Daniel

He tried not to laugh as Hope yelled at him through the pillow for being a pussy tease. He let out a slow breath and scanned the room. An uneasy feeling still clung to him and he couldn’t relax. Sure, it could just be the after battle jitters, but he couldn’t chill out and give his body the rest it sorely needed. Adrenaline still spiked into his system now and again, a result of the gun battle still humming through his head. He’d come so close to losing Hope, and he would have gladly died with her rather than live without her.

She was his heart.

A quick glance out the window showed nothing but empty manicured back yards and the quiet forest behind the house. He had so much to think about, so much to consider, but it was as if his brain refused to process anything. The only thing that kept going through his mind was that Hope was alive.

He was alive.

He glanced over at the bed and told his hard cock to calm down, that nothing would be happening there tonight. Her needs always came first and, despite what his libido thought, his brain knew she must be feeling as shell shocked as he was. Tonight they would sleep together, he would hold her in his arms, and that would be enough.

More than enough.

It was a miracle.

He walked over to the bathroom door and looked over his shoulder. “Hey, I’m going to shower I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” came her muffled reply from the bed.

He grabbed a pair of sweats and a t-shirt from his drawers on his way to the bathroom. He didn’t normally wear a shirt to bed, but he didn’t want Hope to see all his scars and start asking questions. He didn’t want to think about death tonight, didn’t want to think about the war and all he’d lost, didn’t want to think about the men he’d killed today. Instead, he wanted to savor being alive. He went to scratch his head, and found that big ass bandage instead and grimaced. This fucking thing needed to be gone, now.

Moving quickly to the bathroom, he unwrapped himself and inspected the wound. Eight stitches, barely a scratch. He’d have to put a band-aid on it after the shower but, other than that, he should be okay. It was just another scar to add to his growing collection. As he washed himself he soaped up his balls and groaned. All it would take was a few strokes he could come and clear his mind. He wanted to be the best lover Hope ever had, but right now he was primed to go off before he’d even entered her pussy. Her sweet, tight, hot pussy.

Less than two minutes later he brought himself to completion while imagining what it would look like to come all over Hope’s ass. The edge was gone, but the need was still there, burning bright. He needed to touch her like he needed to breathe, but she’d had a very rough day and he didn’t want to drain her further. Maybe she’d consider some morning sex. Either way, he wanted her in his arms as soon as possible.

He dressed in the clean clothes Milton brought to the hospital, not having thought to bring any with him. After a quick scrub of his teeth, he made it back to her side in record time. Hope didn’t say anything when he turned off the light, turning her face away with an audible sniff. While he’d been in the bathroom, she’d managed to prop her ankle up with some pillows and arrange the comforter around herself...leaving a scrap of sheet to cover himself.

No, he should really sleep on the floor or something. She needed comfort, not his cock. With that thought in mind he grabbed a couple pillows and threw them on the floor. Hope immediately sat upon her elbows. “What the heck are you doing?”

“Hope, I don’t know if sleeping together is a good idea. We’ve both had a hell of a night, and I want to wait until we’re both in the right headspace for this. Besides, I need to check in with Milton before I go to sleep.”

She sat down on the bed with a weary sigh. “Danny Boy, I want you to sleep with me, not sleep with me. I need to be held right now. Can you hold me until I fall asleep?”

“I can do that.”

Her soft chuckle caressed his body like a touch. “Then get over here.”

She protested when he insisted on sleeping atop the sheet and her beneath, but he wouldn’t budge. At least with that thin layer of fabric between him, he could pretend nothing would happen. It was a physical reminder for him that, for tonight, she was off limits.

With some careful maneuvering she curled on her side with her back to him, she wiggled closer until her back touched his chest. Conscious of his iron hard erection, he tried to curve as much of himself around her as he could without letting their hips touch. She pushed her hips back and he moved farther away until they were almost parallel on the bed.

She sat up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back to the center of the bed. “For the love of God. I’m aware of what happens to a man’s body when he is around a woman in a silky negligee. You don’t have to do some weird yoga thing behind me to avoid upsetting my delicate sensibilities. I want you, all of you, holding me right now. I want to be so close to you that I don’t know where you end and I begin. I want to pretend, just for a moment, that everything is okay and we are just a guy and his girl falling asleep in each other’s arms.” She made a big production of fluffing the pillows before laying down on her side again. “Now get over here and cuddle me before I have to get violent with you.”

