Page 17 of When He Fights (Protector & Defender #3)

Chapter Nine

She should go upstairs.

She should go to bed.

She should get in the bed, pull the covers up, close her eyes, and try to forget this nightmare of a day.

She should do all of those things and yet…

Ana just remained in the den. She kept pacing back and forth between the couch and the picture windows in front, windows that were currently covered by heavy drapes.

Her stomach felt knotted, her heart raced too fast, and she knew that she rode a hard wave of adrenaline.

Her fingers fluttered at her side, strumming a phantom harp.

Kane kissed me. He kissed me in the middle of that chaos.

They should talk about that kiss, shouldn’t they? Or was she supposed to ignore it and act like the whole thing had never happened?

She heard the back door open. A moment later, it clicked closed.

The faint beep of the alarm chirped as it was reset, then Ana caught the heavy and deliberate footsteps that she knew belonged to Kane.

He was coming closer. Closing in. Her fingers stopped strumming as her hands fisted.

Twisted. Then she shoved them behind her back and straightened her spine because—not like she was going to confess to being in love with him again.

Been there, done that. Got the rejection memory to prove it. No, this was different. This was?—

“I want to fuck you,” Kane announced.

She blinked.

“I want to fuck you until you come, screaming my name.” He stopped about five feet from her. Tension seemed to swirl in the room around them. Between them. “I want to get so deep inside of you that you aren’t sure where you end and I begin.”

Um…

What was the appropriate response to those words? Yes, please probably wouldn’t be it. Would it?

“I want you to come around my dick.”

She swallowed.

“I want you to come against my mouth. I want you to ride my face.”

Was this conversation actually happening? Carefully, with her hands still behind her back, Ana pinched herself. She felt the small sting, so, yes, real. Actually happening.

“I want to make you come at least three times. That’s the first time I take you. Three orgasms the first time.”

Ana swiped her tongue over her lower lip. His gaze immediately dropped to her mouth and that stare of his just went molten.

“Ana.” He breathed her name like a prayer. “What am I going to do with you?”

From the sound of things, he’d had a couple of very good possibilities that he’d raised. But they’d done this dance before.

She lifted her chin. She also stopped twisting her hands behind her back and let them fall to her sides.

Deliberately, she kept her steps slow and certain as she eliminated the distance between them.

With every step Ana took, the heat in his eyes seemed to intensify.

She was pretty surprised that he didn’t burn her simply from his scorching gaze.

Ana stopped right in front of him. “You saved my life tonight.”

“I’ll save your life any night.”

“Well, hopefully, that won’t always be necessary. Hopefully, every night won’t end with me being in mortal jeopardy.” She raised her hand and placed it on his chest, right over his racing heart.

Fast. Hard.

“You saved me, then you kissed me.”

His gaze was still on her mouth.

“Now you talk about f-fucking me.” Dammit, she’d stuttered.

When she’d been trying so hard to be all blasé about things.

“Is this going to be one of those situations where you change your mind in five minutes? Where you tell me that it’s adrenaline and fear or fury, and that we’re not thinking clearly? ”

“Ana.” A shake of his head. “It is adrenaline. And fear. And fury.”

Disappointment knifed through her.

“I feel all of those things. But I feel them plenty, given my line of work. And I don’t typically want to fuck like crazy when they crash through my system.”

Oh?

“As far as the next five minutes are concerned, I plan to be balls deep in you within five minutes. I plan for you to be coming around my cock in the next five minutes.”

Say something, Ana! “I thought there were lines you didn’t want to cross. Rules to follow. You’re protecting me. Doesn’t that mean you can’t fuck me?”

His hands flew out and curled around her waist. She felt that touch burn through her and seem to brand her skin.

“I played by the rules before. All that got me was blue balls and two years of aching for you.”

Wait— what?

His hold tightened on her. “If you don’t want this, if you don’t want me, then go up the stairs.

” And he just let her go. After the big “two years of aching” bombshell, the man just dropped those hot hands of his.

He even took a step back. “Go up the stairs, shut the door, and I’ll keep my hands to myself. ”

She mulled over his words. Nodded. And turned for the stairs.

Ana heard his sharp inhalation of air behind her.

She climbed the first step. The second. The third. The fourth—Ana spun toward him, her hand gripping the wooden banister. “What if I want your hands all over me?”

He bounded toward her. Stopped at the foot of the stairs.

She stared into his blazing eyes. “What if I want you to fuck me? What if I’ve wanted it for a very long time?”

“ Ana. ”

“I’ve always liked the way you say my name.” She smiled at him, but then lost the smile in the next breath because his expression was just so savage. “I haven’t been with anyone since Logan.” There. Done. Said.

“ Bastard. ”

Yes, her ex was, indeed, a bastard.

“Just telling you so that you’ll understand that I might be a bit rusty at things.”

He grabbed the banister and leaned toward her. “You will be fucking perfect.”

“Three times, huh?” Ana leaned forward and pressed her hands to his jaw. His beard teased her fingers. That soft, sexy beard. “I’d settle for one really good orgasm. You do not have to be an overachiever with me.”

“You’ll get three. For starters.” His head turned. He nipped her fingers. Licked them. “I am going to fuck you until you scream.”

A strange burst of euphoria seemed to fill her. Maybe from the adrenaline. Maybe from the whole nearly-being-murdered experience. Or maybe just from the sheer joy of getting what she finally wanted. “Promises, promises.”

His pupils flared. “You should run.”

