Promise Me (Book One of the Kirkland Family)

Promise Me: Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The hem of Hannah’s robe slipped up to her hips, exposing her rear and thighs to Justin’s cheek as he carried her, slung over his shoulder and laughing.  He couldn’t stop smiling either.  He’d never felt this alive!  He also felt freer, light-hearted, and almost...playful.  Which was a complete contradiction to what he should be feeling -- he’d always been very serious about sex...but he was about to explore every curve and crevice of her luscious body, and he couldn’t wait!

Entering her bedroom, he turned his head and lightly nibbled on some jiggling flesh.  “Hey!” she giggled.  “No biting!”

“You taste good,” he retorted easily and unceremoniously dumped her on top of the mattress.  She bounced.  And her legs flayed and her breasts jiggled under that robe -- the first order of business.  Getting that damn robe off her again.

Justin flipped on a bedside lamp -- to see as much of her as possible -- and attacked the knot of her sash immediately while she smiled softly up at him, her hair falling out of that hair band, and he pulled it free, too, wanting it to spill over the pillows and flow liberally through his fingers.  He parted the halves of her robe away from her body -- but not taking the time to remove it completely -- and he smoothed his palms up to massage those eager globes of soft flesh while he bent to kiss her mouth, taking control of her lips and tongue, and welcome the heat surging through him as she moaned into his mouth, wrapped her arms around his neck and drew her legs up to cradle him between her thighs.

His erection ached and strained and throbbed.  He wasn’t going to last very long.  But they could get the first set of orgasms out of the way, then spend the rest of the night tallying up more.

Anxious to get her completely naked and inside her, he lightened the pressure of the kiss, but she wouldn’t let him.  Her fingernails clawed his back.  Her teeth sunk into his tongue and pulled it back into her mouth...and he sacrificed a few more moments to the wicked encouragement of Hannah’s kiss.  

In the bedroom, Justin had always been a take-charge kind of guy.  He liked it fast and hard, and he knew he kissed that way, too.  At first, he hoped he wasn’t too rough with her...he never knew what a woman liked until she responded.  But Hannah gave back just as energetically, just as honestly and willingly.  Finally!  A woman who didn’t play games, who didn’t lie there passively, who didn’t shy away from the rowdy side of sex.

Hannah swallowed him.  She consumed him.  She bit and sucked and locked her ankles around his back, rocking her pelvis against his groin feverishly, and he growled low in his throat like an animal.  No, this was not going to take long at all.

His hand skimmed down her side to grasp the scrap of black lace and rip it at the seams.  Hannah tore her mouth away and gasped, “No, your teeth...you said you’d use your teeth.”

Holy Hell.

Her stared at her.  The lamp illuminated only half of her face, but he could see her swollen lips and her flushed cheeks, and her eyes were bright with passion.  “Hannah, I can’t be gentle with you,” he warned.  “Not this first time.  If I hurt you...”

“Justin!  Please!  Take me!”

She breathed raggedly and her limbs quivered with need.  Justin trembled.  “Don’t let me hurt you,” he said and fastened his mouth to hers in another quick, heated kiss.  Then he left her to suck, lick, bite his way down her neck, down her chest, stopping for a brief second to draw one nipple into his mouth, then the other.  She arched and moaned and scratched his back.  He moved further down, aiming for her panties.  Take them off...get them off...shred them from her hips...

His teeth grabbed hold and pulled...RIP!

“Yes!” she wailed.  “Now!  Take me now!”

But Justin had frozen.  Her womanly treasure was bare to his vision...and he couldn’t move, couldn’t breath.  Bare.  Yeah, she was bare.  Shaven bare, to be exact, only a small patch of dark red curls marking the top of her pelvic area.  He’d never been up close and personal with a woman’s smoothly shaved petals.

“Justin?  What’s--”

“Shh,” he hushed gently.  He had to touch it...did it feel as soft and smooth as it looked?

Yes, yes...yes, it was.  His fingertip caressed the sides, and up the middle, drawing away a bead of shining dew.  What would she taste like?  He’d never had the privilege of tasting a woman there before -- Beth would never let him.

