KNOCKOUT (56 page)

I
n my darkest
moment when I needed him most, Trent had come for me. The impact that had on my world was profoundly changing, and I finally realized that I could truly, honestly trust him. From that moment on, nothing was ever the same again.

I felt like the most special girl in the world.

Once we had dropped the motorcycle off, Trent and I took a cab to the airport. While he checked in with the airlines and bought us a pair of tickets back north, I couldn’t help but reflect upon everything I’d been through.

It seemed so crazy to remember myself as being trapped in Riverton and desperate to leave. It felt so long ago, although it had only really been a few weeks. From the night he’d walked into my bar, he’d changed my world… and I’d changed his.

We brought out the best of each other.

“Are you ready?” He asked, dispelling my thoughts.

I turned to face him. Trent was smiling down at me, the most loving grin I’d ever seen plastered across his face.

This was it. No breakaway bag, no clothes, no history, no family, and no money. He was truly, honestly looking at me like I was the most valuable thing in the whole world.

“Yeah… I’m ready,” I smiled back.

“Next few days are going to be hard, Angel. We’re meeting up with a detective back home. You’re going to tell him everything you remember… can you do that for me?”

“I’ll do anything for you, Trent.”

“Good,” he replied, sighing with relief. “Listen, I snagged us a pair of first class tickets. There’s an outbound flight that’s leaving in about fifty minutes. You ready to get the hell out of here?”

I nodded. “I was born ready.”

We walked together, side by side.

He and I were a force to be reckoned with.

Occasionally, someone would glance over at him with faint recollection. Occasionally, he would earn a quick double take. He popped into a small shop and quickly bought a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses, handing me a pair as well.

“Just like old times, huh?”

He smiled slyly, pocketing the receipt and threading the glasses around his ears.

“You’ve got it.”

After that, we wandered towards the proper terminal, stopping to use the restroom and grab a bite to eat before our flight. Everything from the last few days felt like a fading dream, and although I’d never forget what he’d done for me… I was just so happy to be back with him.

During our wait, we sat down together in a pair of available seats – with myself resting against his side and under his strong, comforting arm.

Some time passed, and before I knew it, I realized that I was yawning and opening my eyes. There was the slight recollection of a dream, something about dangerous shadows and being unable to move, and my own guardian angel coming for me…

“It’s our time,” Trent was whispering to me.

“Did I…did I doze off?”

I stretched, peeling myself off of his sturdy frame. For a moment, I was terrified that I’d drooled onto him, but I realized that
Sleeping Angel
had kept her shit together.

Thankfully.

“Just for a little while,” he nodded. “I let you sleep about as long as I could…but we need to get going now.”

The flight back was kind of uneventful. With Trent’s insistence, I tried to get my rest. I fell back asleep easier than I thought I would, finally letting the weight of the day collapse around me. The experiences so fresh in my mind made my sleep fitful at times. My dreams were dark and cloudy, and I felt alone and scared.

Every moment that I opened my eyes, my beloved Trent was there, holding and comforting me. I knew that the dreams would probably be like this for a little while, but I felt at peace that he would be there, every step of the way.

The sun was rising in the distance. With its light guiding the way, Trent and I watched the clouds roll by while we flew over state after state. From up here, the stresses of the world below were nothing to us; like an Angel in flight, there was nothing here but smooth skies, beautiful cloud cover, and a sunrise that brought tears to my eyes.

“That’s so beautiful,” I murmured to him.

“It really is,” Trent nodded.

The tip of his index finger slid beneath my chin, and he gazed down deep into my eyes. We stared into one another, our gaze as unbreakable as our bond. This man had saved me the night that we met. While his intentions had been different back then, I could see no traces of rampant lust or ulterior motives in his soul.

He simply loved me with all his heart.

“I love you, Trent,” I whispered.

“Angel, my darling… I love you too.”

As we kissed, the sun’s early rays illuminating the heavens beyond, I knew that no matter what the future brought… with Trent Masters in my life, I was finally home.

S
ix days
.

That’s how long it took to put the asshole in jail. Her mother tried to play completely ignorant. For her sake, I hoped she
didn’t
know what that man did to Angel. I was just glad to know we wouldn’t be seeing him again anytime soon.

We’d finally settled in, our home free of the police and the media who’d been storming this place since we got back. Angel had finally calmed down. Her sleeping fits had relaxed, and she woke up refreshed for the first time since I found her again.

The experience had drained me, too, although not nearly as much. To my surprise and satisfaction, I didn’t hear a peep out of Steven, nor the rest of the band.

There would be time for them soon.

However, there were much more important things on my mind for the time being. I hadn’t dreamed of being physical with Angel for a while after such a harrowing, traumatic experience, but she’d started showing hints that she was ready for things to return to normal between us.

That’s why, the first day after she woke up refreshed, I took her out for a day of calming and relaxation. While she was enjoying a therapeutic day of mud baths, massages, and mani-pedis, I took care of a few errands – mainly, striking the fear of God into the traitors who had almost separated us forever.

