Hook
HOOK
F uck. He wasn’t expecting Nova to say yes. As a matter of fact, he was damn near positive she’d reject him. He was thrilled as shit he was wrong.
needed to talk to her about her ex and what June had told him, but he had to tell his Prez first. Especially if his suspicions had any merit. Either way, her ex needed to be handled, plain and simple.
That was a problem for later.
In the back of his mind, he knew she’d be cross with him for not telling her immediately. But the truth of the matter was, he wouldn’t have said anything to her until he told the club and had a plan first, so why ruin their night when his hands were tied?
That’s what he was telling himself anyway, even though, somewhere deep down, somewhere deprived of oxygen-rich blood in the moment, he knew she’d likely see it as a betrayal.
was marveling at how fucking perfect she looked with his hand on her throat and her eyes shooting all kinds of promises of pleasure at him. She was absolutely stunning.
“Gorgeous.” He breathed again. Her eyes widened a fraction. “We need to talk.”
Even though he couldn’t give her details, he needed to tell her something, anything. Give her a heads up, or, shit, he didn’t know. just knew if he didn’t at least try to say something, it might fuck things up with her. When he realized how true that thought was, it caught him off guard.
’d lived his life by the old adage better to ask forgiveness than permission, but his gut told him that’s not how it worked if one wanted a relationship. Not that he’d even been in one before, but he wanted to be with Nova. He’d be damned if she was a one-and-done. Nova could be his everything—he felt that in his bones. Hell, he was ready to dive into the deep end with a ready-made family if she’d let him.
For that reason alone, he’d uttered those four fatal words: we need to talk .
Nova refused them. “No. No talking, . I want this. I want you.”
“But—”
“No buts. It’s not gratitude.” Her voice was husky and made his dick hard. But the reminder that she owed him, at least in her mind, chapped. He tightened his grip just a fraction. Her eyes rolled back in pleasure, and he damn near lost it. He wanted to tell her she didn’t owe him a damn fucking thing, but she spoke first.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything, . It’s just one night.”
That was the one thing she could’ve said to make him lose control. All thoughts of talking flew out the fucking window, except proving her wrong.
“The fuck it doesn’t.” He tightened his hold even more, pushing her to her limit. He leaned in close to her ear. “It means something, Nova. It means a whole hell of a lot. It means you’re mine.”
He bit her earlobe before releasing his hold and gently shoving her away. “Strip, or I’ll do it for you, and trust me, babe, you don’t have the wardrobe budget for me to do it my way.”
Stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest, watched as she did as she was told. Fuck if his dick didn’t get just a little bit harder at her blind compliance.
Once she was bared to his gaze, he held his breath. She was more perfect than he’d imagined. And he had imagined it many, many times. He had security cameras in most parts of his apartment, and it was all he could do not to creep on her when he was alone at the clubhouse. He didn’t, but he’d been tempted every hour of every day.
“Bed.” He choked out the word, reduced to one-word sentences by her perfection like a simpleton.
She climbed on the bed.
A groan crept up his throat at the sight of the shiny lines on the outside of her hips. Something about that turned him on even more. Maybe it was because it was proof of how she’d grown the kid he already considered his own, or maybe it was because it confirmed she was human and not some goddess out of his reach. Either way, all the things most women thought were unattractive were some of his favorite things. His kryptonite.
While he was lost in watching the play of her muscles as she moved up his mattress, she’d gotten way too far from his mouth. Stepping to the foot of the bed, he snapped his fingers and pointed to the bottom edge.
Yes, he’d regressed to primitive behavior because he was afraid even one-word sentences were now beyond him. His hard-earned control was fucking toast.
Again, like a perfect fucking angel, she complied as if she could read his mind and knew exactly what his monkey-level communication meant.
He stared, transfixed on her glistening pink lips, as she scooted her ass to the edge of the bed. Leaning over her, he stretched to reach a pillow and tossed it on the floor between her feet.
dropped like a stone onto his knees while tucking her legs over his shoulders. He bit her inner thigh, at the same time, his hand snaked up and gripped her neck once more.
Flexing his fingers, he tightened his grip and turned his face into her pretty pussy. Through his palm, he felt the moan rip from her throat. He damn near came in his pants.
The sight, sound, and smell of her was an ambrosia overloading his senses.
“I can’t wait another second to taste you.” He spoke against her clit before driving his tongue deep inside her.
It had been his plan to go slow, bringing her to the brink again and again before finally pushing her over the precipice. When, and only when, she was manic with need for him would he fuck her. That plan went tits up as soon as her essence exploded on his taste buds.
turned his oral attention to her clit and thrust two fingers inside her, searching for the spot that would rocket her off the bed.
When he found it, her hips did just that, smashing against his face so hard she almost dislodged his hand. Her grip on his head bordered on painful. His scalp stung in the best way.
He turned his mouth to the side and ground out, “Harder,” before diving back in.
“What?” She panted the question.
