vittanos willow (31 page)

door was shut and he hooked the chain as well, never once letting her

out of his embrace.

“But I don’t want to be seen as weak.”

Osten shifted his weight and stared down into her eyes. “Chan-

toya, you aren’t weak. You are a survivor.”

“The things he…wanted me to do to him.” Another round of

shudders attacked her, causing her teeth to chatter. “He watched us

here.”

“I’m taking you back to my place. You need to get some sleep.”

Her fingers clenched his sweatshirt. “No. I have to get through

this. Can you stay with me?”

“Of course I will. You are my soul, CJ.” He brushed his lips

against her clammy skin.

“Thank you for the cross,” she murmured against his throat.

Osten knew full well she was trying to be strong, and her de-

fense mechanism was to keep talking. “Let it go, baby. Stop fighting

and let it go. Cry it out, get rid of it.” His words were kind but firm.

Chantoya stiffened in his embrace before she shook with a vio-

lent tremor. Then the flood gates opened. A lamenting wail rose from

her very soul and filled the room. Osten closed his eyes and forced back

his cry of rage at her pain and suffering. “I’m here baby, cry it out.”

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She crumbled and Osten instinctively adjusted to hold her up.

When he had more control of the situation, he lowered them both

carefully to the carpet, mindful of her injuries.

The second he was sitting on the floor, CJ was on him, climbing

on his lap and seemingly trying to crawl inside his skin. He wanted to

tell her to remember of her injuries, but held off.
She’s the best one to

know if she is in pain or not.

Finally, she stopped moving. Her hands had maneuvered under

his clothes to rest against his heated skin. Her runner’s legs had wedged

between his powerful ones. To him, she looked uncomfortable.
How

wrong I am.

Her face was buried against the skin below his Adam’s apple.

Her warm breath skimmed his sensitive skin.
Jesus, she is turning me on.

The bottom of her robe covered their legs and the red against her

stunning skin was only making him more aroused. Shoving his lust into

a lockbox, Osten focused on helping Chantoya get through this.

“Say something,” her words vibrated against his skin and he felt

his cock stir again. “Hearing your voice helped me through it. I don’t

care what you say; just talk to me, please.”

Osten laced his fingers and held her close. He didn’t have a clue

what to say, so he spoke about any and all things that came to his mind.

“You know the first mission with SEAL Team Seventeen I was on, I was

so scared, so sure I was going to commit some huge mistake and get

people killed.” His soothing voice flowed and changed from English to

Italian as he spoke.

“There we were in the Pamir mountain range of Tajikistan and I

was panicking. We were supposed to be breaking up a little summit

meeting of terrorists that was trying to remain undetected. It was in a

small remote village with mostly women and children in it. I was

worried they would die in the process, especially since the men we

were after wouldn’t hesitate to use them as shields.”

His hands unhooked and began moving up and down her back.

“As we made final preparations to go in, Hondo walked over to me,

crouched down to my level, and said so low I wasn’t sure I had heard

him, ‘We’ve all been scared. Remember your training, remember who

you are.’ Then he walked away like he hadn’t said a word.”

A wry chuckle escaped Osten as he remembered. “We went in

and did our job. Hondo and I were paired off and his cool presence

helped me stay the same way.” His lips brushed her hair. “They are a

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wonderful family. I am lucky to be one of them. Yet, since I have met

you, when we are gone, I miss you so much.” CJ stirred slightly at that.

“You mean so much to me, CJ. I didn’t know it was possible to

care this much for another person. I take your smiling face with me

when I go away, and it is the thing I look forward to seeing the most

upon my return. I love you, Chantoya Willow Jackson.”

Time passed and slowly her sobs faded into silence. Her grip on

him lessened and he knew exhaustion had been the victor. Osten kept

them like they were for a while longer.

Carefully, he maneuvered her so she was in his arms and then

Osten got up from the floor and carried her to the bed. He toed off his

shoes and got out of his sweatshirt before getting into bed with her.

Lying back, he allowed her to get comfortable upon his body. Burying

his nose in her hair, Osten closed his eyes as the silken strands tickled

his nose. Securing his hands around her, he too succumbed to slumber.

Osten’s sleep was light but fulfilling. He awoke when she made

any sound or tensed. “I’m here, Chantoya. Rest, baby. Just rest,” he

murmured in Italian from his lips to her ears, and slew whatever

demon haunted her for the time.

Chantoya shifted slightly, her cheek brushing soft cotton that

covered something much harder. The smell registered—it was Osten.

With a smile, she inhaled deeply as comfort surrounded her.

“Osten,” she mumbled on a yawn. Her eyes and throat were

sore.

“I’m here, baby.” His lips moved against the top of her head.

“Really here, or a dream?” Some of her dreams had been very

vivid with this man.

“Flesh and blood,
bella
, I’m flesh and blood.” He chuckled and

the sound reverberated through her.

This is where I belong—in these arms, so strong and yet so gentle as

they hold me.
“I love you, Osten,” CJ said as she listened to the steady

beating of his heart.

His arms tightened briefly. “I love you, too, Chantoya.” One cal-

lused hand ran down the back of her head as he kissed the top of it. “I

love you too.”

CJ sighed with happiness. “Osten?”

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“Yes?” He trailed his fingers absently along her back, going

against the ribbing on her shirt and making her focus on his touch even

more.

“Will you be in trouble for coming here?”

“I don’t know and don’t care.”

“Did you?” She pulled away slowly and turned to straddle his

lap. Immediately, she felt him stir and begin to harden against her

crotch.

“Did I what?” His hands landed on her thighs, his fingers mov-

ing in circles and sending her body into high alert.

