“We’ve packed a lot into a few days.” Craig rested one hand on her back, leading her from Jude’s room. He stopped at the top of the stairs, pulling her close. “I’m going to go so you can get some sleep.” He brushed a kiss across her forehead and started to step away.
“Wait.” Danny held him tight with one hand locked onto his shirt. Her eyes drifted down his front as she moved in close. “What if you stayed?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He should step back. Put a little space between them.
Leave now so Danny could clear her head.
Her lips pulled into a slow smile. “Why is that?”
“It’s been a crazy night. You have a lot running through your head right now.” He forced his feet away from hers, stopping as his heels reached the top step.
“You’re right. I do.” She kept advancing on him. “But most of it has to do with you,” her soft body pushed into his, forcing Craig to grab the banister to avoid toppling backwards, “and what you said earlier.”
He’d said a lot of things since coming to Shadow Pine. Had been pretty confident Danny ignored most of them. “What did I say?”
Craig hoped maybe she was too bashful to recount what he whispered in her ear outside while he pinned her body to the house with his.
He should have known better.
“You said you wanted to taste me.” Her lips barely brushed the skin of his jaw as Danny took a long breath against his skin. “Do you still want to taste me, Craig?” She pushed her fingers into his hair. “I just want to stop thinking about all of it. Please.” Her short nails scraped over his scalp as Danny tried to prove he wasn’t as good of a man as he claimed to be.
“You said I was in charge, Craig. You promised.” Danny threw his words back at him in a breathless voice that could take him down all on its own.
He grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands from his hair, ignoring the pout her perfect lips dropped into. Craig pushed her back, away from the stairs before she took them both down. Danny moved with him, her breath hitching as her back pressed against the wall.
Craig held her hands between them. “I’m not going to be just a distraction for you, Danny.”
Her eyes moved to his as the tip of her tongue slid over the line of her lower lip. She pulled it between her teeth, indecision warring in her gaze.
“Is that what you want me to be?”
She was quiet for a very long time. Long enough to make him worry the answer was yes. That Danny decided he might be fun to play with and then throw away. Ship out once he’d fulfilled her need.
And he would fulfill her needs. But only if she wanted more.
Finally her head barely shook.
“Say it, Danny.” Craig lifted her hands from between them, wrists held in one hand, pressing them higher. “Tell me you want more from me.” He stretched her long body, pinning her hands high on the wall above them.
“Oh God.” The words slipped out on a whisper as his thigh slid between hers, giving her a little friction. A little taste of what he could offer her if she was willing to admit what he needed to be true.
“I need words, Danny.” Craig leaned into her, his free hand sliding up her side. “The truth. Say you know what I know.” He nuzzled her neck, dragging his lips over her skin. “There’s something here. Tell me you know it too.”
She whimpered a little as his thumb found her nipple through the fabric of her shirt, barely plucking the tip. He pinched. “Say it.”
Her legs buckled, forcing him to hold her up with his body pressing tight to hers.
“I’ll give you everything you want and more, but you have to give me what I want first.” Craig rested his head against hers. “Please, Danny. Give me something.”
The weight of desire pooling in her eyes lifted. Her hands pulled from his hold to press against his cheeks. The pale line of her brows lowered as her eyes searched his. “No one’s ever wanted to be with me, Craig. Not really.” She swallowed, the column of her throat shifting as she did. “I don’t know how it works. I don’t know how to...”
He waited, hoping she would finish.
She didn’t.
“How to what?”
Her shoulders lifted and dropped. “I don’t even know what I don’t know.”
Danny was so many things. Most of them exactly what he expected.
This was not one of them.
He knew she would be strong. Brave. Unbreakable.
But never in a million years would he have thought she would be innocent. Not in a virginal sort of way, but similar.
“It’s easy.” He wrapped both arms around her, holding tight. “Just stop fighting it.”
“I don’t think you’re prepared for me to stop fighting it.” She barely smiled.
Even in this, Danny knew her power. Knew all she was capable of being.
And owned it.
Craig slid both hands up her back, fingers running the length of her spine, tracing the ridge of each vertebrae as he breathed deep, trying to calm the fire of anticipation licking across his skin. He ghosted his lips over hers, savoring the first few seconds of his new life.
And the woman who held it in her hands.
“I might not be prepared, but I’m sure as hell ready to try.”
TWELVE
IT HAD BEEN ten years since she’d been touched by a man.
Luckily it turned out to be a lot like riding a bike.
A very solid, well-built bike with lips that could make a nun rethink her life choices.
Danny held onto his shirt, dragging Craig by the garment, pulling him through her bedroom door as she fought it away from his body. The thing was great for leverage, but now that the decision was made, all she wanted to do was touch him. Feel the heat of his skin under her palms.
And damn it the man was not cooperating.
“Slow down, Danny Girl.” Craig’s hands caught hers, lacing their fingers together as he tried to distract her from the goal she was working hard to accomplish.
Getting Craig less clothed.
