All Mine: The Complete Series Box Set

by Lauren Wood

  “If you would be so kind to get your Neanderthal to take his hands off of me it would be appreciated.” I put my hand lightly on Morgan’s shoulder and felt the muscles flex underneath the palm of my hand.

  “Sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength. Go home and celebrate your good fortune without the prying eyes of your wife finding out about your duplicitous.” Morgan let him go, but he never took his beady eyes off of him the entire time that he was still in the room with me. He left like a scalded dog being chastised with a rolled up newspaper.

  “I didn’t ask you to make a scene. I know you were only acting on instinct.” I wasn’t angry, but he needed to know there was a time and place to use violence. I had to appreciate how easily he had come to my rescue.

  “Something comes over me in the moment. I’ve always had it, but it was awakened and honed into a weapon in the military. I would like to apologize, but I don’t think there’s anything to be sorry for.” He sat down and I ordered a couple of glasses of wine.

  “I get the feeling whatever comes over you translates into the bedroom. What we did in that stairwell was going outside of my comfort zone. I would love to say it won’t happen again, but I can’t do that. Even now, I’m sitting here and wondering what it’s going to take to get your clothes off. I don’t believe it makes me a bad person.” It was a bold and brazen thing for me to do, but the response was somewhat like a light bulb going off over his head.

  “I can’t deny the chemistry is off the charts. The moment I met you the only thing I thought about was having you over the top of your desk screaming at the top of your lungs. You would have my name on the tip of your tongue pouring out of your mouth at the moment of release.” It was nice to hear him lower his guard long enough to share what was in his heart.

  “This might interest you. I have a standing reservation and I can retrieve the keys to the penthouse suite by talking to the manager. I can see the pain in your eyes. It would make you feel better to get it out in the open.” The angst was familiar and I had seen that same look in the mirror. Guilt came with the territory when my business ruined people’s lives.

  “I can’t seem to move forward and it’s not like I can go back and change anything. I’ve never prescribed to losing myself in the bottom of a bottle or some other illegal substance. I did go through a bout of depression from leaving behind one of my comrades in arms.” I put my hand on his and made him look at me before he was able to chicken out.

  “There is no judgment in my eyes. You can consider me like a priest and it would be my honor to be your confessor.” I waited patiently with my thumb moving across his hand in a reassuring gesture.

  “We were pinned down in Iran by Isis. Connery ran out to retrieve one of the fallen. On that day, the bullet meant for him came swiftly and decisively. There was nothing any of us could do. I was determined to go out and bring him home. I’ve always lived with the motto never to leave anybody behind. I knew it was a suicide mission, but I was following the military code. It took four of them to pull me back while the bullets were flying around us. One actually took it in the shoulder to stop me from doing something monumentally stupid. To this day, I still feel like I let Connery down.” I listened and his moral compass was pointing true north. There was no doubt of his loyalty and desire to give back to the country that gave him everything.

  I had my laptop in front of me and I was doing a search on his name. The story he had just told me was only half of the reason why he felt he needed a second chance. His fiancée was gunned down by a masked assailant on the street. He was there frozen in place by fear. He suffered a breakdown and he voluntarily committed himself for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

  “Do I even attempt to mention Lily?” He pulled his hand away and grabbed my wrists with an ice cold stare.

  “I learned to forgive myself and found the real reason for not acting was what happened to Connery. Therapy has done me a world of good. What happened to Lily is in the past. I can still remember her face and laughter in the morning when I tickled her before she was going to work. I didn’t want to go on, but Henry convinced me my condition could be treated.” He had a healthy outlook, but he was always going to have a spot in his heart for her. I didn’t want to have it any other way.

  “It appears to me you’re ready for redemption. Making up for past mistakes is a cross that many of us have to live with. I want to help you and in the process, you will be able to thaw my frozen heart. I have no reason to think the sex will be nothing short of phenomenal. I hope there’s more to it than that. We can take this one step at a time. Take my hand and we will take this journey together.” His hand was shaking and he pulled it back several times before he finally sighed with resignation.

  “I feel it’s my duty to help you climb out of the empty space in your heart. We have something, but it remains to be seen if those feelings run deep. It comes down to whether or not we are both ready to make the leap of faith. To be vulnerable in each other’s eyes is not easy for either one of us.” His declaration made me stand up and offer him my hand which he readily took.

  Chapter five

  It was the awkward silence in the air quite suffocating and making me feel like one of us was going to have to say something. We stood in front of each other with the bed whispering our names. I focused on my breathing trying to quell the nerves from exposing me as a fraud.

  “Just because we came up here together doesn’t mean we have to do anything. I don’t know about you, but I think we’ve done enough talking.” I was waiting for his answer and he responded by taking my hand and placing it against his chest.

  Even through his shirt, I could feel how irregular his heartbeat was. The tempo quickened and it made me feel blessed to be this close to him. I wanted him to know every curve of my body like the back of his hand. I was in no hurry.

