The Beat and The Pulse Box Set 1

by Amity Cross

  Dr. Ormond was right. I had come a long way.

  25

  Violet

  Lincoln and I snuck around for a week, stealing little moments at work together.

  He’d duck into the office when he had a break, and we’d kiss like teenagers, then we’d go get lunch together…you know, out in the world. My eyes were opening, and as long as he was by my side, I felt like I could take on anything. Even the scariest demons that lived underneath my bed.

  It was the most perfect week of my entire life. It didn’t take much to claim the spot, but it was pretty bloody special.

  Ash kept his distance, but one eye was always on us, watching like a hawk. I was sure he was waiting for Lincoln to slip up so he had an excuse to have another punch on, but so far, the Twin hadn’t put one foot wrong.

  Every other night we spent at my place. He’d cook, or I’d try to, and then we’d go upstairs and talk. We went through all the superhero movies he hadn’t seen. Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers and my current favorite, Guardians of The Galaxy. It was nice and all, but it wasn’t the stuff of romance novels. Our story wasn’t turning out to be passionate. It was turning out to be a box office flop.

  One certain thing was always hovering at the edges. We’d end up ditching the movie halfway through and kiss. Slow at first, then deeper and more desperate. All too soon, it got to the point where clothes would usually be discarded and other things would begin to happen. I wanted it to, I could feel my body coming alive and ache with want for him, but every time his hands moved from my waist or my face, I froze.

  The fear that I thought was dispelled was still lingering in the shadows.

  Another night, another movie and yet again, his wandering touch had pulled me out of the moment and back into the past. Lincoln held my face in his hands, his thumbs stroking my cheeks lightly as I took deep breaths. Frustrating had nothing on it.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  I pulled back, rolled off the bed and stood, feeling dirty to the point I almost bolted into the shower. I knew it’d be hard, but facing the reality of it was another thing entirely.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m trying.”

  I heard the covers rustle, then his footsteps on the carpet. He stood beside me and placed a kiss on top of my lowered head.

  “We need to do something,” he murmured. “There’s a difference between thinking and doing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sometimes you’ve just gotta do.”

  This was it. He was going to break it off. I cast my gaze to the floor, my hands beginning to shake.

  “Vee, look at me.”

  I glanced back up, and he pulled off his T-shirt, tossing it onto the floor by the bed. I’d seen him fight before, and he’d stripped the other night, so it wasn’t anything new seeing his naked chest, but it still got me. He was beautiful.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, shifting my gaze to the floor again.

  “I’m doing what I know how to do,” he replied simply.

  My eyes met his. “And what’s that?”

  “Fight.” Reaching for the fly on his jeans he said, “Ash got you justice, but I’m going to help you live again.”

  My heart rate began to soar as he dropped his jeans and kicked out of them. “By getting naked?”

  He laughed, peeling off his socks and adding them to the pile. “Almost naked.”

  “Don’t want to scare me off?”

  “Vee, you’re wicked.”

  I curled my arms around my middle. “Hardly.”

  Lincoln shook his head and sat on the edge of the bed, placing his palms on either side of his well-defined body. He was just sitting there in his boxer briefs, and they didn’t leave much to the imagination, not that it was a stretch.

  “Come here,” he murmured, his eyes beginning to sparkle with heat.

  I stepped forward, not knowing where this was going. Scratch that, I did know where but wasn’t sure how far.

  “Touch me,” he said.

  I glanced at his chest and froze. He wanted me to touch him? “What…”

  “Don’t be shy,” he said. “Trust me. I’m going to like it.”

  I swallowed hard. It was different from that night we slept together. It was different from just kissing. This was a whole new ball game with a higher degree of difficulty.

  “I won’t touch you,” he whispered. “This is about you.”

  He wanted me to get used to him before he tried to touch me. More than I already had. More intimately. At the thought of him doing something like that had my heart all fluttery.

  Reaching out, I paused before my fingers came into contact with his skin. Feeling self-conscious, I backed away.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

  Turning, I pulled a purple scarf from the hook on the back of the door and ran the silk through my fingers. It slipped through easily, the material soft against my skin. This would do nicely.

  Venturing back to Lincoln, I stood before him. He glanced at the scarf in my hands and back to me with a quizzical expression.

  “No peeking,” I said, my voice low. Raising the scarf, I placed it over his eyes and tied it into a bow at the back of his head.

  “Shit, Vee,” he said huskily. “You sure you don’t know how to turn a man on?”

  I tested the blindfold and found it was pretty well in place. “Why do you say that?”

  “You’re doing a pretty fucking good job right now.”

  Shivering, I bit on my lower lip and thought about the scenes from my romance books. I guess I was. Reaching out, I placed my hands on his shoulders, feeling his warmth underneath my palms.

  I didn’t want to do something wrong, but he’d said that anything I did he would like. Was it that easy? I leaned forward and brushed my lips against his forehead. Small steps.

  Lincoln drew in a breath as I moved lower, first kissing the corner of his jaw, and then trailing my lips along his stubble. Placing a chaste kiss on his lips, I moved back to see where I could go next. Lowering my head, I moved my lips along his neck and over his shoulder, my gaze flickering back to make sure his blindfold was still in place.

