Trace & Tori [The ShadowDance Club 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (15 page)

Holding Tori in the whirlpool was almost heaven on earth, and Trace knew just exactly how to make it perfect. Slowly moving his hands up to her shoulders, he massaged them gently until he felt her muscles go lax under his work-roughened hands. “Turn around, princess. I want to feel those beautiful breasts against my chest, and I want to be able to look in to your beautiful eyes as I sink my cock deep inside your sweet heat.”

Trace could practically feel the shift in her energy as she repositioned herself in his lap. Looking deep into her eyes, he watched as they dilated with her arousal. As he shifted so that he could slide in to her tight pussy, he watched the base of her throat and saw the exact moment her pulse and respiration rates accelerated. “Are you wet for me, my little snow angel?”
Oh my God in Heaven, I may not survive this woman. She already owns my heart and soul.
Trace thought his cock was going to explode as he rubbed the engorged head over the swollen lips of her labia. The feel of her heated flesh was just about the most amazing moment of anticipation he’d ever experienced. He wasn’t sure who he was tormenting more, and soon it was more than he could take, and he plunged in so deep, he felt the head of his cock bump Tori’s cervix.

Trace plunged deep and he heard her gasp just before she moaned his name. “Trace…oh my God…Yes.” He watched as she leaned back into the water. He knew her new position would cause a shift in pressure and intensity as his rigid length passed over her sweet spot. He watched for the shudder that signaled she was rapidly approaching the point of no return. She had told him that she shuddered because it always felt as if lightning was racing up her spine.

And there it was. Trace watched her back bow, as if she’d been hoisted by an invisible line tied around her torso. He loved watching as she lost herself to the pleasure and wave after wave of pure ecstasy washed over her sweet face.

Trace had wondered if he could maintain his control as he watched Tori move just fractionally so that she was shifted to the perfect angle for the head of his cock to rub the spongy spot at the front of her channel. He had nearly come himself when her pussy had clamped down on him like a vise. The feeling of being squeezed by hot, wet velvet had been almost more than he could take, and holding off had been an exercise in sheer will power. The channel of her pussy had flexed and squeezed in a primal mating rhythm as old as time, and Trace felt Tori’s ecstasy as her climax peaked several times in rapid succession. When she finally began to come back down from the peak of her release, the look of sated bliss that passed over her face touched him so deeply, he felt tears build and had to quickly blink them away.
Great way to show her what a strong Dom you are - cry just watching her come, geez, Bartell, get a fucking grip.
When he’d finally regained enough emotional control to speak, he simply said, “Beautiful.”

Tori’s sweet smile was followed by another intense flex of her vaginal walls that immediately redirected his attention to where he was still buried deep inside her warmth. Just as he was about to move he saw goose bumps spread over her softly rounded abdomen and knew he would have to wait until she was dry and warm in his bed before he found his own release. “You’re cold, come on, princess, let’s get you out of this water, dried, and warmed up. And then I’m going to make sweet love to you.” He knew she was ready to argue, but he covered her lips with his own and kissed her as he stood and stepped from the water. Grabbing a towel from the warming bar, he wrapped her in its plush warmth.

Moving to the bedroom after they were both dry, Tori felt herself being lowered on to the softest bed she’d ever known. It was like laying on a cloud. Looking up into Trace’s face, she lost herself in his eyes and knew she would never find another man she would love more. The speed at which they had recognized love in each other still shocked her. Bringing her hand up to caress the side of his face, she felt herself being carried away on a wave of desire that would only be satisfied when she knew he’d lost himself in her body just as she’d lost herself in his a few minutes ago. The strength of her earlier orgasm had surprised her, she hadn’t been ready for the depth of the connection between them and had fought the tears that had threatened to fall.
Oh yeah, Tori, way to turn a hot guy on, cry when he gives you the best orgasm of your entire life.

“What was that thought, sweetness? And I’ll remind you, don’t even think about trying to lie to me, because I’ll know.” Trace had watched her eyes as they had flashed with something that had looked too much like self-recrimination for his comfort. He knew it would take a long time to reprogram her thinking, and he smiled to himself knowing he had several decades to get it done.

