All of You

by Gina Sorelle

  And then he’ll be forced to take care of you.

  And then you’ll die.

  A wave of nausea washed over her.

  Danny must have noticed her tight expression and felt her tensed muscles, because he paused at the bottom of the staircase and stared deep into her eyes. “Tell me exactly what bullshit you have rattling around in that head of yours, Kat,” he demanded. “Now.”

  Without a split second of forethought, Kat’s old, familiar habits kicked in. She affixed her stoic mask, held his direct gaze, and evenly replied, “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  Danny’s expression hardened and stayed that way for what seemed like forever until he began shaking his head slowly – the unhurried, resolute smile forming much more intimidating than the hard stare had been.

  “I see.”

  Danny began climbing the stairs.

  “You see?” she asked, searching his profile.

  He nodded. “Yes. I do see.” Danny reached the top of the stairs and turned toward the bedroom.

  When he didn’t say anything else, Kat’s anxiety spiked. “You do see, what?”

  “Well, to be honest, I was hoping I could adjust your attitude the easy way, Kat. You know, we could get some stuff straight and then get down to the important shit with everything all cleared up and figured out.” Danny walked into his bedroom and over to the bed. “But I can see now that you haven’t really gotten with the program. From that motherfucking bullshit answer you just gave me, it’s obvious you haven’t quite learned your lesson yet. So it appears we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

  Danny set her on the edge of the bed and took a few steps backwards, holding her eyes as he took off his jacket, tossed it onto the floor, and started unbuttoning his dress shirt.

  “What are…” Kat’s mouth went dry and her words ran out as she watched him peel off his shirt and toss it on top of the jacket. Danny untucked his undershirt and pulled it over his head, baring his gorgeous, broad, chiseled, inked-up chest – which only made it harder for Kat to breathe and made it all but impossible for her to speak. After a few throat clearings and a cough, she did manage to choke out, “What are you doing, Danny?”

  He toed off his shoes. “I’m getting naked. Just like you’re going to in about five seconds.” Danny kicked his shoes aside and yanked off his socks.

  “But…I thought we were going to talk first. I have a lot of things I need to say and…”

  Kat’s words trailed off as Danny approached.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her entire body a quick once-over before meeting her eyes. “How is your body feeling today? Other than the overall tiredness, I mean. Any pain or stiffness I should know about before we get into it? Any spot I should avoid going after too hard?” The intensity that suddenly appeared in Danny’s eyes had Kat balling her fists into his comforter. “Because once I get through straightening you out, I’m gonna to jump on you, Kat. And I won’t be thinking straight by that point because you’ll be naked, I’ll be naked, and getting back inside of you is all I’ve thought about since the last time I pulled out of you.”

  Kat clenched her fingers tighter and squeezed her legs together, nearly moaning aloud at the friction.

  Oh, God, me, too…

  Kat’s eyes dropped to the enormous bulge just beneath Danny’s belt and what was left of her rational mind flew out the window…because she knew the havoc that thing could wreak…had been dying to drown in the insane pleasure it could give since – well, like Danny said – the last time he’d pulled out of her.

  “So, let’s hear it, Kat,” Danny said, yanking her out of her dirty thoughts, but scrambling her brain more by subconsciously flexing his arms muscles as he shrugged. “Anything I need to know before shit gets crazy, sweetheart?” A weird expression suddenly crossed his face and he stepped closer to her. “Show me your stitches.”

  “Wh-what?”

  Danny gripped her chin gently and tilted her head back. “I don’t want to hurt you, so you show them to me. I want to see them with my own eyes, so I can actually try to accept that my woman – the woman who knows I love her more than anything and who knows I live to take care of her – got hurt that badly and didn’t call me. That she, instead, relied on another man to help her, shut me out, and then walked away from me for reasons I cannot fucking understand – but ones you’ll explaining to me once you get naked.” He slowly guided her head to the right. “But, for right now, I just need to see them, Kat. So show me.”

