Bane (11 page)

He ended the kiss to stare down at her. “You ready?”

She looked up at him, dragging in a deep whoosh of air filled with their heated scents. “Yes, I’m ready.”

And then, holding tight to her hips, spreading her thighs even wider, he slid inside her.

* * *

Bane pushed into Crystal all the way until he couldn’t go any farther, not sure where his body began and hers ended. The only thing he knew was this was home. He was home. He had been gone five years and that was five years too long. But now he was back and intended to remind her just how good they were together. Remind her why she was his and he was hers.

His blood was boiling, and at that moment it seemed as though all of it had rushed to the head of his erection buried deep inside her. He felt compelled to move, to mate, to drown even deeper into her sweet, delicious depths. He felt her inner muscles clamp down on him, begin milking him, and he threw his head back and growled. Then he began moving, pumping into her, thrusting over and over again until her climax hit so hard that he was convinced they would have tumbled to the floor had he not been holding on to her tight.

“Bane!”

“Crystal!”

Never had he wanted any woman more than he wanted her. Nothing had changed. But in a way, things
had
changed. They were older, wiser and in control of who they were and what they wanted. No one could dictate when and where they could love. The sky was now their limit. And as he continued to rock his hips against hers, thrusting in and out of her, working them both into yet another orgasm, he knew that this was just the beginning, just like he’d told her.

He wanted her to feel every hard, solid inch of him; he wanted to rebrand her, reclaim her. And when another climax hit them both, this one more earth-shattering and explosive than the last, he met her gaze just moments before claiming her mouth, kissing her with a hunger he knew she felt. The ecstasy was bone-deep, mind-blowing, erotic.

And when he released the kiss and she screamed his name once again, he knew that no matter what, Crystal Gayle Newsome Westmoreland was his destiny. He knew it with all his heart.

Fourteen

C
rystal slowly opened her eyes and squinted against the bright morning sun coming through the open window blinds. She shifted her gaze to Bane, who was down on the floor doing push-ups. She watched and listened to him keeping count. He was up to three hundred and eighty and his entire body was glistening with sweat. She dragged in a deep breath, thinking the man had more energy than anyone she knew.

That was just the beginning...

He had been deadly serious when he’d issued that warning last night. He had proved that yes, he could still make her come with his tongue. Nothing had changed there. And what he was packing between those fine legs of his wasn’t so bad, either. She had barely recovered from one orgasm before he’d had her hurling into another. She didn’t recall him having the ability to do all that before. At least not in such rapid succession.

She switched her gaze to the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was almost nine. She had slept late and didn’t have to wonder why. It had been a late night and early morning with Bane. He had the ability to make her body want him over and over again, to satisfy her each and every time.

This morning she felt sore, but at the same time she felt so gratified and contented she had to force back a purr. She couldn’t stop smiling as she shifted in bed to stretch out her limbs, feeling the way her body was still humming with pleasure. If his goal had been to make up for all their lost time, he definitely had succeeded.

“Good morning. It’s nice seeing you smile this morning.”

She glanced back at Bane. His deep, husky voice sent erotic shivers down her spine. He had finished exercising and was standing across the room with a cup of coffee in his hand. His feet were braced apart, his sweats hung low on his hips and his chest was bare.

“Good morning to you, too, Bane. You gave me a lot to smile about last night,” she said honestly.

“Glad you think so.”

From his smile she knew he was pleased by her admission. She saw no reason to pretend regret when there wasn’t any. And Bane of all people knew there had never been a shy bone in her body. However, seeing him two days ago after all those years had given her pause. She had to take things slow and get to know him all over again. It would be a process and, as far as she was concerned, making love was part of the process.

“I wanted to wait for you to wake up before ordering breakfast,” he said, placing the coffee cup aside to come sit on the edge of her bed.

She pulled herself up, being careful to keep the bedsheet over her naked body. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m sure with everything...and especially those exercises...that you must be hungry.”

“Starving.”

“Then, let’s order.”

“Okay, but this first.”

He leaned down and pulled her into his arms. It didn’t bother her one iota that her naked body was revealed in the daylight. She recalled having a problem with Bane seeing her naked before since she’d always thought she didn’t have enough curves to show off. Now she did.

He kissed her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. She could feel every hard inch of him, all solid muscles, and immediately thought back to last night. Her pulse began hammering inside her veins. Only his kisses had the ability to do that to her. If she didn’t put a halt to things, she was liable to short-circuit. Like she had last night.

