Little Bird (The Tangled Series) (20 page)

An odd look passed over Lee’s face, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her. Then his free hand found her stomach and he pushed her back a little, as he growled. “Too fucking late.”

Lee came with a shout, arching his back and lifting both of them off the bed as hot jets of semen spread over the cheeks of her ass and lower back.

When he’d finished, he lay back against the pillow, panting loudly and staring at her with a speculative expression. He still had his arm over her leg, slowly stroking his cock. Savannah twisted, looking over her shoulder, wanting to see him touch himself. Her eyes went wide and she quietly whispered, “You’re still hard.”

He laughed, a hoarse ragged sound. “Yeah. You’re going to kill me. I’m going to die from lack of blood flow or something because I have a constant hard-on whenever you’re around. I guess the bright side is I’ll die well fucked.”

Savannah turned back to him again. “At least there’s a bright side for you. If you die, I’ll have to spend the rest of my life poorly fucked. No real upside to that.”

Lee smacked her bottom and grinned at her. “Unfucked. You promised me fidelity.”

“And that persists even in death?” Savannah gave him a skeptical look.

“Condom?”

It took Savannah a second to realize what he’d said because she hadn’t been expecting it. Once it sunk in, she leaned over and got a condom out of her bedside table. She started to move off of him so she could put it on him but he shook his head, taking it from her. Both hands behind her back he opened it and put it on then stretched back with both arms behind his head and grinned. “Climb on, Little Bird.”

Savannah laughed and scooted back to take him inside of her. As she lowered herself onto him she shivered and moaned, “You feel so fucking perfect inside me.”

He lay back watching her move on him, her hips rising and falling slowly. His voice sounded a little unsteady. “Which brings us back to your question. Yes, even after you kill me you’ll be faithful to me. For one thing, after me you won’t want anyone else. And for another, you promised that cunt to me. It’s mine and I’m not letting anyone else have it, even if I am dead.”

“Well, if you’re dead there isn’t much you can do about it.” Savannah laughed huskily, moving a little faster on his cock.

“Slow down.” Lee put one hand on her hip, bringing her back to the gentle rocking she’d been doing a minute ago. “I’d haunt you and the poor bastard you tried to give my cunt to. And I don’t mean some friendly Casper kind of haunting. I’m talking full on poltergeist kind of shit.”

Savannah shook her head and sighed dramatically. “Definitely no upside for me then. Unfucked and terrorized by the ghost of my dead boyfriend. That sounds like a terribly unsatisfying way to spend the rest of my life.”

Lee chuckled, stroking her hip with the fingers of one hand. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll leave you my vast fortune in gratitude for taking me out in such memorable fashion. So you might be unfucked and haunted, but at least you’ll be able to afford the best vibrator money can buy.”

Savannah snorted and rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Oh, I’ll bet your family would love that. I can see the will reading now. ‘To my sister, I leave the family heirlooms. To Savannah, I leave a business card for Ghostbusters and all of my money for a lifetime supply of vibrators.’ Yeah, no way they’d contest that.”

Lee laughed loudly. “Then you’ll just have to marry me before you kill me so they can’t argue.”

Savannah went instantly still on top of him and his fingers dug into her hip violently as they stared at each other in shocked silence.

She liked that they could talk and laugh and tease while they had sex. It was lighthearted and comfortable, a nice variation from their sometimes more intense interactions. But this time, with one flip comment, said in jest while they teased and played, everything had changed.

Lee lay there staring at her, one arm still behind his head, with an exceptionally calm look on his face. Savannah might have believed he was calm, too, except for the way the fingers of his other hand were forcefully digging into her hip.

Her panic, on the other hand, was far more visible. There was no use even trying to hide it because it would have been wasted effort. She was flushed, her eyes wide and her breathing hitched. She felt like she should say something, but she was completely tongue-tied.

“I love you, Savannah.”

She’d known one of them had to say something eventually; they couldn’t just sit there and stare at each other dumbly forever. She didn’t know what she thought that would be or which of them would say it but it hadn’t been that.

“I love you, too, Levon.” She looked down at his hand on her hip. “You’re sort of hurting me though and not in the good way.”

