Page 20

Chapter 19

I had developed quite the bedroom routine over the past few weeks. Number one, check to make sure Eden is asleep. Number two, grab a towel from the bathroom before heading into my room. Number three, fuck the hell out of my hand while I think about my wife.

I was currently standing beside my bed, working on task number three, my fist wrapped around my length as I imagined Eden on her knees in front of me. She wasn’t wearing her contacts, so her naturally blue eyes stared up at me, tears leaking from the corners because I was fucking gagging her.

“That’s it, baby girl. Choke on me.”

A squelching noise came from her throat when I breached that tight channel, and I groaned, pure pleasure coursing through every cell in my body.

“That smart mouth of yours ain’t so sassy with a cock stuffed in it, is it, little Wildcat?” Her pretty lips shifted around my dick, the corners curving up into a distorted smile. Even when I was balls deep in her mouth, she was still a damn smartass, and I loved it.

“Does it turn you on to have your face fucked, Eden?” She nodded earnestly at my dirty words, and I pulled out, bending to kiss her fuck-swollen lips. “You want to touch your cunt, don’t you?” I whispered against her mouth.

“Yes, Sir,” she moaned, and I had to tighten my fingers around the crown of my cock to keep from blowing my load too soon. I loved these little fantasies of mine and wanted them to last for as long as possible. They always seemed to be over way too soon though. My imagination was simply too vivid when I thought of Eden.

Reaching for one of her hands, I brought it to my mouth, sucking the first two fingers until they were dripping with my saliva. “I’ll allow you to come because you’re going to be a good girl and swallow every drop of me. Now get those fingers between your legs.”

A second later, I was back inside the heat of her mouth, gripping her dark hair as I listened to the sounds of Eden getting herself off. She made the prettiest noises, sweet and drawn out, while I shoved my cock deep.

I couldn't see what she was doing to herself from this angle, so I watched the rise and fall of her shoulder as she worked herself over.

“I’m close,” I warned her. “Don’t make me come yet, baby. I want it to last.”

But of course she didn’t listen, bobbing her head quickly up and down my length and allowing her tongue to wrap around the head on each upstroke. Her name was an oath on my lips as a familiar feeling of elation sizzled along my nerve endings.

“Eden, fuck. I need you to come. Now,” I demanded, and she did, her body trembling beautifully and the vibration of her moans traveling up my cock. My god, it felt so goddamn good.

Gritting my teeth, I held on until she was done, and then, with a voice hoarse with need, I said, “Give me your fingers, baby. I have to taste your pussy while I come.”

Dutifully, she pulled her hand from between her legs, raised it, and allowed me to suck her juices clean. Though I was fantasizing, I could taste her as clearly as if I had my head buried between her legs. She tasted like she always smelled… like sweet honey, rich and raw.

My hand groped blindly for the towel I’d left on the bed, already shuddering out my release by the time I found it and covered my dick. “Shit! Fuck, that’s so good,” I groaned. My knees almost collapsed, and I planted one fist on the mattress to hold myself up.

It took a long while before I was able to slow my breathing and make my way to the bathroom in the hall to clean up. As soon as I was done, I returned to my bedroom, slid on a pair of black boxer briefs, and fell onto the bed like an uprooted tree.

Of course, I’d masturbated hundreds of times before, but never—not once—had my self-induced orgasms been like this. My Eden fantasies exhausted me like I’d been fucking for hours.

Mmm, yes. I’d give my right nut to fuck my wife into the mattress all night long.

That filthy thought was interrupted by a scream that tore through the house and pierced my heart.

“Eden!” I yelled, my legs finding life as I leaped from the bed. Snatching open my bedside drawer, I yanked out my gun and scrambled down the short hallway. I shoved the door open and entered the room, gun first, my eyes searching for the threat. My fingers flipped up the light switch, bathing the room in light.

Eden was thrashing on the bed, but no one was in the room with her. My mind played catch-up, though I wasn’t sure my heart rate would ever return to a normal level. She was having a nightmare, her whimpers punctuated by the occasional scream of pure terror.

“Baby,” I breathed, rushing to her and setting the gun down on her nightstand.

My hands untangled the covers from around her kicking legs as pleas scratched up her throat. “No, please don’t. Pleeeeease!” A million cracks formed in my chest at the sound of her abject fear.

“Eden, wake up, baby. It’s just a nightmare.” I gripped her shoulders, and that was apparently the wrong thing to do because she went feral, bending both knees to her chest and then kicking out, hitting me squarely in the gut. I covered my curse as I stumbled backward a few steps and held my hands up in front of me, a gesture of surrender.

Eden scrambled back against the headboard, her eyes wide open and round now. “Don’t touch me! Don’t!”

“Okay, not touching. I promise,” I assured her through ragged breaths. “It’s me, Eden. It’s Dane.”

