Open Life (Open Skies #5) (9 page)

Her dress had ridden up her thighs and he pushed it higher until he saw her panties; plain white cotton and he couldn’t imagine anything sexier right this second. Dillon smiled and ran his fingers lightly up her inner thighs, paused when she stiffened a bit.

“This OK with you?” he said.

“Yes,” Maria said unsteadily. “I – I want you to touch me.”

“Good, ‘cause I love touching you.”

“It’s just…”

He leaned back to get a better look at her face. “Just what?”

“Just that I used to be thinner,” she mumbled. “I’ve gained a lot of weight over the past year and I’m a bit… self-conscious about it.”

Dillon ran his hands up and down her body. “I don’t know why you’d want to be less than you are. I think you’re fucking perfect like this.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

He kissed her again, tenderly, waiting for her to relax a bit. When her curved body melted against his, he slid his hands higher, higher again. He slid his fingers in to her panties and groaned at her incredible heat and softness. Carefully, he twisted his hand to stroke her between her swollen lips. She gasped, opened her legs a bit more.

“God, baby.” His fingertips were soaked with her. “You’re so wet… is this all for me?”

She gave a moan as Dillon dipped his finger inside her. “Y – yes.”

“I love it,” he murmured. “I want more.”

“Me too.”

He took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her down on her back. She couldn’t believe that she was on the kitchen island, Dillon standing between her open legs, his hand on her pussy. She felt amazingly out of control but she also felt OK with that. This man made her want to do things she’d never done with anybody else in her life.

Dillon pulled her underwear to one side and there she was: open and wet and all his. He wanted to launch himself at her, attack her sweet pussy, get his hands and tongue all over her. But she deserved better than that – he wanted her to feel worshipped and adored. Loved.

He placed his hands on either side of her head and kissed her, his tongue teasing and stroking. Maria dug her fingers in to his lower back and arched against him, loving being totally covered by Dillon’s large, hard body. She felt feminine and overwhelmed, but also incredibly powerful. His want was palpable and he was whispering her name over and over, telling her that she made him crazy.

Her hands moved down to his ass, paused as she felt something hard. “Is that…”

He cursed, pulled away. “Shit. I forgot about the gun. I’m sorry.”

She nodded silently. More than once, she’d forgotten that Dillon had a gun tucked in to the waistband of his jeans almost every single second that he was awake. His t-shirts always covered it, but it was there. Touching it made her tense up again as she remembered just
why
Dillon was at Open Skies in the first place. Gabi was in danger and maybe she was too. Her skin was suddenly covered in goosebumps and she shuddered.

Dillon both saw and felt her fear and he quickly pulled her back up in to his arms. “You alright?”

“Yeah. It just – it surprised me.” She took a breath. “I’d kind of forgotten what you’re here for, I think.”

“You want to stop?” he said, smoothing her hair off her face with both hands. God, he wanted nothing more than to taste her, to have her go wild under his touch, but she looked pretty upset.

“I – I…” She closed her eyes. “I think so. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He tangled his fingers in her hair, pulled her in for a kiss. “It was kind of a mood-killer, I know.”

She gave a small laugh. “Yeah.”

“I can’t take it off while I’m guarding you, baby, but I don’t sleep with it on.”

Her dark eyes flared. “No?”

“Nuh-uh. I actually sleep just in boxers. The gun goes on the bedside table.”

“Hmmm.” She thought about that. “So you’re saying that if we sleep in the same bed, there will be no more large, hard objects for me to come across by accident?”

He grinned down at her, thinking that she was the cutest damn thing he’d ever seen. “No, I’m not saying
that
. If you let me in to your bed, you’d definitely stumble across a hard object. To call it large may be bragging on my part, though.”

“Umm. Is it a cell phone?”

“Nope. Try again.”

“A calculator?”

“Nope again. You want a hint?”

“Please.”

Dillon took her hand in his, watched her eyes as he gently pulled her hand down to the front of his jeans, just above the snap. “You getting an inkling now?”

