Hearts in Darkness Collection by Laura Kaye

Chapter Nine

Makenna was speechless. She’d guessed earlier in the evening Caden would prove an attentive lover, but she wasn’t prepared for just how well he anticipated her needs, sometimes before she did herself, and how he made sure every one of them was fulfilled. It was a heady thing, being the center of someone else’s efforts and attention. She felt giddy.

And he’d felt so good in her. He was the most well-endowed man she’d ever been with, and Holy cow! the pleasure she got from the sensation of fullness alone would’ve made the sex great. But the way he moved his body, the way he rolled his hips, the way his hands possessed her, the reflexive sweet kisses he dropped all over her—it all felt effortless, natural, with him, which was why she’d been able to orgasm again. She’d never before been able to come again so quickly after orgasming. But Caden had drawn it out of her with his body, his words, the deep need in his voice for her to join him when he fell.

Most of all, he’d made her feel desirable, beautiful, sexy. These feelings enabled her to be completely free with him.

She stroked light trailing fingertips over his back where he had collapsed on top of her. She wriggled a little and turned her head to kiss his stubbled cheek.

He lifted up from her neck and smiled at her, then pressed a series of soft, worshipful kisses against her lips. “You doing okay?”

She smiled. “I’m mighty fine.”

His smile turned into a grin. “Yes, you are.”

She gave him a quick peck. “You want something to drink?” she asked. “I have to get up to go to the bathroom anyway.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” He rolled off to her side and ran his fingertips from her neck down to her belly button. She squirmed, every part of her body now completely over sensitized from the immense pleasure he’d given her.

Makenna scooted off the bed and glanced back at him. He wasn’t even trying to pretend he wasn’t watching her nakedness stroll around the room. She smirked, knowing full well she’d be doing the same thing to him.

“You can use the bathroom in there if you want, I’ll use the one out here.”

He propped himself up on an elbow and gave her a very purposeful once-over. “Okay.”

She shook her head and walked out of the room, chuckling.

After cleaning up in the hall bathroom, Makenna made her way back to the kitchen and smiled at the almost-dinner they’d made. She quickly returned all the ingredients back to the fridge, deciding she’d rethink whether everything ought to be thrown out when she had more brain power in the morning. Then she settled all the dirty dishes in the sink.

She scooped up the clothes they’d shed and piled them on the counter. Smiling, she pulled Caden’s black shirt out and slipped it over her head. It was miles too big on her, but it felt great. She giggled like a school girl at the thought of his reaction.

She set a small tray on the counter and loaded it up with two bottles of water, some orange juice for her and a fresh can of Coke for him, and a big bunch of cold green grapes. She carried the lot of it into her room and found he’d switched on the lamp on her nightstand. He’d slipped his boxers and jeans back on and sat propped up against her headboard, his long legs stretched out in front of him.

“Nice shirt.” He smirked at her, but his eyes smoldered.

“I thought so.” She winked at him as she slid the tray between them and climbed up on the bed. “Help yourself.”

Caden plucked a bottle of water off the tray and downed half of it in one greedy gulp. The sight of his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat made her squirm a little. She shook her head at herself as she grabbed her glass of juice and took a considerably smaller drink.

He recapped the bottle and sat forward, then broke off a stem of grapes. He threw two in his mouth and closed his eyes as he chewed.

Makenna reached down and plucked a handful off the stem. The sweet juiciness exploded in her mouth as she chewed. “Mmm. Good,” she murmured.

He popped two more in his mouth and smiled. “Very.”

A flash of red light behind Caden caught her eye. “Wow,” she said. “It’s 1:30. I had no idea.” She gulped down the rest of her orange juice.

Caden glanced over his shoulder. “Um, yeah.” He ate another grape and looked down at the two he was rolling around in his hand. His jaw ticked, that same way it had in the elevator when she’d first seen him.

Makenna frowned. “Hello?” He cut his eyes back up at her. “What just happened?”

His brow furrowed. “I…nothing. Really.” He smiled, but it wasn’t her smile.

Not again.

She cocked an eyebrow at him, trying to imagine what was wrong. “I call bullshit.”

He chuckled and ran his hand over his scar, then sighed. “It’s late.”