“Hope, this isn’t a good idea.”

“You know what else isn’t a good idea? Pissing off a woman who has a gun.”

He sighed and relented a bit, lying beside her and stroking the smooth skin of her shoulder and arm. “You’d never reach it before I did.”

She sighed and little goose bumps speckled her arm wherever he touched. “Look at you, thinkin’ ‘cause you were in the Marines you’re all big and bad ass. Listen, I promise I’ll manage somehow to resist your machismo tonight. I’m so tired my eyes burn, and I just want this day to be over with.”

The small digital clock on the bedside table showed it was 1:15 am. They could easily stay up all night talking in the dark, but she needed her sleep and so did he. He would lie down for a few minutes, maybe get a little bit of shuteye, get up before she did and check his email for any updates from Milton. The weight of the day pressed down on him and he sank down into the bed next to Hope, pulling her into his arms and curving around her. They fit together like to pieces of a puzzle.

His hard cock nestled against the plush bounty of her ass and he had to swallow back a groan when she moved around to adjust her pillow. He wrapped his arms around her and held her, enjoying the ebb and flow of her body against his as her breathing deepened. Refusing to let his mind stray to topics that would keep him awake until dawn, he forced himself to match his breath to hers, falling into the easy rhythm.

“Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared.”

He didn’t bother to ask her what she was scared of, not when she probably had a list longer than his arm. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Promise?”

She sounded so young when she said that and his heart ached for her. “I promise.”

A few more minutes passed and he felt tension stiffen her body against his as she said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Hope, please. We need to get some shut-eye.”

“Just one question, I promise.”

“Okay.”

“Today, you said something about being ready to be a hero. What did you mean?”

There was no way she could have missed the shudder that wracked his body, but she didn’t pull away. If anything she scooted closer and her comfort felt like the best thing in the world. He didn’t want to tell her, didn’t want to give voice to the demons of his dream, but he owed it to Mo’s memory to always be honest about his friend’s bravery.

“Because I knew a real hero, the kind of man who made the world a better place by just being himself. His real name was Mohammed and he was my unit’s translator on my last deployment.” He hesitated, unsure how much she knew about it. While it had made the local news he’d only been the media’s flavor of the moment for a few days. Other, bloodier and sexier stories soon pushed him out of the limelight. Plus he’d refused to give any interviews so they’d quickly become bored with his silence. “He was there when the bomb went off.”

“The bombing that happened in the village outside of Herat in Afghanistan?”

“Yeah.”

She slipped her hand into his, and he welcomed the warmth of her touch. “Was he hurt?”

“He died saving me. The suicide bomber had an escort, and that escort grabbed Mo to make sure he died. The Taliban have a special hatred for men they view as being traitors. It didn’t matter to him that Mo’s family came over from Iran to the US in the sixties. They looked at him and saw one of their countrymen helping the enemy. We had to pay the locals enormous amounts of money to work for us, but Mo was as American as you and me. He wrestled for his high school, had a job as a lifeguard in the summer, and was even on the prom court. When the Marine recruiter came to his high school he signed up on the spot and his parents were so damn proud of him.”

He blew out a harsh breath through his nose but the torrent of words wouldn’t stop. “I went to visit his parents after I got out of the hospital and as I talked to them I couldn’t understand why God took him instead of me. He had a family who loved him, a girl waiting at home for him, and a future.” The injustice of it spun through his mind like a tornado of broken glass, slicing him from the inside out. “He’d never even been on a goddamn plane before he enlisted!” His voice cracked and he swallowed back the tears. God, how he fucking hated crying and he’d be damned if he’d shed a tear in front of Hope. “You don’t need to hear this shit.”

“Tell me what happened.”

In the dark, surrounded by Hope’s warmth, he held onto her tight, using her body as an anchor to keep him from slipping too far back into the memories. “We were about one month away from going home. Our tour had already been extended once, and we were all so fucking ready to leave the sandbox behind and get back home to the States. I just kept my mind focused on the party my grandparents would throw me when I got back. They would stuff me with food and I could take a real, honest to god shower and get some puss...er...get some sleep.”

She laughed softly, her breath stirring the hair on his arm. “I’m sure.”

“Hope, are you sure you want to hear this? I mean, this isn’t exactly a fairy tale bedtime story.”

