by Ranae Rose
If only Madison could see him this way – see beyond the badge and gun.
“Do you want to come inside?” he asked.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She still didn’t know where this was going. In light of that, the last thing she wanted was for him to realize that his mere presence had thrust her onto a bed of pins and needles.
The feeling intensified the moment they were alone together, with the door locked behind them.
“How have things been?” His gaze was still riveted to her.
“Not the best.” She and Madison had fought the last time she’d seen him, and again today before she’d left. The in-between had been filled mostly with long silences.
The quiet – the utter lack of communication with Madison – wasn’t something Peyton was used to. It stung, badly. And she worried like she hadn’t in months, almost like she had right after the accident.
He nodded, his expression grim. “I figured.”
“She’s just worried.” There was no shaking the need to explain, to defend Madison. “It’s not personal. She really thinks I’m taking a risk.”
“I know.” There was no edge to his voice, no anger. “She’s a good sister.”
“I wish I could say the same. I’m here, even though I know it drives her crazy. I don’t know how to be fair to both of you at the same time.”
“If it’s fairness you’re worried about, don’t be. You don’t owe me anything, Peyton. I don’t want you to feel obligated to be with me.”
“I don’t feel obligated. I’m here because I want to be – because I can’t stay away.”
Honesty was hard. It made her heart beat even faster, until she was lightheaded with nerves. She didn’t know whether he felt as strongly, but here she was laying it all out on the line.
“You mean that?”
“Yeah. Of course I do.”
“You can still see us together, even with the issues my job creates?”
“Yes.” Or rather, she couldn’t see them walking away from each other. Not if they both wanted to be together. “What about you?”
He moved closer, and she could’ve sworn the room’s temperature climbed by a few degrees. When he slid his hands into her hair, palms resting on either side of her face, she shivered despite the heat.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone, Peyton. Not your sister or anyone else. But I don’t want to give you up, either.”
She was melting, like she’d known she would. A flush burnt its way up her chest and face as her emotions bled together, each one intensifying the others.
Eventually, one became stronger than the rest: desire. It radiated into her bones, overheating her from the inside out.
By the time he pressed his mouth against hers, it felt like she’d been waiting a year for the kiss.
It’d been a long time. Or at least, it felt like it.
Nothing about the kiss felt wrong, and she let herself stop worrying whether it was.
They never made it to the bedroom, settling instead for the couch.
His jeans were soft, and he was hard beneath them. Whenever she swung over his lap, straddling his hips, she could feel his rigid shaft pressed against her lower belly.
She was wearing a sundress. Maybe she’d subconsciously hoped for this that morning, when she’d gotten dressed.
He slipped a hand beneath her skirt and rubbed her through her satiny stretch panties, making her clit swell.
One kiss, and she was so hot for him. Hell, she was always hot for him. Hot and waiting for the next time that it would be just them, with nothing between them.
Nothing at all. Not even guilt.
She loosened his button, pulled at his zipper. His cock stood stiff and tall, the skin hot and stretched tight over his shaft.
She ran her thumb over the thick head, a shiver racing down her spine as she felt the narrow cleft that ran through the middle. It was damp – he’d come a little just from touching her.
He pulled the straps of her dress and bra both down over her shoulders, exposing her from the waist up, and lifted her skirt high.
Keeping a tight grip on the garments scrunched around her waist, he pulled her close – so close that his dick glided against her silky panties and her breasts pressed against his face.
His breath rushed against one nipple, making it shrink. He teased it with his tongue, then closed his lips around it, pulling hard.
She sucked in a ragged breath and put her hands on his shoulders, squeezing.
He was still wearing his t-shirt and unzipped jeans. He was even wearing his shoes. But if it hadn’t been for her panties, she could’ve sank down right onto his cock, letting gravity bring them together.
She was wet enough that he’d glide between her pussy lips, his thick head forcing its way into her body until she tightened around his shaft, gripping him all the way to the root.
The fantasy made her even wetter; she could feel the pressure of his cock against her pussy, straining the thin barrier of her panties.
She slid her hands behind his head and let her fingers intertwine behind his skull. When she pulled him closer, he sucked harder.
Excluding her nipples, her breasts were the palest areas of her body. Always shielded from the sun, they glowed against the light tan lines that crossed her cleavage, courtesy of her recent day at the beach. But the soft skin around one nipple was pink now, inflamed from the pull and pressure of his mouth – even the scrape of his teeth.
The marks would take a while to fade.
She didn’t care. When he touched her other breast with his lips, she arched her back so that the peak brushed his mouth, already stiff.
She moaned when he sucked it like he had the other, the light stubble on his jaw scraping her skin.
Her pussy clenched around nothing. She was empty and more than ready for him. The only thing that kept her from reaching down and pulling her panties aside on an impulse was the fact that what he was doing felt so good, and if she did that, he might stop.
