The Hurricane (26 page)

“This isn’t hurting you, then?” I asked as he moved between my legs to kiss the skin that he’d just been stroking.

“I’m good,” he replied. He’d slowly been edging my top upwards, and he was so talented with his lips that I barely paused when he pulled it over my head to drop it on the floor. When he gently held my breast in his rough, calloused hand and sucked the turgid peak of my nipple into his mouth, I couldn’t help arching off the bed and deeper into his touch.

“O’Connell,” I moaned, as spasms of white-hot lust shot right to my core. My skin was on fire, and I want so badly to climb out of it and into his. He repeated the action with my other breast, and when he gently blew over my hard nipples, I was so close to coming that I cried out.

“Not yet, baby.” He grinned, with that cocky smile that I loved so much. “You’re gonna have to beg before I let you come.” With both hands, he pulled my pyjama bottoms down my legs achingly slowly, until I was left in simple white underwear. He kissed the tiny daisy at the top of my panties, still grinning.

“These are so you.” He smiled.

“Plain and boring?” I replied, slightly hurt.

“Pure and sweet. It’s fucking sexy,” he answered. “It makes me want to corrupt you.”

“I’m not so pure,” I whispered turning my head away from his gaze, more than a little ashamed. He cupped my face to look up at him.

“You are pure and innocent. I don’t care what that sick fuck said or did. To me, you’ll always be this way, and everything that happens between us is fucking beautiful. So don’t let him make you think any different.”

I nodded in agreement, knowing that he was right, but I wasn’t sure that I’d ever see myself the way he saw me. It was hard to dwell on my worries, as he resumed the path of his lips down my body. When he got to my panties, he peeled them down my legs as he kissed me lower and the tingling only became more intense. I couldn’t take any more. I couldn’t remember any of my anxieties, I couldn’t remember why I had any self-doubt, and I was having a bit of trouble remembering my own name. All I could think about was this god between my legs, and how at any minute now, he’d make me see stars.

“Are you ready, baby?” He grinned.

I nodded my head, completely incapable of speech, as he pinched my clit between his lips and sucked. My back was taut as a bow, and I gripped the sheets so tightly I felt like either they were going to rip, or something inside me would. I didn’t think I could last one more second when he licked me gently, and tremors ripped through my body. Whenever I thought of sex before, I imagined pain and embarrassment. Never in a million years could I have believed such intimacy to be so heart achingly wonderful. As consciousness crept back in tiny increments, my body was weightless, like I was immersed in water. O’Connell collapsed onto his back next to me.

“Watching you come was the most fucking beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“Mmmm...” I mumbled back, still unable even to open my eyes.

Flipping over onto his stomach, with a speed that belied the fact that he’d not long fought five hard rounds, he told me, “I’m gonna have to make you come again, sunshine. I forgot to make you beg.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” I whispered. “If you do that again, you’re going to snap my spine in half.”

“I seem to remember you telling me once that you could bend like a pretzel.”

“I was blind drunk. You should never listen to anything a girl says when she’s blind drunk.”

He chuckled as he kissed me long and hard. It was so intense, so amazing, that I honestly believed that he would have made good on his word if I hadn’t decided to repeat the favour. Running my fingers down the washboard abs that I’d admired for so long, I didn’t stop when I reached his jeans and brushed my hand gently across the rock hard denim.

“Fuck, baby, I’ve got to stop,” he muttered harshly¸ resting his forehead against mine.

“Why?” I ask timidly, worried that I was doing something wrong.

“Sunshine. I’m hanging on by a thread here. If you touch me like that again I’m gonna come in my jeans like some horny fifteen-year-old.”

I loved that I had the same power over his body that he had over mine. I didn’t feel ashamed of what he’d made me feel. I felt beautiful and loved and so completely satisfied that I wanted to share that feeling with him. So I offered him something that I’d never offered anyone before.

“O’Connell,” I whispered, and he looked up into my eyes. “I don’t want you to stop.”

His gaze softened as he comprehended my meaning. “Baby, it’s too soon. I don’t want to push you into something that you’re going to regret tomorrow. I don’t think I could handle that.”

Once upon a time, I would have taken his rejection as a valuation of my self-worth, but I was stronger than that now. This man could have taken whatever he wanted without my consent, or even with it, knowing that I wasn’t truly ready. But he didn’t want my body if it didn’t come with my heart. This giant among giants had never used his strength to intimidate me. His power lay in making me fall in love with him, and to do that, he’d laid himself at my feet, offering all that he had and all of himself without asking for anything in return except my heart.

“It’s not too soon. It’s exactly the right time. I love you, and you love me.”

O’Connell really looked pained.

“Baby, you’re ruining this for me. I had it all planned out. There was supposed to be expensive wine and a really nice dinner, followed by a night in a posh hotel room...”

He lost his chain of thought as I nibbled on his neck and resumed stroking his abs, which had quickly become my favourite pastime.

“I’m never drinking again,” I reminded him.

“I would have worn a really nice suit and taken you on a great date...” He carried on as I distracted him, until I finally left him speechless.

“It’s okay if you have performance anxiety, you know,” I joked.

He flipped me over and started tickling me as I erupted with laughter.

“I’ll give you fucking performance anxiety,” he said, then grabbing my hands he threaded his fingers between mine and held them above my head.