He heard Hannah giggle.  “You look like a little boy in a candy store,” she said, her voice husky with desire and laughter.

He raised his eyes to her, but he didn’t move away from the naked prize only inches from his mouth.  The scent of her hot, wet folds permeated his nose.  She smelled sweet and warm and succulent.  “I want to taste you.”

“By all means,” she began, and he dropped his head to her, and she gasped.  His tongue dipped into her and he licked her from bottom to top.  Her fresh, sweet taste exploded in his mouth, and he licked her again, and again, and drank from her, harder, faster, rougher, wildly, thoroughly, and with every swipe of his tongue, every sharp, profound suction of his lips, every nibble from his teeth, she panted and heaved and gulped, until she was sputtering out hoarse, guttural sounds.

“Oh...ah...ai...uh...oh!  Oh, oh, oh, ai, eeee, omi, omi, omigod, omigod!  Yes!  There!  Right there!”

His attentions to that corner of paradise between her thighs frenzied.  He couldn’t stop.  He couldn’t slow down.  He wanted to hear her, feel her, devour her as she came apart.  So, he latched onto the pearl at the top and sucked, and thrust a finger into her, and she lifted her hips completely off the mattress and shook violently enough to start an earthquake in her bedroom.

If she screamed, he didn’t hear her through the pounding in his ears.  His need had only intensified through her orgasm.  Hannah exhaled a long, ecstatic breath and drifted down from the clouds.  Justin couldn’t get his pants off quick enough.  He swore under his breath when he had to lean over the side of the bed to fumble in his shaving bag, ripping a foil packet from the strip.  In two shaky moves, he covered himself with latex, and then sheathed himself with Hannah...all the way to the hilt, in one single, ferocious thrust.

His heartbeat stalled.  She was internally shallow, and he hit her cervix.  Hannah cried out and her eyes popped.

“Shit!” he flared, pleading remorse with his eyes.  “I hurt you--”

“Oh, God!” she moaned, cutting off his attempt to apologize.  “That felt good!  It’s been so long!”

He had already started backing out of her, but she dug her heels into his buttocks and shoved him back.  “Don’t you dare leave me, Justin!”

She was wet and tight -- so very tight -- and his testicles drew up, ready to burst at any moment.  He had to move.  Or he’d go crazy.  “Hannah,” he groaned darkly, “this won’t be gentle or slow...”

Her green-gold eyes collided with his.  He thought she looked a little pissed-off as she hissed, “I don’t want gentle or slow...I want you!  Just the way you are, however you wish to be.”

Damn...now she’d gone and done it.  No one had ever said such a thing to him.  And the beast inside him -- the wild, untamed creature that only awoke when he was around her -- snarled to renewed life.  But he had to make this good for her, too, and the only way to do that was to relinquish some control for a while.

Taking her face between his hands, he kissed her, smothered her with his mouth, and rolled them over so that she straddled him.  “Ride me,” he told her harshly.  “I want you...however you wish to be.”

She quirked a lopsided grin at him.  “With pleasure.”

Justin had to admit that the most erotic, hottest thing he’d ever been blessed to witness was that beautiful, sexy woman rocking on top of him, that pink, silky robe hanging from her elbows and tickling his thighs as it fell in a waterfall down her back.  With their hands clasped together, her hair swirling around her face, and her full, creamy breasts dancing, she took off at a fast pace, rising, dropping, rolling, arching, pulling him into her tightly and securely.  His heart pounded against his ribcage, and his fingers compressed and squeezed hers as she manipulated that one part of his body without pretense.  Soon, he was meeting her thrusts and there was no more occasions for playtime.  She started making those sounds again, her lips parted, her eyes shiny and blazing, and he untangled their hands to grab hold of her hips, driving recklessly up into her, until the bedroom began to spin chaotically and her internal muscles clenched almost painfully around him...and the night detonated with his howl of release.

