Her Only Desire (18 page)

“There’s blood on it. She was wearing it when she was murdered.”

She shook her head, then raised it, her eyes pleading. “Maybe he found it somewhere else.”

Boone gave a curt shake of his own. “Well, you don’t know that, do you? Didn’t you ask him about it?”

“I couldn’t.” She knelt back and pushed a hand through her hair. “He tends to go on and on about things when they’re on his mind. I couldn’t ask and have him say anything to anyone else. He’s my brother,” she whispered over a clogged throat.

Boone dropped the chain into the pocket of his shirt, then handed her the tin box.

Pressing it against her chest, she dropped her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.

* * *

Boone stayed silent the whole way back to the estate. Excitement held his body rigid. The possibility that not all the blood would be Celeste’s made his stomach knot. The moment they got back, he’d have Bear take it to a lab for testing. It didn’t matter that even if they did find someone else’s DNA on the bracelet after all this time, they still couldn’t bring the killer to justice. But he’d know. And he’d make sure
everyone
fucking knew.

The blight on his reputation, on his soul, would be erased.

A soft sob coming from behind him interrupted his thoughts, and he glanced into the rearview mirror at Tilly.

He could understand why she’d never mentioned her brother’s involvement. She loved him, but why not Leon? Had she been afraid that once she’d dredged up the past, new light would shine on all those surrounding Celeste?

Her face was white, her eyes large. She was afraid, and up until this moment, he’d been glad. His thirst for vengeance demanded someone pay, but looking at her tortured expression made his chest hurt.

They pulled in front of the Big House’s porch steps. He and his men exited the car, but Tilly still sat frozen in the back. The fury that had fueled his actions bled away, replaced by a sharp ache in the center of his chest. Blowing out a breath, he opened her door and extended his hand.

She glanced at it but scooted across the seat without taking it. When she stood on the cobblestones, she turned and walked toward the path leading around the house. Toward the cottage. Motion-detecting lights he’d had installed the day before lit her way.

He strode after her. “No, you don’t,” he said, catching her arm and drawing her around.

She twisted her arm, trying to break his hold. “I’m tired.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near a phone,” he said, refusing to let her go.

Eyes narrowed to slits, her head tilted high. “Am I your prisoner now?”

He tightened his grip. “Tilly, it doesn’t have to be this way.”

“What way is it, Boone?” she said, her voice shredding with tears. “You have what you wanted from me. If it doesn’t give you all your answers, you’ll move on to someone else who might.” Mouth pressed into a tight line, she shrugged her arm again. “Let me go.”

For a moment, Boone was confused by her anger. He knew he’d treated her harshly, but did she really think he’d only been using her to flush out the killer? Boone sighed. “I can’t let you go.”

She stopped struggling but kept her head down. A slight tremble shook her frame. “Look, I’m tired. Dirty. I need to be alone.”

Boone took a deep breath, wanting more than anything to bring her close for a hug. He sensed she wouldn’t accept it, that she was holding on to her composure by a thread. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, “but you’re staying with me.”

Her head came up, a smile twisting her mouth. “Maybe you should just go and call Leon. Let him hold me in a cell while you two figure out who killed y’all’s old girlfriend.”

Boone’s lips pressed together. He was at a loss for what to say. Wasn’t even sure what the next steps should be. His mind was still reeling. “Tilly…” He tugged her closer.

Her steps were wooden, her face turning, her gaze not meeting his. Her expression was shattered. Vacant.

And he didn’t like how that made him feel. Didn’t like how he’d treated her since she’d dropped her little bomb. But from the moment she’d confessed her secret, his mind and body had been seized, his laser focus locked on his target. Her.

He wasn’t proud of how he’d reacted, and maybe she’d never forgive him for what he was about to do with the knowledge she’d given him. But he never fought his instincts.

The impulse was there, despite what his head was telling him, what his thirst for payback demanded. He pulled her closer, not stopping until her chest met his.

Only when their bodies touched did he know what he needed. Tilly under him. As plain and simple as that: there’d be no easing the tension riding his body until he was deep inside her.

“Boone, don’t,” she said, tears thickening her voice.

“Look at me.”

Keeping her face averted, she shook her head.

Boone crooked his finger and tipped her chin toward him until the lights shining from the porch gleamed on the tears still trailing down her cheeks.

