Elite Metal-ARE-epub (101 page)

“And what if I don’t?”

“I don’t believe that,” he countered. “You know what I think? I think you’re afraid. I think you’re just like me. I’m always making jokes and running away when shit gets tough. You know why?”

“No,” she murmured.

“I do it because I’m afraid of rejection. I’m afraid of failure. But you know what, Poppy? I’m not afraid anymore. For you? I’m willing to risk it all. I’m willing to stay here and put in the hard work to prove that you can trust me with your heart—when you’re ready.”

“Silver…”

“I think you hide behind your perfect manners and your ice queen persona to protect yourself. Maybe it’s because of the way you lost your parents when you were just a little girl or maybe it’s something else completely.”

“Silver,” she said, her tone warning.

“No. Let me finish.” Taking her hands, he brought them up toward his chest and leaned down to kiss her knuckles. “I think that someone, somewhere, in your past twisted you up inside and convinced you that men are bad or love is a joke. I’m standing here telling you that person lied to you, Poppy.”

“You don’t know me, Silver.” She tried to pull away but he held tight.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “I don’t know you, but I sure want to, PJ. I want to know if you wear socks to bed and what type of cereal you like in the mornings. I want to know if you leave your towels on the floor and if you sleep with the television on or off.” He planted a lingering kiss on her forehead. “I want to learn everything there is to know about you, Poppy Jones.”

She swallowed and licked her lips. There was no mistaking the fear in her eyes—or the hopefulness. “I sleep barefoot, and I never leave towels on the floor. Sometimes I fall asleep with the television on, but I never eat cereal in the mornings.”

“What? Not even Lucky Charms?”

She swatted his arm hard. “Enough with the Irish jokes!”

“Come on! You walked right into that one, baby.”

Her back stiffened, and she pursed her lips. “You have to stop calling me pet names at work.”

“Fair enough.” She was right. This was her domain, and he damn well needed to respect her position and her authority. He leaned down and kissed her. “But I reserve the right to call you sugar, baby, sweetheart and honey when we’re alone.”

She smiled up at him. “I’d like that.”

“You know what I’d like?”

“No. What?”

“That shower you were talking about—and then your bed.”

“My house is close.”

The thought of driving to her house made him remember his bike. “Shit! My bike!”

“It’s parked in the maintenance bay. You can get it tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” He breathed a little easier knowing it was safe. “What about the intel?”

“Tomorrow,” she said and patted his chest. “We’ll write our reports and debrief tomorrow. Tonight? You have a promise to keep.”

Silver grinned.
Hell. Yes.

Chapter Six

A mass of nervous butterflies swarmed in her belly as she turned off the shower. She had insisted on showering alone and had directed Silver to the guest bathroom. He hadn’t been very happy about that, but she had needed a few minutes to get her head right.

Once you do this, you can’t take it back.
Silver would be a permanent fixture around the headquarters. If she wasn’t ready to commit to a relationship, this one night of torrid passion would burn them in the most awful way. Professionally and personally, it would be a nightmarish maze of hurt feelings and awkward encounters to navigate.

I want him.

I want a relationship with him.

I’m tired of being afraid.

“Sugar?”

“Just a second.” She reached outside the curtain for a towel but the bar was empty.

“You looking for this?” With deliberate slowness, Silver drew back the curtain. Freshly showered, he stood on her fluffy bathmat in only his birthday suit. He held her towel in his hand and used it to artfully shield his package.

The man was utter perfection. Her hungry and very appreciative gaze raked his lean, muscled form. She could count every ridge in his abdomen and couldn’t wait to get her hands on his hard chest. Full sleeve tattoos covered both arms and swirled over to join tribal-inspired pieces on his chest. Glancing at the mirror, she noticed the massive and intricate piece spanning his back.

“Wow,” she breathed in awe.

He laughed softly. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

She looked down at her unmarked skin. “I’m just pink and freckled. You?” She gestured to his chest and arms. “You’re a piece of art.”