“Well, I was just thinking that, well…our connection is so strong for some reason that I can’t even begin to understand or explain and well…we just seem to click so perfectly. And, well, I don’t want to mess it up. And I am so good at messing things up…and…”

He noticed Tori wouldn’t even look at him now. She obviously wasn’t used to having anyone who really cared about her feelings. He didn’t want her to think her answer might have gone too far. It was important that she understand how important her honesty was and how much deeper their bond would be if they were completely open with one another. It saddened him to think that she had never been with anyone who asked or cared about how she felt. He wanted her to know he would not only ask, but that he would actually listen to her answers also. He would always listen to her, with his ears and his heart, and it was apparent to him that she just wasn’t accustomed to that sort of intense attention.

“Princess, look at me.” When she didn’t look up at him, he shifted from lying alongside her so that he was lying over her cradled between her legs. Holding himself up enough that she had no choice but to look at him, he said, “And? Finish it, Victoria. There will be no secrets between us. I won’t allow it.” His tone had taken on more of what she was quickly coming to recognize as his Dom tone, and it was a voice she’d found her body responded to almost before her mind had a chance to process the words. Trace hadn’t planned to top her tonight, but he could see Tori was struggling. She was trying to back away emotionally, but he was going to rope her and bring her right back to his heart using the role she seemed to respond to without even thinking.

When she looked up into his face, he hoped she would see her own strength of spirit reflected in his eyes. He waited patiently for her to answer. “I was just thinking that I was so completely flattened by the connection I felt during the orgasm I had a few minutes ago and…well, I…I almost cried because it was so deep and I knew if I did, well, what a turnoff would that be?” He smiled at her because she had spit it all out so fast, and now he could see that she was almost like a balloon that someone had poked a small hole in, she looked like she was slowly deflating.

“Oh, my love, I felt that same depth and had to pull myself back from that very same edge. And rest assured, sweetheart, I’ll never be turned off by your tears. I will celebrate the tears of joy, mourn the tears of sadness, and I’ll treasure the ones that I know are just meant to tell me I’ve touched your soul.”

His lips brushed over hers in a sweet press of warmth, and he added, “The tears that let me know I’ve rocked your world are the sweetest ones of all, and I’ll be honored when you trust me enough to let me see those. And if you have had a bad day and just feel like crying to vent all that frustration, I’ll hold you and kiss the tears away. I want it all, princess, every little piece of you is important to me.” Moving so the head of his cock was right at the entrance to her heat, he watched her eyes fill with tears and smiled when she let them roll down her temples. Leaning to each side, he kissed the tear tracks and then whispered sweet words of love into her ear as he slid deep into her tight pussy. He told her how amazing her cunt felt as it pulled him deeper with each stroke. Trace had always loved being a Dominant when it came to sex, but right at this moment he wasn’t sure there was anything better than just making sweet love to the woman in his arms.

Tori found herself completely lost in the magic of the moment as she felt her body race to the edge of release. But she couldn’t seem to grasp it. “Oh please…it’s so close, but I can’t…it’s so very close…why can’t I get it?”

Tori didn’t realize she had spoken the words aloud until Trace answered her. “Oh, princess, you are so fucking perfect for me. You can’t get there with straight vanilla sex, can you? Fuck me but you are the most amazing woman on the planet and you are mine.
All mine!
Let me show you the way, princess.” Pulling from her depths, Trace quickly flipped her over and pulled her ass high in the air before plunging in again. He set a pounding pace and just as he reached around her and pinched her swollen clit he whispered in her ear. “Come for me, princess.”

The words had no sooner left his lips than she felt herself shatter beneath him, and she was gratified to know she had taken him right along with her. She felt Trace’s cum shooting against her cervix, and she remembered the evening he’d explained a Dom’s primal sense of satisfaction knowing he’d planted his seed deep within the woman he loved. Someday soon she hoped they would begin the family they’d talked about that night as they’d watched the dying embers fade in the fireplace. Tori would always treasure the time they had spent as friends while becoming lovers, those hours had provided a foundation of trust they had both needed, and she was sure that foundation would help their marriage hold up to the daily strain relationships endured just as a part of living together.

Finding a woman who was strong enough to submit was a blessing beyond any Trace had ever even been brave enough to pray for. And having Tori wrapped in his arms was just about the best feeling in the world. “Princess, you are a gift straight from heaven. I have no clue what I could have ever done that would put me in such good graces with the Universe above, but I am oh so happy with the outcome. You belong to me and no one hurts what’s mine.”

