Ripple (Persy & Sully) (Seaside Valleria #2)

by Marianne Knightly

  Hector leaned over the bar again and kissed her hard and fast. “Shut it, babe. You know I’m looking out for you, right?”

  Her voice was low. “Yes.”

  “So, don’t fight me on this.”

  “I like fighting with you.”

  He grinned again. “I like it, too, but this is one fight you aren’t going to win.”

  Sully’s read his sister’s message. Then re-read it. Then tamped down the annoyance that was biting his skin at her words.

  He loved his sisters. He loved his ma.

  He did not love the shit they gave him.

  The current shit they were piling on him was guilt that he wasn’t married, and wasn’t providing cousins for his nephews and more grandbabies for his ma.

  Of course, he wasn’t mature enough—in their opinion—for a relationship to begin with.

  His gaze shifted to Persy again, who was now sweeping and mopping. He thought about that damn napkin in her pocket, and the fight they’d likely have about it soon. He wanted to start something more with her. Maybe if he did right by Persy, he could also prove his family wrong.

  He messaged his sister back. He didn’t respond to her shit but did ask about his nephews. Then he turned his phone off and tuned back into Persy, and Hector and Millie’s conversation.

  Millie frowned for a moment, then grinned. “How about a compromise?”

  Hector wrote something in a binder, then put down the cash in his hand. “Babe.”

  “No, hear me out. What if I don’t work the floor anymore, but instead help more with the admin stuff?”

  His brows furrowed, and he gave her an even look.

  “Just during the day, for a few hours after my shifts. I already help with scheduling, but I could start doing deposits and the ordering, and signing for deliveries. If you’re closing at three, you shouldn’t be up at seven for the deliveries—I can come instead. And I can help with our promotional efforts to get more crowds in during the off-season.”

  “We’ve already got a good crowd of locals for the off-season.”

  “But we could start hosting events and things. We could make more renting out the whole pub for a few hours than we would serving customers. You’ve already hired a couple part-time bartenders, but you’d need to hire another waitperson to help out. That wouldn’t be too hard.”

  He rubbed his chin. “No. No, it wouldn’t.”

  She shifted forward and whispered something in his ear.

  He nodded. “It could, yeah.”

  She sat back down, her voice hopeful. “So, you’ll think about it?”

  “Yeah, baby, I’ll think about it.”

  “Good.” She linked her hand with his on the bar. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

  “I’ll always look out for you, Amelia.” This time he kissed her long and sweet.

  Sully turned away, suddenly feeling like an intruder. He also, for some reason, felt jealous.

  Shit.

  His eyes focused again on Persy. Her movements were sure and efficient. She’d done the routine tasks of closing before and knew exactly how to complete them all in the quickest way possible. Her heart-shaped ass moved around the pub, cleaning, wiping, sweeping, and mopping.

  Sully kept his eye on her even while Hector finished with the tills and Millie walked over to Persy to help, keeping her company and asking about the regulars that had come in that day. Millie was pretty: a head full of dark curls, cute as shit glasses, and curves. She used to hide her beauty, but since Hector she didn’t do as much of that anymore.

  To him, however, Persy was the one who set his blood boiling. A long sleek of black hair, and a pear-shaped body with a sweet ass. Best of all was her attitude. She never took shit from anybody. Not a customer, not a man, and not even from him.

  Yet, she was untouchable.

  Not her body; that he’d touched, quite a bit, in fact. But her soul, her heart were off-limits to him. She was nice to Millie—they’d known each other for a while, since long before Persy started work at the pub—and to the other staff at the Seashell and Hector.

  She had kindness in her. But he’d yet to see any love.

  When they finished closing and locking up, he and Persy waved goodbye to Hector and Millie, then started towards Persy’s apartment.

  They didn’t speak the entire way there. They didn’t touch, either, though he would have if he’d thought she’d welcome it. That had been one of her conditions: only behind the closed doors of her apartment would things change.

  He’d never questioned her rules before, and he wondered how she’d react when he did that now. First, however, was her payback for taking that phone number.

  She unlocked her door and stepped through to her small studio apartment. He shut and locked the door behind them.

  Then he grasped her and pulled her to him.

  Her low gasp filled the room. “Sully.”

  She always seemed surprised when he made the first move; even now, after months of passionate nights and distant days.

  He wondered why her surprise made him not want to take first, as he’d planned to this time, but give instead. He’d worry about that question later. With her lips parted and waiting, he’d give her what she needed.

  Here, at least, they knew what the other wanted.

  He pushed her gently against the wall, his mouth descending, taking what he wanted.

  He felt her distance slipping, her body giving, her mouth moving.

  Fuck, but he loved her mouth.

  He pushed her jacket off, then her shirt. She shucked her shoes. He pulled back, gasping for breath, and took off his own jacket and shirt.

  She was panting against the wall, and he took a moment to stare at her small breasts in satin cups before his mouth descended and covered one nipple. Her back arched and her slim fingers slid into his hair.

  He flipped open the clasp and pulled her bra away, his mouth losing her nipple for barely a second.

  “Sully.”

  He shifted to her other breast. “Hmm?”