“Harder. My hair. Pull it harder.”
couldn’t speak anymore, he needed his mouth fused to her glorious pussy. He felt the telltale signs of her imminent pleasure, so he bit her clit while flicking the very tip with his tongue.
Nova almost ripped his hair out at the root while her thighs tried to cave his skull in as her orgasm crashed into her.
She was fucking glorious.
was so goddamn hard; he’d be lucky to last more than eight seconds inside her.
He braced himself for what was to come. He wanted her so bad, he couldn’t slow down. Standing, he unbuckled his belt, ripped his zipper down, repositioned his boxers just enough to free his cock, and plunged into her in record time.
The wet velvet heat of her rolled his eyes back in his head so far he could see his own fucking brain.
A trickle of guilt began to enter his lust-soaked brain for not taking his time and preparing her better.
“Oh, god, Jer—” Nova moaned. That guilt instantly disappeared at the sound of her ecstasy.
Reflexively, he shot his hand back to her throat and tightened his grip.
“No,” he bit out.
He’d forgotten.
So caught up in Nova, he forgot his own rules.
Rules that made sex possible for him.
He stilled…waiting.
Waiting for the voice, the voice that taunted him whenever he first sank balls deep into a woman. Especially if she spoke his praises. The voice that orchestrated every sexual encounter he had for three miserable years, and the one he’d tried to fuck silent his entire adulthood.
The voice that was oddly absent for the first time in decades. She was absolutely fucking silent.
He shot his gaze to Nova’s face. Pure bliss laced her features. Nothing and no one had ever felt that good…that right.
With the internal noise gone, he focused on the ambient sounds. His breath sawing in and out. Nova’s rasping breaths sounding as labored as his, with a small moan following each one. The whirring hum of the ceiling fan, all of it. Sounds he never noticed before during sex.
Withdrawing almost all the way, he slammed back into Nova with a force that slammed the headboard against the wall.
The sound of their bodies coming together, another sound he always ignored, was fucking erotic.
It was a whole new experience for him. One that was wholly unexpected.
Taking a chance, he released her throat and gripped her waist. Pulling out completely, he scooted her up the bed. Standing upright, he shucked the rest of his clothes and climbed on after her.
fit their bodies back together, this time pressing every inch of their exposed skin together. Entering her slowly while staring deep into her soulful brown eyes, he said something he never thought he would.
“Say my name, Nova?” It was more plea than command. He pumped in and out of her with slow, measured thrusts, his hands at her hips in bruising contrast to the tenderness in her touch.
She cupped his cheeks with her healing hands and stared into his very soul. He was sure the secrets she saw there would disgust her. The demons dancing and writhing and fucking and singing false praises, but if she did, she didn’t react. He couldn’t help but turn his lips into her hand.
“Jeremy.” The sound damn near broke him, but in the best possible way.
“Fuck, woman,” he grit out almost silently as he released her hips and shifted their bodies.
Removing her hands from his cheeks, he laced their fingers together. Using their shared hold to gain traction on the sheets, Jeremy Waters made love to a woman for the first time in his thirty-four years.
When Nova went over the edge again, he followed her into a place he’d never considered special before. A place that was usually followed by disgust and self-loathing, but instead, it was peaceful.
Nova shivered. That small motion made him aware of the fact he’d slipped from her body, and their drying sweat was quite chilly under the breeze from the ceiling fan.
Reluctantly, he rolled off her, and she burrowed under the covers, tucking them all the way up to her chin. The demons that had been surprisingly quiet decided to make their presence known. Nova hadn’t completely banished them, but they did feel less powerful than before. It was their thoughts, not his own, that her shiver was one of disgust rather than chill.
An apology was poised on his tongue as he stood. But Nova surprised him yet again by flipping the covers back he’d just risen from on top of and beckoning him to join her.
“Hurry.” She made an exaggerated shiver. He stood still. When the smile slipped from her eyes, he cursed himself for the fool he was.
“Not a cuddler?” She dropped the blanket in disappointment. “That’s okay. I get it.” Pulling the blanket with her, she made to stand. leaned over and yanked at the blanket. She came with it because of the death grip she held it in. He climbed into the bed, and Nova relaxed. Turning into him, she repositioned the blanket to cover them, but kept it mostly to herself. hated that. Not because he begrudged her warmth, but because it was like armor now.
Reaching under her shoulders, she came willingly into his embrace but barely rested her hand at the side of his pec. Almost like she was scared to touch him.
Fuck that bullshit.
grabbed her hand in his and laid it on his stomach, resting his on top.
Taking a deep breath, he shared something he hadn’t expected to.
“It’s never been cuddling to me, but a means of manipulation.” He paused to give his brain a chance to catch up with his mouth. He didn’t want to say too much, especially right on the heels of mind-blowing sex, but there he was, spilling secrets. “So, bear with me while I learn.”
“Oh, I didn’t…I mean, I don’t want you to think—” He felt her muscles engage. She was going to pull away, and he didn’t want that. Couldn’t bear it, so he tightened his arms to keep her there.
