Promises After Dark (After Dark #3) (4 page)

His muscles coiled and he pulled out of her abruptly, his forehead coming to rest on the tile beside her head as his eyes closed.

“Uhhh, Uhhh, Uhhh…” Alex’s chest rose and fell roughly as he struggled to gain control, and Angel’s eyes flew open in the same instant he stopped making love to her.

“What is it? Are you okay?”

He took one more deep breath and let her legs slide to the floor of the shower. “I’m perfect,” he murmured against her temple. His green eyes burned into Angel’s concerned face. “Everything’s perfect.” Alex leaned down and brushed his mouth softly against hers. “
You
—are perfect.”

Her mind raced.
Why did he stop?

Alex kept his body close to hers, his dick still fully erect and pressed into her hip as he grabbed two towels and wrapped one around her body and draped another over her wet head. His hands were gentle as he pressed the plush material into her hair and squeezed the strands within its folds to absorb the water. Angel stared into his face, watching his expression, her breathing shallow.

“Why did you stop?” Her hands splayed out on his solid chest, loving the curves and contours of the hard muscles under her hand. “I wanted to make you come apart.”

He pulled the towels closer around her then scooped her up bridal-style and carried her effortlessly into the bedroom, wordlessly pulling back the covers and laying her down. He stood, open to her view, his eyes caressing and possessive. The towels soon pulled free of her body; Alex’s hands began to follow the path of his eyes over her shoulders and down her arms, sliding up her stomach to ghost over her ribcage then cup each breast. Angel’s skin exploded in goose bumps and she shivered, but not from chills. She sucked in her breath. He was so intense and beautiful as he studied her body. When he finally joined her on the bed, his hand slid down over the curve of her hip to hoist one slender leg over his strong hip.

“And you will, but I don’t want this to end,” he said seriously, his eyes blazing over her flesh. “You intoxicate me.”

“It doesn’t have to end. We have all night. Make love to me, Alex.” Her hand slid to his and she pulled it to her mouth. “Make love with me all night,” she repeated softly, taking his middle finger into her mouth.

Alex closed his eyes, his heart swelling inside his chest and more blood pushing into his cock. His breath hitched. Fuck, she excited him more than anyone ever had, but that wasn’t even it. He wanted to make sure she understood. He ran the tip of his nose down hers, and his lower lip nudged hers. “I intend to, but I mean, I don’t want
us
to end. I want you in my bed, my body inside yours, to give you so much pleasure you can’t form a coherent thought. But more, I just want you with me. Next to me. I want to take care of you, to protect you. Always.” His eyes opened and locked with hers as he stilled. “I need you to believe you are the only thing that matters to me now. The
only
fucking thing.”

Angel’s eyes burned as his words washed over her, causing her to gasp aloud. His tone was serious and insistent, and she trusted him more than she’d ever trusted anyone. Unable to speak, Angel turned her face into his neck and shoulder, her throat aching as emotions left them both reeling. She was ready to give him anything he asked, her heart and soul soaring.

“Yes,” she finally whispered, her voice cracking with the effort.

Alex sighed deeply and settled down into the cradle of her body: he kissed her, his movements ruled by his feelings. He nudged her chin with his nose, wanting to prove it, to erase any doubt. “I mean it, damn it. I’ve never meant anything more in my life.”

Overcome, Angel’s eyes flooded with tears and her hands slid up and fisted in his wet hair. “I believe you,” she breathed out. Pulling his mouth closer, she silently begged for more of his kisses, her body arching as he slid back into her slick heat. Alex was determined to leave her in little doubt of his feelings as he pushed into her body and invaded her heart like no one else ever could. His hands were worshiping and reverent as they played her flesh like an instrument, his mouth staking his ownership and his soul burning its brand on hers. He evoked no refusal and no denial as he made absolute love to her.

Every time he touched her, it was perfect and earth shattering; stunning and staggering. Angel knew she couldn’t fight it anymore and didn’t want to. She was completely and utterly lost to him… and he to her. “I love you, Alex.”

