Chapter Ten
Royce pulled Lauren into his lap to straddle him, the V of her body pressing against the thick ridge of his erection. He wanted this woman, wanted her like he had not wanted in a very long time. Wanted in a way like he’d never wanted. Her hair was soft on his face, and that damn vanilla and honey scent was driving him wild. So much of what she had told him had twisted him in knots. Her ex cheating on her explained the insecurity he’d seen in her, the fear of intimacy.
He drank her in, kissing her, making love to her with his tongue, and vowing to be the man who showed her just how sexy she truly was.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured against her mouth. “And your ex was a fool.”
“Royce, I”
He swallowed her words, working his hands under her shirt to her soft skin, not allowing her to reject his words, showing her how much he meant them. She reached behind him and tugged loose his hair, twining her fingers into it. Her touch was like silk and fire at the same time, soothing him even as she ignited his hunger. He touched her, filled his hands with her high, full breasts and shoved down her bra to tease her plump nipples.
She shifted on top of him, arching against his cock, and he moaned with the ache and pleasure that crashed into him. He tugged at her shirt. “Take it off.”
She leaned back and stared down at him, and he saw vulnerability wash over her face. He wrapped his fingers around her neck and pulled her mouth to his. “You. Are. Beautiful. And I want to feel you next to me.” He reached over his head and tugged his shirt off, trying to make her feel more comfortable by undressing first.
Her gaze swept his chest, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “You’re beautiful,” she said, her hands splaying over his pecs, his arms.
He kissed her, hard and fast, caressing her sides, her breasts, before easing her shirt up again. “Take it off. Let me feel you next to me.”
She pulled it over her head and tossed it and he cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples even as he unhooked the front clasp of her bra.
Her lashes fluttered, her hands covering his. He rolled her to the ground and eased her legs apart, settling his hips between her legs and going down on top of her.
Their eyes locked and held, the connection, the desire he felt with Lauren, expanding inside him, feeding a possessive need to pleasure her, to protect her, to hold her. He kissed her, trailed lips down her neck, taking his time until he lapped at one perky nipple, and suckled.
The soft sound she made, the twine of her fingers in his hair, worked a number on him. His zipper stretched, his cock throbbing uncomfortably. He lapped at the other nipple, scraped it lightly with his teeth, and then began a downward path to dip his tongue into her belly button, skimming her pants down her legs. He raised to his knees and pulled them off.
He smiled as he traced the dark triangle of hair, dipping his fingers between her thighs, and caressing the silky wet proof of how aroused she was. “No panties?”
She lifted up on her elbows, her cheeks flushed, pleasure etched on her face as he dipped a finger inside her, stroked her. “I don’t like panty lines,” she murmured.
“I hear ya,” he said. “Panty lines are a bitch.”
She laughed, her breasts jiggling with the action. Damn, she had nice breasts. High and full with pretty pink nipples. He pulled her sweats off her feet and took her socks with them. And why the hell her pink painted toenails seem to make him hotter and harder, he didn’t know. It was just Lauren. Everything about her turned him on.
He leaned in and kissed her clit. “Be right back.”
Royce sat up and yanked off his boots, then stood and made quick work of getting rid of the rest of his clothes, but not before he yanked a package of 3 condoms from his pocket.
She stared at it and he knew immediately what she was thinking. “I don’t walk around with condoms for easy access.” He tore one free from the package, reached down, and pulled her to her feet. “Blake shoved it in my hand as I was leaving the building. He’s a smart-ass, but for once I’m glad.” He tugged her to her feet. “You don’t want the floor. Carpet burn is a bigger bitch than panty lines.”
She laughed, and the soft, silky feminine sound was music to his ears. He settled onto the couch with her straddling him, his cock between them. He grabbed the condom. She covered his hand with hers. “Let me.” Her other hand wrapped his shaft, tightening around it, and her gaze dropped.
He let go of the package. “As much as I’m a guy who enjoys a woman’s attention to his cock, if you keep staring at me like that, I’m going to forget why I need that condom.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her head and kissed her. “I need to be inside you.”
She tore open the package and glanced up at him before rolling it over his cock. “Now, come here,” he said, the instant it was in place. He framed her hips with his hands and lifted her. She guided his cock to the slick heat of her sex, and pressed him inside her.
White-hot burn rushed over him, at the feel of her taking him, sliding down his length and taking all of him. When she’d taken him all, he fought the urge to move, to thrust, to take.
He kissed her, tasted her, devoured her, inhaled her. She tangled her hands back into his hair, her tongue dancing with his, and he felt her give herself to him. Felt the moment when she forgot everything but this, now, them.
Royce pressed her down against him and then thrust. She gasped into his mouth and arched into him. Slowly, they began to pump until wildness exploded in him, in her. They were moving faster, harder, hands everywhere, anywhere, and he still couldn’t get enough of her.
“Lean back, baby,” he said, wrapping an arm around her back and flattening his hand on her chest. “I got you.” The angle tightened her grip on his shaft and let him see her body, her face. “That’s it.” He caressed her breast, suckled her nipple, and then thrust hard into her. She moaned and held onto his hand as he began a steady, hard pump in and out of her, watching her breasts bounce, her expression shift with the pleasure, the need.
