Hard Roads (26 page)

After what he’d just done, I wasn’t sure how I was capable of coherent thought, much less speaking. “Who said anything about slow?”

His voice was thick with his lust. “Show me.” Slowly, he lowered me down his body until my legs unwrapped from him and my feet touched the ground. He steadied me before putting his hands on the tree behind him.

He didn’t need to say anything else for me to know what he wanted. His eyes roamed over me with a hunger that made my knees weak and my heart pound through me chest. Stepping back I looked at him, noticing for the first time how his body was tight with restraint. He was scared of hurting me, scared of pushing me too far since he knew what the other men had done.

I wasn’t scared. I couldn’t stop living just because I’d been hurt. I wouldn’t continue to exist as an empty shell that had been stripped of her value and pride. If I was going to do that now, there was no point walking around in this world anymore and I would have been better off just letting them kill me when they had the chance.

No.

I was still alive, still a woman and I still had eyes to see the physical beauty and kind soul of the man who was doing everything he could not to hurt me.

Without taking my eyes from his, I reached down to hook my thumbs in the sides of the sweatpants that hung from my body. It didn’t take much to push them over the bone, allowing them to slip down my legs to the ground.

He didn’t move, just watched me with a fire building behind his eyes that would be difficult to extinguish.

I hadn’t revealed much of myself. Kicking the pants from my feet, I reached for the bottom hem of my shirt where it hung above my knees. With a swift movement, a flash of white cotton covered my face before letting go of my body and dropping to the ground.

Exposed, my breasts tightened in need of his touch and my thighs clenched from the feel of his eyes slowly running over my skin.

“Goddamn, woman. You don’t take no for an answer, do you?”

Two steps and he was on me, his hands roaming over my skin, furious with the need to touch every part of me.

I couldn’t talk and I could barely breath. He was electric, every brush of his finger sending tingling waves of pleasure across my skin. My heart pounded faster and my knees buckled. He caught me, lowering me down to the soft blanket of grass beneath me. It was as thick as carpet and just damp enough to be cool against my skin without being slippery or gross.

Leaning down, he trailed his lips over my stomach, his tongue peeking out every so often before he found my breast with his mouth and sucked the tip between his teeth. His other hand came up to claim my other breast in a move of possession that stole my breath from my lungs. Quickly lifting his head, his mouth covered mine again as he released my body to unbuckle his pants and push them down his legs.

He rose above me and I watched as he pulled his shirt over his head, completely naked, his skin glistening within the streams of sunlight that were lucky enough to touch him. His abdomen and chest were cut tight with muscle, his arms bulging with biceps built from years of hard work. Small scars littered his skin and I reached up to touch one I recognized to have been caused by a bullet on his side.

Before I could say a word about it, his mouth was over mine again and his hands were wrapped beneath my thighs, spreading my legs so that I was open and completely exposed to him. I whimpered my complaint when his mouth left mine. When he trailed his warm lips over my body, I broke out in a rushing sweep of heat over my skin. My back arched, pushing my breasts against him, the feel of his skin over the taut nipples shooting straight across my nerves.

He took his time working his way along my body until pushing my knees out to my sides so he could lick between my legs. I cried out, the sound escaping my lips sounding frantic and pained. He was the most sensual man I’d know, his gratitude to have me returned by the pleasure he forced through my body. I wanted to speed him along just because I needed him inside me, but I knew he wouldn’t rush, wouldn’t let me call the shots on how he worshipped my body.

JD was a good man, but when it came to the way he fucked me, he didn’t give me any say in the matter. I was his to possess and regardless if I objected or not, I would be forced along for the ride. I loved that about him, needed him to lead me and direct me because in some strange way, he seemed to know more about what I liked than I did. The man could read me, could somehow intuit every sound I made and the meaning behind every small move of my legs or hips.

