Authors: Tessa Bailey
Tags: #police, #Romantic Suspense, #brazen, #line of duty, #erotic, #new york, #Contemporary Romance
you’d let me say good-bye. How long do
I have?”
“They already came to get me.” Those
perfect hands of hers slid into his hair. “I
couldn’t leave you. I couldn’t go.”
“What?”
He
hadn’t
heard
her
correctly. Or maybe he was still sitting
on the ground, imagining this entire
scene. “What do you mean, you couldn’t
leave me?”
“I’m staying, Bowen.” She licked into
his mouth for a dizzying kiss, which he
returned like a starving man. “I need
you.”
Disbelief tried to overshadow the joy
spiraling through him. How could this be
happening? He didn’t want to question
it; he wanted to take this twist of fate he
didn’t deserve and run with it, but he
couldn’t, not completely. She’d given up
a chance to be safe. For
him
. It tempered
his
happiness
with
worry.
The
responsibility to make sure she didn’t
regret it. His blood heated with
possessiveness, the honor he’d been
given to keep her safe. She’d picked
him. This amazing girl had chosen him.
Until she came to her senses, he would
treasure every second.
She tugged at his hair with her fists.
“Let me clarify. I need you
now
.” Her
hips writhed between him and the wall,
hardening his cock with a swiftness that
had him gasping into her delicious
mouth. “Stop thinking, please.”
“Not here, baby.” He pressed higher
between her thighs, negating his plea.
The needy whimper that drifted from her
lips sent blood rushing to his groin. He’d
left himself unfinished this afternoon and
the deprivation came back to bite him
now. It would take an act of God to tear
him away from her at that moment, and
he still would still claw his way back
for more. “Ah, God, don’t let me fuck
you in an alley, Ladybug.”
“Yes.
Here
.” She reached down and
tugged her own skirt higher on her
thighs. Seeing how her desperation
matched his own was a powerful
realization. This wasn’t just sex for her,
either, thank Christ. In his chest, his
heart raced out of control. “I can’t wait,”
she moaned. “I need you so bad.”
Her begging had the effect of a drug,
whizzing along his nerve endings and
making him hungry to get inside her.
Protect her
, a voice shouted from the
back of his racing mind. Keeping her on
the wall with his hips, he reached into
his back pocket and ripped the single
condom from his wallet. Her fingers
were already on his belt, yanking leather
through loops with shaky hands. It
humbled him, her need. He’d never
considered himself a lucky man, but right
now, with Sera wanting him so bad, he
didn’t think anyone luckier had ever
existed in this world.
She slipped her hand into his jeans
and squeezed his erection, chasing away
the last rational thought in his head.
Growling into her frantic kiss, he
reached between her legs and palmed
her pussy.
Mine, mine, mine.
“You still sore from your first time,
baby?” He ripped her panties with a
twist of his wrist. “That’s not going to
stop me from hitting it hard, you
understand? I’m too far gone to fuck you
easy. I might never be able to again.”
“I
understand,”
she
breathed.
“Just…
please
.”
He wedged the packaged condom
between her teeth. “Wrap me up, then.
Get your man ready to fuck. I want to see
it.”
Challenge in her eyes, she ripped the
foil with her teeth and he had to bite his
bottom lip to prevent a growl. Jesus,
how had he ever lived without this girl?
She made him feel so fucking alive, he
didn’t know how he withstood it. As she
rolled the latex over his cock, he
responded to her challenge by slipping
his middle finger inside her, pushing it
high and deep. It distracted her halfway
through her task, her head falling
forward into his shoulder with a hoarse
cry.
“Better finish what you started, Sera.
Unless this is enough for you.” He
withdrew his finger halfway and shoved
it back in again and again, gritting his
teeth at the feel of her tight, damp heat.
Perfect. So goddamn perfect. He nudged
her clit with his knuckle and felt her
mouth open against his neck, her teeth
rake his flesh. “Are my fingers enough
for you?”
“Yes…no. I-I don’t know.” Her hands
moved on his aching cock, rolling the
condom on fully. It made him even
hotter, watching her perform the task.
Seeing her erratic movements, her rush
to get him prepared to be inside her.
Bowen gripped her chin in his hand.
He wanted her looking at him when he
finally sank in. Inevitably, he would lose
himself, and he needed her eyes to
anchor him. “Tell your man how bad you
need him. Tell him to give it to you
hard.”
“I need you, Bowen.” Her eyes were
clouded with lust. “Give it to me hard.”
He rammed himself deep, driving her
high against the wall. She screamed in
her throat, the most erotic sound he’d
ever heard, her lips shaking with the
effort to keep quiet, keep them
undiscovered. Even he had to put a leash
on the need to shout, the feel of her made
him feel so crazed. “Jesus,
fuck
. You
tight-ass girl. I can’t
breathe
when I’m
inside you. I can’t
think
.”
Her ankles locked just above his ass,
sinking him even deeper and drawing a
groan from his mouth. “D-don’t think,
just move,” she said shakily.
