Kissing him again felt like exhaling after a long stressful day. It was like that feeling you get when collapsing into a warm, soft bed at night, knowing that you don’t have to wake up early the next morning. It was like discovering there was a twenty-dollar bill hidden in your wallet that you hadn’t expected to be there.

“I missed you,” I said as he let me into his house.

“Missed me? You just saw me yesterday,” he laughed.

“So? You made me an addict now, hope you’re proud of yourself,” I said and leaned into him for another sweet kiss. I dropped my purse and took my jacket off then had a look around his place. We always somehow ended up at my place, but with my sitter crawling out of the woodwork and agreeing to watch the kids this evening, I had the opportunity to see his apartment for the first time.

“Proud of myself? Hm, yeah maybe. Can’t wait for your next fix, huh?” he said, teasing me with smiling lips. I walked around and gave his apartment a glance. It was surprisingly clean and ordered.

“I think it would be a miracle if those monsters of mine grew up to be functioning adults like you. I swear they still don’t quite get the concept of a clothes hanger,” I said with a laugh. He came up behind me and linked his arms around my waist and took a deep breath of my hair. “I’m kind of nervous, you know…”

“Nervous? Oh don’t worry, I’ll be gentle,” he said and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I mean the barbecue, silly. What if I don’t fit in and I have nothing to talk to anyone about and everyone thinks I’m weird?”

“If everyone thinks you’re weird, you’ll be fitting in perfectly,” he said, and turned me to face him in his arms. He frowned when he saw my frown, then lifted my chin with his finger.

“Hey… you’re not really worried about this, are you?”

I shrugged.

“It’s just that… ugh, I don’t know. Can’t we just …stay in this evening?” I said and gave him a naughty look out from lowered eyelids. He returned a smile just as naughty.

“You can’t get enough can you?” he said and leaned in close. I groaned and traced my lips over the warm, musk-scented skin of his neck and jaw.

“It’s not my fault,” I pouted. “It’s your fault for being so fucking irresistible. I couldn’t think about anything today except your cock…”

He grinned.

“Oh yeah? Good.”

I gave him a playful slap.

“I’m going to kill a patient one day because I’m daydreaming about you.”

“Hey, don’t look at me, it’s not my fault I’m so irresistible,” he said and gave me a teasing peck on my cheek.

But as it always does with us, a peck turned into a deeper, juicier kiss, which turned into him pressing the full length of his masculine form against me, which turned into me slinking closer up against him and begging him with my hips, which usually turned into…

“Hey, what’s this pretty thing?” he said. I followed his gaze and saw his thumb hooked into the frilled edge of a deep purple g-string I had donned before heading over.

“Oh… it’s nothing…” I said and felt a blush coming on.”

“Nothing? Damn straight it’s nothing, that’s the flimsiest little bit of nothing I’ve seen,” he said and tried to pull my jeans down to get a better look.

“Cut it out, it’s just nothing, just some new underwear,” I said, suddenly burning up with embarrassment. But he wouldn’t let up; he wanted to see what I was wearing, so I gingerly unbuttoned my jeans and let him see the silky front and then shyly waggled the back end at him. He had the silliest grin on his face.

“Damn. Ally, you are one sexy little thing, you know that?”

“Oh, shut up,” I mumbled and pulled my jeans up again.

“I mean it,” he said and had his hands all over me again, the silly grin still plastered over his face.

“Can I be an addict too? You just make nothing look so good… and we still have some time before we have to leave,” he growled and crouched down to plant teasing kisses all over me.

“Remember that sexy picture you sent me?” he said, stroking hungry, firm hands all up and down my flanks. He always knew precisely how to touch me to get me going.

“Picture? Nope, I’ve sent you a picture in my life,” I said and gave him a sassy smile.

A low grunt came right from the back of his throat as he grabbed me a little more roughly. Fuck I loved it when he got like this. Like there was nothing in the world that could stand in his way once he set his eyes on what he wanted. With his hands pawing at my hips and ass, it was pretty clear what he wanted.