  “Sully.”

  He left her nipple and trailed his lips down her body. He unzipped her jeans and began pulling them down in the dark.

  Her breath was staggered. “W-wait.”

  He stopped. He always stopped when she pulled back like this. She hated losing control, and she always lost control with him behind her closed door. When her emotions became too much for her, she pushed him away, physically and emotionally. Only once she regained some control did she let go, but then only physically.

  So, they’d both used each other for sex.

  Yet now, he wanted more.

  He wondered if someone in her past hadn’t taken care with her emotions before, so he took care with her now.

  His voice was rough but gentle. “You want me to stop, honey?”

  Her face was turned to the side, away from him. She took a deep breath, then another. “No. No, I’m all right.”

  He slid up to standing again, his hands resting on the soft, bare skin of her waist. “You sure?”

  She nodded, her face still turned away.

  “Look at me and tell me, honey.”

  Her face turned, and he plumbed past the shield she always wore. Her eyes were a little hazy and heated, but the intent in them was clear. She wasn’t pushing past a bad memory, wasn’t trying to force herself to do something she’d regret.

  After weeks of fucking her, he’d come to know parts of her, despite everything she’d tried to hide about herself. He was right; this wasn’t about the sex. It was about avoiding feelings during sex.

  He’d been there the one time she’d felt too much, the one time she’d kicked him out before fully breaking down. He’d never forget the angry and conflicted look that came into her eyes before it happened. This wasn’t one of those times.

  He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Then another. And another.

  She didn’t push him away, and eventually melted against him.

 
No, this wasn’t one of those times.

  He started slower and sweeter and took her mouth until she was weak, then gently shifted down her body. He pulled her jeans and underwear off together until she was naked before him.

  He kneeled before her, a man worshipping at the altar of her body, and pressed his mouth to her core.

  She moaned and arched her back.

  He wanted more. Much more. He wanted control. He wanted her to let go. He wanted…It. All.

  Now, he was going to take it.

  He grasped her thighs and settled them over his shoulders, and she let out a small yelp.

  His voice was a low growl. “Hold on.”

  One of her hands braced against a built-in bookshelf, while the other tugged sharply on his hair.

  “Fuck, yeah.” His mouth descended again. He licked, sucked, and teased her folds, her taste just as fucking sweet and sharp as it always was.

  His cock twitched as her body shuddered through an orgasm. He was painfully hard against his jeans, but he wouldn’t take her. Not yet.

  Two of his fingers entered her and his thumb circled her clit. She shifted against the wall, and he grabbed one of her hips to keep her in place and steady.

  He was in control now. Her entire body was at his mercy.

  He’d make her come against the wall again, her body held up only by his.

  Then he’d take her on the bed, while she was under him, again at his mercy.

  Fuck. Yeah.

  “Sully,” she whimpered. “Please.”

  “Give me one more.”

  She shook her head, her hair shifting with her. “No.”

  “Yes.”

  Her voice was almost a whine. “Sully.”

  His voice was decidedly serious. “Now, Persy.”

  She moaned as her body convulsed around his fingers. Fuck, but she always came fast. She got hot quick and came quicker.

  Now, it was his turn.

  He stood quickly, adjusting then carrying her spent body to the large bed nestled in a corner of the room. He laid her down, her body in a spread eagle.

  He toed off his shoes, then removed the condoms from his pocket before taking the rest of his clothes off.

  Then he just looked at her.

  In the dark room, small streams of light highlighted slivers of her body. He didn’t need to see all of her to know she was beautiful, but he’d add light so he could.

  He reached to turn on the bedside lamp.

  “No. Keep it dark.”

  She always wanted it dark. He was fucking done with dark. “No.”

  She blinked as the light gave a muted glow to the room. “Sully.”

  “Not tonight, Persy.”

  Just as he’d never seen her fully, she’d never seen him, either.

  They were both seeing each other now.

  Every freckle, every curve. Every muscle, every eyelash.

  Fuck, she was beautiful.

  He climbed onto the bed between her legs. On his knees, he opened the condom package and slipped it on slowly, his eyes locked with hers. He stroked his hand over his cock a few times, not that he needed to; he wasn’t going soft anytime soon.

  No, he did it because of the way she changed when he did. Even before, when they’d stayed in the dark, she’d change as she was doing now.

  More of her slipped away and need started to take over. Her body squirmed a little, and her skin got hot.

  He lowered himself over her. Both of them were breathing hard, watching each other for several moments.

  Then passion erupted once more.

  It was need, pure and simple. Their bodies arched towards each other, their minds blissfully empty but for reaching that swift peak. With one hard thrust, he was inside her.

  Fuck.

  Yeah.

  He loved it, fucking loved watching and hearing it when she came, and she again came quickly. He’d never met a woman who was so fucking sexy, or who came so fucking fast or often. Her hair was splayed out against her soft green sheets, her eyes closed, her head tipped back, and her lips were parted and gasping for breath.

  Fucking beautiful.

  His hand caressed up her leg, then hitched it around his hip. He thrust deeper and she moaned as he hit that sweet spot inside her.