Typically, she wasn’t a demonstrative person, not in the least. However, last night had been a different story. She could blame it on the fact that she’d gone a long time without having sex, and once she was getting some, she was like a woman starving for more and more. Bane was a man who had no problem delivering, and she had experienced one orgasm after another. Yes, she could definitely say last night had been off the charts in more ways than one.

She broke off the kiss at the sound of her stomach growling. She chuckled. “I guess that’s my tummy’s way of letting me know it needs to be fed.”

“Then, I’ll order breakfast,” Bane said, standing and reaching for the phone on the nightstand. “Anything in particular that you want?”

“Pancakes if they have them. Blueberry ones preferably. Maple syrup and bacon. Crisp bacon. A scrambled egg would be nice and a glass of orange juice.”

He looked at her and grinned. “Anything else?”

“Umm, not at the moment. And while I’m waiting, I’ll take a shower and put on some clothes.”

“If you want to walk around naked, I wouldn’t mind.”

After last night she could definitely see where he wouldn’t mind. “I’d rather put on clothes.”

“Your choice.”

As he placed their order, she slipped out of bed and looked around for the clothes he’d taken off her last night. But she didn’t see them. When she found his T-shirt under a pillow she slid it over her head.

“Nice fit.”

She looked down at herself. “It will do in a pinch.” She looked back at him. “Any calls this morning?”

“No. I think we got enough excitement yesterday.”

She nodded as she began pulling clean clothes from her luggage. “What are the plans for today?”

“We stay here most of the day and rest up. When it gets dark then we’ll leave.”

“And go where?”

“We’ll meet up with my cousins Quade, Dare, Clint and Cole near the Alabama-Georgia border.”

She nodded, recalling having met those particular cousins at a family get-together around the time that the Denver Westmorelands had discovered they had relatives living in Georgia, Texas and Montana.

Crystal glanced over her shoulder. Bane was back to doing his exercises, and the woman in her couldn’t help but admire the way his muscular hips rocked while he ran in place. Drops of perspiration trickled off his face and rolled down his neck and shoulders toward his bare chest.

She drew in a deep breath as she imagined her tongue licking each drop and the way his skin would taste. But she wouldn’t stop there. She would take her hands and run them all over his body, touching places she might have missed out on last night, although she doubted there were any. She had been pretty thorough.

But still...

What if there were places she had missed and—

“Anything wrong?”

She blinked and realized she’d been standing there staring. Swallowing deeply she said, “No, nothing is wrong.” She wanted to turn and rush off toward the bathroom to take her shower, but for some reason she couldn’t get her feet to move. It was if they were glued to the floor.

Now he was the one staring at her. She could actually feel his gaze on every part of her. Any place it landed made her body sizzle. She closed her eyes to fight off the desire that threatened to overwhelm her but when she saw it was no use, she opened them again and let them roam over every single, solid inch of him. He was so muscular, and so big and hard. She glanced down at his middle. Umm, did she say big and hard?

She drew in a deep breath when she saw him moving slowly toward her. She wanted to back up but again her feet wouldn’t cooperate. All she could do was stand there and watch all six foot three of him gaining ground on her. She felt herself breathing faster with every step he took and her hands actually began shaking. Her fingertips were even tingling, but what she noticed most of all was how the juncture of her thighs seemed to throb like crazy.

When had her desire for him become so potent? Had making love to him all night suddenly turned her into a lustful woman? A woman whose needs dictated how she behaved with him? She could only imagine. But then she thought, no, she really couldn’t. She hadn’t been with a man taking up her space and time for so long, she wasn’t sure how to deal with Bane now.

“Are you sure nothing is wrong, Crystal?” Bane had come to a stop directly in front of her. He was standing so close it wouldn’t take much to reach out and touch him, feel those hard muscles, that solid chest glistening with sweat.

“Nothing’s wrong, Bane. I’m fine.”

He gave her a knowing grin, which put her on notice that he knew she was lying. She wasn’t fine. Thanks to him she had gotten a taste of what she’d been missing for five years, and just how well he could still deliver. But it was more than just sex when it came to him. She’d always known it, ever since they’d held out those two years before even making love.

During that time they had developed a closeness and an understanding she knew very few couples shared. She had thought that maybe it hadn’t survived their separation, but it seemed to have. Of course she knew better than to expect everything to go back to the way it had always been between them. They weren’t the same people. They still needed to work out a few things, make adjustments and get a greater understanding of who they were now. But it could be done.

“May I offer a suggestion?” he asked her.

She licked her lips. It was either doing that or giving in to temptation and leaning over and licking him. “What?”

