The Vixen and the Vet (14 page)

And then Savannah’s mind was officially blown.

Once she was wide open to him, his fingers gently spread her lips and his tongue found the throbbing bud of her sex. As he lapped at her feverish skin, Savannah bucked off the bed, her fingers curling into his hair as she whimpered and moaned his name, her heels pushing into his back.

Savannah had barely experienced more than a few awkward moments of oral sex in her life, so when he placed his lips around the erect nub and sucked, stars began to flash and burn behind her eyes. Just as she was about to fall over the edge of sanity, he thrust those two fingers back into her wet heat, and she felt his teeth graze her turgid flesh.

“Asher!” she screamed as her entire body convulsed up against his mouth, then throbbed and relaxed in repeating waves of pleasure. Every muscle inside her body clenched, vibrating rhythmically against him as she experienced the most mind-bending orgasm of her life.

She lay limp and lifeless as he climbed back onto the bed and pulled her up with him until her head hit the pillow. He reached around his neck to take off his shirt, then gently pushed her blouse and bra the rest of the way over her head. Savannah vaguely realized that she was completely naked now, spent and sated on his bed, and couldn’t remember ever trusting another man this much before. Asher touched her the way a man touches a woman he loves. He touched her like she was precious to him, and though they’d made no formal declarations of their intentions, she wanted to believe that she was. His arm pulled her securely against his body, and she nestled instinctively into the hard, smooth warmth of his chest, and that’s where she rode out the remaining shivers and shudders of awesome.

***

Her breathing finally started to return to normal.

“My God,” she murmured, shimmying up a little, the drag of her breasts against his chest a specific kind of torture. He still tasted the salty sweetness of her in his mouth, which made him so hard, it surprised him there was any blood left in his head for coherent thought.

“Asher’s fine,” he answered tightly, her lemon-scented hair teasing him mercilessly.

“How did you learn to do that?” she asked, her eyes wide and impressed. Her hair was all messed up, and it looked so sexy it made him breathless.
I did that. I made her look like that.
“One-handed, no less.”

“I wasn’t just using my hand.”

“No kidding.”

Her tongue darted out to his neck, and darts of pleasure shot down his neck to his groin. He waffled between getting up to take a very, very cold shower, or waiting to see what she’d do next. The anticipation was killing him.

“Asher?”

“Yeah?”

“Only one thing’s off the table tonight, right?”

His breath quickened. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”

“No. But everything else is fair game?” she purred, as her teeth caught his earlobe and tugged.

“Pretty much,” he groaned.

“And if we’re being
fair
…” Her lips trailed down his neck, leaving little kisses and blowing lightly on them, which made the hairs on his arms stand up as shivers ran down his back.

“Fair?” he murmured breathlessly, losing the thread of conversation.

“… then it’s your turn, isn’t it?”

His pulse picked up as all the rest of the blood in his body rushed to his hips, strengthening his already rigid erection which throbbed painfully for her attention.

Savannah pinched his nipple, then peppered kisses over his pecs, which flexed under her mouth. She kissed the tight six-pack of his abs, running her teeth lightly over his skin as her hand slid down his torso. His breath caught as he felt her hand push down gently against the bulge in his pants.

Her other hand worked the zipper, while he reached down reflexively to push at his jeans, a gesture less helpful than demonstrative—he wanted to be bare to her. He wanted her to do whatever she wanted to do with him. He felt her fingers hook under the waistband of his boxers, and he arched, lifting himself off the bed so she could yank them down his legs with one strong tug.

“Oh my,” she said, her voice thick and low. “Look at you.”

His eyes clenched shut, and a guttural moan released from his throat as he felt her breath touch the tip of his sex. Her nose gently nuzzled him all the way down and all the way back up, and then ...

“Oh God,” he groaned, bracing himself.

“
Savannnah’s fine,” she teased.

… a
nd then her tongue touched him, licking him from the base to the tip, slowly—ridiculously slowly—so that he felt the heat of her breath mixing with the wetness of her mouth. Goose bumps scattered across his skin as she finally took him into her mouth, her wetted lips sliding slowly down his hardness until he felt the back of her throat against the throbbing knob.

“Savannah …” He threw his arm over his eyes as the pressure built between his legs. He wanted this to last, but damn it, it had been so long, and she was so hot, and his feelings for her were off the charts.

Her head bobbed up and down slowly as she cupped the soft sack of skin under his massive erection with her hand. He felt it tighten and strain, and he winced from the pleasure, biting his lip until he tasted the metallic tinge of blood. She dragged her lips back up to the tip, slowly, exquisitely, tasting him, kissing him, then repeating the motion again.

He couldn’t hold on anymore. It felt too good, and it had been way too long since someone loved him like this.

“Baby, I’m going to …” he said to warn her, and he felt her free hand slide up his thigh, over his hips, until it rested near his heart where he claimed it with his. And in the end, it was that connection—the intimacy of her fingers twined through his—that pushed him over the edge.

With a low, guttural roar of surrender, he gave himself over totally to the pleasure of her touch, climaxing into her mouth, pumping himself into her over and over again. As his muscles flexed, his upper body leaned forward, trembling, until his shudders relaxed and her mouth released him gently. He fell back on the pillow, physically exhausted, drained. She’d taken everything he had to give, which made him breathless with appreciation and love for her, and when she slid back up his body, he roused himself from his pleasure coma and flipped her over, gasping and groaning as he hungrily found her mouth with his.

He tasted himself on her tongue, which made him immediately start to harden again, his erection cradled against the soft warmth of the curly hairs between her hips. He rocked against her, and she moaned softly into his mouth, weaving her hands into his hair and kissing him back.

