When She's Mine (The Forever Collection Book 2)

by Dani Wyatt

  “Well, I’m all settled in here, but...” I throw out a weak excuse and he’s across the kitchen in a heartbeat, crouching down next to my chair.

  “You’ll be settled in better at my place.” The commanding sound in his voice draws out another round of between the legs tingles. “You’re coming, that’s settled. I’ll take care of you. Now, where’s your wheelchair and your crutches?” He slaps his hands together and rubs them back and forth.

  The matter-of-fact tone in his voice when he uses those words –words that would normally cause me to shrink with embarrassment– has me incredibly turned on. And the way his eyes lock onto my face has me raising an arm and pointing down the hall from the kitchen without further protest.

  “Great. You want me to go ahead pack some of your things, too? Or you want to come with me?” He stops, making a face. “Sorry, I’m trying not to be overbearing but I’m failing. I’ll let you decide what to bring. You point, I’ll pack.”

  “What? No, I can manage. I may look helpless, but——” I catch myself, realizing my constant defensiveness with him is so unnecessary. His desire to help is more than sincere. “Sorry, I mean, thank you, but I can get my stuff together.”

  “I want to help you, Leah. Let me help.”

  I cross and uncross my arms because I know my nipples are piercing through the thin fabric of this dress. A nice, lumpy wool sweater would be perfect right about now.

  My eyes settle for a split second on the crotch of his pants. Suddenly, my renegade nipples don’t seem so bad because even as I dart my eyes away as quickly as possible, I note the bulge there that no sweater could help hide.

  He extends his arm, tipping his head down the hall. “I’m thinking, it’s way past time that someone took care of you.”

  It takes me a moment to get on my feet, even with his arm for support, but I push off with my other hand on the cool glass of the tabletop and we fall in step down the hall. The thought of being in the bedroom with him has the wet spot turning into a small puddle. This is all new to me, these feelings, the way my body has all these new bells and whistles that he’s operating with just a glance and a touch. The way his words make me feel safe is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

  It’s been a long time since anyone took care of me. I mean, the staff at the house provided for our needs and Henrietta and Mr. Fredby cared about us in their own way. But Allister feels different, like his number one focus is on me.. It’s more than flattering, it’s intoxicating.

  That voice in my head is badgering me. Making me wonder: Why is he doing this? A guy like him paying this kind of attention to a girl like me.

  I don’t know, maybe he’s the type that needs to be the savior. I’ve heard of that, men that want someone to rely on them. It gives them a rush, then when all’s said and done, the thrill of the conquest is gone and so are they.

  I watched Simon and Victor and so many of the men in my extended family over the years and their interactions with women. They all acted like women were disposable. Replaceable.

  My dad was the exception with Mom. He was loyal, and he was head over heels for her. But I watched, I listened. Most of the others made remarks about the house staff, young women they played with and then threw away like yesterday’s newspaper. It’s all I’ve ever seen from most men.

  Decker and my father being the only exceptions in my world.

  I do my best to chill the warmth that has been gathering in parts of my body I didn’t even know could warm like this. With as few words as possible, I point and instruct Allister as he packs up my things, watching him run back and forth to his car with them. He parked it at the main house this morning before the limo came and picked us up to head to the courthouse.

  I’m secretly thankful that Allister doesn’t make the same leap I did and consider that we could just slide on over to the main house and stay there.

  I want to see his place.

  Stay at his place.

  See how he lives.

  While he loads everything into his trunk, I lean over from my place where I’ve been sitting on the edge of the bed, and unsnap the braces from my loafers. I need to take the weight off my legs. It’s been more than usual today and the ache and twinges are so painful when I try to stand, I know if I don’t make the swap my legs will crumple under me and Allister will be picking me up off the floor.

