Hard Justice

by April Hunt

  He stared at the cherry blossom below her left breast and took his time trailing his mouth along the path down her torso. Once on his knees, he gripped her hips and secured her into place.

  “I love this fucking tattoo.” He feasted on her flesh, licking and nibbling, working his way from one pink flower to another and, finally, to the one just above her mound. “One day damn soon, I’m going to taste every petal from the base of your neck to this pretty little pussy.”

  “I have a lot of blossoms,” Charlie teased breathlessly. “That may take a while.”

  “I don’t care if it takes all damn day. But first, I’m going to taste you straight from the source…and I want your eyes on me the entire time.” Vince’s gaze stayed locked on her as he brought his mouth between her legs. His tongue flicked out, skimming through her folds, and paused over her clit for a gentle rub.

  Charlie’s legs shook as she dropped a hand to the top of his shaved head and groaned. “Don’t you dare move from that spot.”

  His chuckle rumbled against her sex. “You couldn’t move me with a fucking bulldozer, sweetheart.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Charlie’s soft moan snapped something in Vince—maybe his control, maybe his well-laid-out plan to stay the fuck away from her for as long as possible. Maybe it was both, along with his dick, because he’d grown so goddamn hard it fucking hurt.

  No way would one time be enough. Or two. Fuck, chances were high that a weeklong marathon wouldn’t get her out of his system—especially after he sampled her sweetness.

  Heaven—that’s what she tasted like, and he let himself feast. Her hands held onto his head like he’d for even one second think about pulling away. No way in hell. He slid his tongue through her folds, rubbed her clit with the tip, and did it all over again. With each pass, her body’s trembles increased until she ground her mound onto his tongue.

  Control abandoned him and empowered him at the same time because he had to touch her. He needed her pleasure resting in his hands, with his mouth. A few strokes of the tongue later, and he had it. Her sweetness spilled onto his tongue and he continued to savor, to tease, even when her legs buckled with the effort to stay on her feet.

  Once her trembles eased up and her legs firmed, he trailed his mouth back up her body and took her in a carnal kiss.

  “You taste fucking delicious,” he murmured against her lips.

  “Why, thank you.” Grinning, she slipped her hand between their bodies and wrapped it firmly around his rock-hard cock. “Your turn.”

  He groaned. “No way am I lasting that way.”

  “Who said you were meant to last?” she teased, voice husky with desire.

  “I did…because if we’re going to light our own rules on fire, I want to make sure I get more than a quick fuck. I want to play.”

  The hand on his cock paused. “Play? I thought you were more of a get-straight-to-the-point kind of guy.”

  He grinned, knowing she was trying to goad him into action, and the action would come eventually. “When I play, it’s going to be for your pleasure, babe.”

  He slid his hand across her back and over her ass to the backs of her thighs. “Up,” he commanded firmly.

  She obeyed instantly, lifting her legs around his waist by the time he opened the shower door. Fuck drying. If he did his job right, they’d be damp again in no time…this time with sweat.

  “Stay here and don’t move.” He gently deposited her on the edge of the bed and, when her mouth opened in preparation for an argument, he pointed his finger at her and chuckled. “I know it’s killing you, but shock us both and listen for once.”

  Surprisingly enough, her mouth snapped shut. Vince slipped back into the bathroom and grabbed what he needed from his shaving kit and from the robe hanging on the back of the door. When he returned to the room, Charlie’s gaze bypassed the condom and went straight to the silky sash.

  She started shaking her head. “I don’t know what you have planned for that, but the answer is no. Not just no, but hell no.”

  He chuckled. “If you don’t know what I have planned for it, then why are you saying no?”

  “Because you’re planning on tying me up like a bronco.”

  He laughed, a full-out, chest-shaking laugh, not something he’d ever pictured happening while Charlie stood naked in front of him. Everything about it felt foreign, the rumble, the shake, the slight way it made it easier to breathe. Judging by her half-shocked look, it sounded odd to her ears too.

