She couldn't help but obey him; she was desperate to do what he said. Only she didn't just come, she shattered. Screaming his name as she dug her fingers into Draco's back, she saw stars before her eyes.
Distantly, she realized he'd been right. It was better the second time around. Lifting his head from between her knees, he smiled. "That's two."
"You're enjoying playing with me, aren't you?”
“I do like a good game. Maybe I never grew up."
But even as he laughed, his blue eyes grew serious. Moving so he positioned himself above her, he kissed her gently. "Stay where you are for a second."
Jumping up, he moved to the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a condom.
She swallowed as she realized what that meant. No more fooling around. They were actually going to get down to business. Raising an eyebrow, she regarded his tight ass with appreciation.
Maybe if she were lucky, she'd get to squeeze it later.
By then he was moving toward her, his erect penis sticking out before him, and she suddenly
wondered if she'd made a mistake. How was that going to fit inside of her?
"You've lost your blissful post-orgasm face and now you look, I don't know, a bit perplexed."
His voice held some amusement and she wondered if he was secretly laughing at her expense again. If she'd ever thought sex with Draco would be a relaxing experience, she'd been sorely mistaken.
"I had no idea you were so big. Even when I saw it earlier, I didn't quite realize.
Now, I'm a little worried."
He settled back in his previous position on top of her. "I told you I wouldn't hurt you. I never lose control."
"How can you be sure you won’t hurt me? I know women do this kind of thing all the time.
But still. It looks huge."
"We're made, as men and women, to do this together. You’re going to stretch out to fit me."
"I'm not convinced it can be done without a tremendous amount of pain."
"Then I guess you're going to have to trust me." She watched as he fumbled with the condom wrapper before opening it and sliding the barrier on.
He kissed her sweetly on the lips and she felt like she melted into the bed. She was breathless with desire and yet terrified at the same time. Honestly, she wasn't sure how both emotions were possible, but she couldn't deny that's what was going on inside of her.
Positioning his erection at the entrance of her vagina, he smiled at her before he pushed inside. Her body immediately reacted to the intrusion, tensing up. She had expected more pain.
"I'm going to push through now."
She shook her head. "Push through what?”
“Your barrier."
She bit down on her lip. "You're not all the way in yet?" He smiled. "Not even close."
With one motion, he moved into her, sheathing himself completely. For a moment, the enormous pain overwhelmed the enormous pleasure she'd been feeling. She blinked, willing it to end, and then, as fast as the pain she’d worried about had started, it stopped.
Draco didn't move; he stared into her eyes as if he was waiting for some sort of sign from her. Reaching up, she stroked the side of his face. "We're joined, right at this moment."
He nodded. "We are. Can you stand it?"
"I've never felt so full in my life, so connected to another person." Later, she might regret
speaking so romantically to Draco when she'd promised herself she'd play it "cool." But with his body inserted into hers, she couldn't find her steel will to block out the strong emotions.
He closed his eyes. "This is going to be harder than I thought."
"I don't understand." Wendy was desperate for something and she strongly suspected it was for Draco to move, to relieve the ache that had formed inside her when he'd entered her willing body.
"You fit me like a glove, Wendy. You're so tight and I'm trying very hard to find the will to hold back what I want to do to you."
She swallowed and spoke from the heart. "Maybe you don't have to with me.
Maybe I fit you this well so you can actually let yourself go."
"Ha." His laugh held no mirth. But then his hands were roaming her body, starting with her chin and then moving down her torso until they found her stomach and her hips. He pulled her tightly against him as he worked his way back out of her and then pushed inside.
She screamed out her pleasure. Oh yes, she wanted that again. "You okay?" His voice sounded strained.
"I promised to tell you if it hurt, didn't I? Stop questioning everything. Even I know we should be doing more and speaking less."
He rolled her nipple as he continued the motion he'd done before, moving in and out, in and out, faster and faster until a pressure started inside of her. She knew what an orgasm was now.
Only she hadn't known it could get even more intense than it had been.
Oh god, yes, she needed this and she needed it from him.
Draco had closed his eyes, but now he opened them. He looked at her as he moved. Grabbing her leg, he pulled it up until it was around his waist. She tried to help by wrapping the other one around him until her feet met on his back.
He pushed harder and she groaned. Yes, she wanted more. As if sensing her desire, Draco plunged farther inside. This time, he moaned before calling out her name, and the word came out sounding like an oath.
Sweat covered his body. Draco's pace had become frantic and she loved every second of it.
"Yes," she cried. "More. Please more."
Her body tightened and she dug her knees into his sides, desperate to hold him to her. She needed release from the pleasure that threatened to consume her.
“I have to slow down. I’m going to hurt you.” He closed his eyes as if he searched for the strength to slow his pace. His face was pained.
“Don’t stop, Draco. I want this. I want all of you.”
Finally, her release came. Like a volcanic eruption, she exploded, shouting Draco's names to the heavens.
He thrust with one last incoherent yell and collapsed on top of her. After a long minute, he braced himself on his elbows before rolling to the side to lie next to her.
