by Jami Alden
“You are so fucking beautiful,” he said, the last word dissolving into a groan as she slid up and down experimentally. She’d never been particularly fond of being on top, always paranoid about her performance. Was her rhythm working for him? Was she going too fast? Too slow?
But Derek was content to let her find her groove, groaning and whispering encouragement as she sank up and down, circling her hips so her clit bumped his pubic bone with every downstroke.
“That’s it, baby,” he said, cupping her ass as she took him so deep she could again feel him at the base of her spine. “Take me, take all of me.” She spread her knees wide, ground herself against him, feeling the pleasure tighten and coil between her legs.
The room echoed with harsh groans, panting breaths, and the sound of sweat-slick skin meeting skin as she rode him hard. Derek lifted his hips off the bed, meeting her at every stroke, pulsing and pounding inside her as he pushed her to the edge. One big hand slid down her stomach and came to rest at the top of her mound. He burrowed the pad of his thumb between her pussy lips, stroking and circling her clit, and lifted his head to suck her nipple into his mouth. She tightened around him, her inner muscles clenching and rippling over the hard shaft of his cock.
It was too much, his hand and mouth on her, his cock buried so deep inside it was like he was trying to climb inside her body. The knot of pleasure pulled tighter, tighter before it finally snapped, sending pulses of release rippling through her. She ground her hips against him, holding him deep as she rode it out until she collapsed against him like a blissed-out rag doll.
Derek rolled her to her back and came down over her, cupping her face and covering her mouth. He rocked his hips against her, barely moving as he savored the last flutters of her orgasm. He licked into her mouth, tasting her moans, absorbing every detail of her pleasure. He reached down and hooked her knee over his hip. He’d never felt like this before, like he couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t get deep enough.
And this time instead of running from the need like a chicken-shit coward, he pulled her tighter, kissed her harder, fucked her deeper until he thought his head was going to explode from the pleasure. And still he staved off his release, never wanting to stop, never wanting to let her go, never wanting to leave the molten heat of her beautiful body.
But he couldn’t hold off forever, not with her sliding her hot little hands down his back to cup his ass, wrapping her sleekly muscled legs around his hips to hug him close. He heard a low, animal keening, a sound of agonizing pain—or pleasure. He realized on some distant level it was him, but couldn’t hold back his own deep, desperate groans as he surged inside her gloving warmth. His thigh muscles tensed, his balls went tight, and then he was blown into about a million pieces, every atom jerking and twitching in pleasure as he emptied himself inside her. She tightened around him, milking him in firm strokes that made his eyes cross and roll back in his head as she drained him of every last drop.
This woman is mine. The thought came out of nowhere, shot through his brain, took hold in his gut and wouldn’t let go.
He collapsed down on the pillow beside her, waiting a few seconds to catch his breath before he got up to take off the condom. He poured them a glass of water to share and brought it back to bed. She drained it with a grateful smile and curled up against him, her head on his chest as she trailed her fingers along his skin.
He lay back and waited for the panic to set in, the need to flee that inevitably hit him after sex. Especially sex with her.
This time he was determined to beat it back, not about to do that to her again. But to his shock, as he searched his brain, all he found there was bone-deep contentment. The feeling that, even with all the shit they needed to deal with, there was nowhere in the world he needed to be, nothing he needed to be doing.
She nuzzled her face against his neck, sending an electric current through his nerve endings. His cock made a valiant attempt to rouse. Failed miserably. Derek felt a tired grin stretch his face.
Alyssa propped herself up on his chest and traced his lips with a soft fingertip. “I like it when you smile. You should do it more often.”
He sucked her finger between his lips, swiped the tip with his tongue before releasing it. “You make me smile,” he said and felt his face heat at how cheesy that sounded. But true, whether he liked it or not.
“I love you,” she said.
His breath seized, his heart jerked, and he felt like he’d taken a round to the chest.
“Don’t look so horrified,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not like I expect you to say it back.”
“Oh. Good.” He winced at the hurt that filled her eyes and tightened her mouth. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded.” He grimaced, scrambling for something to say. He sure as shit wasn’t ready to say it back. Probably wouldn’t be even if he did feel the same.
Which he didn’t.
Did he?
No. Absolutely not. He cared about her. A lot. And liked her, too, way more than he ever would have expected. But he didn’t do love. Not even with a surprisingly sweet celebrity heiress who made him grin like a fool and want her so much it tore his guts out.
“Don’t worry.” She smoothed her thumb over his frown and leaned down to kiss him. “I don’t have any expectations. But with everything going on, I wanted to be sure to tell you. You know, in case anything happens.”
Her words brought everything back into vicious focus, reminding him that for all they were enjoying the hell out of themselves and fucking like a couple minks, reality loomed, hard and cold, outside the bedroom doors. A reality where people wanted his woman dead.
“Nothing is going to happen.” His tone was harsher than he intended, so he kissed her to soften the blow. But what was supposed to be a soft, comforting kiss turned into something hungry and claiming as everything in him rebelled at the thought of Blaylock or Abbassi or anyone else getting their hands on her again. His arms tightened around her so hard she gasped, but he couldn’t make himself loosen his hold. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d promised anything to a woman, but this was a vow he intended to keep.
