Keep (Command #2) (32 page)

“Where’s that arrogant prick I like so much?”

Shit, if she wanted him, she could have him. He deliberately came to his feet so that now he could loom over her. Well, kind of. He’d forgotten that she was so tall, so her eyeline wasn’t that much lower than his.

“I’m right here,” he said.

“I want you to make love to me.”

He couldn’t suppress the involuntary laugh. “Sorry, I don’t do that.”

“What the hell does that mean?” She put her hands on her hips, her sexy mouth twisting in frustration.

“I’m not interested in sweet, tender lovemaking. I like nasty, dirty fucking.”

Color bloomed across her face and it turned him on so much that he pushed her hands off of her hips so he could put his there and yank her up against him.

“Why?” she asked, turning away from his impending kiss.

The simple question gave him pause. “What?”

“Why aren’t you interested in making love?”

Since he was terrible at it, that’s why. It was the one skill he hadn’t mastered in the bedroom. “I’m not capable of that.”

The thought went through her visibly and he briefly saw himself reflected in her eyes. Her voice was unsure but determined. “I can prove you wrong.”

“No —”

But she wouldn’t accept that. She was already backing up to the bedroom, pulling him along. “We’ll try it your way, then mine.”

They’d barely made it down the hall towards the bedroom and her lips and hands were on him, hurried. Her delicate fingers slipped under his shirt and traveled up, urging the fabric upwards until he yanked it over his head and discarded it. She tasted so good, he wanted to savor her, but her hands had already unbuttoned his jeans and were buried inside them. Her plan was rather transparent, and while he was completely on board with it, he needed to hurry or she’d have her mouth around him without losing any of her clothes.

And he couldn’t have that.

He gently pushed her away from him, back through the bedroom doorway, and stepped out of the jeans that had collected at his ankles, then he moved on her aggressively. He pulled her shirt off to reveal those amazing breasts hidden inside her bra. His bra, actually. He’d recognized it the second she taken her shirt off this morning. The same one she’d worn the day she’d stormed into his office and stripped… and he’d never forget that moment. So hot, it was seared into his brain.

“I have the panties that match that,” he reminded her, trying to exert a tiny measure of power.

“You do? Good, because I don’t have any on right now.”

His brain emptied of thought, other than she’d outplayed him again. It was so fucking hot. Since he’d lost control for a moment, he let her resume her plan and lift the waistband of his boxers over his erection so she could kneel in front of him.

Her mouth was like warm silk. It was exquisite torture when she parted her lips and wrapped her tongue around him, putting one hand at the base and the other on his hip for control. Slowly, oh so slowly, she began to move on him. It forced him to latch a hand on the doorframe and steady himself.

There was that weird tremble in him again. He loved being under her command. Loved everything about her. It felt like she was there teasing him for hours. Then, she withdrew him from her mouth and raised the gorgeous blue eyes up, her hand still tight on him.

“English,” she ordered, then resumed the torture he didn’t want to end. He’d been talking in German again.

“I love fucking your hot mouth.” He expected her to stop, to give him a dirty look, but instead she moaned… and the vibration made a panicked word escape his lips. “Wait.”

He’d gotten so much closer than he’d intended, but thankfully she listened. He lifted her up and set her on the bed, catching his breath as he undid her jeans and pulled them down her ridiculously long legs, seeing that she hadn’t lied. The concept that she’d made this choice when she dressed this morning, hoping for this moment, made him want to lose control. He kissed an ankle, slowly working up, pressing his lips to every mark of violence along the way as if he could remove them, all the way until he was inside her thighs.

She jolted on the bed when he put his tongue in her. Her breathing was labored and she writhed frantic, desperate for what only he could give. And before he’d barely begun, her legs were quaking and she was gasping loudly, a motion signaling only one thing.

“That was quick,” he murmured, resuming what he had been doing. Fingers clawed at his shoulder and he heard some sort of protest about making it fair, but he ignored it. He wasn’t ready to be done. He hadn’t even used his hands yet.

“Take off your bra,” he whispered, and when she didn’t move immediately, he added, “Or we can just do this all day.” He buried a finger where she was wet and hot.

“Oh, god,” she moaned. Trembling hands released the bra and he eagerly snatched one of her now bare breasts in his hand, finding her skin feverish. His mouth on her, one hand on her breast and another inside her, and it wasn’t enough. He was aching. He needed her to come.

“Shawn,” she gasped as he increased the speed of his tongue, sucking at her. There was nothing sexier than the way she said his name. He didn’t think he could have possibly gotten harder until that happened, coupled with her arriving orgasm.

Just as she began coming, he rose and pressed himself deep inside her, letting her pulse around him. The hope was that this would make it easier for her to take all of him right away, and it seemed to have worked. But it had surprised her, absolutely. He held perfectly still, enjoying the sensation of the shudders he’d created in her.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked.

She shook her head, so he pulled her face up to his and kissed her. She answered back with more intensity, pulling his bottom lip into her mouth and biting just hard enough to have an edge of pain. He made a noise of satisfaction, and let her hair free from the hair tie; it fell like a silk curtain around her face. And as soon as it was down, he was gathering it in his hands, twisting it into a rope so he could tug her head back roughly and expose her neck to him.

She made a startled sound, obviously not pain as he’d been careful not to hurt her. He lowered his mouth to the creamy skin there as he withdrew his hips and then surged forward to bury himself inside her again. Fuck, it felt too good. He told her as much, although he had no idea what language he did it in.

The air in the room was thick and both of them fought to catch their breath. It was hot and it took no time for them both to be covered in a thin sheen of sweat. This bed was on fire and all he cared about was the woman before him. How he moved inside her, how she let him place a hand behind a knee and raise it, wrapping her long leg around his waist.

