AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why did you lie to me?” he demanded the minute she opened the door. Shoving past her, he waited only long enough for her to close the door before pinning her against it with one hand braced against the wood, the other cupping her nape, caging her in with his body. “A car damn near ran you down. That. Is. Not. A clumsy mishap.”
Nicole’s surprise at seeing Slade changed to a narrow-eyed glare. “Maybe because it’s none of your business.”
He traced the rapid pulse in her neck with his thumb. If the color suffusing her face stemmed just from anger and her eyes weren’t dilated, her breathing so shallow, he would back off. Instead, he let loose with the dominant urgency to take control, finally daring to give her what she was silently asking for and didn’t realize she needed.
“Youare my business, have been ever since you begged me over”—he bent and nipped the tender skin on her neck—“and over.” He slid his lips up to her ear and bit the small lobe, whispering, “And over.” Releasing her, he gazed into her eyes, saw the acceptance she wasn’t quite ready to admit, and snatched her hand. “You should have told me,” he admonished, flinging his jacket and hat off before taking a seat on the three-piece modular sectional.
“What are you doing?”
Her voice hitched as he reached out to loosen her jeans and yanked them down. Tugging her over his lap, he delivered one swat to her cheek, enough for a minimal sting, with luck, enough to entice instead of reject. Pausing, Slade rested a hand on the pink spot. “Yes or no, Nicole.”
“Yes.”Please.Nicole had no choice when she thought about it, jerking when Slade smacked her bare butt again. Either Slade’s commanding concern or the twinging burn soothed the conflicting emotions she’d battled all evening. She returned home earlier hoping out
of sight would put him and the yearnings he also pulled to the forefront out of mind.
No such luck.
A groan escaped her clenched throat with the next spank, this one a little harder, stinging, the heat seeping into muscle. She questioned how she could allow this, lie here and ache for another distracting, hurtful swat. Then it came, landing on the opposite buttock, resulting in a twin response. Instead of adding to the tension plaguing her for one reason or another over this odd relationship she had going with the neighbor, she slowly relaxed under his steadily descending hand.
“This is for lying.”
Slade’s hand came down even harder on the under curve of one cheek, eliciting a soft startled cry and catching her off guard enough to wiggle from the impact. He aimed for the other side next, the tip of one finger grazing her slit, her damp arousal swift, as hot as her butt.
“Slade,” Nicole moaned, her brain going numb, much like her butt when he peppered both cheeks with quick, sharp slaps.
“That’s my girl,” she heard him say through the roaring in her head and coming to terms with the arousing effects of this painful, somewhat mortifying act.
The praise added to the pleasure/pain encompassing her body, her nipples peaking from rubbing back and forth on the sofa, her palms and forehead sweating as she kept her face downward. Thank goodness he had held her legs still pinned under one of his, his free hand a comforting pressure between her shoulders. Then he halted the torment with an abruptness that snagged her already ragged breathing and eased the discomfort of her throbbing backside with slow caresses over the tender skin. A shiver rippled under her skin, one of pleasure and serenity, a feeling that brought a sheen to her eyes.
Nicole’s sudden vulnerability threatened to send her into full-panic mode, but Slade caught her before she could struggle off his lap. Flipping her upright, he wrapped those thick, strong arms around her and held tight, leaving her no option but to bury her face in his shoulder and let the dam burst. She couldn’t say why, and not because her butt hurt, or that the abrasive bare skin contact with his denim-clad thighs brought her to the edge of a humiliating climax.
So awash with the bombardment of conflicting responses to his heavy hand, she barely registered his hand sliding between her legs, his finger finding her clit, or the small tugs on the tender nub until he spoke. “Go over for me, baby.” His lips were soft against her ear, his voice rough. Tingling. Heat producing. She should despise that generic pet name, but instead, relished the way it kept this scene where she needed it, without involving the deeper emotion, teary breakdown threatened.
Tightening her hand in his shirt, Nicole caved to the demanding arousal Slade was so damn good at producing. With her jeans still restricting her thigh spread, she arched into his busy hand, the pressure of his palm against her pubis coupled with deep, clit-abrasive finger thrusts enough to release orgasm. She splintered on a shrill cry, the pleasure just as sweeping, body-encompassing as always, regardless or because of the discomfort she ached with remaining undecided.
He didn’t wait for her head to clear completely before talking again. “It was my last assignment in Afghanistan, and I couldn’t wait to go home and put the killing behind me. I’d carried out seven executions already, regretted the necessity but not the deaths. They were evil, pure and simple, each one. Even the one woman. And I saved countless lives. I figure that saves me when it comes to any moral objectiveness.”
He paused and she held her breath, not needing to hear more but owing him enough to listen to everything.
“I didn’t know until he was dead and turned over. A kid. I later learned he’d been abducted and forced through torture and threats to his family who were in another village. Nine years old; the fucking bastards couldn’t do their own dirty work. Not even a unit’s success of taking them out helped ease the guilt.”
Nicole pushed hard against his snug embrace and looked up at him. “I’m sorry you have to live with that.” Her own experience allowed her to hurt for him.
Slade stood with her in his arms and took long strides to the hall, asking with rough gruffness, “Which room?”
“Second on the right.”
He dropped her on the bed, and they both stripped in haste and silence. Instead of coming together in frenzied need again, they took it slow – hands gliding over perspiration-damp flesh, lips taking turns suckling nipples, teeth sinking into sensitive, nerve-laden spots – stoking the fire until a blazing heat quickened the pace. Slade flipped her over, yanked her to her knees, and powered inside her quivering sheath until the inferno consumed them both. Nicole rolled over with a sigh and fell into a contented sleep, the first in countless months.
***
SLADE AWOKE ALONE THENfound Nicole outside with the dogs, a cup of coffee in one hand, deleting what appeared to be a text with the other. She glanced up at his approach, her cheeks rosy from the chilly air as she stuck the phone in her jacket pocket. He let her speak first, having a pretty good idea what was going on in that head of hers.
“You have to go. The contractors are coming. And Paul.”
He recognized the shield she put up as a defense mechanism against feelings she hadn’t plan for.Welcome to the club, sweetheart.The military taught him when to push forward and when to retreat. It didn’t sit well in this instance to go with the latter, but he won last night’s battle and wouldn’t push his luck when he intended to win the war.
“So I do.” He took the cup from her hand and drank, keeping his eyes on her as he handed it back. Leaning down, he kissed her, quick as he didn’t trust himself to stop there. “I’ll call.” Whistling for Chace, he didn’t give her the option to reply before pivoting and rounding the house to reach the truck.
