Shadows and Silk (13 page)

The head of his cock was dark and angry looking, swollen and
flared, and he waited until her eyes opened and traveled down the length of her body
to where
their flesh joined
.
He pushed the head of his cock inside and gritted his teeth.
She was wet, but her tissues were swollen from the orgasm, so he still had to work
himself inside of her.
The muscles in his thighs strained to hold back, and then he remembered the condom
he had in his pocket.
He never in his life resented the
use of
protection more than in that moment.

“Look at me, Darcy,” he said, pulling out and then pushing his way back in, going
deeper this time. Her eyes lifted to his and he saw arousal and defeat in their depths.
“This thing we have between us isn’t going to go away. Why wouldn’t you want it forever
if you could have it?”

Brant
repeated the motion—
pulling all the way out and pushing in twice more until he was
finally seated to the hilt. Even completely still, he could feel her vaginal walls
milking at him, undulating against him in a torture bound to make him lose his mind.

He cursed viciously and pulled out, reaching for the condom in his pocket.
He tore the packet with his teeth and rolled the con
dom over his shaft, praying the
thin layer of latex would help him last longer than thirty seconds. Her breasts were
framed and pushed together by her swimsuit, and her breath heaved in and out of her
chest as she lifted her hips to meet him.

“Answer me, Darcy,” he said.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she said. “Stop torturing me and
just
do it, dammit.”

He
heard
the frustration and tears in her voice, and he didn’t know what
made him keep prodding her for an answer
. The answer he wanted.

“Tell me what I don’t understand, baby.” He pushed
inside her slowly, watching as her flesh sucked him inside, and a wave of heat stole
his breath
and tore through his body.
“Tell me,” he
demanded
.

Her head dropped back and
she closed her eyes, so he couldn’t see to deep inside of her
.
“You are what you are. I can’t change that, no matter how much I
once
love
d
you.
Marrying you and loving you would destroy what’s left of the feelings I have for you
, Brant
.
And I’d wither away waiting for you to return those feelings.
”

“You don’t know that.” He pushed her knees up so they rest
ed
by her shoulders, and he knew he couldn’t
wait much longer
.
“We could be happy.” He felt her hands reach down and take hold of his hips, and
before he understood what she was going to do, she impaled herself on his cock, and
he sank into the greedy depths of her pussy.

“God, Darcy,” he groaned.

“
No more talking.
Just fuck me, Brant,” she panted. “Please.”

Her w
ords pushed him past that last edge
of control
, and he slammed inside of her
over and over again
.
She refused to look at him, to make that connection that had once been so special
the last time they’d come together. Hopelessness and anger built up inside of him
and he was relentless in his pursuit for her pleasure. H
er screams echoed in the tiled room
and she grabbed her
breasts,
tweaking the nipples between her fingers and making his balls tighten at the sight
.

“Is this what you want, Darcy?” he said, the violence barely restrained. “Nothing
but a good fuck now and then
,
and then we can all go back to the way things were?
Like it never happened?
”

His hands went beneath her ass, and he lifted her, changing the angle so his cock
hit something that made her go wild beneath him.

“Yes, damn you. It’s all I want.”

“Then so be it.” His hips jackhammered inside of her, and her pussy clenched
around him in one long shuddering pull.
They cried out together as they came. Electricity shot down his spine and pleasure
thundered though his veins as he jerked against her one last time, semen shooting
in powerful spurts that left his knees weak but his heart cold and empty.

His body trembled and his cock flexed within her, still spilling into the condom he
knew had just been torn to shreds
by his release
. He’d felt the power behind his orgasm and known the second the latex had burst open.

“And sometimes it all comes down to fate,” he whispered
, feeling the stickiness of his come between her thighs.

“
Wha
—” Darcy said, barely coherent.
Her face was pale
and she struggled to get her eyes open. He thought she would have slept just
where
she was if he hadn’t pulled out of her body.

“Are you on birth control?” he asked.

Her eyes opened a little wider at that and she looked down to the shredded condom
he was discarding.

“I—um—I’m on a light dose. To keep my periods regular.”

“If you get pregnant, you’ll marry me. I mean it, Darcy. That’s not something I’ll
budge on. My child will have a father around.”

“Fine, but you don’t have anything to worry about. The timing’s off, and you’ll have
to ask
fate to lend you a helping hand some other time. Or maybe I should buy the condoms
next time,” she said, pushing him back so she could slide off the counter.

He moved back and shook his head at her denial. Her hands trembled as she retied the
sarong and tried to cover the fact she no longer had on a bathing suit bottom, and
he knew the sudden show of nerves was because she knew as well as he did how powerful
that release was.
She couldn’t
not
be pregnant after that.
And she knew it as well as he did, timing be damned.

He adjusted his pants and left his shirt hanging open since it no longer had buttons,
and he waited patiently as she wet some paper towels and tried to clean away the evidence
of their passion.

“So you agree?” he asked just to make sure. “If you’re pregnant you’ll marry me?”

She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Yes,” she finally answered. “But
if I’m not, I want you to agree that both of us will walk away after a certain amount
of time. We’ll walk away forever with no hard feelings and no regrets.
I want a life with a man who can give me everything I need.
”

“And how long is a certain amount of time?” he asked incredulously.

“I figure
a month
should be long enough for us to fuck ourselves into oblivion and be ready to move
on.”

“
A year
,” he
heard himself say,
his back teeth clenched so hard he was surprised they didn’t turn to dust.

She walked past him and unlocked the bathroom door herself, but he kept her from going
out until he’d looked to make sure there were no threats. She turned to look at him,
her hands on her hips as if she were thinking through the positives and negatives
of their negotiation.

“Six months,” she countered. “With the option that if either of us decides it’s not
working then we can move on.”

She’d be pregnant before the month was out. He’d make damned sure of it. That was
a loophole he was going to make sure wasn’t covered.

“Fine,” he said, smiling. “Six months.
But our time doesn’t start until after this mission is over.
I want six months of undivided attention. I’ve got a lot of vacation time saved up,
and we’re going to spend all of it naked.
”

“That ought to give my family a cheap thrill,” she said, raising a brow. “The holidays
are just around the corner, though I’m almost positive your idea of a Thanksgiving
spread and mine are completely different.”

He cracked out a laugh before he could help it and felt some of the tension ease inside
him. Six months was plenty of time to convince Darcy that the sweeping love she believed
in was nothing more than contentment between two satisfied people. And he planned
to make her very satisfied.