Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
I never thought I’d be sitting bare-assed on Lily’s kitchen floor trying to catch my breath after an intense, albeit incomplete, blow job.
One of the best of my life, interruption notwithstanding.
Even the sting of her teeth when the doorbell startled her couldn’t quell my raging libido as long as she kneeled there in front of me, asking if she could touch me, lick me, suck me.
God dammit.
When I agreed to let Lily use me to explore her sexuality, I underestimated just how much it would cost me. I couldn’t stop this train now, though, and part of me didn’t want to.
Anders better follow through on his promise to kick my ass, because I wasn’t sure how I would ever go back to the way our friendship had been.
Oh, I would try. Not having Lily in my life would be torture, but I’m sure it would come with so much heartbreak that I would need to be beaten back together again when this all went south.
After all the women I’d been with, and it’s definitely more than my fair share, I’d never stopped chasing the high that it used to bring. Lately, and by lately, I mean for years now, sex was… good, but not great, not thrilling. The excitement that came with young fumbling had worn off ages ago.
This, though, these little scraps of Lily’s attention, her touch, her moans, her eagerness and openness were like a drug. Better. Being with Lily like this was better than even my wildest dreams.
I was right to take this slowly.
A tendril of fear ran through me at the thought that somehow, I would ruin it, that I would ruin her. If she lost any of the hope, joy, softness, honesty, whatever made her face all soft and happy when she looked at me, I wouldn’t survive, and I’m certain that it would be my fault.
Fuck .
How am I supposed to keep the dark, desperate side of me from her? The part that wanted to push her to her absolute limits and ruin other men for her.
I let my head thump back against the wall and focused on literally anything but Lily.
I needed to get my shit under control and eat dinner—feed Lily dinner.
My cock perked back up at that idea and I closed my eyes, willing it back down again.
The poor thing was probably going to fall off with all this teasing.
Feed Lily, and then we can feed this fire between us .
“Let’s eat in here,” Lily called from the couch.
Do not think about eating Lily.
“Yeah, I just need a minute,” I called to her as soon as I could speak again .
“Bring forks.”
Five breaths and one recitation of the General Orders later, I stood. I put my pants back on to keep my cock under control, grabbed the forks, poured us more wine, and joined her in the living room for dinner.
The smell of spiced lamb reached me, and I inhaled deeply.
Olympia Cafe down by the river was a favorite of mine.
Lily had spread the rest of the food out on the coffee table that dominated the floor space in the small living room.
She held a piece of kalamari in one hand and a tiropitakia in the other, like she couldn’t decide what she wanted to eat more.
The custom made, one of a kind, expensive, and irreplaceable coffee table was a K.
Night original black walnut with a waterfall edge.
We had one of his pieces in the Hilton Head house.
Lily treated it like she treated everything—comfortable, with a loving familiarity reminiscent of how she treated me.
No one else ever made me feel so normal.
Even the Marines. They either treated me like dirt or were in awe of my service record—no in between.
Lily treated me like I was just Duke. Just me.
I watched her pick her food and tried to picture her living in an old, southern mansion like the one I grew up in and would soon inherit. I’d seen her there plenty, but she never idolized it like most people. It was the thing I liked best about her.
She belonged here with her books and plants and dirty teacups, and not in the marble and gold gilded excess that was thrust on me from birth.
She looked so achingly perfect here, surrounded by everything she’d chosen for herself, cozy and comfortable. This home was somewhere a person could just exist without the weight of the world pressing down on them.
“Oh, good. Forks.” She had taken up residence on the floor, putting the coffee table at the perfect height to treat it like a dining table. I set down the wine and forks and grabbed a pillow to sit down beside her.
We ate the food straight from the containers. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point, she leaned back against me between my legs as she picked at her dinner.
“You haven’t had anything to drink,” I murmured in her ear. I wrapped one of my arms firmly around her waist and used the other to grab her wine.
I pulled her back against me, sliding my free hand up to rest lightly against her throat. She melted against me, completely trusting that I would take care of her.
