Page 49 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

DALTON

B ack at the cabin, I couldn’t shake the feeling that time was running out. The possibility of leaving for Arizona in the morning hung between us.

“You’re going, aren’t you?” she said quietly, curled up against my side on the couch.

“If Chief calls, yeah.” I ran my fingers through her hair, still slightly damp from our earlier shower. “It’s what I do.”

“I know.” She was quiet for a moment. “I hate that I understand it.”

I tilted her chin up so I could look into those blue eyes. “Hey. I’m not going anywhere tonight.”

“Good,” she whispered. “Because I have plans for you.”

“Do you now?” I asked, my voice already rougher.

Instead of answering, she kissed me. It was soft at first, tentative, but then she deepened it and I was lost. My hands found her waist, pulling her closer until she was straddling my lap. The taste of her, the feel of her body against mine, it was everything I’d almost lost.

“Janna,” I murmured against her lips.

“I need you,” she said simply. “All of you.”

I stood, lifting her with me, her legs wrapping around my waist. But instead of heading toward the bedroom, I set her down gently on the couch and dropped to my knees in front of her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, breathless.

“Showing you how much you mean to me,” I said, my hands moving to pull down the flimsy shorts she wore to sleep in. “If I have to leave tomorrow, I want to taste you on my lips when I go.”

Her breath caught as I slowly peeled her shorts and panties down her legs, my lips following the path of exposed skin. I hooked my hands under her knees and dragged her ass to the edge of the couch. I pushed open her legs and smiled at the part of her I had been thinking about all day.

When I reached the sensitive spot behind her knee, her fingers tangled in my hair.

“Dalton,” she whispered.

I looked up at her, this woman who had walked through fire for a friend, who had risked everything to save us all. “Let me worship you,” I said against her thigh. “Let me show you what you do to me.”

She nodded, her eyes dark with need. It was my way of telling her everything I couldn’t say with words. She didn’t know it, but she was my salvation, my reason for coming home, my everything.

My tongue lapped at her folds, tasting her sweetness.

She grasped at the back of my head, fingers twisting in my hair as she held on tight.

I teased her entrance, watching as she bucked against me, desperate for more.

And when she was ready, I pushed two fingers inside her slowly, feeling how tight she was around me.

She moaned, a low primal sound that made my cock hard enough to pound nails.

I looked up at her. “More?” The word was choked out.

Her eyes were hooded with lust now, darker than ever before. “Please.”

With that encouragement, I added another finger and started moving in and out of her slowly, giving her the rhythm she needed to find release. And then I stopped altogether, using my thumb instead to circle her clit while watching for signs of impending orgasm.

“Please,” she begged again.

“Not yet,” I whispered against her thighs. “Wait for it.”

She trembled beneath me as the orgasm built inside her, muscles clenching around my fingers even as she tried to suppress it.

My tongue replaced my fingers over her clit.

And then it hit her, waves of pleasure so intense she cried out my name over and over again until finally collapsing back onto the couch with a sigh of satisfaction.

“That’s it,” I murmured against damp skin. “That’s what you do to me.”

I stood slowly, my cock already hard in my pants. I lifted her into my arms and carried her to my bedroom.

I kicked the door shut behind me, desperate to feel her skin against mine. She moaned softly as I laid her down on the bed, my lips trailing kisses down her neck. My hands found the hem of her tank top and slowly pulled it over her head. She shivered slightly as the cool air hit her damp skin.

I stripped out of my boxers and stared down at the woman that made me feel things I never thought possible. I had a job to do and I would never not do it, but I also knew I would never be reckless again. I had too much to live for.

My phone was sitting on the nightstand. I quickly unlocked it and opened my music app. I had created a new playlist just for us.

The first beats of “Fire on the Floor” by Beth Hart filtered through the speaker in the corner.

When I looked back at her, she arched her eyebrows. “This is new.”

“I had some time while I watched you sleep. And breathe.”

“I like it.”

“Good. Because when I’m flying, this is the playlist I’m going to have on. I’m going to make love to you through every one of these songs. Every time I hear one, it’s going to remind me of you. Of this night. And you better believe that’s going to be the inspiration I need to get back here to you.”

Her lips curved. “How long is the playlist?”

I grabbed my phone. “Two hours and twelve minutes.”

“Well let’s hope we both survive.”

“Oh, Princess, you’ll not just survive, you’re going to soar.”

I crawled on top of her, my weight pressing her into the mattress.

My fingers traced circles around her nipples.

She arched up against me, seeking more contact.

When she whimpered, I took one hardened peak between my teeth, pulling a sharp gasp from her.

