Chapter 21
MILES
In the dim light poking through the gap in the curtains, London moves to all fours and drifts her gaze up to mine.
My heart crashes in my chest, my gut bottoming out.
Christ, beautiful doesn’t come anywhere close to cutting it.
It’s not good enough.
After reality found us on our last shift with a vengeance, I thought I’d seen every version of this woman. Determined. Annoyed. Nonchalant. Happy. Enraged. Bored.
But this . . .
This is a next-level look into the most stunning soul I’ve ever met.
Okay, she’s officially melted my brain.
Or maybe it’s the fact every drop of blood is currently filling my aching cock. That might have something to do with the runaway train commandeering my thoughts.
Hope the train derails, because this man never wants his sanity back if she is what takes its place.
The breeze picks up as moonlight streams into my bedroom. The clouds have shifted, the room now more lit than before.
“Baby—”
She crawls across the bed, her bottom lip sinking between her teeth. The short, useless lungful I struggle to pull in burns.
“Lon—”
A finger presses to my parted lips. She takes pleasure in doing that, I swear. She rises to her knees and cups my jaw in her hands. “So submissive, sir,” she breathes.
Fuck no.
I slide a hand behind her neck and into her hair before giving it a tug. Her head tilts back, her lips parting. “That’s better.”
“You going to call me that all night?”
“Yes . . . sir.”
Christ almighty.
My cock twitches, pre-cum beading at the tip as I shift on my knees to move a little closer to her.
“Where do you want me?” London’s gaze drops to the very place I need her before I swallow past the stone in my airway in answer. She shuffles backward a little and wraps a hand around my aching shaft.
“Ah fuck, beautiful.”
“I’ll do my best, but slow still, remember?”
With her bratty mouth and dark eyes pinning me to the bed where I kneel, I almost forgot that.
She pumps my cock a few times, and I return my grip to her hair.
The dark curls spill over my fist as she sends her tongue around my tip. Christ al-fucking-mighty.
As she sinks over my cock, squeezing the base, I almost can’t tamp back the need to thrust into her pretty mouth. To ruin those pink lips with every harsh rut into her that my body begs for.
Her ass is canted up as she lowers further, taking me in as far as she can. She sucks her way back up, and my legs begin to shake.
How much effect can one woman have on a man?
Heat spirals rapidly at the base of my spine.
“Baby, stop—”
My cock swells, every tiny movement she makes sending me higher and higher.
“Mhmmm,” she hums, shaking her head slightly.
My grip in her hair turns punishing and my arm tenses, every ridge over every muscle defined. The telltale sensation of release creeps up too fast.
“No, London, stop.”
Her hand closes around my fist in her hair and she takes me into her mouth again, sucking her way up.
My hips move ever so slightly before I school my body still again, and she takes it as her sign to swirl her tongue, suck, and suckle. The next time she takes me all the way into her mouth, I can’t hold back when she sucks her way up, and my release starts to spill over her tongue.
Brown eyes lift to watch me, and I thrust into her mouth, trying like hell not to hurt her.
But fuck.
Tears well in her eyes as she takes me in in long, ragged strokes, my release coating her tongue. I fall back to my heels, spent, as she cleans her mouth, tucking a stray drop of cum in between her lips before swallowing me down.
“Christ, baby, didn’t see that coming.”
“This thing goes both ways. I won’t be selfish with you. I just can’t.”
Huh.
She is always showing me how incredible she is, even when I think I’ve overstepped. Slow seemed to fly out the window when she slid naked into my bed.
“This isn’t slow, is it?” I ask.
“It’s slow enough.” She moves across the bed and climbs into my lap.
Her hands are in my hair a second later, her mouth on mine.
I nip and suckle her, dropping my mouth to her neck, devouring her like some ridiculous cartoon character, nom-nom noises included, and her head falls back as laughter rattles her chest.
This right here is my favorite part of tonight.
Not eating her out, even though that’s a very close second.
Not my fist in her hair while she brought me to climax faster than ever before.
Simply this, her happiness while her bare body is pressed against my own. Her laughter filling one of the darkest nights I have ever lived through.
If this is what control gets me, if this is what keeping her safe looks like, I’ll never give it up.
Because even though this taut line between us has only begun, I’m addicted. And I have no intention of ever coming up for air.
Period.
Long, lithe legs are draped over mine. Dark wavy hair moves in a blur as London shoots forward on the sofa and the popcorn tumbles from her lap, spilling over the floor. “Oh, come on!”
She grabs at the rogue puffed kernels and tosses them back into the bowl. “Ah shit, sorry, three second rule, yeah?”
The bad guy got away again. Apparently. I’m more interested in the girl in my lap than the bad guy the cops are chasing on the screen. To each their own.
Petal slinks for the mat, sniffing the remnants of the spillage as I shake my head at her. “No girl, not for dogs.”
London twists on her seat, a smile stretching around her mouthful of popcorn as she alternates her gaze between me and the pup. “Look at you, a doggy daddy already.”
She dots a kiss to my temple, and the thrill it gives me ought to be illegal. If I’d known that’s all it took . . .
The door rattles under a heavy knock, and I glance at my watch.
Right on time.
“Baby, you’re going to have to hop off me so I can answer the door,” I say softly, nudging her neck with my nose.
She whines, letting her head fall back onto my shoulder. “But I don’t wanna.”
Gripping her hips, I pick her up off my lap and place her on the sofa.
Standing, I brush the popcorn off as I chuckle.
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it, sir,” London says with a sassy little grin.