But the bed was too low for him. He moved quickly, pulling out and bringing her to her feet, but she fell forward into his arms.

“You think I can walk right now?” she cried, incredulously.

He gave her a wicked smile as he brought them to the side of the bed and let them both fall on it in a tangled heap. He did everything he could to make it sound like a request and not an order. “Get on top of me.”

She flushed. Even in the goddamn heat. Beautiful.

Then, she did as asked with his help, positioning herself over him and sinking down, inch by inch, his gaze on their union between her legs. It was done, and then she repeated the action, and it was making him crazy. Hands clamped on her hips and drove her down on him, grinding her against him and she arched her back, moaning loudly.

Thank god Juric’s bullet had hit him low enough that he could do this with minimal pain.

It was beyond enjoyable showing her how to ride him. Whatever felt good for her, felt amazing for him and he was relieved when she established the pace, so his hands could leave her hips and find her breasts.

Her orgasm came out of nowhere, surprising them both. She convulsed on top of him with a strangled cry and he pulled her mouth to his face so he could enjoy listening to it better.

“You sound so sexy when you come,” he said, prolonging her shivers. In the pit of his stomach, he felt nerves develop that increased when she stretched a leg down and asked him with her body to roll her onto her back without losing their connection. He knew what she desired now, and he’d begrudgingly try.

He hated missionary. It felt like he had to do all the work, that the woman beneath him would simply lie there and he didn’t want that. He wanted an equal. Hadn’t he found that in her?

“Slower,” she said, when he was over her.

Her soft hands drifted down his shoulders, down his arms, and up again. Over his back. Like she couldn’t get enough of having him in her hands. Couldn’t get enough of touching him. He could relate. He couldn’t get enough of her in every way possible.

She tilted her hips, angling so that he sank further into her, further than he’d been before and he felt his eyes widen. The impossibly slow rhythm she’d demanded was tightening the tension inside him, winding it tighter every second. He felt… connection. Like they were doing something so much more important than just getting each other off. He felt like he belonged to her.

The rock of her hips against his felt so good it was almost painful. Her lips were soft and warm. One of her hands tangled in his hair, pressing him into her. The other was bent so that it could grab the headboard behind her. It had never been like this before. He’d never let emotion in during the act, and now he was grateful that he hadn’t. What was happening between them was something he’d only share with her.

The word was probably meant to be a command, but it rang out as a desperate plea from her. “More.”

He shifted and bent a knee, then reached up to grab the edge of the mattress for leverage.

She wasn’t lying still beneath him, simply taking it. She was moaning, writhing, bucking… alive under him. Her hips moved to meet his thrusts and she was in control of everything even though he was the one drenched in sweat from exertion, sliding over her, sliding inside her. Wanting this again, and again, forever.

“Look at me,” she said. He was going to drown in the icy pools there. When he tried to kiss her, she tightened her hold on his head, stopping him. Her voice was surprisingly steady, as if certain beyond a shadow of a doubt. “
Ich liebe dich
.”

Everything disappeared in a flash of white and he tumbled into a place beyond pleasure. He heard her utter his name and then repeat that she loved him in English…. maybe she worried she’d said it wrong, or that he hadn’t heard her. But she’d said it again for herself, because she was tumbling into the same place he was, following him.

It felt like it was never going to stop, not that he wanted it to. And when it did, they returned slowly, one moment at a time.

How wrong they had both proved each other. Her believing she wasn’t capable of loving him and him believing he couldn’t physically express his love to her.

They lay unmoving, even after their breathing had returned to normal. His muscles shook from the effort to keep his full weight off of her, but he could feel nothing except where they were still joined. She wasn’t crying this time. Her eyes were clear and full of love. He reluctantly withdrew and collapsed beside her, exhausted. When she didn’t curl up under his arm, he glanced at her.

“I’m not cuddling with you. It’s a thousand degrees in here,” she said.

“Yes.” It probably hadn’t helped that she’d been trapped under an enormous man. “I’ll go turn on the ceiling fan.” But he couldn’t move. He didn’t want to leave her. She set her hand on his bare, sweat-covered chest, right over his heart like she wanted to be close but was overheated. He covered her hand with his.

“This house should come with a warning.”

“What?” she murmured, her eyes closed.

“Are you aware this is where Jason fell in love with your sister?” He let his thumb brush over the back of her hand. “And now that you’ve told me you love me —”

She propped herself up on an elbow and cast her gaze down on him, a sultry smile on her face. “Was that your plan? To bring me here and make me fall in love with you?” She leaned down and her lips hovered just over his. “Sorry to disappoint, Shawn, but I was in love with you long before we came here.”

And then she kissed him, and he knew they’d never be apart again.

-21-

Kara sat on the bed, fighting her anxiety. Shawn leaned against a dresser, his handsome eyes fixed on the half empty glass of wine he swirled absentmindedly in a hand. “Everyone loves a surprise visit by the CEO.”

Kara gave him a plain look. “If by ‘everyone,’ you mean no one.”

He’d taken her on a tour of the Madison plant this afternoon and the employees had scrambled around like chickens with their heads cut off. She could see the satisfaction in his eyes during it. He liked flexing his power in front of her.

Their week together had gone much, much too fast and, making matters worse, he seemed completely unaware of the dread that filled her now. It probably would have helped to tell him, to give him a clue that she didn’t want to leave the States. But if she did that, he’d push. He’d persuade. He’d wear her down until she relented and gave him what he wanted. He’d been pushing that she come to Osterhägen all week, but she was determined to stand on her own and keep her professional and personal life separate. She could not repeat her mistake.