Zeke

I climbed out of the shower, slung a towel around my hips, and headed to my room. My place was a converted warehouse and there weren’t many other residential properties around me, mainly businesses and storage, which is what I liked about it. I’d converted one side into a spacious, open living area. The other side I’d walled off and used as a garage and workout room. My bedroom was a mezzanine at the far end. I wasn’t a fan of the dark, not when I woke up most nights in a panic. If I could see where I was, my head cleared faster. So I’d built up, positioning my bed under the large sky window that had already been there. I got the glow of street lights lighting the place up at night and woke up with the sun.

An image of Sunny in my bed, the sun making her blond hair glow, flashed through my head. Fuck.

I tried to shove the image back out. Thinking about her wasn’t a good idea.

Yeah. Shit. Who was I kidding, I hadn’t stopped thinking about Sunny. Every time I closed my eyes I saw her straddling me. Her bare smooth skin. The way she looked in nothing but that necklace. Fuck, I was positive I could still hear the sound of all those bracelets she wore, clanking together when she moved, the way they felt on my back, the contrast between her hot skin and cool silver.

Then there was all that wild blond hair.

Her vanilla scent.

How sensitive she was, the way she’d arched and tugged on my hair when I put my mouth between her soft thighs.

Honesty, I was having trouble believing it actually happened, that it wasn’t some insanely realistic dream or my fucked-up mind conjuring her when I needed her most. A goddamn angel. She’d pulled me from the edge that night and she didn’t even know it. Sunny had no idea what she’d done for me, how close to self-destruction I’d been before she sat on that stool beside me.

Sunny had been a shooting star through my endlessly starless night. A flash of brilliant light in the darkness.

Perfect, but fleeting.

And now I was a goddamn poet.

I couldn’t have her, still I’d done some snooping. I had to. I had to make sure she was safe, that she was taken care of. What I found just peaked my curiosity more.

Jesus. She’d done okay without me for twenty-seven years. I had to stop thinking about her, wondering if she was okay.

Drying off, I got dressed and headed back down to the living room, which was just a big rug in the middle of the open floor space, a couple leather couches, a flat screen, and a coffee table. Across from that was a galley-style kitchen. I’d put it in myself. It wasn’t huge, but it was all I needed. I was grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge when my phone rang.

As soon as I saw who it was, that ever-present feeling of guilt increased a whole hell of a lot more.

I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Ma.”

“So you are alive then?”

“Yeah.” Only just.

“You don’t answer your phone now? I’ve been worried sick.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about.” The same empty words I said every time we spoke.

She sighed. “I miss you, son. When are you coming home to visit?”

“Soon,” I lied.

Going back to Texas was the last thing I wanted. I hadn’t been home for over year and I wasn’t in any hurry to head back.

“That’s horse shit and you know it,” she said.

My mother was never one to mince words and she had my number. “You and Dad come here. I’ll organize the flights.”

“It’s past time you came home, Zeke. And your father . . . well, I don’t think he’s up to flying.”

I stilled. “What do you mean?”

“He’s been a little under the weather.”

“Ma . . .”

“He’s fine. But it’d be nice to have you home. Promise me you’ll try?”

Shit. “I’ll see what I can do.”

We talked for a little longer then she had to go and get her peach pie out of the oven. My mother made the best peach pie in the known world. I was pretty sure she brought it up to try and lure me home faster. The truth was, I hated the idea. I hated being reminded of the life I thought I’d have before I served, of the family I’d wanted. We’d lived in New York for a few years when I was a teenager, for my father’s work, which was how I met Van and the other guys. But my folks had moved back to Texas as soon as they could. I’d always assumed I would, too. Now Roxford held nothing for me, not anymore. Nothing but a ghost life. Some other person’s ideal. A version of me that had been destroyed in Afghanistan. My family thought I was some kind of hero. I was anything but.

Grabbing my keys, I headed out. I had a job to do. An impossible debt to try and pay back, to the men I failed, and to their families.

Three hours later, I was in a biker bar with Jude and Van. Music blared from speakers around the room, so loud it was all I could hear. I spotted the guy we were here for and tilted my head, letting Jude know I’d IDed our guy. He elbowed Van in the ribs by way of passing on the information. Jude cracked his neck then his knuckles, and a smile spread across Van’s face that was evil as fuck. I wasn’t the only one keen for fight tonight. I didn’t know what their reasons were, but we’d come to the right place. The guy we’d come for, the president of a local motorcycle club, made sure he was never alone, and there was no way we were getting out of here with him without adding some of our blood to the scarred wooden floor. Fine by me.