“Yes, Danny, I want to know what happened.” She pressed a kiss to his arm curled around her. “I’m a good listener and I lo...care about you. Please tell me. Demons are a lot easier to deal with when they don’t have the shadows of your mind to hide in anymore.”

The defensive, unsure part of his mind wanted to yell at her that it was none of her business, to leave him the hell alone and stop trying to work her psychobabble bullshit on him. Fortunately, his heart and soul reminded him that if he planned on being with Hope for any length of time he had to be as open with her as he wanted her to be with him. He’d seen firsthand what happened to his buddies who tried to protect their wives from what they’d seen by closing themselves off and trying to pretend the war had never happened; it was impossible and often led to divorce.

Her whisper soft voice broke him out of his thoughts. “Trust me, Danny, I’m strong enough to take whatever you need to give.”

Closing his eyes, he allowed the memories to take him away and began his story.

[Two years ago.]

Daniel shook his head in disgust as his buddy, Mercer, opened yet another package of Big League Chew bubble gum. Within seconds, he was surrounded by a group of Afghani children, all holding out their hands and asking for gum. Mercer’s mom had sent him fifty bags of that god-awful sugary gum, but the local kids loved it and Daniel wasn’t about to begrudge them a treat their poverty-stricken parents would never be able to afford. Besides, Mercer had three rug rats of his own at home, and being around smiling kids helped ease the ache of missing his own children.

Their giggles and laughter mixed with the rough rumble of out of tune engines and the rapid speech of the people around them. Despite living in what probably seemed like an unending war, the people of Afghanistan went about their lives. There were crops to be harvested, livestock to be sold, and merchandise to be peddled to the Americans. Everyday a steady stream of workers made their way into the small base, part of the Marines’ program designed to show the locals the Americans weren’t the boogeymen the Taliban liked to say they were. One of the biggest fears humanity had was fear of the unknown, and the Marines did their best to show the Afghan people Americans were human beings just like them.

Sweat dripped down his face and he shifted his grip on his M4 carbine. He shouldn’t be out here today on his day off, but his buddy Hemlick’s wife was having their baby, and they’d all shifted around the workload so he could stay on the computer with her and watch via webcam as she delivered at the local hospital outside Camp Lejeune. North Carolina. Still, Daniel couldn’t help but wish she’d decided to give birth on one of the rare cloudy and cool days. While he was wishing, he decided to also wish for some rain to cut down on the dust that covered everything.

He swore that sometimes he even pissed dust.

He scanned the line of wagons and a few cars waiting to get through their checkpoint to travel further into the village and closer to the base of operations. His men thoroughly and effectively searched each vehicle with the precision of long practice. Each member of his team was a seasoned vet and each knew the terrible consequences of being sloppy.

A line of pedestrians stood to the left waiting to get through, mostly men, with a few burka-covered women here and there. All the homes and businesses in this poor section of the country were made of the traditional mud bricks. The only color came from the wares being displayed out front or the occasional green tree growing in someone’s courtyard. Everything else seemed to be just another shade of brown, blending into the rocky hills surrounding them.

Something cut through his wandering thoughts, something that made his heartbeat speed up. Like most seasoned Marines he’d learned a long time ago to listen to his gut, the reptilian part of his brain that told him when danger was near even if his conscious mind hadn’t picked it up yet. Adrenaline raced through his bloodstream, sharpening his senses as he tried to figure out what had tripped his internal alarms.

He scanned the area, searching faces and bodies for some hint of danger. A quick glance showed him Mercer now standing alone, chewing on a wad of gum. Their gazes met and Mercer spat the gum out and made his way to his side, dodging a man on his donkey as he rode past. Daniel signaled for him to come over.

“You smell somethin’ funny?”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t know what.” He was aware of the villagers watching them and switched to hand signs, signaling Mercer to take the left while he took the right. They slowly walked the line, keeping out of the way of the men doing their inspections but giving a visual double check. After doing a complete circuit, they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck and tried to shake the tension out of his arms. His hands hurt from gripping his gun so hard. Mercer joined him. “I didn’t see anything unusual. Then again, to a boy from Missouri just ‘bout everything here is unusual.”

The line inched forward and an elderly man driving a truck old enough to be in a stateside museum trundled past, grinding the gears as he took his load of sheep east. Both men waved away the puff of dirty exhaust, and Daniel wished for the millionth time he could have a real shower when he got back to camp, not the bullshit portable showers they had at their temporary base. The first thing he would do when his rotation was over in two months was take an hour-long shower, preferably with a woman.

