Protect Her (Aussie Military Romance Book 2) Page 9

  If this was a year ago, he would have spun her on her back and made her pay for teasing him like this. Instead, he was powerless, no he couldn’t think like that in case it lead to …

  Of course Xanthe noticed, “Someone’s taking a short nap? Good, because it’s going to be a long night an you’re going to need all the rest you can get.” Expertly, she removed his pants. He’d given up on the tight-fitting jeans of old for hippy style draw strings. Then, without blinking and without even drawing attention, she removed his medical equipment until he lay naked except for the singlet.

  “So, are you going to tell me the story about this monkey, or do I need to see it for myself?” Even though he couldn’t feel her hands rub up and down his legs, he needed her to keep going. Pretend as much of this was normal, treat him like a man until he could love her in the way she deserved.

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time. All the guys I was recruited with decided to go into town and get tattoos. Most of them wanted wolves or bears or dragons with obscure Asian symbols. Some wanted tribal patterns.”

  Carefully, sensually, Xanthe straddled him while he talked, her hands everywhere and encouraging his hands to explore her smooth legs as the kimino fell to the side. One tug at the string and she’d be all his.

  “Anyway, I didn’t want to go for something deep and meaningful. I heard somewhere that I was born in the year of the monkey, so that’s what I asked for. The tattoo artist asked me if I was lucky and the guys said I was the luckiest bastard at pulling women. So, well you might as well see for yourself.”

  Xanthe reached over for a pair of small scissors from her night stand and sliced up the front of his singlet. She started, “I figured for a special occasion, you could donate your clothes for a good cause.” As the fabric fell away, the bed shook with her laughter.

  “This! This is what I’ve been waiting months to see!” He flinched as she traced the outline of the cartoon monkey sitting at a card table with its hands over it’s face, and tail leading quite nicely between Mack’s legs. “So what’s with the fours and nines and why are they all hearts?”

  “Apparently my monkey cheats with cards the way I cheat with women. The four and nine are lucky numbers for the year of the monkey.”

  “And the see no evil?”

  “Yep, apparently whatever I’m doing, the monkey can play but not watch.”

  “So start playing.”

  Xanthe

  She didn’t know who was the most nervous, but at least the monkey really did break the ice and giggling was as good an aphrodisiac as anything. All the stress and nerves fell away as she lay back down on top of him.

  “I see the lady isn’t wearing any panties!” It seemed the more Mack played with her legs as they kissed, the harder he got.

  “I figured they would only come off with your kisses, so why bother.”

  “Indeed,” and there he was. The Mack she remembered from their first night with kisses so wild she didn’t need anything else. “You’re still overdressed,” he pulled at the string exposing the rose gold nipple rings, linked together by his chain.

  “I didn’t even notice you’d taken it off,” he ran the chain through his fingers. “Fuck you’re hot.”

  She had a drawer full of things they could have needed, lube and a script of pills the doctor had shoved in her bag without her even asking.

  All she needed was Mack resting against her stomach until at last his kisses forced her to arch her hips ever so slightly until she could squeeze him between her thighs. “Are you ready?” scared that if this didn’t work, it could set both of them back irreparably.

  “Come closer,” he whispered, “I don’t want my monkey to watch.”

  “I bet you say that to all the girls,” she started before they moaned in sync as she slid down, capturing him, fully and deeply. “Oh, Mack.”

  He was everything his reputation proclaimed, and more.

  The injury may have taken his legs, but Xanthe had never been with a more generous, passionate or well-built lover. His ice-blue eyes held hers and not once did she want to close them or look away. Not when it had taken so much to get here. With each rise of her hips he sighed but when she glided back down and he gave a slight tug on the chain, it was her turn to cry out.

  Not having to pay caution to other patients or medical staff who could wander in at any time, they were finally free to be together.

  She needed more, sitting up so she could explore the fullness of his naked chest as a lover for the first time. Watching and then massaging his abs as they contracted with each of her thrusts.

