by Lora Leigh
Yes. He cared. And perhaps he could have loved, if she was strong enough to be as brave as she had needed to be three years before.
“Yeah, Ella calls me a smart-ass often,” she finally answered, her gaze going back to the ceiling as she smiled fondly, thinking of her friend. “Actually, I think her favorite insult is bitch.”
“Not hardly.” His fingers strummed over her hip. “Smart-ass I’ll accept though.
Now what has you so solemn this morning?”
She could feel his erection against her thigh, but there seemed to be no haste in him to relieve his arousal. He touched her gently, easily. The caresses as calming as they were arousing.
“Just stuff,” she sighed. “I was shameless last night, wasn’t I?” She heard the note of pride in her voice and almost winced.
“You were indeed shameless,” he chuckled. “And wet and wild. So fucking hot you were incredible.”
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She turned back to him.
“Why do you share, Sax?” she asked him then. “You’ve said it’s for the women’s pleasure, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why not?” He propped his head on his hand as he levered up, watching her curiously. “Do you think I don’t find pleasure in it, Marey?”
“I wouldn’t find pleasure in seeing another woman touch you.” She frowned at that thought. She would feel murderous.
“And you won’t ever have to,” he promised. “But you can’t deny you enjoyed what happened last night with Daniel. That you haven’t thought of it, looked forward to it. I heard it in your voice, saw it in your eyes and your response. Why did you enjoy it?”
“Because I’m a pervert,” she snorted sarcastically. “Now your excuse?” He laughed, a smile curving those sexy lips as he stared down at her reprovingly.
“Shame on you,” he growled. “You’re not a pervert. You’re a very sexy, very sexual woman. That edge of the forbidden is exciting though, isn’t it? Makes the pleasure higher, hotter. Maybe that’s why we like it. I don’t know. But it’s something I wouldn’t want to do without. Seeing you like that, embraced between myself and Daniel, your eyes dazed, your face flushed, pleasure swamping every particle of your being is addictive. It’s a high, baby, only unlike any other I’ve ever known.”
“Beats drugs, huh?” She rolled her eyes expressively.
His grin kicked in again, his chocolate brown eyes watching her closely, warmly.
She was so lost, she thought. She had lost her damned heart to this man so long ago and now she faced losing him.
“I love you, you know.” He said the words so simply, so matter-of-factly that for a moment, she was certain she hadn’t heard him correctly.
“Boy, you really like to play dirty pool,” she snapped then, anger, helplessness washing over her. “You couldn’t at least wait until this was settled? Until Vince was caught and I could make sense of any of this?” 102
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She jumped from the bed, casting him a furious glare as she jerked the shirt she was using for a gown from the small chair beside the bed and pulled it on. He was lying back on the pillows, watching her somberly, his eyes piercing her, filling her with guilt.
“I like things clear,” he amended calmly. “Don’t play dumb, baby. You knew this was more than an affair when you went into it.” There he was, just lying back in the bed, his erection tenting the sheet, staring back at her in that calm, solemn way of his. What the hell was she supposed to say? To do?
“I can’t even think about this.” She pushed her fingers through her hair in irritation.
“I won’t think about this. Not until Vince…”
“This excuse is getting old.” His voice never changed inflection but it still hardened, grew deeper. “It’s like you pull it around you whenever you can’t face what’s growing between us. It’s a crutch.”
“That isn’t true,” she snapped back defensively. “He’s dangerous…”
“Because you refused to stop him when his violence escalated.” She flinched at the calm accusation, staring back at him furiously.
“It doesn’t matter why it happened.” She breathed in deeply, fighting to make sense of the clash of emotions rising inside her now. “I can’t make decisions about the future now.”
“I’m not asking you to make decisions, Marey.” His smile was a wolf’s snarl, predatory, confident.
Rising from the bed, completely unashamed of his nudity and the erection jutting from between his thighs, he stalked toward her.
“It doesn’t take a decision.” Gripping the neckline of the T-shirt with both hands, he tugged forcefully, ripping it down the front as she stared back at him in shock, gasping in arousal. “It doesn’t take anything from you, baby. I’m not asking for anything. I don’t have to ask. I know what’s mine and I know how to claim it.” 103
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He pulled her to him, a strong, forceful movement as he gripped her hips. His head lowered, his lips covering hers, possessively, dominantly.
She couldn’t hold back her moan. There was nothing like Sax’s kiss or the way he held her to him. He seemed to surround her, his heat and his strength protecting her even as his kiss ravished her senses.
She couldn’t fight him. There was no fight in her. She could only grab his shoulders, hold on tight and absorb him into the very depths of her soul. There was nothing so hot, so tempting, so completely overwhelming as Sax’s embrace.
As his lips moved on hers, gentle and sure one moment, hard and possessive the next, Marey moaned in rapturous pleasure, her hands clenching on his shoulders, rubbing her body against him, loving the way his hands stroked her back, drew the remnants of the T-shirt from her body, and sipped at her lips with hungry demand.