“This piece of living art wants to get up close and personal with every freckle on your pretty pink skin.” He took her hand and guided her out of the tub and onto the mat. With such gentle softness, he dabbed at her skin and squeezed the water from her hair. No man had ever done this for her. She stood still and relished his attentiveness.

When he dropped the wet towel on the floor, she bit back the reprimand that burned the tip of her tongue.
Later
, she reminded herself. She could teach him her ways later.

Starting at her hairline, Silver began dotting ticklish, sweet kisses along her skin. His lips danced across her cheeks and nose and lingered on her mouth before drifting lower. He was so tall that had to kneel when he started kissing her breasts. He took more time there, cupping her warm flesh and swirling his tongue around each nipple. He drew the peaks into his mouth, suckling and tugging until her fingers were in his hair, gripping hard as she bucked her hips and wondered if anything would ever feel as good as this again.

Still rolling her nipples between his forefingers and thumbs, Silver trailed a line of playful kisses down her belly. He skimmed her navel before kissing each hip and then moving down her thighs. He made it all the way to her toes before doubling back and retracing his steps.

This time, he pressed a kiss right to her mound. She gripped the white marble vanity counter behind her and tried to remember to breathe as his mouth inched closer and closer to the spot she most wanted him to touch. With a slow shove, he parted her thighs and nuzzled his face against her pussy.

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” she whispered as he rubbed his surprisingly soft beard against her tender and very sensitive feminine core. He used his big thumbs to part her lips and dragged his tongue up and down her seam. Dipping inside her entrance, he lingered there for a moment before returning his attention to her now throbbing clitoris.

He lifted her right leg and draped her knee over his shoulder. Wide open to his exploration, she inhaled shaky breaths as he lapped at her pussy. His tongue fluttered over the swollen kernel of her clitoris. He alternated languid flicks with long, sucking pulls that drove her wild. She ran her fingers through his hair and strained to stay upright.
Don’t fall. Don’t fall.

As if reading her mind, he glanced up at her and smiled wickedly. “Let go, sugar. I’ll catch you if you fall.”

And there it was. It was a promise that he would keep. He didn’t mean only right now while they were making love. He meant always and forever. All she had to do was ask and he would come through for her.
If I fall, he’ll catch me.

Overcome with emotions she hadn’t expected to feel, she caressed his handsome face. “Take me to bed.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Like a groom on his wedding night, he swept her up into his arms and carried her out of the bedroom. After placing her in the center of the bed, he crawled over her and captured her mouth with sensual kisses.

“Now, where was I?” He pecked each breast and then her lower belly. “Here?” He kissed her left hip. “Here?” He kissed the right one. “No.” He slid down to his stomach and shoved her thighs wide open. “I think I was right here.”

When his mouth landed on her clitoris, Poppy cried out with sheer joy. He attacked her pussy like a man with something to prove. Gripping the comforter, Poppy held on for dear life as he lashed her with that wicked, wicked tongue. Too soon, she was right on the edge of an orgasm that promised to be one of the best of her life. She tried to fight the building surge but it was futile. Silver was just too damned good at this.

“Silver!” Shouting out her pleasure, Poppy rolled up onto her shoulders as the first blissful waves rocked her body. Silver gripped her hips and held her down, keeping her trapped while his sinful mouth did wild and dirty things. His tongue fluttered around her clitoris until she thought she just might die from the powerful spasms of ecstasy.

When he eased off his sensual torment, he dipped his tongue into her, thrusting it in and out of her as if to prepare her for his cock. He seemed intent on discovering every part of her as he lapped and licked. Eventually, he returned his attention to her clit. She didn’t think it was possible to coax another orgasm out of that pink pearl—but she was dead wrong.

“Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh. God!” Poppy smacked at his shoulders, clawing at his inked skin as she rode his face. The second orgasm he gave her was even better than the first. It didn’t seem possible but he had proven her wrong. He worked her into a frenzied, wild state before showing some mercy and leaving her poor, overworked clitoris alone.

Silver’s mouth and hands meandered along her body. He caressed her belly and breasts and kissed her stomach. When she squeezed her knees together in an attempt to assuage the pulsing beat between her thighs, he skimmed his tongue over the curve of her hip and waist. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to regain her breath.

