by Vivian Lux
"Again," he whispered.
I leaned forward, pressing my lips to his forehead. His skin was warm under my lips and I could feel the lines of worry that creased his skin. I wanted to kiss them, smooth them, until all those worries were gone.
He remained silent, holding himself so still, but there was a little hitch in his breath and it was that tiny little loss of control that excited me. I leaned forward again, kissing lower, catching the angle of his jaw then the pulse at the base of his throat. He pulled back, yanking his shirt upward, and I kissed the tattoo over his heart, a fearsome roaring lion.
The shape of him under his shirt was glorious, his skin darkly tanned from working outside, his muscles roped and rangy from living life hard and on the edge. I sank back on my heels and kissed over his ribcage and bent to kiss again where his chest met his stomach.
His breath came in short, quick exhales that made his belly jerk under my mouth. I leaned back and looked up at him. He gave a barely imperceptible nod, but he still didn't move. We both knew what would happen next, if only I let it. If only I was ready.
I was ready.
When my fingers found his belt, his eyes sought mine, checking and making certain. I knew that if he saw a single moment of hesitation in my fingers, he would pull back and we would keep waiting as long as I needed.
But I needed him now.
"I want you to kiss me now," I said, leaning back. My heart drummed in my chest and my skin was tight and vibrating. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that this was it, the moment I'd been putting off for so long. The moment I gave myself over to someone and instead of fear I felt nothing but wild, incomprehensible relief.
His tongue slid against mine, then plunged, searching, anxious and yearning, entwining with mine in a desperate dance. I might have been saying his name, I might have only been thinking it, I couldn't tell anymore. His hands slid down my body, and all the wild desire that had been pent up for so long burst to the surface in electric crackles across my skin.
I was falling and flying all at once. His hands slid under my shirt, lifting it up. The feeling of hot dry air against my naked skin made my nipples tighten and pucker even before he took one into his mouth, sliding his tongue over as greedily as he'd been kissing me a moment before.
"Piper," he groaned, and my name was a hoarse ragged cry of relief on his lips, like a drowning man who'd grasped hold of the life preserver. I arched into his hand as it moved across my breast and down again, cupping that area between my legs. Relief became an ache. He couldn't touch me enough. Every millimeter of my skin was a twisted ball of need. He was going slow, so slowly.
Too slow.
"Wait," I gasped, pulling back and drawing myself up to my knees.
"Do you want me to slow down?" he asked, his face contorted with desire.
"No," I said. "I want to touch you."
I could see the shadow on his throat as his Adam's apple bobbed crazily. I sat back on my heels and took a deep breath.
Then I reached for his belt buckle.
His hands fluttered at his side, wanting to take control again, but I batted them away. I was doing this myself.
I was ready.
As I released him from his belt, I sucked in my breath. For years, I'd been frightened of this... this... part of a man.
I hooked my fingers around the waistband of his boxer briefs and pulled down.
He bobbed free, already ramrod straight. I bit my lip and closed my hand around him. His eyes fluttered shut and I knew I had nothing to fear anymore.
He held perfectly still as I slid the weight of him along my palm. The skin of his cock was smooth, like silk. It felt good to touch. Really good. I stroked him before I even realized what I was doing, just loving the way he slid against my hand and it wasn't until his hip jerked and he slid away from me that I realized how fucking good it felt for him too.
"You're going to make me come before I'm ready," he groaned and my mind swirled around itself, delirious and drunk with the power I had. Never had I thought of myself as desirable. In fact, for most of my life, being desired was something I went out of my way to avoid. But the expression on True's face was near worshipful and made me almost giddy to realize that I had been beautiful all along.
Chapter Thirty
True
I was so close so soon. Too soon. I'd been waiting for this moment since the day I'd met her and I'd be damned if I wasn't going to savor every second of her.
