Shayla Black - Theirs to Cherish

Inside her, Sean thickened. He pumped harder. A second later, he cried out in a deep sound of agony as he stiffened and pressed himself as far inside her as he could, rooting around as if he’d found home. His cry of ecstasy echoed in the bedroom. Callie whimpered like a wounded thing to hold back her need to join him, to celebrate this moment that might not ever come again.

With a groan from the bottom of his chest, he exhaled against the side of her neck, and managed to push himself up enough to press the lightest brush of kiss on her lips. He worshipped her with a starkly blue stare.

“I love you, Callie,” he murmured in her ear.

Then he rolled away.

Callie lay still, her toes curled and her fists clenched to ward off the horrific need roiling inside her. Mind over body. You can do it. She dragged in more breaths, fighting to control the arousal and the throbbing flesh between her legs, insisting on more.

She hadn’t come close to recovering before Thorpe made his way into the crook of her spread thighs again and hovered above her. With total abandon, he plowed into her. In a lightning-fast barrage of thrusts, he took everything he needed from her, including her sanity.

Callie curled her arms around him. His back was slick with sweat and effort. He heaved in a breath with every shove inside her. And damn it, he swelled inside her as his strokes became even more insistent.

Like Sean, he meant to find his orgasm and leave her body needing and her soul bleeding as a lesson. She’d earned it, but gawd it hurt—in a strangely glorious way. Giving them control of her climax was her giving herself. If they needed that power, if they had to have a show of her penitence, she vowed to suffer.

Sucking in a breath as Thorpe’s strokes shortened, deepened, pounding, pounding, she waited, eyes clenched shut and struggled to give herself over and hold her pleasure back.

Sean tangled his lips with hers so very gently. “Come, Callie. For us.”

Had she heard that right? She opened her eyes wide to see the soft smile on his face. Yes. He’d given her a gift because he loved her, not necessarily because she’d earned it. She’d torn off his collar because he’d lied to her—in the name of duty. But he hadn’t lied about what really mattered. He had been true to his heart. While she had run, hidden, and tried to cut him out of her future and her feelings.

And still he managed to forgive her. No wonder she loved this man.

“Now, pet!” Thorpe thundered into her pussy. “Damn it, Callie. Yes. Oh, fuck. That’s it. Perfect. Now,” he groaned long and low. “Come!”

The pressure grew, pleasure surged. It was as if a weight had been lifted from her body. From her soul. She was free to fly, to soar and bask in their adoration. The submission she’d always craved giving but never had the freedom to grant, made her spill into bliss with more abandon than she’d ever experienced or imagined.

She peaked, then screamed as she hurtled endlessly through the pleasure. She roared out in body-twisting ecstasy. Thorpe was there to catch her, grounding her with a sure embrace and plunging strokes. He prolonged the exquisite sensations by digging against her most sensitive spot. She cried out, shuddered, dizzy, floating, flying again . . .

Sean kissed her jaw, squeezed her hand, praising her with whispers she barely heard as she tried to catch her breath and find a way to bring her soul back into her body.

Finally, Thorpe grunted, then collapsed over her and rolled to her side. Together they surrounded her, cuddling her, both trailing their lips across her skin. She turned to each, back and forth, as the floodgates of her heart opened wide for the first time in her life. Tears spilled, joyous, her smile wobbling. She clutched the moment tight, wishing she could bask here forever.

LATE that afternoon, Sean wandered into the galley in search of Callie. His world righted on its axis when he spotted her near the sink, gulping down water. A smile slid across his face that was probably sappier than hell, but he didn’t even know the right words to describe how beautiful she was to him with the tangled gloss of her hair spilling down her back and her lithe form silhouetted under his once-pristine dress shirt.

He slipped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. “I can’t get enough of you, lovely.”

But he was certainly trying. After their first go-round in the bed, he and Thorpe had rested with her between them. They’d all drifted off, and Sean had awakened to a nose full of Callie and a cock harder than stone. She’d welcomed him with open arms, her kisses so clinging and poignant. It hadn’t taken Thorpe very long to join in, availing himself of her mouth while Sean drowned in her pussy and took for himself an orgasm like the one he’d allowed Thorpe to give her. He’d given her several more for the sheer pleasure of it.

