Chapter 13 #3
He brought their joined hands to rest against his thigh, covering her fingers with both of his.
"I'll stay. I'll be here until you tell me you want me gone.
" He knew he'd stay whether Guardian wanted him to or not.
But if she ever learned or deduced what he really did, he wasn't sure she'd want him to stay.
He buried that thought away, knowing her figuring it out was inevitable.
Good people didn't want people like him in their lives.
It wasn't the way the world worked. But God, looking at her now, he wanted to be the exception because the feelings that were building for this woman were real.
They talked until the wine was gone, the fire burned low, and the candles guttered.
Between long stretches of comfortable silence, they drifted across topics, their hands remaining intertwined like it was the most natural thing in the world.
They talked about her first byline in college, the professor who had doubted her, and his own struggles with keeping up with school before Guardian training consumed his life.
Every so often, Blake rose and went up to the bedroom to check on Rook.
Each time he returned, Elise was waiting, her expression a little more open, her voice a little softer, her body unconsciously angled toward him as he settled back beside her.
Closer each time until their shoulders brushed and he could feel the warmth radiating from her skin.
As the night wore on, she began to lean into him, her head finding its way to his shoulder during a particularly long, comfortable silence. Blake went still, hardly daring to breathe as she relaxed against him, her hair tickling his neck, her hand still linked with his.
"Blake?" Her voice was sleepy, wine-soft.
"Mmm?"
"Thank you. For everything. For making me feel safe when my whole world is falling apart."
His arm came around her, pulling her closer, his lips brushing the top of her head. "You don't have to thank me for that."
She tilted her face up to look at him, and suddenly, they were impossibly close, her lips parted, eyes dark with something that had nothing to do with fear. The air between them crackled with tension, with want barely held in check.
"Elise," he whispered, her name a rough prayer on his lips.
For a heartbeat, they balanced on the edge of something that would change everything.
Then she lifted her hand to cup his cheek, her thumb tracing the sharp line of his jaw, and the world narrowed to just this—her touch, her scent, the way she was looking at him like he was something precious instead of something dangerous.
“Make love to me.” She whispered the words millimeters away from his lips.
He wasn’t going to ask if she were sure.
He lowered his lips to hers and moved her onto his lap.
Her hands were threading through his hair as he pulled her closer.
The electric tension became a nuclear explosion.
The feel of her tongue dancing against his made his gut curl with desire.
He clinched his arms around her and moved them both to the floor.
They didn’t break the kiss as he kneed her legs apart and settled on top of her.
Her hips arched under his, and he groaned at the friction she caused against his cock.
Fuck, she ignited every desire he had. He lifted away from the kiss and looked down at her. “I need you.”
“Then take me.” She rimmed his lips with her fingertip, and he chased her finger, pulling it into his mouth and applying pressure. Her already large pupils blew larger. Her breath caught, and she smiled. “Are you going to be hard to tame?”
He sucked her finger for a moment before he dropped it and stared down at her. “I can’t be tamed.” He lowered. “I like to be in control.” He took her bottom lip with his teeth and bit down enough that she would understand what he meant.
She moaned and arched under him. “Then take control,” she panted. “I don’t want to have to think, to make any decisions, to worry about anything.”
“I’ve got you. You’re safe with me,” he said as he lifted and stripped off his t-shirt. Her hand went straight to a long scar that ran from one side of his chest down across his stomach.
She looked up at him. “And you’re safe with me. That I promise you.”
He cocked his head, not understanding what she was saying, but he didn’t care at the moment. He lifted off her and stood, taking off his clothes. As she lifted to her elbows, she watched him and said, “Damn it, Blake, you’re gorgeous.”
“Stand up.” He offered her his hand, and she stood up. “Undress for me.” He sat on the couch and grabbed his cock that was diamond hard and ready for action. Elise blinked, and her mouth opened to talk. He held up a hand. “No decisions, no worries, no thinking. Undress for me. Shirt first.”
