“I’ll give you five bucks if you knock his head off in one clean punch of your fist,” Danny challenges.
Bliss’s smile takes over her face. “You’re on!”
I watch as she balls her little fist and punches a big hole where Olaf’s nose used to be. My mouth drops open. “That’s not nice, guys. You’re killing Olaf.”
“Let’s kill Olaf!” Bliss roars, hysterically punching Olaf’s head until there is no head to punch.
“I’m giving you five bucks, anyway. You’re brutal. I like it,” Danny says in approval, smiling.
He puts her on her feet, and she karate kicks a massive hole in Olaf’s stomach. Danny cheers her on, shouting commands at her, like double side kick. Bliss doesn’t miss a beat. I watch her, stunned. I didn’t know my niece knew kickass martial arts. Bliss does another kick, sending an explosion of snow through the air. She’s completely destroyed Olaf. Damn, she’s good.
I have to lift my jaw from the ground. “When the hell did you learn martial arts?”
Her fists are still in front of her face, her feet spread apart. “Uncle Danny taught me. And you shouldn’t curse, Auntie December. Curse words are bad.”
Danny puts his hand on her shoulder. “At ease, soldier.”
She instantly releases her fighter stance, grinning up at Danny with all the admiration in the world.
I stare at Danny, half confused and half thrilled. “You’re teaching our niece how to kick ass?”
“She’s a great learner,” he says, laughing at my expression.
“No cursing, Auntie,” she says sternly, her little brows knitted together. Then she looks at Danny. “If she curses again, can we make her do a hundred push-ups for each bad word?”
“You got it, little birdie,” he responds, picking her up for the biggest bear hug in history.
“What? A hundred for each bad word? I won’t survive.”
“The cursing ends while Bliss is here. Can you handle it?” Danny counters, wiggling his brows at me.
The smug shithead.
I can curse in my head all I want.
“We have a deal,” I say with a smirk. “Can I join in on the hug here? Or am I going to be left out of the group?”
Bliss looks at Danny, gracing him with a smile. “She can join because we love her.”
“You’re right, little birdie. Let’s give December some love.”
They hold open their arms, and I’m helpless when I move to them. I smother both of their faces in kisses. “I love you guys, even if you want to punish me for having a potty-mouth.”
“We love you, too, Auntie,” she says, kissing my cheek.
“Yeah, we love you, December,” he whispers, pressing his soft lips to mine.
Once we’re all inside and our hats and boots are removed and our bodies are warm from the fireplace, we hang out in the kitchen. Bliss and I sip from our big mugs of hot chocolate while we watch Danny make us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He shaves the crust off Bliss’s bread and cuts her sandwich into four little triangles. He fixes mine just how I like it—two slices of bread slathered in peanut butter, and jelly only on one side. Danny is very considerate. He makes our sandwiches just how we like them. He remembers all the little things. I can’t stop smiling at him.
He cares so much.
Bliss chomps on her lunch and then reaches out to grab a bunch of mini marshmallows from a small white bowl. She adds loads of marshmallows to her cup of hot chocolate. My gaze shifts to the ceiling, and I pray for mercy.
Sugar and chocolate.
Double check again.
May is going to have our heads.
We all sit on wooden barstools at the granite island, munching on our sandwiches. I have never been more content. My life is almost full. I have a part still missing. Josh. Josh is missing. There is a nagging little voice in the back of my head reminding me that he doesn’t want anything to do with me and might not ever once this trip is over.
Danny turns on the radio, and Bliss jumps off her barstool, a piece of her sandwich in her grip. “Oh my God. This is Taylor Swift’s new song. I love Taylor Swift.” She grabs Danny’s hand, dragging him off his stool. “Let’s dance!”
He doesn’t deny her. They move to the living room, dancing on the rug in front of the fireplace. The rug is their makeshift dance floor. Danny spins her until she’s giggling in his big arms. Chloe gets in on the action, wagging her tail and running in circles around them.
