“This is a good idea, Raven.” He lowered his head, his lips whispering over hers. The kiss was soothing, calming. Emotions raged just beneath it, subtle, but intense. Emotions she refused to delve into.
“One of these days, your bossiness is going to get you into trouble,” she warned him as he pulled back, a small smile playing about his passion-swollen lips as he moved away from her to adjust the water in the shower.
She could do it. She took a deep, fortifying breath. It was too late to turn back now, anyway. She could have tonight, enjoy his touch, his laughter, the qualities that made him so very unique to her. And when he left, she could let him go without the tears or the rage or the fear. She was strong enough. She didn’t have to love him.
“Come on, baby.” He stepped into the shower, his hand catching her wrist as he pulled her in after him.
“Do you ever ask for anything?” she asked as he sheltered her from the spray and began soaping a washrag.
His smile flashed, filled with amusement and warmth.
“When I have to.”
Raven frowned at that.
“All of you macho SEAL-types are so damned bossy. Reminds me why I steered clear of them.”
Her brother Clint was a SEAL; most of her friends’ brothers were in one part of the armed forces or another. They were all bossy, domineering men who forged their own paths, whether in life or in love. They left, and sometimes they never returned.
“You weren’t steering clear of me, Raven,” he told her then, his hands incredibly gentle as he pressed the washcloth to her chest and began to wash her. “I just let you think you were.”
She snorted mockingly. She would argue, but that washcloth felt so good, rasping over her flesh, washing away her thoughts as easily as it did the sweat from her body.
She tilted her head back, allowing him to have his way. She had fantasized about this too much, and unfortunately, he was better than the dreams had ever been.
“You should be falling on your feet,” she whispered, the sound of her voice punctuated with a gasp as the cloth moved between her thighs, cleaning her slowly.
“Maybe,” he growled, “I should rest.”
He knelt in front of her, spreading her legs as he lifted one, propping it on the small shelf at the side as the washrag moved over the bare flesh of her pussy.
“Damn, Raven. Do you know how pretty you are? Silky and soft, and so responsive to my touch.” He shifted, allowing the spray to rinse her as he dropped the cloth, using his hands to help dispel the suds there.
Arousal built within her quickly. She knew what he was going to do and she didn’t know if she could bear it.
His fingers moved over the narrow slit, parting her swollen flesh as she fought to get her bearings, to breathe. If she could just breathe, she could maintain her control.
“I’ve dreamed of tasting you…”
Oh God.
“Fucking you with my tongue, sucking that pretty little clit into my mouth…”
She felt her juices gathering, weeping with sensual abandon from her sensitive cunt as her head rolled against the wall of the shower. The explicit, diabolical words made her weak, made her long for him to do it with every fiber of her being.
Her hands braced against the wall and the shower door. She couldn’t touch him. If she touched him, she would beg, plead for him.
“Reno…” Her thin wail filled the shower stall as his tongue swiped through the slit, circled her clit, then disappeared.
Her eyes drifted open as she stared down at him, her legs weakening at the erotic sight of him kneeling before her, his tongue moving in again, circling her clit as he stared up at her.
Not fair. Oh God. She couldn’t stand it.
Her hands moved involuntarily, her fingers digging into his scalp as she parted her legs further, pressing him closer.
“More…,” she panted. “Lick me more.”
He hummed in approval, his tongue dancing in the slick cream that began to coat her as her hips tilted further.
“Oh yes,” she moaned. “Like that, Reno. Lick me all over.”
She was trembling, watching him, feeling his tongue circle her clit, lick along the narrow valley, circling the sensitive opening of her vagina, teasing her with the threat of a sensual thrust into the suddenly hungry depths. His hands were at her buttocks, spreading them open, sending chills racing up her back at the flare of heat that invaded the tiny entrance there. The sensations were building, pulling at her, ripping away the veil of distance she tried to maintain as he teased her with his tongue.
* * *
“Reno, do it,” she whispered desperately as his fingers slid lower, parting the folds of her pussy as his tongue teased and tempted. “Please. Please do it.”
“What, baby?” he whispered wickedly. “Tell me. Whatever you want, I’ll give you.”
Her eyes fluttered; her knees weakened. His tongue stroked, taunted, yet never gave her what she knew would throw her over the edge. She wanted it inside her. She wanted to feel his tongue shoving hard inside the snug depths of her pussy as she watched him. Watched him eating her like he loved it, lived for it.
“Do it,” she cried out fiercely. “Dammit, Reno, stop teasing me. Please.”
He flickered over the opening, licking at the juices falling from her as she shuddered at the pleasure. So much pleasure.
“Fuck me with it.” She thrust her hips closer, her hands pressing against his head, her gasping moans turning to a shattered scream when he did as she begged. His tongue plunged deep, filling her, pumping inside her as her orgasm took her by surprise, hurtling her into a rapture she could only give herself to.
“Son of a bitch!” He was on his feet, lifting her, bracing her against the wall a second before he wrapped her legs around his hips and plunged deep inside her.
Shocking. Burning. He filled her to overflowing and then made her take more. Delicate tissue parted, clenched, hugging him heatedly as he began to move, sending her flying again, ripping away, layer by layer, the shields around her soul.