  She cleared her throat, looking uncomfortable for the first time since he’d known her. “You should do that more often.”

  “What? Dole out orgasms? Because if you’re in the market to receive, I’m more than happy to dish out.”

  “Laugh.”

  He gently spread her thighs apart and stepped between her outspread legs. “I used to laugh.”

  “What happened to change that?”

  “Life.” He leaned over her until her back hit the mattress, caging her in with his arms. In this position, his cock brushed against the apex of her mound, and the sensation made it jerk in anticipation. “Do you trust me, English?”

  Vince held his breath. He didn’t realize how much her answer meant to him until there was a risk of hearing she didn’t. If she’d been anyone else, he wasn’t sure he would’ve even asked. Release, forget, and move on. That had been the theme of every sexual encounter he’d ever had—until now.

  Not only did he want to remember every fucking moment, but he wanted it etched in Charlie’s memory too—for all the best fucking reasons.

  “I know it sounds ass-backward, but trusting you to watch my back and trusting you with that”—she eyed the sash in his hand—“are two different things.”

  “Not to me.” He ran the fabric over her breasts. “It’s just silk. Cool. Soft. Even with your hands tied, you’re still going to be the one in control.”

  She cocked up an eyebrow. “Right.”

  He reached for her hands. “Let me show you.”

  Vince dampened the small thrill that shot through him when she tentatively offered him her wrists. He wasn’t a kinky bastard. He didn’t do whippings or pain. But a non-binding scrap of lace or a well-positioned blindfold definitely had its perks. The mental image of Charlie wrapped up in silk was a hell of a lot more than a perk—it was one of his wet dreams come to life.

  Carefully looping the sash around her wrists, he kept his large fingers beneath the band to ensure she had room to move. He gently tugged on the fabric, showing her the extra space. “If at any point in time you don’t like how this feels, you can get out.”

  She tested the restraints before looking him in the eye. “Why have them if they’re only for decoration?”

  “For appearances. Sometimes your brain doesn’t connect with the images you see. Logically, you know you’re not tied, but seeing your wrists bound will heighten everything else around you.”

  Her throat convulsed. She glanced from her hands back to him.

  “You okay with this?” He needed to make sure she was with him 100 percent.

  Finally, she nodded. “I’m okay.”

  Vince forced his breathing to slow as he gently guided her arms above her head. Her back arched gracefully, pushing her bare breasts against his chest.

  He slid his mouth down her neck, pausing where her red marks had already disappeared.

  “Nuh-huh.” Charlie gave him a knowing look. “Wherever your head is about to go, put on the brakes and reverse it. I’m naked. And under you. And I let you truss me up like poultry. Keep it moving, Navy.”

  Vince couldn’t help but chuckle, again. He cupped one perfect breast in his palm and wrapped his mouth around its twin. “I’m going to make this feel so fucking good for you.”

  Charlie kept her arms above her head, even when he skated his mouth down her torso and played with the blue jewel winking in her belly button.

  “Please.” Charlie stared at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “I don’t wa
nt slow. Not now.”

  “You want it fast and hard?”

  Her emphatic nod nearly made him plunge into her in one swift thrust. Before he lost his shit, he sheathed his cock in the condom and grimaced at the deep throb rising up from his balls. Primed—so fucking primed and ready to be inside her.

  Vince slipped his cock against her damp folds, teasing them, testing her readiness. Charlie writhed in an attempt to get closer. He couldn’t hold back anymore. Sucking in a groan, he slid the tip of his cock just inside her entrance, held still, withdrew and slid in again, this time a fraction deeper. Inch by inch, he buried himself in her body.

  “Too slow,” Charlie complained with a squirm, trying to get him to bury himself to the hilt.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, babe. I’m not exactly small.”

  “No, you’re massive.” She lifted her hips. “But I can take it. Fuck me, Vince.”

  Fuck. Hearing her speak his name in that sexy-as-hell accent sent his hips in a thrust that seated him halfway in one shot. Her body wrapped tight around him, her breath hitching.

