Kept (25 page)

Fucking worshipped her.

He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom, his mouth never leaving hers as he settled her against the pillows and came down over her. He savored her mouth with slow, openmouthed kisses, his tongue exploring every sweet corner. “Mmmm.” The low sound of satisfaction vibrated up his throat. “So sweet,” he murmured, tracing his tongue down the delicate line of her throat and then back up. “Sweet little peach.”

She laughed at that, threading her fingers in his hair so she could pull his mouth up to hers. “I’m not that sweet.”

He sucked her tongue softly between his lips, relishing the hot little sounds she made in the back of her throat. “It’s true,” he insisted, covering her breast with a soft squeeze. “Every time I kiss you, I taste sweet”—he captured her mouth again—“juicy”—he bent his head and sucked her nipple into his mouth—“peaches.”

Alyssa moaned and arched against his lips, emitting a soft “ooh” when he drew on her with firmer pressure. “Must be my lip gloss,” she protested weakly.

Derek gave her nipple one last lick and pushed up until they were nose to nose. “You’re not wearing lip gloss,” he said and traced her lips with the very tip of his tongue. “And
you still taste like peaches.” His palm coasted over her breasts, down the flat plane of her belly. He caught the waistband of the sweatpants and tugged, his fingers sliding low to cup her slick heat. “Everywhere.”

She rocked her hips against his hand, and his eyes almost crossed at the silky hot feel of her.

“So juicy and delicious,” he murmured as he traced a path of kisses down her chest and stomach. “You make me want to eat you up.”

The light, teasing bedroom banter was new for him, but even more unfamiliar was the primitive need they concealed. He’d never felt this drive to claim a woman, consume her, mark every inch of her until there was no doubt she belonged to him.

He tugged the sweatpants off and ran his hands up the slim line of her legs. His mouth followed. He paused to set his teeth over the firm muscle of her calf, to lick the creamy smoothness of her inner thigh.

But even that sweet spot was nothing compared to the musky peach perfection of her pussy. Smooth and sweet and glistening with need, her sex lured him in like a hothouse flower unfurling petals in deepening shades of pink. The scent of her arousal rushed through him, hardening his cock another inch as he ground his hips against the sheets. But as much as he wanted to sink inside her, to feel the sweet stretch and slide of her taking him deep, he wanted her pleasure more. Wanted to show her with his hands and mouth how good he could make her feel.

How sorry he was for the other times he’d hurt her.

He wanted to tell her everything she needed to know with his body because he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to find the words.

Derek hooked her knees over his shoulders and stroked her open with a sweep of his thumbs. He licked his lips in anticipation and buried his mouth against her. His tongue
traced firm circles around her clit, licked down her slit to thrust inside. A surge of wetness bathed his tongue, and he groaned, nearly coming in his pants.

He sucked her clit between his lips, drawing on the wet little berry until she was digging her fingers into the sheets and rocking her hips against his face. He focused on her pleasure, drawing on every memory of what she liked, how she wanted to be touched, to push her higher. He didn’t want to tease or torment. This time he wanted to give her everything she wanted as many times as she needed.

Her hips rocked against his mouth, her fingers tightened in his hair. He sucked her harder, quickened the strokes of his tongue as her movements became more frantic. He pushed his middle finger inside her, pressing in and up until he found the little bundle of nerves. He groaned as a high “ah, ah” sound came from her throat.

Goddamn he loved that sound, he thought as her pussy pulsed around his fingers and her whole body shuddered in orgasm.

Loved it so much he was determined to hear it again.

And again.

“Derek,” she said and flinched away when his tongue snaked out, gunning for fourths, “please. I can’t anymore.”

“Now, that sounded like a challenge,” he said and flattened his palms against her inner thighs to keep her still.

“It wasn’t,” she said and tugged weakly at his hair. He reluctantly pushed up, letting her pull him up her body. He rolled to the side, resting on the pillow next to her as she regarded him with sleepy green eyes. Her entire body was flushed with satisfaction, glowing and radiating heat like she was lit from within.

He felt his lips curl into a smile.

“I’d tell you not to look so smug,” she said around a yawn, “but that was…that was…” Her eyes drifted closed,
and she was quiet so long he thought maybe she’d fallen asleep.

Then her eyelids fluttered open, and her mouth pulled into an answering smile. Her hand traced over the waistband of the cargo pants he still wore. He hissed in pleasure as she traced the hard ridge of his erection.

“I’m afraid I don’t have enough energy to do much more than lie here,” she said with an apologetic sigh.

His dick pulsed against her hand, greedy to feel the same hot yielding of flesh his fingers had just experienced. “Go to sleep, baby,” he murmured.

