Flynn's Kiss (Disarmed & Dangerous) (19 page)

“What a bitch.”

“She was only a girl.” His defense of her made Liberty seethe; the vibrations of her annoyance shook through her.

“How old was she?”

“Twenty.”

“Then she was a woman. Full grown and she should have had more compassion.”

“The scars were fresh, my skin still swollen and raw.”

“Why are you defending her?” And Liberty knew in her heart this handsome, damaged man was still partly in love with the beautiful, cruel young woman.

“Ssshh. It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” He pulled her toward his chest but she resisted.

“It does, because she affected your life.”

“Yes.”

“And you can’t kiss me because of her.”

“Yes.”

Liberty sat upright, withdrawing her hands from him, and she placed them on her knees.

“You’re not a monster.”

“I know.”

“And you’re not disgusting.”

“I know that too.” He raised his hand and stroked her hair back from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear with a tender touch.

“So, where do we go from here?”

“I want to make love with you, Liberty. I want to feel your lips against mine.”

She touched the tip of her tongue to his straight, taut lips, felt them tighten even more, and his entire body went rigid.

“Flynn, relax.”

She felt him pull in a breath, huff it out again, and then start small pants, each one filled with panic.

She placed a hand on his chest, felt his heart pound, fast and strong, and wondered why such a hard, fearless man would react this way to a mere kiss. But she knew. Understood how an experience could affect the rest of his life.

She slid her hand up his solid pectorals, gave a soothing stroke along the length of his neck, and caressed his tense, square jawline before allowing her thumb to skim over the strained white scar tissue that ran in a thin straight line from under his ear to the corner of his mouth.

Her own heart pounded in rhythm with his, but she forced her mouth into a soft curve, leaned in and touched a fleeting kiss to the tip of his nose, and then withdrew with a small shudder of delight as she watched his eyes widen with surprise. Taking advantage, she dipped in and pressed her softer, smiling lips fleetingly against his hard ones, withdrawing again before his panic could take hold.

His solid jaw flexed as he swallowed, his face remained frozen, and his eyes fierce and penetrating as he stared, transfixed, straight ahead. A deep shuddering breath filled his chest to tremble against her body, and as his lips parted to let his breath out, she took a chance and swiped the tip of her hot tongue swiftly over his bottom lip before leaning back and waiting once more.

Warm elation swept through her as his eyelids fluttered and an almost imperceptible groan rumbled from deep within. She studied him and delighted as he mumbled.

“Again.”

This time as she closed in, his eyelids flickered shut, and when she placed her lips lightly on his, he responded—gentle and tentative—sending her blood shooting through her veins in riotous celebration.

Determined to keep the pace relaxed, she placed small pecks over the line of his gradually softening mouth, rejoicing as those handsome lips tipped up at the edges in response to her ministrations.

She adjusted herself on his lap and gave a supple wriggle while her blood heated her skin, sending a warm flush across her chest and over her cheeks. The heat of his palm soaked through to her backside as he pulled her in closer until her warm, damp center pressed against the hot length of him.

Flynn tipped his head back and emitted a long, low growl in the base of his throat. She allowed herself to rock against him for a moment, but as he automatically turned his face away, she cupped his cheeks in the palms of her hands and waited until he cracked open his eyes to stare at her. Laser blue pinned her and her heart kicked up another notch as she recognized the desperate desire in him.

“Kiss me.” He murmured and her heart somersaulted. She closed her eyes and let herself indulge this time as she sank into him, rubbed her lips against his, and thrilled as his mouth opened and invited her in. She feathered her tongue over his parted lips, paused to lick gently along the perimeter to the deep scar at the left corner of his mouth, and then dipped her tongue into his mouth to savor his.

His hands no longer rested on her rump but smoothed up her back, pulling her in tight as she wallowed in him, delighted as one of those hands continued up to cup the back of her head and draw her in closer still.

Blood thrummed thick and slow through her love-drugged veins, encouraging her to pause and indulge in her deepest fantasy of Flynn’s kiss.

His lips smoothed against hers, shooting warm pulses radiating from his mouth through her entire system.

He wrenched away from her, turned his face to the side, and hauled in a pained gasp.

“Too much, Jesus Liberty, it’s too much.”

A small pulse of hurt annoyance curled in her. She wanted, desperately wanted more of him, all of him. Unreasonably greedy, she wanted everything and knew deep in her heart she had to settle for so much less from this man, who kept every emotion battened down and under control.

His coarse hands and harsh voice took her by surprise.

“I have to be inside you, now. Right now.” His roughened fingers fumbled between them as he released himself from his shorts, wrenched her panties to one side, and reared up to thrust hard inside her.

Grabbing her firmly by the hips, he thrust up again, pulling her down at the same time so he could reach deeper, higher, into her very core.

She cried out, lust taking over where love had to be left behind, but as she bowed back, he leaned in, his mouth catching hers in a ravaging kiss, leaving her breathless and panting. His lips took hers; his tongue explored her mouth in the same rhythm as his penis penetrated her body.

