“Damn,” she murmured. “I was hoping for some story about discovering a rope fetish in your baby SEAL days. Or someTop Gunsexytimes with a hot instructor, and instead of fighter jets, it’s knot tying?”
“Yeah, no hot instructors. No sexytimes,” I said.
She dipped her chin down before speaking. “I’m selfish, too. For you.” She hesitated and glanced away, her teeth pressed into her lower lip. “Before me…did you always?”
“No, Shannon,” I said.
“No long, sordid history of breaking hearts and destroying tights?”
“None of that,” I laughed. “You’ve broken hearts, though.”
She shook her head, frowning. “The closest I’ve ever come to such a thing is blocking creepy boys on Internet dating sites.” Her fingers brushed over my shoulder, and her eyes followed the jagged scars. “These are new.”
Nodding, I rolled to my side and pulled Shannon to my chest. I’d ignored the pain in my arm while I was inside her, but now, without the pleasure of her body to drive it away, I was sore. “Not every mission goes to plan.” She opened her mouth to say something but a low rumble from her belly beat her to it. “I made spaghetti.”
“You are too freaking handy, commando,” she said. “Fixing the bathroom sink. Cooking spaghetti. Bondage with tights. Destroying my vagina.”
We ate in bed, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, while watching the last half of the second season ofGame of Thrones. Everything felt new, different, as if I’d only now—inthisiteration of us—earned the right to steal tomatoey kisses or rest my hand on her inner thigh while debating plot points.
“We’re going to San Diego,” I said while the next episode launched, “in two weeks.”
“Thanksgiving is in two weeks,” she said. “I have commitments here.”
“We’re going to San Diego.” I tilted her chin up and gazed into her eyes. “I recall you getting out of those commitments just fine last year.”
*
“I’m going tomurder your phone,” I whispered into Shannon’s hair. That buzzing was annoying enough to bruise my brain. “No more phones in the bedroom.”
“Mmm, it’s my alarm,” she mumbled. She twisted away from me to reach for the side table. I caught her around the waist and hauled her back to my side once the noise ceased.
“Sleep, baby,” I said. Her skin was warm beneath my lips, and I wanted to kiss every freckle on her back. “It’s too early.”
“There’s a little something nudging my thigh,” she said.
I shifted, fitting my cock to her backside. “Nothing little here.” My hand slipped up her leg and settled between her hipbones, rocking her against me. “I’m keeping you in this bed all day.”
Shannon reached over and patted my leg. “That’s a really nice idea,” she said.
Her hand ran down my leg, squeezing, and then her nails scratched back up. It was such a simple, unassuming gesture, and yet, it had my body fizzing with awareness. The battle for Shannon’s affection was the hardest I’d ever fought, and it wasn’t over, but it was turning the corner.
“But I have to meet your sister for lunch,” she said with a sigh. “So, if you don’t mind—” She wiggled against my cock, and laughed when I groaned into her back. “—I’ll be going.”
“I do mind,” I said, sliding my hand between her legs. “I’ll call Lo. Explain the circumstances. She’ll understand.”
“I’m in enough trouble with her over skipping lunches.” Shannon arched into me, and fuck…she felt incredible. Hot and precious and mine. All mine. Always mine. “You really should tell her you’re here,” she said, her words breaking as I found the spot that made her mindless.
I leaned over to look at Shannon. Eyes closed, lips parted, forehead wrinkled. Exactly as I wanted her. “You’d like me to stop? And call my sister? That’s what you want right now, peanut?”
“If you don’t fuck me right now, I’m going to beat you with a dildo,” she said, her fists curling tight around the sheets. “You can call your sister later.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-Three
SHANNON
Lauren and Istarted meeting for lunch on Saturday mornings more than two years ago. When we learned a local winemaker offered free samples at the farmers’ market, we added that to the agenda. Basically, we were game for anything that involved weekend day drinking. Andy, on the other hand, was more interested in the fruits and vegetables and other farm goodies. Tiel didn’t seem to appreciate the wine or the goodies.