  Kat reached an unsteady hand up and gently parted the hair hiding the row of three neat stitches. She heard Danny mutter something under his breath and exhale a hard sigh. Kat released the hair and slowly turned back to face him, so ashamed of how she’d handled their whole relationship, but most especially of how she’d pushed him away when they’d needed each other the most. The anguished expression on his face tore at her heart and soul.

  “Danny, I-”

  He pressed his fingertips to her lips to quiet her and then slowly dragged them across both her bottom and top lips. “Not yet, sweetheart. Right now all I need to know is if there is anything else on your body I need to avoid or be aware of before we get started.” When Kat slowly shook her head no, Danny stepped back. “Then let’s get to it.”

  Kat watched in rapt fascination and utter arousal as Danny’s hands found his belt buckle. With deliberate, controlled movements that made her heart race and her palms sweat, Danny popped his belt free from the silver prong and then very slowly pulled the buckle end of the belt until the two ends separated. He unbuttoned and unzipped, but didn’t take off his pants…which really bummed Kat out.

  Her eyes lifted to his and he answered her silent question with a half-grin and a wink. “Time for you to catch up, sweetheart.”

  Participating in this excruciatingly slow strip tease with Kat was the last thing Danny felt like doing. What he wanted to do was rip all her clothes off, make her come eighteen different ways, put her clothes back on her, and then drag her down to City Hall. He wanted to marry her, get her moved in here, and start their lives together as soon as humanly possible.

  Oh, and knock her up preferably sooner than later.

  All stuff he would get to, eventually, but not before he made a few things very, very clear to the future Mrs. Daniel MacDonough.

  Danny gestured to her still fully-clothed self. “Well?”

  “There are things I need to say to you first, Danny,” Kat said quietly, her eyes full of uncertainty, pain, and sorrow as she stared up at him. “Things you need to hear…things you deserve to hear.” She paused before adding, “And things we need to consider before you can decide exactly how you want to proceed.”

  Danny snorted. “How I want to proceed?” When Kat nodded, he scoffed. “Yeah, here’s how I want to proceed – hell, how things will proceed: I want you completely naked. Now. You’re going to get a chance to say everything you want to say and you’re going to answer every question of mine – no ifs, ands, or buts about that. But we’re gonna do it totally naked, Kat.”

  Her brows dropped. “But why do we have to be naked?”

  “Because I am done with you hiding – behind that smart-ass mouth, that cold fish attitude, your sisters, the shit you manufacture in that big, impressive brain of yours, and all of your lies. Do you understand me, Kat – done?” Danny said. “We’re gonna talk it all out and get you all squared away, sweetheart, don’t you worry about that, but we’re gonna do it naked. You and me. Totally naked. Nothing between us. Now.”

  When Kat opened her mouth to argue again, Danny shook his head slowly, crossing his arms over his chest and leveling a direct gaze on her. “Naked. You. Now.”

  “Then you get naked, too. Now.” Kat shot back, gesturing to Danny’s still-clothed lower half. “If I have to, you have to,” she said with a hint of pout that made Danny want to scrap the whole bare-souls-and-bodies plan and skip right to fucking her into next week.

  But he couldn’t. Because if
they didn’t get this shit straightened out, they would continue to have the same problems over and over again and Danny knew neither one of them could physically or mentally endure another separation.

  No, this needed to happen…but it needed to happen quickly before one or both of them lost their resolve and jumped the other.

  Danny lifted a shoulder, already reaching for the waistband of his pants. “I got no problem getting naked for you, sweetheart, you know that.” He shoved his pants down, stepped out of them, and kicked them aside with a shit-eating grin. “In fact, anytime, anyplace. My body is your playground.” Danny gestured down to himself and winked at her. “And it’s open 24/7 just for you, Kat. Ride it anytime you like, any way you’d like, as many times as you’d like.”

  Kat eyed him, head shaking. “You’re the craziest man I’ve ever met, you know that?”

  “Crazy for you, sweetheart. And I swear to God no one could be crazier for you than I am,” he said softly. “I always have been and I always will be.”