“Not yet.”

“Want to play hot and cold?”

She giggled. “Sure.”

Maria moved up his body, under his t-shirt. He closed his eyes at her touch, loving how she skimmed over his defined muscles. She moved higher and his shirt rode up, giving her a tempting glimpse of Dillon’s rock-hard abs.

“How am I doing?” she said.

“Ice cold. But I don’t mind.”

“Me neither. Take this off,” she demanded, pulling at the shirt. “I want to see you.”

“No problem, darlin'."

Maria watched as Dillon did that amazingly sexy thing that guys do with t-shirts, where they reach behind their heads and yank them off in one fast, impatient movement. He dropped it to the floor at his feet and she actually thought she might pass out at the sight of him. Maybe
this
is why he'd had women faint in his presence? Because God knows, Dillon Saunders without a shirt was breathtaking. He was hard and strong and surprisingly almost tattoo-free; for some reason, she'd been expecting a dozen of the things, but he only had one.

"Oh, God," she breathed. "Dillon..."

"Yeah, baby?"

"You're gorgeous."

"You think so?"

"Mmmm-hmmm." She reached out now, unable to stop herself from touching him again. His skin was smooth and incredibly warm and she ran her fingers over the dark hair on his pecs, along his collarbone, around his nipples. "So am I still cold?"

"You are." His eyes were hazy and his breath was getting ragged. "Try a bit lower."

She ran her hand straight down the middle of his upper body, paused on his abs. "Here?"

"Warmer."

Her fingers caught in the waistband of his jeans and he twitched a bit as she tickled him.

"Maria?"

"Hmmmm?"

"You're so fucking warm, baby."

Taking pity on him at last, she slid her hand down his zipper. His cock was unbelievably hard and her touch wasn't anything like relief. In fact, she made the torment and agony keener, sharper. He pushed against her palm and she grinned.

"Hot, Dillon?"

"Fuck, yeah." He gripped her hips, his mind full of fantasies about plunging in to her from behind, his hands holding these generous hips flush against his body. He'd make love to her until she came on his cock and collapsed under him, overwhelmed and barely conscious. "
So
hot."

Maria had never felt so liberated, so unafraid of her own desire. She wasn't worried about doing anything wrong or not being able to please Dillon. His reaction to her touch was incredible: so honest and open, so strong and passionate. She knew this was a man who wouldn't hold back in bed and she knew he'd fuck like a tender savage. She'd be safe and she'd also have mindblowing orgasms, and her arousal at that knowledge was almost unbearable.

She kissed him now, her hand and tongue moving at the same time. Dillon shuddered, clasped her closer. This woman was going to kill him, he just knew it. She was
also
going to make him come in his pants here and now and no way that was happening. She was going to come first; end of discussion.

He took her hand now, stilled its sensual movements. "So you found it, huh?"

"I guess I did." She smiled up at him, her confidence making her so goddamn beautiful. "That was a fun game."

"For me, too." He traced her lips. "Now. We’re eating dinner and then we’re going to your king-sized bed together and I’m going to go down on you until you pass out in my arms.” He grinned as her mouth dropped open. “Any objections?”

“Just one.”

“I’m listening.”

“I get to touch and kiss you too.” Maria cupped his rock-hard cock again and this time, he couldn't contain his groan. “I get to do something about this…”

“Fuck, baby,” he managed. “Your objection is duly noted and we can act on it.”

“Good.” She smiled and kissed him again. “So, let’s eat. I think we’re going to need some energy for later.”

Chapter Seven

Almost three hours later, Dillon was holding a sleeping Maria and feeling as though he’d never
really understood
happiness before this exact moment. Her breathing was soft, her hair was tousled, her limbs languid. He’d made her scream three times before finally letting her fall in to sleep and he was fighting with himself to not wake her up and start things all over again.

She’d shocked him in some ways, in many ways. What had happened between them in the kitchen seemed to have unlocked something hidden deep inside of Maria – it was like something had been set loose. Something abandoned and wild, a lack of fear or a shedding of her self-consciousness.

