Banged Up (12 page)

No. She couldn’t.

“It would be mine and mine only,” he said as if he could read her mind.

She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip harder. He started a rhythm again with his cock, sliding between her cheeks, brushing against her. And every pass he took, she relaxed a little more, loosening, wanting.

He stroked his tongue up her spine, making her shiver. “Do you want me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me in you?”

“Yes.”

“How bad?”

“Bad.”

“I’m going to start in one and finish in the other.”

No. No. Ahhh.
He plunged his cock into her pussy, slamming his hips against her.

Again and again. It was hard and deep and she loved it. She could come just like that, but he changed his position, bending over her back, keeping his cock fully seated, while he reached around and grabbed her breasts. Mace made shallow movements inside her, and she came. He pinched her nipples and she screamed, bucking against him, wanting him to fuck her even harder. But he was relentless, continuing the grinding movements deep within her. Rubbing her nipples, pinching, and just when she thought her orgasm was over, it wasn’t. She convulsed around him again, squeezing his cock. He would last longer this time, and she thought she might just die of pleasure before he was finished.

With a kiss to the back of her neck, he raised himself back up and took long strokes, reaching underneath her to circle her clit with his thumb. Again she bucked uncontrollably against him, but he wouldn’t stop. His other thumb ended up at her rear entrance, stroking at the same rhythm as the one at her clit.

She let out a low, tortured moan. The thumb at her tight ring pressed harder.

Circling, circling, while pressing harder and harder. His cock slid out of her and he returned to sliding it between her cheeks—slow, careful strokes. His other thumb still played with her clit. He adjusted himself again behind her, and two fingers filled her empty pussy, keeping in time with the thrusts of his cock.

Colby rocked back and forth on her knees, her head still tucked in her arms on the floor. She knew what was coming. She knew. She didn’t even want to stop him.

Though he did. Just for a moment. Now she knew what the lube was for.

When he pulled back his hips to ready for another stroke, she felt a slick finger slip into her tight ring. She screamed and shuddered.

Mace tensed behind her, stopping his movement. A shudder ran through him also.

“Holy shit, you are so tight. Are you going to let me in?”

Was she going to let him in? Was she? She nodded against her arms.

“Colby…” He sounded as if he was in pain. She couldn’t look at him, she couldn’t.

Her heart was going to burst…

“Yes! Yes!
Do it!
”

He slipped his finger back out, creating the strangest feeling. And before she could suck in another breath, the head of his cock was there, pressing. Slowly pressing, almost asking for permission from her body to enter. His command of “relax” sounded like it came from between gritted teeth. The cool sensation of lube being liberally applied against her heated skin made her jump.

But even so, she tried to relax, and when he started stroking the insides of her pussy again with his fingers, she did automatically. The crown of his head broke through and he slid slowly into her, stretching her, filling her up.

She heard his ragged breathing over her and a drip of sweat fell onto the small of her back. For a fraction of a moment he was fully seated in her. His whole length was deep in her. He slowly retreated and she cried out.

“Are you hurting?”

“No … fuck me.” It was the weirdest sensation, but it felt so good. He picked up a gentle pace. She knew he shouldn’t go any faster, but it drove her crazy. One of his hands controlled her, stopped her from impaling herself on him, while the other continued to fuck her pussy.

The buildup was slow this time; slow, but so intense she screamed and tensed her whole body, tightening up on him. He took one more thrust, calling out her name as he pulsed inside her.

He held her hips still until he recovered, then helped her down to the drop cloth, as his cock slipped out of her.

He lay down beside her and took her into his arms, turning her to face him. He brushed a light kiss over her nose and sighed. “Tired?”

Colby could only nod slightly while she mentally did a body check, making sure she was still whole after that.

“That was unbelievable.” He flopped onto his back and dragged her over his chest.

Colby stuck her tongue out to taste the saltiness of his chest. She rolled her eyes up to see him staring intently at her.

“Are you okay?”

She gave him a smile. She was more than okay. “Perfect.”

