LineofDuty (2 page)

He hadn’t been surprised when Nicole left the barbecue early.
She hadn’t been much for socializing or people, including him as of late, and
he couldn’t blame her. There were walls a mile thick between them now a
demolition crew couldn’t bring down.

The pink brick house they’d bought almost two years ago in
anticipation of filling it with babies sat at the end of the street in a
cul-de-sac with four other families. Every day he passed another kid growing
taller and older, while their house sat near empty. He didn’t know how to fix
it, or what he could do to make things better. Somehow their lives had spun so
far out of control he didn’t know how to come back.

Jake rolled the motorcycle into the drive and shut it off.
The windows were all dark, which struck him as a little strange. It was still
fairly early. Usually Nicole had some show to watch or a movie streaming. But
maybe Nicole hadn’t come straight home. It was Friday after all. He privately
hoped she was out doing something. It would be better than all the days she’d
spent shut inside the house, barely speaking to anyone. It was past time Nicole
rejoined the living once more.

Jake let himself in the front door and the soft strings of
sultry music sang through the air. He locked the bolt, dropped his keys in the
bowl by the door and cocked his head to the side. They’d left for the barbecue
about the same time, and she never left anything turned on.

“Nicole?” he called.

The scent of apples and cinnamon perfumed the air, a lot
like the candles in their bedroom. Nicole had begun buying them special many
years ago because they were his favorite.

He glanced into the living room and down the hall that led
to the unused rooms in the house. They were all dark. He strode through the
living room and caught sight of a light on in the bedroom. Nicole’s purse sat
on the kitchen counter, her phone plugged in at the charging station along with
her tablet.

Guilt gnawed at him. He should have driven to the barbecue
with her and left when she did. There were a hundred ways he could be there
more for Nicole, but he never saw them until the opportunity had passed. He
couldn’t seem to stop failing her at every turn, no matter how he wanted this
to stop.

He briefly thought about leaving, getting back on his bike
and driving until he was out of gas, but he couldn’t keep running from this thing
tearing them apart. There had to be a solution.

“Babe, you should have told me you were heading home.” He
stepped into the bedroom and froze.

Nicole lay across the width of the bed, draped in a short,
cream-colored robe that gaped open. If his eyes didn’t deceive him, she wasn’t
wearing anything besides the robe. Her auburn hair spread out around her
shoulders like a cape, partially obscuring the swell of her breasts below the
fabric. She propped her head up on her hand, the other smoothing down her chest.
Her nipples stood out clearly through the material.

He remembered this particular item very well. There had once
been a matching camisole and thong but in his enthusiasm, they’d ripped
irreparably. He was always destroying her lingerie with his thick fingers and
fumbling hands. He couldn’t help it if she reduced him to a greedy caveman,
capable of little care. Well, he couldn’t care a lot about her clothing, but
her, he cared a lot about her.

She was exquisite. Beautiful. Full of spice and fire.

“Are you just going to stand there, lingering in my
doorway?” Her voice was low, husky, qualities he hadn’t heard in an age.

He swallowed and took a step closer. “I’m not lingering. I’m
admiring. There’s a difference.”

What brought this erotic display on, he had no idea, but
neither was he about to question it. They’d once had a very active sex life,
but they hadn’t had any intimate moments in months. The few times they’d
attempted were such utter failures it never went beyond foreplay. His brain
didn’t know how to respond but his body did. Arousal coursed through his veins,
hardening his cock. He clenched his hands, imagining them wrapped in her hair.

Jake put one foot in front of the other until he reached the
dresser, a few feet away from the bed. He grasped the edge and bent, peeling
off his boots while music filled the silence hanging between them. He kept his
gaze on her, taking in the sight of her so bare and sexual. Time hadn’t changed
his desire for his wife. There was no other woman who had ever captured his
attention so fast. He’d known from the moment he saw her sashaying down a
sidewalk downtown he wanted her.

