The Right to Remain Mine

by Linda Kage

  He groaned, realizing his prophesy about burying his hands in her hair had come true. Holy shit, this was honestly happening. Willow DeVane was kissing him. Her soft lips pressed flush against his and her talented, wet tongue slid erotically over his teeth. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and her hot center scorched through his jeans, teasing his erection as if begging him to come out and play. The entire situation brought on a whole new meaning to wet dreams coming true.

  Marveling in the moment, he ditched her hair to run his fingers over her body, to feel her warm skin. Experimentally, he started with her arm, using his thumb to caress the softest inner part of her bicep. When she shivered and moaned, pressing closer, he went a little further, slipping his touch to the sides of her ribs to cup her waist.

  She ground herself against him, and his grip tightened reflectively around her hips, urging her administrations until she was dry humping him. Raith must've hit a sensitive spot because suddenly she gasped and pulled back.

  He opened his lids, bracing for her to return to her senses and fly off him in appalled realization. But she merely looked down at him, her big brown eyes wide like a startled doe.

  "What are you... Oh God." She flung her head back and groaned low and long. His body moved instinctively, arching up against her warmth, seeking relief. "Wait... how... I can't even stand you, Malloy." She panted as she curled her fingers around his shoulders and held on for dear life.

  Sweat beaded on his upper lip and popped out along his brow. "And here, I've been hopelessly in love with you for the past two years," he wheezed even as he slid his hands down, unable to stop touching. She was so soft. So smooth.

  She started to frown at him for his smart-ass retort, but at the edge of her shorts, he found warm skin and slid his palm up the back of her thighs until all ten fingers dived up into her shorts, under her underwear where he cupped her bare, taut globes. Her glare dissolved into a glazy-eyed gasp.

  "So we hate each other," he clarified, massaging the soft, heated flesh. "Want me to stop?"

  She squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to clear her head and think rationally. All the while, his hands took on a mind of their own. His fingers slithered along until he found heaven.

  Dipping her face back down to his, she kissed him with a renewed urgency that almost had him coming undone. She bit his bottom lip, bringing tears to his eyes when she gripped his hair.

  "Malloy," she gasped. "Oh, my God."

  "I want you. I want you. Now. Please, please don't say no."

  Later, he would bang his head against a wall for begging, but at the moment, he would do anything—say anything—just for a little more. This was his dream, his ultimate fantasy, becoming a reality. He didn't care how much trash talk she might give him afterward, all he wanted was to be inside her.

  It was a miracle upon miracles that she didn't laugh in his face and say, "Nice try, Malloy," in that cool, dry voice of hers and then oh, so casually crawl off him as if she would rather bed down with red ants.

  No. All she did was tug off his shirt and rasp, "Hurry."

  Following her lead, he stripped her top and had to pause when her high, rounded breasts bounced into view. "Mother of God," he groaned. Mouth already watering for a taste, he curled his fingers around her ribs and tugged her down, fitting his teeth over a ripe nipple.

  He kneaded one with his hand as his lips suckled the other, her ragged breathing urging him on. As he licked, she occupied herself by crawling out of her shorts and panties. He pulled back only when he realized she was completely nude. Needing to see this spectacular view for himself, he lifted his upper body enough to take in the entire show and rested his elbows on the floor behind him.

  "Jesus, DeVane," he breathed. She was too busy unzipping his jeans to notice how stunned and fascinated he appeared. But when he felt himself spring into the opening of his fly, he glanced down in time to watch her pull his swollen member into her waiting fingers.

  "Oh," she gasped in surprise. Her eyes flared wide and her mouth dropped open. "You're so..." She must've realized she was about to praise his size because her gaze snapped to his in shock. "Average," she finished lamely.

  Countless women had admired his massive girth in the past, but DeVane's reluctant appreciation flattered him the most. He chuckled, glad she approved. But the sound strangled in his throat when she wrapped her sweet hand around him. Attempting to hold himself back, he closed his eyes and tensed his muscles, waiting for that first moment to feel her embrace him and slide home. His fingers curled into the carpet, wishing he could hold onto something. Anything. Her.

  He held his breath, straining and yearning. The sweat trickled off his temple and into his ear; he barely heard her whisper his name. Eyes popping open, he stared up into her pale, frozen face. She was going to stop; he just knew it.

  He reached out to hold her in place and beg her, offer her anything to stay.

  But she merely choked out, "Do you have a condom?"

  He was so shocked he could only stare at her for a minute. Then he laughed. "Shit, I forgot."

  Never in his entire life had he ever forgotten protection. Always prepared, he kept a foil package in his wallet for any sort of surprise encounter, just like this one in fact. He had to admit, though, as he twisted around to yank the wallet from the back pocket of his jeans—which were still pooled around the lower portion of his legs—this had to be the first impromptu sex of his life. And it was going to be with Willow DeVane, of all people.