“But you didn’t…” Her palm was slack on his fly, her eyes already drifting closed.

He pressed a kiss to each eyelid and then to her soft pink mouth. “This time was all for you, all about making you feel good.”

She let out a satisfied purr and nuzzled her face deeper into the pillow.

Almost immediately her breathing turned deep and even. Careful not to disturb her, Derek shucked his pants, sighing in relief as his cock sprang free from the heavy fabric to tent out the front of his boxers.

He gathered Alyssa close and pulled the sheets up over them, his dick throbbing as her smooth thigh slid in between his. Still, as much as his body ached for release, lying here, holding Alyssa, sleeping and sated from the orgasms he’d given her, was more satisfying than anything else he could ever remember.

He was so gone over this woman he was lucky he still knew his own name.

Gray dawn light filtered in through a crack in the drapes when Alyssa woke again. She’d slept hard, deep and dreamless, and for the first time in several days she didn’t feel like
she was swimming through layers of cotton as she struggled to wake up.

The drugs have worn off.
With that realization came a flood of memories from the past two days. Helpless in the bed, strapped to an IV as they pumped drugs into her. Hopeless, certain no one knew what was happening, no one would come for her.

But Derek…

She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to the man sleeping beside her. He slept curled around her, his front to her back, his arm banded around her waist as though he was afraid she’d disappear. She’d never felt so safe. Like no one could get to her, no one could hurt her as long as he was close.

He came for me.

I’ll always come for you.

The memory of his words rushed through her. She traced the back of his palms, his long, strong fingers. Heat flowed through her, emanating from her belly, pooling between her thighs, down her legs, tingling in her toes and fingertips. Something had changed in him. It was in the way he looked at her, the closed, hard look gone from his dark eyes.

And the way he touched her, like his whole world depended on making her feel good.

She arched back against him, her mouth curling in a smile when she felt the thick weight of his cock nudging against the curve of her ass. Poor man hadn’t gotten off before, he’d been so busy with her.

Alyssa rolled to face him. She buried her face in his throat, inhaled his clean, musky scent. Her tongue flicked out to taste the salty skin. He mumbled and shifted onto his back.

She stripped back the covers, her body so hot she didn’t notice the early morning chill. Her mouth went dry, and her pussy went wet as she took a moment to admire the mountain of tan skin and hard muscles sleeping in bed next to
her. Her gaze ran greedily over him, from his dark, sun-streaked hair to his big feet, coming to rest on the enormous erection tenting out the front of his boxers.

Without hesitation she reached down and tugged at the waistband of his boxers until his cock sprang free, long and thick with a plump head that begged for her mouth to close over it.

She settled between his legs and gripped him at the base, holding him still for her kiss. Her lips closed over the thick, smooth head, her tongue tracing around the rim as she explored. Her mouth filled with his hot, salty taste, and she opened her lips wider to see how much of him she could take. She sucked him deep until he pressed against the back of her throat and then slid back again. A fresh wash of moisture bathed her sex as she felt him grow even bigger.

She sensed the instant he woke up, the hitch in his breathing, the new tension in his thigh muscles. She looked up to see him watching her with hot, dark eyes, a dimple creasing his cheek as his mouth pulled into a tight smile. “Hell of a wakeup call.”

She let his cock slide free of her lips. “I aim to please.” She kept her eyes locked on his as she ran her tongue up and down his shaft, swirled it against the head, and ran it over the slit at his tip.

His head fell back on the pillow, and a groan bellowed from his chest. The heavy weight of his hand stroked over her head; his fingers slipped through her hair. Every sinew in Derek’s body was strung tight as he held himself still. The only movement came from the heaving of his rib cage as his breath sawed in and out, the clenching of his fingers in the sheets.

Alyssa had never gotten so turned on just from going down on a guy. But hearing Derek moan her name, feeling his cock twitch against her lips and tongue as she stroked and sucked, intensified the hot pulse between her thighs to a
nearly painful pitch. She felt powerful, like she had a barely tamed animal under her spell. Like any minute he would lose control and go wild.

She wanted him wild.

She sucked him deeper, increasing the friction with her lips and her pumping fist as her other hand came up to cup the heavy weight of his balls. He shifted, spreading his legs wider as his moans grew louder.

His cock swelled in her mouth, rigid as steel. His balls tightened as his orgasm bore down.

“Fuck,” he said. “Alyssa. I’m going to—if you don’t want me to—” The words strangled in his throat as Alyssa sucked him as deep as she could and pumped him with her fist. Hot, thick spurts bathed her tongue as he groaned and shuddered, her name sounding like it was ripped from his chest as he yelled it up to the ceiling.

