The truth is, I missed Ax. He’d come home again after I’d given up any hope of seeing him, and we’d had one night of passion, a night I thought would usher in a new era. Ax was back, and he was still into me. Maybe it was time to reveal everything.
And then he was gone, and the whole prison thing happened, and I knew then that any chance we had of picking up where we’d left off was over. He was a felon. A convict. Not someone people would think appropriate to let around one’s children.
But none of that had stopped me from missing him. At night is the worst, but even in the daylight hours, I find myself thinking about him more than I’d like to admit. And now he’s here, in front of me, with that familiar smell, that familiar heat.
And me, vulnerable from my most recent setback, my resolve weakened by booze, how exactly am I supposed to say no to him, especially in my hour of need?
Before long we reach the cabin. It’s quiet out here in the woods, a quiet that does nothing to soothe the riot of emotions inside me. I’m near shaking, full of nervousness, of excitement, with a strong undercurrent of lust.
Still, this is a dangerous situation, one I have to keep a grip on. Sabrina, you need to keep your mouth shut while you succumb to his seduction. Let him have your body, but don’t let him into your mind. You can’t afford to reveal your secret.
You can’t afford to fall in love with him.
I remind myself that I’ve been in love with Ax Craven since high school, so it’s too late for that.
Still, I can’t let my guard down too far. I need to feel his body around me, to steal some of his heat, to keep me warm on the long nights without him when he’s gone.
One more night of passion to last me for the rest of eternity.
It’s a sad thought, but a necessary one.
He shows me in, then kneels to stoke up a fire in his old wood oven. I sit in one of the chairs and snuggle deeper into his jacket, bending to sniff the leather and memorize its scent.
I admire his form while his back is turned. Ax has always had a fantastic body, but it’s never seemed more perfect than now. Maybe I’m drunker than I think. I giggle.
“What’s so funny?” he asks, his head cocked over his shoulder.
I shake my head. “Just you. Us. Back here again.”
He stands, brushing off the knees of his jeans, then comes closer. “Not what I expected when I left home this evening.”
“Me neither,” I admit, staring up at him and taking his hand. “But I can’t say I’m disappointed.”
“Neither am I,” he says, pulling me up and leading me to the loveseat to sit beside him. He puts an arm around me, and I wait with excitement, expecting him to put the moves on me. Instead he leans back and looks at me.
“Why don’t you want to tell me what happened after I left for the military?”
My eyes widen. Shit. I thought I’d spend the night engaged in passionate mischievousness, but apparently, he still wants to play twenty questions.
“Things change, Ax,” I say indifferently. “I stayed here instead.”
He stares at me, and I know he’s about to ask me more questions, to dig in deeper. I’m not sure what has ignited this desire to know on his part, but I can’t withstand the onslaught for long. I’m too intoxicated, by the alcohol and by my longing for him. I know I’ll cave.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. If he won’t seduce me, I’ll have to seduce him.
I slide closer, pulling one of his arms across my lap to wrap around my waist. “Don’t tell me you brought me here to talk.”
“Sabrina,” he murmurs as I lean over to press a kiss against his cheek. “Trust me, I want this more than anything, but I also want to know more about you. We’ve barely talked since high school. I want to know what’s going on in your life.”
“Ax,” I purr into his ear. “I live in Cape Craven. Nothing much happens here, you know that. So let’s cut the small talk and get down to business.”
I can feel him inhale sharply, and I know I’ve won. Tucking away a smile, I rest my hand on his chest. His eyes are glowing in the firelight. An avenging angel, come down from heaven to fulfill my every fantasy.
He’s spent the last five years locked away. He’s got to want this as badly as I do. To test my theory, I lean in and give him a soft kiss on the mouth.
A spark of electricity leaps between our lips, and it’s the spark he needed. Ax grabs me, pulling me into his body and wrapping an arm around me. His other hand cups my face, holding me still for his mouth.