Laughing, I sit back and watch them fondly. He loves her. It shines through his eyes when he looks at her, and she definitely loves her uncle.
They wave me over. I join them on the thick antique rug. We hold hands and jump and dance. We wear all the sugar out of her with a dancing competition.
After a while, she collapses in Danny’s arms. He lowers to the rug with Bliss cradled in his arms as I turn the radio off. I join them and press close to Danny’s side while Bliss takes up residence on his chest.
He wraps an arm around both of us, sighing in Bliss’s hair. “I could have done this, December.”
My brows furrow. “What do you mean?”
His solemn gaze shifts to mine and then at the sleeping child cradled in his arms. “If you were pregnant, I could have done it. I would’ve been there every step of the way. I would have never left you alone to deal with things. We would have done it together.”
“I know,” I whisper, cuddling closer. “Are you disappointed I’m not?”
“A little,” he admits, kissing my forehead. “I’m not going to lie. I was prepared for it. In my mind, you were already pregnant. It was just about confirming it.”
“I thought you said you wanted us to mature as a couple first.”
“I do.” He gives me a squeeze. “But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking forward to being a father. I was. Now that we know you’re not pregnant, I have to adjust my mind frame.”
“When do you want to try?”
He lifts a brow at me, but I can hear his heart beating faster. “For babies?”
“Yes.”
“Definitely within the next two years. I’ll be settled, and timing would be perfect. I feel like a fish out of water every time I come back home. I need time to adjust to civilian life. I need you to be patient with me, December.”
“I will be,” I vow, stroking his chest. “So you’re really not going back?”
Danny shakes his head. “I finished my contract. I did my duty. My job is done. I’m not reenlisting. My military career is over. I want to be with you. I want to spend the rest of my time with you.”
“Ever the optimist,” I tease, tracing the straight line of his nose.
He winks at me. “Always with you, December.”
Chloe comes to me, lifting the crook of my arm with her nose. She forces her way into the group and lays her head on my chest, staring at Danny with those big brown eyes.
I turn to look at Danny. “It’s Daddy’s fault,” I tell her. “Show her some love.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “Come here, girl.”
She quickly wiggles into his lap, turning on her back so he can rub her belly.
“Jesus, the women in my life are demanding,” he mutters, scratching her stomach.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE PRESENT
Danny is sleeping next to me and he’s thrashing wildly and sweating severely. He is burning up. His temperature is soaring high. He must be having a nightmare. I have never experienced one of his night terrors. I didn’t know he had them. We haven’t been constantly involved for me to know much about Danny or his demons. It’s not like I have slept in his bed every night.
Every powerful muscle in his body is violently strained and twitching underneath slick hot skin. Thick veins bulge in his neck as he grits his teeth like he’s being electrocuted. He looks like he’s suffering. It kills me to see him in pain.
I cautiously get out of bed to wet a washcloth in cold water. Tiptoeing to his side, I reach out to dab the beaded
sweat from his forehead. He suddenly wraps his large hand around my throat and begins to squeeze.
All the oxygen rushes out of me. I begin to choke on spittle and lost air. I stare into Danny’s bleak black eyes and instantly know he’s not there. Danny’s gone. His mind is somewhere far away. His hand around my throat constricts me tightly, squeezing the life out of me. I’m unable to call out his name. The only sounds that are coming from my mouth are strangled muffles of frantic pleas. The world around me begins to fade.
The crushing pressure around my throat is immediately gone. Drastically weakened, I collapse to my knees. My mouth opens to involuntarily suck back air into my deflated lungs. My heart is beating in my ears. It hurts to breathe and swallow.
“Jesus, December,” Danny yells, scuttling away from me like he’s afraid he’ll hurt me. He rushes off the bed, slams his back against the wall, and then drops to his butt on the floor in a corner. He brings his knees up to his chest and stares at me as he physically contains himself. “I could have killed you. Never touch me when I’m having nightmares.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumble, holding my burning throat with both hands.