Plus, they needed a condom.
He had one in his wallet, in his back pocket. Or at least, he probably did. He’d started carrying one there recently, so that they’d always be ready for this.
She slid a hand down his body and past his hip, reaching for his wallet. He was sitting on it, but when she ran her fingers over the small of his back, he stopped what he was doing, straightened and shifted her in his lap.
He got his wallet out, flipped it open.
The condom was there, and Peyton pulled it out and tore it open. Fingers shaking with anticipation, she rolled it over his dick, stroking the sides of his shaft.
He was wide and hard. In just seconds, he’d be wide and hard inside her, pushing deep.
Her pussy clenched, sending a sharp pang of sensation all the way through her. It made her heart race and her mouth water, made even accidental contact an erotic touch.
But the way his wrist had brushed her inner thigh was no accident. He’d hooked a thumb into her panties and was pulling them aside.
The room air felt cool against her heated skin. Cool and welcome, because it meant she was finally uncovered – meant she didn’t even have to wait long enough to get her underwear off.
Now that he was sheathed with the condom, he was already flexing his hips, pushing against her swollen lips with the broad tip of his dick.
She drew tight on the inside and didn’t even have to think about rocking her own hips and widening her thighs, lowering herself onto him. It was automatic, irresistible.
A sound she didn’t recognize escaped from deep in her throat as she slid down his shaft, her body stretching around it. The hardness of his cock was unforgiving, and her weight forced her all the way down, until she felt the dark curls at its base touching her skin.
It hurt. Just a little, and that taste of pain sent a thrill through her, making her skin tingle all over.
Nothing could dull the pleasure of feeling him – all of him – inside her. Not even
the ache in her core telling her to slow down, that he was too much right now but maybe in a few seconds, in a few more strokes—
He didn’t wait. Flexing his hips, he pulled back and thrust into her hard, burying himself inside her. What little bit of his skin his unzipped jeans exposed met her hers with a slap.
She gasped.
She was throbbing now, her body protesting from the inside out, even as it stretched and grew wetter.
They weren’t using any lube.
They didn’t need it.
He kept rocking into her like that, until she lost her balance and pitched forward, the top of her head bumping his jaw.
Instead of stopping, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against his body, so that her breasts were against his t-shirt and her cheek against his shoulder.
She could feel his heart pounding. Or maybe that was hers. They were too close to tell.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she focused on the rhythm of his body invading hers, pushing her closer to the edge by the second.
She wanted – needed – to come so bad. Her clit was swollen, and every little bit of friction between it and his groin set her nerves on edge.
But a part of her didn’t want the tension to end. What she was feeling now was second-best to actually climaxing, and she simultaneously savored it and ached to rush it.
He took her by her shoulders and sat her up.
Steadying herself with a palm against his chest, she watched as he slipped a hand between their bodies.
He was going to touch her clit.
As soon as he did, all those thoughts about holding out faded. The intensity built so fast she grew lightheaded.
She let her hair fall into her eyes and squeezed them shut. She was so close.
He pressed in deep, groaning as he squeezed her shoulders.
That was it – all she could take. Pleasure gripped her harder than he had, wringing a moan out of her.
She rolled her hips, rubbing her clit against his fingertips as her pussy squeezed his shaft. The pressure was pulsing – wave-like. Every time she made a sound, she was cut short seconds later as she lost her breath.
She couldn’t even say his name.
“Peyton.” He removed his fingers from her clit and something soft snapped back against it, sending an aftershock of sensory overload through her system.
She caught her breath just in time to lose it all over again.
Her panties – she’d forgotten she still had them on. Looking down, she saw the satiny material pulled aside, held there by his shaft.
It was a good thing the fabric had a lot of stretch.
“Yeah?” She met his eyes, desire flickering back to life again as she studied the nuanced hazel tones that radiated from his pupils.
“Think you can come again?”
Her pussy clenched, and he groaned.
“Yes. Just give me a minute.” She was still lightheaded, could still feel her pulse in her temples.
But she was still wet, too, and her breasts still ached. With him still deep inside her, it was easy to anticipate another orgasm.
He cupped her breasts, lifting them and running his thumbs over her nipples.
They shrank to aching little points, sensitive to the point of soreness.
They stayed like that on the couch, not bothering to move or get fully undressed, until she came again and he did the same.
He gripped her hips at the end, groaning as he rocked into her.
The pressure of his fingertips digging into her hips made her spine tingle, and her body tightened around him one last time.
Eventually she rose from his lap and sank onto the couch beside him, readjusting her clothes before letting her head rest against his shoulder.
He didn’t move. His cock was still hard, upright between the zippered teeth of his pushed-down jeans.
She was suddenly so tired – probably more from the stress of the past couple days than what they’d just done. She could’ve fallen asleep right there, with her head on his shoulder.
