by April Wilson
I go up on my tiptoes to kiss him. “You look very dashing.”
He gives me a warm, lingering kiss, his breath scented with peppermint. I press my nose against his throat and breathe in the warm scent of his skin, fresh from a shower. Shane doesn’t wear cologne because of my asthma, but the natural scent of his skin and his soap is an aphrodisiac.
“Are you ready?” he says.
“Yes. As ready as I’ll ever be. Cooper and Sam have Luke.”
Shane offers me his arm. “Shall we go, then?”
I link my arm with his and let him lead me to the great room. Sam and Cooper are on the sofa now, a muted Cubs game on the big screen TV. Luke is asleep on Cooper’s chest, and Sam and Cooper are holding hands. Seeing them like that chokes me up for a moment.
“There are two bottles of milk in the fridge,” I tell them. “In case he gets hungry before we get back.”
Cooper nods. “Have fun,” he says, keeping his voice quiet so he doesn’t wake Luke. “Don’t worry about this little guy.”
“I’m not worried,” I say, although that’s not exactly true. I hate the idea of leaving him, even for a short while.
“Call if you need us,” Shane says, as he steers me toward the foyer. “We’ll be back in an hour or two.”
I’m wondering where we could possibly be going in our own building when he summons the elevator, pressing the up button, which takes me completely by surprise. The up button goes to the roof.
“We’re going up on the roof?”
“Yes.”
“Whatever for?”
“You’ll see.”
As owners of the building, and as occupants of the entire penthouse floor, we have exclusive use of the roof, but we rarely go up there. There’s a basketball court up there that the guys make use of, and a barbecue pit, but that’s about it.
The elevator doors open out onto the roof, and we step out. The sky is still a deep indigo, and twinkling stars are just beginning to flicker into view. The view of the city skyline and the lake is amazing, but that’s not what catches my attention.
The roof has been completely transformed. What used to be mostly a utilitarian space of cold concrete and steel is now a lush garden filled with grasses and ferns, potted trees, and a colorful profusion of flowers. Strings of flickering clear lights meander along a wooden boardwalk. It’s something out of a fairy tale.
“Go ahead,” he says, extending his arm in invitation. “Take a look. Explore.”
After taking a few steps, I stop abruptly and turn back to him. “How did you do this?”
He smiles. “I have my ways. You enjoyed the garden at the Children’s Hospital so much, I wanted to recreate a space like that for you and Luke here, so you can visit it anytime.”
“It’s incredible. Thank you!”
He offers me his hand. “Come with me.”
We continue along the meandering path until we arrive at a seating area. There’s a low, square table surrounded by padded benches on three sides. A few feet away is a three-tiered fountain with water cascading down into a circular pool. Overhead, a wooden pergola creates a magical canopy from which a dozen glass lanterns hang, lighting the area. On the table is a large metal tub filled with ice and an assortment of chilled bottles…everything from beer to fruit juices to water.
“I can’t believe you did this.” My throat is tight with emotion.
“You never did get your trip out of town,” he says. “I thought having a garden might make up for that just a little bit. You can come up here any time you want some fresh air and a change of scenery. And the entire garden is surrounded by a six-foot acrylic wall, so you don’t have to worry about Luke when he’s older. It’ll be safe for you two to explore up here.”
“How did you manage to do this?”
“I’ve had landscapers working up here for the past month.”
I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his face down for a kiss. “Thank you. It’s absolutely stunning.”
He sweeps me up into his arms and carries me to the seating area, dropping down onto one of the thickly padded benches and sitting me on his lap. “Would you like something cold to drink?”
I am parched, so I grab a bottle of chilled water and take a drink. He reaches around me to help himself to a bottle of beer, popping off the cap and taking a long pull.
Seated on his lap as I am, it’s impossible to miss the swell of his erection beneath my bottom. Instantly, my belly clenches tightly and anticipation washes through me, settling between my legs. It’s shocking to experience such strong feelings of arousal again. I guess my body’s coming back to life, and it has needs. I want him, here and now, in this magical place. I’m not sure if my body is ready for this, but I want to try.
The wooden screen surrounding this little sunken entertainment nook provides more than ample privacy, so I rearrange myself so that I’m straddling his lap and lean forward to kiss him. It’s a deep kiss, filled with intent and heat. His mouth opens to mine immediately, with an intensity that thrills me.
His hands go to my waist, his fingers squeezing and flexing. “Beth.”
“Hmm?”
With every kiss, every shared breath, my body is coming back online, rediscovering needs that have been dormant for a while now. I grip his shoulders, holding onto him, needing him close. But it’s not enough. I need more, so I free the top button of his shirt, and then the second, watching the material fall open to reveal more of his gorgeous chest. He swallows hard, the muscles and tendons of his throat clenching and releasing.
