Heart of a Lion by Lacey Thorn
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mitch watched Quinn step from the shower. Her body was perfection with its scars and mixture of soft curves and firm muscle. Her hair was gathered on top of her head, but strands had escaped to curl around her face and down her chest. She was gorgeous. Even more, she was strong. Resilient. That was the word he’d use for her. The woman took everything that was thrown at her and kept going.
“I love you,” he said as her glance met his in the mirror.
She didn’t show any surprise, but then just because the words hadn’t been spoken didn’t mean they weren’t both aware of how the other felt.
“I love you.” She gave the words back to him as she rose on her toes, locked her hands behind his neck, and pulled him down to her. He took what she offered, gliding his tongue along hers in a slow exploration that ignited other areas of his body. His cock was rock hard and throbbing, but that was nothing new where the woman in his arms was concerned. He wasn’t with her for a quick roll to ease a physical ache. He was with her for the long haul. Sex would happen, but it wasn’t everything.
“Come to bed, and let me hold you,” he whispered, purposely being considerate of the baby lying in the crib.
“Not tonight,” she whispered back, nipping his bottom lip then grazing her teeth along his jaw and down the corded muscle along his neck. “Tonight, I want more.”
“More?” he questioned, letting her take the lead into the bedroom.
She tugged Mitch to the bed then turned, using nimble fingers to unfasten and free his belt before tossing it aside and popping open the button on his jeans.
“Undressing me?”
She smiled up at him. “One of these days, I want to undress every inch of you, but for today, I’ll take care of your jeans and whatever’s underneath.”
He groaned as her fingers brushed the muscles on his stomach. She placed one hand at the top band of his jeans then used the other to slowly lower his zipper. It felt as if it took forever for her to pull that tiny metal tab all the way down. Then she went to her knees before him, and he lost his ability to breathe.
“Quinn.”
“Shh,” she admonished, leaning in to place a kiss on his taut abdomen. “Let me do this. I need to touch you.”
“Anything you want,” he vowed and meant every word.
She spread the material wide before using her palms to glide the denim down his thighs and lower still until he could step out of them. He cast them away with his foot, leaving him standing there in a pair of tented boxers smeared with the pre-cum leaking from the slit atop his shaft. Then she killed him, leaning in to nuzzle her face along his cock, her breath hot and enticing as she teased him.
“Quinn.”
This time, her name was more of a strangled moan, and her laughter let him know how much she enjoyed the control she had over him. He wondered if she realized she always had the control when it came to the two of them. He’d do anything she wanted. Anytime she wanted. Anywhere. And he’d stop instantly if she decided she wasn’t ready. The love he felt for her would allow nothing less.
She gripped the band of his boxers and pulled, using them to pull his cock away from his body until it bounced free, rising to paint a spot on his belly.
“You’re beautiful.”
Her gaze was completely centered on his cock. He wanted to laugh, but she chose the moment to leave his shorts trapped around his thighs while she swiped her tongue from the base of his cock, up his shaft, then swirled it around the leaking crown. Her moan matched his, and he had to clench his thighs to keep his feet beneath him when she sucked him inside the damp warmth of her mouth and bobbed her head a bare inch down his length.
“Baby, you’re killing me.”
Her glance rose up his body, and he almost came at the look of rapture on her face. Her hair was half up, half tumbling down around her. Her mouth was full of him, cheeks pulled in from the suction she applied. Her eyes, though. They conveyed how much pleasure she found in what she did. If she continued to look up at him that way, he’d never last.
“Come here.”
He tugged his cock from her lips and lifted her into his arms, turning and lowering her atop the bed before rising to an elbow beside her.
“You weren’t enjoying it?” she asked.
“I was enjoying it too much,” he promised, leaning closer to take her mouth again.
His hands moved over her, touching and exploring and ready to take things to the next step when he encountered the scar on her side, a reminder of why he’d been waiting. He groaned and dropped his head to her neck, spreading open-mouthed kisses there as he tried to gain some control.