Knowing he was seconds from losing
any semblance of control, he braced his
arm between her back and the wall so
she wouldn’t get hurt. Then he flattened
his free hand above her on the wall and
started pumping his hips. He didn’t start
slow. Couldn’t. His pace was merciless,
giving them what they both needed.
“
Nobody
feels like you, baby,” he
groaned against her neck, before sinking
his teeth into the sensitive skin. “I’m so
fucking deep and it’s not enough. It’ll
never be enough. I can’t touch all of you
at once and it drives me crazy. I need
everything, always. More,
more
.”
“You have me.” Her voice shook with
the force of his thrusts. “I’m here.”
“You left.” He pressed their foreheads
together, focused on the brown eyes
glazed with passion. “I watched you
leave. Don’t do that to me again.”
“I won’t.” She whimpered as he
increased his pace. “I promise.”
His hips moved on their own, plowing
into her with deep, savage thrusts. The
force of his drives shook her locked
ankles loose at his back, so her legs
dangled on either side of him, suspended
inches above the ground. She wrapped
her arms around his neck tightly, her
moans increasing in volume against his
ear until he knew she was almost ready
to come. He was overcome by the
obsessive need for her to tighten up and
shake around him, the way she’d done
the first time. He needed to be what sent
her there.
Bowen licked up the side of her neck
and bit down on her earlobe. “You came
back for me, Sera. You came back
because I mean something to you and
thank Christ for that.” His hand left the
wall to jerk her left leg up around his
waist, and they both moaned at the new
friction. “But there’s another reason you
came back and I’m fucking you with it
right now. Isn’t that right, beautiful? You
love what I put between your legs.
Admit it for me, part of the reason you
came back is because you know you
won’t get this anywhere else. Not like I
do it.”
Her fingernails dug into the back of
his neck; her thigh started to shake in his
hand. “Yes.
Yes
, I need it.”
“Nowhere else,” he growled against
her mouth. “Let’s hear it.”
“Nowhere else,” she gasped, her
pussy clenching around him so tight,
nothing could stop him from ramming
into her spasming flesh, over and over,
unable to hold back an ounce of his
strength. Electricity shot down his spine,
into his lower back, between his legs.
He momentarily panicked when his eyes
went blind because he couldn’t see her,
so he concentrated on her fingers riffling
through his hair, her clean scent.
Burying his face against her neck, he
pushed deep inside her and let the mind-
blowing orgasm drag him under. “Sera,
Sera,
Sera.
Feels so fucking good, baby,
take it. Take it all for me. See what you
do to me? You and that sweet pussy? I
can’t
breathe
.”
For long moments, he stayed like that,
crushing their bodies together as his
pulse returned to a semi-normal rhythm,
since it never completely steadied with
Sera
around.
Reality
came
back
gradually, like a Polaroid coming into
focus, but he was still afraid to move.
Afraid he would step back to find
himself
huddled
on
the
ground,
imagining her. “You okay, Ladybug?” he
mumbled and then held his breath,
waiting to hear her voice.
Her open mouth pressed a kiss to his
cheek. “I’m okay. I’m better than okay.”
He pulled back to take in the sight of
her flushed face. She looked as if she’d
been attacked, and even knowing he’d
put her in this state, even though she’d
wanted it, he still felt irrational worry.
“I wish I could tell you it won’t be like
this every time, but I can’t. You do
something to me, Sera. You change me
and once that happens…I need that
feeling too much to hold back.”
“Bowen.” She laid a finger over his
lips. “Let’s go home.”
Oh, God. Was it possible for a man’s
heart to explode in his chest? “I like you
saying that.”
Hands brushing, mouths seeking, they
pulled their clothing back into place.
Alarm pricked the back of his neck when
he realized they’d been vulnerable for—
how long? Jesus, anything could have
happened while he’d been lost in her.
He needed to be more careful. Hogan
was set to return early for the shipment
tomorrow, and the threat to Sera would
skyrocket.
Bowen would handle it. He
would
.
He’d keep her safe, protect her with his
life without a second thought. Could he
finally walk away from Brooklyn? Yes.
Yes.
In a heartbeat. As long as he had
her, anything was possible.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
Walking into Bowen’s apartment, Sera
felt
resolved
. For the first time in recent
memory, she’d made a decision based
o n
her
needs, not the needs of others.
Making the decision to throw herself
into his arms had been scary, until those
arms had closed around her and his
energy had wrapped her inside it. She
craved the need he felt for her. She
wanted
him to need her, because with
every second that passed, her own
attachment cemented itself. As soon as
everything was out in the open, no
secrets littering the ground in front of
them, the connection she felt to him
could only strengthen.
She wasn’t ready to think about what
her actions meant. What repercussions
they might have in regard to her future.
One that now included Bowen. Her
uncle, the serious problems presented by
what she’d done…those would need to
be dealt with. Soon. She hoped,
prayed
,
Bowen would want to help her solve
those problems. But not tonight. After