“Now you want to slow down?” She tried to work her hands free. “Weren’t you the guy who was all about getting me behind a locked door earlier?” She yanked one of her hands hard, managing to free it so she could reach back and lock the door. “Did you change your mind?” Another yank and her second hand was free. Danny stepped around him toward the bed she’d never shared with a man. “Because you can go if you want.” Without turning to face him she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head and let it drop to the ground. “I’m sure your camper will be comfy cozy.” She barely peeked his way over one shoulder.
Craig stood perfectly still, his eyes locked on her with a focus that could have felt unnerving.
But the dark heat in his gaze made her feel something very different.
Strong. Powerful.
Sexy.
She hadn’t felt sexy in years. It was one more luxury she didn’t have. Another selfish longing that had no place in the world she lived in.
His eyes followed her movement as she reached back and freed the clasp of her bra, stretching her arms toward the ground so it would slide free, falling next to her discarded shirt. “Is that what you want, Craig? To go back to your camper?” Danny unbuttoned her pants scooting the stretchy denim past her hips and backside, working her thighs back and forth making the jeans move on their own, dropping to pool at her ankles so she could kick them free. “Or do you want to stay here?” She lifted her chin a little as she turned to face him. “With me.”
The sound of his inhale cut through the quiet room like a knife.
“Jesus.” Craig didn’t move except for the flex of his fingers as his eyes took her in, slowly dragging down her body. “You are fucking glorious.”
Danny knew she was beautiful. Sometimes hated it. Would her life have been the same if she and her sisters were plain?
Would men still have chased the legend if it didn’t include six blonde-haired, blue-eyed A
mazons?
Probably not.
But Craig would have come anyway. Because he was different. He wasn’t here to chase the women who still hid from the world.
He was there for her.
“Thank you.” Danny stood still under his penetrating gaze.
No one ever looked at her the way Craig did. Men had definitely looked at her with lust in their eyes before. Carnal desire.
But what edged Craig’s dark eyes now was something very different.
Need.
Not want. Not longing.
Need.
Like not having her would be the end of him. Like she held the key to his next breath in the palm of her hand.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Danny?” His jaw set as the eyes drinking her in leveled against hers. “You might never get rid of me after this.”
“If I want to get rid of you I will, City Boy.” She pressed her lips together to hide the smile playing at her lips. “You’ve seen what I’m capable of.”
Craig slowly walked toward her. “So it’s either keep you happy, or find myself dead in the woods?”
She gave him a little shrug. “No risk, no reward.”
He chuckled low in his chest, the sound reaching her ears a second before his body hit hers, taking her down to the mattress. Craig’s lips skimmed along her jaw. “I should probably do my best to keep you happy then.” He wrapped one arm around her waist and hefted her up the bed until her head rested on the pillows. “What makes you happy, Danny?”
He stared at her expectantly.
Which was fine. She was more than willing to list off all the things she wanted him to do to her.
Except this was one of the many things she hadn’t had the chance to experience much of in her life. “Um.”
Danny rubbed her lips together, trying to decide how best to explain her lack of sexual interaction without sounding as backward as she honestly probably was. “I’ve not done this much.” She stretched the words out, hoping to make the explanation seem more thorough than it was.
Craig stared at her. “I’m gonna need you to define much.”
“Well.” This was significantly more awkward than standing in front of him naked was. “I’ve obviously had sex.”
“That is where I assumed your son came from.” He studied her face for a second. “But there’s been more than that, right?”
“I haven’t only had sex once if that’s what you’re asking.” Yes she was... odd by most people’s standards. She did have trust issues, especially when it came to the opposite sex.
She might not like most men out of principal and self-preservation.
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t a sexual creature.
Not that she hadn’t tried to convince herself otherwise over the past ten years.
He barely laughed. “I wasn’t asking about the actual sex.” Craig paused. “I was more wondering about the other acts that should go along with it.”
Should. That sounded promising. “Oh.”
“What if we just go with it? I do something you don’t like, and all you have to do is tap my shoulder.” He lifted one hand and rested it on the broad expanse of his right shoulder. “You tap, I stop. Okay?”
Danny nodded as her heart jumped to her throat, excitement and anticipation making it impossible to do anything but bob her head.
Which stopped the second Craig’s lips locked onto her neck. The feel of his teeth scraping over her skin earlier today nearly had her dropping to the ground, but now she was in a bed.
Behind a locked door.
Pinned under the body of the only man to make her realize how very alone she felt in this world.
“Why did you have to make me like you?” Danny tried to dig up some animosity about it, hoping to cling to what little reservations she had. Self-preservation was vital to her existence. The ability to move forward in spite of any terrible thing that might happen.
But letting Craig accomplish what he wanted would set her up for the ultimate risk. One she never ever considered taking.
Not until he showed up and refused to leave.
“Because I’m what you need, Danny.” His lips didn’t stop moving across her skin, moving with the words as they blazed a path down her throat. “I’ve waited forever to find someone like you.” He locked onto the spot where her shoulder and neck met and sucked, making her head fall back a little more. “I’d decided maybe you didn’t exist.” His tongue stroked the sensitive skin. “Now that I know you do, it will take an act of God to get me away from you.” His head lifted, dark eyes on hers.
