Page 92 of Final Exit

“Oh, Bailey. There’s nothing to forgive. I want you, all of you. I want the little girl that no one believed in. I want the courageous warrior who tried to save a young boy from a bully. I want the young woman, fighting for a cause. I even want the assassin, whose actions saved dozens, hundreds of innocent lives. I want all of you, Bailey. The girl you were, the woman you’ve become. Can I love you? Sweetheart, I already do.”

He scooped her off the railing and carried her into the cottage, kicking the door shut behind them. She thought he’d take her to the enormous king-sized bed that dominated the room. Instead, he let her legs slide slowly down his until she was standing. And then, while he stared down into her eyes, his fingers began to work the buttons of her blouse.

“Someday,” he whispered, “I want you to wear that short leather skirt, and the leather vest for me.”

That he would say there might even be a “someday” had her damn tear ducts acting up again. She wiped her eyes.

He raised a brow.

“Allergies,” she said. “And don’t you dare say otherwise.”

He grinned, then sobered and began to slide her shirt off her shoulders, his gaze dropping to her chest. As each inch of her skin was slowly revealed to him, his face got more tense, his eyes darker, the pupils dilating. Bailey couldn’t imagine anything more erotic or sexy than watching him drink in the sight of her. It was heady, knowing she could affect him this way.

The blouse dropped to the floor. And then he went to work on her bra. It would have taken her less than a second to unclasp it. But he seemed intent on taking his time. His fingers traced the delicate lacy band beneath her breasts, slowly, ever so gently, following the material from the front, around her ribs, to her back. He stared, seemingly fascinated by the swells of her breasts above the lace, as his fingers cleverly worked the clasp behind her back. One hook, two, and the bra loosened. But he didn’t let it go. A second ticked by, two. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as if he was savoring the tension.

The tension was killing her.

“If you need some help, I can pull the damn thing off for you.” She reached up to the straps, but he stopped her, laughing.

He kissed her, with her bra loose and barely hanging on, but still on nonetheless. When he pulled back, he was serious again, like a predator ready to devour her.

“I’ve been fantasizing about undressing you since the day I saw your picture in a stupid database.” His voice was husky, deep. “Let me take my time. Okay?”

She couldn’t have told him no if her life depended on it. She shivered, but she wasn’t cold. Her lower belly was already almost painfully tight, her body readying itself for him. And she wasn’t even naked yet.

Since he seemed to be waiting for her permission, she nodded, and let out a shuddering breath as he finally, finally began to slide the straps down her shoulders. He stepped close, his chest holding up the bra when it would have fallen away. And then he bent and kissed the skin where the straps had been, his hot tongue dipping into the hollows at the base of her throat.

When he finally stepped back, the shock of his warm hands replacing the cups of her bra almost sent her into a climax. She had to put her hands on his shoulders to hold herself up. And then his fingers began a slow, maddening path up the undersides of her breasts, gently squeezing, molding. His head dipped down again, and the feel of his mouth closing around her nipple had her crying out at the sheer pleasure of it. The heat of his breath, the brush of his tongue, the gentle suckle of his mouth, drinking her in nearly drove her over the edge. She curled her nails into his shoulders, whimpering against him. Then he finally released her nipple and blew across it.

She moaned his name.

By the time he finished lavishing her other breast with the same meticulous attention, she was sobbing and begging him to just do it. But he was bent on torturing her. He hooked a finger into her waistband. The sound of the snap popping open made her jerk against him. She bit her lip as he traced both hands inside the top few inches of her waistband, from front to back, his fingers dipping down, down, but stopping just short of where she most wanted them to be.

“Kade, you’re driving me crazy,” she panted. Once again she tried to speed him up, by grabbing her zipper to get out of her damn jeans.

His hands closed around hers, and instead of unzipping her pants, he raised her fingers to his mouth, and sucked.

She almost exploded, her hips jerking against his. She arched against him, reveling in the feel of him through his jeans.

He stepped back, just enough to break contact. One last suck, and then he pulled her hands up to his shoulders. Then he swooped down and kissed her, pressing her body tightly against his, doing sinful little circles with his hips in rhythm to the even more sinful things his tongue was doing to her mouth. When he finally broke the kiss, she was relieved to see that he was breathing just as hard as her. A fine sheen of sweat had broken out on his forehead.

“Okay. This has been great.” She gave a nervous laugh. “Really, reeeallyy great. You get a big fat check in the box for fantastic foreplay.” A shiver ran down her body just at the memory of his lips on her breasts and she shifted her legs restlessly. “Extraordinary foreplay, actually. Now let’s see about checking that other box, the one where we actually do it, okay?”

She grabbed his hand and tugged him to the bed. Then she turned around, hoping to quickly undress him.

He dropped to his knees and grasped the pull of her zipper with his teeth. Her belly clenched so tight she cried out again.

“Kade, please, I can’t... oh my.... ooooohhhh.” She curled her hands against his shoulders and threw her head back. Her jeans sagged down to her ankles. She didn’t know where her thong was. And she didn’t care. He played her body like a finely tuned instrument, his fingers and tongue finding nerve endings she’d never known she had, tugging and kissing and building the pressure inside her until she was weeping at the pleasure-pain of it. One last wicked stroke of his tongue and she exploded around him, her knees buckling as she cried out his name.

He caught her against him, and slowly lowered her down to the floor. Onto him. She stared in amazement at his naked shoulders, his naked chest, his naked... everything. How he’d managed to get undressed and put a condom on, all while driving her wild, was beyond her. And she was so glad that they were both finally, finally going to do this that she wanted to sob.

But once again, he stopped, the biceps bulging in his gorgeous arms as he held her poised over him, barely touching, her back against the bed.

“Kade, if you stop now, I will kill you,” she gasped.

He grinned and slowly, slowly, lowered her. He was so exquisitely gentle she wanted to pound his shoulders in frustration. And then he pushed more fully into her, and her eyes flew open. He was watching her as he slowly rocked against her, inching in just a little more. The pressure was intense, uncomfortable even, until her body began to soften more around him.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, his voice so hoarse she almost didn’t recognize it.

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