Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series (35 page)

“I love how strong you are,” I say and he opens his eyes to look down at me. “Not just physical strength, but emotionally too. Solid. Protecting. Something I can cling to.”

I squirt some of his soap into a wash rag and begin washing him, beginning with his neck. He raises his head to give me better access to his throat, then I drag the cloth down his arms and to his hands. There, I soap each finger, making sure I get beneath the nails. I want all of what happened to tonight to flow down the drain and into oblivion. When I’m finished, I turn him around and wash his back.

I follow the peaks and valleys over the broad expanse, trace the length of his spine down to his ass. The cheeks flex under my hands and I smile, then I bend and wash down his muscular legs.

“Turn around,” I say and when he does, I lift his foot and wash between his toes. When the other is clean, I wash up his shins, knees and thighs. I bypass his sex, although the temptation is great to take him in my mouth. I trace the outline of his sexy abs before finishing on his chest and nipples. I squirt more soap directly into my hands. He moans when I slip his cock between them.

“I love how you love me,” he says as I reach between his legs and wash his balls, feeling them move under his skin. Reaching lower, I trace my hand down the soft patch of his perineum and all the way to his ass.

He startles, still not used to this type of play, which makes me only want to play more. I know how many sexual partners he’s had, although I’m sure he lowered the number to keep from shocking me too much. I know those women were very experienced. I could only imagine how much they pleased him with their knowledge. This… I increase the pressure as I circle a soapy finger around his anus… he’s never let anyone play here but me.

“Steph.” It’s a warning, but also a moan, his hands tightening in my wet hair. I grip his cock harder with one hand, stroking him fast as the finger between his legs slips inside. “Oh my… Steph… oh God.”

“Prostate health is very important,” I say as I press onto that internal gland. He goes wild, hands clutching at me, moaning, groaning, cursing. I stroke him harder, clamping my fingers around his thickening cock, chasing him to his release. The internal pressing and stroking on the sensitive gland increases the intensity.

Moments later, he’s exploding, this cum shooting out in long streams. He’s cursing more and I smile as he gets louder. Finally, he’s left panting, one hand on my shoulder, the other against the shower wall.

“That is so not fair,” he says through gulps of breath. “Why did God put a magic button inside a freakin’ asshole?”

I laugh and lean back into the stream of water, wetting my hair beneath the hot water. “It’s like an Easter egg hunt.” He rolls his eyes at me while I grab the shampoo and wash my hair, my smile feeling permanently etched on my face. This man is so damn sexy, the ripped muscles, the softening penis, the sheepish look on his face when he glances up at me. He’s embarrassed.

And he loves me.

By the time I’m rinsing the conditioner from my hair, he’s recovered and soaping up my breasts with his hands. I quickly wash the rest of me because the water is turning cold. A quick rinse chills me. My teeth are beginning to chatter by the time I turn the water off.

Ken steps out and then bundles me in a towel. I bend to take the plastic wrap from his leg and check to make sure the bandage isn’t wet. When I stand back up, he pulls me to him and sinks his mouth against mine. “Let’s go to bed,” he whispers against my lips.

Under the covers, I curl into his side, my head over his heart. “Are you okay? Not your leg. Or ear. You?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he says after twenty of his heartbeats have thumped beneath my ear. “It seems so bizarre now, like a bad dream. I did and didn’t kill a man tonight.”

I thread my fingers through the hairs on his chest. “He pulled the trigger.”

“I held the gun.”

“You saved me. I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet.”

He’s squeezes me tighter. “You saved me right back.” He breathes out a short laugh. “You came out of nowhere. This loud ass scream and then blonde hair flying by. When you started wailing on that guy’s head, I wanted to applaud.”

I shiver. Remembering.

“What do you think he really meant when he said, ‘This isn’t over’?”

I feel Ken shrug. “Hopefully he was just trying to scare you.”

“He succeeded.”

“Yeah, the guy was completely psycho, like a suicide bomber, a kamikaze. I wonder how Jerome got mixed up with someone like him. That’s something I don’t get. If he wants you back so much, why do everything in his power to make you hate him more? It’s totally fucked.”

I think for a moment. “I don’t think he wants me back. I think he thinks I wronged him and all he wants is revenge. It probably gives him a real boner to toss his money around and mess with people’s lives.”

