Chapter 31
I don’t fumble what’s mine.
Gage
A ddy wiggles in my arms as I carry her from my SUV to the chalet. “You can set me down now.”
I’m not ready to set her down. When I saw her collapse on the galleon, I nearly lost my mind. My heart stopped and it hasn’t returned to beating normally yet.
I grunt. “Nope.”
“Nope?” She imitates my grunt. “Me big man. Me no let little woman walk.”
She can make fun of me all she wants. Hell, she can get mad and rant at me. I don’t give the first fuck.
I need her in my arms. I need to know she’s alive and breathing. I inhale a deep breath and allow her scent to fill my lungs. It helps to calm me but it’s not enough. I tighten my arms.
She giggles. “Are you seriously going to carry me around all night?”
“Yep.”
“I thought we were going to dinner with your friends? ”
“Nope.”
“Can you say more than one word at a time?”
I shrug.
“If you’re trying to get my sheep, it’s working.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Sheep?”
“You can’t get my goat. There aren’t any goats on Smuggler’s Hideaway. But there are plenty of naughty sheep.”
I chuckle. Only this woman could get me to laugh after scaring the shit out of me. She’s amazing. And she’s all mine.
We arrive at my chalet and I carry her inside. I set her on the sofa. She immediately tries to stand.
“Stay.”
“Stay? I’m not a dog. And I’m not getting neon blue paint on your sofa. This sofa probably cost more than my car did.”
“Don’t care.”
She claps. “Yay! He spoke more than one word.”
“Serious as shit, Addy. Stay on the sofa or I’ll tie you down.”
Her eyes flare. “I’m willing to discuss this. What would you use to tie me down? Scarves? Do you have any scarves? What about belts?” Her nose wrinkles. “Nah. Might hurt. Let’s stick with scarves.”
My cock doesn’t care how she’s hurt or how she collapsed. It twitches at the mental image of her naked and tied to my bed with such force I nearly stumble.
I fist my hands and blow out a breath before I jump her. There will be no jumping today.
“I’ll get you my robe. ”
When I return from fetching the robe, Addy is sitting on the sofa dressed solely in the Seals sweatshirt I insisted she wear during paintball. Her legs – her soft, smooth legs – are completely bare. I groan. This woman is going to be the death of me.
I hand her the robe. “Put this on.”
“Um, Mr. Not Afraid of Fourth Down.” She points outside. “Did you forget it’s summer? I don’t need a robe. This sweatshirt is overkill as it is.”
She reaches for the hem of the sweatshirt but I’m on her before she can pull it off. “No.”
Her brow wrinkles. “No, you didn’t forget it’s summer? No, you don’t think I should wear a robe over a sweatshirt?”
I rub a hand down my face. Damn it. She’s correct. She’s going to swelter in a sweatshirt and a robe.
“Sweatshirt off. Robe on.”
She giggles. “If you’re trying to be sexy and order me around, you need to tone it down a bit. I’m not into those dark romances where the man is all controlling.”
Is she deliberately trying to be confusing? “What are you talking about?” I hold up my hand. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Put on the robe.”
Her nose wrinkles. “It’s awful hard to have sex if I’m wearing a robe.”
My cock – already half-hard from seeing her naked legs and imagining her tied to my bed – hardens and lengthens. I moan. “We’re not having sex.”
She juts out her bottom lip in a pout. “Do you not want me? ”
“You know I want you. You can see I do.”
Her eyes drop to my cock and she licks her lips. “Indeed.”
“Addy, I’m serious. I’m not having sex with you tonight. You’re injured.”
She punches the sofa. “Are you kidding me? I’ve seen you get hit worse in a practice game.”
“I’m trained to take hits. You’re not.”
She narrows her eyes. “Are you saying I’m weak because I’m a woman?”
I throw my hands in the air and back up a few steps. “I never said anything about you being weak. You’re one of the strongest women I know. You basically work three jobs but you never complain about how tired you are. Never complain about how hard it is.”
“Wrong. I complain about how hard it is to deal with my siblings all the time.”
“The siblings whom you clearly love and would do anything for.”
“I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Songbird, you literally won’t leave Smuggler’s Hideaway so you can continue to care for them.”
