Take Me Under (22 page)

“God, Ben. That’s awful. No wonder you got the hell out of there.”

His smile felt more like a grimace. “When I left, I told my partner, Tony, that I didn’t want anything else to do with the department or that fucking case. But he’s been trying to get in touch with me about some new development, and I’ve been ignoring his calls. When this file showed up, I finally called him to find out what he wanted. He said they think a mole in one of the government agencies is feeding info to Houghton’s crew and his legal team.”

“But he’s already in jail. Why does he need a legal team?”

Ben set the folder on his bedside table. “The Feds are still trying to nail his ass for trafficking, but there’s been some damaging information leaks, and they’ve already lost one key witness. Tony’s team has been trying to help finger the mole, but there are so many agencies in on the action, they haven’t been able to pinpoint where the leak is coming from. He wants me to look things over and tell him if I see anything that stands out.”

“It sounds like he really trusts your judgment.”

He couldn’t help but smirk. “Believe it or not, there are some people who think I’m a pretty trustworthy guy.”

“Oh, I can believe it,” she murmured, moving so that she could throw one leg over his waist and straddle his hips, the crotch of her panties snugged up tight against his cock, which was already getting hard. “You’re a pretty heroic one, too,” she added with a smile, resting her hands on his shoulders.

Ben muffled a husky burst of laughter under his breath. “Christ, honey. You know that’s not true.”

“Like hell it isn’t,” she drawled, repeating one of his favorite phrases. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against the bullet scar on his shoulder. As a deep breath lifted his chest, she kissed her way down to the one near his heart, the tender touch of her mouth against his flesh the sweetest fucking thing Ben had ever known.

He’d already buried his fingers in her hair, pulling her face up to his so that he could capture her mouth, when he remembered she was probably too sore for where this was headed. “Damn it, woman. Stop tempting me.”

“I’m fine, Ben.” She brushed her soft lips along the hard edge of his jaw. “But are you comfortable with me sitting like this?” she asked, rubbing against him.

“Comfortable?” he choked out, trying to remember not to squeeze too hard as he clutched her hips. “That’s not exactly the word that comes to mind when I’ve got a hard dick and your beautiful little ass is wriggling on my lap.”

Reese was still laughing as he placed a smiling kiss against her temple. But the soft giggles turned into a gasp when he suddenly rolled her beneath his much larger body. She blinked with surprise as she found herself staring up at him, his stunning face right above hers. The guy had such freaking amazing bone structure, the bump on his nose only adding to his rugged appeal. And that warm, mouthwatering scent that always clung to his skin, seeping from his pores, was filling her head, making her drunk on the lust it inspired.

A small, wicked smile touched the corner of his mouth, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “You’re hell on a man’s system, you know that?”

“What do you mean?”

“When you get turned on, you show it so easily. You get all flushed and warm. Flashing eyes. Fuller, pinker lips. Pulse beating like mad at the base of your throat.” His lashes lowered, the look in his eyes turning molten and hot. “It makes a man want to fuck you, Reese. Long and hard and rough.”

She took an unsteady breath. “That’s, um, not really been my experience.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed. “Like hell it hasn’t. You’ve just never paid attention. You’re good at ignoring things you don’t want anything to do with.”

Flicking her tongue across her lower lip, she said, “I’m not ignoring
you
.”

“Only because I’m not giving you the chance.”

He caught her mouth before she could respond, kissing her hard. When she started to tremble, her breaths quickening, nails digging into the bunched muscles in his arms, he started working his way down her body, rubbing heated kisses across her skin as he stripped her of her tank and panties. Then he settled between her legs and pushed them wide, his beautifully shaped mouth only inches from her sex.

“I love looking at you like this,” he groaned, using his thumbs to separate her thick folds. “Your pink little cunt is already all slippery and swollen, dripping like a ripe peach. You are so fucking beautiful, Reese.” Then he buried his face between her legs, eating at her like he was starved. She shivered, arching, so turned on she felt lit up. On fire. Glowing like a star in the midnight sky, pulsing with energy and heat.

“Ben,” she gasped, her voice breaking. “I need you!”

Lifting his head, he wiped his wet mouth on his shoulder and grinned. “Good, because I need the hell out of you.”

