by Brandy Ayers
But he noticed. And he’d make sure she knew he had once they got back to his place.
Chapter Nine
Ana
Tension became a third passenger in the car as they drove back to Justice’s house. A mix of emotions vibrated off him, setting Ana on edge and wondering what would happen once they arrived. His hands gripped the steering wheel with enough force she feared the skin over his knuckles might crack and bleed. He took several deep breaths, obviously trying to calm himself down, but none of it seemed to appease his growing agitation.
For her part, Ana had never been all that worried inside Shady’s Bar. Even when Shady made it known that he hadn’t fallen for her cover. Even when the assholes came barging in through the back door. Not only did she know for a fact that she could handle herself in the situation she had been embroiled in, but she also knew as soon as she uttered the code word Justice had given her, he would be through the door any minute.
Her sole thought after pulling off the gun Shady had strapped to the bottom of their table was getting back to Justice. In her mind, no criminal was too important to be mowed down dead to make sure they finished the night together. All that mattered was making sure he knew she was fine, that nothing had happened to her. Calming him down so he wouldn’t go off half-cocked, taking out some twisted sense of possessive revenge and killing the injured men from the bar, was her only concern.
When his tall, built form materialized behind the bar, eyes wild yet focused like a man on a mission, her heart cracked wide open. Every wall and silly rationalization she had been clinging to for the past few weeks dissolved like sugar in hot water.
The fear that had been painted on Justice’s face made everything clear. He would do anything for her. And she knew now the same was true for herself. Everything else they could work out.
As Justice pulled his car into the attached garage, Ana instantly went back to that first night together. The pulsating lust that overtook everything else. Something deep and wicked throbbed between her thighs, needing to have Justice inside her once again. To prove that the connection they had could never be a simple one-night stand.
“Ana, I need you to understand something.” Justice’s chest swelled and sank with his labored breaths.
Ana honestly couldn’t tell if he was angry or horny as hell.
“Once we step into that house, we’re never going back. You’ll be in my arms, in my bed, every night. I won’t step back and let you have space anymore. That is done. I wish I could say that if you want out, now is the time to do it, but even if you walked out right now, I would still come for you. I would still—”
“I don’t want out.” Ana couldn’t look at him. She knew if their gazes connected, it would be over. They would be on each other in an instant, a blur of ripped clothes and needy hands. But he needed to hear her first. To know that she was all in, every bit as much as him. “I don’t want space. I want you. Forever.”
“Is this because of what you just went through? Or is it because you’re sure?” His hands remained glued to the steering wheel. As if he couldn’t trust what they would do once he let go.
“When will you stop underestimating me?” Ana turned to Justice, finally taking in the tension radiating from his jaw and eyes. “I never feared for my life in there. I knew what I was doing and how I would get out at every second. I knew how to do my duty. I’m saying this because the moment I saw you barging through the door, I could never imagine seeing any other man in your place. I want it to always be you running to save me. Even if I don’t need saving.”
A low groan echoed through the silent car. Justice attacked his seat belt as if it had personally offended his mother, then flung his door open, stomping around the car to give Ana’s door the same rough treatment. “I need inside you. Now.”
“Yes.” The barely sighed word hung in the air as Justice leaned down, picking Ana up in a fireman’s carry. “Are you serious right now? I can walk to the bedroom on my own.”
“Just because I know you can doesn’t mean I won’t always want to do things for you. And on occasion you are going to have to let me. Because taking care of you is in my blood. Even if you don’t need caring for.”
Ana allowed him to manhandle her, carrying her through the house like a caveman. A moment later, she bounced down onto his bed, flinging her hair from her face so she could take in the most beautifully erotic sight in the history of men. Justice Reilly, taking his clothes off and glaring at her with pure heat and need. His hands shook slightly as he yanked at each button down his crisp blue uniform. Ripping it from his belt, he let it drop to the floor, revealing arms that bunched and relaxed with each movement.
“If you want that outfit still intact, you better take it off now. I want nothing more than to rip it to shreds.” Somehow the deep vibrations of his vocal chords seemed to be directly connected to Ana’s libido. Never before had a command elicited the deep yearning in her body to be filled, to be possessed, to be dominated.
Ana Formosa was no submissive in bed, but at that moment she would have no problem with her man holding her down and doing what he pleased. “I don’t want to keep the outfit. I want you to tear it off me.”
“Fuck.” Justice dropped his utility belt and pants, revealing dark gray boxer briefs straining around what Ana knew to be the most perfect cock she had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Touching. Tasting.
Prowling over her on all fours, Justice trapped her under his strong form. He leaned back on his heels, straddling Ana’s knees, and gripped both sides of the miniscule vest. The leather cord that had been laced up the middle, holding the garment together, barely gave any resistance in his large hands.
In an instant, the hot leather was gone, air rushing in to soothe her overheated flesh. Behind the cooling air came Justice’s warm mouth, descending on her breasts like a starving wolf, desperate to get as much of them in his mouth as possible. The sounds he made drove Ana’s desire even higher. Growls and grunts as he devoured her for both his pleasure and hers. His cock rolled and pressed against the seam of her too-tight jeans, working her into a sloppy puddle of need.