He made good use of her new position. Kneading her bottom, he grazed his beard side to side over her back and elicited the most delicious shivers. “Your skin is so beautiful, Poppy.” He pressed a kiss right between her shoulders. “I wish you could see how pink you are when you come.”

The statement made her ears hot. As if goaded on by her response, Silver covered her body with his own and nuzzled his mouth against her ear. “I could eat that sweet pussy of yours all night long.”

She shivered with excitement.

He slipped a hand between her thighs and forced them apart. Very carefully, he probed her slick heat. “Look how wet you are for me.” One finger and then two speared her passage. “Fuck, you’re so tight. I can’t wait to feel your juicy cunt squeezing down on my cock.”

Her body reacted to his filthy words in the most natural way. A new flush of arousal darkened her skin, and her pussy fluttered around the fingers pumping in and out of her. When Silver shifted behind her, he pressed his erection against her buttocks. “Feel how hard you make me, Poppy.” He rubbed his cock against her bottom again. “Do you want me inside you, baby?”

“Yes!” She practically screamed the word. “Take me,” she begged. “
Please.
”

Silver gripped her hip and flipped her onto her back. He shoved her legs apart with his knee, lined up their bodies and thrust deep. They both gasped at the sudden joining of their bodies. She had never been so stretched or filled. Rocking her hips, she tried to take more of him. “Silver.”

“Dammit, Poppy.” He bit his lower lip and dropped his forehead to hers. “You’re killing me, sugar.”

Delighted by the roughness in his voice, she stroked the taut muscles in his neck before grasping his shoulders. He sat back on his heels and clasped her waist. He took her with slow, deep thrusts that made her body sing. He touched places inside her that made her toes curl.

As if to prove that he truly was a man of many talents
and
a multitasker, he licked the pad of his thumb and pressed it against her clitoris. He rubbed light circles around her clit while pumping into her, each stroke harder and faster than the one before it.

By now, Poppy was clawing at the bedding. She gripped an iron bar on the headboard and clutched at his wrist as Silver drove her closer and closer to the edge. She wanted to come, but she also
didn’t
want to come. She wanted to drag this out forever, to feel the shuddery pleasurable bursts in her lower belly over and over again.

This orgasm was different than the first two. It came on her slowly, started deep in her core and rolled out through her belly and into her chest. The warmth surging through her body took away her breath and left her gasping and trembling and begging for more, more, more.

Lifting up to meet his thrusts, she demanded, “Harder, Silver.”

His mouth quirked with that sexy grin that had first made her heart flutter. “Remember you asked for it.”

A heartbeat later, he had flipped her onto her stomach. He pushed her thighs apart and covered her body with his bigger, hotter, heavier frame before thrusting into her. As he took her with a fervor she had never before experienced, he nibbled at her ear and whispered the dirtiest, naughtiest things. He had a whole list of wonderfully devious acts he intended to try with her—and she couldn’t wait to get started.

When Silver started sucking on her neck, she lost it. She rose up on her knees and rocked back against him, urging him onward with her moans and sighs. He fisted a handful of her hair and marked the curve of her throat with a love bite. “Poppy,” he panted her name. “
Poppy
!”

“Cum inside me, Silver,” she begged. This time the Irish accent of her childhood was on full display. This man—this handsome, complicated, frustrating man—shattered her control, and she didn’t think she had ever been happier.

Silver thrust deep, burying himself so far inside her it almost hurt, and let go. He filled her with the searing heat of his seed, jerking his hips and kissing her neck and shoulder. When they dropped down to the bed together, he dragged her on top of him and buried his face in her still wet and now terribly tangled hair.

For a long time, they simply kissed and touched and enjoyed the newness of their intimacy. In the heat of the moment, she had forgotten to tell him that she had birth control covered. Not wanting him to carry the guilt that rested squarely on both of their shoulders for that oversight, she said, “I have an IUD.”

She actually felt his muscles relax beneath her. “I feel like such an ass, Poppy. I’ve never done that. Been unsafe, I mean. I was tested when you had me kidnapped and tossed onto the payroll. I’m good.”