After a flirty dinner, they’d moved to Maria’s bedroom without a word. No discussion was needed; they both fully intended to pick up right where they’d left things off.

They had undressed each other, yanking off their clothing between kisses and murmurs. Dillon had rolled her on to her back and buried his face between her thighs, coaxing a richter scale orgasm out of her trembling, straining body. He’d moved up to take her in his arms as she recovered and right away, she’d pushed him on to his back.

Dillon had watched in a haze of lust and wonder as those sweet lips moved over his body. Maria had stroked him with her tongue, tracing his muscles as she worked her way down. By the time she’d reached his cock, Dillon had been seconds away from bursting. Her mouth was pure heaven on him: she didn’t have expert technique, but he didn’t think he’d ever felt anything so perfect.

When he’d been close, he’d pulled her up to him, kissing her deeply as they stroked him to completion together, his hand around hers, their movements hard and frantic. His climax had shaken him with its intensity and he’d clutched her to his heaving chest, panting and saying her name over and over.

After, they had a shower together to clean up – and promptly gotten dirty yet again. He’d thrust and plunged his fingers inside of her until she’d come against the shower tile; she’d gone to her knees in front of him and taken him deeper this time. She didn’t stop when he got close, didn’t let him tug her away and Dillon had arched his back as he’d come hard, wishing the whole time that her hot, tight mouth was her pussy.

Exhausted, they had fallen in to bed together but Dillon hadn’t wanted to stop quite yet: he wanted to watch her unravel once more. He went more slowly this time, really getting to know her body with his hands, lips, tongue.

He’d started at her forehead and worshipped literally every single inch of her curvy body, all the way to her baby toes. When he’d finally settled back between her legs and licked and sucked her clit, she’d been sobbing with need. After her orgasm, she’d wept in his arms, overwhelmed and breathless, and Dillon had whispered in her ear that she was the most beautiful, shining thing he’d ever seen.

He stared down at her now, a half-smile on his hard face. God, she made him crazy, made him say
fuck it
to everything he’d ever thought or believed about women or relationships or boundaries. With Maria, he just didn’t
want
any lines, any limits. He just wanted
her
– in his arms, in his bed. In his heart.

His cell phone vibrated on the bedside table, startling him out of his thoughts. He rolled away quickly, trying not to disturb her, picked it up. When he saw Jax’s number, his chest tightened. He had spoken to Jax and King every day, several times a day, ever since he got to Open Skies and Dillon knew exactly what was happening back in Denver. He kept much of it from Maria, but he suspected that he’d have to share today’s events, if all had gone according to plan.

Quietly he got to his feet, padded out of the bedroom, shut the door. He answered the phone now, keeping an eye on the bedroom.

“Jax?”

“Hey, man. It’s all done.”

“The trade went OK?”

“Yeah.” Jax heaved a sigh. “We gave that asshole prospect Warren Kane back to the Fallen Angels in exchange for Gabi’s safety. They’ve promised not to lay a finger on her, now that their man is back in the clubhouse. Holding him hostage was the best move we could have made, in the end, and it all worked out.”

“And we believe that the MC will keep their word? That they’ll really back off?”

“Yeah, I think so. King had a private word with Trigger and Ace and he let them know that if anything happened to Gabi, he’d used what he had. They seemed to see reason.”

Dillon was silent. Trigger MacGee was the MC President and Ace Cuddy was his VP and neither one of them were anything
like
men of their word. The fact that they’d promised something to King didn’t exactly inspire confidence in Dillon: every instinct in his body screamed at him that this still wasn’t over.

“Is Gabi going home then?” he asked.

“Nope.” Dillon heard a smile in Jax’s voice. “She and Aidan are kind of… together now.”

“Yeah? About fucking time, huh?”

“No kidding, right?
Three years
it took the man to make his move. I thought we’d all die of old age before he got with the program.”

