Maya Banks - Softly at Sunrise

She landed gently against his chest, his arms firmly around her. Protective. And so loving.

He carried her into the bedroom and laid her out on the bed, staring down at her with sinful promise in his eyes.

His hands skittered up her thighs, and he slid his fingers underneath the waistband of the satin shorts. As he began to slowly pull them down, his eyes darkened, and he stared accusingly at her.

“No underwear? You intended to seduce me all along.”

She gave him an exaggerated innocent look, widening her eyes as she stared up at him. “Maaaaybe.”

He chuckled and then lowered his mouth to the soft juncture of her legs, pressing a kiss to the vee. She shivered and closed her eyes as chill bumps raced each other over her belly and to her breasts.

As he nuzzled deeper into the soft flesh between her legs, his hands wandered upward, sliding the top up over her breasts. Just as his fingers found her painfully erect nipples, his tongue swiped over her clitoris sending another spasm of bone-melting pleasure through her body.

Her palm glided through his hair as her fingers flexed and curled against his head. It was an erotic image, her guiding and directing him, holding him there so his tongue hit just the right places.

She moaned softly and arched into him as she reached for the pleasure he offered.

He lifted his head and then moved up her body to remove the top completely. After he’d tossed it away, he lowered his head to her belly. Framing her waist in his big hands, he bestowed the most tender of kisses right over her womb where their children were nestled.

“Your mama and your daddy can’t wait to meet you,” he whispered against her skin.

“Ethan, I need you,” she pleaded, her heart so full of love she was near to bursting. “Make love to me, please. I don’t want to wait. I need you inside me.”

He didn’t move right away. Instead he pressed a trail of kisses up her midline before moving to her breast. He licked a trail around one puckered nipple and then sucked it into his mouth.

He was exquisitely gentle. He seemed to know just how tender her breasts were as a result of pregnancy. The slightest manipulation had her gasping for breath and her senses screaming for mercy.

His dark head moved to the other nipple, and he lazily traced a similar line around the hard peak before tucking it in his mouth to suckle.

In turns he gave each breast careful tugs with his mouth, increasing her pleasure and weaving delicious tension into her body. She coiled tighter and tighter as his hand slid between her legs to work its magic against her damp, swollen flesh.

“Inside me,” she gasped out. “Ethan, please.”

She was desperate for that connection. For them to be joined in the most intimate way two people could be joined. She wanted to feel his big body hovered protectively over hers. To feel him driving in and out as she stretched to accommodate him.

Her eyes closed as he rotated over her, his leg moving aggressively over hers as he prepared to mount her.

Oh but she loved how small and delicate she felt underneath his solidly muscled body. The body of a warrior. Lean and hard. No spare flesh anywhere. There was power in his every movement. It was why he always took such care with her. It would be so easy to hurt her with his strength.

“I want you with me,” he said in a hoarse, needy voice.

She slid her hands up his arms to his broad shoulders where she let her fingernails dig in, marking him.

“I’m always with you, Ethan,” she said softly.

He closed his eyes and groaned as he positioned himself at her opening. She could see the strain in his jaw. Knew how hard he was working to hold himself back.

Then he pushed inward, sliding into her, stretching her and forcing her to accommodate his width.

She sighed and melted back against the mattress. The sensation of fitting so snugly around him was blissful. There was no part of her that was untouched by his possession.

He flexed himself upward to push her legs higher. It forced her to take all of him, angled so he could slide all the way. His hips met the backs of her legs then pressed firmer still as he pushed even harder.

She was on fire. She fidgeted restlessly as he withdrew and thrust deeply again. And then again.

His mouth came down hot and wet against her shoulder and worked its way up to her neck. Breathless, scorching, open-mouthed kisses. His tongue worked over her earlobe, and then his teeth grazed the sensitive skin underneath.

She shuddered uncontrollably as her orgasm swelled, flashing like a sky full of fireworks. Wave after wave of pleasure rippled through her body, faster and faster, tighter and tighter, until it all released in one huge tumultuous burst.

