Even as her head was still swimming, Dawn eased her body atop his, and she lightly touched her hand to his cheek. Cade turned his face into her flesh, his lips grazing the tips of her nails as he wound his arm around her waist.
“Someone’s feeling better,” he said, his voice a gentle taunt as he stroked her hair.
“With you, always,” she said. “And now that you’re not pushing me away…”
He paused in his pursuit and stared intently into her eyes. For a brief second, Dawn feared that she had it the wrong way around, that he was bound to go back into macho mode and rattle off all the reasons that she should still be on her way. Her heart began to her burn her chest, and she clenched her teeth, ready to meet and match whatever he might say.
“That was the wrong call,” he assured her. “I won’t go down that road again.”
“Even if I don’t lean into the turns?” she asked.
“Even if you crash and burn,” he promised. “I swear I’ll catch you. But…”
Dawn sighed as he traced the line of her lips, and she returned his kiss as he craned closer to her ear.
“But I’m not going to let you fall, Dawn.”
Smiling, her soul grew lighter, and Dawn trailed her lips down his neck. Resting her head and listening to the sound of his pounding heart, she savored the feel of his hands smoothing their way through her hair and down her back, and she started to push up his shirt in search of his bare flesh. Cade’s taut pecs glistened under her eyes, and she pressed her lips to his hard muscles. His slight sheen of sweat bathed her flushed face, and Dawn slowly brought her gaze back to his eyes.
“So we’re on the same page,” she said, as she rounded her eyebrows.
“Still thinking of writing it all down?” Cade asked.
The possibility whirled around in her mind. Someday. When the danger was done. But not now. Not yet.
“I’m thinking of something else right now,” she said.
Bowing her head, she pushed her lips into his chest and surrounded his body with what seemed like a million kisses in the space of a single breath. Coming up for air, she moaned as he unbuttoned her shirt. Dawn wriggled her arms out of the flannel, eager for his touch against her sides when he flinched and closed his eyes.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Bruised,” he said, as his palm patted his discolored skin. As tender as he was, he still winced, and Cade curled his hand under her chin. “You fell hard. Sure you’re up to this?”
“I know what I can handle,” Dawn said. “What I want. Right here.”
Grabbing his wrist, she held his hand to her side and swirled into the heat of his hold as her head fell to his shoulder.
“Return the favor,” she whispered. “Let me see all of you.”
He stripped off his shirt, and she moaned without words as soon she had him under her eyes. Her kisses grew fiercer as their hands moved in unison. Searching and finding the contour of each curve, her hands stopped short of his fly when she suddenly longed for more.
“Jesus!” Cade screamed out. “What the hell was that?”
Without thinking, her teeth had flashed, and she bit down on his smooth lines. Dawn drew no blood, but she still felt some of his essence swirling down her throat when he eased her back to the bed and pushed down on her firm shoulders.
“Call it a love bite,” Dawn said with a wink. “I just…I want more of you. All of you.”
Cade palmed her cheek, his strength keeping her pinned just beneath his body, as he ran his tongue over his teeth and finally flashed a playful smirk.
“Just remember who you’re with,” he teased. “If anyone gets to bite down, it’s me.”
Feeling no fear as he spoke the words, Dawn reached for his face, and she took hold of it as she nodded against the sheets.
“I’m right here, Cade,” she said. “All yours. Have at it.”
Dawn sensed the tension leaving his body, as he smiled, and she waited for the full treatment when he perched above her and brushed a stray strand of hair from her watering eyes.
“Happy to oblige, Dawn.”
Burying his head in her breasts, Dawn moved into his moan, and she waited with baited breath as his teeth started to tease her nipples. Every sharp moment of contact followed by the lure of his lips around her mounds begged her to arch her body closer to him. Cade kept claiming her soft flesh, and Dawn felt sure that she would melt into him, sink under his skin. With that there would be no way out.
But Dawn had no desire to flee.
“Cade, I…I want…”
“I know,” he purred. “And I know that you can take it.”
He continued to mind her bruises, but every time he found her uninjured flesh, he kissed her harder, letting his teeth probe to the point of consuming her. Dawn wrapped her legs around his waist, and she felt his cock, hard and wanting, against her thigh. When she summoned the strength to sit up, she claimed his mouth and clutched at his hair.
“More,” she pleaded. “All of it.”
Cade peeled off his jeans, and he set her back on the bed as he undressed her quickly. As soon as he had her unveiled, he rested his fingers between her legs and fell into her hair.