“So you’re saying that Gabi’s still living with Aidan? Staying with him?”

“Yeah. She’s safe there and of course, she’s safe at Curves when she comes in to work. We’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Yeah, OK.”

“So!” Jax said. “This means you can come back now. Escape the boredom of bodyguard duty in the goddamn wilderness.”

Dillon froze. He’d known this moment was coming, of course, and there had been a time when he’d longed for it. But now, after what had happened with Maria that night? The last fucking thing he wanted was to go back to Denver.

How the hell is this going to work with her, anyway? I’ll have to find a way, ‘cause I’m not giving her up. Not for anything, not for anyone
.

“Actually, Jax,” Dillon said, trying to sound casual. “I think I’ll stay up here at Open Skies for a few days more.”

“Yeah?” Jax sounded amused. “And why would
that
be, pray tell?”

Dillon paused at his almost-jovial tone. “Uh, no reason. Just… I’m entitled to some vacation time, yeah? I’ll take it now, get some R&R in the mountain air. You know. Kick back a bit.”

“For how long?”

“Maybe ten days.”

“Uh-huh. Is that long enough?”

“To do what?”

“To sort things out with her?”

“With – who?” Dillon faltered.

“Jesus Christ, man. With Maria.”

Dillon looked at the closed bedroom door again. “How’d you…”

“Julie Everett.”

“Fuck right off.”

“Nope. She told me and King that you and Maria were getting… close.”

Dillon tried and failed to imagine how that conversation must have gone. He knew Julie way better now and he suspected that she’d have giggled wildly as she told Jax and King about what their man was up to with her staff member. The men would have been mostly silent on the phone but they’d have had plenty to say to each other after, he knew. Dillon made a mental note to have a word with Julie in the morning.

“Yeah, well,” he said. “We… uh… we’re…”

“Stop. I don’t need to know. You want ten days off, you got them.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Sure.”

“And you’ll let me know if anything weird happens over there?”

“Oh, you know it.” That hard, dangerous edge was back in his boss’ voice now. “Just because we’ve agreed to something with Trigger doesn’t mean that we’ve relaxed or lowered our guard, Dillon. We know who we’re dealing with.”

“Yeah. I’ll feel better staying closer to Maria for a few days more, anyway.”

“Well, all of King’s contacts say that nobody in the Fallen Angels has even mentioned her – it really looks like they have no clue that she exists.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, I know. So, stay up there with your girl, spend some time, figure some shit out.”

“I will.”

“And maybe bring her back to Denver for a visit? I know we’d all love to meet Maria.”

“Uh, yeah. Maybe.” Dillon tried to envision Maria at Dangerous Curves – among the MC members and ex-cons and people wandering in and out of the fuck rooms – and his gut clenched. What if some trouble started while she was there? Dillon had a hard job, a rough job, one which involved him using his fists and his feet. He didn’t want her to see him beat the crap out of anyone; he wanted to keep that side of himself as far away from her as possible.

But if you’re serious about trying with her, then you’ll have to be honest about this part of your life. You
do
know that, right?

Shoving the thought aside, he resolved to deal with it later. After all, he and Maria had just gotten together for the first time that night, so no rush to bare his entire soul yet. He’d stay up at Open Skies for a few more days, talk to her about things, see where her head was at. And maybe – after a run in to town – he’d make love to her soon. Many, many times.

He hung up with Jax and crept back in to the bedroom. Maria hadn’t even moved and he climbed in to bed with her, gathered her in his arms again. She made a small sound in her throat and snuggled closer. He gazed down at her and thought he might actually die from the sweetness of being here with her.

One thing at a time, man. This is your first night in her bed and tomorrow’s the first full day of her being yours. Take it a step at a time and see where you end up
.

Dillon closed his eyes, let sleep take him away. And when he woke up the next morning to see Maria curled up against him, her golden skin glowing in the morning sun, he knew that leaving her just wasn’t an option. He wanted every day to start exactly like this – now he just had to figure out how to make that happen.