She debated for only a second, then resolved the risk was more than worth it. Pushing the tray out of the way, she crawled over until she was kneeling in front of him. She cupped her right hand around his neck and her left hand around the back of his head, then gently tugged at him until the scarred side of his head faced her. Quite deliberately, she reached up and traced soft reverent kisses from his temple, along the scar over his ear, and all the way back to the very end of it at the hairline on his neck. She sat back on her heels and turned his face so she could see his now-flaming eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Do you have somewhere to be?”

He shook his head.

“Because I’d like you to stay, if you want to. There wasn’t any hidden meaning behind my pointing out the time. I was just surprised, just so you know.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Okay. I’d like to stay.”

She released a deep breath as relief and joy flooded her. “Good. And Caden?”

“Yeah?” He quirked a crooked smile.

“So there’s no more weirdness or uncertainty…I like you.” The warmth of a blush blossomed on her cheeks.

The smile she loved brightened his face and crinkled his eyes. “I like you, too.”

Inside she was jumping up and down and screaming, “He likes me too, he likes me too!” Outside, she reached behind her and grabbed a few grapes. “Open,” she said.

The dimples deepened on his face as his smile grew. He opened his mouth. She popped one grape in his mouth and two in her own, trying to suppress a smile while she chewed.

Then she thought for a moment. She wanted to know more about him—she wanted to know everything. So she sat back and looked at him, finally drawing her finger around the outline of his yellow rose tattoo.

“Tell me about this?”

* * *

After Makenna left to get them something to drink, Caden had cleaned up and gotten dressed, not sure what to expect, or whether to expect anything. He knew what he wanted. He wanted to stay the night. He wanted to fall asleep holding her. Not once in the last fourteen years had he felt as comfortable with another woman, as accepted. And they’d been so damned good together. All night long, everything had felt so natural with her. Now that he’d found that, found her, he wanted everything she’d give him.

And then she’d returned wearing his shirt. The black of it highlighted the contrasting pale porcelain of her legs and the fiery hue of her loose curls. Somehow, his body had found some last reserve of energy, because the sight of her in his clothes made his cock stir again. If he got the chance, he was going to give her his Station Seven baseball jersey with his name silk-screened on the back.

He’d been savoring the image of her wearing a shirt that would mark her as his when she’d pointed out the time. The air had left his lungs. My time’s finally up, was all he could think. His gut clenched with unreasonable disappointment.

She’d noticed and called him on his shit—as she’d been doing all night. And he…loved her for it. Yeah, I’m not even going to pretend it’s something else. Because, just then, as she kissed him—kissed hisscar—and told him she liked him and pulled him back from the edge of a downward spiral, he thought he just might be in love with Makenna James.

Her finger tickled the outline of his rose. He told her its simple story. “My mom had a rose garden. Yellow was her favorite.” He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.

Makenna pulled her hand free and pointed to the red cross on his upper bicep. “And this one?”

“It’s the badge from my station.”

She raked her fingernails over his left side. He flinched and swatted at her hand, making her laugh. “And this one?” she asked as she nudged him to sit forward so she could trace the big abstract tribal around to his back.

Something about her intense exploration of his ink felt incredibly intimate to him, but he just shrugged. “No story behind that one, really. I just liked it. And it took a long time to do.”

She crawled in to kneel behind him. Her knees settled against the outside of his hips and her warmth radiated against his back.

He sucked in a breath and shivered when she pressed four kisses against the large Old English lettering on his right shoulder—the tattoo of Sean’s name. It had been his very first tattoo—he’d lied about his age and used a fake ID to get it done on the day Sean would’ve turned fifteen. His chest felt full and tight at the same time, but above it all he admired and appreciated the way Makenna met his issues head on—kissing his scar, comforting him about the loss of his family, making him feel so accepted by wanting to understand why he’d marked himself again and again.

He anticipated her fingers before they fell on the lettering on his left shoulder. “What does this say?” She traced over the four traditional Chinese characters he’d had done on the fifth anniversary of the accident.

“It says ‘never forget.’ ”

She kneaded his shoulder muscles, and he groaned and tilted his head forward. Her hands were surprisingly strong for being so small. After a while, her thumbs worked deep circles down either side of his spine until she reached the back of his jeans.

When she wrapped her arms around him and hugged, laying her cheek on his shoulder, he sank back into her embrace. It was an unusually peaceful moment for him. He felt so cared for. They sat that way for several long, comfortable minutes.