She didn’t release him until the last pulse faded, kissing the tip of his slightly softened cock before she let him drag her up his body. He captured her mouth, sucking her tongue between her lips as his fingers threaded in her hair to keep her still.

“The things you do to me,” he murmured. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you rip me to pieces every single time.”

That didn’t sound very good. But Derek didn’t seem to have a problem with it, pulling her close, devouring her mouth with the intensity of a man who had not come less than a minute ago.

He pulled her on top of him, and she felt his cock, rock hard, thick as a club, nudging against her belly. She drew back on a surprised gasp. “Aren’t you supposed to, like, recover or something?”

He laughed and ground himself more firmly against her. “Not with you. See that? You make me defy the rules of human biology.” A slightly disgruntled expression crossed
his face. “And I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m all about following the rules.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. This was a different side of Derek, teasing her, poking fun at himself. Like he was finally letting down the iron curtain he’d been so careful to keep between them.

She cautioned herself not to read too much into it.

Her breath hitched in concert with his when he slid his hands between her thighs and found her slick and ready.

“You’re so wet, just from sucking my cock,” he marveled as he took her mouth in a hot kiss. “My sweet, juicy little peach,” he murmured, making her gasp as his fingers traced her damp slit. “So ready for me.” He buried his head against her neck and stroked the tip of his cock against her belly. “And I’ll never get enough of you.”

Alyssa tried to tell herself it was nothing, meaningless sex talk. But that didn’t stop the twisting, falling sensation, like she’d just been heaved off a cliff into open space.

And she could only pray Derek would be there to catch her when she landed.

T
HE LOOK IN Alyssa’s eyes made Derek’s chest ache like he’d been punched. Open, trusting, looking up at him like there was no greater joy in the world than being here with him right now.

It was scarier than being trapped on low ground on an open mountainside in enemy territory.

The only thing scarier was the certainty that her look mirrored his own. The instinct to shut it down, block it off, reared inside him.

Only to be swatted down as she cupped his face in her hands and pulled him close, kissing him so hot and sweet he felt like she wanted to consume him even as she offered up everything of herself, his for the taking.

He sank onto the bed, rolling to his side and pulling her flush against him. He reached down and hooked her knee over his hip. His cock nestled, ramrod hard against the smooth skin of her belly. He kissed her, sucking her tongue into his mouth, tasting himself on her. He was glad he’d already come, or that would have been enough to set him off like a Roman candle.

He wrapped one arm around her back, cupping her face in his other hand. He couldn’t get enough of her mouth, her
skin, her taste, and this time he didn’t even try to pretend he didn’t want her to the point of obsession.

He kissed his way down her neck, over the curve of her shoulder, over the baby-soft skin of her inner arm. He explored every inch of her, skimming his lips over her palm, sucking her fingers into his mouth.

He licked and nibbled his way over her legs, knees, and thighs, urging her to roll over. She squirmed and sighed as he ran his open mouth up the backs of her legs to the soft curve of her ass. Derek gave her left buttock a gentle nip, laughing at her little squeal.

Then, higher up on the curve of her hip he saw the dark, smudgelike marks on her skin. Bruises. In the shape of fingertips.

His laughter choked in his throat, and everything in him froze. He’d been horrified, homicidal when he saw the marks Abbassi had left on her breast.

But Abbassi hadn’t done this.

Derek squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force away the memory of the last time he’d been with Alyssa. But he vividly remembered pulling her to her knees, holding her hips in a too tight grip as he took her, hating her in that moment for making him lose control.

He ran shaking fingers over the mark, hating himself now.

Alyssa’s muscles tightened, channeling his tension. “What’s wrong? That’s a weird place for my bikini waxer to have missed a spot.”

She wiggled her ass enticingly, and Derek swallowed hard, not sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry at her attempt at humor. Fuck, he didn’t deserve to be in the same room with her, much less naked in bed with her, touching every last inch of her like he had a right to.

“Derek?” she said again, this time pushing up on her elbows to peek over her shoulder, a hint of worry in her wide eyes.

He shook his head, the bitter words sticking in his throat, choking him. “I’m sorry,” he finally managed.

She twisted until she was mostly on her back and could look up at him. “What for?” she asked, her arched brown brows pulling into a vee over the bridge of her nose.

“Last time I saw you—was with you…” He paused. Christ, he sucked at this. “The way I talked to you, the things I did to you—”

“Like you said, not like I didn’t like it,” she said, color blooming in her cheeks as she ran a hand down his chest.

