Banishing Shadows (12 page)

“I may be Jed’s younger sister, but I am not a kid or a squirt or a short stuff.”

His eyebrow rose and the condescending stare faded. “Still got some spunk there, huh?”

“Contrary to what the last ten minutes would suggest, I am not a wimp,” Kayla replied. “And ‘spunk’ is something you have when you’re a kid, squirt or short stuff, which I am not.”

“Fair enough.” He grinned down at her with a smile that sizzled. This one was pure charm, and Lord help the woman who ever attempted to claim him.

“So how did you two meet?” Kayla almost managed to come off sounding normal. Neither of them needed to know she had to clasp her hands together to hide the continuous shaking. “Where do you live, Nash?”

Nash reached down and grabbed a slice of double cheese pizza. “Not in a city, they don’t sit well with me. I’m just a simple country boy.” He winked at her.

Oh, brother.

If that was the image he wanted to portray she wasn’t going to call him on it. Cord reached for a piece of pizza.
“Nash and I were in the army together. Truth is, he’s not here to visit, angel, he’s here to help me find the bastard terrorizing you.”

Kayla’s forehead crinkled into a frown but before she could question Cord, Nash spoke up. “I might as well get settled in. Where am I staying?”

“Through there.” Cord nodded at a connecting door. “I took the suites on either side of this one.”

Kayla didn’t know such a big man could move so fast until she watched Nash practically disappear into thin air, a large piece of pizza in his hand.

“What’s going on, Cord?”

“Nothing, baby. Nash used to be a part of the team I served with. He left about six months before I did. He owes me a favor so I asked him to come help me. I’m going to have to leave you alone more often if I’m going to find these assholes. He’s going to be with you when I can’t. I’d trust him with my life. In fact, I have many times.”

“I’m not very comfortable spending time with a stranger, Cord.” Although she’d come a long way in a short time, talking through things with Cord had allowed her to let go and begin to heal.

He turned her so she straddled him. She peered up into his serious eyes.

“Angel, I would never do anything to compromise your safety. If I didn’t trust Nash one hundred and fifty percent, then he wouldn’t be here. I’d trust him with my life, more importantly with yours.”

She let his words sink in. He was nothing if not protective of her. If he didn’t believe Nash would keep her safe, she knew he’d never have called him.

“Trust me?”

She nodded. He smiled, and those lips became too much of a temptation for her to resist. Leaning in, she captured them with hers. Kayla drank from him, teasing until he opened for her. She explored with sweet abandon.

“Uh-uh, keep those hands on the sofa,” she murmured when he raised his hands to clasp her hips. “This is my turn. I want to show you how much I love you.”

“Kayla,” he growled, and she grinned wickedly as she kissed her way down his neck.

“Shh.” She stood. Taking her hand in his, she tugged him toward the bedroom where she quickly stripped off his t-shirt and sat on his lap, drinking him in.

Kayla ran her hands over his muscular shoulders, his smooth skin to the light smattering of hair on his chest. Leaning in, she sucked on one of his dark pink nipples. His breath hitched, quickened, and his cock stirred, rock hard between her thighs.

Moving her mouth to his other nipple, she noticed the way his hands gripped the bedcover tightly. Oh, this was killing him, but it would be worth it, so worth it.

She slid off his lap and knelt on the floor between his legs. Slowly she stripped off his jeans. When he was naked she kissed his thighs, up one then down the other, deliberately ignoring the cock begging for attention.

“Take me into your mouth. Suck me, baby. I’m dying for the feel of that hot little mouth around my cock.”

Kayla smiled at the gruff plea.

She swept her tongue up his shaft, slipping the head into her mouth to suck lightly before letting him go.

Cord let out a rough sound as his hips rose. “I won’t put up with this for much longer, Kayla,” he warned.

Kayla stared up at him, careful to keep her face blank of all amusement. “Poor baby, has the big, bad Cord lost control?” She ducked her head to hide her grin at his growl of displeasure.

She raised her hands in a sign of defeat. “If you’re unable to control yourself, well, I guess I’ll just have to let you go.” She clicked her tongue in mock disappointment. “Somehow I thought you’d be stronger than this.”

His snarl sent a shiver over her, raising the hairs on her arms. “I’ll show you control. Don’t think I won’t retaliate for this though.” A grimace crossed his face.

This time she didn’t hide her smirk. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m counting on it.” With one hand she clasped his balls, rubbing them together. His breath caught and he stiffened.

“Lie down,” she murmured, pushing him until he lay on his back. Kayla knelt over him, straddling one thigh as she slipped her free hand down her pants. She drew her fingers through her slick folds.

“Fuck, that’s hot.” His voice was harsh, almost indecipherable as his hands clasped her shoulders.