His gaze skipped to the burka-covered women again and he tried to imagine what they looked like underneath all that cloth. He understood why the women wore their burkas. Out here in the countryside, they’d be shamed or even killed for showing too much skin, but he still couldn’t understand how they stood this heat. One of the women was obviously pregnant; he could see the rounded bulge of her belly pressing against the pale blue cloth of her robe, and his sympathy doubled. She even had to wear the gloves that some of the more strict households insisted their women wear so not one inch of skin was visible.

That sense of something wrong tickled at his brain again and he took a deep breath, trying to settle his nerves. The young man with the pregnant woman glanced at her and patted her shoulder before leaning down and saying something. Daniel looked closer at him, noting the tightness of his expression and the way he kept licking his upper lip.

“Mercer, follow me.”

“Trouble?”

“I’m not sure.” He hesitated and rubbed his mouth. “That couple, five people back, are acting kinda twitchy.”

Mercer frowned. “The kid with his pregnant wife?”

“Yeah. He could be using her as some kind of shield to throw us off.”

“Got it. Let’s go cut them from the herd.”

Mercer whistled and signaled to the other men that they might have a problem. No one visibly reacted but, behind their dark sunglasses, Daniel knew all eyes were on him. One of the reasons they’d chosen this spot for the checkpoint was the empty courtyard off the road where they could conduct inspections. Hopefully, they could herd the guy into the courtyard and away from the rest of the crowded road. He felt bad for the man’s wife and prayed they didn’t have to kill him in front of her.

They closed in on the couple and the people around them stepped back, clearing a circle in the crush of humanity around them. Their translator, Mo, joined Daniel and Mercer a moment later, his dark face filled with worry beneath his helmet. In an “it’s a small fucking world” moment, Daniel had discovered Mo grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, right outside of Detroit and they knew some of the same people. Their gazes met and Daniel could see his apprehension reflected in Mo’s dark eyes.

The couple huddled together and the fear in the young man’s face was plain to anyone who looked at him. Daniel tried to keep his expression calm, but all the alarm bells in his head were blaring full blast now. Yeah, the guy could be scared because armed men surrounded him, but he didn’t like how the young man kept moving slightly as if trying to move them closer to the checkpoint. A slight tremble went through the woman and she whispered to her husband, her voice surprisingly deep.

Mercer pressed his gun into the young man’s back while Daniel kept his trained on the woman. In that moment he hated the military for putting him in this position, hated he had to threaten a woman with violence. After watching his mom get slapped around for pretty much his whole life, the thought of shooting an unarmed woman made him nauseous. She clutched at her stomach and Daniel wanted to reassure her no harm would come to her or her unborn child, but he didn’t know the words so he turned to Mo.

“Hey, man, tell her we aren’t going to hurt her or her baby. We want to ask her husband a couple questions.”

Mo relayed the information and the husband said something in return. As they talked the woman kept on massaging her stomach and Daniel wondered if she was going into labor. She certainly looked big enough to pop out a kid any moment and he hoped they wouldn’t have to call one of their female corpsman in to help with the birth.

The crowd continued to press back from them until they now had at least five feet of space on all sides, something unheard of on this busy street.

Mercer said in a low voice, “I wonder if they know something is up.”

“Not sure.” The words came out in a low grunt as he turned his attention from the woman to the street and back. As he did he noticed something odd about the way she kept touching her belly. She appeared to be poking part of it repeatedly with her finger, hard. He was no doctor, but he was sure that wasn’t good for the baby.

Mo returned to them and nodded to the young man. “He’ll come with us for questioning, but he doesn’t want any man touching his wife.”

“All right,” Daniel said as he kept watching the woman. She reached up to straighten her burka and he caught sight of a very male, hairy forearm.

“Fuck!” he yelled and raised his gun at the figure in the burka. “Suicide bomber! Run!”

His shot took the figure in the head, but it was already too late.

The spray of blood arched through the bright sunlight, each drop visible before it dropped into the dry dust of the road. Screams filled the air and Mercer turned and ran, joining the crowd surging away from the body still falling to the ground like sheep fleeing a wolf. Time slowed down until he felt as if he watched the scene before him on television. He tried to move to pause it, to stop the movie, but he was powerless.

