MidnightInk-epub Page 5

  “It’s okay to let go, baby,” he promised. “I’ve got you.”

  How could she refuse? Her body listened to his urging and unraveled in his arms.

  Miraculously, he stayed hard within her. His pants buffeted her hair, guaranteeing the toll such a feat had cost him. The gravelly rasp of his voice thrilled her when he asked, “More?”

  “Yes, sir.” She bit his lower lip. “I’ll take everything you’ll give me.”

  “Have you missed my palm on your ass? Your tattoo is on the left side, correct?” He leaned in so he could bite her just below her ear.

  “Yeah.”

  The rake of his teeth on her neck made aftershocks roll through her channel, thrilling them both. Hell, at this point she couldn’t say where one orgasm ended and another began.

  Instead, she focused on savoring every moment, not knowing if this would be the last chance she had to experience such overwhelming pleasure. Because after tonight, she knew he’d ruined her for anyone else.

  The first smack of his hand on her ass set her off again, mostly because of the shock of impact which quickly turned into sparkles of rapture that bubbled up her spine and spread through her veins, but also because the thud and her response drove him deeper inside her. To the max.

  She practically tried to climb his body, her knee resting in the dip of his trim waist. Open as far as possible for him and begging for more, she waited for his hand to connect again and again. He tugged her hair exactly hard enough and ravished the exposed curve of her neck while never once faltering in the pace of his fucking.

  Chavon knew he was playing hardball when he stopped, massaged the fire in her ass, and returned his mouth to hers for a luscious, steamy kiss as they crushed together, more grinding than lunging. She held him as deeply as she could, as tight as she could, and hoped he understood how much more than her body he owned right then.

  “Come, baby.” Burke nibbled her earlobe. “Please, come with me.”

  At his command, she flew into an epic orgasm that wrung her dry, physically and emotionally. At the apex of her release, the searing blasts of his come filled her with additional warmth and a claim she prayed was more than temporary.

  Because she’d been wrong. Being with Burke wasn’t as good as she’d remembered.

  It was better.

  Chapter Seven

  Chavon sighed when the loud music from Midnight Ink intruded on her peace. They had to return to reality sometime soon. Damn it.

  “Make it brighter, Burke.” She squirmed, reaching for the candles on the floor beside them when he didn’t budge. “I want to know all of you. How you are now. Tell me what happened to you.”

  “Why?” He gripped her waist tight, pinning her in place. She wished she could stay curled against his solid heat. “Will it change anything?”

  “What?” She smacked his chest. “Of course not. Except maybe to make me even more thankful we might have beaten the odds.”

  “It’s just that everyone treats me differently now.” He rubbed the base of his throat, and she squinted, detecting a scar there. She ran her finger over the ring. “Is this…”

  Chavon didn’t know the word for it.

  “Yeah, I had a tracheostomy. I was on a ventilator for a while.” He sighed then sat up. “We were out on a routine mission and our convoy ran across a half-dozen IEDs. I don’t remember too much, thankfully. At least not of myself and the pain.”

  She rubbed his back, massaging his shoulder with one hand and hugging him with her free arm. Clutching him to her might be more accurate. She couldn’t believe he’d almost died.

  “I heard the guys shouting. Some of them screaming. Then nothing but ringing when the device closest to me detonated on a delay.” He picked her up and put her on his other side. “Honestly, I lost about eighty percent of my hearing in my right ear. It’s better if you’re over here when we talk.”

  “Jesus.” She tried not to break down. He needed her to be strong. If she knew him at all, he probably hadn’t opened up about that day since it’d happened.

  “Anyway, I was out for a while, in a coma. For nearly two weeks. They think I knocked my skull on the side of one of our vehicles.” He cleared his throat.

  Now that she really listened to him talk, he sounded…different. “Your speech was affected?”

  “Pretty much everything was. I had to relearn it all. Dumb stuff like talking and tying my shoes.” He turned to her. “But I’m better. So much better. They didn’t think I’d get this far. I know I can do more. A little each day.”

  As if he’d already exposed the worst to her, he reached over and lit a half dozen candles nearest them. Finally things were making sense. “Is that why you’re in such amazing shape? You’ve been in physical therapy. At the gym.”

  “Haven’t missed a session.” He agreed. “It wasn’t just my head that got fucked up.”

  Chavon clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palms, knowing there was nothing she could do to go back in time and erase this for him. But she could be supportive and show him how much she loved the parts of him that were intact—his morals, his humor, his sexy brand of loving—as well as those that weren’t.

  “Show me the rest.” She laid her head on his shoulder and brushed kisses on his arm before turning to face him more fully.

  He rotated the opposite way, showing her his backside. His thigh was misshapen, an entire chunk of flesh missing in one spot. He said, “Shrapnel.”

  Then he ran his hand near his waist and the melted flesh she could see there. It crawled along part of his arm and even on his neck, which she hadn’t noticed right away. “Fire.”

  When she evaluated the raw, red skin and how he moved to constantly compensate for his weaker side, she couldn’t stay away. She crawled to him and began to kiss every area that had been injured. As gently as a whisper or a light spring breeze, she covered each scar with a combination of her tenderness and her tears.