He watches me with wide eyes that display unfathomable horror. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you.”
I crawl toward him.
Danny presses himself more into the corner.
Stopping all movement, I helplessly look at him.
“Who did you think I was?”
He wipes the sweat trickling down his forehead with his arm. “Someone else.”
“Someone like whom?” I ask, keeping my gaze on him.
He swallows with force. “Someone who wanted to hurt me.”
“Who would want to hurt you, Danny?” I have a sense at what this is. Post-traumatic stress disorder. I have never known anyone with it, and I don’t know how to handle someone who has it. But I need him to tell me. I need Danny to tell me what this is.
“A lot of people want to hurt me.”
“What did you do in the military, Danny?”
He remains silent, keeping his eyes on me.
I clench my jaw and breathe through my frustration. “Did you kill people, Danny?”
He swallows loudly, giving his head a slight nod.
“How many?”
He blinks at me, his gaze losing focus. “A lot.”
This doesn’t shock me. I guess because subconsciously I knew. I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on him eight years ago.
“Do you have PTSD?”
It’s the only thing I can say. He isn’t going to give me the gruesome details of his kills. I’m certainly not going to bitch about it. Danny did what he did for our country, for our freedom. He doesn’t need a hard time from me. He’s already suffering enough. I refuse to add to it. I am here to help, not harm.
He seems irritated I even asked. “It’s nothing.”
“Stop lying,” I beg, desperate and wanting to help. “It’s something. It’s a big fucking deal.”
His jaw hardens. “What do you want me to say, December?”
“I want you to tell me the truth.”
He watches me closely. “The funny thing about the truth is once you know it, you can’t undo it. There’s no going back to blissful ignorance. You’re stuck with it forever. I’m not sure you want that kind of truth from me.”
Determined, I crawl toward him despite when he pushes away. I reach up to take his beautiful, tortured face in my hands. “I want to be with you, Danny. Only you. And that should be the only thing that matters.”
He lurches forward for me. I’m pressed into the bed before I have time to blink. He hovers above me, his face etched from stone but his eyes fierce with emotion. He looks into my eyes as his hips press between my thighs.
“Are you sure, December?”
“Yes, Danny. It’s been you since the very beginning.”
His hands are everywhere at once, yanking my T-shirt off and sliding my panties down my ankles and off my feet. I’m soon under him, naked and wanting everything he has to offer. Danny’s hot mouth is on my neck, sucking and biting the sensitive skin there.
He places his fingers between my legs and presses them at my entrance. I whimper when he pushes one inside me.
His warm lips are next to my ear. “You’re being Danny’s good girl, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I whisper, threading my fingers through his soft hair. “Please, more.”
He slides another finger into my opening, moving it in slow circles. I jump and push desperately down on his palm when he touches a spot inside of me that sends a jolt of pleasure down my spine.
His other hand closes around my nipple and pinches harshly. He mimics the same move but only with his mouth over my other one. I’m hit with many sensations. The stark difference of his finger delicately moving inside me and the cruel way he tweaks my nipples makes me shudder violently
He adds another finger and then nips at my pulse in my neck with a sharp bite of his teeth. I come fast on his hand. He carefully withdraws his fingers and kneels between my open thighs. Danny grips me behind my knees, spreading me wide open for his viewing pleasure. I feel his ragged breath against my sex. He stares at me. His eyes are utterly black, like the sea at night. His gaze is intense and darkly radiant. Danny’s hunger is palpable.
I close my legs in nervous anticipation and scuttle up the bed.
His hands fully encircle my ankles. He jerks on my ankles, dragging me down the bed until my backside is hanging off the edge of the mattress and my mound is pressed right against his mouth. He releases my ankles and cups my ass like he’s found the cure to his thirst. He lowers his face, and I’m lost at the first rough stroke of his tongue. He licks upward through the center of my folds.
