“Next time,” he barked, digging a condom from his jeans pocket and rolling it down his straining erection. “Spread your legs. Let me see the part of you that squeezes me so tight.”
Lucy drew up her knees, letting her dress drift down to her waist. Her bare breasts were heaving; her lips felt heavy and swollen. Matt’s hot gaze between her legs made her squirm on the seat impatiently. “Hurry,” she whispered shakily, when he started stroking himself.
Matt grabbed her ankles and propped them on opposite ends of the doorframe, her high heels somehow still on her feet. He maintained eye contact with her as he ripped her panties off with a twist of his wrist, then leaned down to lick along her center. Two long strokes of his tongue that made her thighs begin to tremble uncontrollably.
“No screaming,” he rasped. She hadn’t quite processed his warning before he dragged the head of his arousal through her folds, then plowed deep into her. Lucy bit her lip hard, muffling the scream that ripped from deep inside her chest. The sound ended in a sob when he didn’t immediately move. She needed him to thrust, but he stayed still, so deep inside her she could feel him pulsing. “I swear to Christ, baby, you were made for me. You feel that?” He pulled out of her, then slammed home once more. “Mine. My Lucy. Let me hear you say it.”
No. She couldn’t give in to his words, even though she desperately wanted to repeat them back. They felt true, but she knew they weren’t. Her body might succumb to him, but her mind couldn’t. Even now, her lower stomach muscles were coiled tightly, preparing for the inevitable rush only Matt could provide. She struggled to hold back, wanting to tug him down for a kiss but biting her lip instead. After this, she would walk away. This couldn’t be about affection.
Matt must have sensed the tension in her because his eyes narrowed on her face. “You don’t get to hold back. Not when I’m ten inches deep, Lucy. I won’t allow it.”
She rolled her hips on the seat, felt a spark of satisfaction when his breath shook. “You’re the one holding back. Don’t you want to move inside me, Matt?”
His hands flexed on her thighs. “Not until you’re here with me. Say it.”
Why was he doing this? What did he want from her? “No.”
The strain was beginning to get to him. His ridged abdomen dipped and shuddered, his voice sounding unnatural. It wouldn’t take much to tempt him into forgetting whatever mission he was suddenly on. Lucy trailed her hand up her stomach, brushing her fingers over her nipples.
With a strangled sound, Matt grabbed her wrists and tried to pin them behind her back, but she struggled to get them free. “Stop it,” she said, but the words ended on a gasp. The friction caused by her struggle sent shock waves through her body. Automatically, her legs wrapped around his waist, high heels digging into his ass.
“My Lucy.”
“No.”
“Your body disagrees,” he growled, pushing deep as a means of pinning her. “You want the hard fuck I’ve got saved up for you? Say the words.”
She hated him in that moment, even as she craved his body, the feel of him inside her, more than the air in her lungs. There were so many layers to this sensation of being restrained. The way he accomplished it with his powerful body, refusing to budge. His rejection yesterday opposing his wanting to claim her today. None of it made sense.
“What do you want from me, Matt?”
“I tried to tell myself wanting you, keeping you, was selfish. Maybe it is.” His lips brushed her forehead. “But I’m lost here, Lucy. I’m lost without everything you’ve got.”
It hurt. Not voicing the words of love threatening to burst forth, keeping them trapped inside, even as being held immobile by him made her body sing. Emotions, chaotic and contradictory, built in her chest until she could no longer contain it.
“I’m giving you what I have left, Matt,” she sobbed. “Take it.”
“You have more. Give it to me.”
Acting on its own, her hand reared back and slapped him hard across the face. For a brief moment, the only sound was their labored breathing, before Matt sprang into motion, finally succeeding in pinning her hands over her head on the leather seat. The now-familiar excitement gathered in Lucy’s middle and spread to every corner of her body, her mind.
