“We were just kids. Barely knew anything about each other and decided being married would somehow change all that.”
“And did it?”
“Not exactly,” he chuckled acidly. Her heart pulled. “We made it through the first year without too much damage, despite what everyone said. But the second year, and then the third...” He shook his head and shrugged. “Found out not too long after our first anniversary she’d been sleeping around.”
Charis tensed again. The bitch.
“It wasn’t like she shacked up with just one asshole. No, she ended screwing every man who stepped foot into the restaurant. She was a waitress. I tended bar.”
Apparently, food wasn’t the only thing on the menu. “How did you find out?”
“We used to take our breaks and lunches at the same time. Then, she just stopped. Stopped spending time with me. Stopped going home with me. Stopped looking at me.”
Oh, David.
“She didn’t even try to hide it at the restaurant. On her breaks, she’d sit with her boy toy of the week right in front of me, flirting and whispering with him as I had to serve the asshole drinks.”
“What did you do?”
“I confronted her, of course. She promised to stop, but we both knew she wouldn’t.”
“And yet you stayed with her. Why?”
He shrugged, this time a bit easier. “I guess I loved her. Or maybe it was a pride thing. Maybe a little of both. I didn’t want to admit I’d made a mistake and have everyone tell me their ‘I told you so’s.” His expression changed. Part sad, part angry. Nope. Very angry. “By the end of the second year, I couldn’t stand her. She even threw her boyfriends in my face. Told me how much better they were in bed than me.”
“I doubt that,” she purred, leaning into him. She inhaled deeply, taking in his musky scent. Her mouth watered to taste his skin. Taking another deep breath as she inched closer, she continued to massage.
“I never touched her again after that.”
“How long did you two stay together?”
“Almost three years. By then, we hated each other. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was the joke with all her friends, my friends. I threw the ring into the ocean and moved to the other side of the country, joined TREX, and never looked back.” He shuddered under her palms.
Charis wanted to pull him into her arms and show him not all women would betray him like that. “Any kids?”
“No, thank God. Don’t get me wrong,” he was quick to amend. “I love kids. But for a kid to be brought into a situation like that...poor thing would have needed therapy for years.”
She slid her arms around his neck and nuzzled his skin, taking a deep breath. “My guess is you hate marriage now. Probably will never get married again?”
“Probably not.” He brought a hand up and covered hers, squeezing gently.
“My brothers have their idea of the ideal marriage material man for me.” Pulling back, she worked on some of the deeper muscles, applying more pressure as she went. With her job at a keyboard day in and day out, she had extremely strong muscles in her hands.
“And who would that be?”
“Not you, that’s for sure.” She laughed. “You’re TREX.”
“So are three of your brothers.” He lifted his gaze to hers through the mirror. “Who do they want for you?”
“Someone safe, boring.”
“Like an accountant?”
She liked the way he didn’t seem to approve of their choice for her, either. “Something like that.”
“So, what kind of man do you see yourself with?”
You. Someone exactly like you, David Snyder. “I haven’t given it much thought. He could be an accountant.” Or TREX spec ops. “Just as long as he did something a little more...eventful for fun. No Randys. And no Eriks.”
“Are you sure your brothers would approve?”
“You want me to work on your neck?” He nodded and she relished the thought of touching him more. “I don’t care what the amigos think. I choose who I want.” And I want you.
Another spasm and his neck released. He groaned. The sound sent shivers through her body. Her insides liquefied, lubricating her entrance.
Oh no. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something else. Football. Hockey. Uh...soccer. Nope, no good. All the sports involved men grunting and physical contact. Mmmm.
Stop that! She threw her eyes open and glanced in the mirror. Mortification slapped her cheeks when he stared back at her. His lips curled into a damn sexy grin. Focusing on his muscles, and oh mama! what fine muscles they were, she shifted her gaze to the back of his head. Oh no. Why would she possibly find the back of his head sexy?
