Covertly Strong (The Strong Series Book 1) (25 page)

Her entire demeanor is one of pain. “Car accident. Drunk driver. My mom and dad were killed instantly upon impact,” she takes a shaky breath, the action practically a sob. “I can only give you the shorthand version. It’s still too painful for me to really think about.” She clenches her eyes shut, her body going completely still.

Nix watches a few tears leak from her closed lids.

She opens her eyes and the pain inside of her russet orbs pull at his heart strings. He places a soft kiss on her cheek, and then tender imprints of his lips brush across her forehead, her cheekbones, and her chin. His mouth taking her tears as they go.

“What was it like when you lost your parents?” he asks in a quiet tone as he thinks about the fact that she went through all of that—losing two of the most important people in her life—without him. He hates that he wasn’t there for her.

A strangling sound rushes out of her mouth in a stumbling whoosh of air. “Like I said, that was a really painful time for me. I try like hell to avoid thinking about it because it just hurts too damn much.” Her mournful emotions are audible in her voice as grief-stricken tears continue to fill her eyes and stream down the soft skin of her cheeks.

Nix embraces her tight to his chest. He knows she needs this—his comfort, his love. He hates that she had to go through all of this alone, without him.

“I’m so sorry, Meli.” He quietly soothes her pain with tender strokes across her bare back. “I should have been there for you. Fuck, I wish I could have been there for you. I would do anything to go back in time and do everything different.”

She looks up into his eyes. “Nix, there was nothing that you could have done.” A shuddering sigh passes her lips. “I’m just so thankful that you’re here with me right now.”

His gaze is reverent, undeniably affectionate. “I’m here with you right now. Forever.
Always
.” And Nix means it. He will never leave her side again.

THEY TRIED TO PIECE TOGETHER the past and figure out where everything had gone wrong, but there are so many unknowns. Nix and Sloan know that they will never
really
get closure with that painful time in their lives, and now, the only thing they can do is put the past behind them. They know without a doubt that both of them tried to stay in contact so many years ago. They tried with everything they had, but for some unfortunate reason, something stood in their way.

Maybe their letters got lost because both of their families had relocated within days of each other? Or maybe life just decided to put up one hell of a fucking roadblock?

There is no way of ever really knowing what happened.

And how long do they let their past consume them? How many times can they try to retrace the steps of their past before it drives them crazy?

Those two questions are why they’ve decided to just move past it and focus on the positive. They found each other again. Nix and Sloan vowed to each other that nothing—life circumstances, misperceptions, ill-fated events—would ever stand in their way again.

She has opened up to him as much as she can in regards to her CIA life. She told him without
really
telling him, revealing enough information for Nix to understand the dire need for him to continue to see her as Dr. Felicia Santora. Well, at least when they’re out in public, but when they’re behind closed doors and he’s loving on her something fierce, that’s a whole different story.

And they’ve practically spent the past twenty-four hours in his bed, loving on each other.

Nix managed to leave her sleeping form once yesterday because he had to train with the guys. And even then, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, couldn’t wait to get back to her. The cheesy grin he had plastered on his face encouraged a lot of teasing from his fellow frogs, but he didn’t give a shit. He’d tolerate their sarcastic jabs every single fucking day if it meant he got to come home to a naked Sloan in his bed.

And to his own surprise, he actually remembered a holiday like Valentine’s Day. Mostly thanks to Rob, who had big plans for his wife, Mary, but that’s just minor details. Yesterday, after a hellish day of training, Nix surprised Sloan with flowers, dinner, and multiple orgasms thanks to his skillful mouth and hands…

It was a
fucking fantastic Valentine’s Day
in his opinion.

With only a few days hovering over their blissful second chance, Nix watches Sloan peacefully sleeping in his bed. Her long, brunette hair is splayed out across his pillow, her gorgeously naked body only covered by a white cotton sheet. Her eyelids flutter as sunlight bursts through the open window of his bedroom. He is lost in her, practically high off her very presence.

His long fingers trace the delicate curves of her spine, startling her sleeping form in the gentlest way. A faint sigh passes from her ruby lips, spurring his need for her. As brown eyes find his, a hint of a smile kisses her perfect little mouth.

“Mmmm, is this a wake-up call?” she asks. Her voice is thick with sleep, rasping in a sexy way that makes his cock twitch.

“Are you looking for a wake-up call? I have some ideas…” he offers as he edges his body closer to hers, yanking the sheet off both of them in one fell swoop. His obvious arousal makes it apparent that he didn’t need any waking up—he is most definitely
awake and ready
.

Sloan turns on her side. Her head rests gently in her hand as she steals an appreciative once-over of the man lying beside her. “I’d like to order a lifetime of wake-up calls like this. Make that happen, Lieutenant,” she jokes with a sly smile. “Oh, and next time, maybe throw on some of those hot-as-hell fatigues. That’d be sure to wake me right up.”

Nix chuckles as his eyes dance with unadulterated lust. “Fuck, baby,” he moans in appreciation. He knows that he’ll never tire of seeing her beautiful body bared for his loving gaze. “You can bet that sweet ass of yours that all wake-up calls you’ll be receiving in the future will only be from me. Got it?”

“Got it, caveman,” she answers on a laugh. “Do you still get up at the butt-ass crack of dawn?”

Even in high school, Nix was notorious for waking up by sunrise and Sloan would get more than irritated when he’d make her get out of bed early on the weekends.

