by Diana Gardin
But when I glance at Thorn, he’s gone utterly still and quiet, watching her.
She turns her smile on him, full-wattage, and I’m pretty sure I see the platter slip the slightest bit in his fingers. “Thanks so much for comin’ to my rescue. I’m Frannie…and you are…?”
I cover a smile with a hand as his mouth opens and closes twice before actual words escape. “I’m Thorn. A friend of Law—” He pauses when I clear my throat loudly. “Uh, of Logan and GoGo’s.”
I haven’t known Thorn for long, but I know he wouldn’t flub an undercover identity unless he was seriously flustered. And the thought widens my grin.
“Hey, Frannie, so good to see you again. I’ve had a rough night, though…so I’m gonna just hand this to Thorn”—I place Frannie’s keys in his other hand—“and get back inside to rest.”
Two distinctive worry lines form on her forehead. “Oh no! Are you okay? Do you need anything, GoGo?”
I offer her the most sincere smile I can manage. “Oh no…I’m going to be just fine. Maybe we can talk more soon?”
Now this is totally sincere. I still feel the same pull toward Frannie and her genuine, friendly personality that I felt the first time I met her. Mission be damned, I’d really love to get to know this girl. I don’t know if it’s the fact that this mission seems to be changing me slowly, or if I’m finally at the point in my life where I need a woman to confide in. Lawson continually throws me off my game in a way I’ve never experienced. Something in Frannie calls out to something in me, letting me know that she’s safe to befriend.
She nods, concern still flickering like firelight in her warm gaze. “Of course. I’ll check in on you tomorrow.”
She looks to Thorn, who’s gotten himself back together. “Shall we, Thorn?”
He tosses me a thankful glance and then focuses every ounce of his attention on Frannie. “Absolutely.”
The smile lingers on my lips as I watch them go, Frannie’s pleasant chatter mixing with the deep rumble of Thorn’s voice as they make their way down the stairs.
When I walk back inside the apartment, closing the door behind me, I turn to find Lawson standing right in front of the kitchen island, arms folded across his broad chest. I try not to allow myself to become distracted by the way his navy blue T-shirt stretches so deliciously over his muscle-packed chest and rock-hard shoulders.
My legs stop moving as I stare at him, my arms dropping to my sides. My mind goes blank, but only for a moment. And then I’m filled with a fury so fierce I almost cringe when it lances straight through me.
“So? Is this what a partnership looks like to you? Your partner hits a rough spot and you go running for the hills?”
His whole body goes rigid. “Indy…”
Stabbing a blue-painted fingernail in his direction, my voice rises. “Don’t you dare Indy me. You left. And for what? Because you were pissed? Because you couldn’t control one tiny situation? And that made you lose your shit?”
He jaw is made of the most tense, unforgiving stone as he stares at me. But something in his eyes…something there is almost reminiscent of pain. Or…longing?
“You need to listen to me, Indigo.” His voice is so hard, so harsh, it makes my blood freeze in my veins. I stop.
I listen.
“I left because I couldn’t deal with everything I was feeling. Can you understand that?” As his temper rises, so does the volume of his voice. “Do you get that since I’ve been living with you, breathing the same air as you, living the same life as you, I’ve been falling a little further under your spell every day?”
My mouth goes slack, the saliva inside my mouth drying up all at once while my heartbeat slows to a dangerous level.
“Do you understand that the thought of losing you, the thought of you not coming back to this apartment with me, of not seeing you every day for our workouts or sitting at the island with you for every meal completely wrecks me?”
With every word he says, he takes another step forward. With every sentence he utters, a tiny piece of the armor around my heart chips away and falls at his feet.
Until he’s right here. Right in front of me, the heaving breaths of my chest matching his breath for breath.
I brace my hands against his chest, attempting to shove him but not moving him an inch. “Damn you, Lawson Snyder! Watching you walk away, it hurt. And I. Don’t. Hurt. Ever. I’m too damn tough to allow you to come along and ruin everything I’ve built for myself. Shit…”
I pause, my heavy, erratic breathing the only sound in the room with the exception of his matching breaths.
