Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4) (51 page)

“I love you so much,
but I need you to find your peak for me before I lose control and blow before
you do,” Zeke grunted, grimacing as the white hot pleasure assaulted him as her
tight sheath threatened to strangle his dick.  Desperate to watch her release
before he felt his own, he let go of her hand to reach between their sweating
bodies and rub her clit in tight circles.  “C’mon, baby, cum for me,” he
ordered seductively between hot, scorching kisses.  “Let me feel that sweet
cream soak my dick, Honor.”

God, the things his
wicked mouth did to her when he talked like that.  “Zeke!” she groaned as she
felt her muscles begin to quiver and her slick passage begin to clench around
his driving shaft.  “Yes, Zeke!” she managed to choke as every nerve ending in
her body caught fire and became electrified while white noise filled her ears. 

Dear Lord, this was
what all the fuss was about, she thought wildly as her body convulsed
uncontrollably.  She finally understood why her sisters insisted that with the
right man, two bodies coming together in a physical expression of love could be
magical.  It was this feeling of complete rightness and utter perfection right
here.

She wasn’t even aware
she’d screamed her release until Zeke’s lips covered hers, stemming her cries
of wonder.  Returning his kiss as she felt him stiffen above her, his low grunt
of release vibrated against her mouth while his hips jerked against hers as he,
too, lost control.  She held on to him tightly as his climax tore through him
and pulled a long hiss from his lips as he bucked inside her, filling the
condom while she silently praying that his moment of completion was as flawless
as the one he’d given hers.

And then, as he fell
heavily into her arms, there was a blessed, surreal silence as even the birds
in the trees paused their chirping to observe the gravity of the moment with
them.

July 4, 2016

8:30 pm – The
McKinnon Barn

Zeke

Kneeling next to one
of the two oil lamps he’d moved to the barn’s loft in preparation for the
evening,  Zeke adjusted the flame carefully, keeping it high enough to offer some
light, but low enough that it didn’t disturb a napping Honor.  Grinning to
himself as he looked across to where she lay naked except for a thin,
lightweight sheet, he couldn’t help feeling like he’d won the lottery.

Finally, after years
of loving her, he could call her his own. 

Watching as she
shifted in her sleep, he licked his lips hungrily as the snowy white sheet
slipped down one of her perfectly rounded shoulders and exposed one rosy
breast.  Staring at the perfect globe, his mouth watered to taste that lush
flesh, his appetite for the young woman in bed insatiable.  He needed to let
her rest - especially since he fully intended to make love to her again a
couple of more times tonight, but
damn
, the urge to wake her with his
lips and mouth and teeth was nearly unbearable. 

Hell, he knew he was
being greedy with her.  Six years of strict celibacy would do that to a man,
but there’d been no help for that.   Only Honor’s body could sate his carnal
hunger, and he’d refused to bother trying to become physical with another
woman.  Not when the woman laid out in front of him was all he’d ever wanted in
the world.  Fuck, even after having her underneath him three times already in
the last half dozen hours or so, he still wanted more of her.  Laughing to himself,
he happily accepted that the harsh truth was that he could be on life support
and he’d still want more of Honor McKinnon’s sweetness both in AND out of bed. 

His woman was that
damned addictive.  And the God’s truth was that she was one habit he never
intended to break.

Rising back to his
feet, he hitched his jeans, zipped but still unbuttoned, over his lean hips and
padded back across the wood floor toward Honor.  Still barefoot and shirtless,
he hadn’t seen the point in dressing when he’d crawled from their makeshift bed
a few minutes ago to get some lights going since he fully intended to be back
inside her hot little body before the impending fireworks reached their
conclusion, and he wanted to be able to see her perfect face when he did it.   Truth
was, the sparks they’d create between them would be a hell of a lot more
satisfying than anything they could watch in the sky anyway.

Pausing at the ice
chest long enough to pull her out a cold drink for when she awakened, Zeke
quickly made his way back to her side, dropped her can of soda on the makeshift
nightstand  and looked down at her serene face, so relaxed and peaceful looking
in the dim lighting.  Even in slumber she was gorgeous.  From her pink bowed
lips to the tips of her tiny toes peeking out from beneath the covers, Honor
was everything he’d ever wanted and nothing he deserved to have.

Of course, that
didn’t matter much to him. 
e’dHe

 He’d wrestle the
Devil himself before he ever let her go again. 

She was
his
. 
Finally, irrevocably and utterly
his
.  Mind and body.  Heart and soul.