The weight in his chest grew heavier. Boone stood for a moment, a chill of realization washing over his skin. There was something he wanted more than revenge. Something he didn’t think he could live without. He wasn’t going to put a name to the emotion welling up inside him. So again, he followed his gut. “I need you, Tilly. Don’t give up on me just yet.”

Tilly didn’t know exactly how Boone had done it, but she was grateful just the same. When he’d asked her to trust him, something inside her had given. Tears had dried. She’d nodded, relieved he wasn’t that stranger anymore: the one who’d frightened her before.

In his eyes, she saw the same confusion she felt deep inside. They should be enemies, standing on opposite sides, but both yearned to find a way to make this relationship work. For now, she’d trust he would find a way to make this right for both of them.

As natural as breathing, she’d let him lead her inside to his bedroom and strip her, raising her arms when he asked, stepping out of her clothing when the rest of it fell.

Clasping her hand, he’d led her to the bed and had her sit on the edge and watch as he undressed. She’d grown painfully aroused watching, admiring the body exercise and discipline had honed.

Then he’d bent and reached to her side, snagging a pillow and dropping it in front of where he stood.

Inside, she melted. Gratitude and some poignant, fragile emotion crept into her heart. Perhaps it was odd, but what he wanted didn’t feel like a selfish act on his part. He was making himself vulnerable to her, offering her another “lesson,” proving to her he wasn’t ready to toss her to the curb. He needed her. With her gaze lowered, she slipped to the floor, knelt in the center of the pillow, and leaned toward his cock.

As she rubbed her cheek on him and breathed in his tangy scent, she acknowledged she’d needed this reminder of how different they were—in physical form, anyway. All his strength and power were reflected in this bold, thrusting part of his male body. Satin skin cloaking a hard-as-steel rod.

There was comfort to be found in that masculine strength. Comfort he gave effortlessly, or perhaps in spite of himself. He’d given her so many gifts of delight and fantasy, he’d taught her a little about herself that she hadn’t been aware existed.

He’d asked for her trust. And she knew, deep inside, he wouldn’t have offered it if he didn’t already trust her. What to do with that trust—well, that was the big question. For now, she could return a little of what he’d given her. She’d give him submission…and pleasure.

She warmed her hands between her thighs while she nuzzled his sex, giving his cock occasional kisses as she rubbed against him like a kitten. When she was sure the chill that had kept her hands shaking earlier was gone, she slid her hands up his taut thighs, inching her fingers slowly toward his balls. Her heartbeat thudded in her chest, the anticipation driving her wild.

His feet scooted farther apart, and she smiled to herself. She cupped him in her palm and hefted, liking their weight and firmness inside his bare, velvety sac. When she leaned toward him, she heard the soft whoosh of an inhalation.

Boone might like to think he was in control, but right now he was open and vulnerable to her touch. It was a heady thought, but one that didn’t last long. She opened her mouth and sucked first one, then both hard orbs inside.

She lovingly caressed them with her tongue, following their curves then gripping them both as she gently tugged. Following her instincts to explore, she learned what pleased him by the slight tremble of his thighs or the raspy catch of his breaths.

While his arousal steadily escalated, so did hers, causing her belly to tighten, her chest to rise and fall a little faster.

Fingers dug into her scalp and pulled, and she reluctantly released him, slicking her tongue upward, tracing the veins carved on the sides of his shaft, and then lapping widely down to begin the ascent again.

A chuckle rocked him, and she opened her eyes, gave him a wink, and then gripped his shaft in her hands and eased it downward so that she could capture the soft cushiony cap in her mouth. Although the head was wider than her tongue, she found it oddly pleasurable to swirl and swirl around it. Still exploring, she teethed the cap gently and chewed, not deep enough to hurt and only on the spongy surface. With a gentle pressure of her thumbs, she widened his eyelet hole and slid the tip of her tongue inside, rocking her head shallowly forward and back as she stabbed inside. Every action felt natural, easy. As she gave him pleasure, her own increased, spiraling inside her, warming her, drugging her. Only the slight pressure of his fingers guided her, and she learned another important lesson. As his hips pumped slowly forward and back, heat pulsed through her body, centering deep in her belly.

But he was tired of play, and gripped the back of her head, pulling up to force her higher and aiming her mouth at his cock.

