Guardian Angel (26 page)

“But sweetheart,” he breathed against her ear.  “We haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.”

She groaned, a soft feminine sound of submission that thrilled him.  Rebecca’s arms reached up around his neck as he rolled to his side, pulling her with him; she refused to lose any contact with him, even for a moment.

“I love you so much, Kane,” she murmured.  She pressed her breasts against his hard chest, wrapped her upper leg.  His erection – as big and hard as the rest of him, throbbed against her belly with silent promise.  “Do you know I have fantasized of being with you like this since that first night in the jungle when you yelled at me?”

“Have you now?”  The thought that she had been having erotic thoughts about him all this time made his cock pulse hard against her.

“Yes,” she admitted, rolling her hips to stroke him with her belly.  “I used to dream that you felt the same way about me.  That you’d lie awake at night... doing things to yourself ... imagining it was me...”

No one had ever threatened his self-control like Rebecca.  Blood boiled in his veins, his muscles were ready to snap from the tension.  In public, his new bride was the picture of purity and serenity.  But here, in his arms, in his bed, she was rubbing against him like a sexy little kitten in heat, confessing her dirty little thoughts to him.  It was almost more than he could bear.  Sweat beaded across his forehead; veins bulged just beneath his skin.

“Rebecca...”

“No more stalling, Kane,” she whispered with kisses just beneath his jaw.  “Take me now.  Make love to your wife the way she needs you to.”  His heart pounded faster as he fought valiantly for control but it was as futile as trying to stop the tide.  With each wave the pull became stronger until he couldn’t hold it back any longer.  Kane rolled on top of her, letting some of his weight press against her, holding the rest upon his elbows along her sides.  She was so beautiful.  Her skin was flushed and pink with heat and arousal, her eyes were half-lidded and heavy, her lips swollen and dark from his repeated possessions.

Her legs spread open for him, her hips a perfect cradle as her arms beckoned him to her.  “I have been waiting my whole life for you, Kane.  Don’t make me wait any longer.”

Another thread snapped, leaving dangerously few remaining.  Still, he hesitated.  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered hoarsely, his throat as tight and dry as if he’d spent the last three days in the desert.  God, how he needed her.  It was nearly killing him, but he could not bring himself to do what he needed most because he knew it would cause her pain.

Rebecca reached down between them and took the heavy, thick length of him in her hand.  Kane closed his eyes and swallowed hard.  Her touch was nothing less than magical.  Thick wetness weeped from the tip; his balls ached.  Rebecca guided him to her, mixing his wetness with hers.

The feel of his cockhead sliding along her center was so erotic.  To be so close to something he wanted so fiercely ...

And then, lost in the haze of his lust and love as he gazed into her eyes and tried to figure out the best way to enter her, she wrapped her legs around his hips and thrust herself upward, hard and fast, taking him inside her without warning.

A cry tore from her lips as his hard length ripped through her innocence.  Her eyes grew wide and for several moments she was unable to take a breath. 

“Rebecca, sweetheart,” he choked in a strangled gasp, his eyes filled with the pain and glory mirrored in her own.  He held himself perfectly still, knowing even the slightest movement would be agonizing for her.  He’d wanted to go slowly, to ease into her, allow her to become accustomed to him, but once again, she had taken matters into her own hands.  Once again, she had given him salvation at a terrible cost to herself.

A tear spilled from the excruciating pain.  “Damn you, woman,” he whispered softly.  “Will you never listen to me?”

“Never,” she promised softly, “if it means denying you.”

If she had not already completely owned him, heart and soul and mind and body, she would have in that moment.

“Kane,” she whispered reverently.  “Look at me.  You are inside of me.”

“Ssshhh,” he soothed, worry and concern etched on his face as he smoothed her hair back and laid soft kisses along her brow.  “Don’t move, baby.”

She smiled.  “You coddle me too much, Kane.”

Maybe he did.  He wanted to protect her, wanted to care for her.  He wanted to be everything to her, as she was to him.  “So?  You don’t like it?” 

Her hands ran along his back, slowly up, then down, stroking him with deft, loving hands as she shifted beneath him – tiny movements that had him rubbing along her inner walls.