2
Maybe I’m Amazed

Angel lay awake in the darkness as Alex slept, pulled closely against his body, a sheer layer of sweat still on their skin. She really was sore now, and he was finally exhausted. They were both always so hungry for each other; it was exhilarating and still surreal. This need to be close, to have his hands exploring her body and his mouth on hers, was overwhelming.

She was anxious just to touch him or talk to him, and in some ways, it was debilitating, just as she’d feared it would be. The first time he’d touched her, she’d known how it would end. But it felt so damned good. Just looking at him could steal her breath or choke her up. She might as well enjoy it because she couldn’t protect her heart anymore. If it ended, it would fucking hurt—like nothing she would experience before or after him—but not to experience the splintering, intoxicating ecstasy that was this man would be nothing short of tragic.

Her eyes widened in wonder at the evening’s events. Once Alex laid her down, they hadn’t left the bed. Time passed as he languidly explored her body with his hands and mouth; she wasn’t sure how many hours and didn’t care that she had to get up early for work. She didn’t want to lose a precious second of the night with him. They’d made love a few times; the spaces in between were filled with gentle touches, sighs, and soft conversation so deep they’d forgotten to eat. She inhaled deeply, the scent of his skin overpowering the faintness of his cologne, now a mere remnant after the shower. Her stomach rumbled loudly.

Alex’s arms were tight around her, her back plastered to his chest, her bottom firmly against his groin, and a big hand cupped one of her breasts. Even in the throes of sleep, he was possessive. It was sheer bliss. She didn’t know why she let that scare her earlier because now it just felt amazing and safe, like nothing could hurt either one of them as long as they were together.

Her fingers traced up and down his forearm, the muscles strong beneath the soft, downy hair. She could feel the tiny pricks of his whiskers poking into her shoulder. The skin of her chin would be red from the hours and hours of kissing him with his five o’clock scruff, but it had been so delicious, she didn’t notice the pain. The kisses were always so perfect, whether they were in passionate frenzy or slow, deep sucking. A shiver ran through her at the thought, even though heat from his body infused and merged with hers in a fine sheen of shared perspiration. She knew she’d probably find red scratches on the inside of her thighs and stirred at the memory. His insatiable need for her made her just as wanton and abandoned. She felt sexier than she ever had in her life.

Alex was incredible, and as she lay in the quiet contemplation, enshrouded by the night and his strong arms, Angel relived every amazing night with him. Each time he touched her, she could do nothing to resist, instantly melting into a puddle even as she tried to take control. She was still stunned by the force of nature that was Alexander Avery; he commanded every room he walked into and every woman who wanted him. And as Angel had teased him before, that would be every one of them with a vagina, and some without, she acknowledged with a low laugh.

Angel’s air of confidence and the way she carried herself now was learned but had become second nature. She knew she was attractive to the opposite sex, but she was still shocked that Alex would want her with such voracity. It turned her on immensely. Before him, she wouldn’t have wanted a man to be so dominant, but with Alex, it was who he was, and it felt right somehow. She knew she could still be herself, push back on him, and he’d welcome it. She smiled into the darkness. The fighting was as much a turn on as the touching, and she knew he loved it, too. He might take from her, but only what she shared willingly… and she sensed it meant more to him that way. Taking was easy for him, but he’d proven that night he made her choose he wanted her to want and to want to give. And he did; Alex made her want to give everything she had in her to give, and he’d proven again and again he would give in equal measure. Maybe even more.

“What are you thinking about?” Alex’s groggy voice murmured softly in her ear, his hot breath washing over her shoulder. His arms tightened, his lips finding purchase on her shoulder in a series of soft, open mouth kisses that dragged along her skin. She shivered in his arms, her body reacting as always.

“You.” She wanted to know about the others. She knew about Whitney and his emotional detachment from her. But she came off as a bitch, and it was no wonder Alex wouldn’t fall in love with her. Were there others he was like this with?

“Alex…” Angel began. “Being with you is incredible.”

His embrace tightened and breath rushed across her neck as he bent to gently kiss and suckle the sensitive skin. “Mmmm… I agree,” he whispered. “Amazing.”