Lee looked apologetic but didn’t lessen his grip on her. “Sorry for that, but you look a little panicked. I just want to make sure you don’t try to run away.”

Tipping her head to one side, Savannah arched a brow at him. “I thought you were doing it because you were freaking out.”

Lee pulled his other hand from behind his head, grabbing her wrist and placing her flat palm on his chest. She could feel the steady beat of his heart beneath her fingers. “Perfectly calm here, Little Bird. But that’s because I already knew I was going to marry you. I can understand why you’re a little taken off guard though.”

Lee covered her fingers on his chest with his own hand, watching as she stared at him with mouth hanging open. Several times she tried to speak but she never managed to say a word, starting and stopping abruptly. Savannah had no idea what a person was supposed to say in a situation like this.

“I should say, that wasn’t the way I had planned to tell you. I had thought…”

Savannah interrupted him then, finding the words as her eyes flashed at him. “Ask. That wasn’t how you had planned to ask.”

“No. I am going to marry you, I am going to have a family with you, and I am going to spend the rest of my life loving you. I have no intention of asking and giving you the chance to say no.” Lee chuckled as she glared at him, her fingernails scrapping his skin as she flexed her fingers over his heart. “I can tell we’re about to have the overbearing bastard argument yet again and I’d really prefer we didn’t.”

Savannah gritted her teeth. “If you weren’t such an overbearing bastard so often, we wouldn’t have to have the argument so much.”

Lee shrugged helplessly and changed the subject. “Tell me you don’t want to marry me.”

Savannah stared at him, dumbfounded. This had to be some kind of fucked up dream.

“No.”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s kind of driving me crazy to be inside you right now while you just sit there and gape at me. If you aren’t going to make love to me, I’ll make love to you.” Lee pulled her to his chest, rolling them over. When he’d settled himself on top of her, he cupped her face in one hand as he continued to hold her other hand against his chest. He began to gently make love to her, his voice a little rougher when he continued. “Why won’t you tell me you don’t want to marry me?”

Savannah moaned despite herself, the feel of him tenderly thrusting against her making her tremble. She was confused and angry and unsettled and completely incapable of resisting him.

“Answer me.” Lee arched a brow, grinding his hips and smiling when she lifted her hips to meet him.

“I don’t lie to the people I love.”

“Ah. That’s good to know.” Lee bent his head, his lips covering hers in a heartbreakingly tender kiss. When he lifted his head again she whimpered, trying to follow him, but he just smiled and shook his head. “So you do want to marry me. You’re just pissed because I’m not a sappy romantic who asks on one knee.”

“Yes.” Savannah snapped at him, her free hand clawing at his back, trying to goad him into fucking her. She felt too raw and vulnerable for his lovemaking right now.

“Stop, Little Bird. I’m not going to let you pick a fight just to get out of a hard conversation.” Lee still moved tenderly against her, but his voice had changed to that deep commanding tone she was incapable of ignoring. When her scratching and clawing had subsided, he nuzzled against her neck, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “Do you want to have a family with me?”

“Stop asking me all these questions.” Savannah’s voice was a ragged moan, barely intelligible, as she raised her hips, needing more of him. He accommodated her, shifting his weight to press deeper.

Lee lifted his head from her neck, studying her face. “You’ve thought about that, haven’t you? You’ve thought about having my baby.”

Savannah’s eyes flew open and she stared at him with astonishment. How could he possibly know she’d thought about that? She hadn’t even really thought about it, not really. It had been just a shadow of thought floating around the edges of her consciousness.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Lee’s voice was gruff, hoarse and he moved a little faster, grinding when he buried himself in her. “It’s all right, Little Bird. I’ve thought about it, too. You have no idea how fucking deep I have to dig to find the self-control to put a condom on every time we have sex. That’s why you can’t tease me like you did the other night, baby. It’s a battle I’m barely winning as it is. I want to be a good guy. I want to do the right thing. But I can’t handle that temptation.”

Wrapping her legs around his waist, Savannah made a strangled sound, her eyes wild as she looked at him. Lee’s hand stroked her face, soothing her, and he squeezed the fingers of her other hand against his chest. Savannah felt her nerves settle, the panic recede, as he touched her so tenderly, with so much love and care.

