All the King's Men: The Beginning (5 page)

He smiled at the candles on the table and the scent of homemade Italian food, which Josie loved cooking for him on special occasions. When he had called earlier to tell her he would be late, she had said she had something to tell him, and now he wondered what the good news was. If she'd made Italian and pulled out the candles, she was obviously excited about something. Maybe she had finally been accepted to the nursing program at AKM. She volunteered in the medical ward occasionally, but despite completing the vampire equivalent of nursing school six months ago, there had been a waiting list for an internship. Maybe she had finally received the call.

After setting his duffel in the chair near the door, he followed her floral scent to the bedroom, where he found her curled on her side, hugging his pillow against her body. She was asleep, but dressed in what looked like a new negligee, and her dark brown hair spilled in thick waves over her face and against the white pillowcase.

His body reacted, growing hard. For all intents and purposes, Josie was his mate. The one and only female he would ever love. Just because his biological forces hadn't fired up to stake a mated claim on her like that of other mated pairs, she still belonged to him, and he to her. He had chosen her even if his body hadn't formed the invisible link necessary for the king's law to officially recognize her as his legal mate. Even so, he and everyone else referred to as such.

She looked like a goddess in her dark red nighty. Red was such a beautiful color on her, with her dark hair and tan skin.

He pulled his long-sleeved sweater and T-shirt over his head, and then joined her in bed.

"Baby, I'm home." He scooted up behind her and skimmed his fingertips down her slender arm as he pressed his lips against the back of her shoulder.

She stirred and quietly squeaked deep in her throat as she stretched against him. "Hey," she said sleepily, turning her head.

He brushed her hair out of her face. "Hey, sleepyhead."

She grinned. "I was tired."

"You've been tired a lot lately. You okay?"

Her grin spread into a straight-toothed smile. "I'm perfect." She turned in his arms, wrapped hers around his shoulders, and combed her fingers through his hair.

"Perfect, huh?" He tipped her face to his and brushed his lips over hers.

She nodded, coquettish and gorgeous, her light brown, green-and-gold-flecked eyes sparkling.

"How about you share some of your perfection with me then." He winked and slid the negligee up her hips. She wore a lacy thong underneath, and he squeezed one perfect orb of flesh on her bottom as he rolled to his back and pulled her on top of him.

"Rough night?" Her fingers made short work of the fastenings on his pants, and he helped her push them down his thighs.

"Not anymore." Together, they managed to get his pants and boxers into a bundle at the foot of the bed. "Now that I'm in your capable hands." He moaned and closed his eyes as her palm wrapped around his erection.

"My capable hands?" Amused arousal tinged her voice.

"Oh, baby, you have no idea how unbelievably capable your hand is right now."

She giggled and nibbled the side of his neck with butterfly bites and nectar kisses as he snagged the bit of floss on her rump and snapped it without so much as an ounce of effort.

Her sigh of relief told him she approved.

No matter how bad his nights were, or how much Micah got on his nerves, he could always come home to Josie, and she made everything all right. She was the calm he needed to unwind, the breath he needed to relax, the breeze to whisper his soul into submission. Josie was what every male searched for in a mate. She was his ideal, his match, his perfect complement.

"I'm grateful for the day I found you, baby," he whispered into her hair.

"Me, too." Her nimble hand gently rode up his shaft, then back down.

He groaned and tipped his head back as her mouth slid down to his Adam's apple. Her tongue swirled firm circles around and around, and still farther down to the hollow between his collarbones. All the while, her hand worked magic on him.

"You always know what I need," he said.

She rose up his body and licked his lips. "That's because I'm so unbelievably in love with you."

"Even after all this time."

"
Especially
after all this time."

Not only did she know what to do, she knew what to say. Tristan wasn't fooling himself. He knew that since they hadn't technically mated one another that their relationship could slip away. Another could come along and mate her, or he could mate another, and then their relationship would be null, no matter how long they had been together. And it wasn't just the threat of another mate coming along. Like humans, without the biological link to bind them to one another, he and Josie could simply fall out of love at some point. Grow tired of one another and lose the magic they'd managed to cultivate for nearly a hundred years. But for now, that wasn't happening. They were together, in love, and devoted to one another.

