J Saint - Collateral Damage

"The hospital is the last thing I need right now." His voice was like sandpaper, made her feel raw, vulnerable and that much more needy. He placed his hand against her hers and turned to brush his lips to the inside of her wrist. The simmering desire between them flared white hot and burned a path all the way to her core. She shivered with excitement. The connection between them was one that only a near-death incident could forge.

Her mouth went dry and she searched hard for the right thing to say to him. Her heart was so full, her need so great. She met his gaze. "I don't know that I've thanked you enough. For being there yesterday. Today. For keeping my sons safe. For keeping me alive."

He started to shake his head and she stopped him. "Let me finish. I want to thank you for what you've done every day, for the years that you've been there doing what has to be done so I can live the life I live. It means more than I can express or ever repay."

He exhaled. "Lauren, sometimes it's a job, sometimes it's more than that. It's everything I believe. But right now it sure as hell isn't-"

She pressed her finger to his lips, halting his words. "That being said, I want you to know this has nothing whatsoever to do with gratitude and everything to do with what's in my heart." She planted her mouth on his, ready to start this kiss where their kiss last night had ended.

Jack groaned, clearly of the same mind, because he kissed her hard, his tongue taking command of hers in a deep search that plunged her into a storm of need. He jerked up the hem of her shirt, pulling it with him as he stood. Then he left her wanting lips and covered her left breast with his hot mouth, sucking on her nipple through the lace of her bra. She moaned and raised her arms up for him to ease off her shirt. Her breasts lifted higher, an offering he took.

He kissed his way over to her right breast, slipping his tongue inside her demi-cup and lashing her pebbled nipple until she moaned and arched her back for more. When he pulled her shirt over her head, he didn't take it all the way off, but wrapped the soft cotton around her wrists and stretched her arms higher over her head. Her heart pounded impossibly harder, for the position left her more exposed to his questing mouth, more sensitive to his sensual fire, vulnerabilities he exploited with fervor. He popped open the front clasp of her bra with deft fingers and feasted until she gasped and moaned and writhed. Even then he didn't stop but kept pushing her. She begged, but he was relentless as he drove her to an exhilarating edge with his tongue and teeth and lips.

She was dizzy and on fire by the time he released her arms and brought his mouth back to hers for another kiss. This time he delved deeper before dancing with her tongue in a give and take that led the way but didn't dominate, fueling her desire to have more of him, feel more of him, take more of him.

She shrugged off her bra and slid her hands everywhere she could reach. His shoulders, his back, his chest. His muscled body quivered to her touch. She filled her hands with his butt and pressed him tight to her sex, feeling the bulging fullness of his arousal. He groaned and thrust against her. She eased her fingers into the waistband of his jeans and boxers to brush over the hard, velvety tip of his erection and the dewy moisture beading there. He jerked in response as if an electric shock had ripped through him. She slid all the way inside and wrapped her hand around his shaft. He brought his mouth to hers and plunged his tongue into her in tandem to each thrust of his erection into her fist. He moaned deep, a guttural sound that said he too was over the edge and wanted more, demanded more.

Breathing as heavily as she, he stepped back, forcing her to release him. "We don't want this to be over just yet." He brought his mouth to her neck where he feathered kisses over her shoulders, her breasts and her stomach, randomly brushing his tongue lightly to taste her, or nipping her skin before soothingly sucking until he reached the snap of her jeans.

She clutched his shoulders. Her knees went weak at the thought of him loving her everywhere and she leaned heavily against the sink. It had been so long since she'd been touched or allowed herself to touch that she was both eager and hesitant.

Jack was avid. He yanked on her zipper then pulled down her jeans and panties in one swift motion, barely helping her slip off her loafers and step from her clothes before he sank to his knees and looked up at her.

She bit her lip. She stood naked before him, aware of every imperfection from C-section scar to pregnancy stretch marks, imperfections that he didn't seem to see.

"Damn, you're crazy beautiful," he whispered.

She didn't get the chance to tell him he was delusional because he slid his fingers to her sex, parted the folds and then, looking up at her, licked the exposed groove. Pleasure slammed into her. She cried out and shuddered as his tongue flicked back and forth. Then he stopped. She blinked at him, dazed and quivering. He stood up and she thought she would literally faint from her need.

"Come on. I can make it the ten feet to do this right. Just barely though." He led her to the first bed, pulled down the covers and urged her back. She tugged on the waistband of his jeans and watched as he stripped then went to his duffle bag and pulled out a box of condoms. He frowned at the box. "I hope these things don't have an expiration date. It's been a while."

"Join the club," she murmured, her heart squeezing. Then she laughed at her own desperation because she wanted to yell at him to hurry. "I have an expiration date," she said. "I am going to spontaneously combust if you don't come finish what you started."

He arched a brow as he moved toward her and she melted even more. "Interesting. Just how long do I have before this said event?" He tossed an open condom on the bed, then the box of them as he looked down at her.

"Not long."

"Long enough to do this?" He knelt at the bottom of the bed and lifted her foot to gently scrape his nail along her instep.

"Oh my God," Lauren gasped as her hips lifted involuntarily to the wild shock that hit the very center of her sex. She had no idea the places were connected.

He gave her a knowing smile and followed the scrape with his tongue, riding her leg all the way up to the back of her knee before he released her. He did the same to her other leg then grasped her knees and spread her legs as wide as he could.

"Do I have long enough to do this?" He snatched a thick pillow, folded it in half and urged her hips up. He slid the pillow beneath her, leaving the very heart of her splayed open to him. He nipped and licked the insides of her thighs until she thought she'd go crazy.

"No," she gasped, trying to urge his mouth to move the two inches to where her every cell burned for release. "You don't have time for that."

"How about time for this?" He breathed hot air over her exposed sex and slid a finger inside her, circling her opening with teasing strokes.

"Maybe," she gasped, her hips undulating to the rhythm he set. As good as it all felt, it wasn't the totally mind-blowing pleasure he'd sent slamming into her brain before. "Maybe not. Jack, I, oh, I so need-"

He lowered his head and thoroughly kissed the hardened center of her desire and she shuddered in a mini-release that he took control of and revved higher. He sucked and stroked and nipped and licked, fueling her need into a full throttle that sent her on a rocket path toward a scorching orgasm. She convulsed and saw stars waver before her visionless eyes and thought she'd attained the peak of heaven until he slid up and thrust himself inside her, filling her past the point of completion. Yet she wanted more of him. He caressed the taut peaks of her breasts and kissed her as he began pumping hard and fast into her.