  Kat’s eyes welled. “Danny…”

  “Please take your clothes off, Kat,” he begged, stepping closer. “Please, so we can talk this through…so I can touch you…and so you can touch me…please…”

  Danny was thrilled to see Kat’s hands fly to the zipper of her jacket and, a few seconds later, her jacket, pants, shoes, and socks were off.

  Her eyes boring into his, Kat gripped the hem of her tee-shirt and paused. Danny’s heart raced and his dick twitched against the fly of his boxers, just knowing he was going to see her naked body very soon. Touch it and taste it, too.

  Own it.

  Forever.

  “Kat, take it off…please, sweetheart,” he gritted out. He balled his hands into fists at his sides to keep from ripping her clothes off himself. “Don’t be afraid…as much I want to fucking pounce on you, I’ll control myself. I promise.”

  “I could never be afraid of you, Danny. Never,” Kat said with an intensity that stole his breath. “You are the sweetest, kindest, gentlest, most loving man on earth. The safest, most protected moments of my life were when I was with you.” Her voice tight with emotion and her eyes searching his face, Kat added, “I know I never told you that before and I’m sorry. There are so many things I should have told you, Danny, so many things you needed to hear that I was too stubborn and scared to say.” The smile she gifted him with was the most loving, most open one he’d ever seen – from her or anyone else. It literally made him feel warm inside. “But I’m going to say them now. Totally naked. With nothing between us.”

  As Danny stood there gaping at her like the love-struck and lust-filled fool he was, Kat pulled off her shirt and tossed it aside before she unhooking her bra in back and slowly bending forward, allowing the straps to slide down her arms and the cups fall forward.

  “Shit, Kat…” Danny breathed out the moment her incredible breasts were exposed. She tossed her bra onto the ever-growing pile of their discarded clothes and slid her fingers beneath the waistband of her panties. She began sliding them down over her hips and Danny went lightheaded. “Jesus Christ…”

  Kat laughed, hands stilling. “You’ve seen this all before, Danny. Many times, remember?”

  “And your absolute fucking perfection will never stop knocking me out, sweetheart. I could look at you all day, every day, for the rest of my life and never get enough.”

  Her smile faded and her expression softened. “You have such an incredible knack for saying the most beautiful things in the most amazing ways, Danny. And I admire that so much about you, because I have always had such a difficult time expressing myself. She scoffed softly. “Obviously. But I want you to know it’s not that I didn’t have a million thoughts about you – about us – because I did…it was just so hard for me to verbalize them. Because I was terrified of saying the wrong thing or appearing weak or…” Kat’s voice caught as more tears welled. “Getting any more attached to you – growing even more dependent on you – when I knew, deep down, I couldn’t have you. And that I couldn’t give myself to you, either. Not all the way. Not for good.” Kat slid her panties down, stepping out of them and kicking them toward the clothing pile. “But I don’t want to hide anymore. Not from you. Not ever again.”

  Danny’s gaze was hot, direct, and extremely thorough and she fought the urge to cover herself with her hands and arms, to hide herself from him again. Because standing here like this – totally naked and completely exposed – made her feel more physically and emotionally vulnerable than she’d ever felt in her life.

  Because not only was he privy to her anatomical nakedness, he was well on his way to witnessing the psychological nakedness Kat had spent a lifetime hiding from everyone – sometimes including herself.

  Kat exhaled a long, shuddering breath as she stared into his beautiful, warm, open eyes.

  You love him. You trust him.

  He loves you. He wants to see it all – the good, the bad, and the ugly. The parts of you you’ve had hidden away for as long as you can remember. The parts you never thought you’d show anyone, because you never could have imagined wanting to show someone. You couldn’t have known you’d meet someone like him…couldn’t have known you’d ever love someone like this. Trust someone like this. Need someone like this.

  Emotion welled in her chest as tears welled in her eyes.

  I love you, Danny. I want to show you everything – tell you everything – and let you love me, anyway. I want to let myself love you…and not half-assed like I did before. But all the way. With everything I have.

