Tower in the Woods

by Tara Quan

  “Ahh… Shit,” Dane muttered as his brain ceased functioning. He had never had to deal with this problem before, and he had no idea how to handle a weeping female. So he concentrated on driving, concentrated on getting them as far away from these zombie-infested woods as possible.

  Dane remained completely silent until the car passed Washington, D.C.’s outermost checkpoint, which was probably not the wisest decision he had ever made. Nel had actually already traveled a considerable distance and, at the speed Dane had been driving, it took them less than thirty minutes to reach the city’s borders.

  Dane knew they should head straight into the city, that he should get Nel’s wounds seen to and face the consequences of his insubordination. Instead, he turned just before crossing the Memorial Bridge, heading off-road toward the willow trees that lined the Potomac River. With his car completely curtained by leafy vines, Dane turned off the engine and finally let his body relax. For the first time in a long month, he could breathe easily again. Closing his eyes tiredly as he took Nel’s hand, he leaned back against the seat and truly rested. There would be time for debriefings and plans, time for questions and logistics. At this moment, what both of them needed most was peace.

  Nel was clearly as exhausted as he for they both dozed off for a short while. When Dane’s eyelids lifted, he felt reenergized and, more importantly, he had regained the ability to think straight. Needing fresh air, he opened the door and stepped out onto the grass, walking over to the other side of the car to open Nel’s.

  “I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Dane said as he pulled her to stand by his side, not wanting to be parted for any more than a few inches. Tenderly, he brushed his thumb over her pale, hollowed cheek. “And I will never forgive myself for not coming sooner.”

  Nel’s face was tilted up to his, her delicate cheekbones stark against the white moonlight. Her eyes were still swollen, and her clothing was covered with dirt and blood. However, Dane could say in complete honesty that he had never seen a more beautiful sight.

  Unable to resist the temptation for a moment longer, Dane crushed Nel against his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her much smaller frame.

  “I was afraid you were dead,” Nel confessed in an accusing voice. “I didn’t know what to do. It was stupid to leave the Tower alone, I know that now. Dane … I need to tell you something.”

  Dane shook his head as he barely loosened his tight hold on her. She had lost a considerable amount of weight. He could feel her bones against his hands and chest, and the realization made him sink into a whole new level of guilt-driven hell. “I should never have left you. I should never had gone to the WITCH. I put you in a terrible position—”

  As Nel shook her head, her silky hair caressed Dane’s chin. “It was my choice. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Choosing between your life and the Mother’s death was the easiest decision I have ever made.”

  Dane froze at Nel’s words as he felt a pounding rush of blood course through his skull. His skin was suddenly clammy with cold sweat and he realized his hands were trembling. His first reaction was fear—fear of the responsibility her words placed on his shoulders, fear that she knew herself too little for those words to be true. She thought she loved him, but he was too afraid to let himself believe it. “You might want to wait until we get back to the city before making such a big decision. Once I let myself consider you as mine, I will never give you up. Not even if you wanted out. I’m the only man you’ve ever met, sweetheart. It’s not a choice you’re making. It’s a lack of options.”

  Nel’s shoulders stiffened as her small hands pushed hard against his chest. Reluctantly, Dane released his hold on the woman he wanted with more desperation than he thought possible.

  Nel’s blue eyes were dancing with livid anger as she glared at his face. “You’re a condescending idiot, do you know that?” Dane blinked as Nel launched into a rather uncharacteristically emotional tirade. “Just because I haven’t tried on a gaggle of partners for size doesn’t mean I’m incapable of judging if I’ve found someone I do want. I want you; I love you despite the fact you’re the most insulting person I’ve ever met.”

  “Oh yeah?” Dane asked as he grabbed onto Nel’s shoulders. “What is it exactly that makes you love me? So far, all I’ve ever done was force my way into your safe little tower, tackle you to the floor, take your virginity, and screw you for a week. Then I went off to kill the person who raised you before abandoning you for a month knowing you were surrounded by crazy cultists and hundreds of zombies. I haven’t done a damn thing to deserve your love. You don’t want me. You just don’t know any better.”