Once I’d come home confident that I wouldn’t have any more
surprises
like that, I took a dip in the pool and a relaxing shower. There were things she and I needed to discuss, but I still wanted the night to be one that she would always remember.

I half-dragged Angel around through the door and across the house. She struggled to keep up with me, but didn’t speak a word of complaint. Sliding the back patio door open, and we stepped out on the topless porch. There wasn’t a cloud across the night sky, exposing all the twinkling stars in all their glory.

She instinctively placed her hands against the bannister lining, her back towards me. As she delicately but casually steadied herself, my hands fell upon her beautiful shoulders.

“Is everything ok?” she asked quietly.

“Tell me why you left, Angel…”

She cast her eyes downward, trying to avoid my probing gaze. I knew that she didn’t want to disappoint me, but it was time that we finally had this discussion.

“Your manager, he said…”

“No, Angel. Don’t put this on someone else. I need to know what you were thinking,” I replied in the calmest voice I could muster. Just thinking of him made me grit my teeth, but I needed to be comforting and understanding to her now.

“I didn’t want to drag you down. You, this band, your future. I’m a nobody… I don’t deserve this.”

“Do you mean that, babe?” I whispered. “Is that really how you feel?”

She sighed. “If you’d asked me that a week and a half ago, I’d have said yes. I don’t know how I feel anymore. You’ve made me so happy, and you’ve been so understanding… I know I don’t deserve this, but goddammit, Trent, I don’t want this to ever end…”

“Angel, meeting you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Before you came into my life, I was going through the fucking motions. I was a broken, filthy, unclean man, barely happy with what I had… and looking for something,
anything
real. I had resigned myself to my fate… to a life of cold cynicism, flaming out early and never making anything more of myself.

When she didn’t respond, I continued.

“But Angel… you make me want to be better. You make me
feel
better, about myself, my place in the world, everything I can possibly fathom. You think I don’t know where you’re coming from? Trust me, I never deserved any of this shit,” I said, waving my hand around at our surroundings. “And I sure as
hell
never deserved you.”

My beloved looked up at me, her pretty eyes full of tears, and I said the words I knew she needed to hear again. I would spend my entire life hammering the point home, if that’s what it took.

“I love you, Angel. I will
always
love you.”

Those gorgeous windows into her soul glistened over as the tears ran down her cheeks. Caressing the side of her face, I brushed them aside. She clasped onto my forearm with both hands, holding me close.

“I love you too, Trent. Oh god, can you forgive me for being so stupid? I’ll never leave you again.”

“Never?” I asked, sensing the moment.

Angel matched my gaze, filling her eyes with love and… something somehow more. Her soul burned with complete adoration and a rising, primal hunger. After all, we hadn’t been intimate in a week.

One look in those beautiful eyes, and I knew that she was definitely ready.

“…Never.”

I didn’t let a second pass. I pulled her into a deep, satisfying kiss, my hands sliding across her shoulders and clasping her soft skin. As I felt Angel gasp into my lips, I ran my strong hands down her arms, tracing her silhouette and cupping her ample bosom.

Angel’s murmurs of pleasure sent a burning chasm of need through my body. I could feel it in my lungs, in my fingertips, and
definitely
in my twitching cock, awakening from its long slumber.

My hands slid to her back, and with a powerful tug I shredded her blouse. As she gasped, I pulled it all the way apart, ripping the cloth free from her body.

Her round, perfect breasts were immediately exposed for my hands, and I graciously wrapped my fingers around them.

I could already feel her erect little peaks.

Her nipples were springing to action.

I was going to make sure Angel never,
ever
left my side again… with the most extravagant night of sex that she could possibly imagine.

My lips found her neck, nestling into the lean muscle. Parting them, I bit down, enjoying the sweet taste of her skin. I could feel her gasp, her neck stretched out for me as I took her in.

Yes.

I was going to make this special.

Hunger overcame me, but I pushed it back down. Instead of ripping her body completely bare for me, and penetrating her against the railing, I took my time: slowly, surely shimmying her out of her jeans. I left her panties and socks alone, simply casting the leggings aside – already forgotten to me.

With my loving partner in just her panties and socks, I allowed my fingers to set to work. They carefully, firmly traced the contours of her skin, gliding across her curves and her creases. I wanted to memorize every last detail, every slight dip of her flesh.

My eyes closed, letting my fingertips do the seeing for me.

The picture they painted was that of a trembling but confident woman, a woman who knew that she was loved and protected by the one she cared for most. They told me the tale of a woman who knew it was all going to be okay from now on.

But they told me more.

The painting increased in depth.

My shuddering, exposed partner suffered from inflicted uncertainty. Her contorted memories were an unstable foundation upon which she built herself up, shakily rising to meet coming challenges.

She didn’t know for certain whom she was.

But I knew I could help her decide.

Every step of the way, I’d be there.

I’d always be ready to support her.

Ready to hold her up.

My fingertips began to squeeze, to dig into her bare skin. I couldn’t hold myself back much longer…but I knew how to diffuse a little heat
and
keep it all about her.