I looked at Jude and held up three fingers, to count down. I’d only dropped two, when he turned, strode across the room, dragged our guy’s VP from his seat, and head-butted him, knocking him out cold. The room erupted and Van and I waded in.

We walked out thirty minutes later, bloody, and with not only our guy, but a bonus asshole we’d received paperwork on earlier that day.

“Not a bad fucking payday,” Jude said, slamming the back of the van shut after cuffing the two skips inside.

His lip was split and when he grinned his teeth were coated in blood.

“You better go get that checked out,” Van said motioning to Jude’s arm. “Human bites are germy as fuck.”

Jude glanced down and scowled. “What kind of asshole bites a man?”

Van shook his head in disgust and turned to me. “We’re gonna head to Mack’s after we drop these two off and get Godzilla here checked out. I need to let off some fucking steam. You in?”

I wasn’t the only one with a fuck ton of adrenaline pumping through me after that fight. Van and Jude never had any trouble finding a way to burn it off, which usually meant going out and finding some company for the night. They asked me along all the time, but I never went. I tended to frighten women away, not the other way around . . .

Except for Sunny.

She was different. She sure as hell hadn’t been frightened of me. Just thinking about her and my dick got hard.

Fuck.

I shook my head. “Catch you tomorrow.”

I got into my car, pulling out onto the street. My knuckles were busted and I could feel my eye swelling. I felt none of it, no pain, not with the adrenaline, the tension firing through me, the hard, driving need. I should go straight home, get in the shower, and jerk off until my dick was sore and I was so spent I could barely stand up, but that’s not what I was going to do. I was heading toward Sunny’s, I knew I was, and I knew why, even as I tried to pretend that I didn’t. Even as I told myself, if I did, I’d just drive by, I wouldn’t go in.

I didn’t allow myself to think about it, not even when I pulled up outside her place and stared up at her darkened bedroom windows, or when I climbed out and took the stairs to her front door. My breath was puffing from my lungs hard and fast. Shit, I’d been fighting the relentless urge to come and check on her for two days. Tonight, that urge couldn’t be denied. My fist was beating on her front door before my brain engaged and I changed my mind.

Leave. Turn around and get the fuck gone.

My boots stayed planted where they were. I wasn’t going anywhere.

A minute later the light behind the door flicked on.

I didn’t hear her feet on the floor as she approached the door. They’d be bare since she’d been in bed. I stared at the peephole, knowing she’d be looking out at me, and waited for her to make her decision.

Let me in or walk away.

The rattle of the locks came next and my blood fired faster, hotter, pumping through me. I kept my hands at my sides, fists clenching and unclenching restlessly. I could already feel her skin under my hands. Taste her on my tongue.

The door opened and she stood there, framed by light, hair wild, in nothing but a pale pink satin nightie. It hit high on her lush thighs, hugged her breasts. Her nipples puckered and I lifted my eyes to hers.

She sucked in a breath. “You’re hurt.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

She reached for the door frame then lifted a foot, resting it on top of the other. The way that delicate foot, with its yellow painted toenails, was slightly turned in, made my insides tighten.

Sexy, vulnerable, cute, fucking perfect. I almost pounced on her.

“Why are you here?” she whispered.

I didn’t answer, didn’t even try and keep my breathing even, showing her why I was there, letting her see how much I wanted her. Showing her exactly what she was in for if she stepped back and let me inside. Again, I waited for her to decide. Let me in or shut the door on my face.

I wouldn’t blame her if she told me to fuck off.

Her fingers tightened on the edge of the door, and for a moment I thought she was going to close it, but then she pushed it wider, and she was moving forward. She collided with my chest and I wrapped her in my arms. A growl tore from me as I lifted her off her feet, then again when she wrapped her legs around my waist. I carried her inside, kicking the door shut behind us, spun and pressed her against the wall, and not wasting a minute, slammed my mouth down on hers. Her lips parted for me instantly and I devoured her, sliding my tongue deep, taking, taking everything I needed. The heat of her body radiated through the thin scrap of silk and I felt a tremor move through me, so fucking intense there was no way she didn’t feel it.

“Need you naked,” I grunted against her lips then, gripping her ass tighter, carried her upstairs to her room.

I didn’t want to let her go, but I forced myself to put her on the bed and tore my shirt off over my head. I flung it across the room. “Come here, Sunny.” Christ, I needed her.

She rose up, walking to me on her knees on the mattress, stopping at the edge. I slid my hands down her body, taking that slip of silk in my hands and dragging it up her body, flinging it aside as well.

“Stand up,” I said.