“All of you,” he said. “That’s what we both want.”
Without warning or another word, he pulled her to his cock. Dawn felt him pushing closer, his body growing harder as her pussy tightened around his shaft and hummed. She reached for his face and grew stunned when he held her wrists over her head.
“Just feel me here,” he said, as he started to grind against her quivering hips. Cade’s hands slowly fell down her sides, but he stopped short of touching her as she followed his demand and focused on his throbbing cock. His cock moved deeper into her, and her pussy turned with each pulse. As much as she longed to bring her hands back to his chest, his hair, she grew content in his lunges. Lifting her hips closer to his, Dawn felt as if she was on the precipice of his explosion, but again he stopped.
And he touched his hand to her cheek.
“Dawn?”
“Cade, I…I want you to—”
“Dawn.”
Blinking back her wanting tears, Dawn narrowed her gaze to his eyes, and her breath heaved in her chest when he seized her breast and turned his finger around her hard nipple.
“Do you want to touch me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, nodding as she forced the words from her throat.
“Then whatever you want,” he said. “Right here.”
He pressed her hand to his heart, and she raked her nails down his chest. The contact consoled her even as she waited for him to take her, and her legs grew tighter around his when he kissed her shoulders and hovered over her mouth.
“And here, Dawn?”
Needing to enter him in some way, Dawn glided her tongue around his. She mingled with his kiss, as Cade held her closer and cradled her head with the back of his hand. Dawn fought past her frustration, feeling almost content when Cade pressed his fingers under her chin.
“Cade, I—”
“This is how it goes down,” he started. “In here, you can be in charge. Do you want that?”
She nodded quickly, and Cade’s body went limp. Seizing the chance, she pushed him deeper into the bed and started to ride him. He moved inside her again, and Dawn breathed hard as she kept her hand on his heart. However, his cock became her entire world. Rocking against him, her teeth threatening to slice into her tongue and draw blood, she parted her lips in a grateful moan when his lust let loose and pooled inside her, around her, under her skin. Her knees dug deeper into the bed, and she pinched at his chest and leaned forward to kiss him again. Anything to prolong the contact and savor his release. Somehow she stretched the moment to an impossible point, but when she was consumed by his flood, Dawn reluctantly fell into his chest and simply held him close. Cade’s arms swirled around her spent body, and his kiss was sweet as his whisper slipped into her ear.
“Same here, Dawn,” he said. “But when we’re out there…with the others…you have got to let me take the lead.”
Cade stayed inside her as he caressed her hair, and she slowly moved her head to meet his eyes.
“So you can send me way again?” she asked in a weak whisper. “I thought we were past that.”
“We are,” he assured her. “Let me show you.” His kiss brimmed with passion, as he lifted her into his arms, and she clung to him. Sighing in despair as his cock left her cunt, Dawn was assuaged by his hold, and she sank into the feel of his hands on her face as he peered at her, hard. “But you don’t know what comes next.”
“And you do?” she asked.
“Think I have a damn good idea,” Cade said. “So you need to trust me. I won’t let you go. But you just—”
“Cade, it’s okay.” Dawn felt her desire cooling as she remembered how he had lost his parents. What danger could be worse? Unsure if she was up to the task but knowing that she wanted to stay at his side, she stroked his face and softly kissed his hair. “Then I won’t go,” she said. “And I’ll…I’ll try to listen.”
Cade tilted his head against the pillow, and he calmed the worry in his stare with a soft smile and tried to smooth the tension from his face.
“Come on,” she started. “From me, that’s like everything.”
Smiling as he folded her into his arms, Cade nodded against her and kissed her brow.
“Suppose so,” he said. “Now what would make you even go that far?”
Her mind briefly ran over all the ways that this was wrong and the fact that no man had the right to make demands on her. However, he was far from just any man, and Dawn started to tell him what had shifted and why she felt changed in his arms when a commotion from the other room filled the air.
“What the…?”
Cade tensed, and he started to pull away from the bed, hiking up his jeans as he flew towards the door.
“Cade! Hold up!”
Dawn dressed just as quickly, even as her fingers fumbled around her buttons. Cade appeared ready to keep her hidden when she stretched up and grabbed his arm.
“I said I’d let you take the lead,” she reminded him. “But you don’t even dare think about leaving me behind.”
He seemed to bristle under her words, but he grunted as he took her hand and held her fingers tight.
“Then follow me, Dawn.”