Rescuing Rayne (22 page)

R
ayne woke
with a cry and shoved at the arms holding her down. Moshe was there and wanted to be a man, but she’d be damned if it would be with her.

“Jesus, Rayne. It’s me. It’s Ghost. I’ve got you, you’re okay.”

The words barely penetrated her sleep-fogged mind, her only thought was escape. “No! Get off me. No!”

“Rayne!” Ghost’s voice was harsh, and just what she needed to realize she wasn’t in Egypt. She wasn’t being held captive, and it wasn’t Moshe with his arms around her, it was Ghost.

Rayne looked up at Ghost and swallowed hard. “Sorry, I’m okay. I’m okay.”

“Christ, Princess. I wanted to
help
you by introducing you to Penelope, not make you regress. I’m so sorry.”

Rayne buried her face into Ghost’s chest and let him move them so they were once again situated on the couch, where they’d been earlier that evening while watching
Under Siege
. The doctor had said her wounds were looking good and he’d gone ahead and taken out the stitches. He’d given her a mild painkiller and they’d come back to Ghost’s house and he’d put in the movie.

Obviously her talk with Penelope and dealing with the stitches had brought the memories of her captivity to the forefront of her mind.

“It’s fine, Ghost. I’m okay, I just…I need to deal with it, and not thinking about it isn’t working. Will you just…will you hold me?”

“All fucking night, Rayne. Just relax. I got you.”

“Can I sleep with you?” Rayne felt Ghost’s muscles tighten under her. “I mean,” she tried to backpedal, “it’s not a big deal, I can—”

“Yes. I want you with me. I was waiting for you to give me a sign you wanted to. You have no idea how much I wanted to go into your room and carry you to my bed.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I wanted you to be there because
you
wanted to be there. Not because I coerced you into it.”

“I want to be there. I haven’t slept that great since the hospital, when you were there with me.”

Ghost carefully squeezed Rayne against his body. Christ.

Later, he carried her to his room, and after she got ready in the bathroom, helped her to the bed.

“Wow, this is quite a bit bigger than the hospital’s, isn’t it?” Rayne tried to joke.

“It might be bigger, but we won’t be taking up any more space than we did in that tiny bed,” Ghost returned, settling Rayne on her side and pulling her against him. He wrapped himself around her as he’d done in the past, and as he’d thought about doing the last few nights. Ghost buried his nose in her hair and inhaled her scent. He’d missed it. He’d missed her.

“Go to sleep, Princess. I’ve got you. I’ll be here when you wake up. Promise.”

He felt her nod against him. He lay there holding her tight long after she’d drifted into a comfortable sleep. Thanking God again for putting her in his path and giving him one more chance to do the right thing. To do what they both needed.

The next morning, Rayne shifted, feeling better than she had in a long time. She froze when she felt Ghost’s calloused hands on her back. She was lying on her belly, head turned to the right, arms at her side. Ghost was kneeling next to her, massaging her lower back. She raised her head and turned so she could see him. “What—”

“I wanted to see it fully.”

Rayne realized he was looking at her tattoo. Half the time she honestly forgot it was there. She blushed. Even knowing he’d already seen the additions to it, it was still a little embarrassing. She nodded and relaxed in his hold.

Ghost tugged Rayne’s shirt up, and helped her raise her arms until he could remove it. Before she’d even settled back down, he’d straddled her hips and had both hands on her tattoo. He traced the words “Quiet Professionalism” with his fingertip, the touch light and almost ticklish against her back.

“Why two-thirty?” Ghost asked in a reverent tone.

“It’s the last time I remember looking at the clock that morning.”

“That last time. When I took you from behind,” Ghost said with certainty.

Rayne nodded but didn’t speak. She felt him lean down and brush his lips over the ghost. She’d thought it appropriate to have it hovering around the iconic clock since he’d told her he’d once climbed the stairs all the way to the top.

“It’s absolutely beautiful, Princess. And knowing our time together meant as much to you as it did to me is priceless. You have no idea what you’ve given me with this. It’s better than anything you could ever say to me, or buy for me. Swear to Christ, I’ll do everything in my power to treasure you. To treat you right. I can’t promise I won’t fuck up because, well, I’m a guy and I’m not used to this. But know that I’ll never do anything on purpose to hurt you.”

