Rough Around the Edges (39 page)

He leaned close, letting his mouth come within a hairsbreadth of her neck. “Need help?”

She was gripping the edge of the open drawer with her right hand and was still staring down into its depths. A couple of her outfits rested where he’d placed them – that seemed ages ago. “Just getting dressed.”

He was tall enough to see over her shoulder, and his gaze was drawn irresistibly to her naked breasts. Her nipples were hard and little beads of water were scattered around the soft brown edges of her areolas, glistening against her skin and making his mouth water. He wrapped his good arm around her waist and touched her, but not her breasts – not yet. He let his hand rest on her belly instead.

“I could help you into one of those tops. Or I could help you out of what you’ve already got on.”

His palm tingled as he imagined cupping the lower swell of her breast. He hadn’t meant to get worked up, but his cock was already hard – he couldn’t look at her like this without it stiffening.

She softened a little more, removing her hand from the edge of the drawer and letting it hang at her side. Her other arm was immobilized in a sling, and bandaged beneath that. He was careful not to bump it as he took her breast in hand, letting the warm weight of it rest against his palm. When he drew his thumb gently across the nipple, she made a breathy sound that sent anticipation rippling through him. “Help me out of these things.”

He did, slowly. With one of his arms in a cast and one of hers in a sling, undressing her was an awkward process despite the fact she’d only been wearing jeans to begin with. Still, it wasn’t tedious. Each inch of her painstakingly-revealed flesh made his heart beat faster.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, standing before her as she sat perched on the edge of the bed, naked. Her jeans and panties lay crumpled on the floor at her feet, reminding him of how sweet it had been to peel them off of her.

They’d gone to Manny’s funeral on her first day out of the hospital, but for the past four days, they’d hardly left the apartment at all. They’d gone out to pick up a few essential groceries, but that was it. Other than that, they’d been alone together, often touching but never daring to do more than sleep when they were in bed together. There had been the burdens of worry and stress, and Ally’s physical wounds. Now, though…

Her arm was hurting her much less than it had at first. She’d told him so an hour ago, at breakfast. There was no reason not to come together, and the need to do so was suddenly overwhelming.

He’d feared for her and fought for her, had watched her bleed and hadn’t known, at the time, if she’d live to see another day. Now that he had her safe and sound, he had to have her. What they were about to do was as necessary as his next breath. “I don’t want to hurt you. So let me know if I’m in danger of it.”

He’d be careful, but thorough. There was no question of half-assing this – the pleasure would be as real as his love for her. He’d make sure of it. Already, anticipation was buzzing beneath the surface of his skin, heightening his senses.

He took off his jeans one-handedly – he’d become pretty good at that, and it didn’t take him long. As soon as he was free, Ally wrapped a hand around his cock, her grip firm as she held his gaze.

“Damn, it’s been forever. That feels so good.” He hadn’t been thinking of sex when he’d been fearing for her life, but the pause in the physically intimate side of their relationship had taken a toll. The feel of her pumping her hand up and down his shaft made every muscle in his body tighten, and only the thought of being inside her kept him from coming then and there.
“Ally—”

He was ready to tell her to stop when she leaned forward, pressing her lips to the head of his dick. The words died on his tongue as he stood frozen, shocked by the hot press of her mouth. It enveloped him completely as she took the tip of his cock inside, guaranteeing his silence with heat and perfect pressure.

She placed her hand on his hip and gripped him there, the weight of her fingertips against his skin echoing the gentle compression she exerted with her tongue. All other thoughts forgotten, he slipped into a haze where touch dominated and his other senses faded into the background.

It was easy to imagine thrusting deeper into her mouth, and hard to resist. He did though, squeezing his eyes shut, as if he could somehow shut out the urge. “Ah, God.” Even if it hadn’t been about a week since they’d last been together, what she was doing would’ve felt unbearably good.

She was moving, creating a rhythm that reminded him of the way she worked her hips when she was on top of him, her pussy tight around his dick. Eyes still closed, he could remember the way she looked when she did that – the way he could see everything when she straddled him, the way her nipples had rubbed against his chest when they’d done it on the couch.

“You have to stop. I can’t take it anymore.”

She listened, thank God. Otherwise, their first time since the shooting would’ve ended immediately. And it was way too important for that. He wanted – needed – to finish inside her.  But first…

Chapter 22

He dropped to his knees and placed a hand on the inside of her knee, pushing gently.

She responded like he’d hoped she would, spreading her thighs apart – far enough that he could get between them, where he could see the moisture shining on her folds and smell the vaguely-sweet musky scent that brought back memories, immediate and crystal-clear, of all the other times they’d fucked. His mouth watered and his cock throbbed as he stared, his fingertips tingling against the soft skin of her inner thigh.

She moved forward, to the very edge of the bed, bringing the intoxicating sight and scent closer.

“Yeah, just like that.” He tightened his grip and leaned forward, exhaling and liking the way she arched in response as his breath hit her skin.

He pressed his mouth against her body, letting the moisture on her folds merge with the moisture on his tongue as he slid it lower, slipping the tip between the lips of her pussy and teasing, stopping on the brink of penetration.

