Neil (The Uncompromising Series Book 2) (29 page)

I swept my finger across the screen and held the phone to my ear.

Viking didn’t wait for me to say hello. “What is wrong?”

The sound of his voice was like a lifeline. “I, um…” I sucked in a breath and tried like hell not to sound desperate. “I just…” I just what? Needed him?

“Ariella,” he snapped.

“I can’t sleep,” I blurted.

Silence. Then, “Did you eat?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you go to the door?”

I breathed out and thought about lying. I could pretend to be tough, rattle off a dozen different excuses I’d made up, but none of them would net me what I really wanted and that was for him to come back. “I was alone and I got scared.”

“Fifteen minutes.” He hung up.

I stared at the phone.

Then I went to the call history but only Viking’s incoming call was there. I checked for texts and voicemails but there was nothing. I scrolled the contacts list and there they all were; André, Luna and Associates, NC, Talon, Tyler… I scrolled back.

Jason
.

My finger hovered over his number. A number I’d memorized because it hadn’t changed in years. I wanted his familiarity so bad right now I could cry. His smile, his messy hair, his infectious laugh—I wanted the Jason I’d fallen in love with. I knew I’d made him out to be more in my mind than he ever was. I knew he’d betrayed me and Conner. But right then, I would’ve forgiven him everything if I just could’ve had five minutes of peace in his arms.

Except life didn’t work like that.

I closed out the contacts.

Thirteen minutes later, Viking walked into the bedroom.

Startled, I held the phone to my chest. “I didn’t hear you come in. You’re so quiet. Always so quiet.” Viking never bellowed out my name when he came through the front door. He didn’t pull me into his arms and bury his face in my neck when he saw me. He didn’t have messy hair and an empty bank account. And he never smelled like other women. Viking wasn’t Jason. Not even close. He was fearless and I took in the sight of him like I was starving, because I was.

“Years of practice.”

I didn’t believe for a second that he had to practice at anything. “You changed.” Fitted polo, cargo pants, the marks around his neck and wrists almost completely gone, he was austere and formidable and for a split second, I regretted telling him I was scared. What he could do to my heart was a thousand times more frightening than what I’d been through with Jason.

“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate.

“I’m sorry you had to come.” Now that he was standing here, his unwavering gaze fixed on me, I wasn’t sure I could pretend anymore.

“Put the phone down.”

I didn’t argue or fight him. I set my cell on the nightstand then looked back at him, eager for more direction.

He tossed his keys on the nightstand then he reached in his pockets. His cell, wallet and a lethal-looking pocket knife joined his keys. His eyes still fixed on mine, he unclasped his watch and stepped out of his boots.

My heart started to pound like I was running.

He pulled his shirt over his head, his huge fingers deftly undid his belt, and his pants dropped to the ground.

I bit my lower lip.

Fitted boxers stretching over hard, muscled thighs, strength and determination radiating from his every movement, he turned off the light and pulled the covers back. The mattress dipped and my heart threatened to stop.

Then a muscled arm slid under my head, another wrapped around my waist and he tucked my back to his chest.

Everything went right in the world.

I grasped his giant bicep and inhaled the spice and musk that’d become my anchor. “Neil,” I whispered.

His arm tightened around my waist. “Sleep.”

I should’ve asked why a woman cut him across his chest, or what happened to Jason, or what time we were going to pick up Conner, but I didn’t.

His hold on me, his strength, his spicy musk, the fact that he’d come back—I didn’t want to waste this time on sleep. I wanted to feel him, everywhere. So I took a chance. “I don’t want to sleep.”

He didn’t react. He didn’t suck in a breath or move a single muscle. His lack of reaction was so strong, it spoke volumes.

Heat flamed my cheeks and I shifted, putting a mere inch between my back and his chest. “Sorry,” I murmured. His arm left my waist and I squeezed my eyes shut against my embarrassment. “I didn’t mean—”

His hand landed under my knee.

Warm and calloused, his fingers slid down my calf and wrapped around my ankle. I sucked in a breath as heat shot up my thigh. Slow, like he had all the time in the world, he lifted my leg and placed my foot on his hip.

My legs spread, need surged and a small sound escaped from my lungs.

With just enough pressure to drive me mad, he ran his hand up the inside of my thigh, tracing an invisible line from the crease of my knee to my core. No hesitation, he slid through the length of my pussy and the tips of his fingers spread my desire to my clit.

My back arched and I moaned.

His palm flattened on my stomach to hold me against him and his hips circled against mine then he reversed the caress.

Everything about his touch tonight was different. Unhurried, gentle, he caressed me like he was savoring me.

Emboldened by his touch, I reached back and my fingers threaded through his hair. Shocked by how soft it was, I gripped a handful. His hand left my stomach and he wrapped his fingers around my upper arm and ground his hips again.

“
Neil
,” I begged, pushing back into him.

He released my arm and dragged his fingers down to my breasts. Cupping one then the other, he didn’t pinch or rub his rough palm across the sensitive tips. He maddeningly, frustratingly drew slow circles around my nipples.

I needed more.

Twisting up, wanting his mouth on mine, I wrapped my arm around the back of his neck and pulled. When he wouldn’t budge, my lips found his neck and I swirled my tongue across his flesh. The taste of man and musk filled my mouth and I groaned at the impossible ache between my legs.

As if he knew my exact thoughts, he cupped me. Pressing my hips back into him, he pushed his rigid length against my ass and I bit his neck.

The arm under my head gripped my hair in response and pulled. My mouth released his neck with a popping sound and I cried out. His hips left mine then a second later the tip of his hard cock dragged through my wetness and he shoved into me.

My whole body shuddered as a cry of shock ripped from my lungs.

