Cutter's Hope (11 page)

“Up into the bed, lay on your back,” he ordered and my knees were so weak it took me a couple of tries to comply. He climbed in after me and settled back between my thighs. I was so incredibly wet. Wetter than I ever remember being before in my life. Cutter gazed down at me, solid, in control, assessing me before nodding to himself and introducing his cock back into my pussy.

I arched off the bed and he hooked my legs over his arms, palms flat to the mattress, driving into me deep, the angle different but no less erotic, no less arousing than before. It was like he touched all the places he’d missed in our initial coupling.

“Tease your clit,” he ordered and I un-fisted the bottom sheet, letting my right hand drift that direction. I kept my eyes closed and reveled in the sensations he wrought.

“I said touch yourself,” his voice was rough and demanding and sent an all new thrill across my nerves, I opened my eyes and the intensity of his gaze stole my breath away. His eyes were lovely, dark and deep, and that darkness had nothing to do with the color. I grazed my sensitive nub with gentle fingertips and gasped, my pussy spasming around his dick where he was buried balls deep.

“Hmmm, oh yeah, do it again.” Cutter’s eyes drifted shut and he turned his head, savoring the sound of my cry as I did it again. It was almost too much but I didn’t want to stop. No, not at all. It felt so good,
he
felt so good. He resorted to these deep, short little thrusts that made my toes curl and my eyes roll back in my head.

I was close, so very close, just that little bit more… and
oh god…
I came screaming his name, back arching so completely off the bed I was sure I would permanently damage something. That I would snap in two and would never be able to walk again and I didn’t even care.

Cutter’s arms left from behind my knees and curved beneath my back, gathering me to him while he still rode deep inside my body. He kissed my chest, between my small breasts, to my throat, before placing a gentle chaste kiss on my chin. I cupped his face with gentle hands when his lips met mine. His beard tickling my palms as we kissed languorously, so slowly, the gentleness a shocking change from our rough exchange of earlier.

He moved slowly and carefully inside me now, while I trembled uncontrollably in his arms, coming back down slowly from the stratosphere where he’d launched me. He smoothed my hair back from my face and captured my gaze with his.

“Easy, Sweetheart, I’ve got you,” he whispered and emotion welled within me as blood welled from a cut, spilling out of my soul and welling slightly in my eyes. Ah, fuck, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be a hot fuck and nothing more, I wasn’t supposed to
feel
anything but physically good… what the fuck was Cutter
doing
to me?

“Shh, I’m right here,” his voice was soothing, tone sympathetic – no, empathetic and I swallowed hard, forcing down the confusion and myriad emotions struggling to keep them in check, to not feel what was going on. He kissed me, soft, gentle pecks of his lips on mine, hips lazily moving between my thighs. I twined my legs around him and rode on the gentle current of pleasure he sent thrumming through my core and he smiled down at me and it was probably the most beautiful and intimate smile any man had ever given me.

My heart did a series of back flips in my chest, fluttering erratically and I think, for the first time that I could ever remember doing it, I fell a little in love.

“You good, Sweetheart?” he asked me and I nodded and again with the smile that made my heart stutter in my chest.

“K, hang on to me,” he ordered gently. I twined my arms around his shoulders obediently and trusted that he had me as he took me through yet another orgasm, only this one was much less fierce, a sweeping, gentle thing that left me limp with total satisfaction. He leaned down and kissed me again and I was vaguely aware of him twitching his last inside me which set off a whole ‘nother set of aftershocks through me.

I lay gasping in Cutter’s bed, carefully bracketed by his muscular body and I felt… safe. Cared for… it was strange, unique. I was used to being in control of myself and all of my faculties and somehow, someway, Cutter had stripped me of them all. Left me bare and raw and vulnerable beneath him, and instead of lording that fact over me, he protected me. Held me in the palms of his hands, soothed me, kissed me and silently promised to use the power he held over me now for good rather than evil purposes and I think that’s where I lost it completely.

Relief flooded out from the center of my being so strong, so absolute at being able to let go… to be able to trust and I had no fucking idea why I even did, just something about him, some sublevel vibe told me I could and right now I was going with it. I needed to go with it or I was going to implode.

“Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you, Sweetheart. You just go ahead and let it out,” he murmured, and so I did.

Chapter 12

Cutter

She had me, hook line and sinker the moment she trembled beneath me and hitched out that broken little sob. Tough as she was, the girl had a lot going on inside and I was feeling a lot of things in that moment. Chiefly, that’d I’d brought it out in her, broken her, cracked her wide and sent all of these emotions tumbling out and now it was my duty to put her back together again. I didn’t see it as a long haul project, not with Hope. No she would cry, she would sleep, and she would be fine again. She was a tough cookie. What surprised me was how much that disappointed me.

I really liked her, she felt fucking amazing, and I wanted more. A lot more. I smoothed her hair from her damp cheeks, peppered her face with a bunch of damn butterfly kisses and just let her be what she needed to be. A woman finally setting a burden down, sharing the load.

Her arms twined around me so sweetly and she held herself close to my body and I gave her shelter there. It felt damn good to be needed, but not only needed,
allowed
to help. Hope let me in and god damn that felt so
good
after months of sex and loving someone and being held forever at arm’s length… not that I faulted Li’l Bit for any of that… it just was what it was.

I closed my eyes and breathed Hope in and banished all thought of Hayden Michaels from my heart and mind. It wasn’t fair to go there with the woman in my arms, here and now. So I shut out Li’l Bit’s small frame and haunted green eyes and focused on Hope, and the relief and other mixed up soup of emotions pouring from her. I shifted into a better position to hold her and made soothing noises, rocking her gently until she quieted and her deep and even breathing let me know she was down for the count.

She felt so good, a solid weight against my chest, filling out my arms and it didn’t take much or very long for me to fall into a deep and satisfying sleep of my own. By the time the thump and scrape up on deck woke me up, the sun was streaming bright and strong through the portholes and Hope was stiff in my arms, listening just as I was. A series of raps above deck and I relaxed.

“It’s cool, Sweetheart, just some of my men, probably making sure you haven’t killed me.” Hope tipped her chin against my chest, rolling her head back on my shoulder to look at me. I drew her hand to my mouth where it’d been resting on my chest and gently kissed her fingertips.

Her eyes drifted shut at the minute touch and I smiled, still a touch raw but she’d be boot strapping herself in no time as soon as…

“Yo, Captain!” Marlin called from just inside the door below decks.

“Yeah! We’re good, Brother,” I called back, “Give us a sec!”

Hope pushed off of my chest and sat up, I popped open a cabinet door and pulled down one of my tees for her and she arched a brow before taking it.

“Neon orange is so my color,” she remarked sardonically.

“Beggars can’t be choosers, Baby,” I teased, “Your clothes are out there with them.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled it over her head and I really liked her in my shirt. I slid to the end of the bed and stood up.

“Aw Christ, man! Put on some fucking clothes,” Pyro griped.

“My boat my rules, no one said you had to look,” I pulled on my pair of shorts from the night before and asked, “What time is it?”

“Just after eleven, you got somewhere you have to be?”

“After a fashion,” I went up my short, narrow hall, making a pit stop in my water closet before hitting the living room. Hope was leaning against the wood paneling by the water closet door when I came out, a slightly amused look on her face before she ducked in to use it herself. Pyro’s sour expression made me chuckle.

“Didn’t expect her to hand you your ass last night did you?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said plaintively.

“Going to be any bad blood, man?” I asked.

“Nope, she got me fair and square and hasn’t said a word about it, I’m good so long as she doesn’t make fun.”

“Afraid she’s going to bruise your ego more than your melon?” Marlin asked from the couch, booted foot propped next to my open but dark laptop.

“Boots off my table,” I said interrupting whatever Pyro was going to smart back. Hope appeared in the mouth of my narrow hall, long legs crossed at the ankle as she leaned, arms crossed, against the wall. Her face was impassive but I had her number now, she was waiting to see how things were going to play out.

