Believe (4 page)

Only Rori would tell this particular story in this particular way.

“But you’re good at other things. You’re good at people. No matter their personality type you can, I don’t know, put people at ease. Unless you don’t want to and then you disturb them.” She sent him a raised brow, most likely referring to their rocky beginnings.

“You’re ridiculously good in bed. Like whoa.” She fanned herself while waggling her brows, making him choke a laugh.

“Physically you just have it going on. You’re all outdoorsy and athletic. You can assemble a tent in, like, no time flat. You don’t even get lost when we go new places. You have just an unfair sense of direction. All in all.” She paused to take another sip of wine and pointed her fork at him for emphasis. “All in all, you’re just peachy keen. You know? It’s got to be damned hard to be good at everything and not be a total jerk about it. I admire that.” She popped her fork into her mouth and sat back with a happy sigh.

“Well, thank you. I don’t know that much of that is true. But I do know we’re magic together. And in bed? When you give to me and I take it? When your hair is wrapped around my fist and you’re making those soft whimpers and my cock is buried in you?
That
is extraordinary.”

She blinked a few times. “You say the best stuff. Honestly.”

That she felt that way about him mattered. He hadn’t known it would, but once she’d said it all to him, he realized it did.

Once they’d reached the lemon tart and chocolate cake, he leaned back and rolled his shoulders.

“I think we’re learning. You know?” Rori brought him from his thoughts.

“I do, yes. It humbles me to admit this, but it’s not like I knew how to do this before you and I. I knew what I liked. I knew you and I had a spark in a big way. I knew D/s would be part of our relationship. But it’s not like you’re born a perfect top. And it feels douchey to even say that out loud.” He sighed.

“Do you really think so?” She shrugged. “Seems to me you admitting you’re learning and that you’re working to be the best partner to me in every sense is pretty important.”

“I’m not used to uncertainty.”

“No.” She struggled not to smile and he rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. Even though it’s very cute and all, you like to be in charge.
Hello.
I mean sort of necessary to like to tie a girl up and flog her and to manage to get
her
to not only like it, but crave it. You own your sexuality, Jude. In a way…in a way that makes me wet just thinking about it. But you’re not used to not being automatically good at something, or to not necessarily knowing if you’re doing all you can and doing it right. It sucks, I’m sure. Lucky for you, you seem to have a natural aptitude for making my knees turn to rubber.”

“One thing I’m always sure of is when it’s just us. Alone. When I’m topping you, I know every step, not always until I take it, but I’m sure of each step. It’s so easy and natural between us. I just want to do it all right.”

“I’m not sure even you can do this without mistakes. We love each other. We’re two independent and strong willed people. We’re bound to screw up from time to time. So you know, we have to talk about stuff before it festers. I don’t want you not being happy and keeping quiet over it. That just gets me all het up.” She mock-glared his way.

“I want to always do right by you. It’s my job.”

He said it so matter-of-factly and she wondered at his confidence and commitment to her. Loved it.

“Now.” He stood and she went all still inside, waiting. “I’m going to call to have this picked up. Why don’t you head on in and run a bath in that big giant bathtub? Hm? Be warm and wet for me.”

She got up on shaky legs. The look on his face made her all swoony.

She arched as he dragged his blunt, short nails up her sides. Her eyes were closed, but she didn’t need the pale light of early morning to know his touch. His lips skated down her throat, pausing at the corner of her jaw where her skin was so very sensitive.

All it took was a deep breath and his scent, the warm, sexy Jude-just-woke-up smell rushed into her system. “Mmm. Good morning.”

Beneath her hands his skin was toned, muscles bunched and played as he rolled her on top of his body. When her eyes opened she saw only him. Only Jude’s face with that disreputable scruff of beard and those half-lidded sexy green eyes.

She didn’t want to wait. Needed him right then so she reared up as she guided the head of him to her gate and slid down, taking him as deeply into her pussy as she could in one agonizingly slow stroke down the length of his cock.

The soreness from the session the night before, hell, the afternoon into the evening into the late night, only added to the pleasure.

His rough groan vibrated up her spine as she rode him slowly, taking her time touching him as he looked up at her. The grip of his fingers into the muscles at her hip kept her anchored, a reminder of who held her, of where she belonged and to whom.

With him deep inside her body, his hands on her, looking at her as if she was the finest thing he knew, the certainty of their connection sweetened everything.

“Make yourself come.”

She shivered, her breath catching at the low-pitched, slow command. No less an order for the delivery, in fact, the way he told her to do things really did it for her.

Because it felt good and because she knew he liked the view, she slid a hand down her belly and spread herself open, exposing her clit and the ring in the hood, exposing the place where his cock slid in and out of her.

He licked his lips, his gaze locked on her fingers and she felt it like a phantom tweak of her clit.

“Draw it out. I want to see you tease yourself. Feels so good around my cock.”

She knew she pouted, but he was too busy looking at her pussy to see it anyway.

Still, he knew her very well. “Don’t pout, it’ll be even better if you make yourself wait.”

