Blink of an Eye (7 page)

He filled her, stretched her lips. The salty flavour of pre-cum swept through her taste buds and her nipples hardened in carnal response.

When he fisted her hair, she moaned and felt him jerk in response as the vibrations thrummed through his dick. He tightened his grip as he took over the rhythm, sliding in and out of her mouth slowly, as if he wanted to imprint both of them with the image and sensation.

She grabbed his ass, sinking her nails into his well-defined glutes, and swirled her tongue over the head of his shaft as he withdrew. He groaned and picked up speed. She stroked his ass with one hand, moving the other to his balls, squeezing slightly.

He groaned again, his fingers clutching her hair and his control snapped. The head of his cock thrust against the back of her throat repeatedly. He stiffened inside her, his cum flooding her mouth.

Revelling in his taste, his feel, she took over. Sucking, pulling, swallowing. Her pussy flooded with heat and her clit throbbed. God, she was so turned on from giving him pleasure she was ready to come herself.

He let out one last shudder and slumped forward, bracing himself against the side of the tub.

Cassidy sighed and leant back into the curved seat, licking her lips. “That’s much better, if I do say so myself.”

“Jesus, woman. What in the hell are you doing to me?”

She laughed, feeling more carefree than she had in years, maybe ever. There was no way in hell she was giving this up, at least not without a fight. The thought was liberating. “I thought it was quite obvious.”

He sank into the seat next to her and let out a grunt. “Well, you pretty much took all the fun out of it for yourself, because I can’t move a fucking muscle.”

Leaning over, she placed a kiss on his cheek. “Good, because I think we both could use a good night of sleep.” She tugged on his arm. “C’mon, get up. Let’s shower off and hit the sheets.”

Scott staggered into the shower, wishing like hell he could return Cassidy’s generosity, but he was beat. The euphoria of adrenaline had long since faded, and his weeks of convalescence had taken more of a toll on him than he’d like to admit.

He stripped off his eye patch and dropped it on the sink, not wanting to get it wet.

Multiple jets of warm, soothing water sluiced over them, making him even more languid than before. Cassidy soaped up a washcloth and ran it over his back and shoulders, her touch gentle as she massaged him.

Turning, he took the cloth from her and repeated the favour, running his fingers through her hair as she tipped her head under the flow of water.

As much as he willed his body to respond to her absolute, unfettered beauty, it was no use. Right now he wanted nothing more than to lay her down on that fabulous bed, curl up next to her, and fall asleep.

And after rinsing and drying off, they did just that.

Chapter Nine

Cassidy awoke first, but, as much as she wanted a little morning delight, she needed some distance, and they needed to talk.

She’d seen Scott stripped naked last night when he’d removed his eye patch. The fact that he’d done it naturally, without conscious thought, told her more than any words could have. The image haunted her this morning…a raw, red scar where a healthy eye should have been. How did he cope?

She wandered into the kitchen and flipped on the coffee pot, then fetched the paper from the back stoop.

The front page drew her eye. It featured a picture of Scott, bent over the old man, the expression on his face intense as he listened to the man’s heart through his stethoscope.

She slumped down into a kitchen chair, heart pounding in her chest. She’d seen that look directed at her before, at her pleasure. What would it be like to see that, to feel it every day? Did she have the courage to find out?

If she were to go down that road, she needed to figure out what she was going to do about her family, about Jay. Of all her brothers, he’d always been the most protective, yet also the most honest. If he felt outraged about her seeing a younger man, what would the rest of her family think? She knew people would talk about cradle robbing and make sly innuendoes about how nice it was to have a young, virile lover. But she had to be true, honest with herself, and when she really thought about it, none of it made a damn difference.

Instead, she found herself longing for a continuation to the connection she and Scott had made—the connection of two people who had had their lives ripped away. She’d had years to get over the trauma and repair her life, but Scott was just starting down that road.

