Beautiful Wreck

by Kasey Lane

  She ached for him. And she hated that she ached for him. Especially since he had so much to deal with already, without her acting like a whiny needy baby. And sex wasn’t that big of a deal to the rest of the world. Why did it have to be with her?

  Somehow the week had rolled by in a blur. While Gabby started back at work and at Quirk, Bowen juggled his workouts, appointments, meetings, and the hospital with the precision of a surgeon, leaving very little time for their schedules to overlap. Bowen’s initial obsession with needing to be at her side at all times had diminished. Although he still monitored her schedule and made sure someone was with her always. Instead of fighting it, Gabby indulged him his little bit of serenity. If she was one less thing for him to worry about, the better.

  “I know you’re staring at me,” he said, casually, without looking up from the stove. Like he was amused by her attention, but not enough to look at her.

  Her eyes shot back to her screen and she typed some nonsense on her keyboard. “Shut up and make my dinner.” Her heart beat against her chest like the rain pounding outside.

  “Come over here and make me.” This time he looked up and she saw something that looked a lot like lust glittering in his pale eyes. “I know you want to, little one.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, pretty boy.” Gabby looked back down at her computer, pretending once again to be riveted by her screen.

  With a languid grace, he reached over and turned the burner off while pushing the pan to the back of the stove before leaning back on the counter. He crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles taunting her. Thunder crashed through the apartment again.

  “It wasn’t a request.” His deep voice hit her directly in the chest as if the lightning had sliced through the building and struck her where she sat. The warmth of it fired throughout her body like an explosion. She raised her head again to meet his gaze. And suddenly she wanted nothing more than to do whatever he told her. Damn her body and its reaction to him.

  Heat pooled in her core. She was burning up. She wanted to fight her attraction to him, felt like she should at least give a little bit of a contest. Instead she stood and walked the few steps to him like she didn’t have a choice. Because, really, did she?

  But he didn’t move to touch her like she wanted him to. He stood there with that same cocky smirk. “Take your clothes off.”

  “We’re in the kit—”

  He shook his head and his mock disapproval spiked through her, annoying her and turning her on at the same time. His ability to create all these conflicting emotions was beginning to confuse her. “Take your clothes off for me.”

  But not enough that she considered for even a second not obeying him. She pulled her flannel sleep pants and panties down, stepping out of them and kicking them to the side before yanking off the tank top she wore. She stood before him naked in the warm kitchen as the weather blustered outside and he stood there clothed in sweats and a lazy smile. His eyes dragged down her body, the look on his face so focused she could almost feel him on her skin. When he pulled his gaze back to her face she nearly went liquid, melting in a big puddle at his feet.

  Finally, he reached his hand toward her face and captured her chin in his fingers. He tipped her head up. “We’re still going to have that talk.”

  She nodded. At that point they could talk politics, religion, not telling him about her virginity, basically anything he wanted if he would just touch her again, put his mouth on her, anything. Her body trembled, shook with need.

  “What do you want, Gabby?”

  Despite standing there in front of him without her clothes simply because he requested it, she didn’t feel truly vulnerable until that moment. Why wasn’t it enough that she’d stripped herself bare and exposed herself to his rejection? Why did he always push for more from her?

  “What do you think I want, pretty boy?” She tried to pull her chin to the side, but he held her firmly.

  “This isn’t a game, little one.” His eyes burned, but he didn’t lose that almost lethargic tone.

  “Isn’t it? I’m naked, Bowen. Because you told me to take my clothes off. In the kitchen. Now you’re asking me stupid questions. And I’m starting to get annoyed.” She pulled back, and was surprised at the sharp little kick of regret that shot through her when he let go.

  “Asking a woman what she wants before I stick my dick in her doesn’t make me an asshole.”

  “Nice. Now you’re a crude asshole.” She bent to pick up her discarded clothes, but he stopped her with his hand on her shoulder.

  He pulled his hand away and ran it through his hair as frown lines formed on his forehead. “That’s not my intention.”

