inside her as she was to catch a disease. So where did that leave him?
Utterly fucked. No. Fucking his hand for relief. Again.
Nick lathered the harsh soap in his hands, which smelled faintly of artificial coconut and chemicals. He tried to block the crappy scent out as he tossed the small bar into the dish, then grabbed his throbbing cock.
He had to end the danger to Sasha tonight. He had to make certain they were safe—for Mike, for her daughter, for his own freaking sanity. Then he’d start over, maybe take Javier and Xander up on their offer, see if Sasha could picture any sort of future with him. If not, he’d find someone else he’d want eventually, right? Someday…maybe. On the twelfth of never. After hell froze over.
As fixated as he felt on Sasha Porter right now, he doubted he would ever feel a shred of desire for any other woman.
Pushing the thought aside, he tried to focus on the sensation of his soapy hand gliding down his sensitive shaft, then roughing his way up to the head, which he caressed with his roving thumb. He imagined Sasha touching him, arousing him. Tingles streaked and blistered through his veins. Excitement clawed through his system. His cock jerked in his grip.
Yeah, orgasm wasn’t going to take long. But he was quickly finding that wasn’t synonymous with satisfaction. If anything, he felt emptier beside Sasha when he’d just given himself temporary, hollow relief.
But it was safer than not controlling his raging need at all.
A click sounded above the din of the water. Nick paused mid-stroke. The squeak of the door filled the little bathroom next. The rush of cool air disrupted the steam swirling around him.
His heart stopped. The only person in the room with him was Sasha, and no way she would voluntarily come into the bathroom while he was wet and naked and wanting her.
Had Clifford’s goons found them already? Come to kill them?
Anxiety iced through him as he rinsed his hands and leaned to his left to peer around the shower curtain. He had to know his enemy, how many, how armed. If he survived, he’d curse himself for the carelessness of leaving his weapon on the nightstand. Would Sasha see it? Use it to save herself?
Or was it already too late?
Shifting his weight a bit more, he’d just visually cleared the edge of the shower curtain when he heard the sweetest, sultriest sound.
“Nick?” Sasha. She sounded jittery…but not afraid.
Maybe they weren’t under attack. But something had happened to prod her into the shower with him.
“What? You okay?” he asked, then pulled back the cheap plastic curtain enough to expose his face and clap eyes on her. His breath—and his heart—stopped.
She was utterly, head-to-toe naked. She met his gaze with hazel eyes full of resolution. And need.
Sasha Porter wanted him. She didn’t even have to say the words. He saw it on her face.
For a long moment, Nick couldn’t do anything except stare. And ache. And marvel that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen without a stitch.
Her long hair, now dark, fluttered over the smooth skin of her slender shoulders, onto the swells of her naturally heavy breasts. They were tipped with delicate rosy nipples that stood ready for his lips to suck and tease. She tapered into a small waist and a flat belly, which soon gave way to the flare of her womanly hips and generous, creamy thighs. As a natural blond, she had a faint dusting of fair hair shielding her pussy. He imagined her wet and pink, legs spread, waiting just for him.
Her hands fluttered nervously to the scar bisecting her between the hip bones. A couple of faint silvery lines shot up around the point of incision, now mostly faded. “I’m not perfect.”
“You are to me.”
She smiled faintly and pressed on as if he hadn’t spoken. “But I’m hoping you’d rather have the pleasure we could share together than whatever you could give yourself…”
So she’d figured out what he did in the shower, huh?
“Always.” His heart hammered. “You offering?”
“Yes.”
“Because you owe me?” God, he didn’t want her to say that. If she did… He gritted his teeth, fearing he might lose his fucking mind. He’d have to turn her away again.
She shook her head. “Because I’m falling in love with you.”
Her words went straight to his cock. He hadn’t thought he could get harder. Nick was shocked to find out that he, in fact, totally could.
God, he couldn’t touch her quick enough, couldn’t reach her soft body fast enough. He cut off the water and grabbed a towel off the rack. With one hand, he rubbed at the droplets beading over his skin. With the other, he curled his fingers around her arm and brought her close.
“Be sure.”
“That I want you? I am.”
“That you love me. I fell for you the moment I saw you. That might sound dumb, but…there it is. If you agree to be mine now, I won’t give you up. You’ll stay mine.”
