Ruthless: Contemporary Military Romance (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

“I heard you, you know?”

Holly’s cheeks were slightly flushed thanks to a couple extra glasses of wine. She wasn’t drunk so much as happily buzzed, which was making her cheerful and giggly. Matt loved her like this. In fact, Matt loved her. Period.

“You heard what?” He asked as they walked back to the motel hand in hand. The San Diego night air was clean and fresh. It smelled of salt, and it rejuvenated him. For the first time in a very long time, he felt content.

“I heard you sing. Earlier today.”

If Matt were a blusher, he would have flushed scarlet. He stared at her and cleared his throat in embarrassment. “I’m sorry you had to endure that,” he said.

“Are you kidding?” Holly said. “You have a great singing voice. I loved it.”

“You did?” Matt asked, uncertain. Was her hearing impaired somehow?

“I did,” she confirmed. “You should sing more often.”

Matt smiled. “Maybe I will.” He had no intention to, of course, and from now on he would be extra careful to only burst into song when he was truly alone in the room. But he would have said and done anything to keep that light in Holly’s gray eyes shining.

By the time they arrived at their motel room, the fresh night air of San Diego had sobered Holly up. Still, she wasn’t any less happy, which to Matt was a big relief, considering the mood swings she had been going through lately. They walked in, and she immediately went to open both windows, letting that lovely night air in. She turned around, and there was a different light in her eyes now. A darker light, a malicious light. A longing light.

Matt instantly felt his cock respond to that look. He swallowed hard and watched as Holly walked up to him, hips swaying in that graceful walk of hers. She got closer and closer, and finally she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss. Matt wasn’t much for faith and God and heaven and all that jazz, but he figured that if angels existed, they would kiss like Holly. She kissed him softly, languidly, and gradually brought the kiss to a deeper and hungrier level without Matt even realizing it. It was a smooth, intoxicating transition. Matt could kiss her for hours.

When they finally pulled apart, Holly’s cheeks were flushed with something that had absolutely nothing to do with wine.

“I want you to make love to me,” she whispered softly.

Matt’s brain short-circuited on him for a few second. She was still very close to him, her body pressed against his. He could feel his erection stir from the contact of her pelvis against his hips. Holly had not taken the initiative for weeks, and all thoughts Matt might have had about trying to push her away and force himself to walk out of her life disappeared. In that moment, there was only Holly and the fact that he loved her and longed for her in ways he had never loved and longed for anyone.

“I very much want to make love to you, too,” he said quietly.

Holly smiled, pleased. She took him by the hand and led him over to the bed. She reached up and let one strap slide down one shoulder, and then the other. She freed her arms and let the dress fall to her feet in a heap of flowing jade green fabric. Matt could do nothing but stare as she took off her panties and gracefully stepped out of them. She unhooked her bra and tossed it carelessly on top of the dress.

Matt let his gaze roam over her nakedness. He took in the perfect curves of her body, the smooth expanse of her tanned skin. He drank in the image of her breasts, small and delicate but round and perfect, her nipples already hard and turgid from desire. She wanted him. She
really
wanted him. The realization sent an electric jolt shooting from his spine straight down to his cock. Impatiently, he reached down to unzip his jeans. He kicked them off along with his boxers, freeing his erection. He took off his T-shirt, and when he emerged from the fabric, he found that Holly had walked up to him and was standing once again very close to him. He let the T-shirt fall to the floor.

Holly reached out and ran her fingertips down the well-defined lines of his torso.

“You are so damn perfect,” she breathed softly.

Matt’s mouth went dry. He swallowed hard and licked his lips. “I hardly think so,” he said, unable to censor his thoughts.

Holly smiled up at him. “Well, I do. And trust me, right now that’s all that matters.” She kissed his chest, the warm, wet touch of her puckered lips making him shiver. “I want you, Matt.”

Good God.
Matt felt dazed, drunk with the sensations she awakened within him. He reached out and wrapped one arm around her waist, tugging her even closer to him, until their bodies were pressing one against the others—skin to skin, flesh to flesh. He never wanted to let her go, and it now seemed foolish to him that he had even considered the possibility.

He kissed her deeply, his tongue roaming around her mouth to taste her fully. God, but he couldn’t get enough of her! He wanted to eat her up and drink her in. He wanted to be one with her. He wanted to make love to her until they were both breathless and content and neither of them could form single coherent thought in their minds. Overwhelmed with passion, Matt slid his other arm underneath her thighs and picked her up. He tossed her playfully and unceremoniously onto the mattress. Holly squealed in the delight.

A moment later, he was on top of her, his mouth ravishing her body with kisses.

“Stop!” Holly breathed. “Matt, stop!”

Matt froze. He looked up in confusion. Had she changed her mind?

But Holly’s gray eyes were still dark with lust. She grinned as she sat up, and she kissed him briefly to reassure him. “It’s my turn,” she purred.

She placed one hand to his chest and gently led him to lay down on his back. She straddled him between her knees, and Matt’s heart picked up the pace at the anticipation of what was to come. Holly bent down and carded her fingers through his black curls. She smiled and kissed him again, thoroughly, her fist closing around his dark locks.