Wrapping her arms around him, she held him close, absorbing his taste, his smell, the feel of him so deep inside her. His steady heartbeat against hers. The warmth of his body as it covered hers.

“I love you,” she whispered against his skin. “This is our time. Our beginning. You, me, and our children.”

He shuddered against her, her words seeming to drive him over the edge. He plunged deep and then went rigid atop her as his body shook and heaved.

He gathered her into his arms, molding her against him as he pulsed within her.

“I love you too, baby,” he whispered back. “Always. You’re mine. Always mine. I’ll never let you go again.”

She smiled, hugging him that much harder. No matter what the future held for them, she knew they would face it together. She’d never have to be alone again.

Rachel ate her lunch in her classroom, hoping that Jennifer would show for her retake. Glancing at the clock, she was ready to concede defeat when the door cracked open and Jennifer peeked in.

Rachel smiled broadly and motioned her inside.

“Am I too late?” Jennifer asked.

“Of course not. You have plenty of time, and I want you to not rush through it.”

Rachel picked up the paper and held it out for Jennifer to take. Jennifer smiled shyly, took the test, and then went to sit in the first row of desks.

Rachel watched from underneath her eyelashes while pretending to grade other papers. Jennifer’s brow was creased in concentration, and she nibbled at the eraser on the pencil as she carefully read through the questions.

Holding back a smile of triumph, Rachel did a mental fist pump.

When the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, Jennifer stood, a satisfied smile on her face.

“I finished,” she announced. “And I think I got them all right.”

“Very good,” Rachel said proudly. “I knew you could do it.”

“Thank you, Ms. Kelly. For giving me another shot at it. I won’t let it happen again.”

“See that you don’t,” Rachel said crisply. But she softened the statement with a genuine smile. “Go ahead and take your seat. The others will be coming in soon. Do you need a bathroom break before the next class begins?”

Jennifer shook her head. “No ma’am. I’m fine, thank you.”

The kids began to noisily file in, the roar from the hall invading the classroom as well.

Rachel stood to clean the blackboard from the previous class so she could begin anew for this period. After wiping it down and drawing up her outline, she turned and was startled to see a man standing in the back of the room.

“Sir, you can’t be in here,” she said.

He had no visitor’s badge. She’d received no call from the office to suggest a parent was arriving. Alarm bells immediately went off, and she reached underneath the desk for the panic button that had been installed the year prior.

Maybe she was jumping the gun, and maybe she was being stupid and overreacting. But when it came to the safety of her kids, she didn’t really give a damn if it turned out to be a false alarm.

The silent alarm would immediately send the school into lockdown. The local police would be notified and would converge on the campus with astonishing speed. Everyone took the safety in schools seriously here. And, well, everywhere. School shootings had become so commonplace that no leeway was given, and police were swift to stamp out any threat.

The students swung around to see whom she was addressing. Jennifer went pale.

“Dad! What are you doing here?” she hissed.

But her father didn’t look at her. He didn’t even acknowledge her. Rachel’s heart plummeted when he lifted his hand to reveal the pistol he carried. Her instincts hadn’t been wrong.

“Everyone get down!” Rachel yelled. “Under your desks!”

There was a series of screams and desks scraping across the floor as the students scrambled for cover.

“Everyone be still!” Jennifer’s father roared.

He waved the gun precariously, and Rachel’s heart nearly stopped for fear the gun would discharge and one of the children would be caught in the crossfire.

Only Jennifer remained where she was. She was terrified, completely pale, and staring at her father in utter disbelief.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Jennifer asked in a shaky voice. “Why are you here? Where did you get that gun? You’re scaring me!”

For a moment, the man’s face softened as he looked at his daughter, and then his expression hardened, and he waved the gun in Rachel’s direction.

“Everything will be just fine once she makes a call for me,” he muttered.

In the distance, sirens could be heard, and Jennifer’s father froze. Then he rushed to the window to peer out and let out a string of obscenities.