"Hell, Wendy, did I hurt you?" He breathed hard, which was a relief since she panted heavily herself. If a Guardian was winded, she didn't need to feel so bad about how out of shape she really must be.
"Hurt? No." She wasn't yet speaking in full sentences.
"Really?" He sounded like he didn't believe her so she rolled to look him in the face.
"Did you think you hurt me?"
He covered his eyes with his arm. "It should have hurt you. I completely lost control."
"Well, sorry, not injured."
She felt warm and satisfied, but if he didn't stop obsessing, he'd ruin the moment.
Moving his arm, he looked at her through narrowed eyes. "If you're telling me the truth, then I have to say, Wendy Warner, you are the first person I've ever been with in my entire life I could lose control with during sex."
She didn't know quite how to take his statement but decided to treat it like a compliment.
What should she say?
Most importantly, she needed to remember everything about Draco and sex was casual. Just because they'd been together did not mean he was interested in being in a relationship or that he loved her. In no way could she allow herself to go gooey-eyed over what had happened. That would be the quickest way to drive him away from even a moderate friendship...and maybe her job.
Time to steel her heart against him. Biting her lip, she wondered if that was possible. Maybe the unthinkable had happened and her crush on Draco Powers had become full-fledged love. She closed her eyes. Was she really going to be that woman?
Apparently, she was.
Chapter Ten
Normally, after having sex with a woman, Draco jumped up, made a beeline for the door, and went home. Two problems interfered with that course of action tonight, though. One, he was already home. And two, this was We
ndy, not a nearly nameless, eventually faceless memory he could easily dismiss.
Wendy lay in silence, staring up at the ceiling. She'd been amazing in bed, completely responsive, and she hadn't cried out in pain or distress at his treatment of her when he'd lost control. He closed his eyes at that thought. When was the last time he’d let himself get that lost in the moment? Only twice before. Once, when he'd been sixteen and he'd lost his virginity. The poor girl had bled. He'd had to take her to the hospital.
The incident had been humiliating and he'd sworn never to be so caught up in the moment he'd allow his extra strength to hurt his partner. Five years ago, he'd tried it again. After all, Ace had claimed to find two women who could "take what he'd dished out." Only the same woman who handled Ace hadn't been able to take Draco.
He'd all but given up hope until now...until Wendy, a woman who could handle unrestrained sex. His pulse sped at the thought.
If he made this more than a one-time thing, she might have expectations. The girl had been a virgin. Clearly, she wasn't looking for one-night stands. Damn it, she'd better not quit over a broken heart.
Rolling over, he looked at Wendy as she gazed sleepily at the ceiling, with eyes almost closed. He knew her, and yet he didn't. In so many ways, she was an enigma.
She was kind, smart, and confident. She had a quirky sense of humor even as she sometimes misunderstood jokes. Yet, she didn't have friends and spent most of her time online in fictitious worlds playing games with like-minded people. How had this happened?
"Wendy," he spoke, knowing if he didn't she would fall asleep and it would be too late to ask her his questions. "How did you end up in an orphanage?"
She opened her half-lidded eyes and regarded him with an unreadable expression on her face.
"How do most people end up in them, Draco?"
Rolling over, she snuggled into his side. He waited for the panic that usually occurred whenever a woman wanted to cuddle. It didn't show up, which created a whole new panic. Still, he didn't move and instead, adjusted his arm so they'd both be comfortable.
"All right, so obviously you didn't have parents. There was no one else? No family who could have taken care of you?" Her file told him she'd been raised in an orphanage, but it was vague on the details.
Yawning, she stroked his abdomen lightly with the tip of her index finger. It sent shivers up his spine and his cock jumped to attention. A glance at Wendy told him she was exhausted. His libido, which was acting as if he was a teenager again, would have to wait a few hours at least.
Glancing at the clock, he saw it was almost four in the morning; his sex drive may have to wait until the next night.
"They never knew who I was. Someone left me on the doorstep of the orphanage in the middle of the night. They rang the doorbell and ran. Evidently, it was a terribly cold night, pretty standard for Upstate New York in February. Temperatures in the single digits. I'm lucky I didn’t die from exposure."
Draco fisted his hands at his side and then forced himself to relax. Wendy didn't need his temper right now. It wasn't like there was anything he could do about it anyway. What kind of people did something like that? Who just abandoned a baby on the doorstep?
"Don't most children get adopted out of orphanages?"
"Some do." She yawned again. "But I was a ward of the state while they searched for my parents and then I developed acute asthma. I had daily attacks and had to go to all sorts of pediatric pulmonologists. When I outgrew it, and the bureaucracy got around to finishing all of that paperwork, I wasn't a cute baby or a toddler anymore. I was a young child. It's harder to adopt a child once they're not ‘cute’ anymore."
He had difficulty imagining a time when she wasn't cute. It was easy to imagine what she would have looked like. Two braids restraining her thick, long, ash brown hair, and the dimple in her left cheek as she grinned with her two front teeth missing.
