Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
~IVIE~
H as anyone ever looked at me the way Shane’s gazing at me right now? Like he wants to eat me with a spoon?
No. The answer to that would be a resounding no.
“Are you getting nervous on me?” he asks as he slowly crosses to me and hooks his finger into the waistband of my yoga pants.
“No, why do you ask?”
“Because I can see your pulse throbbing, right here.” He leans in and ever-so-gently lays his lips over the tender flesh of my neck. If I wasn’t already turned on, which I definitely am, that would have done the trick. He’s warm, and when my hands glide up his bare arms, he’s smooth and firm. And I get to touch him. Do whatever I want to and with him.
Good God, am I dreaming?
“It’s not because I’m nervous.” I swallow hard and let my eyes drift closed as pure sensation floats through me.
“No?”
I slowly shake my head and then smile when his lips drift up to my jawline and over to my lips.
This kiss isn’t light, playful, or comforting.
It’s slow and hot. Arousing. All-encompassing.
“Never met anyone quite like you,” he whispers as his hands slip into my pants, and he slowly pushes them over my hips. He makes a sweet, slow journey down my torso with his lips, planting hot kisses as he guides my pants down my legs.
When I’m standing before him in nothing but my neon green panties, he kisses me over the small scrap of material, right on my pubis.
My sharp inhale of breath has his gaze flying up to mine, and with an amused grin, he stands, takes my hand, and leads me to the bed.
Shane’s eyes are soft and so full of lust, it makes me want to look behind myself to make sure it’s me he’s gazing at.
The thought makes me laugh a little.
“Is this funny?”
“No.”
With his hands framing my face, he urges me onto the mattress and rolls me to the middle of the bed where he can cover me and keep kissing me.
“What made you smile?”
“Just a stupid thought.”
“None of your thoughts are stupid, Ivie.”
I love that he calls me Ivie. That it seemingly never even occurred to him to use my given name when he learned the truth about me.
“Just trust me on this,” I assure him and push my fingers through his dark hair. “You still have your pants on.”
His lips twitch. “What are you going to do about it?”
I bite my lip, considering, then push against his shoulder and urge him back, reversing our positions.
I’ve never been quite so bold in all my life, but it’s exhilarating to be the one in control—if only for a few moments.
Rather than tug his jeans open with my hands, I kiss down the hard ridges of his abs, nuzzle his navel, and grip the denim with my teeth, pulling the top button free. All five open easily, and I’m not even a little surprised to find him naked underneath.
“I guess that answers that question.”
“Which one is that?” He gently pushes his fingers through my hair.
“Boxers or briefs?”
He snorts out a laugh but smothers it when I urge his jeans over his hips and plant a kiss on his cock, right under his sensitive tip. Shane’s hips jerk in surprise. When his jeans are long gone, I don’t give him time to retake control.
I take his cock in my hand and wrap my lips around the tip, enjoying myself.
He’s rock-hard, and if the way he moves beneath me, and the moans of delight coming from his lips are to be believed, he’s enjoying my efforts immensely.
“Jesus H., Ivie, where did you learn to do that?”
Satisfaction bubbles through me, but suddenly, he rears up, takes my shoulders in his hands, and pushes me back onto the bed.
“Hey, I was having fun.”
“Too much fun. I’m not going to come in your mouth the first time. We’re going to make this last a bit.”
“Okay, I’ll do it again later.”
He laughs and kisses me hard. “Do you have any idea how fucking beautiful you are?”
I raise a brow. “I’m glad you think so.”
I’m not stupid. I know I’m not a beauty queen. I’m passable at best. But it fills my heart with joy that this sexy-as-hell man thinks I’m attractive.
His lips are everywhere. His movements are suddenly more urgent as if he just can’t hold himself back any longer.
And I don’t want him to. I want Shane to lose himself in me. In us. I don’t think he lets himself just feel very often. The fact that he’s doing so with me is both humbling and arousing.
He doesn’t guide my underwear down my legs.
No, he just rips them off.
I blink at him in surprise.