Quickly pulling
another couple of plastic condom wrappers out of his pocket before shucking his
jeans, he let the denim pool at his feet before sliding back into the outside
bed with Honor.  Curling one arm around her, he pulled her back against his
chest as he dropped the condoms underneath the pillow with his other hand. 
Scooting the hair off her shoulder with his chin, he pressed a lingering kiss
to the curve of her throat, smiling when she mumbled inarticulately in her
sleep and snuggled deeper into his embrace.  

God, how he loved
this woman, he thought as he held her tightly and deeply inhaled the
strawberries and cream scent of her shampoo through his nose.  He knew in just
a few minutes, the fireworks show would commence on the outskirts of
Paradise.   While most of the town would congregate at the park to watch the
show in the sky, the actual fireworks would be set off just out of town on
Route 9.  He’d assigned one of his deputies to ride along with the fire
department and be on standby in case anything went wrong.  The show would last
about an hour and would start promptly at 8:45 pm.  Which meant, any second
now, they should be able to see some beautiful patterns emerging in the sky.

Pressing his lips to
her temple as he heard the low boom of the first explosion of the night’s
fireworks exploding on the horizon, he murmured against her warm skin, “Honor,
baby.  Open your eyes.”

“Hmmm,” she hummed,
pulling a low groan from Zeke’s mouth when she squirmed in his arms, rubbing
her bare ass against his groin.  “Sleepy,” she mumbled, turning her face into
her pillow. 

Snorting out a
half-pained laugh as he felt his dick jerk in response to her wriggling behind,
Zeke dropped another kiss to the back of her neck.  “C’mon, Kitten,” he cajoled
gently, tickling her sides as she tried to roll away from him on the mattress. 
“We both know you’d kick my ass if I let you miss the firework show.  Next to
the Christmas nativity scene and Thanksgiving dinner, it’s your favorite
holiday activity.”

Yawning into the
pillow, Honor reached behind her to pat Zeke’s whiskered jaw.  “Shhhh….sleep,”
she lectured him sleepily as another slightly louder explosion split the air,
this one making the barn walls tremble slightly.  Jerking her head upright, she
looked left then right.  “What was
that?”
she drowsily asked while she
blinked rapidly as he watched her try to clear the cobwebs from her mind. 
“Where the heck….” He heard her begin to mutter as she pushed herself up in the
bed, her sheet falling around her waist as she stared down at her naked body. 

“Zeke, I’m naked!”
she announced as her shocked eyes darted up to meet his laughing ones.  “Quit
gawkin’’ at me, you pervert!  What in the world are you doin’?” She squeaked,
her hand already reaching for the sheet she dropped.  Fortunately, his hand was
faster as he watched her give up the battle for the sheet and cover her breasts
with her cupped hands. 

“Watchin’ the
fireworks,” Zeke drawled, and he wasn’t just talking about the show in the sky.

Honor frowned as
another boom rocked the barn and her gaze flew toward the sky as a bright
display lit up the sky.  “Fireworks,” she echoed as, awestruck, she forgot
about her nakedness and dropped the hands she’d been using to shield her bare
breasts.

Never one to waste an
opportunity, Zeke quickly slipped behind her and slipped his arms around her
waist, pulling her back to his chest while he pressed his lips to her neck. 
“Relax, baby,” he murmured when she remained stiff against him.  “You already
showed me everything that’s mine.  Seein’ it now just reaffirms that it belongs
to me.”

“I suppose,” she
relented, softening against him as she continued to stare up into the dark
night sky.  “It’s so beautiful,” Honor breathed, her eyes glued to the skyline
as blue, red and green sparks lit up the night sky.

Burying his face in
her hair, Zeke nodded.  “Oh, it’s beautiful alright,” he agreed though he was
talking about the woman he held in his arms and not the show in the sky. 
“Those fireworks ain’t got nothing on you though.”

Relaxing completely,
Honor turned her head to smile at the man holding her.  “It wasn’t a dream, was
it?” she murmured huskily.  “We really…”

“Made love?  Yeah,
sweetheart, we did.  Finally,” Zeke confirmed with a firm nod.  Resting his
chin on her shoulder, he took a deep breath.  “You have regrets?” he asked, his
stomach sinking as she bent her head and stared at where his hands rested
against her naked belly.  Mentally steeling himself for a negative reaction, he
clenched his jaw and waited.

“Just one,” she
replied quietly as his arms constricted around her reflexively. 

“Okay,” he replied
huskily as his eyes fell closed and his head bent and hung dejectedly from his
neck.  Her rejection pierced his soul, but part of him had always known that
when the hormones had settled she might be disappointed about her decision to
share her body with him.  He’d just have to work harder to overcome her doubts
about them.  He could do that.  He was no stranger to hard work.  She was worth
it.