  “More,” Charlie demanded. Shifting her body, she rested her legs on the top of Vince’s forearms. The change in position gave her ample leverage to glide her pelvis into a slow, deep rotation.

  Soon, Vince needed more too. He anchored her hips into position and hardened his strokes, each one a little faster than the one before. Charlie’s breasts bounced in front of him, nipples tightened and begging to be touched—which was exactly what he did. And the entire damn time she kept her arms high and anchored to the mattress above her head.

  “Fucking-A. I love those noises you make,” Vince growled.

  “Then don’t stop,” Charlie panted. “More. Goddamn it, Vince. Harder.”

  Vince shifted to his knees and put his entire weight behind each thrust. He might physically have the upper position, but Charlie was the one with all the control. The mattress squeaked, the bed frame smacking against the wall.

  Charlie’s body bowed upward. Her half-ass-tied arms came off the bed, looped around the back of his neck, and brought him to her mouth for a savage kiss. Vince didn’t stop. He let one leg slide from his shoulder, but kept her other spread wide, and thrust like they kissed: wild and barely controlled.

  He couldn’t hold on much longer, and he didn’t have to. Her body fisted him like a vise as she erupted around him, stronger than anything he’d ever felt, and he followed right behind her.

  This time, they both shook.

  Vince nearly collapsed on top of her in a state of pure fucking bliss.

  Charlie panted breathlessly, her skin sweat-glistening and damp. “I think you’ve turned me on to silk.”

  He pushed up high enough to look her in the eye. Her hair looked sex-rumpled and her lips, ravaged. “And I think you look good-and-fucked.”

  Charlie’s mouth twisted into exhausted amusement.

  “And see,” Vince added. “You were in complete control the whole time.”

  Both her smile and her glow faded. “Somehow I doubt that.”

  She squirmed beneath him until he rolled away. Her walls were tossed back into place before her feet even hit the floor. His nightmares made sure he’d never been a snuggler, but damn—this was one of the fastest dodges he’d ever seen, his included.

  He couldn’t blame her. He’d recited the reasons why the two of them weren’t a good idea so many times he’d committed them to memory, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to take her again.

  And again.

  Charlie picked up the nearest article of clothing. One of his shirts, it hung off her smaller body, hitting her about mid-thigh. “Thank you, Navy. Not only did you prove me wrong about silk, but you gave us both what we needed to get whatever this is out of our systems. But so help me God, one mention of this to any of the guys and you’ll be skulking around headquarters with extra room in your gym shorts.”

  He let her tug on her panties before he got out of bed. “You care to run that by me again?”

  She didn’t look at him until he was practically touching her. Her lips, pink and lush, were still swollen from their kissing. “Which part?”

  “I’d like to address both of them”—Vince barely withheld a snarl—“but I’ll start with the one that really pissed me off. No way in hell will the guys ever be getting a play-by-play. What happens between us is no one’s business but our own.”

  “And the other thing you have a problem with?”

  “That you’re so delusional you think once and done is going to fucking work.”

  Her shoulders tightened up, as if she were prepping to run for the hills. “We agreed.”

  “Yeah, when I made you come on my hand. Newsflash, sweetheart, it didn’t do jack shit because we still ended up in that shower together, and out here on the bed. I agreed to keeping our business our business and to letting it run its course for however long it takes. I also agreed it couldn’t get in the way of our job, but I did not fucking agree to one and done.”

  “You’re so sure there isn’t a woman around who can resist your charming personality, aren’t you?”

  “No, I think you can’t resist. And now that I know how hot you run under those camos and gym clothes, I know I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you.” He skimmed his mouth against the shell of her ear. On contact, her muscles went lax, and she shivered. “I promised I was going to lick every inch of that tattoo, and I’m a man of my word. It may not happen now, or in an hour, but it is going to happen, English. Consider yourself warned.”

  “You really are a conceited jackass,” she said, but her words lacked her typical heat.