Matt watched her closely, conflict in every plane of his face, his thick flesh still throbbing inside her. When he finally spoke, his voice was pure gravel. “Stop here or keep fucking you? I need an answer. And I need it now.”
She squeezed him with her inner walls before allowing her thighs to fall open in invitation. At the same time, she struggled to get her hands free. “Don’t give me a choice.”
“Lucy…,” he warned, even as his eyes darkened, then closed.
Refusing to give up on the feeling she was chasing, Lucy turned her head and sank her teeth into his forearm. The hands manacling her own tightened their punishing grip as Matt groaned. Lucy increased her struggle, bucking her body beneath his once, twice.
Slowly, his hips eased back, then pushed forward again. Euphoria shot straight through her body. She tossed her head back on the seat, reveling in it for a glorious moment, then began her renewed struggles. As she watched, Matt lost whatever battle he’d been waging inside himself and began to drive into her. When Lucy twisted on the seat, in a halfhearted attempt to dislodge him, he only threw her legs over his broad shoulders and pumped harder.
“Don’t you dare try to keep that pussy away from me. It’s mine. You are mine.”
Somehow Lucy managed to speak around the pleasure spearing through her. Oh God, she was so close. Just a little more. “No.”
With a frustrated sound, Matt brought his body down on top of hers, bringing her knees even with her shoulders. Angling his body above her, he pounded down, grunting with exertion. “Give it up, baby. I feel you shaking for me.”
She tossed her head on the seat, but couldn’t vocalize her denial. He looked so male, so dominant above her, demanding a release she didn’t want to give, but couldn’t refuse herself.
Matt kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue deep. “I remember what it feels like when you’re getting ready to blow. It’s seared on my fucking brain. Any minute now, you’re going to tighten up on me like a vise.” He nipped her bottom lip. “And I’m going to fuck right through it.”
Lucy didn’t sail or drift over the edge, but catapulted headlong into a black chasm. She vaguely registered Matt’s hand covering her mouth as she shouted his name, but pleasure overrode any other thought. Her body, already hot, reached a boiling point as she climaxed. It wouldn’t end either, continuing to pummel her senses as Matt drove into her again and again.
Finally, he buried his face in her neck and let go, moaning scattered words against her fevered skin. “Sexy girl, my girl. Please. Baby, baby, baby. So good. So tight.”
Matt released her hands and they went to his hair, sinking into the thick strands, stroking his scalp. Unconsciously offering comfort and praise. His weight on top of her felt unbelievable, as did clean the scent of his shampoo. She wanted to stay like that forever, unconventional a setting as it was. A sense of contentment tingled along her spine.
That’s when Lucy knew she had to get the hell out of there. As she lay there, cradling Matt to her chest, holding him as his body vibrated in the aftermath of their lovemaking, it became brutally obvious she had serious, incurable feelings for him. She’d been stupid to think she could give him a mind-blowing sexual experience and walk away whistling Dixie, secure in her retained pride. With every encounter, sexual or otherwise, this connection she felt between them grew. Once again, she’d been too impulsive and it would cost her now.
But she had to go. Continuing like this, maintaining a physical relationship behind closed doors, would kill her. She inhaled deeply of his scent one final time, then wiggled underneath Matt until he stood back outside the car. Penetrating her with his eyes, he helped her sit up and fix her dress with gentle hands, so different from how they’d been minutes before. She di
d her best to keep her gaze averted as she searched the car for her purse.
“Lucy. Look at me.”
Allowing a smile to form, she kept the rest of her face blank. As in, would you like fries with that? “I have to go.”
His eyebrows shot up. “The fuck you do. Not like this.”
A hot clench in her belly had Lucy grinding her teeth. That forcefulness in Matt could be her downfall if she wasn’t careful. “I have a job interview.” Another lie. Might as well swing for the fences.
“At seven o’clock at night?”
She shrugged and tried to hop off the seat. “Is this the city that never sleeps, or isn’t it?”