“Uh-uh, hands down. Control, remember?” When she pulled her fingers out they were wet and shiny with her dew. Kayla pressed one moist finger to his anus, pushing the tip into his tight hole. His hips jerked in shock.

“Ahh, Kayla?”

“You trust me, don’t you, Cord?” Kayla murmured as she pressed her finger in farther. Her other hand moved to his cock, pumping it.

“Yesss,” he hissed as she clasped him firmly around the base of his cock. She licked the gleaming head before sucking him into her mouth.

Heat surrounded him, enveloping his cock as a surge of pleasure shot straight to his balls. Even his shock over the finger in his ass couldn’t detract from the erotic feel of Kayla’s mouth around his dick. Her slick mouth bathed him, sucking while she tickled under the head of his cock with her tongue.

“God, baby, take more.”

Kayla pulled more of his cock into her mouth, slowly driving up and down at a speed guaranteed to drive him insane. She chuckled, sending a deep thrill through his cock before pulling back to grin up at him.

“Driving you insane is one of my main aims in life,” Kayla commented.

Shit, he’d been speaking aloud. Winking at him, Kayla resumed the blowjob. Taking him deep, until his cock hit the back of her throat, she hummed. She was enjoying this, and it was an incredible turn-on.

“Well, you’re certainly doing that. Damn it, Kayla!” A low moan escaped as her finger massaged his prostate. Orgasm slammed through him, shocking in its intensity. He went from wanting to make this last to being taken by the pleasure.

Kayla’s finger slipped from his ass. He’d always enjoyed giving anal play, but never before had he allowed his partner to reciprocate.

Aftershocks continued to race through him as Kayla licked at his now half-erect cock. Her eyes stared up at him, dancing with merriment. She knew exactly how much she’d affected him.

“Proud of yourself, aren’t you?” He attempted a growl but it sounded more like a husky murmur.

A “who me?” look of innocence crossed her face and he groaned as she stroked his dick.

“I seem to have created a monster,” he murmured, staring down at her through heavy-lidded eyes. “Don’t think you’ll be getting your own way often, baby.”

“Hmmm, I think he doth protest too much. Are you saying you didn’t like it?”

“Of course I liked it, and you know it, so you can wipe that look of innocence off your face. You’re fooling no one.”

He dragged her against his chest, holding her tight.

“And to think, we could have been doing this for the last two years,” Kayla pondered.

His hold on her tightened. “And believe me, I regret that. I’m furious that instead of being here for you, protecting you, I was halfway across the world when you needed me.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I should have.”

Chapter Six

Kayla heard the self-reproach in his voice. He held himself up to such high standards, took any perceived failing on his part hard. She knew he was a wonderful man, she only wished he saw what she did.

“You’re a good person, Cord. You’re not like your father, you know,” she told him, knowing he still worried about hurting her.

“I’ve got a part of him inside me,” Cord replied. “A cold, vicious, ruthless part.”

“Cord, that’s not true. You’re not a violent man.”

He gaped at her. “Honey, I was in the army.”

“That’s completely different and you know it.”

“Each time you’re threatened I feel the need to kill. Each time you’re in danger I feel this incredible fury. I have this beast inside me. His legacy.”

Kayla clasped his face in her hands, turning him to face her. “I’m sorry, darling, but that’s bullshit.” He gave a start of surprise at her hard words. What was he expecting her to say? To agree with him?

Men. They were such idiots sometimes.

“You aren’t your father. You don’t have a ‘beast’ inside you. You’re your own person. Your father was weak. He was too stupid to see what was right in front of him—a wife who must have loved him at one time and a wonderful son. Cord, you are one of the strongest people I know. You’re a man who fought for his country, a man who has risked his life to keep others safe. You have friends who love you. And me. You have me as well. I trust you, and I think you should trust in yourself.”

He didn’t reply, but she knew from the thoughtful look on his face that he was thinking about her words.

“I want to hold on to you so tight I’m afraid you’ll burst under the pressure,” he replied. “I constantly have to remind myself to go slow, to not frighten you with the depth of what I feel, the overwhelming possessiveness. It grows the more time I spend with you—the more some creep threatens you. If I could, I’d keep you in my bed always, naked, tousled and safe, damn it.”

“Yum, only if you promise to stay with me.”

He shook his head, grumbling in exasperation before pulling her over to rest on his chest.

“Cheeky minx.” He tickled her until she squealed with laughter.

Cord took her mouth in a kiss so long and deep she thought they’d never find their way back to earth.

“God, Kayla, you don’t know how much I’ve longed to hear you tell me you love me. How did I ever get a woman like you? Whatever happens we’ll deal with it together. No holding back. No running off by yourself or trying to cope with things alone.”

“You might want to give yourself that advice, Mr. I’m-in-charge-and-you’ll-do-as-I-tell-you.”

