Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (51 page)

Even the tiniest movement inside Nikki was intensified by the incredible stretch, and when she felt him start to circle her clit with the fingers of his free hand, she came completely unglued. She cried out over and over at the top of her lungs until, at one point, he asked, “Baby, you okay? Need to safeword?” She shook her head wildly and he kept up the exquisite torment until she finally succumbed to the orgasm and her body convulsed uncontrollably. Tony coaxed her along with, “That’s my girl,” and “Keep it up, baby, don’t stop,” until she was a jerking, breathless mess. The contractions around his fist made his cock throb, and the joy in his heart at being able to give her something she’d wanted so badly made the ache even sweeter. He didn’t want it to ever end, but he finally straightened his hand inside her, relieving some of the pressure. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and tried to make sense of everything she’d felt.

“Sweetie, I’ve got to take it out.”

“No! God, no! Please?” she pleaded, awash in a sea of satisfaction.

“Yes – have to. Same way it went in. You push and I pull. Ready?” Tony asked. Nikki nodded. “Okay, push, baby – give it all you’ve got.” Nikki bore down again, and she felt a snap, then a heartbreaking emptiness.

With a swipe of the towel to clean her up, Tony had her back up on the pillows and pulled her into him. “Oh, god, baby, that was incredible! I’m so glad I could give you that. Was it good? You liked it?” he asked her.

Nikki started to sob, and she whispered, “Oh, god, Tony. I love you so much,” and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder.

“Oh, baby, I’m so hard for you, I want you so bad. Think you can handle it right now? Feel okay?”

“I feel okay, but I need to wait; hurts a little, you know? Like it’s supposed to; not bad. And besides, I have other plans.” She wiped her eyes again and slithered down his side, then snuggled down into the space between his legs. “I want to do something for you.” She didn’t waste any time settling her mouth down over his cock, and it was as hard as she’d ever seen it. The ache between her own legs drove her onto him, and she sucked him greedily like a bird pulling at a worm on a warm spring morning. He moaned and thrust into her mouth, and she took him deeper.

Nikki wrapped her arms around his legs and flipped them both onto their sides. In a velvety voice, she purred, “Fuck my throat, baby. Take whatever you want. I’m all yours.” Tony’s hands wound into her hair and he pulled her to him as he drove his hardness into her mouth, hitting the back of her throat. Nikki relaxed to kill off her gag reflex, and her eyes watered as he slammed harder and faster into her. About every third stroke she tried to remember to swallow around him, and he moaned louder and stroked into her harder. When she thought she’d completely lose her breath and drift into unconsciousness, she felt his balls tighten, and he unloaded into her, his salty cum filling her throat and her mouth and running out the corners of her lips.

Tony released his hold on her hair and his arms dropped in exhaustion. Nikki was gasping for breath as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then crawled up to lie in his arms. In the kiss she gave him he could taste his own saltiness on her lips, and he forced his tongue into her mouth, savoring what she’d done for him, the way he felt at that moment, the way he felt about her.

“Is everybody happy?” he asked her, cuddling her tight.

“Over the moon here. You?”

“Never happier. If you’d told me a year ago I’d find a woman I’d be this much in love with this fast, I’d have told you that you were crazy.” He gazed down at her. “Nothing crazy about this. God, I love you. I can’t imagine ever being without you.” He stopped, then asked, “You’d really let me do anything I want to you, wouldn’t you?”

Oddly, Nikki felt herself blush. “Yeah, I guess I would. I trust you completely.”

“Precious, I will never take that trust lightly, and I’ll never betray it, I promise.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

“I know that. And that’s why this body is yours to do with as you please.”

“I feel the same way. You’ve never brought me anything but bliss. And I hope I never bring you anything but bliss. That was okay, what we just did? You’re okay, not hurt?”

“Sweetie, I’ve never felt better in my life, more free or more satisfied. And I need to tell you something.”

“What’s that?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.

“When we first got together and you told me about your history, I was really worried.”

“Yeah? Why?”

“Because you’d only been with two women. Because you’d been exposed to so little.”

“And now?”

She propped herself up on an elbow to look into his face, “Baby, I’ve never been with anybody who’s been as concerned about satisfying me and as open to trying things as you are. You’re pretty fearless. And you’re good, too, really good. Plus we can talk about sex and neither of us gets all weirded out, you know? I love that. You’re the best lover and best friend I’ve ever had.” She lay back down in his arms, her cheek resting on his chest.

“Good.” Tony looked very proud of himself. “All I want is for you to be completely, totally, one hundred percent happy. I just want to give you what you want and need.” He stopped for a second. “But you’re still gonna have to drive that truck.”

Sunday rolled around and Tony decided to go fishing for the afternoon, and made arrangements for Bart and Vic to meet him at Taylorsville Lake. Not Freddie. He never liked that kind of stuff; he didn’t like to get dirty. Nikki went to buy her work clothes – carpenter’s jeans, tees, an steel-toed boots – and Tony ordered her to use his credit and debit cards and get whatever she wanted.

When Tony came in from fishing, Nikki had been cooking for awhile. He walked into the kitchen to see what was going on because there was so much noise coming from in there.