I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him fully, and let myself fall back a little into his cradling hands. With David, it always felt like there was surplus, like there was too much of him, always a sense of overflowing. Like he was straining to be gentle with me when he was itching to let loose… I loved coaxing him to that point, teasing him, egging him on to go further, to let go.

“Strip for me,” he said.

I looked at him.

“What?”

“You heard me.” His voice was lower, huskier. It made me feel warm all over. I thought for a second about telling him how embarrassing it was, how I couldn’t, how we’d be late for this stupid barbecue thing… but something about his voice made me think it wouldn’t have mattered one bit if I protested. With trembling hands, I peeled off my shirt and then shrugged off my jeans, too. I stood before him in my elaborate purple lingerie, feeling a little cold on the outside …but rapidly burning up on the inside.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed. He stood tall and proud, shoulders back, eyes travelling over every part of my exposed body. He had seen me naked tons of times before, but this felt different. His face was suddenly stern and serious, like a switch had been flipped.

“Why don’t you take a picture of me?” I said, voice a little timid. It was as though he didn’t even hear me, and simply kept gazing at my body.

“No. Today I’m in the mood to tease you,” he said with a devilish glint in his eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him and took a step forward, but he held up his hand and stopped me.

“Ah, no, you stay right where you are, where I can get a good look at you. Will you do as I say? Will you listen, baby?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. This was a completely new side to him. I nodded slowly.

“Fucking say it,” he said.

We locked eyes.

“I’ll do whatever you tell me to,” I said, not quite believing how quickly we had switched gears but surprised at how willing I was to go along with it. Anything to keep that delicious gaze of his on me.

“Now, get on your knees,” he said, voice kind but firm. I lowered myself down and felt that familiar, fluttering ache.

“Good,” he moaned. “Now tell me what you want.”

I stared at his form in front of me. What did I want? Oh god, only one thing – but I wanted it over, and over, and over again. I wanted to be fucked, completely ravaged and taken by him, used inside and out until I was whimpering and teary and utterly exhausted…

“I want your cock,” I whispered.

“Then look at me and say that,” he ordered.

My knees felt weak against the floor. I lifted my eyes, parted my lips and spoke the same words more deliberately.

“I… want… your …cock.”

“There we go. Now that’s what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that …hunger in your voice.”

One of his hands trailed down to stroke the hard lump in his pants as he looked down at me. I made a move towards him but he stopped me again.

“Did I say I wanted you over here, baby? No? I think you should stay right where you are. You’re wet already, aren’t you? Sexy little thing.”

And I was. I was already wet and desperate for him to touch me. I nodded again slowly, and squirmed my gaze away from his.

“Good. That’s good. Now, I want you to spread those pretty legs of yours, yes, like that, and I want you to touch yourself…”

I obediently reached my fingertips under that purple lace and touched my soaking wet clit. The sight of him slowly bit roughly working his cock through his pants was driving me wild. I loved how calm and in control he looked.

“Ah, but wait! I said just touch. Nothing more. We’ll get there. I just love looking at your sexy little pussy. God, I wish you could see how dirty you look right now. Will you do me a favor, baby?” he said, his voice low and breathy and dripping sexiness.

I nodded again.

“Moan my name for me,” he said.

Even though I had been forbidden from moving my fingertips, I still felt a delicious thrill rush all through me. It felt good, but it was nowhere near what I needed now. I needed the full, thick heft of his cock deep in me, and the sooner the better.

“David,” I moaned and he smiled at me. “David…”

“You like that, baby?”

“Mmm…”

“Of course you do. You love it. You can’t get enough, can you?”

My eyes found his and he gave me a deep, penetrating gaze. There was nothing but his sweet, husky voice to fill the empty space between us. But it was such a sexy voice, such a sure and steady voice, that it felt as close to me as if he was right there, touching me himself.

“Good. I just wanted to tease you a little. Let me see you play with yourself.”

My fingers began to make tiny, desperate circles on my clit and I spread my legs, knowing that he was watching my every move, relishing it.

“Show me how wet you are.”

Fuck, his voice was gorgeous. I lowered myself to the floor, spread my legs wide and pulled the soaking strip of purple fabric to the side to show him exactly what he was doing to me. I could hear him moan in approval, still stroking himself.