  “Lila, your kiss is like warm honey and I feel like you have turned me inside out. There’s a part of me that thinks I will be betraying her memory by being with you. I know how silly it might sound to you, but I can’t help to wonder what she is thinking looking down from her heavenly perch.” I opened his shirt one button at a time. He lost his breath as I ran my fingers through the coarse hairs of his chest.

  “We haven’t done anything to warrant any kind of guilt. There’s nothing wrong with finding pleasure in the arms of another. I don’t want to do anything to scare you. Taking off your shirt is a small step in the right direction.” I took off my blouse watching his reaction when he found what was hiding underneath. The bra was barely able to contain the abundance of flesh.

  “With each breath you take I crumble underneath your gaze. I’m still thinking about whether or not this is a good idea. I’ve never been one to take advice from fools. I hear what you’re saying and I’m inclined to allow you to take me by your guiding hand.” We sat down on the edge of the bed, holding hands and listening to each other breathe.

  I took a risk and placed my hand on his knee. I could show him incredible things with my body crying out in response to his touch. I wanted to play and to give him a reason to live again. I was fast forwarding to the end where we were lying in the post aftermath of our pleasure. There was really only one way to get there.

  “I’m not usually reckless and I know when I’ve gone too far. A man like you deserves to know the feeling of a woman again.” I pushed him back on the mattress. I was his fantasy and the dream girl he didn’t even know he wanted. He had a nasty mental scar and there was a blank space ready to be filled by my words of encouragement.

  “I’m having a bit of a panic attack.” I kissed him with my tongue resolving to soothe his troubled nerves. He struggled for a moment until he sank into it running his hands down my back. My eyes went wide for a moment when he found the clasp to my bra.

  It fell into his hands and I saw the ray of light peering back at me through his eyes. His restless spirit lifted to a sitting position. I cupped his head and held him firmly to my chest. His hun
ger overwhelmed him and he ferociously grabbed onto one nipple with his teeth. I moaned and rubbed the reminder of what I was doing to him down below.

  “You have a gentle soul with a wild and untamed beast waiting for the key to be placed in the lock. Show me the real man and I will give you something more than a good time.” I had ordered room service with a bottle of champagne and strawberries with whipped cream. I could only hope it wasn’t going to arrive until we were well beyond the friendship stage.

  “I can feel the walls of reluctance being knocked down by your hammer of persistence. Sex was nothing more than going through the motions after what happened to my fiancé. This is more than anything I felt with those other girls. They were mainly there for one purpose.” He lifted me and had me in the position of him hovering over me.

  He was growling underneath his breath as he easily undid my pants and pulled them and my underwear away from my tender flesh. I had awakened the animal spirit within him. It was always there waiting for a careful hand of persuasion to draw him out of the shell of his own prison.

  “Somebody is wearing too many clothes and it’s not me.” I squealed like a little girl as he threw my legs in the air with his hands holding onto my ankles. He ignited a flicker of a flame with his fingers moving steadily closer to the object of his desire.

  “Lila, I have to give you something for your patience.” His tongue followed the same path as his fingers. The light touch of the tip of his tongue burned like a hot poker. My thighs were waiting for him and there was no stopping the plane after it left the hangar.

  “I want to go on the record to say I didn’t ask for this. I was perfectly content feasting my eyes on you. Your body is going to be my wonderland. Keep that in mind. If you are as good as I think you’re going to be then there will be no escaping my clutches.” He was dangerously close to the forbidden zone. I was prepared to show him what he was going to get, but he very easily did it himself.

  “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than a woman climbing to a higher plateau of pleasure.” Without warning, he dived with the pointed end of his oral spear splaying me open for a more thorough search.

  “Fuck me… you should have given me fair warning before you did that.” I tried to grab onto the headboard, but it was out of my reach. I had to do something with my hands.

  My fists grabbed onto the blankets and pulled them a little harder each time he made me fade in and out of consciousness.

  He was far too busy to say anything with his mouth full. He was blowing me open wide with the fuse lit to the dynamite of my climax. He had good knowledge of the female anatomy and he was using his experience to make my eyes roll into the back of my head. I was homing in on the moment of truth.

  “I love the way you devour me like a man possessed. The feel of your tongue fucking me fast and wild is too much for me to take. Yes… more of that…everything you are doing is going to make me… CUMMMMM.” My body began to thrash and he had no choice but to hold me down to the best of his ability. I had traveled this road before, but not with this kind of intensity.

  He finally emerged with my sweetness blazing a glistening trail along his lips. Kissing me hard and with insistence had me feeling the product of his hung arousal. I flipped him onto his back, going after his pants to find the button was already open. The zipper was halfway down and the bulge of his excitement was greeting my wide open eyes.

  “I can’t do this on my own. This is when you decide if this is something you really want.” It was only 10 seconds, but it felt like an eternity before he finally lifted to give me enough room to maneuver his pants down until they were tossed without care onto the floor.

  “Wild horses couldn’t tear me away from here.” I licked the surface of his underwear exactly where the bulge was situated. I soaked through the material leaving him practically exposed.