Sinking to the hilt, he stilled for two heartbeats then pulled back and thrust home.

All at once, an overwhelming sensation of homesickness filled my head as my body soared with the joy of coming home. The two opposing feelings sent a tremor up my spine and shook me to my core. Desire twisted with anxiety and my chest compressed from the inside, stealing my breath.

Tears dripped down my face as Viking rhythmically moved in and out of me.

I wanted to fight the orgasm as much as I wanted to race toward it but I had no control. Every inch inside me, every breath of his that landed on my skin, I knew the truth. He owned me. He owned my body and he owned my heart. His fingers played me like every touch was a strategy only he knew. His strength held me captive and his cock filled me like no other man would ever be able to.

I cried and he fucked me.

He didn’t kiss me. He didn’t groan out my name. He didn’t make a sound except the whoosh of air as his lungs exhaled with a thrust of his hips.

The crushing realization of my heart slipping out of my hands fought with the sheer ecstasy of his body inside mine. My legs started to tremble but Viking didn’t waver. His steady thrusts said he knew I was about to fall apart. His hand under my thigh, pushing my leg higher, driving into me over and over, said he was intent on only one thing.

I couldn’t hold on anymore.

My thoughts ceased and light burst from everywhere. My core shook with a spasm of pleasure so intense it hurt. Moaning, mewing, I came and came but he didn’t stop. His hands gripped my waist, his hips angled, his thrusts went deeper and he hit that spot deep inside me. The orgasm that’d just wrecked me shuddered into a new wave of sensation that had no words. Fire and ice crawled inside my womb and mocked everything I’d ever felt before this.

Viking wasn’t pounding me into another release, he was delivering me to hell. My fingers went numb, my toes curled, and every nerve in my used-up body surfaced in my throbbing pussy. I cried out for mercy, I cried out in surrender, I cried out for Viking to never stop.

With one final, impossibly deep thrust, he dug his fingers into my hips and pressed his cock hard to my G-spot. Then he pumped his seed into me.

I didn’t come. I detonated.

I flew apart into a million pieces of submission and my destruction was complete.

Viking conquered me.

E
VERY MILE
I
GOT MORE
nervous. It’d been days since I’d seen Conner but it felt like a lifetime because I knew I’d never feel safe again. I didn’t give a shit that Viking said Jason was gone and Candle was handled. I’d seen two murders, been shot and gotten fucked by a man who skewed my entire view of reality.

I rubbed my fingers over my temples.

“Headache?”

“No.” Not up for a strained conversation with the man who’d let me wake up alone this morning, I leaned my head against the window.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when dawn broke and he was gone, but I was. Everything about last night had felt different, more. But he hadn’t left so much as a text. I’d padded into the living room thinking he’d just gotten up early, but he wasn’t even in the apartment.

I’d made coffee, showered and taken my time doing my hair and makeup and he still didn’t show up until afternoon. No apology, no explanation, he just walked into his condo dressed in his impenetrable mask and asked if I was ready to go. I followed him to his truck, staying a foot behind and on his left because, apparently, his training of me was complete. When he told me we were meeting Talon at Viking’s house in Ocala instead of driving straight to Daytona Beach, I didn’t even ask why. I’d only nodded.

He passed another car then glanced at me. “Everything is as it should be.”

My nervous tension bled into irritation. “So you were supposed to kill two men in cold blood and I was supposed to get kidnapped and shot?”

“It is a Danish proverb,” he said simply.

It took a herculean effort to refrain from telling him where he could shove his damn proverb. “Sounds like a justification for bad choices.”

“I did not put you in this situation.”

All of a sudden this was no longer about my shit life and everything that’d happened. This became all about the cold, emotionless warrior sitting next to me and driving his truck like he couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. “No, you just stepped in when the opportunity arose and fucked me.” He’d fucked me real good—in the head, in his goddamn condo and every which way from Sunday—then he’d left. Just like Jason had left.

“Language. And I did not step in. I am a substitute for no one.”

“Oh, come on.” Now I was pissed. “Don’t pull that literal bullshit with me. You knew exactly what I meant. You’ve lived here long enough to know the fucking nuances of our language. And while you may not be a substitute for anyone, you sure as hell are like every other goddamn man after you fuck a girl.”

His tone sharpened and he let loose with a biting remark. “Do not pretend you did not enjoy it.”

Seriously? “You want a goddamn medal? Best fuck I ever had? What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know how to communicate with anyone?”

His shoulders rose with a breath and he stared pointedly down the highway but he didn’t say shit.

“Perfect. Keep that silence up. We’ll both be better off. Drop me to get my kid and you can move the fuck on with your life.” Furious, I wanted to kick something, like his stupid, perfectly clean truck.

“I warned you to not get attached,” he said without mercy.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not attached to shit,” I lied. “And for the record, you said you don’t do attachments. You never said anything about
getting attached
. There’s a difference.”

“This is why you are angry,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You think you want something more.”

What
the fuck?
“First of all.” My finger popped up like a weapon. “You don’t get to tell me what
I
think. Ever. And second?” Another finger popped up. “More? Really? Don’t fucking flatter yourself. You’re no goddamn prize.” Every word was a fucking lie and he deserved it.

“Swear again,” he said calmly.

“
What
?”

His nostrils flared but his voice remained composed. “Again.”

“You want me to swear?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “How about this? Go fuck yourself you cocksucking, motherfucking, prick bast—”

His arm moved and he grasped my chin, hard. “One more time and I will pull over and fuck you.”

Moisture surged between my legs. Anger mixed with alarming desire and my temper ratcheted to a whole new level of pissed I didn’t know I was capable of. I yanked on his goddamn wrist. “Who
the fuck
do you think you are?” I yelled.