by Marie Harte
“In me,” she demanded.
But Foley wouldn’t be rushed. He kissed his way down to her breasts and took her nipple in his mouth. She pulled at his thick shoulders, wanting him naked too.
Instead, he toyed with the closure of her jeans. She toed off her shoes while he shoved down her pants and panties. He let go of her breast only to remove the rest of her clothes, then straightened.
She loved that she had to look up to meet his gaze.
“Turn around.” He didn’t give her much choice as he turned her to face the door. She heard his zipper go down.
“Wh-what are you going to do?”
“Hmm, what do you think?” He pressed against her, and she felt his erection along her backside. “I bet this would feel so good somewhere else, hmm?”
She instinctively thrust back against him, wanting him inside her.
He held her hips and ground against her, sliding that cock between her legs, through her cream, but not penetrating. “How about if I slip inside, just for a tease, before I put the condom on? How would that feel?”
Before she could answer, he plucked her clit with thick fingers, and she jerked back against him.
“Cheater,” she breathed.
His low laugh accompanied another push, but this time he bent his knees and positioned himself at the entrance to her sex.
“Fuck, that’s good.” He pushed in and out without penetrating more than an inch, not giving her nearly enough.
She rocked back to increase the sensation, then angled so he’d slide fully inside her.
He swore and continued to push, filling her up.
He stopped after an interminably long time and settled deep. Skin to skin. No condom.
Oh my God.
“Damn, Cyn. You feel so fucking hot.”
“So do you,” she moaned.
He slowly withdrew, only to slam inside her again.
She cried out, wanting more. She knew it was dangerous, having Foley in her without protection. Not fearing for disease as much as that she’d lose control and let him ride her into a potential pregnancy.
Yet she couldn’t stop herself from grinding against him, fucking him as much as letting him fuck her.
“Stop.” He grabbed her hips to still her and withdrew in a hurry. She heard him rip a packet and waited while he donned a condom. Then he spread her ankles for better access. “You want me? Want this?” He shoved back inside her so fast and deep he took her breath away.
The sensation was indescribable, and she teetered on the verge of orgasm.
He continued to take her, nothing slow or gentle about their connection. The fierceness of his claiming touched her, and when he grazed her clit with his fingers and shoved deep, he surprised a climax out of her, overwhelming her with sensation.
Foley muttered her name as he followed her into orgasm. He gripped her hips and emptied into her. As he brushed the backs of her legs, his jeans hit her skin.
The fact that he’d remained clothed while she’d been totally naked excited her anew. She clamped down on him, hard, and earned another groan from her skilled lover.
He stroked her back, petting her as he withdrew.
She turned to see him remove the condom and tuck himself back into his jeans. “Well, that was fun.”
He didn’t smile, didn’t joke. His intense gaze roamed her face and body, then rested on her mouth. “We’re just getting started. Get into bed and wait for me.”
He left, presumably to dispose of the condom, and returned without his shirt. She hadn’t moved, unable to do more than process her pleasure. He frowned at her while he stripped off his clothes. A large, muscular man covered in defining ink from his arms to his chest. She had never seen a man better put together than Foley.
“I said get in bed.”
“No.” She put her hands on her hips, trying to remain in control when her entire body wanted to curl into a ball and lay at his feet. “Make me.”
His eyes lit up. “Okay.”
In a heartbeat, he scooped her into his arms.
“Foley.”
The novelty of being carried shocked her into stillness, so that they reached her bedroom without a fight.
Before she could protest, he dumped her on the bed and followed her into it.
“You’re heavy,” she protested, though she craved his heat.
“You’re fine as shit.”
She grinned. “So romantic.”
“Yet so true. Look at those tits. That belly, those thighs. And let’s not forget that ass.” He licked his lips. “Time for fun with numbers.”
“Huh?”
“What’s after sixty-eight?” he asked then kissed her.
When she could reason again, she answered, “Sixty-nine?”
“My favorite number.”
When his meaning sank in, she blushed. She couldn’t help it. “Foley.”
His sexy smile faded. “I swear to you I’m clean. I’m planning to see the doctor right after Christmas to get a checkup and prove it, but until then, you have to take me on faith. Or not.” He sighed. “Hell, I’m game for anything you want. You have no idea how amazing it is to make love to you. Condom or no condom. I just want to make you feel good, okay?”
She shouldn’t trust him. He was a guy, and like all guys, sex came first, repercussions after. She knew she generalized, but her experience with men had sadly taught her this truth. Yet Foley was different. He looked at her and saw her, not just her breasts or her ass, though he seemed to like them well enough. He’d been so good with her nephews. A genuine caretaker, not a man out to make himself look good by pretending to like the boys.
Vinnie had hugged him. Alex had smiled at him.
Foley, a man she’d known not even two weeks, made her want. God, she’d claimed him as her boyfriend—a sexy, giving lover who treated her with respect while also letting her feel feminine. Desired.
She tugged him closer and kissed him, showing him how she felt. And he took it, kissing her back with a rawness, an honest passion, that held nothing back.
