Chapter 26
If Mariah's main goal was to not think about the future and live for the moment, then, holy cow, had she succeeded. What a hell of a moment. Even her fingers and toes tingled. It took a minute for her heart to stop the orgasmic tachycardia.
Vaughn knelt over her, all cut with massive muscle, covered in bruised skin, and sporting a happy, overgrown schoolboy expression.
Get up, lazybones. This night isn't over yet. She rose to her knees and pressed against him, chest to chest. His arms locked around her, secure and warm. The hot kiss ramped her up even further, and his erection pushed against her belly.
With a grin, she shoved at his chest. He flopped to his back, exhaling a whoosh of air.
"Now you're the one with too many clothes on." After she undid the button and zipper, he lifted his hips and she pulled off the pants and briefs. The hardness of his buttocks and thighs made her heart jump again.
The hardness of other areas made her insides clench. His erection, thick and pulsing slightly, jutted out. As she lowered her head, she glanced up. His irises glinted with gold sparks. When she circled the tip of his penis with her tongue, his face went rigid.
"Oh, fuck," he hissed.
She licked down the length of him and cupped the weight of his testicles. Even the tiniest movement made him jump beneath her mouth. Super. She met his avid, hungry stare. He watched her like his life depended on it.
His groans increased, and his spread legs twitched with each pass of her mouth over him.
She raked her nails up his ridged belly while she tongued him and hummed. The muscles beneath her fingertips tensed. So fun, turning this big guy to putty in her hands.
"I don't want you to stop," he panted. "But you have to stop." When had his voice gotten so hoarse? "I want to be deep inside you when I come."
She lollipopped him one more time. "That's a plan I can get behind." With a smile, she opened the packet and sheathed him, stroking him through the latex.
"What you do to me. Amazing."
He surged up, turning and pinning her beneath him with an ease that took her breath away. Maybe he had injuries from the fight, but they sure as hell didn't hamper his seduction abilities. His arms snaked under her shoulder blades and met in a cup behind her head. His knees rested between her legs, and his erection nudged at her opening. She pulsed and strained upward, eager for him.
"Vaughn. Please." Was that really her desperate gasp? She grabbed onto his back.
"You bet." He pressed into her and sank in deep. Then he held still. "Man, you feel so good."
She gasped, "It's. Mutual." Every inch of her body and soul stretched to accommodate him.
He thrust gently, and she dug her nails into his back.
He hissed. "Yeah, go for it. Scratch away. Damn, you're sexy."
"Vaughn. Oh my God."
He pressed his forehead to hers and worked his hips in earnest now, each movement deeper and harder as he filled her completely. In the cocoon of his arms and his body, she floated on a cloud of bliss centered on the bone-loosening desire deep in her pelvis. Their pants and moans filled the room as he rotated his hips faster and she lifted her pelvis to meet his movements.
More. She needed more of him inside. When she hooked her heels around the bunched muscles of his buttocks, he seated himself even deeper, with a bit-off expletive. She grabbed as far around his broad back as possible, wanting every part of her to come into contact with him. His skin—she would crawl inside his skin if that were possible. A sensation of safety followed by a light headache flitted across her forehead, an almost familiar feeling.
As she met his strong thrusts with her own, the pleasure spiked. He opened her mouth with his and swirled his tongue inside, creating stars that rimmed her vision. His scent filled her nose, their combined tastes filled her mouth, and the heat from his skin warmed her inside and out.
With a groan, he pumped harder, every cord of his powerful muscles flexing. He clenched his hands in her hair and locked her underneath him, creating the best prison she could ever imagine.
Another two thrusts and she flew high, bursting into a supernova of shuddering pleasure. Her hoarse cries filled the room. A few seconds later, he raised his head and yelled. The pulses of his erection inside of her created aftershocks that let her skim along, prolonging her orgasm. When she didn't think her muscles could clench anymore, he swirled his hips, and another wave hit her.
"Good God," she gritted out, loving the sweat slicking their bodies as they moved against each other.