  He was right about one thing. He looked hot almost naked with his eyes covered like that. I could suddenly see what all the fuss was about.

  Settling on my knees, I placed my hands on his thighs and pressed my lips against his chest—right over his heart. Shivering, I bit on my lower lip and thought about the scenes from my romance books. This time, I paused as I neared his left nipple. Racking my brain, I wondered what I should do, but what was that he’d said before about thinking versus doing? Sometimes you just had to do.

  Glancing up at him once more, I flicked the tip of his nipple with my tongue, and he hissed, his muscles flexing, so I did it again.

  “Vee…”

  “Is that okay?” I whispered.

  “Yeah,” he replied, his hands tightening around the edge of the mattress.

  His words made me feel bolder, so instead of licking again, I sucked his nipple into my mouth and bit softly. He moaned and let his head fall back, and my tiny spark of confidence began to grow even brighter. I was making him feel good. Me.

  What else could I do? That couldn’t be it. Pulling off my top and shoving out of my jeans, I knelt before him in nothing but my bra and knickers. He couldn’t see, but I’m sure he was imagining right about now. I leaned forward and lightly bit his right nipple, my right hand on his chest, my thumb rolling around the other. Rising up, I brought my mouth against his and kissed him, my tongue darting out to meet his.

  As always, when we were like this, things began to get a little blurry. His hold over me began to strengthen, and my kiss became a little more desperate, my body humming even though his hands were still firmly grasping the edge of the mattress. Could I do this now? It felt right.

  Placing my hands on his thighs, he tensed as I ran my palms upward. Curling my fingers into the hem
of his boxers, I began to peel the material down. I wanted to see, I wanted more, and I wanted to be free.

  “Wait.” Lincoln gasped, and I shot back, sitting up on my heels.

  “Why?” Had I done something wrong? Shouldn’t I have gone for the sweet spot? I had to admit to myself that I was turned on. I could feel it between my legs—hot and wet.

  “Maybe that’s too soon,” he murmured, pulling down the blindfold so it fell around his neck.

  My gaze dropped to where his erection was pressing against the black cotton. “I want to see.”

  He hissed through his teeth, squirming. “I know.”

  “Then—”

  He shook his head, taking in my almost naked breasts. “My turn.”

  I swallowed hard, my eyes widening.

  “Lie down on the bed.”

  He spoke softly, always encouraging, but I also heard the command in his voice. He liked to dominate like one of those alpha men in my books. I wondered if he liked to talk dirty as well, and I shivered at the thought.

  “Vee.”

  I stood and moved beside him, scooting back on the mattress as he took the scarf from around his neck and let it fall to the floor.

  “If you tell me to stop, I’ll stop,” he murmured, kneeling at the end of the bed. “Okay?”

  I nodded, my mouth feeling dry.

  “Now lie back.”

  Falling back onto the bed, I breathed deeply, my gaze finding his. Leaning forward, he climbed over me, a hungry look in his eyes. I felt anxiety begin to tickle at the edges of my mind, but I squished it back. I had to conquer this—I wanted it so badly. No fear, Violet.

  Lincoln hovered above me, his hands on either side of my body, but he didn’t lower himself onto me. The only place he touched, were my legs, and even then, it was only his knees.

  His eyes lowered to my lips. “Take off your bra.”

  Without hesitation, I reached behind my back and undid the clasp before pulling the straps off my shoulders. He hadn’t seen me totally naked before, and the thought of his gaze on my bare flesh had tiny explosions racing around my body. When the lacy material fell away, I wasn’t disappointed. His gaze lowered and was full of a heat I didn’t know anyone could ever possess.

  “I’m going to show you how it felt,” he whispered, lowering his lips to my left breast.

  His tongue darted out and flicked my erect nipple, and I flinched at the unexpected sensation. He did it again, but this time, he followed it up with his entire mouth. He sucked on my sensitive skin, and my entire body responded, my thighs clenching together.

  “Good?” he murmured.

  I nodded, squirming underneath him.

  “I can’t hear you, Vee.”

  “Yes,” I replied. “Yes.”

  Slowly, he moved his lips across my chest and repeated the process on the other nipple, his teeth grazing lightly as he did. His gaze returned to mine, and his mouth moved lower. First, in-between my breasts, then down across my stomach. Finally, he traced my clit through the cotton material of my underwear, and I stiffened as the ache began to heighten.

  “Lincoln.” I gasped.

  Instantly, he stopped. “Too much?”

  I shook my head. “Not enough.”

  Curling his fingers into my underwear, he pulled them down and off, flinging them onto the floor. Now I was one hundred percent naked on my bed with a hot as hell fighter kneeling over me. Fuck. Just…fuck.

  “Open your legs,” he said, his gaze locked onto mine.

  He was giving me a choice of how far this was going to go. I realized he still had his boxers on, so it wasn’t going that far…yet. This was playing out exactly like my fantasy. His fingers inside me, pumping and caressing to orgasm. That’s what he wanted to do right now. No…that’s what he wanted to give me.

  Without hesitation, I opened my legs.