  My fingers shake as I try to rush. I pack the metal braces into their nylon bag and reach to where I asked him to leave my forearm crutches next to the bed. Before I secure them on my arms, I zip closed the case with the leg braces and put it on the floor next to the last suitcase, just as he’s striding through the bedroom door. And I can’t help it. I may hate myself for it, but I stop and stare because he is a glorious, squirm-inducing sight.

  “One more trip with these, and I’ll be back for you.” He leans over with a smile. “Saving the best for last.”

  “Thank you,” I utter and he pauses, staring at me again with that look like he thinks I might disappear in a poof.

  “Please, stop thanking me. You deserve so much more than just someone to carry your bags, precious.” I’m stunned by what he calls me, our eyes seem to be having a distinct and separate conversation for a long moment that has me breathless.

  A minute later, he’s been out and back with the final bags and I’m still struggling to find the oxygen in the room.

  My dad always called me precious. What could that mean that he just picked that name out of the air?

  Before I figure out what to do next, he moves to sit next to me and my heartbeat quickens. Before I know it, I’m leaning his way, his weight pressing down on the mattress so heavily that my body sort of falls toward him. I’m powerless to stop it, and a moment later his lips forge forward to meet mine in a soft, gentle kiss which freezes me. My mouth goes slack. I’m doing my best impression of a dead fish for my first kiss.

  I feel his lips smile against mine and I wish I could disappear.

  A shiver shakes me from head to toe as a sigh escapes him. It is such a contrast to hear such a soft, intimate sound falling out of this hard, concrete wall of a man.

  The kiss ends and he retreats, just an inch, enough for our eyes to pick up the conversation our lips started. His face moves back closer, his lips brushing mine with the softest words I’ve ever heard.

  “I want to kiss you again. You are already more precious to me than you know, but this time I want you to kiss me back.”

  Before I can think, I reply. “I want that, too.”

  I muster up a fraction of an inch of forward motion and the brush of his lips becomes a kiss, but it quickly turns the corner to something more. His tongue traces along my lower lip, I hear his measured breathing turn to a low groan and my belly turns up and in and over and down, all at the same time.

  His tongue is warm, full, and he tastes like masculinity and wintergreen. I don’t know what I thought a kiss would taste like, but this is so much better.

  I’ve never been kissed in my life, but in all my dreams this would be how I would imagine it. Soft yet urgent, with a man who seems to devour me with his lips and his eyes.

  All of my reservation drains from me. A kind of spinning takes over. A force I’ve never felt before, guiding me onward.

  My hands fly up to grasp around the back of his neck, tightening over the muscles there, enjoying the hard tension under my fingers. The slight prickle of the short shaved hair on his neck causes light friction. He’s warm and when I squeeze he lets out a groan that makes me light-headed.

  It’s the sound of a man in need and I love that it’s me causing that noise. He needs something, and that something sure seems like it comes from me.

  The growing tension between my legs blazes into a wildfire. I press my thighs together, trying to either stop the feeling or push it forward, I’m not sure. His teeth click against mine and my lips open, my tongue pushing forward, entering his mouth as my movements cause him to growl into our kiss.

  His ha
nds swoop around my back, running up and down slowly but firmly, intentionally, until one settles at the back of my neck and the other shifts to hold me steady.

  I’m lost in the kiss when suddenly he grunts. Like I’ve hurt him somehow then he’s gone. Breaking away and leaving me breathing hard as he shifts away from me.

  With that, our connection is lost and he’s back at full height, clearing his throat, letting out a deep, shaking breath, unable or unwilling to meet my eyes as he gathers the suitcase and nylon bag.

  All I can do is watch as he retreats out the open bedroom door, leaving me sitting there, red faced, embarrassed, and foolishly wanting more.

  C H A P T E R F O U R

  ALLISTER

  Steady, man. Jesus. I can’t breathe.

  I limp back out the front door, placing the last of her belongings in the back of the Suburban with a heavy breath which sounds like it could be my last.

  That’s a fucking death rattle, not a breath. What the fuck is wrong with me? She was fucking kissing me back. Hard. She was clinging to me and I just walked away?

