Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Devon stretched himself out on the mattress. His hand circled his erection, but she shook her head.
“Hands off. That’s mine.”
Aurora got onto her hands and knees on the bed, then crawled toward him. She straddled his thighs and tore open the condom wrapper. The latex rolled onto him in her deft hands. Using protection had never turned him on so much.
She backed away to kiss a line along one thigh, then the other. The kisses progressed upward along his stomach. His chest. But she wasn’t letting any part of herself touch him where he needed it most.
“You’re making me crazy,” he growled.
She laughed, and her mouth slanted down onto his. He kissed her back, vigorously. Sucking her tongue and lips. Nipping at her neck.
Aurora straightened. Carefully, she lined up her opening over his tip. He felt her heat.
“Do you want me?”
“Yes. Now.” He could no longer manage more than single syllables.
She started to lower herself onto him, inch by inch. He had to squeeze his eyes shut. She was so tight. He held onto her hips, wanting to thrust into her. But she grabbed his hands and pushed them back to the bed.
“Your arms had better stay here. What happened to all that self-control?”
You destroyed it, he thought.
Aurora trailed kisses down his throat. “I’m going to fuck you when I’m good and ready.”
Finally, she’d sank herself all the way to his base. She started to move, undulating her hips against him. His cock slid partway out of her, then home again, over and over. She licked her lips, looking down at him. It didn’t take long for her to speed up, her features tightening as she enjoyed him.
He’d never seen anything so beautiful, so impossibly sexy as this: Aurora spread over him, using his cock with abandon, taking whatever pleasure she wanted from him.
All he had to do was sit back and watch.
She wasn’t trying to dominate him, really.
At least he didn’t feel particularly submissive.
But he understood that she wanted to be in charge of her own pleasure. And he fucking loved it.
“Squeeze my nipples,” she commanded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He rolled the little pink nubs between his thumbs and forefingers. She tipped her head back, crying out. Devon groaned. One more scream out of her like that, and he wouldn’t be able to hold back his orgasm.
She pushed her hands into his shoulders for more leverage. His hips lifted off the bed, meeting her, and she didn’t complain. They moved together in perfect sync. “Devon,” she gasped out, and then she shuddered, her movements turning staccato.
When he was sure she was finished, he bucked himself into her slick wetness. He didn’t take his eyes off her as he came, pumping into her until he was spent.
They sprawled onto the bed side by side, panting. For a few minutes, he couldn’t move.
Reality started to come back. But not the panic or the guilt. Their chemistry was too strong. Aurora was like a drug, and he’d resisted for as long as he could. Now, he was hooked.
Distantly, he thought of the danger outside. The men who’d come after Aurora. They were still out there, searching. Plotting.
Devon would die before he let them touch her. The rest of it? His job, her brother? He couldn’t deal with that right now.
He left briefly to get rid of the condom, and then he was back next to her, pulling her close. She turned so that he was behind her, curving around her. He lay a path of kisses along her shoulder to her ear.
“You’re a firecracker,” he whispered to her.
She smiled lazily. “You’re pretty smoking yourself.”
“I need to go check on things. But I’ll be right back, okay?”
She rolled over, eyes worried. “Promise?”
He stroked her cheek. “I promise. I can’t wait to get back here.” She grabbed his hand and kissed it. She looked so sweet there on the pillow. He was already looking forward to the next time he’d have her, wondering what position they should choose.
He was in so much trouble. But he still had a job to do, regardless of how badly he’d screwed up.
He’d just have to find some way to do both—protect her and have her. Because there was no way they could go back to whatever they were before. They’d already crossed the point of no return.
When he came back to bed, she was dozing. He slid in beside her. She smiled, eyelids fluttering.
“Everything looks good out there. Nice and quiet.”
“Mmmm.”
Her body was small but firm. He loved the way she fit perfectly against his side.
“Are you okay?” she asked sleepily.
“Better than okay.” The last time he’d gotten laid, he’d still been in the army. And though he’d liked that girl and showed her a nice time, she hadn’t meant nearly as much to him.
“You’re not going to flip out over what we just did?”
“Flip out? Me? I’m way too cool under pressure.”
Her head popped up to smirk at him. “If someone’s pointing a gun at you, maybe. But if a woman kisses you?”
“This was a weird situation. You have to admit that.” And there were still so many complications. He pulled her back down against him and ran his fingers through her hair. “But I don’t regret a single second of it.”
“Good,” she whispered. The word was full of self-consciousness.
“Do you regret it?”
“Not at all. Especially now that I know you don’t.”
An image flashed through his mind of her on top of him. “I loved how demanding you were. Just in case you couldn’t tell.”
