She set down part of the third taco and took a long drink off her beer.
“Wanna talk about it?” she asked quietly.
He shook his head. It wouldn’t help matters to talk about it, and technically everything that he’d been told was classified.
“Just got some news I wasn’t expecting,” he said. He sighed and downed the rest of his beer.
Johnny stood and made his way to the fridge for two more beers. He handed her one when he sat back down on the couch.
Something dinged next to her. He looked over and spotted a folder of pictures appear on the laptop.
“Did you take those?” he asked.
She nodded.
They were small, but he could still see that some were very good, as far as he could tell. He wasn’t an expert, but he knew what he liked.
He nodded over to the computer.
“Can I see?” he asked.
Hesitantly, she handed him the laptop while she slowly made her way through the next taco.
He clicked on the first image and scrolled through them. Each one was a different picture of some place in town he could vaguely remember seeing but was too busy to really see what was there.
Every now and again, the image was of a person or animal. A homeless woman feeding a stray cat. Children running in the park. A dog stopping to smell a flower. They filled him with a warmth and hope he never knew could be had through a photo.
Johnny looked over to her and found she’d placed her plate on the coffee table and was watching him closely.
“These are amazing,” he said quietly.
Two pink spots spread across her face, and she quickly busied herself with her beer.
“Just some stuff to practice my work,” she said.
Johnny went back to looking over the pictures. He’d always known she liked to take pictures but never guessed that they were like this.
He clicked out of the photo folder and opened up another labeled family.
Maddy moved quickly on the couch to set down her bottle on the table. “Okay, you’ve seen them, hand it over.”
Johnny frowned as he opened up the pictures.
He laughed as the young girl he once knew popped up on the screen. Most were supposed to be serious self-photos but came off more like a teen trying too hard to look mature. He paused on one where her blond hair hung over part of her eye. She was leaning into the camera and looked as if she were shutting it off as the shot was taken.
Maddy stopped trying to get back the computer and settled next to him on the couch.
He clicked on a few more photos and grinned at her.
“I remember this bonfire,” he said. “It was at the Allen camp out. Just after I finished high school.”
He laughed as he skimmed through the photos.
“I was leaving for boot camp just after this, and you all came.”
Maddy leaned into him and looked at the photos. Their thighs touched as she did so.
“Dad walked out barefoot to pee that night and ended up stepping in poison ivy,” she said. “So every time he walked all weekend, he cursed.”
He laughed remembering how pissed Rich had been about that.
They came to the last night of the trip, and he paused on a picture. It was one of him sitting on a log in front of the fire. He wasn’t staring at the camera as he’d seen from the other pictures. Instead he stared into the flame in front of him.
His hair was a bit longer than it was now, and the fire illuminated his face. The smile he normally carried was gone. He looked so alone.
It was startling staring at yourself in a picture and seeing your innermost thoughts bared for all to see. Maddy snapped his photo and in it captured a piece of his soul.
“Oh, I think that’s enough photos,” she said and pulled the laptop over to her.
He watched as she pulled it over.
“My dad had passed a month earlier,” he said quietly. “I really wanted Ryan and Brandon to come. Mason tried, but… I wanted all of them.”
Maddy placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sure your brothers wanted to be there.”
He shook his head. They hadn’t been close in years. It wasn’t really their fault. They were older than him and closer in age. He’d always been the odd man out. But still, he thought they might try a little more when he joined the Navy.
Johnny gave a small laugh. But it wasn’t the Marines, and there would always be the divide between them, even though he’d gone Special Forces.
He turned to look at Maddy, her hand still on his arm as she looked up to him.
“You always seemed to be there,” he said, “even when I didn’t know.”
Her cheeks turned bright red, and she quickly looked away, pulling her hand back as she did so.
Johnny caught her small fingers in his own.
“Don’t,” he said quietly. The rest of that sentence stuck in his throat.
She stilled as he rubbed his thumb over the tops of her fingers.
His heart skipped when she turned her face up to his, and he stared into her clear blue eyes.
“I don’t—” she said.
Johnny leaned in and sealed her mouth with his. He didn’t want to hear her protest or the reasons why he should leave. Right now all he wanted was to hold her in his arms and know that she wanted to be there with him.
Right there in that moment.
Chapter Ten
Maddy sighed against Johnny. Her fingers held by his were now laced through his, holding on as if she thought he might run away.
Johnny reached around her, his warm hand skimming the exposed skin where her shirt had ridden up. Her skin prickled at the feel of his calloused fingers running along the soft skin.
He slanted his mouth over hers and loosened his hand from hers. He closed the laptop and set it on the end of the couch.
The softness of his lips surprised her. When they’d kissed the other night, she’d been slightly distracted by the coarseness of the hair on his face. Now, with all of it gone, she was left to focus on his amazing skill as a kisser.
His mouth moved over hers, soft in some ways but still urging her deeper into his embrace.
Drawn in by him, she opened her mouth when his tongue teased the edges of her lips. Johnny slipped into her mouth, his tongue twining along with hers.
He pulled back and nibbled on her lip. She could feel him smile against her as he did so.
In one swift movement, he lifted her and placed her legs on either side of his lap, with her center not quite over the hard length she felt the other night.
His mouth came back to hers, and he deepened the kiss. Their new position made it easier to do so.
Maddy placed one hand back onto his neck where her fingers could run through the soft brown hair there. She rested the other on his shoulder and felt the firm muscles as he moved his hands up and down her back.
Her fingers traced the line of one muscle, and her center grew wet at the thought of what his powerful body could do, how he would feel moving over her. Moving into her.
She shivered a little and ached for the feel of him between her legs. As little experience as she had with men, Maddy would have thought something like that would scare her, but it didn’t.