  “Well, then, what the fuck is your intention? You don’t touch me for a week and now suddenly you’re jerking me around. I just want to have sex, Bowen! I want you to pick me up and fuck me against the wall. That’s what I want you to do.”

  She watched as his face changed, no longer confused, nor did he wear that annoyingly lazy smile. His eyes darkened and took on the gleam of a predator.

  He yanked her body to his, wrapping his arms around her, clasping her ass in his big, calloused hands, and desire moved through her body like warm honey. “Now was that so difficult?” His mouth crashed down on hers as he spun her and lifted her onto the kitchen counter. She wrapped her legs around his hips and threaded her fingers through his hair.

  Gabby had kissed her share of boys when she was younger, and she’d already kissed this man a few times, but she’d never been kissed the way Bowen was ravishing her now. He was done asking for her input, and done waiting for her to make a move. It couldn’t have been clearer if he’d tattooed it on his chest: Bowen Landry was taking Gabby Alvarez and making her his. Even if he didn’t know that’s what he was doing, she knew. She felt it in the pummeling of her mouth; she felt it in the possession of his hands dragging up and down her back, the scratch of his thumb brushing then pinching her nipples.

  This was the point where she should run, run like a motherfucker for safety because if he could control her body so easily, with such mastery, what would he do with her heart?

  *

  Gabby was all over him, under him, and in him. Bowen couldn’t go slow and he couldn’t get close enough. He pulled out the condom he’d stuck in his pocket and set it on the counter. He’d reminded himself every day of all the reasons this affair would end badly. Yet, he’d still put it there. Hating himself, but still carrying around that little piece of rubber hope.

  He pulled back and his chest expanded when she made a little noise that sounded a lot like a cry of protest. Placing his palm on her sternum he pushed her back onto her elbows and looked at her magnificent body. Her coffee-and-red streaked hair was coming out of its sloppy bun and looked wild, like her dark green eyes. Her lips were swollen and her cheeks scratched from the slight growth on his face. Her round breasts where topped with the most perfect, pointed nipples, so high and tight he had to lean over and give each a nip.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful and you smell so good,” he said and ran his nose along her ribs. He nibbled his way down over her slim torso and flat belly before burying his face in her molten pussy.

  Her hips shot off the counter when his tongue breached the seam of her lips and licked her clit. He chuckled and curled a hand under one perfect ass cheek. Gabby was surprisingly expressive and responsive in bed. It had nearly killed him to give her the week to heal after her first time. He’d missed her deep moans and the way her body moved to meet his so easily.

  He tested her with his fingers, although he knew she was ready. With one hand on her hip, he reached for the condom and handed it to her. “Put it on me.”

  She hopped off the kitchen counter so fast he didn’t have a chance to stop her, but didn’t protest when she dropped to her knees on the floor in front of him. Tugging at the waistband of his sweats she pushed them down and he kicked them to the side.

  He could feel her breath against his cock as she r
an her soft hands up and down. A shiver of warmth licked straight down his spine and into his balls, where it stayed and grew. “Gabby, the condom…”

  “I just forgot how big you are. You know, you have a very attractive penis.”

  “Sweetheart, are you kidding me right now?”

  She laughed and tore the wrapper open. “Well, you do.” She held the tip and unrolled it over him. So fucking slow he was afraid he’d come right there in her hand.

  “While I appreciate your admiration of my dick, I’m not sure you are the best judge.”

  She glanced up, her hands still wrapped around him, her long bangs falling into her eyes. God, she was a fucking vision there, kneeling before him with his cock in her hands and her mouth just inches from it.

  “I’ve watched porn before, Bowen. I’m not a prude. Just a virgin.” She curved those sexy lips into a provocative smile and blinding-hot lust infused his veins.

  “Do you always talk this much during sex?” he asked throwing her own words back at her. “It’s a wonder you ever get laid.”