  He pulled out, leaving just the tip inside, then drove into her again, the bed shifting with his rhythm. Every time he thrust forward, the wire frame of the headboard thwacked against the wall.

  Thwack.

  Thwack.

  Thwack.

  Each time he heard the sound, it made him harder, rougher with her.

  She groaned again, her hands fisting in his hair, the pain of it spurring him on even more.

  He did that.

  Him.

  It was his cock driving her, driving their bed.

  It was his cock inside her, filling her.

  He growled as he thrust again.

  Thwack.

  It was building inside her.

  Thwack.

  Little spasms around his cock.

  Thwack.

  It wasn’t enough. It was never enough.

  His hand came between them and he toyed with her clit. Her body jerked.

  He grunted between thrusts. “Get. There. Persy.”

  Thwack.

  “Sully.”

  Thwack.

  “Now.”

  Thwack.

  Her head turned to the side. “Sully.”

  “Now!” He rubbed her clit harder and she went flying.

  Thank Christ.

  Her hands fell away, as they always did when she came, and gripped the bed. She opened up when she orgasmed, her legs now splayed wide and her back arched.

  Fucking magnificent.

  Thwack, thwack, thwack.

  With a last few thrusts, he groaned and let go, spurting into the condom that sheathed him.

  He fell on top of her, his face nuzzling against the slim, strong curve of her throat. He took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of them mixed together.

  She shifted, and he knew she was pulling away, hiding the vulnerable part of herself behind a wall of steel. Before she did, he was finally going to get a good look at her.

  He pressed a kiss below her ear, then her neck, and the space in her collarbone. She tensed, but he kept up his soft, steady kisses on her chin and cheeks before he took her mouth.

  Long and languid he kissed her until she started to relax again. Not fully, not completely as she had before, but it was something.

  He kept them connected, his cock still buried inside her, as he sat up and situated her astride him. Some of her hair fell forward, covering part of one delicious nipple.

  “Wh-what are you doing?”

  “I’m not done with you.”

  She pushed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m done.”

  “I don’t think you are.”

  Her eyes narrowed. She was cute when she got pissed off. If she thought her attitude would turn him off, she had another thing coming.

  “I’m done.”

  She was done with him, was what she was really saying, and he wasn’t going to put up with that shit anymore.

  “You really want me to leave, I’ll leave.” He would. He would never force a woman, but knowing her as he did, knowing her body, he knew she might be done with him emotionally, but physically she wanted more.

  He thrust again and her breath caught. When she tried to pull away, he held her tighter.

  “Still want me gone?”

  She didn’t speak.

  He took one long suck of her nipple and she whimpered.

  “How about now?”

  She sighed, finally giving in. “The condom.”

  He kept his eyes locked on hers while one hand felt along the bedcovers. He found the other condom and ripped it open with his teeth.

  His arm still tight around her, he lifted her gently off then pulled off the used condom, tied it, and tossed it aside; he’d deal with it later. He slid the new
one on, her eyes watching his hand stroke himself again.

  He only broke his gaze to watch his cock disappear inside her body. He trailed a hand over her hips and paused at what he saw on her stomach.

  Stretch marks and a scar several inches long.

  They’d only ever seen each other bare in the shadows of the dark. Any bump or line he’d felt, he hadn’t thought much of it.

  He was thinking about them now. All of them. Every inch of everything he’d felt on her body, inside and out, he was thinking about it.

  Then she started rocking against him, and he thought of nothing but his cock inside her.

  He shifted his eyes up, up, up, his hand moving over her skin, stopping at her breast. Her head was tilted back, her long stream of hair waving behind her as she moved.

  His hand wrapped around the dangling strands and fisted, tugging gently.

  She gasped. “Sully.”

  “You move when I say you move.”

  Her eyes widened.

  He thrust inside, and they widened even more. “Got me?”

  She licked her lips and nodded.

  “Good.”

  He angled her head and took her lips in a brutal kiss. He drove inside her again, and she moaned into his mouth.

  Once again, she came fast. Her breasts jiggling with each plunge of his cock, her nipples brushing against his chest when they did.

  He kissed her and swallowed the moans of her orgasm, and she did the same and swallowed his groans of release.

  His thrusting slowed but didn’t stop. He loved the way his cock felt sliding out of her wet, then back in where she was still hot and quaking.

  When her tremors stopped, so did his cock. He buried his head against her neck again. “Told you I knew you weren’t done.”

  “You’re full of yourself.”

  He pulled back, grinning. “You’re full of me right now.”

  Her lips pursed. “Jerk.”

  “I’m a jerk who knows you better than you think I do.”

  Her face went blank, the walls shooting up around her so fast he’d barely blinked and they were ten stories high. “You don’t know anything.”

  She pulled away, sliding off his cock, and lay down on the bed facing away from him. As she pulled the sheets up to cover her breasts, her hair shifted to reveal her bare back. He saw something else he’d never seen before: a tiny, tiny hole, as if a long needle had been inserted there. A memory of his sister during labor flitted through his mind—he remembered she’d had a hole like that after her epidural—but as a cop, he knew other drugs were administered in a similar way, too.