Redemption: A Sin Series Standalone Novel

by Cates, Georgia

  With my forehead pressed to hers and my fingers gripping her hips, I guide her to walk with me to the bed. Every step brings her closer to lying beneath me for the first time in four years. I swear that my throat feels like it could be closing because my heart has jumped into it and is beating a million times a minute.

  Fuck, I’m nervous.

  I’ve been with Lorna countless times. Been naked against her. Inside her. But I can’t remember it ever feeling this way.

  My hands move from her hips to her back, and I use my grip to lower her body to the bed when we reach the edge of the mattress. In one fluid motion, her knees bend and her legs wrap around my body as I lower myself to lie on top of her. It happens naturally as though it’s something that we’ve done a thousand times—because we have— and yet this time feels brand new.

  My arms press into the mattress on each side of her head. I stop moving and look at her eyes, now hooded by desire and seduction. They have the power to suck me in and never let go, holding me as her eternal prisoner.

  There are so many things that I want to do with Lorna. I’m a man at an erotic buffet. I can’t decide what I want to try first, but kissing seems like the logical place to begin.

  I’ve always loved kissing Lorna. She’s the only woman that I can say that about. And despite the number of times I’ve been with someone else since her, I haven’t kissed them. I couldn’t do it.

  I press my lips to hers. Nothing special, just a closed-mouth kiss to begin with. Her lips are baby soft just the way that I remember, like pillowy clouds from the heavens above. It’s fitting because she feels like an angel lying beneath me.

  Her lips move with mine and our mouths simultaneously open. Her soft, wet tongue glides over mine, and my cock jolts to life behind my zipper.

  My cock has gotten hard many times over the last four years but it’s never been in response to the actual woman I was about to fuck—only the act itself. But that isn’t how it is with Lorna. I’m hard for her. Filled by need, want, and desire. Fueled by my love for her.

  Pressing my hard cock against her body, I force her legs to spread farther apart. I want her to feel how much I want her, and I’m thrilled when she lifts her hips, grinding her body into mine.

  I want her so fucking bad.

  Gripping her wrists, I lift them above her head and pin them firmly against the bed. She doesn’t fight me or ask what I’m doing. She already knows. And it’s something that she loves. She always has.

  This is my way of telling her that she is mine without saying the words. Mine to hold. Mine to touch. Mine to love.

  Mine. Period.

  Our kiss deepens and the pace increases. It threatens to reach a fiery, frenzied level at any moment, but it’s her frantic breath against my mouth that is my undoing. That’s when I become aware of how hard I’m grinding against her. I’m dry-humping her like a horny teenage boy not yet man enough to take the big leap. But I’m not alone. Her hips are rocking against me, increasing the friction of our bodies against each other. Her heels dig into my arse, encouraging me to thrust harder, and that strengthens the nagging impulse in my head to rip off her dress and fuck her into oblivion.

  But I can’t. I won’t. Because Sin and Bleu’s guesthouse is not where this is going to happen. “I want you so much. But not like this. Not here.”

  “I know this isn’t the right place, but I don’t want you to stop, Leith.”

  A tingle jolts down my spine when she says my name, and I imagine her whispering it against my ear while I make love to her.

  “I don’t want to stop either.”

  And I don’t. Because I can’t. It’s impossible.

  I’m so fucking weak when it comes to her.

  Each time that I thrust between her legs, I tell myself that I’ll only do it once more, but it’s a damn lie. I literally can’t stop. It feels too fucking good.

  I wish so badly that we were naked, my skin against hers with nothing separating us. I would give her everything that I had to give.

  Is it possible for her to feel everything that she needs to feel through her knickers to be able to get off? Can I make her come like this?

  I think I can.

  I think I will.

  My mouth moves down the side of her neck and I thrust harder. “Does that feel good?”

  “So good.”

  This immature foreplay is so many steps behind the things that Lorna and I have already experienced together. My cock has been between her tits and inside of her mouth, pussy, and ass. But somehow, this feels like one of the most sensual things that we’ve ever done.

