CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Amelia
The afternoon had been an absolute nightmare — if I was putting it lightly.
Trevor was a creep. The underlying threat he’d made so obvious in his voice as he smiled at me and tried to reassure me that everything was fine had made me feel vulnerable. Like I wasn’t really strong enough, with my idiot brother, my clueless mother, and my sick father, to handle the shit storm that was brewing on his watch.
It’d been an ugly feeling, to say the least.
And then this giant of a man had come crashing through the door like some well-dressed knight in shining armor and had literally put that moron in his place with a well-designed business card belonging to some high-powered lawyer that Trevor obviously recognized. He’d backed off quickly then.
Another pass of Declan’s strong fingers through my hair pulled any and all thoughts of Trevor from my head and put them squarely where they belonged — on the man who’d called himself my boyfriend. He’d called me his girlfriend before, but that had been to a physician in the privacy of his apartment. This had been different. I’d nearly swallowed my tongue when he said it, and it took every bit of acting skill I possessed not to let my eyes bug out of my head.
And the feeling it created had been… warm. Before I got too comfortable to revel in it, though, I reminded myself of two things. One, he’d probably just said that to scare off Trevor. And two, as I always had to remind myself, this was temporary. I didn’t have a future working part-time in Boston for very much longer. I had a lot more I wanted to accomplish in other places.
I closed my eyes and moaned when his fingers started squeezing my scalp, no longer running through my hair, but actually massaging the sensitive skin on my head.
Realizing how loud I’d just been, I grinned, my face growing hot, wondering if my moan had been as loud to him as it had been to me. Seconds later, when I felt a sudden swell near the back of my head, I realized that not only had he heard me, he appreciated it. Probably not nearly as much as I’d appreciated the amazing beef stew, television date, and head massage I was getting — but, um, still. His appreciation was very clear.
And my momma always told me I should say thank you nicely to anyone who was kind in return. She probably didn’t mean it the way my libido was meaning it, but…
His fingers made another pass through my hair, and I pushed myself into a sitting position, ready to show my appreciation. Declan watched as I adjusted until I was on my knees beside him.
I didn’t hesitate much before leaning forward and grasping his face in my hands, then pressing my mouth to his. There was something about Declan that awoke this gnawing hunger in my stomach — this need to touch and to feel and to taste him. To memorize the way he smelled, to learn how he liked to be touched, to teach him how I liked to be touched.
His mouth moved against mine, and it wasn’t long before he’d taken control of the kiss, gripping the back of my head and turning me to get a better angle.
Declan was an amazing kisser, so it wasn’t much of a struggle to let him lead. After a few moments of his gentleness, I wrangled control back from him by straddling him, my knees on both sides of his hips.
I felt him, his urgency, right at my very center, and despite feeling like I was in control for this one, things got heated really quickly.
“Fuck, baby,” he breathed against my mouth as my hips ground against him. The jolt of electricity it shot through me had me grasping his shoulders tighter, and I’d gone from half-asleep while getting a head massage to nearly tearing the man’s clothing off in the space of half a minute. That was the magic Declan Casey did to me on a regular basis.
Needing to feel his skin, I pulled his t-shirt up, and Declan raised his arms to make it easier for me. My hands went everywhere, down the rounded muscles on his shoulders and across the sculpted pecs that teased from beneath the fitted button-down shirts he wore so perfectly.
His tongue became more aggressive as the magic I was making worked him just as hard. In no time, my sweatshirt and tank top were tossed on the floor behind me, and I found myself in nothing more than a tiny pair of running shorts and a black lace bra.
Declan tore from my mouth and pressed his lips to the swell on the top of my breast, sucking and nipping just enough to leave a small, red bruise.
“Did you just give me a hickey?” I laughed as I asked it, astonished that a man like him was capable of such a thing. His throaty chuckle was sexy as hell.
“Just claiming what’s mine,” he said before moving to the other breast and leaving a similar mark. I should have been pissed at the audacity, but it turned me the hell on. I was wild for him at that point and ground myself even harder against him.
The pained groan I got from Declan let me know I was torturing him in all the right ways, and when he practically tossed me to the side, so he could get his own sweatpants and boxer briefs off before removing my shorts and panties, I was lost.
When he pulled a condom from the pocket before tossing them to the side, I grinned. “Prepared much?”
He grinned and rolled it on. “Prepared always.”
I figured we’d move to his bedroom or try the floor, but he must have been inspired by the position I started us in because his large hands were back around my waist and lifting me to straddle him. With my knees comfortably adjusted, he positioned himself at my entrance.
“Ride me, baby.”
Staring into his eyes, I sank down on him, hissing a sharp breath through my teeth as my body adjusted to not only his size but the position itself. I groaned at the exquisite fullness.
Fully seated, I held still a moment while I got used to the feeling of him being so deep inside me. Sneaking a glance through my lashes, I noticed that Declan was looking tense too. It was certainly gratifying to see that I was affecting him as much as he was affecting me.
“Don’t move, Amelia,” he ground through clenched teeth.
I opened my eyes and blinked at him. “Why?”