Shoes and socks discarded, he approached the bed slowly, as
if she were a timid creature. Not that he’d ever used the word to describe
Nicole, but it had been long enough since they were intimate that he didn’t
know how she would react. How he should touch her. His fingers felt awkward and
clumsy as he picked apart the buttons on his shirt.

He briefly wondered if he was doing the right thing. If they
shouldn’t talk first.

Nicole sat up and in a motion as smooth as a dancer’s swung
her long legs over the bed and stood, facing him. He stilled and waited to see
what she would do. She’d made the first move, and as much as he wanted to take
her, he waited. Allowed her to lead in this dance. She grasped his belt buckle
and, as if she’d practiced, slipped the catch and released it.

“You need to come to bed. Now.” The way she stared up at him
through her lashes, all confidence, femininity and sexual prowess, who was he
to argue?

He slid his fingers under the lapel of her silky robe and
pushed the material off her shoulders. She shrugged the fabric to the floor and
stood before him, a nude goddess clothed in freckles and wild red hair.

The words “Are you sure?” stuck in his throat. If she was
this confident, he wouldn’t undermine her wishes.

Nicole tabbed open his jeans and lowered his zipper, gaze
trained on his face. Her hands grasped his partially unbuttoned plaid shirt and
dragged it up over his head. He tossed it across the room, somewhat in the
direction of the hamper. Her hands flattened against his chest and they both
stilled.

They’d been married for seven years, and suddenly it felt as
if they hadn’t been together for a single day. As if her touch were new to him.
As if this were the first time all over again. Considering how long it had been
since they’d done more than sleep next to each other, the feel of her skin on
his was new.

Nicole’s hands were soft, but then again she was always
putting on some kind of lotion or getting her nails done. He loved the feel of
her skin coasting over his. How she was soft where he was hard.

She slid her palms down his chest, over his abdominals and
returned to his jeans, pushing them down his hips, taking his underwear with
them. She eased the material to his knees before flattening her hands against
his chest again and shoving him back on the bed. He obliged her, lying on the
mattress and allowing her to continue stripping his clothing off.

The desire for his wife warred with the guilt in his gut
that he’d left it to her to make this first move. With no encouragement from
him. They’d ignored each other as of late, maybe because that was easier than
dealing with the real issues.

She dropped the last of his clothing into a pile at the foot
of the bed and stood back, her gaze roving over his naked body. He let her look
her fill, taking the moment to greedily drink in the image she painted—wild and
wanton.

Nicole moved first, climbing onto the bed, forcing him back
onto his elbows while she straddled his thighs.

She’d waxed recently, he could tell by the little landing
strip of fiery red hair on her mound. She took his cock in hand and stroked it,
holding his gaze as she did so. Once she’d been shy about sex, but over the
better years of their marriage he’d whittled away until she was a brazen beauty
about pleasuring either him or herself.

Jake groaned as she stroked his length from root to tip,
applying just the right pressure. He thrust into her grip, a helpless movement
on his part. He was so hungry for her, and he’d missed this. The intimacy of
sex. The connection.

Nicole scooted back until her knees were at the very edge of
the bed, lowered her head, holding his gaze, and pressed a chaste kiss to the
head of his cock.

“Shit,” he muttered.

Her hair spilled over his thighs, the silken strands
tickling slightly. She took him into her mouth and his eyes rolled back up into
his head. Her breasts brushed the tops of his legs as she bobbed up and down.
Her tongue traced the underside of his cock, teasing him.

He lifted his hips, thrusting into her mouth, but she moved
away from him, chuckling. She had a wicked streak when it came to drawing out
the foreplay. He fisted the comforter and sucked in a deep breath.

She glanced up at him while her tongue traced the underside
of his cock. The sight was straight out of a fucking dream. The full-length
mirror behind her provided the companion view of her pussy, glistening with
arousal. Ready for him.

It was too much. He could feel the edge, and as much as he
liked coming in her mouth, this time he wanted to be in her. He wanted to feel
her pussy hug him and brand her his.

