Unleashed

  Chapter Six

  Evan watched Kelsey struggle bravely with her tears. He only wished he knew what to say to help her win the battle with them, but what was there to say when your best friend was weeping with guilt over finally having mind-blowing sex with you?Goddammit. There was so much he wanted to tell her, but to do so now might shatter her fragile calm. Still, he marveled at her dramatic shift from wounded kitten to hellcat and back again, and wanted to break Todd Jacobs’s freaking neck for hurting her. She should have let him do it seven months ago when he’d tried.

  Because that’s what this was about, wasn’t it? Her anger, her hurt, her betrayal. All taken out on him.

  It was all right. Hell. He could take it, and consider himself a lucky guy for it.

  “Mmm, I don’t want to let you go,” he murmured in her ear finally. “So sweet and warm.”

  She sighed, running the sole of one foot up and down his calf. His body stirred at the gesture, thinking of those perfect feet, pretty and dainty with little seashell toenails. Everything about her body was pretty and dainty.

  “We can sleep like this,” she suggested, smiling dreamily at him. They were still wrapped tight in each other’s arms. She was heavenly soft against him.

  “We will. But I’m not ready to sleep just yet.” He made the words as rich with erotic promise as he knew how. Guilt or no, she couldn’t deny that it had been good. It had been very, very good. They couldn’t unring a bell. Might as well ring it again.

  “Really?” she asked, a tinge of amazement in her voice, in those reawakened gray eyes as she looked at him.

  He supposed that meant his former best friend had been down for the count after one shot. “You’d better believe it.” He grinned, bringing her hand down to wrap around his thickening cock. “Because I think you’re still capable of walking right now.”

  The peace that had settled over her expression shattered in anguish. He put his fingers to her lips as she opened her mouth, undoubtedly to wail in mortification. “Honey, that was the hottest thing that’s ever been said to me, and you’re going to stop being embarrassed about what you want, if I’m the one who has to break you of it. Nothing we do together is wrong, especially after what was done to us.”

  She closed her eyes and her trembling started all over again—he took it as permission. Thank God. Once more, even if it was the last time.

  He spent a good amount of time exploring the silken skin that had too often been so close to him, yet so far away. She’d trusted him with her body, and he cherished every square inch of it with his touch, his lips, but he had to keep coming back to her breasts. They were lovely; they fit his hands perfectly. He slid his mouth down over her flesh and encircled her nipple with his lips. Warmth gathered in the skin beneath his wet ministrations, and he swirled his tongue around the sweet pearled tip before he suckled it gently. Her fingers tightened around his cock, sending a jolt through him so intense that he groaned against her.

  He couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled his lips away from her and shifted, bringing himself between her smooth thighs. She opened for him, her hand still stroking him. Her lips parted as she gazed up at him and he accepted the invitation, taking a mouthful of her sweetness, and then another and another.

  “Put me inside you,” he whispered urgently, bracing himself above her on his arms, and then nearly came right there as she gave him one loving stroke and moved the head of his dick to the swollen, scalding liquid center of her. So small and smooth, and bare… She had to have done that for him, just on the hope of this. He wouldn’t disappoint her. He forced himself to ease inside, savoring the feel of her taut inner muscles parting before him. Every neuron in his spinal column crackled with pleasure. She was so damned tight, and wet with his come. He gave her a little and pulled back, then a little more. Until she was writhing beneath him.

  “Evan,” she whispered, entangling her fingers in his hair as he took her all the way and began to move through her. Kelsey started to bring her other hand up to his shoulder, but he shook his head and brought it back down between their bodies, until her fingers came into contact with his wet shaft disappearing into her flesh.

  “Stay there. Feel us,” he murmured. She sighed as his fingers slid through hers, both of them stroking and caressing where he ended and she began as he thrust slowly into her. He was thick and straining, damp from their combined juices. Her slick folds were parted wide to accommodate him.