Before his horrified eyes, he watched Mo wrestle with the young man, struggling to run away. He turned the barrel of his gun on the young man, but Mo blocked his shot. He had the disorienting sense of being two people, one watching the scene from a bird’s eye view and the other trapped in his body. Each showed the same thing, Mo falling to the ground with the young man wrapped around his legs.

He finally managed to get a clear view and shot the young man in the back as Mo tried to kick him off. The muscles of his legs surged into motion as he leapt across the space separating them and grabbed Mo’s arm, trying to pull him out from beneath the young man’s weight.

Mo jerked his arm away and pushed Daniel, his lips peeling back from his teeth as he screamed, “Run!”

Everything attained a terrible clarity as he heard the dull whomp of the explosion milliseconds before the blast wave threw him head first into a building hard enough to crack his helmet. He was sheltered from the brunt of the blast by Mo’s body covering his. The building around him shook and someone kept yelling his name, but he was frozen, unable to move beneath the dead weight of Mo’s body.

As he lay there his mother’s voice filled his mind with burning venom.

‘Always your fault, Daniel. I’d be someone if I hadn’t gotten pregnant with you, your fault. We wouldn’t have to move if you hadn’t done something to make your teacher think I was abusing you, your fault. No one wants a woman with a kid, your fault. You ate all the food in the house, you greedy little bastard, your fault. You got sick on purpose so I couldn’t go party, your fault. Always your fault, Daniel. You’re like the world’s worst luck charm and you’re hung around my neck, strangling me with your whining. I don’t love you and it’s all your fault.’

His fault...everything was always his fault.

“Oh Danny Boy, none of that was your fault. You might as well blame the sun for rising that day as blame yourself. And as far as your mother is concerned...Let’s just say I find it very hard to be a forgiving woman with her.”

“Thanks,” his voice came out strangled with unshed tears and he tried again. “Thanks for listening. You’re the only person I’ve talked to about this other than the military shrink.”

“Thank you for trusting me with your story. It honors me you feel comfortable enough with me to share what happened.” She squeezed his hand. “Uh, can you lighten up your grip a bit? I’d like to be able to use my hand tomorrow.”

He immediately released her and closed his eyes against his shame. “Sorry.” After the memories he’d just relived he looked around and ground himself, to remind his mind he was safe and no longer in Afghanistan. He felt purged, like something festering in his soul had been lanced.

Moving slowly, Hope leaned up on her knees so her breasts were level with his face and placed a hand on his shoulder. Tracing the side of his neck, she ran her finger down one of the scars covering his torso. “Is this from the attack?”

“Yeah. The blast threw me into a wall head first. I’m lucky it didn’t break my neck instead of my skull. There are a bunch of shrapnel wounds, too.”

She made a soft sound of sorrow before gently placing her lips on the scar. “Where else did you get hit?”

It took him a moment to respond, her concern touching him more than he could explain. No one had ever tried to kiss away his pain, certainly not his mother. She’d usually been too high to do much for any bump or scrape he’d had as a kid. Unable to deal with the intensity of his feelings he gave a sarcastic laugh and said, “Why? You gonna kiss all my boo boos?”

“Yes.”

Unnerved, he tried to push himself off the bed. “Hope, that’s enough.”

She grabbed his face between her hands and gazed into his eyes. “Let me do this.”

“Why?”

“Because, in case you haven’t noticed, I care about you. And when you care about someone, their pain is your pain.” She released his face and gave his jaw a fleeting caress. “Please, Danny, I need to try to make it better in any way I can.”

“Fine.” He pulled his shirt off and turned on the bedside light. Soreness shot through his head as his eyes adjusted to the light. He shut them and leaned back against the curved headboard of the bed. “You want to see, well here it is.”

She made no response other than a soft exhalation of air. He tried not to flinch when her finger traced over his forearm. “How did this happen?”

“Concertina wire. I got caught in a dust storm and stumbled into a bundle that hadn’t been secured properly.”

A moment later her soft lips placed a trail of kisses over the scars.

“And this?” He twitched as she touched a ticklish spot on his ribs.

“Back after Katrina, we were sent down to help. We were searching a flooded house and something in the water caught me. I didn’t even notice it but the next day it got infected and I ended up getting pumped full of antibiotics for the two weeks to try and kill off whatever I picked up from that nasty ass water.”

