There All Along

  “And how long are you here this time?”

  “We’re staying in all mid-sized garrisons three days now. Small ones we’ll do overnights. The largest we stay for two days. My team will accompany patrols, do sentry duty.”

  “Good training for the garrison soldiers here. To see how you all do your job in that setting. Most of them are farmers. Aside from the full-time garrison sentries.” She paused as she deposited a bowl of sliced fruit on the table. “It’s bad then? Risky?”

  “There’s been a great deal of activity along this sector. We don’t think you’re at risk for an assault, but it won’t hurt for their scouts to see us on the ramparts of the garrison walls.”

  “All right then.”

  “Been busy since I last left?”

  “Gearing up for—” There was a knock on the back door. “Can you get that then? I need to turn the fish when it’s ready.”

  He stood, moving carefully to the door.

  Jackson Haldeman stood there with a smile. “Well met, Loyal.”

  Loyal stood aside to let Jackson in, hiding a frown as he headed straight to the kitchen.

  Verity smiled when she saw who it was. “Good evening, Jackson. I was just making some supper. Would you like to stay?”

  Jackson’s expression lit in an entirely different way when gave his attentions to Verity. His smile softened as he took her in from head to toe. “I would very much, thank you.”

  That’s when Loyal realized Jackson Haldeman had his eye on Verity as more than a passing fancy.

  “I’ll get another place set.” Loyal moved past Haldeman to grab another plate and some utensils. He put them on the side away from Verity.

  Jackson held up a sack. “I brought some sweets. My mother wanted to thank you for the poultice you made for her leg.”

  Verity took the bag and peeked inside. “Spiced fried dough? Your mother knows my weakness. We’ll have them after dinner. Sit. Both of you.”

  She filled their plates with food and sat, chattering about her day and whatever else was going on for some time until she finally sat back. “All right then. I’m sure you’re here for an official reason, Jackson. Go on.”

  “You might as well speak plainly in front of her or she’ll pester you until you do.”

  Verity’s surprised laughter came right as Loyal realized he’d spoken his thoughts aloud. He gave her a stern look but she waved it away and kept eating.

  He and Jackson spoke then about their plans. About the news that the brigands had attacked Banyon Pass two days prior. The garrison had managed to repel the attack, but not without losing a third of its livestock and nearly twenty citizens.

  Banyon Pass was roughly the same size as Silver Cliffs, though it wasn’t quite as protected by the surrounding landscape as Silver Cliffs was.

  “Why are they suddenly so much more active?” she asked.

  “We don’t know. It’s always like this. It ebbs and flows, aye? We can go an annum or three with minimal activity and then suddenly they’re everywhere, attacking. We don’t know much about the other side of the mountains.” Just that it was fairly inhospitable and crawling with brigands.

  “I’ve got a meeting set for just after breakfast. Come down to the garrison offices and you can address my people. We’ll double our patrols. I’ve already doubled the sentries on the walls.”

  “Smart.”

  Jackson stood. “I need to get back home. Thank you for dinner, Verity.”

  She smiled at him. “Thank you for the sweets. And your mother. If she needs more of the poultice let me know. I’m teaching a few in town how to make them and it’s good practice.”

  He disappeared with one last nod at Loyal and a promise to see him the following morning.

  “Looks like Haldeman has an eye on you.”

  She looked Loyal’s way, one of her brows hiking. “Yes, I believe he does. Question is, Loyal, what are you going to do about that?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you look like you just sucked on a lemon. Clearly you don’t like it that Jackson is sweet on me. And I’m asking what you plan to do about it.”

  She moved out of the kitchen, pulling her curtains closed here and there as she moved through the house. He wandered behind her, breathing her in.

  “I . . . Nothing, I suppose.”

  She spun, stomped over and poked him in the chest. “Nothing?”

  “Are you sweet on him?”

  “I’m on fire for you.” Her voice was low. Urgent. Full of emotion and it set his world on its end. “There’s no sweet on him, no room for that. Not when every time I think of you I can remember what it felt like to have your mouth on mine.”

  He licked his lips. Knowing he should step back. Knowing it. But he didn’t.

  “You shouldn’t be. He’s a better choice. Safer. He’s here. I’m not.”

  She made a sound, frustrated. “Since when does that sort of thing ever play into it? I’m not my sister. I can’t place my affections, my desire, based on a set of calculations about which man would come with more cows and pigs, who could chop more wood to keep my home warm through the snow. My desire doesn’t care about that. It cares about the way your voice changes, deepens when I stand this close. How your scent rises to my nose as your skin heats. Spicy like your cigars. How when I see your vehicle my entire system seems to come alive and I realize all the time when you are not here is gray. You make me feel alive, Loyal. So stand there, why don’t you, and tell me what you plan to do about Jackson Haldeman wanting to court me. Hm?”

  He should have told her to back off. Hells, he should have backed off himself, retreated to his room and closed the door.

  Instead, he slid his hands around her neck and yanked her close, his mouth falling on hers like he needed it more than his very breath. Which he was fairly certain was true.