“Please fuck me,” I said, losing myself in the role completely and pouting up at him. I was met with a sound part growl, part moan, part laugh.

“Oh no, not yet baby, you’re not wet enough for me yet. When I fuck you, I’m going to do it really hard, and really deep, and I want you to be ready. And besides, I want to see you come first. Do you think you could come for me?” he whispered.

I couldn’t hold in a gasp. Just the thought of him savaging me right now was sparking little fires all over my body, flames that were stoked higher with every second that he stared into my eyes.

“Fuck yes, I love seeing you like that Ally... you’re so sexy. I’m going to make you take all of this, every inch, till you’re screaming my name, do you understand? But first, I want you nice and juicy. I want you wet. I want to see that little body of yours shaking.”

My fingers moved more quickly, and his greedy eyes watched every moment. It felt scandalous to have every second of his attention on me like this. I tried to pull off the g-string but he stopped me.

“No baby, keep that on. You wore it because you’re a naughty little minx and you wanted me to fuck you, didn’t you? You wanted to tease me. Now, you keep it on. I’m going to tease you. Keep it on and come for me…”

Legs spread wide, fingers buried in that dripping spot, I tumbled to a squirming, juicy orgasm that made my voice catch in my throat. My spine hunched inward as I bucked from the easy pleasure gushing through me. I leant back, legs as far apart as they would go, my raw, pulsing body exposed to him. Nobody had ever watched me come like this before. It was so fucking delicious it sent goosebumps all over me. I watched in satisfaction as his eyes widened as he stared between my legs, transfixed. It was hard to say who was leading whom here. But for a second, his dominant persona got a crack down the middle and I saw just how wild I was making him. His thick cock was clearly straining in his pants, and the thought of what it could do to me soon had me riled up again, the release from my previous orgasm already fading.

“Like that? Is that what you wanted?” I said, brazenly, displaying myself completely to him. He clenched his jaw and growled his approval.

“Fuck yes. That’s exactly what I wanted baby. Do you know how hot you look when you come?”

Fingers wet, body still warm and pulsing, I nodded slowly. Yeah, maybe I did. Maybe I was a sexy bitch who loved showing off, loved having him see just how much of a good girl who I was, doing precisely what I was told. When he unzipped and released his red, swollen dick, I felt a deep kick inside, like my body was crying out for him. It didn’t matter that I had come once already. Only his fat cock would satisfy me like I needed to be satisfied right now.

“You want this?” he purred, stroking himself slowly. God he was such a tease.

“Mmhm,” I said. My fingers began to move quickly again, this time easily bringing me back to that brink. My pussy, knowing what lay in store for it, hurried along without me, dripping so eagerly that I was wet to the wrist by now.

“Good, but I really need to hear you beg for it baby,” he whispered. I loved the edge of desperation in his voice. His fist closed tight round his shaft and he kept stroking, the pleading expression on his face one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

“You want me to beg?”

“Yeah. Beg for it. Tell me how much you need it.”

My fingers squelched and my breathing labored.

“Baby, I want it so badly. Please give me that big fat cock of yours. I need to come with you inside me. I’m going to go crazy unless you fuck me soon, I need to come…”

“You need to come?”

“With you in me.”

“Fuck.”

“Please baby…”

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me… please…”

It was as though something snapped in him and he leapt towards me, grabbing me round my waist and hips and pulling him to me like a man possessed. He didn’t take the time to shrug his pants down off his ankles, or to take off his shoes. He didn’t bother removing his shirt. But his cock was naked and standing straight up, and when he lifted me and impaled me down onto his lap, I couldn’t gasp because his mouth was instantly on mine. His hands were everywhere. He knelt under me and my knees clasped him behind his back to steady myself on his lap. The world went quiet and sparkly for a moment, and we froze in one another’s arms. He had wedged that juicy pole deep all the way into me, right till my soaking pussy pressed flat against the wall of his abs, till I melted against his hips, shuddering with that delicious feeling of being stretched wide by him, opened up so that I felt him in even the deepest parts of me…

His breath turned to soft whimpers and whispers against my neck as he stroked my throat, my neck, my shoulders.