He leaned down and kissed her. “Don’t let me off the hook,” he whispered, groaning when her tongue licked inside his mouth. “I don’t deserve it.”

“You saved my life yesterday,” she said, kissing him harder. “As far as I’m concerned, that goes a long way in making up for any past infractions.” She curled her hands over his shoulders and gave him a little push. “I’m ready to call it even in exchange for your body.”

Derek felt hot pressure in the backs of his eyes, humbled by her willingness to forgive him so easily.

He pasted a grin on his face as he rolled to his back and spread his arms wide, willing to take whatever punishment she wanted to dish out. She climbed him like a mountain, straddling his hips, her small hands planted on his chest like a conquering warrior queen.

“Give me all you’ve got. I can take it.”

She rocked her hips, rubbing her slick core against the hard muscles of his stomach. “Brace yourself, baby, cause I’m going to rock your world.”

Alyssa looked down at Derek’s grinning face, the dimples carving deep grooves in his cheeks, and thought for a moment that her heart might explode. She ran her hands over his chest, feeling every nerve come alive as his gaze raked over her, palpable as a touch. She’d never had sex like this,
going from sweet and sultry to funny and raunchy and back again in a split second.

He was so different from before, the way he touched her, the way he looked at her. The urgency was still there, in the slight tremor of his hand as they did slow sweeps over her breasts, hips, and back, in the way his dark eyes simmered behind his thick lashes. But there was none of the restraint, none of the anger from before.

No warnings to stay out of his head. No attempts to pretend this was nothing more than a cold, casual fuck.

He was anything but cold, his cock surging against her inner thigh, rock hard and firey hot. She hitched her hips lower until he was nestled against her pussy. She leaned over until her nipples brushed his lips and slid herself up and down the rigid shaft. He sucked her nipple into his mouth on a groan, not bothering to tease or pretend he didn’t know exactly what she wanted.

Her breath caught as he licked and suckled, letting her rub against him, offering up his big body for her pleasure. She ground against him, so close to coming she knew it would take little more than one flick of his thumb over her clit, one more hard pull of her nipple.

But she wanted him inside her, needed to feel the thick stretch and slide as she slid down his cock.

“Please tell me you have a condom somewhere in this house,” she panted, arching into his palm as he covered one breast.

“Toiletry kit,” he said, his voice muffled by her breast. “In my gym bag—sitting on the couch.”

“Don’t move,” she said and pushed herself off the bed.

He let out a weak chuckle. “I don’t think I have enough blood in my legs to walk,” he said, gesturing with a grin at his cock, which stood straight, purple veins pulsing and engorged.

She could relate. Her legs were weak and rubbery as she
trotted across the room, but she retrieved the toiletry bag in record time and extracted three foil packets. She tossed two on the nightstand and tore open the third. She smoothed the latex over him, licking her lips as the hard muscles of his abs rippled under his hair-dusted skin.

He was all brawny muscle, sinew, and bone, without an ounce of fat or an inch of softness. Shifting and straining under her like a barely tamed jungle cat. But his calloused hands were so gentle as he helped her balance over him, caressing her waist, cupping her ass as she fit his cock against the mouth of her sex. She sank down on him, so wet, so soft, so ready she took all of him in one smooth, downward slide.

“You are so fucking beautiful,” he said, the last word dissolving into a groan as she slid up and down experimentally. She’d never been particularly fond of being on top, always paranoid about her performance. Was her rhythm working for him? Was she going too fast? Too slow?

But Derek was content to let her find her groove, groaning and whispering encouragement as she sank up and down, circling her hips so her clit bumped his pubic bone with every downstroke.

“That’s it, baby,” he said, cupping her ass as she took him so deep she could again feel him at the base of her spine. “Take me, take all of me.” She spread her knees wide, ground herself against him, feeling the pleasure tighten and coil between her legs.

The room echoed with harsh groans, panting breaths, and the sound of sweat-slick skin meeting skin as she rode him hard. Derek lifted his hips off the bed, meeting her at every stroke, pulsing and pounding inside her as he pushed her to the edge. One big hand slid down her stomach and came to rest at the top of her mound. He burrowed the pad of his thumb between her pussy lips, stroking and circling her clit,
and lifted his head to suck her nipple into his mouth. She tightened around him, her inner muscles clenching and rippling over the hard shaft of his cock.

It was too much, his hand and mouth on her, his cock buried so deep inside it was like he was trying to climb inside her body. The knot of pleasure pulled tighter, tighter before it finally snapped, sending pulses of release rippling through her. She ground her hips against him, holding him deep as she rode it out until she collapsed against him like a blissed-out rag doll.