Glorious frenzy ensued as he thrust savagely, repeatedly, desperately inside both her mouth and body.

She fisted her hands in the silken thickness of his hair, whimpering in time to his rhythm, as her inner muscles stretched to breaking point, and then burst in a wild reckless throbbing as Flynn peaked inside her at the same time as she broke.

Weak and quivering, she slumped over his wide shoulders, every muscle lax and unguarded, including her well-used tongue.

“I love you, Flynn.”

Mortified to feel the immediate stiffening of his shoulders, the small retreat of his body as it stilled, and he held his breath. She raised her head, kissed first his closed eyelids, his nose, his firm, warm lips that had once again formed a straight line. She touched her fingers to his ear, pulled back to watch as he opened his eyes, and the one thing she feared—pity—shone from his limpid blue pools.

The ache in her chest threatened to explode as she forced herself to smile, plastered on her wide toothy smile as her mouth stretched painfully false in what she hoped simply looked wild and happy as she met his troubled features. She touched her fingertips to his mouth and skimmed them across the damaged flesh of his scar.

“It’s okay.” She shrugged. “I fall in and out of love easily. Don’t take it to heart, I’m quite a fickle person really. I don’t expect you to love me back. Next week I probably won’t love you at all.” She drew her fingers up his jawline, circled them around his ear, and traced the line of his scar across to his wickedly slashed eyebrow to smooth it out, her smile more natural as she realized he’d never once flinched from her touch.

His silence prompted her to offer a little more comfort. “I always fall in love easily, I’ll get over it, don’t worry.”

Still he said nothing, his face serious; his laser blue eyes studied her.

Desperate to move from his uncomfortable silence, she grasped at the one thing she knew would bring her comfort and him solace.

“Let’s go to bed, Flynn, I’m tired.”

His intense gaze held hers for a moment longer before his brow creased and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have things I need to do.”

He lifted her bodily from his lap and stood at the same time, allowing her legs to slide down the outside of his until her bare feet touched the floor.

His silent speculation of her made her think if he could have patted her on the head and gotten away with it, he possibly would. He didn’t seem to be able to escape quickly enough.

She stepped out of the circle of his arms, assaulted by an immediate chill that raised her flesh in fine pimples.

It didn’t matter, she couldn’t let it matter. She gave another bright, false smile and centered her gaze just below the still rapidly beating pulse in his throat.

“I need a shower. You can let yourself out, can’t you?” She took a step back, but he followed and took hold of her chin with his long, firm fingers to tilt her head toward his. He placed a solid kiss on her lips.

“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Her huge smile was still plastered across her face as she locked the bathroom door, leaned against it, and slid down until her backside met the floor. She covered her crumpling face with her hands and wept silent tears as her heart broke.

•●•

Fucking hell, what was he supposed to do? The woman had given him a taste of paradise, insisting he kiss her. She hadn’t had to insist very hard. Liberty had been easy to kiss—too easy.

She was the first woman he had kissed since he’d witnessed the revulsion in his fiancée’s eyes three years ago, just before she’d kicked him out of her life.

Since then, he’d willed himself to turn his good side to whatever woman he was fucking at the time. And it
had
purely been fucking. Fulfilling his body’s needs without any other sentiment involved.

He’d lived in an emotional vacuum until the indisputably aggravating Liberty Sophia Glennon bounced into his life, upending everything. He’d encountered every emotion a human could possibly have, and desire was an understatement. So was confusion.

He struggled to understand the myriad of emotions she invoked in him. He should have known better, followed his instincts to run like hell the very first time he encountered her. In fact, he had run the first time. It was the second meeting that had done the damage.

Damned woman.

She was killing him with the riot of emotions she’d caused.

The stupid woman, with her Ph-fucking-D.

She evoked a strong desire in him to protect her, soothe her, comfort her, and not least of all he wanted to fuck her brains out so every highbrow thought she’d ever had would empty out of her head. In fact he had, and it was precisely what caused the problem.

Goddamned woman.

Most disturbing was, with her, it had never felt like just a fuck. Not the first time and certainly not the last.

Christ, she’d nearly killed him when she’d said she loved him. He’d almost blurted the words automatically back at her, just opened his mouth and repeated what she’d said in his weakened state. But he’d promised himself he would never utter them again.

So he’d hurt her.

Every instinct howled at him to grab her with both hands and take what she was offering, because this was a woman who would never stop giving, never turn her back, despite her attempt to make him feel better by retracting her declaration, making it sound like she was shallow and fickle. He’d never known a woman so sensitive and sweet in his entire life. Her feelings ran deep and true.

So he’d run, because the temptation was too strong and he had to get away, put as much distance between them as possible and give himself time to breathe, to think. Because the cute woman with the bubbly personality and the tempting curves was dangerous. A danger to him and possibly a danger to herself. She would never demand anything, her expectations were so low. It made his heart ache when he thought about how little love she’d received in her thirty-one years.

“Fuck.”

He sat up in bed, leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and listened to his bristles rasp as he rubbed his cheeks.

How could she love him? How had she managed to see beyond his hard-nut exterior to the man below the surface who was running scared?