My stomach muscles clench. A sharp climax flows out of me. He spreads me open with his unrelenting mouth. He sucks on my flesh until my leg muscles begin quivering. Danny’s tongue rubs me mercilessly, teasing and drawing out my pleasure from my shaking body like it’s his favorite game.
I come, and it goes on and on.
I’m spent and delirious when he rises and wedges between my legs. His hips move forward and his steel-hard erection grazes my sensitize vagina. He presses my hips down with his hands. I writhe helplessly under his powerful body.
He stares into my eyes and smiles.
The sadistic bastard.
Danny likes me desperate and half out of my mind with want.
His hips slightly surge forward, the tip of his scorching-hot thickness at my entrance. I put my hands on top of his bulky shoulders and dig my nails into his hard muscles, needing him inside me.
He leans down to touch his brow to mine. “Look at me, December.”
My eyes flicker up to his dark gaze, and my chest cracks open.
Danny’s rugged beauty is startling.
He places a tender kiss on the corner of my lips. “Are you taking your birth control pills?”
“Yes, Danny. Please. I need you inside of me.”
His dark gaze is on my face, watching closely as he eases into me. His hands move to my ass to guide me as he lifts me little by little, sinking slowly down into me. I listen to his breathing, knowing he’s straining himself to go slow.
Pleasant pressure begins to grow where his hardness pulses. Danny is slowly and subtly, even gently, penetrating me. This is much better than the first time. I don’t wince or flinch once as he determinedly enters me. He uses all of his weight to lean fully into me.
A muffled cry escapes my lips, and I orgasm instantly.
Gasping from the intense sensation of him stretching me, I wrap my shaky arms around his neck and tug at his tousled hair, pulling his big hot body closer. My legs close around his waist tighter and tighter with each agonizingly slow thrust of his hips. A hot swirl of pleasure spreads in my belly.
I could die just like this and die happy.
He gently kisses my closed eyelids, cheeks, and nose. “I’ve waited forever to feel you come on my
cock, December.”
I feel the thick length of him twitching inside me. “God, Danny.”
He presses his face into my neck, licking and biting at my hot skin, and then he stares at me. “You’re getting wetter.” He flashes a playfully-arrogant grin at me. “You’re going to wet the bed.”
I yank hard on his hair by the roots. Pain and desire smolder in his eyes. “Please don’t tease me,” I beg, tugging his hair more. “I need you to move. You feel so good. I’m going to die if you don’t.”
His hand travels down my stomach and flicks at the bundle of nerves between my legs as he thrusts excruciatingly slow. I feel all of his hard, thick length slide into me. It’s everything I craved it would be. Sex with Danny is nourishment to my soul. I’m stripped bare and needing. I’m the most vulnerable under him like this. There is nowhere for me to hide. Danny’s in my skin.
Inhaling sharply, I shudder and climax.
“I’ll give you what you need, little lady. Just hold me tightly.”
He fucks me through my ongoing orgasm. He pumps his hips in an unhurried rhythm that makes it hard to breathe. His sleek, beautifully-sculpted body presses into mine, leaving no space between us. A torrent of slow burning ecstasy surges through my veins as my arms around his neck tighten.
Danny’s gaze never leaves my face. He’s not just inside of my body but in my mind. His eyes seek every movement of my face, tracking every expression. He’s reading everything I’m thinking, penetrating more than my body.
Danny’s strokes become harder, longer, deeper, and more violent. With each powerful thrust of his hips, unbearable pleasure balloons inside me, building, building, and building until it spills out of me.
I drag my nails down his spine, drawing blood.
His hand clutches the back of my neck as I convulse, fading into oblivion.
I faintly register him shuddering harshly and collapsing on top of me, panting heavily in my ear. Hot liquid heat pours into me. My legs tighten around his waist. I love the way he feels inside of me. We hold each other like we only have one another. We cuddle close, breathless and sweating.
December (The Oliver Brothers Book 1) Page 21