by Jillian Neal
His shield pulsed in a furious red that frightened her. She sat up. His jaw clenched as he ordered himself to calm down.
“Listen to me, you narcissistic asshole. I’m trying to be patient, man, but if you keep this up, I’m not going to be so nice the next time. Do not call her again. She is mine. There are a lot of things that really piss me the fuck off, Jarred. One of them would be when other guys call her ‘baby.’ She is my baby, as I mentioned before. If I ever hear that again, I can assure you that you won’t just hear my voice, you’ll see my face, and you’ll feel my fists. Trust me, you don’t want to fuck with me. It will not end well for you. When I’m finished with you and your pathetic little ass, your own mother won’t recognize you.”
A dial tone was the reply to Dan’s threat. Ending the call, he tried to force his shield to calm. The throb of incensed blood pulsing was the only sound he was capable of hearing for a long moment. He tried to breathe deeply. He would never lose his temper with her, but dammit if he didn’t want to hunt Jarred down and destroy him.
“I’m so sorry.” Fionna covered her face with her hands and whimpered.
“Fi, baby, it’s okay. I’m sorry I reacted like that.” He wasn’t certain that was true, but he had to calm down.
“He does this every six months or so, or whenever he breaks up with whoever he’s been dating. I have no desire to ever talk to him or see him again. Thank you for telling him never to call me again.” She fell forward into his arms. He caught her with ease.
“We dated for a long time, but he just never really made me feel much of anything. I kept thinking that if I hung in there long enough that I would feel something. I knew I wanted to break up with him six months before I did because I knew he would take it really hard.”
“I used to beg Chloe, and Garrett, and Sasha and whoever I could find to come over or to go out and do something with me so I didn’t have to hang out with him. I was miserable; he was happy.” She rolled her eyes.
“I made Chloe come over and stay in the room with me when I told him it was over because I couldn’t stand to be alone with him. I didn’t want a good-bye kiss. I didn’t want him to touch me, and I knew he’d try. I should have broken up with him long before I did. I let it get completely toxic, and now the sound of his voice still makes me want to puke.”
Dan tried to let that further his slowly gathering composure. “You ever meet up with him when he called after you broke up?”
“Ugh, NO!” she all but convulsed. “Like I said, he does this when he breaks up with whoever he’s been dating.”
“And when he’s lonely on Valentine’s,” Dan fumed.
“All right, fine.” Her jaw clenched tightly for a brief moment. “The last possible thing I want to talk about while we’re in the most romantic chalet I’ve ever seen, with the guy I’m crazy in love with, on Valentine’s Day, is my old boyfriends, but since Jarred called, here goes.”
Dan shook his head to stop her, but she was determined.
“Jarred was never in love with me.”
It was very clear that whatever she was going to say she needed to get off of her chest. He would listen. He ordered himself to be there for her. They both had pasts. She’d accepted Amelia with no qualm and no question. He owed her the very same.
“He was cute, and nice, and safe, very safe.” She scowled. “So he fell in love with the girl I pretended to be for the first six weeks of our relationship. He didn’t hate that I played for the Angels, but he hated that I made so much more money than he did. And he hated most of my friends. If I wanted to go out and have a few drinks with Chloe, or Sasha, or any of my teammates, he complained endlessly about how much the drinks cost. We could buy a bottle of wine and stay home. I got a Brazilian every month; he said he would rather I put that money in the bank.”
Dan smirked. The guy was not only an asshole, he was an idiot.
“If I offered to pay for anything at all, he got his feelings hurt. I said I wanted to spice things up in the bedroom; he said it was high time I settled down. Told me that we were in a serious, mature relationship, and that the kinds of things I was talking about were inappropriate and not something that girls of good moral fiber wanted.”
“He wanted to get married; I wanted to run away. He talked constantly about me quitting the Angels and settling down, and starting a family. I said I didn’t want to quit even after I got married, and he said that I would change my mind once I got used to staying home.” She gagged involuntarily.
