Dark Blue (South Island PD Book 1) (17 page)

“What?” Her jaw dropped.

“Days ago. I’ve been trying to ignore it, but today I found out that he’s been spreading lies behind my back.”

“What kind of lies?” Her eyebrows drew together.

Dread lurched in his gut, a weight he could feel. He didn’t want to tell her. It was embarrassing enough that everyone he worked with had heard the lie.

He’d brought it up though, and it wasn’t as if he could leave her hanging.

“He’s telling people I’m having an affair with his wife.”

Belle’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “That little asshat!”

He laughed despite himself, more a choking sound than a chuckle. There was just something about hearing Sanders referred to as a “little asshat”.

“I’m serious!” She showed no signs of laughter. “What the hell is wrong with that man?”

“Everything.”

She huffed. “I guess he figures that if people believe you and his wife are having an affair, they’ll think the domestic dispute was a lie you two cooked up to screw him over.”

Hearing Belle echo his thoughts reinforced them. “That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Nobody will believe him, will they? I mean, they know you. And they have to know what an ass he is.”

“The interim lieutenant doesn’t know me, and it seems like he might believe it.” He told her about his discussion with Harding.

Belle fumed – there was no other word for it. She seemed more upset than he’d anticipated, and he felt guilty. Still, a part of him appreciated seeing her so riled up on his behalf.

“No wonder you were in a bad mood.” She touched his forearm, running her fingertips along the edge until she reached his hand, which she grasped.

“Sorry if I was dickish at dinner.”

“You weren’t dickish. You just seemed like your mind was elsewhere.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly.”

She shrugged. “And Mariah’s new guy was kind of … tactless.”

“That’s one word for it.”

One corner of her mouth tilted in a wry smile, and she tightened her hold on his hand. “You have work tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want to keep you from getting any sleep…”

He squeezed back. “If I go home now I won’t be able to sleep – I’ll be thinking about you in that dress.”

His gaze drifted to her hips, hugged by the smooth green fabric.

“You’re welcome to stay the night, if you want.”

His heart rate increased, every beat a little quicker than the last. He pulled her closer, until her body was flush against his half-hard dick.

Within seconds, he was fully erect and aching. The day had been shitty, but the stress didn’t touch his desire for her.

Nothing seemed to.

Slowly, they made their way to her bedroom. He couldn’t keep his hands off her, and she didn’t keep hers off him, either. By the time they sank down onto the bed, his shirt was unbuttoned and he had that dress hiked up over her hips, exposing satin panties.

He slipped his fingertips inside them, teasing her clit. Her pussy lips quickly grew wet, and he pulled the panties off. After that he stripped her until she wore nothing but those golden earrings. They dangled above her bare shoulders, catching his eye for just a second before his gaze gravitated to her breasts.

Her nipples were hard and pink, irresistible. He teased them first with his tongue and then his teeth, until she was breathing hard.

His heart slammed against his ribs when she grabbed his dick, pressing her palm against the front of his pants and rubbing slow and hard before reaching for the button.

He flexed his hips, unable to resist pressing into her touch. Doing so made her hand slip, and it took longer for her to get his pants unzipped.

When he was finally free, she wrapped her fingers around his cock. They felt hot and tight against his shaft, a teasing reminder of how much hotter and tighter her pussy was.

And wet. Her hand felt good, but it wasn’t wet. Reaching between her thighs, he rubbed his fingers against her folds, his dick throbbing as his fingertips became slick.

Sliding two fingers into her, he let himself have a taste of her heat. Immediately, she clenched around him, those hot walls compressing his knuckles and making him moan. Her hand started to slide a little more easily up and down his shaft, and he knew it was because he’d lost a little pre-cum.

Curving his fingers, he massaged her front wall, searching for a particular spot. When her hand froze on his dick and she gripped it tight – almost painfully – he knew he’d found it.

He wanted to be inside her, more than he wanted anything. But the pressure of her body bearing down on him, drawing him deeper in, was irresistible. Besides, he liked the raw contact – feeling her clench like that around him, with nothing between them. Even if it was just his fingers.

It was real. Hot. Intimate and wet. It made him wonder what it would feel like to come inside her with no condom. He let himself revel in the thought, the fantasy. It was harder to imagine anything more pleasurable than fucking her like that, raw and free, and filling her with his cum as she clenched around him.

A shiver of longing raced down his spine as he massaged the spot, going a little harder every time she gasped.

When the hardest contraction yet hit her, she fell back against the bed, her back arching as she let go of his cock.