She grunts and stands. “If you’re going to harp at me about not moving and we’re not having sex, I’m going home.”
I lift an eyebrow. “You’re going home wearing a sweatshirt?”
She pushes the fabric down. “It falls practically to my knees.”
“You’re going to walk home?”
“It’s not far. ”
I prowl toward her. “You are not walking home with an injured leg. The point is mute anyway. You’re not going anywhere.”
She pokes me in the chest. “You’re being annoying.”
I capture her hand and place it against my heart. It only recently started beating normally after watching her collapse.
“Songbird, you’re injured. It’s my honor to protect you until you’re healed. Even if it is from yourself.”
“I barely got hit.”
I grit my teeth. “You collapsed.”
“Sweetheart.” She palms my cheeks. “I didn’t collapse. I fell because I overestimated my strength. I got caught up in the game.”
I want to argue with her but I have more important things to discuss. Such as how this is the first time she addressed me with an endearment.
“Say it again,” I grumble.
“I didn’t collapse. I—”
“No. The first part.”
Her brow wrinkles. “Sweetheart?”
I wrap my arms around her and drag her close until her body slams into mine. My lips capture hers and she opens on a moan. I sink my tongue into her mouth. Her taste hits me and I forget about her injury – how her leg is bruised.
I lift her up and she winds her legs around my waist. My cock presses against my zipper – eager to sink into her heat. I sit on the sofa with her straddling me. She moans. She loves this position .
I’m becoming partial to this position myself. Addy on top of me, grinding her heat onto my cock. Addy, with her breasts bouncing as she sinks onto my cock. Hell yeah.
I glide my hands along her legs from her feet to her calves, past her knees to her thighs.
“Eek.”
I wrench my mouth from hers. “Did I hurt you?”
“You didn’t hurt me.” Her cringe tells me she’s lying.
“I did. I told you we shouldn’t have sex.”
She huffs. “It was a tiny twinge. Not a big deal. As long as you don’t touch the bruise, we’re fine.”
“I’m not fine. I’m not risking hurting you.”
“It’s my choice whether or not to accept the risk.”
“Nope.”
She narrows her eyes. “Are you always this difficult?”
“When it comes to protecting you, yes.”
“You won’t have sex with me because of a teeny tiny bruise?”
“Your bruise is not tiny.”
“Fine. I have a better idea.”
She stands before dropping to her knees in front of me. “Songbird.”
“What?” She blinks up at me. “There’s no chance of you touching my stupid bruise if you can’t reach it.”
“I don’t want you on your knees.”
She nods to my cock. “It disagrees. ”
“Addy,” I warn.
She ignores my warning and snaps my jeans open before lowering the zipper. I’m not wearing underwear, and my cock pops out. She grabs it and squeezes.
“You don’t want my mouth on you?”
My cock jerks in her hold. “Of course, I want your mouth on me. But I’m not a selfish bastard.”
She shrugs. “You can go down on me later.”
“You’ll sit on my face and if I hurt you, we stop.”
“Deal.”
“I’m not done yet.” I thread a hand through her hair and jerk until she’s forced to look up at me. “If you’re in pain and don’t tell me, I will punish you later.”
She bats her eyelashes. “Punish me how? I’m still open to the tying up discussion.”
I growl. “I’m serious, songbird. I won’t have you in pain when I’m in ecstasy.”
“Ecstasy, huh? I have a lot to live up to.”
“Songbird, you on your knees in front of me with your mouth swollen from my kisses is already ecstasy.”
“You say the sweetest things. Now, be quiet. I have work to do.”
She squeezes the base of my cock before swallowing my length. I moan at the feel of her warm mouth encasing me. She sucks and my hips fly off the sofa before I realize I’m moving.
“Fucking hell, songbird. You’re going to ruin me.”
What I don’t say is how she’s free to ruin me for other women. How I don’t want any other woman but her. How she’s mine, and I’m not letting her go .
I force those thoughts and the battle to get her to admit she’s mine out of my mind to concentrate on how she’s making me feel.
I won’t last long. She squeezes my balls with her free hand and I moan. Not long at all.