Unable to stop the laugh, she let it erupt. “Cripes, you know, some ladies are a mystery to their lovers.”

His gaze, glossy and filled with want, found its way to hers. “And some ladies have mates instead of lovers. Mates who know them inside and out and love them all the more for it.”

Her lips remained in a smile. “So fucking smooth.”

He thrust up a little harder, swiveling his hips. “I know what my lady likes.”

This was it. The thing most people dreamed of, or hell, didn’t begin to believe was even real. Laughing, loving, connected relationships seemed like a storyline in one of her books and she had it not just once, but here, again and forever, with Jude.

She tried to tease herself awhile longer, but they both knew she’d weaken and push herself over so when she did, he groaned and began to thrust up over and over as she writhed, full with him, her inner muscles squeezing around his cock.

He snarled a curse and dug his fingers into her hips as he came. Rori fell forward, both of them getting breath back as they lay there quietly.

“Can I open my presents today?”

He snorted a laugh. “Tonight at midnight. That’s the rule.”

“Gah, even when I let you get to third base, you won’t let me open any presents? You’re mean.”

“I am. It’s my cross to bear.” He sat upright, bringing her with him. “And I think I got past third base a long time ago. What shall we do today?”

“Have more sex?”

“That’s a given. But I’ll let you rest a little before we get back to it again.” His grin was quick and sure. “The downtown area looks nice. Want to hit a few galleries and have lunch?”

“Yes. And when we get back, I’ll make margaritas because I totally brought the blender. And we can play some cards.”

He set her on her feet. “You’re vicious at cards. It’s really sexy.”

“I’m a little, um, sticky. A shower and then some breakfast would be good. Then shopping. Yes, shopping sounds mighty fine.” She scampered off in the direction of the bathroom, knowing he’d be along shortly.

Jude stretched and called ahead to the concierge to get some ideas on where to lunch. It was Christmas Eve after all and he figured better safe to get reservations than to be hungry and frustrated by either a long wait or going place to place.

Once that was handled, he grabbed a shower, heroically not jumping on her again, and they drove into town where the concierge had told them a bakery would have freshly baked offerings, good coffee and she’d been right.

“Despite that skanky ho-bag who would have hit me over the head with her coffee pot if you’d given her any indication you were interested, I gotta say, this is the best bearclaw I’ve ever had. Good call on skipping the restaurant at the inn to go here instead.”

She looked like a fucking angel there on the sidewalk, snow falling around her, her hair peeking from beneath the hat, eyes wide with excitement.

“I got your back, darlin’. Don’t worry, if any skanky ho-bags come at you with coffee pots I’ll trip ’em before they get close.”

“Ha. I can take out the ho-bags all on my own. I’m an Olympic gold medalist at it by now.” She muttered a little more and he kissed her temple, smiling. Truth was he rarely noticed it when women hit on him these days.

“You know I don’t give a crap about any of that, right?”

She looked up at him with a smile. “Yeah, yeah. You can still walk, can’t you? If I thought you cared, this would be a whole different conversation. It’s hard to get used to, but I think I finally am. And they’re not as bad as they used to be back home.”

Yeah, he thought it had gotten easier in town. Oh, he knew many people thought he was a rebound, or that he’d step out on her, but the longer they’d been together, the more they’d been a unit everywhere they went, the doubters had begun to realize they’d been wrong.

It stung, he admitted, that people had judged him as such a player. Mainly because he’d given them all a reason to believe he might fuck things up. She’d changed him, shaken him hard enough that losing her had taught him the best lesson he’d ever had.

Years later now, he knew without a single doubt in his mind that she was his and they had a forever type thing. The thought of it had scared him so much that it had taken losing it entirely for him to see Rori for the incredible woman she was, for understanding she was a person who made him whole.

And beyond his wildest hopes, she’d come to him again and given him a second chance. Man could live a long, happy life with that kind of luck.

“You’re up to something. I do like that about you.” She took his hand again now that she’d finished the bearclaw.

He flashed her a grin. “I’m always up to something when it comes to you. That’s how I roll.”

She laughed as they set out down the picturesque street, pausing to look in windows or to stop and look at this or that. Once she was inside a Christmas-themed shop and oohing and aaahing over stuff, he told her he’d left his gloves a few stores back and would run to get them. She asked him to grab her a hot cider on the way back, which worked out, giving him some extra time to run an errand he didn’t want her to know about.

Once she paused to watch the retreat of his denim-covered ass, she headed three doors down.

***

“I propose—” he strolled into the room with the cards as she worked the blender, “—that we get ourselves into a game of strip gin.”

Turning to look at him better, she rested her hip against the counter. Her muscles were loose and relaxed, a product of the couples massage he’d surprised her with upon their return. Who’d have thought heated stones between your toes could make a girl feel so good?

“I’m on board with that.” Especially as he was far better at gin than she was so she’d be naked faster, necessitating more hot sex. Which, of course, was why he proposed it.

He sat, shuffling the deck as she brought him his drink and settled in across from him. “I’m quite sure you are planning to cheat to get me naked.”