  Nel’s cheeks turned a furious red as she struggled futilely against his much stronger hold. With angry tears glistening in her eyes, she met his accusing gaze as she responded with dripping sarcasm. “You might think I’m some sort of brainwashed nitwit, but the concept of duty and honor are something my feeble female brain is more than capable of understanding. I understand why you left, and I’m sure I’ll understand the reason it took you so long to come back. You have done everything you could to protect me, and any promise you gave, you have kept. You are much stronger than I am, you know far more about the world than I do, but you have never taken advantage of that. Whatever we did together, believe it or not, was as much my decision as yours. I don’t know why I love you, but I do, and meeting a city full of other equally or more attractive men isn’t going to change that. If you don’t love me back, if you don’t want me, Dane, then just say so.”

  Shaking her with his hands, Dane practically growled. “Of course I love you. How the hell could you think I didn’t? I want you so badly right now it is taking all the control I have not to strip off your clothes and take you against this damn car. I just wanted to give you the chance to explore your options.”

  Her startled blue gaze met his before those lush lips curved into a wickedly beautiful smile. “What are you waiting for?” Nel asked.

  Not following her train of thought, Dane’s brows furrowed in question.

  “I want to have sex right now too,” Nel elaborated as she calmly waited. “And I don’t want you to hold back, which I know you had been doing when we were in the Tower. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t need you to be gentle, and I don’t want you to wait. I’m not backing out. I’m yours, however you want me and for as long as you want me, and that starts right this second.”

  *

  Nel licked her lower lip as she watched a change come over Dane. She was still giddy from his admission that he loved her. She hadn’t realized how much she needed to hear the words until they passed his lips, and now she felt as if nothing in the world could dampen her spirits. Of course if she could finally get the stubborn man to have his way with her, that would be even better. She was close to breaking his control, she knew it by the way his hands gripped her shoulders, by the fact his eyes were turning even darker in the moonlight.

  Abruptly, Dane released her and stepped back. “Prove it.”

  Confused, Nel’s eyes widened.

  “You want to give me what I want, sweetheart? I want to take you here, on the hood of this car, so hard and fast you won’t even have time to think. Where we are, the guards can see our heat signatures clear as day through the infrared security cameras. And everyone in that damn city will know even before we get there that you are mine, that I’ve had my way with your little body, and that I won’t give you up once you are safely inside. I’m a bastard for wanting this but I’m considering it anyway. Can you live with that?” Dane asked as his gaze swept her body, the bulge against his jeans growing larger by the minute.

  Startled and surprisingly aroused by the proposition, Nel hesitated for only a moment. Then she closed her hands around the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, her gaze never leaving Dane’s. “Whatever you want, Dane, as long as it’s soon. I’ve missed feeling you inside me,” she whispered as her trembling hands dropped the ragged fabric onto the grou
nd.

  With a guttural sound, Dane crushed his lips against hers, his tongue invading her even as he roughly yanked at the button on her waistband. With a sibilant protest, her zipper parted and the coarse fabric slid down her legs to pool at the ground. Dane’s large palms closed over her bottom, lifting her off the pile of clothing as she circled her arms around his neck.

  Then she felt the cold metal of the car’s hood against her panties. Dane’s hands were yanking apart her chest bindings, and all the while he tangled his tongue with hers. It didn’t take long before Nel’s chest was completely bare, the shreds of cotton ripped beyond repair and falling to the ground.

  The cold air hit her breasts immediately, causing her nipples to tighten into hard peaks. Dane released her lips only to pull his T-shirt over his head. The abrasive hair on his chest rasped against her sensitized nipples as his lips closed over hers in another possessive kiss, his hands already moving to strip off her last shred of clothing.

