Code Name: Aries by Janie Crouch

13

Ian

I poured myself two fingers of whiskey and looked out at the skyline. I couldn’t bring myself to go to Wavy in my bedroom. At least not for what I’d been hoping—a continuation of earlier. Good conversation. Laughter. Sweet kisses.

To kiss her now would be to taint her. Infuse her rainbow with the gray of my world.

She was probably asleep. It was after midnight, and she’d worked a full shift at the diner today. I would go in there, get her, and fly with her back home, explain to her that I wouldn’t be around anymore. I couldn’t drag her into my life. Not right now.

But the thought of walking away from her—again—ate at me. God, I wanted her, not just in a physical way, although hell, definitely in a physical way. I wanted her close to me. I wanted some of her light to fill the dark crevices that had overrun more and more of my soul.

But I wasn’t bastard enough to keep her with me for my own selfish reasons.

I had to make hard choices all the time in my line of work. Sometimes choosing who lived or died. I would make the hard choice now, even though it ate at my gut.

But my intent to stay on the straight and narrow took a hard hit the moment I walked into my bedroom. Wavy was lying on my king-sized bed, her auburn hair fanned out on my pillow. She was on her side, curled up in the sweetest pose, one hand tucked under her cheek.

It shouldn’t surprise me that she slept as sweetly as she did everything else. I would give a huge chunk of my considerable fortune for the right to crawl in beside her and wrap my arms around her. But it wasn’t my right, and more importantly, it wasn’t the right thing to do.

Using every bit of willpower I had, I crouched down beside her on the bed and touched her shoulder. I had to force my fingers not to trail along the skin her sweater had left exposed. “Wavy.”

Those green eyes blinked opened. “Hi. Oh no. Bad news?”

I rubbed a hand down my face. “It feels like it’s always bad news.”

She reached out and cupped my cheek. “You’re so tired. Your eyes are always tired.”

I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “My body is used to running on very little sleep, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m not talking about sleep. You’re tired inside. Fighting demons takes a lot out of anyone—even the strongest.”

How did this woman see so much? “I should probably get you home.”

“Do you need me to leave? Do you have to go somewhere?”

“No, I . . .”

I wasn’t sure what to tell her. Was there work to be done? Yes. There was always work to be done. Did I want her to go? No. But she needed to.

She rolled over onto her back and patted the bed beside her.

“Come lie with me.”

“Wavy, I—”

“Isn’t it what you want?” She leaned up again to look at me. “If it’s not what you want, I understand. Is it what you want, Ian?”

I wanted it more than my next breath, but whether it was right was an entirely different story.

She let out an exaggerated sigh. “Ian DeRose, don’t insult me by starting up with the gentle and fragile talk again. Just get in the damn bed.”

How was I supposed to argue with that? I kicked off my shoes. “Sweet and strong,” I muttered.

“Like a good rum punch,” she said. “We make coolers of it and drink it down by the lake in the summertime. Small-town life.”

“Sounds wonderful.”

“I’ll have to introduce you to Electric Smurfs sometime.”

“What is that, a place?”

“No, a drink. A blue one.”

“I was a sailor, and that still sounds a little scary.”

She grinned. “Oh, it is. Stronger men than you have run in terror from the power of the Electric Smurf.”

My arm wrapped around her as she rolled over onto her stomach along my side and planted her pointy little chin on my chest. I would endure the small ache the rest of my days if it meant having her this close. “Sounds like a formidable foe. Tell me more about the lake.”

She started talking about a lake surrounded by cliffs on three sides, which the people from Oak Creek called Pikes Peak. Ironic, since Pikes Peak was an actual mountaintop outside of Colorado Springs.

But she stopped talking after a minute.

“Out of things to say?” I asked.

She looked at me with those green eyes. “I feel like I’m always talking around you. Like I never shut up. I usually only do that when I’m nervous.”

“Do I make you nervous?”

“No.” That little chin dug into me as she shook her head. “You don’t make me nervous. Me talking makes you more . . . at ease. I think that’s why I never shut up around you.”

“I like hearing you talk. It relaxes something inside of me.” I wasn’t sure why or what that meant. People talking was something I tolerated but didn’t enjoy. Hearing Wavy was different.

“I’m glad you like hearing me talk. But I think I’d rather use my lips for other things right now, if that’s okay with you.”

“Wavy . . .” Her name came out as a groan.

“You came in here to say goodbye to me, I know.”

This woman saw too damn much. “It’s not that I don’t want to be around you. It’s not that—”

She put a finger over my lips. “You can say whatever you want, but ultimately it’s going to come back to you thinking I’m too fragile for your world.”

I couldn’t stop myself. I rolled her underneath me. Our bodies were pressed together from shoulder to feet. I rested my weight on my elbows and looked down into those endless green eyes. “I don’t think you’re fragile. You’ve taught me that very well in the little time I’ve known you. But my world is ugly, there’s no escaping that. You’re right; I don’t want it to taint you. I don’t want it to touch you at all.”

“What about you, DeRose? Do you want to touch me? I’m not worried about whatever evil it is you think surrounds you. I want to know how you feel.”

Wavy Bollinger was enticing when she was sweet and smiling. But when she was spicy, she was damn near irresistible.

My lips crashed into hers.

All of our kisses had been explosive, but this one felt like it would singe us both to ash.