Fuck .
I used my hand to tilt her head back on my shoulder.
“Open up.”
She did as I asked without protest, and I poured just a little of the drink into her mouth, watching closely as the liquid hit her tongue and dribbled out of the corner of her lips.
Her throat moved under my hand as she swallowed and the image of her on her knees before me, swallowing my cock down came rearing to the forefront of my mind.
I set the glass down and leaned in to lick the drops of wine from the corner of her mouth. She gasped, and I turned her head so I could trace the line of her lips and follow the taste of Chardonnay along her tongue.
She tasted like spiced apples and when I pulled her tighter against me, she moaned so sweetly. My cock ached to feel her against me, but I didn’t push her. I needed to go slow, or I would combust.
I used my grip on her jaw to tilt her head back again and kissed a path to the pulse point right behind her ear.
“Is this ok?” I asked.
She moaned quietly as I traced the edge of her ear with the tip of my tongue.
“Yes.” She pushed her hips back, dragging them along my hard length, the pressure exquisite torture.
“If I move my hand,” I ran my finger along her jaw so she knew which hand, “will you be a good girl and stay still for me?”
I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
“Yes.”
I gently ran my hand down her neck to her shoulder and arm. I brought her arm up and around me so she could use me as an anchor. She arched again and whimpered at the open position.
“Stay still, Lily.”
Knowing full well that she wouldn’t—couldn’t—stay still, I ran my hand down her arm to her side, brushing her breast and running my thumb along the edge of the wide arm of her tank top.
I brushed her silk smooth skin with my calloused fingers, teasing her with a touch just to the side of where I knew she needed it.
She had been right that I had experienced, enough to know exactly how to tease and tempt her.
With my other hand, I lifted the hem of her shirt and ran my hand along the bare skin to the edge of her pants. I slipped my pinky under the waistband, just far enough to feel the top of her curls.
“Duke.” She squirmed.
“Be a good girl for me.”
She nodded and then turned her head to nuzzle my neck.
I ran my hand along her stomach, feeling the smooth skin pulled just a little too tight over her hipbones. I needed to do a better job of making sure she ate, but not tonight. Tonight, I needed to feed another hunger altogether.
When she moved her head again, I had the perfect access to kiss along her neck until I could nip gently at the spot where it met her shoulder.
She whimpered and ground against me again.
“Use your words, Lily. Do you still want this?” I asked. “Do you still want me?” I couldn’t help tacking that on. It wasn’t fair of me to ask her like this, but I needed to hear that she wanted me and not just sex.
“Yes, Duke. I still want you.”
She ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck.
I’d let my hair grow long since leaving the Marines, a little rebellion against the organization that demanded so much from me and then kicked me out without a second thought.
I had been considering cutting it again, just to get it off my neck, but Lily’s fingers twined in it and tugged, and I reconsidered my plans.
She used her grip on my head to guide me back to her neck and arched herself into the touch, moving along my cock and thrusting her chest out, looking for stimulation I wasn’t going to provide.
“I’m not going to fuck you here,” I whispered in her ear before taking the lobe into my mouth and sucking on it lightly.
She whimpered again.
“Please, Duke. I need—” I nipped at her neck again and she didn’t finish her sentence.
“I know what you need and it’s not a fast and dirty fucking on the living room floor. Not tonight. Tonight, we are going to savor this. You’re going to be comfortable, naked, and begging when I finally fill you.”
“Yes, please. ”
She arched against me again, lost in a haze of pleasure. My cock throbbed at the sight of her drunk on my touches. In all my wild fantasies, I’d never pictured this. The soft, open, sensual woman before me. She was so different from the Lily that most people saw. No one had seen her like this.
The dark, possessive part of me purred in satisfaction.
She was mine . Only mine. Forever. No one else would ever get to this see part of her.
I considered picking her up and carrying her into the bedroom, since she didn’t seem eager to leave her perch between my legs, but logistically, that wouldn’t work in such a small space. I caged the beast inside that demanded I throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to my cave.