foregoing getting out of bed to cook, he brought up an assortment of cheeses, fruits and breads that we snacked on while lying in bed.
“I’m going to go the women’s shelter tomorrow,” I said conversationally.
The fingers he was running through my hair stilled and his head angled to look at my face. “What was that?”
“I’m going down to the shelter tomorrow. I’m still not cleared for work and I need something to do with my time. You’ll be at work so I don’t want to sit around here twiddling my thumbs all day.”
“
You aren’t ready for that.”
“Let me be the judge of what I am and am not ready for. It isn’t like I’ll be running a marathon. I’m just going to be visiting with people. It’s no different than if they were to come here.”
“It damn well fucking is. This isn’t up for debate, Megan. You’re not going.”
“You don’t control me, Mack.”
“Funny, cause not two hours ago that is exactly what I was doing. Or have you forgotten so soon?”
“Control during sex does not mean you get to control the rest of my life. You even said that you weren’t looking for a lifestyle submissive before. Well guess what… you didn’t get one!” I pulled away and sat up, clutching the sheet to my naked chest. Some arguments called for modesty and this was one of them.
Mack sat up as well, ready to do battle. “You think I don’t know that? You think there hasn’t been more than a few times since I’ve met you where I wished you were one?”
“How dare you! This is important to me. Can’t you see that? I have to do this. Nothing you say is going to stop me.”
“Why? Why are you so drawn to those places? Why can’t you just stop and take care of yourself for a change?”
“I can’t stop!” I screeched.
“Why?” He pressed, intent on getting me to crack.
“Because I’m the reason my sister is dead!” The confession was ripped from my chest, making me sound like a woman possessed.
“What?” He looked taken aback by my admission, which only served to start the water works that threatened every time I talked about that night.
“The guy who killed her was looking for me. I was the one he met online and hooked up with the night before. Instead of finding me at home that night, he found Rachel.” I took a shaky breath, trying to find the strength to continue with the memory of that horrific night when I found my sister murdered in the kitchen of our apartment—once her safe haven, now where she lay cold and alone. “We looked so much alike that he didn’t realize, and he raped and killed her. He slit her throat open just like Ted Yates did to me. It was karma coming back to get me. I have to help others. It’s my penance.”
“Oh, Megan. Don’t you see that even if he had known she wasn’t you, he still would have killed her? And if it was someone else who had met him the night before, he would have killed her too?”
“No.” I shook my head and vehemently denied his claims. “It was my perverse need to fuck anyone and anything that led him to me. It’s my fault she’s dead. You’re with a dirty slut, Mack. I’m not the person you think I am,” I yelled in his face while pounding my fist out of anger on the bed.
“You know what I think?” The softness in his voice made me take pause. Why wasn’t he yelling back at me? And why wasn’t he looking at me with disgust? “I think Rachel would have gladly died for you that night. I think she loved you enough to sacrifice herself, and you do that love injustice by continuing to blame yourself. She wouldn’t have wanted you to suffer any more than you wanted her to suffer. It was that sick fuck’s fault that she died. Not yours.”
The tears running down my face turned to sobs at his words. I launched myself at him and buried my head in his chest.
“I loved her so much,” I cried. I was so tired of feeling this way. It was exhausting to constantly try to make up for my past mistakes.
“And she loved you.” He ran his hands soothingly over my back and pulled me tighter into his body. It was exactly what I needed.
“Why did she have to die? It’s not fair, Shane. I miss her so fucking much.”
“I know.”
When my tears slowed and were more hiccups than sobs, his finger under my chin tilted my head up towards him.
“What would Rachel say if she was in front of you right now?”
I sniffled and shrugged. When I tried to look away, his grip on my chin tightened. “You do know. Tell me what she would say to you.”
“Be happy,” I finally answered in a weak voice.
“Megan, will you please try to forgive yourself? Please,” he begged. “I can’t stand to see you in this much pain. You don’t hide it nearly as well as you think. So many times I wanted to push it, but I knew that would have made me a hypocrite. I’d give you the moon and stars if I thought it would take the hurt away. And it’s obvious your sister wouldn’t want you to feel this way either.”
“I’ll try,” I promised. “Sometimes with you it’s easier.”
“Good. That’s what I want more than anything—to be the one that eases your pain.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. When my eyes closed, his hand pressed on the back of my head so that it rested on his chest. He laid back, taking me with him, continuing to comfort me.
