Cop's Passion (16 page)

His position
and bigger body made it easy for him to place his mouth at her ear,
his breaths ragged and hot against her sensitive skin, and his
growled words shivered through her. “You’re going to damned well
remember that it was me who took you, Maddy. You are never escaping
that.” On the table she saw the tendons stand out in his hands, his
muscles bunching as he took his weight, as his own desire rode him
as hard as he rode her. But still he was able to almost snarl, “Say
my name, Maddy.” When she didn’t immediately obey, he demanded,
“Say it!”

“Mike.” His
name was a ragged burst from her lips, ending on a moan as he
shoved impossibly deeper inside her.

“Maddy.” One
word from him, her name on his lips, and she felt it burn right
into her heart as surely as the seed leaking from his shaft burned
her sheath.

The urgency
built between them, she could feel the tension in his body as he
moved against her, and then he removed one hand from the table to
splay across her abdomen, pulling her tight against him as he
pounded into her.

The sensation
of his fingers biting into her flesh was almost her undoing, the
knowledge that he was controlling their coming orgasm, but it was
the hot, open-mouthed kiss he suddenly placed on her nape that
tipped her over the edge, that and the sudden change in position as
he deliberately dropped his hand a little, the movement tilting her
pelvis slightly, and his thick shaft nudged something deep inside
her.

The sensation
was unbelievable, shattering, and she tipped over the erotic edge
of prurience with a cry, arching and pushing back into the heated
thrusts that claimed her, and just before she was swept away she
felt Mike stiffen, felt his shaft deep inside her jerk, and the
flush of his heated seed that he poured deep, deep into her body,
coating her sheath and marking her. And his arms wrapped around her
snugly, securely, holding her as they were both lost to Eros.

Floating back
down to delicious consciousness, Maddy was dreamily aware that she
was resting on her forearms on the table, her forehead on the back
of her hand.

She was
surrounded by the heat of Mike’s body. Behind, above and over her,
he seemed to shelter her from everything. Turning her head a
little, she saw that he, too, was leaning on his forearm, his bicep
bulging as it took his weight. The band of his other arm was on the
table beneath her, her soft abdomen was resting on it. His hand
curved up and around her hip on the opposite side, something she’d
never imagined any man could do, but then again he was an extremely
tall man with the apportioned body parts - arms, legs, torso and -
oh God, he was cupped against her so close that he was still
sheathed inside her. The heat of his body against her was
delicious, his shaft inside her titillating, and his breath on the
side of her neck was moist and made her more than aware of their
position.

And the fact
that she’d begged him, pushed him, made him angry enough to have
sex with her…
Oh God, I am such a loser! Such a fat, pathetic
loser
!

Mike shifted
slightly, bracing himself on his palm and pushing upwards, his
other hand gliding across her belly. “Maddy?”

“Let me up.”
She was going to die. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she
do this every time she was with him?

He pulled back,
his shaft slipping free and making both their breaths catch, but he
didn’t reach for her, instead he shifted back a few steps.

She
straightened, more than conscious of her generous backside naked to
his view, her thighs bare to his sight, and she shrank inside. Oh
God, what had she done? What must he think of her?

“Are you all
right?” The words were accompanied by the sound of his zipper.

“Yes.” Head
bent, she bit her lip as she shoved her skirt back down, grateful
for the sheltering material as it hid her curves. Hands fumbling,
she sought to redo the clasp on her bra, only to stiffen when
muscular arms came each side of her and big hands easily caught the
sides of her bra.

In a gentle
movement, her breasts were scooped effortlessly into the lacy cups
and the clasp edges were brought together.

So mortified
she wanted to die, Maddy laid her hands atop his. “I can do
this.”

“But I want
to.” His warmth was again at her back and she could feel every hard
line of his body against hers as he looked down over her shoulder
while refastening her bra.