  If Xanthe thought that she would be in control of the pace, she was wrong. Hours with weights building up his already strong arms meant that Mack could lift and raise her hips at will before slamming her down with such force that her cries grew louder until she felt the tremors start.

  “Spin around,” he demanded, holding her firm until the edge calmed. “I’ve held that beautiful ass next to me in that damn hospital bed, I want to watch those cheeks spread for me.”

  Xanthe held her pace while he twisted one nipple ring from behind and found her bud with his other hand. It took a few strokes to get her rhythm and balance but once she let her legs do all the work, her hands found their new favorite toy, rolling each ball gently until his cries were louder than hers.

  This time nothing was going to stop her from coming, Mack pumped her hips a couple times more before he removed all doubt what he was still capable of.

  Exhausted and overcome by the raw and unfamiliar emotion, she carefully lay back, not releasing him but craving the closeness of his arms around her stomach.

  “That was …” she leaned around to kiss him, carefully so he didn’t slip out. Now that she had him, she never wanted to let him go.

  “It was, but I wish I could have ...” he started before she tried to turn and silence him with a kiss, “done more for you.”

  “Do I look like a woman unsatisfied?” She massaged his hands over her body, “The way you hold me, the way you fill me.”

  “I’ll never be able to give you children.”

  “We have time, can’t we enjoy this,” damn it, she rolled over to face him. “After all the time waiting for this, can’t we spend hours and hours making love, having sex and everything in between? I want to go out on a date with you, a real date. Have you realized we’ve never had one of those!”

  “Don’t you want kids?”

  “Of course I do, and I want them with you, but right now I’m naked in bed with The Mack and I want to experience all his gears. So get back to work!”

  Mack

  He’d never cried over a woman, but he came damn close to crying for Xanthe. She would never know him as the fucking wild sex machine he used to be. Unless a miracle happened, he would never be able to pin her against a wall and hammer her home.

  The best he’d ever be would be on his back and hope it would be good enough.

  She deserved better but was too much of a nice person to realize it. He knew that while they were stuck in their bubble of two and kept the world at bay, they had a chance. But as soon as her old friends met him, and they started going out in public, the world was a judgmental prick. He should know, he used to be one.

  “Hungry?” she caught him off guard with the question.

  “Yeah, what are we having?”

  “Depends, what are you making me?”

  He laughed, “You are kidding – the guy in the bed is going to cook?”

  “No, but the guy in the wheelchair is gonna help. The kitchen isn’t big, but you can get the chair in and still spin around. I’m sure you can still use a knife and either balance the board on your lap or use the table.”

  “I’d like to balance something else on my lap,” he couldn’t believe that he was getting hard again, talking about food, still lying on the bed and rubbing her back. His hands went lower and teased her cheeks apart.

  “Honey, if you go there, don’t complain about being
hungry,” she twisted around, her eyes were still faded with passion, “And what ever you do, don’t stop.”

  Without his legs, he concentrated on using Xanthe’s body for her own pleasure. Rubbing him between her cheeks with one hand, the other moved to the front, tormenting her with the lightest of touches.

  “What kind of kisses do you have for a girl without panties,” she bent around, stopping one hand but giving him full access to her ass. Even with her body contorted, his mouth still claimed hers with all the passion and fury he had been holding back. When she bit his lip, he returned the favor, tongues joining as she ground against his hand. Fingers finding their place when she let him. The only hold he had was keeping his cock between her cheeks. Smothered in her softness.

  Kisses, more kisses.

  Fuck, he couldn’t be ready to explode again, not this soon.

  Furiously he worked his fingers to find her, bring her to the same point, he wanted to come together, again.

  With a cry, she raised her hips to take him, his fingers still working their magic. Feeling her silk surround his cock, he couldn’t take it any more. He grabbed her hips and took her with passionate abandon until he felt her squeeze around him and shudder before he found his own.