Sasha didn’t hesitate. She didn’t shake her head or frown, back away in objection, or tell him to pound his own cock again. She didn’t do or say any of the fifty things he’d imagined she might if he admitted how he felt.
Instead, she softened, her lips lifting in a gentle, reassuring smile. “You’re mine, too.”
He dragged the towel over his middle one last time, then tossed it on the basin. “Absolutely, baby. Totally, utterly yours.”
“Good.” She lifted her hand to him, and he realized her fingers trembled.
Nick stepped from the stall and took her hand in his. “You’re nervous. Unsure?”
“Worried,” she countered. “I don’t have a lot of experience, and I want to please you.”
“Just breathe and say yes. You don’t have to do any more than that to thrill me. And relax. I don’t want you afraid of me.”
“I’m not.” She shook her head, sending her hair tumbling softly. “You’ll never hurt me, just make me feel good in ways that will blow my mind completely. I hope I can do the same for you.” She fell quiet. “But I have to say one other thing… If you’re worried about Mike, I think he would have approved. After all, he threw us together.”
Nick was relieved she’d come to the same realization he had. “Yeah. He knew how much I wanted you. I wasn’t good at hiding it.”
“I had no idea.”
“Oh, he did. About five minutes after he introduced us, he warned me away. My attraction for you was all over my face, so Mike dragged me out to the yard and confronted me.”
“What did he do, threaten to…beat you up?” She frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Mike.”
No, his pal hadn’t been one for violence. “He said if I crossed the line with you that he and I would no longer be friends.”
And given how long they’d been close, Nick had known Mike meant that.
Sasha gasped. She understood the gravity of the threat, too. “So you stayed away—literally—for the rest of his life. Heavens… All through dinner that night, I thought you were detached, almost disinterested.”
He shook his head. “I honored my promise to Mike. I kept my distance.”
“But in his final hours, he ensured we’d be together again.”
“Yeah. And now I want you so bad I can’t fucking stand another moment without touching you.” He stepped closer, then bent to whisper in her ear. “I intend to make you wet, make you scream. Make you mine.”
She shuddered against him. “Please.”
“I’m going to love being inside you.” He picked her up, fitting his hands under her lush, firm ass, and slanted his face to hers. “Kiss me.”
Sasha didn’t hesitate, just wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and parted her pretty bow lips to him.
As Nick carried her out of the bathroom, he barged into her mouth and sought out all the sweetest recesses. As he tasted her, he approached the bed and dropped her onto the starched white sheets.
With one arm thrown above her head and the other tossed ou
t beside her, Sasha wasn’t hiding any part of herself from him. She wasn’t even trying. Instead, she wriggled her hips as if seeking relief from the ache she couldn’t deny. Her back arched as she dragged in a breath and implored him silently with half-parted lips and a sensual stare.
Nick wanted to savor her, but urgency crushed his self-control. He lowered himself on top of her, covering her body with his own, and plowed between her delicate lips again, swallowing her gasp.
Shit. He should slow down.
Just one more second… But he felt like he wouldn’t be able to breathe again until he had more of her flavor on his tongue, her silken skin under his fingers.
Since the first moment he’d laid eyes on her nearly three years ago, he’d burned to hold her. When he’d sat in a cell for interminable months, he’d shelved his guilt and fantasized that one day he’d be free to tug Sasha beneath him and devour her with all the hunger raging through his body. In his mind, he’d made love to her hundreds of times. He’d brought her to climax over and over with screaming, strangled cries in every way known to man.
Until today, Sasha hadn’t really considered him her lover.
Nick jerked his lips from hers, panting hard. “You okay?”
“Of course. You won’t break me.”
He slanted a glance at her. “As badly as I want to fuck you, I might.”
A blush stole up her cheeks. “You talk too much.”
“You saying I should be getting busy with you instead?” He laughed.
She peppered kisses up his neck, along his jawline, and slanted her mouth under his. “Exactly.”
The woman surprised him all the time, and god, he loved that about her.
“Oh, baby. The next sounds in this room will be you screaming for me.”
A smile flitted across her lips before she hooked her arms around his neck and lifted herself to him, breasts pressed to his chest. He took her mouth.
Fuck, he could taste the love in her kiss. She’d only ever given herself to the man she had married. But she was surrendering to him now. Devotion flowed from her fingertips. Acceptance oozed from her soft palms, gliding onto his skin. She believed in him. Wanted him. Opened her heart to him.
