Not Letting Go

by R B Hilliard

  “You finding this funny?” he growled.

  “No,” I said through my laughter.

  He set me down on plush brown flecked carpet and, before I could right myself, had my running shoes off and my jeans halfway down my legs. Someone is in a hurry. Now, standing in what I assumed was his living room with nothing on but my bra and panties, I was clearly at a disadvantage.

  “Damn, Princess, you are an absolute work of art.” A spear of red-hot lust shot through my body.

  “What are you gonna do now, Cowboy?” I taunted.

  He shot me a sexy grin. Then he reached down and whipped his shirt off over his head. “I’m gonna do you,” he answered and my breath caught in my throat.

  There were no words to describe what was standing in front of me. From the top button of his jeans all the way to the tips of his fingers were long, lean, beautifully sculpted muscles. I could see part of a tattoo on his left side that looked as if it wrapped to his back and around his arm. He took a step forward and then hesitated. Impatient as always, I pounced. My hands went straight to his hair as our mouths, tongues and teeth clashed. We were like two starving animals. Never in my twenty-three years had I ever experienced this visceral of a reaction to anyone. I wanted to feast on him. I wanted to lick him all over. I wanted to eat-him-up.

  Dropping to my knees, I grabbed the heel of his boot and pulled it off. Seconds later I had the second one off along with his jeans. His legs were chorded with the same long, lean muscles and I had to stop myself from drooling. Gage Blackwell’s body was such an overload to my senses that I was having a hard time focusing. That is, until I got a good look at his boxer briefs. Harleys, Harleys everywhere. And just like that, I was back and thinking clearly again. Slowly, I divested him of his briefs. Then I sat back on my heels and absorbed the glorious sight in front of me. I was right. He is big all over. I opened my mouth to comment, but before I had the chance to form the words, he scooped me off the floor and set me on my feet. Then his lips were back on mine and his hands were in my panties. A sexy sound, somewhere between a growl and a moan, poured from his lips. Whatever it was, it reverberated straight through me and I felt like I was melting from the inside out. A sharp tug and my panties were off and sailing across the room.

  “Did you just rip off my panties?” I gasped.

  His mouth lowered and his beard rubbed across my ear. “I did.”

  Before I could call him a caveman, he spun me around and pushed me up against the wall. I felt him unhook my bra and watched it drop to the floor. Then he wrapped his hands around my wrists, yanked them over my head and pressed his full length against my back. All I could think was more. Out of my mind with need, I pushed back against his hard cock and he let out a deep groan.

  “I wanted to go slow with you the first time,” he ground out.

  “No slow,” I panted, my cheek pressed to the wall.

  “Good because I can’t,” he responded. The edge in his voice told me that he was right where I wanted him to be. Mine all mine.

  He pulled back an inch or so and I felt him reach for something. Please don’t let him be into strange kink. Susannah had been filling us in on all of the different types of kink out there and some of it was seriously dodgy. I tried to turn my head to see what he was doing, but couldn’t.

  “That better be protection, Cowboy, and not a quadruple headed glowing dildo.” His response was a chuckle. Well damn.

  At this point I was frustrated, a little scared and very needy, three things I did not like. I was about to tell him where he could take his giant pogo stick when his arm snaked around my waist. My eyes shifted down to his hand on my stomach and I watched his fingers flex before starting their downward descent. “Oh god,” I moaned as he trailed his tongue up my spine. His tongue reached the shell of my ear at the exact same time that his fingers slid inside, setting off an explosion of sensation that almost took me to my knees. I was on the verge of begging for more when he pulled back. Before I could protest, he kicked my legs apart and thrust deep inside. I let out a gasp of surprise and then a throaty moan of pleasure. Gage Blackwell more than filled me. He consumed me. The pleasure was almost too much… almost. It had been a while since I had let a man get this close. I had clearly forgotten how incredible it could feel. Everything about him calls to me.