  “That’s…beautiful,” she said, and moaned.

  “We’re good together.” He managed to give her a smile, but it most likely came out weak. Beautiful. She was so beautiful she broke his heart. She always had.

  He pulled all the way out so she could smooth her hand over his length before he slid slowly, inexorably back in. He groaned when she caressed his sac, very gently squeezing it. She whimpered when his fingers would drag across her clit.

  He could grow addicted to this, to the way she shivered around him as he fucked her. She caught his mouth with hers, sweet and tentative, and he returned her kiss reassuringly. Her tongue danced between his lips, tangling tenderly with his. He explored her mouth in turn, the softness, the wet heat, the hard edge of her teeth. Her flavor was as scrumptious as the rest of her.

  “My God, Kelsey.” His breathing was growing ragged, his blood racing as the tension at the base of his spine threatened to fling him into the ozone. “So good it hurts.” He was so achingly hard inside her yielding softness he couldn’t comprehend how he wasn’t hurting her. She was moaning, a faint tremor working its way through her as he increased the urgency of his thrusts by increments. His hand abandoned the place of their joining so he could brace himself above her, so he could give her everything he had, but she kept exploring the feel of them together and it was driving him out of his skull.

  “Please,” she whispered. “Harder. Make me come like that again, it was so good, Evan…”

  “It makes me so goddamned crazy when you talk like that.”

  He gathered her in his arms and rolled them over so that she straddled him on top. She squeaked, and he nearly shot his load as the new position seemed to allow him to plunder new depths in her body. “Take me however you need,” he told her, hearing the harshness in his own words. His hands molded to her hips then he moved them upward to cup her breasts in the curves of his thumb and index finger. Her eyes glittered down at him in the faint moonlight now spilling in from the window, but she looked unsure of herself. “Do it, baby. Let me watch you.”

  She squeezed her inner muscles and he flexed in response. She smiled. Then she proceeded to kill him as she pulled his hands from her breasts and pushed his wrists back on the mattress.

  “You can touch me after I make you come so hard you scream my name.”

  “Dammit—”

  She laughed, the vixen, and he was tempted to show her he could break her grip any time he wished. But she wanted control, and he wanted her to have it. The woman had no shame now as she worked his cock, and he thought of some pagan goddess as her dark hair tossed against skin turned milky by the moonlight.

  He watched in agony as she sought the angle she needed and nearly died from relief when she found it and each stroke began to force a whimper from her throat. God, his abdomen muscles were cramping from holding back. Her weight was on his wrists now, and his gaze locked on the mesmerizing sight of her swaying breasts as the wet sheath between her thighs swallowed him over and over again.

  The rhythm she’d struck was sensual and torturous, slower than he would’ve liked, but he complied with it, thrusting up to meet her. When her muscles began to clamp hard around him it took everything within him to keep from breaking her hold on him so he could rub her clit, desperate for her climax to shake loose and milk him. All he could do was curl his toes, close his eyes, hold on and pray…

  “Oh, baby,” she cried. “Evan, I didn’t know it could feel like this…”

  …but he could endure any torture if it made her cry out words like that, if
it gave her pleasure she’d never known before.

  “Mmm, you’re turning me inside out. I won’t last much longer, honey.”

  The devious little smile that curled her lips nearly killed his soul. Oh, God, it was coming, welling up, and he couldn’t stop it.

  She arched above him just as his control broke and he shattered, erupting into her with everything she hadn’t drained him of before. It tore loose from his goddamn soul. Kelsey’s feminine cries were like music as her strokes up and down his shaft lengthened and sped, sucking greedily at him. He couldn’t stand it. He took advantage of her weakened state to break her grip and grab her, pulling her down hard into his arms as he thrust the last of his come as deep into her quivering depths as he could push it. Her name rolled compulsively from his lips into the soft shell of her ear. Jesus. A honeysuckle-scented cloud of her hair smothered him and her softness enveloped him as the last of their tension bled into one another.

