Chapter 13

It feels strange and exhilarating to pull up in front of Bella’s house with her and not to scope out her routine. Bella’s almost drunk on desire as I pull her into my arms again, kissing her deeply as she fumbles with the gate latch, giggling as we make our way up the walkway.

I cup her breast over the top of her shirt before we even make it inside. The parka’s gone, banished again to the back of my Range Rover, and I feel her nipple pebble under my fingers as I tug, making her moan.

“I fucking need to be inside you,” I growl against her neck.

“Let’s get inside so I don’t give Old Mrs. Petrie a heart attack,” she says, glancing over her shoulder to the house across the street. And then she drops her voice low and slow, ”And so I can have something softer for my knees.”

The naughtiness in her voice draws me with her like she put a leash on my desire and I’m at the mercy of her whims. She unlocks her door and enters, not even reaching for the light switch. I wonder if she’s trying to hide the reality of her home from me, like it’s something she can ignore if she doesn’t turn the light on. But truthfully, all I see is her, even in the dark.

Besides, you already know what her house looks like, fucking creeper.

Instead, we walk through the darkness, her fingers wrapped in mine as she pulls me down the hall to her room. The blinds are open, the streetlight shining in, and we’re greeted by the same cat who slashed me this morning.

It yowls when it sees me, leaping to its feet, back arched and green eyes glowing with malice. It apparently hasn’t forgotten my intrusion into its domain this morning, but Bella just laughs.

“Vash, relax, honey! He’s our guest!”

Shooing Vash out of the bedroom, she closes the door quickly, turning and grinning sheepishly at me. “Sorry... she’s usually a sweet kitty. I don’t know what got into her.”

“Jealousy?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow. “Pheromones?”

Bella laughs, while inwardly, I remind myself to make peace with that damn cat ASAP. “I guess there are some things you can’t charm, huh?”

“I’ll work my magic on Vash later. Right now, I’m only thinking about charming you,” I reply as I look into Bella’s eyes. Even in the dim light, I can tell that she wants this, whatever it is between us.

She made a comment that she’s not a one-night-stand girl, and that doesn’t surprise me, but she’s not asking for more than that right now. I think she probably expects me to be gone in the morning, if not before. But she doesn’t realize this is the first step toward something bigger, deeper than just tonight.

She may not realize it yet, but I do.

I don’t have it all planned out in my usual way, but I’ll figure it out. Just not right now, not when I can feel her body stretching toward mine. And especially not when she reminds me of her earlier demand, “More.”

Reaching down, I pull my sweatshirt and T-shirt off, letting Bella see me naked from the waist up. My breath hitches at the contact of her hands on my chest, her palms lightly rubbing through the faint dusting of hair.

“So many tattoos? I want to lick them all,” she confesses, or maybe it’s a promise.

My cock throbs at the thought of her pink tongue dragging over my skin, and I palm myself, trying to get some relief.

“Lie down,” she whispers, pushing me back toward the mattress on the floor. I nod and step back, toeing my boots off as I sit down and she stands above me, her own eyes gleaming in the light.

She strips quickly and efficiently, but the sight of her naked form clad in nothing but dim street light will stay in my memory banks forever. The cool air makes her nipples harden as soon as she has her bra off, and her bare pussy beckons to me. She pulls the clip from her hair, and the dark waves tumble over her shoulders beautifully.

“Fucking gorgeous, Bella.”

She smiles, looking pleased at the compliment, and then she kneels down on the mattress beside me, my hand finding her goosebumped skin. “Not yet... it’s my turn.”

She seems utterly confident as I let her lead and explore, her hand making its way to feel my cock through my jeans. I’m already painfully aroused for her before she even touches me, and I groan as she brings me to an impossibly steely hardness in an instant, my balls already drawing up and threatening to spill like an out of control teenager.

“You like that?” she purrs, kissing me as her soft hand slowly massages my cock, warmth divided by just a thin layer of denim.