She pulled back, leaving him breathless. She gave him no time to recover from the kiss as her lips began an exploration of his body. She kissed the side of his neck, sucking a mark on it that he would wear as proudly the next day as he wore his battle scars. She kissed his collarbones. She kissed his torso, lingering over the nipples to lick and nibble. Matt hissed with pleasure. She kissed his sides and his abdomen, her hands following on the wake of her mouth, running down the smooth expanse of his skin. She kissed her hipbones, teeth grazing lightly over them, the friction making him arch in ecstasy.

Finally,
finally
, she kissed all along his shaft—butterfly kisses that drove him insane.

“God, Holly,” he breathed, already lost in the throes of pleasure. “Please.”

She looked up, smirking. “Please what?”

“Please, just suck me.”

“Ah.” Holly’s grin widened. She surged forward to capture his mouth in yet another heated kiss. “Is that what you want?” she murmured when she pulled back.

“Yes,” Matt moaned. “God, yes. That’s what I want.”

Holly’s darkened gray eyes seemed to bore holes into him as they captured his gaze. “As you wish,” she whispered. He could have come from that whisper alone.

When her mouth closed around his engorged cock, Matt’s world became a white-hot explosion. And when Holly’s lips began to slide up and down his length, puckered in a ring of fire, Matt all but writhed underneath her touch. Every sensation that came from Holly’s careful, mind-blowing administrations seemed to shoot straight to every single nerve of his body. Soon enough, Matt found himself hovering over the edge, and it was only by some formidable act of willpower that he was able to somewhat steady himself enough not to explode without warning.

“Holly…” he choked out.

She let him go in one smooth stroke. “It’s okay,” she said. “I want you.” That was all the warning she gave him before she took him in her mouth once again.

She was giving him permission, Matt realized. Unable to control himself any longer, he shuddered under her fiery touch as he gave in to his release. Holly’s hands guided him through the aftershocks, caressing his torso and his face. When he was finally able to regain his bearings, she was still sitting on top of him, but her mouth was no longer close to his cock. He already missed it.

She smiled down at him and licked her lips. “I love the way you taste.”

Matt shuddered, this time from the words alone.

Holly settled on top of him, laying the length of her body along his. “I want you to take me now,” she instructed in a hoarse whisper.

Matt swallowed hard. He reached out to bury his fingers into the golden cascade of her hair and pulled her down for a soft kiss. He could taste himself on her tongue, but he didn’t mind. Holly sat up, straddling him once again. Matt put his hands on her hips and looked up at her. God, but she was beautiful! She was ready to ride him, and Matt had never been more ready to give himself to someone.

He lifted her gently, and she followed his movement, lowering herself onto his erection. Holly began to swing her hips up and down and sideways, and every time she moved, Matt moved with her. He lifted his hips enough to meet her every movement halfway in perfect synchrony. This was true harmony, he realized. Their bodies were dancing together, a dance their nerves and bones and muscles knew by heart. Holly knew how to drive him crazy. She alternated long, languid movements to hungry, urgent shoves. In turn, Matt rewarded with slow strokes and frantic thrusts.

Soon enough, he found himself no longer knowing where was up and where was down. That was the power of Holly—she could make him lose himself and find himself all at the same time. That was the irresistible, inescapable hold she had on him.

The rhythm soon became more frantic, until both of their breathing were completely erratic, and they were both at the mercy of their bodies. There was no more room for words or thoughts. There was just this—two bodies moving in unison, suspended between space and time.

Matt held on for as long as he could, but finally his world exploded once again. Dimly, through the haze of his own climax, he felt her clench around him and shudder on top of him. They cried out in unison. Matt wrapped his arms around her and guided her to lie down on his chest as they both rode the highs of their pleasure.

Finally, Matt lay spent. Holly still shuddered on top of him from time to time, and he stroked her hair. Eventually, she also lay still. She moved after a moment, gently disentangling from his embrace and climbing off of him. Matt couldn’t avoid feeling a slight sense of loss as his now limp cock slid out of her warm embrace.

Holly lay down next to him on her side, and Matt mimicked the move in order to face her. Her beautiful face was alight with the afterglow. He imagined he must look just as content, because she smirked at him.

“You liked that, didn’t you?”

Matt grinned right back. “You have no idea.”

Holly chuckled. “I think I do.”

Matt reached out to lay an arm across her waist. His fingertips gently caressed her naked back.

“Why did you do this?”

Holly frowned. “What do you mean?”

Matt licked his lips. He felt suddenly nervous. “You haven’t been very…uh…well…you didn’t seem to be much into me lately.”

Holly smiled. “Oh, Matt,” she said. “I’m always into you.” She leaned him to kiss him. It was a chaste kiss, but it stirred the latent butterfly in his stomach anyway. “Sometimes the things we’re running from catch up with me, that’s all.”

Matt nodded. “Fair enough,” he conceded. “But we’re not running. We’re just taking some time off to search for ourselves.” It was his favorite lie to himself, and he thought it was as right a moment as any to share it.

Holly gave him a gentle smile. She shook her head. “We’re running, Matt. It might not sound pretty, but that’s what we’re doing.”