Chapter Twenty

The rawness in his words and the untempered need in his dark eyes stole the breath from Brooke’s lungs. Even if she’d been able to deliver that lie right now, she would have hated herself afterward for it. The truth was that she wanted this man and she was done pretending otherwise.

“Please, Brooke.” He closed his eyes, his entire body coiled so tightly that the tension within him buffeted her like a gale-force wind. “Say the words.”

She pressed a palm to his chest, over his quickly beating heart. “I can’t.”

His eyes snapped open, and she had no idea how in the world she didn’t burst into flame from the intensity of the want she saw there. In that half second, the world stopped turning, her heart stopped beating, and breathing became optional. Then she was against the wall, his strong hands cupping her ass and holding her up so her feet didn’t touch the ground as his mouth crashed down on hers in a kiss that should have burned the whole stable house down.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she angled her body so her core rubbed against his hard cock trapped inside his jeans. Electric sensation threatened to shatter her as she circled her hips, his hands digging into her ass. It was good, but it wasn’t enough. Desperate for more, she tore at his T-shirt, yanking it from his waistband. There wasn’t enough room between their bodies for her to make much headway when it came to feeling the bare heat of his skin. Just the sensation of his happy trail against her fingertips was all she could get and she wanted—needed—more.

Nick broke the kiss, not letting her go but resting his forehead against the wall above her shoulder. “Damn, Brooke. We shouldn’t—”

She cupped his dick through his jeans. “Shut up and fuck me.”

Surprise battled with lust on his face before the latter won out. “Bossy, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea.” She ran her palm across his length, feeling his heat through the denim. “Put me down.” She unwound her legs from around him, hating to lose the feel of him against her but needing more than the hint of him through the layers of their clothing.

He gave her a questioning look but lowered her until her feet hit the ground. She didn’t stop there. Continuing downward, she kept her attention focused on his face until she was on her knees, undoing the button of his jeans.

“Hands on the wall,” she said, hot desire like lightning in her veins.

He arched an eyebrow, and for a second she thought he was going to try to wrestle back control. Then, slowly, he lifted his arms to shoulder height and pressed both palms to the wall.

“I see you can follow the rules when properly motivated,” she said, lowering his zipper.

“There’re more rules?”

“With me?” She hooked her fingers in the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down to his ankles along with his jeans. “Always.”

His cock was at mouth level, just where she wanted it, hard, the head swollen with need and a few drops of pre-cum glistening on the tip. God, it was glorious.

“You’re going to want to put your hands in my hair, hold me in place, and fuck my mouth.” She wet her lips. “You don’t get to.”

Something primal flashed in his eyes. “Why not?”

“Because that’s for later; right now I want to taste and tease and take what I want.”

“You want my dick that badly?” he asked, challenge in his tone.

“I want all of you that badly.”

Whatever he would have said next came out as a groaning hiss when she opened her mouth and took him in deep. He kept his eyes open as her lips traveled all the way down to the root, but it was a fight. His entire body tensed with the effort not to move, not to rock in and out of her. She loved this, not the power of having a man like this but the thrill of giving Nick what he needed because she knew it—understood it—down to the depths of her soul. They weren’t that different, the two of them. They needed to be wanted.

“Fuck, Brooke,” he said, his hands curling into fists but not leaving the wall above her. “Your mouth.” He let out a lusty groan when she flicked her tongue against his balls. “Your tongue.”

Spurred on by the desperation in his voice, she continued moving her mouth along his shaft in languorous ups and downs. It was blissful agony for both of them, the best kind of mind-melting torture that made her wet and achy. The whole time she watched him, she saw the expressions fly across his face—hunger, need, ecstasy. She wrapped her fingers around his base, her fingers not quite touching, and released him from her mouth. Never tearing her gaze from his face, she pumped her hand up and down his cock wet from her mouth and licked the tip, relishing the salty liquid there.