“When I was talking to Beth the other day,” he says and strokes his fingers down my spine, letting his hand settle around the curve of my ass. “She said that Jerome used to be pretty normal until about a year or so ago. She said he changed, became more controlling, and started to hurt you. Hurt you how?”

How do I explain this? “It really started when he was getting close to a breakthrough on the technology he was working on. He was working eighteen hours a day, not eating well, drinking energy drinks like crazy. He would… let off steam with me.” I’m glad the room is dark so Ken can’t see my face. “Control became a really big thing with him. He started calling himself a Dom and wanted me to ask him before I did anything, you know, ask his permission before I ate or went to the bathroom. He would punish me if I broke some arbitrary rule. The thing is, the rules changed all the time.”

“Do you think he was on drugs?”

I shake my head. “The huge personality change suggests it, but I never saw evidence of it. Just the prescription drugs he had been on for years. He was a foster kid, both his parents died on his first day of kindergarten. They dropped him off at school and never came back. Car accident. He had a grandmother who tried to take him in, but he was serious ADD, he said, and he was too much for her to handle. He went into the foster system. A family tried to adopt him once, but brought him back. The ADD again. No one ever tried again so he hopped from one foster home to another. He’d never tell me anything about it, but I always got the feeling he was mistreated at several of them.”

“Mistreated how? Physically? Sexually?”

“Probably both. He wouldn’t say, but he would have terrible nightmares, call out names I couldn’t understand.”

“What type of drugs?”

I had to think for a second. I’d seen the prescription bottles hundreds of times. I was so sleepy, I couldn’t remember the names. Yawning, I try harder to recall the names. “Adderall for sure. He had been on it for a long time, for the ADD. More recently, he was on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds. The doctors told him to stop the Adderall, but he refused and bought it off the black market. Said it focused him, made him smarter. Lots of college kids take it to help with school work. But I never saw cocaine or even weed. I don’t know.”

My eyes close, the weight on my eyelids just too heavy to keep them up. I snuggle closer to Ken and feel him kiss my hair.

“You know,” he says, his hand stroking over my breast. “I never said ‘thank you’ for getting me off earlier.”

I smile. “It was my pleasure. You don’t have to thank me.”

He moves to his side, and pushes me onto my back. His hand trails down the center of my stomach as he takes a nipple into his mouth. As tired as I am, my body heats with desire. My hips lift and I spread my legs, welcoming his fingers onto my clit.

“I do need to thank you,” he says as he licks his way down my body. “I want to thank you.” He settles between my legs.

He blows on me, licks up my folds and blows again. “Mmm… I love the way you taste.”

He pushes my legs further apart and dives in, his tongue penetrating me, licking and sucking into my core. His teeth scrape over my clit. Then he takes the sensitive bundle of nerves into his mouth while his fingers push inside.

“Yes.”

Oh God, his thick fingers stretch me and plunge into me. He twists his hand and curls his fingers. I moan and arch from the bed, the zing of pleasure so intense I can’t be still.

“The magic button,” he says as he continues to lick and suck my clit. His fingers move inside me, thrusting and then pounding. I explode, crying out, pulling at his hair. He doesn’t stop, he thrusts and licks and pushes me further. I’m still at my peak when I explode again.

He pulls his fingers from me and I feel their loss. He slides up my body and reaches for a condom. A minute later, he slips inside.

“God, I love you,” he says as my legs hook around his back.

“I love you, Kenneth Hayden Davidson.”

He takes my lips as he takes my body. Giving and receiving.

A perfect fit.

Chapter 6 - Ken

The knock on the door sounds frantic. I check the time. Is it really nine o’clock? I put the pillow over my face and notice Steph hasn’t even stirred. How can anyone sleep that deeply?

The knocking comes again. Kicking too? The entire frame rattles in the other room. Then I hear her. Shit, it’s Beth and she sounds panicked. “Ken, are you there?”

I stumble to the door before remembering I’m naked. “Hold on a second.”

She knocks harder. “Is Steph with you?”