  She raised her lithe body from the floor in an elegant hop and he grabbed her under her ass and pulled her up and into his arms. Her legs wound around his hips and her arms around his neck. Like they were meant to. Which was ridiculous, of course.

  He’d wanted to kiss her differently, with more finesse and less like the fucking monster he was. But he couldn’t. He could only attack her seductive mouth, tangling with her tongue and nibbling at her lips. He dug his fingers into her fleshy ass and set her against the counter with the round head of his cock teasing her slick entrance. Her eyes glittered and she licked her lips.

  “Ready, little one?” She smiled and nodded. He pushed in an inch and her warm walls engulfed him. She breathed hard, her tits rising and falling against his chest. When she began to squirm, he pulled her down a little more. Kissing her neck while her body adjusted to the invasion of his. He continued pushing into her farther and kissing and pushing and kissing until he was fully seated within her, his cock throbbing, begging to thrust.

  But he wasn’t losing control this time. He wanted it to be better than the first time for her. When she leaned over and found that tendon in his neck with her teeth he moaned and nearly lost it, but he counted to ten. “Stop it.”

  “You’re not the boss of me, pretty boy.” She wiggled against him and tasted the same tendon with her tongue.

  “You’re playing with fire, little girl,” he said and pulled her tight against him, walking over to the wall in the hallway.

  Her body shuddered. “Oh, God, you really are going to fuck me against the wall.” She trembled and her short nails dug into his shoulder blades, making his cock twitch deep inside of her.

  Damn right, he was.

  Holding her body against the wall with his own, he kept his hands around her ass, and looked into her eyes. She looked crazy with arousal, wild with lust, but she didn’t seem frightened or in pain. He took her mouth again and pulled almost out, and thrust back in slowly, testing her comfort level. When she rolled her hips forward and gasped as he pushed in faster, he let the monster out of the cage.

  “Rub your clit, Gabby.” For once she did what he asked and pushed her hand down between them. Her fingers skimmed along his cock as he stroked in and out of her. He picked up the pace, slamming into her over and over, unable to go slower, softer any longer, and her answering cries where all the verification that she was enjoying herself that he needed.

  “I’m going to come, Bowen,” she keened.

  “Come all over my cock, sweetheart.” He growled and bit her earlobe. Her body tensed and she shouted his name sending him over into the abyss. He felt himself falling, drowning, and floating all at the same time. Overwhelmed by the intensity of his orgasm. Too much feeling. Too much of everything.

  Gabby shook in his arms and she tucked her head under his chin. The weird jagged thing rolled around in his chest, poking and prodding at everything inside him. What the hell were they doing here? He couldn’t keep doing this to her and then hating himself for it afterward. That wasn’t the behavior of someone trying to be a better person.

  “Don’t you dare start getting all weird on me, Bowen,” she said, her mouth moving against his pounding chest. “Please,” she added, her voice a whisper. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

  Bowen didn’t want to think about how she might already know the new him better than anyone else…even his old friends. “You’re right. We’re not.” He pulled away from her, setting her on her feet before kissing her forehead and disposing of the condom. “In fact, I think we might actually be doing it right.”

  “Ha-ha. I’m going to jump in the shower then I’ll let you feed me again.” The idea of fucking her in the shower erased any of his momentary guilt. His cock was half hard just thinking about the warm water cascading down those tits.

  Instead of turning the burner back on and finishing their dinner, he scooped her up and headed down the hall to the bathroom. Her squeal was all the confirmation he needed that she was on board with Plan B. That sharp thing stuck him in the lungs…or was that his heart?

  He’d worry about going to hell later. Right now he was planning on taking a hot shower with Gabby long enough for the water to turn cold.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Bowen had just set his keys and phone on the kitchen counter and was already peeling the sweaty tank top off his body when his cell phone rang. Grabbing it quickly, he smiled when he saw Conner’s name and ugly mug flash on the screen.

  “Dude, I thought you were going to call yesterday.”

  “I was wrecked after that first PT session.” His buddy’s voice sounded tired, different.