*****

Hannah’s bones had gone from solid to liquid in a matter of seconds.  She could no longer stay upright.  With a deep sigh, she sagged into his chest, laying her head under his jaw and struggled to get oxygen into her lungs.  Justin shook under her.  His hands, still locked around her hips, twitched, and his legs between her knees shuddered and jerked.  He was still inside her, still half-erect, and she had no desire to leave him yet.

Oh, lands!  That was...amazing.  Overwhelming and spectacular and paralyzing and...oh, to hell with the vocabulary lesson!  The fast-paced lovemaking left her brain a muddled heap of electrical pulses.  

Honestly, she thought he’d be dictatorial.  She figured he’d take her hard and fast -- which he did -- but not hand over the reins until much later.  When he set her on top of him and gave her control, she’d been pleasantly surprised.  She just didn’t expect it.  And it only confirmed in her heart that he wasn’t as apathetic as he tried to make himself out to be.  He was a good, considerate man, and she started to fall in love with him all over again.

“I can’t move,” he moaned against her hair.

“Neither can I, so tough,” she moaned back, not willing to get off him yet.  

A deep, rich chuckle tickled her ear drums.  “I don’t want you to move either.  I like you here.”  And he folded his arms around her back and held her.  Hannah’s eyes watered with happy tears.  She wanted to tell him how she felt, but that would be bad.  He didn’t want to hear it.  He wanted this liaison to be carefree and secret, no real emotions attached to it, and she’d indulge him.  If she wanted to be with him, she had to keep her mouth shut.  And she really wanted to be with him.

Finding the strength to prop her chin on his chest, she gazed up at his face.  The bitter scowl he wore to mask his real feelings was gone.  His jaw was relaxed.  His lips sagged in a giddy grin, and with his eyelashes touching his cheeks, the tightness around his eyes had vanished.  He was beautiful like this.  Not just handsome and strong.  Now, he seemed vulnerable, crippled with mercy...human.

“You’re staring at me, I can tell,” he murmured behind closed eyelids.

“I like what I see,” she replied, keeping her tone light and teasing.

“Do you, now?”

“Very much so.”

He opened his eyes and gazed warmly down at her.  “I like what I see, too.”

Hannah smiled.  “That’s a good thing.”

They watched each other for a long time, then he groaned and rolled in the bed until she lay under him.  He still remained firmly, deeply inside her, and he propped his elbows beside her arms.  “You said it’s been a long time...how long?”

Hannah blinked at the change in conversation.  He looked serious, but was he really?  Did he honestly want a rundown on her sexual encounters in the past?  That would mean bringing up his brother, and...no, she wouldn’t talk about that.  He’d think she was comparing the two of them, and there was no comparison.  What happened with Luke, happened a long time ago, when they were still both kids.  Sex back then had been...awkward.  And there was nothing awkward about how Justin seduced her.  The only awkward thing was the question he asked.  And what it implied.

“Does it matter?” she asked, drawing lazy circles between his shoulder blades with a fingernail.

“I like to know who I’m sleeping with,” he said.

“Then you should have asked a while ago,” she said back at him.  “What about you?  Do you want to talk about the women you’ve slept with before now?”

“No.”

“Then don’t ask me to do the same,” Hannah replied, barely keeping the words from hissing through her teeth.  They just made love -- or whatever he wanted to name it -- and she didn’t want to fight with him.  

But his expression altered.  It hardened, only slightly, but enough for Hannah to notice it.  He slid out of her and sat on the edge of the bed.  “I need to get cleaned up,” he muttered and headed into her bathroom, closing the door.  

So, it seemed their night together was at an end.  Hannah struggled to pull her robe around her shoulders and tie it as not-so-happy, hot tears stung the backs of her eyes.  But she was not going to let him see her cry.  Oh, no...Justin would not get the pleasure of that, of knowing he’d gotten under her skin again.  For a few brief moments, he let her see the exposed side of his feelings, but not any longer.  He had clammed up again.  Closed off.  Back to goading her into hating him.

All because she didn’t want to talk about her past lovers.

God!  It wasn’t even that many!  Luke and some other jerk!  That was it!  She’d never even had a boyfriend after dumping Luke.  But she wasn’t about to explain that to Justin!  He seemed determined to believe she was as loose with her morals as she was with her smiles.