  Despite not being inside her, it still feels really good. Even through our clothing, I enjoy the friction of her body rubbing against my cock. And when she wiggles against me, I’m turned on even more.

  I release Lorna’s wrists and her hands go straight for my face, grasping it with her palms. She pulls me closer, deepening our kiss until we are both breathless.

  “Harder,” she says against my mouth.

  Grasping the back of her legs and bending her knees, I push her legs apart until they can’t go any farther. Her hands move to the back of my head and her fingertips dig into my hair. With her forehead pressed against mine, she clings to me while we share the same breath.

  That fucking moan of hers. I haven’t heard it in four years, and I swear to God that it alone is nearly enough to make me come.

  Lorna’s hands move to my shoulders and she digs her fingers into my flesh. Although it’s through my shirt, there’s a twinge of discomfort, but I welcome it. It means that she’s on the edge of an orgasm.

  “Please… Lei… th,” Her voice breaks halfway through my name, and I hear her anguish. Her desperation to come mirrors my own.

  “Don’t worry. I’m going to give it to you.”

  Her hands drift down my body and grab my arse, pulling me hard against her. “More.”

  Fuck, this is hot. She’s hot.

  I push my upper body away from her and kneel between her legs. Grasping her hips and pushing up her dress, I position her perfectly so I have complete control over the way I rub her panty-covered folds.

  Her face is red, her lips swollen and parted in preparation for the orgasm that is about to happen. Almost there, baby. Just a wee bit more.

  Her arms stretch toward my chest and she fists the front of my shirt. Her body jerks and her eyes close while her mouth forms the most perfect O that I’ve seen. “Ohh… uhh… mmm.”

  “Open your eyes, Lorna. Look at me.”

  She obeys and our eyes lock. I’m not even inside her and I’m still in heaven. The moment passing between us is so intimate that my body follows her cue and jolts with pleasure.

  Oh fuck. I’m exploding.

  “Ohhh…”

  My beautiful girl’s cheeks flush a deeper shade of red and her mouth gapes as the sexual explosion surges through her body. She blinks slowly, the lust is heavy upon her lids, and I swear that it’s the sexiest thing that I’ve ever seen.

  My hand moves beneath her head, and I fist the back of her hair, forcing her head to tilt to the side. I lower my mouth to her neck, kissing and sucking her skin. Marking her. As I do it, I know that I shouldn’t, but that doesn’t stop me. And she doesn’t tell me to quit.

  I’m leaving evidence of this tryst for him to see.

  I know when her orgasmic high is ending because her grip on my shirt releases and she quietly sighs. Her mouth is no longer a perfect O. It’s a lazy grin because she’s drunk on bliss.

  Love her post-orgasmic smile. Nothing in this world beats it.

  Rolling off of Lorna, I lie on my back beside her. I’m sweaty and winded so I unbutton my shirt, allowing it to fall open. “Shite, it’s hot in here.”

  Lorna turns and looks at my open shirt. She sits up and places her finger against the dip at my throat and drags it down my chest, gliding it through the patches of hair and slick sweat.

  “I’ve missed touching you.”

  “S
ame. But touching is only one of many things that I’ve missed.”

  Lorna leans down and places a soft kiss against my chest. The kiss is soft and delicate, even precious and innocent, but it still stokes the burning desire for this woman that can never seem to be extinguished.

  I’m not a patient man. I’m dying to claim Lorna as my mate. Anxious to make her my wife. Eager to fill her with my seed and watch her belly grow with our child.

  Into me you see. Those words are going to be exchanged between us soon. I won’t be stupid enough to let her slip through my fingers again.

  We’ve waited too long. I want it all with her right now. Tonight. But that isn’t going to happen. Instead, she’ll be spending her evening with Maddock Hendry.

