Page 42 of Fast Fury

His face tightened. He plunged one hand into her hair, his other arm coming around her hips, crushing her to him as he took over and thrust deep and fast.

Abby held him tight, squeezed her thighs around his hips, the guttural sounds he was making sending a thrill through her. His fist tightened in her hair and he drove deep, a harsh groan vibrating against her ear as his big body shuddered in the throes of his orgasm.

He was hot and heavy atop her, his twitching muscles slowly relaxing. She stroked his hair, the breadth of his shoulders and down his back, tracing every ridge and hollow, savoring every moment of the closeness.

With a soft moan he kissed the side of her jaw, her lips, then lifted his upper body off her and withdrew gently. He turned away from her for a moment to deal with the condom, and stretched out on his side facing her. Lifting a hand, he stroked her bangs from her damp forehead, trailed a fingertip down the bridge of her nose to her mouth, where she kissed it.

A slow, intimate smile curved his lips. “Now how’s that for chemistry?”

She grinned. “Pretty damn great.” How the hell had she ever done without it before? She resented missing out on it before now, and yet grateful that she’d experienced it for the first time with Kai. He’d made everything about this day unforgettable.

Chuckling, he drew her into his arms and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “How do you feel about spooning?” he murmured.

“I’m a huge fan.”

“Good, me too. Roll over.” He turned her, pulled her back into the curve of his body, then drew the covers over them and wrapped those warm, solid arms around her.

Abby sighed and snuggled closer, her body replete, fighting the questions about them in her mind as the gentle rush of the waves filled her ears.

She shook the thoughts away, made up her mind to enjoy the here and now. Tomorrow would come soon enough. Whatever happened between them after tonight, she would just have to deal with it as it came.

Chapter Twelve

Kai opened his eyes in the faint light that signaled dawn was coming, and smiled sleepily. Gentle waves lapped softly at the sand yards from the tent, and birds sang in the nearby trees. Abby was snuggled into him, her back to his chest, the sweet pressure of her ass pressed against his groin. She was dead asleep, her breaths slow and even, the sweep of her lashes forming crescent shadows against her fair skin.

The feel of her, remembering what they’d done last night, had his cock starting to swell. He’d thought they’d be good together, but last night had been so insanely hot. He’d wondered what it would be like to combine that kind of chemistry with someone he shared a base of friendship and respect with. Now he knew.

He’d never be the same again.

She’d given herself to him so sweetly, surrendering control to him. That took trust, and it humbled him that she placed hers in him.

He wasn’t perfect. He was cocky and proud, loved to play practical jokes. There was a reason he liked to be the center of attention and the life of the party. And why he’d continually engaged in dysfunctional relationships with emotionally unavailable women. Thankfully Abby was the opposite of that.

He tightened his arm around her ribs, careful not to wake her as he wrestled with his inner demons.

When his mother had left him behind, he’d barely been out of diapers. Too young to understand anything about it except that she’d abandoned him.

It wasn’t until the shit show of a breakup with Shelley that he’d finally confronted the emotional and psychological impact of it. Acknowledging that he’d always wondered if it was something he’d done that had made his mom leave. That maybe she’d been able to leave him so easily because he wasn’t loveable.

He breathed in the sweet scent of Abby’s shampoo, letting the uncomfortable thoughts tumble through his mind. Even though histutuhad stepped in and given him the love he’d craved so badly, it couldn’t fill the hole his mother had left in his heart.

Wasn’t easy for him to admit, but the plain truth of it was, all his life he’d been searching for love and acceptance. Craving it on a level so intense that he would do anything to get them. He’d found it in one form with the Marine Corps, and he had it with his FAST Bravo brothers. But he’d never found it in a woman. And a deeply buried part of him worried that he wasn’t worthy of real, unconditional love.

Until Abby.

In every other romantic relationship he’d been in, he’d given and given and given in a futile attempt to prove himself worthy to his partner, all the while aware at least on a subconscious level that it would never be enough. He’d done that to himself over and over in an endless, toxic cycle, maybe as a form of self-punishment because some part of him thought he deserved it.

Until Abby had shone a light on the secret place deep down inside him that he’d been too terrified to look at. It had not only opened his eyes to what was really going on, it had made him see her and what he wanted in a whole new light.

To be loved for who he was, faults and all. To have a peaceful, devoted relationship with someone he trusted and respected.

He knew on a gut-deep level that the answer to all of that was sleeping in his arms right now. If he could just find a way to convince her that he was the one.

Kai nuzzled the top of her head, the silky, platinum strands catching in the stubble on his jaw. She stirred slightly, that sexy body shifting against him. He tightened his arm around her, skimmed his lips over the vulnerable skin on her nape, down the side of her neck.

Her swift inhalation and the sudden tension in her muscles told him she was wide awake. “Morning,” he whispered, sucking at her skin softly.

She made a purring sound and angled her head to give him better access. “Morning already?” Her voice was pure, sleepy contentment.

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