“I love the way you take care of me,” she breathed, sending a wave of satisfaction through him.  “But tonight, I want you to take me.  Brand me, Kane.  Claim me as your wife.  Imprint yourself on me so thoroughly, so deeply, that you are a part of me forever, so that I am just as much a part of you.”

Kane prayed for strength, for restraint, resisting the building need to do just that.

“Please, Kane.  Fuck me, damn you!”

The last thread broke.  Kane pulled back slowly and then drove deeply into her. 

“Yes, Kane, that’s it. 
Fuck me.
  Take me.  Make me yours forever...”

A deep rumbling snarl clawed its way up from somewhere deep within him.  Another full, heavy stroke pounded into her body, cutting him to his very soul.  Those crude words on her lips were driving him insane.

“Yes, yes, yes...” she hissed in encouragement, her nails raking into his back, clawing at his ass as she pulled him into her with everything she had.

“Oh, God, oh God, YES!” she screamed as Kane lost the last of his sanity, pounding into her deeper, harder than he ever had.  Sweat poured off of his body; he was unable to do anything but what she commanded of him. 

“Deeper!” she cried desperately, cleaving to him with desperate strength.  “Harder!  Don’t stop.  Oh God, Kane, don’t ever stop!”

Her words echoed through his fevered brain, his body responding to her commands like the primitive, mindless animal he had become. 

“More!” she sobbed into his throat, holding on for dear life as he took her, thrusting harder, faster, beyond rational thought.

And then he pushed so hard into her he saw colored stars floating in the blackness as her entire body clenched around him.  He roared out his pleasure like the wild beast he had become in her arms, as a hot, pulsing, burning deep within her drove her over the edge yet again.

Her sheath strangled him, milking him as the force of his orgasm gave her another, mind-altering climax on the back of the first.  Kane groaned as she pulled yet more seed from him.

Then he collapsed, barely able to shift his weight to the side, bringing her with him.  Rebecca was already beyond consciousness; he joined her within seconds.

K
ane looked down at her face.  She was so beautiful.  So peaceful, so serene.  A sated little smile played about her lips, even in sleep.

No woman had ever taken his full measure before.  But this woman, this angel, had demanded it of him.  She had taken everything, unwilling to accept anything less. 

His croie
.  He traced his fingers – his trembling fingers – lightly over the fragile bones of her face.  She sighed softly, the picture of contentment.  She was truly his perfect mate.  Utterly submissive, yet she controlled him completely.

Kane was stirring again, his cock anxious for more of the paradise he had found.  When she awoke, no doubt she would demand more of him, and he would have no choice but to obey, because this woman held total and complete power over him.  He laughed softly to himself.  Truly, he had finally met his match. 

They complemented each other perfectly.  Where he was hard, she was soft.  Where he was cold and unyielding, she was warmth and compassion.  Where he was condemnation, she was absolution.  She willingly submitted to his dominance, demanded it of him.  Without games, without illusions.  And the miracle of it all?  She knew the darkness in his soul and needed it as desperately as he needed her light.

Darkness cannot exist without the light, just as light cannot exist without the darkness.
  He’d heard that once, a long time ago.  The words came back to him suddenly, a tenet of indisputable truth.

He understood it now.  Understood it on a level so deep it was ingrained in every fiber of his being.  Kane could no longer exist without Rebecca.  Rebecca could no longer exist without Kane.  They were one, joined at a level so deep and profound it defied words.  It just was. 

For now, he would let her rest.  He would hold her close in his arms and keep her safe and warm.  And loved.  So very loved.

––––––––

T
wo days later they were awakened by a loud, incessant pounding on the door.  Reluctantly, Kane withdrew from Rebecca.  Over the last forty-eight hours, his entire world had been simplified into two states – being inside Rebecca, and wanting to be inside Rebecca, and he knew which one he preferred.

His cock hung wet and heavy, glistening with their combined releases.  Without bothering to dress, Kane wrapped a towel around his waist (at Rebecca’s suggestion), and opened the door, prepared to dole out a quick yet painful death for whoever dared interrupt them.

He blinked once at the sight of Sean and Nicki with their travel bags alongside them.