  For the rest of my life.

  But then Kat realized saying stuff in her head wasn’t enough, not anymore. Danny deserved to hear the truth and it was about damn time she started sharing herself with him like he’d always shared himself with her.

  Making herself vulnerable had never been easy, but he was worth all the effort, discomfort, and potential heartache exposing herself might entail.

  “I was just thinking, ‘I love you, Danny,’” she whispered.

  Kat was rewarded with a big grin splitting Danny’s face.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about. My baby telling me what’s she’s thinking without me needing to physically extract it from her with my bare hands.” He winked at her, hands on his hips. “See, Kat? I knew this getting buck naked idea was going to help.”

  Kat nodded toward his boxers. “Yeah, but I can’t help but notice that only one of us is ‘buck naked,’ Danny. And it’s not the one whose idea this was, incidentally.”

  Kat sat back on the bed and, with purposeful slowness, scooted backwards until she reached the middle of the bed. She got up on her knees and sat back, hands resting lightly on her thighs.

  When Kat tried to meet Danny’s eyes, she found them latched firmly on the space between her parted legs – which spiked her arousal.

  And made her smile.

  “Eyes up here, big boy,” she said and Danny’s eyes lifted…

  To her breasts.

  Kat felt more warm moisture pool between her legs…felt her nipples contract beneath the weight of Danny’s insanely erotic stare.

  “Just a little higher,” she coaxed softly. When his hooded eyes finally found hers, Kat’s smile faded and she shivered at the smoldering intensity she saw there. “You want to touch me very badly, don’t you, Danny?” she whispered, feeling like the most desired woman who had ever lived.

  He nodded slowly, his lips parting to release audible pants as his hand gripped his erection through his thin, plaid boxer shorts. “So badly I’m about to lose all control and fuck you like the animal you’ve turned me into, Kat,” he replied hoarsely.

  He stroked himself a few times and Kat moaned softly, the unrelenting ache inside of her quickly morphing into a painful throbbing need. “Then take those off and get up here with me.” Kat slid her left hand between her thighs and cupped her right breast with the other, the friction making her moan again.

  “Holy fuck, Kat…” Danny breathe
d out, watching her touch herself – his expression nothing short of utter adoration and uninhibited longing…pure lust. “You better knock that shit off or I’m gonna come before I lay one finger on you.”

  Kat’s hands stilled and a slow smile spread across her face. “Then you’d better get those boxers off and get up here so we can say what we need to say…” She tightened her fingers around her nipple and bit her bottom lip, loving the way it made Danny subconsciously stroke himself again. “Because I cannot wait to fuck you like I’ve never fucked you before, Danny.” Kat held his eyes. “Like I never let myself fuck you before.”

  Clearly as stunned at hearing her words as Kat was at saying them, Danny’s alternated between gaping, swallowing hard, and panting before finally choking out, “What the…holy fucking hell, Kat…”

  With a quick head shake, Danny finally snapped to enough to shove his boxers down and climb onto the bed. Then it was Kat’s turn to gape, swallow hard, and pant as she eyed Danny’s enormous erection bobbing between his legs as he crawled over to her.

  “Dear God, Danny, I think it’s grown since the last time I saw it,” she said, which made him laugh out loud.

  “Well, that’s what happens after a week of no attention, sweetheart. Shit gets all backed up.”

  Danny didn’t stop in front of her or next to her as Kat had expected – instead crowding her until Kat had no choice but to straighten her legs and fall back onto the bed so he could position himself on top of her.

  One hand braced on either side of her head, his knees bent on either side of her hips, and his face only a few inches from hers, Danny stared deeply into her eyes.

  “You had me so broken up I couldn’t even jerk off, Kat. First time in my life that’s ever happened. Not trying to make you feel bad, just being honest.” The corner of his mouth ticked. “Well, maybe I do want you to feel a little bad about it.”

  Kat stared right back into his beautiful, soulful eyes and did some uncharacteristic passive-aggressive poking, because the time and distance between them leaving her desperate to hear things she already knew.