  Whimpering, Nel clutched Dane’s shoulders as she closed her eyes against the onslaught of desire. The feel of his lips and tongue against hers sent heat pooling between her thighs. It had been so long since he had touched her this way, since her hands had been free to explore the hard muscles of his chest and shoulders, since those strong arms had wrapped around her much more delicate body as he fused their naked flesh together.

  Suddenly, Dane ended the kiss only to close his hot mouth over Nel’s turgid nipple. She gasped at the electric sensation as his teeth scraped over her sensitized flesh. She almost screamed when he cupped the mound at the apex of her legs, his callused fingers boldly probing the folds that covered her opening.

  “You’re wet,” Dane rasped accusingly before switching to Nel’s other nipple.

  Nel blushed, remembering one of the more embarrassing side effects of her pregnancy. Since Dane had left, she had dreamed of him each night, sometimes waking to find her hand between her legs, and more than once continuing what she had started doing in her dream. “Dane, I need to tell you—”

  “Later.” He growled as he plunged a finger completely inside her, causing Nel to writhe against his probing hand. He inserted another finger and spread them, stretching her as his thumb circled the bundle of nerves at the top of her opening. Lightning lanced through her body as she spasmed against the penetration, her inner walls clutching around the hard, surging fingers as Dane bit down on her nipple.

  “But…” Nel managed to whimper before Dane pumped his fingers in and out of her slick channel, the pressure of his thumb against the swollen nub robbing her of all thought. All she could focus on was the pleasure that made her feel as if she were about to burst out of her own skin. Her eyes drifted closed as she practically collapsed against his chest. It had been only a few minutes since he had started touching her, and she was a moment away from orgasm.

  Abruptly, Dane pulled his fingers out, ignoring Nel’s whimpered protest as he flipped her over. In a dazed state, she felt the cold metal of the car against her belly. She was sprawled facedown on the hood with her naked breasts pressed up against the cold surface and her bottom strategically lifted. Her slim legs just barely reached the grassy ground. “Dane, what—”

  “Whatever I want, remember?” Dane asked gruffly as she heard the clinking sound that told her he unbuckled his belt. “I’ve wanted to take you from behind since the first time we had sex but you were already too small for me and this position would have made you even tighter.”

  “And now?” Nel asked as she placed her palms against the hood of the car, bracing herself for the assault he had in mind.

  “Sweetheart, you’re so wet down there I’d hate for it to go to waste,” Dane informed her as his palms reached under her body to cup her breasts. He continued to milk the soft mounds as he brushed his hot silken shaft against the cleft of her bottom. Pinching both of her nipples, he ordered, “Lift your butt.”

  Overcome by the sensations his hands were generating, Nel eagerly complied. She had read that this was how four-legged mammals procreated, but her sexual experience had been too limited for her to even fantasize about being taken from behind. In the Tower, Dane had naturally taken the lead in their lovemaking, and he usually made love to her while she lay comfortably on her back. A few of those times she had been on top, but never had he taken her lying facedown.

  This time everything was different. The cold air chilled Nel’s body, especially with her front plastered against the metal hood of the Jeep. Her small breasts felt heavier with her body facing downward, and Dane was being neither gentle nor careful. He was squeezing her sensitized nipples hard enough for it to hurt, the rolling motion sending shards of pain and pleasure coursing throughout her.

  Dane wasn’t holding back, he wasn’t being careful, and he wasn’t in control. The danger he posed filled Nel with a sultry heat, making creamy moisture pool inside her channel to prepare her for his possession. She wanted to be claimed, utterly and completely. She wanted to be at his mercy.

  He kicked apart her legs with his booted feet, spreading her so she was wide and ready for his penetration. He hadn’t even taken the time to fully lower his pants. Then the thick head of Dane’s member probed her from behind, and Nel’s moan was a plea and an invitation rolled into one.

  “Is this what you want?” Dane rasped as he pushed his thick, turgid arousal into her tight, wet warmth. When Nel furtively nodded, he ordered, “Say it. I want to hear you say it.”