Nick’s jaw tightened. “You’ve got ten more seconds.”

“What happens then?” she asked, continuing to stroke the hard length of him.

“I move my hands from this wall,” he said between gritted teeth.

Her heart sped up and her core clenched. “Breaking the rules, are you?”

“I’m American; it’s what we do.”

The rough timber of his voice made her nipples tingle.

“What else do you do?” she asked, a breathy excitement in her voice.

“This.” His hands captured hers and he yanked her to her feet, trapping her between him and the wall with her arms above her head. “Your time is up.”

“Now what?”

“My turn.” Keeping her wrists pinned with one of his hands, he trailed a fingertip down the side of her neck, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. “Don’t move your arms.”

She would have answered if she could, but he was unbuttoning her jeans and shoving them down. He traced a finger across the damp center of her knickers.

“Did sucking my dick make you wet?”

Her breath hitched. “Yes.”

He hooked a finger in the back of the silk between her legs and pulled it taut so it pressed against her clit. “Are you soft and ready for me?”

Her body screamed yes even as she could only muster a soft, “Yes.”

He kissed the length of her throat, stopping at the sensitive spot where her shoulder met her neck and nipped the delicate skin. One hand cupped her breast through her shirt, and she closed her eyes and moaned her approval. Then he was gone, his heat replaced by cool air.

She opened her eyes and saw him standing a foot away, stripping off his clothes. The view was impressive. He was all barely reined-in intensity and tight control as he grabbed behind his head and pulled off his T-shirt.

He gave her a long look up and down. “If you like those clothes, you better take them off or I’m going to rip them off you.”

She kept her arms aloft, unable to back down from the challenge. “And here I thought you were Mr. Lazy Carefree Doesn’t Care About Anything.”

“I care about getting you naked.” He reached out and snapped the elastic band of her knickers. “Now.”

She could tease him some more, draw it out, drive him right to the edge, but just like she knew the moment he walked through the doors that he needed her, she needed him just as much. This attraction, this thing between them, it wasn’t just about need, though. It was more, and that scared her, but not nearly as much as the thought of being anywhere else than with him at this moment. He may not have wanted to come to England and she may not have ever wanted him to be here, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him anymore. She brought her fingers to the bottom button of her shirt and slipped it free.

…

It took the very last bit of Nick’s self-control not to reach out and pull Brooke’s shirt apart and send the buttons flying across the hallway.

But instead of giving in, he gripped his cock and slowly stroked it as she unbuttoned her shirt, let it slip from her body, and stepped out of the jeans pooled around her ankles. God, she was beautiful, and she wanted him.

The realization of just how much he needed not just someone but Brooke to want him almost knocked him to his knees.

This wasn’t how he worked. Before he’d come to England, he was a man with few friends—though the ones he had were as solid as oak—whose life was his work, his boat, and the lake behind his house. Now he’d been adopted by a village that had actually started to feel like home, was in line for an English title, and had a family again—even if that family consisted of one of the most bullheaded men he’d ever met who’d never have claimed Nick if he’d had another choice. However, none of that mattered to him nearly as much as the woman standing in front of him in her white bra and panties with her blond hair falling around her shoulders.

“Is this what you wanted?” she asked, taking a step forward and closing the distance between them, her fingers skimming down his abdomen.

“I want more.” He reached down and sent her silk panties fluttering to the floor. “I want all of you.”

The caveman inside him roared in agreement, and he swept Brooke up off the floor and strode with her in his arms—her mouth on his neck, his collarbone, his chest, anywhere she could reach—to his bedroom. He sat down on the edge of the bed, settling her across his lap with her knees on either side of his hips. Gliding his hands from the smooth curve of her ass and up the line of her spine, he didn’t stop until he reached the hooks of her bra. He made fast work of the damn thing while she rocked her wet core against his aching dick, sliding it up and down on him while rotating her hips and driving him to the edge of sanity. If he didn’t change things up, he was going to come on her instead of in her, and that wasn’t going to fucking happen.