  “So fucking Goooood,” he growled as he pulled back and thrust in deeper. When he pulled completely out, I whimpered and tried to grab him back. “Need to see your face when you light up for me,” he said as he spun me around, lifted me up and plunged back in. His passion-filled voice was enough to make me come right there. I wrapped my legs around his waist, ran my hands through his hair and pulled his mouth down to mine. Our tongues wildly danced.

  Holy hell! This man!

  My body felt like one giant nerve ending. Parts of me that I didn’t know existed throbbed and from the bottom of my toes to the center of my spine I could feel my orgasm building.

  Gage took three steps forward and I felt the wall at my back. Without a word, he grabbed my hands and moved them from his shoulders to his neck. Then his hands trailed down my sides before they wrapped around my thighs. Bending his knees, he lowered us an inch or so down and then powered up into me. The third time he did this it was over and I was screaming out my orgasm. Three seconds later, he shouted something undecipherable and buried his head in my neck. Two words described the Gage Blackwell experience; Animalistic and intense.

  “Don’t move a muscle,” he ordered. Suddenly, we were on the move. He carried me down the hall and into what I assumed was his bedroom. As soon as we hit carpet, he pulled out and sat me down. I caught a quick glimpse of his tattoo before he disappeared into his bathroom. It looked exotic or maybe even tribal. I had never seen anything like it. I’ll have to investigate later. That’s if there was a later. Pushing that thought aside, I glanced around the room. Gage’s bedroom was about as masculine as it gets. His massive wooden bed was covered by a dark grey bedspread. Grey striped pillows were strewn haphazardly across it. On either side of the bed stood matching nightstands. To my left were two closed doors, one of which he had just disappeared through. To my right stood a beautiful stone fireplace, similar to the one in the living room but smaller. I heard the toilet flush and then he was standing in the doorway with a look in his eyes I could not decipher. Suddenly I felt flustered. I could say it was the sex, but I really didn’t think that was it. I had felt unbalanced since the first second we met, but in a good way. Gage rubbed his hand through his beard as if contemplating what to do next.

  Please don’t ask me to leave.

  He languidly made his way back to where he had deposited me a few minutes earlier and I held my breath. “All I have thought about from the first second I laid eyes on you was getting you in my bed,” he murmured. Then, like a total Neanderthal, he picked me up and tossed me on the bed. When he jumped on top of me and started tickling, uncontrollable giggles burst from my mouth and I realized that this was his way of making me feel comfortable. How sweet.

  As soon as we settled, he pulled back the comforter and we both crawled in. Wrapping his arm around me, he said, “Tell me more about you.”

  I rested my chin on his chest. “Like what?”

  “Well, I know your name is Piper O’Connell. You bartend at The Oasis. You live with Reyn and you look like a dream. Give me something else.”

  “Hmmm, let’s see…I am terrified of spiders.” I knew that this wasn’t what he wanted, but couldn’t help myself. Just because we had just had mind-blowing sex, didn’t automatically mean that I would share all of my secrets, at least…not yet. “Your turn,” I said as I blinked innocently up at him.

  A slow smile spread across his face. “I don’t like snakes.”

  Touche’.

  I rubbed my hand across his beard and decided to give him something else. “I don’t normally go for facial hair. However, now that I know it’s an aphrodisiac, I am a fan for life.”

  He threaded his fingers
through my hair and pulled me close. “I don’t usually go for short women. However, now that I’ve had you, I am a fan for life.”

  I scrunched my nose and laughed. “I’m not short.”

  “Princess, I am six two. That makes you a hair above a midget.”

  Midget my ass! Shrugging his arm off, I pushed him onto his back. Then I crawled onto his lap and was surprised by his obvious arousal. His ice blue gaze had me enthralled and my pulse spiked. “My new favorite color is Caribbean blue,” I said, rubbing my finger over his bottom lip.

  “My new favorite person is you,” he replied, sucking my finger into his mouth.

  “Let me show you what this midget can do,” I purred as I dropped my hand between our bodies. His breath caught and I couldn’t help but smile. Clinching my hand around his hardness, I stroked him from root to tip. He dropped his head back against the pillows and let out a thick, guttural sound. Not able to help myself, I slid back about an inch or so, leaned down and took him deep inside my mouth.