Chapter Eight

Colby jerked awake to a shrill ring. Her heart pounded fiercely when the phone rang a second time. She blinked, staring at where it sat on the nightstand.

It could be the person who kept hanging up.

Or maybe it was Mace…

Even though she knew the phone would ring again, she still started. She let out a long breath, trying to calm her nerves. Until a second later the doorbell rang.

Colby let out a little squeak.

She had to stop jumping at every little thing!

When Mace was home, she never worried. She had the sense of safety whenever he was around, which surprised her since her first impression of him was he appeared dangerous.

Dangerous to whom? The jury was still out on that one.

She rolled out of bed and grabbed the silk robe she had thrown at the foot of it. She inserted her arms into the sleeves and tied the belt tightly around her waist, trying to ignore the still ringing phone. Someone must have switched off the answering machine. It could have been her, but she couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter at this moment anyway, because whoever was at the door was still ringing the doorbell. Damn.

She yanked open the nightstand drawer and removed her Glock. It was ready to go with one in the chamber and a full clip. But, looking down at her robe, she didn’t have anywhere to hide it on her person.

Hidden or not, she wasn’t going to answer the door without protection. One never knew who could be lurking outside the house. She shook her head; she was going loony.

She was way too paranoid. But just the feel of her heavy gun in her hand soothed her, made her not feel like a victim.

She went downstairs and, at the front door, she peered through the peephole. A young man stood on the other side, dressed in a brown uniform. His baseball cap had a patch on it advertising “Ellie’s Bouquets.”

Behind the kid, she noticed the business name was also plastered all over the parked delivery van.

Mace. He must have bought her flowers. How very sweet!

Colby unlocked the door and swung it partially open, just enough where she could keep her left hand, which held the gun, hidden behind the door.

“Hello, ma’am,” the kid said. He shoved his clipboard toward her. “I have a delivery of flowers.”

The young man’s eyes immediate drew to her cleavage, which was slowly being exposed as her robe slipped open. With the clipboard in one hand and the gun in the other, she didn’t have any hands left to close it.

“Who are they for?” Colby asked. She signed awkwardly on the line next to the address of the house. She had used the doorjamb to hold the clipboard up while she signed. She handed it back to him before pinning the lapels of her robe together tightly with her free hand.

The kid did a lazy half shrug, his eyes still focused on the point where she was gripping her robe. “There’s no name on the delivery, just this address.”

Colby looked down. Nope, nothing was showing.

She waited.

He stood there, a dumb look on his face while he continued to stare at her, like he was just hoping to catch a glimpse of something.

She cleared her throat, catching his attention. “The flowers?”

“Oh. Yeah. Here.” He shoved the wrapped bouquet at her.

She had to quickly release her robe to grab the flowers, but pressed them against her chest, making a shield from his eyes.

He stood there for a moment more. Until he got sick of waiting for a tip, she guessed.

Not that he was going to get one from her since she didn’t carry money in her negligee or robe, of course.

“Sorry,” she called out as he trooped away mumbling.

She closed the door and locked it before moving into the kitchen. She dumped her gun on the table and quickly unwrapped the green paper covering the bouquet. A little thrill ran up her spine. She couldn’t believe Mace had bought her flowers!

As she peeled the paper away, she uncovered beautiful blood-red roses. They smelled delicious. She loved roses: the feel, the scent, the soft, silkiness of their petals.

Wait! What?

At first Colby thought she was seeing things. She wasn’t. In the center of the dozen red roses, a single black rose stood out. It was just as gorgeous as the red ones, except it was a deep purplish-black color. And a black rose meant death.

Why would Mace include a black one? Maybe it was just a mistake made at the florists. She laid the bouquet on the table and dug out the attached card. It read:
Thinking
about you
. Without a signature line.

Not thinking
of
you, but thinking
about
you. That was odd. The card had neither a
to
nor a
from
. Not only was it a bit out of the ordinary, the single black rose mixed in was as well.

Colby heard the front door unlock and open. “Mace?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m in the kitchen.”