Again that grin, the one that dropped panties for miles around but only belonged to her these days. Never failed to send a flash of desire straight to all her pink places.

“Now, to be fair, Roberta, I do believe I’ve had you naked a time or two.” He dealt the cards while she sipped her drink.

She sighed happily, choosing to ignore his use of her given name to tease. “Yes, yes you have. You’re very good at that. One of those naturals. Though, I have to tell you I had such filthy fantasies about you when I was a teenager.”

His gaze slid from his cards to her face. “You made a reference to that some years ago but never got specific. You should.”

First setting her drink aside, Rori leaned forward, licking her lips, drawing out the tease, and whispered in his ear. “I used to think about the times you’d come over to our house and I’d sneak out and we’d talk for hours. I always felt like I got to see the secret side of you, made me feel special.”

She knew he’d be smiling.

“So one night, as we were sitting on your tailgate and looking up at the stars, you’d lean into me and kiss me. All sudden-like. You’d even use your tongue like I saw you do with Natalie Prater at the Dairy Queen.”

He laughed, squeezing her waist. “And what else did I do to you then?”

“Oh I don’t know. You told me you loved me and that I was the prettiest girl you’d ever seen and we got married. I was fifteen. I probably let you feel me up though.”

She found herself on her back on the couch with him looming over her. “Oh yeah?”

“Y-yeah.”

He bent to kiss the lips she’d just licked nervously. “I don’t know if you’d have been ready for me back then.” He kissed her again, sucking the sense right out of her head. “I sure wouldn’t have been ready for you. So very fierce and serious.”

He sat and turned the force of his attention back to her again. “So, Rori, what say we make this game interesting? How about the loser of each round has to take off a piece of clothing?”

She swallowed, hard, when she realized he’d put on that seventeen-year-old self.

“Only if you want to.” The corner of his mouth rose, just a bit. “We can stop if you think we go too far.”

She twirled a curl around her finger. “All right. But you can’t tell anyone.”

“Sugar, do you think I’d do that? What we do together is meant for us.”

Damn he was good. Cripes, no wonder half the town drooled after him.

They played and predictably, she lost and teased him, taking an earring off. He shook his head.

“Never pegged you for a cheater.”

She took off a sock instead.

“That’s better. I like that color.” He pulled her foot into his lap and began to massage it. Holy cow he was good with his hands.

On it went. She managed to beat him back a few times until he had no socks and no shirt. But that only made him hotter, sitting there in low-slung jeans and bare feet, the fiend.

“Ah, there we go.” He watched, gaze sliding down her legs where she’d taken her jeans off.

She blushed, feeling quite distinctly a lot like that girl she’d been. That a man with a face and a body like Jude would turn eyes filled with desire and attraction on her gave her butterflies.

She wasn’t wearing a bra, having taken it off before the massage and not bothering to put it back on after. One more loss and she’d be down to her panties. Hot damn.

“Well and lookit that.” He tallied up the round and underlined his score. “Looks like I win in more ways than one.” He put his cards down, slowly, with that deliberateness he had and then made his way to her. “I want to see you,” he said, his lips against hers.

The kiss was a slow, gentle exploration of her mouth. Teasing her lips open, and then sliding inside, his tongue sinuous against hers.

His body never fully made contact with her at any point but their lips. But she felt him anyway, the heat and force of him. All that energy and chemistry he exuded brushed against her.

And then he drew away, staying close enough she could see the swell of his lips and know hers looked the same. “Show yourself to me.”

Swallowing hard, she brought her shaky hands to the hem of her sweater and pulled it up and off. The air against her bare skin felt good, but the look on his face was better. Reverence, admiration, desire. And possession.

He traced a fingertip from her belly button ring up the valley between her breasts, up over and then across the blade of her collarbone, a ghost of a touch rimming the hollow of her throat and then, he collared her.

The breath whooshed from her as the intensity of her response spread like wildfire. Startling her with just how much, just how good it felt to have his hand around her throat. Not squeezing. Not harming. Just holding in a hand big enough and strong enough to do damage should he want to.

And her total trust he never would.

What had been seeded deep within her the longer she loved Jude, what had been digging roots and quietly becoming stronger, flowered. He possessed her. Yes, he loved her, yes he dominated her in bed, topped her, but this, this was something else.

Everything inside went still. All she saw, felt, smelled was him. This is what it felt like to be owned by someone, heart and soul. Not owned like a slave, or a thing, but to belong to someone as they belonged to you.

Her pupils swallowed the color in her eyes as her breath caught and then exhaled hard and shaky. It fascinated him to watch her face as she fell into her submission so deeply.

But this was different.
More.
Something inside him clicked into place and when he took her mouth again, it was far beyond the teasing fantasy play they’d been engaging in.

“I think I need to make those beams up there do their thing. Bring me the bag.” He stood, helping her to stand.

Glad he’d decided to invest in the better suspension cuffs to hold her wrists and arms more comfortably for her, he rigged the line up and over the beam and tested his weight on it.

When he turned his gaze to her again, she watched him carefully. Her nipples stood out, hard and dark.