Guardian Angel

by Lise Fuller

  When she peaked, he used his hands to clamp her hips to him. He couldn’t hold back any longer. He pumped inside her now. Hard. In seconds he climaxed and thought his growls matched hers in intensity.

  Marie collapsed against him. Her rapid breaths brushed his nipple. He felt her heart as it pounded against his chest.

  Their heavy breaths flowed together in a steady rhythm. He held her a moment, their bodies still joined, as if they were inseparable. Jake pressed his lips to the strands of dark hair at her temple. A log crackled in the fire. An inner warmth absorbed him.

  He nestled his face into her damp hair and inhaled the clean scent of her. She was his. He had to get her to see that, had to get her to see she couldn’t leave him no matter what. But how? “Marie,” he whispered, hoping he wouldn’t dispel the magic that held them together for the moment, “I love you.”

  She looked at him. Her eyes shimmered, creased at the edges with worry. She fingered his lips then kissed him. “I love you too.”

  He stared at her for endless moments. “I’ve been waiting to hear you say that.” His throat tightened. “I want you here with me. Always.” He lowered her face to him and kissed her.

  “Jake,” she barely whispered as she pulled away. “I don’t know how long I can stay. I just know I don’t want to be without you. I’ve been resisting this.” She sniffed and lifted her chin. “I want to spend the night with you, to know what it’s like to wake up in your arms. If this is all I can have of you, then I’ll take whatever I can get, but you know I can’t stay forever.”

  —

  Her voice choked. Marie didn’t want to admit that she loved him, afraid it would make things harder when she left for good, but the look on his face showed her his one vulnerability.

  He loved her. He wanted her. She couldn’t let him go on believing she didn’t want him back.

  Marie tucked her head under his chin to hide her sadness. For the moment, he didn’t protest her leaving. She thought he would the way he pressed his lips together, the way his eyes narrowed with pain.

  But he had to know. They shared a special moment tonight. And she may never be able to get this, get Jake, back again. She kissed his neck. The scent of his spicy aftershave lingered on his skin. She inhaled it. She would remember this.

  He lifted her chin and eyed her again. She swallowed to fight back the sorrow that threatened to spill over her. Enjoy him while you can. She forced a smile and ran her hands through his thick, dark hair. She loved the feel of him.

  He came to her. His lips were tender as they traveled down her neck. “You can’t leave me now.” His strained voice broke her, threatened to undo her resolve yet strummed the inner strings of her soul. A man like Jake was all she had ever really wanted. And now that she had him, she would lose him as fast as she’d found him.

  He breathed against her. His exhalations stirred the flames within. He lightly took the flesh of her shoulder between his teeth as his strong, calloused hands caressed her back and slid lower.

  Passion ignited within her again. She pushed her knee slowly up his thigh and kissed him with an urgency that consumed her. She wanted him, had to have him.

  His breath caught. His brow creased. His mouth thinned into a frown. “Then we have tonight at least. I want to spend the whole time with you, too. Maybe I can still convince you not to run anymore. I want you to trust me.”

  She sadly smiled. “I do, Jake.”

  “Then…”

  She put her fingers against his mouth to stop him. She couldn’t explain her problem to him. It would change things. And she didn’t want him pleading. This was painful enough. “We have tonight, Jake. I want to enjoy what we have while I can.” She bent to him, kissed him with all the feeling she had inside.

  He grasped her. Held her tight and took over the kiss, told her in that physical way that he wouldn’t let her go. Not if he could help it.

  She knew that, and knew what she had to do—but that was tomorrow’s problem.

  Not tonight.

  His heavy breathing matched hers. His penis throbbed against her leg. These things told her he wanted her again.

  “Perhaps we should move to the bedroom.” He lifted a corner of his full lips yet sorrow still showed in the creases in his face. “I’d like to have you in my bed at least once.”

  Her soft huff echoed with the same air of sadness. Then she smiled. “I’d like that Jake Colder.”