“Dane?” She sounded confused and whipped her head back and forth, searching the room for anyone else.

“Yes, it’s Dane. No one else is here. You’re in our house in the Keys, and you’re safe.” Jesus, I wanted nothing more than to run to her and gather her slight body in my arms, but I remained rooted to the floor and kept my voice soft. “You’re safe, sweetheart.”

Eden pulled a pillow against her belly and shrunk into a ball, her gaze still wary as she searched the room once more. “I’m safe,” she repeated, sounding amazed at the thought. Then she looked down at her hands and feet. “The chains are gone.”

Chains? What the actual fuck? “All gone,” I promised her, my heart in a million pieces.

Her eyes lost a bit of focus as she stared across the room. “It was so dark. I couldn’t see anything.” I knew in my gut she wasn’t talking about the lighting in this room but about something that happened to her when she was taken.

With achingly slow steps, I walked toward the bed and picked up her phone, switching on the flashlight app. I wasn’t even sure what the hell I was doing since the overhead lights were already on, but I handed it to her. “It’s not dark anymore.”

Eden clutched the lit phone to the pillow she was still clasping against her torso, and her breathing eased, but her gaze remained fixed on a spot on the wall. “There wasn’t enough air in there.”

Every inch of my body felt an unrelenting rage at the assholes who had done this to her… who had turned this vibrant, beautiful woman into a terrified shell. I wished I had magical powers so I could bring them back to life and kill them again, much more slowly this time. Piece by tiny fucking piece.

Keeping my eyes on Eden, I walked backward, removing the security bar from the sliding door and pulling it open.

“There’s lots of air out here. Do you want to sit on the veranda?” I was way out of my depth here, but this seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe.

The tension in her shoulders relaxed a little as she focused on the open door behind me. The sounds of waves crashed from the ocean, and salty night air filled the room. “Yes please.”

“Do you need help?”

Her messy dark head shook from side to side. “No, I can walk.” Eden set the pillow aside but held onto the phone as she placed her feet on the floor and paused to get her bearings. Then she walked toward me on unsteady legs, and I stepped aside to let her exit first.

She gripped the back of one patio chair and closed her eyes, and I watched as her chest filled and then emptied a dozen times.

“Better?” I asked. “I can turn the porch lights on.”

“Much better.” Eden’s eyes turned up toward the round, glowing moon. “I don’t need more light. This is okay.” Turning off the flashlight app, she set her phone on the small table.

“Sit down, Eden. You need to rest.”

Her eyes flitted to mine and then back down to the tan stone floor. “Would it be okay if I sat… in your lap?”

Emotions of all kinds slammed into my chest, but the most prominent one was elation. I wanted so badly to do something to help her, and she was actually trusting me enough to ask for this.

“Of course.” I sank into the chair on the left.

Eden swallowed. “Can you please not…” she made a circle in front of her with her arms, miming a hug. “I don’t want… I can’t…” Her breathing picked up again, and I shook my head.

“I won’t hold you,” I assured her, understanding what she was trying so hard to say. She didn’t want to feel trapped. With a grateful half-smile, she lowered her butt to my thighs and draped her legs over one arm of the chair so she was sitting sideways on my lap.

Sitting as still as I could—and valiantly managing to keep my hands off her—I allowed Eden to use me as her own personal piece of furniture. When her soft body relaxed into mine and she rested her head against my shoulder, I sighed with a kind of peacefulness I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Then I almost jolted with the realization that it mattered to me that Eden was comfortable with me. I’d never given a damn what any woman thought about me besides my mother and sister. Did I despise the way my father treated women? Fuck yes, I did. And while I was never concerned with women besides the pleasure they could offer me in bed, I wasn’t cruel to them like Luca. We had a mutual good time, and that was that.

But Eden? I was starting to actually care about her as a person. Her feelings were becoming my own. When she hurt, I hurt. I wanted to take away her pain, to absorb it into my bones until she didn’t feel it anymore.

It was a completely unfamiliar feeling but one that wasn’t unpleasant at all. And maybe, if I was being honest with myself, it had been happening for a while. I’d gotten her flowers for her birthday, for fuck’s sake. I’d never bought a woman flowers before.

My mind flashed back to that day in March when she’d stomped into the kitchen like a woman on a mission to be miserable. But the lilacs had made her smile, and that made my heart stretch like it had been dormant for a long time and was finally waking up.

With a slow hand, I tentatively stroked my fingers through the hair over her right ear. “Is this okay? If I touch you like this?”

I felt her nod against the side of my neck. “Yes. That feels good.”

My fingers continued to roam through Eden’s soft locks, massaging miniature circles against her scalp. For a long while, the only sounds were the crashing waves and the occasional tree frog or cricket chirping in the distance.

Then she burrowed a little closer and pierced my soul with her words.