by Marie Harte
He kissed and licked, loving how wet she became. So slick, she’d take him easily.
“Turn around,” she pleaded, “Do it. Turn around. I want to swallow you down.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. Deacon moved quickly, returning to her warmth without pause.
Then her hand was on him, pulling his cock to her lips. His mouth moved faster, his tongue stabbing into her pussy as she sucked him with long draws.
He groaned, the tempo increased, and he was fucking her mouth while he shoved a finger inside her and licked that clit, teething and sucking, needing her release as much as he needed his own.
Her tension mounted as she tried to suck harder, faster.
He thrust in and out with his fingers, in time with her own movements.
She moaned around his cock and seized around his fingers, creaming as she came. Her orgasm had her clamping around his dick with such intensity that she took him over with her.
He released inside the hot suction of her lips, jetting down her throat. The feeling was indescribable, the sex fantastic. But the emotional bond grew so great it threatened to crush him.
Sex had always been a pleasure, a feat to enjoy. But with Solene it became a religious experience. The woman knew how to take a man to bliss with the press of her lips. Those hands, that body.
He withdrew from her mouth and gave her one final kiss between her legs before he turned back around to lie with her, both of them trying to catch their breath.
He had no idea what she might be thinking, but Deacon knew he’d turned a corner with Solene. A heady sense of intimacy grew, and as he held her and stroked her hair, kissing the top of her head, worry about everything faded.
* * *
Solene was scared to death. What should have been hot sex had become something more. Something that mattered. So strange, and so unwelcome. Because this was what she’d hungered for most of her life—a sense of belonging. She felt boneless, treasured. And freaked the hell out because Mr. I’m Outta Here When The Mission Is Finished had told her this would happen.
“Fuck, Solene. You are so damn fine.” Deacon mumbled something else and sighed.
Her worry faded a little bit.
“Next time I come inside you. Just gimme a few minutes.” He didn’t sound sleepy at all, just satisfied. “Man, I love eating you.”
“Back at you,” she joked, surprised she meant it. Blowjobs had never been a big thing with her. Mostly she’d done it to please her partner, not because she enjoyed it. But with Deacon she liked it because it got him hot.
He rolled her on top of him, and she had to brace herself on her elbows to see his face.
“Do you feel good, baby?” He stroked her back.
Called her baby. Made her want to slide into a puddle of affection at his feet.
“I feel good.” She nodded. “You?”
“I have never been so thankful for needing a safe house before.” He groaned. “Do you now see what I’ve known from the beginning? That we’d be magic between the sheets. I fucking love your body.” He urged her to sit up and cupped her breasts. “You fill my hands.”
She blushed, silly considering her nudity and position on top of him. Solene shifted and rode over his semi-hard cock.
“That’s it. Ride me, get me hard again.”
He let go of one breast to grab her hip and guide her.
She rocked over him, liking the feel of his erection when it passed her clit. “You feel good.” She put her hands on his chest to brace herself, loving when he cupped her breasts again, flicking his thumbs over her nipples.
“So do you. This picture of you…” He paused, staring up at her with an intensity that unnerved her. “I’m never going to forget this. Ever.”
She moved back farther, then inched forward and caught his shaft at her entrance. Slowly, she lifted to take more of him.
Deacon glanced down, watching as he disappeared inside her body. The satisfaction and pleasure on his face had her ready to go again.
And by the size of him inside her, he felt the same.
“That’s it. Get me thick, Blondie. Nice and big inside you.” He arched up and groaned, closing his eyes. “Shit. I want to fill you up. Can I come inside you? I want your pussy full of my cum.”
His guttural voice, the swearing, the loss of his legendary control, went through her like lightning, sparking her desire. “Yes, in me.”
A tiny part of her worried about pregnancy, though not disease. Deacon had said he was infertile, but stranger things had happened. The thought of Deacon inside her, skin to skin, stole even that caution.
She moved up and down over him, watching him watch her. He squeezed her breasts, stared at her with awe and a fierce desire.
Their tempo increased. They said nothing, just felt the other. Then he moved a hand to her clit and rubbed. She slammed down harder, encouraged by his groans.
Excitement built at a rapid rate, until she could almost taste the climax about to spread over them both. She panted, called his name, and cried out as her body spasmed, clenching him tight.
Deacon gripped her hips to keep her moving, his expression tortured. “Yes, yes. God, now.” He yanked her down and swore, grinding against her while he came and continued to spend. Then he tugged her down to lie flush against him, still buried inside her, and kissed her.
The connection filled her from head to toe, leaving her giddy when he finally eased her off him and spilled out of her.
He lay beside her, breathing hard.
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “So, let’s get clean. Then go again.”
She blinked. “Again?’
“Well, I’m still distracted.” He sounded sad. “You distract me. Time to make up for that. A guy can only resist a face and body so fine for so long.” He chuckled at the look she shot him. “Solene, I could eat you all day every day. And if I wasn’t so spent right now, I’d take you up against the wall. Maybe bend you over the bed and come in that ass.”
He rubbed her belly, his fingers stroking down, over her mound and folds, sliding in the seed he’d left behind. “You have no idea how sexy this is. Me inside you.”
