Skin Deep (26 page)

“Devon and I were in Afghanistan toward the end of our second tour, way the hell out in a remote part of the country. Our unit was tasked with doing routine sweeps on a couple of different villages. Part of our job was to look out for insurgents who wanted to hurt us, but we were also there to make sure the locals remained safe.”

Isabella didn’t move or interrupt, just kept her hand steady on his arm as she listened, and the story rushed from the box in Kellan’s memory right past his lips.

“Devon and I paired off to check this one dwelling, just like we’d done on probably twenty other days just like that one. Only this time, an insurgent who had been hiding in the back took Devon hostage with a gun to his head, point-blank.”

“Jesus,” Isabella gasped, her fingers tightening. “What did you do?”

Kellan paused, allowing himself just a split second to remember the heat that had punched through his lungs instead of air, and the cold, hateful cadence of the man’s voice as he’d spoken.

If you move, I will kill your friend. You’ll watch him die screaming, and then I’ll kill you just as slowly
.
Your men will come running, and they too will die. All of you will die today.

“I shot the guy between the eyes within the span of a heartbeat.”

Isabella’s lashes fanned upward. “He had a gun to Devon’s head. You did what you had to in order to save your best friend’s life.”

“And I don’t regret it,” Kellan said, the truth tumbling out unchecked. “The guy would’ve killed me and Devon and every last man in our unit if he’d had the chance. But I didn’t think. I didn’t feel. Christ, I wasn’t even scared. I pulled that trigger and killed that man, and then I took all the emotions that came afterward and I locked them the fuck away, just like I do when I run into burning buildings.
That’s
what I’m good at, and it’s why I chose to become a firefighter. I don’t think about the danger. I scan, I assess, I focus, but I never, ever feel.”

He broke off, his defenses giving up a last-ditch warning to shut his trap and keep his emotions where they belonged, buried deep below the surface of his control. But Isabella was right there in front of him, with her fiery convictions and her bold words and that honest stare that saw right fucking through him, and he didn’t stop talking at all.

He trusted her.

“I’ve spent the last ten years compartmentalizing every emotion I have, because if I don’t, I can’t act. So instead I keep everything packed away. But I’m really just going through the motions. I can’t let go and really
feel
something with all I’ve got, even if that thing is good, because I don’t know how to do that without breaking.”

Isabella leaned in, her eyes never moving from his. “Is that what you want? To really feel something good with all you’ve got?”

Yes
. God, yes.

Kellan realized he’d said the words out loud only when she reached up to curve her palm over his face and answered, “Then let me give it to you.”

“Isabella,” he started, but her fingers pressed against the center of his mouth, halting the rest.

“You’ve been here for me this whole time. You’ve had my back, even in the beginning when I fought you every step of the way. You deserve for someone to show you the good man that you are. You deserve to
feel
good, without holding back.”

She moved close enough that he could feel the heat of her body and breath, and Christ, he’d never wanted to let go and just feel so badly in his life.

“Let me give this to you, Kellan. Let me have
you
for a change. Let me make you feel everything, no holding back.”

I
sabella’s heart
pounded against her breastbone as she angled her mouth over Kellan’s in one fluid movement. Her offer had been brash, she knew. But the ragged need in his eyes when he’d said he wanted to feel without holding back had shot all the way through her, filling her with certainty.

He was a good man. A brave, fierce, incredible man. He didn’t just deserve to hear that. He deserved to really
feel
it, all the way in his blood and bones.

And Isabella was going to show it to him the best way she knew how.

“Come with me,” she said, shifting her feet to the floorboards and straightening to a stand in front of him.

Although Kellan didn’t say anything, he complied, letting her thread her fingers through his as she led him to his bedroom, not stopping until they were a few feet shy of the mattress.

“Come here.”

He stepped in until only a few inches separated their bodies. Reaching up to cradle his face between both hands, Isabella slanted her lips over his. But where all their other kisses until now had been preludes, hot and hungry with the suggestion of what would come after them, this one was the polar opposite. This kiss wasn’t meant to be anything other than exactly what it was—mouths touching, breath mingling, pure closeness—and the simplicity was a bigger turn-on than anything Isabella could’ve imagined. Slowly, she pressed her lips against Kellan’s a little harder, taking her time as she explored his mouth.

Oh, his mouth. His lips were surprisingly soft, but firm too, and a small, dark thrill shot up her spine at the juxtaposition she’d never quite noticed. Focusing her attention on just his mouth, she nibbled and tasted and kissed with feather-light movements. She worked her way from one corner to the other with mostly chaste movements, darting her tongue out only long enough to trace the very edge of his bottom lip where his bare, smooth skin met the coarse stubble of his goatee.

“Jesus.” Kellan groaned, his breath hot on her mouth. “Isabella, you’re killing me.”

She placed her lips back over his before parting them in a smile that tasted as wicked as it felt. “Do you feel good?”

“
You
feel good.” His mouth parted, his tongue sliding hotly over the seam of her lips. “The way you’re kissing me, how you’re giving and teasing at the same time…you’re driving me crazy.”