"You're a greedy one," I teased her as I pulled her exploring hands away from my cock. It was one thing to close my eyes and feel what she was doing to me. It was quite another to open them and see her transfixed face. It wasn't what she was doing that made the heat coil at the base of my spine, it was the expression on her face as she did it.
"I've been waiting for so long," she gasped, drawing herself up on her knees to kiss me. I growled against her mouth, sliding my hands down to her waistband.
"Lie down," I ordered.
"Just please," she begged. "I want to feel you so bad."
"You will," I promised her as I eased her back onto her back. "You'll feel my hands," I said as I slid her jeans down her legs and tossed them over my shoulder. "You'll feel my fingers," I said, drawing my thumb over her white cotton panties and feeling how soaked they were already. "And you'll feel my lips," I said, bending to kiss her thigh. "And my tongue," I promised, flicking it in and out of her navel. "And I want you to tell me which of them you like the most."
She arched her hips and groaned, and whatever she was trying to say in return died in a sigh on her lips as I began to touch her.
"Tell me how this feels," I murmured, drawing my finger up her thigh.
Her eyelids fluttered, and a flush spread across her cheek, but when she opened her mouth no sound came out.
"I want to hear your voice," I begged her. I was so far gone, I needed to slow down and savor her. "Tell me. Tell me."
She closed her eyes, and arched into my hands. "Good," she said, the word escaping her lips like it was trying to break free of its chains.
It was a small word, almost meaningless, but coming from Piper it meant everything. "Good, good," I babbled, kissing the line my finger had traced. "Tell me, tell me more, keep talking, Piper."
She groaned again and with it came another word. "Again," she whispered.
Immediately, I moved my lips back down to where I had been sucking a line of greedy kisses along that creamy skin. "Right there? You want me to kiss you again, right there?"
She nodded.
"No," I told her. "You tell me. Say what you mean. Use your voice. I want to hear you."
"More!" she cried, spreading her legs wider.
Triumph exploded my chest like fireworks. In a frenzy, I bent to kiss her, kiss her everywhere, kiss all the secret places she was finally opening to me. The more I touched her, the more she spoke. The more she spoke the more she told me, told me exactly what to do to her to make her open up, freeing all of the feelings she kept hidden for so long. She bloomed like a flower, each kiss opening her up wider and fuller. All the while she told me... She fucking told me what I was doing to her.
"Ah my, oh my God, Jesus, you're touching me. You're touching me so good. It's so good. Don't, don't stop, right there please, please, please."
I slid my tongue against her with a groan. I'd imagined the taste of her ever since that night she'd played with herself in front of me, but this was somehow even sweeter than I had imagined. I pushed my tongue inside and lapped greedily, letting her buck and arch against my mouth. As I swirled my tongue and moved my fingers, her breath came faster, her chest rising in short, hitching gasps. She braced her feet against the rough surface of the roof and then suddenly exploded upwards, her whole body arching to the sky.
I nearly lost my fucking mind when she screamed. It was shattering, earthshaking. They must have heard it down in the studio, hell they probably heard it in Timbuktu. Her legs closed against my ears, muffling the sound, bu
t I could still feel her vibrating against my tongue. It was almost more than I could take. I sat back up again, still swirling my thumb on her clit as she quivered in rhythm with my touch. I groped blindly for my wallet and the condom I'd started carrying in there in the blind hope of this day finally coming.
She opened her eyes when she heard the crinkling wrapper and the wicked flash that lit in there was all the consent I needed. I rolled the condom down my length and she fell back on her elbows and spread her legs wide.
"Are you ready?" I asked, one more time.
"I've never been more ready for anything."
"Come here," I told her, leaning back. "I want you to control this."
Her eyes flashed again, and this time in silent gratitude. I leaned back on my elbows and watched her climb on top of me. The effort it took to hold back, my hips quivering as she positioned herself, sliding against my tip, brought me back down to earth again. I regained enough self-control to relish the sight of myself slipping inside of her, inch by inch. She was bent, watching as well, her eyes wide with hunger.