  His entire body convulsed. “Good God, woman,” he growled. His gravelly voice made me shiver. I had him exactly where I wanted him when he stopped me. No! Leaning over, he pulled open his night stand and grabbed a condom. “Enough play,” he said, as he rolled it on.

  “But I wasn’t done,” I pouted.

  “Yeah, babe, you were.” He flipped me over onto my back and right as he was about to go for broke, he froze. “Tell me you want this.” The vulnerable look in his eyes called to something deep inside of me and my protective hackles rose. Who hurt you? “Tell me, Piper,” he commanded. I knew he meant serious business.

  “I’m with you Gage. I want this,” I assured him, not missing the look of relief that washed over his face. When he pushed inside me all of my questions and concerns disappeared. His hard body and soft caresses felt like magic. I had enjoyed lovers and even experienced love a time or two, but nothing came close to this. When Gage Blackwell touched me, my body sang.

  His eyes burned through me as he slowly pulled out and dove back in. I wanted him so badly that it was a physical ache. I arched my back to take him deeper and he let out another sexy sound. Never in my whole life had anyone made me feel this good.

  His name slipped out with a quiet moan. “Gage.” I felt his head drop to my shoulder and I touched the tip of my tongue to his ear. “Faster Cowboy,” I whispered. His head snapped up and our eyes connected. The expression on his face mirrored what I was feeling. This…whatever this was that was happening between us. This was… special. Instead of over analyzing it, like I would normally do, I raised my mouth to his and gave him a soul scorching kiss. The reverence in his voice when he whispered my name did funny things to my heart. Out of the blue, Gage Blackwell had ridden into my life and completely rocked my world. We fell asleep wrapped around each other. For the first time in a long time I had no second thoughts and no regrets.

  The next morning I woke to an empty bed. Figuring that Gage was probably in the kitchen, I hit the bathroom on the way there. When I didn’t find him in the kitchen, I checked the garage and, sure enough, his motorcycle was gone. He probably went for coffee and breakfast.

  An hour later, I was irritated and in desperate need of caffeine. I didn’t want to invade his personal space, but he did leave me alone in his house…with no note, so I made some coffee and took a nice long bath in his incredible claw-footed bathtub. This got me wondering what kind of work for Dooley would afford him this amazing house. Then I started to worry. What if something happened to him? I didn’t have his phone number, so that ruled out calling him to make sure he was okay. I waited around until after lunch and, when he still hadn’t called or returned home, finally gave up and called Reyn. Thank goodness it is Sunday or I would be running home right now. I wasn’t normally one to doubt. In fact, I rarely doubted my decisions. However, by the time Reyn showed up, my head was a mess and I could no longer pretend that his vanishing act, after the best sex of my life, didn’t cheapen the experience.

  Chapter Five

  Kurt and Dillon established Thursday margarita nights when Ellie first started working at Dragonfly. Ellie’s margaritas were the best I’d ever tasted and, being a native Texan, that’s saying something. The second Max found out Ellie was pregnant he pressured her to quit bartending. He even went as far as to create a position for her at the garage. That’s when I took her place behind the bar and everyone discovered that Piper, the maven of mixed drinks, was in the house. This led to Tropical Tuesdays and my love-hate relationship with both nights. I loved it because I made a shitload of money. I hated it because I didn’t get to bed either night until after two in the morning.

  My new favorite nights of the week were Sunday, because I was off and Wednesday because it was dead and my friends would stop by to catch up. I figured Wednesday was so slow because all the Tuesday night idiots required a recovery day before they turned around and got crazy again on Thursday.

  Tonight was Wednesday and I was excited because Ellie promised to drop by for a visit. It had been two weeks since her wedding. She and Max had been back from their honeymoon for a few days and I had yet to see her. Susannah was due in from Texas any day now and I hadn’t seen or heard a peep from Gage since the night of the wedding. Things were definitely looking up.

