No More Masquerade

by Angel Payne

  Or was I the lost one? Were all relationships like this?

  I missed home. I missed the gang—even Chad’s one-liners and Michael’s bad cookies—and couldn’t think about Dad without tearing up. And I didn’t just miss Talia. I needed her. A trip to Espresso Mio and a nice long girl talk were in high order to get some solid advice about what was going on, despite the caution I always had to take due to the “complicated” state of being with a man like Killian.

  Complications you understood when you surrendered and fell for him, Claire. You knew there’d be good days and bad days to this thing, and that being chatty about either simply wasn’t an option, even with Talia. Gal-pal spill fests aren’t normal for your world anymore.

  “Normal” itself was no longer part of my world. Not in a relationship with someone like Killian Stone.

  But I longed for normal. I couldn’t help but think my mind was swiftly drowning, and I needed a life preserver thrown out—soon.

  An invisible force tugged my head up. When I raised my gaze, it was met by a pair of stunning onyx eyes.

  For a blissful instant, all was normal again.

  “Hey.” His voice was husky from sleep.

  “Hey you.” I smiled because he still took my breath away. Oh, yeah. Definitely…still.

  “How long was I out?” His lashes rested on his cheeks as he closed his eyes again, looking like little fans.

  “Long enough for my heart to stop a few times at how gorgeous you are. Then to do something about it by drooling all over you. Then there was the clean-up…”

  A smile crept across his lips. “You’re good for my ego, Miss Montgomery.”

  I leaned and kissed his proud forehead. “I’m good for a lot of your things, Mr. Stone.”

  He smiled wider but kept his eyes closed. “Indeed you are.”

  I couldn’t resist scraping my fingers through his hair again. “Do you want to rest longer? I don’t mind at all.”

  He shifted. “I need to get back online. Emails haven’t been checked. And maybe they have more news about the fire.”

  “Hmmm.” I didn’t hide my disappointment. “Back to reality.”

  “Afraid so.” He stood and stretched then extended a hand as I unclicked to do the same. But as I rose, I didn’t stop. I pressed myself fully to him, stretching on my tiptoes to get a deep kiss in on his full lips.

  “No,” I whispered. “Not quite yet.” I pulled back, waiting for his full attention. He gave it, though with a quizzical edge. That was okay. I had an explanation. “Killian…listen to me. We’re going to get through all of this, all right?”

  Curiosity hovered on his lips though his eyes glittered at me, holding a pair of smiles. He gently brushed the hair from my forehead. “Yes ma’am.”

  “Damn straight, yes ma’am.” I returned his gesture though pressed my touch with deeper emphasis. “I love you so much. I can’t live without you. That’s all I know. So no matter what—we’re going to get through this.”

  He wrapped me in the best Killian hug I’d felt in what seemed like weeks. Warm and tight without being too forceful, molding his body fully against mine but not in a sexual way. In every ounce of the pressure, I felt his silent message. I’d become a part of you…if I could.

  Damn, how I felt the same…and told him so with all my might.

  When he finally pulled back, it was only by inches. His eyes were shadowed and hooded—and sensual. They dropped to my lips as his own opened, blatant with hunger—and seduction.

  So much for “not sexual”. Not that I was complaining.

  He pulled me back again. Slowly. Our hips locked, his erection fitting to the crux of my thighs. There was no way to miss his message now. His burgeoning length pushed at me, growing bigger by the second. “I need to get inside you, Claire.”

  “Yes.” Oh, yes. We needed to connect on this level. Badly.

  Without another word, he turned, keeping one of my hands locked in his. We headed toward the bedroom, reminding me of a time not so long ago when we walked down this hall for the first time. Like then, my nerves zinged, my heart thrummed, and everything below my navel tightened with desire.

  Before we even cleared the bulkhead, I started unbuttoning my blouse. As Killian began watching me, he turned and walked backward. His eyes flared while fixing on my fingers while I pushed the little round buttons free. I felt a smile teasing my lips. He mirrored the look, turning him into a gorgeous devil I was willingly following to hell, even here in the stars.

