“You know what my answer is,” she returned breathlessly. She gasped at the bite of pain when he pulled her hair harder.
“I want to hear you say it. Tell me to fuck you, Ally. Right here. Right now.”
She wanted to, so badly, but there was one thing holding her back. “Howard will see us.”
Shaking his head, Jami pulled her mouth down to his and gave her a brutally hot kiss that scorched the blood running through her veins. When he pulled away, his lips glistening with wetness, his gaze, so hot and feral, sent her spiraling over the edge. Her panties grew wetter, and she panted to the point of embarrassment. “Howard left five minutes ago.”
Shocked by his statement, the skin between her eyes pinched. She listened, hearing nothing but the sound of their combined breaths whispering in the barren gym. She’d never heard the vacuum turn off. Never heard the sound of a door closing. “But, how? Why? Should we even be here?” she questioned him, sure they were committing a crime, and the police would bust in on them any moment.
“We can be here as long as we like. There’s no time limit. No one is going to care, and since Howard locked up behind him,” he said, dipping his finger down the front of her shirt to trace the valley between her breasts, “we don’t have to worry about anyone interrupting us.”
Pulling down the stretchy material, sports bra and all, Jami licked the swell of her breasts. Her eyes rolling back, Alyson held his head to her, absorbing the soft wetness of his tongue on her flesh. “Are you friends with the owner or something?” she asked, her nails digging into his scalp when he pulled harder on the material to expose one erect nipple. His lips closed around it, and he sucked it into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the sensitive peak, and then releasing it with a loud smack.
“You could say that,” he said distractedly as he exposed her other breast and lavished it with the same attention. His teeth closed gently around her nipple. Yelping, Alyson jerked his head away. Looking up at her, he gave her a drugged smile, his eyes glazed with lust. “Knockout is mine. I own it.”
The confession slapped her across the face. She knew he had money, but she was under the impression that it wasn’t much—just enough to be considered a good living, not enough to own his own business. Jami was just full of surprises. “You own your own gym, but you live with Don?” she asked, confused.
“It’s a good system.” He shrugged. Distracted with her breasts, Jami placed possessive kisses all over her chest, working his way up the side of her neck. Her whole body hummed with pleasure. Fingering the hem of her shirt, Jami began inching it up her torso. “I started out here. When the owner had a heart attack, he couldn’t run it anymore and decided to sell. So I picked it up. I hired someone to manage everything for me, so I can concentrate on my training.”
“Among other things?” Raising her arms, Jami pulled Alyson’s shirt over her head and tossed it over his shoulder.
“Among other things,” he husked into her ear. Drawing back, Jami’s gaze coasted over her, taking in every detail. “Damn, Ally, I always knew you were beautiful, but…damn.” His words trailed off, leaving Alyson feeling sexier than she’d ever felt. The awe in his eyes, the way he lingered in places…she needed him to touch her in the worst way.
Thrusting her chest out, Alyson took one of his hands in hers and slid it slowly up her side to cup her. “Touch me, Jami. I want you. Fuck me,” she rasped, her words echoing his in an urgent plea. “Right here. Right now.”
Jami didn’t waste time. Caging her in the shelter of his arms, Jami flipped her onto her back. His big body crushed hers into the canvas, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him closer. Lifting her hips, she rubbed her core against him.
A fine tremor worked its way down Jami’s spine as he pressed his forehead against hers, breathing deeply to regain some semblance of control. “Fuck, I need to calm down,” he said on an agonized groan. “I’m going to come in my pants like a fucking teenager.”
They laughed together at the prospect. Taking his face in her hands, Alyson forced him to look at her. “I don’t care if you take a minute or an hour. I need you now. No more waiting.”
Grimacing as though in physical pain, Jami slammed his mouth down on hers, driving his tongue past her lips. He dipped in and out of her mouth, kissing her with abandon, branding her. Alyson’s hands skimmed over his shoulders and down his back, finally landing on his firm ass. It never ceased to amaze her how hard he was everywhere. Squeezing, she pulled him in harder, pushing his cock against her.
