The Fight for Us (43 page)

He was facing the wall as the water beat down on him. One hand braced himself against the wall, and the other was slowly running over the length of his hard arousal. He looked large even in his own masculine hand, and as she watched, his palm rounded the head and slid tightly back down the shaft. His head dropped back as the water hit his face, and she watched as her body trilled and her legs weakened as he pulled his bottom lip into his mouth. She had the most perfect sidewise vantage point, and as his strokes quickened, his mouth dropped open and he panted.

When her own mouth refused to stay closed and her panting started to match his, she forced her focus to shift to the ground, and she exhaled a deep slow breath. This had to be all sorts of wrong, but glory, she’d be damned if she could look away from this.

“Either take your clothes off and join me, or leave and let me finish. Standing on the sidelines is not an option.” His voice oozed out deeply as she sucked in a shocked breath, and her eyes snapped back to him. He watched her calmly, still with his hand on his dick, and when she started slowly stripping out of her clothes, he hummed. “That’s my girl.”

She loved it when he said that. There was an intimacy to those words she needed right now, and she didn’t question for a moment he knew it full well. She had been his girl once—not long ago, even if it did feel like another world, another time, hell, another Joss. When she walked to him, he used his free hand to pull her under the hot jets of water, and he pushed her back to the wall in front of him.

“Such perfect inspiration.” He leaned to her ear as he spoke, and he nipped her ear lobe quickly. “I much prefer to drive my arousal with the sight of the real thing than settle for my fantasies of you to get me there.”

She glanced down just to see his hand gripping and gliding tightly against his erection, and when she looked back to his eyes, he was studying her.

“Don’t be nervous. Just watch.”

She slowly let her focus shift down his body from his eyes to his lips and then farther down his neck to his chest. His muscles were tight, and she could see his upper arm working and moving slightly in her periphery, knowing full well he was stroking himself as he watched her. As her attention moved farther down to his stomach, she moaned quietly. His stomach muscles were just as tight as his pectorals, and the sight of his rigid erection high on his abdomen left her panting; his hand continuing to grip, stroke and pull on his cock sent a flood of heat to settle in her pussy.

“Are you wet?” His words were lurched out on a shuttering breath, and she was certain he was in her mind in that moment.

She nodded, glancing to his eyes quickly before she let her own gaze quickly drop back down to his hand and what it was doing to his body. It was the most mesmerizing sight she’d ever seen. He’d grunt as his grip pulled against the length, and he’d curse under his breath as she continued to do nothing but stare and pant like an animal. He touched himself far more harshly than she would ever touch him, and it was intoxicating to see how rough he could be with his body.

“Touch your pussy.” His lips were against her ear as he leaned down to her, and her head was bowed with her forehead to his chest. She pulled back from his chest, letting her eyes focus on his as she worked up the nerve to move.

When she let her hand drift down her stomach to her sex, she was trembling, but the moment her fingers touched, he groaned and cussed again. She slipped her finger between the lips, and she felt the slickness coating her. Her body might be covered in water, but nothing compared to the silken warm feel of this wetness, and as her finger moved through it, she whimpered.

“Put your fingers in my mouth.” His voice was getting husky and ragged as he looked down at her. His body and bowed head were shielding the space between them from the majority of the water, and his eyes were shifting between her vagina and her eyes as his hand kept stroking.

She reached for his mouth, and when she was mere inches away, he lunged closing his lips around two fingers and sucking them as his cheeks hollowed for a moment. The suction was intense as he pulled and held her fingers within his mouth, and as his strokes sped, the pull of his mouth increased until he suddenly released his lips from her fingers and cried out.

He came on her lower stomach, and she watched as his cum surged from him onto her skin, coating her belly. His forehead dropped to hers, and she caught the flutter of his eyelids for a moment as he looked down to her belly. He reached for her hand, guiding it to her stomach. His palm held her hand to her skin, and he slid it through his mess, spreading it across her skin and down between her legs.

