Leo stares down at me. His eyes are dark and filled with lust but also with concern. He’s not moving. His body freezes, and his cock stills inside me.
“Are you ok? Should I pull out? Is it too much?” Concern licks at each of his words.
“No, just give me a minute,” I gasp and try to stay focused on his eyes. “Kiss me again?”
Leo obliges. He closes his lips around mine, and I open my mouth in response, allowing his tongue to dip inside and dance with mine.
The pain gradually recedes and is replaced by an overwhelming feeling of being too full. I need Leo to move—I need him to make love to me.
I pull my lips away from his, and he searches my face for any further signs of pain or discomfort. But when my hips buck upward of their own accord, he gets the message, and his lips twist into a salacious smirk. He pulls his own hips back and gives me a brief respite before pushing back inside me. It’s delicious torture. Over and over again, he worships my body with his dick, and I welcome every single one of his thrusts. Leo grits his teeth together and grunts with restraint. I remember what he said about not lasting long just as the first embers of my orgasm start to build.
“Elise, you need to touch yourself. You’re so tight…I’m going to come any second,” Leo begs me, and reaching for my hand, he places it between us where we’re joined.
I look down between our bodies to see his dick entering me. My clit throbs, and I stroke it quickly just as I’ve done many times before when dreaming of this moment. This is so much better than the fantasies, though. It doesn’t take me long until I’m coming. My body clamps down on Leo’s body and draws him in deeper as he lets go of his release inside me. As we come down from our orgasms, we’re panting and whispering ‘I love you’ to each other. Eventually, we both get our breath back. Leo gently withdraws from me, and I’m left feeling tender from our lovemaking. He removes the condom, checks it, and having tied it up and thrown it in a bin beside the bed, he collapses back down next to me and pulls me into his arms.
The television still plays in the background, a seductive rumba this time. Leo glances over to it.
“A dance of love,” he says still sounding breathless. “One day, I’ll do that with you.”
“I thought we just did.” I chuckle and press a kiss to his chest.
“I mean with our clothes on. No one else gets to see what’s mine.”
“A future we can dream about,” I reply wistfully as exhaustion starts to claim me.
“Always,” Leo mumbles as he too drifts into sleep.
When I slept beside Leo on prom night and woke in the morning to make love to him several more times, everything was perfect and our future was bright. Little did I know then that on the day he left for Europe, fate would conspire against us, and it would be the last time I saw him for fourteen years. During that time, I’d be taught a painful lesson. I’d learn that not all men behave in the same way as Leo Underwood.
THE END.
Leo and Elise’s story continues in Easy Rumba, part of the Boudreaux World by Kristen Proby coming soon.
About the Author
I am a British author, from the depths of the rural countryside near London. In a previous life, I was an accountant from the age of twenty-one. I still do that on occasions, but most of my life is now spent intermingling writing while looking after my husband, two children and two cats (probably in the inverse order to the one listed!). When I have some spare time, I can also be found writing poetry, baking cakes (and eating them), or behind a camera snapping like a mad paparazzo.
I'm an avid reader who turned to writing to combat my depression and anxiety. I have a love of traveling and like to bring this to my stories to give them an air of reality.
I like my heroes hot and hunky with a dirty mouth, my heroines demure but with spunk, and my books full of dramatic suspense.
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Their First Chance
Their First Chance
By Bailie Hantam
Their First Chance
Copyright © 2020 Bailie Hantam
All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Chapter One
Jack
Jack pulled up outside the address his best friend, Wyatt, had texted him. The single story home in a quiet neighborhood looked more or less like the rest of the houses surrounding it. Green palisade fencing — that was going to be a bitch to scale if she wouldn’t let him in — large garden with the obligatory Jacaranda tree and agapanthus along the edge.
He looked over at Derrick, Wyatt’s new brother-in-law. “Text Alyssa and ask for Nadine’s number.”
Getting the text in the middle of the wedding reception had sent the entire family into panic. Nadine hadn’t mentioned that she was injured, they all just knew.
Derrick pulled out his phone and fired off the text. “Do people just follow your orders blindly?”
“I fucking wish.” He tended to hire people who could think for themselves and usually that came with a fair amount of insubordination. “I suppose when we’re in the field we’re just that much in sync that I don’t have to bark too many orders. Otherwise, my guys tend to talk back more than most.”
Jack owned a security and investigation company. It was one of the top providers of its kind. Well, it was one of his businesses. According to the outside world, he also owned an employment agency. It was registered and everything and he sent temps out to various jobs. What everyone didn’t know was that his temps were highly trained operatives.
Derrick’s phone beeped with an incoming text. “I have the number.” He read off Nadine’s cell number and Jack dialed it.