  He was so through with running from her.

  Silent moments passed, and Kelsey was grateful when he began to caress her, smoothing his fingers along her spine, stroking her hair. She didn’t think she could have dealt with the aftermath of this raging passion between them without him soothing her, whispering endearments. Her heart felt swollen to the point of filling her chest. She feared it was about to spill out of her mouth, and God knew she didn’t want to say anything to shatter this.

  So she settled on what she always said when he left her aghast.

  “Jesus Christ, Evan Ross.”

  He laughed and ran his lips over her cheek. “I knew I’d make you say it sooner or later. You do know a very hard decision is ahead of us.” He paused, letting suspense build. “Sleep or shower?”

  A relieved breath rushed out of her. She was too emotionally spent to consider anything deeper than that. Sleep sounded heavenly. She was exhausted and raw. But at the same time, she was coated with a fine sheen of sweat and a mingling of the remnants of their lovemaking.

  “Shower,” she murmured. “Quick, before I go to sleep.” He slid free from her as she lifted her hips and she mourned his loss right away. Amazing that even after three earth-shattering orgasms, she could still crave him in such a way. She already couldn’t wait for tomorrow…

  Tomorrow.

  You’re thinking again, she chided herself.

  They climbed out of bed and padded into the bathroom. As he turned on the water in the shower she got her first thorough look at his fully naked physique and felt her heart drop to her feet. Damn…

  He’d been downright edible in his boxer briefs out by the hot tub, and that had been in the dark. Now she could hardly breathe. His sports had always been track and swimming, tennis and baseball, and they’d certainly leant to his trim, firm build. There wasn’t an ounce of bulk on his frame, just as she liked. He could’ve been an underwear model, only she preferred him like this, without a stitch on.

  When he stood to the side to let her enter the shower first, her gaze fell to the dark nest of hair at the juncture of his thighs. The sight made her want to hit her knees right there on the cold bathroom floor and take him into her mouth, suck him until he exploded down the back of her throat.

  What else was he going to teach her about herself? One night with him and she was climaxing vaginally and contemplating blowjobs, she thought with a wry smile. Unbelievable.

  The hot spray hit her as she stepped into the shower and she nearly moaned in pleasure, ducking her head so that it ran over her hair and down the back of her neck in tickling rivulets. Evan entered behind her and reached around so he could pick up her shampoo bottle from the little shelf in front of her. After a moment, his sudsy hands sank into her hair, pulling it gently into a ponytail before piling it atop her head so he could work the lather in. She did moan when his fingers massaged her scalp. He did it for a long time, certainly longer than was necessary to clean her hair. God, but the man must love giving her pleasure. He’d given her enough tonight for a lifetime, and still she wanted more.

  “Turn around, honey,” he said, just as she was beginning to contemplate falling asleep while standing. She obeyed, her breasts brushing his chest as she turned. Her gaze lifted to his face while he smoothed her hair back from her forehead, making sure the water rinsed all the suds out. His expression was intent on the task, his touch raising gooseflesh despite the steamy heat billowing around them.

  “Evan…” she murmured, feeling that damned fullness rise in her throat again. Would she never purge it all?

  He gently wrung out her hair and looked down into her face. Even through her mental turmoil a little part of her marveled at the beauty of his striated green eyes. “What is it, sweetheart?”

  “It breaks my heart what they did to you, no matter how you feel about it. If Todd had to hurt me, fine, but I can’t forgive him for what he did to you.”

  “I’m resilient, Kelsey. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “I know. But I didn’t see you for a long time after it happened. I was worried about you, but I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me.”

  “It wasn’t you. That week was crazier in more ways than one. I lost what was supposed to be a slam-dunk aggravated robbery case.”