“Leave it to you, Dude,” Pyro said, flopping down on the other end of the couch and looking Hope over appreciatively. She inclined her head in his direction but remained neutral. Nice to know she could take a dude checking her out as a compliment; but I still wanted to slap my buddy upside the head for doing it. That was my woman, and no, I didn’t even question the possessive jealousy swirling in my veins. Nor was I going to be a brutish cave-douche about it either. Hope told me to fuck off? Off is the general direction in which I would fuck. Still, the way her deep dark eyes swept over me spoke of two things, one, she wasn’t done with me yet and two, she was uncertain. Both could be addressed later.

Right now, Marlin was speaking to Hope, “You know we don’t take kindly to anybody pointing guns in one of our brother’s faces, we take even less kindly to you pointing one in the Captain’s face,” he said coolly, but the edge of hostility in his blue eyes was pretty fucking unmistakable. I wanted to step in front of Hope, protect her, but I locked that instinct right in its box. My girl could handle her own.

“Sorry about that,” she said but her tone said she was anything but. She was giving Marlin a solid calculating once over. Marlin was doing the same to her. I had to admit she looked good wearing just my shirt, with the wild freshly fucked look going on that I’d put on her. She had a pretty solid bruise at the corner of her mouth, blossoming in sickly brown and purple along her delicate jaw from where I’d clipped her the night before. I grimaced inwardly, I didn’t like that one bit but it couldn’t be avoided.

“Uh huh,” Marlin’s eyes traveled from Hope to me, “Only you can have a woman pointing a gun in your face one minute and screaming your name the next,” he said and it almost sounded like he was complaining. I grinned at my second in command.

“That’s just great,” Hope griped and her posture was markedly stiffer than it had been the moment before.

“Sorry, Sweetheart, you pointed a gun in our Captain’s face, the man don’t go nowhere without some kind of shadow otherwise what kind of club would we be?” Marlin arched his eyebrows but Hope kept him fixed with that neutral look of hers.

“Man, she don’t know shit else about how a club operates,” Pyro said with surprise.

“What was your first clue?” she asked.

“That dumb assed expression you got on your face,” Pyro growled back.

“Uh huh,” Hope raised one eyebrow and pushed off from the wall, she wandered over to my recliner and dropped into it, slouching, her gorgeous long legs stretched out in front of her but artfully splayed, knees together, none the less. I wanted to put Pyro’s eyes back in his skull backwards for the lingering look he gave them.

“Out,” I ordered my men, both of them looked up at me sharply.

“Captain?” Marlin queried.

“Seriously, Hope and I got some business with the SHMC up north, fill you boys in after, go back to The Plank.”

“Whoa, ain’t happening, Cap. We’ll be up on deck but fuck that! We aren’t leaving you alone with an unknown quantity.” Pyro shot Hope a dirty look. Hope stuck her tongue out at him.

“Yer an unknown quantity,” she said like a petulant child and Marlin and I both cracked a smile and slight laugh. It was cute as hell. Pyro even smiled, caught off guard.

“Look chick, no offense but you got some moves, and you used them against us,” Pyro said.

“None taken and I know, and I did, I was there… I got a little… upset,” she had the grace to look embarrassed.

“Yeah, about that, what’s the friggin’ deal?” Marlin asked.

“The Plank. Later. Go,” I demanded and the guys got up reluctantly.

“We’ll be on deck,” Marlin said, taking Pyro’s side, “Got some clothes coming for the minx,” he sniffed.

“Awesome,” Hope muttered but didn’t sound exactly happy about it.

“That Ruger the only thing you were packing? Best tell us now, Radar is going to find if you got anything else,” Marlin’s tone was dark.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t exactly need a gun to be dangerous,” she said and topped the statement off with a nonchalant shrug, “But yeah, that was the only weapon I had and I’d like it back at some point.”

“Maybe if you’re a good girl and we decide we can trust you,” Pyro said. Hope flipped him off and he laughed.

“She’s got spunk, good luck with that buddy,” my best friend told me. I arched a brow and remained silent but I’m sure my expression said it all,
get the fuck out
.

Marlin and Pyro went above deck and a second later we heard the drone of Marlin’s voice on his cell. Hope and I exchanged a look and she gave me another little shrug.