He devours me, his urgency evident. I succumb, opening my mouth and allowing his tongue to sweep inside. He gives a hungry growl and I melt, relaxing into him as he takes what he wants from my lips.
I’m consumed by his fire, and I love every minute of it. When his mouth pulls away from mine to rain kisses on my neck, I protest and pull his head back into position. This time I lick his lips, and it has a visible effect.
Ax stands, bends, and picks me up effortlessly. The trip to his bed is short, and before long he’s laying me down, covering me with his warm body and once again attacking my lips mercilessly.
I moan, locking my arms around his neck and surrendering under his onslaught. “My God,” he says, licking my neck before nibbling my earlobe. “You taste so good. You’ve always tasted so good. Sweet and savory, and completely unique.”
I smile at his words, filling with warmth at his honest praise. His body covers mine, the weight of him reassuring. Suddenly, I can’t get close enough to him. I start to pull up the hem of his t-shirt, and he lets me, raising his arms so I can free him from the fabric.
There are more scars here than before, and the thought of his perfect skin being disfigured makes me sad, not to mention the pain he must have endured. After coming home from the military, he’d had a few precise scars, one on his torso, another on the back of his left calf.
I guess I spent a lot of time memorizing his body, but who could blame me? Now there are a few more scars, a few more imperfections, these much less precise. A jagged pink scar decorates one bicep. Another chases down from his neck to his left pec. The wound must have been shockingly close to his heart.
Pushing away my concern for this magnificent creature, I return to my worship of his perfect form, scars included. I trace a hand down his muscular chest, the skin soft as silk but the body underneath it hard in a way that does things to my inside. His body turns me into a needy mess, wanting nothing more than to be underneath him, meeting him measure for measure.
I start to unbuckle his belt, and he leans back with a chuckle. “And I thought I was the impatient one,” he says, his voice holding an edge of roughness that shows he’s not as unaffected as he pretends. Slowly, he undoes the buckle and then pulls his belt away from his tight jeans. He undoes one button, then the next, and then the zipper. My eyes are riveted the whole time.
Then, he stops. I hold back a groan of disappointment. “You’re wearing too many clothes,” he reminds me.
I lift myself up enough to rip off his jacket and the blouse underneath it. That leaves me in a plain white bra. Before I can curse myself for not putting on sexier underwear, I catch sight of his gaze.
I’m surprised my skin doesn’t catch on fire at the heat contained in those glowing eyes. He doesn’t care about my crappy bra. I pull down my jeans, leaving the boring white cotton panties in place. Under his scorching gaze, I am reborn. The last ten years disappear, like the memory of a waiting room when the doctor finally calls you back.
If I can stay in the moment, concentrate on the present, I know everything is just right.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” he blurts out, almost to himself. The way his eyes rake my frame, I know that he means it. I’ve never felt sexier than when Ax Craven is looking at me.
I trail a finger over his unbuttoned jeans, and he chuckles, then pulls them off. His boxer briefs are tight around his frame, and I spend a moment drinking him in.
A muscular body built f
or sex, covered with a light coating of masculine dark hair. He looks so strong, so dark and dangerous, that I start to shiver in anticipation.
The look on his face when he stretches over me again makes my insides turn to jelly. There is an intentness, as if he plans to devour every inch of my body. There’s an intensity there that I’ve never experienced with any other man.
Likely that’s because I’ve never been with any other man.
I’ve had my opportunities, and sometimes I’ve almost given in, but it never felt quite right. Plus, Cape Craven is a small town, and as a single mother, a bias against me already exists, as evidenced by the things Lex’s classmates are saying about me. Kids don’t make that shit up themselves. Their parents have to be talking.
Besides worrying about any fling I might have getting onto the gossip circuit in town, there was always another reason I never slept with another guy. It was always there, in the back of my mind. Somehow, I knew it would never be better than what I had with Ax.
