Hold on to Me (33 page)

Her sweet hand wrapped around the base of his cock, and then her tongue was there, sweeping across the tip, sending electrical vibrations all through his hips, and wiping every thought from his mind.

He groaned at the first touch. Then her mouth closed around the head, and she sucked. And whatever protest had been dangling from his tongue disappeared in the ether.

“Oh God,” he whispered, flexing against her, trying to get deeper.

She took the hint, and the pressure eased, just a touch, and then her tongue brushed the underside of his cock as she sank down, taking him so deep he couldn’t do anything but moan at the exquisite tightness of her mouth.

“Simone…” She drew her lips up to the tip again and circled, then sank down once more, taking him even deeper. The pressure increased, and he felt himself growing harder. Felt his climax racing toward him with the speed of a freight train barreling down the tracks. He knew he wasn’t going to last if she didn’t stop, but God, it felt good, and he didn’t want her to stop. But he also wanted her to come with him. Not alone. Somehow he found the strength to push up on one hand and grasp her shoulder. “Sweetheart, stop. I want you. Not just your mouth.”

Her tongue stroked the underside of his cock. Her body shifted between his legs. She moaned, and the vibration shook his body, sending electrical pulses all through his groin. His hand slipped on her shoulder. She lifted her head, then sank back down, taking him deeper, and then she sucked so hard his cock brushed the back of her throat. And when she swallowed, every last brain cell short-circuited.

“Oh, holy hell...” Stars erupted all across his vision. Heat consumed his body, felt like a firestorm igniting in an uncontrollable blaze. He fell back against the carpet. Lifted his hips. Groaned at the tightness, the suction, the utter perfection. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t everything. It wasn’t—

The pressure eased on his cock, and then she was there, climbing over him, kissing his belly, his abs, his chest, his neck, finding his mouth in a kiss he would never forget. He reached for her, slid one hand along her jaw, the other at her hip, dragging her close. “I love you,” he murmured against her, pulling her down, so thankful she’d already ditched her pants and that she was finally, gloriously naked against him. “So much. So damn much.”

Her knees brushed the outside of his hips, and then her hand closed around his cock, drawing it toward her, lining him up. And then she was sinking down, taking him in, drawing him deeper until she was all he felt and knew and needed.

“Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her, tipped his head, and kissed her with everything he had in him, everything he couldn’t say. She moaned again, stroked her tongue against his, and then she moved, rocking against him, dragging his cock along the tight walls of her channel, stroking him with her body until he could barely breathe.

She pulled her mouth from his, braced her hands on his chest, eased back, and flexed her hips, sliding her body up to the tip, then sinking back down, loving him slowly, deeply, so intensely he felt it everywhere. “Don’t let me go again. Just hold on to me. No matter how stupid I am. That’s all I want. All I ever want.”

He couldn’t take it anymore. Every emotion he’d had since he’d lost her condensed in the middle of his chest, opening a chasm inside him, one that only she could fill. He sat up, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her hips tight against his so he could get as deep as possible. “Never. I’ll never let you go again. I promise.”

His mouth captured hers. He kissed her wildly, with every ounce of passion he had left, and she returned his kiss tenfold, stealing his breath and heart and soul. Lifting his hips, he thrust harder inside her and knew he was hitting the perfect spot when she gasped and shuddered around him. His hips picked up speed. He knew she was close. Knew every one of her tells. She met his upstroke with her downward momentum, grew extremely tight and wet around him.

She licked into his mouth, grasped his face, and eased back. “I love you, Mitch. So much. So much more than you will ever know.”

That was it. All he could take. The orgasm exploded through his hips like fireworks roaring across the night sky before he could stop it, before he could make sure he got her there first, before he could do anything but feel. White light flooded his vision, and electrical pulses raced all through his body, making him shake. Everywhere.

Her slick flesh slid over his, her body tight, so tight around him as she continued to ride him, to draw out his climax so it went on and on in a blaze of heat and light he never wanted to end. She was everything. His past, his future, his world. And no matter what, he had to make sure she knew that.

She groaned again, and he knew she was close. He thrust harder, deeper, so badly wanting to feel her release. Then every muscle in her body contracted, she dragged her mouth from his and cried out, and he increased his speed, no longer caring about himself. No longer wanting anything but to bring her pleasure. And when she called his name, it was the sweetest, most perfect sound he’d ever heard.

She collapsed against him, tried to find her breath. Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, holding on to her like he’d said he would. Praying, as he tried to catch his own breath, that when he finally did tell her the truth, she wouldn’t want to walk away. Because suddenly, the only thing he wanted, the only solution that would ever set any of this mess right, was the two of them together. And whether that was here or somewhere far from here where no one could find them, he didn’t care. All that mattered was her. And this. And them.

He just hoped she loved him enough to agree.

M
itch shifted beneath Simone, and she tensed, then relaxed when she realized all he was doing was kicking his jeans away from his feet.

“You’re not thinking of leaving me like you did last night, are you?” she asked.

He buried his face in her hair and breathed deep. “Not on your life.”

She smiled and relaxed against him, snuggling in closer to his heat. When she shivered, he rolled her to her side and added, “But I don’t want you to freeze. Since I don’t happen to have my magic backpack with me right now, hold on a second.”

He sat up and grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and a pillow from the armrest. Shoving the pillow under his head, he lay back down on the soft carpet, then wrapped his arm around her again, pulling her into the crook of his arm as he spread the blanket over their entwined bodies. “Better?”

She sighed, hooked her leg over his, and rested her hand on his chest, then relaxed back into him, loving the warmth of his skin and that this was a thousand times different from last night. “Definitely better. I like your magic backpack, but I like this more.”