“Are you sure?” he asked seriously. “I wanted this to be special.”

“It is special,” I reassured him. “It will always be special.”

He nodded as though I’d convinced him and released my hands. Stripping at the speed of light, he rescued a condom from his wallet as he chucked his clothes over the side of the bed. Slipping it on quickly, it was clear that he’d practised this many times before. I could feel my self-confidence wavering again, until he stopped and stared at me, like he was trying to memorise every inch of my face. Leaning forward gently, he kissed me like it was the last time he’d ever see me. That was what this felt like. When you loved someone, every kiss was your first kiss and your last, and I hoped to be giving my last kisses to O’Connell forever. His clever calloused hands cupped my calf then purposely slid their way up my leg. His plump pink lips, swollen with our kisses, captured my bottom lip between them and nipped gently as he cupped my arse and rubbed me against him. All traces of languidness were gone, and as if my body was his to command, I was on fire again. We devoured each other with our kisses, and I knew that I’d never be the same after this. He knew exactly what he was doing when he reached around to stroke me tenderly. Slipping a finger inside me, he moved slowly in and out, timing each thrust with a gentle rub of his thumb.

“O’Connell, I can’t,” I panted. “It’s too much.”

“Shall I stop then?” he chuckled.

“No! More please.”

“Ah, now there’s the begging that I was looking for.”

I was too turned on to be pissed at him for gloating. He moved his fingers away to settle the tip of his cock against me, and I inhaled sharply. Sliding his fingers through mine, he held our hands above my head and looked deeply into my eyes.

“Are you sure, baby? It’s not too late to stop,” he reassured, gently.

I loved him even more for asking me even though I was pretty sure that his balls would explode if I stopped now. I kissed his bruised lips gently in answer to his question and tilted my pelvis to slide the tip of him into me. Groaning, he closed his eyes as the ecstasy of the moment hit him. He slid home slowly, letting me get used to his size. He was so huge that it was uncomfortable at first, but a few thrusts later, he was hitting every right spot that I’d ever read about. He looked so much like he was in pain that I whispered, “You okay?”

He chuckled nervously. “You’re so tight, baby. I don’t think I’m going to last.”

As my pleasure built, he moved faster inside me. When he let go of my hands, I ran them over his muscled back, relishing in the fact that someone so strong and fierce could be so gentle with me. Every movement intensified the sensations between us, and I felt like I was climbing some invisible wall without being able to see the top. His tender touch skimmed my hip then he reached between us to stroke me. Right at that moment, he sucked gently on the lobe of my ear and whispered, “I fucking love you, baby.”

His words lifted me over the wall, and I came hard, seeing bright and brilliant stars all around me. With a hoarse shout, O’Connell came straight after, my orgasm tipping him over the edge. Covered with a thin sheen of sweat, he was shaking hard as he looked deeply into my eyes.

“I never knew it could be like that,” he admitted. “I’ve never made love before. Now I know the difference.”

He laid his head down on my chest and fell asleep to the beating of my heart as I ran my fingers softly through his hair. His breathing, deep and even in the empty room, gave me more peace than I’d ever known.

THE HOUSE WAS EERILY QUIET as I let myself in from school. Mum was always home. She never left the house. Frank wasn’t due back for another couple of hours so I could breathe easily until then. In that precious time between my finishing school and his getting home from work, I showered and washed my hair. I always did anything that necessitated taking my clothes off when he was away. If I could have gotten away with only showering at the swimming pool, I would have. It wouldn’t be for long now. Acceptance letters to different universities had started arriving at Mrs. Wallis’ house and by September, I would have figured it out. Mum and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to remember the last time we’d had an actual conversation. Not since Dad died had she made any effort to engage with me. If it weren’t for the fact that she plated a meal for me every night and washed my clothes, I would have sworn she thought that I’d died with him. Maybe it would have been better if I had. Still, she was my mum and indifference was better than abuse so I wasn’t leaving her behind. When the time came, Frank would come home from work to find that we’d disappeared. I’d take Mum with me to the furthest university that I’d been accepted to, get a student flat, and hide her away with me until I graduated. Maybe I could even convince her to get a part-time job to help with the bills. It would do her good to mix with people again. I dropped my messenger bag by the front door and kicked off my shoes as I wandered into the kitchen to get a drink. I didn’t even bother looking for Mum. She’d be around here somewhere. I looked out of the patio doors into the garden, and the shock of seeing the rage-filled reflection in the window was enough to make me drop the glass, before I felt the burning pain from being yanked backwards. The glass of juice shattered spectacularly against the tile of the kitchen floor, but that was the least of my worries. Frank had bent my arm back at an unnatural angle and was frog marching me to my room. When we got there, he threw me roughly to the floor and slapped me hard across the face on the way down for good measure. I cried out at the slap but held back the tears; they only spurred him on. He relished in my pain. He stood over me, madder than I’ve ever seen him, just staring. I kept my head bent, just praying that my beating would be over quickly. Eventually, he leaned over and slapped me again as he turned away. Frank liked to slap. It was humiliating and demeaning. Personally, I think that he just liked the satisfying sound it made when his palm cracked against my skin. It seemed too good to be true that this was all the punishment that he had to give out today. He stalked over to my bed and grabbed a piece of paper.