And I was afraid, most of all, of it getting back to him. I didn’t want Ax to hear I’d been with someone else. As foolish as it sounds, it would feel like a betrayal. And I could never betray him like that, no matter that we weren’t together now and hadn’t been for a decade.
Stupid, I know. Pathetic, maybe. But it’s the truth.
His hands race up my stomach, and I am pulled back to the moment. His touch is electric, his skin rough in a way that excites me. Ax might have been a war hero, but he’s also a criminal. He knows how to do bad so good, and I have to admit, the danger turns me on.
He plants a kiss against my breastbone, then moves lower, and I start to ache for the wonders I know that tongue can perform. Ax sucks my nipple through the thin fabric of my bra and my eyes roll back in my head.
It’s so much stronger now than it has been in the past, this longing for him. It’s beyond desperation. I need him to take me, to claim me, to show me the pleasure I know only he can.
“Please, Ax,” I whimper. “I want more.”
His eyes are dark as he raises on his strong arms. “More?”
I nod. “Please.”
With an evil grin, he takes hold of my bra and in a quick motion, rips it in half. It falls off my body as my mouth falls open in shock. Without delay, he grabs my panties and proceeds to rip them slowly off my body until I lie naked beneath him.
I’m driven mad by the controlled strength in him, by the lust I can see hovering, waiting to come out and completely engulf me.
“Yes,” I moan, grabbing his head and pulling him back down for a frantic kiss. I’ll never forget this moment, not for the rest of my days.
Ax Craven, billionaire bad boy, claiming my body for his pleasure.
And mine.
Chapter 13
Ax
Her kiss almost slays me. It’s filled with a longing that I thought I alone felt. To know that she feels it too, that she wants me as badly as I want her, nearly destroys me.
I’ve been locked up for half a decade, with only the memory of Sabrina to keep me warm. No wonder I want to entirely consume her, to own her, to make her mine.
But with the way she’s acting, she feels it too. Could it be that she’s been waiting, just like I have? Surely not, right? Who in her right mind would wait for someone who’s never made her one damn promise?
“Ax,” she whispers against my lips. “I need you.”
“I need you too, baby,” I reply, then return to her breasts. Her perfect, gorgeous breasts that I could spend a century lavishing with attention. When I nibble her nipple, her hips fly off the bed. I can tell she wants more, but keeping her on edge is filling me with a dark satisfaction.
“Please, Ax, you’re driving me crazy,” she cries out as I go from one nipple to the other, teasing, tempting, torturing.
I laugh softly and work my way lower. Her stomach is softer than before, but in a way I like. She’s lost a lot of her colt-like leanness over the years, her body ripening in a way that makes my cock throb. I can see her thatch of dark blond curls, and my mouth begins to water. Fuck, I want to drink her down and never stop tasting her.
When I spread her open before me, exposing that perfect pinkness, she lets out a little mewl like a lost kitten. I blow gently on her sensitive clit, and a wave of shivers goes over her. The scent of her there, the visible moistness coating her womanly perfection, makes me feel like an animal.
I lick her once, twice, and I’m gone, devouring her with abandon. When I growl against her thigh, I feel her shake. Her moans become near-constant, head thrashing against the pillow, two hands gripping my hair, holding my head in place. As if I would ever stop tasting her.
I feel her muscles tighten, and I know she’s about to reach her climax, so I slow down, pulling back a little, to hear her let out a cry of frustration. I smile against her, then start warming her up again, working that sexy little nub back and forth with my tongue.
Sabrina starts to tighten again, about to come, so I stop, and she lets out a burst of disappointed air.
“Shit!” she cries.
I chuckle. “What’s wrong, baby girl?”
“I need it!”
Sabrina has always been passionate, and that’s one thing that I love about her. But tonight, it’s all gone to the next level. Her skin is on fire, her body trembling all over. “What do you need?”
She looks at me, her eyes bright with a hint of anger. “You know.”
I shake my head, my finger sliding up and down her slit. “Enlighten me.”
Her eyes narrow. “Bastard.”