Jami ground his hips in slow, circular movements that made his muscles flex beneath her hands. Alyson moaned as he hit the bundle of sensitive nerves. Her pleasure spiked as her heart rate increased and she was surprised to feel her orgasm bearing down on her. She chased it. Lifting and retreating, their hips increased pressure and momentum. Sliding his calloused palm down her body, Jami grabbed her thigh and hitched it higher around his waist, bringing their bodies so close, that she could feel the thick length of him through his gym shorts as though he were already naked.
“Jami,” she panted, her fingers digging into his ass. “Oh, Jami!”
“Ally,” Jami ground out, his teeth clenched hard, the veins in his neck bulging. Alyson came on a shout so loud she would have been embarrassed had Jami not followed right over the edge after her. Every muscle in his body seized up, stiffening so hard his arms locked down around her almost painfully. He muffled a cross between a groan and shout into the curve between her shoulder and neck. Then his body shuddered once, twice, and he collapsed on top of her.
Alyson’s body relaxed beneath his, a feeling of total peace washing over her. They had just come together, and they hadn’t even had sex yet. If it hadn’t been the most explosive thing she’d ever experienced, she would have laughed. Stroking his back, she bathed in his warmth and listened to his breathing slowly begin to relax.
Lifting his head, Jami propped himself on his forearms and looked down at her. “I just busted a nut in my pants like a chump.”
She did laugh then. Reaching up, she brushed away the strands of dark hair that had fallen across his forehead. “So did I,” she whispered conspiratorially. “If you don’t tell, I won’t.”
“You’re going to ruin my stamina,” he accused, and then slanted his mouth over hers, sucking her tongue into his mouth, massaging it with his. Abruptly, he released her and rolled to his feet. “Stay here. I’m going to go clean up and grab a condom, and then I’m coming back here to finish this. I’m not done with you yet, Ally Blake.” Parting the ropes, he jumped down and before he walked away, he looked over his shoulder at her once more, his eyes moving over her. “Don’t move an inch.”
Alyson saluted him then waited until he was gone before she dropped back down to rest. Staring into the bright lights, she bit her lip as she reviewed the last few minutes. They’d been so hot for each other that their desire combusted between them. What would happen when he was finally inside of her?
“You are so fucking sexy,” Jami said as he leapt back inside the ring a few minutes later. Grasping his waistband, he shoved his shorts down and kicked them away, leaving every inch of his delectable body bared to her eyes.
Alyson gasped. Although she had seen him naked once before, like this, his skin flushed from his recent orgasm, every muscle standing out in stark contrast under the overhead lighting, he was amazing to look at. What stole her breath completely, however, was his thick, proud cock standing up between his powerful thighs. Nestled in a patch of dark curls, it jutted out toward her, it’s thick, plump head flushed a dark rose. At the tip, evidence of his want of her glistened with one wet, silky drop of pre-cum.
Between her legs, Alyson felt her body answer with a rush of moisture that soaked her panties completely. Oh, what this man did to her, and he didn’t even have to touch her.
Kneeling between her bent knees, he held up his hand and grinned. Between two fingers, he waved a foil packet. “My dad might have been worthless for mo
st things, but he did teach me about the importance of safe sex.”
“Mmm, good thinking,” Alyson praised him, embarrassed to admit that the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. She trusted him so implicitly, that when it came to giving him her body, it didn’t even make her list of concerns. Lifting her hips, she allowed Jami to pull her pants down her thighs.
As each new strip of skin was revealed, Jami leaned down and kissed it. By the time she slipped her feet free, every inch of her thighs, knees, and calves had experienced the pleasure of his questing mouth.
“The first time I saw you, I thought you were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen,” he confessed. It was so out of the blue, that it took a second for Alyson to catch up.
Tilting her head, she smiled softly and reached for him. Jami came to her easily, covering her body with his. “I thought you were the cutest boy I’d ever laid eyes on.”