She gasped and leaned forward, stiffening in his arms a moment before her tight, little sex grabbed hold of him and spasmed, milking him right to release. A low hot throb expanded in his cock and then shot his release from his body.
They collapsed together, skin slicked with sweat, her face buried in his neck. Long seconds passed and she didn’t move. He knew she was feeling shy, or embarrassed. Damn, he was going to have to fix that. He rolled her to her back on the couch and leaned over her. “I don’t know if three condoms are going to be enough. We might need a store run because if you think I even came close to getting enough of you, you’re wrong. But for now, I’m going to get rid of this one.” He snatched his shirt from the floor. “And because I know you are about to scramble to get dressed, put my shirt on. It’s less effort for me to take off of you later.” He leaned in and kissed her. “And that was an order you won’t get an apology for.”
***
Lauren awoke naked, on the floor with a comforter underneath her and a heavy arm over her back. She inhaled the spicy male scent of Royce and smiled to herself. She was on her stomach, and she was pretty sure that was because Royce had refused to let her get dressed, so he’d trapped her there.
You need to be as comfortable with you being naked as I am, he’d told her.
I’m very comfortable with you being naked, she’d replied.
Her gaze fixed on the red glow of a fire not tended for a good while. The darkness of the room was lightening, as if the sun was replacing the moon. And unfortunately, as much as she wanted to savor this moment, Mother Nature called.
She tried to inch out from under Royce’s arm.
Royce pulled her back against him, rolling them both to their sides. “We aren’t ready to get up.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Close your eyes and you’ll forget.”
She laughed. “No. No. That’s not going to happen.”
“You're sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, damn,” he said. “I guess I have to let you up then.” He released her and she crawled and grabbed his shirt. He smacked her on the backside and she yelped, drawing a low, sexy chuckle from him.
Lauren stumbled groggily to the bedroom, surprised to see the clock read ten in the morning, until she heard a rumble of thunder. It was still storming. She went to the bathroom and her phone beeped in her purse. Five missed calls from Julie. It rang again in her hand. Lauren shoved down the toilet seat and sat down.
“Yes, my diva darlin’,” she said. “I am alive.”
“You can’t not answer your phone when you have this big case going on and all kinds of public anger. I worry about you.”
“Royce is here. I’m fine.”
“Rewind. What? He’s still there?”
Lauren laughed. “Pretty sure the answer is ‘yes’.”
“Honey, you know how to make up for lost time and bad exes. I so will not keep you from your play toy but I expect gossip and lots of it. Lunch. We are so going to lunch on Monday.”
“Lunch.”
They ended the call and Lauren sat there a moment, thinking about how easily she’d said ‘Royce is here. I’m fine.’ The truth was she was better than fine. Or maybe she wasn’t. She pushed to her feet and stared at herself in the mirror.
“Don’t fall for him,” she murmured. “You can’t fall for him.” She was vulnerable right now, recovering from the past, and perhaps in danger, and she knew it. She was turning Royce into her knight in shining armor, and she knew all too well, that was a fairy tale that didn’t exist. She inhaled and let it out. Royce was all man, all sex, and hard masculine beauty. He made her feel sexy and empowered. This had to be about sex and nothing else, or she’d get hurt. She pushed off the sink and nodded, heading towards the living room with one thing on her mind. She was going to have more sex. No. She was going to fuck.
***
Royce was sitting on the couch, watching the news when Lauren returned, stepping in front of him and pulling his shirt over her head. His mouth went dry and his cock stood at attention. “I should remind you we’re out of condoms.”
“We’ll improvise.”
She went to her knees and wrapped his cock with her hand. He thickened and pulsed in her palm. She licked the head. “Any complaints so far?”
“You can lick me, suck me, pretty much do whatever you want to me, sweetheart. I’m all yours.”
Her gaze met his, a fearless look in her eyes he’d not seen before, that he registered as trouble. Something was going on in her head, and he had to find out what. But she sucked his head into her mouth and he forgot exactly what the problem was. Suddenly, there was only the suction of her mouth on his cock, the drag of her tongue around him, up and down. Her long silky hair teasing his stomach and thighs. The edge of near orgasm, and the final, deep draw of her mouth that took his release from him.
The instant he was off the high of one of the best damn blow jobs of his life, he reached for her and pressed her down onto the couch, settling on top of her.
“What was that?”
“I think they call it”
“I know what they call it. I want to know what is going on in your mind right now. Why you came out of the bathroom a woman on a mission to give me a blow job.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You damn sure do.”
“No, I don’t.”
He slid down her body, and lifted her leg to his shoulder. “Here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to take you to the edge of orgasm over and over until you tell me what just happened in that bathroom.” He suckled her clit into his mouth.
“Royce... oh... ah…” She rose up on her elbows. ”Stop. This is unfair.”
He slid two fingers inside her and lifted his head. “You don’t want me to stop.” He licked her up and down. “Do you?”
“This is torture... oh hmmmm... you’re...”
