He was so hot. So beautiful. She pushed her fingers through his hair and studied his face. Those dark eyes, that square, outlaw jaw and the dark stubble there.
She moved her thumb over the scar on his lip. “How did you get this?”
“My brother,” he said. “I made him mad. He slammed my head against the side of a brick wall. My teeth cut right through my lip. This is not real,” he said, pointing to one of his front teeth.
And she kissed him. She kissed him, because if she didn’t she might cry. Because she wanted to take his past and erase it. Because she wanted to destroy anybody who had ever mistreated him.
Whoever had taken that perfect face and marked it forever. With violence.
And she just wished... She wished they knew each other some other way. That she were normal, whole and easy, and he was a nice guy that she met at a café or a bar. Instead of what they were. Instead of all this brokenness. Instead of all this... Anguish.
“You don’t have any scars, do you?” He moved his hand up the center of her back, his calloused fingers tracing a line there. “None so anyone could see.”
She shivered. “No,” she agreed. “None so anyone could see.”
“Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”
She shook her head. “Not in a nice way. My mother said before that my looks would get me in trouble. I did my best to cover up my... My figure. I never wore makeup...”
“You should show your body off with pride. You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And I am not a virgin, Tala. I’ve seen my share of women.”
“I don’t think I want to think about that.”
“You were honest with me, so I’m being honest with you. And I want you to understand that even though I’ve done this before... It still means something to me. It’s still more than just...” He cupped her face. “Hell, sweetheart. You saved my life. How many men can say that to a woman they’re holding in their arms.”
And he made her feel strong. He made her feel brave and important. He made her feel right. Just as she was. And that was a whole kind of miracle she hadn’t known she needed. He picked her up and laid her back on the bed, spread her out before him and looked her up and down. “You are so beautiful. And what I feel... What I feel right now, it’s not shameful. This is the purest thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”
He bent over her on the bed and cupped her breast, traced one nipple with the edge of his calloused finger. Then she shivered. He leaned in and took the tightened bud into his mouth, sucking it in deep. And she gasped, arching up off the bed as an arrow of pleasure centered itself right in her midsection, tightened between her thighs.
She had read about this. But reading about it wasn’t anything like experiencing it. She couldn’t control this. The speed of it. The heights. She had no say over which direction this fantasy went. It was his world. His hands. His touch. Creating a symphony of need inside of her, and she had no idea where or when the crescendo might be. It was the most terrifying, exhilarating, wonderful moment of her life. As he continued to lick and kiss and suck his way down her body, she surrendered herself wholly to the moment.
He kissed his way down to her stomach, below her belly button. Then down between her thighs. She gripped his head, arching against him as he tasted her deep. He growled as he tasted her, and she lifted her hips up against him, writhing in time with the stroke of his tongue. She looked down and watched him, and he looked up, his eyes meeting hers. And she gasped, her orgasm breaking over her like a sudden wave that came from nowhere. Sweeping her out to sea, leaving her storm tossed and breathless.
And then again. And again. And it was like a gift for every moment in her life that had gone uncelebrated. For every little bit of pleasure that had been denied her by the stoic nature of her childhood. For every bit of fear that she’d been taught to feel whenever she wanted something.
This was the gift. His mouth. That wicked mouth, that outlawed touch.
He made her want to be bad, but perhaps even better, he made this not feel bad. He made it feel wonderful. He made her feel free.
And then he kissed his way back up her body, his mouth fastened to hers, as he positioned himself between her thighs, the blunt head of his arousal testing her there.
“Please,” she whispered.
He growled and thrust deep inside of her.
She clung to his shoulders, hoping to find something to anchor her to the earth. To help her breathe past the pain.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. And she believed him.
Then he began to move, and the pain started to fade. Pleasure building upon it, pleasure making her dizzy.
There was something more. Something that went beyond physical pleasure. She wasn’t alone. She was with him. He was in her. And it was something deeper and more profound than she could have ever imagined. He understood her. He knew what she wanted. He understood her body’s needs. She had never felt like she fit with anyone or anything in all of her life. Not her own family, not the people she had gone to school with. Not even the people here at Four Corners, however lovely they were. But he fit. He fit. And it didn’t matter that it made no sense, it simply was.
He was hers. Her everything.
Her outlaw.
And when his body began to shiver and shake with his own release, she held on to him tight, and when he fractured, she let go. And they were united in that moment. Where all was lost and found in equal measure. And then she rested her head on his chest and clung to his sweat-slicked body.
She put her hand right above the stitches, examining that spot. “I’m glad I didn’t hurt you.”
He chuckled. “It would be worth it. I’d stitch myself back up three times if it meant having you.”
“I don’t think anyone’s ever wanted me enough to go to that kind of trouble.”
He pushed her hair off of her face. “I could say the same.”
“Sleep here,” she said. “Don’t go back to the couch.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I want.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
OVER THE NEXT couple of weeks they settled into a pattern. He worked around the house during the day, he made sure to cook for her every night and then they went to bed together, after making love at least twice. And sometimes he would wake her up after she had fallen asleep and have her again.
He was happy with it, but he knew it couldn’t last. There was just no way. Keeping her close like this while there was still danger out there...
That just didn’t work.
Taking advantage of her hospitality didn’t sit well with him either.