Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
There’s not a tense muscle in my body until that look flashes through her expression.
I roll up onto my elbow, heart sinking, gut chilling like a hose is dousing my insides. “What was that?”
“I… I just didn’t know that’s how you felt.”
Green eyes on alert, Allison studies my face.
That instant I realize what she might be afraid of.
“I’m not trying to replace my old relationship.”
I flat out fucking refuse to say Hope’s name in my bed.
“I didn’t really think that.” Her eyes dip to my mouth, as a tiny frown line forms on her brow. “I just thought that…”
She sighs, and I gather her close. “Talk to me. We’ve been through hell and high water these last few days, I want to know everything you’re thinking.”
“That I don’t know how to do this.”
“ This? As in a relationship?”
She nods, her eyes solemn, her mouth taut.
“I’m not sure I do, but I know one thing. I’ll learn how if it means I get to have you.”
A fraction of her worry leaves.
My insides relax, but only a fraction.
She brushes a finger over my forearm. “I do believe that in addition to teaching you how to be thieves in the Navy, they must have given you romantic proclamation lessons.”
I capture her fingers and bring them to my chest. “It’s here.”
Gazing at our clasped hands, Allison sighs. “See?”
“You did this, sweetheart, you helped me feel again. And whatever’s happening inside these battle-scarred ribs feels too good to keep locked inside.”
“So, you fuck like a god, you talk like a poet, and you guard me like a dragon… How am I supposed to say no to that?”
My face warms from the grin she’s just caused. “Sweetheart, did you just say fuck?”
She pinches her lips with her teeth, shrugging her shoulders. “I can’t really think of any other word that fits. You’ve already corrupted me, you’ve got me cursing.”
When I snuggle her below me and kiss her, she lets out those breathy little sounds that make me a crazed man. Opening for me, she takes my tongue, tangling with it, this time giving as much as I give.
Lord. This woman.
She’s thrown off all that insecurity and walked right into her starring role as sex goddess. Allison is my kind of perfect.
A little wild. A little serious, and a whole lot of brave.
When we pull apart, I’m fighting the swell of emotion in my throat, the heat in my eyes. But the question burning on my tongue is the hottest of all.
“Babe, what are you going to say when I make love to you?”
“Oh, my god.” Her hand flies up to cover her eyes. “I can’t talk about this right now. I’m just processing the fact that we just had rough sex, that you put your fingers… there , and that I am officially addicted to your cock after only one time of having it.”
Well.
My grin locks in place, and my cock throbs where it’s still seated inside her slippery channel.
“Addicted is good, babe, because like I said, I want you in my bed every night.”
“We could not do that every night. I’d die.”
When my cock lengthens, throbbing to life again in record time, I move on top, settle between her legs, hooking her calf around my thigh.
She sighs against my neck when I start a slow, easy glide through her heat again. This time, she’s slick with my release, the scent of our sex heavy between us.
“You’re so ready for me again.” I nip at her neck and kiss the bite as I slide both my hands below her upper body, cradling her to me. “I’m gonna take my time with you now.”
And I do.
She unravels all over again, sobs against my shoulder as we find the high all over again, but this peak is Everest compared to the last, with our hearts pressed together.
When we fall asleep, a tangle of limbs, after our second shower, I startle awake from a horrible fucking dream.
What the hell?
I scrub my hand over my face, trying not to wake her as I move. But nothing can erase the vision of Allison’s terrified gaze searching for me as a bullet tears through her.
I jolt at the sound of my phone ringing on the bedside table. My hand slaps blindly to grab it.
“Yeah,” I choke out with my pulse roaring.
“It’s time to go to work.” Justice’s voice is tight. “As in now. Wheels up in two hours.”
“Copy that. I already knew.”
It’s not the first time I’ve had that kind of dream. It happened the night before Hope died.
I just hope to God I’m wrong about what I just saw.