“What was in your head when you came out of the bathroom?” he asked again, swirling her clit with his tongue.
“I... okay.” He pumped into her, stroked her. “Ah... okay… I’ll tell you. Just please don’t stop and I’ll tell you... after.” Her head dropped to the cushion. Royce sucked and licked her, his hand covering her breast, teasing her nipple. His finger pumped in her like he planned to do with his cock again, and very soon. And when she spasmed around his fingers, he licked her and lavished her with soft caresses of his tongue until she collapsed, panting from release.
He settled her leg down beside him, and eased up her body. “I really need you inside me right now,” she whispered.
“No condom,” he said, unable to resist pressing the thick ridge of his erection in the silk heat of her sex. “And you owe me an explanation.”
“I’m on the pill, “she said. “So please. Now. I need you.”
A strange feeling expanded in his chest with the understanding that she’d been on the pill for her ex, for another man. Something possessive and uncomfortable that he’d never felt before. Something that made him need to feel her, to claim her.
He slid off the couch and took her with him, turning her to face the cushion, and spreading her sex with his fingers to enter her. He drove into her, hard and deep, when he’d never taken the ‘pill’ explanation from another woman. But she wasn’t another woman, and she wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever known. He wrapped his arm around her, squeezed her breasts and pressed his lips to her ear.
“What happened when you came out of the bathroom?”
“Nothing,” she panted. “I just... wanted you.” She gasped as he sped his pace, pumping and thrusting, and twisting her nipple roughly.
She covered his hand with hers, dropped her head against him. “Oh God. It... you... I’m...” Her tight little sex grabbed a hold of him and squeezed.
He exploded inside her, groaning loudly with the force of it. Shaking until she had all he had to give, every last pump and drop of him.
When finally they were quiet, he didn’t let her go. He held her there. “Now, tell me.”
She buried her face in her hands. “There’s nothing to tell.”
He pulled out of her and grabbed his shirt, turning her to face him and giving it to her to dry off. He pressed his hands on the couch on either side of her, framing her body with his. “Talk to me, Lauren.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I’ve told you before. The truth. Say what you feel.”
“Confused. I feel confused. You went from one night stand to my private bodyguard.”
“You were never a one night stand to me, Lauren. But maybe that’s the problem. This has gone way farther than you wanted it to.” He started to move away. Damn, this woman had a hold on him that he didn’t understand.
She grabbed his arm. “No. No. It’s not that. I... I just don’t understand what we’re doing.”
“I thought we were getting to know each other. Apparently, I’m helping you work another man out of your system by way of sex.”
“Oh God, no, Royce. No. There isn’t anything to work out of my system.”
“He hurt you and messed with your head.”
“He did. You’re right. That doesn’t mean I’m using you. It means,” she inhaled and let in out, “it means you scare me. If this is just sex then I need it to just be sex. Clearly. Cut and dry. I don’t want to mix it in with conversation and pretend fluff to feel better about that.”
There it was. The truth. What she really felt, and he was damn glad she’d told him, that she hadn’t played games. That she had honesty in her. And what was he doing? Hiding things from her, lying to her. Anything he said to her now, she’d question later and he knew it. But he was in too deep to turn back. If he confessed, she’d kick him out, push him away, and he’d struggle to protect her.
Royce kissed her and then pushed her away to stand up and grab his pants. He stepped into them, and she blinked at him, looking dazed and confused. He yanked the blanket off the floor and crossed back to her, wrapping it around her and squatting in front of her.
“I need you covered before I try to prove to you this isn’t just sex. I want you, Lauren. I tried to resist and I was weak and if you sit there naked I’ll be weak all over again. There’s something going on between us, and I know it’s happening fast, but I’m not sure there’s any other way two people as drawn to each other as we are can do things. This is new territory for me. I’m not the stay-the-weekend kind of guy, Lauren, but you have to kick me out if you want me to leave.”
“Because you’re trying to protect me. You’re law enforcement. It’s your nature.”
Those words punched him in the gut, because he knew they were a preview of what was to come, what she would think when he finally confessed his deal with her father.
“I have a staff,” he said. “I have resources. If I felt some obligation to protect you, I could put surveillance on you and you’d never know it.” He traced the delicate line of her jaw. “I’m here because I want to be. Because I thought you wanted me to be.”
“I do,” she whispered. “I do want you to be here.”
“Good,” he said. “And if keeping our clothes on will prove to you that there’s more to this than that, then we will step back and start over slower. I won’t lie and say it won’t kill me, but I’ll happily take the couch if that’s what I need to do.”
She dropped the sheet and wrapped her arms around him, her soft curves pressed to his chest. “Only if I’m on it with you.”
His resistance lasted all of a few seconds before his arm wrapped around her body, his mouth closing down on hers, tasting her, drinking her in like a man weeks without water. And as she moaned into his mouth, as possessiveness he’d never felt for another woman ripped through him, he didn’t question the need to make her his. He simply knew she was the one woman he had to have, the one he’d never found until now. The one who was going to hate him before this was over. The one who would rip his heart out. And worst of all he was going to be the bastard who deserved it.