Tori gasped when Trace flexed his semierect cock inside her for emphasis. Brushing his fingertips in slow circles over her temples, he told her, “I’m going to keep myself inside you as we go to sleep because I want you to know in the most basic way that you belong to me sweetheart.” Pulling her to her side with his cock still buried deep inside her, he felt her shudder as his possessive words of ownership sunk in, and he felt as if a radiant joy had settled deep in his heart as she settled against him in acceptance. He knew the instant she let sleep take her, and when he knew she was deeply asleep, he let sweet slumber claim him as well. Just before nodding off, Trace remembered that Jamie Creed was keeping watch in the house and had likely heard them both cry out their release, and his inner caveman was filled with pride.

* * * *

Jamie Creed had been walking through the Bartell ranch house when he’d heard the unmistakable sound of flesh slapping flesh just before he’d heard Trace speaking softly and then Tori’s scream. Smiling to himself, he silently cheered his friend on. He couldn’t think of anyone who deserved happiness more than Trace Bartell, and even though there was just a small piece of him that wished he could find a woman who would fit him as perfectly, he also knew that karma was going to be a bitch for him.

There wasn’t any way to paint it that didn’t look bleak. His years as a sniper had put a lot of black marks on his soul. Would there ever be a woman who could deal with the darkness he’d seen and done? Would he recognize her if she showed up on his doorstep? Somehow he doubted it, but he also remembered the words Rissa had spoken to him last New Year’s Eve before the whole party had gone FUBAR. She’d slipped up beside him and squeezed his hand and said, “She’s out there. You’ll see, and when she walks in to your life, you’ll feel your whole world shift on its axis.” When he’d looked down at the beautiful pint-sized, green-eyed pixie, he’d been humbled by the sincerity painting her sweet face. Then she’d stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek and whispered, “Happy New Year, Jamie” and then walked back in to her husband’s arms. Bryant Davis had looked up and smiled at him with a knowing look then hugged her tightly to his chest, and Jamie had felt like she’d handed him a gift box filled with hope for a future he had barely allowed himself to even dream about.

Four Months Later

“Oh my God, they are so amazing. And it was nice of you to have three so we could each hold one at the same time.” Rissa was sitting in the wooden rocker in the baby suite with little Christopher Lamont resting comfortably on her own growing baby bump.

Kat Lamont handed baby Daniel to his Aunt Jenna who quickly snuggled him against her neck and started pacing the room. Jenna laughed and said, “Sure, give me the one that always has to be on the move to be happy.” Kat smiled at her best friend and sister-in-law, because she knew Jenna’s words were pure jest.

“Well, I’m no dummy, and I’m exhausted, but don’t tell my husbands or I’ll never get to leave this damned house.” Kat sighed and started to close her eyes until she heard a sound behind her.

“Language, Katarina, and I will have you know Zach and I are already all too aware of how exhausted you are. Falling fast asleep during dinner was a pretty big clue, love.” Alex moved around her to take his sweet daughter, Mary Catherine from her mama’s tired arms. Looking at the baby’s pink cheeks and softly curling strawberry blonde hair, he nuzzled her neck and started talking to her as if she were full grown rather than six weeks old. “You are going to be a daddy’s girl, aren’t you, sweetheart? You are going to be the cooperative one, too, I can already tell.” As he moved to stand near one of the large windows, he looked up at the others in the room and noted they were all staring at him as if he’d grown another head. “What?” he said, irritated that they obviously thought his sweet words were out of character.
Damn, don’t they know that my heart melts every time I pick up any of my children?
But even he had to admit, Mary Kate, as she was already being called, had stolen his heart and soul the minute she had burst forth in to the world. She’d been the first and had been screaming at the top of her lungs until the nurse had handed the screeching bundle to him, and miraculously she had gone instantly silent and just looked directly into his eyes. And as if deeming him worthy in less than a heartbeat, she had settled down and gone instantly to sleep. It had continued to be like that each time she was upset. Her beautiful mama could be at her wits’ end and all either he or Zach had to do was pick up their daughter and she was immediately content. Both of the boys seemed to favor a woman’s touch.
Smart boys, our sons!