This time she gave him a long, wet lick with her tongue instead of chaste kisses. His body’s reaction was an immediate rush of blood to his groin. Embarrassed, he started to pull back but she stopped him with her hands on his hips. “Turn around.”

He pushed off the headboard and complied and couldn’t help his flinch at her soft gasp. “My body armor protected my torso from the brunt of the blast, but some managed to get through.”

“Some,” she said in a shocked whisper. “Good God. What is this black stuff?”

“It used to be a tattoo.”

She touched his back lightly and, with the damaged nerves, it felt odd. “It reminds me of when I was a kid and I’d take some silly putty and put it over the Sunday comics. You’d get a reverse copy of the image and then you could stretch it out and make it look all funky. That’s what your back looks like.”

“Thanks,” he said in a dry voice.

She lightly smacked his butt. “You know what I mean.”

“Are we done with show and tell now?”

“No.” Her hands dipped lower and she pushed at the edge of his pants. “Your scars go lower.”

He started to protest, but she began to softly kiss him all over his back. Warmth spread through him and his battered soul soaked up her affection. The bed squeaked slightly then her body pressed against his, her arms wrapping around his chest as she laid her head on his shoulder. She began to kiss his neck and he struggled with himself, wanting her touch so badly but afraid of the consequences. He was afraid of hurting her with his need, of taking advantage of her warmth and kind heart.

Afraid of being unworthy of the love of a good woman.

When she licked at his earlobe, his dick jumped in response but her touch held him in place better than any chains. He wanted her so badly his balls ached. With each stroke of her mouth, each pass of her tongue against his skin, he lost himself to her. It had always been this way between them, an attraction so strong he could no more resist it than the ocean could resist the pull of the moon.

She reached around his chest, her touch playing with the hard sections of his abdominal muscles, pulling lightly at the thin line of hair leading down to his aching erection. His head fell back, and he gasped when she slipped her hand beneath the edge of his pants.

“Hope...”

He meant to tell her to stop, but the soft sigh of pure pleasure she made when she touched him let him know she needed this as well. He craved her, wanted her touch more than he’d ever needed anything in the world. Her fingertips played with the hair around his throbbing erection and he bit back a growl. The way she teased him with just her fingertips had his stomach clenching. Despite having come less than five minutes ago, he was as ready and needy as ever. Nothing would satisfy him until he was deep inside of that hot, sweet pussy.

She leaned over and turned off the lamp before pushing him back on the bed. He could have resisted her, should have resisted her, but he’d been wishing for this moment for over ten years. All the logic in the world didn’t hold any weight against the power of his heart. With slow, careful movements she straddled him and ran her hands over his chest, following the shape of his pectoral muscle before giving his nipple a hard tweak.

He growled and she laughed in response, leaning down to lick away the sting in a manner that had him clutching her hips. God she felt good, so soft and feminine. He’d always loved a woman with meat on her bones, and Hope was round in all the right places. Running his hands over her shoulders, he tried to gain access to her breasts, but she pushed his hands away and pinned them over his head.

This put her breasts dangling above his face, and he lifted his head to capture one hard tip between his lips, sucking on it through the thin cloth of her gown. Her hands convulsed on his wrists, keeping him an all-too-willing prisoner. He switched his attention to the other breast, nipping at the tip until she squirmed against his cock. The gown soon stuck to her nipples from the moisture of his mouth. When she released his wrists, he sat up, supporting her back as she pulled the gown down so it pooled around her waist.

The dusky velvet of her nipples begged for his lips and he obliged, teasing and tormenting her flesh until she ground her sweet pussy in hard circles on his lap, stroking his cock until he thought he would go mad with need. The pounding of blood into his groin almost reached the point of pain, but he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Hope and making her feel good.

She reached between them and slipped her hand down his pajama pants, grasping him firmly in her hand and lifting her hips. He refused to release her breast and sucked hard in time with her smooth strokes of his cock, each pull bringing him closer to the edge. Her thumb swirled around the head of his dick, spreading the moisture around and coaxing more out. The scent of her arousal perfumed the air and he released her nipple, intent on tasting her again.

Before he could move her, she managed to tug his pants down enough to free his cock. Holding his throbbing erection in one hand, she lifted her gown with the other and rubbed him against the soaking wet slit of her pussy.

Lust burst through him like a bomb, and he struggled not to get lost in it.

“Hope...”