Why can’t he trust me?

As the seconds stretched into minutes, Justin remained in her bathroom, doing God only knows what, and Hannah was getting sleepy.  She crawled into her bed, between her heavenly bamboo sheets and turned on her side, staring at the closed door.  His shadow passed by the crack under the door where light filtered out, and it passed again.  Like he was pacing.  Quicker and quicker, he walked the length of her bathroom, the only evidence of it being the shadow that moved with him.  Hannah had no idea what he was doing or thinking.  

The bathroom light went out, and she held her breath, waiting for him to come out.  And waited.  He’s just standing in the dark?

She opened her mouth to ask him if he was alright, but the handle turned and the door swung open.  He stared at her.  His nakedness was magnificent, and Hannah blushed as she surveyed every line of his body, eventually stalling on the long, thick muscle that hung between his legs.  No wonder she felt delicately bruised and sore.  He was...Wow.

And though slightly piqued with irritation, more tingles erupted all over her body.  Hannah quickly reached up and switched off the lamp beside her bed, dropping the bedroom into a nearly complete darkness.  She couldn’t look at him any longer.  Or she’d jump him again.

She expected him to grab his things and go.  He could find his own way out.  The rest of his clothes were at the bottom of the stairs anyway.

But instead, he walked silently over to her bed, lifted the blanket and whispered, “Scoot over.”

Stupefied for a moment, she complied, and he slid into the bed beside her, naked and hot, and pulled her into his arms.  Hannah didn’t know what to think anymore.  She tensed up against his chest, her breathing erratic, her head throbbing with confusion.

“Relax,” he murmured in her ear softly.

Hannah tried, but she just couldn’t do it.  Any second, he would start an inquisition again, and she was afraid he’d leave her when she refused to answer.

His lips grazed her temple.  “Relax, Hannah,” he repeated quietly.  “No more questions tonight...I promise.”

Muscle by muscle, bone by bone, her body responded to his soft voice.  He talked to her in a gentle voice, describing something called a spectrum analyzer, which made absolutely no sense to her, in context to the night, or in his description, but she felt her eyelids droop and she smiled when she realized what he was doing...boring her to sleep.

*****

Hannah shivered.  The furnace she snuggled up to in her sleep was moving, and a cool breeze drifted across her torso.  She moaned with protest and tried to curl up into a ball, but a deep voice whispered, “Shh...easy...I won’t hurt you, but I need you again...”  Then something wet and warm touched her breast, covered a nipple and pulled at her.  It felt good...so good...

"Uhhmmm," she moaned dreamily, liking the way her dreams were going.  And this was a good dream.

Hannah moaned again and allowed the dream to continue.  It was gentle and tender and sweet, and it moved on top of her, filling her, and it swayed and molded her, shrouding her in a blissful cocoon of whimsical pleasure.  She allowed it to fly her to the stars and back, and when the sheet settled around her shoulders again, she sighed contently and found her way back to the world and the man sleeping beside her.

“My little siren,” that deep voice rumbled peacefully, “what am I going to do about you?”

She mumbled a reply about letting her sleep more, but her brain shut off before all the words finished forming.  Sleep claimed her completely, and she was happy.

*****

The first rosy light of dawn filled up the bedroom, and for summertime in the mid-south, that was early.  A hell of a lot earlier than Hannah was used to rising.  But she could no longer ignore the intimate press of a man’s growing erection against her naked rear.  Somehow her robe found its way to the floor.  Justin cuddled up to her back, playing quietly with a strand of her hair, twisting and curling it around his finger.

She had dreamed more wonderful dreams during the night, but with the morning came realization.  They had not been dreams.  He’d loved on her while she slept, and her foggy memories of those times left her with a smile of luxury.

“Do you always sleep that heavily?” he asked in her ear.  Hannah turned her head to look at him.  Amusement danced in his green eyes.

“Usually.  I’m a pretty sound sleeper,” she said.  “I thought I was dreaming...how many times did we...?”

“Twice,” he answered softly.  “Though I indulged in a few other things...did you mind?  I couldn’t seem to keep away from you.”