"Holy shit," she said, and I felt the muscles in her pussy quivering around me, easing around my girth as I opened her up for the very first time.
"You good?" I asked quietly. She was so tight and hot and wet...
She squeezed her eyes shut, inhaled sharply, and suddenly pushed herself all the way down.
"Ah, god," she cried, and I immediately sat up, moving my thumb against her clit as she found her rhythm. "Ah god!" she repeated, and all at once she was riding me.
"Fuck..." I panted. "Piper, holy shit." I sat up, gathering her into my arms. She slumped against me with a shuddering cry and I kissed every inch of skin I could find as she rolled her hips in perfect, maddening circles. I pressed my hand to the small of her back, drawing her up tighter as I moved, thrusting harder now.
Her breath caught and this time I could feel her come from the inside out and it was everything I could have wanted in my fucking life. A wordless gasp rushed out of her lips and she buried her face in my neck, biting down on my skin as her pussy clamped down on my cock. I fell back, letting her press her hands against my chest, and she rode me for everything I had, my wild, dangerous girl finally free.
When I came, it was almost an afterthought. Nothing could top what I'd seen on her lips when she came. It might have been gibberish, it might have been soundless but it looked very much like the shape of the words "I love you too."
Chapter Thirty-One
Piper
I could barely see in the dark of my room. But I could feel.
"Baby," True groaned. "You're gonna be sore."
I grinned and pressed my lips blindly to his shoulder, moving my hand faster. "Are you telling me to stop?"
His chest hitched. "No," he gritted, swallowing hard.
"I'm not stopping," I warned him. My breath was coming faster now. I pushed myself up to kneeling and climbed onto him because I fucking could. He was here, in my bed and he was mine and I could slide myself down on top of him, letting him fill me up with that perfect cock of his.
He gasped, and I didn't need to see him to know that he was shocked. "Bare?" he asked.
I was almost gone from the silky feel of him. "Do I have to worry?" I panted.
"I'm clean," he said immediately.
"And you know I am," I grinned, pushing my hands against his chest. The first time had been amazing but this, the feel of bare skin on bare skin, nothing between us, was even more amazing. "You're the only one."
He grabbed my ass and I squealed as he flipped me over onto my back. It was nearly pitch black in my bedroom, but I could see his eyes as he moved above me. "And you're the only one," he breathed quietly, moving inside of me. "The only one," he repeated, covering my mouth with his as I started to quiver.
He came with me, and I raked my nails down his back as he stiffened and then groaned into my neck. When he fell back onto the bed, he immediately flung his arm out, pulling me close. I felt him sigh.
"You have to go, don't you?" I said, suddenly realizing.
"I have to be at work in..." He rolled and checked the digital clock next to the bed. "Five hours," he said with a rueful chuckle.
"Yeah, you should go," I said.
But neither of us moved. I ran my hand up his chest, feeling the light, crisp hairs under my fingers. It was still so new to be so close to someone else's body. There was so much to explore. The roughness of his stubbled head. The softness of his earlobe. The strange new skin of scars I didn't know the story behind.
I suddenly wanted to know everything about him. "How old were you when Rory was born?" I asked.
He startled a bit and I realized he'd been falling asleep. "Just turned eighteen," he yawned.
"Were you happy?"
I could hear the smile on his face. "Got a tattoo to celebrate her birth." He tapped his chest, right over his heart. "Here. It's a lion, in case you were wondering."
I'd seen it, but I didn't think about what it meant and now I was smiling too. "Because you call her Roar?"
He chuckled. "That didn't come til later, when it became apparent what kind of little girl I had on my hands. No," he sighed, rolling over to me in the dark. I could feel his breath across my forehead as he spoke quietly, his voice full of memory. "Fatherhood had me feeling as fierce as a lion, but as the years went by, I realized that the fierceness wasn't mine. It was all hers. Then I looked it up and found out that the fiercest lions in the pride are the females and after that I kind of felt silly about the whole thing.
