Chapter Ten

Moon

There was nothing like a long Pilates session to burn off some excess energy, especially when much of it was sexual and had to do with a man who was all kinds of wrong for me. Apparently that was my specialty and even though I was hot and sweaty and tired, I was not by any means, calm or relaxed.

I was still strung as tight as bow. Maybe a smoothie would help. It probably wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop me from pulling out all the fruit in my fridge in search of the perfect combination to soothe what ailed me. As soon as I figured out what that was. For now, a regular fruit smoothie would have to do the trick.

The sound of the doorbell startled me. It was early afternoon and Beau was in school. Everyone else I knew was at work or at home with their families. Given the events of last week, I made my way to the door slowly and looked out the window rather than the peephole. It was Cross. I pulled opened the door and gasped.

“What on earth happened to you?” I looked behind him to make sure he wasn’t being chased and tugged him inside. Sweat matted his thick, brown hair to his skin and one eye had started to close around a bruiser of a black eye.

Despite the mess of his face, he tried for a smile. “You should see the other guy.” His joke fell flat because I didn’t find his behavior funny at all. I wasn’t a pacifist by any means and I had a healthy respect for the fact that sometimes violence was necessary, but human life was fragile and I wouldn’t pretend otherwise.

“Come on, tough guy.” I pulled him into the kitchen and pushed him onto one of the cushioned chairs before I left him to gather my own first-aid kit. I had the usual bandages and ointments, but I’d added a few important items of my own.

“What happened?” I asked when I returned from the bathroom.

“Having a party?” he asked at the same time, his blue eyes eyeing my fruit selection with amusement.

“Making a smoothie. Now you, what happened?”

He shrugged. “Got into a fight and I didn’t lose.” He wasn’t bragging and I appreciated that, but his matter of fact tone gave me chills.

But I couldn’t focus on that. Right now I was in health care mode. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“That depends, are you gonna kiss it and make it better?” I knew he was joking for my benefit, so I shouldn’t get too worried, but it was too late for that. I was beyond worried.

“Why did you come here, Cross? You don’t want to answer any of my questions. You want me to stitch you up and send you on your way.” It wasn’t a question. I knew it as sure as I knew my own name. I set bandages and scissors on the table and started to mix a salve for the pain and bruising. “Comfrey is my favorite healing herb and I always keep it nearby for Beau’s scrapes and bruises. This might sting a little but it’s just the antiseptic.”

“Holy fuck that stinks!” He leaned away from the bowl and held his nose but I wasn’t deterred.

“You came to me, Cross. You either want my help or you don’t.” Arms crossed, I stood in front of him.

“I do.”

“It doesn’t smell the greatest but it works better than that drugstore crap.” I put some witch hazel on the small cut on his forehead and applied my own antibiotic cream to his wounds. He was all patched up but everything about him was all wrong. I cupped his face and tilted it up until we were eye to eye. “What is going on with you, Cross? Your aura is a mess, but your eyes are…what’s going on?”

“More shit than I need to bother you with,” he spat out angrily, though I suspected that anger was directed at himself rather than me.

“Damn. I’m asking and it’s my decision what burdens I carry, so don’t be the hero right now. Just talk.” I was the mother of a precocious eight-year-old boy, I could wait him out in my sleep.

I could feel Cross’s tension across the room as I added blueberries, a banana, apple and plenty of other fruits and natural supplements to the blender. I added enough for two because whatever hell Cross was going through, he would need to be healthy for this fight. Filling up two tall glasses, I brought them to the table and set one in front of him. “Bon appétit.”

Cross held the glass tentatively, eyeing the contents with skepticism before he put the glass to his mouth. “Damn that’s good.”

I shrugged. “It’s just fruit.”

“I couldn’t sleep last night so I went out looking for the guy who shot up your shop. I found him too,” he said with a sharp, bitter laugh. “We fought. End of story.”

I nodded and listened carefully as he told me how he’d been stalking the man ever since that night. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Cross.”

“I didn’t have to, Moon. I chose to, don’t you see that?”

“I don’t see it that way at all.” Cross looked at me like he could see through me but I wasn’t bothered because I knew for a guy like him, vulnerability was a new feeling. “You’re the leader of a large family, Cross. And as the leader you have to do things you might not want in order to keep them safe.”

He barked out another bitter laugh. “You don’t believe that.”

“I do. In fact, I used to be part of a large family so I know from experience.”

“It’s not the same,” he said and I could see that he was determined to beat himself up over it.