  Bowen shoved the phone in between his shoulder and ear and began to tug his gym shorts off as he walked toward the bedroom. “So tell the doctor you’re not ready.”

  Conner sighed. “I did.”

  “And?” Bowen looked around the empty bedroom and realized Gabby’s computer hadn’t been on the kitchen table. He had run to the gym across the front parking lot and wouldn’t have seen her car because she parked in the back lot.

  “She doubled my sessions,” Conner said flatly forcing a chuckle from Bowen. “Yeah, she’s kind of a bi—”

  “A badass?”

  “Sure. Let’s go with that.” Bowen had liked the elegant and articulate Dr. Ryan so far. If Conner had been anywhere other than lying in a hospital bed riddled with broken bones and a crushed soul, Bowen was sure his buddy would be all over the posh doctor. As it was, he seemed to disregard every bit of advice and treatment she doled out. He was like the once-obstinate teenager he’d been years before, snarling and growling at everyone. “Anyhow, I didn’t call to chat about my witch doctor. I need to talk to you about something.” He paused and Bowen could hear him covering the phone and yelling at someone.

  “Did you just yell at a nurse?”

  “What the fuck do you care?” Conner snarled. “Just come to the hospital.”

  Bowen bit his tongue and remembered five years back when Conner had come home from his second and final tour in Afghanistan. It had taken some time for the harrowed look in his eyes to fade, but he’d settled into a dull enthusiasm for life once his aunt Sunny had gotten to him.

  Yanking off his workout shorts, Bowen looked out his bedroom window and noticed the clouds that had been threatening earlier had begun to unload their anger on Portland with big fat drops of rain. Gabby’s little car sat benignly in her assigned spot so where the fuck was she?

  “Fine. I’ll be there in an hour.”

  “Alone. Without your little girlfriend.”

  “Fuck you. I’ll be there.” Bowen hung up and for the millionth time that week wished he could go back in time, wished that Sabre wouldn’t be dead and Conner would be the same dependable friend he’d always been. But dickheads like Bowen didn’t get their wishes granted, he thought as he rushed onto the balcony with an empty feeling in his gut.

  “As prett
y as your pecker is, you can’t just prance around naked on the balcony.” Gabby sat with her long legs kicked up on the railing and her computer sitting on her lap. Her eyes glittered with amusement and she granted him a rare smile.

  “What are you doing out here?” he snapped and instantly regretted it when her face paled and he saw her walls shoot up.

  She looked back down at the computer on her lap. “Working.” She wore one of his flannel shirts and a loose pair of sweats. He wanted to grab the hair she had loose around her shoulders, gather it in his hand and kiss the fuck out of her. He wanted to throw her over his lap and spank her for making him constantly worry. He wanted to pick her up and screw her on the balcony for everyone to see that she belonged to him.

  No. She doesn’t belong to anyone, dude, especially a broke-down player like me.

  He forced himself to cool his reaction. “I couldn’t find you. I thought you left.”

  Gabby closed her laptop and stood. “I needed some air,” she said and stepped to him. “I’m fine. And you’re naked. Well, well, well and hard.” Her eyes widened.

  Pride bloomed in Bowen’s chest like a sparkly man flower. Not even attempting to hide his smile, he put his hands around her waist and tugged her body up against his. “It’s all you, little one.”

  She pushed at his chest, but he didn’t budge. “You know I can get away from you, right?”

  He didn’t answer; instead he kissed her. A sweet, languid greeting with his mouth, which she answered with one of her own. When he finally broke the kiss, he held her in his arms. Just one more minute or two and then he’d let her go. “Conner called and asked me to come by the hospital. Did you still want to drop by your office for a bit before I work on your tattoo tonight?”

  “Nah. I think I’ll just stay home and work from here. It’s raining so you can take my car if you want,” she said, surprising him. He leaned in and ran his tongue up her neck, inhaling that strangely Gabby scent of chocolate and citrus.