“Yes,” I call back. “Hold on. It’s been a strange night. ”

The fog is lifting and I find a pair of shorts in the laundry basket. I put them on, pinching my cock as I zip the fuckers up. Now I know why God created underwear. Shit, my dick used to be the only place on my body that didn’t hurt. I grin. Maybe I can get Steph to nurse it too.

Hobbling back to the door, I try to remove the chain, but it’s stuck and doesn’t want to come off. Pounding it with my palm only makes it worse. Beth pounds back and I lean my forehead against the door, too exhausted to figure this whole thing out. “Hold on Beth, the security chain isn’t coming off,” I call through the door and open it as far as the chain will allow. She looks pale and worried. And alone.

“Where’s Gage?” I ask her.

“He went to get coffee and donuts. He’ll be here in a flash. We tried calling and no one answered.” The look she gives me is accusing.

“Let me fix the door.” I close it and give it one last whack and the freakin’ chain finally pops out. Note to self: call landlord to fix this before I break my hand beating it to death.

As soon as I open the door, Beth grabs my arm and leads me to my couch. “We heard what happened. I’ve been calling Steph all morning; it goes straight to voicemail. You didn’t answer yours either.” Another accusing look. “Gage made me wait; I wanted to come over right away, but he said we needed to let you get a little sleep.”

“Sorry. We both turned our phones off. She was going to call you this morning. We didn’t realize the grapevine would spread the news so fast.”

“Is she okay?” Beth’s eyes crinkle in the corner, the worry settling deep in her skin. “I heard… I heard there was a gun. And a guy was killed. I also heard you were shot.”

I squeeze the hand she places on my arm. I point to my ear. “Just a nick. Stephanie’s fine, just exhausted. She’s dead to the world. Do you want me to wake her up?”

“No. I just needed to know she’s safe.”

A quick knock and then the door opens, Gage walks in, a tray of coffees in one hand, a bag in another. Beth jumps up to help him get things set down. She pulls a coffee out of the holder and hands it to me. “Black.”

“Yeah, black is fine. Double strength if you’ve got it.” I take a sip and my eyes nearly roll back in pleasure. “I thought fighting fires was hard, but this spy shit, if it wasn’t so real it would be fun.”

“From the looks of you, it’s pretty painful too.”

I touch my ear and take another sip. “Got that right.”

Gage pulls Beth onto his lap when he sits down and I notice how they fit together too. It’s weird, she’s so tiny and he’s so tall, a good foot taller than she is. I guess the size doesn’t really matter, but the connection, the
wanting
to fit together. I still can’t believe I want it.

“Ken, I never in a million years would have thought that Jerome was capable of this,” Beth says, unconsciously stroking her fingers through Gage’s hair. “I just can’t see it. Something doesn’t feel right.”

Gage reaches around Beth and snags the bag of donuts on the table. He chooses one, offers it to Beth before tossing me the bag. I so don’t want to talk about this right now. I want to savor a dozen donuts and then take a nap. I want to forget all this craziness for a while, hang with my friends and then go fuck my girl again.

I sigh. There is no rest from this, not with everything that’s gone down and so many questions in the air. Speaking of questions… “How did you all learn about what went down last night anyway?”

“Flores called a couple hours ago. Steph had told him Beth was with me, but with everything going on, he wanted to double check. Make sure we were alright and didn’t have some dickhead fucking with us too.”

Beth stands and walks to my bedroom, taking a peek inside, like she just needed to see Stephanie for herself. “Can I use your bathroom?”

“Of course.” I point in the right direction.

Once the door has closed, Gage leans forward, his elbows on his knees. “Flores says they think this is bigger than Jerome now. He’s working the case full time, along with the feds. They think it’s connected to something international.”

A sleepy looking Stephanie leans against the doorway of the bedroom. She went to bed with wet hair. I don’t dare laugh at how funny she looks. I take another sip of coffee instead.

“Remember Jerome talking about Russians and the Chinese government the other day at the hospital? He went to school with a Chinese hacker guy; they were pretty tight. Is that why they’re thinking international?”

Beth bursts from the bathroom and pulls Stephanie in her arms. “Oh my god, I’ve been so worried.” The girls cling to each other before Beth steps back and looks her over. She touches the bruise on the side of her face that’s gotten darker during the night. Then she strokes her hands over Stephanie’s hair, trying to get the pieces that look like a peacock to settle down.