"I love you," he said.

"Duh," she answered with a coy wink.

"Hey now, no need to get sassy." He swatted her bottom and grabbed the back of her thigh—where she was wickedly ticklish—with his other hand and squeezed.

She threw her head back in a fit of giggles, squirming as he wriggled his fingers against her flesh. "Stop! Oh my God. Tristan!" She squealed and writhed against him, which stoked his arousal even more.

Laughing but on fire to give himself to her, he flipped her to her stomach and shifted to pin her down as he shoved up the nighty to reveal her perfect ass, smooth and round and out of this world sexy.

"Tristan!" She gasped as he bent and playfully bit her right cheek and held her down with his hands gripping either side of her hips.

She liked when he played with her ass, which was perfect since he liked playing with it. Her bottom was firm and round, the ideal derriere for an ass man like Tristan. At least Mother Nature had gotten that part of their relationship right. It would have sucked if Josie didn't get so worked up with butt play. As it was, her bottom was the surest way to rev her engine. She loved when he spanked her, loved when he pinched her cheeks, bit them, or slid his fingers down the crease as he was now. In an instant, she was breathing heavily into the comforter, her fingers fisting handfuls of fabric at her sides.

That was his Josie, his sexy freak in bed.

He lay down on her back, reached into the nightstand, and pulled out the body oil as he nibbled the back of her shoulder. Then he rose to his knees between her legs and drizzled her backside with a generous dose of slippery wetness before pouring some into his palm.

"You're in a mood tonight, baby," he said, stroking oil over his erection with one hand as he massaged her left cheek with the other.

Her shoulders hunched as she drew her arms in and squirmed, moving her ass side to side as if trying to encourage his hand to explore her everywhere. "Uh-huh," she managed to breathe out. She bent her right leg, and her heel playfully bumped the back of his arm.

"What's got you so hot? Huh, baby?" Tristan squeezed both hands around her luscious cheeks and slid his cock smoothly between them as he pushed on the sides to close her flesh around him. The friction was delicious, and beneath him, she moaned and panted desperately as he drove his cock forward and back, forward and back, groaning at the sight of his head poking out from between her oil-slicked cheeks with every upward thrust.

He shifted his knees to push her legs wider and leaned over her, arms planted on either side of her torso so he could glide his cock up and down the slippery cleft of her ass, and then all the way up the center of her back, which glistened with oil. Slowly, he made love to her back, trailing the length of his cock up and down and across her skin, using his erection like a brush to spread the oil all over her. The slick sensation of gliding against her skin and back down to her ass drove him wild, and Josie seemed to be just as keyed up as he was. Maybe even more so. Lusty, make-me-come moans broke from her throat with every breath, and her long fingers twisted and kneaded the blankets into vicious mounds.

Easing himself down on her back, he drove his cock into the part of her ass again. "What's got you so hot for me tonight, baby?"

She simply mewled in reply, as if begging him not to stop.

"You want me here?" He pressed more firmly between her cheeks, right where he knew she wanted him.

Josie enjoyed anal sex, which no one would have guessed from looking at her. She appeared so straight and laced up, but in the bedroom, she turned into a vixen. She was the epitome of a lady in the street but a freak in the bed, so it was no surprise that she arched her back and lifted her ass against him, silently begging him not to stop.

She nodded urgently as she shot him a salacious, over-the-shoulder glance that bitch-slapped his inner hedonist so hard his cock wept. "Yes. Please yes." She practically moaned the words.

With the temperature rising and no time to lose, he grabbed the bottle of oil, lifted himself, doused the crease of her bottom again, then tossed the bottle aside and eased back down, letting his hard-on collect plenty of lubricant as it glided toward home.

