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Authors: Katie Allen

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BOOK: One-Two Punch
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Harry’s breath hissed through his teeth as Beth pushed back against his fingers, taking them deep into her body.

“God, you are so hot and tight,” he rasped. “Just the thought of being inside you is almost enough to make me come.”

As he pulled his fingers free of her clinging flesh, Beth moaned at the withdrawal, protesting the needy emptiness of her body. She heard Harry moving around but Beth’s lust-clouded mind couldn’t figure out what he was doing until she felt the cool lube squeeze into her. Her hips bucked up at the sensation, meeting his fingers as they reentered her, sliding in easily, retreating too soon.

The slick, prodding head of his cock nudged at her entrance and Beth’s nervousness, muffled by her pounding arousal, returned in a rush. Harry must have felt her stiffen, since he rubbed a soothing hand over one round cheek, sliding his fingers around to her belly and lower to brush against her clit. She jerked as his touch triggered a flash of pleasure and the movement pushed her against the blunt tip of his cock. With a low groan, Harry pressed into her, slowly but inexorably stretching her around his erection.

Beth had expected pain but she hadn’t expected the drugging pleasure that swept over her as he filled her, the overwhelming sense of being taken, of being possessed by this man. The unfamiliar sensations swirling through her tangled with the twists of pleasure shooting from her clit as Harry played with her and another climax roared through her body, tightening her muscles around him just as he pressed the final inch of his cock deep into her ass. The quakes of her orgasm seized her, shocking her with their blinding intensity, as he thrust deep and hard, bracing his arms against the bed for leverage, his chest slick against her quivering back.

The feeling was intense—so intense that the tiniest corner of Harry’s brain, the only part not overwhelmed with the nerve-frying ecstasy of plunging into the burning squeeze of Beth’s ass, was totally freaked out. Tunneling deep into her back passage, he felt the clamp of her body close around his cock, gripping him so tightly that he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think—he could just pump in and out of the hot, fist-like clutch of her ass. Thrusting faster, harder, the pleasure built, exploded, shooting hot lines of sensation along his spine, blanking his brain until there was only the feeling radiating from his cock as jets of release were yanked out of him.

With a final groan, he collapsed, somehow dredging up the presence of mind to topple sideways, pulling Beth with him so he didn’t crush her beneath his weight. She was shaking and making small noises that took his pleasure-softened brain a minute to figure out.

“Shit—are you crying? What’s wrong?” Panicked, he pulled free of her body, his partially hard erection reluctantly leaving her ass. Harry heard her breath catch as he slid out of her and his stomach clenched. He had been too rough—he hadn’t been able to control himself. Wrapping an arm beneath her breasts, he pulled her back against his chest, stroking anything he could reach—her arm, her stomach, her hair and wet cheek.

“Baby, did I hurt you?”

Beth shook her head, hiding her face with her hair.

“Talk to me, sweetie—tell me what’s wrong.” His stomach twisted in regret. He had been a greedy bastard to take her like that—wrapped up in his own pleasure. Petting her hair gently, he stroked the strands away from her cheek and tried to see her expression.

“Y-you didn’t hurt me,” she hiccupped. “Well, a little, but it didn’t matter—I mean, I wasn’t thinking about the pain.” Harry felt her cheek heat against his hand and knew that she was blushing. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me…it was

just…overwhelming. But I’m okay, really.”

Now
she
was patting
him
soothingly on his arm. His stomach relaxed a little.

“I know what you mean,” he admitted, playing with her hair. Harry loved how the strands looked colorless when he held them up one at a time but all together they blended into ten different shades of blonde. “It’s pretty wild, isn’t it—us, I mean.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’ve never experienced anything like it before.” Beth whipped her head around to look at him in a panic. “Wait—I didn’t mean that in the girly way—I mean, the ‘I’ve never felt this way before’ way. I know we just met and it could just be a sex thing and—”

Laughing, Harry put his hand over her mouth. “I know, I know—I promise not to call you a girl!” Her eyes glared at him over the edge of his hand, making him laugh again. “It’s more than just a sex thing. It’s something big—I’m not sure what but I’ve had plenty of ‘sex things’ and I’ve never felt anything like this before. This was…” He blew out a breath. “Intense.”