  “I wish I could have been there to hold your hand. To encourage you. To be proud of your progress. God. Burke, you’re so lucky to have survived.”

  Selfishly, she thought how fortunate she was too. Without him, she would never again have felt euphoria like they’d experienced a short while ago.

  He let her pet him, examine all of him. The trust he put in her filled her heart. She knew he’d never allow another woman to see this. So when he angled himself farther, giving her free range, she continued her investigation of his flank toward his thigh.

  That’s when she saw something else that mattered more to her than any of his perceived imperfections. With the tip of one finger, Chavon traced her name, permanently inked on his skin in the same place she wore his. Except his tribute was fresh. Still healing, like the rest of him.

  Her heart skipped a beat.

  “When did you do this?” she murmured. “Why?”

  “A couple of days before Christmas. I work for the Wounded Warriors here in New Orleans. I came in to check out the shop for the benefit. I met Shep and asked for your name tattooed on me. I about fell out of my chair when he showed me his portfolio and I saw my name on you.” He rubbed his chest and rocked after he spun around so he could stare into her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you forever. And then there was a link. Plus hope. That you didn’t hate me.”

  “I could never hate you.” She brushed his temple. “So you did this before you knew I lived here too? That my boutique is right around the corner? That I wasn’t seeing anyone? Or any of that stuff?”

  “How would I know that?” He smiled for the first time. “You live here? Really?”

  “Yeah. I’m friends with Sassy and Shep.” She swallowed hard, wondering if things could really work out so perfectly after all.

  “They didn’t spill about any of that. Those knuckleheads only told me they’d search records for you and maybe pass my info along.” He shrugged. “It didn’t matter. I knew what I wanted, even if I could never have the real thing.”

  Chavon felt tears trac
k down her cheeks.

  Burke leaned in and wiped them away with his thumbs.

  “I know this is a lot to handle. I at least had some inkling when I showed up tonight that it might lead to you. Do you need some time to process…” He leaned away.

  “No.” She clutched his wrists to keep him close. “We’ve wasted enough time apart.”

  Burke didn’t try to unlink them when he reached for his jeans. He withdrew something from the pocket and clenched it in his hand.

  “In that case, I know you’re not really a conventional kind of girl, and I know this is insane.” Burke held his fist out to her, a velvet box peeking between his knuckles. “But I thought you should know that I never intend to walk away again. I bought this while I was overseas, on leave. I carried it with me through everything. When I showed up at your old apartment in Pensacola the day I was discharged from the hospital and the service, it was with me. I put it in my pocket tonight because if Shep had given me a single hint as to your location, I was coming for you. No matter how I had to get there. This is a symbol of my promise. It’s here anytime you’re willing and ready to accept it.”

  “Shut up and open the box, Burke.” She pried his fingers from the cube one by one.

  “Seriously?” He cleared his throat. “Now?”

  “Unless you didn’t mean all that.” She glared at him, daring him to rescind his statement. One false move and she was out of there. Trusting him again would be another hurdle for them to overcome. Yet, she believed him. He’d never really lied to her before.

  Burke had always stuck to his word and his beliefs. If he said he wanted her forever…had no more reasons why they couldn’t be together…

  “Chavon,” he whispered against her lips as he leaned forward to sip from them once more. “I’ve never stopped dreaming of you. There hasn’t been anyone else for me. Just so you know. It was always you.”

  “What?” Did he mean what she thought?

  “Yeah, I’ve been a freaking monk these past two years, ten months, and twenty-three days.” He groaned.

  “No wonder you were eager.” She nipped his bottom lip, reasserting her claim.

  “I’m still burning for you.” He grimaced as he made a shooing gesture toward his already re-hardening cock. “But I want forever more than I want another romp in this attic.”

  Burke moved like an eighty-year-old man as he got to his knees in front of her. She didn’t dare tell him not to or throw out a supporting hand that he didn’t require and wouldn’t appreciate. Patient, she waited for him to get into place while she tried to subdue the pounding of her heart.

  Could this seriously be happening?

  The warm yellow candlelight made the antique setting he revealed flash in the flickering light. A vintage Edwardian ring held a modest Old European cut diamond in a wiry oval motif encrusted with dainty bead-set yellow diamonds. In all her time rummaging through antique malls and estate sales, she’d never seen something more gorgeous.

  Completely her style.

  Time apart or not, he knew her.

  “Do you like it?” He bit his lip. “I found it in a bazaar in Turkey.”

  “It’s…amazing.” She couldn’t stop the trembling that overtook her.

  “I don’t have some fancy speech prepared, baby.” He put one hand on her leg to steady himself as he plucked the ring from its velvet bed and aimed it toward her shaking fingers. “All I know is that the time I spent without you was the worst in my life. I want to share your light. I want you to teach me how to be wild and free. And I’ll never let you down again. I swear. I’ll protect you and care for you as long as I’m alive, even though I know you’re strong enough to make it on your own. I love you, Chavon. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes.” She tried to hold still long enough for him to slip the ring on her finger. No surprise, it fit perfectly. “I’ll love you forever. Come as you are, Burke. You’re my soul mate. The outside doesn’t matter.”