“Ah God, Raven baby … so tight … so hot … hold me, baby. Hold me and mean it.”
She couldn’t do anything less. She held on to him as though her life, her very heart, depended on it. And in a way, she knew it did. He was filling her soul, the one thing she had sworn she would never allow to happen, was happening.
Her legs wrapped around his waist, tightening, her arms around his neck locking in place, her lips searching blindly for his as she convulsed again, jerking in his grip, trying to drive him deeper, harder, as the world rocked around her in a release that seemed never-ending.
Reno pumped inside her, hard and fast before his groan filled her senses and the heat of his release filled the hungry depths of her pussy. She milked him, moaning in exhaustion as the tremors of release shuddered through her again, leaving her limp, ragged in his hold as his arms tightened around her.
Moments later, she was only distantly aware of him pulling free of her, cleaning her again, then himself, before he shut the water off and dried them with quick, economical movements.
A smile curved her lips though, as he picked her up in his arms and carried her to her bed. Curling against his chest, his hands buried in her hair as his arms surrounded her, sleep overtook her. Warm, sheltered, free of the teasingly erotic dreams that used to haunt her, she slept in her warrior’s arms.
Reno stared into the darkness of the bedroom, Raven’s warmth tucked close to his heart as he sheltered her against his chest. She slept naturally, easily. Not that he expected the battle to be over by any means.
A sleepy smile quirked his lips. He’d better rest tonight, because he had a feeling that come morning, she would be just as prickly as ever. Not that he intended to let it do her any good. He was a part of her, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Just as she was a part of him.
And being a part of Raven was like being reborn. Never had he known anything as sweet, as hot, as soul-fulfilling as being he
r lover.
He had warned her, the night Morganna had interrupted them, that her days were numbered. He wasn’t waiting any longer to claim what he had known for years was his.
She shifted against his side, a murmur of pleasure leaving her throat as his hands rubbed lightly down her back, and she settled against him once again.
“I love you, Raven.” He whispered the words he knew she didn’t want to hear. Gave them to her while she slept, knowing that, for now, it was the only way she would accept them.
“Reno…” His name as it left her lips filled him with pleasure. Even sleeping, she knew where she belonged.
chapter 4
she had slept with Reno Chavez.
She hadn’t just slept with him, she had been taken by him. Held by him. Fucked senseless, to be honest, she snapped silently.
Raven leaned on the kitchen counter the next morning, her head cradled in her arms as she waited for the coffee to finish, for the rich fragrance teasing her senses to become an elixir that would hopefully clear her head. Bring her sanity back. It would be really nice if it could turn back time.
She moaned pitifully.
She couldn’t even claim she’d been drunk; she hadn’t so much as touched a beer while at Morganna’s. She had been stone-cold sober until Reno kissed her. Until his hands stroked her body, bringing her nerve endings to life and a ravenous hunger clawing at her womb.
She pressed her thighs together at the memory, hating the feel of her loose shorts rasping against her flesh. She wanted Reno’s hands. Even the loose shirt was uncomfortable on her sensitive body. She could strip it off. She could undress, go to him.… She gritted her teeth in mental refusal.
She was not going to think about it. She was not going to relive each and every slow slide of his cock inside her vagina, stroking the pulsing nerves there, stretching her, filling her, making her burn.…
Her fists clenched as she rolled her forehead against her arm.
She couldn’t have made a bigger mistake if she had actually put effort into coming up with one. Sleeping with Reno was tantamount to jumping from a plane without a parachute. It wasn’t just risky; it was suicide to her emotional well-being.
He had been hardheaded as a boy, bossy as a young man, and now he was so firmly dominant, it was enough to make her teeth clench. What happened to the nice young man who put Band-Aids on her knees and bought her ice pops from the corner store? Why did he have to become the big tough SEAL who insisted on a career that risked his life every time he went to work?
“Dumb. Dumb. Dumb,” she muttered as she lifted her head, staring at the slow stream of black liquid that ran into the carafe.
“When are you going to break down and buy a real coffee-maker?”
She stiffened at Reno’s amused voice, refusing to turn and face him, to stare at that incredibly sexy body. The same one that had risen over her last night, pushing between her thighs as he filled her with the hard, broad flesh of his cock. She shivered at the memory.
“This one works,” she mumbled. And it had been her mother’s before she died five years before.
There was no way she was going to consider facing the day without coffee. She needed it. It was essential. Otherwise, she was going to melt into a puddle of aroused goo before she ever managed to push Reno out the door.
He grunted noncommittally behind her.
“We’ll get a coffee grinder later and some fresh beans. I’ll make you some real coffee.”
Turning her head slowly from the shelter of her arms, she stared back at him. Over six feet of lean, smooth, hard muscle. Damn him. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. His chest, with its smattering of hair, was displayed in all its dark glory, muscles shifting, tempting, encouraging.…
“Don’t you have a bed to buy or something?” She straightened quickly, jerked a cup from the hook on the wall, and prayed the dark brew would hurry. She had to clear her head, or she was never going to make it through the day.
“Are you trying to run me off, Raven?” She could hear the grin in his voice, see it when she glanced back at him.