Opening, she let him guide her, accepted the smooth glide of his sex as it stroked over her tongue. Lord, the taste of his skin and the milky drop of precum had her groaning, because the way he fucked her mouth was the way she wanted him to move inside her pussy. She groaned and opened wider. His grip loosened and she bobbed forward of her own accord, taking him deeper and deeper, suctioning around him, lavishly stroking the sides of his shaft with her tongue, her own growing desperation fueling her sensual movements.

His hands surrounded hers, still holding his shaft, and he squeezed around them, showing her how tightly he wanted her to hold him, and then guided her hands to move in a slightly twisting fashion up and down his shaft.

When she bobbed forward far enough the tip bumped the back of her throat, he cupped her head and gently pressed her deeper. “Swallow around me, Tilly. Give my cock a sexy kiss.”

Although doubtful she could, she tried it. Her throat convulsed, closing and opening, and she understood what he’d meant when he’d called it a kiss.

“Loosen your jaw, let me stroke deeper, breathe through your nose.”

Her heartbeat quickened, but she did as he asked, widening her jaw and accepting his slow, gentle thrust, letting him come deeper than she’d thought possible. She gagged a little but breathed deeply, forcing herself to relax as he thrust again and again.

But at last he pulled away. Harsh breaths lifted his chest. He tilted his head to the side. “How is it you’ve never learned to give a blow job?”

Heat filled her cheeks. “Was I that horrible?”

“You were perfect, but, sweetheart, other than soft fondling, you weren’t familiar with much else. How can that be?”

She shrugged. “Sex before you was really pretty quick and rarely repeated.” Because she’d been left feeling used, but she wasn’t about to admit that. College boys were selfish.

“How many partners have you had?”

Her jaw dropped and her gaze skittered to the side. “That’s not any of your business.”

“Of course it is. How am I to know where you need instruction if I can’t know what you’ve learned, or haven’t, along the way?”

Irritation tightened her body. She frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “Four. Sort of. One who liked to finger me, because he didn’t consider it fucking and so he wouldn’t go to hell. The other three came inside me. One actually seemed to care whether I came or not, although he only accomplished it once.”

His head shook slowly side to side. “Just vaginal penetration?”

“What other kind is there?” she quipped, although she wasn’t really that naïve.

Boone pressed his lips together. “Get onto the bed, sweetheart,” he said, a little gravel coloring his tone.

She pushed off the pillow and crawled onto the mattress. When she would have rolled to her back, he held her hips still.

Her heart fluttered in her chest. So he’d take her from behind.

“Move forward.”

At his command, she crawled to the center of the bed and glanced over her shoulder, watching as he walked on his knees until he was right behind her. At the sight of the stern set of his jaw, she felt a moment’s misgiving that she was here, ready to surrender everything again. Boone was a large man, hard-bodied, capable of horrible violence. Once a SEAL, now he was her lover. And he’d already proven himself capable of giving a woman unbelievable, dazzling pleasure. He’d been gentle with her, even when he’d pushed her past her inhibitions. If she was nervous now, it was because she feared feeling too much for Boone Benoit.

His hands landed on her bottom, smoothed down to her thighs, then up again. His thumbs spread her vaginal lips.

Quickly, she faced forward, taking short breaths through pursed lips as he thrust fingers inside her, drawing down silky moisture. The waiting as he continued to stroke her moist flesh made her tremble.

Then his cock nudged into her opening.

Arousal hit and her pussy throbbed. Tilly gripped the sheets in her fists and went to her elbows, lifting her bottom higher, readying herself for his thrust.

But he didn’t move. Her pussy clasped his cap, making a sound like a lush wet kiss, but still he didn’t move. Instead, he bent and wrapped his arms around her middle and then leaned back, lifting her up.

Feeling awkward, she didn’t know where to put her hands or how to move. She clutched her thighs, wishing he’d signal what he expected. “I’m sure this would be easier if you let me back down,” she said, lifting her hands to caress his tensed forearms. Offering encouragement, when she wished she could think of how to tempt him to go a little faster.

“Easier?” His breath gusted warmly in her ear. His tongue slid around the outer curve, following it down to the lobe, where he nipped it.

Her skin heated and she tilted her head to the side. “Yes, easier. You could…push into me.”