  He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled me between his legs. “I want to watch you some more,” he dictated in a low growl. “Bare yourself to me, fairy queen.”

  As his words curled smoke through my limbs, I tugged my shirt from my jeans then finished the buttons. The fabric slipped from my shoulders and fell to the floor.

  “Fuck.” He released a long breath. “So beautiful.”

  “Only because I’m looking at the man I adore.”

  One side of his mouth curled a little higher. Damn. Could the man get any hotter? “Now the jeans.”

  Ohhhh, yes. Much hotter. His eyes were as black as the sky outside. We left the drapes open. Why not? It was me, him, and the constellations at thirty-five thousand feet.

  I slid my palms down my stomach to the button fly of my jeans. One by one I flicked them open, loving how Killian moistened his bottom lip with a slow slide of his tongue. My body temperature rose. Higher. Higher.

  I spread the denim flaps open. The top of my panties peeked out, purple lace with a little pearl in the center of the bow. Killian’s nostrils flared. His stare darted back up to mine in time to make my heart skip at his quirked brow and wicked grin.

  “Hmmm. Matching. Nice.” He reached up, gliding hands over my heated flesh until forming them over my nipples, now jutting through the purple lace of my bra. I let my head drop back between my shoulder blades, reveling in the warmth and nearness of the man I desperately loved. His big hands covered my aching breasts, cupping me tenderly, keeping me safe yet taking me closer to the edge of naughty.

  As I inhaled, he compelled me closer in order to replace his right hand with his mouth. As he nipped through the purple lace and caught my distended nipple with his teeth, I let out a high sigh. Hell, yes…naughty. And forbidden. Something about this man and this plane did this to me. Scratch that. It was the man, period. He loved roaming his fingers over all my illicit parts even when we were both still dressed—and I loved letting him do it, to the fullest, hottest extent. The best thing of all? He knew it made me wetter, and torqued every ounce of pleasure he could from the knowledge.

  I needed to feel more of him. But when I reached forward to twist my fingers in his hair, he pushed my arms back down. “No. Not yet.”

  I gave him a dirty glare.

  He flashed back a dirtier grin. Though he was well aware that I hated not being able to touch him, he also knew the helplessness ramped me beyond measure. Sure enough, my panties were soaked, and the tang of my arousal threaded the air. It all made Killian smile even wider. The man knew every single one of my buttons. Damn him. Thank God for him.

  “Kil,” I begged, “please!”

  He chuckled while moving to my other breast, leaving the first tingly and wet from his rough attention. “Damn. The way you say my name, fairy…I fucking love it.” He stressed the point by teething me harder. “Beg me some more, sweetheart. Say it again. Say all of it this time.”

  His tone hardened with solid steel authority. My pulse sped from the impact of it, immediately knowing what he demanded and giving it to him without a speck of doubt.

  “Killian Stone,” I moaned. “Ohhh, Killian Stone…”

  “Yessssss.”

  “Please, Mr. Stone. Let me touch you now. Please.”

  I gasped when he growled, then sank his teeth deeper into my sensitive tip. He only backed off after my cry escalated to an aroused scream.

  “Mmmm. Somebody likes that.” Instead of waiting for me to agree, he did it again.


  “Oh, God! Killian!” I lifted my hands a second time but he easily captured them once more. With a couple of effortless twists, he used the hold to swing me around and leverage me under him onto the bed. When I giggled, he silenced me with a deep, searing kiss that had me completely breathless by the time he tore away. My lungs pumped hard and heavy as he moved down my neck in a trail of licks and bites. He rolled his hips into the V of my body with a bulging, commanding promise of the pleasure he had in store, just moments away.

  I reached down to tug at my jeans, desperate to get this barrier out from between us. I needed him. Everywhere. This very moment. If he wasn’t going to do it, I’d take matters into my—

  He grabbed my hands, raising them above my head, holding them easily in one of his own.

  Again, I was helpless.

  Again, I was hopeless.

  And so damn aroused.

