All He Wants (24 page)

She moaned, she gasped, she whimpered. Her back arched and she grabbed a fistful of pillow. She used her body to send every signal possible, short of simply sitting up and socking him in the shoulder before shouting, “
Touch me now!”

Not wanting her to have to resort to that, he finally touched her center and slid his fingers up and down her slit, making her moan louder and more intensely with each pass. She did her best to angle her hips onto his hand and get better traction, to make him touch her most sensitive nub. But he wasn’t going to give up control that easily. With every move she made, he countered by adjusting his.

After he’d driven her to the brink, he pushed two of his fingers inside of her, pumping in and out with a steady speed and rhythm. Her breathing sped up, and he could see her body flush with arousal.

He stroked her, reveling in the way her body pulsed around him. She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Billy…I want to feel you in me. I’m so ready!”

He continued to pump his fingers in and out and began using his thumb to caress her clit before he spoke. “Not yet,” he replied in a voice made gravelly and harsh by arousal. “I want to make you come like this first.
Then
I’ll make you come with my cock.”

Her eyes widened at his words, and apparently they were more than enough to push her over the edge into erotic oblivion. She threw her head back and screamed, and every muscle in her body tightened. Her inner muscles clamped down over his fingers like an iron fist.

“Yes!” she cried, her voice strangled.

He stayed with her through every moment of her shattering climax, never pausing the movement of his hands for even one moment. His eyes were glued to her face and body and he was mentally recording everything he saw. He wasn’t going to miss one minute of this experience. He planned to remember it as long as he lived.

When she finally stilled and collapsed back onto the mattress, clearly completely spent, he reached into his nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom. His teeth made quick work of the foil wrapper and he rolled it on. He was done denying himself. He was finally going to give into what he, what they both, had wanted desperately since the beginning of this encounter.

Without wasting another second, he nudged her thighs open as he settled his knees in between her legs. Grasping his shaft he positioned himself at her still pulsing opening.

Her heavy lids fluttered several times before finally lifting. When their eyes met, for a moment, he forgot all about the sexual desire that was racing through him, he forgot that they were lying in bed naked, he forgot about everything except the connection he felt to her. The intense, enveloping connection.

“I want to feel you inside me,” she breathed as she moved her hands up his arms and wrapped herself around his body.

Her words snapped him out of the spell that she’d cast over him and he plunged into her with a fierce intensity that even he had not expected.

“Oh, yes!” she cried.

Desperate to be even closer to her, he covered her mouth in a demanding kiss as he moved in and out of her. He loved being inside of her at the same time that he felt her entire body pressed against him, as he explored her mouth with his tongue. It was like every part of him was connecting with every part of her simultaneously, and he had never felt anything so profound in his entire life.

After a period of time that could’ve been an hour or could’ve been a minute, he had no idea which, he felt her inner walls fluttering with contractions against his cock and realized that she was on the brink of another release. He slowed his strokes just a little, hoping to prolong the experience enough for him to crest over that edge at the same time that she did. He wanted them to come together. This entire encounter had been about building a bond between them, one that would keep her safe, and one that couldn’t be broken.

It didn’t take him long to feel his own orgasmic tide building and he knew that he was about to crest his own wave of pleasure. He sped up his movements to match those of her bucking hips. His arms tightened around her and he felt her body tighten around his, as well. He knew that she wasn’t just close—she was seconds away. And so was he.

A guttural need to tell her how he felt, that he loved her, welled up in him. But he knew that he couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to add that to all the things she was dealing with.

So instead he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You are so fucking amazing. I can’t believe how lucky I am to know you. To be with you like this. You feel so fucking good. Come for me. Come for me now.”

Again, although it was his body that had brought her to the brink of climax, it was his words that put her over the edge. As soon as he spoke, he felt her clench in his arms and heard her gasp loudly in his ear, and he surrendered himself to ecstasy along with her.

As they both floated back down to reality, he brushed the hair that had fallen across her face and pressed his lips to her forehead, then her cheek, her nose, her chin and finally her lips. Her labored breaths fanned his face as he lightly kissed her.

When she opened her eyes he could see that she was already second-guessing what they’d done. Uncertainty was brimming in her aqua gaze.

“I told you I had a thing for brunettes,” he teased.

She smiled and playfully swatted his arm before nuzzling against his neck. He flipped onto his back, bringing her with him as he did and she giggled. His heart swelled knowing that even though he couldn’t promise her everything was going to work out perfectly, he could promise her
this
. And this was pretty damn good.

M
axi was actively working to hold her foot still as she sat beside her dad’s bed. He’d been asleep for a little over an hour and she had to consciously stop her toes from tapping so that she wouldn’t disturb him. She couldn’t seem to sit still and every move she made sounded like it was being amplified.

Out of sheer need to do something she grabbed the remote and turned down the volume on the television that hung in the corner, which of course was on ESPN.

When she set it back down her eyes met Billy’s, who was standing by the door with Grandpa J speaking quietly. They’d retreated there to give Stephanie, who’d come in a few minutes earlier, room to work. She had no idea what the two men were talking about, but she had noticed that they’d looked over towards her several times. The expressions they wore were far too serious for her comfort. She couldn’t help but wonder if the two men were discussing the incidents back home, but she dismissed that theory since they still hadn’t told her dad about any of it, so she knew that Billy wouldn’t be discussing it here, even if her dad was asleep. Once he was home and got some of his strength back, she planned on letting him know what was going on.

