Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Zane
My girl is spooked.
She played off that dream like it wasn’t a big deal, but I know trauma when I see it.
She’s faced more than her fair share and she’s developed a hard outer shell to protect her wounds.
So many soldiers do the same. During the day, they wear their strength like a bulletproof vest, but at night…
I went to medical school, paid for by the federal government, in exchange for my service. My skill took me to Special Ops, where I provided medical care on covert missions.
But now, I’ve left the forces and I’m ready to start on my civilian life. I’d been delaying settling down until after I retired.
Absent husbands don’t make for good partners, in my opinion. And I stand by that statement.
The problem, I realized after I left, was that I’m a different man now. I’ve seen some of the worst of life, been through hell, and every woman I’ve tried to date, just wasn’t…deep enough .
It’s not that I want my woman to have suffered. But I also can’t spend Friday nights getting drunk at Applebee’s and then get up on Saturday morning to pick out curtains at Bed Bath and Beyond.
I need more.
And after a year and a half of trying and failing to meet a woman with strength and character, and an understanding of what a life spent in pursuits other than just fun might look like, I decided to flip the script and try this.
There are no guarantees beyond the next few weeks. Cadence could decide I’m not for her. I could decide there is only more pain on this path, not more merit, and we could go our separate ways.
But while I’m here, I will be fully present for Cadence. And no matter how this goes, I want her to be better for knowing me.
With that in mind, I carry her back into the bedroom, her body warm and soft next to mine.
Cadence is, hands down, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. She must have done some modeling with her face and figure.
Flawless features are crowned with shiny red hair that is like fire, and large brown eyes. Her pale pink lips are perfectly bowed, though she tries to set her features in strong lines, the warm brown depths of her large eyes betray her vulnerability.
She talks tough, she acts tough too, but the way her hands rest on my body when I carry her. They beg me to hold her tightly.
I do.
One hand sliding over the lush curve of her ass, I settle my other arm across her back, keeping her steady and secure.
The more I pleasured her in the shower, the deeper she sank into me, until she let me be her…everything.
Her strength. Her pleasure. Her heat.
Her chest is pressed against my face and I kiss her on her breastbone, nuzzling into her. “You smell fantastic.”
She scoffs. “I smell like sleep.”
She’s a tough nut, I’ll give her that. And yes, she does smell like sleep, but the smell is pleasing to some back-of-the-brain sense I can’t name.
I don’t need to. However, I might describe it, one-word echoes through my attempts: right. She smells right.
I kiss her chest through the fabric of the shirt she’s pulled on. “Whatever it is, I like it.”
She scoffs like my words are ridiculous, but her hands give her away. They spread out on my shoulders, sliding up my neck and into my hair.
I smile into her shirt, as I navigate around the bed, gently laying her down on the mattress.
The sex is plenty hot without getting frantic. My first job is to establish some trust. Then I can learn about the trauma.
She’s naked under the shirt, no underwear, and I take full advantage as I begin kissing down her body, pulling up the hem of the shirt.
She hums out her approval when my lips meet the bare skin of her belly.
Her legs fall open as I trace her hips, the slender curve of them looking so small in my large hands.
Her pale skin glows in the moonlight as I kiss that spot where her stomach meets her legs. She lets out a breathless giggle.
I love the sound of it.
To be honest, I’m not a man who likes giggly women. But Cadence isn’t one of those. She rarely laughs like that, I can tell, which makes the sound so sweet. I nip playfully at the same spot, making a full laugh break from her lips as she curls into the mattress.
I laugh too. A little playfulness is exactly what we need.
I start kissing closer to her mound, lightly licking and sucking as I move, tasting her skin, getting to know her.
There is no giggling now as her body arches into my touch, her stomach curling in and her hips flexing up in an unspoken invitation.
I don’t hesitate.
Cadence is sporting a Brazilian, and while I love the view, my preference is a more natural look.
Still, I can’t deny the merits as I kiss across her bare mound, nothing holding back the smell of her arousal or the flush turning her pale skin pink as her lips swell with her desire .
I drag my teeth lightly over her mound, just creating a little more sensation. She moans, her legs spreading wider.
I know an opportunity when I see one, which is why I dip lower, circling my tongue over her clit.
Her body jolts as a keening cry fills the room.
I start working her clit, pressing a finger inside her. Her thighs tremble around my face, her heels digging into the small of my back.
Starting a rhythm, it isn’t long before she buries her fingers into my hair, tugging on the strands and pulling me closer.
I can already tell Cadence likes a bit of pain with her pleasure. But we are wading into those waters slowly and carefully.
Too often, triggers are buried inside desires and it’s a razor’s edge. I will always err on the side of safe.
If there is one thing I want her to feel, it’s that. I can do a complicated woman as long as those complications don’t keep us from building intimacy.
Which is why I don’t go harder, just steady, as I add a second finger, feeling her stretch around me.
She stutters through a gasp, grinding against my hand. She’s wide open now, dripping wet, her heels digging so hard into the small of my back that she’s almost forcing me up her body.
“Zane,” she gasps. “Zane, it’s so good, but I want…” Her words drift off as her chest arches up into the air, her head tossed back, her long red hair streaming across the bed.
“What do you want, sweetheart?” I say, coming up for air and enjoying the gorgeous view.
“Your cock,” she gasps, tugging on my hair as she tries to pull me up.
She doesn’t have to ask me twice.
Sliding up her body, she pushes me along with her feet. My cock finds her opening, sinking inside her, making us both groan.
I’ve been going slowly. Careful. But as I sink inside her, her hands reach around me, grabbing my ass and squeezing us tighter together, and I lose my careful control .
Pulling out, I thrust back inside her, setting a pace that has both of us fighting for air as we climb higher and higher, our hips coming together as I use all my strength to drive her wild.
She scratches at my skin, her mouth crashing into mine as our tongues tangle together.
My balls are on fire with the effort not to cum, but I hold out for her, knowing that she’s close.
Her body trembles under mine, her pants and high-pitched moans only adding to the fever, until finally she breaks.
She cries my name into my mouth and it’s all the permission I need to let go and cum like I’d die if I didn’t.
I have no idea if Cadence and I will work, but I know that sex has never been this good.
I don’t stop pumping until we’re both completely spent. Cadence’s arms have gone soft around me, her cheek nuzzling into the space between my shoulder and neck. “That was…”
I kiss her again, soft and slow. I’m too gassed to speak and I just need a minute before I’m going to be able to settle us properly in the bed.
Her eyes flutter closed, her body twitching as she falls asleep.
“Cade?”
“Hmm,” she hums between her closed lips.
I push up on my elbows looking down at her gorgeous face, so relaxed in sleep. She looks younger, even more vulnerable. It makes me think of the dream and what she might have gone through when she was young and innocent. “Where were you and Ava when you walked in on her being attacked?”
Her eyes flutter open, the pain in them undeniable. “At our foster parents’ shit run down shithole of a two-bedroom ranch.”
Foster parents? Did she grow up in foster care? How bad was it? But I don’t ask. At least not now. She’s already drifting back to sleep, so instead, I wrap her in my arms and lift her up to settle her head on the pillow and tuck her body under the covers.
Then I curl around her and say with my body what I don’t with my words. With me, you are safe .
She snuggles down into my embrace, letting out a soft sigh.
Tonight, she sleeps. Tomorrow, I’ll ask more questions.
But I can already tell she’s not going to like giving answers. If this is going to work, however, I’ve got a find a way past her hard shell.