Pardon My Frenchie

29

The effort it took to calm his body down so that he could prolong his time with Ashanti was unlike any Thad had ever had to exert. The connection between his brain and his dick must have been broken, because no matter how much he told himself to take this slow, his body refused to listen.

Ashanti’s pleasurable gasps and mewls weren’t making it any easier. Every sexy little whimper was like an injection of fuel, accelerating his need to draw out that response from her over and over again. He wanted to make her cry out in pleasure, to make it so good that she wouldn’t even think about limiting this to a one-time thing.

Thad hooked his arms under the bend of her knees and angled her hips upward, his own limbs growing weak at the ecstasy the shift in position produced. He immersed himself in her, not just her body but her entire essence. He could feel himself becoming more enthralled with every delicious thrust. She intoxicated him. Captivated him, body, soul, and everything in between.

“This first time won’t last until morning,” Thad breathed against her neck. “But I promise if you stay in this bed, I’m going to make it worth your while.”

“I’m not leaving,” she said. “Please… just.”

She didn’t have to say more. Thad licked two fingers and shoved his hand between their bodies, finding her clit and stroking it as his dick drove in and out, his hips pumping with increasing speed. The familiar sensation started at the base of his spine and quickly rushed to his front, his balls growing heavy with the need to come.

He felt Ashanti coming undone underneath him only a few seconds before the orgasm swept through him. His entire body shook with the force of it, leaving him gulping for breaths.

His pleasure was instantly replaced with panic at the thought that what he’d felt was not Ashanti coming. But when he looked down, there was no mistaking the cause of the unmitigated bliss blanketing her face.

“Thank God,” Thad said before collapsing on top of her, relief and the aftereffects of his orgasm sapping what little strength still remained in his bones. Thad forced himself to get up so he could dispose of the condom. In under a minute, he was back in the bed, stretching alongside Ashanti.

He rolled onto his back and caught her by the hips, pulling her on top of him. He needed to feel her against him even though he was no longer inside of her. For now.

“That was nice. And necessary,” she said. “Evie and Ridley would be proud.”

Thad peered at her. “Do I even want to know?”

She shook her head, her chin rubbing against his breastbone. She turned her head and rested her cheek on him, emitting a satisfied sigh. His dick twitched at the sound. His recovery time would be even shorter than he’d first thought.

“This will come as no shock,” Ashanti said. “But it has been a long time since I did this. I forgot how much I miss out on when it’s just me and my vibrator.” Her head popped up, the sprinkling of freckles across her nose deepening to a rich crimson. “Why did I just tell you that?”

“Because my ego can use every boost it can get?” Thad said. “I’m not sure if this will shock you or not, but it’s been a long time since I did this too.”

“That absolutely shocks me,” she said. “You are so lying right now.”

“I’m not,” he said. “I told you earlier that you’re the first woman in a very long time that I’ve been interested in.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be interested in someone to, you know, do what we just did.”

“You’re confusing me with Von,” Thad said “It’s not that I’ve never done the casual thing, but it just doesn’t appeal to me anymore. And, please, when you talk about what we just did, say that we fucked. Because the hottest thing I have ever heard in my life is the word fuck coming out of your mouth.”

Her sharp laugh sounded around the room.

He nudged her, lifting his hips. “Come on. Say it.”

“Thad.”

“Say it,” he goaded.

One corner of her mouth tilted up in a grin. She rolled her eyes, but then, in a voice so sultry it nearly killed him, she said, “Fuck.”

Thad threw his head back against the mattress and groaned.

“You’re so silly.” She laughed. “That’s what surprises me. Well, that’s the other thing that surprises me. I never would have expected you to have this sense of humor, not based on my first impression of you.”

“To be fair—” he started, then stopped. “Wait a minute.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her, then pushed himself up so that his back was against the headboard. “That’s better,” he said. “As I was saying, to be fair, I was not at my best on the day we first met. I was still salty that I’d been roped into looking after Puddin’.”

At the sound of his name, Puddin’ came running. He jumped onto the bed and sniffed Thad’s face.

“Down,” Ashanti said.

The dog immediately jumped off the bed and stood at attention beside it.

“That’s sexy too. The way you get them to obey your commands like that?” He struck the mattress with his fists. “It turns me the fuck on, Ashanti.”

“That is… strange,” she finished, the soft rumble of her laugh feeling like heaven against his chest. She scooted off the bed.

“Where are you going?” Thad asked.

“I love these two, but they’re going to have to hang out on their own for a while.”

He stared at her exquisite body, loving the way her braids swished back and forth just above her ass as she guided the dogs into her room. She came back and climbed in the bed, twisting around so that her back was to his front. He fully acknowledged that she could ask anything of him right now and he would give it to her, provided her naked ass remained in his lap.

“Now,” she said, pulling the sheet up over her and totally ruining his view, “You really want me to believe that you were this surly grouch because of Puddin’?”

“Ouch. Was I that bad?”

“Yes,” she answered with an emphatic nod.

“It wasn’t just Puddin’,” Thad was willing to concede. “Although he did account for a lot of it.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I’ve been in a pretty fucked-up mood since I left the military.”

She looked back at him over her bare shoulder. “You weren’t ready to leave, were you?”

He swallowed hard and decided to go with the truth.

“No.” Then he thought better of it. “Actually, that’s not true. It was time. It was past time for me to leave. I just thought I would have been better prepared. Mentally,” he added. “I spent the first six months wandering around like a kid lost in a big department store. Just… floundering.”

“Is that when you came up with the idea for The PX?”

“I had the idea for The PX well before I left the military. Von and I had already shored up our plans before we filed the paperwork for retirement. That’s the thing, I knew what I should be doing, but I couldn’t seem to get my ass in gear to actually do it. It felt as if I’d left things… I don’t know… unfinished.”

How had he allowed the conversation to veer so far to the left? It was as if he was trying to guarantee that they were one and done when it came to sex tonight.

“Maybe it isn’t meant to be finished,” she said. “What you’re trying to do with The PX seems like an extension of your service.”

He had thought about it in the same way, yet he was still stunned by the effect her words had on him.

“I’m pulling for you and Von,” she continued. “If Barkingham Palace can’t make use of that beautiful house in the Bywater, I’m glad that you are. Your mission is a good one.” She pressed her finger to the center of his chest. “You’re a good one.”

Thad captured her hand and brought it to his mouth, placing a kiss in the center of her palm. This moment was the most at peace he’d felt since leaving Colorado.

He didn’t want to scare her off by sharing anything too deep, but deep was the only way to describe how profoundly he was falling for her.

He was falling so, so, so fucking deep.