“You broke the rules,” he said, gripping her hips and flipping her over so she was on her back on the bed, her long legs dangling off the end.

“Never,” she said, her voice low and husky with want as she watched him move from sitting on the bed to being on his knees on the floor, one of her legs on either side of him. “I’m English. We follow the rules.”

“I told you to get naked. You didn’t.” He laid his palms on her knees and spread her legs. “Now you pay the price.”

“That sounds dastardly.” She slipped her bra off and tossed it to the floor. Then traced a finger up her bare thigh, drawing his attention to her glistening folds. “Do your worst.”

“I plan to.” He could already taste her on his tongue, but she wasn’t getting off that easy—not yet anyway.

He started with her calves, touching and caressing them as she cupped her tits, pinching the nipples and pulling them taut. His cock was heavy against his thigh, pre-cum wetting the tip. The need to sink himself deep inside her thundered inside him, but he held it in check. He wanted to watch her come first.

“That’s it,” he said between kisses and licks on her inner thigh, getting closer and closer to her core.

Continuing upward, he lingered at the edge of the tight, springy curls framing her wet folds. Her scent was intoxicating, and he moved his mouth within a half inch of her swollen clit, close enough to blow on it as she shivered in response.

“Nick,” she begged, lifting her hips. “Please.”

Ignoring the gift she offered up, he moved his attention to her other leg, just above her knee. “That’s not much of a punishment if I give you what you want.” He looked up at her and glided his hands up her thighs until they were as high as they could go, thumbs and fingers just barely brushing her curls. “You’ll thank me later.”

“Not bloody likely,” she said, her obvious frustration building along with her need.

“Are you going to follow the rules next time?” He reached out his thumb and touched her clit with light, feathery caresses, not enough to satisfy, just enough to make her want more.

“Yes,” she said, her hips squirming.

He chuckled, dropping kisses up the insides of one of her smooth thighs. “I don’t know if I can believe you.”

“Nick Vane, please,” she begged. “I can’t take it.”

“We both know you can.” But he wasn’t going to make her wait. He was a dick sometimes, but not a complete asshole, so he put his mouth exactly where she wanted it.

She tasted like warm heaven and he couldn’t get enough. Using his hands to spread her wide, he licked and sucked and teased her sweet, sensitive flesh, lapping his tongue against her swollen clit again and again as she writhed beneath him, her words replaced by moans of encouragement and pleas for more. He moved one hand lower, grazing her opening with his thumb and sliding inward. She grasped him tight and let out a shaky groan, so he did it again, giving her more of exactly what she wanted until she came apart against his mouth, calling out his name.

Sitting back, he watched Brooke come down from her orgasm, the beauty of it taking the air from his lungs and replacing it with a kind of awe he hadn’t experienced before. Something moved in his chest as he watched her roll up into a sitting position, her gaze hazy and satisfied. This woman could break him if she wanted. He was beyond out of his depth with her. However, before the realization could take an icy hold on him, she reached up and curled her hand around the back of his neck and drew him to her for a kiss, and the part of his brain that sent up flares for danger short-circuited.

He curled an arm around her waist and pulled her upward on the bed as he joined her on the mattress, their bodies a tangle of limbs as they each tried to touch, caress, nip, kiss, lick, and revel in each other as much as possible. He cupped her tits, rolling her nipples between his thumb and finger as she kissed her way down his neck. If his cock had ever been harder, he didn’t know when.

“Nick, I want you inside me,” she said, reaching down and taking his dick in her hand. “Now.”

Jesus. Electricity shot through him as if he’d been hit by lightning. “Yes, ma’am.”

