The Enforcer (Men Who Thrill Book 1) (7 page)

“It’s bullshit that I have to clean up his domestic affairs.”

“It is, but think of it as a token of appreciation. And once you handle this for him, I’m going to have someone else step in. You and him are trouble, and I can’t have that. But you hurt his feelings, so you need to smooth this over.”

I nodded, swallowing the bile that burned at the back of my throat. “Anything else?” I said.

“Anything you should tell me?” he retorted.

I couldn’t tell if this was a fishing expedition or if he had some real information on me and April, but unless he outright asked, I would reveal nothing.

“No.”

“Okay. Take care of Shaughnessy’s issue, and I might have another thing coming up.”

“Just let me know the particulars, and I’ll handle it.”

The boss nodded, and I left, not bothering to say good-bye in my haste to return to April.

Chapter Nine

The two weeks that followed were the best of my life, the best I knew I’d ever have.

I handled my work, but those moments were just blurs, tiny blips of time between visits with April, and I craved my time with her with a hunger I couldn’t explain and treasured them like they were the most precious jewels.

Today was one of April’s rare days off, the first she’d had since the attempted robbery, and I’d made the most of it. I hadn’t let her get more than a few feet away for hours, taking every opportunity I could to touch her, fuck her, make love to her, and just be with her. And she didn’t seem to mind, gazing at me with mix of longing, acceptance, and affection that I’d never thought I would experience. I treasured each moment with her more than the last, looked forward to each time I was privileged to be with her, and tried to remember every second of it.

And right now, I had one particular memory I wanted to make.

“Up you go,” I said, smacking her ass playfully before I lay back on the bed.

She glanced down my body, taking me in with avid eyes that never failed to make my cock stir, this time being no exception. I swelled to full attention as she watched, and the naked heat in her eyes had me curling my fists around her sheets to keep myself from pulling her under me and pounding us both into ecstasy. My cock jumped at the thought, and based on April’s sly smile, her mind was in a similar place.

Maybe later. Right now I wanted her on top, wanted to see her writhe above me, have all of her so soft abundance available to my touch as I watched her take her pleasure. I fisted my cock and stroked myself, chuckling as the heat in her eyes went from scorching to inferno. She’d told me how much she enjoyed watching me touch myself, and I’d told her how much I enjoyed watching her watch me.

I moved my hand over my shaft with lazy, slow swipes, and used my other hand to grasp her hip.

“I want to watch you ride me,” I said.

A faint smile still played on her lips, but there was trepidation in her eyes now, where before there had only been passion. I was surprised; April had always been an eager and avid participant in our bedroom games, willing to try anything, so her hesitation stilled my hand and had me tightening my hold on her waist.

“You don’t like that?” I asked.

“I haven’t…I’m not comfortable with that, you know, being on top,” she said hesitantly.

The late-afternoon sun that pored through her bedroom windows lit her in an almost unearthly glow, and I waited to speak, content to just stare at her.

“Why not?” I eventually asked, my tone demanding.

I wouldn’t have secrets between us—I chose to overlook my own—and the expression on her face told me there was more to her reluctance than a simple preference.

“It’s not a big deal; I’m just not comfortable with it,” she said.

I moved my hand up the sweet curve of her waist, the swell of her breast, finally to rest on her cheek, but I didn’t speak, instead leisurely swirling my thumb across her jaw, sitting up to pepper kisses on her face and neck as I waited.

“I just worry…I mean, I’m…larger. I might hurt you,” she finally said quietly.

I laughed out loud, letting the full measure of my humor have free rein in a way I hadn’t for years.

“Come on; that’s not funny,” she said as my laughter continued, her voice somewhere between amused and exasperated.

“You’re wrong. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Hurt me? Compared to me, you’re tiny, and I can’t wait to feel you over me as you roll those amazing hips on my cock, can’t wait to thrust into you as you do,” I said, my laughter fading into a husky, desire-filled whisper.

From her expression, I could tell she remained unconvinced, and so I pressed my lips against hers in what I hoped was a reassuring kiss and then I rolled until I’d pinned her under me, my cock nestling against the warm heat of her wet cunt.

