The Promise of Surrender (6 page)

His cheeks flushed as his own temper rose and satisfaction crept comfortably through her.

“What makes you think that I’m not completely happy in my life as it is right now?” she asked. “Or that you’d assume I’m not involved with someone who does know the meaning of the word compromise.”

“That’s fucking bullshit, Mia,” he said, scraping back his chair as he stood. “You gave me an ultimatum. And when I didn’t cave like a whipped puppy you walked away like a spoiled brat.”

“The only thing I ever asked of you was for you to love me enough. To put us first before the job for once. It was about priorities. You think I wanted to see you executed like I saw The Vaqueros do to Rachel?”

The Vaqueros were an outlaw motorcycle gang that spread from Montana and North Dakota up into parts of Canada. They ran drugs and guns and they were very good at what they did. They were one of the most violent gangs in the country.

“To stare into your eyes and see the knowledge that you were going to die just before they pulled the trigger?” she yelled. “You know as well as I do that if we hadn’t busted them and caught the dirty cop giving away our identities and locations that you would be dead. Because they already had you in their sights.”

“But we did catch them and we did bring them down. At least that cell. And you gave away your own identity by taking a bullet for me. Which still pisses me off.”

“Because I blew my cover or because I loved you enough to try and protect you?”

“Because you almost fucking died, Mia.”

“Everything that happened in that warehouse that day was a sign telling us it was time to get out. Your cover was blown, my cover was blown, and we lost three good cops. But what the hell do you do?” She was yelling and she didn’t care. “You made sure yours was the first face I saw when I woke up. I was finally able to fight my way through the pain meds, and it felt like cinder blocks were sitting on top of my chest. Every breath felt like knives were stabbing me.

“And the first thing out of your mouth is that you’ve created a new identity and regrouped the task force to go after another Vaquero cell in a different territory. You were pissed you were going to have to lay low for a while and reestablish a new cover.

“Not once did you ever mention our relationship or that you loved me or even the fact that you were glad I was alive. All you could talk about was getting back to the job. And all I wanted was to get as far away from undercover work as I could.”

She held the beer bottle to her cheek. The cool glass felt good against her heated skin. “Rachel was dead, and I felt like I should’ve been. Do you know how much therapy and how many years of nightmares I went through before I stopped seeing her die in my head? I needed out. That was the last straw. I couldn’t function and I couldn’t be a good cop. What I needed was you.”

“Six weeks, Mia. Six weeks was how long it took for you to open your eyes and look at me. I was there every goddamned day and night with you. I lived and breathed you. For six weeks I’d had time to process and reassess and make decisions. I’d already said the things you wanted to hear. I begged and pleaded with you to wake up. Said prayers I hadn’t remembered I’d known that you’d survive. I told you every chance I got that I loved you. But you didn’t hear because your stubborn ass jumped in front of a bullet.”

“And I would do it again. That bullet would’ve killed you. I needed you,” she said again.

“And I needed to get back out there and wreak vengeance on the ones we didn’t get for putting you in that hospital bed. What I needed was for you to understand.”

She sighed, defeated. “There’s no point in this, Zeke. The past is the past, and maybe we were just never meant to be. It was incredible while it lasted. But you and I both know cops don’t make good life partners.”

Mia tossed her beer bottle in the trash and moved to clear the dishes.

“I think that’s bullshit. We know plenty of cops that have been able to make it work. But maybe we were both too selfish to realize what we had and how hard we had to fight for it. Maybe you’re standing there now, scared to death, because you realize you didn’t move on like you wanted to. Because you still love me.”

Chapter Four

“You’re out of your mind,” she said, the words rushing out.

Zeke knew he was pushing. And he didn’t care. He moved closer, boxing her in until her back pressed against the refrigerator.

“I don’t think so, baby. And it’s time for both of us to stop running and face the facts. We both failed each other.”