Lee didn’t speak again, making love to her quietly, his hands and mouth everywhere. Savannah clung to him, trying to forget all the things he had said and instead concentrate on the way he made her feel. But she couldn’t forget because in her heart she knew he was right. Maybe he hadn’t gone down on one knee and asked, but so what? They both wanted it, what difference did it make how they got there so long as they got there? Realizing that sounded exactly like something he would say, Savannah couldn’t contain her choked laugh.

Lee lifted his head to give her a questioning look. Savannah splayed her fingers over his chest and gave him a misty smile. “I want to marry you, Levon.”

Lee groaned, his lips brushing over her face as he thrust faster. When they did come it was together, their bodies entwined and moving in perfect rhythm, with Lee whispering words of love against Savannah’s ear.

Later that afternoon, they were sitting in a little pub on Connecticut Avenue. When they’d left her apartment, they’d walked a few blocks to an adult store Savannah hadn’t previously realized was in her neighborhood. After a little shopping, which left Savannah blushing and embarrassed, they’d walked to one of her favorite local bars to get a bite to eat.

Already finished, Savannah leaned back in the booth, watching Lee as he ate. Their conversation earlier rolled around in her head. He wanted to marry her and have a family with her. Just the thought made her stomach do a back flip. But the logistics of the situation still troubled her. She didn’t want to live in the country isolated from all her friends and the familiar places of DC. Lee’s farm was fewer than fifty miles outside of the city but she was used to being able to walk or take the Metro anywhere she wanted to go. Fifty miles might as well have been a thousand for all the difference it made. Obviously they should have talked about this earlier, but they hadn’t. Now she was in too deep, scared she would have to choose between him and her beloved city.

She was frowning, lost in her thoughts, when Lee pushed his plate away and looked up at her. “What’s wrong, Little Bird?”

Savannah shrugged and tried to smile at him. “I was just thinking. I mean, how is this going to work when this thing with Cara is over?”

Lee looked confused. “How is what going to work?”

She sighed and looked away. “I mean us. You said you’re going to marry me. But I’m a city mouse, you’re a country mouse.”

“We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it.”

Lee’s body language was totally relaxed as he spoke. Savannah couldn’t believe how unconcerned he was when to her it seemed like a really big deal. “You aren’t worried about this at all?”

Lee took a long drink of his beer and then shook his head. “Nope. Not at all.”

Savannah raised a brow at him, her voice heated. “I suppose that’s because you think I’m just going to follow you back to the country like a lovesick puppy?”

Lee laughed and shook his head. “Give me a little credit here, would you? I haven’t really thought about how that’s going to work because it doesn’t really matter. I know this is all happening very quickly, but I’ve spent my entire adult life looking for a woman who makes me feel the way you do. Now that I’ve found you, I’m not willing to lose you over something as stupid as geography. You’ve just got to trust that we’ll figure it out together when the time comes, all right?”

“You weren’t looking very hard. How were you supposed to find a woman who makes you feel anything but horny when all you were doing was whoring around when you weren’t married?” Savannah arched a brow at him, having focused on that one sentence. He seemed earnest but it was incongruous with his actual behavior. Wouldn’t a man looking for love actually date and have relationships instead of just sleeping around?

“Savannah,” he rumbled and narrowed his eyes, considering his words before continuing. “You know things were bad with Cara and me and it left me doubting myself in a lot of ways. Mostly that I didn’t think I was capable of a healthy relationship, and I didn’t want to hurt another woman the way I’d hurt her. So no, I wasn’t looking real hard. I didn’t think I deserved it, and I didn’t think I could do it. And at the time, that was just fine with me. I could get laid with all the regularity I wanted without any of the emotional baggage or risk. What’s not to like about that?

“Then you came along and clobbered me over the head with everything you are, and I realized exactly what I was missing. And I realized, also, that I had been looking for it, that I wanted it. I was looking for you all along, sweetheart. I was just too stupid to know it and I was looking in all the wrong places. Fortunately for me, you showed up on my doorstep anyway.”