Her musings were cut short as he moseyed out of the bedroom, boxers hanging off his lean hips, morning erection prodding at the opening. He shuffled towards her and dropped a kiss on the crown of her head before tilting her face up and giving her a sweet kiss.

His kiss, and the casual way he’d delivered it, cemented what her heart felt, even if her rational mind was still kicking and screaming. Scott Carnes was hers, and she’d do her damnedest to convince him of it, and soon.

“How about dinner and a movie tonight? And no tornadoes.”

Scott looked at her and grinned. “Sure, Cassidy, what the hell?”

Epilogue

Four years later…

Scott leant back against the ornate headboard, heart pounding frantically in his chest, body sheened in perspiration. He’d never get tired of making love to Cassidy, never be too busy or tired to revel in the glorious body and generous spirit of his wife.

She completed him in a way nothing ever had, even if it had taken him a whopping six weeks to realise it before asking her to marry him. Since then, he’d never felt a day of regret for the path his life had taken. In fact, he thanked the fates that had taken his eye, for without that loss he would have never found his true destiny. He was part of something bigger again—the family he and Cassidy made, and the larger, extended one consisting of her rowdy, over-the-top parents, brothers and cousins. Even her brother Jay had slowly come around. Scott suspected her brother harboured something none of them knew about, something or someone had hurt him deeply, and he had to wonder if it hadn’t been an older woman.

He even read his horoscope religiously now, because the words written on his birthday all those years ago had been prophetic…

‘Today is your lucky day, Virgo. Jupiter, planet of good fortune and finances, is at a perfect angle to light up your seventh house, accentuating long-term partnerships, business relationships and marriage. Meanwhile, tonight’s full moon will team up with romantic Venus in your house of true love, assuring it will be a hot summer’s night in more than one way.’

As Cassidy snuggled into his arms, Dr Scott Carnes realised, really for the first time, how life can change in the blink of an eye.

Coming Soon from Total-E-Bound Publishing:

Love’s Command: Safe in His Arms

Billi Jean

Released 3
rd
June 2013

Excerpt

Chapter One

Mac practically ran down the luxurious hotel hallway. He slowed to a fast walk when an old couple came out of their room, but each step brought him closer to where he needed to be.

Near Mandy.

He still couldn’t believe Lacey had given him Mandy’s room number. Clearly Lacey was all about everyone being happy now that she was here, in Hawaii and getting married. Him chomping at the bit to get hold of Mandy must have been the key to convincing her he wasn’t going to blow this chance. Not with Mandy this close. That or she really believed Ace could kick his ass if he hurt Mandy, but still, he was seconds from seeing Mandy again.

Shit freaked him out. He was supposed to be one of the toughest, meanest guys out there, but the reality of it was he’d let Ace kick his ass if he hurt Mandy again.

He slowed down and saw the room across from hers first—four-five-six-two—then hers.

Fuck. He froze. After five years, that door was all that kept him from the one woman on this planet who owned his heart. He rubbed his hand through his hair and back over his neck.

Buck up, asshole, and face her.

He reached up and knocked on Mandy’s door, and waited, keeping in mind everything Lacey had said about Mandy needing time and his own promise to go slow. She’d been in Africa. Africa for nearly the entire five years. Helping victims of the wars there.

His heartbeat raced and he raised his hand to knock again when he saw the doorknob twist downward. A second later, Mandy stood there with a grin, already saying, “Hey, I thought—”

She cut off with a soft ‘Oh’ and backed up. Her big grey eyes rounded out. He couldn’t take in the details of her quickly enough. She seemed to soak him in, too. He watched her swallow, feeling suddenly dry-throated as well. How was it possible she was more beautiful now than she’d been five years ago?

“Hello, sugar. Miss me?”