  “Pushing for the tie-downs, Miss Montgomery?” His eyes narrowed, making it clear he’d turn the tease into a promise if I pushed harder at trying to control him. I didn’t dare look away, almost certain I’d imagined it…hoping that I hadn’t. While the idea of playing master-and-servant on a daily basis wasn’t appealing, it wasn’t tough to recognize that some control would do him good right now—and some surrender would work miracles for me.

  “Please,” I repeated. Ohhhh, yes. What a wonderful tingle on my lips. “I want to feel you so bad, Kil. Please. Please.”

  His chest rumbled with satisfaction before he answered. “You will, sweet girl. You will.”

  “But—”

  “Ssshhh, baby. I want to savor every single moment of this. When we get back home, all hell is going to break loose. God fucking knows when I’ll have you all to myself again.”

  I nodded in reluctant spurts. “I don’t want to think about that.”

  “So give me this time. Let me love you.” He laid a trail of kisses from my mouth, down my neck and back up to my ear, right in the spot that drove me most crazy. “Just let me love you, Claire.”

  When the man turned his voice dark and beautiful as the stars outside the window, I wanted to break through the glass and grab one for him.

  “I can’t ever say no to you.”

  “Thank fuck.”

  I lifted my face to him, kissing him with all the passion and emotions that had been building for the last few weeks, dammed behind the tension of all the weird fights we’d had. And I kissed him with all the support I yearned to give for the hell we were certainly flying home to. And yes, I kissed him with the hope I held for our future beyond that. I hoped and prayed that he felt it all, and knew the depths of my soul that still belonged to him…that always would.

  When he finally lifted his head from our kiss, his eyes glowed more magically than the stars we flew through.

  “I love you.” We whispered it at the same time. When our mouths met again, even more heat sparked and flared, only this time, the flames were kindled solely by this moment. Killian slanted his mouth to claim me deeper, sweeping his tongue in blatant carnal need. I bucked a little, trying to pull free from his grip, but that only hardened his resolve—along with a lot of other things. He tightened the prison on my wrists with one hand while sliding the other into my hair, tugging hard to angle my mouth for his stabbing, searing invasion.

  He finally tore from me on a lusty hiss. Whipped his shirt over his head in the space of two seconds, letting me indulge a long gaze at his magnificent chest and sculpted abdomen. I scooted back on the bed to shimmy out of my jeans while he stood up and dropped his. When he prowled back between my legs, erotic hunger filled his panther-black eyes.

  I sighed at the sight of him. Even a blind woman wouldn’t miss his erection, huge and full and proud, ready for the action promised by his gaze. He yanked at the purple lace of my panties, shoving it down my thighs and onto the floor in an unceremonious swoop. By the time his eyes rose back up, I’d taken care of taking off the bra. My areolas puckered beneath his scorching stare, betraying how much I still needed him to command me despite my arms’ newfound freedom.

  As always, the man made all my fantasies come true.

  He lined himself up and slid home in one hot lunge. I gasped in ecstasy, wrapping my arms and legs around him. We were both ravenous for this, needing the connection and closeness, burning back reality with the light and fire of our love. I looped my ankles around each other atop his ass as he buried his face in my neck. We were entwined, skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat, two being as one.

  “Killian, I love you so much. I need you so much.”

  “I’m right here, baby girl.”

  “I know. I know. I just love you. I don’t ever want to be without you.”

  He moved at a perfect pace, something between nice-n-easy and ridden-n-hard, sliding in and out, letting his cock almost leave me before surging back in. It was exquisite and glorious. Beautiful and loving. Exactly the way we needed to love each other now.

  “As long as I have anything to do with it, you will never be without me. Now feel me, love. Just feel me.” He slid into me again, rotating his hips when he was pressed in to the hilt, rubbing my most sensitive nub with his pelvic bone, taunting me until my heels pummeled the base of his spine and my fingernails scored the muscles of his shoulders. He made love like a god, every time better than the last. I wasn’t amazed to hear myself begging him again.