“Yes,” he responds with an amused tone. “Do you still refuse to make your bed in the morning? I remember a certain seventeen-year-old girl saying it’s pointless because, and I’m quoting directly, ‘I’m just going to mess it up again.’” He mimics her voice, doing his best impression of teenage Sloan.

“Hell yes, I still stand by that mindset. Do you still drink a billion protein shakes a day?” she questions sarcastically.

“How do you think I keep these biceps I know you love so much?” he retorts. “Do you still eat peanut butter from the jar…
with your fingers
?” he emphasizes in mock disgust.

She nods, a full-on belly laughs escaping her mouth at his feigned revulsion.

“You’re so gross. It’s a wonder I ever fell in love with you,” he jokes while tickling her rib cage.

Sloan laughs harder. “Stop it! God, I hate when you do that!” she snorts through her giggles.

“Hell yes!” he exclaims in amusement. “I knew I could get you to snort!” His fingers finally stop their teasing, allowing Sloan to catch her breath. “You don’t make your bed, you eat peanut butter with your fingers,
and
you snort. Good thing you’re so goddamn beautiful.”

“You love my ridiculous snorts and messy habits,” she declares. A devilish smirk creases her mouth. “Now, are you going to just sit there and stare at my glorious ass all day or are you going to do something about it? I have no problems with taking things into my own hands.” A raise of her brow indicates her more-than-dirty intent.

“Take things into your own hands? I definitely have something you can put your hands on…and your mouth for that matter.” A wayward grin crests his mouth as he moves his hips in an obscene way.

“Oh yes, I’d love to take things into my own hands,” she purrs. “I have an endless amount of dirty fantasies that I’ve been stocking away for a very long time with you in mind. Fantasies that will quite literally
Blow. Your. Mind
.” She slowly sits up beside him, her eyes never leaving his.

Their eye contact is broken when Nix’s lustful gaze takes in her full, soft breasts swaying gently as she adjusts her position. His mouth waters at the sight—his lips and tongue desperate to taste those perfect, pink nipples. His hands ache to feel her curves.

“Sit up and get comfortable, and that’s a direct order, Lieutenant,” she demands with a stern tone that makes his cock stand at full attention.

Nix’s laugh vibrates inside his chest as he situates himself into a sitting position. His back rests against the black, tufted-leather headboard as he runs a hand through his messy hair. He salutes her with a mocking smile as he adds, “Do your worst, sweetheart.”

Sloan kneels between his spread legs, her hands gripping his muscular thighs. “You know I love a challenge, and I can
guaran-fucking-tee
I will rise to it.”

Her lips create a hot path across the delectable V that highlights his mouth-watering form. She relishes the feel of his golden skin, her tongue savoring the taste of him. She leaves no inch of his body untouched, unlicked, or unkissed. Her hands and lips and tongue show Nix everything she’s willing to give, everything she so frantically wants.

She raises her face to his, her lips merely brushing that wonderful mouth she’s loved for what feels like an eternity. “I can’t wait to fuck you with my mouth.” Her teeth grasp his bottom lip—biting and pulling gently. “I can’t wait to slide your perfect cock past my lips and taste every inch of you,” she whispers as her eyes seductively gaze into his.

He groans as his hands tightly grip her hips. “You’re going to be the death of me and I’m going to love every goddamn minute of it,” he says through gritted teeth. “Fuck, I love when you take control like this. It makes me so fucking hard, Meli.
So. Fucking. Hard
.”

“I’m about to make you
harder
,” she adds before her mouth makes a smooth descent down his rippled chest, to his defined abdomen, and back to that perfect V. Her lips form a tiny ‘O’ as she takes the crown of his shaft into her mouth, her tongue licking in a circular motion.

His hips buck involuntarily the instant her mouth is on him.

“Mmmm, you like that, baby?” she purrs around his cock.

“
Yes.
I love it,” he groans out in appreciation. “
Fuck
, keep sucking my dick just like that, sweetheart.” He slides his hands through her brunette hair, holding the strands away so he can watch her take him into her mouth over and over and over again. “God, that’s perfect,” he moans as she takes him deep, the tip of his shaft mere centimeters from the back of her throat.

Nix continues to gaze down at her in pure euphoria as Sloan does more than just step up to the challenge—
she tells that fucking challenge who is boss.

As she continues to stroke his cock with one hand, massage his balls with the other, and run her tongue up and down his shaft, the sounds of enjoyment that release from his lips are music to her ears.

Sloan’s lips trace every inch of his hard, veined cock. She savors the inherently male taste that invades her mouth, a taste that is uniquely Nix, a taste she refuses to go another decade and a half without having. Her eyes gaze up into his and she finds him watching her with rapt attention.

His jaw tightens as the crown of his shaft becomes harder—
if that’s even possible.
Blue eyes exude pure heat as his impending climax begins to blaze through him. She takes him deep as he shouts her name, his hands gripping her hair and his hips pumping in wild unrestraint.

God, she loves doing that to him.
She loves seeing him come undone beneath her as he finishes inside her mouth. Sloan could do that to him every single day of the week for the next two hundred years and never tire of it.

“You win. You fucking win,” he rasps out as he struggles to catch his breath.

Sloan slides up his body, straddling his hips and wrapping her hands around his neck. Her fingers run softly through his hair. A small laugh escapes her throat as Nix rests his head against the headboard, visibly worked over.