A few other things...  She blinked, remembering a scratch of whiskers between her thighs and on her breasts, and the unearthly, incognizant sensations of floating blissfully.  Rubbing her legs together, she felt the abrasions he’d left down there, and they weren’t painful, just welcoming.

“No, I didn’t mind,” she said, smiling.

“I’m glad,” he breathed out.  “I tried to be gentle...”

“You were,” she reassured him.  “They were good dreams...very good dreams.”

He touched her cheek, feathered his fingers over her eyes and down her nose to trace the outline of her mouth.  “Can I make you dream again?”

“Again?”  Heavens, where did he get his stamina?  Surely, he couldn’t have slept much last night.

“Yes, again,” he said, bending down to kiss her and turn her body to meet his, chest to chest, face to face, manhood to womanhood.  “Like I said...I can’t seem to stay away from you.”  And with that, he reached across her to a pile of foil-wrapped condoms that had been dumped onto the bed in the middle of the night, and he tore open the packet.  His hands disappeared down between their bodies, and Hannah’s eyes grew wide as he teased her with his knuckles while he rolled the latex onto his hard erection.  Then his fingers were doing more than teasing her, he caressed her intimately, making her drip with need and ache with anticipation.

But he didn’t enter her.  Oh, how she wanted him inside her, filling her, fulfilling her...yet, he only played.  And Hannah growled at him while he kissed her.

“Roll over,” he murmured against her mouth.

“What?”

“Roll over,” he repeated, putting gentle pressure on her shoulder.  “I’ve been spooning you for hours, and I want to take you like that...your back to me, your front naked to my hands, kissing your neck...please, roll over?”

It was the please that got to her.  He’d not said that once all night.  Now, he pleaded with her, wanting her so much, he had resorted to something she didn’t think he’d ever do.  Justin was a demanding lover.  He’d never say please, but he did this time.  And Hannah’s heart swelled.  Maybe hope was not lost.

She rotated around to the other shoulder, snuggled backward, and his mouth suckled her neck and ear while his hand raised her top leg upward and backward.  It was an awkward position, and she didn’t think it was going to work out, but then he slid easily into her, and her mouth dropped open.  The friction at this angle was...was...oh, oh, oh....exquisitely tortuous.  

Slowly, carefully, fluently, he embedded himself into her, again and again, gaining a little more speed, but not like that first time.  Oh, no...he took his sweet time with her, warming her from the inside out, and his whispers into her ear only heightened the experience.

“You hum in your sleep...did you know that?”

Hannah bit her lip and shook her head, arching her back for a deeper penetration.

“It’s almost like you’re singing,” he said breathlessly.  “And when I make you come, you cry out...your voice lifts up in a sweet melody...absolutely beautiful...I like hearing it...I like it when you sing...Sing for me, Hannah...my Songbird...my beautiful siren...sing for me...I want to hear you!”

Hannah’s throat unlocked as he pumped faster and faster, holding her leg hostage and reaching under her waist to stretch around and stroke that little bud of pleasure.  The twin services toward her climax hastened her up into the heavens.  If she had started singing, like he urged her to do, she had no idea what it sounded like.  Her entire senses were centered around what he was doing to her down there.

“Yes!  That’s it!” he growled in her ear as he sucked the lobe into his mouth.  “Sing, Hannah!”

There was a wail of sound, and a burst of light, and shower of fire through her veins, and he surged in and out of her with blinding speed, and Hannah sang...her body crumbled apart, shooting off in a million directions, flickering like a firecracker until her throat was hoarse, her mouth was dry and her heart lost any restraint on its pumping power.

Justin articulated a beastly, inhuman roar, squeezed her raised thigh firmly, bit down on the curve of her neck, and impaled her one last time...all the way in, nudging the depths of her insides to gain further entry...and she came apart again.  Or was it just an extension of the previous orgasm?

Oh, who cares?  It was wonderful.  He was wonderful.  And here in his arms, her body sated, her heart thumping wildly, her breathing scarce...life was wonderful.

Her only real concern was where did they go from here?