I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. The shaver touched my chin and I could feel the skin on my neck growing smoother. She came all the way around, cleaning up the edges of my beard with a steady hand and a keen eye. She worked around the globe of my chin, edging out the last of the uneven hair that was beginning to curl in on itself. Every once in a while, I could feel her breath pulsing against my face and I found myself closing my eyes and taking in its warmth.
After about twenty minutes, the electric shaver shut off and she surveyed her work.
She took the towel from around my shoulders and dumped it out into the trash. The water turned on as my hand migrated to my face but she stuck her hand out and grabbed my wrist before I could. I looked up at her before she started wringing out the towel in the sink. Then, she brought the warm cloth to my face and began to clean me up.
“Don’t want you getting stray hairs on your hands,” she said.
Her eyes danced around my features, taking in all the edges to make sure they were even, I guessed. I’d never put this kind of time into what I looked like, so I was honestly unsure as to why she was. But she was right. It was a good way to pass the time.
And I could tell by the sparkle in her eye that she was proud of herself.
She tossed the towel behind my head before her hands cupped my cheeks. She tilted my face from side to side, her eyes following along a steady line. I had no idea what she was trying to look at or what she was trying to measure, but two things were clear: she was very close and her touch felt very nice.
Her eyes connected with mine and she smiled. She allowed her fingertips to flow through my beard and, in an instant, I felt my blood beginning to heat up. Her touch was so kind—something I hadn’t experienced in years—and I became painfully aware of how close her lips were to mine.
Her gaze settled and I watched her eyes darken. Before I knew it, our faces were gravitating toward each other.
Our lips connected in a fervent kiss and suddenly the whirling of my mind stopped.
In that moment, there was nothing. There was no cabin and no snowstorm. There was no military and no past. There were no nightmares, no fear, and there sure as hell was no memory of a haircut. I felt her lips move against mine, massaging mine to life as I pressed my face closer to hers.
I stood up from my seat and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her body into mine while my lips devoured hers.
She was water and I was fire. I was raging out of control and she was doing everything she could to keep me at bay. I felt her moan against my lips as our tongues connected for the first time. My body backed her into the kitchen island and I pinned her between myself and the edge.
I planted my hands on the counter behind her while her hands raked through my hair.
In that moment, nothing was more important than her. Sparks that hadn’t flown in years ignited a raging forest fire that burned throughout my bones. I could feel her hands tugging at my shirt, the buttons coming undone before she splayed her lusciously soft hands out along my skin.
She curled her fingertips into the hair of my chest and I scooped her up and started down the hallway with her.
I was going to allow myself to lose control. I was going to give myself permission to indulge in a woman I didn’t deserve. For the first time since that fucking deployment, I was going to allow myself to be happy.
Even if it was only temporary.
CHAPTER 12
WHITNEY
The way he picked me up in his arms was effortless. He carried me down the hallway with our lips still intertwined and every single part of me was electrified. He carried me into his room and laid me lightly on the bed. Then his heated gaze hooked onto mine for just a split second.
I reached up and ran my fingertips through his beard. His hair was so soft, his skin so warm. His lips encompassed mine again while my hands rounded his neck and, suddenly, I was parting my legs for him as he settled between them.
I could feel him fighting, volleying between keeping his composure and letting himself loose. I could hear him taking deep breaths, trying to quell the rising flood of energy in his body while his muscles twitched underneath every single touch. I moved his flannel button-down from his shoulders before my hands raked across his back and, in an instant, he was peeling my clothes off.
Jeans and underwear and shirts got tossed to the side. His lips were on my neck, my chest, and around my tits while his hand ran down my leg. The passion his body contained was unlike anything I’d ever felt in my life and, soon, I could feel his cock rising against my skin. It was thick and pulsing, begging for entrance while Liam’s lips suckled red welts upon my skin. I ran my hands through his hair while his lips traveled downward, kissing all the way to my toes before he got up onto his knees.
The chiseled body he hid underneath his clothes took my breath away. His abdomen rippled and his arms pulsed. There was a vein bulging in his forearm while his eyes took in my naked body. I could feel my arousal sliding down the crack of my ass, begging for any part of him to touch me where I wanted him most.
He was staring at me like I was his prey and it was time he finally relented to the animal inside of him.
“Take me,” I said breathlessly.
His eyes connected with mine and, for a split second, I thought he was going to flee. I saw the war raging behind his eyes as the peridot sparkle I’d come to enjoy faded into a stormy blue sea. Darkness was coming as it engulfed his features and, soon, his hands were planted beside my head while he hovered over me.
“Don’t ask for something you can’t handle,” he said.
I rose up and caught his lips with mine. His hand came up and cupped my cheek. My tongue slowly prodded to find the tip of his. His hand slid down my chest, massaging my tit as I moaned into his mouth and, soon, his strong, sinewy arm was wrapped around my back and holding me flush against his body.
“Please,” I said, whispering.
In an instant, I was off the bed. My back was against the wall and he was pinning me there, his lips devouring my neck. I could feel myself spilling into my pussy folds, my body trying desperately to hold itself back until he granted me what I wanted. His chest was strong and his lips were hot. His skin pulled a red tint from the confines of my body while I wrapped my legs around his waist. I didn’t care about the pain in my ankle and I didn’t care about the weather outside. I didn’t care that we didn’t know one another and I sure as hell didn’t care that I wouldn’t see him again after this.
All I cared about was the fire being stoked behind my pelvis. A fire I hadn’t felt in years.
“Please fuck me.”
His eyes connected with mine and, slowly, he lined himself up with my entrance. I held my breath, scared to utter another word lest he punish me with loneliness. His thick cock penetrated my folds and my juices spilled out onto his skin. The grin that slid across his cheeks was nothing short of devilish.
The Guardian of Lust was taunting me and I was playing right into his hand.
He slid into me effortlessly before he set a relentless pace. He hooked his strong arm underneath the crook of my leg, folding the knee of my bad ankle toward my chest. He pried my body open for him while our foreheads connected and his dick throbbed against my walls while he split me in two. Never in my life had I felt a man so deep within me and it took all the strength I had not to come on his cock right then and there.
We groaned together while he slicked his cock with my juices.
Without another word spoken, he pulled me from the wall and sat me on top of a small dresser. I leaned back onto my forearms and rolled my hips into him, arching myself for his pleasure while his lips tackled my swollen tits. He lapped and flicked my nipples, rising them to heights I’d never known them to have. He tugged at them, shooting a bit of pain through my body that clenched my pussy around his cock.
He grunted at the sensation while his hands pressed firmly into my lower back.
He sank himself into me again and again while my legs dangled helplessly off the side. His beard tickled my skin and his lips continued to mark me. There wasn’t an inch of skin he was going to leave unkissed. I felt his dick growing bigger within me and I knew if he got any bigger, he’d stretch me like it was my first time.