I laugh, then slip one finger into her tight channel. “Tell me, Sabrina.”
She bites her lip, and I almost give up the game and thrust into her without delay. But I manage to hold on, slipping another finger inside her.
“Oh God,” she moans, her eyes closing and her hips lifting slowly. “Yes. That!”
“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easily,” I say, removing my fingers. Her eyes shoot open, just in time to see me lick her deliciousness off my fingers. “Tell me what you need.”
“I need—you.”
“Me?” I ask, a smile slowly climbing my face. “That so?”
She nods, then digs her claws into my shoulders. “Yes.”
“What do you need from me? Say it, baby girl, and I’ll give it all to you.”
“I need you. I need you to fuck me, Ax.”
Her words turn me into an insane creature, that’s how powerful they are. They wash over me, freeing me from all the doubt and pain I’ve felt for the last five years. Sabrina needs me, wants me inside her. That’s all I can think about.
I position myself at her entrance and lock my eyes on her. “This is what you need?” I ask, teasing her with the tip.
“Yes,” she whispers, her gaze fervent. “Please, give it to me!”
I can’t hold back anymore. I push inside of her tightness until I am seated deep inside her. “Take it,” I say between gritted teeth. “Take it all.”
She wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me tighter against her, and I lose it. Thoughts leave me with only the need to claim her completely, to fuck her until both of us explode.
I thrust deep, again and again. Our moans mingle in the night air, and I can’t tell where I end and she begins. The pleasure is so exquisite, so acute, that I do my best to keep us both on the edge so that it never ends. Again and again, I bring us to the peak, only to slow down right before we reach it.
We are both pouring sweat, our bodies slick. I kiss her again, deeply, and she bites my bottom lip, driving me into a frenzy. Pounding into her, I lock eyes with her. “So good,” I say. “Never better.”
She closes her eyes and hangs on for dear life, her hips rising to meet my frantic thrusts. I know I won’t be able to hold back much longer, as much as I want to. I want her to come harder than she ever has before, so I lock my lips around her nipple and slide a hand between us, finding that delicate clit and rubbing it.
Sabrina’s eyes shoot wide open, and she stares at me. Her lips begin to tremble, and I can tell she’s right on the edge. Why is she holding back now?
“Come,” I tell her, wanting to feel her tight muscles squeezing around me in her climax. “Come, baby girl.”
I can see the effect my words have on her. She bites her lip, then lets out a high, keening cry. Her pussy clenches down on my throbbing cock, sending me over the edge. I come then, my seed exploding inside of her, my body shaking with the force of my orgasm.
I remain there, suspended in the moment, suspended above her body, praying for God to freeze us exactly in that moment for all time. Nothing has ever felt like this, and I fear that nothing ever will again.
At last, I roll on my side, pulling Sabrina into my arms. I’m nearly overcome with satisfaction. I never want to move, and don’t really know if I could at this point. My limbs are heavy, my chest full of an emotion I don’t want to name.
Sabrina is breathing heavily beside me. She stares at the ceiling, and I follow her gaze, watching silently as the shadows from the fire in the other room chase each other. I would give anything to know what she’s thinking.
“Why did you come back to Cape Craven?”
I consider my answer for a moment. “Last time, I wanted to patch things up with my dad. My career as a soldier wasn’t what I thought it would be.” I paused because that isn’t exactly right. “Or rather, it was what I thought it would be, but I didn’t realize until later that it wasn’t what I wanted.”
I’m not sure how much to say. In the moment, I feel pulled apart, wide open. This is the time to say things unsaid, isn’t it?
“The things I saw—the things I did. I needed a time out from the world. This place provided that. But I also needed to be home. With the people I care about.” Sabrina included.
“And this time?” she asks, turning to look into my face. “Why are you back this time?”
I take a breath. I can feel the wall coming up between us, and it seems like the greatest tragedy of my lifetime. Worse than everything that’s come before. I want to tear that wall down brick by brick. But how?
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