And not one of them holds a candle to Gemma.
With a miserable sigh, I stand up and move, the heels of my boots threatening to carve out paths in the floorboards as I pace the cabin.
I hate these long stretches of time that pass without my girl. Two weeks, one week, another one. Fuck. I don’t want a single day to go by without seeing her face, holding her. Kissing.
Other things.
I breathe out heavily, and dip my hand into my pocket, feeling the small box inside. It’s fast, it’s crazy, it’s crazy-fast. I don’t care. I have never been so sure of anything in my life, and all she has to do is show up.
Over the sink, I pour out the coffee and rinse the carafe. With hope so stupid it just won’t die, I grind a fresh batch of beans and pour ’em into the filter. I press start. It percolates. I wheel around, squeezing my eyelids shut to hold my disappointment at bay. My fingers grip the edge of the counter to hold me up from crumbling down.
It’s hurt before.
Never like this.
I draw in a slow breath. Mokuso. It isn’t only for martial arts practice; it’s for every day, anywhere. Presence. Quiet. Focus.
The aroma of fresh-brewed java permeates…and something else. Like citrus, and honey, and rose.
My eyes burst open.
And there she is. As pretty as ever. And real. And here. “Gemma.”
“Hey,” she says. Her buoyant smile warms my chest. “I know you.”
“Yeah…” I steel a breath then push off the counter and stalk over to her. My hands go to her face, touching her cheeks, her neck, her hair. I pull her in. “I wondered if you wouldn’t show.”
“Sorry I’m late. I got lost.”
I squeeze her tighter. “I should’ve picked you up.”
“No,” says Gemma. “I’ll never learn that way.”
“Learn?” I ask.
“How to get here, silly.”
She was always going to come. I rear back an inch, tilting my head as I look at her. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t shown up.”
“Really?” she says. “Why?”
I huff out a solemn chuckle. “Who would want to be with someone who gets called away at the drop of a hat?”
“Me.” She pulls a face at me, then quietly giggles. “I mean it, Shane. You’re not just ‘someone,’ you’re…you.”
“And you’re…” I say, and run my fingers into her soft, umber curls, “…amazing.”
A heartbeat of quietness whispers between us.
And then our mouths collide, our limbs twining together. Our hands roam each other’s bodies as our kisses turn fierce. I groan. She mewls. We ping-pong toward the bed, clumsily stepping out of our clothes along the way.
I break the kiss and step back to gaze at her in nothing but her bra and panties and the cabin’s warm lighting.
“Angel,” I say on a growl. The sight of her, all those shapely contours wrapped in soft, supple skin, is enough to make my rod ache.
I shuck my boxers. Her sapphire eyes broaden, drenched with desire, tinged with concern. I reach down to wrap my fist around my shaft.
“Don’t worry, baby.” I smirk. “I’ll be gentle.”
“No,” Gemma says daringly. “Don’t.”
“I’m warning you…” I answer darkly. I slowly close the distance between us. I have probed that silken inner flesh of hers; tested; explored. It’ll feel good for her to be filled by me, but only if I go slow, at first. “You want to try that again?” I ask dryly.
“Make me yours.” There’s desperation in her throaty tone. “Please…sir.”
Christ. She’s toying with the beast, and she damn well knows it. She knows I could ravage her inside out, upside down. She wants me to.
She’ll be peeved if she wakes up sore in the morning. And I’ll hear about it; I’m not interested in a one-night fuck. Not with her.
I want every night.
I shove my staff between her thighs, dampened with her sticky syrup. I lower my lips against her ear.
“Don’t tempt me, sweetheart…Knowing how good you taste, I need every shred of control I can rally not to tear off your panties right now”—I tick my chin over her shoulder—“lay you down on that bed, and lap up every drop of nectar from your pretty little cunt.”
Gemma releases a sharp gasp, then frowns. A mixture of panic and thrill darkens her eyes. “That…doesn’t so sound terrible.”
“It sounds heavenly, baby. But I want to be buried inside you tonight.”
“Me, too,” she whispers, the tremble in her voice betraying her nerves. “I mean—”
“Shhh.” I drag her panties down her legs and hoist her into bed. Crawling over her, I watch her lust play on her face. “God I can’t wait to make love to you, baby,” and I lift her ass to align her slit with my sex. “You’ve been a good girl for me?”
“Yes,” she purrs.
“Have you dreamed of me being inside you?” I ask, dipping only the tip between her folds.
Her cheeks become ruddy. She nods. “Yes.”
I narrow my eyes, pushing into her a fraction more. “Do you touch yourself while you’re thinking of me?”
“Yes,” she chokes. “But only you.”
I grin down at her, wickedly. She rakes her teeth over her bottom lip. It quivers.
“Is that…okay, Shane?”
“It is definitely okay.” I bend down to kiss her angel face and plunge another inch inside of her. Gemma cries out, and I do it again, kissing her, and fucking her, each thrust sinking further into her hot, tight core.
Her walls choke my thickness, never quite adjusting to me, just carnal, heated friction.
I slow down to give her a rest, and immediately my balls clench to ramp up again.
So greedy, those two.
My girl is lying breathless, pleading for more. She rakes her fingernails down my back, rocking her hips to urge me on. “Please, Shane…why’d you stop?” Her walls tighten around me again.
“From now on, Gemma, you have a need you want satisfied, you come to me.”
“Yes,” she moans, gripping my shoulders, writhing her hips. “Yes, sir.”
Vandalizer.
With a fierce groan I pick up speed and this time I don’t hold back. Gemma’s hips buck with mine, meeting my thrusts, over and over until her warm, sweet syrup gushes over my tool.
“I’m coming!” she cries. “Oh my god, Shane, I’m coming. Come with me, baby!”
Annihilator.
“You want my cum, baby?”
“Yes, yes—oh my god, Shane, please!”
Her sweat-slick body vibrates beneath me as she moans my name, towing me over the edge in tandem with her as pleasure explodes out of my cock and my seed spills into her, painting her walls with every last drop.
“That was…” I start, then pause for breath.
“What?” she says, innocently.
“Transcendent.” I fall down next to her. Our bodies tangle together, gratified, spent. Still buzzing from that electric height.
Our hearts and breaths slowly come down. Then the rest.
Sometime later, we fall asleep. We wake up again. I reach for her, lacing her fingers with my own. “Gemma?”