I moved to the other breast and did the same thing, loving the way she squirmed under me.

I smiled against her skin and kissed over her breasts and then up to the spot below her ear.

She gasped as one of my hands found its way between her legs again, fingers teasing at her entrance which was still slick from earlier.

I thrust my fingers inside her roughly, feeling how eager she was for me even after getting off earlier.

“You’re already so wet for me,” I murmured against her neck, my fingers working in and out of her slowly. “I love it.”

She rolled her hips against my hand, seeking more friction. “Stop teasing me.”

“Never,” I said, but I positioned myself between her legs anyway because I didn’t think I could hold back. We had both waited for sex. I knew both of us needed the healing. But now, I had to have her. The head of my cock nudged at her entrance. “I want to take my time with you.”

“We have all night,” she whispered, her hands roaming over my chest, tracing the tattoos there. “But right now, I need you inside me.”

I pushed into her slowly, watching her face as she adjusted to me. Her eyes fluttered closed, lips parting on a soft moan that nearly undid me. God, she felt perfect. Like she was made for me.

“Look at me,” I said roughly. “I want to see you.”

Her blue eyes opened, locking with mine as I began to move. Slow, deep strokes that had her clinging to my shoulders. The music played around us, but all I could hear was her breathing, the soft sounds she made when I hit that spot inside her.

“Wicked Games” by Chris Isaac filled the room.

“Dalton,” she breathed, her nails digging into my back.

I knew every time I heard one of these songs, I would be right back in this bed.

“I’m right here,” I said, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, anywhere I could reach. “I’m not going anywhere.”

But we both knew that wasn’t true. Tomorrow might change everything. So I poured everything I had into this moment, into showing her what she meant to me. The way she responded, the way she moved beneath me, told me she was doing the same.

I was already planning how I was going to make this last. Two hours and twelve minutes of loving her like my life depended on it.

Because maybe it did.

Two hours and twenty minutes later, we lay tangled together in my sheets, both of us spent and breathing hard. The playlist had ended ten minutes ago. Janna was curled against my chest, her fingers tracing lazy patterns over my ribs.

“That was…” she started, then trailed off.

“Yeah,” I agreed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “It was.”

She tilted her face up to look at me, her hair a mess and her lips swollen from my kisses. She’d never looked more beautiful. “Are you okay with leaving tomorrow? If Chief calls?”

I was quiet for a moment, considering the question. A month ago, I would have said yes without hesitation. The job was everything. But now, looking down at this woman who had somehow managed to crack open my chest and make herself at home in my heart, I wasn’t so sure.

“I have to go if they need me,” I said finally. “But for the first time in my life, I don’t want to.”

“Because of me?”

“Because of you,” I confirmed. “Because now I have something worth coming home to.”

She was quiet for a long moment, and I wondered if I’d said too much. I was too scared to put words to what was happening between us. At least, the old me was.

The new me knew I had to say it.

“I love you.” The words were out there. Hanging. It felt like every millisecond stretched for hours.

“I love you too,” she replied in her still raspy voice.

The words hit me like a physical blow. I’d never heard them before, not directed at me, not from someone who mattered.

My parents had never been the type to say it, and I’d made damn sure to keep every other woman at arm’s length.

But hearing it from Janna, seeing the vulnerability in her eyes as she said it, something shifted inside me.

The words felt foreign on my tongue but completely right at the same time. “I never thought I’d say that to anyone.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “You changed everything for me. From the moment you came crashing into my life, literally, you turned my world upside down. Made me want things I never thought I deserved.”

“What kind of things?”

“This,” I said, gesturing between us. “A future. Someone to come home to. Someone who gives a damn whether I make it back or not.”

She propped herself up on her elbow, studying my face. “You deserve all of that and more.”

“I’m starting to believe that,” I said. “Because of you.”

She leaned down and kissed me softly, a promise and a prayer all rolled into one. When she pulled back, I could see tears in her eyes.

“Come back to me,” she whispered.

“Always,” I said, and meant it. “And you have to do the same. I can’t lose you, Janna. I won’t clip your wings, but I’m going to be worried every time you go up. But I also know you. I know you’re a fighter. I know you won’t quit. That’s going to be what I hold on to.”

“Ditto,” she said with a smile.

“I want you to have a drawer. Hell, three drawers and half the closet.”

“What?”

“I want you in my space. I want to make it our space. Don’t leave when the season is over. Stay here with me.”

Her whole face lit up. “Are you sure you know what you’re asking for?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Alright, but don’t get mad when I don’t put the cap on the toothpaste and spill coffee grounds all over the counter.”

I chuckled. “I’ll find a way to survive.”