  He must've made someone up above very happy. His stars had to be aligned in their proper place. He didn't know. But this was the luckiest moment of his life. And it scared the hell out of him.

  Cash and credit cards flew from his billfold as he fumbled. So nervous he dropped the package twice from his suddenly slippery fingers, he cursed under his breath.

  "Hurry," DeVane urged, grabbing it from his hand.

  "Hey," he said and snatched the package back.

  She treated him to an irritated look. "Well, you were taking too long." Frowning, she reached out again.

  He held the condom away from her. "And this is saving time, how?"

  "Oh, my God," she railed. "Will you just hurry?"

  When he realized she wasn't going to fight for possession again, he started to rip the foil open.

  "What's the big deal, anyway," she muttered, climbing off him.

  Raith dropped the rubber in order to catch her and keep her from leaving. "No one touches my condoms but me," he rushed to explain. He wanted her to understand. "I've heard too many horror stories."

  No sooner did the words leave his mouth, though, than he realized his explanation only made him look worse.

  Spearing him with a glower, she struggled to break free a second time. "Just what do you think I was going to do? Poke a hole in it? Yeah, because I sooo want a bunch of rude, arrogant little Malloys running around." She laughed out a harsh snort and then stopped suddenly, only to smack one of his hands still wrapped around her waist. "Let go!"

  He did, lifting his palms away from her in a show of surrender. His heart plummeted as she crawled off him and gathered her clothes from the floor in one swoop. "I must've lost my mind," she muttered more to herself than to him. Hurrying to her feet, she stared down at him and shook her head sadly. "I cannot believe I almost did that with you of all people. I just... I can't believe it."

  Turning swiftly, she hurried from the room. Raith didn't bother to move. He could only stare in defeat as he watched her perfect, bare butt race away. Then he fell back, thumping the back on his head on the floor and whispering a curse.

  His shirt lay halfway across the floor, his pants remained wadded around his ankles, and his erection throbbed out a silent scream of denial. But he wilted there, immobile, and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. He'd been so close. Willow DeVane had been on top of him, actually frantic for it, and he'd gone and messed it up.

  He had to be the dumbest man alive.

  ~ * ~

  Wha
t a total jackass!

  Willow's hands shook as she tugged on her clothes in the hallway, barely out of sight of Malloy. Horrified, embarrassed, completely aghast, yet still too horny to function properly, she couldn't believe she'd just about had sex with him, couldn't believe the way her body still blushed and tingled from his touch.

  She shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her prickling arms, trying to forget the feel of him stroking her. Closing her eyes, she swallowed a little moan of distress. But ohmigod. She'd almost had sex with Malloy. Not only did she not like him, but she barely knew him. Hell, she hadn't even learned his first name until tonight.

  Willow had rules about this stuff. She loved to date men. She loved to kiss men. She loved to flirt with and totally entice men. But she typically didn't go too far with a guy. They had to meet certain criteria first, take her on a specified number of dates. And only a select few had progressed that far. Never did she have spontaneous sex... except for that first awful time when she was sixteen. But since then, she knew days beforehand whether she was going to let a man get into her panties.

  Not so with Deputy Raith Malloy. He merely strolled into her life and broke all her rules, rules she had in place for a very specific reason. Why, if she just let any guy screw her, then it could be a Garrett Evans all over again. She already felt like the dumb sixteen-year-old idiot she'd been in high school, walking down the school hall the next day to overhear Garrett bragging about how he'd deflowered Willow DeVane.

  Oh, yeah, she could already picture Malloy gossiping to his cop buddies. He had the lawyer lady naked and begging for it. The image made her skin chill. Oh God, how he was going to humiliate her. At least, this time, she didn't think herself in love with him as she had foolishly believed of Garrett, though a part of her had strangely respected him, until now.

  Damn it. How dare he? How dare he break her rules? She had worked hard to remain cool and removed. She didn't deserve to have him tear her down. Fists clenching, she bunched her jaw and decided enough was enough. Malloy wasn't going to get away with this. He'd somehow tricked her into wanting him, into actually acting on it. But she wasn't going to let him think he was the victor by any means.

  Ready to rip him a new one, she marched back into her living room only to jerk to a startled stop when she found him still lying on the floor where she'd left him. He'd had the presence of mind to lift his hips and yank his pants back up, but he hadn't zipped yet. Nor had he put his shirt on. He looked yummy, spread out on her carpet like some kind of sacrifice to the sex gods.

  The look on his face caught her off guard, however. With his eyes closed and his teeth clenched in agony, he bumped his fists against his forehead, muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid," to himself.

  And just like that, she melted. Sucking in a silent breath, she wondered what this must've been like for him. Maybe he wasn't quite like she suspected. Maybe his whole plan hadn't been about conquering and then bragging about his victory. Maybe he'd merely been as swept away as she'd been, swirled into some kind of physical whirlwind that killed all reasoning and left him emotionally confused and stripped bare.