“Then get inside me. I don’t want to wait,” she said, compelled by some overwhelming sense of urgency, as if this was her last chance to hold him inside her. “I mean it. I want you
now
.”

“Not yet.” Lowering his head again, he lapped his tongue over her opening, collecting the moisture, and she could feel him smile. “If we’re doing this, I need to make sure you’re ready. You need to be really wet for what I have in mind.”

“Oh, God,” she cried, fisting her hands in the sheets. “Trust me, I’m ready!”

“You’re getting close,” he murmured, dragging his teeth over the swollen knot of nerves at the top of her sex. Then he gave a voluptuous lick from that hard little knot all the way down to her vulva, his lips moving against her slick, slippery flesh as he said, “But I don’t want you sore tomorrow. Not after everything you’ve been through.”

She gave a throaty laugh. “I’m always sore after a night with you. But I don’t mind. It just reminds me of how good you make me feel.”

He lifted his head again, his eyes heavy and dark, firm lips wet with her juices. “Don’t ever forget it.”

She felt trapped by the intense, visceral force of his stare, unable to look away. Not that she wanted to. “I won’t,” she whispered, knowing she would be happy to keep staring at this man for the rest of her life. Just so long as he never broke her heart. But that thought had no place being in her head right now, and she shoved it away as she said, “I couldn’t ever forget the way you make me feel. I love it too much.”

Ben swallowed and clenched his jaw as he came down over her, the way she’d said that, all breathy and soft, with that dreamy look in her eyes, nearly killing him. She was shocked wide open, all her shields blasted and broken, allowing him to see right into the burning, brilliant, blinding heart of her. And, God, what a view. It undid him in a way that nothing else ever had, his goddamn heart in his throat as he dug his fingers back in her hair and growled, “I want to fuck you in the raw tonight.”

Reese’s pulse raced. “The raw?”

“No rubber,” he said, his eyes blazing. “Just you and me.”

“Oh.” She blinked, her throat quivering. “I’m not on the pill anymore.”

“I know.”

She wanted to ask
how
he knew, but he was already saying, “I’m clean. Healthy. I won’t come in you. I want to, but it’s too risky. I’ll pull out at the end.”

Her mind spun. “That’s still taking a risk.”

“Hell, Reese. I’ve been taking risks since the moment I first touched you. What’s one more?”

Holychrist
. The way he’d just said that was the sexiest freaking thing Reese had ever heard, because she knew he was talking about his emotions. But as incredible as it was to think he might be falling as deeply as she was, she was determined to have some kind of rational discussion about the possible consequences of not using protection. “If I got pregnant, you’d say I was trying to trap you.”

His response, to her surprise, was steady and calm. “If you get pregnant, then it was meant to happen. I won’t put any blame on you.” His voice got softer. “And if it does happen, then we’ll deal with it together.”

For a moment, there was nothing but their rough, soughing breaths, and then she quietly said, “If you’re sure this is what you want, then I don’t want you to hold back this time. I want you to give me every inch.”

The look in his eyes somehow got even hotter, telling her how much he liked that idea. But there was a frown weaving its way between his dark brows as he reached down and shoved his boxers over his hips. “Let’s not push things quite that far tonight, okay? I don’t want to hurt you.” His expression tightened. “Hell, we shouldn’t even be doing this in the first place. You were hit by a fucking car yesterday.”

“And I keep telling you that I’m fine. You won’t hurt me,” she argued, knowing she could do this. That she wanted it.
Needed
it. “I want to know what it’s like to hold all of you inside me. Just . . . just trust me,” she pleaded, rolling her hips so that her slick folds slipped along the brutal length of his cock. He shook with a hard tremor, his expression sharp with things that were too carnal and hungry and desperate for words, and Reese knew that she had him. Reaching between them, she fisted her hand around his thick, ridged shaft, rubbing the heavy head against her entrance . . . and his control snapped so hard he flinched.

“Goddamn it!” he snarled an instant later, fisting his hand in her hair and yanking her head back, his tongue thrusting past her lips as his hips shot forward, shoving that massive cock inside her. She could feel the power building in his hard muscles as he pulled back his hips, then rammed back in, the kiss becoming something that was deliciously wild and explicit. Then he tore his mouth away with a hoarse curse and went onto his knees, pushing her legs out high at her sides, opening her right up for him. She could feel her sex pulsing as he worked himself in deeper . . . then deeper still, until she was taking as much of him as she had all the other times they’d made love.