Every touch she’d bestowed on him felt infused with her love. He’d never wanted that devotion from another woman. But like everything else with Callie, she was simply different. She filled some void in him he hadn’t known was missing.

She set down the bottle of water, then turned in his arms with a little smile. “Well, you bought a year’s worth of condoms and you did warn me . . . Not that you’ll hear me complain.”

“I hope not.” He gripped her hip and settled a kiss on her swollen lips. “Are you all right?”

She sent him a saucy grin with blue eyes dancing mischievously. “The sex isn’t exactly scarring me for life, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Good to know, but no. Let’s start at the beginning. Why did you run from Dominion without talking to me? Or to Thorpe? I hate that you felt that you couldn’t trust me.”

“You lied, Sean.” When he opened his mouth to argue, she cut him off. “I know what you’re going to say. It was your job. You weren’t untruthful about your feelings. I get all that. Just understand that I thought you might be an assassin or something. And if that was the case, I certainly wasn’t going to give you the opportunity to shoot me while I was busy asking why you knew my true identity and had a gun. And I refused to put Thorpe at risk by running to him for help.”

Arguing with that logic would get him nowhere. She’d kept herself alive by being cautious. And walking away from everyone who’d ever mattered. He was going to have to break that last habit. Maybe when he’d begun having feelings for her, he should have come clean. Or maybe she would have just run sooner. It was all moot now. They were finally getting everything out on the table. He wanted to clear it so they could stop the danger to her and have a future.

“I know. But I can’t have you running off again. I don’t think my heart can take it, lovely.”

She cupped his cheek and frowned. “Sean, think about what you’re saying. Hell, what you’re doing. By your own admission, you’ve been married to your job for the last decade. I can’t let you give that up for me. It’s your career. Your future.”

“No, you are. Make no mistake. I won’t give you up. If you don’t love me and want to leave, I can’t stop you. But I refuse to walk away from you because my boss might be pissed off. I won’t abandon you when you’ve got danger breathing down your neck. Someone wants you dead.”

“Yeah, and I don’t know who or how to stop it. The best thing I can do for you is give you all the time and love possible, then quietly leave. If you’ll say I gave you the slip and let me have a head start—”

“Do you not love me?” he cut in.

“I do, Sean. More than I can even tell you.” She gripped his face in her hands, her eyes tearing up. “But the day my family was murdered and I ran, I gave up my future. I didn’t really understand at the time, but I can’t argue with the facts.”

She pressed the softest, saddest kiss on his lips—meaning it as the beginning of her good-bye.

Sean refused to let that stand.

He jerked back. “I’m not going to stop fighting for you.”

Tears swam in her eyes. “I think you should. You’ve already given me an incredible gift with your love. I don’t get involved with people. It may not seem like much, but it’s very scary for me to tell you that I love you. I’m saying it because it’s true and important to me that you know. I don’t even have the words to tell you how touched I am that you’ve risked so much to help me. Or that you let Thorpe share this time with us. Why? You hated him back in Dallas.”

The last few days had been a blur, and he’d been so tired sometimes and stressed that he didn’t always know his name. But he was totally clear on this answer. “Because you love him. His experience and control lets you feel safe. You’ve known him for so long that trust is easy.” He shrugged. “Besides, having someone help me watch your back has been beneficial. And having another pair of hands to spank your ass when you get out of line has come in handy, too.”

Sean tried to pass the last line off as a joke, but Callie wasn’t smiling. “I’ve loved him for a long time. Please don’t think that means I love you any less. And I want you to know that no matter what happens with Thorpe or the future, it won’t change how I feel about you.”

Sean smoothed back her hair and met her with a smile. “Thank you, lovely. I needed to hear that. I wish it sounded less like you intend to leave me. You have such a big heart to give. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“You made it impossible not to fall in love with you. I’ve never felt this way, as if you came into my life . . . and supported me so perfectly. Suddenly, the ground under me felt solid. I wasn’t lonely or lost anymore. I was afraid to trust you. I’ve wanted to give you everything I could in return, but I didn’t know how to get past my fear. And now, I don’t ever want to let go.”