“Probably a mistake,” she croaked.
He nodded, met her gaze, and smiled. “We should do it again.”
“In the shower.”
He chuckled. “Oh yeah. Shower sex.” He helped her off the bed and they walked to the small bathroom. “I don’t think I’m doing it right.”
If he’d done it any better, she’d be dead. “How’s that?”
“You’re still walking normally.” He gave her sly grin. “Let’s fix that.”
Six
The following afternoon, Solene checked in with Darcy. Pleased to note the sixty-year old grandma had everything in hand despite her absence, Solene gave more thought to retooling her handling of the daycare. She’d had a few offers to buy her out, but nothing she’d given serious consideration.
Yet if she had a competent manager on hand, she could get to work on that new foodie venture she’d been thinking about. As usual, boredom had set in with her current business. Once it moved into the black, the challenge faded, and she needed something new to grab her attention.
Solene wondered if she’d ever be satisfied with anything…and automatically looked for Deacon. He was humming in the kitchen as he threw together ingredients for soup.
She sighed. Being in danger, secluded from others, and with Deacon no less, should have made this stay excruciatingly painful.
Instead, she felt as if she’d won a dream vacation—one where everything looked brighter, smelled better, and gave her a high like no other.
She’d never had better sex with anyone, and she’d never felt so incredibly connected either. The physical desire she could rationalize. She’d been without sex for a long time. But the emotional tie had been unexpected. What made it even worse was that she had no idea how Deacon really felt.
After giving him so much crap for weeks, to fall so hard
so fast for the man made her head spin. She wanted to throw things. To blame him for screwing with her ordered life. She wanted to be with him today, tomorrow, next week. Hell, for the foreseeable future.
For Solene, that was saying something. He hadn’t bored her yet, he was hot in the sack, and he made her laugh. Why wouldn’t a woman want a man like Deacon around?
Then she remembered just last week, when he had flirted with a waitress right in front of her. To her knowledge, he hadn’t done anything with the woman. Or the one from the grocery store. Or the ladies at the book store, the post office. Etcetera, etcetera. Deacon was a handful. Even though he remained friendly yet aloof, women wanted him.
The way most men acted around Solene, until they realized they’d get nothing from her but a cold shoulder.
To feel a sense of jealousy, like her exes had, partly amused her. And partly annoyed the crap out of her.
It shouldn’t have.
She had no claim on Deacon. He could flirt or screw anyone he wanted. Just because they’d had hot monkey sex didn’t mean she owned him. No matter how much she wanted to.
Hell. This is why sleeping with him was a mistake. All these stupid feelings.
He must have felt her gaze on him because he looked up and pierced her with that dark stare. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.”
“Really? Because after that phone call, you’re looking at me like you want to skin me alive.”
“That’s just a result of your stellar personality.” The smile she gave him was nothing but teeth.
He laughed. “Ouch. No happy morning-after for us, hmm, buttercup?”
She worked to stifle a grin. His nicknames were ridiculous. “Apparently not, bunches-of-love.”
He gave her an overly sympathetic face. “This is because you’re walking funny today, isn’t it?”
She flushed. “Stop.”
“I swear. I had no idea moving your legs like that would cause a cramp. You’re so bendable.”
“Argh. Deacon stop.”
He laughed and brought her what looked like a stew.
“Why are you always feeding me?”
“Because I like watching you eat.” He shrugged and sat with her, spooning his own stew.
She took a bite. “Oh my God. Is this from that can?” She never would have imagined it would taste so good.
“I tinkered with it.”
She sighed. “You make it difficult not to like you when you’re nice.”
“Aw. She likes me!”
She felt her cheeks turn hotter and stared at each spoonful she ate. “Maybe.”
After a few moments of silence, she glanced up to see Deacon watching her with that intent expression he kept using around her. “What is that look?”
“What look?”
“That look. I can’t explain it. I just know it can’t be good.”
He shook his head. “So suspicious all the time.”
“You live, you learn.”
“I get that. But you’re too…I don’t know…grounded to be that suspicious.”
She put her spoon down. Time to spell it out for him. “Deacon, I know what you read about my family. But living it is something else. My mother only ever wanted to use me for what I could do for her. And my father was along for the ride. As soon as he saw I wouldn’t give them another cent, he took off and never came back. My mother was worse, because she stuck around. But anytime I tried to let the past go and take her on faith, she stuck it to me. Stole from me, lied, sold gossip to the tabloids.
“I cut my ties from my family, and the men I’ve dated since then haven’t been much better. Always out for what I could do or give them. So no, I don’t trust men. Or people for that matter. Addy is the first person I met who didn’t want anything from me but friendship.”
He said nothing at first, then reached across the table and held her hand. “Who was he?”
“Who?”
In a gentle voice, he said, “The man who broke your heart. Family can be shitty. I totally get that. But it wasn’t a string of bad dates who made you guarded. It’s that guy you told me about, right? He seriously broke your heart.”
“That’s cheesy.”
