by Amy Brent
“You’ve never taken a girl anywhere on a date around here?” Mallory asked him as she watched him shrug.
“You’ve heard some things. No, I never have. Nobody has made me want to spoil them the way I do you.” De clan told her as he reached across the table and stroked her hand. “Your friend gave me quite the warning today over my rushed lunch. She’s something.”
“I am so sorry about that. She’s protective of me to a fault sometimes.” Mallory apologized as he smiled dimly for a moment.
“As am I. I like that she’d guard you so fiercely and respect her greatly for that.” De clan told her as a deep frown crossed his face. “You don’t have a lot of people in your life that you’re close to, do you?”
“I…I have Ray and her family. They’re my family and I have a few friends, but no…I’m not the girl that has twenty close friends and always goes out. This is a pretty big night for me, to be honest.” She blushed and shook her head. “I mean in just going out as much if not more than being with you here. I don’t know why you want me but I’m glad that you do.”
“Do you want me as well?” Declan asked her before the waiter approached to take a drink order. He ordered a white wine and then met her gaze with a hooded one of his own.
“I’m scared but I do. I don’t take this lightly, De clan. I am not just a one- night girl.” Mallory told him in a whisper as he smiled at her.
“You could never be just that to me. Something is changing for me, Mallory. I don’t think like that now.” De clan told her as she leaned forward and he cleared his throat. “Give us just a moment? We haven’t made it to the menus yet.” Mallory realized that he was talking to a waiter as she blinked slowly and glanced down. She picked up the light brochure and flipped it open as she tried to focus on the choices rather than the lust racing through her body as she trembled.
She selected salmon and De clan the special before he glanced around to make sure that they were alone again. “I don’t want you to fear any of your feelings with this, with us. I am all in myself so we can be scared together.”
She told him more about losing her parents in the plane accident and how she was shifted around to family members that didn’t want to deal with teenager, which left her alone a lot and moving to different places. Mallory had grown up a shy girl after that since she’d lost everything that she’d ever known and was adjusting to the fact that she’d lived with Rayna since she was eighteen. Four years in one place felt like forever after what she’d been through. She blamed the weight gain on some of that since food was a comfort for her but also on the fact that she’d always been curvy. Mallory wasn’t meant to be small and petite like Rayna was. She learned every day to be comfortable with herself and to put some of the cruel things that she had been told over the years behind her.
They were eating as they talked and he shook his head with an angry look on his face. “Nobody should have ever criticized you, Mallory. You’re a beautiful girl and I will spend every day telling you so.”
“I won’t have to tell you that, will I? I think it’s been said since you were born.” He looked like a model tonight with his hair gathered back in a loose ponytail and his cheeks defined in the candlelight from the table. His eyes studied her closely and he licked his bottom lip slowly as she watched him carefully.
“Not the way that you say it, no. Your eyes tell me much more than the words ever could and I know that you mean all of it.” De clan told her as she widened her eyes and shook in her seat. “I hope you see the same in my face.”
“I see so much in your face.” She admitted as she turned pink and slowly ate a bite of her fish. “I haven’t had a lot of relationships and no man has ever made me feel like you have in such a short time. It terrifies me a little.”
“You deserve it so much more than you’ll ever understand.” He told her sadly as she met his eyes.
They talked about his grandparents who lived in a big house on Pebble Beach, near to where the break in of the coach had occurred. De clan had insisted that they update their alarm system immediately right after he’d been told the terrible news, thankful that they had agreed. They adored their only grandson and made sure that he was taken care of as he pursued his dreams. “So many people see the cars and think that I’m just this rich kid that has a smart family. I do have that but I’ve been through the wringer to get here where I am now. I know the inside of the company and I respect it. I might take it over when I need to and put other things aside as far as sports or school…but not my relationship. I have not had any of those here but I value them too much to disregard them that way.” He pushed his plate away and drained the last of his only glass of wine slowly. She’d had the rest and Mallory was feeling pretty giddy as she reached across the table to take his hand. “Would you like to go somewhere now that we’ve finished?”
Mallory looked down at the table as he stroked her skin gently with his thumb while they waited for the check. He dropped a card into the thick folder and looked into her face as they waited.
He signed off on what must have been a very expensive dinner with the wine and tip before he stood and held out his hand. Mallory took it as he helped her out of her chair with a giggle as she pressed against him with a small stumble. She slid her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes before she pulled him down to her for a slow kiss. “I like the Mallory that does that kind of thing.” He told her as he kissed her again slowly to part her lips with his and trace her mouth with his tongue. “Don’t be scared of anything.”
They walked out to the car and he looked around carefully as she watched him. “Declan?”
“This happening so close to what occurred with coach makes me feel so many things. I want to guard you closely and never let anybody hurt you because I never want to feel what he is right now. I want to always have you with me so I know that you’re safe. I’ve never felt like this.”