Once he was
done, she quickly jerked her shirt down, but even covered she felt
naked. Humiliated. She loathed herself so much in that moment that
she wanted to find a large hole, dive inside and pull the lot down
on top of her. She wanted to bury herself so far down that she’d
never again have to face him.

That thought
was uppermost in her mind and she moved to the side, her head
turned away, refusing to look at him.

“Maddy.”

“I’m sorry, I’m
so sorry.”

His hand was on
her arm, turning her to face him. She couldn’t look at him, keeping
her head bent.

“Maddy.”

God, her name
sounded so good on his tongue, his deep rumble seeming to stroke
over the syllables, and it only made her throat ache as she tried
to swallow past the sudden lump that appeared. She wasn’t going to
make any more of a fool of herself than she already had by crying.
“I need to go.”

One big hand
cupped her cheek, the palm rough against her skin, and a calloused
thumb slid beneath her chin to gently tip back her head.

It took all her
courage to meet those pale blue eyes in Mike’s dangerously handsome
face. She expected to see pity, maybe a little derision and
self-disgust towards himself, but the tenderness in his expression
was so unexpected that it brought her erratic emotions surging
together into one big, miserable heap.

She burst into
tears.

Oh great, the
ultimate degradation.

Strong arms
surrounded her, Mike’s big hand sliding around to cup the back of
her head as he drew her to him, his other arm around her waist. He
simply held her against him as she sobbed into his shirt, her cheek
against the firm yet comforting swell of his chest.

Maddy cried
like a baby, every bit of misery of the last few days, every
turbulent emotion and humiliating experience washing to the fore
and pouring out of her. She tried to stop crying, tried to gulp in
the sobs, but Mike simply started to rock her gently, his voice a
deep, familiar, welcome rumble in her ear. “Let it out, baby, just
let it all out.” And then he said the words that etched themselves
forever into her heart. “I’m here for you.”

And she cried
harder, her fingers clenching into the front of his shirt as she
leaned into him, allowing, for the first time in her life, a man to
take control while she was so vulnerable.

He rested his
cheek atop her head and stroked his hand slowly and soothingly over
her hair, letting her cry and cradling her in his arms in a hold
that was both gentle and reassuring at the same time.

It was several
minutes before she could get the sobs under control and by the time
she was down to sniffling only she felt wrung out. If it wasn’t for
Mike holding her up, she was sure she’d have fallen to her knees
long ago.

Quietly, he
smoothed the hair back from her damp cheek. Closing her eyes, she
just relaxed against him for several minutes while she got her
emotions under control, which wasn’t easy when she was still
disgusted and ashamed with herself.

Now she had the
problem of getting away from him and out of his house. She was
going to sell her duplex, take her cat, and run as far and as fast
as she could away from Mike. God, how could she possibly face him
after this? How much more could she screw up her life?

When had it
mattered so much?

When had she
turned into such a nymphomaniac around a man?

It surprised
her when Mike moved, his hand at the back of her waist as he
steered her over to the kitchen bench. The box of tissues was
situated right beside the containers of baked goods she’d brought
over. He plucked several tissues from the box and pressed them into
her hand.

“No amount of
baking is going to make up for this,” Maddy choked out without
thought.

Mike’s laughter
was low and amused. He still had his arm around her, his hand at
the small of her back, and she didn’t want him to move away while
at the same time, perversely, she wanted him to storm out of the
room so she could slink away without him watching her.

After wiping
her eyes and blowing her nose, she tossed the tissues into the
small bin beside the bench, took a deep breath and turned to face
him, only she wasn’t courageous enough to actually look him in the
eye, so she settled for staring at the wet patch on his shirt
caused by her bout of bawling. “I’m so sorry, Mike. This won’t
happen again. I could - oh shit, Mike, I am so sorry.” All courage
fled and she turned and walked quickly from the room.

She’d just
gotten into the hallway when his hand caught hers and swung her
around. Startled, she looked up to see him gazing down at her with
purpose hardening his jaw and a mixture of concern and
determination in his pale blue eyes.