“Savannah,” he said, “I want you so badly … so badly, baby …”

“No. Not all the way,” she said, breathlessly, her hands skimming down to his hips. “But like this we can.”

He braced himself on his elbows, kissing her as he pushed against her softness, hardening quickly to rub back and forth against her mound. He pressed his hand against her cheek, leaning back to look into her eyes, as she arched up against him. He moved rhythmically, stroking the bud of her sex with every upward thrust until she reached up and grabbed his face,
pushing her tongue into his mouth as her fingernails curled into his cheek.

She was wet and slick, and he slid effortlessly back and forth, drawing moans and whimpers from her throat as their kissing started to mimic the motions of their bodies.

Her cries became louder and closer, and he drew back to watch as her eyes clenched shut and her head fell back, thrashing against the pillow. Then she fell apart beneath him, shattered and shuddering as tremors racked her body.

It was the most beautiful thing Asher had ever seen in his entire life.

“Asher, Asher, Asher,” she whispered, and he felt the contractions continuing beneath him, vibrating from her core, radiating out from the depths of her body through her skin to massage his hard length, which continued to move back and forth over her still-throbbing sex.

He quickened his pace, feeling his own release imminent, and looked down at her, surprised when her heavy eyes suddenly opened, bright and luminous in the moonlight. She whispered, “Now.
”

And his heart burst, galloping against hers, as everything tightened then exploded at the same time, fireworks bursting behind his eyes as he came hot and slippery between them, melding their skin together with the force of his release. And when he finally stopped shaking, he rolled onto his side and clasped her against him, desperately, totally, certainly in love with her.

***

“Shower,” he finally muttered into her ear after a long moment of silence and complete contentment in each other’s arms. “We definitely need a shower.”

Savannah didn’t want to move. Her naked body felt like jelly against his, warm and liquid under the down duvet. She pushed against him slightly so that he fell on to his back, and she followed him, lying across his chest, still connected intimately by the hot slickness between them.

“Soon,” she murmured. “Just keep holding on to me for now.”

His arm tightened around her as she gazed at him. She reached up, gently stroking the damaged skin of his right cheek as her eyes held his. “Tell me about this. Tell me what happened.”

His eyebrows furrowed together as he looked at her, uncertainty making his features hard as he searched her eyes. “I thought we did interviews at four
o’cl—”

“No interview. No reporter. Just your
girlfr—”

Heat seeped into her cheeks as she realized what she was about to say. Despite what they’d just shared, he hadn’t called her his girlfriend yet. She dropped his eyes and lowered her chin to his chest, feeling mortified.

Then she felt his hand in her hair, stroking gently. “If my
girlfriend
was asking, I’d consider telling her.”

She laughed softly against his chest, then raised her head, relieved. “She’s asking.”

“Wait a second.” He smiled back at her, then shook his head as if amazed or bewildered. “How did
that
just happen?”

“My boyfriend loves to change the subject,” she answered dryly.

“Can I just have a minute to process this? Because I’ve lived up here by myself for eight years. I’m Asher Lee, Danvers’ Hermit of the Hills, and you’re gorgeous, amazing Savannah Calhoun Carmichael, the most beautiful woman who ever landed back in Danvers by way of New York, and without coercion or threat of torture, you just voluntarily called yourself my girlfriend.”

“Pretty much,” she said, tangling her legs with his.

“I have to know. You have to tell me what planet you’re from.”

“That’s top secret.”

“So you admit it.”

“I admit nothing,” she said in a credible Russian accent.

He laughed, and her exhausted muscles roused themselves, ready to report for more of Asher’s attentions.

“I’m crazy about you, baby,” he said.

She kissed the warm, hard skin over his heart. “You already told me that. I want to know what happened to you.”

“It’s heavy stuff, beauty. It’s not light reading.”

“I read nonfiction too,
beauty
,” she replied. “It’s part of you. And I’m part of you. So it’s time for us to meet.”

His grin faded, and he reached down gently to push her head back onto his chest, like maybe he’d have an easier time telling his story if Savannah wasn’t staring at him. He ran his fingers through her hair, and she waited patiently, letting him take his time.

“We were in the Zhari District and some guys had been out on a dismounted patrol. There was a man down, Staff Sergeant Williams, who’d stepped on an IED, and since I was the closest field medic on duty, I’d been rushed out from base to help him. When I got there, he was still in the field, and I was met by a corporal from his unit, a guy called Lagerty. We were talking as he led the way to Williams. Just walking along side by side, and suddenly he stepped right on another IED. Right next to me. Blew him fifteen feet in the air and killed him.

“I didn’t feel anything at first,” he said. “It’s not as loud as you’d think it would be, but there was a big cloud of dust and sand, and I’d been thrown a little distance
. I knew I wasn’t dead.” He paused for a second, and she felt him swallow. She pressed her lips to his chest and waited. His voice broke when he continued. “I wished I was. I’m ashamed of that now. Lots of guys got it worse, losing both legs or three limbs, and they fight to stay alive. I didn’t know how bad it was at the time. I didn’t know my hand was gone and my face looked like chopped meat.”

He pulled his hand from her hair and Savannah suspected he was wiping tears from his cheeks. Her own tears were soaking his chest, but she let them fall and kept her hands flattened on his warm skin. His hand returned to her hair, but it rested now, not stroking, as he continued.

“The shrapnel in my face … I didn’t feel it. And my hand, I didn’t even know it was gone until one of the other guys pushed me back down—I was trying to get up—and he was saying, ‘Face, severe shrapnel.’ And someone else was saying, ‘Single amputee, effing mess, three men down,’ and I was wondering who the hell they were talking about. The only man down was Williams. Amputee? Who lost a limb?