  This time as she lay on his chest, he released her ponytail, confident that even if her hair got in the way, they’d figure out how to make it work.

  Xanthe

  “I could get used to this naked chef routine,” she passed him the bread rolls to cut open before putting under the grill. “Although I think you need something bigger than a pillow to rest the board on your lap!”

  “The one thing I used to crave on base was old-style hamburgers. I can’t believe you remembered and this is the first meal for a man released from the hospital prison.”

  “Well, you rolled a good patty although I would have put more tomato relish in them.”

  “Woman, you put BBQ sauce not relish.”

  “Actually, you put Italian seasoning, heaps of salt and garlic and tomato relish.”

  “We’ll do it your way this time, but next time we’re having burgers my way.”

  “Shut up and get the buns ready,” her hair fell across the board and bread as she stole another kiss, squealing in delight as he grabbed her ass. “Let me go or the patties will burn and you’ll blame the sauce.”

  Instead of sitting around the small table to eat, she set up their plates on the edge and refused to get out of Mack’s lap. He had started to get self-conscious about his legs losing muscle tone but she refused to see him as anything other than the man who turned her on, mind body and soul. She wasn’t going to baby or babysit him, but she wasn’t going to let him play the victim either.

  There was one more surprise she had for him after dinner. Until then, feeding each other torn pieces of hamburger in between more kisses would get them in the mood for her surprise.

  “We’re making a huge mess,” he brushed strands of lettuce from her hair and from his chest.

  “Wanna make some more?” she teased, having a great idea that would lead to the surprise.

  “Any time you want to baby, at times I never thought I’d get it up, but now I can I don’t want to waste any opportunity to show you my full appreciation.”

  “Well, appreciate this,” she squeezed the bottle of BBQ sauce over her breasts, shivering at the cold drizzle against her warm flesh. “You said you like BBQ, then prove it.”

  “You crazy woman,” she giggled when he grabbed the bottle and drew a line from her breasts to her pussy. “Do you think I’ll over dose on sauce and switch to tomato just for you?”

  “I know that you’ll never finish cleaning me.”

  “You don’t know how stubborn I can be,” she moaned as he bit one ring, lashing his tongue around her nipple. “Now where should I start.”

  Xanthe slowly massaged him, trying to keep it light and steady even though her body was crying for mercy. Methodically, he cleaned each breast while stroking the inside of each thigh, from her knee up and stopping just before she wanted him to start.

  “How much do you want to get clean?” he growled, taking a swig from his water bottle. Was he going to tip the rest over her? Surely not.

  “Very much,” she tried to read his eyes.

  “You better hope the table is steady, sit up,” he had already pushed the food out of reach and Xanthe hoped she knew what he was about to do because if he was as good at that as he was at everything else, well …

  He took one long swab of the BBQ sauce from her pussy and offered her his finger. “One lick and I’ll do the rest.”

  “You just lost your hand,” she held his arm and sucked at his finger as he went below. Pulling her to the edge of the table so nothing could stop him from deeply penetrating her with his tongue and other hand. He ignored the sauce and concentrated on what mattered to him, to her and them.

  All the while, she played and sucked his finger as if her life depended, only when she was about to come again, did she give him his hand back to use. Fingers inside, and his tongue at the ready. The table almost gave way with her shudders but she didn’t care.

  Sliding, exhausted, back into his lap, Mack held her tightly as she hid her face in the nape of his neck. Whatever had happened here today, it was more powerful than she expected. Any doubts she had about what their sex life could be like had been well and truly erased.

  The Mack was everything his reputation had proclaimed, and more.

  Only, it had taken her falling in love before they got to this point.

  Now, her fear was that having proven to himself that he was still all man, Mack would go back to the player he once was, and leave her heartbroken in his wake.

  Mack

  He couldn’t keep this up. Xanthe had put a full day in at work and was still ready to fuck like a wildcat and lay back and purr like a kitten. She might plead exhaustion, but those were only words.