She did as I asked, which brought her full, bare tits to mouth level. I cupped one in my hand and dove in, sucking a taught nipple into my mouth, my other hand going to her ass, holding her to me. Her head dropped back, all that soft hair tickled my forearm, my hand. Shit, I was surrounded by her softness, her vanilla scent, her moans of pleasure. Lifting her again, I took her down to the bed, covering her, shit, reveling in the feel of her hot skin, her softness against me. I kissed her again, until she was squirming under me, until her pussy, hot against my stomach, was so fucking wet, I couldn’t think straight.

I tore my mouth away from hers, which was not easy, and climbed off the bed, so I could kick off my boots and jeans. The way she looked, lying back on the bed, hair spread across the sheets, beautiful face alive and full of need, eyes bright with excitement, those insane curves exposed to me—I was struggling to breathe.

My cock was harder than I think it’d ever been in my life. I reached down and gripped it, squeezing, sliding my fist up and down the length to ease the throbbing ache. “Roll over, Sunshine,” I forced past the lust choking me. “Face down, knees wide for me, edge of the bed.” I couldn’t look into her eyes while I fucked her, not with the way I was feeling.

Her breathing turned erratic, her full breasts swaying with each inhale as she quickly did as I asked.

“Fuck.” It was barely a word, more a guttural sound that burst from the back of my throat. She was wet and pink and swollen and so damn ready for my cock.

I moved up behind her, then slid my hands up her spine and back down. Shit. I wanted inside her, right goddamn now . . . but I needed to taste her first, couldn’t stop myself. I dropped to my knees behind her and buried my face between her ass cheeks. She cried out in surprise then pressed back almost instantly. I wrapped my hands around her thighs, holding her where I wanted her, while I ate her, her pussy, her ass, close to losing my shit completely, listening to her cries and moans—the way she jerked and tore at the sheets when I shoved my tongue inside her and used my fingers on her clit, rubbing her fast.

She stilled, arching, forcing her ass higher, then she was screaming, pulsing against my mouth, coming nice and hard for me. She started to collapse on the mattress, so I stood, grabbed her hips, and hiked her back up, holding her where I wanted her, lined up my cock and . . .

“Shit, condom,” I gritted out.

She looked at me over her shoulder. “God, I don’t . . . I don’t have any, but I’m clean,” she said, voice full of need. “If you want to . . .” her voice trailed off.

Jesus, the idea of having her with no barriers made my dick throb harder. “I am, too, but are you sure? You’re covered?”

Her eyes were glazed with lust and at her small nod and rasped, “It’s fine. We’re okay.” I lost the tiny bit of control I was hanging onto and shoved home.

She stiffened, face twisting to the side, mouth open, a low moan bursting past her lips. “Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.”

“Brace, Sunny,” I growled.

Her fingers curled back into the sheets, her tongue sliding over her lower lip before she pressed her lips together.

Beautiful. I slid out then slammed back in. She cried out, getting off on what I was doing to her as much as I was.

“Gonna fuck you hard now, Sunshine.”

She started shaking. “I . . . I’m going to come again.”

“Yeah, you fuckin’ are,” I hissed through my teeth, then started pounding into her hard enough the bed shook, and the headboard was close to busting through the goddamn wall.

Sunny started coming again almost instantly, squeezing down so hard around my cock that bright lights were flashing behind my eyelids. I held off, just, pulled out, flipped her to her back then filled her again, grinding and fucking into her, my mouth fused with hers, tasting her cries, her pleas for more, and I gave it to her. I gave her more, I gave her everything.

I finally let myself go when she came again, when she screamed my name, her nails clawing at my back like they had the last time. I loved it. I wanted her marks on me. I wanted to look at them in the mirror and know she’d given them to me. That I’d pleased her, made her come so hard she’d lost control. That she’d given me everything as well.

I collapsed on top of her, still moving, but slower now, taking, giving, every last bit of pleasure there was to be had.

Her hands slid down my back, to my ass, and those nails dug in. I growled. She turned into me, mouth to my throat and she sucked on my skin, nipped, kissed her way up to my ear.

“I’ve never had sex like that before,” she said, husky and sexy as fuck.

I lifted, looked down at her. “Not finished yet.” She stared up into my eyes and I felt her shiver beneath me. “You good with that?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m good with that.”

I tried to tell myself I meant tonight only, but that would be lying. I had no idea why she wanted to spend time with me, why she opened her door to me tonight and let me have her again. I didn’t know her, she didn’t know me, and as much as I wanted to, I had no idea what went on in her head. One thing I was sure of, though—this hooking up with random assholes wasn’t something she did on a regular. She hadn’t been with anyone for three years before that first night with me. But for some screwed up reason, she wanted me, and I couldn’t walk away from that. Not yet.

So no, tonight wouldn’t be enough, not by a long shot.