Pressing her body against mine, her hand naughtily plays with my belt, teasing and tormenting me. Finally, she turns, presenting her pussy to me as she kisses down my stomach, tracing the ridges of my abs and a few of my tattoos with her tongue. She opens my jeans, humming happily as my cock tents my boxers.

I run my hand down her back, caressing her ass as she fishes my cock out. I lift my hips, helping her shove my jeans and boxers off, and then we’re bare together, every contact point electricity-filled.

She licks the tip of my cock, making my eyes roll up in my head, and I grip her ass a little harder. It’s been more than a little while for me. I’ve been so fanatical about my quest for revenge that I haven’t had time for a woman in my life. I suspect it’s been a while for Bella too, so we both have lost time to make up for tonight.

She rains butterfly kisses over the head of my cock, and I fight the urge to shove into the wet heat of her mouth. To keep a restraint on myself, I focus on Bella’s pleasure instead of my own.

I bring my fingers lower, between her legs to stroke the soft lips of her pussy, teasing before slipping a fingertip in between. Bella gasps, her lips flaring to cover the entire head of my cock, suckling as I stroke up and down, gathering her wetness on my fingertips before bringing it up to her clit, rubbing her button with featherlight strokes.

“Mmpfh!” Bella moans around my cock, her hips jerking as I find the stroke and pace that she likes best. Her knees spread some more, and in the orange light I find myself enchanted by the gleam of her pussy opening for me as she bucks into my fingers. It’s sexy as fuck in its obscenity, a woman taking the pleasure that she wants from me while her mouth and tongue please me back.

I rub my thumb between her lips as I play with her clit, getting it slick and ready before pushing it inside her, where her tight muscles immediately clutch me, almost sucking me in. She’s so tight, a slick vise on my thumb as I pump it in and out, guided by the sounds Bella’s making. Being inside her mouth and her pussy at the same time short-circuits my brain, and I can’t hold back anymore, can’t let her be solely in control. I lift my hips, slipping my cock deeper into her mouth, right on the edge of entering her throat.

She pulls back, using her spit and my pre-cum to fist my shaft. “Oh, God, Gabe... more,” Bella rasps, pushing her pussy back into me as she pumps my cock. “Stretch me so I can take you, and then fuck me.”

Growling, I pull my hand back before replacing my thumb with both of my fingers, thrusting them deep inside her and making Bella moan in pleasure. She bends forward, swallowing as much of my cock as she can while I pump in and out of her, fucking her with my hand as her juices run down my palm and onto the cut on my wrist. Distantly, I realize I lost the bandage somewhere along the way, but I can’t care right now.

The slight sting centers me, though, allowing me to focus just on Bella and not on the feeling of her velvety-soft lips wrapped around my shaft or the feeling of her tongue exploring the ridge around the head of my cock. She slurps on me happily as precum oozes out for her to feast on, her pussy gushing around my fingers.

“In my pocket, my wallet,” I tell her, not able to wait any longer, and I think she gets my meaning.

I feel her move, reaching for my jeans on the floor. She moans on me when she finds my condom, unwrapping it before pulling off, gasping, “I fucking love Boy Scouts.”

“Be prepared, they taught us,” I tease breathlessly, adding a third finger to her pussy. “How’s that feel?”

“Fucking amazing... maybe big enough to not have this kill me.” She whimpers as she rolls the condom down my cock. It’s tight, but the constricting rim of the condom helps hold back my orgasm as Bella gets me ready before pulling off my fingers and turning around to straddle me, rubbing the head of my cock between her dripping folds. “Are you ready?” I ask her.

I reach up, taking her waist in my hands and helping her as she lowers herself onto my cock, both of us moaning in a sexual harmony as her body wraps itself around my pulsing shaft. She’s so warm, her honey-coated walls taking me in and holding me in a perfect embrace. Bella’s chest hitches, her breasts shaking as she trembles, wanting more but needing to stop when I’m about halfway inside her.

“Take your time, Princess. I won’t hurt you.”

The words have so many layers of meaning, more than she could possibly know, and are as much a promise as I can give her right now.