He groaned as her breasts rose and her hips sank while her pussy clamped down tight on his fingers. He was glad he’d waited, glad he’d resisted the urge to bury his dick inside her immediately. There was something sweet, searing and powerful about seeing her sprawled out in front of him like that, her pussy literally in the palm of his hand as she gasped.

Her cries were sharp, almost jagged, and her ribs heaved. A heavy pulse echoed through him, making his entire body ache in rhythm with her orgasm. More pre-cum leaked from the slit at the head of his dick, and he could feel it beading at the fat tip.

He was fucking hopeless. Desire for her wrecked him; in that moment, he would’ve done anything to keep it from ending. But after a few last, breathless moments, she gasped.

“Stop. Stop.” She blinked, then squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t stand it anymore. It feels too good, and too— I don’t know.”

Slowly, he withdrew his fingers from her body, his gaze lingering on her swollen clit.

She shivered, as if the sensation was too much.

He kicked off his pants and underwear before lowering himself onto the bed beside her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her naked body against his.

Her belly trapped his cock between their bodies, and he probably could’ve come just from rubbing it against her if he’d let himself.

She placed a hand on his ass, her nails scraping his skin. “You’d better get a condom. I put some in the night stand.”

He kissed her first, deep and hard. The heat of her mouth lingered on his lips when he turned and pulled a condom from the box. Despite the fantasy he’d indulged in minutes ago, it was still exciting to roll the sleeve over his hard dick. Putting the condom on meant getting inside her, and the thought drove him crazy, condom or not. Even with a barrier between them, he’d still be inside her.

He’d still feel her pussy squeezing him, would still feel her breath on his neck and hear her voice in his ear when she cried out as she came.

He rolled on top of her, laid between her open thighs and thrust inside her. It was simple, easy – deep.

And tight. So tight. Every time they fucked, it was like reliving the ecstasy of their first time, rediscovering how perfectly their bodies fit to together and how fucking mind-blowing it felt.

He rocked the bed for a long, blissful while. Looking down at her beneath him felt so right and so good that pressure pooled at the base of his spine, building with every thrust. He took it slow, and then he gripped her hips and rolled, stopping when their positions were reversed and she was on top.

She looked so fucking hot up there. Her cheeks were red, her lips were swollen and her hair was crazy. After a few seconds, she started going up and down, rocking against him and taking him deep.

He groaned, staring at her chest. Her nipples were still hard, and her breasts bounced every time she lowered herself onto him. Eventually he pressed his thumb against her clit, rubbing.

Within a few minutes, she came. It was like before, only this time her pussy contracted around his dick, not his hand, wringing pleasure out of him.

He lasted until she was done coming. Barely. And then he stopped touching her clit, gripped her hips with both hands instead and pounded into her.

The pleasure was intense – white hot and gone too soon.

She stayed on top of him for a few seconds before climbing off. Even then, he didn’t move right away.

As he stared at the ceiling, his head cleared and a sense of guilt encroached on his bliss.

What they’d done had felt so damn good that it’d obliterated the day’s stress.

He hadn’t been numbed – no, it’d been the opposite. She gave him pleasure so deep he couldn’t be angry, couldn’t be worried, when he was lost in it.

The only problem was that he couldn’t help feeling as if he was indebted to her for that. After all, what had he done for her?

He’d been an ass at dinner, and then they’d come here and fucked. A pattern seemed to be forming – one where he reveled in her and latched onto the pleasure – the reprieve – she offered. He didn’t want her to think he was only interested in her sexually.

Because it wasn’t like that. He’d make it up to her – do something special for her. He swore it to himself as he sat up on the side of the bed, then stood.

There was a waste basket along the wall, near the corner. As he approached it, he started to pull the condom from his still-hard cock.

Something wet met his fingertips, and for a split second, he didn’t think anything of it. She’d been wet, and her moisture was spread all over the condom.

But it was more than that – more than her pussy could account for, no matter how much she’d wanted him. Liquid trickled through the cracks between his fingers and dripped from his knuckles.

The bottom dropped out of his stomach as he looked down. Down at his wet hands, and down at the condom. The reservoir at the tip was suspiciously empty. Deflated. The liquid dripping from his fingers had to be the last of its contents.

For what felt like an eternity, he stood there with his dick in his hand, staring.

Fuck. What was he supposed to say to Belle? Was the condom only a precaution to protect against infection, or had she relied on it for birth control?

“Is everything okay?” she eventually asked.

“The condom broke.” He felt the weight of his words as they hit the air, and then he felt her gaze on his back.

“What? Are you sure?” Belle sat up straight in bed.

“Yeah.” He pulled the condom off, holding it in one palm as he lifted his other hand, showing her the fluid on his fingers.