I tried to suppress my laugh but my shaking shoulders gave me away.
He was laughing too. "No, I was thrilled to be a dad. I wasn't exactly ready though. Who could be? I was a kid still. But being a dad meant I had a chance to be a man. Everything I knew about being a man, I learned from my dad. Meaning, I resolved to do everything he never did."
"Did your dad leave you?"
"He did."
"Mine too." I blinked for a moment. I'd never actually cried about the day our dad left us. Why was I feeling like I wanted to now?
Thank god for the darkness because True couldn't see me blinking rapidly. He went on instead, his voice much harder than it was when he was talking about Rory. "He'd come back in our life sometimes, just long enough to blow shit up. Lucky we had my mom's parents. Everything my dad wasn't, my grandad was. And I think back sometimes and wonder how we survived and I realized that my grandparents were always slipping us money and helping out here and there, and me and Lizzy we didn't have that. So, I went to work to make sure that at least Roar could get a treat once in a while. It means so much to kids, you know? Those little piece of crap toys, presents you get for them just because you want to see them happy." He kissed my forehead. "Like a piano."
I blushed a little. "Does she like it?"
"She's thrilled."
"I wish I had seen her when she saw it."
"Me too," he said, and fell silent for a second. "She doesn't know what she's doing though. Just kind of pecks at it, like a chicken scratching at the dirt. She needs lessons. I haven't figured out how that's going to happen yet."
"I could show her."
"You've got the album to put out."
"But after?"
"Don't you go on tour after?"
I sighed. "I guess so."
"Did you forget?"
"No, it's just...." I snuggled closer until my whole face was buried in his chest. I didn't know what I was thinking, but I knew I didn't want to think about leaving him... or Rory.
He must have sensed that I needed to stop talking. "My granddaddy," he began. "He was the kind of guy who'd do that." I pulled back a little and lifted my chin, eager to hear his story. I wanted to know everything. "He'd remember those little milestones that are important to kids, like getting me some ice cream when I got a 100 on a quiz or something. I used to hang around him like a leech, hanging off his arm with my mouth running a mile a minute because he was the only man in my life w
ho didn't beat me up on a regular basis. I worshipped him for that and he knew how important it was to show me what it meant to be a man."
"Was there no one else?"
I felt him shake his head. "My great uncle, he'd try, but he's just wired different from me. He gets along better with Con."
"Is Con your brother?"
"Older brother yeah. He owns the garage. Uncle Mitt left it to him."
I sucked in my breath. "Not to both of you?"
"No. It doesn't matter though."
"You're not mad?"
I felt his chin go down as he looked at me. "Why should I be?"
I wracked my brain as to why this concept seemed so alien to me. "Because," I realized. "I'm a twin."
He shifted down lower and brushed my hair back from my face. "Yeah?" he said.
I closed my eyes and pictured my brother. "Lowell has... I've never had to go it alone. With my brother, what's his is mine. He's stood behind me..." I squeezed my eyes tight and forced the words out. "He's stood behind me in everything."
I could feel True's fingers brushing through my hair, over and over again and suddenly the words could finally come.
"It was my cousin's birthday party," I began. "I didn't want to be there in the first place because he was this big bully of a kid and he liked to pick on me when no one was looking. Lowell knew that, so he kept watch on me the whole time we were there, making sure none of the kids could get to me."
I swallowed down the bile that was starting to rise. True's fingers moved a little faster.
"But we were five. Just kids. A kid can yell at another kid, but when a grown-up says to do something, you do it, right? So Lowell, he couldn't stop my uncle when he called me over."
True made a low sound.
"I remember seeing Lowell behind me. Woe, I called him back then. It was my private name for him, just like how he calls me Pepper. Woe watched my uncle lead me around the other side of the above ground swimming pool. There were people everywhere, but no one wondered what the heck he was doing. No one stopped him, not even my parents. No one wondered what he was doing with me back there except my brother. And no one believed me afterward, except my brother."