She slid the tip of his shaft through her pussy lips, momentarily derailing his thoughts. God, how he wanted to bury himself in her, to feel her slick walls clamp down on him, to finally have the honor of being inside of her, but he managed to growl out one word, “Condom.”

“I’m on birth control and I’m clean.” She pressed her hot, slippery core against him.

“I’m clean,” he whispered. “And if I’m not inside of you soon, I think I’m going to die.”

“Look at me.”

He focused on her face and their gazes locked as she slowly sank down on his shaft. The intensity of the moment combined with the overwhelming pleasure of her body welcoming him made it a struggle to keep his eyes open but he somehow managed. In the dim light he could see her bite her lower lip and as she sank down at an unbearably slow pace. When the last inch of his cock was seated inside of her they froze like that, locked together in the most intimate way a man can be with a woman.

“Don’t let me hurt you.”

She smiled at him and leaned down, brushing her lips against his and whispered, “I won’t.”

His heart thundered in his chest and he lifted her by her hips, pulling her up until he was almost out of the heat of her body, then easing her back down. Her hot core clung to him and he groaned deep in his throat, rocking his pelvis against hers tearing a gasp from her. He did it again, raising her up and bringing her back down at his own pace, refusing to let her move as she wanted. Her breath came out in a short burst each time he buried himself in her, and he sat up further, making sure her clit ground against the hair above his cock.

Her little panting moans stroked his already out of control arousal and he released her hips, putting his hands beneath her knees, giving her a hard surface to push against.

“Ride me.”

She braced her hands on his shoulders and rubbed her body against his with each gliding movement. Being inside of her was like being massaged with the most exquisite oil-soaked silk, so perfect. With a small twist of her hips she began to increase her movements, throwing her head back and gasping his name over and over again.

The bed creaked softly as he began to meet her thrusts with his own, the world narrowing down to the sensation of her taking him, the rhythm of their bodies and breath becoming one. Her nails dug into his shoulders and her movements became harsh, her hips snapping against him. The need to come overwhelmed him but he held back, his whole body shaking with the effort. Then her unbearably tight pussy contracted hard around him like a fist gripping his cock and he could hold back no more.

She screamed her release and he sat fully up, grabbing her hips and forcing her to move in the final strokes that would bring him over the edge. Soft, tight, wet, Hope...these disjointed thoughts fired through his brain and his cock grew unbearably hard a moment before his orgasm detonated somewhere deep in his belly and blew outwards, tearing him apart from the inside out.

Each spurt inside of her tore a groan from him and she hugged him close, moving her hips in tiny circles that threatened to make him pass out from the pleasure. So fucking good...

He didn’t realize he’d spoken those words aloud until her warm breath tickled against his ear as she said, “Yes, so fucking good.”

They remained like that, bound together by skin, sweat, and something so powerful he couldn’t give it a name. Eventually, she lifted herself from him and rolled over with a soft moan.

Guilt harshed his afterglow. “Shit, your ankle. I’m such a bastard. Are you okay?”

She flung an arm over his chest. “Of course I’m okay.” She giggled and let out a long sigh. “Who knew that sex works even better than drugs for dulling pain.”

Relieved, he placed a kiss on her smooth cheek and got up. “I’ll be right back.”

After cleaning himself up, he grabbed a towel and wet a washcloth with hot water. Returning to bed, he gently cleaned her, loving how she purred beneath his touch. God, how she tempted him to take her again, but they had to sleep. Moving reluctantly away, he tossed the towel and washcloth into the laundry basket and went back to bed, exhaustion finally setting in as his body relaxed.

The moment he reached the edge of the bed, she pulled him down next to her, making sure the pillows were beneath his head and the sheet tucked around his body. His heart ached and he tried to remember the last time anyone had tucked him in. Unable to voice his thanks, he pulled her down next to him and helped her maneuver her foot back up onto the mound of pillows at the foot of the bed. After some wriggling around they both found comfortable positions and let out a long sigh at the same time, making them both laugh.

Each beat of his heart spread contentment and joy through his body and he marveled at the miracle he held in his arms. She stroked his arm where it wrapped around her and gave another deep sigh, reminding him of the boneless way cats relaxed into being stroked. Her breathing evened out until he was pretty sure she was asleep.

He tried to tell himself that he would just get a few hours rest, just a little bit of time enjoying the comfort of Hope’s embrace, but soon all thoughts vanished and he fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.