She would rather jump on him.

“If you don’t get up to the bedroom, right now, I will be fucking you here.”

“On the stairs? Hardly seems comfortable.” But she did turn away.

And she did hurry up the stairs. Didn’t run, though, because her knees were shaking, and she’d rather not fall and break her neck before the promised round of great sex.

With every step, he was right behind her. Chasing her up the steps and she?—

Was being lifted up.

Very carefully placed—uh, tossed?—over his shoulder. “Kane?”

He carried her the rest of the way up those stairs. “You won’t get away from me. Not ever again.”

Sounded fabulous to her.

He shoved open the door to her bedroom. They crossed the threshold, and he didn’t lower her down until they were right beside her antique, brass bed.

“It will be a tight fit, but we’ll make it work.”

Her lips parted in a big O. Was he talking about?—

“The bed, Ana. We need a king-size, but this will work.”

She glanced over her shoulder. Looked at the bed. Then looked at Kane.

“I don’t hurt you.” His voice was flat. “I do not, understand?”

She frowned at him.

“Anything I do that makes you feel uncomfortable, anything gives you a moment’s pain, you stop me.

Immediately. Got it? I know I’m fucking huge, and you’re small and delicate, but I will not hurt you.

One of the reasons you will come three times.

I will make sure you’re ready when I thrust into you. ”

It was sweet that he was worried, but pain was the last thing on her mind.

So she smiled at him right before her hands went to his waist. She shoved his jogging pants down and out of her way.

She leaned down toward him—that bobbing cock of his was definitely on the massive scale, just like the rest of him, and she gave his dick a light lick, right before opening her mouth and taking in that gorgeous head.

Sucking. Swirling her tongue over him and, in a blink, she was on the bed. Flat on her back. Legs spread. Fast.

Ana blinked. “Uh, Kane?”

“I’m not exploding in that sweet mouth, not the first time.” He yanked his jogging pants back into position. Then he yanked off her shorts. And the scrap of panties that she’d been wearing. So she was on the bed, naked from the waist down, and his voracious gaze was eating her up.

One of her hands flew down to cover her sex.

“Nope.” He caught her fingers. Lifted them away. Put her hand back on the mattress and then his strong fingers were pushing her legs wider apart. He hauled her closer to the edge of the bed as he leaned over her. His breath blew lightly over her exposed core.

Ana sucked in a breath. Uncertainty pulsed through her. “Kane?”

He kissed her. With her legs spread. With her body totally open. His mouth pressed to her with sensual possession. He licked her. Kissed. Tongued her clit again and again, and then his tongue dipped into her.

She fisted the bedding around her.

He didn’t relent. At first, he was careful. Teasing.

But the teasing changed. The licks of his tongue became more possessive.

More demanding. His fingers joined his mouth and tongue.

He thrust one finger into her. Worked a second inside even as his mouth kept worshipping her clit.

Mercilessly. Relentlessly. Kissing her with wild skill. Wicked intent. Utter possession.

Two fingers thrust into her, but his left hand rose, and he curled that hand around her breast. He stroked her tight nipple. Pinched her lightly. Kept tasting her and taking, and she was utterly and completely lost. Too much sensation. Too much pleasure.

Her hips slammed up against his mouth. Her hands stopped gripping the bedding, and they flew down to grip him. To sink into the thickness of his hair.

When he swiped his tongue over her again, when she felt him suck on her clit, she ignited.

An orgasm raced through her body, shaking every single part of her, and Ana didn’t try to bite back her cry of release.

She happily screamed for him. And kept screaming as the orgasm seemed to wreck her and delight her and leave her utterly satiated and boneless on the bed with his face still buried between her thighs.

Her breath shuddered out even as the thundering beat of her heart seemed to echo in her ears. Boom. Boom. Boom. “Wow.” She wet dry lips. “That was…”

Oh, whoops. Her fingers were still in his hair.

She hurriedly let go.

He looked up at her, and the shuddering breaths she’d taken just froze. There was only one word to describe Kane’s expression.

Feral.

“You are delicious.” More growl than anything else. “Do not fucking move.”

She had not planned to move. Not like her legs could hold her. Not with the way they were currently shaking.

But he moved. He shot to his feet, turned, and hurried out of the bedroom.

Woman, get it together. So what if that was just the best orgasm of your life? It was the ? —

Kane was back.

He stalked toward the bed.

She scrambled up. Back. Onto her knees. Tried to pull her shirt down over her body a wee bit more. Though why she bothered, Ana had no clue. Maybe because he was eating her up with his eyes?

Oh, come on, you know you love it when he eats you up.

Kane put a box of condoms onto her nightstand.

A whole box. Her gaze flew to the box. He’d brought clothes in to the house before, when he first moved in with her.

Grayson had also delivered a few bags for him.

Had Grayson brought the condoms? Had Kane gone out and purchased them?

Had he been so certain they’d have sex? Why was she obsessing over this point right then?

“Got them yesterday,” he said, as if reading her mind. “If you decided you wanted me, nothing was going to stand in our way this time.”

Her gaze whipped back toward him.

“It’s been over two years,” Kane began. His voice was rough and deep and rolled over her in all the right ways.

“Two years since I’ve had sex,” she agreed. Yes, she’d told him this before.

“Two years since I’ve had sex,” Kane corrected.

She had no response. Well, she did. “What ?”

“If I couldn’t have you, I didn’t want anyone else.”

Hello, bombshell .