Derek rolled her to her back and came down over her, cupping her face and covering her mouth. He rocked his hips against her, barely moving as he savored the last flutters of her orgasm. He licked into her mouth, tasting her moans, absorbing every detail of her pleasure. He reached down and hooked her knee over his hip. He’d never felt like this before, like he couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t get deep enough.

And this time instead of running from the need like a chicken-shit coward, he pulled her tighter, kissed her harder, fucked her deeper until he thought his head was going to explode from the pleasure. And still he staved off his release, never wanting to stop, never wanting to let her go, never wanting to leave the molten heat of her beautiful body.

But he couldn’t hold off forever, not with her sliding her hot little hands down his back to cup his ass, wrapping her sleekly muscled legs around his hips to hug him close. He heard a low, animal keening, a sound of agonizing pain—or pleasure. He realized on some distant level it was him, but couldn’t hold back his own deep, desperate groans as he surged inside her gloving warmth. His thigh muscles tensed, his balls went tight, and then he was blown into about a million pieces, every atom jerking and twitching in pleasure as he emptied himself inside
her. She tightened around him, milking him in firm strokes that made his eyes cross and roll back in his head as she drained him of every last drop.

This woman is mine.
The thought came out of nowhere, shot through his brain, took hold in his gut and wouldn’t let go.

He collapsed down on the pillow beside her, waiting a few seconds to catch his breath before he got up to take off the condom. He poured them a glass of water to share and brought it back to bed. She drained it with a grateful smile and curled up against him, her head on his chest as she trailed her fingers along his skin.

He lay back and waited for the panic to set in, the need to flee that inevitably hit him after sex. Especially sex with her.

This time he was determined to beat it back, not about to do that to her again. But to his shock, as he searched his brain, all he found there was bone-deep contentment. The feeling that, even with all the shit they needed to deal with, there was nowhere in the world he needed to be, nothing he needed to be doing.

She nuzzled her face against his neck, sending an electric current through his nerve endings. His cock made a valiant attempt to rouse. Failed miserably. Derek felt a tired grin stretch his face.

Alyssa propped herself up on his chest and traced his lips with a soft fingertip. “I like it when you smile. You should do it more often.”

He sucked her finger between his lips, swiped the tip with his tongue before releasing it. “You make me smile,” he said and felt his face heat at how cheesy that sounded. But true, whether he liked it or not.

“I love you,” she said.

His breath seized, his heart jerked, and he felt like he’d taken a round to the chest.

“Don’t look so horrified,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not like I expect you to say it back.”

“Oh. Good.” He winced at the hurt that filled her eyes and tightened her mouth. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded.” He grimaced, scrambling for something to say. He sure as shit wasn’t ready to say it back. Probably wouldn’t be even if he did feel the same.

Which he didn’t.

Did he?

No. Absolutely not. He cared about her. A lot. And liked her, too, way more than he ever would have expected. But he didn’t do love. Not even with a surprisingly sweet celebrity heiress who made him grin like a fool and want her so much it tore his guts out.

“Don’t worry.” She smoothed her thumb over his frown and leaned down to kiss him. “I don’t have any expectations. But with everything going on, I wanted to be sure to tell you. You know, in case anything happens.”

Her words brought everything back into vicious focus, reminding him that for all they were enjoying the hell out of themselves and fucking like a couple minks, reality loomed, hard and cold, outside the bedroom doors. A reality where people wanted his woman dead.

“Nothing is going to happen.” His tone was harsher than he intended, so he kissed her to soften the blow. But what was supposed to be a soft, comforting kiss turned into something hungry and claiming as everything in him rebelled at the thought of Blaylock or Abbassi or anyone else getting their hands on her again. His arms tightened around her so hard she gasped, but he couldn’t make himself loosen his hold. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d promised anything to a woman, but this was a vow he intended to keep.

Alyssa fell back asleep quickly, snuggled in Derek’s muscled embrace. She drifted in and out, smiling every time she woke up and still felt Derek’s warm, solid presence beside her. Her body was tired and sore, and she was content to lie in bed with him for the next week or so. Having sex, making love, whatever you wanted to call how he used his hands and lips and cock to melt her into a sugary puddle of bliss.

Then this. Sleeping next to him, his arm curled around her like he didn’t want to stop touching her, even in sleep. Unlike all the other times when he couldn’t get away from her fast enough, now he couldn’t get her close enough.

I love you.
She didn’t want to say it out loud again and have to see the tight, anxious look on his face. She didn’t regret saying it—not at all. It was important for people to know they were loved. With no conditions and no expectations.