Beth nodded and he pulled his hand away.

“Scary,” she added gravely.

“Very.” Despite his sober tone, a smile tugged at his mouth. Beth answered with a grin that squeezed his heart.

After a shower that turned into a soapy free-for-all, Beth and Harry curled together in his bed, arms and legs and fingers tangled together, trying to touch as much of each other’s skin as possible. The sun had disappeared and the room was dark, except for the faint glow of the streetlights peeking through the edges of the blinds.

“Can I ask you a question?” Beth asked as she idly played with his hair.

“Whenever someone asks that, you know the question is going to be good,” Harry said wryly.

“Is that a no?”

“Of course not. If I said no, I’d be dying of curiosity, wanting to know what you were going to ask. Fire away, although I reserve the right to be evasive.” His hand floated down her spine, feeling the bump of each vertebra.

“Have you ever…well, had that done to you?” Beth asked in a rush, as if she was trying to get the words out before her darkness-inspired bravery could slip away.

“Had
what
done?” he questioned, although he had a pretty good idea what she was asking. Harry knew he was stalling for time, time he needed to decide what he was going to tell her.

What the hell, he might as well be honest. If it freaked her out, it was better that he knew that now.

“You know…” Her voice trailed away. Even without seeing her, Harry knew that she was blushing. “Has anyone ever had you…here?” Her hand trailed over his hip and brushed shyly against his buttock.

“A man, you mean?”

He felt her shrug. “Well, a man, or a woman with…extra equipment.”

“Isn’t a woman with extra equipment called a man?” he teased and she smacked him in the arm. Harry yelped—she had good aim in the dark. Maybe she didn’t need any more boxing lessons. She was pretty dangerous as is.

“Okay, okay,” he surrendered. “The answer to your question is no.”

“But?”

“What do you mean, ‘but’?”

“You just sounded like you weren’t finished. Like you were going to say ‘no, but…’” she pressed.

“Huh.” He was quiet for a moment. “You’re pretty perceptive.”

After another short silence, Harry continued. “I’ve never had sex with a man but there was this one guy. We were in the same unit in Afghanistan.” He laughed a little, softly. “A meaner son of a bitch you’d never want to meet.” Despite his words, he was smiling a little.

“Smart little bastard too. There was something about that kid…” Harry was quiet for so long that Beth must have thought he had drifted off to sleep because she poked him.

“What?” he yelped. “Woman, I’m going to have more bruises from sleeping with you than I get sparring with Dominic.”

“Finish the story,” she demanded. “You’re killing me with curiosity here.”

“Not much to finish. Nothing happened, but…well, we got really close. I mean, you connect with everyone in your unit, but Ky and I—we were really tight.”

“Ky? Short for Kyle?”

“Malachi.”

The way he said the name stirred up a few wisps of jealousy in Beth toward this man that Harry had liked so much. Surprisingly, arousal also curled low in her belly at the thought of the two soldiers, simmering sexual tension building between them…

Whoa, getting a little pervy here
, Beth thought, cutting off the mental image of Harry and the other man.

“So no action in the desert?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light.

“No. I don’t think he had any idea what I was thinking. Plus there’s no privacy there. Not that anything would have happened anyway. It was just a feeling—I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this,” Harry finished with an embarrassed laugh.

Beth found his face in the dark and stroked along his stubbly jaw. “I’m glad you did. In fact,” she admitted, embarrassment for embarrassment, “I thought it was kind of hot.” Although she blushed fiery red, she pushed through to boldness and slid her leg on top of his, opening herself against him and turning her hip so he could feel her wetness against the top of his hard-muscled thigh.

Harry jumped at the contact and she was close enough to his groin to feel his cock thicken and swell, electrified by her arousal. They fed off each other’s excitement, lust building lust, heat flaming against heat. His hardness made her wet and her liquid heat made him even harder.
A perfect match
, she decided smugly.

As Harry rolled her over to her back—his weight pressing her into the bed—that was her last coherent thought for a while.