“I’m sorry I made us
both wait so long for something so obviously and wonderfully meant to be,” she
continued, her musical voice heartbreakingly poignant as the seconds ticked
by. 

Honor’s meaning
penetrated his mind a split second before he crushed her against him, covering
her lips with his and kissing her deeply.  “Oh, thank you, God,” he muttered
reverently between sweet kisses to her soft lips.  “Fuck, you scared me,
Kitten.  I thought… never mind what I thought,” he continued, not wanting to
waste a single second more on thoughts of regrets and doubts.  From now on, he
only wanted to concentrate on the future they’d create together.  Cupping her
cheeks, he met her adoring eyes.  “Do you have any concept of how much I love
you, Honor McKinnon?”

“Honestly, it defies
comprehension,” Honor whispered, tearing up.  “You waited… all these years… you
waited for me to be ready for you.  I don’t even know how to tell you what that
means to me.  To know that you refused to give up on an emotionally damaged,
severely messed up, half-alive woman because… because… why
did
you never
give up on me?” she questioned in a whisper, tilting her head as she stared at
him through her tears.

“Do you remember the
night of your eighteenth birthday?” he asked hoarsely.

Averting her eyes,
Honor swallowed.  “That was a bad night,” she whispered.

Zeke nodded as he
remembered.  “I’d come to tell you we’d caught one of the men that hurt you.”

“You didn’t catch
him; you killed him,” Honor corrected knowingly.

Zeke shrugged,
unconcerned by his actions that night.  Frankie Hughes was one of the two men
they’d been able to tie to Honor’s rape with DNA evidence.    “The bastard
resisted arrest,” he replied, markedly unconcerned by what he’d done that night. 
Glancing at his woman’s face, he didn’t regret for a second that he’d kept
Honor in the dark about most of the events that had happened that night.  She
didn’t need to know the details of that night; she didn’t need any new
nightmares.

Suffice it to say
that it had been one of the rare occasions that Wrath and he had been on
entirely the same page inside identical books.  Each man had been working
tirelessly for close to two years to locate the former Hell Hound prospect
partially responsible for Honor’s assault.  The police had connected Frankie to
the case by skin fragments physicians had found underneath Honor’s fingernails
the night she’d been found, but by the time an identification had been made,
the former Hell Hounds prospect had been in the wind.  But the day before
Honor’s eighteenth birthday, Wrath and Zeke had caught a break in the case in
the form of Frankie Hughes’ dying mother.  The woman’s cancer had finally taken
her life and news of her death had spread throughout the Hughes family.  Since
Frankie had been the youngest and a momma’s boy, it wasn’t a huge leap of logic
to assume the snake would slither back into Paradise for his mother’s funeral.

Zeke had caught him
leaving his mother’s grave late that afternoon and quietly arrested him,
deliberately leaving the asshole un-cuffed in the back of an unlocked police
cruiser.  Zeke had only needed to wait for a few minutes as he pretended to
question a few of the other mourners for Frankie to make his move and make a
run for it. 

The idiot had taken
off through the woods bordering the graveyard – just like Zeke and Wrath had
planned he would.  If the bastard had known what waited for him in those dark
woods, he would’ve begged to be hauled off to jail.  The stupid fuck hadn’t
once considered that he was running straight into a well-laid trap.

When Honor’s rapist
had been caught and surrounded by the Hell Hounds MC in a grassy clearing just
outside the Paradise town limits, he’d been in tears, begging his former
motorcycle brothers for his life as the men had taken turns kicking and
spitting on him, his body beaten heavily.  The lanky fucker had actually looked
relieved
when he’d spotted Zeke, ostensibly there to arrest him.  Of
course, everybody there, with the exception of Honor’s rapist, had known that
Frankie Hughes wasn’t leaving that clearing alive.

That’s when the
real
fun had started.

Zeke and Wrath had
questioned Frankie for
hours
, trying to obtain the names of Honor’s
other three rapists.  Since Zeke had already taken care of one of them through
one well-placed gunshot to the head while the man had smoked a cigarette in his
prison yard, they’d thought they’d make quick work of getting the other three
names. 

Their assumption that
Frankie would break easily had been wrong.

The identities of
Honor’s other assailants had proved to be even more terrifying than the torture
he and Wrath had taken turns inflicting on the suddenly mute Frankie.  And
since both Zeke and Wrath had talented and varied imaginations where torture
was concerned, that was saying a lot for the late Franklin Hughes.