Something in his eyes sparks, and it’s the only warning I have before his arms wrap tightly around me and his lips crash onto mine.
16
LAWSON
Fucking hell.
It’s like all of the doubts, the hopelessness, the strong and inconsolable need to climb the walls disappear when my mouth touches hers. Her lips are soft, but when the sharp bite of her nails meets my back through my T-shirt, it registers that kissing Indigo isn’t like kissing any other woman.
She pulls me so close to her that I can’t tell where my breaths end and hers begin, her soft curves pressing with firm insistence against every hard part of me. My cock swells against her stomach as I back her against the kitchen island; the picture I had in my head of spreading her out on top suddenly fills my mind.
Her fingers drop to the hem of my shirt, and I break away from her long enough to allow her to pull the cotton over my head and toss it to the floor. Her hands find every hard plane of my chest and stomach, smoothing over each ripple. My muscles jump beneath her palms, like just her touch is enough to set off rockets inside my body.
Cupping her face, I savor the moment and just kiss her. Her lips respond to mine in a way I never expected. In a way that turns me completely inside out. No woman has ever responded to me like this, kissed me the way Indigo does. Our kiss in the car earlier was hot—but quick. And now that we’re taking our time, we’re in sync, our bodies perfectly aligned while our minds and emotions work in composition.
My hands roam over her shoulders, down the sides of her body until they find the soft waistband of her shorts. Tugging them downward, I let them drop to her feet and then drop down to my knees in front of her.
Glancing up at her and reading the hungry look in her eyes, I give her a serious assessment before I speak.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to taste you, Indy?”
She sucks in a hard, harsh breath, one that reverberates through every muscle in her body.
Letting my hands settle on the round curves of her ass, I pull her toward me and kiss the inside of her thigh. Her muscles tense beneath my fingers, and I press my mouth to the other one. Her skin, hot and warm, gives off a fragrance that’s sweet and sinful at the same time, purely Indigo.
Her hands find my bare shoulders, her nails digging in with a bite that only spurs me on. Pulling her hips closer, I don’t waste any more time. I press my mouth to the very center of her, with the only barrier between us being the thin, satin fabric of her underwear.
She sucks in a breath, and a shudder rocks her body that I feel deep in my chest.
Every dead, unused part of me wakes up, like a beast finding its way out of a dark cave after years of captivity.
Just because I’m finally touching this woman.
“Lawson.” Her voice escapes in a broken whisper that has my eyes whipping up to meet hers.
“Please.”
That one word from Indigo? The woman who doesn’t need anyone or anything, whose pride is bigger than any Navy SEAL I’ve ever met?
That word destroys me.
In one fluid motion, I’m standing and scooping her into my arms. Her warmth wraps around me the same way her legs do, and I carry her into the bedroom. Because as much as I want her laid bare on our kitchen counter, I want the sight of her underneath me in that bed so much more.
I lay her down in the middle of a mo
und of pillows gently, so gently, because even though she’s tough as a diamond on the outside, she’s made of glass on the inside. And the one thing I never plan on doing is breaking her.
She kneels, crossing her arms and gripping the hem of her shirt. She whips the thin material off over her head while I watch, a dangerous kind of hunger building inside me.
When she starts shimmying out of the sinful black underwear, I’m fucking riveted. She tosses them off to the side, and my eyes don’t follow the fabric, because they’re locked on her. When she’s finished, all her clothes lying on the floor beside the bed, she lies back on her elbows.
Lying there, in the center of the bed like this…
She’s a vision.
“Your turn.” There’s a gleam in her eye, one that’s reflected in the soft glow of the lamp turned on beside the bed.
But instead of moving to take off my jeans, I keep staring at her. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”
Color stains her cheeks, her neck, and the tops of her gorgeously full tits.