  She sighed, her body molding to his, her posture softening, submitting to his control and that only made his need worse. The roar of it harder to overcome and so he ignored all the voices telling him to stop and continued to plunder the sweetness of her mouth.

  He sucked her tongue and she gasped and then moaned, arching. Irresistible. The need to show her what a real man could do in bed, how he could love her until she was boneless, raced through him. He wanted to show her that. He wanted to make her come so hard she sobbed, and the idea that anyone else wanted to do that, wanted to lay with her at night drove him on, drove him to burn into her memory just how much he desired her.

  Wanted her to never forget him.

  And it didn’t matter that he shouldn’t. It didn’t matter that he’d told himself for years not to let himself get carried away with what he felt for Verity Coleman.

  All that mattered was the need that beat at him, the way her breath hitched, the way her fingers had tangled in his hair, holding him close as he continued to kiss her.

  Knowing a kiss, even hours’ worth of kisses would not be enough.

  Her grip tightened in his hair, bringing a grunt to his lips as he pulled her snug to his body, rolling his hips to let her know what was happening. Maybe on some level trying to scare her into breaking away. If she pushed him back or broke this off he could find the strength to end it.

  He sure didn’t have it on his own.

  Instead she made a soft sound and pressed closer still, brushing her body against his cock, setting off licks of flame through his belly, low, hot, electric.

  She let go of his hair and pulled back a tiny bit, but only to get her hands at the buttons on his uniform shirt. Unfastening quickly until she slid it open all the way, her palms caressing all the skin she’d bared.

  It was his turn to groan, to hitch a breath as she pressed the heels of her hands against his nipples. She paused, breaking the kiss. “Yes? You like that?”

  Surprising him, she pushed him back a
gainst the doorjamb and leaned, licking over his nipple. Gently at first.

  “Harder.”

  Her eyes cut to him and she pressed her tongue, flicking it against his right nipple. Scoring her teeth over it until he gasped.

  She kissed over his chest to his left nipple, kissing, licking that one until he hauled her back up, taking her mouth once more.

  Then he pulled her blouse from the waist of her trousers and parted it, untying the ribbons holding it closed until she was left only in a chemise, the shadow of her nipples visible through the translucent material.

  “So beautiful.”

  She swallowed hard, looking up at him as he looked down at her breasts. He cupped them briefly before he pulled the tiny, pearly buttons from the holes, one after the next until he stared at her, at the luscious swell of breasts he’d dreamed of since the first time he laid eyes on the widow Coleman.

  “Better than dreams.”

  The hesitance washed from her face, replaced by a boldness that made him even harder.

  “Touch me, Loyal.”

  He did. Brushing his thumbs over the hardened nipples until she arched. He kissed down her neck as he shifted, backing her into his room. To the bed he laid in when he was there, fantasizing this exact thing. Only now it was real.

  She reached out as she hit the mattress, pulling him down with her.

  “Don’t go anywhere.”

  He pulled his shirt off, toeing his shoes away as he did. “I’m not. I have far too many things to do.”

  She unbuttoned the side of her trousers and shimmied out of them as he did the same with his pants.

  The moon was high overhead, casting silvery light over her skin, now totally bare.

  “You’re so pretty, Verity.” He swallowed hard, sliding his hands over the curve at her hips.

  She grabbed his cock, squeezing gently. “You too.”

  “I’m . . . pretty?” He’d meant it to be a joke, but she’d slid her thumb through the slick at the crown and it sent a shock of pleasure through him, sending his words scattering from his head like birds going into flight.

  “In your way, yes. Manly. Hard and strong.”

  He moved back to the bed, laying next to her. “I shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “You plan to stop?”

  He shook his head. “Not unless you want me to.”

  “I want your hands on me. Show me, Loyal. Teach me how to make you feel good. I’m not . . . not like the ladies you likely bed when you land in their garrisons.”

  “You aren’t. Which is why you’re impossible to resist.”

  She smiled and he pulled her hair loose so it fell against her pale skin like rivers of flame.

  “And you’re doing just fine at making me feel good.”

  She laughed.

  “Now I want to make you feel good.”

  He bent to her again, kissing her mouth, nipping and licking until she was breathless. He left her lips and kissed over her face and down to her chin. Delicate and yet, as he’d realized after knowing her as long as he had, strong.

  He licked over the hollow behind her jaw and she shuddered a sigh.

  “Like that?” he murmured against that sweet, sensitive space.

  “Y-Yes.”

  He continued, kissing down her neck, his hands sliding over her chest, over her collarbone, down to her breasts—those glorious breasts. He tugged and rolled her nipples until she made a sound unlike any he’d ever heard her make. A sound he knew without a doubt he’d never forget. Full of need and pleasure.

  He licked over one nipple as he tugged on the other. He sucked. Gently and then harder. When he bit she gasped and then her entire body seemed to heat.

  She liked it hard.

  He was in trouble.

  Because he liked it hard too.

  He tried again, a little rougher, pulling her nipple with his teeth as he moved back and she moaned, her hips jutting forward as she did.

