18. Are You Complaining About My Mouth
ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT MY MOUTH
WILLA
His look bores holes through me. I don’t know how to read him. But the shutters that usually shield his eyes to the perfect look of controlled boredom are gone.
He slides down the bed until we face each other and he leans in, kissing my forehead, before pulling back.
“I’ve known some brave women in my life, Willa Jayne. I’ve met some very remarkable people in my career. I can’t remember a time when I’ve met anyone who impresses me more than you do right now.”
“But I…”
He holds my gaze. “But you—” he starts, and launches in.
“You were brave at sixteen but to confess that now, when you could pretend it never happened, that’s gutsy.
You were resourceful at sixteen, but to know to get yourself out and start over, that’s smart.
To have seen pain, the worst in people and not become bitter, that’s daring.
To live with your open heart, knowing the shit that’s out there, and to trust me with that and with your dragon—” He runs a hand down my side and lifts the hem of the shirt to rest his hand at Kulshedra’s belly. “I’m humbled.”
He leans down and gently kisses me. He tastes like that first night. Like beer and Exton. He’s unhurried. The kiss is for the sake of connecting with me, for the sake of the kiss. He isn’t using it to get somewhere. It is the destination.
“I’m sorry,” he says, when he pulls back. “Twice I’ve accused you of bad intentions, just for not being able to read your mind. That was unfair.”
“Can you…” I gulp, but muster the courage to ask. “I know this question sounds stupid, and I don’t mean literally, but can you read my mind?”
“No. And yes.”
“Wow. Such a clear response.” I roll my eyes.
“Your body”—he says while rubbing my side from the dragon’s claws to below my breast— “says all kinds of things. Less than half of that is through your mouth.”
“Are you complaining about my mouth?”
He dips his head to mine and gives me a small grin. “Not even close.” He places a quick kiss there. “I love your mouth.”
I smile in return because I can only assume he’s talking about me sucking him off this afternoon.
“Right there, and you may have missed it, your pulse sped and your breathing changed. You swallowed in a different rhythm. Your eyes dilated with a flare that could be either anger or lust.
“What your body is saying without meaning to is that you are nervous or excited, you aren’t worried about fight or flight, and you have heightened arousal, probably lust. And that isn’t tone or tenor. It isn’t shoulder shrugs or smiles and anything you are trying to communicate.
“So, Willa Jayne,” he glances from my eyes to my mouth, and a gasp escapes my lips. “I can’t read your mind, but I can read your body, and your body has lots to say.”
He plunders my mouth and rolls to his back, pulling me until I straddle him. He lifts my tee until he can find a nipple and sucks me deep, pressing my back to arch into his mouth. “I want you.” I can see the heat and lust in his eyes. “I can’t get enough of you.”
I sink my teeth into my bottom lip. Because he can see what I’m not saying.
He pulls his shirt over his head and taps my hip. “Up, baby.” I begin to roll off him, but he stops me with a hand to my hip. Unbuttoning his jeans, he kicks them off.
His unmarked, firm olive skin is so different from my creamy, soft, painted skin. I look at where we touch—thighs, chests, arms and shoulders—and get lost in the contrast.
He reaches between my legs and runs a finger up my slit, growling when he finds me wet. One finger enters me, and I gasp when his thumb hits my clit, pressing tight circles there. With his other hand, he grabs his shaft and strokes in the same rhythm.
I cover his hand with mine and keep the rhythm. “I’m clean and I’m on the shot.” I swallow and break his gaze, knowing that I just said more than I wanted to yet again.
He waits until he has my eyes and says, “I’m tested twice a year and I’m clean. And it’s only been you for some time now.” His eyes shine with vulnerability. The smile and relief that bubble up in me are palpable.
I push up on my knees, slide his cock through my wetness, and lower myself onto him, watching his face, keeping his gaze, enjoying his fullness.
With one swift move, he sits up, and we’re chest to chest. He wraps my legs around his back and presses my back between my shoulder blades, so I arch, exposing my breasts to his mouth. He sucks me deep and thrusts into me with tiny pulses as I rock on his cock.
My long hair tickles my ass, and the sensation overwhelms me. His warm skin against me, his hot wet mouth on my breasts. His hands on my back and hip. His hard cock pulsing inside of me. Every thrust pushes against my clit. He’s everywhere—surrounding me, inside me.