  Marie watched his Adam’s apple move up and down. He wanted to say something again, she was sure. But he didn’t. He just stared, as if he tried to read her face.

  “I love you, Marie,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Don’t ever forget that.” He rolled her over and laid her on the carpet. He squatted beside her then lifted her in his arms and carried her to the room where she slept.

  “I thought we were going to your bed?” she asked as she looped her hands around his nape.

  He grinned, this time with more pleasure. “This is my bed.” His searing gaze ignited her libido and torched her soul. “But now I have someone to share it with.”

  His comment warmed her, bound him to her heart. She tightened her arms around him and touched his neck with her lips.

  He pushed the partially open door with his elbow then stepped in. Jake laid her on the cherry wood bed. Her legs dangled over the side, her knees fell wide open as he flipped on the light on the nightstand. She pushed herself to her elbows to watch him. He looked at her a while, eyeing every part of her. The blue in his eyes deepened with desire. His cock jerked as it pulsed and hardened. Her body warmed, knowing that he wanted her.

  Jake moved to her, lay on top of her and slid his hands over her waist then up her ribs to the inner sides of her arms. He skimmed her breasts with his thumbs as he passed them, grasped onto her wrists then leaned over her and settled himself between her legs. He took the nub of her breast in his mouth, teased the sensitive tip with the edge of his teeth.

  Even in the cooler air, her skin grew hot. Her pulse beat faster, her breaths were more rapid. She eased her hands from his grasp and threaded her fingers through his hair. “Jake, if there’s a way…”

  He took her hand and gently kissed her fingers. “I’ll find one, Marie. I swear it.” His calloused fingers caressed her shoulders. The heat in his eyes smoldered and fueled the need within her. “Marie,” he whispered against her chilled skin. The warmth of his breath charged the nerves underneath. “I want one night too. Fact is I want more than one.”

  The blue in his eyes pierced her depths once more. His mouth laved her nipple then kissed downward under her breast to her waist. Her eyes fluttered shut a moment as a surge of desire ripped through her, a need so strong she couldn’t deny it, an aching sweetness that threatened to envelop her. It was more than lust. Jake filled a need so deep she couldn’t even define it. She parted her lips. A moan eased from her mouth. She had never felt like this with a man.

  His fingertips slid down her torso. Lightning charged her skin with his touch. He grasped her hips, kneaded the skin beneath. He kissed her, captured her mouth with his. She belonged to him. At least for tonight. And he belonged to her.

  He breathed deep and stared at her. “Marie, I didn’t think.” He grimaced. “I know we talked about…our health. You said then you couldn’t get pregnant at the moment, but what about now?”

  Her body was so aroused she didn’t understand at first. “Oh,” she finally said.

  “I don’t care. I want you. If something…” His Adam’s apple moved again.

  “I’m covered, Jake. Promise. There won’t be any consequences. Not in the children department.”

  He pressed his lips together. “Do you want children?”

  Pain flickered so briefly across his face she almost didn’t see it. “Yes, Jake. I do. When the time is right, and with the right man. But you know enough of my circumstances.”

  He nodded. Then warmth and some other emotion flooded his gaze, one that satiated her soul, made her believe that with hi
m, anything was possible—because he would make it that way.

  “Good,” he said. “Because I wouldn’t mind having more.”

  “Jake…” She didn’t want him believing they would have a future.

  He brushed her mouth with his hand then caressed her cheek. “You never know, Marie. Maybe if you’d tell me…” He stopped but his brows knitted. His eyes gleamed with his determination.

  She placed her fingers on his mouth. “Not tonight, Jake. Tonight let’s pretend that time won’t come.”

  He nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

  She slipped a hand between their bodies and grasped his cock. Jake sucked in a breath and closed his eyes.