“Let’s shower together.”

Now, why had he suggested that? All kinds of hot and searing visions begin flooding her brain. “Shower together?”

“Yes. I suggested that same thing the night before last but you sort of turned me down.”

Yes, she had. “I wasn’t ready.”

He took a step closer. “What about now, Crystal? Are you ready now? After last night, are you ready to give your husband some more playtime?”

It wasn’t his request that caused her mind to shatter. It was his reference to himself as
her
husband. Because at that moment it hit her that he was hers and had been since her eighteenth birthday, probably even before then.

Bane had always told her she was his, regardless of what her parents or his family thought about it. And she had believed him. At no time had she doubted his words. Until that day he’d called to tell her he had decided to go into the navy. But now he was back and was letting her know that although he might have changed in some ways, he was the same in the way that mattered to her. He was still hers.

“That shower isn’t very big,” she decided to say. “And it might get messy with water sloshing all over the place.”

“I’ll clean it up,” he said.

His smile made her weak in the knees, it was so darn sexy. “Well, if you don’t mind doing that, then who am I to argue?” And without saying anything else, she forced her feet to move and walked toward the bathroom. But she didn’t close the door behind her. When she turned toward the vanity to look in the mirror, out of the corner of her eye she saw that he was still standing in the same spot staring at her. So she figured that she might as well give him something to look at.

* * *

“Down boy,” Bane muttered under his breath, trying to get his hard-on under control as he watched Crystal strut off toward the bathroom. As he stood there watching, she proceeded to wash her face and brush her teeth. When had seeing a woman doing basic morning tasks become a turn-on? He could answer that easily. The woman was his wife, and the times he’d seen her do those things had been few and far between.

So he watched her and began getting harder. He couldn’t help noticing how his T-shirt clung to her breasts as she leaned toward the sink to rinse out her mouth, how the hem of the shirt had inched up and barely covered her thighs. The same thighs he’d ridden hard last night.

And back to her breasts... He could clearly see how hard the buds were and how well defined the twin globes looked. They were a nice size and nice shape. And he knew for certain they had one hell of a nice taste. As far as he was concerned everything about Crystal was nice. The word
nice
wasn’t good enough. He could come up with a number of better ways to describe his wife.
Shapely. Sexy. Mesmerizing. Hot. Tasty.

Did he need to go on? He doubted it. Instead, as he stood there and watched her take a washcloth to wet her face, he was suddenly turned on in a way he’d never been turned on before. Hell, it was worse than last night, and he hadn’t believed that could be possible.

Feeling like a man who needed his wife and needed her now, he moved toward the bathroom. She had to know he was coming, but she didn’t turn and look his way. Instead, she began removing his T-shirt and then tossed it aside. By the time he reached her she was naked.

Bane moved behind her and looked into the mirror, holding her gaze in the reflection. He moved closer and took hold of her backside, settling his groin against it. Perfect fit. And when he began grinding, feeling his engorged erection working against her buttocks, the contact nearly sent him over the edge. He broke eye contact with her in the mirror to lean over to lap her shoulder, licking it from one end to the other, taking a few nibbles of her flesh in between. He liked the way her skin tasted this morning. Salty. Womanly.

“I haven’t taken a shower yet,” she whispered in a voice that let him know the effect his mouth had on her.

“We’ll eventually get around to it. No rush.”

Then he remembered there was a certain spot on her body, right underneath her left ear, that when licked and sucked could make the raw hunger in her come out. So he licked and sucked there and immediately her body began shivering in a way that sent a violent need slamming through him.

“Bane...”

“I know, baby,” he whispered. “Trust me, I know. And I want you just as much. Now. I need to be inside you. Bad. I got five years of want and need stored up just for you.”

“And last night?” she asked in that same sexy whisper.

“Just the beginning. One night can’t alleviate everything. To be honest, I doubt one hundred nights can.”

“Oh, my.”

“Oh, yes.”

And with that said, he turned her around to face him, lifted her off her feet and sat her on the vanity. “Spread your legs for me, Crystal.”

As if they had a will of their own, her thighs parted. He pulled a condom pack out of the side pocket of his sweats and moved back only far enough to ease the sweats down his legs.

“You don’t have to use that unless you want to,” she said softly. “After I lost the baby my aunt suggested I go on the pill. More to help keep me regulated than anything else.”

He nodded. So in other words she was letting him know that this time or any time they felt like it, they could go skin to skin, flesh to flesh. Just the thought made his entire body feel as if it was on fire. “Then, I won’t use one.”