Matt blocked her. “Why are you still interviewing?” His voice thickened with some unnamed emotion. “You’re taking the Paris job. You told me on the drive from Syracuse that you loved it there.”
Oh, that did it. She couldn’t remain cool one second longer. With both hands, she shoved against his chest. He barely moved, inciting her wrath even further. “I’m not taking the Paris job, you moron. But don’t worry, my staying in New York has nothing to do with you. I know the score. So don’t worry about me. I know what this is.” She skirted past him. “It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit, it’s nothing.” He planted a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the coffee shop. You never leave me.”
Dammit. Tears gathered in her eyes. “I’m leaving you now.”
“No,” he breathed.
“Yes. You can’t just show up whenever you feel like screwing me, Matt. I’m better than that.”
Her words brought him up short. “Jesus, Lucy. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” He fell back against his car. “You’re better than me. That’s what this is about.”
Lucy’s anger took a nosedive. “Explain that to me.”
“You actually have to ask me after I fuck you in a parking garage?” His throat worked as he glanced toward the opposite end of the underground space. After a stretch of silence, he pushed off the car and closed the distance between them. Lucy couldn’t breathe, the look in his eyes was so fierce. “Listen to me, I—”
Sirens. The loud, continuous sound drowned out whatever Matt was going to say. It didn’t stop, but continued to grow louder, the sound of speeding police vehicles above their heads impossible to ignore. Lucy and Matt exchanged a glance that she didn’t need words to interpret. She nodded once and he strode back to his car, pulling his cell phone from the console. As she watched him closely, his muscles went rigid under his T-shirt, right hand flexing at his side in a familiar gesture. She remembered seeing it when he spoke about being a sniper. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.
“What’s wrong?”
When his gaze met hers, it was perfectly blank. That alarmed her even more. “Everything will be fine, but I’m needed downtown.”
Lucy forced her lips to move. “It sounds like everyone is.”
“Get in the car. I’ll drop you off on the way.”
She waved him off. “I’ll be okay. Hayden’s place isn’t far from here.”
“I’m not leaving you here.” His voice was deathly silent. “If I don’t get you home, I won’t be able to concentrate. Get in, please.”
She didn’t ask why he needed his full concentration, just moved as quickly as she could toward the passenger side and climbed inside. He peeled out of the parking spot and had her in front of Hayden’s town house within minutes. She tried not to let panic set in as sirens flew past them on every single avenue. Lucy wanted to ask what was happening, if he would be all right, but was terrified of the answer. Minutes ago, she’d been prepared to walk away from him, but in light of the danger she sensed, the very idea seemed absurd. She wanted to throw her arms around him and beg him to stay. His stiff posture forbade it, though. Wherever he was headed when he left her, it had his full attention.
As she climbed out, she looked back. “Be careful, Matt.”
After a single nod, he pulled away, leaving Lucy staring after him on the sidewalk.
Chapter Fifteen
Matt lay perfectly still on his stomach, watching the building across the street, his finger resting on the trigger of his rifle. He could see the man in his scope, could take him down with a single shot. If he didn’t have a bomb strapped to his chest capable of decimating an entire city block, he would have already done it. Instead, he’d been ordered to hold his fire and wait. His perch in the tenth-floor window of a high-rise gave Matt an unobstructed view into the bank where the man paced back and forth. The NYPD had evacuated the bank building as much as possible, through side exits and back doors, in addition to the surrounding area. However, the customers on the main floor of the bank stood huddled together, looks of horror on their faces as the man continually ignored phone calls from Daniel, who had been called to the scene as lead hostage negotiator.
In his ear piece, Matt could hear his friend’s low curse as his call into the bank’s main line went unanswered for the fourth time. Daniel, along with Brent, their explosives expert, and dozens of ESU officers were on the first floor, ten stories beneath him. With such vastly different specialties, the three of them were rarely called in at the same time, but this situation required each of their specific talents. Especially Brent’s, although Matt prayed like hell he didn’t have to walk into that bank. Please don’t let it come to that.