He made a mental note to save it for later. The phone rang a long while before going to voicemail. Jack tried a second time. There was a blue Mazda in the driveway. From everything his friends had told him about Doug, that was certainly not his car.
The phone rang for a little and Jack had resigned himself to having to climb that fence, when she picked up.
“Hello?”
It took him a moment to reconcile the voice with the situation he was likely facing.
“Nadine, this is Jack Ward. I’m your—”
“I know who you are. Is that your car outside?”
God, that voice. He wasn’t expecting it. It was husky and feminine at the same time. He didn’t want to admit how much it affected him. “It is. Do you mind letting us in?”
“Us? Is my brother with you. Because I don’t want to see him. Any of them. I didn’t want to ruin the day.”
Nadine had six brothers and a sister. Despite the drama that led them to find one another, they were all fiercely loyal and highly protective of each other. Wyatt, the oldest, had married the love of his life and Derrick’s sister, Mini, earlier that day. It made some sort of misguided sense that Nadine wouldn’t want to ruin the day.
Of course, what she didn’t see is that each of her siblings would rather have their day ruined than see her in trouble with her douchebag husband.
Jack exhaled. He could relieve her of one of her concerns. “No. It’s just me and Derrick Skosana.”
“Derrick?”
Her tone lightened a little, and Jack felt the slightest twinge of jealousy that his friend cou
ld solicit such a response from her. “Yeah. I brought him along in case you were injured.”
“I’m not—” She stumbled with her words. “It’s nothing major.”
“Let him just check you out. Just to be sure.”
There was a beat of silence before she answered. “Okay.”
There was silence for another long moment. No movement around the house at all.
“Nadine?”
“Yeah?” She sounded faraway. Like she was thinking about something and he interrupted her.
“You need to let us in, sweetheart.”
He didn’t know where the endearment came from but it seemed to fit the moment.
The rattle as the green palisade gate rolled open signaled another win. She trusted him. Or at the very least she recognized that she needed help. He pulled into the driveway behind the blue Mazda.
He took some time to have a look around. Nothing stood out except for the fresh skid marks on the light grey bricks of the driveway.
“Let’s get this over with.” Derrick walked past him toward the front of the house.
“You okay?”
Derrick turned to him and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t usually know the victims I treat. Even when Nadine came into the ER I could distance myself because it was easy to pretend she was just a patient.” He stared down at his feet. “But a few hours ago her brother married my sister. It’s hard to keep that distance. And I’m at her home, not in the ER.”
Jack clapped the back of his friend’s shoulder. “Pretend it’s a house call. Whatever you need to do to give her what she needs. Besides, you have no idea what you’re facing.”
Nadine opened their security gate, allowing them inside the house. God, he’d seen pictures of her. He hadn’t been living under a rock and she was one of South Africa’s top models. Her face and body was everywhere. She was beautiful, there was no mistaking it. With that long dark hair and pouty mouth, her image on the cover probably sold more magazines than anyone else.
And yet, seeing her broke his heart. Not just the bruise forming around her eye, or the blood at the side of her mouth. It was the haunted look in those turquoise eyes, her hunched-over shoulders. She looked defeated, as if she had lost all her fight.
He walked through the security gate and had to suppress a smirk. Those gates were designed to keep the monsters out. There was nothing one could do about the monsters who lived under the same roof. They were more dangerous. “Where is he?”
Nadine shook her head. “I don’t know. He left in a rage. Said he needed to calm down before he did something he regretted. Told me I better still be here when he gets back.”
“Then best we work quick.” He pointed to Derrick. “Let him check you out, and you can tell me what needs to be loaded into the car.”
“Where are you taking me?” She took a step back. “I don’t want my brothers to see me like this. I don’t want to be around them right now.”
“Calm down.” Jack resisted the urge to take a step toward her. He was a big guy and he didn’t want to scare her. “I won’t take you anywhere you don’t want to go. You can stay with me for the night and we can reassess in the morning. If you’re comfortable I’ll have one of my female employees come over and keep you company.”
They’ll also have to catalogue her injuries and encourage her to give the police a statement and press charges. He knew that Adam, another one of her brothers, had started the paperwork for the restraining order but Nadine had been reluctant to sign it while Doug believed she was out of the country.
She had taken on a modeling assignment in Mozambique and cancelled at the last minute. She told her husband, who was also her agent, that she was still going. Instead she was holed up in a hotel waiting for the right time to get her things and leave Doug for good.
Her plan obviously didn’t work. Doug must’ve been suspicious since he came back to the house instead of going to the wedding. And once again, proceeded to beat his wife.
“You don’t have to do that.” Nadine sat in an armchair in the corner of the room. “I don’t want to impose. I can go to a hotel or something.”
“Do you have a first aid kit?” Derrick asked as he knelt in front of her. He lifted his hand. “Can I touch I your face.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Also, maybe a pack of frozen veg.”
