20. Lyric
TWENTY
LYRIC
I’d never moved so fast through a room in my life.
We dodged the individual spaces. We flew past the red, hazy photos with their intense intimacy, but this time, laughter chased us.
We paused at my lighthouse, but I didn’t want to lose the momentum of our adrenaline. The seaside portraits signaled the end of the warehouse. We were both breathless as we got to the coat check area.
The older woman with stunning purple hair gave us a wide grin as Jensen crowded behind me, our fingers still linked.
“Thank you!” Jensen stuffed a ten in the tip jar and took both of our coats. He ushered me toward the front door.
I took one last look over my shoulder. Art and creativity had given me another gift tonight.
Jensen had pulled on his coat and held out mine for me.
I turned and slipped my arms inside, the crisp January air at my front and Jensen’s bonfire scent behind me. He pressed a quick kiss against my neck before he hustled me outside.
“Do you think that woman knew we just banged the holy hell out of one another?”
He laughed. “I don’t think so, but she probably knew that it might be the end goal of the night.” He spun me around, his big hand slipping into my coat as he slowly walked me backwards toward the bridge. His hand kept slipping lower to cup my ass.
“You still want me?” Surprise trilled through me.
“Of course I do. Once is never going to be enough. Hell, twelve times wouldn’t be enough.”
I laughed. “Then I’m not walking the next day.”
He pulled me into his arms. “Fine by me, I’ll keep you in bed.”
I linked my hands around his neck. “Who needs responsibilities?”
“Not me.” He grinned down at me, then he lowered his head. His lips were cool and soft and I could feel the smile in the kiss.
I couldn’t remember laughing so much.
Or having an illicit moment in a storage room.
He picked me up and swung me around once before setting me back down for us to hustle back to the truck. It was chilly enough to steal my breath, but he made sure to boost me into the truck and kiss me senseless before belting me in.
I couldn’t even be offended because I felt cherished for the first time in a damn long time. It was cold as hell, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a bed with Jensen.
Was I ready to bring him home?
Could it be my bed that he stayed in?
I hadn’t slept overnight with anyone since well before the fire. My ex liked his space, and after what happened, I wasn’t really able to sleep with someone. Between the bandages and the surgeries, just the thought of someone touching me had been hard.
“Lyric?”
I looked over at him.
“Everything okay? You didn’t answer me for a while.”
“Sorry. I didn’t even hear you.”
“What’s going on in that active brain of yours?”
“I don’t want you to go home,” I whispered.
He paused at the turn before my apartment complex. His fingers tightened on the wheel.
“You don’t have to stay?—”
“No, I want to. I have something to do in the morning.”
Relief loosened the muscles I hadn’t even realized I’d tensed. “Handily, I have to be at Trick or Treat to meet with a few of the vendors who want to pick their spots.”
He leaned across the bench and brushed a kiss over my lips. “Do I have to share the bed with Sheba?”
I grinned against his mouth. “Sure do.”
“Am I the big spoon or the little spoon?”
I rested my forehead against his. “I’m flexible.”
“Hell, yeah, you are.”
A car honked behind us, and I moved back to my side of the bench with a snort. “Just go.”
His eyes shone, thanks to Cove Meadows’ well-lit sign.
Anticipation and nerves pushed aside the warm relief as he parked and I slid out of the truck, meeting him on the front walkway. His large hand slid across my back, pulling me against him.
“Who taught you all these manners?”
He laughed, waiting for me to get out my key fob for the front door. “My grandmother.”
“Is that why you seem like such an old soul?” I pulled open the door, and he followed me in. “I keep forgetting you’re so young.”
“I had to grow up fast, but Jean Turner wasn’t going to raise a punk.” He grinned down at me. “Her words.”
It was the second time he’d mentioned his grandmother instead of a mother. It wasn’t unheard of—I knew plenty of people who had been raised by other people in their family.
I could feel him behind me as I climbed the stairs. His fingers kept tangling with mine on the banister. When we got to the top, he crowded me into the front door. His nose brushed my ear just as I slid my key in the lock. “Does your sister have noise-cancelling headphones?”
I laughed. “As a matter of fact...”
“Excellent.” His hand slid around me and into my coat, coasting up to cup my breast. “I won’t know what to do with an actual bed to stretch you out on.”