“Because this is a memory I want to burn in my psyche. I want this moment to last me the rest of my life.” His hands skimmed up my thighs, my hips, my belly, not stopping until they were on my breasts. “It’s too perfect. You’re too perfect. I want to feel this forever.”
The words were intense and heavy, and instead of turning me off, they turned me way the hell on. There was no stopping me once I started moving against him, his strong hands squeezing my ass, helping me to lift and lower, faster and faster.
His head dipped and took one of my nipples in his mouth, and I nearly flew off the sofa at the sensation of his hot tongue on the tight bud. I must have moaned, because his grip on me tightened and he pushed harder into me, raking a line of friction directly against my sensitive clit.
It was so much. Too much. His fingers, his mouth, his cock. The way he looked at me. The way he mumbled my name. The way he smelled. We smelled. Every one of my senses were in overload.
He nibbled down my neck, his teeth closing over the sensitive arch where the curve met my shoulder. Fingers digging into my ass, he moved me higher, faster, changing the angle until my nerves lit up and pleasure like I’d never known sizzled and burned.
He bit me, and I gasped, his mouth sliding back up to my jaw, where he sucked on my lower lip, each pull in perfect time to the rhythm of his thrusts.
Oh… oh… oh!
I wailed as the orgasm exploded through me, and Declan cursed as my body gripped him harder as I trembled through the assault. His hands worked me up and down, faster and faster, building the friction as my climax went on and on and on.
I was sobbing, but he continued to move as he chased his own release. His face was a mask of intensity as he claimed me. “Again, baby,” he panted against my mouth. “Come for me again.”
Again?
I couldn’t… surely. But as his thrusts grew even more desperate, his thumb on my clit more urgent, I knew I was close and moving closer.
He leaned forward and took a nipple into his mouth… and bit. Hot pain flared, triggering the most erotic pleasure, and my second orgasm claimed me, hitting me like a wave on a rocky shore.
It hit Declan too, I knew because his face twisted into a beautiful agony, and he roared, driving me down on him harder, working me up and down, the friction more intense, almost too much as the climax went on and on.
I screamed, unable to stop the release of sound from escaping from my burning lungs. It was too much, yet I knew it would never be enough.
***
“Amelia, honey, we’re in the emergency room.”
I could hardly comprehend my mother’s words. I’d just finished a lunch shift on a Wednesday afternoon after a crappy start to the week. My father’s work truck, parked safely in the driveway last we’d seen it, had been set on fire sometime in the early hours of Monday morning. A detective from the local precinct had left me a voicemail message yesterday, and now this.
I sucked in a breath and squeezed my eyes shut, my legs knowing where to take me to get me out the back door to the small space that had a few picnic tables for employee breaks.
“What’s happening?”
I almost didn’t want to hear the answer, but I held my breath. I’d just seen him yesterday evening. The two of them had met Declan and me at the restaurant for a dinner that Finn ended up joining us for. It’d turned out great, despite my misgivings that Declan and my father might end up in some alpha male battle. But no, Declan had been the perfect gentleman, and my father had been gracious.
Not once had I thought something was amiss, despite the obvious. But the call sent my fragile, naive sense of peace shattering into pieces.
“He had trouble breathing overnight, so we called Dr. Stevens this morning, and he had us come into the office,” she said, her words steady and calm. I heard the sound of footsteps and voices in the background. “His oxygen levels were really low, and they wanted him in right away. He’s getting a room on the fourth floor in a couple hours, and then you can come see him. They’re discouraging visitors right now because he’s resting.”
I couldn’t speak for a long moment.
“Honey, are you still there?”
Drawing in an uneven breath, I finally answered her. “Yeah, Mom. Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “I’ll be there as soon as you let me know, okay?”
She agreed to call me as soon as I could visit before disconnecting the call.
I sat in shock a few moments, unsure how normal life was supposed to go on when all I could think about was my father likely hooked to breathing machines and my mother trying to hold herself together and put on a brave face for the love of her life. I closed my eyes and dropped my face in my hands, willing myself to be calm. To think positive thoughts. To…
My phone rang, making me nearly jump out of my skin. It was Declan. I considered calling him back in a few minutes after I’d calmed down, but I also knew that Declan would worry.
“Hey,” I said, trying way too hard to keep my voice chipper.
Of course, he saw through it right away. “What’s wrong, baby?”
Oh, my heart. It threatened to explode out of my chest when he called me that.
“It’s my dad.” I cleared my throat again, the emotion threatening to choke me. “He’s in the ER at Brigham and Women’s because he had trouble breathing. They’re keeping him for a day or two until his O2 levels are better.”
“Where are you?”
I looked up at my view. The water of the wharf was a few feet away, and I watched the sun dancing off the small waves created by the wind.
“I’m leaving work,” I said. “I was going to shower and change and then go see him when they called me later.”
“I’m on my way,” he said. “I’ll meet you out front in five minutes.”
Declan didn’t let me argue with him, and true to his word, he’d found a way to make it to the front of The Capstone in his sexy looking sports car, coming all the way from the business district, in six minutes flat.
He jogged around the car as soon as it came to a stop, put my face in both of his hands, and gave me a kiss before helping me into the passenger side.
As we drove away, I thought to myself that on any other day, I’d consider myself the luckiest girl in Boston.