  Oh, God. Had it been her fault? She shouldn’t have reacted the way she had, calling him like that, getting him upset in the middle of a trial. It just kept getting worse and worse. “Because of what happened. I’m so—”

  “Shh. No. I’d already rested my case and the defense was thin, to say the least. It was just one of those things, I guess. And I had let it go, until the next month, when the defendant who got off allegedly broke into a woman’s house, robbed her and raped her.” His eyes darkened. “And it’s my fault, because for whatever reason, I didn’t do a good enough job to put him away. That crushed me more than anything Courtney could have done.”

  Her heart cracked again, lost another piece. How selfish she’d been. “Did they catch the guy?”

  “Yeah. Of course the bastard has pled not guilty. I wanted the case, but the DA advised me to step away. Said I’ve made it personal now.”

  “Have you?”

  “Of course I have. How could I not? But will that cloud my judgment or trip me up and get me flustered? Hell, no. I’m better than that. What I hate is the idea of someone arguing that case who doesn’t make it personal.” Consternation flickered across his features. “You know, you’re the first person who’s asked me that, instead of automatically jumping to my defense and telling me my superior is just being an ass. You’re the first to not try to tell me I shouldn’t feel the way I do about losing.”

  “Because I can understand,” she said softly. “And it’s not your fault, but I know you, you’ve always had a soft heart for victims. I just wish I’d known what you were going through.”

  “I wanted to call you more than I did, but I thought it might upset you to hear from me. I guess that was stupid of me. I also realized after what happened that I needed to work through some things on my own.”

  “Things were…so screwed up,” she agreed. “That day I saw you in court at my divorce hearing…I just wanted to die.” She took a breath, knowing how awful that sounded. But she couldn’t sum up the misery of that horrible day any other way. He’d been the only bright spot and even he had burned.

  “I’m sorry if my being there was a trigger for you,” he said, pulling her back to the present. “Just our bad luck I was the one handling pleas that day.”

  “No, it’s all right. I was glad you were there, but…I can’t explain. Ashamed that you were seeing me there, like that.”

  “Honey, don’t ever be ashamed with me. Haven’t we been through enough without that having to factor in? I’ve never once judged you for anything that happened.”

  “I know that. But my pride was hanging somewhere around my ankles that day. I don’t think anyone could have rescued it.”

  He smiled, and though it was just a sweet curving of his lips, it was akin to the sun bre
aking through thunderheads. He trailed his finger down her cheek. “I always thought this, but I see now more than ever that Todd was one crazy son of a bitch for letting you go. He traded fire for ice.”

  He couldn’t know what those words meant to her. She sighed as she agonized over what she wanted to tell him next. Absently, she picked up his bottle of body wash and squeezed some into her hands, lathered it and began soaping his chest. “I thought about it a lot, and I finally came to the decision that they needed one another because they’re just alike. Careless and selfish. But…”

  He waited patiently, and she was certain her touch helped him out with that, because he smiled and closed his eyes as she moved her hands over his shoulders and down both his biceps. She took just as much pleasure in the concentration of his masculine scent wafting into her nostrils.

  “I have to be honest,” she went on hesitantly. “Now I know…I wouldn’t have married him if I’d known what I was missing out on.”

  She continued soaping him, and he reached for her conditioner and finished washing her hair. “He was your first,” he said after a moment. It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes.” She eyed him suspiciously. “He never told you that, did he?”

  “No. I just always…knew, or at least suspected. You never dated anyone, or even showed any interest in anyone, until him.”

  Because of you. She wondered briefly if he actually knew her better than anyone else on earth. If felt that way sometimes. Certainly no one else understood what she’d been through like he did. Not Lisa, not her family.

  He moved closer, and she could only whimper as he sank into her for a warm, deep kiss that had her fearing electrocution there under the falling water. His tongue swirled with hers and her knees went rubbery. He backed her against the shower wall and she was astounded when she felt him growing hard against her abdomen. The man had stamina.

  “I love how you tremble for me,” he whispered. “I love how you’re shy until you need me and then you aren’t ashamed to tell me what you want.”