I groaned as he plucked at my nipple lightly, then he did it harder when the tip beaded in reaction. I pressed my palm against the door for a moment and groaned when he pressed against me. Even through my wool coat, I could feel how hard he was.
“Lose your keys?” he asked with laughter in his voice.
“What?” I lowered my hand to my side, reaching back to grip his thigh.
“Unless you have a more voyeuristic bent than I thought?”
I laughed. “Not usually.”
His chuckle was dark. “But maybe you do?”
I groaned and lowered my head as he nibbled on the back of my neck. “I don’t know what I am now.”
“I do. Sexy. Intelligent. Creative.” His voice lowered even more. “Flexible.” His fingers slid away from my breast up to my neck where he tipped my head back against his shoulder. The quick lick of possessiveness fired my blood. “Meant for me.”
I shook. Was I?
Was all of this just chemicals and a shared history, along with a flood of lust?
Gently, he turned my head to meet his mouth. The kiss was deep and overwhelming mixed with his words.
His other hand covered mine wrapped around the key in the door and turned. We stumbled inside, hands all over each other to shed jackets and coats. The kitchen was dark, but my sister had left on a small light in the living room.
Just enough for me to be able to see his intense eyes locked on mine. He tucked his fingers into my hair, pushing at the pins holding my braid in place.
My breath caught as I stilled, letting him unwind my hair from its confines. His gaze, hot and focused as he worked the thick braid apart and my hair went wild around my head.
“I took out Sheba,” my sister called down the hall.
“Thanks,” I replied loudly, my gaze still locked on Jensen.
“I have Sheba, and my door is closed if you want to get naked!”
I laughed. “Good to know,” I shouted back.
His hands went around my waist, lifting me off the floor. “Very good to know.” He strode down the hall. “Which way?”
“Room at the end.”
His legs were long, and it still shocked me how easily he could just pick me up as if I weighed nothing. My bedroom door was open, my reading light on above my chair. He booted the door closed and set me on my feet. All patience seemed to have been sucked out of the room. He flipped my dress over my head, leaving me off balance.
“Jesus,” he murmured.
I resisted the urge to cover myself.
The garters had been a gag gift from my sister when we had gone to one of those lingerie parties.
Before the fire. Before life had gotten so complicated and dark.
They were sheer black with little bows on the garters. Completely over the top and not me. But right now, I wanted them to be me.
Jensen’s hot look made me think maybe they were.
I stood in my heeled boots, thigh highs, garter and a bra that lacked a single comfort, but they lifted the girls up and the demi cups made them look positively lush.
He flicked open the small buttons at his cuffs, then quickly did the same with the ones down the inky dark dress shirt. My breath caught as he stripped it off, tossing it in my reading chair. I’d gotten very acquainted with those muscles in the last few days, but with the dress pants and black shoes, they seemed more impressive.
It showed off the tapered line of his chest down to his belt. Had he somehow become even more firm since the last time?
Surely not.
He dropped to his knees in front of me, and I gasped. He coasted his hands up my thigh, then around the back to follow the line of my thigh highs. He didn’t unbuckle them. Instead, he feathered his way back down to my boots and unzipped one then the other, helping me out of them.
He grinned up at me, then he hooked his arm around the back of my thighs and lifted me up.
I yelped and grabbed onto his shoulders. “I need to know what you’re taking to be able to fling me around.”
“Protein—lots of protein.”
“Is that it?”
He lifted his face to mine since I was a little taller than him in this position. “I promise, no steroids or any other things. I’ve just been training since the fire.” His face was serious and his eyes were fierce.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
He flipped my weighted blanket back and gently placed me onto the cool bamboo navy sheets. “Getting stronger helped after the fire. Helped me feel less like a piece of shit.” He covered me, nudging my thighs apart and pressed his hardness against the lace before he opened me wider to kneel between my legs. He jerked open his belt and flicked it through the belt loops to drop it on my bed.
“You aren’t. You never were.” My voice was breathy at the intensity that had dropped around him like a shield.
He jerked his zipper down, his cock so hard it was tight against him through the cotton of his boxers. He pushed his pants down, and then kicking off his shoes until it all tumbled onto the floor of my bedroom. “I got strong for me, Lyric. Getting stronger was the only thing that saved me from going crazy from the memories.”