“They were in my way.” With that simple statement, he nudges my legs apart with his shoulders and settles in between them.
But he doesn’t lower his mouth to me.
He pets me.
His fingers linger over my lips, then glide up to my clit, barely pass over it, and then move back down again.
My hips surge.
“Lord, have mercy,” I mutter as my back arches. “Shane.”
“Yes, baby?”
“Shane.”
“I’m right here.”
“More.”
He kisses the inside of my thigh. “What do you need? Tell me.”
“More,” I repeat and reach blindly to grip the sheets.
“More of this?” His touch is firmer now, but it’s not his fingers I want. “Or this?” He gently circles my hard clit—electricity shooting through me. “What do you want?”
“You.” The word is a plea. My God, I feel like I’m about to burst from wanting him. “Your mouth.”
“Good girl. Watch this.”
I open my eyes and watch as he lowers his head to lick me. Then, he starts doing magical things that I can’t even comprehend as my head falls back against the pillow, and he treats my body to a smorgasbord of sensation.
I can’t hold back. I couldn’t if I wanted to. Falling over the crest of oblivion is as natural as water rushing over a waterfall.
And when I begin to surface, I feel those magical lips on my thighs, then up my belly. When he buries his face against my neck and takes a long, deep breath, I wrap myself around him, arms and legs enfolding him, needing him close.
“I’m clean, too,” he whispers against my ear. “I’d never put you at risk.”
“I know.”
And with that invitation, with his face close to mine, and our bodies twined together, he slowly slips inside me, filling me completely.
“Christ,” he mutters, his voice hoarse. “Christ, Ivie.”
I stroke his back, his hand slipping beneath me to cup my ass as he begins to move. He does so slowly at first and then with vigor, the push and pull driving us both over that cliff and into the abyss beyond.
When the room quiets, and we’re tangled together, both catching our breath, I smile and drag my foot up his calf. “I’ve been waiting for that for months. I didn’t think you’d ever want to do me.”
He snorts. “You have such a fun way with words.” He turns his head to press a kiss to my cheek. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know you. It’s unexpected and not typical for me, but the learning-you parts, the foreplay as you put it, has been as fun as the sex itself. And given that I can’t feel my legs and am eighty-percent sure I had a stroke when I came, that’s saying something.”
I can’t help the giggle that comes out of me, and I drag my fingertips down his cheek.
I’m in love with him. I’ve been falling for weeks. Every time he called me, each time we flirted during a meal or just exchanged looks from across a room, led to this.
Shane Martinelli is everything I’ve ever hoped to find in a man. Not because he completes me or anything cliché like that, but because he’s simply… him. I know he thinks we can’t have anything permanent because of his dangerous job.
But maybe he’ll come around. Perhaps he’ll see how good we are together and change his mind.
I can’t sleep. I’ve never had insomnia issues before, and after a rigorous afternoon of sex, some delicious food, and even more sex, you’d think I’d be comatose.
Shane’s sleeping soundly next to me, his breaths even as the light of the moon filters through the window.
I envy him. I’m restless, so rather than toss and turn next to him, potentially waking him, I slip from the bed and wrap up in one of his flannel shirts. I’m able to get out the door without a sound and decide I’d like to sit outside.
We’re headed solidly into fall, and evenings are cool here in the mountains, so I grab a blanket off the couch on my way to the back door.
It’s a clear night. With no light noise from any city, it’s dark, aside from the light of the moon, and I can see more stars than I ever have in my life.
If I’m not mistaken, I can see Venus. I bundle the blanket around me and take a long, deep breath of crisp, fresh air.
I see why Shane loves it out here. The air is clean, and no one’s around.
I would never have thought I’d enjoy the quiet like this, but it’s peaceful.
A coyote howls in the distance. A light breeze blows through, rustling the bushes beside the back porch.
I can see Curt’s little cabin off in the distance. The lights are on, and there’s a small trail of smoke coming from a chimney. I can’t help but wonder what kind of horrors that man has seen in his life to make him want to exile himself out here with no interaction with anyone except Shane. Did the two of them serve together? Did they see the same horrors? Neither seems eager to discuss it.