  He did this to the other nipple as she held on at his shoulder, her short nails digging in until he groaned.

  He kissed over her ribs, across her belly and breathed over her mound.

  She froze, the weight of the moment on them both.

  He slid her thighs wide as he moved to the floor, settling on his knees between them, pulling her butt to the edge of the bed.

  She gasped. “Oh. I . . .”

  He kissed the back of her knee. Her skin smelled like nothing else he’d ever experienced. Hot and spicy and sweet. Up her thigh until he blew against her cunt.

  He heard her swallow there in the dark.

  “I take it no one has ever put his mouth here?”

  He leaned in and slid the tip of his tongue over her clit for a moment.

  “N-No.”

  “Shameful.”

  “Is it?”

  He smiled as he spread her open and took a long lick, moaning at the taste of her.

  “Not this part.” He licked her again and again. “The part where no man has tasted how salty-sweet you are. I’m going to make you fly apart, Verity.”

  He sucked her clit gently, over and over until she breathed in soft little sobs.

  And then he stopped. She reached out faster than he’d have thought of her and grabbed his hair, tugging.

  “Shh. I’m not done.”

  Her breathing calmed a little as he watched her again, sliding his middle finger around and around her gate, pushing inside to stretch her. So tight his cock throbbed with want.

  “How long?”

  “What?”

  “How long has it been since you’ve been fucked?”

  “Two years.”

  He looked up her body as he took another lick. “He died three years ago?”

  “Nearly four now. It was . . . doesn’t matter. I was lonely. It was forgettable.”

  He licked again and again, stretching her as he added another finger.

  Her muscles froze, tensing as she sucked in a breath.

  “Let go. Breathe. Don’t tense up.” He spoke against her slick flesh as she came, as the taste of her, the sweetness he’d been lapping up, exploded into something else. Spice. Pepper. Heated as her pleasure bloomed on his tongue, against his lips.

  He kissed his way up her belly, pausing when he caught sight of the tears on her cheeks and worried he’d pushed her too hard.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” She opened her eyes. “Yes, yes. It was wonderful. I’ve just never . . . not that. Not with anyone.”

  He kissed her cheeks, tasting her tears. She wound her arms around his neck, holding him tight for a moment. And then she pushed him back, kissing his neck, down to the hollow of his throat. The cool silk of her hair slid against his skin like a caress, the scent of it, flowers and sunlight, seemed to dig into his memory with claws. He knew no matter what else happened, he’d never lose this memory.

  She kissed across his chest, licking over his nipples and looking up at him. “I never realized men liked this.”

  He arched when she sucked his nipple and let her teeth slide against it as she let go.

  “Can’t say for anyone else. But when you do that I surely do like it, yes.”

  She smiled and went back to it, kissing him, sliding her hands all over his upper body. She licked a line down his belly until she got to his cock, grabbing it and looking at it closely.

  “Kiss it.”

  She did.

  Then she licked over it and licked again.

  James had forced it on her many times. But this was different. Loyal was different. He tasted right. His skin taut and hot to the touch. She held him at the root, licking all the way from the head to her hand. Learning what made him jump, what brought that moan to his lips. What made him hiss with pleasure.

  It was deli
cious to do this with him. It wasn’t a requirement. Something she dreaded as a responsibility. She liked it. Her sister never said much about her intimate life with her husband, but she had said something once about how she looked forward to their time alone, when she could make him feel better and ease the day from his shoulders.

  She hadn’t understood it then, having wished daily that James would drink himself unconscious so she could avoid any intimate contact with him.

  But she understood it now. Hoped that her sister had this with Emeril.

  She licked around the crown of him, delighting in the sounds he made in response. She palmed his sac, pressing the pads of her fingers over the pucker of his ass. His answering groan told her he liked that very much.

  She kept him nice and wet, up and down, around the head.

  He was rather . . . large. Thick. A tingle of curiosity slid through her belly. Excited at the idea of having him in her, wondering how it would feel. Wanting it very badly.

  His fingers had been tangled in her hair, holding loosely, but he shifted, wrapping it around his fist and holding her steady as he thrust into her mouth.

  Her skin beaded into gooseflesh. She was wet again, aching to be filled.

  And then he stopped with a snarl.

  She was about to tell him if he stopped now he’d best sleep with one eye open. But he shifted, sitting up.

  “On my lap.”

  “On top of you?”

  He smiled and it sent a slither of want over her skin. “Oh yes. Never had it that way?”

  She shook her head.

  “Get over here. Straddle my waist. Knees on either side of my body.”

  She did as he said and realized it would be fine. She’d know what to do.

  He grabbed his cock to angle it, sliding that fat head through her pussy. Teasing, she realized.

  “Sit when you’re ready. If I was on top I’d slam into your cunt hard and fast. But it’s been a while and you need to go slow so I don’t hurt you. You need to take control because when it comes to you, my control is weak.”

  What could she say to that? The things he said filled her with emotions she couldn’t fully name.

  She took him at the root where his hand had been. He moved his grip, one hand at her hip; the other found her nipple and began that tug, tug and roll.