Back at the parking garage, he’d seen the emergency message on his department cell phone calling him to a scene involving highly volatile explosives. He hadn’t been able to tell Lucy. To look her in the face after already hurting her once and explain what kind of situation he and Brent were heading into. If she’d shown an ounce of worry or fear, he would never have been able to drive away.
As usual when he was in this position, the noise around him faded into nothingness, his measured breaths coming in time with his heartbeat. The drumming in his chest felt different this time, though. Not as steady as usual. Duller. More than a little painful as it knocked rhythmically against his rib cage. The silence he’d created around him couldn’t stop Lucy’s words from drifting through his head. I know the score. I know what this is. It’s nothing.
He swallowed around the knot in his throat and tried to push the words to the back of his head, where he would deal with them later, but they stubbornly refused to fade. She refused to fade. Her injured expression. The lack of sparkle in her eyes. He’d done that to her, goddammit. All along, he’d known it was inevitable, but seeing it had been devastating.
What the hell had he been thinking? She’d slid her hot curves over his body, looked up at him as if to say I need it good and hard, Matt, and he’d lost his battle with common sense. He’d been incapable of stopping himself from drilling her against that seat, even as the voice inside his head warned him something was off. Her demeanor, her distant attitude…her Lucy-ness had been missing. At first. She hadn’t been able to hold back once he pushed inside of her. What happened after that… Sweet Jesus. They way she’d writhed on his cock, thighs wide open for him as she’d pushed against him with her hands. Bit him. The contradiction of her resistance and capitulation had been mind-blowingly hot. Toward the end, he’d been heedless to anything but his body’s demands, completely consumed by her. Again that voice in his head had implored him to slow it down, kiss her, look her in the eye until he got Lucy back, but there had been no stopping at that point.
Then before he could blink, it had been too late. She’d been walking away, such finality in her tone that he’d been frozen in denial. If she could walk away after what they’d just shared, he’d done some serious damage, but he had no experience repairing his own destruction. Only causing it. He only hoped it wasn’t too late to fix it. No, he wouldn’t let it be too late. There was way too much at stake this time.
Focus. You have a job to do first.
Matt breathed deeply through his nose and focused on the target, who looked completely calm, resigned. Oddly
enough, that wasn’t unusual for a man in his situation. He’d had time to come to terms with what he was attempting to do. While he was overseas, Matt had seen more than his share of this type of event, but it was rare to say the least in New York City.
Matt frowned. Also rare? The amount of time it was taking the man to detonate the bomb. If he wouldn’t open a line of communication with Daniel to state his demands, what was his goal? At this point, he would only succeed in bringing a handful of civilians with him.
Then it happened. If Matt had blinked, he would have missed it. Subtly, the man checked his watch and glanced through the window at the building across the street. The building he and hundreds of ESU officers were stationed inside. Matt’s heart began pounding loudly in his ears as he reached for the radio on his shoulder.
“Evacuate the building now. Get everyone out.”
Immediately, his chief’s harried voice responded. “Donovan? Wh—”
“He’s a decoy. Move everyone out. Now.” His own voice sounded distant. “We’re the target.”
Matt didn’t bother waiting for an order. He shouldered his rifle and moved at a fast clip toward the stairs. Before he’d made it halfway to the lobby, the ground began to shake under his feet.
…
Lucy hadn’t made it a full minute before turning on Hayden’s massive flat screen and flipping to the local news station. What she saw had made her heart stop.
Suicide Bomber Holds Bank Customers Hostage.
She hadn’t been able to fathom it. A bomb. That meant…her brother and Matt were both there? Smack in the middle of harm’s way. After having held Matt in her arms only minutes before, it had been surreal. And terrifying. His stoic expression after he’d been called to the scene came back to her, suddenly making far too much sense. From there, it had only gotten worse.
Staking His Claim (A Line of Duty Novel) (Entangled Brazen) Page 13