  “Killian, please. Please! I can’t—I can’t—”

  He hummed against my neck and murmured with maddening control, “Can’t…what? Keep being so beautiful? Keep turning my cock into solid lead with wanting you? Too late, sweetheart. I’m hard as all the damn diamonds in the world for you…”

  “Oh!” I cried. “Oh, God, no. I—I can’t stop it, Kil.” My head thrashed from side to side. My hips undulated beneath him. “I can’t—hold back—”

  “Then don’t.” He squeezed my hips and plunged faster, deeper. “Come for me, Claire. Let it go, baby.”

  My womb vibrated and my sex clamped, rejoicing in how he stretched me, consumed me. I sank my teeth into my lower lip in an effort to stay quiet, knowing the crew moved about the plane throughout the flight, but was relieved when he sealed his mouth back over mine, absorbing my moans as he masterfully, tenderly coaxed out my orgasm. The cataclysm hit, a perfect explosion, blinding and beautiful. Ohhh, hell. The damn plane could have hit a meteor and I wouldn’t have noticed.

  When I opened my eyes again, Killian was still staring down at me. He looked supremely pleased with himself, a rogue’s grin playing at his lips. “How was that for a warm-up?” he cracked.

  I groaned. He chuckled.

  “Damn, Chicago. I hit the jackpot with you, didn’t I?”

  As a reply, he dipped his lips to mine again. As he did, he pulled out of me, taking little more than an instant to roll me to my belly. His mouth returned, this time on the back of my neck and across my shoulders. I arched like a cat in ecstasy, loving his weight pressing me into the bed like this. I was sheltered and protected, but needed and desired.

  Desired.

  That definitely seemed to be the plan.

  Killian guided his erection back to my core, surging into the cream-lined channel he’d just helped create. With a blissful sigh, I raised my hips, helping his angle. Kil growled against my nape, picking up his cock’s urgent pace.

  “I love you.” He uttered it while kissing his way to my ear.

  “I love you, too.”

  “And I need you. Fuck, Claire. Yes…”

  “Take what you need.” I ended it on a tight keen as he dug his teeth into my shoulder. “Take all of me,” I rasped past the exquisite pain.

  His rhythm grew frantic. The smacks of his body against mine resounded off the walls. His cock surged and swelled, and his balls trembled against the outer lips of my sex. He bit me again, hard. Then climaxed even harder.

  Many minutes later, he stilled and held me tightly to him, still shuddering against me as sweat trickled between our bodies
.

  “Claire.”

  It wasn’t a question but a deep instinct dictated me to answer, “Hmmm?”

  “Don’t leave me.”

  “Huh?” I attempted to peer around. No-go. He dropped his head between my shoulder blades, smashing his forehead to the top of my back.

  “Just say you won’t.”

  The words were stunning, especially because he meant every syllable. I felt the gravity of them like positive ions on the air. Did he really think I’d leave him over the tensions we’d had in Europe? On top of that, how was that an unfixable matter by someone like him? Okay, so he’d proposed…in his strange, crazy way. But if things fell apart, he’d get over me. He’d fix it. That as simply what Killian Stone did.

  Nevertheless, I turned back over, determined to look him in the eyes as I issued my response. “I will never leave you, Killian. Ever. Unless you tell me to. I will be by your side…always.”

  He nodded. Just once. But his kiss was a lingering, warm version of thank you…a gratitude I eagerly and openly accepted.

  *

  We slept for a large portion of the flight after that, waking in time to shower and eat before landing in Chicago. Email updates informed us that three staff members had been injured in the fire—as well as Josiah. Killian attempted not to flip to caged animal mode at that news, an effort mostly—but not wholly—successful. I was damn grateful when the wheels finally touched down at Midway.

  Fred was already waiting for us on the tarmac, the town car idling and ready to whisk us to Loyola Hospital’s Burn Center, where they’d taken Josiah—another piece of news that had turned Kil toward his leashed wildcat side, pacing the length of the plane as we taxied.

  “Mr. Stone, Miss Montgomery, welcome home.” Fred’s somber face greeted us as we stepped onto the blacktop. Killian gripped my waist tighter as the wind whipped around the heavy equipment and machinery, though he extended his other hand to greet his valet, practically a family member himself after serving Killian so many years. I could see the pain on Alfred’s face as Killian quietly asked if there was any news from the hospital.