“A little lower,” he rasped, his voice thick with lust.
She kneaded the middle of his back.
“Lower.”
Eyeing him, she went lower, this time her hands on the small of his back. “This low enough?”
“Almost,” he replied huskily.
She leaned in, her breasts aching to be closer to him, begging for his touch. The flannel scraping against her sensitive nipples made her whimper. He turned out of the chair. She swallowed, and when he raked his gaze over her, her knees slammed together to ease the ache throbbing between her legs.
He laughed gruffly and gave her another once over. “Your turn.”
She stepped back and looked into those bottomless brown eyes. They darkened with want. As they both stood there, losing each other in the moment, the world around them stopped. His gaze dropped to her lips. She licked them in response. He cupped her face, grazing his thumb across her bottom lip. She darted her tongue out, tasting him.
Taking the small step needed to close the gap between them, he pulled her into his arms and captured her lips with his, kissing her with savage intensity. Using his tongue, he parted her lips, dancing it with hers, and she melted into him.
Her clit, so swollen and sensitive, throbbed for attention. He started, ever so slowly, to unbutton her top. The coolness of the air as each button exposed her just a little more and nipped at her, increasing her want for him. He traced her skin so softly, so painfully gentle, she shuddered in delight, kissing him with unbridled urgency.
The crisp air wisped across her painful nipple, drawing a gasp out of her. “Oh God.”
Chuckling, he trailed soft kisses down her neck, across her collarbone, before taking a waiting pebble into his mouth. The warmth from his moist lips made her knees wobble. When he scraped his teeth across the sensitive marble, she cried out. “Are you trying to make me crazy?”
He ignored her and took the same path with her other nipple. It felt so good, even better than the first one. That tightness fisting her womb intensified, pulling her in deeper. He kissed the roundness of her breast and nuzzled beneath it. Caressing the other breast with his large hand, he pinched her nipple, drawing a whimper from her.
When she brushed across his thick cock, he tensed. She liked that. Reaching inside the elastic waistband of the PJs, she wrapped her fingers around his rigid shaft. It pulsed in her hand. Moving her hand up and down, stroking him slowly, tugged a groan from deep in the back of his throat.
He undid another button. The coolness in the air nipped at her midsection. She jerked rigid, ripping her hand out of his pants. Oh God. Oh no. He’ll see... She jumped back and pulled at the material to cover her abdomen, tears of humiliation in her eyes.
Please God. No. Not again. Her breath hitched as she choked on a sob. The way he looked at her, clearly confused as to how someone who scored a seven fully clothed fell into the negatives when naked, told her everything she needed to know.
She was too late. He already saw them. Closing her eyes, she turned away from him and held the shirt tighter around her. The fear and mortification hit her so hard she could barely breathe. The burning tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Charis?”
She shook her head, kept her face hidden behind her hair. Her entire body hurt, consumed b
y the indignity of her hideous appearance.
He gently touched her shoulder, tried to pull her toward him. She fought it, fought him. “What is it?”
Not able to drag a word past the lump in her throat, she shook her head again.
“Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed.”
Embarrassed. Ashamed. Terrified he’d take one look at her and run in the opposite direction. “Can we turn out the light?”
“No.” He tugged at the shirt, pulling her to him.
She stiffened, struggled. “Stop it.” She fought him. “Let me go.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed about.”
Tears stung her eyes and she squeezed them tighter, begging her emotions to get back in check. With her hands up against his hard chest, she tried to push away. It was like pushing a wall. “Please. Don’t.”
“Charis? Love, just look at me.”
Love? That didn’t help. Large tears of shame trailed down her face. Taking a deep breath to prepare her for yet another rejection, she opened her eyes and looked up at him.
His eyes, so full of such compassion and concern, made her breath catch. “Trust me when I tell you this. There’s nothing under this shirt that you have anything to be ashamed of.”
“But, they’re so hideous.”