The thought was as appealing as it was impossible. Leaving home in the midst of another argument with Madison had chipped a piece off her battle-weary heart – she couldn’t stay gone all night.
As Elijah drew a deep breath, shame flooded her. This was all she had to offer him: quick trysts before she ran home to defend what they’d just done.
Why was he willing to put up with it?
He took one of her hands, folding her fingers inside his own.
“I’m so sorry about the past couple days,” she said, back in broken record mode.
The things Madison had said – the things she believed he’d done – had to be salt in the wounds of what he was already dealing with at work. He was in the midst of such an ordeal; he didn’t need more stress heaped on top of it.
He tightened his hold on her hand. “It’s not your fault.”
“I still can’t help but feel responsible. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be dealing with it.”
“If it weren’t for you, I’d be one miserable bastard right now. Do you have any idea how much worse the bullshit at work would be if it wasn’t for you?”
A lock of her hair tickled the corner of her mouth. She blew it away with a sigh. “I don’t see how I’m any help.”
“You’re the eye of the storm, Peyton. A little bit of heaven, no matter how bad things get around us.”
She listened, utterly still. Her mind buzzed with pleasure as his words sank in.
“Work has been my life since before I even entered the academy. This job was all I ever wanted to do. You prove that there’s more to life – more worth existing for.”
She threaded her fingers through his and squeezed. “That’s by far the most flattering thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“It’s not flattery; it’s the truth. I love you, Peyton. There’s nothing I wouldn’t put up with if it meant keeping you.”
Her heart skipped like a scratched record, and she lifted her head from his shoulder to meet his gaze. “I love you too. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
She was practically shaking, and yet she’d never been more sure of anything. She wasn’t sure how they were supposed to proceed from here, but she was sure this was love.
Only something worthy of being called love could have drawn her so wildly out of her comfort zone, or broken down walls she’d thought permanent. She loved this man, this cop – this near-perfect person she couldn’t stand the thought of turning her back on.
She just needed to figure out how to keep that love from alienating her from the family she’d do anything for – anything except for walk away from this.
Love was love; one form of it should never threaten another. But this was the real world, not a fairytale. There was no magic solution, just a long hard road winding ahead of her and the man who held her heart in his hands.
CHAPTER 25
Days passed by. Weeks. A month and then some.
Peyton learned just how absolute silence could be, especially when it was punctuated with words that communicated almost nothing at all.
Her heart ached every time Madison walked into a room, and when she spoke, the pain intensified. They only talked about what they had to, and there was a certain hollowness to Madison’s tone when she spoke to Peyton.
Like her heart wasn’t in what she was saying.
Like she didn’t want it to be.
And then there were the silences that sometimes stretched between her and Elijah. They were tense too – she could almost hear him brooding over the trouble at work, or the fact that he’d been stuck behind a desk during summer, the island’s busiest season for everything, including crime.
The city councilman was still trying his damndest to get Elijah fired and had only grown more aggressive since his son’s case had gone through roll call and a date for the second court appearance had been set. Multiple media outlets – most of them online – had taken the bullshit accusations and
run with them.
Mercifully, though, those silences could always be broken with a simple touch or kiss. Elijah was never far away from her, even when his mind wandered.
That fact brought her happiness, and she did her best to hold onto it when Madison finally broke her silence.
It happened on Peyton’s birthday, in July. It was a scorching mid-summer Sunday and she, Madison and Jace had spent the first half of it at the beach before coming home to eat fresh shrimp pad Thai – one of Peyton’s favorites – and an enormous chocolate cherry cheesecake Madison had had made for the occasion.
It’d been the best day they’d had together all summer, and by that afternoon, Peyton was practically giddy. The invisible icy wall between them had finally started thawing. She’d been waiting for what felt like an eternity.
Madison’s leg was doing better, too. And Charmed was going strong, sales boosted by Madison’s knack for creative marketing. If they could just keep up this progress, their house would start feeling like a home again.
Peyton hummed to herself that evening as she slipped out of her flat sandals and into a pair of strappy heels. She rarely wore them, but Elijah had promised her a special night out and she was in the mood to dress up. Besides, they went great with the green sundress she’d been wearing all day.
Before leaving her room, she slid a golden bangle bracelet onto her wrist and dabbed spicy citrus perfume above her collarbones. Her post-beach hair actually looked good for once – a birthday gift from Mother Nature – so she didn’t mess with it.
Her heels clicked against the tile as she crossed the kitchen to retrieve her purse from the counter.
“Should I expect you back tonight?” The sound of Madison’s voice caught Peyton by surprise.
“Yeah, of course.” She turned, her purse dangling from one shoulder. She never spent the entire night at Elijah’s – not since the incident months ago.
In truth, Madison was doing much better and would’ve been fine on her own overnight. But it would tear her up if Peyton stayed gone that long, and so she kept her self-imposed curfew.