She broke from the kiss and whispered, “Turn around.”
He froze. “You sure?”
“You want me to change my mind?”
He moved so fast she had to laugh. And then humor was the last thing on her mind when he delved between her legs to kiss her. He straddled her head, that thick cock swinging over her. Already he’d grown semihard again, his balls large, like the man. She moved her arm out from his knee and gripped his thick shaft, positioning him at her lips.
Tense, he stopped all movement, then started eating her in earnest when she tugged him down, so that his erection slid into her mouth.
He groaned as he drew her to another raging climax, all the while pumping into her mouth, growing more difficult to contain, so hard and thick.
They strained, thrusting and moaning together, a shared experience of lust and affection and conviction that pushed Cyn into another world of pleasure. Granted the ability to truly care for a man she found worthy, one she’d trust with the most intimate level of her health and well-being, was a turn-on like no other.
Foley petted and stroked her, giving as much pleasure as he received. Until Cyn couldn’t bear any more. She sucked, drawing him into her mouth in deep pulls as she crested her orgasm, the rapture more than she could stand.
He followed, tensing and jetting down her throat while he continued to lick her into a shivery mess.
They lapped at each other until neither could move, done in by so much sensation.
Foley pulled away first and turned around, laying over her once more. Breathing hard, his lips slick, he stared down into her eyes and kissed her.
Then he rolled onto his back and took her with him. She felt his chest rise and fall, the beating of his heart beneath hers.
“Cyn. Baby.” He hugged her, then kissed her cheek. “You broke me. I mean, down to nothing. I don’t think I can move again. At all.”
She smiled against his chest. “Me too.”
He groaned. “I can feel those sexy breasts against me, and I can’t chub up. I mean, I want to. But I am done.”
“Again with all the love words.”
He chuckled. “I’ll give them to you. Just as soon as my brain starts working. Fuck me, but you have some serious skills.”
She heard him yawn. Between one heartbeat and the next, he slipped into sleep. She trembled, caught between the heat of his body and the cold sweeping over her back. Without waking him, she found a blanket and returned to bed, covering them in it.
She watched him for a while, seeing the tender side of Foley while he slept. Still a formidable man, a generous lover and rough-and-tumble fighter, but he looked boyish in his peaceable dreams.
“What am I going to do with you?” she whispered and stroked his hair.
He mumbled in his sleep and turned toward her, hugging her close. And for the first time in eight months, she succumbed to temptation and slept in a man’s arms. In her bed. Letting him inch piece by piece toward her heart.
* * *
When Cyn woke the next day, she found Foley staring down at her. “Morning.”
He didn’t speak.
She realized she no doubt had a bad case of bed head, in addition to dragon breath and a real need to pee. Darting out of bed and rushing to the bathroom in a hurry, she fixed her problems and returned to see him lying on his back, his hands linked behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.
“Good morning,” she said again and slid into bed next to him, hoping he hadn’t looked too hard at her in the light of day. She’d felt confident about herself last night, but this morning was a different story. Part of her, that ugly part she hated, wondered if he’d seen her true self and was disgusted that he’d succumbed to his libido. The realization that he’d once again slept with a fat chick couldn’t be pleasant. He’d had to push past her thick, fleshy thighs last night to get to her sweet spot. Inside, she cringed.
“I wish I knew what you were thinking,” he admitted.
To her consternation, the blanket over him grew tented.
She swallowed around a dry throat. “I guess I’m thinking my bed head and dragon breath hasn’t put you off.”
His slow grin worked its way past her insecurities. “Nah. I keep remembering you coming and sucking the life out of me. That’s got me seriously excited to see you again.”
He lunged for her and rolled her under him while she could do little more than shriek.
“God. You’re fast.”
He nuzzled her neck. “Maybe you should be more worried about me having dragon breath.”
Before she could reply, he kissed her.
“You taste like toothpaste. Cheater.”
“Damn right. No way I want you backing away from me after last night.” He kissed her again. “I got up before you and cleaned up a little. Hope you don’t mind I borrowed your toothpaste. Used my finger though. I swear I didn’t get cooties on your toothbrush.”
She made a face at him. “I didn’t think that.”
His expression softened. “Thank you, Cyn.”
“For believing you didn’t use my toothbrush?”
“For trusting me last night. It meant a lot to me.” He had to be referring to their unprotected sixty-nine.
She blushed, which was stupid because she lay naked under him—also naked. “It meant a lot to me too.”
He didn’t smile, didn’t make light of her confession or his. “I wish we didn’t have family crap to deal with. I want to spend more time with you.”
“Me too.” She swallowed. “But maybe this is good. We’re moving really fast.” At least, I am.
He nodded. “I know. I don’t usually go all out with a chick I just met. And you and I have only really been friendly for a week or so.” He sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. “But I know you in so many ways. It’s weird.”
She was giddy to realize he felt it too. That it wasn’t just her. “You’re weird,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood.