“Shane?” I said some time later, hoping he wasn’t already asleep.
“Yeah, buttercup,” he answered right away.
“I wouldn't be me if I didn’t try to help those women.”
He sighed and tightened his hold on me. “I know. I’ll find a way to work through my need to control you and keep you protected.”
“Thank you.”
“I would never want to change you. I love you just the way you are.”
Giving Mack my burden was more therapeutic than any of the other methods of therapy forced on me by my parents over the years. With a lighter heart than I had felt in six years, I fell into a peaceful sleep wrapped in strong arms that I knew without a doubt would never let me fall.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mack’s bike pulled into a parking spot in the lot behind Murphy’s, and I held onto his shoulders while I dismounted. I might have even gotten an extra squeeze or two in there. Don’t judge me… he has really nice muscles. When he realized what I was doing, he gave me that drop dead gorgeous smirk and kissed my nose. I swooned on the spot. Jealous? I would be too.
“Just so you know, I prefer my kisses a little lower.”
“You don’t say?” He replied with his back to me as he settled our helmets on his bike. I didn’t need to see his face to know he was silently laughing—his shoulders shook with it.
“I do. Make note of that for later,” I deadpanned.
“So noted.” He hooked his arm around my head and started towards the bar. I fell in step with him, my arm wrapped around his waist and my opposite hand resting on his abs.
“You sure you don’t mind us hanging out with your friends as a couple?” I asked just as we reached the door. It was the first time we were “coming out.” Granted everyone had learned of our involvement during my attack, or D-day as I liked to call it, but this was the first time we were going to be an item with people knowing and watching. It made me a little twitchy thinking about the added pressure.
“Of course I don’t. Aren’t you okay with this?” He gave me a concerned look as I passed him through the door.
“No, I am. Just a little nervous I guess.”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about. I’m here with you. Would it help if I held your hand the whole time?” He laced our fingers together as we walked.
God, he was so sweet. It boggled my mind how he managed not to share all that goodness for so many years.
“It would. Thank you.” I leaned up and kissed his lips right before we rounded the corner into the backroom where we were meeting Kara, Jacob, John, and a few people from the precinct.
“Oh God,” John grumbled from twenty feet away. “Now that you guys are an item am I going to have to watch you suck face all night like these two?” He gestured to Jacob and Kara who looked mighty cozy together—Kara might as well have been sitting in his lap for how close they were.
I laughed and swatted him on his head as I walked by. “Brat,” he mumbled under his breath making me laugh harder. Any of my earlier apprehensions went out the window after that.
Mack let go of my hand and pulled out my chair. Once I was situated, he settled in next to me, leaving his hand wrapped around mine on his thigh.
Kara shook her head with a
rueful grin as she took us in. “I can’t believe you two have been seeing each other for so long without any of us knowing.”
“I knew,” John said smugly. Kara turned and scowled at him, causing him to give her a sheepish look before turning his attention to his beer.
I shrugged at her. “Well, it hasn’t been the whole time. He had to work for it.”
Mack leaned in and arched a brow. “Me? I think you were the one working to get in there, buttercup. Not me.”
“Buttercup? Awww! That is so flippin’ cute!” Kara said on a girlie shriek followed closely by a giggle.
“That’s it!” John stood abruptly. “I can’t take all the cuteness. I’ve got to go do something manly like beat my chest or eat raw meat. Yeah, that should do it.”
“Wait,” Jacob called out to him. John turned back around and rested his hands on the back of a chair, waiting for him to continue. Instead of speaking, Jacob looked at Kara with a questioning look. She nodded her head assent and smiled at him.
“What are you two up to?” Mack asked as he poured us each a beer from the pitcher on the table.
“Well…” Kara said.
“We’re pregnant!” Jacob announced enthusiastically before she could finish. She shoved him playfully but let him have the limelight. It was obvious he was ecstatic about being a father by the huge grin on his face that showed a world of pride.
“Oh my God! That’s amazing!” I reached over and hugged Kara tightly. She and Jacob had decided around Christmas time to try for kids right away. I was so excited that they were blessed this quickly. Kara was going to make an amazing mother, and Jacob an awesome father for that matter.
“Thanks. You have no idea how hard it was to keep it secret for so long,” Kara said after Mack and John both congratulated her. She watched with a dreamy expression on her face as the men then congratulated each other with crazy handshakes and back slaps.