She groaned as her fingers were pushed across the lips of her sex, and then his fingers were guiding hers between her lips. His wetness was mixing and adding to her own, and their fingers slipped across each other’s as he toyed and forced her fingers to do the same.

“Do you want to come?”

She gasped and then the fear set in. The one time she’d tried on her own in the last week had ended up with her in tears when she failed miserably. She’d been alone, and she’d not bothered trying to involve him, because she knew if she couldn’t, she’d be humiliated. Her body simply hadn’t responded. She might as well have stuck her finger up her nose for all the sensitivity she seemed to have. And while she was aroused as hell now, she still didn’t have a clue if it would be enough. And she sure as hell wasn’t up for the embarrassment if she failed.

“I’m only asking you to try.” His sensitive, calm voice instantly made her nod in agreement.

She regretted it the moment he responded, “Good girl.”

And she started shaking. The toying movement of his fingers became focused and precise. Two long fingers pushed up inside her and paused. His thumb fumbled with her fingers, pushing them out of the way as he found her clit, and then he stroked over the tight nerves as she pulled her hand away, letting him take over.

He plunged his fingers inside her as his thumb swirled and she started gasping. She was holding her hands dumbly out at her sides with no clue what to do with herself except to let her body feel. Her hands were trembling, and when she finally reached to his waist to steady herself, her fingers twitched and shook against his skin. Her teeth were damn near chattering as her body vibrated. She didn’t have a clue what to make of any of it. Her body was shaking like she was terrified, and she was whimpering.

“Why are you trembling?” His forehead was still against hers as he spoke.

She shook her head as she started to panic. She was going to ruin this. She could feel the gears in her brain turning, and the internal bitch she’d been fighting for the past week started to attack her, unleashing images and ugliness she didn’t want to think about. Her whimpers became desperate, and then her breath started coming in short gasps and bursts.

His lips moved to her ear. “Relax.” His warm breath against her ear lobe sent a shiver through her body. His fingers stilled within her, and his thumb paused. “Look at me.” He pulled back slightly, so he could see her eyes, and when she glanced to his, he just studied her as his thumb started slowly stroking again. “My thumb is all you need think about right now. The way it glides around that tight little knot of nerves. These are the most sensitive nerves in your body, and what they feel can supersede everything else if you let them.” His tone was seductive and calm. “Let them.” The deep sound of his voice and the gentle touch left her muscles relaxing—all, that is, except the muscles within her sheath that instantly flinched.

He groaned as she constricted around his fingers. “There you go. This is all you need to feel right now.”

He pushed the pad of his thumb against her clit, and she cried out as pleasure coursed out through her womb.

“There isn’t a single other thing that needs to be in your mind at the moment.” He pushed again, and she dug her fingers into his bicep as she clutched at his arm.

When the fingers in her vagina started to slowly thrust and plunge again, she started to pant, but this time, her pants were taking her somewhere. With every quick inhale and exhale she was one breath closer to crumbling into her orgasm. His thumb swirled quicker and quicker, pausing only long enough to push against her clit occasionally. The desperation of her whimpers changed too. She was desperate all right, but this was good desperation. The speed of his hand drove her need forward until a blinding rush of repletion surged through her, and she did crumple—quite literally to the shower floor.

He dropped to his knees, spreading them wide as she knelt between his legs and twitched and contorted her way through her release, and she was left collapsed against his chest as his fingers still slowly entered and retreated from her body over and over. He hummed, and she felt the vibration of it against her cheek that was nestled up close to his chest.

When he finally pulled his fingers from her, he stood and pulled her to her feet. He stood back against the back wall, watching her as she washed her hair and her body, and when her hands moved over her stomach, still slightly slick from his cum, he smirked. She left him in the shower when she was finished, and she dried quickly, twisting her hair into a bun before she crawled into bed naked.