“Good. Did you get coffee started? If not, I brought—” He stepped into the kitchen, his hands full of a pastry bag and a drink carrier with two large disposable cups in it.

“What’s the matter?”

“They delivered the flowers.”

“Uh. Okay.” He dumped the food and drinks on the table and put one of the cups in front of her. “Chai tea.”

Colby nodded her thanks.

Mace pulled a chair away from the table and settled into it, stretching his leg out. He looked a bit pained, a white ring circling the press of his lips.

“Is your leg bothering you?”

He nodded, kneading his knuckles against his thigh. “A little bit.”

She had a feeling it was more than a little bit. When he reached for his bottle of pain medication, which was in the middle of the kitchen table, she made a noise. His fingers curled into a fist and he grimaced. But he left the pain pills alone. Not that she enjoyed his suffering. She didn’t. She just didn’t want to see him end up addicted to pain medication.

He moved away from the pill bottle and brushed his fingers over the petals of the roses instead. “So, what’s up with the roses?”

“You tell me.”

He pursed his lips, clearly fighting with himself whether he should take credit for the flowers or not.

Well, if he had to think about it that hard, he didn’t buy them. “If you didn’t order them, who did?”

“What does the card say?” She tossed the card at him. He glanced at it and frowned.

“That’s weird,” he said, after putting the card aside.

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Could it be your Martin?”

Colby sighed. “He’s not
my
Martin. Anyway, I doubt he’d be sending me flowers.”

“Why?”

“He just wouldn’t. Maybe this is some sort of joke.”

“An expensive joke.” He took a long swig of his coffee.

She wrapped her brain around a more puzzling thought. “Hold on. How do we even know these were meant for me? The delivery guy just said they were for this address. Maybe they were sent to you.”

He choked and wiped his mouth with his hand. “No one knows I’m home except for you and my boss.”

“And your physical therapist.”

“Yeah, but—” He pushed away from the table and grabbed the phone which hung on the wall. “We can solve this easily enough. What was the name of the florist?”

She gave the information to him, but there wasn’t a phone number on the card, so Mace called 411.

A few minutes later he hung up. “Well, that was pointless.” His attempt to not sound frustrated didn’t go unnoticed. He sank back in his chair, running a hand through his hair.

“Sounded like it.” She popped the lid off her tea and sniffed at it. The soft aroma of spices tickled her nose. She took a tentative sip. It tasted sweet and creamy and oh so good. Maybe it would calm her nerves.

“Whoever bought the bouquet paid in cash. They have no record of who sent it and who the intended recipient was. Fuck.” He dragged his hand through his hair again.

She was tempted to smooth it down for him. “Hey, it’s just flowers.” Though she wanted to believe him, she had this niggling feeling there was more to it. The people who knew she was staying at this house were limited and Mace could say the same.

“Look, no point in worrying about it, I guess.” He didn’t sound so convinced. He pushed the pastry bag toward her. “I brought breakfast. Croissants and a couple of danishes.”

She gave the bag of food a look of distaste. She didn’t know if she could eat now.

What was once the pleasant scent of the roses, now turned her stomach.

Chapter Nine

Colby spread her legs and slowed her breathing. Mace reached around her to steady her arms, leaning into her back. His breath tickled the hair by her ear. “Steady, steady. Okay, squeeze.”

The gunshot made Colby flinch, but her shot was dead-on.

“Ouch.” Mace groaned, looking at the target. He pressed the button and the paper target glided toward them. “You were supposed to go for center mass.”

She grinned. “Close enough. I got him where I want him.”

Mace stuck his pinky through the hole in the target and wiggled it. “Yeah, right in the crotch. Sorry, buddy, there’ll be no more lil’ baby targets running around. She just neutered you.”

With a laugh, she said, “Put another one out there.”

He clipped a new target on, then pressed the button to send the silhouette out into the range. “Okay, this time…”

“This time, I can do it myself.”

Mace lifted his hands in surrender and backed off. “Fine. Whatever. I only wanted to help.”