“Okay, Ghost.” She felt him move his lips across her back, kissing every part of her tattoo.

“And this is probably the wrong thing to say, and I’m probably a dick for even thinking it, but I swear to God I hope you like taking me from behind. I have a feeling it’s going to be my favorite position with you. Seeing me inked on you. Seeing this eagle ripple as I pound into you from behind…yeah, I’ve had you once and couldn’t get the memory of this tattoo out of my head. But now that you’ve purposely added
me
to it? You might as well have stamped ‘Property of Ghost’ across your back. Because you’re mine. Hear me, Rayne? Mine.”

Rayne shifted and pushed her ass up into him. Jesus, every word out of his mouth made her wetter and wetter. She honestly hadn’t planned on going there with him this week. She wanted to get home and really think about it, but she couldn’t resist him anymore. She wanted him more now than she did six months ago…if that was even possible.

“I’ll take it any way you want to give it to me, Ghost.”

“Oh fuck.” The words were uttered in a tortured voice, as if she’d just broken through the last of his restraint.

Rayne heard a flicking sound and looked back to see Ghost reaching for her panties with a wicked-looking Swiss Army Knife in his hand. “Hold still, Princess. I have to get these off of you. I can’t wait to see you. I’d rip them off, but unfortunately, that only works in romance novels.”

Rayne held her breath and felt the elastic around her waist give way. Before she could think about what to do or how to move, she felt her hips in Ghost’s hands. “Don’t put any weight on those wrists. Let me do all the work.”

Rayne thought briefly about what Penelope had said…realizing this was one more way Ghost was taking care of her. He remembered her wounds and didn’t want her hurting herself further.

Ghost held Rayne’s hips in his hands and licked once from her clit to her ass, reveling in the wetness he encountered along the way. “You all right? No bad memories?” He wanted to shove himself as far inside her as he could get, marking her as his, but he didn’t want to hurt her either. It hadn’t been that long ago when she’d thought she was about to be raped. He’d rather cut off his own arm than hurt her physically
or
mentally.

“More, Ghost. Oh God,
more
.”

Smiling, Ghost leaned down and did it again, slower this time. Relearning her taste and feel. The angle was a bit odd and he couldn’t reach her clit as easily as he could if she was on her back, but he hadn’t lied. Seeing her tattoo as he ate her from behind was as close to Heaven as he knew he’d ever reach from Earth.

He leaned over and grabbed his pillow, easing it under her hips. Seeing it wasn’t going to be enough, he ordered, “Yours too, Princess. Give me your pillow.”

She gave it up without a word, staying down but moving her arms up to rest beside her head.

“Oh yeah, I’ve imagined this in my head so many times I can hardly believe you’re here in front of me. You have no idea how beautiful you look with your ass in the air for me. Spread your legs more. Yeah, that’s it. Christ, Princess. Fucking mine. All mine.”

Ghost leaned down and took her with a passion he hadn’t shown before. He sucked and licked, and ate at her like a man starved. When she started to moan and shift under him, he held her still for his mouth. Ghost finally added one finger, then two, easing into her tight sheath as he concentrated on flicking his tongue as fast as he could against her clit.

Hooking his fingers and stroking the small bundle of nerves on the inside at the same time as he moaned against her clit, he sent Rayne flying over the edge into oblivion. She bucked against his hold, shivering and shaking and crying out his name. Ghost didn’t let up until he felt her pull away from him slightly. Knowing he’d pushed as far as he could, that his touch was now more painful than it was erotic, he backed off. Enjoying the sight of her juices on his fingers and dripping out of her as he pulled away.

He pulled up to his knees and didn’t take his eyes off her. He ran both hands over her back, spreading her wetness onto her, being sure to trace the words that represented him with his quickly drying fingers.

He leaned down and once again kissed the image of the ghost on her back. “Can you take me, Princess? Are you okay?”

Rayne groaned and he felt her push up against him. “Yes, please, Ghost. Please, I need you. I want you inside.”

Ghost leaned over to the table next to the bed and pulled out a condom. He’d bought them on the way back from the hospital, enjoying the shit out of Rayne’s blush as he set them on the counter and smirked at her lecherously.