“Why don’t you come show me?”
Goddamn.
Crossing the short distance between myself and the bed, I flick open the button on my jeans and halt just before the mattress. My eyes glued to the stunning beauty before me, I let the denim fall off my hips and feel the cool air of the bedroom hitting the bare skin of my legs. I kick out of the pants, hooking my thumbs in the sides of my boxer briefs and dragging them down my legs. I step toward the bed and plant a knee on the soft mattress.
Her eyes widen as I climb over her, her gaze darting over the surface of my skin like she doesn’t know where to look first. When her eyes land on my cock, it swells with the strength of her attention.
Indigo licks her lips, her pink tongue darting out to swipe at the plump bottom one, and I can’t hold back from tasting her again. My mouth coaxes hers open, our tongues tangling together in some kind of furious dance that’s a result of the buildup of tension between us. For weeks I’ve wanted this, wanted her, but the imaginary line I drew between us held me back.
Who am I kidding? There was never any line between us, just time stretching on until we figured out that this was always going to happen.
Her skin under mine is silk stretched over strength. I want to take the time to worship her body, to make her scream my name over and over again until she’s so addicted to me and what I do to her that she won’t want to give it up.
Because I already know, after just a few kisses and touches, that I don’t want to let her go.
As I settle between her legs, her hips cradle me, my tip straining toward her entrance without any guidance from me. I push inside her, just the smallest hint of heat and wetness that makes me suck in a sharp breath through my teeth.
“Fuck. Condom.” I struggle to grab hold of my thoughts, my brow furrowing as I try to remember where I’d have one.
“Right here,” she answers, reaching to open the drawer on the nightstand.
A part of me wonders why she has them there. Did a part of her know this would eventually happen? But I’m too far gone to spend a second thinking about it. Kneeling, I tear open the packet and slide the rubber onto my shaft and am back in position on top of her before she can blink.
“Are you sure?” I ask her through gritted teeth, wanting to make sure she knows that once this happens, there’s no turning back.
Indigo Stone might not know it yet, but she’s mine.
She holds my gaze. “I’m sure.” Her eyes burn, and I don’t hesitate any longer before plunging in deep.
Heaven. Indigo’s pussy is pure. Fucking. Perfection.
She cries out as I sink to the hilt, and her tight walls clench around me in a way that almost makes me lose my shit right then and there.
I groan. “Fuck, baby…you feel so damn good.”
She thrusts her hips upward. “More, Lawson.”
Pulling out until I’m nearly free of her, I hammer in once more. Finding a steady, pounding rhythm, I begin to systematically ensure that she comes before I can’t hold out anymore. I feel how tightly her legs wrap around my waist, register the pull of her hips as her thrusts rise to meet me.
Something inside of me wants to break free and roar…The pressure to release is eating me up inside. I flip Indigo over on her stomach with a twist of her legs, and she moans into the pillow now underneath her face.
“Yes. God, Lawson, yes.”
I lean down until my chest is pressed against her back. “You want it like this, baby? Do you want to feel my cock fill you up while I take you from the back?”
The only answer she can give me is a wordless jumble of sound as she grips the pillows in front of her in two fists. But the heavenly press of her ass against my hips as she pushes back against me, coaxing me to move, makes me grit my teeth with pure fucking lust.
My fingers grasp the soft flesh at her hips, and I pull her back against me, my hips flexing as the release inside me starts to build.
When I feel like I’m finally going to crash, she quivers, her insides pulsing and clenching around my dick. She cries out, her arms going slack as they refuse to continue holding her weight.
Snaking one arm around her waist, I find her slick, swollen clit and circle a finger around it once, twice.
She explodes, coming apart in my hand in a shaking mass of bones and muscle and attitude, and it’s the most perfect sight I’ve ever seen. I pause, just to watch her.
And then I fall over the edge right behind her, my orgasm crashing into me with a force I couldn’t have predicted.