The last seven years had haunted him. The mistakes they’d both made. The angry words and demands. And when it came down to it, the biggest issue was that they were both too stubborn and had too much pride. When she’d told him she was done with undercover work and that she wanted them both to move to a different area of law enforcement since it had become too dangerous, his ego had immediately reared its head.

Somewhere deep down he knew she’d been right. That getting back in the game was something he might not come out the winner of. And that was the thing—he’d wanted to win at everything—the argument, the job—and his own stubbornness had made them both losers.

The realization of what they both had to gain just by giving in a little made the tension creep from his shoulders. His body was still on high alert—how could it not be with her standing there looking flushed and angry and fuckable?

Her face was scrubbed clean, but she had a natural beauty that had no need of makeup. Her hair was pinned up in a messy knot and strands had come loose so it framed her face. The clothes she’d put on weren’t meant to entice. Just lounge pants and a long-sleeve T-shirt, but he could see how hard her nipples were beneath the cloth and he wanted nothing more than to peel her out of the layers and rediscover her body.

“You always did have an oversized ego,” she sneered.

The corner of his mouth curled up in a smile. “That’s not the only thing that’s oversized right now. Have I mentioned how much I love a good argument with you? How wet are you, Mia? Should I take you fast and hard so we can work out the frustration, or keep you on that edge and make you beg for it?”

Her eyes dilated and her lips parted as arousal flushed her cheeks. His head dipped down and his lips hovered just above hers, giving her the chance to protest. But her dark eyes widened and stayed steady on his, and then her hands came up and rested on his chest. He thought at first she was going to push him away, but then her fingers trailed down—slowly, slowly—until they rested just above the button of his jeans.

Bombs exploded in his head and fire rushed through his nervous system. Her touch could take him places he’d never been before, and he couldn’t remember ever wanting anything as badly as he wanted Mia in that moment.

His arms circled her waist and his lips moved over hers, their tongues clashing and colliding in a familiar dance. A moan escaped her throat, and her fingers jerked at the button of his jeans. He grabbed her hands.

“Too fast, baby. I’ll never make it if you touch me right now.”

She tasted of beer and woman, and he drank her in like a man who’d found an oasis after being lost in the desert. He pulled her closer. He wanted to consume her, surround her, until his body was part of hers. She went to his head like a drug, and a barely leashed hunger raged inside him.

“Zeke, please. Enough waiting.” Her head fell back as his teeth nipped at her neck. “I can’t take it anymore.”

“Oh, you’re going to take it, baby,” he whispered. “Over and over again.”

His hands moved over her, memorizing the shape of her. From her full breasts, down to her waist, and then farther down to the flare of her hips.
His.
The claiming was unmistakable.

He untied the drawstring at her waist and let the lounge pants fall to the floor. And then his hands roamed around to her ass.

“Jesus, Mia,” he groaned, feeling bare skin where he’d been expecting the lace of her panties to be. He lifted her, the hard length of his cock notching against her clit. He could feel her heat, even through the denim that separated them.

Her nails bit into his shoulders and she cried out as he pressed against her. He slid a finger down her backside, over the tight bud of her anus to the creamy folds of her pussy. And then he slid a finger inside and felt her unravel in his arms.

* * * *

Every nerve in her body was screaming for more—for him to fill her completely. But even that small touch was enough to give her some relief from the glorious pleasure that had been building inside her all day. It had been too long since she’d felt Zeke hot and hard against her.

She’d always been a sexual creature, needing release like some needed food. But she’d long since grown tired of the toys she kept in her nightstand drawer or her own fingers. There was nothing quite like the feel of a hard body pressing you into a mattress. 

Heat infused her and a startled cry escaped from her lips as a small orgasm ripped through her body. Her clit was swollen and rubbed against him, and she moved her hips, hoping to draw it out. But the quick release trailed off before it had barely begun and left her wanting more.

“God, Zeke. More. I’m going to go crazy if I don’t have all of you.”