Part of the reason that her heel kept breaking out in its best Fred Astaire impersonation was because her mind kept wandering to the situation she’d been completely ignoring since arriving in Harper’s Crossing. The other part had to do with Dr. Shaw’s visit that afternoon. Her dad would be released tomorrow. Antsy didn’t come close to describing what she was experiencing. It was all she could do to sit still.

If Billy was sitting beside her, she knew that his hand would be covering her knee and she wouldn’t have to give it another thought. So she should be happy that he wasn’t. She’d let her guard down this week big time. Being in Harper’s Crossing, in Billy’s home, spending every day with him at the hospital and every night with him in bed had been a temporary break from reality. But that was all ending soon. Her return to the real world was imminent and she needed to start putting some emotional barriers up or the after effects could be devastating.

“I heard that Dr. Shaw said he’s ready to be discharged tomorrow?” Stephanie whispered as she changed her dad’s IV bag.

Her dad had been in the hospital for six days, and although both he and his doctor believed that he was ready to go home, Maxi wasn’t so sure. Not trusting herself to speak without her reservations being evident, she nodded.

“I bet he’s thrilled.” Stephanie smiled as she continued speaking quietly, “He’s been itching to get out of here. I thought a couple times he was going to check himself out.”

He’d threatened to do just that multiple times.

“Thanks for putting up with him,” Maxi spoke at a hushed volume. “I know he’s not the easiest patient.”

Stephanie waved her hand dismissively. “He’s been great. He’s a big softie underneath that grumpy exterior.”

That was true. Charlie Rizzo was all heart beneath his Oscar the Grouch exterior.

As Stephanie checked the tubing that ran from the IV to the bag, she covered her mouth with her forearm as she yawned loudly. Maxi noticed it was the second time she’d done so since arriving.

“Did that neighbor of yours keep you up again?” Her dad’s voice sounded raspy and thin as his eyes opened.

“I’m so sorry.” Stephanie sighed. “I was trying to work quietly and not wake you up and then that yawn just hit me.”

“I wasn’t sleeping, just resting my eyes.”

Yeah, right
. That story might’ve worked if he didn’t “rest his eyes” so audibly. Maxi wouldn’t be surprised if the patients at the end of the hall had heard him “resting his eyes.”

“Oh, really?” Stephanie’s left brow rose. “Do you always snore when you rest your eyes?”

“I don’t snore,” her dad refuted.

He’d never admitted that he was a chronic snorer. Even being presented with video evidence that Maxi had recorded one night wasn’t enough to get him to own up to snoring. Growing up she’d actually kind of liked it. Every night he’d perform a symphony of nocturnal nose breathing that she’d hear through their thin walls. Even now it made her feel like she was home again, back when things were simple.

Her dad pressed the button that raised the incline of his bed until he was seated upright. “So, did you get any sleep today or was trouble at it again?”

“I got about three hours, but it’s really not his fault,” she defended. “I’m the one who needs to get sleep during the day when everyone else is up living life. I think I just got spoiled because my last neighbors both worked in the city so they left before I got off my graveyard shift and didn’t usually get home until I was getting up for work. It wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t share a wall. My bedroom sits beside his garage.”

“You need to go talk to him,” her dad barked. “Tell him to keep it down.”

“Nope.” Stephanie shook her head and the ponytail that her hair was pulled up in swung back and forth. “Not going to happen. I told you he’s trouble.”

“Trouble?” Maxi asked with concern.

If she felt unsafe, then Maxi would make sure that Billy knew and maybe have him stop by to have a talk with the neighbor.

“Oh yeah.” She nodded enthusiastically as she began counting on her fingers. “Dark hair. Light eyes. Big smile. Dimples. And I heard him talking to someone in his garage and I clearly heard a southern accent. T-r-o-u-b-l-e with a capital T.”

“Sounds like you like him, so you should
definitely
go talk to him,” her dad insisted.

Maxi resisted rolling her eyes. For a man that hadn’t dated in the past twenty years since her mom left, he sure didn’t mind playing cupid in other people’s love lives. If she had a dollar for every time he’d tried to set someone up, she wouldn’t have needed her inheritance to buy her condo.

“I do like him,” Stephanie unapologetically admitted. “Which is
why
I don’t want to go talk to him.”

Her answer piqued Maxi’s curiosity, but unlike her dad, she didn’t meddle.

“Right, you don’t want a boyfriend. I remember.” He looked back and forth between Maxi and Stephanie. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you two.”

“Whoa.” Maxi lifted her hands in a defensive stance. “How did I get dragged into this?”

“You’re just like this one,” he motioned to Stephanie with his thumb sticking out like he was hitchhiking on the side of the road. “Two peas in a pod. I think it’s that song by Beyoncé, you want to be independent women.”

“Actually, I think TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’ is more my jam.” She looked down. “Which is ironic because I wear scrubs every day.”

Maxi chuckled but her dad continued on, unamused. “You’re both young and beautiful, you should be falling in and out of love. This is the best time of your lives, you should be living and living is loving.”

“No thanks.” Stephanie answered.

At the same time Maxi said, “I’m good, but thanks.”

“You two don’t know what you’re missing,” he contended.

“Wow.” Stephanie beamed down at her patient and crossed her arms. “I never would’ve pegged you for a romantic.”

“You don’t have to be a romantic to know that the best thing in life is love,” he grumbled. “And one day both of you will fall head over heels when you least expect it and there’s nothing you’ll be able to do about it. When love hits you, you don’t get to decide that you don’t want it. It’s the ultimate TKO. You go down for the count.”

“Thankfully I’m a good bob and weaver.” Stephanie fisted her hands and ducked an imaginary punch.