Mated To The Devil (16 page)

Could this be the rest of her life? It seemed too good to be true. And so tempting.

After the dishes were washed and the table cleared, she sent a grinning Jacques up to dress. When she would have followed them outside to the truck, Remy grabbed her arm.

“Nope. You’re staying here.
Hockey stick shopping is for boys
.” He grinned and winked as he said it, letting her know the source of his words.

Her son already drawing the lines between mama’s duties and his new father both pleased and saddened her. “I see. I guess I’m staying behind then. What can I do to help out? Vacuum maybe or do some laundry?”

“You can get that delectable body of yours naked, fill up that tub with hot water and bubbles, then soak. I don’t want you getting out until you’re a wrinkled prune.”

Her mouth rounded into an
O
of surprise. “But it’s the morning.”

“And?”

And mothers, especially single ones, didn’t take long, hot baths when there was always something to be done. “It just seems so lazy.”

“Exactly. It’s time you learned to relax. I’ve got Jacques covered.”

She gnawed her lower lip. “I don’t know. He can be quite the handful.”

“So can I.” Remy winked and she dropped her eyes, not a really good idea as she got a peek at his evident handful. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and Remy chuckled. “Go and do something for yourself for a change.”

It seemed rude to keep arguing, especially when it sounded heavenly. Jacques was his son. She had to believe Remy when he said he’d never let anything happen to him. A smile curved her lips. “Thank you. That sounds divine.”

Actually, it went beyond divine into blissful. Soaking in the hot water, not worrying about how she’d pay the rent or how she’d stretch the last box of Kraft Dinner, she relaxed for the first time in years. The warm water caressed her skin, the pleasantly scented vapors encouraging her to close her eyes as she bathed. She even dozed off for a bit, waking suddenly to notice the water starting to chill, and with the sensation she wasn’t alone. Up she splashed, her arms automatically crossing over her chest.

Peeking through damp lashes, she saw Remy standing in the bathroom doorway, his expression rapt, the familiar glow lighting his eyes. She gasped, and his focus zeroed in on her face instead of parts farther south.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his voice gruff. “I came home and you didn’t answer, so I thought I should check on you.”

“I fell asleep,” she admitted sheepishly.

“You took my advice then,” he countered. “Good girl. I should probably leave.” He didn’t move.

A shiver went through her, and Mina licked her lips. “I should get out.” Not a muscle twitched. As if frozen, they remained with their gazes locked, the air charged with a sensual static that hardened her nipples, thankfully hidden by her crossed arms.

The sight of him and her relaxed state made it hard to think, but she retained enough of her wits to ask, “Where’s Jacques?”

“With my dad. And they won’t be back for hours.”

The implication couldn’t have been clearer.

Remy knelt alongside the tub and reached to the side, never breaking their locked gaze, and snagged a towel. Holding it open, he silently beckoned her.

She hesitated.

It’s too soon.

It’s been too long.

I need more time.

It’s inevitable, so why fight it?

Mina argued with herself, knowing if she took his hand, she would be saying
yes
to what shone in his eyes. If she rose from the water, a naked, wet Venus, she would in effect invite him to do what she’d dreamed of. Remy would make her body sing, and there would be no going back. No more pretending. No more hiding.

She stood, the water streaming down her body, self-conscious and her cheeks pink, but she held herself straight. Let him see what he was getting, stretch marks from her pregnancy, rounded belly, and not so perky breasts. Let him reject her now if he didn’t want her. She felt like the most brazen of whores.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered as he got to his feet. The tension eased out of her. She lifted her arms as he enveloped her in the towel, but before she could step forth from the tub, he’d swept her against his chest. For a moment he held her tightly to him, the fast beat of his heart against her cheek. She closed her eyes and listened to it, enjoying the closeness.

He rubbed the edge of his jaw over her hair. Soft lips kissed her temple, and one hand came up to tilt her chin before cupping her cheek. She met his softly glowing gaze. “I’m sorry, baby. I know I promised I’d take it slow and court you like you deserve, but I can’t think when you’re around.”

She raised a hand and ran it across his bristled cheek. “I know the feeling.”

“I will make it up to you,” he promised. Before she could tell him he already had, he crushed his mouth to hers.