She looked at Jack. “First aid kit is in the bathroom, down the hall second door on the left. There should be a pack of frozen mixed veg in the freezer. Kitchen’s through there.”
He quickly fetched the items Derrick had requested. As soon as he was back in the living room, he crouched down beside her. “If you think anyone’s going to be okay with you staying in a hotel where you don’t know anyone and have limited security, you’re mistaken. Unless you’re okay with me posting two bodyguards outside your hotel room.”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I don’t want to stay with my family. At least not yet. I just don’t want to be an imposition to you.”
“I have a guest bedroom that never gets used; you’re no imposition.”
Derrick looked up at him. “My bag is in your car. I think I need to stitch up her lip.” He looked at Nadine. “I know you don’t want them around, but can I at least let them know that you’re safe.”
She sighed and her shoulders slumped further. “Yeah. But please tell them to stay away and that I’ll be staying with Jack.”
Jack relaxed and went about pulling the two packed suitcases into the car. “Are you done? I’d like to be gone before the asshole gets back.”
Before long he had Nadine in the passenger’s seat of his car, with Derrick behind the wheel of her Mazda and they pulled out of the driveway.
Nadine looked at him and narrowed her eyes. “You are not that old.”
He chuckled “What? Where did that come from.”
“Allie and Wyatt were teasing each other. And she said you’re too old for her, you’re as old as Wyatt.”
“I’m thirty-five and she’s right. She’s twenty-five and far too young for me.”
For a fleeting moment, he wondered if Nadine considered him too old for herself.
Chapter Two
Nadine
One night turned into a week. Then two. Before Nadine knew what was happening she’d been staying with Jack for nearly a month. Thankfully, her family agreed that staying at Jack’s place was the safest place for her.
How could they not? The house was harder to get into than Fort Knox. He had CCTV monitors all around the perimeter, motion detectors, and a whole lot of hi-tech stuff she was still getting used to. Of course, none of that had kept her family away for too long. She’d had visitors nearly every day for the last month. And frankly, she was sick of it. She needed some time alone. After all that time she’d been away, she still hadn’t had time to reflect on what happened. On how much had happened since that day Jack came to get her.
There was a restraining order against Doug. He’d been arrested after she laid charges against him, but he had been let out on bail. The trial was still a few months away. She had decided to take a sabbatical from modeling until things died down.
She was bored and she felt like she was in prison. Though, she had to admit, it was a very nice prison. Jack’s home was… lovely. A little minimalist for her tastes, but not as clinical as she would’ve expected.
The guest bedroom, which she was occupying, gave her a feeling of peacefulness with all the blues and greens. She loved spending time in there after an afternoon with one of her brothers. She loved her brothers, she really did. She would do anything for them. They were just a little… intense. Overbearing. Over-protective. And for a bunch of guys who claimed to hate gossiping, they had a tendency to meddle in things that were not even an issue.
Rather than dwell on her brothers, she swung her legs out of bed. The smell of coffee brewing tickled her nose. She pulled her fluffy white robe around her and made her way to the kitchen. She stopped short in the doorway.
Jack was standing with his back to her, pouring egg batter into a pan. Wearing only sweatpants, he was a sight to behold. The way those muscles rippled with the slightest movement made her mouth water. Then there were those arms. God, those arms. Some sort of a celtic vine thing on his left bicep and another one on his left forearm. Those muscles spoke of strength and hard work. But she also knew they could be warm and gentle.
On a few occasions over the last few weeks when she’d been crying in her sleep as she endured the nightmares, he’d come into her bedroom. He’d held her until she fell asleep. It was nothing more than him comforting his best friend’s little sister and it meant the world to her. At the time she was just grateful to feel safe and secure.
As time went on, though, she couldn’t deny her growing attraction to him. Not that he had shown any interest. He treated her with warmth and respect, but had never hit on her in any way.
“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me,” he said without turning around.
She was still getting used to his painfully acute hearing. It was impossible to sneak up on him. She assumed it was because of his military training. She’d been around many of his employees over the weeks, and all of them were the same. From what she had learned, Jack had trained them all. He ran some sort of investigation company. He also provided bodyguards. But that was not his core business. He was involved in something bigger. And from the little she could figure out, his company was contracted to the government.
She stepped into the kitchen. “There’s nothing left to do. You’ve got the coffee started. And my nose tells me there’s bacon in the oven.”
“Want to put bread in the toaster?”
“Sure.” She kept herself busy making toast and setting the table. He didn’t bother to ask what she wanted in her omelet. After a month, he knew her preferences. Not that they had a big elaborate breakfast every morning. “What’s with all the fanciness, this morning?”
A Little Bit Cupid: A Collection of Short Stories Page 13