He found her a few minutes later, and when he peeked under the sheet and saw that she’d not bothered putting any clothes on, he smiled, crawling in next to her. “That’s nice,” he murmured as he snuggled in next to her, wrapping his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, and she rolled toward him. He brushed the hair away from her forehead as he studied her.

“Are we going to be arguing about you and Harper moving in again?”

“Would it do any good?”

He chuckled, but his expression remained serious. If she was guessing, it was a passive aggressive laugh that could sour quickly. “Believe it or not, it hurts my feelings that you’re making this so difficult. It’s far simpler than you’re willing to accept. You either want to be here or not. When you make it about Todd, or your fears of dependence, or anything else not completely related to this relationship, it’s offensive. Because anything else means you’re putting some other issue before us, and I don’t like it.” He watched her eyes.

“I’m not trying to—” Her brow flinched as she spoke. She felt as guilty as he did offended.

“Tell me what you want your life to look like.”

She sighed, but she looked at him. “I want to be with you. I want our daughters to be happy. I want us all to be safe. I want things to be simple. I want to feel good.”

“Don’t you picture any of that here with Nat and me?”

She nodded. Of course she did. “All of it.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” She nodded again, and he reached for her chin, running his thumb over her scar. “I told you you were going to have to fight for us now. What you allowed me to do in the shower was a very good start, but there’s more work to be done. I don’t require or need you to be perfect in order to move forward. I know you’re struggling right now, and you may for some time. But we’re stronger when we’re together. Hell, our daughters are too.”

She nodded again. There was no denying that.

When his lips pulled up slightly, she started to relax. “Besides, I need furniture for the basement, and I like your green couch.” He winked, and she tightened her hold on him. “We have the volleyball game tomorrow night. What time will you be home?”

“I have an afternoon appointment, so I’ll just meet you there at five?”

“Okay.”

She listened to his breathing as it slowed and he fell asleep. This was her world. It might belong to him, but he clearly wanted it to belong to her too—regardless of whether her flaws came attached to it or not. Was there really anything to argue about?

Part IV: Fight for Us

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It was five twenty, and Isaiah had been gawking around the gymnasium for the past fifteen minutes as he waited for Joss to arrive. He was trilling with worry. It’s just what he did at this point whenever any one of them was away from him. “Steph, when was her last appointment?”

Steph plunked down beside him, handing him the popcorn she’d gotten for him. “Three thirty. She was meeting a home buyer at a property on Jessup Lane.”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t recall. It was a man. Victor Travis, I think. Not from around here—at least I don’t know the name. I’m sure she’s fine.” She tried.

“I know,” he muttered. “But until she’s here, I…”

The team ran from the locker room, and the crowd started cheering. It was a huge crowd. With the ice road now open, the Baymont folk had no problem making it over to the island to support their kids, and he was learning however small Bristol might be, it was a tight knit community if nothing else. He was kind of starting to love his community—barring just a few members.

Nat started waving at he and Steph, and she tugged on Harper’s elbow who started bouncing and waving at them too. But Harper stilled when she realized her mom wasn’t there, and she lifted her hands palm up in a questioning gesture. He shrugged and held his phone up as she nodded and bounded off to warm up.

He started typing.

Where are you? You said you’d be here twenty minutes ago.

He waited a couple minutes, and he tossed some popcorn in his mouth, trying to let his teeth ease his tension. When a couple stopped him, he forced the smile on his lips.

“Isaiah Henry. I’m Rick Taylor, this is my wife Gina.”

Isaiah stood taking turns shaking their hands.

“I’m on the city council. Been talking a lot to the mayor and Chief Jeffries about you recently. We should get coffee some morning. Been meaning to reach out to you.”

“That sounds wonderful. Give me a ring, and we’ll set it up.”

“Perfect. Good to meet you finally.”

“You as well.” He sat down beside Steph again as the couple left. When his cell phone vibrated, he instantly looked.

Tied up.

He got instantly irritated. She could have at least messaged him sooner, so he wouldn’t worry, and with an angry huff, he let his fingers respond.