“Why are you stopping?” she asked.
“Because we need to wait. You’ve been through a lot since you’ve been here. Your body needs time to recover, not to be mauled by me.”
“My body is recovered,” she countered. “And I want you. Desperately.”
“I’m trying to do the right thing.”
“The right thing is to make love to me,” she vowed. “I need you. Not to treat me as if I’m delicate, but to remind me I’m not. That I’m here. That I survived. That I’m alive.”
“You’re all that and more.” He clenched his jaw and blew out a shaky breath. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then love me,” she encouraged.
He took her mouth again, relishing her kiss as he caressed up and down her body with one hand. He touched her everywhere. Then he reluctantly left her mouth to skim his lips along the path set by his fingers. He licked over her skin, sucked it in then grazed it with his teeth, nipping in certain spots as she wiggled and moaned beneath him. He tasted. Everywhere. Then finally moved so he could settle between her sprawled thighs. He used his shoulders to keep her that way, settling one arm across her lower abdomen and using his fingers to open her sex so he could see inside the glistening folds to where the treasure he currently sought was hidden. The taut kernel of her clit poked out of its hiding spot, and the silky sheen of her juices had his mouth watering for a taste.
Giving in to desire, he leaned in, flicking his out tongue and flattening it against her as he tasted from her opening up and around her clit before going back. He dipped inside, swirling around her entrance and moaning as the rich taste of her desire coated his tongue and lips. That little taste had him diving deep for more. He pumped it in and out of her as he wanted to do with his fingers and cock. He heard her slap a palm over her mouth as she fought to stay quiet, but he was caught up in what he was doing. He needed more.
Mitch moved up to her clit, wrapping his lips around the bud and sucking gingerly on it while he tested her channel with a finger. She was hot and tight and dripping. He sucked more firmly while he fingered her sex. She needed to be ready for him. He’d known she was naïve but hadn’t realized she was still a virgin until Talbot had made it clear earlier.
He pushed away any thoughts of the other man. Talbot had no place in what was happening now. Instead, Mitch focused solely on the woman before him. He alternated between licking and sucking at Quinn then added a second finger to the first. She was tight, and he needed to stretch her so she could comfortably accept his girth. He wanted her and would do his best to cause her the least amount of discomfort during their first time. Her first time period.
“Mitch!”
It was a whispered cry from her lips as she reached down and clutched at his arm banded across her belly. She undulated against him. Rising into every thrust of his fingers, pressing her clit harder against his tongue. She was close, and he gave her the final push she needed to get her to fly.
He almost laughed as she grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it, trying to stifle the cries leaving her lips. He kept his attention where it needed to be, though. On giving her an amazing orgasm and helping her to milk every ounce of pleasure she could from it. Then he brought her to the edge again, keeping her there, easing back slightly to hold her there.
He’d managed to get a third finger inside, but she was impossibly tight. He knew, no matter how hard he tried, there would be at minimum a brief moment of pain when he thrust his cock inside her for the first time. Focusing on his timing, he brought her to another orgasm, and just as she began to fly, he was over her, in her, swallowing her cries as he plunged deep and held there, fighting the need to move as she adjusted to the new sensation.
Just when he thought he wouldn’t last much longer, her nails dug deep into the back of his shoulders and her knees lifted to clasp the sides of his hips. The angle opened her wider, allowing him to sink slightly deeper, and he swore he saw stars.
“Love me,” she ordered, and he quickly complied.
He tried to stay slow, to be easy, but the way she countered his every move had them moving at a frantic pace. He pounded into her, the friction a sweet torture that had him ready to fill her with his seed, to mark her as his and only his for the rest of their lives.
Quinn fluttered around him, and he knew she quickly approached a third orgasm. He slipped his fingers between their bodies, finding and pressing over her clit until she broke again, flying high and taking him with her. Then he felt the heady clench of her teeth into the muscle of his chest, and he knew what she was doing. Marking him. Mating him. Claiming him. And he knew whatever their future held, they’d meet it head on. Together.