  “Maybe. But I’m a truthful jackass. It’s my night for the bed, but you’re more than welcome to join me if you want.”

  Vince swatted her ass, laughing when she yelped. He ducked into the bathroom a split second before a hairbrush came flying toward his head. Being with Charlie was wild, unrestrained, and yet for the most part, safe. It got him thinking that maybe he’d been going about this control thing all wrong.

  Chapter Sixteen

  No less than four times since Vince had escaped the shower, both smelling and looking oh-so-lickable, Charlie had contemplated taking him up on his offer to join him in bed. But she knew her limits. She’d already crossed them with their earlier sex-fest, so far she couldn’t even see the lines anymore.

  Let it run its course, he’d said. In theory, it worked. But what happened if it took weeks, or months? The longer it took to fizzle, the greater the chances that she’d have to kiss her dream of becoming an Alpha operative good-bye.

  After close to an hour of deciphering hordes of missing-person reports, Charlie’s eyes got heavy. Her computer teetered on her lap, snapping them back open. And then it happened again five minutes later.

  Sleep. That’s what she needed. She’d plumped the couch pillow and lifted her legs up when she heard the first thump. Faint and muffled, deep rumbles came from the bedroom. And then another loud noise.

  Did she dare?

  Her throat was still sore from the first time she’d interrupted one of Vince’s nightmares. But no way in hell could she sit back and let him be tormented by whatever past sought him out. She tiptoed to the slightly ajar door, slipping into the room easily.

  Sprawled in the middle of the king-sized bed, Vince tossed restlessly. His head turned back and forth. His lips, softly mumbling something beneath his breath, were pinched tight.

  This was not an ice-cream cone and puppy dream.

  After last time’s debacle, Charlie had done some research on nightmares and realized her mistake had been in trying to wake him up. True to Vince’s words, she should’ve left him alone.

  “I shouldn’t have done it,” Vince mumbled. “I’m sorry. I’m so goddamned sorry. My fault…all my fault.”

  Charlie hesitated, ready to let him be, when his next words froze her still.

  “It should’ve been me…”

  Those words sat on her
chest, weighting her feet to the floor. Even though she didn’t know exactly what should’ve happened, she could only imagine—and the pictures weren’t pleasant.

  “Screw it.” Going against Vince’s orders and her own better judgment, she walked to the bed and, instead of waking him, gently rested her hand on his shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Navy.” Charlie caressed his face with her knuckles and continued to soothe him. “You’re right where you’re supposed to be.”

  “He’s gone,” Vince mumbled. “It should be me. My fault.”

  “Nothing’s your fault, Vince.”

  “All mine. My fault.”

  Careful not to jostle him, Charlie slid on top of the sweat-dampened covers and nestled her head against his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. You’re right where you’re supposed to be.”

  And she repeated those same two sentences, over and over, eventually noticing he no longer fidgeted or talked in his sleep. His deep, regular breaths lulled her eyes closed, just as one of his arms banded around her waist and pulled her even closer.

  * * *

  Sweltering Miami heat, a warm ocean breeze, and the muffled crunch of firm sand beneath the soles of his sneakers…Vince hadn’t felt this refreshed in God only knew how long. But it didn’t have a damn thing to do with his run, or even waking up on the right side of the bed.

  He’d slept through the night—no nightmares. No images from the fucking desert. No best friend lying dead in his arms. No waking up in a cold sweat. There’d only been him and the warm, pliant woman plastered to his side.

  First night with Charlie wrapped in his arms and his first restful night’s sleep in years. Coincidence? Vince didn’t know. What he did know without a doubt was that someone had started watching him ten minutes ago.

  His gut never lied.

  With the sun barely peaking over the ocean and no visitors clogging his line of vision, the black town car parked in the lot above the boardwalk was easy to spot. He slowed his pace to a trot and watched as Anthony stepped out of the car and beckoned.

  “Guess they aren’t even hiding it,” Vince mumbled, taking his time hiking up to the dune.