This was so perfect; she didn’t want to ruin it by asking directly. She knew he’d be pissed if she wasn’t careful. “For me, it’s—”

“It’s what?” He probed softly, still continuing his sensual assault on her neck and shoulder, brushing his nose along the cord of her neck before resuming the soft sucking along it.

“It’s never been like this with anyone else.”

He paused. “It better not have been.” He’d considered her relationship with Kyle many times, and he’d wondered about it, but it was unlike him to probe his women about their pasts. It never mattered before, and he’d never once needed to know. Before this.

When she didn’t respond, he continued gently. “I’ve thought about it to. I hate picturing anyone else being with you like this.”

Angel closed her eyes, and her heart swelled at his words. She inhaled deeply enough for Alex to feel her body expand in his arms before she shook her head twice. “Yet, it’s hard not to.”

“Yes. I suppose it’s inevitable to wonder when you care about someone. It’s human.”

“Maybe you should do my job.”

“Okay.” He huffed softly. “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

After a beat, Angel answered softly, knowing it was an admission. “I’m scared to sleep.”

Alex paused, resting his chin on her shoulder, considering how to comfort her and ease her fears about that bastard, Swanson. “Mmm. I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Angel was surprised by the apology. “For telling Cole to deliver me to your house without talking to me first?” she teased.

Alex ignored her amusement, thinking she was brushing off her fear. “No. For not killing Mark Swanson when I had the chance.”

Angel gasped as the conversation suddenly turned serious. She turned in his arms, needing to see his face, reaching out to cup his stubbly cheek. “Don’t say that.” She shook her head adamantly. “I’d never want you to live with something like that.”

His green eyes flashed almost black in the darkness. “I don’t want you to be afraid anymore. He’d be a memory and we could—”

Her hand slid from his cheek into the hair at the side of his head and then further back. He closed his eyes in pleasure at her touch. “We still can. He’s a bug on the windshield of our lives. It’s you—” Angel stopped. She wasn’t sure if she should tell him how deeply he affected her. He had to know, based on how she reacted to him, but telling him was another matter.

“Me,
what
?” Alex asked in a low tone.

“It’s you I’m scared of. I try not to be. It goes against—” Concern and bewilderment flashed across his handsome face at the same time she struggled to voice her feelings without seeming like a weakling. “You can hurt me a million times more than Mark Swanson ever could.”

Alex’s eyes grew wide even as his brow furrowed. “Stop,” he said with one shake of his head. “I thought we were past that. Don’t I show you, in no uncertain terms, that I’m in this? I just said it again. What more can I do?”

“Nothing. Don’t get upset.” She tried to soothe him. “I fight with myself about it. I don’t mean to think about it, and I know I just need to let it go. I’m working on it. You’ve been nothing short of amazing… even if you’re an overbearing ass at times.” She grinned at him, her fingers still threading through his hair in steady rhythm.

Alex sighed heavily, wishing she didn’t have any doubts about him. “I’ve never given two shits about anyone before, but this is different. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” His voice was low but insistent. His hands slid down her arm to her naked hip under the sheet, and began to knead her flesh.

“I know. I’ll stop making you say it.”

“I’ll say it as often as you want. Angel—” Alex began.

She placed two fingers on his mouth and then kissed him softly, trying to coax his response, but when he resisted, she knew he would not acquiesce until she gave him the answer he needed. “You don’t need to,” she whispered against his mouth.

“You can be as provocative and beguiling as you want, I will not let you distract me until I’m sure you accept how committed I am. And, once and for all, you trust me.”

“It isn’t your fault I feel this way. You’ve sort of become this… drug
that I
can’t get enough of. My feelings leave me vulnerable, but it’s nothing you’ve done, and it isn’t that I don’t trust you. You said it. It’s human and it’s a precarious place to be. A place I promised myself I wouldn’t be again.”

Alex’s hand tightened a little when Angel said the word again. He knew all about precariousness and unfamiliar vulnerability. He sighed heavily.

Angel frowned and lifted her right shoulder in a half-shrug. “I have to accept it and deal with it. Loving you this much, it’s just the way it is.”