  Pulling down the waistband gave me a look at the hard and unyielding subject ready to be experimented on. I continued to unveil the masterpiece molded from the minds of every woman’s fantasy. His underwear was tucked underneath his balls with my hand sliding up to the top where the magic happened.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I really do have this unhealthy fascination for your equipment. I can’t imagine a better vision than seeing this harder than granite.” This was not like those mirrors where everything was closer than they appeared.

  It wasn’t safe to turn away and blinking would have made me lose out on seeing how his knob was constantly pulsating. I couldn’t decide whether or not he was purposely doing it to garner my attention or it was out of his control. It really didn’t matter.

  “I’m not one to lie back on my laurels. I have a nicely proportioned piece of hardware, but I don’t believe that I’m a woman’s wet dream come true. I go out of my way to please because I was taught to give until it hurts.” He was built from the ground up in the very image of those characters in romance novels. His hair was short, but there was nothing soft about him.

  “I can assure you this 9-inch behemoth is more than enough for any woman. Most guys claim to be bigger than they are, but you don’t have to do that.” I sampled the clear fluid and then encompassed his knob with the heat of my lips surrounding him.

  My lipstick made a ring around his trunk until there was nothing left between them and his stomach. It was my first and not my last time giving into my voracious need. My attention was on the knob with my hand circling his shaft. I was licking in a clockwise motion and then I changed technique to counterclockwise. He squirmed in my grasp. I tried to settle him down by raking my nails down his thighs.

  I brought my hand all the way back down with my mouth following the same trajectory. The bubbling cauldron of his excitement was giving me more than my fair share of a sample before the main event. It was then we both heard the inevitable knock on the door. I wasn’t sure I could pull myself away, but I managed to walk away from him wiping my mouth.

  I opened the door without thinking and found myself accosted by a gun in my face.

  Chapter six

  The man was unknown to me and he was in no mood for a casual conversation. He nudged me inside by pressing the muzzle of the revolver against my forehead. It was terrifying to think my life was going to be over in the blink of an eye.

  “I can see you don’t even recognize me, but why should you. It’s not like you ever truly understood the consequences of your actions. I’ve been watching you for quite some time. I thought the letters were enough. You didn’t even do me the courtesy of answering them. I only wanted what I was due. Nothing more and nothing less, but you couldn’t even give me that.” The heat of the barrel was a stark reminder of how close I was to those pearly gates.

  I glanced over my shoulder see the spot where Morgan was currently lying was vacant. There was no way to know where he had gone. Did he even understand what was going on?

  “If this is about money then I can wire you whatever amount you want.” I remember reading the letters, but if there was any mention of a monetary settlement it was subtle.

  “We could have avoided all of this. I lost everything when you swooped down like a vulture to pick at the bones of my business. My wife left me and my children never want to speak to me again. Money was the answer at the time. It’s not anymore. I need my pound of flesh and I’m damn well going to get it.” The finger on the trigger was hard to ignore.

  “Everyone has a price. Tell me what yours is and I will give you twice the amount. You can start over never having to worry about working a day in your life. Doesn’t sitting on a tropical beach looking at the Emerald water and feeling the sun on your face sound like a good compromise?” I could see his eyes darting from side to side. It was quite apparent he was doing the calculations in his head.

  I wasn’t even thinking and I turned with my back towards the door. I saw the flutter of the curtain behind my assailant.

  “It’s not enough and you’re not going to get out of this by breaking out your checkbook.” It was s
urprising something like this hadn’t happened already.

  I slammed shut my eyes and there was no reason to see it coming. I could only hope it was going to be quick and as painless as possible. I was going to ask for more details, but it didn’t seem necessary when his mind was already made up.

  The barrel was leaving the faint outline embedded in my skin. Waiting for death became an effort just to stand there.

  I heard what sounded like someone in pain and then a scream fading in the distance. I dared to open up my eyes and standing outside on the balcony was the naked form of Morgan.

  He had his back toward me and was looking over the railing. I came to my senses and it dawned on me what happened. Joining him with my hand on his shoulder was met with the grisly sight of the man lying on a parked car down on the street.

  “I tried to reach for him, but he scratched my hand. I think he knew this was how it was going to end.”

  The police arrived an hour later and took our statements. We were wearing robes with the insignia of the hotel on the breast pocket. They found his tiny little apartment riddled with articles about me. He was obsessed and became even more so when I didn’t answer his letters.

  They left shortly later and I was distraught until he lifted me and tossed me unceremoniously onto the bed. He stripped off the robe and landed heavily enough that I was bounced into the air a couple of feet.

  “I forgot to mention when my adrenaline is pumping pretty heavily that I get a little excited. It was made even worse by what you were doing before all of this transpired.” He took a hold of the belt and released my body to his agreeable eyes.

  “I’m glad I didn’t see what you did. It might have put a damper on the mood.” He positioned his legs on either side of my body. He had to literally force his erection down until his hot little head was touching my hole.