“Please, Justice, I need to get these jeans off. I need to feel you.” Ana tried to wriggle her hands between their plastered-together bodies, but Justice grabbed both wrists, holding them over her head.
“I’m not ready yet. The minute those painted-on jeans come off, I won’t be able to stop from stuffing you so full of my cock you’ll wonder how it all fit. But first I need to worship you.” Without allowing another word, Justice took her mouth in a frenzied kiss, teeth clacking together in their hurry to taste each other.
Without relinquishing his hold on her wrists, Justice rolled his hips, pressing all their most delicious parts together in what had to be the dirtiest bout of dry humping known to man. “Jesus, I wish I could watch what you’re doing to me right now. I would love to see how your body is moving over me.”
“Someday soon, once this case is over, I’m taking you dancing. Not to the Blue Line or some meat market in the city.” He slithered down her body, laying his broad chest between her legs and licking at the light sheen of sweat coating her stomach. Dipping his tongue into her navel. “To a real dancing club, where people actually know how to move and not just gyrate. Then you’ll see what I can do. Right now, just relax and let me work.”
Justice released her hands, but one warning look and she knew without words not to move them. Ana allowed her eyes to drift closed as he licked and sucked across her hips and belly. She’d never realized being touched there would turn her on, but holy fuck, did it ever.
A sharp sting just above the line of her jeans made her eyes fly open. “Eyes on me. I see them close again, and I’ll make you wait even longer.”
Ana whimpered her dissent but nodded at the same time.
A shock of arousal pummeled low in Ana’s belly as Justice pressed the heel of his palm hard against her throbbing pussy. On reflex, her knees shot up and out, trying to give him mo
re room to gain more direct contact. The tight denim bit into the delicate skin at the crease where thighs met hips. She wanted to be bare to him, hated having anything between them, even clothes.
“This sweet pussy.” He rubbed his hand up and down over her core, pulling a gasp from her lips and soaking the barely there G-string panties beneath her jeans. “I wish I could stake a claim on this pussy. Make a permanent mark. Declare it as mine. But it isn’t mine. I know I can’t own this.” He leaned in, covering the damp fabric with his lips and blowing a hot breath over the already hot skin. “No one owns this but you. You could tell me tomorrow that I can never have access to it again, and I would have to honor that. It would be a nightmare, but you could. I would still be here. Loving you.”
Hope-filled eyes drifted up to lock with hers. Holy hell. Love, desire, and a little bit of fear bombarded Ana’s senses.
“I would do anything for you. Including putting my dick on lockdown, if that is what you needed.”
“Justice.” Ana desperately wanted to close her eyes, to shut down the emotions Justice naturally brought to the forefront of her body, to protect herself from the possible heartache that had almost destroyed her once. But she resisted. Let him see everything in her eyes. Seeing it all reflected in his expression gave her the courage to believe him. To trust that he wasn’t like the other men she’d known in her life. “I’ll be here loving you too. No matter what. You’re wrong. My pussy is yours. Just like your cock is mine.”
“Fuck yes, it is.” Justice tore open her jeans, tugging them down along with her panties until they sat snug around her knees. Instead of slipping them off the whole way, Justice left them there, essentially binding her legs together thanks to the tight material. “God damn, Ana. Do you have any idea how many times a day I think about this cunt?”
Large, rough fingers slid between her soaking lower lips, grazing over her clit and down to her opening. With her legs restrained by her jeans, Ana could do nothing to open her thighs to welcome his hand deeper where she needed him.
“Please, I need more. Take them off, Justice.” Before Justice barreled into her life, Ana had never begged for a damn thing. Too proud and too independent for that type of thing. But the man hovering above her brought her to levels she had never known before.
“Not yet. I like you like this. Just a little under my control. I’m a smart enough man to know I won’t get this often. So, I think I’ll enjoy it while I can.” Justice came up onto his knees, sliding his boxer briefs down until his cock sprang from the waistband, slapping against his flat stomach. “I wonder what it says about me that I like torturing you a little bit like this. Making you plead for my dick.”
“Just remember turnabout is fair play, Officer Reilly.”
Justice chuckled low in his belly, then pushed his erection down with the palm of his hand. Gradually, he fed his thick length between Ana’s swollen folds, her arousal slicking the way for the tight squeeze. Their position left little room for maneuvering but created the most intense sensations to ripple from her clit, over her belly, and into her limbs. On every downthrust, the fat head of Justice’s cock would arch up to penetrate her slightly, but not near enough to satisfy her craving to be filled by the man she found herself quickly falling for.
Sweat dripped down Justice’s dark skin, glistening before rolling to join the sweat thinly coating Ana’s chest. For some reason, that mixing of their perspiration fascinated Ana. She loved that two parts of them were combining and were now impossible to separate ever again. Struggling to get closer, Ana caught the next drip on the tip of her tongue, straining her neck to lick along the stiff line of his jaw.
“I want your cock in my mouth,” she whispered. “Just for a minute, I want to taste your sweat, your cum, and myself all mixed together. Please.” Needing his essence inside her became the most urgent thing on her mind. More important than the case, more important even than her own impending climax.