But I’m nosy, and I’m curious.
An owl—at least, I think it’s an owl—flies overhead, making me smile. It may be quiet, but it’s not boring out here, even at night.
I don’t know exactly what has me so restless tonight. “I’m just silly.”
“Hoo. Hoo.”
I glance up. Yep, it’s an owl.
“I am,” I reply with a smile. “I should be fast asleep, and you should be out hunting for your breakfast.”
“Hoo. Hoo.”
“Exactly.”
Suddenly, there’s a commotion behind me, and Shane comes running out the back door, yelling my name.
“Ivie! Ivie!”
“Hey, I’m right here.” I stand, letting the blanket fall. “Shane, I’m right here.”
He’s panting and out of breath as his chin falls to his chest in relief, and then he takes my shoulders in his hands. “Don’t ever fucking do that again.”
“Do what? I couldn’t sleep so I came out to look at the stars.”
“You can’t just leave while I’m asleep and not tell me where you’re going.”
“Yes. I can.”
He shakes his head and paces away from me as if he’s completely frustrated. “No, Ivie. There are people out there looking for you. People who want you killed. And it’s my goddamn job to keep you safe. I can’t do that when I don’t know where you are.”
“Where am I going to go?” I demand and prop my hands on my hips, staring at him. “You’re overreacting, Shane. I couldn’t sleep so I came out to talk to that owl that just flew off. I didn’t sneak out to go to a party.”
“I’m not overreacting.” He shakes his head and then rubs the back of his neck in agitation. “I woke up, and you were gone. Not in the bathroom, not grabbing something in the kitchen. Gone. I have top-of-the-line security here. If anyone breached the perimeter, I have alarms that would go off. But what if someone managed to slip through and get you?”
“Hey, they didn’t.” I walk toward him, but he won’t let me touch him. “Shane, I literally just wanted some fresh air.”
“Just wake me up and tell me next time.” He blows out a breath.
“You’re scared.” I blink at him in surprise.
“Of course, I am.” He rubs his hand over his mouth. “You’ll never know what it felt like to hear that you’d been taken. To watch the footage on Annika’s tape. To know that someone had you and I wasn’t there to get you.”
“But you did get me.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t get it.”
“Okay, tell me.”
He rubs his neck again. This time, I don’t let him back away. I wrap my arms around him and press my cheek to his chest.
“Tell me.” My voice is quiet now.
“If something happened to you, I don’t know that I would ever get over it.” He presses his lips to my head. “You are important, Ivie. I won’t ever let someone get to you again. If you want fresh air, we’ll get fresh air. But I need to know. ”
“Okay.” I rub his back in soothing circles. “I’m sorry that I scared you. I just wanted to let you sleep.”
“When all of this is over, you can let me sleep.”
Is he still going to be around when all this is finished?
It’s a question I’m not brave enough to ask. Not yet.
“So, if I want to go for a walk on your property, I have to ask for permission?”
“Either Curt or I will go with you.”
“Okay.” I kiss his chest and pull back to look up at him. “I have to use the bathroom. Do you want to go with me to that, too?”
His lips twitch as his eyes narrow into slits. “Wouldn’t bother me a bit.”
I scowl. “Ew. It would bother me . You aren’t allowed in the bathroom. That’s where I draw the line.”
“We all have one,” he says simply. “Do you still want to sit out here?”
“The owl and I are done talking.” I reach down for the blanket. “We can go in. I’m sorry you ended up waking up anyway.”
“I’m not. You scared ten years off my life, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a short one as it is.”
I stop and stare up at him. “Don’t say stuff like that.” He shrugs and moves to walk inside, but I stop him. “Seriously. Don’t. You hate the idea of something happening to me, and the same goes for me, Shane. It’s not funny.”
“No.” He kisses my nose and then takes the blanket to carry. “You’re right, it’s not funny. Let’s go get some rest.”