Chapter Eight
“So what happened the other night? You used your super powers—”
Hal groaned. “Please don’t call it that.” He cut her off with a slightly disgusted, uncomfortable smile. “I’m not a comic book super hero.”
She patted his chest, resting one hand over his heart.
“You’re super, at any rate, but you’re distracting me. Why did you get so sick all of a sudden?”
He sighed and lay back, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. It’s happened a few times. It seems to be getting less severe.”
“That was less severe? What happened before—cardiac arrest?” She was being facetious. When he didn’t laugh with her, she stilled.
“Not quite, but close. Rick seems to think that my body is playing catch up with the new strength. The first time I used it for real, in a sustained way, like what happened the other night, I passed out and Rick had to revive me. Each time since then, it’s been a little better.”
“Oh, Hal.”
“Ssh, honey.” He soothed her, stroking her hair and kissing her face softly. “Don’t worry. I told you. Rick thinks I’m just getting used to the changes. That’s all. We’re all experiencing some problems. That’s why they put us out on that island with a team of medical specialists. The Army’s just as baffled by what’s happening to us as we are, but they’re not cutting us loose. They’re taking care of us.”
“Damn right they should.” He loved that indignant tone in her voice on his behalf. “But, Hal, it sounds dangerous. Are they sure you’re okay?”
“They’re watching us. All those experts agree. It’s getting better, not worse, so that’s something. And I’m still alive, right?” He chuckled, and she thumped him on the chest.
“Don’t joke, Hal.”
“Hey.” He rolled her under him, crowding her, caging her beloved face in his arms with gentle insistence. “I love it that you’re concerned for my well-being. I’m okay, Cas. Really. I wouldn’t take a chance getting involved with you if I thought I didn’t have long to live. I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
To his great surprise, there were tears in her eyes and her hands moved upward to caress his cheeks.
“Even a day with you would be worth a lifetime of heartache.” She craned her neck up to place a desperate kiss on his lips.
“I won’t break your heart,” he said with great seriousness when she finally let him go. “But you might just break mine with talk like that.” He rolled again until she was on top of him, cradled in his arms like a beloved child. “You are so special to me, Cas. You always have been.”
“Ditto.” Her voice was drowsy, and her lips placed little kisses on the skin over his heart.
They lay quietly, basking in the glow of their new level of intimacy, each lost in their own thoughts. After a while she started feeling the stirrings of him against her thigh and her insides squirmed in answer. She wanted him again.
She’d never been this wanton in her life, and she loved every minute of it. Loved every inch of him.
He surprised her by flipping her over so that he straddled her legs from behind, sitting on his haunches over her. His big hands swept over her back with a gentle thoroughness that made her breath catch.
“What are you doing?”
“Ever had a full body massage, Cas?”
She tried to shake her head, but she was trapped by pillows, her neck twisted to the side. He moved his magic fingers over her skin, and she wouldn’t change positions for the world if he just kept doing that.
“No, but by all means, feel free.”
He chuckled, continuing the sensual torture, stroking hard then soft over her muscles.
“I’m going to bring you a whole lot of new experiences, Cas.” He caressed the cheeks of her butt, lingering extra long on the crease between her thighs and ass. She caught her breath when he traced one finger around the puckered rosette between her cheeks. “For example, I can bet you’ve never taken a man back here.” She sucked in a deep breath, and her abdomen clenched. She could feel her face heat with a mix of shock and embarrassment as he chuckled once more. “I can tell I’m right. Aren’t I?”
“Yes, but —” Her voice was breathless.
“Yeah,” he purred, “but… I love your butt, Cas, and it’s going to be mine. Totally. Completely. Just like the rest of you. Don’t worry. You’ll love it. I promise.”
His finger swept into her channel, picking up the moisture pooling there at his hot massage, then moved back up to tease her back entrance. She squirmed, unsure when he pressed firmly, moving inside.
It felt odd. Not bad. In fact, it felt strangely good. She never would have thought such a thing could feel like that.
“Hal…”
He made a growling sound, blanketing her with his big body.
“Mmm, you like that, do you?”
She caught her breath when two fingers from his other hand slid into her pussy, heightening the fit and the outrageous feeling. When his fingers sank all the way in, she came hard, nearly bucking him off her.
He chuckled behind her, taking a moment while she recovered to go into the adjoining bathroom. When he came out, she was resting comfortably, her face pressed against the pillow. She may have even dozed a little. He scooped her into his strong arms and settled her over his hard body.
“No sleeping yet, sweetheart. I have plans.”
“Hal?”
“Yes, love?” He nipped her shoulder, working his lips down over her breast to suck hard, making her squirm.
“Were you always this, um, potent? Or is this something new since your visit to Babylon?”
He sat up, apparently not expecting the question. She watched his troubled expression. He ran one hand through his hair and frowned.
“I don’t know if it’s that or if it’s just you, Cas. I’ve never wanted another woman like I want you. I could love you all night and still want more.”
She took his face in her hands. “That’s the most beautiful thing any man has ever said to me.” She leaned in close to kiss him softly, edging into passion and wriggled closer into his arms. When she pulled back, her eyes teased him. “I think for that, you deserve a reward.”
His eyes narrowed, but he was grinning. So far so good.
“What sort of reward are we talking about?”