He shrugged as he pulled her into his arms and held her close, so tight, as though he expected her to disappear at any moment.

“You’ve become everything to me. I ache constantly for you.”

She stared down at the heavy erection nudging her side.

“So I see.”

“Feel like playing a little?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Trust me?”

She kissed him. “I trust you.”

He slid up her body and took her mouth in a deep kiss. “Raise your arms.”

She did as ordered, surprised when something cool and heavy surrounded her wrist. Looking up, she saw that her right wrist was now encased by a metal handcuff attached to the headboard. Her left wrist was soon captured in the same manner.

“Been a busy boy, I see.”

“I’ve had a lot of time to dream about all the ways I want to love you.”

Kayla’s breath caught in her throat when his mouth took hers in a scorching kiss. He turned his attention to her nipples, sucking until they stood at stiff peaks and almost painful shocks of rapture raced through her body. His descent was agonizingly slow as he licked down her stomach, his hands running over her curves, leaving her skin oversensitive and eager for more.

“Has anyone ever taken your ass, angel?” He gazed at her.

“No.” She blushed. She’d read about it, and admitted to herself that the thought of it turned her on. But the reality could be vastly different.

“Has it ever been plugged?”

She shook her head.

He grinned smugly. “Ahh, we’ll take it real slow then. I’ll just play with you tonight. Use a small plug. If you don’t like it, just say and I’ll stop. Okay?”

She felt so loved, so cherished, having this strong, dominant man constantly put her first. Her needs. Her wants. He might see himself as unworthy. Yet she knew there was only good in him. He could be arrogant and bossy. But whatever he did, he did it with her safety and happiness in mind.

“Okay.”

He continued his path down her stomach with his tongue, finally reaching her pulsating clit. He lapped at the nub, teasing. Ruthlessly, he pushed her to the edge time and time again until she was near screaming, her world narrowing so all that existed was his touch.

Cord placed a couple of pillows under her bottom, raising her up. As he covered two fingers with lube she shivered in anticipation. Kneeling between her legs, he kissed her mound.

“Relax, baby, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Kayla let his voice roll over her, soothing tense nerves. One finger played with the entrance to her ass, teasing, the tip slipping in and out. He whirled his tongue around her clit as he moved the finger in her, more of it entering with each small push until it was fully immersed.

It felt strange, odd, daring. Tingles raced through her when he moved his finger faster, tapping his tongue against her clit. Suddenly she soared, her ass clamping down on him, a scream of pure pleasure erupting from her lungs.

Limp, a huge grin spread across her face as Cord shifted so he lay beside her. He stared down at her, bending his elbow so he could rest his head on his hand.

“Beautiful,” he whispered. She slid her legs farther apart as a second digit pushed through the tight ring of her ass.

Relaxed from her orgasm, she barely noticed the second finger fully entering her. But she tensed as he built up speed. Nerve endings she never knew existed fired to life, spreading delight throughout her body.

“Shh, baby,” Cord murmured soothingly as Kayla cried out in frustration. She pulled at her restraints, not even registering the pain until Cord halted and withdrew his fingers.

Kayla glared at him in reproach.

“I won’t have you hurting yourself. Either you quit pulling at your cuffs or I’ll stop right now.”

Kayla nodded frantically, making a noise of distress as he left the bed to go to the bathroom.

“Shh, baby, I’m coming back.”

She heard the water running before he strolled back in, something held in his hand. He sat on the bed and held it out so she could see it.

“This is a butt plug.” He grinned at her wickedly as he generously coated the plug in lubricant. He lay between her legs, sucking lightly on her clit until she started to lose herself in bliss once again. Then he pushed the tip of the plug into her ass. In and out, he slowly, steadily inched it inside her.

“Push out, angel. There you go, such a sexy-looking baby taking my plug. How does that feel?” He turned it, making her writhe. A scream erupted from her when he turned on the vibration.

“Oh,” she cried out as he pinched her nipples with his fingers, the pulsating plug driving her crazy. Her hips moved in an unconscious dance, begging him to enter her.

Cord settled his cock at the entrance of her pussy, entering her bit by bit. She was so ready for him that he easily slipped inside her.

“Kayla,” her name erupted from him in a chesty moan. “God, baby, that’s it, I can feel you tightening around me. Come for me.”

Rapturous relief seemed never-ending as ripple after ripple rocked her body. She sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she soared.

Cord followed with a roar, his head flying back, his body stiff with tension.

Ten minutes later, Kayla lay snuggled against his chest. After untying her, he pulled the plug out slowly then cleaned her up with a cloth and slipped back into bed to hold her tight.

“Feel okay?” he asked.

“Any more okay and I’d be dead.”

“Liked it, did you?”

“When can we do it again?”

His laughter filled the room.