Break Away (35 page)

I walked out into the cool night air and came up behind him. He shifted his head slightly, but didn’t turn around. Stepping closer, I wrapped my arms around his waist and began trailing kisses along the hard muscles of his back.

“I almost lost you tonight,” he said with a deep sigh. “If anything had happened to you… God, if he’d hurt you… I would have killed him. I still want to fucking kill him.”

“But you didn’t lose me,” I pointed out. “I’m fine, thanks to you.”

“If I hadn’t come back… Fuck, Liv… I never would have been able to forgive myself if I let something happen to you.”

“You saved me, Dex.” I rested my forehead on his back, pressing my body against his and absorbing his heat. “I was so scared I was going to lose you. I—I can’t lose you, too. I need you… I love you.”

He turned around and pulled me into his arms. “I love you, too. With every piece of my heart. I’m never going to let anything happen to you. Ever.”

His eyes were full of fire, but not angry. They were heated with desire, and I knew he needed me just as badly as I needed him. I needed to feel every part of him, needed to reassure myself that he was there and was okay. Everything that happened earlier drifted away, and the only thing on my mind was getting wrapped up in him.

Crushing his lips against mine, he kissed me fiercely, protectively, possessively. With one kiss, he communicated everything he’d ever said to me, and all the feelings that couldn’t be put into words.

He spun us around, setting me on top of the railing and guiding my legs around his waist. His hands wandered up my thighs, underneath the hem of my oversize tee shirt and up my back, leaving a trail of heat on my skin that resonated all the way into my core. Leaning down, I pressed my lips to each of his bruises, wishing that my touch could take away his pain and heal him. I kissed along his rippled stomach, over his hard chest, up his neck to his jaw, and finally back to his mouth.

He growled, the sound vibrating through his chest as he took my mouth and rocked his hardness against me. I moaned, dampness pooling between my legs as I clambered to bring him closer, anxious to feel him inside me. His hands gripped my bottom and he lifted me up, effortlessly carrying me inside and setting me on the edge of the bed. I reached forward and popped open the button on his jeans, my fingers grazing his arousal as I lowered the zipper. Grabbing his waistband, I slid his pants and boxers down, letting his thick erection spring free. It stood perfectly at my eye level and I couldn’t resist pressing my lips to the tip, and when I took him into my mouth, he groaned loudly, cradling my head in his hands. I let my tongue slide along his length, tasting his smooth skin as my lips moved over him. My eyes remained locked on his, watching as his face twisted in pleasure and listening to the guttural sounds that escaped from his throat. Seeing what I did to him only turned me on even more, and I loved knowing how good I made him feel.

When I sensed that he was getting close, he drew back, dropping to his knees and pressing my back against the mattress. “Nothing, not even your sexy mouth, is going to keep me from coming inside you tonight.”

His hands moved up my stomach, lifting my shirt as he worshipped me with his gentle touch, gliding over my hardened nipples as he stared down at me hungrily. Peeling my shirt off, his lips caressed my skin, teasing my breasts as his mouth moved down my body, retracing the path of his hands. When he reached my panties, he hooked his thumbs in the sides, dragging them down my legs and tossing them aside.

Kneeling in front of me, he ran his large palms up the inside of my legs, spreading them open. When his eyes met mine, they were ravenous. By the time his tongue pressed against my center, I was desperate for his touch, clinging to the sheets as I squirmed beneath him. His lips moved slowly, coaxing me with gentle pressure until I was right on the edge. Clutching his short hair in my hands, I tugged his mouth away from me and pulled him on top me.

“Nothing is going to keep me from having you inside me when I come,” I whispered.

He grinned, letting his hips drop between my legs as he settled his body over mine. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

In one movement, he thrust into me, hard and deep, halting when he was all the way inside. I cried out loudly, wrapping my legs around his waist as he slowly drew himself out and gradually pressed back inside. His movements were slow and unhurried, and every feeling was magnified. He was taking his time making love to me, whispering sweet things in my ear with each slow thrust, our bodies moving familiarly together, making me feel more connected to him than ever before.

His breaths became heavier as his pace began to increase and he lowered his forehead to my chest. “You feel so damn good, baby. I want to stay inside you forever.”

Clutching him against me, I lifted my hips to meet his and grabbed his perfectly toned behind, pulling him deeper inside me, making me feel full and complete. I toppled over the edge, calling out his name with my release, and Dex soon followed, his warmth pouring into me as he swept his lips against mine. Our chests rose and fell against each other as we fought to catch our breath, our foreheads pressed together and our bodies still intimately connected.

It wasn’t until Dex rolled to his side that we realized his wound was bleeding through the bandage. I quickly ran into the bathroom for a fresh one before cleaning the area around his stitches and applying new gauze.

“Oops… I’m guessing we didn’t quite follow doctor’s orders,” I said, putting the finishing touches on my handiwork.

“Fuck the doctor’s orders. Nothing could have kept me from you tonight.” He grinned cleverly, “Besides, I like it when you play nurse for me.”