He ushered her into the car before getting in on his side and starting the engine, insistent that they be warm and safe. “I can’t be with anybody all of the time, right? I went through a phase after my parents died where I clung to anyone that I was staying with. I was so scared and insecure and it just drove me out of that house faster than it was already happening. I still feel that way…sometimes. I just step back and tell the people I care about that I love them and try to be happy with that.” She told him as he backed out of the parking space. “You should too.” She reached her hand across the car and rested it on his thigh. “I’d like to see your house.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Are you sure?” Declan asked her in a soft voice as he watched her nod.
“I am so sure.” Mallory promised him as he pulled out of the lot and turned right. He drove into the good part of town as she stared forward and felt the high off of the electricity in the car. It was overwhelming and she breathed in the air as she smiled widely. “I want you so much.”
“I want you all over my house…my bed, my table, my couch. This will only go as far as you want it to, Mallory.” Declan spoke in a serious voice as she smiled at him. “No matter how tonight ends; I am all in with you. I don’t have any expectations of you at all.”
She stroked him gently as he drove and memorized the feel of his muscles tensing. He pulled down a wide street and then another small one and into a long wide driveway in front of what looked like a big storybook cottage. “This is so cute.” Mallory told him as she looked over at him.
“Grandma bought it for me from her friend. She loves it.” Declan admitted as he leaned over to kiss her while he pushed the garage door button. He glanced up enough to pull in and claimed her lips hungrily as the heavy door closed behind them. She tilted her head hard to let him deepen it and dragged her tongue across his as they both moaned.
Declan held her face in his as they kissed again and again, some long and some careless. He pulled away and stared her in the eyes as he took a deep breath. “Let’s go inside. I need more room with you.”
He
pulled her inside to a sunken living room with dark leather couches spread over the hardwood floor with a big stone fireplace on the wall opposite the television set. “Living room.” He kissed her hard as he pulled her close. “Kitchen over there. Three bedrooms with two on the first floor and the master upstairs with a loft that I use as an office.”
“It’s gorgeous.” Mallory told him as she tugged him closer to her and kissed him with her open hungry mouth as he gripped her hips. “I love it.” She felt herself pulled forward and yelped as she was pulled down over him on the couch, against all of his hard muscles and heat. Mallory kissed him harder as they molded together, feeling him press against her needy core as she rocked slowly and held on tight. He felt big and she closed her eyes as they began to move together, tongues and lips matching the rhythm of their bodies as they thrust together slowly.
She knew that her skirt was rising but didn’t care as he slipped his hands down to cup her thighs with another deep kiss. De clan gripped her tightly as he moaned into her mouth and she held onto him tighter. “Deck. Oh, that feels so good.” The angle was perfect as she moved against him, so heated that she was ready to explode. He held her tighter and thrust up and against her as she felt something start to unravel inside of her. She lost herself in the orgasm as she gasped against his lips in a kiss. Mallory felt like coming out of her own skin and she shook in his embrace as she tried to catch up with her body.
He slipped her cardigan off and dropped it to the floor as she let her arms fall down weakly as he held her steady. Mallory felt him kiss her lips again before he brushed them over her jaw softly. She found the strength to hold onto him again as she pulled his mouth against her. De clan slid his hand down to the hem of her shirt and push it up slowly as he pressed his lips to the bare skin of her chest.
Mallory shoved it over her head and it joined her sweater as he pushed her back against the soft leather of the seat. He pressed his lips to the lace of her bra as his hands slid over her stomach and just underneath her breasts.
She tore at his tie and shirt before he pulled off her skirt and tights with her permission. His muscular chest was hot as he pressed against her in another kiss while she tried to slide her hand between their bodies. Mallory stared down as he unhooked her bra and took one of her deep pink nipples into his mouth with a hard suck as her hand cupped his hard cock through his pants. He choked as he pulled away for a moment before looking at her. “I am so ready to come for you, Mallory. Watching you…it was everything to me.”
He cupped a breast in one hand as he slipped the pants open for her to grasp him. De clan sucked on her other nipple for a moment before he kissed down her stomach and spread her thighs apart. “You smell so good.” He slipped the lace to the side as he leaned down to press his lips to her as she arched her back against him. “You’re so wet with cum for me.” His tongue darted over her folds and flicked her clit and she cried out and gripped his head. His hair was long since loose now and she buried her fingers in it as he continued to lick and suck on her at a frenzied pace.
Mallory came again just as hard as before, surprised with how long it lasted as he coaxed her through it with his mouth. She dropped her head back as he slipped her panties down her weak legs and moved to sit back against the cushions with a deep breath. Mallory struggled to lift her head to see the glistening on his lips from all of his work before she dropped it again. “I’ve never felt that way with anyone before. You’re so good.”
Mallory forced herself to move up before she slowly crawled over Declan to kiss him hard as she ate her taste off of his lips. He had been bare under his pants and she felt him pressing against her as she murmured to him through her kisses. “I want to do everything to you…with you. I want you so badly.” Mallory told him as she leaned down to kiss his neck and bite at him.