  Dillon had designed t-shirts for the wait staff on my suggestion. Not only was he musically talented, he was also artistically inclined. Too bad he had such shit taste in women, Ellie not included. The short sleeved black tee sported a beautifully intricate emerald dragonfly across the front. I paired it with form fitting black pants and, since I was behind the bar tonight, low heeled ankle boots.

  Dillon had been in Raleigh for the past week. As part owner of the bar, he had to establish certain credentials in connection with the liquor license. I hadn’t seen him since the closet incident at the wedding and was feeling a little uneasy.

  Outside of Dragonfly I paused with my hand on the door and took a deep breath. Through the window, I could see Dillon standing behind the bar and was reminded of the first time I set eyes on him.

  The bruises on my face had faded enough to cover with make-up. Ellie had just busted Max in a lie and was torn up about it. Trying to keep her from calling him and ruining things, I told her I would go to Dragonfly for a drink. As I hadn’t been out of the house in days, this was a big step. This was also the first time I set eyes on Dillon. While the can lights above the bar spotlighted all the bartenders, only one stood out. Six plus feet of Nordic hotness stood before us. He was truly something to see. His blonde hair was pulled back and highlighted every detail of his chiseled face. The closer I got to the bar, the warmer the room seemed. When he lifted his eyes my insides clinched. I had never seen eyes like that before. They were so grey that they almost looked silver. That’s when Ellie revealed that this was Dillon…her Dillon… and I felt a touch of sadness. I mentally shelved him with all of the other men that I could look at, but could never touch. I had amassed quite a list over the years.

  I sucked in another deep breath, opened the door and walked inside.

  “Piper, get your fine ass over here and give me a hug!” Dillon yelled from across the bar. Divine intervention brought Max back to Ellie and saved her from Dillon. I loved him like a brother, but he was one emotionally screwed up man.

  “I missed you this week, D,” I told him as he folded me into his arms.

  “I missed you too, baby. How have you been?” He pulled back and looked me up and down as if searching for any new bangs or bruises.

  “I’ve been good. In fact, do you remember me telling you about my cousin Susannah from Fort Worth?”

  “I do.”

  “Well, she’s due here in Charlotte any day now for an extended visit. I’m not sure if she needs work or not. If she does, do you think we can make room for her to dabble behind the bar with us on Tuesday and Thursday nights? We are always so crazy busy and could definitely use the help.”

  “That depends. Is she hot?” H
e waggled his eyebrows at me and I laughed.

  “Yes, but right now she belongs to Zippo.”

  “Ah….enough said. I’ll check with Kurt and get back to you on that.”

  An hour into our shift, we had three people sitting at the bar and a couple of guys playing pool. I was beginning to wonder if I should beg off early and head over to Ellie’s, when she and Joss walked in followed by Kurt and Max. I darted out from behind the bar and gave them all big hugs. Ellie’s belly looked ten times bigger than when I had last seen her and I couldn’t help but rub my hand over it.

  “I see that Bruiser or Baby Piper decided to sprout.”

  She laughed. “You have no idea.”

  The first weekend that Max came back for Ellie, they ended up in bed together. All had not been forgiven…or even talked about…but they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. Ellie had been taking antibiotics and apparently Max had some strong swimmers because a month later she discovered that she was pregnant.

  Joss grinned and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. “Tell her, Ellie, or I will.”

  I glanced over at Max and my breath caught. His look of raw adoration as he stared at my best friend made my heart hurt.

  Once upon a time I felt like that.

  “Okay,” Ellie said, shushing Joss. “Max and I are going to find out the sex of the baby in a few weeks and we want you all to come with us.”

  I squealed and threw my arms around her. “I get to meet Baby Piper! This is so awesome!”

  “Baby Piper my ass,” Max muttered under his breath and I stuck my tongue out at him.

  For the next few hours we caught up on everybody’s news. Ellie and Max had a magical honeymoon and were in the process of getting the nursery ready. Dragonfly had been named the hottest new bar in Charlotte. After three beers Joss informed us that she wanted to get pregnant. Apparently, by the surprised look on Kurt’s face, this was news to him as well. He was a good sport about it. That is, until Ellie started talking about the downsides of pregnancy.