  Leaning down, Lincoln pressed a kiss on the inside of my thigh, his gaze locked to mine. Moving lower, his lips trailed a line of fire toward the sweet spot. Shivering, I was hyperaware of his every move, my breathing accelerating.

  “I’m going to taste you, Vee,” he murmured.

  It was posed as a question, but I could hear the command in his voice. He was testing my limits, pushing me to face the things I feared the most. Sometimes you’ve gotta just do.

  Opening my legs wider, I rose to the challenge. I was ready to conquer all the things I’d been hiding from for the last five years. When I felt his tongue rasp along my seam, I moaned loudly, fisting my hands into the blankets underneath me. Holy hell, that felt so good.

  His tongue swiped once more, and my back arched off the mattress as pleasure seared through my body. It was short and sweet, the ache beginning to build higher in his wake.

  “You taste so good,” he murmured, resting his cheek against the inside of my thigh.

  “I do?”

  “I want more. Can I give you more?”

  My gaze met his, and I knew without a doubt that he’d do whatever it took to take care of me. If I said stop, he would stop. For the first time since that night…I trusted another man to touch me from the inside. I trusted Lincoln—completely, eternally and irrevocably.

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  His finger pressed against my opening, and my fantasy was coming alive. I’d lain here and imagined he was fingering me to orgasm all those weeks ago. He was the man whose image I’d conjured the first time I’d touched myself since after the attack, and now he was here. His finger slipped just inside, and I tensed at the still unfamiliar sensation.

  “More.” I gasped.

  He delved deeper, massaging me from the inside out with a thick finger, the pad of his thumb rubbing against my clit in lazy circles.

  “You like that?” he asked, his voice heavy.

  “I like it.” I rolled my hips and began to work myself against his touch.

  Dipping his head, he pressed his lips against my clit. The sensation was alien, but as his tongue flicked over the nerve endings, warmth began to spread, and I arched my back off the mattress with a gasp.

  His fingers began to move faster, his mouth sucking hungrily on my clit, and I clasped my hands over my breasts, no longer caring what I must look like. All that mattered was that Lincoln was between my legs, replacing the bad with the oh, so fucking good.

  “Feel it, Vee,” he muttered against my skin.

  The pleasure began to heighten as he pressed a second finger in with the first, and I forgot myself. Fisting my hands into his hair, I held him to me and his touch hardened, and his teeth bit softly around my clit. The little ball of nerves was so sensitive that I was overcome as I fell over the edge.

  I came hard, but Lincoln didn’t slow his onslaught. He drove me on and on along the wave until I could hardly bear it, and his name spilled from my lips in a desperate cry.

  All too soon, I was coming back down to earth, but it wasn’t with a crash. It was a slow descent, my limbs feeling light and listless, but once I blinked, the world was back again.

  I hadn’t once thought about that night, and I smiled at the realization, my fingers stroking through Lincoln’s hair.

  “Fuck.” I gasped, my breathing beginning to slow.

  “Good?” he asked from between my legs, his lips curving into a wicked smile.

  “Good…”

  His smile widened into a grin as he pulled himself up onto the bed, lying next to me.

  “I thought about you,” I whispered, running my fingertip along his jaw.

  “When?”

  “It was a while ago now. I hadn’t…you know…”

  “Vee…” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

  “I did that, what you just did with your fingers…” I trailed off, closing my eyes. It seemed silly that I was embarrassed about it now, especially since he’d licked me there.

  His eyes opened, and his gaze instantly dropped to my lips “You thought about me?”

  Biting my bottom lip, I nodded.

  He bre
athed deeply before asking, “Can I hold you like this?”

  “Yeah.”

  Rolling onto his side, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against the length of him. Skin to skin. I liked the feel of our bodies pressing together, his chest to mine, and it didn’t frighten me in the least. With Lincoln, it felt natural and safe.

  “What about you?” I asked, all too aware that he was as frustrated as hell.

  “I’m okay,” he replied, his lips moving against my forehead.

  “Liar.”

  “Yeah, but that was pretty fuckin’ monumental. I don’t want to push it.”

  I smiled. Mr. Sensitive.

  “I’d like to do that again sometime soon,” he added, tightening his grip.

  “Me too.”

  He was right. He was helping me live again, but there was one thing I still hadn’t asked him about.

  What would happen once he was cleared to go back to Sydney? Would we still work? It seemed one fear was erased only to be replaced by another.

  It was a cruel twist of fate.

  26

  Violet

  As Lincoln parked the car behind Pulse, I glanced over at him and smiled.

  I ached. My thighs burned in the aftermath of our little adventure last night, and I realized just how unfit I really was. Thinking about him wearing nothing but a pair of tight boxers and a silky purple scarf as a blindfold, I squirmed in my seat.

  “Thinkin’ naughty thoughts?” Lincoln asked, smiling back at me.

  “And now he reads minds,” I replied coyly. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “Nup.” He shook his head, leaning over and catching my lips with his.

  “Do we have to go to work?” I asked with a sigh, tracing my fingers across his jawline.

  “The world waits for nobody,” he said, leaning back. “Especially not Cole and Ryan. Those blokes will kill each other if I’m not there to keep an eye on them.”