Oh, sweet sin. A fire swept through her. Or was it a tidal wave, deluging her senses, overwhelming her with need. And hunger. She hungered for more of his touch. Wanted to bask in the sinful pleasure she’d tried to deny for so long.

She gripped Remy’s hair, devouring his mouth frantically, and he moaned. She feared doing something wrong and pulled back.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

He growled. “Do you know how long I’ve dreamed of holding you like this? Kissing you. Touching you. The only way you could hurt me now is if you tell me to stop.”

“I don’t want you to stop.” Nor did she ever want him to let her go. Despite the fact they barely knew each other, a bond existed between them, a link she could not deny, a link she wanted to explore. She wanted him to care for her, to care for their son, to love her even if she lacked the courage to look him in the eyes to say the words in her heart.

He kissed her again, a more gentle embrace, but it still fanned the flames of her arousal. She opened her mouth at his urging, tentatively touching her tongue to his. At his groan, she grew bolder and closed her teeth softly on his tongue. Oh, my, how he kissed her then. Mina lost all sense of her surroundings, her world narrowing down to just Remy. Sweet Remy.

Fabric hit her back as he lowered her to a mattress. His? Hers? It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered at the moment but the pleasure invading all her senses. He broke the kiss, leaving her lips swollen and bereft. But when she opened her eyes to see why, she caught him stripping his shirt from his torso.

What a work of art. Wide-shouldered, lean muscles leading to a narrow waist, his cocoa-colored flesh tempted her. She raised her hands and only hesitated a moment before placing her palms flat on his skin. Soft to the touch, yet she could feel the hardness underneath, the muscles toned by work. She slid her hands up as he bent back down until the points of her nipples brushed his chest. He dipped his head to resume their kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders so that her fingers could weave through his coarse hair. Wiry and much shorter than when they met, the texture of it fascinated her.

“Too long?” he murmured against her mouth.

“Actually, I kind of liked the wild mane you sported back in college,” she replied.

“Then I’ll grow it out.” Words were forgotten as their embrace increased in intensity. His hands roamed her skin, the parts he could touch. He slid down her body, losing the latch of her mouth, but she didn’t protest as he dragged his lips down her neck.

The flick of his tongue against a nipple saw her back arching off the bed. He used his body to pin her down, his hands grasping hers and trapping them before he once again caressed her constricted nub. She felt the pleasure of it right down to her cleft. And when he sucked her breast into his mouth, his teeth applying pressure, she rubbed her mound against him, wanton and loving it.

The ache in her demanded satisfaction, but Mina didn’t know how to ask. What to ask for. She moaned. Gasped. Wriggled her hips, looking for relief, but instead of covering her body with his own, Remy dropped lower and lower.

“What are you doing?” she managed to sputter, her last coherent words before his tongue lashed at her clit and sent her spiraling through a tunnel of bliss so pure, she saw heaven.

* * * *

Good intentions and promises to take it slow went out the window the moment Remy saw Mina naked in the tub. He couldn’t resist her silky white skin. Couldn’t resist the chance to touch her. Kiss her. Mark her for the world. Tie her to him in any way he could.
Because I can’t lose her again.

Oh, how she exceeded all his wildest fantasies. Sweetness, innocence, and perfection in one woman. Feasting on her mouth drove him wild. Caressing her perfect breasts proved a painful torture. But feeling her come on his tongue when he placed his mouth upon her sex, her scream of bliss a sound so pure he almost came himself? He needed to be a part of it. Needed to meld with her.

As her pleasure rippled through her, he poised himself over her body and eased his cock into her tight sheath, the velvety walls of her spasming sex gripping tightly. Dear god. So welcoming. So hot. So fucking unbelievable. With a yell that contained a lot of howling, he thrust, setting a rhythm she soon joined. Her short, panting breaths, her fingers gripping his shoulders, and her rocking hips let him know that despite her first bout of bliss, she prepared for a second climax.

He intended to join her. Faster he pumped, her legs spread wide to accommodate him, his body slapping against her welcoming flesh.

Joined together and moving in rhythm, Remy stroked her with his cock and talked dirty to her. “Come for me, baby. Come on. Show me how you like it. Scream for me again.”