My hand slid down, and I grabbed a handful of her ass beneath her panties. With a slight gasp of pleasure slipping from her lips, I lifted the other up, gently caressing her breast again. My thumb slid across her nipple, playing with the tight, engorged nub…

She was pushing against me now, indicating subtly her readiness. But it wasn’t quite time yet.

Instead, I slipped my hand around front, diving into back into her panties. My intrepid finger hadn’t even parted her lips before I could feel her enticing nectar.

“Angel, you’re so wet,” I whispered huskily.

She simply nodded breathlessly.

“We should do something about this…”

With that, I dove the finger inside, eager to please her. Her muscles clenched down around the digit. She was so fantastically tight that I was afraid she might crush it, but I slowly, gently worked her drenched mound into submission.

My thumb found her engorged bead, hiding beneath the hood and ready for my touch. Taking care to not overstimulate it, I gave it ample attention as well.

Her restrained bucking and deep breaths told me everything that I needed to know.

As I pushed her further, sliding a second finger deep inside, I listened and watched for every last signal her body was sending me.

They all screamed one thing:

Fuck me.

But no…not yet.

There will be time for that soon.

I finally pushed her panties down, over her thighs, stripping her to her socks. She stepped out of them quickly, trying to turn around to unleash my throbbing tool from its prison within my jeans.

Instead, I drew her over to a nearby luxury patio chair, coercing her to sit down comfortable in it. Stripping her socks off, I had her where I wanted her – without a thread on her body, her ankles parted for me.

I climbed down on top of her, kissing her lips deeply. I trailed down to her breasts, suckling her ample bosom and flicking her nipples with my tongue. Afterwards, I pressed a line of kisses down between her thighs…

But I hadn’t tossed the socks aside. Instead, I quickly bound her wrists down to the chair, eager to completely control her.

She was ready.

She was
mine
.

Angel looked up at me with an inquisitive, aroused glance. While I let her briefly fight the binds, I reached over for one of the shredded pieces of her shirt. To my satisfaction, it was just long enough for what I intended.

And what I
intended
was pure satisfaction.

I folded it over a few times, and then set about tying it around her head. With her improvised bindings and blindfold in place, I decided that it was time.

Pressing my lips to her thighs, I kissed all over, worshiping the tantalizing flesh. But my restraint could only last so long, and I began to hungrily lap at her wet folds.

While Angel moaned and fought the restraints, I set to work. Her delicate, delicious lips were perfect for my tongue as I poked inside her, tasting her sweetness.

Her fluids ran down my chin. They were delicious, flush with her very essence.

Meanwhile, I took advantage of her dominated form. With my partner at my very mercy, I ran my fingernails tantalizingly down her skin, clenching into her sweet, supple flesh.

I could feel her pull against the bindings.

I could feel her body submit to the pleasure.

And it only pushed me forward.

My tongue darted deeper into her creases, my lips practically adjoined to her own, lower set. Angel bucked her hips into my hot, wet mouth, eager for more, needing more, requiring more of my warmth and my explosive touch.

I was all too eager to supply it.

Pulling back, I sank my teeth into her thigh, plunging a pair of strong, flexible fingers deep into her body. With the advantages of this, I could easily reach her button of pent-up nerves, the spot that craved sweet, provocative release.

Pushing her towards climax, I continued to fuck her with my fingers, pleasing her budding clit with a thumb all the while.

Even if I’d wanted, my lips couldn’t stay off of her. I kept kissing her skin, planted fluid-stained kisses along her thighs, her abdomen, even along her supple breasts.

Balancing myself above and against her, my fingers controlled her from beneath, drawing all of her attention to fighting the pleasure.

As I lifted my gaze from her amazing chest, I could see now how the bindings all but bit into her wrists. She was moaning uncontrollably, her mind submerged deep within her physical ecstasy.

I lowered my lips to her nipple, sucking it into my mouth. My tongue lapped against it, playing with the erect nub, and then I thought better of this and switched to the other. My free hand lifted, squeezing the first breast, tweaking the nipple between my thumb and my forefinger.

She gasped for release.

“Please,” she finally pleaded, “please stop teasing and just give it to me…”

“No,” I whispered in her ear, drawing out her pleasure with my fingers now slowly, gradually drawing in and out of her. “I need to bring you to the edge…and let you hover just there…”

She cursed my name furiously, stringing out a colorful array of expletives.

I wasn’t finished with her just yet.

But I
was
ready to bring this to the next level.

I removed myself from her, gazing down upon her panting, restrained form, watching her rub her thighs together and practically snarl.

“Hush,” I commanded, placing a finger against her lips. “Settle down…I’m about to give you what you want, but you’ll need to be a
good
girl for me…can you do that?”

She nodded furiously.

“That’s what I want to hear,” I whispered, leaning back up again. Loudly, I unbuckled my pants, whipping off my shirt and the rest of my clothes. I even tossed my button-up onto her bare body, just to emphasize what was coming.

But I had no intentions of making her cum just yet, even with the entirety of me against her.

No, our game was going to go on…