Page 24 of The Alpha’s Promise (Alpha Doms #3)

He made it to his house in less than a minute and unlocked the door, still refusing to put her down. He carried her into the bedroom, where he dropped her on her feet, spun her around, and unzipped her fitted yellow skirt. It dropped to the floor in a pastel puddle.

“Cody, I don’t think this is a good idea. I mean, do you think it’s safe?”

He decided not to take her blouse and bra off, to assist in keeping control. Placing his hand on her back, he bent her torso down over the bed.

“Cody, wait!”

He squeezed her welted cheeks. “Bad girls get fucked in the ass, baby.”

“Cody!”

The panic in her voice made him lean over and whisper, “What’s wrong, baby? Do you think I don’t know how to make it good for you?”

The tension in her body eased.

“Hmm?”

“No,” she agreed.

“Have I ever left you unsatisfied?”

“No.”

After retrieving a bottle of lubricant from his bathroom medicine chest, he massaged a generous dollop into her anus, stretching it with his forefinger. He inserted a second finger and moved them in and out. With his other hand, he rubbed a circle around her clit.

“What happens to bad girls, princess?”

She answered with a moan.

He withdrew the fingers from her ass, but kept teasing her clit, using her ample natural lubrication to slick the way. With his right hand, he slapped her ass. “I asked you a question.”

“They get spanked!” she cried.

He chuckled. “Yes, they do. Every time. And where do they get fucked?”

She moaned again.

He spanked again.

“In the ass! They get fucked in the ass.”

“That’s right, baby. Do you want me to fuck you in the ass?”

She whimpered. “No.”

He stilled the fingers on her clit.

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

“I thought so.” He pushed the head of his cock against her anus.

“No-o,” she moaned, squeezing her anus against the intrusion.

“Take it, baby,” he ordered, although he didn’t apply any pressure.

She immediately softened, relaxing the tight ring of muscle and allowing his cock to enter. She moaned as the thickest part of his head pushed past her anus, and then he was in.

He rocked slowly in and out of her.

“Ung… uh… oh…” Her little sounds drove him mad.

“Take it,” he repeated, picking up his speed. He wrapped his left hand around her waist and tapped her clit.

“Oh!” The tinge of orgasm sounded in her cry.

He worked her clit, then reached further and plunged the cone of his fingers into her pussy.

She shrieked with alarmed enthusiasm.

“Who owns you right now?”

“You do,” she gasped. “Oh, please, it’s too much!”

He closed his eyes and let the pleasure overcome him. Her scent, the tight fit in her ass, the wetness of her pussy around his fingers. Shoving deep, he came with a shout.

Melissa’s hands shot down between her legs and she thrust his fingers in deeper, her internal walls contracting around them.

The evidence of her orgasm sent another release blasting through him.

When he’d spent, he folded over her, nibbling on her ear.

The gentle waves of bliss resulting from his release cleared away all the walls he’d put up over the past twenty-four hours to keep her out.

Was he seriously willing to give up this?

He’d never felt so connected, so right. Even the discomfort of holding back from marking her was worth the pleasure of moving inside her, of holding her in his arms afterward.

He eased out of her and scooped her into his arms, carrying her into the shower where he turned the spray on both of them.

Melissa wobbled on her feet, so he held her up with an arm around her waist, spooning her from behind as she stood facing the spray of water. After a moment, he gently rotated her to rinse her back, running his hands down her back, parting her cheeks to wash away his seed.

Her arms looped around his neck and she clung there, as if he was the buoy that kept her from washing out to sea. He kissed her temple, her jaw, her hair. He found himself wanting to whisper promises to her, but nothing came to mind that he could keep.

She didn’t belong to him—wasn’t his mate. He’d already determined it wouldn’t work between them. Why then, did his body seem so desperate to keep her?

An hour later, Cody was manning the grill. It seemed to be the only kind of cooking he did, which was fine with her. He looked damn good when he did it, his t-shirt fitting tight over the muscles of his chest, ass sexy in those faded blue jeans.