Jake sat up, pushing Nicole off his dick. Her lips glistened
and pink stained her cheeks. He crowded her back against the headboard and
turned her onto her knees with less force than he once might have used. At the
height of their passion, Nicole had grown to crave a rough touch. For now, he
kept it as gentle as he could.

She grasped the spindles of the headboard with both hands
and glanced over her shoulder through the tumble of hair. There was no
hesitation in her gaze, just a bold dare he was ready to answer.

He thrust two fingers into her pussy. Her muscles gripped
him tight while wetness coated him. He wasn’t the only one turned-on.

He could fuck her now, here, like this, but he wanted her to
come first.

The bedside drawer on her side held a small fortune in sex
toys. He jerked it open and reached for a blue cyber-skinned rabbit vibrator. A
quick click of the button and it revved to life.

He pressed the head of the fake cock to her pussy and pushed
it in a few inches. Carefully he eased the vibrator in deeper and turned it on
the lowest setting. Nicole jolted but quickly relaxed, moaning as she pushed
back on the vibe.

Jake applied pressure to the clitoral stimulator, ensuring
it hit the bundle of nerves. With one hand he pumped her, thrusting the vibe as
hard and fast as he dared go while stroking himself with the other.

Arousal slicked the fake cock, proof that this wasn’t just a
show. She was turned-on just as much as he was.

He turned the intensity up a notch, then a little more.
Nicole rocked her hips in time with his thrusts, making little grunting noises.

“Come on, babe,” he muttered and reached between her legs to
tease her orgasm.

He barely brushed his fingers across her clit and Nicole’s
body went taut, moaning her release. The moans turned to little whimpers and he
eased the intensity down, bringing her with it until she slumped forward on the
headboard. He turned it off and dropped the vibe on the bed.

This was just the beginning.

Jake forced her knees wider and positioned his cock at her
entrance. It had been a while since they’d done this—make love or fuck,
whatever its name was. Did he need to slow down?

Nicole pushed back and the first inch of his cock sank into
her wet pussy. He groaned and thrust into her slick channel.

“Holy shit,” he muttered.

She’d always fit him like a glove, but now it was tighter
despite the orgasm. He briefly wondered if she wasn’t too small now, but she
pushed back, asking for more with her body. His eyes nearly rolled back into
his head as his length sank all the way into her slick heat.

“So fucking good.” He coasted his hands up her thighs, over
her hips and back. Her hair spread out over her shoulders and he grasped a
handful of it with one hand. With the other, he gripped her hip and withdrew.

He thrust back into her and they both gasped.

The driving urge to touch her, to familiarize himself with
her body again rivaled the need to climax. He rocked back and forth while
coasting his hands over all the skin he could reach. She was so smooth
everywhere.

He leaned forward, grasping the headboard with one hand, and
reached around to cup her breast, rolling the tight peak between his fingers.
She arched her back and for a moment her head rested on his shoulder. He
switched hands, but this time his grip faltered as she moved against him,
sliding up and down on his cock while he toyed with her breasts.

Nicole fucking herself on him, it was one of his favorite
things.

“Jake,” she moaned, a thread of frustration in her voice.

He knew that sound, hungered for it.

Grasping her hips with both hands, he thrust hard and fast.
She rocked forward, but her hold on the spindles was tight. Again he thrust
deep and rough. Her foot kicked against the mattress, her toes curling. He
continued the pace, letting his eyes close and losing himself in the feel of
flesh on flesh, the way only she could hug his cock, her panting moans and the
sound of their labored breathing.

Her foot kicked harder and she squealed, tossing her head
back as her pussy pulsed around him. He fucked her through her climax, loving
the uninhibited way she cried out.

His orgasm rolled up, as if from his very toes, in a sudden
rush. He shouted and drove deep, freezing as months of frustration eased out
into a glorious release.

The smell of the candles registered first, then the music
still playing in the background.

Jake eased out of her, mind reeling and breath still coming
in fast pants.

Nicole sagged forward, her head resting on the headboard as
if it were the only thing keeping her upright.