Outside, wind and sand and rain whipped against the house, but inside, it was warm and safe, everything Simone wanted. With her head on his chest, she could hear the beat of his heart, and unlike last night, his still-fast pulse didn’t do anything but reminder her that he was alive. And not going anywhere without her, at least not anymore.

They lay still together in silence, his fingers tracing a lazy path up and down her forearm on his chest as he watched the flickering flames in the fireplace, her just relishing that there was no more tension between them.

“What are you thinking?” she finally asked.

For a second, he didn’t answer, and though she couldn’t see his eyes, there was a faraway look on his face, one she didn’t like. Was he thinking about where they would go next? She had some thoughts, but she wasn’t sure she should bring them up yet. Though she was pretty sure that was their only option at this point. Neither of them had found anything in Steve’s boxes.

“I’m thinking I’m hungry. Like really hungry.” His brow lowered, forming the cutest wrinkle between his eyes, one she wanted to kiss from his face. “When did we last eat?”

“Um…breakfast. Ryan made pancakes.”

“That you didn’t eat.”

No, she hadn’t, had she? She’d been too upset. “I’m pretty sure I saw pasta fixings in the pantry.”

His stomach rumbled as if on cue, and his smile widened. “I think that’ll work.”

Reluctantly, she disengaged herself from his body and reached for his shirt on the floor. It hung past her thighs, but it smelled like him, and right now if she couldn’t be in his arms, she wanted at least something of his around her.

He tugged on his jeans, and she pushed her sleeves up, then pulled the two halves of his flannel shirt together and began buttoning it from the bottom up. His hand captured hers before she could get the last three done, and he pulled her around. “Leave those open. I’ve missed those breasts.”

Her whole body tightened at the heat she saw brewing in his eyes, and when he leaned down and kissed her, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him back with the same intensity, the same passion. God, how could she have ever thought she could walk away from this? She’d been so stupid. So incredibly, shitacularly stupid. But she was going to make it up to him. No matter what it took, no matter how long, she’d prove to him how much she needed him, even if it took the rest of her life.

Her muscles were quivering by the time he pulled away, her body lax and close to overheating. As she licked her lips, still tasting him, he smiled down at her and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, the move so tender, so intimate it felt like her heart turned over in her chest. “Show me where that pasta is.”

Pasta. Right. She could do that. Not him. Though she planned to do him again, several times, before this night was over. All part of her not-being-afraid-to-need-him plan.

She turned for the kitchen. “I’ll grab the noodles, you find a pot.”

She rummaged around in the pantry, and when she came back with sauce and spaghetti noodles, he’d already set a pot on the stove to boil. Sliding off her bracelet so she wouldn’t get food on it, she set it on the counter, pushed up his sleeves that had already fallen down her arms, and dumped the sauce in another pan to heat.

Mitch found two beers in the fridge, popped the tops, and handed her one. While she fiddled with the burners, he picked up her bracelet and leaned back against the counter, crossing his feet at the ankles. “I always meant to ask you why you wear this and not Shannon. That’s her name, isn’t it?”

Simone glanced at the gold Hawaiian heirloom bracelet engraved with Shannon’s Hawaiian name, Kanona, on the outside. “It is. It was a Mother’s Day gift.” She stirred the sauce in the pan with a wooden spoon and shrugged. “Well, a belated Mother’s Day gift, I guess you’d call it. Steve took Shannon and me to Hawaii on a last-ditch family vacation about three years ago, and they gave it to me there. I guess I wear it because Shannon loves to see it on me. She helped pick it out. Thing’s heavy, though.”

He turned the bracelet over in his hand. “What are the numbers on the inside? Near the inscription?”

Simone glanced at what he was reading. The inscription was clearly visible:
To Simone with love from Steve and Shannon
, but the numbers, tiny numbers engraved just past those words, were ones she’d never really noticed. “I don’t know. A serial number or something.”

Mitch turned the bracelet and looked at it closer under the light. “He gave this to you just before he died?”

“Um…a few months, yeah. The trip was kind of a surprise. Why?”

Mitch lowered the bracelet. “Where’s the laptop Ryan gave you? I want to look something up. Can you handle the food without me?”

Unease slithered through Simone. “Yeah. I guess. The laptop’s in my bag, in the bedroom at the end of the hall. Why? What are you looking for?”

He slid his fingers into her hair and kissed her temple. “Nothing, I’m sure. I’ll be right back.”

He disappeared down the hall, and as Simone worked on dinner, she told herself whatever he was looking for wasn’t a big deal. But her mind skipped back to the day Steve had given her the bracelet, and his words, which at the time hadn’t made her think he was feeling anything other than sad about leaving her and Shannon when he passed.

“
This is for you, and Shannon, and the future. Remember how we traveled. Keep it close and think of me
.”

Mitch came back into the room with a cell phone pressed to his ear. “Yeah. Thanks.” He hit End and stared at her. “I got it.”

“Got what?”

He waved her bracelet. “The numbers. It’s a storage unit in Mill Valley just outside the city.”

Simone’s brow dropped low. “What do you mean? It’s not an address.”

He stepped around her and flipped off the stove, and as he moved the pasta to a cool burner, she realized it had been about to boil over. “Not an address. Longitude and latitude. I’m not sure what these other numbers are—I’m guessing maybe access codes or unit numbers or something—but I’m pretty sure Steve left you the exact coordinates where he stashed his evidence.”

“What?” Simone took the bracelet from his hand and stared down at the small numbers. “Are you sure?”

He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. “Sweetheart, I know longitude and latitude, trust me.”