  Chavon couldn’t stay still a moment longer. She leaned forward, kissing him and dragging him up with her as she stood on her tiptoes to keep their mouths welded together. Their arms wrapped around each other and they might have collapsed onto the mattress for another quickie to hold them until she could take him home.

  Except she caught sight of her watch.

  Reluctantly, she glided her hands to his chest and straightened her arms, putting some distance between them. Trying not to be distracted by his taste, the aching he inspired in her core, or the glitter of her engagement ring, she blinked a few times.

  “What, baby?”

  “There’s only a half hour left until midnight,” she whispered between a couple more stolen kisses.

  “So?” He tipped his head and attacked her mouth again. Soon this would devolve, or escalate, into another animalistic round of lovemaking.

  “I want to go downstairs with you. I want another tattoo. It’s a New Beginning special, you know? For a good cause, too…”

  Now she realized just how close the charity was to his heart. And hers.

  He swallowed hard as he re-chained his baser instincts and listened to what she proposed. Eventually, he nodded. “Fine. But I’m going with you.”

  “Of course.” Chavon nodded. She wrangled her clothes on and into place before holding out her hand to him.

  “I meant forever, baby. I’m never going to be separated from you again. Not in this or anything else. Let’s get matching tattoos. I’ve already got one, why not another? You were right. They are addictive.” He grasped her fingers in his. “What would you say if I got a heart with a padlock? Would you wear the key?”

  A tear formed in the corner of her eye. Is that really how he felt? All this time she’d assumed exactly the opposite, as if she’d lost the means to open her own heart, or maybe that it’d been thrown away. Trashed. Could she have been the same for him?

  The memory of nights she’d spent damning her foolish, weak heart dimmed when she realized he might have been as locked out of happiness as she had been.

  “It’s a great idea. I’m never going to lose the key again.”

  “Me either,” he assured her.

  They descended into Midnight Ink together, lying side by side as Shep worked on them and Sassy sniffled into her silver lamé handkerchief.

  Soon the entire crowd was counting down to the New Year.

  Chavon knew it would be the best of her life. Until the next and the next, with Burke officially part of each one.

  “Three…two…”

  Burke didn’t bother to wait until they’d yelled “Happy New Year” to seal his mouth over hers for the traditional kiss.

  “Hey. Quit it. You kids ain’t going to mess up my fucking lines.” Shep smacked Burke’s knee. “You can suck face when I’m finished.”

  Chavon warranted a glare of her own when she laughed and laughed, shaking the table.

  “Hurry, Shep.” Burke sounded desperate.

  They both were. To take those first steps of their journey.

  To start over with the best parts of their relationship intact and their baggage kicked to the curb. It wouldn’t be easy, but they’d do it.

  Together.

  About Jayne Rylon

  Jayne Rylon is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She received the 2011 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Indie Erotic Romance. Her stories used to begin as daydreams in seemingly endless business meetings, but now she is a full time author, who employs the skills she learned during her straight-laced corporate existence in the business of writing. She lives in Ohio with two cats and her husband, who both inspires her fantasies and supports her career. When she can escape her purple office, she loves to travel the world, avoid speeding tickets in her beloved Sky, and, of course, read.

  Jayne loves to chat with fans. You can find her at the following places when she's procrastinating:

  www.JayneRylon.com

  Twitter: JayneRylon

  Facebook: http://www.faceboo
k.com/jayne.rylon

  Email: mailto:Contact@JayneRylon.com

  You can also sign up for her newsletter at the link below. One winner of a prize pack is drawn at random from the Naughty News subscribers for each issue sent.

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  Picture Her Bound

  Copyright 2013 Sidney Bristol

  Content Editor - Devin Govaere

  Line Editor - Dahlia Adler Fisch

  Cover Art by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs

  Officer Odalia Foucheaux is a desperate woman. Incriminating photographs of her after-hours job as a fetish model have been stolen, and she's willing to break rules to get them back. Standing in her way? The very dominant bounty hunter Jacques Savoy.

  Jacques has been watching out for Officer Foucheaux. He wants her safe from harm as much as he desires her body, her soul—and her submission. Odalia’s in trouble and struggling to walk the line of the law. His solution? Work together to find out who stole her pictures, what the thief wants and how to stop him. And if they find a pleasure unlike any other along the way, well, laissez les bons temps rouler.

  Let the good times roll.

  Dedication

  To those who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to the whole team who made this book happen. Lea, Andrea, Jodie, Casey and Dawn, you ladies kept me believing this could be done. Thank you to the other Midnight Ink boxed-set authors for giving me this opportunity. Thank you to officers, Dave and Sila, for your input and taking me so seriously. Lastly, thank you to the officers who put their lives on the line every day. You inspire me.

  Chapter One

  Odalia Foucheaux pulled her hair up in a messy knot on top of her head and glared at the man strapped to a metal pole in the men’s restroom. Through the windows behind her victim, the lights of New Orleans glittered as another Christmas drew to a close on the bayou. The drunken carousing was in full swing, but tonight it wasn’t her problem.