Her body tensed beneath his hand and mouth, muscles pulled taut with energy that radiated hot and promising beneath the surface of her skin. The first touch of his tongue against her clit made her gasp, and things escalated quickly from there. He focused on the swollen bud and soon her hips were bucking against his face, making her sweet skin grind against his open mouth.

Her pleasure crept into him, a bliss transferred by touch, and left his nerves buzzing. Eyes closed, he tasted her and heard the ragged rush of her breath, and that was it – the sound of her breathing was his entire world, for those few moments.

“Stop,” she eventually gasped. “Stop.”

He did, reluctantly, and pulled back with her flavor still on his tongue and satisfaction unfurling deep inside him. Her cheeks were flushed a bright pink – the healthiest color to grace her face since the shooting – and her eyes were sparkling.

He stayed between her spread thighs and rose to a standing position. His cock reached for her, so hard it almost hurt. “Damn, I need to be inside you. How do you want to do this?”

Tipping her head to one side, she let her gaze wander low, across his body. “How about… I could always be on top. That wouldn’t affect my arm.”

“Or I could be on top,” he said, “if I supported myself with one arm.” Either way, it was going to be fucking amazing – he could feel that fact in his blood, which had been heating since he’d undressed her and was now near boiling point.

“I think your cast would make that hard to do. Don’t you think you’d end up putting weight on your arm and straining your wrist?”

“Maybe. I guess you’re right. Let’s go with what you said.” No way was he going to argue against her straddling and riding him. He climbed onto the bed, the mattress sinking beneath his weight as he reclined.

“Don’t make me wait, Ally.” He ran a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs away from his forehead. They were short, but he was so hot that the motion let a little coolness rush against his scalp. “I want you so bad. Seems like it’s been an eternity.”

She stood, eyes fixed on his and gleaming with something – but what? Before he could ask what was on her mind, she turned and went to the dresser, retrieving a condom from a drawer. “I got the results of my tests yesterday,” she said as she approached the bed again. “The ones I requested during my hospital stay.”

His heart skipped a beat as he remembered her saying something about wanting to be tested for STIs while at the hospital. “Yeah?” He’d assumed she’d forgotten, what with the significant distraction of her gunshot wounds, and hadn’t wanted to add to her stress by reminding her.

He should’ve known better.

“We should be fine to stop using condoms after I finish my medications,” she said. “I tested clean, but the antibiotics I’m taking could interfere with my birth control. But after that we can rely on it. I mean, if you still want to.”

“Hell yes I still want to.” He reached out and laid a hand on her hip, squeezing. Thinking of sliding inside her with nothing between them made him temporarily lightheaded. Maybe all his blood really had left his brain.

“Okay.” It was almost a whisper, but her eyes were gleaming and the tip of her tongue showed pink against the rim of her lower lip as she traced it.

“Come here,” he said. “I can wait until then to stop using condoms, but I can’t wait any longer for this.”

She climbed onto the bed and straddled him, settling a knee on either side of his torso, just like he’d imagined. The familiar weight of her on his hips sent a fresh wave of desire through him. So did the sight of her up there, every inch of her exposed in a way no other position quite afforded.

“I wish we didn’t have to worry about the antibiotics,” she said, shifting her gaze to the foil square she cradled in one hand. “Until now I didn’t realize how hard it would be to put on a condom one-handedly.”

“We’ve got two good hands between us.”

He slid his hand down the front of his body and let his fingers curl near the base of his cock.

Meanwhile, she tore the condom package open – a little awkwardly, but still. When she held the condom aloft, he pinched the tip and let her roll the transparent sleeve down his shaft. For some reason, helping her do it fanned the flames that were eating away at his self-restraint. He was able to keep still as she finished, but only because her touch felt so damn good, even if it was just her fingertips sliding against the sides of his dick.

As soon as the condom was on, she sank down, letting the lips of her pussy brush against the head of his cock. He gripped his shaft by the base and held it steady, his breath catching in his throat as she lowered herself further, taking him in.

She was even tighter than he remembered. Her hot flesh yielded to his, stretching, and she gasped. Just hearing that and being inside her made his heart beat faster, and he hadn’t even moved yet. Suddenly dying to rock into her, he caved and flexed his hips.

Her entire body moved when he fucked her from below – it was a fact he never forgot, but the sight was always amazing. Everything from the way her eyebrows knit together in an expression of intensity to the way her breasts bounced and her hips rolled was perfect, all in sync with the way her pussy was pulsing around him, begging him to slide in deeper.

He did, but kept his pace slow and steady. “Not hurting you, am I?” Cradled in its sling, her left arm framed her breasts, a sobering reminder of what she’d been through just a week ago.

She met his gaze and shook her head.

“Good.” Relief washed through him, but he maintained his rhythm anyway. The past week had been so violent, so unpredictable. It felt good to take it easy, but was still intense – the kind of intensity that could only end in them being closer, not farther apart.

Not that he hadn’t felt close to her over the past few days – he had, and still did. Making it through a life-threatening situation together always brought people closer; life had taught him that. But life had also deprived him of the people he’d forged those bonds with before.

Not her. She was still there, on top of him, surrounding him and nearly killing him with the sheer pleasure of still having her, after everything.

He couldn’t fuck it up now, no matter what. The thought floated in the back of his mind, but wasn’t overwhelming. They already had a plan. It would work. He’d make it work, at any cost, to keep her safe, to have a life with her.