* * *

“J
esus,” Sean breathed, taking a good look at his eldest brother.  He looked bigger, stronger, more powerful than Sean had ever seen him.  And given the fact that Kane was the biggest, strongest, most powerful looking man he’d ever seen before this weekend, that was saying something.

“What?!?”

Sean shook his head, sure that it was an optical illusion or a trick of the light.  “Takeoff in less than an hour, man.”

Kane blinked again.  “What day is it?”

Nicki stifled a laugh.

“Sunday.”  Sean looked at the bags they’d brought with them, still placed inside the door, unopened, untouched.  “Christ Almighty, Kane.  Are you telling me you haven’t left this room in the last forty-eight hours?”

“Told you,” Nicki murmured behind him.  She waved a bag of donuts in the air.  “Thought you might be hungry.”

“Kane?” came Rebecca’s sleepy purr as she came up gingerly behind Kane, wrapped in a sheet.  The sheet did nothing to cover the bite marks along her shoulders and neck, interspersed with old scars and at least one recognizable bullet wound.  Sean’s eyes widened at the sight of them; Kane’s eyes narrowed in warning, and Sean dropped his gaze. 

“Oh, hi,” Rebecca said when she saw them by the door.  Her voice was soft and welcoming, her expression one of supreme contentment as if she was greeting them fully dressed and ready for tea.

“Hi,” Nicki said, a little awkwardly.  She tried not to stare at the marks, but Rebecca didn’t seem bothered by them at all.  On the contrary, she seemed almost proud of them.

Contradictory to the marks, Rebecca looked absolutely radiant.  “We lost track of time, I’m afraid.”  She looked up at Kane then, the love in her eyes irrefutable.  While they might have expected that from her, it was more surprising to see the same intense look on Kane’s face.

Sean cleared his throat apologetically.  “I’m sorry, Becca, but we’re scheduled to take off in an hour.  I can try to postpone -”

“No,” she said, turning back to Sean.  “Please, give us a few moments, won’t you?” Rebecca said, her voice incredibly calm, lilting.  “Sit down, and please, help yourselves.”

Sean’s attention shifted to the fully-laden room service cart sat just inside the door as Rebecca took Kane’s hand and led him back toward the bedroom.  Nicki gave her husband’s hand a quick squeeze.  Sean followed her gaze to Kane’s back, where red claw marks ran from his shoulders all the way down to where the towel was wrapped around his hips.

“Jesus,” Sean mumbled.  “And I thought you were a hellcat.  Remind me not to piss her off, will you?”

Nicki nodded in disbelief.  “Isn’t it always the quiet ones....”

* * *

S
omething had definitely changed.  Physically, they looked like the same people that had left Pine Ridge only a few days before, only more so, as if someone had taken their personalities and intensified them somehow.  Where Kane had always been the strong, lethal, silent type, now he was practically a force of nature.    Every movement, every gesture, was graceful, deliberate, and potent.  His expression was the personification of intensity, his features harder, more chiseled; his eyes, a glacial, penetrating blue.  Wherever he walked, people couldn’t help but notice him.  Instinctively, most people moved out of his way. 

Rebecca, too, had undergone a similar transformation.  She had always been a very attractive woman.  People were automatically drawn to her gentle demeanor, kind eyes, and warm, comforting smile.  But now she was nothing less than breathtaking, a tangible radiance about her that drew attention.  She exuded a tranquil serenity, and seemed to float on air beside her husband.

They spoke little all the way home – not to Sean and Nicki, not to each other.  It wasn’t that they were rude; on the contrary, they seemed quite agreeable to just about everything.  They were simply quiet, content to touch one another, the ghost of a smile perpetually playing across their lips for the entire trip back to Pine Ridge.

A welcoming party awaited them at the Pub. 

“Congratulations,” smiled Jake, the first to clasp his oldest brother’s arm.  Kane returned the gesture, his eyes holding a new understanding.

Ian and the others offered their congratulations as well, but it was Jack Callaghan who was the first to embrace Rebecca and welcome her into the family.  As the patriarch, it was his right to do so.  Only then would the others follow suit.

As wonderful as it was, Rebecca found it a bit overwhelming.  Unaccustomed to the affection and physical contact of such a large family, she soon found herself seeking the solace and protection of her husband, who was only too glad to have her back at his side.