Her eyes widened, and her lips cracked.

When he examined the condom, he found a small tear near the tip. Small, but big enough that it’d leaked his cum, presumably deep inside her.

The thought made his stomach flip and tighten as a guilty sense of pleasure hit him at the thought of coming inside her, even unknowingly.

He tossed the defective condom in the trash.

“This has never happened to me before,” she said, her voice higher than it’d been seconds ago.

“Me neither. Are you on the pill or anything like that?”

She shook her head. “No… I’ll have to go to the pharmacy in the morning and get the morning after pill.”

Her gaze was steady, but her voice gave her away. She was shocked – the flush that’d colored her face moments ago had faded, leaving her pale.

“I can go for you now, if you want me to. There are a couple twenty-four hour pharmacies on the island.”

She glanced at the clock, then shook her head. “No, it’s late, and you have to get up early. It’s okay; I’ll go myself first thing in the morning.”

“You sure?”

A weak smile crossed her face, gone as soon as it had appeared. “It’s called the ‘morning after’ pill, isn’t it? It’s fine.”

He went across the hall to wash his hands, so lost in thought that he let the water scald his fingers. When he turned for the door, he found Belle standing there.

“I need to clean up,” she said, the flush in her cheeks flaring.

“Right.”

Guilt hit him, along with another bolt of forbidden satisfaction. God, if he’d known the condom was going to break, he would just as soon have fucked her without one. It didn’t seem fair that they’d been cheated of that pleasure and she had to take precautions anyway.

He let her have her privacy, returning to the bedroom where he pulled his underwear back on and set his phone alarm for an hour well before dawn.

He should’ve been exhausted, but instead, he was charged with restless energy. When she returned, he watched her pull on a pair of cotton panties and a grey cami, his heart speeding when she shut off the light.

“You’re still staying, right?” she asked, her voice soft in the darkness.

“Unless you’d rather I not.”

“No, it’s fine.” She climbed into bed, and he lay down beside her. “You don’t have to worry about any infections. I went to the doctor and got tested after— Well, before I moved back here. I’ve only been with you since.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about either.” He felt like a dumbass for not thinking to reassure her of that sooner.

She pulled the blankets high over them both, and her body heat radiated beneath, making his skin prickle with heat. The AC was cranked high, but he began to sweat anyway.

Was she pissed at him? Afraid?

He reached out to touch her, running a hand along her arm before looping his own around her.

He was half afraid she’d pull away, but she didn’t. Actually, she pressed back against him, her shoulders searing his chest. He stayed still, even when his sweating became heavier.

When her breathing mellowed into a soft rhythm, his mind and body began to wind down, as if they’d been given permission to pursue sleep. The sweat beading on his skin dried, and his elevated heart rate settled into a slow, steady beat.

Within minutes, he passed out.

* * * * *

Belle awoke sometime between midnight and dawn. That was as specific as she could be – her eyelids were heavy and opening them would’ve been too much work. Still, her mind and body buzzed, shedding sleep like a jacket that was too heavy for the weather. Jackson stirred against her, and she realized that was what’d woken her up.

Or maybe she’d woken
him
up. She was pressed tightly against him, her back arched and her ass pinning something hard and thick above his hips. A fragment of a dream drifted back to her, hot and tempting. As it faded, she realized she was breathing too fast.

“You okay?” His voice was a rough rumble in the darkness, grainy with sleep.

“Fine.” Her belly clenched, the tightness radiating far below and making her aware of the heat between her thighs. She couldn’t resist pressing back against him a little harder.

He groaned, the sound wordless and deep.

Next thing she knew, the hand that’d been lying fisted below her breastbone was cupping her breast. A sharp bolt of mingled pleasure and pain pierced her chest when he pinched her nipple, and he flexed his hips in reflex, pressing his hard cock against the crack of her ass.

“Since we already messed up and you’re getting the pill in the morning, can I?”

An electric thrill tore through her, making her shiver despite the heat. “Can you what?”

“Fuck you bare.” He pulled one of her cami straps down and rubbed her aching nipple. “Come inside you – on purpose, this time.”

The skin on her arms and legs prickled, and for a moment, she didn’t say anything – her voice was frozen deep in her throat, where a moan was threatening to rise. Her sleep-fogged mind was suddenly clear and sharp, brought to life by the idea that he’d planted in her head.

Would it hurt anything? As he’d said, they’d already made a mistake. Not on purpose, but still – the risk was there. And she was going to buy and take the pill first thing in the morning to make sure she didn’t get pregnant.