“Tell me how that feels,” he whispered.

“Oh my god,” I gasped.

“You like that?”

I could only groan softly to myself as he ground even deeper inside me. I was so turned on that he scarcely had to move at all to have every part of me twitch and ripple inside against him. Here was this strong, sexy-as-fuck beast of a man and his cock was mine, and I got to have it all, right where I needed it, every rock hard fucking inch of it.

“Good. Now show me how much you like it. Make yourself come again,” he said now, leaning back a little and propping himself back on his arms to watch me more closely. His giant cock thrust straight up into me but he kept his hips still, waiting for me to please myself against him. I flicked a lock of hair form my face, made smoldering eye contact with him and then began to stroke my pussy up and down his shaft, swirling my hips so I could feel him everywhere, so I could press every aching part of myself against that stiff rod. He smiled as he watched me.

“When you come again, do it all over my cock. I want to feel it,” he said, staring at the place where he disappeared slick into my cunt, then slid out again. I was only a few breaths from orgasm. I put the balls of my feet onto the ground and lifted my hips up high so I could bounce down onto him, dropping all my weight onto his lap, feeling that slab of meat fuck deep into me with each thrust. He kept motionless but watched me with rapt attention, his chest heaving. It was my turn to talk dirty now. My turn to tell him just exactly what I wanted and how.

“I love your fucking cock, David. I can’t get enough of it. I’m going to fuck you hard until I come, until I can’t hold on any longer and I explode all over you. Can you feel how much you’re turning me on? Can you feel how close I am?” I said, my voice jagged.

He couldn’t help himself. He was soon lifting his hips up into mine, keeping in step with my strokes, delivering that slick length of his cock again and again into me, right from the tip all the way to the thick base, pounding again and again …seeing that look on his face, hearing the grunt of his breath as he reached the apex and dug deep into me at the peak, as hard as he could… soon I couldn’t help but shudder inside and then burst, collapsing into myself in an orgasm that felt deep and dirty and rough.

I screamed, loudly, and my scream turned into a whimper as he kept fucking me, holding my hips down against him so I didn’t squirm off, steadying me against the waves of pleasure crashing through me.

“Yes! Fucking come for me, Ally. Oh God, yes… come just like that,” he said, and then instantly his voice wavered and trailed off, his eyes rolled back and he clenched down hard as he came, too. I braced myself for that warm spurt of his cum deep inside me, loving how I could hold him deep inside even as he came, one wet shudder after another, emptying his immense cock right inside me.

“Fuck,” he growled again, this time deep and aggressive, clasping my hips so hard his knuckles went white. He bit his lower lip and stared at me starry eyed, panting, sweating. There was nothing I could do but laugh.

“That was… intense,” he said at last, when the normal color came back to his face and he stopped convulsing in my arms. I gave him millions of smiling kisses, tasting the heat off his skin, relishing the sweet bulk of his cock still buried in me. I rolled my hips up and away from him and looked down to admire him as he slipped out of me. I felt a little flicker of triumph that just a moment ago I had had all of that inside me.

“You brat… you liked teasing me, huh?” I said, giving him a playful shove. He laughed.

“Seemed like you liked it too,” he said and shut me up with a passionate kiss.

“Hey David?”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

He was silent, and just took his time kissing my brow gently. My entire body coursed through with happiness. There was nowhere I wanted to be right now but here, in his lap, held in his strong arms, with nothing to do but kiss him. And slowly, somehow, the other more familiar side of him emerged again. No more was the cocky, teasing David I had seen a second ago. Now he was sweet and shy again, cuddling in my arms like a kitten.

“I’m still pretty nervous about this barbecue,” I said, stroking his temple.

“Still? How can you care about anything after that?” he teased.

“Do you ever… do you worry I’m too old for you, David?” I said, without thinking. I felt his body tense in my arms.

“Maybe.”

My heart sank.

“Maybe you are. Maybe I’m too young. Maybe you were right that time when you said we were in different life stages. But so what?”

“I meant it when I said I needed something more substantial,” I said.

He took his time taking a deep breath in and releasing it.