He reached across the bed and yanked open the nightstand drawer, pulling out a condom. While he watched her hands skim across his abs as she dipped her head and licked his nipple, he rolled on the latex. With both of them on their sides facing each other, he hooked an arm under her top leg and lifted it, then lined himself up with her opening and slid his cock inside her until he was buried to the hilt. It felt like his eyes rolled back in his head, and for a moment he couldn’t move as her core held him tight.

“So fucking tight. So good.”

He withdrew and thrust forward again and again, but the angle wouldn’t let him get deep enough. He wanted more. He needed to make her his in this moment. Releasing her leg, he pulled back as she groaned in protest.

“On your knees.”

She followed his command, getting on her hands and knees on the bed in front of him. Even though his dick was actually aching at this point to get inside her, he forced himself to wait and take in the sight of her as the moonlight coming in through the window highlighted the smooth lines of her back, the round curve of her ass, and the lust burning in her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at him.

He took his dick in his hand and rubbed the head against her slick opening. “Is this what you want?”

“Yes.” She pushed back, trying to take him in, but his palm on her ass stopped her.

Keeping his hand high on his cock, he plunged forward so only the tip went in. “Just this?”

She shook her head. “I want you. All of you.”

The words were the final thing that snapped his self-control. He released his grip and sank home, hard, inside her. Gripping her hips, he pulled her back against him in time with his thrusts forward, taking her, claiming her, making her his. He couldn’t get enough of her and wasn’t sure he ever would. She met his every move, rotating her hips and grinding against him as they came together in a frenzy that had them both panting, their bodies glistening with sweat. Over and over, he buried himself inside her warmth, pleasure skittering through him like a runaway freight train. The tingling at the base of his spine came too soon—he didn’t want this feeling to end, but his body had other ideas. Everything had been building between them like extended foreplay for too long. He slid one hand down between her legs and circled her clit. She let out a strangled cry and her arms gave out, her face hitting the mattress.

“Don’t you dare stop,” she demanded, continuing to thrust back toward him, her thighs shaking.

He didn’t. Gritting his teeth to stave off the orgasm making his balls tight, he stroked her clit, circling the sensitive nub and fucking her until she screamed out, her hands fisting the sheets as tight as her core gripped his dick. That was all it took. He got one more deep thrust in before his own orgasm hit, arching his back and turning his body stiff with release.

They both collapsed on the bed—well, he collapsed, Brooke just let her lower half join her upper half on the bed. His balls were heavy, his eyelids drooping.

“That was—” he started.

“Phenomenal,” she finished, sitting up and moving to get off the bed.

His lungs clenched with some foreign emotion at the prospect of her going, and he wrapped a hand around her wrist. “Don’t go.”

“Just going to the toilet,” she said with a shy smile. “I’ll be right back.”

He cleaned up while she was in the bathroom. When she emerged, still naked and blindingly beautiful, he flipped open the sheets and patted the bed beside him. She joined him under the covers, her head fitting just right in the pocket of his shoulder.

“I have a confession to make,” she whispered, trailing her fingers through his chest hair and keeping her focus firmly away from his face.

His pulse picked up. “What’s that?”

Her gaze rose to his face. “I like you, Nick Vane, and this might get complicated.”

“I like you, too, and complications don’t bother me,” he said, heartbeat slowing as he stroked the long silk of her hair. “I like working out puzzles.”

She smiled up at him, kissed the spot just below his collarbone, and closed her eyes.

Five minutes, an hour, a lifetime later, Nick lay in his bed with Brooke and stared out at the room. It wasn’t much. A bed. A nightstand. A dresser. It didn’t have the lake lapping lazily outside his window like his place in Salvation or the sound of croaking frogs coming in on a warm breeze drifting in through the window—but it had Brooke. And as she snuggled against his side, her naked body fitting perfectly against his, he decided that at that moment, it was better. It was the only place he wanted to be.

The realization should have scared the shit out of him. He held his breath, waiting for the itch of fear to prick at the back of his brain. When it didn’t come, he let out a long breath, wrapped his arm tighter around Brooke, and fell asleep.