L.L. Foster - The Kindred

“Hold on to me,” he told her through clenched teeth. He wanted to touch her breasts, and more. He wanted to learn every inch of her.

“Yeah, okay,” she agreed around panting breaths. She pressed her head back against the door and pushed her hips forward, matching his rhythm the best she could in their awkward positioning.

When Luther felt the near-painful grip that secured her hold on him, he took one hand from her backside and, using only his fingertips, teased over her stiffened nipples.

Her lips parted on a fractured moan.

Luther saw her through a haze of carnality and . . . much, much more. “You are so incredibly sexy, Gabrielle Cody.”

Maybe because, even now, she couldn’t accept a compliment, Gaby kissed him hard again, making it impossible for him to talk to her.

Luther didn’t mind.

He had the snug clasp of her body on his cock, her mouth sucking at his tongue, and her hands holding him like she’d never let him go. No other man had touched her like this.

No other man ever would.

And that thought pushed him so close to the edge that he was grateful when he felt Gaby’s climax erupting.

Tangling her fingers in his hair, arching her back, she moaned low and long. He bent his head and caught a nipple in his teeth—and she came.

Her reaction was so strong, she damn near toppled them both. Luther flattened one hand on the door behind her head and braced his legs apart to support them both. While his own release boiled up he watched her face, saw all the small nuances as her features shifted, sharpened, and finally softened again.

There was no other woman like Gaby.

And there’d be no other woman for him.

Secure in Luther’s embrace, Gaby rested her head on his sweaty shoulder and tried to assimilate everything that had just occurred. He was still a part of her, still inside her, but not so much now.

She felt the trembling in Luther’s arms, his legs, but she didn’t care.

He wouldn’t falter. Not Luther.

Not ever.

A tsunami of overwhelming euphoria had swept away all remnants of her arrant anxiety. The monstrous depravity of the world remained, but now, somehow, it didn’t cut so deeply into her peace of mind.

Opening her eyes just enough to see Luther’s jaw, Gaby whispered in extreme understatement, “Not bad, cop.”

He turned his head a little and pressed the most tender of kisses to her temple.

Just that, nothing more, but it nearly flattened Gaby.

Because she rested on him like a needy woman. Because she liked it so much.

Because she . . . loved it.

Her heart ached with tremendous trepidation. She wanted Luther to always kiss her like that, with so much unspoken meaning. Never before had she loved anything or anyone.

But that kiss . . .

It amped the euphoria right back up there. Not physically, but emotionally. Phenomenal bliss filled her near to bursting.

So unlike her and her normal state of mind.

It occurred to Gaby that she no longer knew herself. She wasn’t a woman who partook of physical pleasure with abandon.

She wasn’t a woman who allowed others to soothe her.

She didn’t even let others touch her.

With her insight into the evil that existed all around her, and her never-ending duty to extirpate it, she wasn’t a happy woman. Ever.

How could she be? Her understanding of societal monstrosities refuted any thoughts toward true happiness.

And yet, right now, peacefulness permeated her being.

Oh God, it was a scary thing to feel this level of happiness.

Fear got its ugly fangs in her. If she changed for Luther, who would she be? What would she be?

“Shh,” he said ever so softly. “Don’t go there, baby. Not yet. I need a few minutes to recoup before we get started on all that.”

All what ? Eyes widening, heart pumping fast and hard, Gaby wondered if he’d somehow read her mind. Did he know her internal struggle, the demons that plagued her, that left her weak and ineffectual?

Tense with apprehension, she asked, “What are you talking about?”

He released an exaggerated, grievous sigh. “So there’s to be no respite, huh? You won’t even let me wallow in the languor a few minutes more?”

Having had no idea what the hell he meant, his nonsense grated on Gaby. The rush of irritation helped her to regain herself.

She went full force with familiar bitchiness. “Stop the bullshit, Luther.” She pushed at his shoulders. “And let me go.”

If anything, he snuggled her closer, cuddling her butt and breathing in as if smelling her, her skin and her hair. “Why would I want to do that?”

Lots of reasons presented themselves to Gaby’s beleaguered mind, but she said only, “I’m . . . wet.” She could feel a certain stickiness on her thighs that wasn’t altogether unpleasant as much as very unfamiliar.

“Yeah.” As if that pleased Luther, his voice deepened. He pressed his mouth to her shoulder in a slow, open-mouthed kiss. “Wet with you,” he whispered, “and wet with me.”

Why stickiness turned him on, Gaby didn’t know. “You’re being weird, Luther.”

He sighed again. “I can’t believe I forgot to cover up.”

“Cover up?”

“I didn’t use a condom, Gaby.” He leaned away from her and gave her a look rife with affection and sincere apology. “I took risks with you, and I’m sorry.”

She started to ask, “What risk?” when Luther’s gaze went to her arm. She followed his line of vision and saw that blood had seeped through the bandage and sleeve of her stolen sweatshirt.

Shit.

Tensing, he stepped back and obliterated their intimate connection. It was the oddest thing, as if losing him left a void in her heart as well as her body. Gaby wanted him back. All of him.

But she’d be fucked before she admitted that to him.

To her surprise, he didn’t say a word about her arm. Instead, he wrestled her shirt off over her head and looked at her upper body. She hadn’t realized that her tussle with the drug dealers had left behind a few bruises.

Luther, damn him, managed to locate each and every one.

Naked except for her jeans and panties around her ankles, Gaby crossed her arms beneath her breasts and leaned back on the door. No way would she let him discomfort her with his scrutiny.

Jaw tight, Luther hitched up his jeans and raised the zipper. He didn’t bother with the snap before going to one knee and clasping her calf. “Lift your foot out.”

Gaby huffed in confusion. “I can undress myself, you know.”

He looked up at her. “We just had sex, Gaby. Afford me a few gentlemanly courtesies, please.”

How dumb. “Fine. Whatever. For you.” Now she felt horribly inelegant. Not that there’d ever been a single elegant thing about her anyway. “But I don’t need that nonsense.”

“I do.” Luther went about relieving her of the rest of her clothes.

He even took his time folding her jeans and sweatshirt and hanging them over his arm. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Maybe for more sex? Gaby had no argument against that. “Okay. But first things first.” She locked the front door, even secured the deadbolt, and then retrieved her knife in the sheath. “You need better locks on your house.”

He didn’t argue. “I’ll get a security system.”

His quick compliance wrought a questioning glance, but he wore no real expression at all. “When?”

“I’ll make some calls tomorrow.” He gestured up the stairs. “Now let’s go.”

Confused by his complaisance, she started up the stairs. “I need a quick shower first.”

Closer than she’d realized, his breath touched her nape when he said, “I was thinking more about a bath.”