“You know, I’m changing my mind about a lot of things lately. I used to think kids were a drag. An obligation. Something you did by accident or because your woman pushed you into it…”

I winced a little to hear him say that.

“I know, I’m an asshole. Or I was one. I used to laugh at men who settled down and made babies. Like they were the biggest fools, missing out on life like that, coughing up money for a bunch of rug rats and a wife who always seemed to hate him just a little.”

“Jesus, David.”

“I know. I know how it sounds. I used to get mad just thinking about it, actually.”

“About… women and their kids?” I asked, a little bewildered.

“Well, yeah. When I saw a team member’s wife or something, I always pitied him a little. It looked to me like a raw deal, like I couldn’t understand why a guy who had everything figured out would want to throw it away on some stay at home wife and a bunch of kids.”

I held my tongue. I hated hearing him speak like this, but I didn’t know what to say.

“The thing is, I think I finally realized that the problem was me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I guess I just never thought I was up to the task. I couldn’t imagine being responsible for another person like that. A wife and kids? That just seemed like the hugest responsibility. And I could barely imagine giving that much of a shit even about myself.”

“David, woah, nobody’s asking you to give a shit about—”

“I know, I know. But maybe I want to give a shit. Maybe I’m tired of not giving a shit.”

“You sure have a romantic way with words,” I laughed. He laughed with me, but he pressed on.

“I’m serious though, Ally. You showed me that. Ben and Alex showed me that.”

“David?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you take it down a notch? You’re freaking me out,” I teased.

Here he laughed with me and gave me a squeeze.

“I’m sorry, you’re right. The last thing you need in your life is more seriousness.”

“Exactly.”

“I know what you do need though,” he said and gave me a naughty look.”

“Oh my god, don’t start with that again, we have to leave soon,” I said and blushed. He gave me a playful peck on the cheek, helped me up and we went to the bedroom to freshen up.

“They’ll love you, this is going to be great, trust me,” he said and pulled his shirt back over his head.

“Remind me who they all are again,” I said.

“Ok, so there’s Max, you’ve already met his girlfriend, he’s cool, very solid guy, knows way more than the rest of us when it comes to artillery. And then there’s Jack, the old guy of our team, he’s the one I told you came back and then a few weeks later his wife passed away from cancer. Then there’s Hugo, that’s Max’s brother. They’re identical twins actually, but you can always spot Hugo since he’ll be the one macking on anything wearing a skirt and Max will be the one giving him a side eye for it. Then there’s Noah, he and I have had our differences over the years but he’s a good guy. Smart,” he said. “And that’s about it I think.”

I nodded and tried to keep track of the names. I half expected to turn up and see a bunch of intimidating GI Joes in fatigues or something. Never having met any other servicemen besides David, I had no idea what to expect. I fixed my hair, spritzed on some perfume and did my best to look pretty.

“By the way,” I said as we left the house together. “I don’t know what you did, but Andrew has backed off completely. I haven’t heard from him in days and neither have the kids.”

“Oh really?” he said as he started the ignition and we pulled off. I searched his face.

“Thank you, David. I mean, I don’t want to hear about it, but thank you.”

“You don’t want to hear about it?” he laughed.

“No way. I hate to think of what you did to get him to leave us alone.”

He smiled mysteriously.

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” he said.

We arrived at the barbecue and he made a big show of grabbing my hand and pulling me in to present me to the crowd of people who’d already arrived before us.

I felt proud, at his side. Like I was showing him off as much as he was showing me off. If anyone thought I was a nasty cradle-snatcher, they didn’t let on one bit. When I found Kate in the kitchen, resplendent in a skin tight dress the likes of which a TV weather lady would wear, I felt relief as she rushed over, clasped my hands and introduced me to everyone. A drink was put in my hand and, to my relief, the afternoon simply flowed from there.

The sense of brotherhood and camaraderie between the men was touching. Though they were all so different from one another, they talked to one another with the familiarity of siblings. They were so different from what I imagined SEALs to be like. Sure, they were all pretty macho looking and the crude jokes flew thick and fast, but there was a sweet, hidden sense of friendship under all that, like something stronger was holding them all together.