I quickly release the rest of the buttons, and his shirt falls open, exposing a feast for hungry eyes. I lay my hands on his chest and explore the planes, skimming over his firm pectorals. My thumbs brush the flat disks of his nipples, and he arches his back, groaning loudly. The sound he makes spurs my own arousal, and I feel myself growing wet between my legs.
In case my intent isn’t clear, I rock my sex against the firm ridge of his erection, right through his slacks. His hands clamp down on my hips, holding me still. “Beth—”
“I want you.” I skim my hands down his torso, letting my fingers play over the ridges of his abdominal muscles, following the trail of hair that leads into his waistband.
He groans low in his chest and tips his head back, gritting his teeth. His chest is heaving. “Honey, are you sure?”
I meet his gaze. “Honestly, no. I’m not sure I can. But I want to try. I need you.”
He releases a heavy sigh. “Sweetheart, the feeling is mutual, trust me. But I don’t want to rush things. If you’re not ready—”
“I won’t know if I’m ready unless we try.”
He grimaces. “But I don’t want to risk hurting you.”
“You won’t. My body is throbbing, on fire, so it must be ready, right? I need you inside me, Shane. I’m aching for you.”
His moan is all the green light I need. I slip off his lap and trace the thick length of his erection through the fabric of his slacks.
“God, Beth.” He throws his head back, the sounds coming out of him rough and a bit desperate as he captures my hands. “Sweetheart, I’m not going to last long this first time. I’m already so close.”
He leans in to kiss me, his lips gentle as they cling to mine. He nudges mine open and slips his tongue inside, stroking the inside of my mouth, teasing my tongue.
Then he stills. “Damn it, I don’t have a condom, honey. I didn’t bring you up here for sex. That wasn’t even on my radar screen.”
Condom? Oh, right. I’m not on the pill now, not while I’m nursing Luke. We’ll need to use condoms until I go back on it. “How long would it take you to run downstairs and grab a condom?”
He grins. “Four minutes. You can time me.”
I slide off his lap, laughing. “The clock is ticking.”
He’s gone in an instant, and I lean back against the cushions to catch my breath. My breasts feel full and incredibly sensitized. The thought of Shane’s mouth on them makes
me shiver. I reach between my legs and press against my heated flesh. The pressure feels amazing, and I don’t notice any tenderness. Maybe I am ready for this.
I slip off my panties and touch myself, reassured by the slippery juices coating my sex. Everything seems to be working right again. I rub my clitoris, and it feels good. Then I skim my finger down to my opening and let it sink inside. No pain, just lots of happy nerve endings and tingles and slippery arousal. I think my body is definitely on board.
Shane returns, breathless, with a blanket and a strip of condoms. He tosses the condoms onto the low coffee table. “Three minutes, forty-eight seconds.” He grins triumphantly. “And for the record, Cooper and Sam are never going to let me live this down.”
“They saw you?”
“Oh, yeah. They saw me.”
He pulls me into his arms. “Are you sure you’re ready, honey? We don’t have to do this tonight.”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
When he glimpses my panties lying on the coffee table, he raises a brow. Then, he pulls me close and kisses the daylights out of me, reaching between my legs to test my readiness. He groans, loudly. It looks like he’s on board too.
Taking a step back, I unbuckle his belt and pull the leather free from his belt loops, dropping it onto the table. He strips quickly, shucking off his slacks and boxers, shoes and socks in record time. Then he grabs the hemline of my dress and carefully pulls it off of me, leaving me completely naked. He drops my dress onto the table with the rest of our hastily discarded clothing.
He spreads the blanket he brought up over one of the padded benches and sits. “I’ll let you call the shots,” he says, as he tears one of the condom packets off the strip. He opens the packet and expertly rolls the condom down his length. Then he guides me onto his lap, my thighs spread over his hips. “If anything hurts, tell me and we’ll stop, okay? Promise me.”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
He reaches between my legs and touches me carefully, his fingers sliding easily through the slippery folds. Then he inserts a finger into me, slowly pushing deep. As his finger withdrawals, stroking my sweet spot, he groans, then mutters a curse that makes me blush.
I bite my lower lip and grasp his erection, positioning the tip of him at my opening. Slowly, I sink down on him, sucking in a deep breath as the broad crown parts my wet flesh, pushing through swollen tissues and opening me up to him. Carefully, I work myself down on him, letting gravity ease my way. I feel the stretch as he fills me, but it’s not painful. Instead my body feels hyper-sensitized, and every slide of his flesh against mine makes me shiver.
“Doing okay?” he says.