He chuckled deep in the back of his throat as he shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers. The pressure squeezing her lungs loosened. “No, they aren’t. They’re beautiful.” He kissed her nose. “You are beautiful.”
Slowly, hesitantly, she relaxed. He opened the top and rested his hand on her flesh. Instead of cupping a breast, he traced the valley between them and trailed the flat of his hand down to her scars. And then he did the one thing she didn’t want him to.
He removed his hand and pulled back.
She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable gasp as he really got a good look at her. She closed her eyes.
But no gasp came. “Open your eyes, baby. Look at me.”
Charis did and fell captive to his gaze. His eyes never left hers as he reached out, hesitated. And then he flattened his hand across her scars. She tensed. When he gently brushed the road map that used to be her stomach, he finally dragged his gaze away from hers to study her midsection.
“Is this from the explosion?”
It tickled the way David traced the lines of her scars. A series of chills washed across her skin. “They used skin graphs from my torso to cover the damage done to my leg.”
Painfully slow and deliberate, he traced the scars on her belly. “Why in the world would you be embarrassed?”
“Look at them.”
“I am. I see heaven when I look at you.” He kneeled in front of her and brushed his lips across her scars. “I taste promises when I kiss you.”
She’d never had anyone say anything like that to her before, never had him focus on her scars like this.
“Your scars are a part of you, baby. Don’t hate them. Embrace them.”
“I can’t. It reminds me how close I came to dying.”
He continued to kiss and lick her belly. “All the more reason you should be proud of them. You survived. Let them remind you of that.” He ran his fingers down her leg, tracing her scars. When he trailed them up the inside of her thigh, she sucked in a breath.
“There aren’t any scars there,” she whispered when his fingers tickled the ends of her coarse hairs.
“Hmm. You sure?” Applying a little more pressure, he slid his fingers past her lips, touching the insides of her folds, running dangerously close to her hungry clit. “Maybe I should take a closer look.”
Her juices let loose when his breath, hot against her skin, hit her full force. As he parted her, opening her to him, she trembled. When he darted his tongue out, flicking her sensitive bundle of nerves, she cried and grabbed behind her for the chair just as her knees gave out.
She missed.
Apparently, they were further away from the chair than she thought. He caught her and lowered her to the floor, the entire time never breaking contact. He covered her clit with his mouth, pulling it in, sucking on it. It felt so good it almost hurt. Using his tongue, he thrust into her entry, lapping up her juices while at the same time drawing more out of her.
“You taste so good,” he murmured against her heated flesh. Moving back to the swollen nubbin, he flicked and licked, teased and tormented. The tension coiled up, tightening in her belly, stiffening her entire body. He inserted a thick finger into her aching channel, withdrew and replaced it with two.
The friction had her right there. Sucking her clit into his mouth, he gave her a final flick, pushing her over the edge. She came so hard, so intense, she actually saw little black dots in her vision. Reaching for anything to hold on to and finding nothing but carpet, she weaved her hands into his hair, holding on, riding her waves as he continued to lick and suck.
She bucked against him, unable to control her spasming muscles as her orgasm had her screaming. And he just kept flicking her clit, pulling wave after wave, her coil breaking over and over until she could no longer breathe. He raked his teeth over her swollen nerves, and she cried out his name. “David! Oh! David!”
“I love how you say my name,” he rasped.
“David!” She needed him to stop, to break this hold of sheer ecstasy he had on her before she passed out. “Please!”
“More?”
“No! I can’t.”
“Oh, love. You have so much more in you. You need to let it come out.”
She couldn’t. If she came again, she’d pass out. “Just. Wait.”
He moved back, looked at her with such hunger in those lustful eyes she wanted to bring him to the same heights. Panting, she easily pushed him down flat, reached back and brushed her hand across his engorged cock. “What happened to wait?”