Christ, woman, we have company.
Petal stands and shakes, ready to greet our guests.
I open the door to a pouty pretty face under blonde hair as red manicured nails thrum over her elbow.
“Took long enough.” Carlie narrows her eyes at me.
I fold her into a hug, and she loosens up before huffing a soft laugh.
Laws raises a brow as his gaze snags behind me.
I turn back to find London tidying up, frazzled even though I left her calm and happy.
“Babe, don’t, it’s fine,” I say.
She stops, mid-sofa sweep, and slides both hands behind her back.
Okay, so I guess officially meeting my friends is kind of a big deal since they’re practically my family.
In every way that counts.
I didn’t take the college track like my older sister, and it was all it took for my parents to not care enough to call anymore.
Small things, I guess.
London clears her throat and shifts on her feet. Laws strides in behind Carlie, who is now planting wine in my fridge.
“Hey London,” Laws says, squatting and holding his arms out to Petal. “Hello precious girl.”
London’s face brightens and she smiles watching Lawson make a fuss over the dog. These two are going to get on like a house on fire.
Pun absolutely intended.
“London, red or white?” Carlie asks, holding two glasses up.
“Um, white?”
Carlie smiles at her and pours two glasses of white wine before padding to the sofa and plucking up the remote. “God, what is this crap?” She flicks through the channels until a rerun of some sitcom with old women in it comes on.
“Oh, The Golden Girls.” London sinks to the sofa with her wine glass, tucking her legs underneath her. “I love this show.”
Carlie holds her glass out. “To the women who came before us.”
“Absolutely.” London taps her glass to Carlie’s, and I take a seat at the kitchen counter.
“Those two will be there for hours if Carlie has her way. How you doin’, bud?” Laws cracks a beer and slides it over the counter to me.
He opens one for himself while I try to find the words to explain the last few days.
Chaotic.
Blissful. My gaze drifts to London, sipping, chatting, laughing.
Heart wrenching . . .
She slaps a hand over her mouth, and my face moves with a half smile that tips one side of my mouth.
Incredible, something that feels like it’s the start of—
“Earth to Milo.” Lawson’s hand is waving in front of my face. “Damn, that was quick.”
The shit-eating grin plastered over my best friend’s face has my gut flipping.
Slow, we were supposed to take this slow.
“Yeah, nah. Just taking one day at a time. Literally, in our line of work.”
“I saw the meth lab fire on the news. That’s so sad.”
He has no idea how much.
“Bud, let’s talk about something less morbid. Petal seems to be loving her new daddy.” Laws raises his beer, the chuckle he’s stifling bobs his Adam’s apple before he takes a swig.
We both know he’s not talking about the pup.
London may be twelve years younger than me, but it hardly matters. At least, not to me. Not that Laws will let me live it down.
God, I can only imagine what Dex and Griff would say. Take this shit and run with it, that’s what.
“Did you have a chance to ask London about Serenity House?” Laws asks, sitting on the stool beside me.
“Not since that first week, no.”
He rolls the bottle in his hand. “It would be good if she could share some hope. So many women have very little left.”
“I’ll ask. But that’s all.”
The protective side of me has my shoulders back and my arms crossed over my chest. Lawson smiles.
“Ah, I get it now.”
“You get what?” My brows lower.
He says nothing, simply winking at me like a damn fool. He takes a mouthful of beer before swinging his gaze to the sofa. “Maybe I should ask Rubes about a bracelet. Another one couldn’t hurt,” he mutters.
What on earth?
“What stupid idea you got whirring around in that big brain of yours, Rawlins?” I side-eye him, and he chuckles.
“Only good things. For you, at least.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
He tilts his head and presses the beer to his lips.
You’ll keep, fucker.
Eventually, we migrate to the sofa, and the channel gets changed to a movie on free TV. This old man has no budget for streaming services. Maybe when I make captain . . .
Carlie gets up to use the bathroom, and Laws goes to pour her another wine and grab some more beers.
“Another drink, London?” Laws asks.
“No, I’m good, thanks.” She leans into my side.
I can’t stop thinking how incredible this feels.
Having her here and in my space. Not just here to see Petal or take care of me out of obligation because I’m part of her crew.
She’s just here.
Something I do not take for granted.
The stark reality of how empty my life was before Petal and London stuns me temporarily. Which apparently shows over my face, because Laws claps a hand on my shoulder from behind. “We’ll get out of your way, Captain.”
But he’s not looking at me. His gaze is on London.
Confusion tightens her face as she twists on her seat to look up at him. “Thank you for spending time with us, Lawson. Carlie is great. We have the same taste in sitcoms.”
“You should come by and meet Millie sometime. She’d love to meet you, after all the stories we’ve told her about you tw—”
London snaps her focus to me, raising an elegant brow.
“Don’t believe a word this redneck says, he’s high on that pretty woman of his.”
London chuckles and pushes up from the sofa and rounds the back, giving Lawson a hug as she says goodnight.
“If you’re giving those away, I’ll take one.” Carlie walks into the living room, arms wide. “It was so good to finally meet you.” Her eyes narrow and pin me to the seat.
I stand, and when they are both done saying their goodbyes, I fold London into my chest, dotting a kiss into her hair.
Closing the door after Lawson and Carlie, I drop my face into her neck and breathe her in. She hums, swaying in my arms.
“Bedtime, Captain,” I whisper against the shell of her ear.
“Talking to yourself, Miles?”
With a low groan originating from somewhere deep in my soul, I whisper, “Not at all.”