“Oh, no.” Mike
turned and started striding back down the hallway, towing her
behind him. “Not this time, Maddy. This time we do it my way.”

“What?” His
way? What the heck was his way? Did he mean sex? Bewildered, she
could do nothing but follow him with her hand caught in his firm
grasp.

Turning into
the lounge room, he led her over to the sofa. “We’re talking.”

“Talking?” She
couldn’t believe it.

“Yep.” In one
easy move he used her momentum to whirl her around and dump her on
the sofa, dropping down swiftly beside her and putting his arm
around her shoulders to haul her up against him. “We’re
talking.”

Stunned by the
unexpected turn of events, Maddy could only lean stiffly against
the big body beside her and stare at the coffee table. She couldn’t
seem to get a clear thought in her head. It took her several
seconds to actually manage to say, “Are you kidding me?”

“I never kid
about talking. And baby, we are long overdue for a talk.”

She watched in
disbelief as he toed off his boots and stretched his long legs out
to rest his sock-clad heels on the coffee table. Lifting one big
foot briefly, he crossed his ankles, gave a sigh of pleasure, and
she actually felt him
snuggle
down in the sofa and take her
with him.

Normally men
dipped towards her when she sat down, but due to Mike’s tall,
muscular, and heavier body, she dipped down towards him, which
meant that for the first time in her life she was actually leaning
against a man and it wasn’t by accident.

Mike adjusted
his arm so that she ended up cuddled against his side. Resting his
arm along the back of her shoulders, he idly stroked his fingers
against the material of her t-shirt. “That’s better,” he said.
“Much cosier.”

Her heart
pounded a little. The heat of his body was filtering through her
side and warming her. She was so intensely aware of him, and not
just because of the memory of him taking her with such dominance.
No, there was his masculine scent, clean and male and so him, a
hint of leather and male cologne. There was his strength, his quiet
control, his determination. His gentleness. His way of simply
relaxing and making her feel strangely comfortable after the most
mind-blowing episode of her life.

His simple
acceptance of everything made her relax, but only a little. She
still couldn’t bring herself to look at him and she could only gaze
at his big feet in silence.

This had to be
one of the weirdest moments of her life.

“I think I
should go home,” she finally whispered.

“Nope.” He
wiggled his toes.

“You must be
the only man in the world who’d want to talk about…it.”

“The sex?” He
was as blunt as always and she cringed inside. “I want to talk
about more than just the sex, but we’ll get that out of the way
first, if you like.”

Out of the way.
She cringed even more.

“Did I hurt
you?” He didn’t stop stroking her shoulder, nor did he shift to
look at her.

“No.”

“Was it so
disappointing or bad that you had to cry?”

“What? No!”
Astounded, she turned her head to stare up at him but as soon as he
dropped his gaze to meet her eyes, she flushed and again looked
away. “No, it was - was…incredible.” Heat seared her cheeks.

“Was I too
rough?”

“Um…do we
really have to talk about this?”

“Yep.”

“You have
strong female traits. Does that worry you?”

“Nope. Was I
too rough?”

“No.” Closing
her eyes, she sighed inwardly. She had already humiliated herself,
so she might as well go the whole way. “It was rough, but in a good
way.”

She felt a
definite relaxing of tension in him of which she hadn’t been
previously aware.

“You like it
rough?”

“Oh my God.”
She started to sit up but he simply pulled her back into him.

“Nothing wrong
with finding out what we both like,” Mike stated calmly.

“I don’t think
neighbours discuss this kind of thing.”

“After
neighbours have shared what we have - twice now, may I remind you -
I think it’s a fair call.”

“Have you done
this often?”

“Not with a
neighbour. You’re my first.”

“I’m
sorry.”

“I’m not.”

Of all the
things he could have said, that particular announcement stunned
her, but then she regained her senses. “Nice of you to say so, but
unnecessary. Really.”

“Really,
huh?”

“Really.”
Folding her arms, she continued to watch his toes slowly curling
and uncurling.