Smirking, Jami began sliding the straps of her sports bra off, one shoulder at a time. “Crawling through your bedroom window…I lived for those nights.”
“You were my first kiss,” she said, blushing.
“You were my first real friend.”
Those last words jerked a slew of unexpected emotions from her, namely sorrow for a boy who had never been shown the type of love and caring he deserved, and Alyson’s eyes welled with unspent tears.
Jami kissed each of her eyelids with so much tenderness it wrenched a sob from her chest. “You had better not be crying for me,” he commanded. “How am I supposed to seduce you if you’re drowning?”
A laugh stuttered out of her, and Alyson scrubbed her hands across her face to clear away her tears. “I’m sorry. I just realized that you and I were all we really had. How pitiful is that?”
“It is pitiful,” Jami agreed solemnly. “But we survived. We were strong because we did have each other. I got through each day because I had something to look forward to. How many other kids in our position can say that?”
“Did you really think I was pretty?” Alyson asked lightly in an attempt to shift the conversation in a better direction.
Maneuvering his fingers under the band of her bra, Jami covered her breasts and smiled wickedly. “The prettiest.” Nuzzling her stomach, Jami dragged his nose up to her chest and took her bra between his teeth. He pulled up until she was bared to him. “Do you know what else?”
She raised her eyebrows in question.
“You’re still the prettiest, most beautiful, completely fucking sexy woman I ever laid eyes on. I’ve been walking around with a constant hard-on since you walked into my hotel room and drank my beer.”
“Oh, Jami, you’re such a sweet talker,” Alyson quipped. “It’s a wonder women can keep their pants on around you.”
Pushing his cock against her mound, Jami said, “Need I remind you that you’re not wearing any pants?”
“Mmm, good point.” Lifting her head, Alyson fused her mouth to his, sucking and licking at his mouth, unable to get enough of him. “I want you, Jami,” she husked. “I want to kiss you everywhere. Lick every inch of your body.”
Jami’s chest shook with laughter. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” Slipping his hands under her butt, Jami hooked her underwear and slid them up her legs until they reached her knees and could go no further. With her legs around his sides and her panties trapped against his chest, Alyson was completely exposed, as she lay folded up beneath him. Wiggling her hips, he finally got the message and, with teasing smile, leaned back and removed her underwear the rest of the way. Alyson sighed as he fit himself between her legs, relishing all his hard packed muscle pressing down on her.
“This is going to work, isn’t it?” Jami asked her. His gaze met hers, vulnerable, scared, and a touch apprehensive. She didn’t think a man of his caliber had ever willingly placed himself in such an unsure position before, and she found herself loving him all the more for doing it with her.
“Yeah, Jami,” she assured him as she cupped his face and brought it down to hers. “This is going to work just fine.”
Kissing him, Alyson couldn’t help focusing on the sound of Jami’s sure fingers tearing open the foil packet over her head. Her ears tracked every movement he made as his right arm swished over the canvas beneath her and his back arched away as his hand went between them. He moved quickly, and before she knew it, the head of his cock was pushing into her.
Jami moaned and his head dropped forward as he slowly pushed into her. Framing her head with his hands, he kissed her mouth, taking every part of her with slow, gentle thrusts. “You feel so good,” he whispered against her lips. “So hot. So wet. Tight.” He moaned again, the sound reverberating against her chest.
Alyson felt her body struggling to accommodate him. Jami was large everywhere. Despite the tight fit, she knew they were a match for one another. “Harder, Jami,” she urged him. “I want all of you, now.” Lifting her hips, she tried to force him inside of her, but he resisted.
“No, I’ll hurt you. We need to go slow, but, God, it’s killing me.” He pushed forward again, inching slowly inside of her.
It was killing her, too. Uncaring of whether he hurt her or not, Alyson decided to put them both out of their misery. Placing her feet flat on the floor, she slammed her hips up into his, forcing him all the way inside of her in one, brutal push.
They both gasped in unison. Alyson’s back arched, her nails dug into Jami’s flesh as the sensation and knowledge of behind impaled on his shaft took hold of her. After all these years, after everything they had been through, together and separate, they were finally joined in the most intimate and profound way two people could be, and nothing had ever felt more right.