Her fingers tightened on his arm. “I’m glad. Not all guys are into being told what to do. My ex wasn’t.”
He ignored the surge of jealousy caused by her mention of another man. “Then he must’ve been insecure. I like it when you’re bossy.” He trailed a hand down her back and rested his palm on the curve of her rear. “This ex of yours. He’s the reason you moved back to West Oaks?”
“Sort of.”
Devon didn’t want to hear about her with someone else. But he could tell that she needed to talk about it. Clearly, this past relationship was weighing on her mind. “What happened?”
She heaved a sigh. “Justin was my college boyfriend. He was the quarterback of his high school football team, but he chose to go to school on an academic scholarship. He was pre-med. Great on paper, obviously. I didn’t realize at first how arrogant he was.
My friends and my interests were never as important as his.
He would poke fun at my classes. Like my major wasn’t serious enough.
He usually didn’t seem controlling. He was more manipulative than that.
He liked to take care of me and spoil me.
Buying me gifts and taking me on surprise trips.
I thought it was so sweet. But my senior year, after he started medical school, he got a lot worse.
He was always belittling me for wanting to be a party planner, even though I loved the internships I was doing.
He didn’t like when I talked about what I wanted.
Either inside the bedroom, or out of it. ”
So that explained her hesitation earlier about taking charge. Her jerk of an ex must’ve shamed her for it.
“I finally realized that Justin’s attempts to ‘take care’ of me were really about him.
He wanted to control me, as if I was an extension of him and not a separate person.
And I actually let him do it. For years.
I barely had a life separate from him in St. Louis.
Not my own apartment, my own car, my own credit cards. Not even many of my own friends.”
“That’s hard to picture. The Aurora Bennett I know is no pushover.”
“I know! I think he gave me just enough leeway that I felt assertive, but he always had the final say on anything that mattered. But eventually, I told Justin I wasn’t happy, and he responded by setting up this elaborate marriage proposal at our college’s homecoming game.
As if I wouldn’t be able to refuse if he just blinded me with an empty romantic gesture.
But instead, it finally opened my eyes. After I left him, I had nothing.
I could’ve struggled on, I guess, but I didn’t even know who I was in St. Louis.
Coming back home made so much more sense. ”
“And you felt like Max was doing the same thing? Trying to control you?” Devon stroked her back, and she melted against him.
“Yes. He was always protective when I was a kid, maybe because he’s so much older. I know that Max loves me. He’s been an ideal brother in so many ways. But I can’t lose myself again.”
“I get that.” He closed his eyes, nestling his head into the pillow. Aurora’s fraught relationship with her brother made a lot more sense now. He recalled his promise not to lie, and he hadn’t. But Devon had still held back a key piece of information.
Aurora might need protection physically since some ruthless bastards were after her. But she needed no protection from the truth.
“There’s something I should probably tell you. Max ordered me not to touch you.”
She sat up. “Wait. He what?”
“When he first asked me to take on this assignment. I’m sure he was worried about someone taking advantage of you. He made me swear I’d keep my hands off you… And he implied he’d fire me if I didn’t.”
Which Devon had been trying not to think about. It wasn’t Aurora’s concern. He absolutely didn’t want to worsen her relationship with her brother. But he was sure that Aurora would want to know.
“Fire you? Unbelievable. Un-freaking-believable.”
“Honestly, if it was my sister? And I was hiring some of the guys I was in the army with? I’d have made them swear not to touch her, either.” He wasn’t going to argue Max’s case further. He’d already tried that, and Aurora wasn’t disposed to listen.
“You’re telling me not to be angry?”
“No. I wouldn’t dream of that. But I would like you to know that normally I’d never do this. Sleep with someone I was hired to protect.”
Her scowl lessened, and the corner of her mouth ticked upward in a smile. “Are you saying I’m special?”
“Very special.” Devon hooked his arm around her waist, drawing her against him. He kissed her forehead, her nose. “After this is over, I’d like to take you out. Keep getting to know you. That was what I hoped I might do before—assuming I could get Max’s blessing—but then…”
Her leg draped across his hip. “I was too irresistible.”
“Damn right.”
“So, you like me?”
“Yeah, I do. A lot.” His body was reacting to her, showing her just how much he liked her.
“I like you too, Whitestone.” She rubbed herself against him. This girl was insatiable. Maybe as insatiable as he was. Now that he’d given in to his craving, the carnal urge to fuck was overpowering.
Then she pulled away, sitting up again. Her expression had gone back to serious. “Let me handle my brother. He’ll probably be mad, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t take it out on you. Until then? We’ll keep this just between us.”
“I can live with that.”
She crawled on top of him and captured his mouth in a kiss. Devon reached for another condom.