He could see the blush rise from her chest, but she took off her shirt and tossed it onto the chair beside the fire. “The bra.” Blake licked his lips as he watched her take off the lace. Her breasts were full, and her nipples a dark rose color. “Touch yourself. Show me how you like to be touched.”
Her hand rose, hesitantly at first. He held her gaze as her hand circled each of the hardened nipples.
She rolled them in her fingers, pinching them and tugging a bit.
She closed her eyes and dropped her head back.
The long curve of her neck was exposed and sexy as fuck. “Take off your jeans, Elise.”
When she lifted her head and her eyes opened, the only thing he saw in them was desire.
She dropped her hands to the button at her waistband and unfastened it.
Shimmying them down her legs, she stepped out of them.
Then her hands went to her panties. “No.” He stood up.
“Those are mine.” He grabbed her and pulled her into him, slamming down to kiss her deeply, completely, and controlling everything from the position of her body to the amount of air he allowed her to have during the kiss.
His hands traveled down her back, over her ass, and back up.
On the way down again, his thumbs slipped under the thin strap of elastic.
He flexed and ripped the material away from her body.
She gasped through her surprise while he kissed her even harder.
His hands tangled in her long, dark hair.
He grabbed her ass cheeks and lifted her as her legs wound around his waist. He kept them locked in a kiss as he moved them to the wall.
Pushing her against the wall, he centered his cock under her, then released her lips for a second. “Condom?”
She shook her head and gasped, “Birth control.” That was all he needed.
He took her lips again and thrust his cock deep inside her.
The sound she made was fucking fuel to a fire that burned hot in his gut.
He withdrew and slammed home again. Her fingernails dug deep into his shoulders, which fucking added kerosene to the flames that consumed him.
Unable to breathe, he broke the kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face against his neck.
“God, yes.” She panted as he pistoned into her. “Harder,” she whispered.
“Hold on,” he warned her, and she tightened her arms. Dropping one arm, he placed it under her leg and then the other.
“Loosen your grip.” She did, and Blake lifted her and dropped her onto his cock as the wall supported her.
He growled, “I want to see you touch yourself.” She dropped one hand to her breast and rolled her nipple in her fingers.
“Harder, Elise. You know you want it harder.”
She moaned and rolled, pulling at the same time. Blake was so damn close, but he saw the moment she fractured. Her entire body went tight, and then she arched, bucking him almost off his feet. Losing all control, he grabbed her tightly, hammering his way into one of the best orgasms of his life.
They gasped for air together for a few moments before he carefully let her legs down, holding her against the wall until he could wrap his arms around her waist. She stood—or rather leaned—against him, and holding her against him, he edged them over to the couch, where he lay down beside her.
He draped a quilt over them and adjusted her so she was on top of him.
Then he ran his fingers through her hair and stared at the coals of the fire.
“Want to know something?”
He glanced down at her to see her staring up at him. “Yes.”
She chuckled and lifted to her elbows. “No man has ever”—she dropped her head, her hair covered her face—“made me feel vulnerable and protected at the same time.”
He pushed her hair away. “Don’t hide from me.”
She lifted her face. “Like that. Vulnerable and protected at the same time. How do you do that?”
“I don’t know.” And that was the truth. “Most women don’t like to hand over control.”
“I wasn’t sure if I would.” She bit her bottom lip. “But I did. I really did.”
“Then there’s much more where that came from.”
“How much more?” She cocked her head and stared at him. He could see that brilliant mind working.
“Only as much as you can handle. Never more.”
She smiled shyly. “I can live with that.” She dropped her head to his chest. “Look. It’s almost morning.”
Dawn had begun to gray the edges of the windows, and Blake realized he hadn't thought about Zajac or the threats outside these walls for hours. Not good for a person who’d spent his life looking for threats.
But for one night, he'd sat in the eye of the storm, laid bare by firelight and truths that were half-spoken.
He nodded. “It is. You should sleep a bit.” He stroked her hair as she yawned and snuggled against him.
Their bodies intertwined like they'd been made to fit together.
For the first time in years, he felt something more dangerous than anything he’d ever experienced before.
He felt hope.