“Watching you ride me has got to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Exton growls low. “Fucking fighting not to come. Your tight, wet pussy. Your heat. Your face in ecstasy.”
I clench my muscles and groan at the increased contact.
The look on his face sends me over the edge.
Pleasure radiates from my core. He drives in and out of me, dropping me to my back, not losing our connection and pounds inside me.
“Again,” he commands, finding my clit and sparking off another longer, deeper orgasm that has me seeing stars.
He pumps into me, his jaw clenched, and when the muscles in his neck knot and bunch, his release bathes me in heat.
“Never want to stop,” he whispers. “Can’t get enough.
Look at you and get hard. Fight not to touch you, not to eat you, not to make you come until you’re so tired you can’t stand.
Can’t get close enough. Even inside you”—he thrusts in a long stroke, causing a mewl to slide from my throat—“I want to be closer, get deeper, stay longer. What are you doing to me, dragon slayer?”
“Giving you what you want, Exton Ranger.” I pull a leg from around his back and toss it over his shoulder, giving him deeper access, feeling him grow harder inside me. “That come so many times I can’t stand bit? I’d like to discuss the terms of your offer,” I say and clench him tight.
Exton
As much as I’m tempted by her offer, we don’t stay in bed.
I want nothing more, but when the sun rises on Saturday morning, I’m up with it. I grab a cup of coffee, head to the porch with Pop, and let Willa sleep in.
“Morning.” I take a rocker on the front porch and stare out of the property toward the gates.
“Mornin’.”
“How are you?”
His gaze never leaves the drive, but he shakes his head. I understand what he isn’t saying.
“I’m sorry, Pop. Sorry I lost so much time with her. Sorry I’m losing it with you. Hate that my work took me so far away, even if I love what I do and where I do it.”
He looks from the drive to me. “You just unsaid what you said.”
I lift my mug to my lips and enjoy the hot coffee on a cold morning. “I know I did. But you know what I mean.”
“I do. Glad you came home when you were needed most.”
“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away from that.”
“I know.” He exhales a heavy sigh. “Love having you here, son. Love it anytime you want to come home. This’ll always be your home, and the door will always be open to you.”
“Thanks, Pop. And thanks for the kick in the ass last night.”
“You needed it.” He looks to his empty coffee cup.
I can’t help the chuckle that escapes me.
“Gonna grab another cup. Need a warm up?” He stands and rounds my chair.
“Not yet,” I reply and stare out over the ranch that’s been my safe space, my adventure park, and my place to exhale since I was born.
The door slaps behind him, and I’m left alone with my thoughts. That is, until two long legs in too short jeans come into view.
“Morning, Willa.” I reach around her legs to tug her to me in the chair.
“Morning, Exton.” Willa leans down and kisses me quickly before leaning her ass against the arm.
Pop comes back out carrying two mugs and hands her one. “Didn’t know how you took it, so I made it…” He pauses before visibly swallowing. “I made it the way Emilia drank it. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s perfect,” she replies. “Thanks, Kimpton.”
“Enough with this Kimpton shit. Call me Pop.”
“You’ve got it, Pop. You don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Not true, darlin’. I actually did,” he grumbles as if he were truly put out over the whole thing. “Well, now that that’s settled. What are we doing today?”
“No plans before coffee,” the woman next to me grumbles right back. “I can’t think before coffee.”
My heart is light and the laugh that bubbles up from inside me is real.
Sunday morning, I go to Austin before dawn. I meet Jon at his office to grab Willa’s new phone. He’s none too happy about the early hour or about leaving the woman he had in his bed, and he bitches about both. But we’ve been friends too long, and I haven’t called in a favor since high school.
“Will I see you before you head back?” he asks, handing over the box.
“I doubt it. But I plan to be back soon… soon enough, anyway. I need to make a point of coming home more often. I’ll hit you up in the fall. We can take in a game.” I extend a fist, and he bumps it. I lift the box. “Thanks for this.”
“Anytime, Exton.” He locks up behind me, and we part on the street.
I arrive back at the ranch to find Willa in the porch rocker I occupied the day before, drinking coffee with Pop.