She ended up going down on him as she drifted down his body. Mallory felt him all the way in the back of her throat, something that was new to her but so good that she never wanted to stop. He held onto her head as he thrust up against her with soft moans and cries before he told her that he was going to come in a soft whisper. Mallory drank him in as he released with slow thrusts, drunk with desire over the man under her as she breathed in the smell of his come and his sweat.
She vaguely remembered him lifting her and taking her upstairs as he kissed her hard before he pushed her back onto a bed. He ran his hands through his hair as he looked down at her in the glow of his soft amber light and reached into the drawer for a condom. He didn’t ask if she needed that but it was what he always did with women. “I want to be inside of you. Can I, Mallory?”
She scooted back on the soft comforter as she took in his perfect muscular form with hungry eyes. “Please. I need you, Deck.”
He slipped the condom on with shaking hands as she stared at him, finally moving between her legs as he kissed her neck and down to her nipples again as she begged him to make love to her. Declan slowly slid inside of her as she moaned and wrapped her legs around him tightly while she got used to his thickness. When he was buried all the way inside of her, Declan pulled back and slipped back in again as she rocked against him. He told her how good she felt as they moved together and she whispered back to him as they kissed desperately through their joined releases. She pulled him close as he dropped on top of her heavily, his breath ragged as she stroked his hair.
“I’m yours, Mallory.” Declan told her softly as she took a breath and smiled.
“I am all yours. I’ve never felt better.” Mallory told him as she felt his lips against hers.
They spent the night in his bed as they alternated between dozing and coming back together in new ways to feel each other. Mallory knew that her family here didn’t care as long as they knew that she was safe and who she was with so she threw herself into the night with him and allowed herself to fall for him slowly and quietly.
They were a couple by the next morning and while it was sudden, it was heady and wonderful. There was no lack of jealousy and comments from women around the campus but she was too crazy about him to care. Mallory met his friends and his team, comfortable at the games as she watched him coach the guys that were his age with an intensity that often paid off later in bed. He turned her on with his confidence and his ease in life.
She also saw a soft side when she would see him with the coach that he was replacing as he spoke closely with him as concern flooded his face. She knew that he held back somewhat with her, but Declan was insistent that she always spend the night with him and always be near him whenever they were together. He was very quick to claim her in any situation and sometimes she thought he acted a bit too intense.
“Are you insecure with me?” Mallory asked him one night in bed as she was tangled with his naked limbs after rough lovemaking. “You know that I’m yours.”
“I also know that you’re beautiful and that others see that.” De clan argued with her as she stared at him with a hard gaze.
“I am in love with you, Deck. Nobody else could compare to this.” Mallory told him before she gasped. They were only two months into this and she hadn’t meant to release that yet. “Too soon?”
“I love you too. I am in love with you.” De clan told her as he pushed her back to kiss her hard while she pulled him closer. “Baby, you’re my everything.”
CHAPTER SIX
Declan met her family and spent Sundays there for dinner several times over the next few months. They all loved him and Mallory could see that Rayna really believed in them with every visit. Mary was over the moon with Declan and while she embarrassed him sometimes, it was very sweet.
She also met his grandparents and was immediately part of the family and just as in love with them within a couple of dinners.
Spring turned into Fall and he started to play rugby again, something that she could not get enough of as she watched him in action. The other coach seemed to be adjusting back to regular life and Declan breathed a sigh of relief as the games turned into victories and
a positive feeling among the team members.
They planned their holidays around their families, joined at the hip at this point. They went to dinner on the first night of the break and celebrated by falling into bed right when they arrived back at his house. Mallory was on top of him as he reached into the drawer and came up empty. “Damn it. I’m out. Want me to go to the store? I need to fuck you.”
“No, I want you too badly. It’s just the once and I started pills a little bit ago. We’ll be fine.” Mallory assured him as she slipped over him and looked down to where they were joined. “God, nothing between us feels good.”
“Slick, hot, wet. You feel fucking incredible.” Declan told her as he thrust with her and stroked her nipple with his thumb. “Baby, harder. Ride my cock.” She did, her head thrown back as she took him hard and fast on the center of the mattress. He came first with a loud cry, releasing into her as she tightened around his cock and moaned his name. “I am so glad that we found each other. I love you.”
“I love you.” She smiled at him, so comfortable with who they were that he felt like he needed her again. He turned her onto her back as she grinned wickedly and spread her thighs apart for him to thrust inside of her hard and fast. They were both wet with come and their bodies slapped together almost violently as she reached around to pull him deeper. “Deck. Coming. So hard.” She cried out as she bucked wildly against him and closed her eyes tightly.
He knew that she was close and he thrust hard to join her as they came again neck to neck.
The night before Christmas Eve was the night that changed their lives. Coach Clint couldn’t handle the pain of the holidays without his family and shot himself in his father’s garage. Declan got the call and she had to hang up as he stared forward blankly. “Baby?”