Her head thrashed. “I—I—”

“Say it. Tell me to fuck you, baby.” He thrust. “Tell me. Show me. Let that sweet pussy of yours come all around my big fucking cock.” He couldn’t help talking dirty to her, each raunchy word tightening the muscles of her channel until he yelled as he came. But he didn’t come alone.

With a screamed “Remy!” Mina joined him, her molten channel milking him in waves, drawing out their pleasure and leaving him spent and panting atop her. He found himself tracing the shape of her scar with his tongue, the light sheen of sweat on her skin a salty pleasure. He could have stayed that way forever, but he felt the moment she realized what they’d done, the moment reality set in. Her body lost its languor, and her fingers loosened their grip.

He raised his head and gave her a fierce stare. “Don’t you dare regret what we did, baby.”

“I don’t.” She lied, then blushed at his arched brow. “Okay, maybe a little voice in my head is screaming ‘Sinner!’ ”

“Making love with each other is not a sin.”

“But is it love or lust? We barely know each other.”

“I know enough.”

“Do you?” She stared him in the eyes as she asked.

“I do. It doesn’t take time or a genius to recognize what a prize you are, baby.”

“A prize?” She snorted. “A prize loser.”

“Loser?” He smirked at her, and his eyes crinkled with mischief. “I would say you scored. Twice.”

Her cheeks turned bright, and she didn’t reply.

“I am not going anywhere. Ever. I am in it for the long haul, baby. You say I don’t know you, and I say bullshit. I already know plenty about you.”

“Oh, yeah, like what?”

“I know that you’re a fighter, you’d do anything to protect our boy. Which leads me to the fact you’re a great mother.”

“And how can you tell that?”

“Anyone who can handle an active pup like Jacques on her own . . . Damn, baby, that boy is like a whirlwind. And the questions. I never knew someone could ask so many.”

She grinned. “He is rather curious.”

“You’re patient, hardworking, caring. You laugh at my stupid knock-knock jokes. You’re willing to give a jerk like me a second chance. You’re beautiful.”

“Cute.”

He cupped her cheeks forcing her to face him. “Beautiful,” he reiterated. “And mine.”

“Yours?” She repeated the word almost breathlessly.

“Oh, yes, mine. Mine, oh mine, oh mine. Baby, I can’t imagine living another minute without you.”

“Really?”

“Most definitely,” he whispered against her lips. Their kiss started out soft and sweet. As if their passion could stay that restrained for long.

A short while later, she screamed his name, flooding him with possessive satisfaction. He’d weathered the first big storm. This time, she stayed loose and smiling in his arms, even falling asleep for a short while cradled against him.
She’s starting to trust me.
The realization awed him even as the damned dust in the room tickled his throat.

Tracing her fine ivory features, he watched her as she slept, eventually waking her with soft caresses that culminated in another climax in the shower as he rinsed the traces of their lovemaking from her skin.

But he couldn’t do anything about the soft smile hovering on her lips or the brightness of her eyes. It was a look she wore well. And when their son came home looking for them both? A perfect end to a perfect afternoon.

* * * *

Remy and Mina were in the kitchen when his father returned home with Jacques. The boy flew in with a mile-wide grin and proceeded to tell them about his day. The excitement of his adventure was contagious, and Remy joined Mina in exclaiming over his luck. As Mina prepared a snack, Pierre grabbed Remy by the arm and pulled—aka dragged—him into the living room.

“What the fuck did you do?” whispered his father with brows drawn. “I can smell her all over you. I thought I told you to wait? To take it fucking slow and court her, dammit.”

“I know. And I meant to.” Remy sighed. “It’s my fault. I thought I could handle having her so close, but it seems even sober, where’s she’s concerned, I just can’t help myself.”

“You lost control again?” His father gave him a light cuff on the arm. “You idiot! Are you trying to scare her off?”

“No. And you can stop freaking out. Look at her.” He forced his father to peek through the kitchen entrance. As if sensing their gaze, Mina looked up and smiled, a radiant thing of beauty that swelled his heart. Remy returned her happy grin and then turned, forcing his father to follow suit. “As odd as it might seem, I think she might have needed the connection more than I did. She’s got some serious abandonment issues. All she wants is to feel close to someone, that someone cares and is looking out for her. I gave her that.” And more . . .