This was what she had run from for three years. As insane as it sounded, and inconceivable as it was, she could feel him sweeping not just through her heart, but through her soul.
“I know how to love my woman,” he whispered as his lips slid from her lips to her ear. “I know how to protect her, and I know how to hold her. And I will hold you, Marey.”
He pulled her back to the bed, lifting her against him as he lay back, staring up at her with heavy-lidded sensuality as he cupped her buttocks in his hands, moving her until she straddled his hips, lifting her until the head of his cock seared the sensitive opening of her pussy.
“Ride me,” he growled, arousal thickening his voice as his hand raised to her heaving breasts, his head lifting to allow his tongue to lick at her hard, distended nipples.
Marey whimpered at the sensuality of having the control, staring down at him, his body reclining beneath hers, his cock hot and erect, waiting to pierce the willing depths of her pussy.
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She lifted up, her breath hitching as she moved against him, whimpering as his cock began to penetrate the slick, heated entrance to her hungry pussy. Her head fell back as she took him slowly, working the hard flesh inside her by increments, driving herself crazy with the incredible sensations streaking through her body. She loved it. Loved feeling his cock stretch her, burn her.
His hands were on her breasts, fingers tweaking her nipples as she rode him with long, slow strokes, fighting the need to rush, to drive herself to madness on the thick stalk of flesh filling her.
“There you go, baby,” he whispered as he tensed, obviously holding himself back as he allowed her to take her pleasure as she needed.
Her juices were flowing between them, the sounds of wet, suckling flesh echoing around her, driving her arousal higher. His hands, warm and slightly calloused, rasped her nipples as his voice crooned in that rough, deep baritone and sent her mind spiraling with her pleasure.
Her pace increased, their moans mingling as the intensity and the heat grew. She could feel her womb tightening, fingers of fire racing through her pussy. She was going to come…
“Sax. Hard
er. Oh God, fuck me…” She couldn’t gain the force she needed, the rhythm he used to power into her and throw her over the edge.
She shook, shuddered, fought her own weakness and pleasure in her drive for ecstasy.
His hands moved from her breasts to her hips. They held her still, his fingers clenching there as he began to move. He drove his cock inside her with enough power and force to cause her to arch in his arms, a strangled scream leaving her throat as her orgasm began to race through her body.
She convulsed above him, her thighs tightening, her hands clenching into the muscles of his chest as she felt herself come apart around him. His strangled groan met her scream as he drove in one last time, tensed further and then found his own release.
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Hard, rapid jets of semen burning her, the feel of the silky fluid flooding her, throwing her higher.
The aftershocks seemed to last forever. She shuddered through them as he drew her to his heaving chest, his lips pressing to her forehead, his hands stroking over her back.
Soothing her. Easing her down from the almost painful heights of pleasure.
“Can you walk away, Marey?” he asked her then, his voice gentle, understanding.
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Chapter Thirteen
Could she walk away?
Later that evening, Marey stepped onto the back deck of Sax’s home and eased into the hot tub bubbling merrily in the corner.
The hot water wrapped around her, the massaging pulse of the jets beating against her weary muscles. Sax was insatiable. She ached in places she had no idea she could ache. But for the first time in years, her body was relaxed, even if her mind wasn’t.
He was right, she couldn’t walk away. He terrified her. Loving him terrified her.
And not because of what she was scared Vince would do, though that was a worrisome aspect. No, he terrified her because she knew she had already given him so much of herself. If she stayed, if she accepted this relationship for what it was, then he would own her soul.
She had been alone for most of her life, even before her parents’ deaths. Sharing it with someone determined to take such an active role wasn’t easy to accept. Sax wouldn’t go his way as she went hers. He was a possessive man, not controlling, but possessive all the same.
He would expect to share her life, not just exist within it.
She leaned her head wearily against the rim of the tub and breathed out roughly.
She loved him. She had always known she loved him, but she hadn’t known how much until he began to fill her life.
“I’m going upstairs to finish up a few reports.” Sax stood at the glass sliding door, chest bare, his teeth gleaming in his dark face as he watched her with a wicked glint in his eye. “Need anything before I go up?”
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Marey chuckled at his suggestive tone. “I think you’ve more than taken care of anything I could have needed,” she assured him. “I’m just going to lay here and relax for a while. You go work.”
He moved to the deck, kneeling behind her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“Just yell if you need me,” he whispered warmly. “I’ll leave the bedroom window open just in case.”
“Mmm.” She closed her eyes as his kiss moved to the shell of her ear, his tongue lapping at it heatedly. “Get out of here. You’re insatiable.” He laughed at that, a male sound of pleasure and pride as he rose to his feet and walked back to the door.
“I’ll be back down in about an hour,” he promised. “Don’t overheat.”
“With you upstairs, there’s no danger of that,” she laughed back at him, watching as he flashed her a wicked grin and turned away.
She closed her eyes, fighting the need to call him back.
“I love you, Sax,” she whispered, knowing he was gone, unable to hold back the words any longer.