My hands gripped over his head and after slowly circling his tongue over my clit, he pushed a finger up inside me, bending it so that he brushed across a spot that made me wild. I felt myself grow wet and he growled when the muscles of my core began to ripple over his finger in preparation of the orgasm that was about to tear me apart.

Within seconds, the ripple turned into a wave of pleasure that crashed over my body, pushing me to a point of abandon where I thought I’d left my physical body to float above. I lost my head to him, the orgasm so violent that my nails dug into his shoulders or any other part of him I could touch. I felt his hand pass over my skin, taking my breast again in its hold. My body contorted with my release, finally relaxing down against the cool grass beneath me once every ounce of energy I had inside me was spent.

He looked up, a wicked grin playing over his lips as he studied me. My eyelids were heavy and sated. But he wasn’t done. No, this man was only beginning and I could barely stand waiting for him to come over me and inside me, to make it all too clear that I was his to do with as he pleased.

When he pushed inside me, thick and hot, I lost my breath all over again. I was left slipping down a steep slope, my head hazy and my thoughts muted by the way he made me feel. I could feel him watching me as he took me, the heat of his eyes burning paths over my skin. His hands were rough when they gripped me, lifting my hips so he could push inside farther – harder.

I let my head fall back to the ground and I let go to the sensation he forced through me, the sounds of his breathing and the feel of his palms across my skin. With every thrust of his hips, I fell apart, lost and fighting against my next orgasm.

He would break me, this beautiful and strong man, just like he’d broken me before, but this time, he wouldn’t be letting me go afterwards. I wouldn’t let him.

“Oh god, Holly, your body is just too fucking much…” His words trailed off and he picked up speed, frantic to force himself as far as he could go inside. The muscles along my core hugged him, gripping tighter as they rippled and rolled. My breathing picked up to a point where I couldn’t draw another breath, my release exploding out of me in a wave of relief and ecstasy. I was where I wanted to be when I was with him.

His muscles tightened over his chest and he powered into me, stroke after long stroke until pulling out and coming on my stomach.

I was absolutely panting, have been driven to a peak I’d never known before and I looked up at him and smiled.

Sweat dripped along his face and chest, my mouth watering to once again taste the salt of his skin.

When he caught his breath, he said, “Looks like we need to clean you up.” He winked, picking me up in one fluid motion, holding me in his arms as took long strides to jump in the water behind us. It was cold, like ice rolling up over my heated skin and I screamed out in surprise. He laughed when he let me go to splash water up over my head before pulling me back into his heated embrace.

I hugged him, my entire body wrapped around his and, eventually, our breathing evened out and the silence of the woods was the only thing I could hear. The wind breaking through the trees soothed me, the distant sounds of birds singing mimicking my own happiness in this secret place that JD and I had found.

Minutes passed without a word between us, but there was a question in my mind that was so heavy, I could barely carry it any longer.

“Do I have to go back to my dad?” Spoken so softly that I didn’t think I’d really said it, I whispered as I rested my head on the broad shoulder of a man who’d stolen my heart. Three weeks wasn’t a long time to know someone, but it was all the time I needed to know that I never wanted to let JD go.

He didn’t respond at first, just wrapped his arms around me tighter. Fear trickled along my spine that I was alone in the way I felt, that he didn’t want me as much as I wanted him. After all, he was just another biker, even if he wanted to leave the life behind. I wasn’t sure if that meant every part of it, even the girl he’d met on the last mission he owed to his MC.

I thought I’d die waiting for his response and my eyes started to well up at the possibility that he’d tell me goodbye forever. It was stupid, but I wished time would stand still for us, that nobody would ever show up here to tell us it was time to go. I wished that Henry would never find my father or that if he did, my father would be six feet under, cut off at the knees by the men he’d been screwing over.

I’d thought a lot about what happened to me and when it came down to the true root cause, my father was it. I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive him for what he’d done and I damned sure didn’t want to go back to him. My life and heart was no longer with Dominion. It was with the man who held me in the middle of a cold pond, beneath the trees that swayed with the softly blowing wind.