“Oh, I think you’ll like this reward. I know I will.” She licked her lips and moved downward on the bed. Dipping slightly, she teased his cock, brushing her nipples against his rigid length. He stifled a groan.
“You’re killing me, Cas.”
“I haven’t even started yet.”
This time, he did groan when she lowered her chest against his throbbing dick. She used her hands to squeeze her breasts around him, stroking him within the generous globes for a long, sensuous moment. She liked that she could turn him on so completely, so easily.
“Cas!” He reached for her, but she scooted back.
“So impatient.” She shook her head teasingly, moving forward again, stalking him on her hands and knees. He sat tensely and watched her approach. He’d let her play, the message was clear in his eyes, but ultimately he was in charge. That was fine with her. She just wanted to give him a taste of the pleasure he’d given her. She wanted to do this for him—and to him.
She teased him a bit more with her nipples and her hair before finally taking him within her mouth. She liked the taste of him right away, though she’d never really enjoyed such a thing before. Then again, she’d never been with the right man before. Hal had been her dream, her ideal, for so many years.
She’d made love to a few men, been talked into going down on less, but it had never felt this right, this perfect. What she had with Hal was so far out of the realm of her meager experience, it was almost sad. Except for the fact that she seemed to be blowing his mind, too, she’d feel very inept.
Hal couldn’t believe the things she was doing to him with her tongue. Who knew Casey would turn out to have such a devilish side? If he’d known how hot she would be for him he didn’t know if he could have held out this long. It was a moot point anyway. Now he was where he’d dreamed of being too many times to count. The reality was a hundred times better than any of his fantasies had ever been, and he wanted to freeze this moment in time, to remember it always. She applied suction, and his blood pressure went even higher.
“Casey.” His growling warning seemed to fire her to further exploits. She sucked harder, rubbing the lower part of his shaft with her soft, strong hands.
“Cas, honey, I’m gonna blow.”
She redoubled her efforts, and he couldn’t control his response any longer. Take it or leave it, he couldn’t control the jets of come. She didn’t seem to mind. No, his little Casey was licking it all up, smiling as she watched him shatter, focusing on his erupting cock as if it were an ice cream cone that she had to lick.
And lick and lick.
He fisted his hands in her hair, loving the way she took him, accepted him.
“Cas.”
He could just barely manage to whisper her name. She cleaned him with her tongue like a cat. Damn him if he wasn’t getting hard again, just watching her tend to him. It should be impossible, but he was fast learning that just about anything was possible where his Casey was concerned.
“You taste divine.” Her whispered words drove him higher, and he used his hands to move her up the bed, taking her mouth with a savage desperation. His cock became rock hard again in a matter of seconds.
He could taste his own come in her mouth, along with her own sweet liquor. It made him hotter than he could ever remember being, and he’d thought nothing could surpass what he’d just felt.
He had to have her, hard and fast. Later he would have time for finesse. Right now the growing hunger in him demanded satisfaction.
He rolled, pinning her beneath him on the big bed and entering in one swift move that left her gasping. He spared a moment to make sure he hadn’t hurt her. She was with him as he pounded into her pussy, hard, fast and nearly out of control. Everything in him drove him to claim this woman, claim her body, her mind and her soul. She was his, dammit. She was made for him, the only woman who would give him this satisfaction, this freedom, and he would give her the world in return.
He knew in that moment that there was no going back. For as long as she would have him, he would be her willing slave. They were tied together and nothing could tear them apart, unless she wanted her freedom. It would rend him in two, but if she didn’t want him, he would go. He would leave her be, though he would never fully leave her alone. He couldn’t. She was his. He would watch over her for the rest of their lives and beyond. It was a basic need inside him, as basic as the need to push her over the edge into a screaming orgasm when he came inside her.
They tumbled hard and fast into the most explosive climax yet, and both were breathing hard when they finally came back to themselves. He was still lodged deep within her, his weight heavy on her smaller body, pressing her down into the soft mattress. He made a move to lift off her, but her legs wrapped around his hips, holding him close.
“Cas, I’m too heavy.”
She licked his chest, making him jump just a little. “You’re perfect. Don’t move a muscle.”
“I’ve got to be crushing you, Cas. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me so good,” she mumbled, licking the salty sweat from his chest with a contented purr that set his senses reeling.
He gave up. He could deny her nothing, though he kept a bit of his weight braced on his forearms above her. Without his conscious volition, his hips surged lightly in and out of the cradle of hers, basking in the echo of the climax they’d just reached together.
“Are you okay, Cas?”
“Mmm, never better. You?”
He smiled, and her gaze swept up to meet his. She was grinning like the cat who ate the canary. Only she’d just eaten him and then he’d fucked her brains out, apparently.
Although his smile was probably just as goofy. He leaned in to kiss her.
“I think I’ll stay right here all day, if you don’t mind.” He pushed his semi-erect dick into her softness to emphasize his point.
“I don’t mind. Matter of fact, you can stay all weekend. I don’t have to be at work until Monday.”
It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. “Then consider me here.” He swooped to lay biting kisses along her neck, down to her collarbone and then lower. Unbelievably, he was getting hard again, and he wasn’t moving his dick from its preferred home any time soon. This time, maybe he’d have a little control and he could give her the slow, tender loving he’d been dreaming of. Maybe. He hoped.