“It is and when you’re ready to accept that you did what had to be done, you’ll feel a lot better.”

“I shouldn’t feel better,” he growled and I could see just how torn up he was about this.

“I really am sorry you’re going through this, Cross.” I stood and went to him, wrapping my arms around him to give him the comfort he’d never ask for. It was meant to be platonic, just one human offering comfort to another but his arms tightened around me in a way that was more than platonic.

He buried his face in my cleavage with a groan and before I could voice my concerns about my post-workout sweat, his tongue slipped out and licked right between my breasts. “You smell good. So good,” he said, the words gritty and drawn out.

My body responded instantly to the heavy need in his voice, the way he gripped me and held me close. His touch was hot and fiery, needy as he pulled me down onto his lap, not satisfied until we were so close not even a gasp of air could slip between us. Then his mouth was on mine and I was completely lost. Every sweep of his tongue, every time our lips touched was electric, combustible.

And I was on fire.

I never wanted the kiss to end, it was that good. So good I forgot about everything else but the taste of him, the feel of him. The way Cross made my body feel, like an exposed wire was being dragged along my skin. I couldn’t get enough. The slow burn was nearly at a boil before his hands left my hair and traveled down my back, gripping my butt and pulling me closer.

The moment his hard cock came in contact with the space between my legs, I ached for him. “Cross.” His name escaped on a throaty whisper as his hand slid down the back of my yoga pants and he squeezed my bare cheeks. He slid one finger deep inside me, at the perfect angle, drawing a long moan from me.

“Moon.” His voice was deep and guttural, thick with his desire and need. He moved his finger gently, slowly, tapping on my sweet spot until I shuddered.

“Oh, God.” I breathed out. It had been so long, too damn long since a man had touched me. And never like this.

Then, Cross pulled his fingers away and lifted me off his lap like I weighed nothing and put me on my feet, stripping me out of every stitch of clothing. The cool air hit my skin and my nipples pebbled. “Yes,” he groaned when he saw them and pulled me closer, sucking one hard tip into his mouth until my head fell back and I accepted his delicious torture.

Cross teased and tortured me with his thumb and his mouth while he unzipped in one quick move and freed his long, hot prick from its restraints. He was so thick and so long, so magnificent. I licked my lips and he chuckled.

“Like what you see?”

“Maybe. You have something to show me I might like better?” I couldn’t look away from the erotic sight he made, sitting at my kitchen table stroking his cock in invitation.

“Damn straight.” He pulled me closer until I straddled his lap and sank slowly down onto him.

“You’re big,” I grunted as I willed my body to relax and take him deeper. “So big.” I began to move, not looking away from him for one second, afraid I might miss something.

“You’re good for my ego,” he bit out and I just smiled.

Cross wanted to rush through it but I couldn’t. Not now, not when he felt so good, so amazingly incredible that my body was ready to burst from pleasure. His blue gaze was so dark it almost turned black, but he seemed as unable as I was to look away while I slowly rocked against him, ratcheting up our pleasure by degrees. “Yes, yes!” I urged hungrily.

He gripped me tighter, thrusting up into me for all he was worth until my body trembled with my impending orgasm. Grabbing my hair and tugging it just hard enough to send another frisson of awareness through me, Cross licked up the column of my neck. “Oh fuck, Moon. I’m close.”

“Me, too,” I told him, forcing his gaze back to mine. My hips moved faster, eager to feel Cross even deeper. He filled me up perfectly, thrusting harder until he felt the small quivers start deep within me and begin to work their way out. “Really close.”

His thumb settled right on my clit and that was it for me. I was falling apart all around him while Cross continued to pound into me until his own orgasm burst out of him. His face twisted in a beautiful kind of agony that called to me. Like the pleasure was too much to handle, so much that it caused him pain.

“Moon, fuck!” He grunted and jerked up into me a few more times before we collapsed onto the weight of the chair.

My body, slick with sweat, stuck to his and I was too sated to care. I couldn’t remember the last time my body felt this good. “That was incredible.”

“Maybe I should get beat up more often?”

“Definitely not,” I told him and swiped a drop of sweat from his neck. “But maybe you wouldn’t mind a shower?”

“With you?”

I shrugged against him. “You could just watch if you like.” I slid off his lap and gathered my clothes before turning to walk up to the master bathroom. By the time I reached the third step, Cross was right behind me.

Then I was in his arms and we were headed to the shower for round number two, which was even hotter than round one. And round three was shaping up to be the best of all. Until the school called.

Beau had had another asthma attack.