WindSwept Narrows: #13 Charity, Faith & Hope

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  She paused a moment before giving in and pressing her lips to his. Nico groaned below her before reaching up to cup her face, drawing her closer, and teasing her questing tongue with his own. Her hands drifted aimlessly over his shoulders, onto his chest and stomach, memorizing the feel of him underneath her.

  He allowed her to control the kiss from above him while he skimmed his hands along the line of her back. She was as warm and as soft as she looked. Bringing his hands up over her shoulders he smoothed them down along her collarbone. Lightening his touch he brushed only his fingertips along the outside curves of her breasts before resting his hands teasingly at the spot where her breasts met her ribs. Above him Charity writhed and whimpered.

  Nico barely heard the low growl in his throat when he tipped her to the surface of the sofa, bending over her and swooping down to claim her mouth in a scorching kiss. She opened her mouth and slid her tongue into his wet heat, exploring and teasing him, her hands winding around his neck and holding him close as they somehow managed to reposition themselves along the sofa.

  Charity arched her back and rolled her body up against him, his hardened arousal pressing firmly against her thigh. Nico took control of her mouth with his own and lifted himself enough to slip his hand up to slid beneath her top and cover her breast. He kneaded gently and brushed his thumb possessively across her beaded nipple.

  His rumble of appreciation was complemented by Charity's sigh. Nico brushed his lips against hers one more time before lifting himself to meet her eyes. Sapphire blue stars bored into his simmering gaze, equally filled with desire and need.

  Charity waited with baited breath as he surveyed her, evidently he found the confirmation he was looking for because the side his mouth quirked up in that cocky smile she was so used to seeing. Nico pulled her shirt out of his way before he dipped his head again licking at her throat before moving to taste her breast. Her scent filled his brain, drove a hungry need that he’d never felt before into his stomach.

  “Mmm, Nico, use your teeth.” She whimpered clutching at his shoulders as he obeyed, scraping his teeth along the base of her breast, his tongue leaving a faint sheen of moisture over the soft mound.

  He worked upward towards her nipple and upon reaching it suckled it into his mouth biting down hard enough to curl her toes. She went wild beneath him exploding off the sofa to wrap herself around him, grinding her damp sex against his jean covered crotch. Nico groaned, returning the favor and barely holding himself together.

  “I need you,” he groaned against her breast. “This is where I should carry you off to the bedroom…”

  “I got feet…I’m good,” she whispered, somehow finding standing a little more wobbly than normal, her hands taking his and waiting while he lifted the cane and moved with her toward the bedroom. “I…Nico…I don’t know…I’m pretty sure I…”

  “I bought protection, Charity…just in case…” Nico told her, stopping next to the bed and letting the cane lean there, his palms up and on her face, his mouth down hard and hungry against hers. “God, you smell good…and taste good,” he murmured, his mouth trailing bites and tasting licks along her throat. “Take off your shirt for me…”

  Charity let her fingers go to the buttons on his shirt first, opening them and pushing the sides down his arms. Neither of them bothered noticing it on the floor as she crossed her arms and pulled the tee shirt over her head, letting it fall to join his at their feet. A shiver ran through her when he lifted one hand, gentle fingers tracing along the lace holding her breasts concealed.

  “Hmm…”

  “I sense fireflies,” he teased at the gleam in her eyes as she twisted one arm behind her, the straps of nylon gliding forgotten down her arms.

  “I wonder if this means you are involved with a woman who strips for you,” she asked with a deep chuckle, her hands up and gently pushing him back on the bed.

  “The key words there…strips for me,” was his husky reply, fire coursing through him at the teasing gleam in her eyes. Unconsciously, he felt himself tense up when she reached for his jeans.

  She looked up when he stopped her hands on the buckle of his jeans. “Nico?”

  “I…Charity…” he stretched his leg out, struggling with a bit of vanity he’d been struggling with since the damage to his leg.