“Fuck!” Jami’s body clenched hard as he held his hips tight against hers, panting as he struggled to control himself. “Damn it, Ally, why did you do that?”
“Because I need you,” she responded, turning her face into his neck to kiss his hot skin. She needed him more than he would probably ever know. Mind, body, soul, she wanted it all.
“Did I hurt you?” he demanded, his eyes filled with concern for her as he drew back to look at her.
A serene smile curved her lips and Alyson wiggled her hips. She could feel every inch of his hard length buried deep inside of her, and she was ready for more. “No, you didn’t hurt me,” she told him. “Don’t worry. You can’t break me that easily.”
A shadow of doubt passed over his face before Jami bent his head down to kiss her again. “You’re a stubborn brat,” he accused as he began to move inside of her.
Closing her eyes, Alyson focused on the tight, full feeling he created. “I thought that was your favorite part about me.”
Increasing his pace, Jami drove into her, leaving her feeling empty one second, and impossibly full the next. “It was, but now I have a new favorite part.”
Talking ceased as Jami took her mouth and her body hard. Alyson held onto him, relishing in the feeling of total ecstasy that she knew she could only find with Jami. Even now, as he made love to her body, he kept her sheltered in his arms. There wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t protected by him, and it always would be. Even now, as resistant as he was to defining their relationship, she knew he would never willingly hurt her.
As they came together once more, their skin covered in sweat, their bodies shivering from the power of their release, Alyson lay cocooned in Jami’s arms, listening to his heart pounding in his chest, and she knew one thing to be true: Jami was her protector, now and always. Her body, her mind, her heart were all safe as long as he stood at the helm.
TWENTY-THREE
The following night, after Alyson met Jami at the gym for another round of self-defense training, she walked up the steps to her apartment. As she approached her door, she noticed the colorful bundle sitting on the floor and stooped down to pick it up.
Flowers? Smiling, she brought the bouquet of white lilies and purple hyacinth to her face and inhaled their sweet aroma. “Did you do this?” she asked J
ami as she fished the card out.
Slipping his arms around her waist, Jami pressed his chest against her back, grinding his hardness into her backside. Nuzzling the back of her neck, he said against her nape, “Nope, wasn’t me. I don’t do flowers.”
Tilting her head back to rest on his shoulder, Alyson closed her eyes and enjoyed the attention he lavished on her. “What do you do?”
He growled low in his throat and one hand slid lower, cupping her between her legs. “Pretty young women who let me strip them naked in my gym and fuck them in my ring.”
“Are there a lot of those women?” she asked idly, her breathing growing heavier as he caressed her through her pants.
“Just one. Who are the flowers for?”
Opening the tiny envelope, Alyson pulled out the card and read it. “A reminder of what we used to be, what we are, and what we will be again.”
Snatching it from her fingers, Jami studied the words on the card as Alyson let them into her apartment. “Do you know who this is from?”
Looking up, she found Jami frowning at her, the silent accusation plain in his eyes. “I’m not seeing anyone else,” she said defensively. “I don’t know who that’s from.”
“Is there a name or anything?” Jami asked, flipping the card over, and then checking the envelope.
“Not that I saw.” Kicking off her shoes, Alyson headed into the kitchen to pour them both a glass of water and hunt for something to eat. She kept seeing the words in her mind. A reminder of what we used to be, what we are, and what we will be again. They were personal, intimate. Whoever sent those flowers and wrote that note was someone she knew. Or maybe not. Straightening, Alyson rushed back into the living room and yanked the card from Jami.
“Geez, Ms. Grabby Hands. Maybe next time you could say please,” Jami joked as he brushed past her and walked into the kitchen. “I’m thinking eggs, sausage, bacon, and hash browns for dinner. What do you think?”
“Sounds fine. I’m starving, so I’ll eat just about anything at this point,” she said, distracted with her thoughts as she followed behind him.