After a few minutes, I knew this was going to lead to a lot more than merely kissing. I tried to pull back.

“Wavy.” I leaned my forehead against hers. “This wasn’t why I brought you here. It wasn’t what I was planning when I came to Oak Creek today to ask you to go out on a date with me. It’s not what I was intending when I asked you to wait here in my bedroom.”

“None of that changes the question, DeRose. What do you want?”

I wanted her. I wanted to bury myself inside of her until neither of us knew where I ended and she began. I wanted to breathe her into me. “I want you.”

She dragged my head back down to hers.

When her tongue slid between my lips, I let out a groan that started deep in my throat. “You’re going to be the death of me, Rainbow.”

She licked at me with that little tongue, like a cat. “Maybe. But not tonight.”

“Are you sure this is what you want?” I had to make sure. I lifted myself so she couldn’t use that mouth to distract me. Because hell, this woman distracted me just by breathing.

“I’m very sure. But I need something from you first.”

I kissed her forehead. “Tell me. Whatever it is.” If it was in my power to give it to her, I would.

“I want to use that giant shower in your bathroom. I peeked while you were talking. It looks like there’s room for two.”

I was off her, on my feet, and scooping her off the bed before she could say another word. She squealed a little as I lifted her.

“That shower was definitely built for two. Be the first person I share it with.”

She cupped my cheek with her hand. “You don’t have to say things to me to make me feel more comfortable.”

“I want you to feel comfortable, but I won’t lie to you to get you there. I haven’t been a monk, but I don’t bring women to this place.”

She hooked her arm around my neck and used it as leverage to pull herself closer to my mouth. “I’m glad you brought me here.”

“I am too.”

Our lips met, and I was still kissing her as we made it into the bathroom. Still kissing her as I set her down on her feet. Still kissing her as I reached in to turn on the water, and we began peeling off our clothes. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to stop kissing her.

We only broke apart to kick off our few remaining pieces of clothing.

Damn, as much as I liked kissing her, looking at her naked body was running a very fucking tight second.

“You look like you might start drooling, DeRose.” She stepped away from me and into the steamy water, then turned and beckoned with one finger.

I’d never seen anything as sexy in my whole life. I couldn’t get into the shower quickly enough. I walked right up to her, cupped her face with my hands, and pulled her in for another kiss.

I’d always liked this shower. It had two shower heads, but more importantly, it was big and open—nothing that gave me a bit of panic. Glass on all sides from the door leading into it to a slightly frosted full window on the side. It was clear enough to catch a blurred glimpse of Denver beneath us, but no one could see in.

Not even if I pushed her against it and eased inside her gorgeous body. If someone was looking closely enough, they might be able to make out a shape, but definitely no details.

The hot water hit us from both sides as we kissed. I reached up and aimed one of the heads down so it wouldn’t hit Wavy in the face with her shorter height.

Then I trailed my fingers down the side of her neck, over her shoulder to run down her chest and cup her breast. She let out a breathy sigh as my fingers discovered what she liked and my lips soon followed the same path. Her breath caught, and she let out a shuddering moan as my mouth closed around her nipple.

“I want to take a whole bunch of time getting to know how you feel. How you taste.” I kissed my way back up her chest to her lips. “But if you keep making those sexy little sighs, I don’t know if I’m going to last that long.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck to keep my lips against hers. “I want all the slow and getting to know each other. I want hours in bed discovering all the things that drive us both crazy. But can that come later? Right now, I just want you.”

Oh, thank God. “Let me grab a condom.”

She gave me a small shrug. “I’m on the pill, if that helps. And it’s been an embarrassingly long time since I’ve been intimate with anyone.”

I kissed her again. “Same for me. If you’re okay with it, believe me, I am too.”

“I’m more than okay. Take me right here up against this window. I know no one can see, but it still feels naughty.”

I bent my knees so I could slide my hands down her hips, then grip her ass. “You’re naughty, are you?”

She laughed. “No. Never in almost my entire life. But it feels naughty, so I like it.”

I lifted her up and pressed her hard against the glass. “You know, naughty girls get fucked up against the window, Wavy.”

“Oh, God.” Her breath caught, and her nails dug into my neck.

She liked a little dirty talk. I liked that she liked it. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I eased closer, rocking my hips so I was rubbing against her, pinning her to the wall.

“Ian. Yes.”

I pressed against her again, both of us grinding. Then, wrapping one arm around her hips and keeping her pinned, I reached between our bodies, feeling her wet heat. She thrust against my hand, and we both groaned.

“You shoot my control all to hell, woman.”

She laughed, but it was different than her normal laugh—throaty and low. “I want you, Ian. Take me.”

I entered her in one deep thrust. Her strangled cry blended with my moan as her heat surrounded me. I gave her a moment to adjust, then slid almost all the way out before slamming inside of her again.

“Yes.” Her head fell back against the window, her fingers gripping hard at my shoulders. I looked down to watch our wet bodies where we were joined before thrusting once more.

I could’ve done that for hours, watching our bodies, listening to her groan my name, but instinct took over. I needed more.

I slid my hands down, holding her by the thighs so I could open her more fully, then rolled my hips over and over, hitting right where she wanted it. Her moans told me so and pushed me over my own edge.

My lips found hers again, keeping her pinned against me as I thrust again and again. It was her name I called out as my body tightened, and I let myself go.