by Sheila Kell
Maybe she should wear the red dress. She could knock his socks off before he left, giving him something to remember her by. It was wrong of her to try to entice him to stay when he needed to return. But that didn’t stop her from deciding she was wearing that damn dress.
THE DEPARTING MEN huddled in the two rental vehicles and drove away to meet the private jet scheduled to land in the next hour, leaving her alone with Matt. It was quiet outside, and she wondered how she’d never noticed. Living by herself, she’d always appreciated the quiet. Now it turned into ominous silence spreading over the two of them. She shivered as she and Matt turned to go inside her home.
“Thank you for staying for the fundraiser,” she told him as he secured the front door.
When he turned back to her, he bobbed his head toward the kitchen. Figuring that meant he was hungry, she led the way and stepped to the refrigerator. “I’d offer you some of this awesome chili I tasted earlier, but alas, it’s all gone.” She laughed since she’d predicted there’d be none left when the men had dug into it. Matt must always win the chili cook-off award at any of their employee or community gatherings. “I do have some hamburger meat thawed if you want to make patties and toss them on the grill. I can cut up the lettuce, tomato, and onion.”
In a microsecond, the breath left her as Matt snatched up her body, pressing it close to him and his massive chest. With his mouth hovering over hers, he whispered, “No onion. I plan to kiss you later.” He wiggled his eyebrows in a playful gesture. “A lot of kisses, so definitely no onion.”
“Well, that goes the same for you, mister,” she teased, wanting to take her index finger and bounce it off his nose for fun, but her hands were caught between them.
As if to prove his point, his lips grazed hers. After only a brief kiss, he pulled away, then returned dropping a light kiss on her lower lip and then upper lip, then each corner of her mouth with soft, gentle kisses before his tongue got wicked and washed across the seam of her mouth, trying to probe it open. When she didn’t immediately respond to his entrance request, he nipped at her lower lip like she’d done to him before, and then his teeth closed over it, and a wave of heat washed over her body with an immense intensity. She gasped and her lips parted, offering the perfect opening for his demand. Playfully, his tongue entered and retreated, joining in with her tongue along the way.
His kisses made her feel like a beloved princess, all warm inside as butterflies danced in her belly, and heat coiled lower. It amazed her how he could do that to her with just his lips and tongue. On a low, feminine groan that might’ve sounded more like a whimper, she slid her arms from between them, landing them on his arms and pressing herself closer to him, trying to absorb his body heat as well.
In an instant, the whole tone of the kiss changed. Instead of flirty and soft, it became urgent and demanding. She loved that type of kiss also. It made her feel wanted… and desired beyond all means.
One of his hands slid up her back to around the back of her head, angling her so that he could deepen the kiss. His other hand slid down her back to her butt, and he pulled her lower body flush against him, showing her how much she affected him. Good, it wasn’t just her and her racing heart and pounding pulse through her body that was enjoying this make-out session.
Exploring on her own, her hands slid up his arms and rested on his bulging biceps. The touch sent a jolt of electricity shooting through her veins.
When he broke the kiss, she attacked his neck since it was right there, beckoning her. Placing urgent kisses on his collarbone, shoulder, and then, sliding up on her tiptoes, the path behind his ear, she hit a spot where he visibly shivered. She halted and went back to it, nipping at it with her teeth. Again, he shivered. She’d long forgotten about his sensitivity in that spot.
He growled and pulled them apart with his hands on her biceps. “Enough or we’re going without dinner.”
With a coy smile, she winked before she spun around and raced to the bedroom, hoping he understood the message and followed her. It’d suck if he didn’t show. Maybe she should’ve told him. No, he had to have understood. He was a man after all.
In the bedroom, she stripped off her shirt and bra, toeing off her sneakers, then tackling the button on her jeans. She was hopping and nearly dancing in her rush to strip before he arrived in the room. He’d probably been sensible and put the meat back in the refrigerator before he followed her, and he’d obviously walked, not tore off like she had. If she could hurry, she could be in bed, waiting for him… and be ready.
She’d just hopped onto the bed when Matt joined her in the room. He didn’t say a word, just began stripping with his eyes glued to her. Playfully, she patted the space beside her. “I saved a spot for you.” She loved the sight of him without a shirt on. That broad expanse of a chest with enough curly hair to make playing in it fun but not so much that kissing on it choked a girl. Itching to reach out and touch his chest, and excited about how bold and brave she’d become, she decided to keep up her flirty mood and touched her own breasts instead to tease him. He always loved her touching herself. She moaned, and his hand froze on his pants. Oh, it felt good, but nothing compared to what his hands and mouth on her felt like.
That thought evoked a smile on her face and warmth radiated through her limbs. She wanted his hands on her. She couldn’t wait, and she jumped back out of bed and moved to a stunned Matt who still had his hands on the button of his jeans. He stood transfixed by her little show, and that gave her a heady feeling of power.