"I'll say." Holding some of his weight off of her, he stayed on top for a few more minutes or moments? Muttering, he withdrew, rolled off the bed and disposed of the condom.
Without his presence, her damp skin cooled. Then Vaughn scooped her up, yanked back the sheet and covers, and laid her down on the bed. Settling in next to her, he pulled the bedding up and tucked it around her. Safe. Cocooned.
Her last conscious thought was of his legs scissoring hers and his arms latching around her, like she was the luckiest life preserver in the universe.
* * *
Everything in his life had come down to this moment, Vaughn was certain of it. His power flowed around him, encasing both of them in a protective, invisible bubble. So right. So perfect and complete. He couldn't imagine a day in his life without Mariah in it.
No.
He shouldn't be thinking like that.
Shit.
If he wanted to atone for his bad decision-making a year ago, he'd picked a hell of a way to do it. He hadn't even told her everything he'd done in the past, what he had been. What he currently was. If Mariah knew, no way would she have jumped into bed with him. And what about her need for a long-term relationship? It was clear that he couldn't deliver on those goods.
But could he walk away from this woman?
Even if he stayed, no way would she want a relationship with a guy with as much baggage as Vaughn.
Damn it.
She mumbled in her sleep, and he loosened his rigid grip on her. Not an easy task, considering that every cell in his body screamed at him to surround her more. Hell, there were a few inches of her still uncovered, vulnerable—a fact that made him slide more of his body over hers. His damned ability drove him beyond paranoia. He needed to protect her in every way possible.
Was that Vaughn or his power talking?
Didn't matter. They were one and the same. Which was yet another reason he was one messed up dude. What woman wanted a guy with weird psychic powers that turned him into the biggest Cro-Magnon man in the universe. What woman wanted an adulterer? An alcoholic?
Oh, Christ. What had he done?
When her mumbles turned to soft cries, he flipped on the bedside lamp. Liquid pooled between the corner of her eye and the bridge of her nose. Shit.
"Mariah? Sweetheart?"
She struggled against him, her small body no match for his. But he let go completely.
"Mariah? You're having a dream."
Her spiked lashes fluttered. A second of brow-raising terror was swiftly followed by a droop to her pretty mouth. A fist formed in his chest.
"Okay. It's okay." Was she talking to herself or to him? "I'm good. Fine. All good. It's okay."
"Um." He wanted to roll on top of her to keep anything bad away, but that might not be the best tactic. "You want me to hold you?"
Turning to bury her face in his chest, she mumbled, "Yes, please."
He might have no future with her. He might have a bad past. But for right now, he'd hold her like his existence depended on it, for as long as she wanted. He cradled her, shifting and shifting again, restless, desperate to surround her. "You're safe."
"I know. Sorry. Just... bad memories sometimes."
"From being trapped in that room?"
Her nod made her hair tickle his nose, but he didn't move. "When I get stressed, sometimes the bad dreams come back."
"Was I that bad?"
"What?"
"So bad that you got stressed out?"
Her giggle dropped the tension in the room.
"I'm fine," she said.
"Of course you are. You're one of the toughest people I've met. Considering my side job, that's saying a lot." He made a show of bending his arm and flexing until she laughed again. Then he frowned. "Um, you never actually answered the question."
"What question?" That frown begged to be smoothed, and he indulged with his fingertip.
"If the night with me was bad enough to stress you out?"
"What do you think?" One dark eyebrow rose.
He pulled back and kissed her forehead. "I think you should give a guy another chance at redemption before you pass judgment." His cock, already anticipating the pleasure, snapped right to attention.
"Another—oh..." She wiggled against him. "Really?"
"If it's okay with you, of course."
That shy smile made the corners of his own mouth turn up. "Well, all right, if you insist," she said.
Trailing a hand down her spine until goose bumps stippled her skin, he nipped her lower lip, drawing a purr from her throat. "Oh, I insist."
His mental power and short-timer relationship issues? The issue with his entire life existing two thousand miles away? Yeah, he'd have to deal with that later.
Right now, Vaughn had a beautiful woman in his arms to satisfy.