What the hell was she going to do with him? She couldn’t let him go. She couldn’t walk away. He fulfilled too many parts of her soul. He fulfilled her, period. Laughed with her, loved her, touched her with such passion and hunger that she knew she would never be the same again.
“Well, you look comfortable enough, bitch!”
No.
Her eyes flew open, fear and disbelief clamoring through her as she met Vince’s furious gaze.
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“You really have lost your mind,” she said, amazed at his daring. She had pretty much caught on to the fact that Vince wasn’t too bright, but this was ridiculous. “Vince, Sax will kill you if he catches you here. Don’t you realize that?” His brown hair was still kept shaggy short, but stood on end, unkempt and dirty.
His brown eyes narrowed in hatred, his fists clenched. The faded denim shirt he wore was streaked with dirt, his jeans ripped at the knees.
“The son of a bitch,” Vince snarled. “He’s too busy playing his computer geek games upstairs. And you’re not going to scream, are you, Marey?” he sneered. “Little Miss Too Much Pride. I heard you screaming for him, though, didn’t I, you little whore?
Him and that bastard he put up your ass!”
She flinched at the fury rising in his voice.
Drawing in a deep breath, she tensed. Sax would be down soon, he rarely left her long while he worked upstairs, checking on her often. Being naked and at the mercy of a man she knew wouldn’t hesitate to kill her with his bare hands was a frightening prospect.
“How did you evade the sheriff?” she asked him, hoping to buy some time, to distract him just long enough for Sax to make his way downstairs.
His thin lips twisted in disgust as a dark, brick flush rose under his skin, barely noticeable in the dim light of the deck. It wasn’t a good sign.
“I can’t believe you actually had the nerve to file charges.” The low, evil chuckle that came from his lips had her shuddering in terror. “That was very bad of you, Marey, you should have taken your punishment and kept your stupid mouth shut.”
“You nearly killed me, Vince,” she snapped, refusing to let him see her fear. “And you tried to frame Sax for it.”
“He shouldn’t have been sniffing around you,” he snarled. “What makes him think he can take what belongs to another man? He’s a trespasser and you’re a whore, always watching him, eating him with your eyes. Did you think that just because you forced 109
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that divorce that it changed anything, Marey? The vows were until death do us part.” His lips curled in a feral sneer. “And only death will part us!” She was rising from the hot tub, a scream on her lips as he tensed to jump for her, knowing her time had run out. As she turned, Daniel rushed from the house, his hard hands gripping her as he pushed her against the side of the house. Sax rushed past them, leapt the distance of the tub, tackling Vince as he moved to run.
Eyes wide, she watched as Daniel quickly followed. His voice rose as he informed Sax of all the legal ramifications of murder. Not that Sax seemed inclined to listen as his hands tightened around Vince’s throat, a snarl of fury twisting his lips.
It was over quickly, too quickly for her to process the fact that Vince was unconscious on the deck, and she was still standing naked in the cool fall air, staring back at Sax in amazement as he rose from the deck.
“I should paddle your ass,” he yelled, staring at her over the churning water of the tub. Furious. His eyes were blazing, anger contorting his expression as she watched him in amazement. “What in the living hell possessed you, woman, to sit and bait him like that? To just sit there, calmly talking to him in a tub of water knowing fucking good and well he was capable of drowning you?”
Screaming. He was screaming at her, his body so tense, so tight, she wondered if something would break.
“I knew you would save me,” she whispered, blinking back at him in surprise. �
�I knew you wouldn’t let him hurt me.”
Shock filled his face then. “I wasn’t here!” He wiped his hands furiously over his slick head as he yelled again. “How the hell was I supposed to save you?”
“But you did, Sax,” she pointed out. “I knew you would be here. I knew you would be…”
Tears filled her eyes as she stared back at him.
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“You don’t leave me alone, Sax,” she said softly. “You’re always close, touching me, embracing me, needing me. How can anyone have a chance to hurt me when you love me so well?”
A heavy frown darkened his brow. “That is not getting you out of trouble,” he assured her through gritted teeth as he stomped around the hot tub, jerking her in his arms and holding her rapidly chilling body close to his warmth. “But God help me, Marey, the next time you do anything so stupid, I’m going to paddle your ass.” A tearful smile crossed her lips as she tilted her head, her hand reaching up to touch the dark features of his face, the sensual curve of his lip.
“I love you, Sax,” she whispered. “I was going to tell you that tonight, while you held me, while you loved me. I’ve always loved you.” A hard breath shuddered through his chest as he buried his head in her hair, his arms tightening around her.
“I’m definitely spanking you,” he groaned. “God baby, I love you. So much you terrified the hell out of me sitting there talking to that bastard so calmly, knowing how easily he could hurt you.”
“Knowing you would be there,” she said against his chest as he lifted her into his arms while Daniel called the sheriff.
“You’re cold,” he growled. “You didn’t even bring a robe out.”
“So warm me.” She burrowed against his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck, her head resting naturally on his shoulder. “Warm me, Sax…” 111