MATT was in heaven, or the next best thing. Caitlyn was touching her breasts. The sight set his blood afire as it brought back many of the memories with her… even naked… especially naked and standing in front of him with a look like she was about to devour him whole. That might be nice, but he had bigger plans for them now that she could be intimate without anxiety. He’d like to let go fully, not worrying about anything other than her pleasure.
“Are you sore?” He wouldn’t hurt her no matter how bad she made him want her.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Well then, I could use some help here.” He looked down at her and pointed to the button on his jeans. Really, he didn’t need assistance, but it kept her hands off her breasts, which in turn kept him from drooling all over and then coming in his pants like a teenager getting to second base for the first time.
She smiled at him seductively, her eyes darkening, yet somehow sparkling.
As if belting out a love song, his pulse sang about their upcoming sex. She was free. He could see it in her eyes and her actions. Thank the fuck for that.
While she worked the button and zipper on his jeans, he placed both hands on the sides of her face and tilted her up to him. His heart pounded, beating against his chest as if trying to gain freedom from the constraints. At first, he and Caitlyn simply gazed at each other with a fiery intensity that should’ve seared them both. They’d had that before anything had happened to her. So much passed between them like this. Lust… love… trust.
The trust was in her eyes, and that meant no holding back.
Matt leaned down and took her mouth in a searing kiss. His intention had been to go slowly and gently, but fuck… she had his mind so muddled he couldn’t imagine what would come out of his brain while reminding him the steps to having sex. Thankfully, he figured he could do it all without that coaching from within.
Once she’d finished her chore of unfastening his jeans, he moved his hands down to her arms before she could wrap them around him. Frustratingly, he broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. “Get in the bed.” His demand didn’t have the power behind it he wanted because he was gasping to catch his breath. “I’m right behind you.”
When she didn’t move, he spun her around to where she was facing the bed. Since she still wouldn’t move, Matt swatted her on a perfect butt cheek to get her forward momentum going.
“Ow,” she said, rubbing her hand on the spot where his red handprint was already sho
wing. Fuck. That couldn’t have hurt her. He didn’t swat hard. A shot of remorse hit him for potentially harming her.
Caitlyn turned around pouting and with an intensity in her eyes that almost knocked him over. “You’re going to have to kiss it and make it better.”
A chuckle escaped him. Hell, he planned to kiss her entire body again anyway. A shiver of anticipation plowed through his veins at the thought. Sex had been good between them when they were younger, but now… it wasn’t that it was better necessarily, but it was that emotional part that threw him for a loop.
Taking off his shoes, he carefully removed the one on his artificial limb. Normally he didn’t take that shoe off unless he was changing it to match his other shoe. He’d just toe his jeans over it if he could, but that was also when he knew he was taking off the limb to go to bed. He decided to leave it on… for now.
Shoving down his pants and underwear, he tried recounting football stats to help him slow down the thinking in his pants.
Once his attire was crumpled up in the spot he’d initially stood, he made haste to the bed. Caitlyn lay there with only a sheet covering her from the waist down. All the ground of distance he’d gained while recalling stats was lost when she pulled the cover off her in invitation.
Damn, she was beautiful… and sexy… and his woman. Even more so than when they’d been a happy couple. That halted him in his tracks. Could they be another happy couple, or were they doomed to a short love affair?
“You can take it off.” She’d come to a kneeling position on the bed and was pointing to his prosthesis.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
With her blessing, he shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed and then pulled the compression sleeve off, leaving it draped on the artificial limb. Then he did the remaining steps to free what remained of his leg. All that time he felt her warm breath near his ear while she observed.
“How long have you had it?” she asked when he’d finished.
“A little over five years.” Years he’d wanted her by his side, and when that hadn’t happened—hell, she probably hadn’t heard—all he’d wanted to do was crawl into a hole and die. Thankfully his father and brothers had helped keep him sane. Surprisingly, Brad had been the one to find the place in Memphis to get the custom-fitted limb.
The more he was around other amputees, the quicker his pain and regret seeped away so he could function as he was. He’d worked doubly hard on his strengthening in his legs. It was weird working out without the prosthetic, but luckily there’d been other amputees there to motivate him to recovery.
“I love the scene painted on the artificial limb.”
He was so used to it that it didn’t even occur to him she might find it interesting. “It was there the last time you saw it.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good moment”—she bit her bottom lip—“like I am now.”
“You’re not ruining anything. As for the design, it’s just the American flag waving in the background, and an eagle, and my SEAL team badge and trident.” His SEAL tattoo had been on his calf. The one he’d lost, so he only saw it fitting it belonged on his prosthetic.
“It’s a work of art.”
He didn’t want this to turn into him or anything to do with his only having half a leg, so he shifted and swung his stump of a leg on the bed, then used his other foot and hands to help propel him back on the bed. With his hands behind him, he scooted the rest of the way until there was enough room for the two of them to move, because as far as he was concerned, staying in one spot didn’t work unless you were a teenage kid working with a one-minute window of sex. And he planned for it to be a hell of a lot longer than that.