Alyssa fell back asleep quickly, snuggled in Derek’s muscled embrace. She drifted in and out, smiling every time she woke up and still felt Derek’s warm, solid presence beside her. Her body was tired and sore, and she was content to lie in bed with him for the next week or so. Having sex, making love, whatever you wanted to call how he used his hands and lips and cock to melt her into a sugary puddle of bliss.
Then this. Sleeping next to him, his arm curled around her like he didn’t want to stop touching her, even in sleep. Unlike all the other times when he couldn’t get away from her fast enough, now he couldn’t get her close enough.
I love you. She didn’t want to say it out loud again and have to see the tight, anxious look on his face. She didn’t regret saying it—not at all. It was important for people to know they were loved. With no conditions and no expectations.
But she knew how this went. Even with no expectations on her side, she knew the more she said it the more she’d want to hear it back. Until not hearing it would eat at her like tiny vermin nibbling away until she got smaller and started wondering what was so wrong with her that no one could love her back.
She shoved the self-pity aside. Whether he said the words or not, she knew he cared for her, more than a lot of the guys who had professed to be in love with her. None of them would have questioned her family and risked their lives to come after her.
That had to count for something.
She dozed off again, waking to find his legs between hers as he slid into her from behind. He eased in slowly, plucking at her nipples, dipping his fingers in her folds to rub her clit till she was flooded with heat and slick with need. He fucked her slow and deep, making her come twice before he finally groaned against her neck and stiffened behind her.
When she woke again, bright afternoon sun streamed th
rough the drapes, cutting across the carpet and the bedspread to catch them directly in the face.
“I guess we better get up,” Derek mumbled.
Alyssa sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, wincing at the pull of overused muscles and the slight ache between her thighs. As she headed for the bathroom she saw him grab his phone. She could hear the low rumble of him talking as she stepped under the spray.
The shower curtain whipped back just as she was rinsing her hair. She squealed in protest as Derek climbed inside, crowding her against the slick tile wall as he took up all the space.
“You’re unbelievable,” she said on a breathless giggle when she felt him, once again rock hard against her stomach. But she didn’t resist when he pulled her on her tiptoes for his kiss and ran his soap-slicked hands all over her body.
She flinched a little when his hand slid between her thighs. Even the gentle touch was too much for her tender flesh.
“You’re sore, aren’t you, baby?” he murmured, easing up until his fingers barely hovered over her.
“A little,” she said apologetically. “I think I’ve gotten more action in the last five days than I have in the last five years.” She buried her face against his chest, not wanting to lose contact even if she couldn’t have sex. “What are you doing?” she said when he knelt down in front of her.
He shot her a devilish grin, sexier than sin as the water ran down the hard lines of his face and even harder lines of his body. “I’m going to kiss you all better.”
“You don’t—” Her words locked in her throat as his lips and tongue slid over her in a touch that was as soothing as it was viciously arousing. “You don’t have to—” she tried again, the protest lost in a moan as his tongue thrust deep.
“I want to,” he said, the soft, sucking sounds of his lips bouncing off the tile and driving her insane. “I love going down on you, licking you, sucking you off. Tasting your pussy is almost as good as fucking it.” Another sucking caress. “Your hot peach juice running over my tongue. I want to drink up every last drop.”
He kept whispering to her between sucks and licks, hot, filthy things that made her face flame and her body melt. If it had been anyone else she would have been embarrassed and turned off. But the way he touched her, the way he talked to her, was different. Like something had finally busted free inside him until he couldn’t hold himself back.
She threaded her fingers in his wet hair, pulled him closer, needing him, wanting him, loving him as he took her over the edge and sent her hurtling off into space.
When Alyssa came back to herself she urged him to his feet, pulling his face up for her kiss. He stood under the spray, his wide shoulders nearly spanning the width of the tub. Water rippled over him, streaming down his torso, washing over his jutting cock.
She closed her fist around him, squeezed him from root to tip. He closed his hand over hers. “I’m fine. You don’t have to.”
She ignored him and grabbed the bottle of hair conditioner resting in the corner of the tub. She poured some into her palm and slicked it over him, smiling in satisfaction as every muscle tensed and he let out a rough curse.
“Show me,” she said, pumping him in her fist. “Show me how fast and how hard.”
He covered her hand, his grip desperate, almost painful as he showed her how he liked to be stroked. She kissed his chest, flicking her tongue over his flat, dark nipples.
He let go of her hand, and she kept up the pace, squeezing and pumping as her other hand cupped and caressed his balls. She watched, enthralled as the head got thicker and darker, pearls of precome beading at the tip.
She looked up to find him watching her through slitted eyes, his lips parted and swollen as his breath came in tearing pants. “Christ,” he breathed. “Alyssa. Jesus.”
She felt him throb, pumping like a heartbeat in her hand. Thick jets of come erupted over her hand. As he watched, shaking like a broken horse, she lifted her hand and delicately licked a thick, salty drop into her mouth.