“Why not push you down onto me?”

Why was he talking? She needed him to move. “Wouldn’t that be awkward? And why waste your strength, because you know you’d have to help me move.”

“Not if you spread your thighs and straddled mine. You’d have leverage and I won’t exhaust myself.”

His breath was warm on her cheek, and there was a smile in his voice. Her mouth curved. As if sex would exhaust him—the man with a body honed for action.

“Trust me. I’ll show you how this works.”

She didn’t appreciate the delay, not when he’d been right there anyway. But she clumsily moved, with his help, until she was positioned with her thighs wide, straddling him. His cock pulsed beneath her, the shaft riding her slit.

“Now see? Everything I want to touch is open to me.” He demonstrated, molding her breasts, and then smoothing a hand down her stomach to cup her pussy. “Plus, I can see over your shoulder.” He gripped a breast. “I like your pretty nipples, Tilly.”

Tingles ran along her skin. She certainly liked the way he molded her with his palm. The pinch he delivered with his thumb and forefinger made her gasp. Below, she was stretched, her entrance open. Cool air wafted between her legs, teasing her hot flesh.

Again, Boone nipped her lobe. “Reach between your legs, baby. Guide me into you.”

A slight tremor in her hands, she reached down, gripped his cock, and put the head at her opening.

Boone’s sweet breath drifted past her cheek. He shifted beneath her and pushed inside her.

She realized quickly there was a problem with this position. “But…” She bit her lip.

“But what?”

“You can’t…I need you deeper.”

A chuckle rocked his chest against her back. “We have time, Tilly. The rest of the night.”

“But…” She wanted to whine, but his fingers pinched her nipple and she took that as a sign he wouldn’t appreciate any more complaints. Boone wanted what he wanted, and he’d make her wait, just because he liked to drive her crazy with desire.

Two fingers curved over her bottom lip, and he stuck them in her mouth. “Lick them.”

She swiped them with her tongue, while she wriggled her hips a bit, trying to ease down an inch or so more.

His fingers dropped between her legs and smoothed over her clit. Nice. Her body melted against him. Her back rubbing against his chest. Maybe he didn’t intend to get her off by fucking. His clever fingers could easily coax her into orgasm. She settled her shoulders against his chest and leaned as far into him as she could while he swirled on her clit. Each slow circle tightened her womb, tensed her thighs and belly.

One of his hands disappeared. When it returned, he held two clips on his open palm.

Once again, her pleasure was arrested. She stared at the devices. “What are those for?”

“For your nipples. Open the clamps and attach them to the tips.”

A frown dug a line between her brows, and now she was glad he couldn’t see her expression. She swiped one off his palm, aware he peered over her shoulder, and opened the clamp, slowly letting it close around a nipple. The rubber-cloaked pinchers weren’t exactly comfortable, but they didn’t sting either. She let out the breath she’d been holding. She could handle this.

“See the screw on the side?” he said, his voice deepening. “I want you to tighten it.”

With her fingers, she held the clamp still and tightened the screw turn by turn. Blood pulsed in her breasts. When the device felt plenty snug to her, she reached for the other, but his hand shut. “Two more turns, Tilly.”

“But it’s already tight. Any tighter and it’ll hurt.”

“You can take it. Two turns.”

How strange it felt for them both to watch so intently, their heads side by side, both staring down at the cinched nipple. Her fingers shook as she gave the screw two more turns. When she’d finished, her breasts were tight and hot, the one tip filling and distending. The sting was harsh, but oddly erotic.

She glanced sideways and bumped her cheek against his. “Good enough?” she whispered.

Without speaking, he opened his palm, and she took the other, attached it to her nipple, then turned the screw until the stinging pain matched the first nipple’s.

Before she had a chance to draw a deep breath to recover her poise, Boone’s hands cupped the undersides of her breasts, lifting them. “Do you like that?”

“I’m not sure,” she murmured.

He touched the tips of her nipples, just a soft side-to-side toggle, and she hissed between her teeth. Now engorged, her nipples were growing more sensitive.

“Just something else to think about while I’m not fucking you the way you want.”

The more he toggled, the more she liked the sting. However, she caught the edge of his not-so-subtle criticism in his wry tone. She snorted. “I wasn’t complainin’, honest.”