Matt turned to his side, propping his head up with his hand, elbow sinking in the mattress. Similar to what she’d done earlier, he patted the space next to him with his free hand and gave her an expectant look.
Raking his gaze over her again, he wondered how he’d gotten so lucky to find her again after all this time. She was the entire package—beautiful inside and out—and she was his. He wouldn’t walk away from her again. He’d be staying—somehow, some way. Devon would work it out. He had to. Matt couldn’t accept any other answer than being with Caitlyn.
With a giggle, she plopped down on the bed on her back, her arms and legs spread wide. Well, one arm hit him in the chest, so not so wide. By allowing this, she must’ve still felt that she was in control somehow. “Take me, I’m yours,” she said dramatically.
She didn’t have to tell him twice. He didn’t even need a map for the playground she provided. It was still seared into his brain. Something to never be forgotten.
Now he had to decide where to start. Hell, he’d—
“Just remember,” she broke into his thoughts, “fair play.” Her seductive tone shot goose bumps skittering along his body.
Even though she’d opened herself up, he didn’t think climbing on top of her right away was the way to go, just in case. Although she didn’t seem bothered by it when he’d flipped them before. Then again, she had also been in the throes of an orgasm, so she might not have been cognizant of his actions.
So, he’d start with what was level with his mouth, and it wasn’t hers.
CAITLYN SIGHED IN pleasure. She should’ve known he’d start with her breasts. That had been typical of him when they’d been together in the past. She wouldn’t complain, because the sensations she underwent when he kissed her body were off the charts.
She supposed she should’ve been nervous, maybe even fearful about opening her body up to Matt as she had, but she trusted him to make love to her. With him, the fear of being intimate had resolved itself. When they’d made love before and he’d climbed on top of her, if she hadn’t been so sated, she feared she’d have reacted differently. Well, at least reacted. Thankfully, he’d moved before her brain could go from a top-of-the-world orgasm to cowering in fright. A small part of her wondered if she’d had Matt alongside her all of these years, would she have been normal with sex?
With his mouth on one nipple and his free hand fondling the other peaked nub, her blood flowed hot through her veins, and the heat below simmered, ready to boil into an orgasm that she knew he’d make sure she had.
Matt’s tongue flicked her pert nipple, and she caught his heated gaze boring into her. Placing her hand on his head, her fingers absently ran through his hair. Locked in each other’s gaze, his hand tightened his hold on her breast and squeezed, and then moved slowly down her body.
Caitlyn’s breaths sped up, knowing what pleasure was sure to come. He kissed her on the mouth, his lips worked their way slowly down her body. The warm, damp kisses carved a path of desire over her chest, down around her belly button, sending goose bumps running over her skin. Then he moved to her core where his hot breath on her sex sent a shiver of delight running through her body. It was all so much pleasure she could barely contain it.
Moving his body to position himself between her legs with his mouth even with her mound, Matt spoke softly to her. “Anytime you want me to stop, just say so.”
Jokingly she asked, “Do we need safe words?”
He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Not unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”
She couldn’t tell if he was jesting with her or thought it to be the truth. “No. I still don’t know what vanilla means, so ‘stop’ works for me.” Although she didn’t plan on using the word tonight.
After a deep, soul-searching gaze, Matt nodded and chuckled. “Okay. Now, I need to taste you again.”
Oh, she wouldn’t shy away. She wanted him to taste her also. Matt was a master at oral sex—always bringing her to orgasm in almost no time whatsoever. Big, strong orgasms were always a guarantee once his tongue touched her so intimately.
As her hands played with the top of his head—that was all she could reach in this position—anticipation raked through her. When his tongue touched her clit for the
first time, she nearly came off the bed. Damn the man. She heard a chuckle from him at her response.
Running a finger down the seam of her wet folds, he split them, and his tongue slid down her center. She couldn’t bite back the moan that escaped from her chest.
“Damn, you taste like perfection,” Matt said before his lips went to her clit and sucked on it.
An electric shock zipped through her, but he wasn’t done torturing her to ecstasy. Torturing because his finger inside her and his lips on her felt damn good, but he wouldn’t allow her to come until he decided it was time to bring her to that pleasurable peak. Oh, he’d get her there, but on his own timetable. She wanted to come.
A second finger glided inside her, and she grew wetter.
His voice rumbled over her sex. “I know you want me to hurry, but you have no idea how much you’ve been driving me crazy. I’ve imagined doing this to you all day. Savoring you. And with your shirt today as thin as it was, I saw when your nipples peaked when we were in the cold air conditioner. I swore you were teasing me until I realized you had no idea.”
His fingers remained in place, tormenting her with their movements, and his mouth went back to her clit, using his tongue, as he flicked her sensitive nub. She craved… no needed him inside her.
“So wet,” Matt murmured.
She arched her back and tipped her hips forward, moaning in bliss and not trying to hide her frustration. “Please, Matt. I want to come.”
He stopped his movement and lifted his head to her. “That’s all you had to say.”
With his fingers and mouth teasing his flesh, an orgasm began to ride her.