Caine's Reckoning (35 page)

His hand resumed stroking. “Like when I went to kiss your breasts just now. You wanted it at first.”

She nodded, heat flooding her cheeks, her chest tightening. “Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

“I saw your teeth.”

“Shit.”

No wonder she’d gone loco. Caine slid his hand under her hair, needing the contact with her skin. A man could do a lot of damage to a woman with his teeth. “I’m bossy, sweetheart, but I don’t hurt women.”

“I know.” That was something. “But sometimes you forget.”

Again that tension preceding that little nod. “This bastard that hurt you, can you describe him for me?”

“Just his shoes.”

He didn’t think he’d ever been with a woman who could only describe his shoes after the encounter. “Nothing more?”

She squirmed, and then in a thread of sound said, “And his privates.”

Now, there was a picture for a wanted poster. Shoes, balls and a dick. “No face?”

Her fingers wrapped around her wrist and rubbed. “He didn’t come that often and when he did, I wasn’t allowed to look at him.”

“Ever?”

“No.”

He rolled them over, easing her back onto the bed. He couldn’t get the thought of a man biting her breasts out of his head. She let go of her wrist and grabbed the sheet.

He stilled the attempt. “No. I want to see.”

It just took a little tug and the white sheet slipped from her fingers. “And just so we’re clear, I don’t want to see to humiliate you or embarrass you. I just want to see that you’re all right.”

“I’m fine.”

He kissed her wrist where it lay against her shoulder before taking each hand and laying them up by her head. “Keep them there.”

She did, but her lips slipped between her teeth. The light wasn’t good enough to tell much. Her skin was so white it’d be hard to find a scar short of sunlight but her nipples were a bright pink, still semipuckered from his earlier attention. He touched his finger to the tip. She gave a light gasp.

“Did he bite you here?”

Her face flushed brighter, if that were possible. “Why can’t you let it go?”

He looked up. Damn, she was serious. “You’re my wife.”

“But I wasn’t then.”

“You’re not thinking that just because someone took advantage of you before we met that he gets to just walk away now that you have a man to stand for you, are you?”

It was clear as day from the widening of her eyes and the lack of verbal response that she did. He kept his voice normal as he set her to rights.

“No one, but no one, gets to hurt you and then walk away.”

“You can’t go back and find them all.”

He touched the faint line that could be a scar on her areola. “Like hell I can’t.”

Her hand covered his despite his order to keep them put. As if taking the scar from his sight would do anything to settle his determination. “It’s over with.”

It wouldn’t be over with until every one of the bastards were buzzard food. Caine met her gaze, letting her see the determination rolling through him. “I’ve spent my whole life kicking ass and it’ll be a cold day in hell before I change my ways when my wife’s the one hurt.”

“They’ll kill you.”

“They’re welcome to try.”

Her fingers wrapped around his. “No, they’re not.”

It was his turn to blink. She could change moods faster than a cutting horse could turn.

“You have to understand, Caine, these are very dangerous men.”

She was worried about him. He dropped a kiss on her lips.

“Sweetheart, you aren’t exactly married to an angel.”

“But you haven’t met them.”

“That’ll be set to rights soon.”

She squeezed the feeling right out of his fingers. “They’ve taken everything from me, I’m not letting them take you, too.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, she’d just told him she cared for him. Damn she could pick her moments. “It isn’t a matter of letting, sweetheart, it’s a matter of setting things right.”

“No, it’s a matter of common sense, and if you aren’t going to exercise any, then I’ll just have to exercise some for you.”

He braced himself on his elbow. “Damn, if you don’t mean that.”

“Of course I mean it.”

If her frown got any bigger she was going to have permanent creases. “Would you, by any chance, be ordering me to let it go?”

She folded her arms across her chest and eyed him suspiciously. “Would that work?”

“No. But I’d be touched that you tried.”

“Then I’m just going to have to try something else, and you’ll have to be touched by that.”

His smile caught him by surprise. He was used to cajoling a woman in bed but he couldn’t ever remember a time when he’d sparred with one between the sheets. He touched his finger to the vein at her temple. “You’re welcome to give it a shot.”

“You don’t think I can do it?”

“I think you can do a lot of things, Gypsy girl, but getting me to forget about the son of a bitch who broke your wrist so he could get off isn’t one of them.” He kissed her gently, being careful to keep his weight off her because he knew for sure that triggered memories. “In that, you don’t have a prayer in hell.”

Her mouth flowered beneath his, kissing him back, clinging with near desperation, telling him what she couldn’t say. She needed him.

When he came up for air he whispered, “I’m not walking away, Desi, and no one’s taking me away, so relax and let this marriage happen.”

“You promise?”

Even though they both knew it wasn’t a promise he could keep, he gave it to her for the simple reason she needed it. “I promise.”

Her hands spread over his back, pulling him to her, “Then make me feel good, Caine.”

“H
ow good? ‘Like a lady’ good or ‘like a woman’ good?”

“What’s the difference?”

“One’s a hell of a lot more fun.”

If Caine thought to throw her off with straight talk, he was mistaken. She pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side. “I was a lady for a lot of years and never had much fun so I’m thinking ‘like a woman’ good.”

“Damn, I love it when you bring your wild side out to play.”

“You think I have a wild side?”

“I think you’re wild, passionate and everything else a man could want.”

“You’re a very strange man.”

“Now is that any way to go talking about your husband?”

Her arms linked around his neck, pulling him toward her.

He braced his arm on the other side of her. “No.”

“But—”

He shook his head. “No reminders.”