“Yes,” she snapped desperately. “I am. I can’t deal with you this morning. Go torture Morganna.”
Like she thought for a minute that he was going to do that. She should have known better, she told herself frantically. He had warned her that last time, when he woke her with a kiss, looming over her like a tide of passion, that her days were numbered. She had tried to convince herself he wasn’t serious. She should have known better.
“I don’t think so, baby. Do you think I’m going to let you run me off this soon?”
Uh-oh.
She blinked back at him as his expression hardened, his gray eyes turning stormy. She knew that look, and it did not bode well for getting rid of him.
“How soon, then?” She slammed the cup to the counter and jerked the pot from under the small stream inching into it to rapidly fill the cup.
She brought the cup to her lips and sipped too quickly. The hot liquid burned her tongue, but it did nothing to erase the remembered feel of his touch.
“Damn, Clint was right, you’re a grouch in the morning,” he stated as he moved to the pot himself, causing her to back away quickly. If he touched her, she was a goner.
“I’m always a grouch.” She frowned as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “And that’s my coffee.”
He lifted his brow mockingly. “I know a cure for your grouchiness.”
The wicked smile playing about his mouth had her womb convulsing in arousal. Damn him. Damn him. She could feel her body preparing for him, aching for him. Even more frightening was the fact that it felt right. His presence in her kitchen wasn’t as upsetting as it should have been. It felt comfortable, impossibly natural. She hated having people around her first thing in the morning, but Reno was different. Which meant he had to go.
“As soon as I finish my coffee, I’m throwing you out.” There was just no other answer.
She moved to the table, cradling the cup lovingly as she inhaled the scent. Sanity resided there surely.
“You’ll have to grow quite a bit first, darlin’.” He wasn’t amused; he wasn’t smiling. He was staring at her from determined, intense eyes.
“And don’t call me darlin’.”
He leaned against the counter, his bare ankles crossing as she glanced at his feet. Dammit, even his toes looked sexy.
She sipped the coffee, remaining silent. There had to be a way to get him out of her apartment, short of calling the police. And what was she supposed to tell the police? Excuse me, Officer, but I let him fuck me last night, so of course he thinks he has rights now.
She rolled her eyes at the thought. Of course he thought he did. She knew Reno. There wasn’t a chance in hell he had even considered a one-night stand. He was her brother’s best friend. Her best friend’s brother. He was playing in earnest.
Panic flared at the thought of that. Oh hell. She looked up at him wildly, taking in the small grin quirking his lips and the way he watched her. As if she were his.
“It was just sex.”
He laughed. Asshole. He sipped his coffee and grimaced.
“I’m definitely going to have to show you the fine art of preparing coffee,” he drawled. “This stuff isn’t going to help your attitude at all, Raven.”
“My attitude is not the problem. You are,” she informed him through gritted teeth.
“I invited you over to sleep. Not come in and take over,” she said, feeling desperate as she got up from the table. “You weren’t supposed to … to—” Her face flamed. “—do what you did.”
“What did I do?” His eyes widened, almost innocently. She could see the knowledge glowing there, even as the sweatpants he wore began to tent in the front from his erection.
She swallowed tightly at the sight of it. Her mouth was watering. Oh God, why was her mouth watering? Why were images of going to her knees and pulling the waistband clear of that thick flesh suddenly torturing her? And her mouth w
as watering. Weak, Raven, she accused herself firmly. You are so weak.
“That,” she said, her hand waving toward the erection. “That’s what you did last night. You seduced me.”
“Seduced you?” He was clearly laughing now as he glanced down at the tented material. “With my cock? That was seduction? Baby, all I did was kiss you. You kissed back.”
“Well that was enough,” she sniffed. “Now it’s time for you to get dressed and leave.”
He set his cup down on the counter, his eyes narrowing, and trepidation skated down her spine. She knew Reno. Knew his looks, his moods, and his stubbornness. She knew when he was about to do something he knew was going to piss her off. And he had that look now.
“Come here.” His voice was deep and rich like black velvet.
“What?” she said, staring at him warily.
“I said, come here,” he growled. Raven shivered in reaction. Her pussy was gushing at the sound of his voice. She was so easy.
“No.” She crossed her arms over her breasts, hoping to hide the telltale rise of her nipples. Damn, they ached for his touch, his mouth, his tongue flickering over them.
His brow arched.
“You know,” he said conversationally. “I’m dying to watch the bare flesh of that pretty little ass turn red. Get over here, Raven, or I’m going to see just how fast my hand can make it blush.”
* * *
Reno watched as Raven’s eyes flared, the blue darkening, filling with arousal and heat as she stared at him with wild-eyed panic. He wanted to chuckle, but he had a feeling it would push her further into retreat. As though he was going to allow that.
He mentally shook his head, watching her trying to rebuild her defenses to keep him out.
Poor Raven. It didn’t matter.
Nothing was going to diminish the heat and the hunger between them.
“You did not just threaten to spank me,” she suddenly snapped, blinking in amazement as she watched him.
“Yes, I did,” he said, refuting her statement blandly. “Now come here.” He pointed his finger directly in front of his feet.