“He informed me one night when I emerged from my bathroom wearing a red and black lace nightie that lingerie seemed like such an unnecessary expense. I refused to sleep with him for the last six months we were together. I wouldn’t even be alone with him. He saw that as my trying to reawaken my virginity for our wedding night.”
Fionna was shrieking in her pent up aggression towards Jarred.
Dan was trying very hard not to guffaw over her last statement. “Reawakening you virginity?”
She finally began giggling. “Yes, I guess at some point when I was nineteen, it just fell asleep!”
They laughed together for a long moment before she continued. “The last year was awful.” Her voice lowered slightly. “He found my vibe drawer and threw them out, said that was like cheating on him. I used to hide my Starbuck’s cups before he saw my car because I always got this huge lecture on how my coffee drinking was really getting out of hand. He calculated how many cups of coffee I could perk at home versus how much a cup out cost.” She halted abruptly as she shook her head. The recollections seemed to exhaust her.
With a renewed breath, she continued, “I never ever told him about my Mom. Never told him what my tats mean. He didn’t like them anyway. I never told him anything about Kauai. I never even told him that I can surf or how much hula means to me.”
“I mentioned once that Malani was entering the Mavericks surfing competition out in California, and that I wanted to fly out and cheer her on. He told me that surfing was a ridiculous sport that it was not only extremely dangerous, but also overly branded.”
Dan knew that Malani and Fionna had been best friends since they were toddlers. They’d grown up together on Kauai. Malani’s husband worked for Fionna’s grandparents on their farm.
They still talked frequently and saw each other whenever they could. Dan was anxious to meet Malani. Every time she phoned, Fionna’s energy soothed and swirled in peaceful happiness.
Continuing her diatribe, Fionna’s enraged voice brought Dan back to the present. “He picked me up from the arena one day, and I had on a miniskirt. He told me it wasn’t really appropriate at my age. I never told him I loved him. I never loved him,” she corrected instantly.
“I never let him stay over. Never stayed at his house. He never knew that I prefer to sleep naked. He never knew me,” she sighed, “And that was my fault because I spent the first few months of our relationship pretending to be everything he said he wanted.”
“I didn’t go out with my friends. I sat and listened to him tell me all about his boring job, and I met his parents wearing a maxi skirt and a turtleneck. I lied about my past, and that’s what he wanted. There for a while, I think that I thought he was right. He said all the things my dad always told me. I was wild, and that was bad. I was Maylea. The things I wanted were bad, and I was a bad person for wanting them. But when I just couldn’t pretend to be someone else any longer, he didn’t know what to do.”
They sat in silence for the length of one heartbeat.
“Look at me.” Dan gently lifted her chin so she was staring into his eyes. All traces of possessive fury had bled from him in light of her terror over who she was. “Jarred is and was a motherfucking moron, because the real Fionna Styler is the most amazing woman I’ve ever had the privilege of holding in my arms. I love each and every thing about you, sweetheart.”
“And I will take care of Jarred if he ever calls again. But I want you to hear what I’m telling you, baby doll. There is not one single t
hing about you that I don’t love.”
“There is nothing that you want, whether in our bedroom, or in a waterfall, or anywhere at all that makes you a bad person. Fionna, you are perfect. I don’t deserve you. You not only have a beautiful face and a gorgeous body, honey, you have a beautiful heart and beautiful soul. I cannot ever tell you what it means to me that you let me see those, Fi.”
“And every single thing that I discover as we drive the road we’re flying down only makes me fall more and more in love with you. So please don’t let Jarred’s imbecilic prejudices make you think that there is something wrong with you. You are absolutely amazing, and I love you so much.”
“You have no idea how badly I need to hear that sometimes.” Her body trembled against his as he folded her up in his arms.
Dan felt his heart fissure and seize.