Alex bit his lower lip as the ache in his chest eased a little. He gently cupped the side of her face, his fingers pushing a tendril of her hair behind her ear, as his intense eyes studied her. His thumb brushed her chin while his fingers tangled in the long hair at the back of her head. He stared into her face for a moment, fighting with how to convince her, once and for all.

He abruptly rolled her onto her back, pushing his leg between hers and allowing his weight to press her into the mattress. Angel saw him swallow, and his eyes burned into hers; she could feel him getting hard between her legs, his hips pushing the proof into her.

“Do you think I’m any less addicted? I can’t wait to see you; I think about you all the time, obsessed with protecting you and possessing you. I have this insane need to pleasure you until you beg me to stop and my name falls from lips that are swollen from my kisses. I want you to forget everything but me… to make you forget anyone else you’ve ever been with. I need to mark you, to own you body and soul—” he paused when Angel’s brow shot up in mock reprimand, but still, he could see her defiance battling with how she felt. He smiled softly, letting out a small huff, then continued to bare his soul. “—until you’ll never want another man touch you. Never again. Because if you let that happen, I’ll be destroyed; it will literally
kill me
. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do. I can tell you I love you, but it’s not enough to explain it.” His chest pushed into hers as he took a deep breath, and she could feel his heart pounding above hers. “I’m—
fucking consumed
.”

Angel’s amusement fell away in an instant, and she gasped; her arms and legs wrapping around him, fingers fisting lovingly in his hair. Her eyes became luminous, filling with tears, and her throat ached with emotion. Again, he left her speechless, and she struggled to say something. Two tears tumbled from her eyes, first one then the other rolled down the sides of her face to land on the pillow behind her head.

Alex smiled gently and kissed her three times, once on each corner of her mouth, then more lingering in the middle of her mouth. She nodded, her mouth coming alive under his, but Alex pulled back, brushed her hair back on both sides, and used his thumbs to trace the tracks of her tears. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” A small smile tugged on his lips. “But, do you get it now? No more doubts. We’re going to do this.”

“Yes. I promise. I never want this night to end. Being with you feels too good. I think that’s what scares me the most.”

Alex exhaled through his nose, a full grin allowing a flash of white teeth. Maybe, finally, she’d understand.

“As long as that’s all it is. It’s madness. To want you again when we’re both sore and exhausted—to feel this empowered and yet completely at your mercy is nothing less than
madness
.” He nibbled on her mouth with a series of teasing kisses, using calculated movements of his hips to press his cock against her, slide it along her clit, and then pull away.

“I am sore, but it’s turning back into a throb,” Angel moaned softly against his mouth. She was writhing beneath him, her hands pulling at the flesh of his arms and back, only to slide down to his ass and pull. “Alex—”

He chuckled when her hips started bucking beneath him, and she reached up to get his mouth. “Fuck, yeah, it is. But we might pay for it tomorrow, sweetheart.” His teeth pulled on her lower lip, and she glared into his face even as her body begged his.

“I don’t care. Do I have to tell you I want your big dick inside me?”

He laughed softly and stopped moving and playing with her mouth so he could look into her face. Amusement danced in the green depths of his eyes as they met her dark brown ones. “Now
that’s
romantic,” he taunted. “I know it drives you crazy, baby. You don’t have to say it.” An arrogant smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he teased.

Angel’s eyes widened and she huffed out a small laugh. “Um, yeah. You drive me crazy, all right. Though, I think I’m pretty adept at working you up, too, so can we just—” She couldn’t help but join in his laughter. Angel’s hips surged against his, increasing the pressure and rubbing her slick heat up and down his erection until Alex’s breathing increased.

“Just?” He prodded and smiled down at her softly, moving against her again, eliciting a low mewling moan from deep inside her chest. Knowing how much she wanted him only increased his desire. When she lifted her hips to line up the head of his cock with her entrance, Alex couldn’t deny either of them for one more second and thrust in deep, causing Angel to bite down on her lip.

“Just what?” He filled her to the hilt in a sudden movement that caused her to gasp. He didn’t move, waiting for her response. Angel moved her hips, grinding against his, using her inner muscles to squeeze and milk a response from him. Alex clenched his teeth against the urge to echo her movements as pleasure shot through him. “Just tell me.”