He stopped in the doorway and tried to take it all in, to let it sink into his mind and his heart. Nikki stood at the sink, barefoot, washing some vegetables. She was wearing a brightly-colored apron she’d bought at one of the boutiques in Gatlinburg while they were there, a pair of tight denim shorts hugging her sweet ass and peeking out from underneath the apron. Tony had bought her a docking station with speakers for her smart phone, and she was playing music, a female singer belting out a cheerful sort of tune; Nikki was part singing, part humming, her hips swaying in time to the music. She dropped the brush and vegetable and danced over to the stove where several pots were steaming, taking lids off and stirring first one, then another. The smell was beyond incredible, and his mouth was already watering just wondering what she was cooking.

She danced back to the sink and started scrubbing the vegetables again and, in that moment, Tony realized he was seeing something most men took for granted. But not him. For Tony, this was something he never thought he’d see in his life – a woman, a beautiful, loving, sensuous woman, singing and dancing happily in his kitchen, their kitchen, cooking a wonderful meal for him, waiting for him to come home, thinking about him with love and passion and joy. He whispered under his breath, “Nikki Wilkes, oh my god, I love you. I love you so much.”

As if she’d heard him, she turned gave him a wide smile. “Hi, baby! I didn’t see you standing there! I’m so glad you’re home!” She bounded across the room and into his arms, and the smell of her, her softness, was almost too much for him. He looked down into her face and couldn’t say anything, he was so choked up. “What’s wrong?”

He smiled through his tears. “Not a thing – not one damn thing. I’m going to shower. I don’t want to make you wait to eat.”

“How was dinner?” Nikki asked as she cleared the table.

“You’re a dream, sweetie. It was delicious. I’ll help you clean up.” He started picking up the plates and taking them to the sink. They worked together, side by side, until the whole kitchen was spotless.

“So what did you buy today?” Tony asked her after they’d gotten settled in the den. She showed him the shirts, jeans, and boots.

“I think I got everything I need,” Nikki told him. “And I got something for you.”

“For me? You weren’t supposed to be shopping for me.”

Nikki smiled. “Well, you’ve given me some very nice gifts, but I realized I’ve never given you anything. I saw something I thought would look good on you, so I got it. It’s kind of silly, I know; you actually wind up in the end buying it for yourself. So I guess it was kind of stupid, huh?”

“No, not stupid. I’m really excited. I don’t get too many gifts. And it’s from my baby, so that’s exciting, too!” He actually looked excited, Nikki thought. “Besides, you’ll be getting a hefty paycheck in a couple of weeks, so you can pay for it yourself,” he told her as she crossed the room and pulled the box from her purse.

“Here. She handed him the box, breathless and fighting her pounding heart. “I hope you like it.”

Tony took it and opened it, and the bracelet gleamed in the lamp light. He blinked a couple of times, trying to believe what he was seeing. If he’d picked it out himself, he couldn’t have done a better job. Nikki sat and waited, nervous and wondering what he’d say.

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s perfect. Just perfect. I’ve never had anything like this! Thank you so much!” He hugged her, then gave her a big kiss before trying it on.

“You really like it?” The look on her face, the delight there at giving him a gift, made his heart melt.

He gave her cheek a gentle kiss. “I love it. I love it almost as much as I love you!”

“Your truck’s ready.” Tony put the phone down and looked at Nikki over his sunglasses. “I’m leaving to go to the hospital jobsite. I can take you over to central supply to pick it up.”

“Sure. Can we have lunch later?”

“You bet. I’ll meet you at Café Mimosa at,” he looked at his watch, “twelve thirty?”

“Deal!” She climbed into his truck and, as she did, she looked over at him and smiled – he was wearing his bracelet! It made her so proud.

Even though she was familiar with Tony’s work truck, she’d never driven it. When they pulled up and she saw the giant, bright blue truck, she felt funny all over, and not in a ha-ha way. It was really, really blue and really, really big, and the brush guard on the front gave it a positively evil look. One of the guys in the supply office grabbed the keys and came out with them to look it over before she signed off on it. Tony did most of the looking; Nikki mostly stared, wide-eyed.

“Okay, I’ve gotta go. It’s all yours. And by the way, it’s diesel, so don’t go pulling up to any unleaded pumps, okay?” he grinned. Nikki nodded; she’d never had a diesel vehicle before.

Tony pulled away, and Nikki climbed – literally climbed – into the cab. If anything slid to the other side of the seat, she wouldn’t be able to reach it because it was so huge. She looked it over – GPS navigation system, satellite radio, hands-free feature, towing package, everything. The dash was covered in buttons, and she had no ideas what the icons on all of the buttons represented. She wondered if there was a toilet hidden somewhere in the cab.

She couldn’t find a place to stick the key into the ignition, so she tried the button on the key, and the truck roared to life, scaring her half to death in the process. She expected some resistance, but the gearshift lever slid smoothly into drive and she pulled out of the parking space and headed for the gate. As she neared the office, Clayton came out the door, popped a startled look onto his face, and grinned and waved as she passed. She stopped at the street, then pulled out into traffic, and she was surprised as she pulled out of the drive at how smooth the ride was. She had deposits to take to the bank – her first official duty, Tony announced – and she rolled out toward Katie’s branch of Kentucky Miner’s Savings & Loan.