She lifted her head again. “Dan, I wish you would stop saying that you don’t deserve me. I love you so much. There isn’t any part of you that I don’t love or care about, even the parts that you can’t quite give me yet. I’ll wait forever, if I have to, for you to let me have all of you. For you to be done with him.”
He had no intention of making her wait forever. He brushed a loose strand of hair behind her right ear tenderly and then guided her beautiful lips to his own. “I love you,” he whispered just before he plundered her mouth. His tongue sought hers. His body needed to show her what she meant to him. He sucked and dragged his teeth over her bottom lip in a heated claim of ownership. They sought redemption in each other.
She moaned in his mouth. Her eyes closed as she gave in to the pressure and persuasion of his lips. His hands slipped back up that sweater. He needed to feel her soft, silky skin. Pulling the sweater up over her head took him no time at all. Her breasts beckoned his hands with magnetizing force. He squeezed her nipples between his thumb and the side of his index finger, making her shiver in need as the lace of her bra abraded her. Impatient greed thrummed through him. He had the bra off in a half-second.
“So damn beautiful always, baby doll. But when you’re hungry for me, my God, you’re exquisite.”
She panted as he trailed his kisses lower down her neck to the cleft of her collarbone. He spun his tongue there and popped the clasp of the bra, a saucy red lace number that drove him wild. Her back arched as he tugged the bra down her arms and tossed it away.
“You make me so wet. If you’d touched me when you were telling him that I was yours, I would have come,” she confessed in a heated testimony as her body glowed from his care.
A low, voracious growl shook from his lungs. “Stand up for me, baby doll.” He used his height to his advantage, sitting up on the edge of the couch. He watched as she unsnapped the jeans. His mouth watered, and he helped her slip the denim down her long legs. She lifted her feet one at a time so he could dispense with the socks she was wearing.
Unable to take his eyes off of the red fishnet panties, he traced over them with his fingertips. The hooks ended between her legs, and he couldn’t access them from the front.
In his vast experience, any idiot that thought a woman like Fionna was too wild was clearly half a man that was intimidated by her wants and her desires. He couldn’t satisfy her, and he knew it. So he told her she shouldn’t want what he had no hopes of providing.
With another smirk, he ran his index finger over her mound in a straight line down her slit. She trembled, all for him. He had everything she needed and more, and he deeply appreciated her naughtier side.
“Turn around for me, baby doll. Let’s see these panties.”
She spun and he slid forward, holding her hips in his hands. Releasing her, he performed the same move with his finger, this time tracing down the row of hooked closures.
He groaned from the intoxicating sight. “You are a naughty little girl, baby. Just like I want you to be.”
He released the first clasp, leaned in, and spun his tongue at the very base of her spine. She shook.
“Oh God, yes,” she gasped as she realized where his hands and his tongue would ultimately lead him.
The next clasp loosed, and she swayed as he continued his feast. His tongue and his fingers slipped lower and deeper. With every clasp he unfastened, she came undone.
He leaned her forward, bracing her hands on the coffee table in front of them so he could spin his tongue over her perineum and then forward over her opening. He groaned against her. She was indeed soaking wet.
“So sweet, baby. You taste like heaven.” He lowered the panties, and as she stepped out of them he spun her back to face him.
With his index finger he tenderly sussed out that liquid heat. Bridgette, Jarred, Wretchkinsides, work, it could all go to hell. He needed to stake his claim. He’d been on ragged edge for far too long.
Gathering that sweet spun sugar that was flowing more copiously than he was accustomed, he added another finger working just at her opening, letting her drip all for him. With his other hand he pulled back the hood of her clitoris until his fingers were covered with her juices. Sinful, sexy sounds purred from her.
She watched him intently, her eyes dark and ravenous, as he pulled his fingers away and painted her nipples with the very nectar of her.
Her entire body trembled. He steadied her and leaned to bathe the swollen throbbing tips with his tongue. He engulfed each one in the flames of his mouth, his tongue scorching her and sucking her clean.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped as he worked.