“No, I don’t think anything, babe, other than this feels…different. Good.”
He swallowed the right before he could say it. He didn’t want to put so much weight on the moment that it pressured her. knew that feeling all too well.
Using the ensuing silence, he inventoried the experience in intricate detail.
Her breath, even and warm, teasing the hair on his chest with each exhale, causing his skin to pebble.
The way she rhythmically brushed her hand lazily back and forth, ever so slightly, on his abdomen was delicious.
The smooth silk of her inner thigh resting atop his coarse, hairy one was a juxtaposition that fascinated him.
Even the smell of her hair, a warm vanilla, wasn’t dulled by their combined sweat. stopped fighting the urge to bury his nose in it.
Every detail of the moment, combined with the way she so freely shared her body with him for their mutual pleasure and no hidden agenda, loosened his tongue.
“I was in the system until three of us ran away. We thought we’d be better on our own.” He took a deep breath. “We weren’t.”
questioned his own sanity at bringing all that long past shit to the surface. Not really to the surface. June’s confession had brought it to the surface. But, him talking about it, to Nova no less, that was the epitome of insanity. No one knew his past, not in its entirety anyway. Zombie knew bits and pieces, so did Squatch, and Croon. Gwen a little.
Not one person knew the same bits and pieces, but if they all got together, they could probably puzzle out most of his story. A few key details were missing from all their information, though. Details he was on the verge of telling Nova.
A spike of vulnerability shot through him. If he told her everything, it would connect them in a way he couldn’t explain or sever. And if the information pushed her away, it would destroy him. But he’d made a promise to himself long ago that if he ever did want a relationship with a woman, he wouldn’t hide those parts of himself.
That was never an issue, as he was positive, at least until he met Nova, that would never be something he desired.
But with her...he wanted everything.
“Robert didn’t last the week. He got stabbed by someone else who was flopping in the abandoned building we were sleeping in. Casey and I moved on that night. We didn’t stop moving around for two years. He took a job with this family, and they treated him really well, or so he told me.”
’s throat started to close as the memories came rushing out.
“They eventually took him in, but he wouldn’t let me come. He brought me food and clothes and other things I needed, but I stayed in a tent with the other homeless. I admit I was a little jealous that he would keep the chance of having a home and family from me. But the people were good to me at the camp, though. I was only eleven or so, the youngest there, and they looked out for me.”
If Nova had a reaction to his confessions, she didn’t show it. The pace of her breathing or the path or speed of her stroking hand didn’t change. He was grateful for that. He didn’t know if he could follow through if he sensed any pity from her. He wasn’t telling her for pity but to give her all the information. As a mother, she had a right to know who he was. Especially if she asked him to stay like he hoped she would.
“Casey brought his mom to meet me one day. They asked me to come stay too, and I was so excited. I was going to have my brother and a home. It was the dream we’d all shared when we set out on our own.”
At that, he felt her breathing change, and he chickened out on the details. He decided he could still be as honest, but paint with broad strokes for now.
“It wasn’t a family; it was a child prostitution ring.” He swallowed hard to get the next part out, especially since Nova raised her head and was staring into his eyes. There was enough light in the room to see that much. She wasn’t looking on with pity, per se, but sympathy and shock and unshed tears.
“I know I should’ve told you before we had sex.” He hated calling it that. Everything he’d ever done with his body had been just sex, but not with Nova. With her, he wanted it to be different. It was different. There was an emotional connection attached to it, and that scared the fuck out of him, but also swelled his heart.
It’s probably why he was talking about shit that should be buried. He had never, not once in his entire life, associated sex with emotions or anything other than a physical act. It was the only way he survived those hellish years.
“You had a right to know that the man you were sharing your body with traded sex for a roof and three meals a day.”
“No.” Nova’s voice was rough and final. “You were a minor; you didn’t trade anything for anything. You were exploited and abused. Period.”
Intellectually, he knew that, had always known that once he escaped that world and got a glimpse of reality. But knowing and knowing were not the same.
just stared into her eyes. No one had defended him or his actions before. If she knew the whole story, she’d feel differently, but for now, she was championing him, and it felt nice.
Giving in to the urge, kissed her. It bordered on violent, their teeth banging together, and they started laughing. Never had he had the occasion to laugh in bed with a woman. It was all a physical transaction, and when that transaction was complete, it was forgotten.
There was one thousand percent certainty that nothing about Nova would ever be forgettable.
It was on the tip of his tongue to segue into why his past had surfaced. Nothing more than a feeling in his gut, but he couldn’t. He needed to talk to his club and gather proof one way or another first.
Tightening his hold on Nova, he coaxed her on top of him. Pushing her to a sitting position so he could cup her breasts, she took his cues. Gripping him in her delicate hand, she guided his cock to the promised land and rode him into oblivion.
would take her as many times as she would allow because once she knew everything, she may never touch him again.
Exhausted, he rolled them to the side, and they slept, still joined. It was the most intimate experience he’d had.