He noticed her watching from the porch and smiled. The boyish grin lacked all of the cocky attitude he’d given her when they first met, the openness in his face a startling difference.

How had she changed?

She’d just lost her anal virginity—that was huge. But more than that, it seemed like he’d knocked down the walls she had, refinished her like one of his CJ Steele homes. Structurally, she remained the same, but everything inside had changed.

Cody piled a stack of bratwurst onto a plate and met her on the steps. His hand fell on her ass and he squeezed.

She sucked in her breath over her teeth.

He didn’t let go, stroking and squeezing again. “Sore, baby?”

She tried to muster some indignation at his rubbing it in, but instead only that gooey melting of her will happened. Surrender.

Still holding the plate of food with one hand, he burrowed his fingers into her hair, tipped her face up to his and claimed her mouth with a hard, punishing kiss. “Come on,” he murmured. “I’ll feed you.”

He’ll feed her.

Since when did men feed her? When had anyone looked after her half as well as he had?

Yeah, there had been the Walmart clothing fiasco, but in retrospect, she saw the humor in it.

His protection and care had come grudgingly first, but now she was sure he enjoyed her company.

Or maybe it was just post-coital bliss talking.

She followed him inside and watched him fork three sausages onto buns on a plate and hand it to her.

“Whoa, that’s too many,” she protested.

He smirked and took two back. “Just a one-sausage girl, princess?”

She slapped his chest. “Would you stop with your cocky?—”

He cut off her tirade with another kiss.

She melted after a moment, moving her lips against his, allowing his tongue entry. “I’ll stop,” he said softly when he pulled away. “Why don’t you take these to the couch?” He handed her two plates of food. “Want a glass of wine?”

She stopped on her way to the couch. “Do you have any?” All she’d seen was Budweiser in the fridge.

He grinned. “I might have a bottle stashed around here for when I want to woo a woman.”

She tossed her still-damp hair over her shoulder. “Is that what you’re doing now?”

“Maybe.”

Then why don’t you mark me?

Dang, did she really want him to mark her? To spend the rest of her life as his mate? That couldn’t be. She just didn’t like the sense of inadequacy produced by his determination not to mark her.

Cody walked over and handed her a glass of pinot noir and a bag of potato chips with salt and vinegar, just the way she liked them.

She snapped it open and dumped a handful on each of their plates while he returned to the kitchen for his beer.

“So did you like the house? What you saw of it?” He smirked, probably remembering how her visit to the house had ended.

“Yes. I’m going to put an offer on it.”

“Are you? How much?”

“Well, it’s a little out of my range, but I’m going to go full price and submit the offer tonight, otherwise I’ll lose it.”

He gave her a curious look and rubbed a smudge of mustard from his lower lip. “Nah. You should lowball it. Offer the price you can afford. You never know, he might take it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to lose this house. They don’t come around that often, and I need a place to live right away. The timing is perfect. Besides, his agent is an ass, remember? He would laugh in my face if I submitted a lowball offer.”

Cody stared at her with an odd expression for a moment, then applied himself to eating his brat. “Are you sure it’s the right house?” he asked after a moment. “It’s pretty small.”

She snorted. “Like I could afford any bigger. No, it’s perfect. Just what I’ve always dreamed of.”

Cody looked thoughtful as he inhaled his food but he didn’t mention it again. After they ate, she washed the plates and set them in the drying rack, poured a fresh glass of wine, and sat on the couch with her Chromebook to send Brad Johnson the offer on the house while she watched a movie.

Cody plunked down beside her, tossed an arm around her shoulders. What are you looking to watch? Want me to drive?”

She rolled her eyes, but handed over the remote. She didn’t watch much television and sucked at figuring out what to watch. “Chick flick,” she said, just to test his reaction.

Both his eyebrows raised. “Are you serious?”

“Not really. I don’t care.” She cracked open the Chromebook to prepare the paperwork.

“You don’t care? Come on, give me more to work with than that.”

“I honestly don’t care.”

He frowned at her. “Chick flick it is,” he groaned.