“Don’t worry, baby doll, when I’m finished, you’re gonna have cum all over that gorgeous body. I’m gonna cover you in it. You’re mine, all mine.”
She groaned in elation as he unbuckled his belt.
Interruptions
~Logan Haydenshire~
Logan spun Adeline into their suite and kicked the door closed, never breaking from their impassioned kiss. She pulled away, gasping for breath and he slid his hands up her waist and lifted her breasts, kissing his way towards his hands. “I’ve missed you, baby. I need you now,” he begged. She trembled against him, driving him wild.
Her phone gave the shrill ring meaning the hospital was calling. He all but whimpered in need.
“No, it’s okay. Someone just forgot that I’m not on call tonight.” She tried to keep him calm as she lifted the phone from her purse.
“This is Medio Haydenshire,” she answered confidently.
Logan took several measured breaths and smiled. He loved watching her in action at the hospital. She was a phenomenal Medio, already outstanding in her field, and her demeanor reflected her knowledge and the accolades she’d received since she’d begun at Georgetown.
Assuming that one of her patients had gone into labor, Logan ordered himself to be patient. She would alert the hospital to the Medio that was on call for the night, and then he could get back to unzipping that dress.
Before his eyes, all of the heated color that he’d brought to her face drained quickly. Terror etched her delicate features. “No, I’m on my way. I’m only a few blocks from the hospital. Prep me an operating room.”
~Rainer Lawson~
Emily moaned into Rainer’s mouth as he groped her breasts in his hands.
“You are so beautiful, Emily. I can’t wait anymore, baby.” He reclined her on the couch where they’d been talking a few minutes before.
Having convinced her that when he held her in his hands he had everything he would ever need, she’d leaned in, and he’d needed no more encouragement than that.
A full minute later he’d pulled her turtle-neck over her head and had popped the clasp of the pink bra, complete with red lace, that encased her alabaster cleavage to perfection. Her breasts pleaded for his attention. Her nipples were swollen pink and throbbing. She looked like a candy confection made only for him. He wanted to feast.
Leaning his head down, he kissed his way down her neck, feeling her breath pant and her body writhe under his caress.
“I want to suck you, baby. So beautiful. Damn, I need them
in my mouth,” he growled as, “Yes,” hissed from her lips.
He lapped at her right nipple before drowning it in his mouth, licking and sucking alternately with fervor as she shuddered and moaned.
He heard her cell phone ring from her purse, and he pulled away. She gasped. Her body rolled from the sensations he’d brought her.
“Don’t stop.” She popped the clasp on the tight jeans she was wearing to reveal open-crotch panties, constructed of nothing more than a few white pieces of elastic and an open red heart over her lips. There was another red satin heart that sat at the top of the center of her backside. Clearly she’d decided to break out a few of her gifts from the lingerie shower before their honeymoon.
Unable to even hear the phone continue to ring once he’d seen the panties, a thundering growl echoed from Rainer’s lungs as he jerked the jeans off of her and began lapping his tongue over the open satin heart.
Another minute passed and then both of their cells were ringing repeatedly. Gasping for breath, Rainer jerked the phone out of his pocket.
“What!” he demanded of Logan furiously.
~Dan Vindico~
“You ready, baby?” he panted as he laid out over her on the couch. He’d waited long enough. He prodded her with his head until she could feel him throb and her sopping wet pussy slicked him. She was swollen and primed. So ready for him it made him dizzy with need. His body shook with desire.
Suddenly, Dan’s phone blared the signal that meant there was a broad range security call.
Fionna’s body shuddered. She gasped for breath as a long trail of expletives spewed from his mouth. He got up, completely naked, and grabbed the damn phone.
“That’s the noise your phone made the night I was dancing with you when Cascavel took Governor Peterson’s daughter.”
Shocked that she’d remembered that, Dan nodded and answered, “This is Vindico.”
“Dan, I’m patching you through to Haydenshire,” Sorenson, the Non-Gifted police chief explained.