Chapter Six

Beth sketched from memory, drawing in the lines of Harry’s body that she was learning by sight and touch. The picture quickly took a rough shape—Harry in his loft, leaning back against his kitchen counter, his palms braced behind him, stretching the muscles across his chest and shoulders into vivid relief.

“That’s really good,” the rotund man sitting in the bus seat behind her commented, his comb-over flopping forward as he peered over Beth’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” she said, her pencil still moving.

“Your boyfriend?” the man asked.

“Something like that,” she said, glancing back at him, smiling a little.

The stranger gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Well, good for you,” he told her, sitting back. “He’s very good-looking.”

He certainly is
, Beth thought dreamily, tracing the outlines on her drawing with a light fingertip. The bus lurched to a stop and she looked up, startled to realize that she was already at her stop. Flipping her sketchbook closed, she snatched up her purse and hopped off the bus.

“Bye, Ed,” she tossed over her shoulder with a grin.

Harry was waiting for her.

“You know that I can see the gym from here,” she told him, hiding a goofy smile at the sight of him. Bouncing over to him, she gave him a quick, smacking kiss. Harry caught her around the waist and pulled her to him, turning it into a real embrace.

She pulled away, flushed and aroused.

“Are you here to make sure I walk the half-block to the gym safely?” she teased, still breathless.

Tossing an arm around her shoulders, Harry pulled her into his side. “Are you coming in today then?” he asked.

“Just to say hi,” she told him. “Thought my body could use a break.”

At Harry’s raised eyebrow, she laughed and shook her head. “A break from working out,” she clarified. “Although we must burn a ton of calories when we…umm.” She glanced around, remembering a little late that they were in public.

He grinned at her. “Speaking of ‘umm’, how about we go out tonight?”

“Is that a euphemism?” she asked suspiciously.

Laughing, he squeezed her against his side and kissed her nose. “No, no euphemisms. Just a standard, everyday date that we’ve never been on. You know, some food, some drink, maybe some entertainment?”

Beth felt a surge of excitement. “I’d love that,” she admitted, bouncing a little in anticipation. “Pick me up at eight—I’m going home to get ready.”

“Hang on.” Harry caught her hand and reeled her back in. “I’ll walk you.”

Rolling her eyes, Beth told him, “You don’t have to do that, you know—I’m not five.”

“Still getting those notes?”

She nodded reluctantly.

“Yeah, I’m walking you home.” Harry tucked her back into his side.

“Thanks for watching the desk tonight, Dom,” Harry said, slapping the other man on the shoulder affectionately.

“Happy to help,” Dominic grinned. “I’m just amazed you got up the balls to actually ask her out. Things are good then?”

Ignoring the slam on his manhood, Harry gave an affirmative shrug. “Yeah. Pretty damn great, actually.”

“Figured that by the way you’re wandering around here with that silly-ass grin,”

Dominic smirked. “Remember this the next time you decide to ignore my advice.”

In too good a mood to take the bait, Harry just shook his head and headed for the door. As he drove the few blocks to Beth’s building, he realized that he was smiling.

Damn
, he thought, glancing in the rearview mirror,
maybe Dominic’s right about my
constant, silly-ass grin
.

He was happy, Harry realized. Really happy. The only problem with the whole situation was that the more time he spent with Beth, the more he liked her. And the more he liked her, the more he worried about her. Pulling up to her building, he glared at the front door, propped open as usual.

He parked and went in, taking the stairs three at a time. As he headed toward her apartment door, he made a mental note to buy light bulbs. If the landlord wasn’t going to replace the burned-out bulbs in her hallway, then Harry would, he decided. It wouldn’t improve the lax security of her building very much, he knew, but at least it would help his peace of mind a little until he could get her to move to his loft.

Startled by the thought, Harry froze in place, staring at Beth’s door. Was he actually considering having her move in with him? Was he nuts? He had only known her for a few weeks. This was their first actual go-out-and-do-something date. If he mentioned moving in together this early on, he was going to freak her out so much she’d run from him screaming.

On the other hand, if he had to think about her creepy admirer roaming freely in her poorly lit hallway too much longer, he was going to lose it.

Harry groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face.
Stop worrying
, he ordered his brain. He’d find a way to get her out of this building and into his. Somehow.

BOOK: One-Two Punch
2.55Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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