He pulled back. “Is that right?” He nudged the blanket wrapped around them out of the way.
Before she knew it, he angled between her thighs and pushed—right up into her.
“Oh.” She gripped his biceps, watching as his smile faded and he moved in and out of her. Even strokes that didn’t grow faster, even when her body tensed up and his breathing quickened.
“Come around me,” he said between pants. “I’ll pull out. I swear. But I want to feel you squeeze me when you come.”
Stupid, irresponsible, dangerous… Yet she trusted him, and she wanted to feel him in her this time when she rocked into sexual oblivion. She curled her legs around him and linked her ankles behind his back.
His face grew tortured, but he continued to move steadily, in and out of her. Then he ground against her pelvis and shoved hard, and she came, moaning his name.
He withdrew and pumped against her belly, leaving a mess while she shuddered, still awash in pleasure.
“No question,” he said, breathless. “You’re my early Christmas present from Santa.”
She stroked his back and unlocked her ankles. “Yeah, what you just said.” She cracked her jaw on a yawn. “And you once again wore me out. Just give me a few minutes…”
When she woke again, she found a note next to her on a pillow.
“Sorry I had to run, but I promised Sam I’d meet him for some last-minute shopping. Your present is on the table. Foley.”
Not a “Love, Foley.” Just “Foley.”
She could live with that for now.
Then what she’d thought hit her, and she wanted to smack herself. She had a boyfriend. One she cared for, she admitted. Why did she have to try to mess up a good thing with the l-word and thoughts of permanence?
She—
Wait. He left me a present?
She cringed at the stickiness on her belly and hurried into the shower. But the hot water lulled her into spending more time there. When she’d finished and dressed, the time read ten o’clock.
After making herself some eggs and coffee, she circled the small, prettily wrapped present on her dining table, wondering when he’d gotten her something. And why.
She felt bad that she had nothing for him, but their whirlwind romance had come on so suddenly. Nothing with Foley was a simple wham bam, I’m done. Every time with him had been fraught with feelings, emotional as well as sexual. To know he felt similarly affected…
She sighed. “Oh, Foley. You big goof. How am I falling so fast for you? Have I learned nothing from Jon? I’m not a stupid woman. Or am I?”
Cyn stared at the present for a good hour, mulling over when or if she should open it before Christmas.
Which was tomorrow.
Realizing how much she had to do before the big day, she hurried into her spare room, where a bunch of unwrapped presents awaited her attention. She also had a Christmas Eve dinner to prepare for. What the heck would she bring to Matt and Nina’s?
As she planned and wrapped, she kept thinking about that present on her table.
Foley, that big lug, had gotten to her.
And she had no idea what to do about him.
Chapter 12
Foley watched his mother unwrap another gift. This one a perfume she liked. Sam had bought it for her, and she exclaimed how much she loved it. Sam grinned.
Foley felt so incredibly relaxed and happy. He sipped his eggnog, wondering how life had gotten so good.
But then, good sex had that effect on a guy. Though he hadn’t talked to Cyn since yesterday, except to respond to her Merry Christmas text this morning, he couldn’t stop thinking
about her.
The woman had taken him into her body. Into her mouth. She’d swallowed him down. They’d been skin to skin. Man, that was some serious commitment on her part, he knew. And it meant the world to him.
He sighed and finished off the sweet drink, watching as Sam picked up the present Foley had bought for him.
Every Christmas, as was tradition, they slept over at his mother’s house, then had a casual breakfast and opened presents under her tree. Foley and Sam wore the pajamas she’d given them last night. Another tradition of opening one early Christmas gift, started because Eileen didn’t tolerate boxer shorts or holey underwear—not the religious kind, he thought with a grin—when taking pictures of opening gifts.
He’d already opened his stuff from Sam. A Darts for Dummies book, which secretly Foley planned to put to good use, and a brew kit to make his own beer. Just what he’d been dying to try. Trust Sam to be thoughtful in between being an ass. Man, he loved the guy.
“Hmm. Feels heavy.” Sam grinned at Foley.
“It’s a book for your big fat head.”
“Foley.” Eileen tried not to smile. “Be nice. It’s Christmas.”
“Mom, that was nice. I could have said for his fat fucking head. But I didn’t.”
“Good to know.” She sighed.
Sam and Foley laughed, and Sam opened up a gift that had been on his wish list for a long time. He marveled at the metal die cast of his dream car, a 1967 L88 Corvette, which had cost a pretty penny. “Damn, Foley. You even got the colors right.” Red with black interior.
“Not that hard to figure out. You’ve had the poster for the car since we were kids. And that picture on your chest is telling, dumbass.”
Sam smiled, and his joy gave Foley a full feeling, the good kind from eating fine food with people you love. Sam had never enjoyed the holiday season until Foley and Eileen had shown him what it meant to be a part of a real family. Even when Sam got bogged down with life, dealing with his bitch of a mother or issues of unworthiness and anger, Christmas normally brought out the happy kid in him, the one Foley and his mom had worked so hard to make shine.