This seemed like a free pass – a rare chance to forego precautions and indulge in pleasure. Her entire body buzzed and tightened just thinking about.

Turning beneath the weight of his arm, she faced him, slipping her hand between their bodies and into his underwear.

Maybe it was the thrill of what they were about to do influencing her perceptions, but he felt thicker and harder than ever against her palm. The rush of his breath against her neck jolted her fully awake, and then his knuckles were scraping her belly, shoulders and thighs as he stripped her under the covers.

When they were both naked, she wrapped her arms around his neck and arched against him as he moved over her. There was a faint ache between her thighs, where he’d been just hours ago. Anticipation made it throb, made her feel intensely alive in the dark and the quiet that was underscored by the hum of central air.

The lack of light heightened her other senses. She felt the heat of his touch like firecrackers snapping all over her skin. Buzzing with expectation, she inhaled his warm, clean scent until her lungs were so full that she had to release the breath she’d been holding.

The exhalation turned into a gasp as he pressed the head of his dick against her pussy, a moan rumbling in his chest while he rubbed it against her lips.

The massage was teasing, exhilarating. She was wet and growing more so by the second. He spread that moisture over her skin and his, until he was able to push smoothly past her lips and into the tight, aching confines of her pussy.

The difference was breathtaking. Without a condom in the way, there was less friction but more feeling. His smooth, hard heat sent a thrill through her as he thrust deep, knocking the air from her lungs.

She felt closer to him than ever before, and so she held him tighter, her chest pressed against his as his lips brushed her ear. He let some of his weight rest on her, but she didn’t mind. It felt good to feel him move, to feel his heart pounding as he rocked into her.

“Fuck, Belle.” His voice was rough and sent a shiver of pleasure racing down her spine. “Feels so good.”

Her heart leapt into her throat, melting her words down to a moan.

She was sure she’d never felt anything so good, until her bliss reached a peak and she came. When that happened, the brand new pleasure of fucking him bare multiplied, narrowing her world to an intense awareness of his heat and hardness, of how deep he was inside her.

When he came it sent echoes of her own climax through her – sensory ghosts that made her pussy tighten around him just like the real thing had.

Afterward, she fell back asleep with his arm draped over her body, just like before. The only thing that was different was the heat that remained deep in her core and the strange, exhilarating satisfaction that came with it.

* * * * *

Seeing Sanders at roll call never got any easier. If anything, it pissed Jackson off a little more every time. Now that the shock of seeing him there had worn off, there was nothing but anger.

And yet, on Sunday morning, he was distracted from the feeling by an emotion that was even more pervading: concern for Belle.

It’d been hard to leave her in bed at five am that morning. The events of the night before had welled up inside him, bittersweet. He’d wished he’d gotten up earlier and gone to the pharmacy to get that pill for her so she wouldn’t have to worry about going herself, but he hadn’t thought of that until it’d been too late.

It was the least he could’ve done, but he hadn’t done it.

Silently, he resolved to do something for her after he got off work. What, he wasn’t sure. But he had all day to come up with something.

His brain buzzed with the effort as officers filed in, taking seats, and he caught himself sinking deep into his own thoughts as the night before replayed inside his head.

Fuck, it’d been hot. Just thinking about it made his uniform feel overly tight and warm. His head swam with the knowledge that Belle had been okay with it, that she’d trusted him enough to repeat their mistake – on purpose. And now that they both knew the other was clean, he couldn’t help but wonder whether she might want to go on the pill so they could forego condoms permanently in the future.

The pill was supposed to be more effective than condoms, anyway. And last night had proven that condoms were definitely fallible. His heart picked up pace, beating faster than sitting on his ass in a chair accounted for.

When the shift sergeant walked into the room, he had to force himself to pay attention to what he said.

Afterward, when he pushed back his chair, Belle was still all he could think about. Was she up yet? And was she regretting the night before, or was she fantasizing about it, like him?

* * * * *

Belle woke up at a quarter till eight, and for a few fuzzy seconds, she didn’t think about anything at all. Then reality set in and she noticed the wrinkled hollow in the sheets where Jackson had slept and the folded corner of the blankets where he’d climbed out of bed.

The night before came back to her in a bittersweet rush, making her skin prickle with heat despite the air conditioning.

What had they done? What
hadn’t
they done? She smiled despite herself, even as she tossed off the covers and hurried into the bathroom.

There, she started a shower. She was still naked – she’d fallen asleep without dressing after the second time she and Jackson had gone at it the night before. The only thing she wore was a transparent stain on her inner thigh. She felt it when she ran a hand down her body, spreading soap bubbles.