He nodded. “But true. Come on, Solene. Tell me. The thing about you and me that’s been different from my other relationships with other women is that I’m not hiding anything from you. I’ve been honest from the start.”
He had a point. “Fine. But you can’t tell anyone about this. It’s bad enough Addy knows.”
“Who am I going to tell? Fiona?” he teased. “My favorite little brawler isn’t big on boys, well, except me. She told me so.”
She shook her head, a smile on her lips that soon faded. “Fine. You want to know? His name was Kyle. I thought I loved him. He was different from the others. He seemed like he cared. Like he really got me.” She felt Deacon’s firm yet soft touch on her hand, soothing her. “We were together for two years. And it took me nearly that long to drop my guard and just be with him, you know?”
At his nod, she continued. “Then I found out he’d been subtly steering me toward projects he made money off of. That he had a girlfriend on the side. All that time.” She felt the familiar fury threaten to rise, but Deacon squeezed her hand, turning that anger into the sadness she dreaded.
“So I moved to Bainbridge to start over. It’s like I never learn.” She blinked to keep the stupid tears from coming. “I know better. I’ve been through this all before. So why do I keep hoping the end result will turn out differently?” She wiped her cheeks, angry with herself. With him. “Why am I telling you this?”
* * *
Deacon knew he had to give her something personal in return. Solene had finally opened up her hard shell to give him a glimpse inside. He couldn’t blow it now. “Because I understand you. Because in some way I am you.” He sighed. “I told you my mother was a drug addict. But living it is different from hearing it. You can only imagine the hell she put me through. I was all alone, and she was always sorry for everything after the fact. The beatings, the neglect. The men she brought home who didn’t always want her.” He paused, letting that sink it.
This time Solene offered him comfort, squeezing his hand.
“There were a few really close calls. Some that still wake me at night in a full sweat, and it’s been over twenty goddamn years. I used to wonder what made me so defective that my own mother couldn’t love me. And don’t give me that whole ‘it’s not you it’s them’ speech. You know you always wonder if it’s you.”
Solene nodded. “I still do. What made me so terrible that my own parents treated me like that?”
“Exactly.”
“Your father?” she asked, her voice hesitant.
“Never knew him. She used to tell me stories. In one, he’d raped her. In another, I wasn’t even her kid, just a neighbor brat she took in. But one look at her eyes and you knew we were related,” he said wryly. “I think my old man screwed her and left. Maybe he knew about me, maybe he didn’t. But it never mattered because he wasn’t there.” He lifted a hand and caressed her cheek. “And why am I telling you this? Why did I tell you about being Shadow? About not being able to have kids? I never tell anyone that. It’s a private thing.”
She shook her head and kissed his palm. “Because you’re so screwed up.”
He gave a surprising laugh, not sure when his confession had become more about unburdening himself and healing than about sharing to make her feel better. “As fucked up as you are.”
She smiled, and the beauty in the expression warmed the amber of her eyes. She didn’t hide anything from him in that smile, and his heart did funny leaps as she continued to hold his stare.
She leaned closer, or he did, and the kiss they shared transcended lust and affection into something more.
He took her by the hand and walked her to the bedroom, where they both hurried to undress. Joining her on the bed, he loomed over her, watching her watch him as he entered her so slo
wly. “Feel me.”
“I do.”
And he knew she meant so much more than just the press of flesh.
They moved as one, the pace slow, steady, and glorious as they came together, no worries or fears between them.
Lying there, a part of her, Deacon felt love. And he felt fear as never before. Because now he had something that could be taken away, something he’d never thought he’d have to lose.
He held her tightly, kissing the top of her head, stroking her hair. She wrapped an arm around his chest, and he never wanted the moment to end.
“We have to go,” they said simultaneously.
He sighed. “Yeah. Laying here is doing nothing for us except exhausting me. You’re a very demanding lover.”
She leaned up and gave him a mischievous grin, her hair a waterfall of gold spilling over her shoulders and tickling her breasts. He knew she hated hearing it, but the woman was stunning.
“Did I tire you out, already?” she taunted.
“Well, I’m conscious that you’re fragile, so I’m doing my best not make you cry out in agony again.”
She poked him in the chest. “It was a muscle cramp, you idiot. My legs only stretch so far.”
Warmth stirred. “Yeah, about that. We never did finish what we started last night.”
She blushed. “We did too. We had sex a bazillion times. And then today.”
“Yeah, but we didn’t get to the other thing.” He palmed her ass, still aroused at thoughts of taking her there someday.
“What other thing?”
He stroked her firm glutes.
She cocked her head. “Huh?”
“My dick in your ass,” he said slowly. “Do you want me to spell it out? I was trying to be subtle.”
“Ohhh. That thing.” She smirked at him. “Dream on. I’d have to be totally in love with you to go down that road again.”
In love with you. His pulse quickened. “Again?”
“I let Kyle talk me into anal. It was a favorite thing of his to do. Eh. Never did much for me.”
“That’s because he wasn’t doing it right.” Deacon kept her firmly on top of him. “So, what do I have to do to sell you this car, Ms. Hansen? What would entice you to let me have all of you?” Body, heart, and soul.