  I rest a hand on my head, trying to gain my bearings as the sun streaks through the trees that surround the guesthouse.

  My usually bald head is now covered in a short growth of dark hair. I quit shaving it the day after I found her in the basement. Only because I heard her whisper to her sister that day that the ‘bald guy scared her.’ When May giggled and asked her why, Leah had said all the bad guys in fairy tales are bald.

  So no more bald for me.

  Now, I’ve left her sitting in there all alone. I just bailed on the best kiss of my life, a kiss that was leading me somewhere else I’ve dreamed of going since I laid my eyes on her that day.

  It’s no excuse, but damn if I wasn’t sure I could control myself. My dick sure couldn’t. I came in my fucking trousers when she squeezed the back of my neck and pushed her tongue into my mouth.

  Fuck.

  I kissed her and came. And it was by far the best fucking orgasm of my life.

  I lean my forearms against the car, lower my head between them and try to get a grip. My dick hasn’t lost an inch. It’s begging for more as the warm cum from my errant climax spreads in my boxers and down my shaft.

  Just then I notice that driver, Wilson, with the limo pulled in over by a bunch of trees at the entrance to Deck’s place.

  And he’s just standing there. Watching me.

  What the fuck?

  He starts toward the driver’s door to the car, but I’m already bolting toward him.

  “Hey!” I shout. I don’t know who to trust with Leah.

  Any number of the staff members might have been in on it with Victor and Simon. If I had my way, she’d drop them all, but I know she won’t do that so I’ll have to take things into my own hands instead. “I want to talk to you.”

  As I get closer I hear the engine start and I dig in and sprint, catching up to the car just as it pulls forward. Stepping in front of it, I slam my palm against the hood and his eyes snap open, staring at me through the windshield.

  “What?” Wilson raises both hands and gives me a pained squint.

  I’m around to his side of the car before he can start it moving again. “Get the fuck out of the car.”

  “No.”

  I slam my hand against his window and he jumps again.

  “OK, Jesus, alright.” The driver’s door clicks open and I grab the handle, nearly tearing it from its frame. “I don’t...”

  “Why are you here?” I get that she’s been on her own for a few years, and some of the staff have gotten close to her, but this is too much. “Why didn’t you leave?”

  “I’m trying to now——” He rolls his eyes and that does nothing to settle the sense that he’s hiding something.

  “Don’t play. My bullshit detector is going off.”

  He squirms as I grab his collar and drag him from the car. “I thought Leah might need me, that’s all!”

  I take a deep breath. The look in the guy’s face is pathetic, but I think he’s telling the truth. My military training has given me a sense for reading people. I relax my grip on his collar and his shoulders drop. “Do you know who I am?”

  “Yes...”

  “Say it.”

  “You’re Decker’s friend. Allister.”

  “What else?”

  His lip is quivering as his eyes dart over my face. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me; there’s something there and I just can’t quite work it out. I’m just about to tighten my grip again when he speaks. “You’re the one that rescued Leah.”

  “That’s right. And I’m going to be taking care of her because that’s what I do. So you’d better get used to that.” I lean forward. Not too much, but enough to let him know that I’m in charge.

  His mouth goes wide and I see a flash of something cross his face, but then he nods and I let go and stalk away. I need to get back to Leah. The thought of her comes back into my head and I forget Wilson in an instant. Remembering what it felt like to kiss her, the cum still sticky inside my boxers, moving against my cock as I get hard just at the thought of her.

  My heart is wreaking havoc on my chest wall. Fighting with the bones there, trying to hammer its way out. I’ve never had heartbeats hurt before, but these do, because they’re mad as hell and I don’t blame them. No one’s tugged at my heart before, not like this. No one. Not ever. And I just left her there.

  With a strained breath, I break into a run back to the door and down the hall, bursting into the bedroom like a sheriff coming into the saloon to lay down the law.