Once his bandage was taken care of, we climbed into bed and curled up under the covers. His hard chest was pressed against my back and I could feel his warm breath tickle my ear. Outside, the sun was just beginning to rise with the start of a new day. Together we watched the colors of the sky change until we both drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

We didn’t wake up until well past noon the next day, and we took our sweet time getting out of bed, lazily making love until our stomachs were growling with the need to be fed. We ate breakfast with Olivia perched on my lap, neither of us wanting to separate from one another, even for a short amount of time. Being close to each other helped remind us that we were together and we were safe. I was already plotting to figure out the best way to keep her here, because I had no intention of letting her go.

“I think it’s about time you gave me a drawer or something,” Olivia suggested, glancing down at the huge tee shirt she wore that was swallowing her up. “As much as I love wearing your clothes and going commando, it might be nice to have a few of my own clothes here.”

“Hmmm…” I scratched my chin, pretending to think about it. “I was going to offer you an entire closet, but now that you mentioned going commando and reminded me how incredibly sexy you look in my clothes, I might have to rethink it…”

She laughed. “I don’t need a whole closet! Just one teenie, tiny little drawer… pleaseee?” Wrapping her arms around my waist, she looked up at me with a smile that made my knees weak.

“Okay, fine. But it’s going to be really hard to fit all your stuff in one drawer.”

“Why would I need all my stuff?”

“So that you can move in with me,” I said casually.

“Are you serious?” Her hands dropped to her sides, and her lips curled up in amusement. “Is this because of last night? Because I don’t want to rush into anything just because—”

“That’s not why,” I interrupted, grabbing her hips and hauling her body against mine. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and after what happened, I don’t want to wait any longer. I don’t want you to be alone in that apartment anymore, and I don’t want to be alone in my house anymore. I want to fall asleep with you every night and wake up with you every morning. What do you say?”

She didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity, and her expression was unreadable. I was sure that she was going to tell me no, and then her face broke into a smile.

“Let’s do it,” she said.

“I fucking love you,” I shouted happily, lifting her up off the ground. I nearly had her shirt over her head, ready to ravage her yet again, when I heard someone pounding on the front door. We looked at each other quizzically, and when I rushed over to open it, Rose barged inside.

“Oh my goodness, Olive!” She rushed past me toward Olivia and threw her arms around her, hugging her tight. “I heard what happened, and I’ve been worried sick about you. I had to see for myself that you were all right.”

“Rose?” Olivia looked at her with surprise. “How did you already find out what happened?”

“It’s a small town. That kind of news spreads like wildfire. And for crying out loud, enough with the ‘Rose’ crap already,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa and pulling Olivia down next to her. “I am your grandmother. You may call me ‘Grandma,’ ‘Grammy,’ ‘Nana,’ ‘Gram,’ or whatever grannie name suits you, but Rose is off the table. Got it?”

Olivia smiled. “Fair enough, Gram.”

While Olivia was in the kitchen brewing a pot of coffee, Rose turned to me. “Thank you for keeping my girl safe. That poor thing has gone through so much in her life. After fighting on her own all this time, I’m grateful to know that she has someone to fight with her. You’re a good man, Dex.”

I really liked Rose. She had a way of drawing people in and making them feel at ease around her. It was the same quality that Olivia had. “She’s been saving me since the day we met, and I intend to protect her for the rest of my life,” I told her.

“Is she going back to her place?” Rose asked with concern. “I’m not sure how I feel about her living there all by herself…”

“Well, we, uh… we kind of just decided that she would move in here with me.” I really hoped that Rose wasn’t the kind of grandmother that frowned upon living together before marriage. After all this bonding we were doing, I’d hate for her to smack me around.

“Good boy,” she said. “I’ll sleep easy at night knowing she’s in good hands. Now that I finally got her back, I’ll do anything to make sure I don’t lose her again.”

“You and me both,” I nodded.

When Olivia returned with the coffee, I excused myself to give them some time alone to talk while I took a shower and got dressed. I wanted to stop by her place and make sure it was cleared of any and all reminders of last night. The last thing I wanted was for Olivia to be scared walking in there. I also wanted to check in on Amy and Sadie. They weren’t there when Steven broke in last night, but they could have been. I would have to talk to Nate about adding a few extra safety measures at the house to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again.

I dropped a quick kiss to Olivia’s cheek before heading out. “Are you sure you’re okay with me leaving for a bit?” I asked. “I can do this another time if you want me to stay.”

“I’m totally fine, I promise,” she assured me.

“Go on now,” Rose said, urging me out the door. “If any little punk tries to come anywhere near her, I’ll take him out myself.”

“How was it?” Nate asked as we drove back from my first group therapy session a few days later.

“It was nothing like I thought it would be… but in a good way,” I said. “They really understood what I was going through, and a lot of them were going through the same thing. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one and that I’m not, you know, crazy.”