“Don’t know, Munch. Depends on what happens, I guess.” Pulling away so he could look at me, he gripped my chin and tilted my head up to pull my eyes to his. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, beautiful, but you need to be sure that’s what you want. I don’t know where we’ll go and I don’t know what we’ll have to do to survive. I’m not sure I’m good enough to give you everything you need and deserve in this life. I’m a bad choice for a boyfriend and a worst choice for a husband.” The honesty of his words floored me, but I smiled anyway knowing that if I wanted him forever, he would give himself over.

Reaching up, I grabbed his head, letting my fingers play over the bits of hair that had grown back since we’d been here.

“I’m really good at making bad choices, JD. But I don’t think you’re one of them.”

Pulling him towards me I pushed my lips against his. He deepened the kiss, tilting his head so that he could take my mouth fully with his.

My soul was singing along with the birds in the trees because of him and in that moment, I didn’t think there was anything that could destroy what we’d found in each other.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~ JD ~

Another two weeks passed and each day I grew to love Holly more. Each day I felt more protective of her, more mesmerized by the strength she had inside her. She was the type of woman that made me a better man, the type of girl that challenged me as much as she thrilled me, the type who’s thick skin made her attractive, but whose soft edges brought me to my knees.

I never grew bored with her and not a minute passed that she didn’t say something that shocked me or made me laugh. It was an easy relationship, one I never imagined I could have with another person. However, even with all of that, the thing I appreciated most was that she understood me. Her life was a parallel to mine and I didn’t have to explain myself or excuse my actions.

She understood me for the man I was and she accepted me just as she’d found me.

We spent our days hiking out in the forests and our nights curled up drinking by a warm fire. We played poker when we were bored, but that rarely occurred because we couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. This time together was like a honeymoon that we’d never intended, a time to get to know each other as friends, as lovers and as something more. I don’t think there’s a word for what we felt, it was just a sense of things being “right” and good.

However, like all perfect things, our time away came to an end and on one cold night, while we lay together drifting to sleep beneath the warm down comforter on the bed, I heard a sound that had me on my feet and dressed within seconds. With a gun in my hand, I stepped outside, pushing Holly behind me because she’d followed me out. Headlights blinded me when they came around the corner of the drive and I pulled the hammer of the gun down just in case whoever drove that truck wasn’t friendly.

They pulled up slowly, most likely realizing that if I was standing at the door, I had something deadly in my hand. Once the truck stopped, the lights flicked off and it took me a second to be able to see clearly again. The driver’s side door opened and a man’s voice echoed out across the front of the house.

“It’s just me, JD. Told your dumb ass that nobody else even knows this place exists.”

A chuckle broke free of my throat and I released the hammer, flicking on the safety and tucking the gun in the back of my jeans. Calling out to Henry, I asked, “Hasn’t anybody ever told you that you shouldn’t come rolling up on another man’s house in the middle of the night? You must have a death wish or something.”

I could hear him laughing when he grabbed a bag out of the truck. “It’s my house. I’ll come rolling up on it any time I damn well please.”

Slamming the door shut, he looked up at me and I noticed how his eyes glanced over at Holly. His eyebrows went up to see her so close to me, half dressed with only my t-shirt covering her body. “Hey there, Holly. I’m not sure you remember me. My name’s Henry.”

She gasped from behind me, moving out from around me slowly as Henry approached. When the light hit his face, she gasped again. “Oh my god, I wasn’t sure at first, but…you’re the man that was killed. They shot you and your friends dragged you away. You’re the man with the friendly eyes.” Covering her mouth, she bent over herself, holding her stomach with her other hand. “Shit, I think I’m going to be sick.” Her bare feet hit heavily across the floor, shaking the house with every step. Glancing between her retreating form and Henry, I left the doorway running after her. She’d already shut the door to the bathroom by the time I caught up and I could hear her throwing up behind it.

Knocking, I called out, “Let me in, Munch, so I can help you.”