Her hands grasped at his shirt, pulling at it until it was over his head and tossed on the floor. She wanted to feel him flesh to flesh—the hard contour of muscles beneath her fingers. He was always so fun to touch—to look at. The shadows cast his face in a savage light, the dark scruff of his beard a contrast to his chiseled cheekbones and square jaw. He was, quite simply, beautiful.

His hands tightened on her ass and her legs wrapped like a vise around him, looking for another quick thrill before they got down to serious business. No one could command her body like he could—a maestro of touch, building crescendo after crescendo until she screamed at the pinnacle of pleasure.

He moved quickly toward the bedroom and jerked back her comforter, laying her down on the cool white sheets. He discarded her shirt and looked his fill. His finger touched the scar just above her breast and his face darkened. If that scar was just a hair to the left she wouldn’t be here. And she realized it was the first time he’d seen her naked since she’d gotten it.

She felt exposed, even though he’d seen her laid out before him a thousand times before, but that thought quickly passed as his eyes darkened with desire and his breathing grew heavy. His finger trailed from the scar down to the rosy tip of her breast and she felt powerless beneath his touch. And then she remembered that she wasn’t without her own brand of power.

“Mmm, you’re bigger than I remember,” she said, eyeing his broad chest with appreciation.

“Working out becomes an obsession when you don’t have a personal life.”

Her hands skimmed up her stomach slowly and his eyes followed, until she was cupping her breasts. They were full and heavy and ached with the need for his mouth. She tweaked her nipples between her thumb and forefinger and moaned as frissons of pleasure went straight to her clit.

“Christ, Mia. You’ll make me come before I can get inside of you.”

“Better hurry and get inside of me then,” she dared.

“Witch.” He loomed over her, the muscles in his arms bulging as he supported himself. And then he lowered his head and his tongue flicked a rigid nipple before taking it in his mouth completely. Her back arched as she pressed against him, her hands holding the back of his head so he’d never leave her.

He blew a cool stream of air across her nipple and she shivered in response. “I once could make you come just by touching you here,” he said. “They’re so sensitive. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I’d rather feel you inside me,” she panted as his teeth clamped down on a nipple. The sizzle rippled through her nervous system, and her clit throbbed with the pounding beat of her heart. She shivered and convulsed as he bit a little harder, just so there was a slight edge of pain, and then he suckled her, massaging her other breast at the same time. The suckling grew more intense, until she could feel each tug between her thighs. And then stars exploded behind her closed eyelids and she was crying out as wave after wave of pleasure consumed her.

She felt the bed shift and his weight lift as he discarded his jeans, but she was too relaxed to open her eyes and watch. She could’ve curled up like a cat and gone to sleep.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Zeke said.

She could hear the smile in his voice and her eyelids fluttered half open as he crawled back on the bed. And then her eyes widened and she cried out as he slid inside of her straight to the hilt. Her breath caught in her throat and her hips arched against him. She was wet, but the tissue inside her vagina was swollen from the small orgasms she’d had and his fit was more than snug.

It was like coming home after a long journey. Foreign and familiar all at once. The feel of his skin against hers, the way his chest hair abraded her nipples. She couldn’t deny it. He’d always held her heart.

“God, Zeke. Love me.”

She regretted the words instantly, and then had the hopes that maybe he hadn’t heard her after all. His chest rumbled and an animalistic growl escaped from his throat. His dick went impossibly hard and grew in size as he came closer and closer to his own orgasm. He continued to pummel inside her relentlessly and she held on, her mouth open in a silent scream as the head of his cock touched somewhere deep inside of her—to a place that made the world go dark and explosions detonate from her womb and spread through her limbs until the muscles went rigid and the beginnings of an intense pleasure spiraled from the inside out.

She wasn’t sure she could survive it, and knew he’d branded her like he never had before. Sensations built inside her until a deep, pulsing starburst of pleasure erupted through her core, coursing through her body. Her muscles spasmed, her limbs stiffened, and she cried out his name as he called out hers. Hot jets of his semen filled her and she tightened around him, wanting to take him all.

And then there was nothing but darkness as sleep consumed her.