  “What I want is to see you. Touch you.” His penis quivered in her hand. He raised his hips a bit to give her what she groped for. Marie rubbed her thumb against him and felt a vein on the lower side. Blood rushed through it. Made Jake harder. Her clit tingled knowing how he desired her. She circled her fingers around his flesh then moved her hand up and down his stiffened penis. Jake was large. From the first time she’d touched him—her clumsiness with the coffee in the diner, she knew that. Their tryst in the barn confirmed what Marie had imagined about him. Since then, her body wouldn’t let her forget how erotic and carefree their lovemaking had been. Still, she’d avoided him. She’d been afraid of him, afraid of what he would think if he knew about her—but now?

  Now, she thought the moment odd and yet wonderful. How, in a time when she needed someone to dispel her demons, he was there.

  Marie closed her eyes and let her innermost desires rule. She wanted to focus on the feel of him. She pushed against his chest with her other hand to guide him off her. When Jake stood, she bent to his cock and flicked her tongue over the purpled head then laved the slit. She could taste him. Taste both of them. The erotic combination pushed her clit into hyperdrive. She moaned and caressed him with her mouth, inhaled the musky scent of him.

  Jake sucked in a breath. He rested his palms on her shoulders. His body shook as she suckled the tip and grazed the edge of her teeth against the sensitive underside.

  “God, Marie.” His powerful fingers held her jaw and pulled her face up to gaze at his. “I want this to be good for you too.” His thumbs brushed against her temple then downward along the ridge of her chin, thumbing her lips when he reached them.

  She licked the bead of pre-cum that beaded on the slit then looked back at his face. “It will be,” she whispered alongside his hot skin and felt his penis tremble against her cheek. She put her lips to his shaft then slid them down and sucked him into her mouth as deep as she could. She used her tongue to press against him in waves as she descended and rose again.

  He groaned. He used her shoulders again to support himself. She pleased him. She’d never felt so content.

  Marie eased her fingers to his ass and grasped his firm backside. She used her fingertips to massage his skin while she pressed the inside of her lips and tongue against him. She fucked him with her mouth, eased her lips back to his tip and scraped his skin with her teeth then did the same going down.

  “God…” Jake’s body shook. Marie treasured the way he responded to her.

  “I want you, Marie,” he rasped.

  She pressed her mouth against him once more then released him. “I know.”

  Jake eased her back against the bed cover and took her nipple with his mouth again. She moaned in earnest, wanting him. Her sex fired with heated lust.

  His fingers traversed her frame to reach the sensitized area between her legs. Jake stroked her clit then dipped a finger into her wet vagina. Her hips arched with a will of their own.

  God, how she wanted him. Wanted this.

  He rubbed the bud of her sex with his thumb as he finger-fucked her and teased her nipple with his other hand. Jake’s eyes darkened with passion as he looked at her. Marie had never had a man do that, watch her with such intensity. With someone else, she might have been ashamed, embarrassed that they would see how much she loved this. But with Jake she didn’t care.

  Her breath caught as he pressed his fingers harder against her. Blind passion spiraled within her and consumed her. Her breaths grew even more erratic. She closed her eyes. She had to. The heated sensations of her body demanded it, needed her full attention on what Jake did to her.

  The pressure increased and her craving for release surged. The thought of him observing her with his heady blue gaze spurred her on. She used her hands again, ran them up her sides, squeezed her breast with one of them while Jake administered to the other.

  “That’s it, darlin’,” she heard him murmur against her waist. “Show me what you like.” He pulled her other hand to the breast he’d touched and used his fingers to guide her to her nipple. He rested his hand over hers, felt the upper part of her hand as she moved on herself.

  His palm on her mons still rubbed her. Jake changed up the motion. Fast then slow. He licked her navel, tongued down her abdomen to her clit.

  Marie opened her legs wider, bent her knees and slid the tops of her feet against the inside of his legs.

  His mouth reached her pussy. He moaned against her. She cried out loud when he sucked her clit.

  She wanted to please him, too, but he was too far out of reach. God, Marie wanted him inside her.

  Jake nipped her. Sucked her. Put another finger in her. His other hand grasped her ass, pulled at it, lifted her hip and slapped her flesh once again.