  “Please. I want you inside me,” Nel mouthed as she wiggled her bottom against Dane’s groin. His member had always been a little too big for her comfort, and now the invasion felt enormous against her swollen folds. His tip wasn’t even fully inside her yet, and she still felt uncomfortably stretched and full. She bit down on her lower lip in both fear and anticipation as she waited for the reaming that was about to come.

  Then he pulled out and stepped away. The sudden chill of the air surprised her. But a second later, the strap of his belt lashed over her butt cheek.

  “Dane…” Nel exclaimed as she tried to scramble up only to find Dane’s large hand pressing down on her back.

  “First, I’m going to punish you for almost getting yourself killed,” Dane said in a low growl as the strap landed against Nel’s firm flesh again and again.

  Initially, she was outraged, but blood pooling to her bottom also fed her arousal. He used barely a fraction of his considerable strength—the act was meant to arouse and not hurt.

  “I need you inside me,” Nel begged as the interminable lashing continued. She had enough experience to know to lift her butt enticingly, to raise herself onto her elbows so Dane could have a better view of her breasts.

  “What a naughty girl you are,” Dane murmured as he abruptly stopped spanking her. Nel expected him to resume what they had been doing, and she nearly cried out in shock as she felt him loop the belt around her wrists. In a practiced move, he took the loose end and circled her neck before knotting it over the buckle. Roughly, he shoved her bound body back down against the car. “This is what you want, isn’t it? Beg, Nel. I want to hear you beg.”

  Nel tried to nod but the belt immediately felt as if it was choking her. “Please, Dane. I’ve wanted you for so long. Please finish this.”

  Dane didn’t need any further invitation. Making rumbling sounds in his chest, he shifted his hands so they gripped her rib cage. His unrelenting hold made her feel utterly helpless, which added to her already heightened state of arousal.

  Nel let out a soft cry of protest as Dane plunged inside her, burying himself to the hilt despite the natural resistance of her small opening.

  “Damn, you’re tight.” Dane groaned even as he pulled out and slammed into her again and again, the contact between his groin and her uplifted bottom making slapping sounds as Nel closed her eyes and tried to absorb the full impact of his lust. In this position, she was completely vulnerable to him, unable to do anything but accept his steady impaling.

  Nel felt more uncomfortabl
y stretched than when Dane had taken her virginity, the angle of his thrusts filling her so utterly it was difficult for her to breathe. The impact of his surges was hard enough that her body would have been shoved forward had his hands not been holding her in place, and the submissive surrender sent molten heat spreading from her clenching channel throughout her body. She could no longer feel the cold air or the hard metal. She couldn’t feel the bite of the belt buckle against her wrists or the discomfort of the leather circling her nape. All she could focus on was the feel of his silken invasion into her yielding body.

  Urgent cries escaped her throat as pleasure built into a cascade of white heat, lancing through her core and gathering at the point where Dane continued to pump into her. “Dane, make me come,” Nel begged as she tried to reach for something that was just barely beyond her grasp, as she clenched her inner muscles around his shaft in a silent plea. The choking sensation around her neck made it impossible for her to move, and all she could do was wait for him to give her release.

  A harsh sound erupted out of Dane as his movements quickened and his rhythm devolved into a frenzy. One hand released her rib cage to snake under her body, his thumb expertly finding the nub that controlled Nel’s pleasure. With a few harsh strokes, ecstasy exploded inside her, causing her entire body to spasm around his shaft as she let out a high-pitched cry.

  “You’re mine. Say it,” Dane ordered even as his own body shuddered, releasing hot spurts of liquid inside Nel’s swollen wet channel.

  “I’m yours,” Nel whispered in assent as the heated gush of Dane’s release sent her once more over the edge, the impact of their orgasms robbing both of them of any further ability to think.

  Epilogue

  “How are the little prince and princess doing?” Dane asked as he slowly padded into the nursery. Nel had her reading glasses on and she glanced anxiously between the crib and the open page.