  I grab her wrist and bring her hand to my mouth, kissing her palm. “I don’t want him to touch you. Not even his hand on your lower back when he opens a door for you.”

  “He won’t touch me. I won’t let him.”

  She moves her hand back to my chest and glides her fingertips up and down my chest and stomach. Fuck, she’s making me hard a second time, and I’d love to play around again, but we need to talk.

  “I wanted us to take this slowly and do things the right way so you’d know without a doubt that I was in this with you for the right reason. But Maddock Hendry is ruining everything that I have planned for us.”

  “His decision to take a wife from The Fellowship has nothing to do with us and our relationship.”

  She’s so wrong.

  “It has everything to do with how I must treat this relationship. He wants you, and as long as you’re single, Sin is obligated to send you to him to pursue the possibility of marriage.”

  “His family leads The Order and I haven’t been groomed to be the wife of a leader. That’s going to become apparent to him very quickly, and he’ll lose interest in me. You’ll see that I’m right about this.”

  He’s going to take one look at her and say to hell with leadership grooming. “You clearly don’t know what goes through a man’s mind when he sees a beautiful woman.”

  “What goes through your mind when you look at me? How do I make you feel?”

  I want to tell her, but it doesn’t come easy for me. I’m a Fellowship brother who was raised to ignore his emotions. I’m an uneducated bartender who was lucky to finish secondary school. I pour whisky and beer and mix cocktails to earn my way through life. I’m not exactly a poet.

  “I’m not good with words, and I’m even worse at expressing how I feel.” The last four years have been proof of that.

  “I don’t need fancy words. I just need to hear what’s in your heart.”

  Her eyes are begging me to tell her everything that her heart wants to hear. And I’m probably going to fuck this up but here goes.

  “I’ve always felt compelled to protect you. Even when you were just a wee little lass, but I feel that drive even stronger now. Without a bit of hesitation, I would give my own life in place of yours.”

  “That’s great. I’ve always wanted a big brother.”

  She pulls away and I grasp her wrist, pulling her back to me. “It doesn’t end there.”

  “Then tell me where it does end.”

  “It never ends. I want every part of you. Your body. Your soul. Your heart. Your love. I want it all because you are my destiny. You were made to be mine.”

  “Every part of me already belongs to you. This thing with Maddock is nothing. Less than nothing. Forget about him. This is about us and what we want.”

  “I haven’t forgotten what you once wanted from me.”

  “And what was that?”

  “Romance.”

  She smiles. “Yes, I did. And I still do.”

  “Romance takes time.”

  “We have all the time in the world.” Her eyes widen and she looks over at the clock. “Except for right now. He’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

  And here we go with him fucking up my time with Lorna.

  “I’m sorry. I have to get ready.”

  “You care how you look for him?” That thought stings.

  “No, but look at me. I can’t go looking like this.”

  Her dress is a wrinkled mess, her lipstick, although light-colored, is smeared around her mouth, and loose strands have been plucked from her neatly upswept hair. Her appearance could easily pass for freshly fucked.

  She goes to the vanity and wipes her mouth while leaning forward to examine the side of her neck. “Shite, Leith.”

  “What?”

  “Did you mean to do this?”

  “Do what?” I try to sound innocent, but that’s one thing that I am not. I knew exactly what would happen to the skin on her neck if I kissed and sucked it aggressively.

  She turns around on the stool and points to the large angry red mark on her skin. My mark.

  I shrug. “I guess I got a little carried away.”

  “A little? You think so?”

  She squeezes some makeup on to the tip of her finger and applies it to her reddened skin.

  “All right. I got a lot carried away, but I couldn’t help myself. You’re so fucking sexy.”

  She goes still and looks at my reflection in the mirror, our eyes meeting. “I wish I could stay with you.”

  “You don’t wish it more than I do.”

  She looks back at her reflection and begins removing hair grips from her hair. “I’ll have to wear it down.”

  “Do you really care if he sees my mark on you?”