“I’m never going to say no to that. You keep those hands where they are though.” Justice withdrew from between Ana’s tightly pressed-together thighs, then shimmied up the bed until he straddled her chest. With one hand fisted around her wrists, holding her down, and the other around the base of his cock, Justice fed himself deep into her mouth. Her taste buds exploded with the perfect blend of their flavors. There was her own sweet and salty essence, then the briny taste of his sweat, and the dark musk of his arousal. It all came together in perfect harmony to make Ana moan and writhe in desperate need.
Lost to the moment, she let her eyes sink shut, savoring every swirl of her tongue around his hard length, her own hips lifting behind him, seeking any sort of friction and coming up empty.
“Fuck, your mouth is too good.” Justice withdrew his cock from between Ana’s lips, a slight pop echoing in the room as she tried to keep hold with her lips. “I swear, someday I will come down your throat. But not tonight. Tonight, I need to be inside you.”
Ana licked her lips, trying to capture every last bit of his taste, and nodded her agreement as Justice finally pulled her pants off the rest of the way.
Both bare, Justice lay down on top of Ana so that every inch of their skin pressed together from chest to hips. He laced their fingers together over Ana’s head, drew back his hips, and with unerring aim, drove deep into her in one swift motion. On reflex, Ana’s legs flew up, wrapping around his waist, and she dug her heels into his tight ass, pressing him that much farther inside her pulsing walls. Her breath released in a puff of relief, then everything stopped, and time slowed. Neither of them moved. They simply stayed connected in the deepest way possible, staring into each other’s eyes.
“Feel that? That’s home for us. No matter what city we live in. No matter what our futures bring. Our bodies locked together . . . this is home for us.”
Ana nodded, the truth in his words searing her right down to the depths of her soul. Slowly, without looking away, Justice dragged his cock inch by inch from Ana’s body until only the flared head still sat warm and wet inside, then slammed back into her, ripping a delirious scream from her throat as he hit her G-spot dead on.
No longer pausing, Justice drove into her again and again, hitting that same spot, grinding the base of his cock against her swollen clit. Never more than an inch separated their bodies, his muscular chest brushing against Ana’s pebbled nipples. They slid along each other, staying as close as they possibly could while still fucking like maniacs.
“Oh God, Justice. I’m so close.” Ana lifted her hips as much as possible, meeting each of his hard thrusts, gasping and panting into his neck the closer she got. “I want you to come with me, please. No more teasing. Please.”
“Together. Don’t worry, I’m there.” Justice’s thrusts became more unpredictable, more wild. “You let go and the squeezing of that pussy I love so much will take me over too.”
Justice captured her mouth in an intense kiss, the increased pressure of his body along hers sending her spiraling into an intense and drawn-out orgasm. No end in sight, the pleasure ripped through her again and again, spurred on by Justice biting and sucking her bottom lip. Then his warm seed exploded inside her, and his mix of groaning and swearing ramped her back up again.
What might have been minutes or hours later, Ana finally fell silent, her body so wrung out from their mutual climaxes that all she could do was lie beneath Justice as they caught their breath.
For the first time in her life, Ana felt at peace in a man’s arms. She didn’t worry about what would happen next or what effect it would have on her career. Because she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Justice would take her needs into account first. Just as she would his. And they would go through life together, in every sense of the word.
Chapter Ten
Justice
“Ana?” Justice sat up from bed, instantly aware that she was not next to him. A glance at the bathroom door, which stood wide open showing the empty interior, let him know she wasn’t there either. Maybe she’d go
tten up to make breakfast for them?
Now that Ana was in his bed every night and morning, Justice kept expecting the uncontrollable need to protect her to quiet, but it never really did. The days after the botched undercover operation had been difficult. He wanted to be next to her at all times. To make sure she remained safe. Eventually, Luke had to force Justice to go on patrol while Ana questioned both Shady and the three goons that Artiga had sent in to kill them.
Even knowing she worked safe inside the police station, he hated knowing that she sat in the same room as those low-level assholes. He often found excuses to stop by the station during his patrols, just to be sure all was well. Or swing by the hospital where she questioned the men they had both shot. Part of loving Ana would always be understanding that she needed to appear strong in front of the other officers. Needed to put on the face every person in law enforcement does, that hard mask that protects them from the struggles putting their life on the line comes with. He was working on it and making progress. Now that all of Artiga’s henchmen were either in custody or dead, his operation had effectively ended. Yet they still had no idea where the man himself was hiding.
At night, back in Justice’s bed, all that fell away. They both stripped away the masks they wore for the job. They lay together, making love, fucking, talking, planning, no walls or disguises between them. For the first time in his life, Justice needed to think about not only his own next move but hers as well, and how they would move forward together after the case came to a close.
It took some convincing, but Ana gave up the short-term apartment she had leased and moved in with Justice. They had no idea how long it would take to find Artiga and bring him in, but Justice selfishly hoped the case would drag on for at least a few more months. The longer it took, the longer they could put off the conversation about what to do when time came for Ana to move back to Pittsburgh.