Nick intended to make sure she spent forever with him.
Sasha’s fingertips whispered down the line of his spine before she cupped his ass and lifted her hips to him in a blatant invitation no man could misunderstand. He started to sweat.
Fuck taking things slow. That’s what next time was for.
“Sasha,” he groaned.
“I want you.” She looked into his eyes, hers so hazel-green and pleading.
“I want you, too, baby. I just need a condom.” And fuck if it wasn’t going to kill him to break away from her for even an instant for a dumbass piece of latex.
Wrenching up from the mattress, Nick found the box and tore into it, quickly ripping a foil square and rolling the slippery casing over his cock. The instant he finished, he launched himself back on top of her and captured her mouth again.
Beneath him, she whimpered and opened in welcome, knees bending to surround his hips. She poured her soul into the touch of her fingers and tangle of their tongues. “Hurry.”
His dick sure wanted him to, but he’d waited way too long for this woman to simply shove his way inside her and pound out an orgasm.
“As soon as we make a few things clear.” Because there was no way she was slipping through his fingers.
“What?” she sounded impatient. “You want to be in charge in bed.”
“Always. But that’s not—” He sighed. Damn, he needed to spit the words out. If she was going to argue…well, he knew how to coax her and change her fucking mind. Besides, he wasn’t asking. Sasha was his, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Once we eliminate Clifford, you’re marrying me. I know my past looks bad on paper but—”
“Yes.”
No arguments? “Really? You mean that?”
“You and I know well that life can be short. I love you. I’m sure. Why wait? Besides, little girls should have a strong father figure in their lives. Harper needs you to be hers. Mike chose you to take his place in my life. I’m sure he’d want you to help me raise Harper, too.”
Nick didn’t really get warm fuzzies much. But…damn it. Everything Sasha said filled him with a flurry. “You’re right. I’ll always watch over Harper, protect her. She needs siblings, too.”
“You want more children?”
“Fuck, yeah.” The thought of her belly swelling with the child he’d put inside there nearly undid him. “With you. Baby…I can’t wait.”
Sasha spread her legs wider. “Then don’t.”
“Yeah. Hold on.” It had been a long time for both of them. “This is going to be a rough ride.”
She sighed his name as if that didn’t upset her in the least and clutched his shoulders.
Gripping her hips, he dipped his head and nipped his way across her neck and the swells of her breasts—he’d come back here later—then probed her opening.
His head slid through her folds like butter. She was slick and tight and as close to heaven as he’d ever been.
She squeezed his arms in a passion-filled grip, as if braced for pleasure.
Nick held her tighter and breathed his way deeper inside her pussy.
As he did, she let a high-pitched cry loose from her throat.
He jerked his hips, stroking, desperate, on fucking fire to bury every inch inside her.
She clenched her thighs around his hips and urged him on even more.
He goddamn gave her everything, surging into her with a push and a rush until he couldn’t shove his way in any further.
She cried out, voice hoarse, fingernails embedding in his skin, perspiration covering her as he unleashed his desire and made her his.
With stroke after hard stroke, the bed squeaked. He wrenched gasps and moans from her lips. Bliss streaked fire through his body.
Jesus, he wasn’t going to last. It had been forever since he’d had sex, and he had never wanted a woman as fiercely as he wanted this one. Whatever he felt tearing through his veins and decimating his restraint wasn’t mere desire. This was unraveling his brain, changing the way he perceived ecstasy. It was rewriting his definition of pleasure.
Beneath him, she tightened—her grip around his shoulders, her legs around his hips, and her sweet pussy all over his weeping cock.
Fuck, he needed her to come with him now.
Nick reached a thumb between them and dragged it over her clit. Her harsh breaths stuttered. She tossed her head back and forth. Her little pearl hardened beneath his touch.
“No…”
“Yeah, baby. You fucking come for me now.”
“It’s…so…”
“Good? Let it go. Fucking scream it.”
She tensed, her body arched, her rosy little mouth bowed into an O. And she wailed his name at the top of her lungs as she spasmed, clenched, and climaxed with her entire body.
Nick knew that would never get old for him.
It was the last thought he had before the pleasure steamrolled him and he lost his damn mind, emptying himself into her as she