Pulling his PJs down, she sprang his hard-on free. She eyed the drop of glistening pre-cum at the tip of his head. Lowering herself to the tip, she flicked her tongue out, lapping up the salty drip. She circled the tip with her tongue, sucking in the dribbles as they surfaced. She sucked him deeper into her mouth, tightening her oral grip. And then she started to move.
A guttural groan escaped from his lips. “Oh, Jesus. I can’t stand this, baby. Flip around.”
She stopped. “What?”
“Flip around. Let me taste you again.”
Not sure whether she could handle him tasting her again—she’d barely recovered from her last orgasm driving her close to unconsciousness—she slowly moved around so her knees were right above his shoulders.
“Like this?”
“Oh, yeah. You’re wide open to me. Lower your knees. Yeah, like that. Relax. I’m not going to bite you.” He chuckled and adjusted. When he kissed her tender flesh, she jerked. “Christ, woman! That means don’t bite me, either!”
Retracting, she kissed him softly, and then dragged her tongue up the enlarged vein, settling in by sucking him back into her mouth.
Tracing her inner folds, he drew circles with his tongue, teasing her. When he enclosed his mouth around her once more, she sucked in.
“Holy shit,” he moaned.
“Sorry.”
“No,” he corrected. “Do that again.”
She sucked hard. He lifted his hips, thrusting deep into her mouth. “Holy shit. That feels amazing.”
He took her into his mouth, nibbling and flicking, driving her so very close. She moaned against his flesh, and he groaned in response.
“Charis, I need you. Turn around. Let me have you.”
She thought he’d never ask. Positioning herself directly above his rigid cock, she sank down, lowering herself onto him. His dick pushed through her opening, filling her so completely she threw her head back with a whimper. It felt so good it wouldn’t take her much to come again.
“Oh. My. God.” He thrust up, grinding, burying himself until their coarse curls touched. Withdrawing, he did it again.
And threw her into another orgasm just
as intense as her first. She cried and bucked wildly. When she lost her ability to move at all, her climax taking over her control, he pumped hard, pushing her off the floor. As he roared his release, coming so deep inside her she swore she felt his hot seed spilling, he stiffened. When he lowered back to the floor, he shook as hard as she did. She fell alongside him.
Her blood was like syrup. All her nerve endings tingled in satisfaction. She lay there, not wanting to move, but the way the carpet scratched at her back, she didn’t want to stay on the floor. Glancing two feet to their left, she eyed the bed. Two feet. They didn’t even make it the whopping two feet to the bed. Instead, they had wild sex on the floor like animals. And she loved every erotic minute of it.
“That bed looks inviting.” David rolled to his side, pulling Charis to him. He nuzzled her neck, kissing and nipping at her flesh. Delicious chills washed down her back.
“Tired?” she asked. How did he do it? He’d left her perfectly sated and yet, the way he nibbled on her neck and chin had her ready to take him again.
“Hungry,” he countered. He captured her lips with his, tender and slow. Increasing the pace, he parted her lips with his tongue and tangled with hers until his hard cock pressed against her hip. He rocked his pelvis, upping the pressure, and she moved her hips in response.
He moved back, his lips red from their kissing, his eyes dark and sexy as hell. “If we don’t move this to the bed now, we’ll never get there.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Allowing him to pull her to her feet, they wrapped up in each other’s arms and fell to the bed, laughing.
FIFTEEN
David moved slowly, feeling every inch of his throbbing cock as it entered and withdrew, purposefully drawing noises out of Charis that drove him close to the edge. She hummed in the back of her throat, signaling just how close she was to another orgasm. He was already dangerously close himself.
They’d been making slow and lazy love for close to an hour. The digital alarm clock displayed almost five in the morning. They still had plenty of time to sleep. Later. For now, sleep was the last thing he wanted to do. He pushed his flesh deep inside her once more, moving his hips to give her the friction she craved.
Seek and Destroy (TREX, #5) Page 19