“Like this?” Isabella arched forward to kiss him again, capturing his top lip between her teeth. Moving them back and forth, she worked his skin just hard enough to let him know where she’d been, and her nipples hardened at the growl climbing the back of his throat.

“Yeah,” he said, pulling back to fasten her with a smoldering stare through the shadows in his room. His eyes glittered, dark blue and primal, and God, he was beautiful. “Like that.”

“What else do you want, Kellan?” Isabella hovered her mouth in front of his, just shy of contact, and he didn’t wait to answer her question.

“I want you pressed up against me.” His heated gaze traveled lower, lingering on the deep V of her top before he hooked his hands beneath her arms to bring their bodies flush. “Your mouth isn’t the only thing I want to feel.”

Oh God, yes.
In a flash, she swung his back to the bed and pushed
all the way forward, shifting their bodies lengthwise over the mattress. Kellan’s shoulder blades met the sleep-rumpled sheets with a thump, and she bracketed his shoulders with both hands, straddling his lap and fitting her body against his from mouth to chest to hips.

“Oh,
fuck
.”

His moan made Isabella’s sex grow slick behind the seam of her jeans. Her nipples pearled at the contact with the hard plane of his chest, and his fully erect cock sent tremors of heat to her clit, even through the layers of their clothes. Their bodies were cloaked in more shadow than light in the wake of the sunset, but the ambient glow filtering in from the hallway outlined the needful glint in his stare, and Isabella moved without thinking.

She returned her mouth to his, only this time, she didn’t go slow. With a single, bold sweep of her tongue, she parted his lips, knotting her fingers in his hair to hold him close as she deepened the kiss. Kellan surrendered to her advance, letting her give and take and give again until finally, he pulled back with a sharp exhale.

“Isabella.” His muscles thrummed beneath her body, and she leaned in to place her mouth beside his ear.

“You don’t have to hide this away, Kellan. Tell me what you want to feel.”

“I want more of you,” he said, honesty and need wrapped tight around the words. “I want to feel your skin on mine.”

Isabella slid off his lap and let her feet find the floor in front of him. Her body protested the loss of contact, sending a shiver all the way through her, but she didn’t stop moving. She undressed quickly but with purpose, keeping her eyes locked on Kellan’s as she lifted her T-shirt over her head, then slipped out of her boots so her jeans could follow. Leaving her bra and lacy white thong in place, she crooked one finger in a
c’mere
motion.

“Now you,” she said. Kellan answered without a word, pushing up to a seated position on the bed, and she reached down low to grab the hem of his T-shirt. Heat pooled between her thighs at the sight of him, the indent of his chiseled shoulders, the flex and release of his biceps that made the scrolling ink on his arm seem to ripple with strength.

But despite the obvious appeal of his body, what Isabella really wanted was to give Kellan what
he
wanted, so she flattened her palms over his chest, guiding him back over the bed so she could reclaim her spot in his lap.

Oh. Sweet. Jesus
.

A moan crossed her lips, completely without her consent. Her thong provided only a thin barrier between their bodies, and the friction of Kellan’s denim-covered cock on her already-sensitive clit sent tiny bursts of pleasure deep between her hips. A wicked smile tore over his lips as he thrust against her sex in another suggestive glide.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who wants more,” he said, and Isabella hinged her hips, leaning in to slide her mouth over his.

“I want
you
,” she said, trailing her lips down the column of his neck. Kellan’s breath hitched, releasing on a soft groan, and realization unfolded in her mind.

She slid an open-mouthed kiss over his collarbone, then another, and yes. There was the shudder. “Kellan?”

“Ah.” The sound was more exhale than word. “Yeah?”

“What do you want?” Isabella slid lower. Found the dip right between his pectoral muscles. Licked.

He moaned again, lighting a fire way down deep in her belly. “I want…” Kellan’s cock pressed harder against her pussy, and she canted her hips over his for one more delicious thrust before unhooking her leg and moving to his side.

“Mmm hmm?” she asked, returning her mouth to his chest. His muscles flexed and jumped beneath her touch, making the heat in her belly double. She might have promised to make Kellan feel everything, but oh God, the promise of delivering that pleasure had
her
wanting to come.

His hips lifted off the mattress. Letting her fingers join her mouth, Isabella skimmed a hand over his chest, taking in the smooth, warm expanse of bare skin, then the flat of his belly before moving over the crisp scattering of hair leading into the top of his jeans.

“Isabella.” His voice was pure gravel, her name so intense that her heart stuttered as he said it. She lifted her chin to meet his eyes, her heart slamming even harder at the fierce desire she found in his stare.

“I want your mouth on my cock.”

Isabella’s fingers shook with anticipation, but she managed to loosen the button and zipper on his jeans, and Kellan helped her lose the rest of his clothes with only a few twists and tugs. Sliding lower over the sheets, she splayed one hand wide next to his hip, balancing the rest of her weight on her knees beside him as she wrapped the fingers on her other hand around his cock.

Kellan bit out a curse when she started to stroke, then another when she lowered her mouth to his abdomen. Isabella explored his body with soft, slow touches just as she had with his mouth, teasing here, taking there. She kissed a path from his navel downward, wetness blooming between her thighs when she reached the head of his cock. Pressing her lips over the crown, she spread her lips just wide enough to flick her tongue out for a salty-sweet taste.