Her hands clenched the sheets, and her body shuddered as the head gained entry. Sweet bliss. So snug. So damn sexy. Josie lifted her hips, wordlessly begging him for more as she whimpered and clawed the bedding.

No matter how often he took her this way, he always started slowly. They both loved feeling him glide in and out of her, and watching his cock disappear little by little nearly drove him delirious with lust. Besides, he could thrust—and would—once the lube made the way easier.

Applying gentle pressure, he eased inside a little at a time, pulled back slightly, pushed forward, glided back out, slid deeper, until finally he was all the way. He grunted as he lay down over her back and flexed his hips, grinding against her as he drove himself deep. She gasped and reached for his hand.

He wound his fingers around hers and, together, they fisted the comforter as they found their rhythm. One that came from decades of experience. A rhythm that flowed through them as naturally as blood. After so long together, he knew her body, and she knew his. He knew what she wanted by the way she moaned and sighed. Whether or not she wanted it fast or slow by the tension in her fingers, and how close she was to coming by the quick, shallow, punctuated gasps that came seconds before she ruptured.

And right now she wanted it hard and fast. She was on fire tonight.

"God, baby, you're like an animal."

She grunted and flung her head back against his shoulder. "More."

And he gave her more. So much more. Josie spurred him to reach heights he hadn't found during sex in months. God, he loved this side of her, and he held on tight as he pumped his hips in rapid thrusts, drawing urgent cries and demanding commands of "harder, faster" from her.

Sweat poured from his scalp, down his back, and over his chest, mixing with the oil to create the most unreal, erotic slickness between their bodies. His thick biceps clenched, his legs stiffened and shook, and beneath him, Josie entered the point of no return. Her gasps tightened, grew shallow, and her body quieted as she seemed to hold her breath.

She was going to come. And so was he. So close. They were going to crash together. What a fucking rush.

"Baby, baby…yes…" He slammed his eyes shut, ground his teeth, and felt her approaching orgasm rise as if on a geyser.

And then the geyser gave and the world crashed around them.

Her cries mingled with his, and he thrust hard, once, twice, three times—each involuntary, ass-clenching contraction like an exclamation point—as he spilled inside her, grunting his pleasure until he finally collapsed on her back.

Josie completed his life. She was his mate now and forever, in every way except one, but at times like this, that didn't matter. They were so perfectly in tune with one another that Tristan had begun to think that not even a biological bond could be stronger.

"That was a nice welcome home," he said moments later, breathless. He tucked his face against the side of her neck. A final pulse of orgasm tightened his body, and he moaned as every muscle clenched, and then he sighed as he molded into her.

He felt her cheek lift against his face and knew she was smiling.

"Unexpected," she said softly.

"Very." He eased out of her and rolled to the side and propped himself on one elbow, letting the fingers of his other hand skim the supple, oil-smoothed skin of her back and shoulders. "Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?"

She lifted to her elbows and turned smoky eyes on him. "I think you might have mentioned it last night, before you left for work." She leaned toward him and kissed him, softly, sweetly.

"Mm." He nodded introspectively and grinned. "I guess I did. But I'll say it again. You're beautiful."

"So are you." She shifted to her side to face him and rumpled his hair. "But you need a haircut, handsome."

He raked his fingers through his hair and tousled it. "What? You don't like the mangy grunge look I'm going for?" He sat up and turned so he could look in the mirror. His blond hair stuck out in every direction.

Josie pushed herself up and pressed behind him, arms around his chest, legs circling his hips, and rested her cheek against the center of his back. "You wear mangy grunge well, baby."

Her fingers caressed his stomach, and he placed his hands over hers. "You wear
everything
well." He looked over his shoulder as she lifted her face from his back and met his gaze. They kissed, holding their intimate caress for several long, luxurious moments before Tristan broke away. "So, what's the good news?" he said.

Josie's eyes lit, and her face brightened. And were those tears? She must have really wanted that internship. He had no idea it was that important to her.

"Oh, Tristan…" For a heartbeat, her eyes searched his, gleaming with moisture, and then she blinked rapidly and looked away.