  “I’m unclaimed, Leith. I can’t have marks like this on my body.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question.”

  “I don’t care if he sees this mark. I’m more concerned about running into a Fellowship brother who might see it and expose me. I’d be labeled as tainted for sure.”

  “I don’t want you to worry about that mark. You can’t be labeled as tainted if you are mine.”

  “I’m not yours in the eyes of The Fellowship.”

  “Not yet, but you will be.”

  “Until that time comes, I have to play by Fellowship rules. There are consequences for me if I don’t.” She rubs nude colored powder on her neck. “And this isn’t playing by the rules.”

  Maybe I shouldn’t have been so aggressive with her. “Are you angry with me?”

  “No. I’ll wash off this makeup after I’m back tonight and smile when I remember how it got there.”

  She gets up and goes into the closet, stopping when she sees me standing in the doorway looking at her. “You’re going to watch me change?”

  “I would like to.”

  She stands motionless, nibbling her bottom lip, and a wrinkle forms across her forehead.

  What is going on with her?

  “I’ve seen you naked a million times.”

  “I know, but so much time has passed since the last time.”

  What is happening here? “You’re uncomfortable with my looking at you without your clothes?”

  “A little.” She shrugs. “What if I don’t look the same to you?”

  “I already know that you don’t look the same. You’re more beautiful than you were four years ago.”

  She looks at me for a second before reaching around and lowering her zipper. I don’t fail to notice the deep breath she takes before sliding the dress down her body.

  Black strapless bra. Tiny black knickers. She’s hot as fuck, but it’s the single sparkling jewel sitting on the surface of her skin between her tits that steals all of my attention. “What the hell is that?”

  She reaches up and touches the wee jewel. “A sternum dermal piercing.”

  “How long have you had that?”

  “A few years.”

  “Fuck, Lorna.” I’ve never seen anything like that on a girl.

  “You don’t like it?”

  “I like it very much.”

  “The look on your face makes me think otherwise.”

  “It’s super sexy but I wasn’t expecting it.” I’m thrown
for a loop; I thought I knew every inch of her body like the back of my hand. I see now that I don’t, and I’m not sure what to make of it. “Anything else that I don’t know about?”

  She twists her body and I see the black ink over her ribs.

  Fuck, she has a tattoo?

  “Saorsa.” A single word in a formal font. Scottish Gaelic meaning redemption. “I thought this tattoo would be therapeutic, a stepping-stone to heal the pains of the past, but instead it’s been a daily reminder of what happened between us.”

  “We’re going to make new memories, and those old ones are going to fade. They’re not going to hurt you anymore.”

  She lowers her arm, using it to cover the tattoo. “You don’t know how badly I need that.”

  She’s so fucking beautiful standing before me in only her bra and knickers. I’m dying to wrap my arms around her and never let go, but she has a duty to the brotherhood—one that she must fulfill.

  “You have obligations. I should go.”

  “You’re unhappy. I don’t want you to leave like this.”

  “There’s no other way for me to leave. Seeing you get ready for him is killing me.” My chest is literally aching on the inside.

  “I want to be very clear about this. I’m not getting ready for him, and I’m not trying to make myself pretty. Take a look at me. Can’t you see that I’ve done nothing special to myself for tonight?”

  It’s in this moment that I notice she isn’t wearing her typical amount of cosmetics. Her hair was up before I marked her neck—her least favorite way to wear it. And now that I think about it, the dress that she just took off didn’t accentuate her perky tits, tiny waist, or perfect bum.

  And she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

  “Makes no difference what you do or don’t do to yourself. He’s going to think you’re gorgeous.”

  “He can think whatever he likes. It means nothing to me. I only care what you think.”

  I go to her and place my hands on each of her hips, pressing my forehead to hers. “Call me after he brings you back.”

  “I will if that’s what you want.”

  “It is. I don’t care what time it is.” I’ll be losing my fucking mind until I know that she is back on Fellowship territory and no longer within another man’s reach.