She blinked, then seemed to realise he was pushing her back into her room because she tried to stop him with a hand on his chest. He used it to pull her into his arms, letting the door close behind them. Sensations too wild to make sense of rushed him. Both her hands were on his chest burning through the material of his T-shirt. Her pink lips were inches from his, open in shock, sure, but, still, they were right there. He soaked her up. Her grey eyes caught him, stealing his breath like a sucker punch to the gut. With a little hiss, she narrowed her gaze, hiding the flash of emotion he’d not had time to decipher with an angry glare.

“Mac, let me go!’

Grinning, he tightened his arms around her wiggling little body. “Damn, baby, the least you could do is say hello before you fall into my arms.”

She froze and rolled her eyes. “Give me a break.”

“We need to talk, huh?” he asked, slowly relaxing his arms. She quickly stepped away. When she reached the patio windows, she reached up nervously and tucked her shorter curls off her face, turning to the side when she did so she didn’t have to face him. He could see her pulse thundering along the slender column of her neck from where he stood two feet from her. Her body was tight, stress showing in the way she clenched her hands together and in the lines of stiff posture.

He did this to her?

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, turning with her arms crossed under her lush breasts to face him. “Wolf, Lacey is waiting for me.”

She never called him Wolf. She always called him Mac. Shit pissed him off.

“Mac.”

She squinted at him. “What?”

“Don’t call me Wolf. It’s Mac,” he murmured. “It’s always been Mac.”

“Okay,” she drawled, dragging the two syllables out with such sarcasm he felt his body tighten with the challenge.

“We need to talk,” he said. He watched the tension in her shoulders tighten. She scanned the room with an impatient look. She was going to argue with him. Mandy never, ever fought anyone. She avoided confrontations. She got around people, managed the hell out of them, but she never directly argued with anyone.

After a second of turning her back on him, she faced him. “Talk? Why should I? Besides, give me a break! You can’t just barge in here and make demands. Now”—she took a deep breath, adding to the battle he had controlling his reactions by practically taunting him with her barely covered breasts in some kind of hot bikini top, and continued, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go. Lacey is waiting and I know you don’t want Ace up here.”

She thought she could scare him off with Ace? He settled against the wall and lifted a shoulder.

“Ace doesn’t scare me, Mandy. And you aren’t leaving this room, not until you tell me what I want. Like where you’ve been, why you hid, and how you hid for the past five years. You and I are going to talk, sugar. Now.” As he spoke, he couldn’t stay still and ended up stalking towards her, letting some of his anger show in his face. She surprised him again by standing her ground, her fists tight at her hips but she faced him down.

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re in for a surprise, Mac, it sucks to want. I should know, right?” The way she said his name, with enough sour sarcasm to curdle milk, had him drawing up to a complete stop. “Now, we can talk later, but right now, no, not possible,” she said in a rush.

He backed her up by simply walking towards her. She landed in a chair by the bed, breathing hard, her fists tight, clearly wanting to hit him. He squatted down in front of her and carefully took one of her hands. “Look, Mandy, we’re going to start this over, okay? You’re going to tell me what I want to know—”

“No, I’m not. I’m not one of your missions, Wolf.”

“Mac.”

He didn’t know why, but he always wanted Mandy to call him Mac. Never Wolf. Wolf was a killer. She had once loved Mac, loved him enough to see beyond the killer.

She huffed out a breath and looked away from him, but not quick enough to hide the tears shimmering in her eyes.

“Whatever,” she whispered.

He loosened his hand on hers and rocked back on the balls of his feet to give her some space. If she cried, he’d be lost. He’d cut out his own damn heart if it would make it better. He’d kick anyone’s ass that made her cry, but how would he get in a fist fight with himself?

“Mandy, come on, sugar, look at me. Talk to me.”

Still not looking at him, she tossed her sun-bleached hair off her face and exhaled. Her hair was lighter than he’d ever seen it before. She’d cut it, too. The long, golden curls had once reached past her shoulder blades, but he found himself liking this new style more than the old. He had a clear view of her face, slender throat and the delicate line of her jaw. The longer bangs hid her expression at times, but the way she anchored her hair behind her ear sent an odd nip of pain to his heart.