  She’s on her feet, her arms secure in the metal bind of her crutches. Her deep-set, brown eyes match the shine of her hair, and my throat nearly closes at the sheer innocent beauty standing in front of me.

  “Let’s go.” Her voice is tense and that’s my fault.

  “Precious, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run out like that.” I’m on her, hands coming to rest gently on her shoulders, my thumbs rasping over the softest flesh I’ve ever felt at the curve where her neck meets her shoulders.

  She shifts her body, tense and slightly away from me.

  “Stop calling me that. It’s fine. Let’s go.” Her words are sharp, her lips losing all the softness that just imprinted her somewhere deep into my soul. Her flavor was like finding an old friend and a new day. She needs to know that one kiss has bound her to me. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s never getting away.

  Never.

  “No, it’s not fine. Listen. Sit down.” I pull gently at her elbow, noting the question in her eyes but urging her on nonetheless.

  She sighs and follows, taking two tentative steps before I lay a hand at the small of her back and ease her down onto the edge of the bed. She releases her arms from the metal crutches, clinking the aluminum together as I grab them and set them to the side, taking my place on my knees in front of her, gathering her hands in mine.

  “That kiss...” I falter, heat rising from deep inside, my cock painfully bent inside my pants, never mind the sticky, drying cum that reminds me of just how desperate I am for this girl. I decide to go for broke, complete honesty. “I kissed you, Leah, and it was the best feeling in the world. And...” I pause, making sure she’s looking at me, giving her hand a squeeze leaving my ego at the door. “And it was so good, I came in my damn pants.”

  Time stops.

  My throat tightens and my balls tingle as I look into her warm, dark eyes, waiting for her to smack me across the face and send me packing. The next seconds feel like a year until I see the first sparkle in her eyes, a light deep in their darkness which then slowly flows over the rest of her face until she blossoms in a smile that lights up my soul, and a little girlish giggle escapes her lips.

  “Really? You—” Her cheeks ripen to a deep crimson and her full lips frame the masterpiece of her smile. Her voice falls to a whisper as if anyone else could hear her. “You came from our kiss?”

  “Full on, baby. Didn’t y
ou hear that grunt? That was a cum grunt, it fucking hurt I came so hard.” I smile with her because it’s impossible not to. I’m released from pride and ego. Nothing matters but the truth and making her smile.

  She moves her hands in mine, twisting them so that our fingers entwine and cause my heart to swell with pride from knowing she wants to hold us together.

  “I wouldn’t know what kind of grunt that was. I thought I hurt you. I’ve never even kissed a boy...” She cuts herself off with another unsteady smile. “...a man before. Neither one, boy or man.”

  She tips her head side to side, fluttering her eyelashes, and it’s the damn cutest thing I’ve ever seen. She’s got my balls tied in knots already.

  The fact sinks in, she’s never kissed anyone before. I’m her first.

  I’m overwhelmed by that honor. And then the realization hits, and my ego marchest back in the door and swells with the thought that every other one of her firsts will be mine.

  She doesn’t know it yet, but I do.

  Being this close to her pushes away my own insecurities regarding my lack of experience in this arena. It also makes me want to see her smile every day from now until eternity

  And give her about a billion orgasms.

  And hopefully babies. Lots of babies.

  But always orgasms, because that’s the only other face I want to see her wearing, besides a smile. Her ‘O’ face. And I’m going to be the one to see it first and forever.

  “What are you doing?” Her eyes narrow and she tugs her lips to the side. The little mole that sits just under her left eye twitches. I shake myself out of my lust-filled stupor.

  “I’m honestly not sure.” My face aches, it’s an unfamiliar sensation and I realize I’m wearing the biggest dumbass smile the world ever saw.

  Like a ‘kid on Christmas morning’ kind of smile.

  “You look good with a smile. It suits you.” She teases. zaqg

  “Let that be our secret, okay?”

  Her giggle sends a lightning bolt from my head to my toes that explodes in a painful jerk of my still-wet cock.