Despite his strength, Johnny held her like she was special, as if she were the most important thing in the world.
She pushed in further with her tongue and wrapped her arms around his back to pull herself flush with his body. Her center was now wedged against his hardness.
Johnny grunted. His hands stiffened against her back for a moment.
He started to pull his body back from her, but instead she leaned in and nipped his lower lip. His fingers twitched and then tightened. His hands slipped up her shirt and pulled the thin tank up.
Maddy pulled back for a moment, desperate to feel him against her, and lifted her shirt over her head.
His gaze centered on the black bra she wore. The lace just barely concealed her hard nipples.
Their eyes met as he scanned over her nearly naked form, and she felt the heat of his stare. The intensity almost overwhelmed her.
“You’re fucking killing me here,” Johnny mumbled.
The night wasn’t supposed to end up like this. He’d be damned if he didn’t want to hold her, but his whole purpose tonight was to get to know her. To talk. Show that he was in a different head space than he had been in three years earlier. He didn’t want to be the guy who just tried to get into her pants.
But Lord help him, those little shorts planted over his cock at the moment were making it fucking hard to think about much else other than sinking into her.
Maddy held his gaze as she lifted his shirt.
Against his better judgment, Johnny sat up a bit so she could take off his shirt.
The way she stared at him made his cock twitch. It pressed hard against his jeans and ached to be free and buried deep inside her.
He watched as her fingers trailed down his chest, following the muscles as she did so. Her light touch was driving him insane.
Maddy stopped when she reached the light dusting of hair that dipped into his pants. Her hands lay very close to where the two of them were pressed together.
With her palms flat, she placed them against his chest and shifted her hips over him.
They both moaned.
She kept her pretty blue eyes locked with his.
This time when she moved over him, his hands came to her hips. She leaned her head back a little and accompanied it with another moan.
Lightning zipped to his cock. Her body arched in his arms, her breasts pointed directly at him. Unable to resist any longer, Johnny leaned forward and placed his mouth over a laced nipple.
Maddy moaned louder and moved over him a little faster.
The confinement of his pants was killing him. Rubbing against her was great, but the more she moved over him, the more like torture it felt. He needed to be free.
He laid her back on the couch. Maddy stared up at him as he leaned over her. She took in deep breaths as she did so. Her face flushed, and her eyes filled with confusion.
“What are you—” she began.
He silenced her with his mouth. This time he was taking full control.
His hands moved to her breasts, and with ease he flicked open the front clasp. Her breasts popped out of the sheer fabric.
She had great tits, the sort that filled more than a palm and made you ache to press your mouth to.
With nothing between them, she moaned into his mouth as her nipples rubbed against his hard chest.
Johnny pulled back and kissed a path down her neck, grazing his teeth against the tender flesh there and then soothing it with his mouth.
He traveled lower until he reached the soft mounds. Slowly, he made his way around her creamy soft skin, just barely skirting her pointed pink nipples.
Maddy moaned in frustration, and he had trouble holding back a smile.
“Johnny,” she moaned.
The sound of his name on her mouth brought him back to the mission: to make her feel good.
He sealed his mouth entirely over her left nipple. He gripped his hair with her fingers, urging him as close as she could get him.
Johnny sucked gently on the hard peak, swirling it around his tongue and enjoying the sounds she made as he did so.
He barely grazed his teeth along her. She rewarded him by moaning his name out again.
He pulled his mouth off the left breast and moved to the right, giving it the same treatment. Occasionally, he tweaked the still sensitive left side with his fingers.
When he pulled away this time, he glanced up as Maddy stared down her body at him. He kissed her stomach, soft wet kisses that would leave a cool trail.
Her eyes widened after a moment as his current path dawned on her.
“You can’t—”
He tugged on her shorts, pulling them off in one quick motion.
Johnny stared down at her.
Amazing. It was the only thing that he could think of, how amazing she looked there.
He slid off onto the floor and pulled her up so her back was against the couch.
Maddy gave him a small frown, not quite understanding what he was doing.
When he moved between them and leaned forward for a kiss, the concern washed away once his mouth pressed against her. Again, she moaned as their tongues met. This time he let his hands explore her body, trailing down until he reached her hot, wet center.
Maddy pulled back and moaned loudly when his fingers stroked her wet pussy. He watched her now, his eyes on her face as he moved his fingers over her wet center, dragging one finger along until he bumped her hard nub.
Eyes closed and mouth open slightly, she breathed hard as he continued to stroke her, grunting in frustration when he didn’t sink into her.
Her eyes popped open and pinned him there. It was what he had been waiting for. He slipped his middle finger in as deep as it would go.
Her hands reached out and gripped his shoulder as he worked into her.
Johnny glanced down at his hand. His wet finger glistened as he moved into her. His thumb brushed her hard clit as he did so.
“More,” she moaned.
It was all he could take.
Johnny slipped his hand from her and placed her legs on his shoulders. His mouth now centered with her wet pink pussy, his gaze raked her body.
Maddy watched him, her eyes half-hooded with lust.
He leaned forward and gave a swipe with the flat part of his tongue.
Sparks shot through her body at the feel of him there. His wet tongue slipped between her folds, tasting her as if she were the best thing he’d ever had.
Maddy watched him as he pressed his mouth to her. His light hazel eyes took in everything.
She linked her hand with the one curled around her thigh and was glad when he gave her a squeeze back.
When his tongue speared into her, it was nearly enough to send her over.
She watched him still as he worked his tongue deep inside her over and over.
One final bump to her clit, and her orgasm exploded through her. Her eyes closed as she arched her back and rode the wave of her climax.
She felt him lower her thighs back down but was too tired to do much about it. Her whole body shook from the force of her orgasm.