Chantoya couldn’t answer. The man looking back at her scram-

bled her brain. He wore a black tee and gray sweats. His thick black hair

hung near his shoulders, giving off that shaggy and unkempt look that

was rough and dangerous simultaneously. His stubborn chin was

covered in dark stubble. Fat, sooty lashes framed his seductive eyes,

eyes that looked like melted dark chocolate. They simmered with

passion.

“Did I what?” he asked again, his eyes never leaving her face,

nor did his fingers stop tormenting her and driving her closer to ripping

her clothes off.

“Save me.”

“Yes,” Osten said without blinking.

That one immediate response meant the world to her. Her heart

pounded so hard. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she leaned in

to kiss him. “Thank you for coming to get me.” Her pelvis ground

down onto him. She wanted to have his thick, hard length buried to the

hilt inside her body. The ridge she slid across was only adding fuel to

the fire.

Eyes fluttering, he responded in a sex-infused timbre, “CJ…”

Using steady back and forth motion, she moved along the stiff

erection he had inside his sweats. Her hands slipped under the shirt

and a hiss escaped when the heat from his skin burned her.

“Osten.” His name was full of blatant need.

“Your injury?”

“We’ll just have to be careful.” She kissed him and felt his shud-

der of surrender. CJ moaned as his thrusting tongue swept into her

mouth.

The touch he had was magnificent. Her body dripped with rea-

diness, and she knew he could tell, for she wore no panties. He slowly

moved his hands from her thighs, up under her robe and settling on her

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butt, each hand squeezing a firm cheek, sending ripples of desire

through her.

Pulling back, CJ drew hard on his tongue before scraping her

teeth along his lip. His eyes were ablaze with a deep, insurmountable

craving for
her
, something that was an aphrodisiac like no other to her.

Past his growing need, she saw promise.

Her hands skimmed over his chest.
He is magnificent.
“Off.” She

tugged on his shirt. Osten complied and CJ thrust her tongue deep into

his mouth, dancing with his until they were both short of air. “Good,”

she purred.

Trailing down the defined chest, she dipped her fingers below

his waistband. “These, too, off.” She rose up enough for him to wiggle

them down over his lean hips and kick them off.

A groan of pleasure and torture slipped out of his mouth as she

sank back down, her soft robe teasing the outside of his thighs and her

wet pussy teasing his cock. CJ opened her robe a bit more and looked

down. The large bulbous head of his swollen erection was dripping

precum.

With her index finger, she touched the moisture and smeared it

all over the head. Each time his cock jumped, she smiled like a vixen.

Still, CJ couldn’t stop the moan when she slid her wet pussy lips up on

either side of his erection. Back and forth she moved until it glistened

with her body’s juices.

She looked up to see his clenched jaw. Moving up the length,

she watched his eyes as she stopped just short of letting the head sink

into her velvety warmth and move back down. Each time the longing

grew in his gaze.

“Tell me you want me,” she said, her fingers sliding through her

dripping pussy to get to the base of his throbbing cock.

“I want you, Chantoya,” he vowed. “Take off the robe totally; let

me suckle on you.”

Her free hand undid the knot at her waist and she carefully

opened the blood-red robe. Her breasts hung free, the tips already

pebbled with desire and the wish to be attended. “Better?”

Osten muttered something in Italian. One hand reached for a

globe; and as his callused hand covered it and played with the tip, she

bore down on his cock, using the head to abrade her swollen clit.

“What did you say?” she asked as her eyes gazed at his watch-

ing her fingers down by her pussy and his cock.

“Nothing,” he muttered.

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Up and down her hand moved, ever so slowly. She ran it

around his entire erection, making it shine with her nectar. “You like

watching me play with you, don’t you?”

“Hell, yeah!” His dick jerked as if agreeing.

Moving up along his cock with her body, she stopped again and

looked at him. Then she closed her eyes and tilted her hips, allowing

him entrance into her. “
Ooohhhhh
,” she hissed as he filled her.

“CJ,” Osten said on a moan.

She began to move. Slowly, enticing. She went up and down, ro-

tated her hips, rocked side-to-side, and twisted in circles, searching for

what worked best for her need at that moment and didn’t hurt her. Her

body burned. Her soul burned. Her wet canal gripped him like a vice.

Osten’s hands landed on her hips, but he allowed her to remain

in control. Sweat beaded on his forehead. CJ opened her eyes and stared

at him. “Which way do you prefer, Osten? Back and forth like this?” She

moved that way. “Or side-to-side like this.” Her hips rolled nicely.

“Jesus, CJ. You’re killing me.”

Sucking her lower lip into her mouth, she rotated her hips,

mewling contentedly at the sensation it gave her. Every nerve was on

end. Going slow was the only way to keep the orgasm at bay.

Reaching for his chest, she pinched one of his nipples. His whole

body reacted like it had been hit with a defibrillator. His eyes were

halfway closed when he lifted her, brought her down and thrust up to

meet her and impaled her upon his cock.

“Osten!” she screamed as she convulsed with the orgasm that hit

her.

“I’m sorry, baby. You just looked so fuckin’ hot, I couldn’t help

it.” His voice was an octave lower than normal.

“Osten, please, don’t stop. I need…”

Osten helped her increase the speed. “Me, too, baby.”

Flames licked up and down her body. The desire in his eyes to

take total control was obvious to CJ. His rough fingertips touched the

bottom of the bandage that wrapped her ribcage, and then a different

expression settled across his face.
What did my bandage remind him of?

That Gordon had me? Maybe he thinks that Gordon…

Osten’s eyes never left her face and CJ watched his expression as

he thrust into her. The primal need to dominate faded away like the tide