“April, honey, I just want to enjoy you and have you enjoy me, and if you don’t want to be on top, you don’t have to be. But I am going to fuck you,” I said, rocking into her slightly to emphasize the point.

She moaned low and kissed at my collarbone, and I let myself revel in her touch, in the wet heat of her cream coating my cock.

“I could be inside you right now with nothing between us. Would you like that, feeling my cock against your walls with no barrier? Feeling my cum deep inside you?” I whispered into her hair.

I’d thought of it so many times, slipping my cock inside her, fully making her mine. And she seemed pleased by the thought as well, widening her thighs so that I lowered even closer, my cock now only a breath away from her core. She linked her fingers behind my neck and looked up at me, her eyes open wide and shining clear in the sunlight.

She was offering herself to me, showing me her trust, and I wanted so much to take her, to take it, that I didn’t think I could stop myself.

But I did.

I wanted her, badly, but I couldn’t take this gift with lies between us. The April I’d come to know was kind, decent, and somehow, I’d managed to make her think I was the same. But I wasn’t, never would be, and what little shred of decency she’d reignited held me back.

So I kissed her, deeply and passionately, and then I rested on my side, facing her as she lay on her back. She glanced at me sharply, surprise in her eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” I said, letting a bit of the awe I felt bleed into my tone.

“And you’re blind, but thank you anyway.”

“You don’t think you’re beautiful?” I asked.

“Not by a long shot. I’m just average April,” she said matter-of-factly.

She was anything but average, was so much more I could barely put it into words.

“You on the other hand…” she said.

“Oh, you like this ugly mug?”

“It’s exquisite.”

“I guess we’re both blind then,” I said. “But I don’t need sight to do this.”

I swiftly gripped her waist in both my hands and turned her over so that she was lying facedown, her smooth back and the rounded curves of her ass exposed to me completely. She squeaked when I turned her, but the sound turned to a moan when I ran a finger down her back until it reached the sweet little hollow above her ass and then back up again.

I followed the same path with my lips, loving the feel of muscles under soft padding as she writhed against my touch. As I kissed my way down her back, I squeezed and tugged at the rest of her, scraping my fingers across her hard nipples, grabbing at the generous flesh of her sides, and then curving a hand under her belly and pushing her up until she was on all fours, her ass and the hips I’d admired for so long offered to me.

After I’d kissed my way to the base of her spine again, I curled my tongue into the hollow there and then moved down, sucking the skin of one of her ass cheeks into my mouth as I squeezed the other. I’d left my mark on her before, but never here, and I again pulled back, anxious to see the deep red bloom under the brown of her skin, satisfied to know that even when I left, some part of me would remain.

My eye was caught by the deep crease that separated her cheeks, and I ran my thumb down the spilt, laughing lightly when she shivered. I let my thumb hover over her back hole and then I went lower, dipping two fingers in her cunt, letting her wet heat drench me. I pulled the fingers out until they rested on the edge of her entrance, swirling the digits in the wetness that fell from her.

Her muscles pulled tight as I retraced my path, but this time, I lingered at her back hole, pushing against it with only the smallest measure of force. And then I pushed a little harder and then a little harder, her tender tissues opening ever so slowly at my invasion.

“Has anyone taken you this way?” I asked, my voice low, almost harsh with arousal.

When she didn’t respond immediately, I pushed in farther. In response, she puffed out a, “No.”

“Would you let me bury my cock deep in your ass, let me fuck you here as hard as I want?” I asked as I pushed a little farther and used another finger to swipe at her clit.

“Yes,” she responded, this time almost immediately.

I smiled; I’d been almost certain that she hadn’t allowed anyone to take her there before, but to have it confirmed, and to know that she would give herself to me this way had my arousal on overdrive. I removed my fingers and grabbed my pants, furiously searching for a condom, which I retrieved and used to quickly sheath myself. I grabbed a cheek in each hand and spread them, staring down at her tight pucker and then lower to her glistening pussy lips.

Then I released a cheek and gripped my cock at the base, prodding at her tight entrance. I would take her here, but not today. I didn’t have the control to be gentle, and as much as I wanted that tight channel to close around my cock, be the first, the only, person to take her in this way, I wouldn’t risk harming her.