“You’re so fucking tight and wet,” he growled, his voice slurred with the pleasure of feeling her skin-on-skin, without the barrier of latex. “Never felt anything this good in my life.”

“I love it,” she gasped, placing her hand against the center of his chest, his heartbeat thundering against her palm. “But I meant what I said. I want it all, Ben. Don’t hold back on me.”

“Christ, Reese.” He flicked her a dark, worried look, and ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth. “You’re gonna be the fucking death of me.”

“Just do it!”

They both looked down. Her fingers dug into his bulging biceps, the breathless cry of excitement on her lips nearly drowned out by his harsh, serrated growl as he stiffened, then drove those last brutal inches inside her. Her breath caught, but he didn’t stop, pushing inexorably deeper until there wasn’t a fraction of space left between them, her snug entrance stretched to its limit, pressed up tight against his groin.

“Jesus, just look at that.” He groaned deep in his chest as he ground against her, his dark shaft gleaming with her juices when he slowly started to withdraw. “You okay?”

“I’m great,” she breathed out, mesmerized by the rippling of his tight abs as he shoved back inside. She was melting into hot liquid, his rhythm gradually gaining in speed, until his hips were slamming against hers again and again, and it felt like he was hammering into the very heart of her.

“It doesn’t hurt?” he grunted, his dark eyes still shadowed with concern as he lifted his gaze.

Reese shook her head. “It’ll take some getting used to, but I love how it feels. How full I am of you.”

He made a low, rough sound, and came down over her again, wrapping his long fingers around her wrists and pulling them over her head, holding them there. Trapping them. Then he set about dismantling her reason, pumping his fever-hot body inside hers with devastating skill while his hot mouth moved to the sensitive tips of her breasts, each hungry, suckling pull mirrored by the clenching of her sheath.

Reese had no idea how much time passed, her thoughts in a sensual haze as he pounded into her, using his magnificent cock to make her scream and writhe and beg for more. They could probably be heard all the way down on the beach, but she didn’t give a damn. All that mattered was this hard, piercing pleasure as he drove inside her, hurtling her into a shocking, explosive orgasm that burned its way through every part of her. With a low growl on his lips, he fucked her through the surreal waves of pleasure, his body moving faster . . . harder, until he finally gritted his teeth and jerked out of her. Fisting his cock in a brutal grip, he gave a guttural shout as he pumped hot, heavy streams of cum out over her stomach. Reese watched with wide, stunned eyes, completely fascinated by the beauty of such a raw, masculine act. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen, primal and violent and achingly intimate. His body shuddered as he braced himself on one arm, and she could feel the blistering heat of his gaze on her belly as he watched his cum slip across her skin, dripping into the dark curls on her mound.

His corded throat worked as he swallowed. “That’s so fucking sexy.”

“You’re such a guy,” she said with a soft snort.

“Damn straight,” he grunted.

She grinned, too exhausted to move as she watched him hike up his boxers and climb off the bed. He stood there at the edge of the mattress for a moment, his hot gaze seeming to drink in the sight of her, before he finally turned and headed into the bathroom. She heard the water running, and then he came back into the room, his boxers gone, a gray washcloth gripped in his hand. Kneeling on the bed, he used the cloth to clean her belly, then lower. “I could have done that,” she said drowsily.

“I know,” he grated. “But I wanted to do it for you.”

“Then in that case, I’ll just say thank you for taking such good care of me.”

His head jerked up, his mouth a hard, flat line. “You call fucking you to within an inch of your life taking good care of you?”

Hoping to ease some of his tension, Reese gave him a warm, happy look from under her lashes. “Well, there’s good and then there’s
good
,
Sheriff Hudson.”

His chest shook with a gritty, breathless laugh as he tossed the cloth aside, then stretched out beside her. She started to roll toward him, but he was already yanking her into his arms, holding her tight, his face buried in the curve of her throat. “I just want to protect you,” he said in a low voice. “Take care of you. Make you come and laugh and smile. I can’t get enough of it.”