She waited for him to say more, but Craig was quiet.
“What’s wrong?”
He barely shook his head. “Not a thing.” His gaze drifted over her face and down her body. “Just taking a second to appreciate what I’ve got.”
“That’s awfully presumptuous. To assume you have me.” She suppressed the smile trying to break free.
“Give me an hour.” Craig shifted over her, his solid frame easing down hers.
“An hour?” The words squeaked out.
“Not long enough?” His mouth was back on her skin, coasting over the jut of her collar bone as it continued down, slowing at the small swell of her breast. “I’m happy to take up as much of your evening as you require.” His lips closed over the nipple, pulling it hard enough to make her gasp. The tugging sensation shot straight to her core, forcing her thighs to press together in an attempt to ease the ache building there at top speed.
“Craig.” She arched into him.
“That’s right, Danny Girl.” He pulled her nipple again, letting it drop free of his lips. “Get used to my name on your lips.” He caught her other breast with a slow scrape of his teeth. “Because you’re going to be saying it as many times as I can manage tonight.” His tongue flicked the beaded tip. “And then again tomorrow.”
She should probably respond somehow, but the feel of his mouth stole all functional thought, leaving her with nothing coherent to share. It took everything Danny had to contain the sounds threatening to rush free. Locked door or not, her son was still across the hall.
By the time Craig moved from her breasts she had the case of her pillow between her teeth, hoping to stifle the desperate sounds he forced from her.
But then his mouth went lower, dragging down her body. “Craig. I can’t stay quiet if you—” She sat up.
“You’ll have to figure something out, Danny Girl, because the only way I’m not doing this is if you tap out.” He gripped her thighs, spreading them wide enough to make room for his broad shoulders. “Is that what you’re doing?”
Her hand was still on his shoulder, fingers twisted in the shirt covering it.
His eyes stayed on her as his lips trailed up the inside of her thigh. “What’s it going to be? Are we stopping?”
“Stopping?” That was what this was? All or nothing?
“If you can’t handle this without waking the house, then you definitely can’t handle what happens next.”
Good God.
She thought she would be too much for him. The one man she’d been with struggled not to shoot his load on her thigh almost every time they did it.
Craig did not appear to be having that problem.
“You look a little shell-shocked.” Craig’s wicked lips smirked. “I’m a little concerned you expected me to be bad at this.”
“I didn’t expect you to be bad.”Danny just didn’t realize how extremely good he might be. “Specifically.”
“That would have hurt my feelings if I didn’t already have you naked, Danny Girl.” Without warning he leaned in and ran his tongue up the slit of her pussy, stopping at the swell of her clit and circling.
“I can’t—” She grabbed the pillow and pulled it over her head, trying to muffle the strangled sound wringing out of her.
“You can.” Craig grabbed the pillow and yanked it away, his eyes on her. “And I’m going to watch you do it.” His mouth went right back to it
s wonderfully terrible torture, lips latching on to suck the sensitive nub of flesh. His gaze locked onto her face, making his intention perfectly clear.
“Craig, please.” Danny fisted her hands in his hair, knowing she should pull him away. Make him stop before she scarred her son for all eternity.
“Figure it out, Danny, because this is a non-negotiable.” His lips moved against her. “I won’t go without this, so you need to find a way to give it to me.”
He wouldn’t go without this? He wasn’t the one struggling not to sound like a fox in heat, screaming into the silence for everyone to hear.
Craig’s tongue flicked against her, over and over, faster and faster, making her legs shake and her back arch. The whole world narrowed to that single spot. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed.
Just the feel of what he did to her.
The second before she came his lips pressed into place, sucking with the same rhythm his tongue set, sending Danny spiraling down so fast she forgot to be quiet.
One hand pressed over her mouth, careful but firm, silencing the guttural cry ripping free as his mouth continued on, dragging out the orgasm wracking her body. Riding it out until there was nothing left, and every part of her was spent and limp.
Craig’s weight worked back up, his muscular frame sliding up hers until his lips were against her ear. “I love how difficult that was for you.” He nipped at her neck, breathing deep before rolling her to her side and flipping the covers over her, curling against her back.
“What?” She tried to turn to look at him. “We’re not done.”
“We are for now.” Craig nuzzled her hair as one arm wrapped around her, holding her firmly in place as she tried to roll. “Go to sleep, Danny.”
A yawn jumped free at the mention of sleep. “I’m not tired.”
He laughed, low and deep. “Liar.” His breathing was slow and steady. His body was warm and solid.
And it made it impossible to keep her heavy lids open.
****
“MOM?”
Danny sat up straight in bed, blinking against the sun coming in through the slats of the white wood blinds covering the large windows. “What? What’s wrong?” She belatedly remembered the events of the night before and grabbed the blanket to yank it up.
Danny (Big Northwest Book 1) Page 12