17
INDIGO
When I open my eyes the next morning, the dim gray light of dawn is sucking the darkness out of the bedroom. In the center of the bed where Lawson made love to me last night—twice—I’m lying on my side with his body snuggled against my bare back.
It’s the first time in longer than I can remember that I don’t have the compulsion. The one that crawls over me the second I wake up—the desire to drive my body to exhaustion so that I can be stronger, faster, better.
So that I can be good enough to make sure no one can ever hurt me again.
This morning I inhale the faint scent of cologne still clinging to Lawson’s skin from yesterday…and I hold on a little tighter to the bicep caging my chest.
Behind me, Lawson stirs. When his lips press against my neck, my body flushes with warmth.
“Morning.” His voice, thick with the sleep he hasn’t quite shaken off, makes my toes curl under the sheets.
“Good morning.” Taking a deep breath, I turn in his arms to face him.
How is it possible that he’s this gorgeous at dawn? The pretty green of his eyes glitters in the impending light, and his skin is the perfect shade of toasted caramel. The side of his mouth quirks upward, and a brow lifts.
His arms tighten around me. “How are you feeling? Is your head hurting?”
I hesitate, trying to find the words. “My head’s fine, but…I’ve never done this.”
His brows knit together. “Done what?”
I roll my eyes “The whole waking-up-beside-a-man thing.”
Lawson’s expression of confusion changes as a slow smile spreads across his face. “Well, let me explain how it works. Instead of going for a run at dawn, we wait until later. And until then…”
He rolls, stealing my breath as my naked body lands on top of his rapidly hardening cock. Heat pools in my core as I gaze down at his handsome face. His eyes hood as he watches me. Placing one hand behind his head, he smirks.
“Ball’s in your court, Indigo. This wasn’t a one-time thing, but we can take it at your pace.”
My throat clogs as I consider his words.
Not a one-time thing?
I’m not a relationship type of girl. I don’t even think my heart has the capacity for love; I’m lucky it still exists in my chest. When I think back to all of the men my mother claimed to “love,” my stomach turns. The things they did to her…the things they
tried to do to me? I grew up thinking that was what love looked like.
And I decided a long time ago I wanted nothing to do with it.
I never wanted a relationship, not ever. But Lawson Snyder has something I’m not quite ready to give up yet. I want more of the smirk he aims at me when he thinks I’m being surly. I want more of the quiet power he exudes without even trying. I want more of the sexy confidence he wears like a badge of honor. I’ve never felt like this before…about anyone. The feelings for Lawson are building up inside me to a boiling point that’s threatening to overflow, and I like it.
Pushing those thoughts down deep, I lean down and let my lips brush across Lawson’s lips. He meets my tongue with his for a brief touch before I slide my mouth down his stubble-rough jaw and down his neck. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, his hands gripping my hips harder. When I let my teeth clamp down on one of his nipples, he hisses through his teeth.
“Fuck, Indigo. I need to have you again.”
I glance up at him with a smile. “Oh, you do?”
He nods, the expression in his eyes dangerous and sexy and daring, and he lifts his hips like a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.
He doesn’t break eye contact as he reaches over and grabs a condom from the drawer. He hands it to me, and I waste no time ripping open the foil and placing it on his cock, which is ready and waiting for me. Last night, I couldn’t get a good look at him in the dark, and in the frenzy of the desire I felt at the moment, I didn’t really take note of how big he is.
But he’s definitely big, and it explains the extra-full feeling when he’s inside me. I swallow, the lust driving me, and I sink down onto him with one fluid motion.
“Fuck, yes,” he groans as I begin to move. I can feel his eyes on me, drinking me in even as mine close and I give in to the feeling of freedom and power riding a man like Lawson Snyder gives me. His hands cup my breasts, and when I glance down, I can see them spilling out of his hands as he squeezes. He lifts his head to suck one of my nipples into his mouth, and the almost painful jolt sends a zing straight to my clit and I writhe on top of him as the pleasure overtakes me.