Understanding that, I nodded. I’d hid in my little box. In my safe apartment with my books and ways to shut everything out.
Jensen had done the exact opposite.
He’d battled back against the fear.
“Show me,” I said shakily. “Let me feel how strong.”
His lids slid down over his dark eyes, making him a little dangerous. “I like being gentle with you.”
“I know.” My voice was little more than a whisper. “I like it when you aren’t. When you want me so much it gets...” I trailed off. I didn’t even know what exactly it did.
“Gets what?”
“Me out of my head.”
He coasted his hand over my belly and down to the barely there thong. He tucked his thumb down into the elastic and right into my slit. “Wet for me, baby?”
“Embarrassingly so.”
I gasped at the wet sounds as he circled my clit. He spread his knees which pushed my thighs farther apart. Lightly, he stroked my belly and at the same time, his thumb increased the pressure. I rolled my hips restlessly, which only made it worse. It didn’t push me where I wanted him.
He lowered to cover me, his cock resting between my legs and yet his thumb didn’t stop the endless circling. Just far enough from what I needed. He braced his other arm beside me as his hips rocked against me, and I reached up to grip his shoulders. “Tease.”
“I want you out of your head.”
“Funny way of showing it.” I spiked my hips up and his eyes blazed.
“It takes time.”
“Does it feel like I need time, Jensen? Now make me come.”
His nostrils flared. “Giving me orders?”
I lifted my legs to wrap around his hips and tightened around him. He turned his hand around in my panties and drove two fingers inside of me.
I clenched harder. “More.”
“What do you want, Lyric?”
“Not your fingers.” I raked my nails down his back.
He thrust harder and deeper, curling his fingers inside of me. I saw stars for a moment, but it wasn’t what I wanted.
“If I wanted to get off that way, I’d go in my drawer.”
His jaw firmed.
“I want you to fill me up.” I lifted my head to slide my lips near his ear. “Fuck me.”
I don’t know what had gotten into me, but I liked it. His dirty talking earlier had made my head fuzzy with lust. Maybe it would do the same for him.
His fingers disappeared and I cried out. He broke the hold of my legs on his hips and leaned back enough to flip me over. He then flicked open my bra and stripped it off me. He straddled my thighs, shoving them together. “You want to feel full, baby?”
“Yes.” I twisted to look at him, but he pushed me into the mattress.
He covered me. “Does that magic drawer have condoms in it?”
I gave him a sly smile. “Ribbed for her pleasure.” Because I’d needed all the help I could get with my ex. Which is why I had thought this would never be a part of my life. That I wasn’t capable of experiencing this overwhelming lust.
He reached over into the drawer, the hard length of him digging into my ass. He reached around, then I heard a groan. “Other toys in here.”
“Usually, I need help.”
“But not with me.” It wasn’t a question.
“If you’d quit stalling, then I’d agree.”
He grabbed a packet and something else. He straightened, his weight pressing onto my thighs to remind me he had me where he wanted me. The condom dropped on my back, then I heard the low thrumming buzz.
“Naughty Lyric, with all sorts of toys.” He lowered to stretch out along my back, his other hand sliding under my middle to slip into my panties again. “Glad I didn’t strip these off you. Will hold it just where I want it.”
He tucked it high along my slit, right against my clit.
I bucked. “Fuck.”
“You asked me to do just that.” His hand slipped around my lower back and held me firmly against the mattress. The silver bullet hummed under the pressure, but it started the deep pulse inside of me.
“Oh, God.”
The packet disappeared off my back, and distantly, I heard the ripping of foil, but I couldn’t think straight. The vibration left me in that floating darkness where I couldn’t think.
He shifted behind me and pulled my thong aside as he slowly pulsed the tip of his cock inside of me. He sucked in a breath. “I can feel the way it’s humming.”
I reached up for my headboard, pressing my forehead into the mattress as he slowly inched his way inside. With my thighs clamped shut, he felt even bigger.
I threw my head back, his name a gasp.
Then he drove into me faster and deeper. My whole body tightened and the fullness on top of the vibration shot me over into the deep inky black of a release so huge it held me down in the black.
Then he covered me, protected me, and the inky black became nothing but soft warmth. He tucked his chin against my shoulder, and my name was the last thing I remembered.