  To try and make sure he could escape the hospital prison, he’d pushed himself hard in every session over the last days and ramped it up today. Now with the excitement of leaving, and giving everything to Xanthe, he was buggered. If the chair wasn’t holding him, he’d quite comfortably slide onto the floor and sleep for a month.

  Xanthe was kidding herself if she thought this was the life she wanted. No, now she’d done her job and got him through the early parts of rehab. It could only get worse for her now she’d be faced with his “chair” every time they left her house.

  He’d need the chair to get to the car, to go shopping.

  They wouldn’t be able to just drop into a bar if there were steps or if the door way wasn’t wide enough. No more walking along the beach or bush walking.

  No more kayaks, hell he probably wouldn’t even be able to go sailing ever again.

  Kids, well he knew the stats. He also knew the statistics for a marriage surviving, let alone the stats for veterans, substance abuse and PTSD.

  Hell, with him her life wouldn’t be boring, but it wasn’t the life he wanted for the woman he loved.

  Loved. Pure and unselfish love.

  To protect her from his future, he had to man up and love her enough to let her go.

  But when she sat up, diluted pupils still recovering from being “cleaned”, his heart renewed with energy his body didn’t possess. Messed up hair with bread crumbs, traces of smeared sauce, and never had a woman ever looked so beautiful, or enticing.

  “Hey,” he shrugged.

  “Hey, yourself.” He watched her legs shimmer from the table, handing him his water bottle before she went back into the kitchen and poured herself another wine. “Want one?”

  “Why not, whatever doesn’t kill you …”

  “Gets you plastered.”

  “Do you want to be?” The eternal bitterness and self pity couldn’t stay hidden for more than a couple of hours. Another reason she’d be better off without him.

  “What?” she handed him a glass.

  “So plastered you forget
that you’re with a cripple?” He didn’t mean to say it, at least not tonight but he had an awful habit these days of unleashing the messed-up crap in his head.

  “I want the gentle buzz that a couple of glasses of a quality wine gives me. I want to enjoy the contrast of a deep shiraz with the sharp bite of an aged cheese.” She downed her glass and poured another. “I want to spend the next three days here with you, showing off all the new lingerie that I bought with you in mind, and never got a chance to model before you so rudely interrupted our conversation by being blown up.”

  “I think you’ve just proven to yourself that you can satisfy any woman at any time. You don’t need to walk into a room to be able to sweep a woman off her feet.” The reticence he had felt from her was misplaced. It wasn’t about his legs, it was about trusting him not to leave.

  “I’m still a cripple,” he had to say it.

  “And tonight, I’m going to get gently buzzed, lie down on that bed and thank God that he left enough of you for me to sleep with.”

  “Ouch,” he didn’t know how to take it.

  “What do you want me to say – that I don’t know that you’re in a wheelchair? Of course I do. Does it matter – well its changed things but so did meeting you. I changed the moment you took my phone off me and asked me for something only a lover would know. Things changed between us the night we slept together on that bloody uncomfortable lounge without having sex, even though I know both of us were thinking about it all night.”

  “Xanthe, I’m sorry …”

  “No, damn it. You can’t just stand there and …”

  “Sit there,” he laughed. “Remember, we’re still working our way up to standing.”

  “You bastard,” Xanthe grabbed his face to kiss him, their laughter breaking the mood. “What I was trying to say is that on every level, being together has changed us. We’ve already faced this change, now that you’re out of hospital, we’ll see if we can handle it.”

  “You said you had a surprise for me.”

  “Yeah, then follow me.” The woman didn’t cut him any slack, forcing him to turn his own chair and follow her to the bathroom. The lip up to the tiles had been smoothed by a small ramp, just enough for him to work his chair up and through. The surprise were the suction handles around the walls and a long bar in the shower next to a bench style chair with a bar at the back and one side.