“God damn,” Kellan said over a moan. “That feels…”

She opened her lips wider, letting her tongue linger over his smooth, hot skin. “Good?”

“Everything. Christ, sweetheart, you feel like everything.”

The words unraveled Isabella’s control. She parted her mouth over his cock, taking as much of him as she could before returning to the top and starting to suck. The motions of her hand chased the slide of her lips until she found a rhythm both slow and steady. Gliding her tongue all the way down the seam of his cock, she paused to take him deep inside her mouth for a heartbeat, then another, before pursing her lips on an upward slide.

Kellan exhaled his approval, his breath coasting hot and low over her shoulder. He thrust in time with her hand and mouth, guiding her faster, then faster again. Isabella worked his cock in long strokes, wanting him to feel everything and wanting to take everything he had to give. With every pass, need built in her sex like a bright demand, spreading up to make her clit throb and her nipples ache, but still, she didn’t stop.

“Isabella…” His hands hooked in the wild spill of her hair, his muscles coiled so tightly she could feel the need for release pulsing desperately beneath his skin. “I want…
fuck
, I want…”

“It’s okay,” she murmured, pumping her hand over his slick length. “Go ahead and feel everything. I have you.”

“But I want to have you.”

So fast Isabella could barely process his motions, Kellan levered up from the mattress, separating their bodies for just a breath before grabbing her shoulders to roll her beneath the hard frame of his arms and hips.

He thrust against her, hard enough to knock the air from her lungs on a gasp. “I want you under me, screaming my name,” he said, pulling off her panties with one rough yank. A primal sound left his throat as he looked at her bare sex, and it sent another shockwave through her.

“I want to feel your sweet, hot pussy grip me tight when I fuck you,” he continued, taking a condom from his bedside table drawer, sheathing himself in seconds. Isabella’s sex clenched at the promise, and oh God, she wanted him inside her, fucking her any way he wanted until they both shattered together.

She spread her legs wider, and Kellan licked his bottom lip before leaning in to hover over her.
Close. So close
.

“And as hot as your smart mouth is, I want my cock deep inside you when I come. I want to feel everything, Isabella. I want to feel
you
.”

He filled her in one hard thrust, and for a second, the riot of sensation stole her breath. The blunt pressure of his cock buried deep between her legs made her inner muscles squeeze, her clit pulsing at the friction of the contact. Isabella arched up from the mattress, desperate not to lose even a fraction of their touch.

But then Kellan started to move.

“Oh…holy…Kellan, you feel…”

There was nothing she could say that would complete the sentence. Her sex grew slicker as he began to thrust. What started as slow, shallow movements quickly became more. He reached into the slight space where they were joined, teasing her needy clit with his thumb.

“You feel like that, too,” he said. Gripping her hips, he pushed deep, filling her pussy in long, hard strokes, and the sensation was too much. Isabella’s climax ripped through her in wave after wave. Kellan worked her through each one, slowing his movements as the intensity of her orgasm ebbed. But her want only doubled, and she bent her knees, clasping her thighs tight over the corded line of his waist.

“Do you feel me now?” she asked, lifting her hips to draw his cock deeper inside.

Kellan thrust back. “Yes.”

“Then don’t stop.” Her heart pounded, but she didn’t hold back. “Please, Kellan. Don’t stop until you feel everything.”

His hands dug into the bed sheets beside her shoulders as he pressed forward to fill Isabella to the hilt. He pumped faster, harder, swiveling his hips in a motion that tempted her to scream. Grabbing the backs of her knees, she lifted up, until his cock was so deep inside of her, she was certain she’d fly apart. Kellan pistoned his hips, thrusting over and over until his body went bowstring tight against hers. He pressed inside her pussy, closing all the space between them as the tension in his muscles came undone on a guttural moan.

Isabella’s breath returned slowly, and Kellan lowered his forehead to hers.

“You feel like everything,” he whispered, and she wrapped her arms around him even tighter.

I
sabella lay
in the shadows of Kellan’s bedroom, her body exhausted but her brain refusing to go slower than warp speed. Logically, she knew she could blame her insomnia on the combination of a high-stress, high-risk case and the wheelbarrowful of great-sex endorphins running amok in her system. But logic had very little to do with what she felt deep beneath her breastbone right now.

Everything. You feel like everything
.

Kellan trusted her. He had her back. He was close.

And even though it scared her shitless, close was exactly where she wanted him, because she trusted him too. Maybe even enough to fall for him.

“Hey.” He stirred from behind her, turning to his side to press a kiss between her shoulder blades. “It’s almost one. Awfully late for you to be awake.”

Shit
. Isabella’s belly tightened with guilt. He had enough trouble sleeping as it was. “I’m sorry,” she said, sending the whisper over her shoulder without turning around. “Am I keeping you up?”

“Nope.” He slid his hand over her hip, his fingers tracing light circles beneath the covers, and how could such a simple touch feel so purely, deeply good? “You thinking about the case?”