  She moaned with pleasure. She’d never known the small stinging sensation could push her to the edge. He thumbed her anus then caressed the rim. “Do you like that?” The coarseness in his voice spurred her on.

  She couldn’t respond. His touch had overwhelmed the rest of her. Marie’s body was clay in his hands. He pressed against the dark opening as he nipped her clit again.

  Her cries filled her ears as wave after wave of carnal ecstasy rolled through her and scorched her every fiber. When she peaked for the last time, her guttural scream rent the air.

  Marie panted, hard and uneven. She struggled to inhale, trying to slow her pulse. She eyed Jake, half embarrassed, half emboldened. “I never…”

  Through his heavy breaths, he grinned, with more than satisfaction. Jake gazed at her with love. “You never did what?”

  She felt lightheaded and giddy. She opened her mouth and outlined her lips with her tongue, purposefully flirting with him. “I’ve never had anyone touch me, er…” Marie didn’t know how to say it delicately.

  Humor edged his mouth. “On your anus.”

  She pressed her lips together in a flat smile and nodded. “Yes.”

  “You’ve never had anyone spank you either, I take it.”

  She twisted her mouth. “No,” she squeaked, “I haven’t.”

  Jake laughed. “So…” He ran his hands along the underside of her arms and pressed them over her head. He held them there as he lay on top of her. “For a city girl, you haven’t done much, have you? Not in the erogenous department.”

  She shook her head again and let the impish smile grow on her face. “I was brought up in a conservative household.”

  “Mmm.” A corner of his mouth quirked into a grin. “What have you done?” His mouth reached her chin and pressed against the underside. “What do you want to do?” he whispered. His suggestive voice stoked her libido again.

  She didn’t know but being with him made her bolder, even wild. “Make love in a public place—or in the wilderness. I don’t think what we did in the barn would count. We were still in a building.”

  “Probably not.” He chuckled. “Get caught and you’d be arrested for that.”

  She squinted and forced herself to frown. “Would you arrest me?”

  He bent and nipped her neck, sucking the skin a moment. “Only if you wanted me to make love to you in handcuffs.”

  Her breaths grew ragged again. “I’ve…never done that either.”

  He arched a brow. “Do you want to?”

  She pressed her lip
s together. “Do you?”

  His gazed deepened. “Marie, I’ll do anything you want if it’ll keep you with me.”

  His honesty cut her and made her want at the same time. “Jake, I wish I could.”

  He brushed a few stray tresses of hair from her face. “You have me, Marie. Always. Whatever you’ve done or gotten involved with, we can do this together.”

  She bit her lip, afraid of what else he might say, afraid he would convince her to stay when she knew her presence would put him and Jesse in danger.

  His eyes darkened. His mouth parted with the shallow pants of his breath. “Marie…”

  A salty drop threatened to fall from her eyes but she wouldn’t let it. This moment was too precious, too raw—too real. She needed him to complete her. A voice sounded in her head, reminded her to relish every moment. The memories of his touch would warm her in the coming, cold nights. She tugged at him, wanted him to cover her body with his. She needed him inside her, craved the intimate connection, knowing, as much as she wanted this for a lifetime, she wouldn’t have it again. “For now, Jake, make love to me. Show me you love me because I need this from you right now.”

  He slid his body over hers. “I knew you did, but I want more from you.”

  For some reason, the tender ache in his voice soothed her troubled soul. God, the feel of him. Could she ever get enough?

  His hand caressed her shoulder as his hard shaft nestled against her thigh. Jake’s lips captured hers with a desperate passion. His cock quivered against her. “You’re so wet.”

  His deep sensual voice fueled her. He leaned into her to seduce her lips again with his mouth.

  She groaned in response and lifted her hips to meet his.

  The tip of his penis slid into her. The slowness with which he eased inside served to magnify the heat that spiraled inside her. When he filled her, she pressed her hips hard against him and gyrated them.

  “God, Marie.” Jake gritted his teeth as he paused, holding himself back. “I don’t know how long I can last if you keep that up.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered hoarsely. “We have all night.”