“Morning, Pop. Morning, dragon slayer. How’d you sleep?” I take the stairs three at a time and lean in to take her mouth.
“Good. Hard. I woke up without a headache, so I’ll call that a win.” She lifts her mug for me to see. “And there’s coffee, so all’s right with the world. Where have you been?”
I lift the package in my hand. “I ran to Jon’s office to pick up your new phone. Thought you might want to set it up and catch up on—”
“Gimme. Gimme.” She reaches out like a little kid on Christmas, cutting off my sentence.
“Not so fast.” I pull it back and cradle the box like a football, stroking it. “Are you using me for my telecom connections?
My smile pulls wide and I pass the box to her. She rips into the packaging and her jaw drops when she sees the model. State of the art, newest tech, brilliant cameras.
“I can’t accept this. This is… This is the newest one. Mine was old.” Her head snaps up. “This was expensive.”
I shrug one shoulder. “Grabbing a cup of coffee. Need a warm-up?”
She shakes her head, mouth still dropped. I turn to Pop. “How about you?”
“Nah. I’ve had one too many and I have things to attend to. You can have my seat.” He heads inside, holding the door behind him for me.
He drops his mug in the sink, running water through the old stained mug. I pull another from the cabinet and fill it, taking a deep pull.
“I have a consult tomorrow with a guy at the Bureau in San Antonio. Can I leave Willa here and trust you won’t show her terrible photos and videos of my awkward years?”
He meets my gaze, and the grin that plays on his mouth is devilish. “I make no such promises. No telling what she might come across.” Then the man laughs, loud and boisterous, before leaving me in the kitchen.
When I return to the porch, Willa is walking through the setup on her phone. Her head pops up. “There are a couple of apps on here I don’t recognize. And I can’t delete them.”
“One of my contacts in D.C. is a brilliant, quirky hacker. She can get in to almost everything she tries. I asked her to help us with your phones. The other gets a jamming signal if they were to try to buy something and they’ll have connectivity problems if they were to try to use banking or social apps. ” I take the rocker next to her.
“My banking info.” The words die on her lips. “You’ve got to wipe that phone.”
“We’ve covered this, Willa. You’re protected. You basically have a window into their motives and plans. We can’t forfeit that just because, especially since they can’t access anything.”
“But—”
“I’m asking you to trust me.” I set a hand on her thigh. “I know it’s ridiculous—three nights and not even three days, but I promise I’m doing what I know is best to protect you.”
She holds my eyes until a long blink and nod break our contact. “I do… And I know you’re protecting me. I’m just not used to being this vulnerable and I don’t like it.”
“With me?” I take a deep swig of my coffee.
“Yes, but not like that. I’m not used to feeling this vulnerable… period. I don’t like feeling like I’m at the mercy of a thief and that some unknown hacker has access to my stuff.”
I set my mug down and reach for hers which she promptly offers.
“Here’s where we are. Your old phone is active but I use the word lightly.
Communications apps like phone and messages will send and receive.
Emails will show as sent but won’t leave the server.
I’ve asked Marissa to create a log and send everything over from your old phone to me in real time.
She and I can monitor what’s happening there.
She can turn on the mic or the camera if need be. ”
Willa gasps.
“This one—” I nod to her new one in her lap. “This one can do everything. It’s all yours and private. You don’t need to worry that someone is watching or listening or tracking you. Aside from the apps you engage with, that is.”
Willa lifts out of her seat and climbs onto my lap, her long legs not easily fitting inside the wide rocking chair. She buries her face in my neck and whispers there, “You’re a good man, Exton Ranger, and I trust you. How are you single?”
I push the chair to gently pitch back and forth. “Takes a special woman, dragon slayer. I mean, she’d have to be fantastic in bed, be honest and funny, have expressive turquoise eyes. And I tend to favor dragons. Not many women qualify.” I rub her back as we sway.
“Can we go to the barn?”
She can’t see my smile. “Are you trying to seduce me, Willa Jayne?”
“Maybe.” The word is drawn out and flirty. The accompanying kiss below my ear is seductive and real—just like her.
“It’s working.” I turn and take her mouth, loving the taste of coffee and Willa.
Content.
Happy.
Home.