  "You are so stupid, Malloy," he berated himself. "You had the most amazing woman in your arms…"

  "Well, I'll agree with that," Willow murmured, her chest tightening with pleasure. Did he really think her amazing?

  Leaning against the doorway, she gazed at the sexy man with whom she felt a sudden rare connection. He jerked at the sound of her voice and opened his eyes, immediately sitting up. His mouth opened as if to deny his own words.

  She spoke over him before he could say something to tick her off, which he most likely would. "Tell me something, Deputy." Taking a leap unlike any she'd ever jumped before, she flashed him a soft, amused smile. "If I give you another chance, are you just going to screw that up too?"

  "What?" Expression filling with alarm, hope, and wary doubt, he started to push off the floor to scramble to his feet, his eyes searching hers frantically for some inkling whether she was lying or not.

  But Willow set her bare foot on his denim-clad leg to keep him from standing. "No. Stay down and answer the question. Do I bother to give you a second chance or not? Yes or no?"

  He plopped back onto his butt and gulped as he swallowed. "Are you serious?"

  The hoarse, uncertain tenor in his voice was all she needed to hear. "As a heart attack," she murmured, kneeling in front of him and smiling in amusement when his eyes went wide.

  "Jesus," he rasped as she grabbed his jeans at his feet and tugged them down his legs.

  "You better have that condom on by the time I get these all the way off," she warned in a silken voice. "Or else."

  Quickly, he searched the floor around him and snatched up the condom so quick, she had to swallow back a laugh. She slowed her progress of slipping off his jeans to give him time. But he paused after grasping the package in both hands. Glancing her way, his blue eyes bored into hers.

  Surprising the heck out of her, he lifted the tiny item and quietly said, "You put it on."

  The pleasure that spiked through her was most gratifying. Raith Malloy obviously had some serious trust issues with women and protected sex. The fact he was going to allow her to touch his condom was humbling. But even more so was the fact he'd lowered his pride for her. The man was such a smug, arrogant guy, she never would've dreamed he would let her have her way.

  "Malloy—" she started, not reaching for the package.

  It was enough that he was willing to let her touch his condom. She only thought to give him his pride back. But he took her hand and wrapped her fingers around the prophylactic.

  "Don't let me mess this up."

  Six

  Raith knew he'd done the right thing when DeVane's eyes glittered with pleasure. Though he never believed she would actually tamper with his condom, he watched her carefully as she rolled it over him, because her hand on him looked too erotic to ignore.

  He sucked in a breath. God, he couldn't believe this was going to happen after all. By all rights, DeVane should've kicked him out and locked the door. Instead, she hovered above him and straddled his thighs. When she began to lower herself onto him, he had to close his eyes as not to go off too early.

  She hesitated.

  He stopped breathing and opened his lashes.

  "Are we really going to do this?" She bit her lip, looking uncertain.

  "Don't you dare think about stopping now." He couldn't take one more rejection from her today.

  He drilled his stare into her, mentally begging her to accept him without looking like a loser beggar. She must've seen exactly what kind of insecure desperation ate at him because her lips parted with understanding. Awareness jolted through him.

  Nothing had ever felt this personal before. Not even five years of marriage to Deb had pushed the boundary of his inner privacy like this. But he sensed Willow DeVane saw something in him no other woman had witnessed before. It was intimidating. And he wasn't sure he liked it. Wanting to block it, he tried to figure out how she was getting through in the first place.

  Maybe their intense eye contact enflamed the sensation. He couldn't recall looking up in Debra's eyes like this as she used to hover above him, prepared to unite them. He couldn't recall looking into any woman's eyes during sex before. Or, maybe it was the fact that neither of them were speaking. The silence was making him assume words that weren't there.

  Jesus, what was it about this specific woman?

  And then he stopped wondering as she slipped down and around him, making them one.

  His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Goddamn, she was tight. With her reputation, he would've thought would be more—

  Oh, holy mother, that felt good.

  Knowing he was forever changed, he groaned and pushed up into her only to gasp as her snug core gripped him even deeper. He bowed his hips up, desperate. Needing. He almost bucked her off with his urgency.

  She reached down to steady herself by slapping her hand
s over his pecs.

  "Your heart's beating so fast."

  He grabbed her wrist to remove her hand from the revealing area, but she ground down around him and instead of removing her fingers, he tightened his grip and held her closer. Unable to take any more, he wrapped his other arm around her hips and went a little crazy.

  Willow cried out. She leaned over him and curled her fingers into his chest hair, holding on for dear life as she looked down at him with a dazed expression. It was more than he could handle. He let go of her wrist and buried his hand in her hair to bring her close for a kiss.

  Her tongue tasted so good he shut his eyes and tried to block out the pleasure so he could last longer. But in the next moment, she bit down on his lip and her body shuddered. Groaning, he followed her into ecstasy.