  “It’s okay, Nico…let me do this…” She dropped soft kisses over his throat, onto his chest and down the center of his rib case. She opened the button on his jeans, her palms gently stroking over the hard erection just beneath the fabric. She parted the sides and carefully pulled the jeans down his legs, her soft fingers barely caressing the thick scars and dents just below his left knee. She dropped the jeans and climbed onto the bed, stretching out next to him.

  “The drawer…on the nightstand…” He said gruffly, his palm up and stroking down the slender, arched spine to the lace resting on her hips.

  Charity twisted slightly, reaching blindly inside and surfacing with three foil packets that she dropped to the surface. She turned back to him, her palm beginning at the flat plane of his stomach. She felt his breath catch as her hand moved lower, fingers slipping inside the band of his boxers.

  He thought he’d lose his mind when the soft center of her palm stroked over him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this hard, this hot and this alive.

  Charity felt like purring, stretching out at his side and pressing her chest against him while her hand traced around and down and over, savoring the pure male sounds rippling through him with each touch.

  She stared up at him when he moved, tumbling her to her back and running one heavy palm over her face, his mouth down hungrily to take them both as near the edge as possible. His palm roamed, caressed and aroused her, their groans mingling in the steam build inside the room.

  Nico ran his hand down her body to spread her open. Charity fixed her eyes on his as he fingered her folds exploring her entrance with the pads of his fingers. Short gasps broke free of her lips when he dipped inside to test her readiness her eyes just about rolled back in her head.

  “Nico…oh, god…that feels so good…”

  He reached over her, fumbled with the packet until he was sheathed and hotter than ever. He moved carefully on his knees, the head of his sex lodged against her entrance. His fingers moved up to caress her clit. She saw stars.

  "Please!" She begged. She felt the coiling tension, a new alive sensation that began sweeping her along for what promised to be a wild ride.

  Nico sunk his teeth into the joint of her neck and shoulder and slowly began forcing himself into her tight entrance. She couldn’t remember, but he knew. He knew the instant he felt the taut, hot center of her. He was in heaven, and judging by the way Charity was writhing and clenching under him so was she. He felt her hands on each of his arms, tight fingers digging in as his fullness filled that soft, creamy depth.

  Charity wasn’t sure what to expect. A small part of her was tense, quaking even a little at her decision. She had no place in her memory for this feeling, for this fullness or the spiraling swells of euphoria that swept through her. She came almost immediately when Nico began thrusting himself into her.

  The sensations of his teeth at her throat, his finger on her clit, and the slow hard slide of his erection into her made the orgasm an intense one. She felt like she was shattering into a million pieces from the center of her belly outwards to the tips of her fingers.

  When she came back to herself Nico was seated fully into her licking and kissing gently at the indentations his teeth had left in her skin. He quivered against her for a moment, trying his best not to rut like the animal he wanted to be.

  “Ready for more?” Came the low, seductive inquiry, his breath and words rippling over her flesh. He knew she was tense and also knew her body wasn’t familiar with this exercise. He could feel her heat and knew every time she flexed her muscles with every ripple coursing through her.

  Charity rolled her hips experimentally. Arching her back and p
ulling him a little tighter, the muscles surrounding him clenched and hungry. Most definitely.

  “Nico? I won’t break…Don't hold back. Take what you need,” she said, giving him permission to forget manners and being gentle. They could be gentle later.

  Nico took her lips in a rough bruising kiss before he drew back and plunged into her with a shout. He settled into a rough, deep and primal rhythm as old as time, and Charity loved every second of it.

  He gathered her close to him with his hands clenching her behind and she opened her thighs wide tilting her hips upwards allowing his cock to bury deeper into her warmth. She felt a deep pulling sensation before tumbling over the edge of her orgasm, coming with a husky sigh of satisfaction and amazement that her body could bring such pleasure to her.