"So you just stayed in the orphanage?"
She nodded, rubbing her cheek against his chest. "I stayed until I got too old. The state mandates all the girls have to leave that particular home after the age of twelve."
He ran his hand through her hair. "Where did you go then?"
"I went into a home for older kids. Some of them were orphans like me; some of them had just come out of the juvenile system and had nowhere else to go."
"They put you in with dangerous kids?"
"You seem shocked. You, of all people, know there is very little fair in this world."
That was true. But it should have been for Wendy. She shouldn't have been alone, shuffled from one bad situation to another, never finding a home, never really having a place to land safely after a rough day.
"It was okay for me." She wasn't done speaking. "I learned how to keep to myself.
I liked school. The teachers helped me when they could. I was a good student and one of the guardians of the home really liked Space Adventures. She's the one who introduced me to it. We used to watch it together in her office. It was nice to have private time."
"I know you went to college."
"I did. I majored in economics and finance and I worked two jobs to put myself through."
She kissed his shoulder and he pulled her closer.
Why did he usually hate this aspect of intimacy, but tonight he liked it? Was it because they were already friends...?
Her voice brought him from his reverie. "The salary you very generously pay me plus my yearly bonus allowed me to pay off my student loans this last year. For the first time ever, I am out of debt."
He was glad that had happened for her but the subject of money only served to remind him of his current situation.
"I'm probably going to lose Powers, Inc." Saying it aloud did nothing to relieve the ache in the back of his neck that had formed when he'd seen how bad off his situation really was this afternoon.
"What?" She sat up straight and looked down at him, apparently wide-awake now.
"Don't worry, you're so incredibly talented, someone will scoop you up."
She pulled the cover up to hide her exposed breasts. "Do you think I'm worried about my job?" Picking up the pillow from her side of the bed, she swung it at him hard. "I'm worried about you. You built Powers from scratch. It's your brainchild. Why would you lose it?"
Grabbing her arm, he gently pulled her down until she lay next to him. He stroked her hair.
This wasn't appropriate pillow talk. Why had he brought it up to begin with? The problem with
telling anyone anything about yourself was the woman usually thought it gave her the right to question you. Even worse, you started relying on her to be there and when she wasn't, you were weak. Draco knew he could never afford to be weak.
"I don't want to lose it. The insurance adjuster will most likely tell us we're not covered for disasters of this magnitude. I suppose it was short-sighted of me not to think there would be an evil group of people looking to destroy my company when I took out my policy a decade ago."
"How utterly blind you were."
He arched an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Did you just make a joke?”
“A sarcastic remark. It's different."
"I'm aware." He smiled as he kissed her head. The little wench had hit him with a pillow and not apologized. She had guts; he'd give her that. Men twice her size wouldn't have dared. Of course, he'd just been inside of her so maybe that gave her some kind of right to smack him with a feather pillow when she was annoyed.
Inwardly, he shrugged.
"So you'll lose the building."
"Most likely." He sighed as reality shoved itself back into his thoughts. "And the mayor informed me today I could probably count on paying for the damages to the city too. They're holding me responsible."
"You can fight that. It's not your fault. We'll get legal representation."
He appreciated the "we," although the thought of Wendy being involved in any of this made him slightly ill. His first priority, before he dealt with anything else, was going t
o be to keep her safe, period.
"Great, another lawsuit."
"I'll come with you to the insurance meeting tomorrow."
"No." He cleared his throat. "You'll stay here where it's safe, with Ace.”
“Draco." Her tone suggested she was going into no-nonsense mode like she'd done when she'd tried to order him to see the doctor. "There's no way that will be anything other than a disaster. You don't do well with people."
"Thanks."
She sighed. "Come on, you can't say you don't know that."
"I know I tire of small talk before I should, and I'm easily annoyed. I swear, Wendy, I won't
make a mess of the meeting. It's too important. I can function in society when I need to."
She made a small sound of protest and he kissed her head. "Go to sleep.”
“I don't know if I can."
Rubbing her back, he smiled. "You can. You're safe and warm. I'm here to protect you. This will all get worked out, one way or another."
As he lay next to her, listening to her breathe, he found himself drifting toward sleep.
Amazing. And highly unusual. He rarely slept. Most of the time, he struggled to catch up on his rest. Deciding to go with it, he closed his eyes.
****
Draco awoke to the smell of food cooking. It took him a moment to orient himself and another to realize Wendy wasn't next to him. He shot up in bed. How had she gotten away from him without him waking? That never happened. Ace couldn't sneeze in the vicinity without waking Draco. What the hell?
He darted from the bed, searching left and right until he found his pajama pants.
Pulling them on, he ran from the room into the hallway, following his nose to the kitchen.
Ace sat at the table, and, between bites of egg, gazed adoringly at Wendy, who labored over the stove frying bacon, which would explain the smell that had tickled his nose when he'd awakened.
His brother looked up as he approached. "She cooks." Wendy didn't turn around as she spoke. "I try."
"She succeeds." Ace spooned another pile of eggs into his mouth.