He lifted her off her feet and pinned her to the wall so he could kiss her. She felt him fumble with the faucet. The water shut off, and he lifted her out of the tub, grabbing haphazardly at towels as he half dragged, half carried her into the hallway.
“You keep messing with me, little girl.” He chuckled. “And you are going to get yourself in all kinds of trouble.”
“Yeah, well, if you don’t put some pants on, we’re all going to be blinded by the whiteness of your ass.”
They both froze as the deep male voice cut through Alyssa’s sexual fog.
“Shit,” Derek said, using his body to block her from view as he wrapped a towel first around her and then around himself. Satisfied she was covered, he moved so she had an unimpeded view of the two men and a woman standing in the living room of the safe house.
CHAPTER 18
THE WOMAN SPOKE first, offering Alyssa a tentative smile. “I’m Toni,” she said, pretending Alyssa and Derek weren’t soaking wet, naked, and about to do it in the hallway. But Toni’s porcelain complexion wouldn’t let her disguise her embarrassment. “Sorry we busted in at a bad time.”
Alyssa decided to brazen it out, offering her hand to Toni, who was enviably tall and curvy with a striking Snow White–meets punk-rock-look. “Alyssa Miles. No worries. Not like most of the world hasn’t already seen me naked.”
Toni smiled and hefted the shopping bag slung over her arm. “Well, if you want to cover up, Derek asked me to bring you some clothes.”
“Thanks.” Alyssa reached out and stroked Derek’s arm, touched by his thoughtfulness.
He nodded and moved away, his cheeks flushing deep red under the scrutiny of the two men. Heat flooded her own face as she met their inquisitive stares.
The first she recognized as Derek’s brother Ethan. Though she’d been drifting in and out of consciousness the day before, Derek’s twin had a face that was impossible to forget. And not only because it resembled Derek’s so strongly.
With his dark hair, crystal-blue eyes and physique rivaled only by Derek and the other man, Ethan undoubtedly made an impression on every heterosexual female who got within ten feet of him. He flashed her a grin that might have melted her panties if she’d been wearing any and greeted her with a wave of his big, tanned hand. “Good to see you back on your feet.”
The other man stood with his thumbs hooked in the waistband of his cargo pants. His black T-shirt stretched across about an acre of muscled chest, the sleeves struggling to accommodate the swell of biceps that were as big around as her waist. His speculative gray gaze flicked between her and Derek, who stood, arms folded across his naked chest. With his chiseled features and thick, dark hair, he had to be the third Taggart brother.
“Alyssa, this is my oldest brother, Danny,” Derek said.
Danny’s only greeting was a sharp nod before he pinned Derek with a steely stare. “How about you two get some clothes on so we can figure out what the fuck is going on here.”
They retreated to the bedroom, the playful, sexy mood having evaporated.
“Sorry about the way they just showed up,” Derek said as he pulled on his jeans. “When I talked to Ethan earlier I didn’t think they’d get here this fast.”
Alyssa pulled on the navy scoop-neck T-shirt and jeans Toni had brought, surprised they actually fit. “Yeah, you probably also didn’t plan on taking a forty-five-minute shower,” she teased and then felt her grin slip away as the realization of why they were here, the truth she had to face, sank in. People wanted her dead, and now they had to find out why. She shrugged. “I had to face reality sooner rather than later.”
She moved to the door as he was pulling a T-shirt over his head. He caught her arm before she could leave the room. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he said and pulled her against his chest. “We’re going to find out who’s behind this and why, and everything is going to be fine.” He cupped her face, tilting her head back as he bent his head for a kiss. Soft, warm, infin
itely reassuring. “I promise I’ll keep you safe until this whole thing is over.”
“Then what?” she asked before she could stop herself.
His dark brows pulled together in a puzzled frown. “What do you mean?”
She licked her lips and cursed herself for bringing it up now. “Nothing. Never mind.” She wasn’t positive, but she thought she saw relief flash in his eyes. She pulled away from his hold and joined the others in the living room.
Danny had switched on the television and tuned it to a news station. He stood stone still, arms folded as he stared at the screen.
Toni sat at the kitchen table, her fingers tapping at the keyboard of her laptop. Ethan stood behind her, his hands resting on the back of her chair as he studied the screen. He pointed at something, and when he pulled his hand back he rested it on her shoulder, running his fingers along her neck in an unconsciously proprietary caress. Toni leaned into the touch without missing a beat.
Though they weren’t overtly affectionate, it took only a few seconds for Alyssa to realize that despite the charming grin and appreciative look Ethan had offered her earlier, there was a deep current of affection and intimacy running between him and Toni.
Just then Derek walked into the kitchen and poured two cups of coffee. Without asking, he scooped two teaspoons of sugar in one and handed it to Alyssa.
“Did you find anything on Abbassi?” he asked as he rummaged through the bag of sandwiches the others had brought.
Alyssa’s stomach roiled at the mere mention of his name, the memory of his hand closing brutally over her breast as she lay helpless all the more terrifying because it was so vague. Derek offered her half a crusty roll piled high with meat and cheese. Alyssa refused with a shudder, the coffee souring in her stomach.