His hands skim up and down my back, as if he’s petting me. Gripping his shoulders, I use him for leverage as I rise and fall on his length, sinking lower each time. My arousal coats him, making the slide easier. I feel only a slight burn now as he fills me.
Once my thighs are resting on his, we both take a deep breath. He reaches beneath me and cups my bottom, supporting me as I start to move on him. “Make yourself come on me,” he coaxes. “Don’t rush it. Just do what feels good.”
I close my eyes and listen to my body, positioning myself so that he rubs over that delicious spot inside me with every rise and fall of my body. With each stroke, the pleasure deep inside me intensifies.
He cups my full breasts, his thumbs teasing my nipples, making them tighten into hyper-sensitive buds. When he leans forward and swipes his tongue against one of the tips, the sensation makes me gasp. Then he draws a nipple into the warm heat of his mouth and gently suckles. At the insistent pull of his mouth on my nipple, my milk comes down in a rush, making me shiver.
He groans at the taste as he draws on my milk, swallowing it down. When he finally releases my nipple, he chuckles as he presses his forehead to my sternum. “I’ve been wanting to do that for so fucking long.”
“Taste my milk?”
“Yes. I am a very perverted man, sweetheart. Watching you nurse our son makes me so damn hard.”
His hands grip my butt cheeks, squeezing and releasing, upping the pleasure teasing my nerve endings. I rock on him, taking my time and chasing that elusive pleasure. When I feel the tip of his slippery finger teasing my anus, I shudder. “Shane!”
He reaches between my thighs and rubs my clitoris with the pad of his thumb, firm, quick circles that ratchet my pleasure even higher, making me cry out as pleasure rolls through me, stealing my breath and making me tense.
When I come, my cries carry on the night breeze. Shane tenses beneath me, his own hoarse cries joining mine as he bucks up into me, once, twice, a third time. His hand cups the back of my head and he pulls me close for a deep kiss, our shaky breaths mingling with a mixture of pleasure and relief.
When my body settles down, I raise up onto my knees and slip off him. He turns me and sits me on his lap, holding me close. His lips are on me, trailing kisses everywhere he can reach… up my arm, across my shoulder, along the column of my throat to the ticklish spot behind my ear.
When I turn to him, his lips settle over mine, and he kisses me tenderly, reverently. “Are you cold?”
“No. Your body is like a furnace.”
“Are you okay? Was it painful?”
“No, I’m fine.” I lean into him, every muscle in my body limp as a noodle. “I’m wrecked. I can’t move.”
Laughing, he rises to his feet and sets me down on the blanket so he can get dressed. Then he helps me slip on my dress and panties.
He picks me up and carries me to the elevator. “Come, Mrs. McIntyre. I’m taking you to bed so I can kiss every inch of your delectable body and make you come on my tongue.”
I sigh with great contentment and turn my face toward him so I can kiss his throat, tasting a light sheen of clean male sweat. “That sounds wonderful.”
The end… for now.
Coming Next
Stay tuned for more books featuring your favorite McIntyre Security, Inc. characters! Watch for books for Jake, Erin and Mack, Hannah, Killian, Chloe and Cameron, Liam, Tyler, and many more!
Here are the next few books on my publishing schedule:
Redeemed (2018)
Regret (2019)
Rescued (2019)
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Acknowledgements
So many wonderful people supported me on this journey.
As always, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my sister, Lori, for being there with me every step of the way. She’s read Hostage so many times, she must surely be sick of it by now. Her support and encouragement are priceless.
Thank you to NICU veteran nurse Laura Bonacker, who kindly and patiently answered my endless questions about premature babies and the neonatal intensive care unit.
Thank you to Sue Vaughn Boudreaux for her tremendous assistance and support. With her many excellent skills, Sue is an invaluable help and instrumental at keeping me on track.
I want to thank Rebecca Morean, my dear friend and writing buddy, and author extraordinaire, for her feedback and critique. Thank you, Becky, for your amazing friendship and camaraderie.
Thank you to my beta readers: Sue Vaughn Boudreaux, Julie Collier, Sarah Louise Frost, Lori Holmes, Keely Knutton, Tiffany Mann, Becky Morean, and Brooke Smith.
Finally, I want to thank all of my
readers around the globe and the members of my fan group on Facebook. I am so incredibly blessed to have you. Your love and support and enthusiasm feed my soul on a daily basis. Many of my readers have become familiar names and faces greeting me daily on Facebook, and I feel so blessed to have made so many new friends. I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for every Facebook like, share, and comment. You have no idea how thrilled I am to read your comments each day. I wouldn’t be able to do the thing that I love to do most—share my characters and their stories—without your amazing support. Every day, I wake up and thank my lucky stars for you all!
With much love to you all… April