She rides me slowly, my cock sliding deeper and deeper inside her with every rise and fall of her hips until I feel her hips press against mine, and she throws her head back in triumph.

“It feels like you’re splitting me in half, but I can’t stop,” she grunts as her hips take over. I encourage her, reaching up to stroke a stiff nipple, watching as her body bounces up and down on me.

It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, this beautiful woman getting all the pleasure she can just from me. For once in her life, she’s demanding and wanting something selfishly, and I want to give her everything I can, reward her for all the hard times she’s gone through, and insure that every day from here on out is better by my side.

I reach around, cupping her ass and helping her. “I have you, Bella... I have you,” I murmur, more to myself than her, making sure this is reality and not some dream I’ll wake up from. I thrust up into her as she comes down, meeting her body with my own as I marvel in the sight of her on top of me.

She’s a princess, a queen, and I vow in this moment that I will do what I can to be her knight in tarnished armor.

Bella’s hips plunge up and down on my cock, both of us rising together until she pitches forward, kissing me deeply. Her pussy clenches around my cock, and she moans her orgasm into my mouth, gifting me with her release.

It pushes me over the edge, and I hold her tight, thrusting two more times until I explode, filling the condom with hot cum. My body shakes as we fall apart together, her lips grounding me as I hold her safe. And that feels like exactly what I want . . . for her to give me the foundation I haven’t had since Jeremy died, and in return, I’ll make sure she’s happy and secure. In this moment and every other.

We lie together, the sweat cooling on our bodies until she shivers, and I wiggle around to pull at the blankets. I arrange them over us until we’re wrapped up like a twin burrito, not perfect but still warm. I grab her single pillow and tuck it underneath my head, pulling her to nestle against my chest with my arm wrapped around her shoulders. “Comfy?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she says sleepily. Moments later, she’s snoring softly, her body exhausted by all that she’s done today. I hold her carefully, close enough to feel her body without waking her while my mind works overtime.

I wasn’t kidding about being a Boy Scout, and in my line of work, preparation is key to successful contracts. But I’m unprepared for my current situation and I need to rectify that. I think over what I know.

Blackwell said he wanted Bella killed to send a message to someone else, so she’s not the player here but merely a pawn. Perhaps there’s a way I can leverage that, offer an alternative path to his endgame?

But from what I know of Blackwell, and that’s a significant amount of intel because I don’t take contracts lightly, he is not the type to allow an outsider to have input into his chosen strategy. I’m merely a tool for him to use, a resource for a skillset he doesn’t wish to employ himself.

So he’s not going to let this go, of that I’m reasonably certain. I can put him off for another couple of days, but with the degree of suspicion and impatience he’s already fostering, I wouldn’t put it past him to line up another hit. And include me in the target roster.

I consider reversing the game. I’m a skilled hitman. Perhaps I should flip the script and take out the threat to Bella . . . Blackwell himself. That’d solve the problem, but it’d be beyond difficult. He’s aware of my presence, so the element of surprise is nonexistent. And he’s well-protected with enough security that it’d be nearly impossible to get close to him unless I called for a meeting, and doing that would make for a messy exit.

The answer that makes the most sense is to run. Take her with me and leave Roseboro forever. We could do it, start fresh somewhere no one has ever heard of Blackwell. But even as I dream of laying Bella on a sandy beach somewhere exotic where it’s just the two of us, I know she won’t go. Not even if I tell her the truth, which I need to do regardless. But I know her. If she thinks Blackwell is using her for some reason, my girl is going to put her face to the storm and rage back to protect whoever Blackwell is trying to get at.

Which puts me back at square one. My mind continues to turn, but slowly, the warmth of Bella’s body seeps into me, and I drift off. No answers, but all I need is in my arms.

Early in the morning hours, I wake and watch her sleeping. My fitful slumber contrasts with her peaceful exhaustion, and I marvel at the rest of the truly innocent. It’s something I can never again have but something I want to protect now. Tracing her back and teasing her to wakefulness, I slip into her once again. It feels like . . . heaven.