  Nico felt her tighten up, and freeze for a moment right as her climax struck her. Then her walls began convulsing tightly around him. He thrust twice more into her depths before succumbing to his own orgasm, pulsing deeply into her, and hugging her to his chest. Long moments passed as they lay clinging together, sweat and bodies cooling slowly.

  “Tell me you’re alright,” Nico whispered against her throat when he returned to the bed, the blankets pulled over them and his hand possessively pulling her against him in the night.

  “I think I’m better than alright,” she returned, wiggling against him and giggling.

  “Charity…this isn’t a regular activity for you,” he said quietly, the feathery strands of her hair soft against the side of his face. He liked being curled around her, holding her safe.

  “No…” she agreed after a few quiet minutes. “No…I can feel that it isn’t…”

  “But you’re okay…I didn’t hurt you….god, I didn’t want to…”

  “Nico…I’m okay…honest…I think…it feels a little tender…I don’t want to say sore because then you’ll go all doctor on me…” She teased softly. “And you won’t give me what I want…”

  She heard him growl in her ear and was worried until he started nibbling a path from her ear to her mouth making her shiver and break out in goose-bumps. He slept naked, and the feeling of skin on skin was delicious.

  If sleep was on the agenda, someone forgot to send out the memo, she thought drowsily a short while later. That time he had been slow and tender and maddening until she was biting into his shoulder as he nibbled and licked at her body. She was working on gathering her senses when she felt him reach for the nightstand and pull her over him, helping her slid along and bury him inside her with a low, plaintive groan dragged from them both.

  She snuggled against him when he returned to the bed a while later, her leg over his and their feet touching as she drifted off to sleep finally.

  Not a quickly alert type, Charity knew her brain was puzzling over the heavy weight at her waist before it moved on to ponder the heated breath against her shoulder. Not to mention that one of her legs was sandwiched between two others that were a little on the need to shave side, she thought.

  “Quit squirming,” came the rough growl against her shoulder blade.

  Charity sighed thickly and let her eyes close again. Until the pounding began on the door.

  Chapter Seven

  “Why can’t we wake up like a normal couple with an alarm clock?” She asked drowsily, her hand up and brushing stray hair from her face before rubbing at her eyes tiredly.

  “Shhh…maybe they’ll go away,” Nico liked the warm softness wrapped against him and wasn’t in any hurry to give it up.

  Charity sighed and listened to Nico mumbling against her shoulder.

  “Don’t move. I will be right back,” he ordered, shoving his legs over the side and grabbing up his jeans, still mumbling.

  “You said that yesterday…” She said, trying to look compliant when he turned an arched eyebrow at her. “Good grief…I got clothes all over the room…”

  “Yeah…I noticed,” he said, his expression softening and his sigh contented. He grabbed the cane and headed toward the noise coming from the front door, his voice hard. “I’m coming, damn it!”

  “Detective Carlton,” the man said when the door was pulled wide. He held the badge up until the man blinking behind a pair of lenses looked up expectantly. “I’m looking for Amelia St. James. Can I ask who you are?”

  “Can I ask how the hell you got inside the locked employees and residents only gate?” Nico returned, leaning heavily on the cane, he sighed and dropped his head when he felt the small palms on his waist. “Charity…”

  “A detective?” Came the small voice, her head against his arm.

  Nico looked to the side, the red hair was in a feathery mass of disarray. He did remember his hands caught in the thick hair numerous times during the night, so he figured part of the disarray was his fault. Her lips were pressed against his bicep, pale lashes tickling a bit when she blinked.

  “Am I in trouble?”

  “What do you want, detective?” Nico asked, sighing thickly and deciding he might as well just give up.

  “I’d like to talk to you, Miss St. James. If you have a few minutes?”

  “My name is Charity Colton,” she said firmly, wishing the sleep would leave her eyes and they would focus.

  The detective felt his jaw set a little tighter.