Her gaze skated over his. “That’s going to be hard to accomplish.”

“You thinking you know all there is to know about lovemaking because of what they did to you?”

That was a definite “yes” in her eyes. He rolled them back to the middle of the bed, stopping with her on top. Her little gasp as she ended up straddling his cock, along with the lowering of her lids, was as sexy as hell.

She was clearly unfamiliar with this position. Probably because it gave her freedom, and a sense of freedom was something her captors wouldn’t have wanted to encourage in her. He tugged the blankets from beneath them and then freed her from the nightgown. He wanted her as wild as he could get her. “Lift up.”

A little smack on her right buttock had her moving with an alacrity that had those breasts shimmying. Her legs were just long enough for her hips to clear his, making it a tricky process to get his pants down, but once he got going, he could see the benefits. With every push, the damp, silky-soft heat of her pussy caressed the back of his hands.

He shoved his pants past his knees and kicked them free of his bare feet. His cock throbbed, jerked up, seeking her heat. He put his hands on her hips, holding her gaze.

“Sink down now, sweetheart. Bring that petal-soft pussy down over me.”

She did, biting her lips, fear and temptation in those big blue eyes. Her muscles clenched, locking him out.

He brought his hand up to her cheek. “Tonight I want you to hold on to one thought. What happens between us is happening between a husband and a wife. And it’s for
our
pleasure.”

She blushed and her gaze ducked his.

“What?” He touched his thumb to the corner of her mouth.

“I’m worried I’m not going to do this right.”

“So am I, so that’s just one more thing we have in common.”

That pulled her up short. “You’re worried?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be? Every woman’s different and a man who can’t please his wife has a lot to lose.”

“You expect to please me?”

“Definitely.” He slid his cock up along the warm nest she’d created, tilting her hips with his hand until he felt the little tip of her clit stroke him, too. “Do you like that?”

“It’s fine.”

“Fine” seemed to be the adjective she applied to anything that didn’t hurt. Except she was enjoying this. The proof was in the spill of her cream around him.

“Do you want me to do it again?”

“If you like.”

Oh he liked. He liked the way she shuddered on the upstroke, and the way her breath broke on the down, suspending in her lungs in an agony of anticipation until he returned to the rhythm. The way her fingers dug into his shoulders as she pushed back, seeking more. Oh, yes. He definitely liked.

He did it again, and again, sliding her along his cock, bathing himself in the liquid fire, watching as, all the while, she fought it. The pleasure. The surrender. Her lip slid between her teeth as the cream slid from her body. Her muscles contracted in a rhythmic prelude to release, but there wasn’t any anticipation in her eyes, just that same breathless struggle between what her body wanted and what she couldn’t accept.

He pulled her face to his, kissing her lips, taking her little squeaks into his mouth, smiling at the pitch of the last.

“Stay with me now,” he whispered, before bringing his mouth toward her breast, stopping an inch away, giving her a chance to adjust. She went stiff as a board. Fear or anticipation?

The answer came as Desi closed that distance, bridging that gap in a leap of faith that humbled him. He opened his mouth and accepted the fragile gift, curling his tongue around the hard peak in a gentle hug. Her gasp was his reward, along with a soft “Oh, yes” as he began to suck. Her hand came to his cheek, holding his mouth to the angle that pleased, shyness fading under passion. Damn, he loved her like this.

Urgency gathered in the base of his spine, different than before, hotter, laden with potent embers of emotion he’d identify if passion weren’t riding him so hard. Releasing her breast, he lifted her forward and up. “I need you, Desi. Don’t hold back.”

Her lashes flickered under the lash of truth, but he didn’t see distaste in her expression, just a deepening of the confusion as he coaxed her up. He took his hand off her hip and grasped his cock, pushing it back along that slick temptation, his breath hissing in a harsh rasp as all that heat and wetness tore at his control.

Her hair slid free of her braid and tumbled around them. The scent of lilacs and Desi filled his next breath.

He held her gaze and let her see his excitement, his restraint, his passion. A slow blink heralded the arrival of his cock at its destination. The delicate muscles clenched in an intimate kiss. The pressure in his balls built. He wanted her to go with him. Wanted this to be more than a fulfilling of an obligation for her.

He rubbed the petal-soft skin of her cheek. “What’s going through that head of yours, Desi girl?”

“I don’t know who you are.”

“I’m your husband.”

“But what does that mean?”

He pressed up while urging her down, keeping it slow and steady, watching her face for signs of discomfort. “It means you’re not alone anymore.”

Her frown got deeper. Pain?

“Am I hurting you?”

Her hair whipped across his chest in taunting little flicks of sensation as she shook her head.

He had to exert more pressure to keep her face to his. “Then what’s wrong.”

“I…”

Her muscles gave up the unequal battle. His cock popped the first inch into that tight inferno.

“Oh!”

Her eyes closed. So did his. The white-hot pleasure whipped through him, summoning the threads of passion and spinning them into a blistering need for satisfaction. She was as tight as he remembered. Hot, sweet and melting around him, the inner muscles rippling in tiny repercussions to his possession.

He tested the point of their joining. The delicate skin felt paper-thin. He gritted his teeth against the instinctive urge to plunge deep. To claim her hard and fast. He gave a tentative pulse of his hips. The skin pulled in with his cock. Desi gave a soft little cry.

Pain? Pleasure? He couldn’t be sure. Son of a bitch, he should have prepared her better. He’d never been with a woman so small before. The fan of her lashes against her cheeks emphasized the slightly exotic cast to her face. “Am I hurting you, Desi?”