He quickly sheathed himself, and brought his hands back to Rayne’s skin. “Can you get up on your elbows without hurting yourself?”

Before the words were completely out, Rayne was up. The position brought her ass up to just the right height for him to plunge inside. “Let me know if this is painful for you, Rayne. I mean it. I don’t think I’m going to last all that long, I’ve imagined this for six long months, but I still don’t want you to have a moment of pain. All right?”

“Um-hmm,” Rayne moaned, pushing back toward him.

Ghost held himself away, wanting to make sure she understood. “You hear me? Tell me you understand.”

“I hear you, Ghost. I’ll tell you if it hurts, but dammit, it hurts not having you inside me. I need you.”

Her words pushed him past his breaking point. He fit his blood-engorged cock to her tight sheath and slowly pushed inside.

They both moaned at the same time. “God, it feels like coming home,” Ghost told her as he held himself still inside her. He could feel her clenching around him and could literally feel her hot juices coat his cock as they both acclimated to the feel of him inside.

“You feel huge this way,” Rayne told him, pushing back against him.

“Yeah, I can get farther inside you in this position,” he told her, not sure what he was saying. He held her hips still as he pulled back then slowly, inch by inch, pushed inside her again.

Ghost watched as she arched her back and the wings on the eagle rippled with her movement. “I wish you could see this, Princess,” Ghost told her, moving his hands from her hips to her ink. “Every time you push up against me it looks as though this eagle wants to fly right off your skin.”

“It really does something for you, doesn’t it?” Rayne asked breathlessly.

“Yeah, it does. But it’s more than just the tattoo. It’s that it’s
your
tattoo. And it’s on
your
back, and I’m buried inside
your
body watching it move and flex for me. Don’t think I’m getting off on the tattoo itself. I’m getting off on knowing what it means to you, and that you had me on you before you
knew
you had me on you.”

“Jesus, Ghost.”

He smiled a bit at the urgency and desperation in her words.

“Move. Now.”

“Yes, ma’am. My pleasure.”

Ghost kept a steady pace, plunging in and out of Rayne with measured thrusts. When he felt her trying to get up on her hands, he pushed down on her upper back. “No, Princess. Stay down.”

“But…I need—”

Realizing she was on the edge and not caring if she hurt herself or not, she only wanted to get off, he ordered, “Touch yourself. Balance on your shoulder and touch yourself.”

She immediately did as he asked, and brought one hand down to where they were joined. Ghost felt her frantic movements on her clit as he continued to thrust inside her. He leaned over and tugged on the nipple of the breast he could reach as he caressed her back with his other hand.

“That’s it. Rub yourself, take yourself there. You’re so hot and tight, I can feel you grip my cock as you get close. Take what you need, take yourself over.”

Ghost felt her hand speed up and she began to buck back against him more frantically. He pinched her nipple roughly and thrust into her harder and harder. Feeling her muscles tense as she finally flew apart, Ghost let himself go. Holding on to her hips with both hands again and watching as he pushed inside her once, then twice, then he held himself tightly on the third stroke and felt himself explode as Rayne continued to buck against his firm hold as she came down from her orgasm.

“Jesus, Ghost,” Rayne murmured after several moments had passed. “If it’s like that every time, you’re gonna kill us.”

“I can’t think of a better way to die.” Ghost reluctantly pulled out, groaning along with Rayne as he slipped from her. He put his hand on her folds and massaged lightly, loving the feel of how hot and wet she still was.

“Mmmmmm,” Rayne murmured, shifting under his caress.

“Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

“Umkay.”

Ghost hurried to the bathroom and took care of the condom. He ran a washcloth under some warm water and wrung it out before returning to Rayne.

She’d taken his words literally and lay in exactly the same spot he’d left her. Her ass propped up by the two pillows, her arms resting limply by her head, and a satisfied smile on her face.

Ghost ran his hand gently from her shoulder blades to her ass, caressing her, petting her. He placed the warm washcloth against her folds and tried to control his hard-on when she shifted under his ministrations.

“That feels awesome,” Rayne breathed, opening her eyes and watching his face as he cleaned her.

He finished up and tossed the wet cloth on the floor, not caring where it landed. He’d deal with it later. “Lift up.”