  Nico saw the frustration in his face. He didn’t want to be here anymore than they wanted him here, he realized, his own frown curious.

  “Give us twenty minutes, detective. We’ll meet you in the resort restaurant for breakfast,” Nico told him, accepting the man’s nod and closing the door when he turned to leave.

  “Why do the police want to talk to me?” Charity frowned up at the shadow that filled his cheeks.

  Nico looked from the bare toes, painted a bright orange and crossing over one another; the long, bare legs that topped out and disappeared into his shirt, the edges barely held together by the single button she’d latched.

  “I guess we’ll know in twenty minutes,” he told her, shrugging and taking her palm, leading them back to the bedroom. He looked around at the collection of clothing on the floor. He groaned when she began gathering things, bending over and sending the male in him into fast alert. The shirt could only cover so much.

  “I suppose…” She began getting dressed, handing him his shirt and watching him walk into the bathroom shaking his head. She looked at the surface of the nightstand, the three empty packets reminding her of the muscles that protested now and then. But the other parts of her remembered the really nice feelings that he brought to life in her body.

  Charity sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her boots into place when he came out of the bathroom.

  “You’re angry at me,” she said quietly.

  “I…” Nico met the wide blue eyes and shook his head. “No…I’m pissed at the people throwing themselves into our mornings.”

  “Which they wouldn’t be doing if I hadn’t been beaned with a rock,” she said quietly. “You probably had a nice, normal life until then. You don’t have to go talk to him, you know. I can deal with it.”

  “Charity…I have a nice normal life and it has you in it,” Nico pulled her to her feet and lifted her hands to his shoulders. “You can’t remember. So we deal with it together. I’d been working on my nerve to ask you to have dinner with me before you were beaned in the head,” he told her, laughing at the surprise on her face.

  “Really?” Childish delight filled the single word.

  “Hmm…we usually leave the apartment at the same time,” he told her, stepping back and finished dressing, tucking his shirt in and looking for shoes. He tossed the shoes he wanted to the living room, found socks and walked with her to the other room. She had cleaned up the empty packets on the night stand but he needed to remember to resupply before they returned. “Every morning, you come running down the stairs, you never take the elevator. I’m usually in the cart, ready to pull out when you flash that sexy smile at me and take off across the parking lot toward the employee entrance. I was
n’t sure how to slow you down…”

  Charity laughed, fingers raking the red feathery hair into a semi neat place. “Guess you never thought of a rock,” she quipped, sighing and straightening her shoulders, her lashes down for a quiet minute. “My stomach hurts.”

  “I wondered when that was going to hit,” he said softly, taking her palm and walking with her to the door. “Let’s get it over with. Then we deal with whatever it is, okay? Once step at a time.”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything. She also knew she was giving herself a headache trying to force memories. Charity let her gaze sweep the man standing near the entrance to the restaurant. He wasn’t as tall as Nico, and held a little more weight on his frame. He looked older, but that could be his life style wearing on him, she thought, meeting the dark, empty eyes that watched her.

  “You aren’t a detective,” she said quietly when the waitress had led them to a table and left them with the breakfast menu.

  “I’m with the police, just a little higher than your basic street level detective,” the man admitted after staring into her eyes for a long, silent minute.

  “They pressured you to come speak to me,” Charity continued, not breaking eye contact. “I think it bothered you that I wasn’t alone for this meeting.”

  Nico felt the tension in him tighten another notch when the man actually appeared guilty at her accusation. He saw the man’s dark lashes narrow slightly as he continued to appraise Charity.

  “Why are you here, Mr. Carlton?” Nico asked flatly, tossing the menu to the side and leaning back in his chair.

  “To issue a personal request that she return to San Francisco,” he said simply.

  “Someone sent you…” Charity repeated her thought slowly.

  “You have very influential parents,” he returned with a tip of his head.

  Charity was silent, placing her order and waiting until they were alone again. He didn’t place an order.