So I moved my cock lower, aiming it at her pussy. Then I gripped her hips, letting the soft yet firm fullness of them fill my hands. With one unnerving thrust, I entered her, not stopping until I’d buried myself to hilt, holding her hips tighter. She propped herself on her forearms, and when I saw that she’d braced herself, I let my weight rest on her back, slid my arms around her waist until I gripped her stomach, and then I let loose, pistoning into her as hard as I could, slamming into her over and over again.

She moaned out loud and arched back into me until I held her even tighter, keeping her still as I pumped in and out of her, the heat and wetness of her pussy evident even through the thin latex barrier.

My balls drew up tight to my body, signaling my imminent release. I lowered my hand and rolled her clit between my forefinger and thumb, teasing and stroking the bud, praying that she reached her climax soon. She did, crying out loud and low, the walls of her pussy clamping down on me like a vise. One last thrust and the grip of her pussy, her clit between my fingers, her lush, full curves padded against my body sent me over the edge.

I huffed against her ear, panting out as my cum exploded from me. I collapsed against her, my sweat-slicked skin pinning me to her as I breathed out hard and fast, my heart pounding in time with hers.

After time passed, seconds or minutes I couldn’t say, I kissed her ear, her shoulder, her neck, and then, reluctantly, pulled out of her. She moaned her protest but stayed where she was, eyes closed, an expression of pure bliss on her face, an easy smile on her lips. Unable to resist, I leaned forward and stole another kiss, and then I pulled her into my arms, her front against mine.

“This is so much better than work,” she whispered.

“You have no idea,” I replied.

Chapter Ten

Unknown.

My cell phone flashed the word and then began to vibrate. And while the phone may not have known the caller, I did.

“What?” I said impatiently when I answered the phone.

“Not polite, big boy,” Shaughnessy said.

I wanted to hang up but didn’t. I was a professional after all, and besides, I wouldn’t give Shaughnessy the satisfaction of thinking he was getting to me.

“What?” I repeated.

“Have you handled it?”

“It’s being handled,” I replied.

“Good. And make it quick. I’m getting impatient,” he said and then hung up.

I scowled at the phone before impatiently jamming my finger over the end button. Fucking Shaughnessy and his bullshit. I looked at the time and hurried my steps. April was closing tonight, and I wouldn’t keep her waiting. As I walked the twenty-five blocks to my destination, I couldn’t help but think of her. Each moment that I spent with her, each time that I touched her, was inside her, I fell that much more.

I was happier than I had ever been in my entire life.

And more afraid than I’d ever been in my entire life.

There was no place for me in her world, and there was no way she could be in mine. Even if I told her the truth, even if through some miracle she could find a way to care about me, the
real
me and not those parts of me I’d shown her, there was no way I’d allow the evil and darkness that was my life’s blood to touch her.

So I was stuck, too smart to think for even an instant that there was a way ahead for us, but too foolish, and far too weak to let her go.

As I approached my destination, I let thoughts of April and the sweet hell that was the thing between us fade. Duty called, and during the last couple blocks, there was no remnant of the man who I was with April. I became my true self. I became the enforcer.

I walked up the tidy front steps of a small house and kicked in the door. Some jobs called for finesse, but I wasn’t the man for those. Shaughnessy wanted to send a message, and my unceremonious entry was the first part of that message. I heard a woman’s screams and followed them to where my quarry waited. The sounds led me to a small kitchen, and a glance around confirmed that the well-dressed woman who sat at the table screaming, her face twisted in terror did not live here. But her younger companion did. The kitchen, and what I’d seen of the living room told me that the owner of the house was a man, a bachelor, the place marked with the characteristic disorganization of a young man who lived alone.

He stood, less terrified-looking than his woman, but still nervous. His hand crept toward his belt, and at the same time, our eyes landed on the holster that had been causally discarded on the coffee table. I’d snagged the weapon out of it as I’d approached, and based on the cozy encounter I’d interrupted, I was certain he didn’t have an extra piece.