“Got any others?” she eventually asked.

He wrapped his arms over hers. “Another tribal on my calf. Wanna see?”

She nodded against his shoulder, then dropped her arms as he leaned forward and pulled up the leg to his jeans as far as he could. The black lines curved up and down the outside of his leg like feathers, or blades.

“Does it hurt?” she asked as she went back to massaging his back.

“It can. Some places more than others.”

“Is that why you do it?”

He spun to the right and dropped his legs to the floor, his upper body twisting further around so he could search her face.

Despite being surprised at the abruptness of his movement, she leaned forward to kiss him. “Caden, I like your tattoos. I mean”—she paused and blushed beautifully—“I really like them. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“They hurt. And you said you got this one”—she stroked his left side—“because it took a long time to do. And the dragon was part of proving to yourself you’d beaten your fear.”

He nodded, studying her face intently. She was choosing her words carefully. He could almost see her thoughts playing out on her face, a face he was learning to read better and better. A face he found so very lovely.

“I think—” She dropped her hands in her lap again and flashed her baby blues at him. “Well, it’s like they’re your armor.”

Caden’s jaw dropped. He didn’t know what to say, because never, ever had he thought of all his ink that way. Instead, he’d thought of them as a way to remember, he’d thought of them as a form of penance, and he’d not minded, after a certain point, that they might keep people away. But he’d never specifically thought of them as offering him protection. But she was right. They allowed him to control the pain he felt—both physical and emotional—something that had been taken from him on that long-ago summer night.

Her observation was so in tune with who he was and what had happened to him he felt ready to turn over some of that control, to entrust her with some of it.

He lunged at her and tackled her against the headboard with the force of his kiss. He swallowed her surprised gasp as he pushed his tongue into her mouth, now tasting of the sweetness of grapes and oranges.

When he pulled back she was laughing and smiling. Her eyes scanned over his face. “These are sexy as hell, too,” she said, fingering his lip and brow piercings.

He threw his head back and laughed. Her timing was perfect. She had a knack for injecting humor in serious conversations just when it was needed. Her giggle warmed him. He leaned forward again and kissed her, scraping his bottom lip over hers to make sure she felt his spider bites. She whimpered and he grinned. After a few moments he settled back against her chest again.

Minutes passed with Caden leaning sideways against Makenna’s abdomen while she stroked his back and he played with the ends of her hair. “You have the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen, Red. And it smells fucking phenomenal.”

“I knew it! I knew you sniffed my hair.”

He tilted his head to look up at her, chuckling uncomfortably.

But the beaming smile on her face was all pleased. “Don’t worry,” she said when she saw his embarrassed expression. “I sniffed you, too. I love your aftershave.”

He nodded and tucked his head back down against her. “Good to know,” he said through a smile.

More comfortable minutes passed and she sighed. “I still owe you an omelet.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, we kinda skipped that, didn’t we?”

Her voice sounded like a smile. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t mind, though.” She kissed the top of his head.

“Me neither. And, anyway, I still owe you a pizza.”

“Ooh, yeah.” She wriggled underneath him like she was dancing. “And a movie, too.”

“And a movie, too.” Caden grinned where he leaned against her. She was making plans with him, plans for the future. He was fucking thrilled.

They lay together for a few more minutes, then Makenna yawned. “Let’s get comfortable,” she said.

Caden pushed off the bed and extended a hand to help Makenna. He picked up the tray. “I’ll take this out to the kitchen.”

“Thanks,” she said as she pulled the covers down.

When he returned, she was lying under the comforter on the side where they’d been sitting. He came around the other side and shed his jeans before slipping under with her. “Oh, God.” He chuckled. “That feels good.”

She clicked off the lamp and then rolled over to him. He lifted his arm so she could fit into the nook along the side of his body. Despite the novelty of being with a woman like this, it all felt completely natural to Caden. And that made him cherish it all the more. Cherish her all the more.

I could get used to this, he thought as Makenna fit herself along his side and slid her knee onto his thigh. He was bone-achingly tired but happy beyond anything he’d ever imagined might be possible for him.

Just as his eyes drooped, she pressed a kiss against his collarbone and squeezed her arm across his chest. “I love…that elevator,” she said.

With a sleepy smile and a full heart, he turned his head and kissed into her soft hair. “Aw, Red. I love that elevator, too.”