Stout (Men of Lovibond 2)

She wiggles when I push my fingertips down her crack and stroke the drenched fabric of my birthday present. I love how fucking slick she gets for me. I’ve never been with a woman who responds to my touch like Adelyn.

I push the material aside and graze my cock’s tip up and down her slit. I push a little and retreat, repeating the motion several times. “I say we try this.”

She gasps like a virgin when I thrust deep and hard into her pussy. I’m fully inside when I grasp her hips, digging my fingers into her flesh, moving her body in counteraction with mine.

I glide in and out of her meticulously. Every stroke is deliberate. So deep it feels like my dick touches her womb.

This is where I want to be. Balls deep inside Adelyn. All the time.

I can’t help myself from wanting this woman. I have feelings for her. Very real ones. I didn’t think I’d ever be in a place where that could happen again.

She whimpers when I pull out. “I’m coming up on the bed with you.”

Want to be closer.

Adelyn scoots forward, making room for me behind her. “Lie on your stomach. Legs together.”

I put my knees on the outside of her legs so they’re pushed together, and she tilts her ass up so I can enter her from behind again. “Fuck. You’re so tight like this.”

I lie on top of her, my front to her back, and press a kiss to one of her shoulders before grasping them both. My tight grip enables me to hold her in place, making my thrusts more powerful. More dominating.

She grinds her ass against me with every plunge, and I fist her hair and pull it. “Yes, Thorn. Yes.”

We’ve done this. She taught me how to do it without hurting her so I’m confident when I put my fingers into her wild mane and close my hand around it. I tug so I’m able to kiss the side of her face. I pump harder into her, and her moan of, “Yes. More, Thorn. Harder,” tell me she likes what I’m doing. We fit. We work.

It feels like I can’t get deep enough. “I don’t think I’ll ever get my fill of you. You’re the one who owns me.”

She twists so half her mouth reaches mine. “We own each other. I’m yours. And you’re mine.”

I can’t lie, not even to myself. “I want this. I want you. Both so badly.”

I pump harder, faster, deeper into this woman I’m growing to . . . love. I think that’s the right word for what’s happening in my heart and head. I know it is. But I’m not ready to say those words.

Not yet.

I pull her hair harder and cover her ear with my mouth. “I’m falling for you, Max. So hard.”

She reaches over her head to touch me. “I know. I’m falling for you too. And it feels so good.”

She groans when her body’s grip on my cock increases and relaxes in a rhythmic pattern. Tighten. Release. Tighten. Release. “Ahh, Thorn. I’m . . . coming.”

And so am I.

I drive into her hard and she pushes back against me so I’m as deep as possible. My body involuntarily jerks as my hot stream fills her.

I’m completely empty. Adelyn’s body has sucked every drop from me when I press my forehead to her back and slow my breathing.

“My third gift.”

“Mmm . . . best birthday present ever. Thank you.”

“Happy you liked it.” Liked is such an understatement.

Adelyn Maxwell.

So generous with her body for me.

My body wants her for sex.

I yearn for her.

My heart wants her love.

Every moment with her is bliss.

My mind wants both.

Never known someone so giving.

Falling in love feels like playing with fire, but Adelyn’s a flame I can’t resist. She may very well burn me alive because no man can stand in fire and not be consumed by it.

It’s a risk I’ll happily take.

* * *

Tap is oblivious to my presence in his doorway. He appears engrossed by whatever is on his computer so I knock on his office door to gain his attention. “Got a free minute?”

He gives me a come in wave. “Yeah. Just having my first look at the new numbers for BCC.”

“Looking okay?”

“So far so good. Wren’s going to be very pleased with this report.” I’m happy for my sister and Tap. I want it to be successful.

I take my usual seat but forego putting my feet on Tap’s desk. Annoying him isn’t my goal this visit.

“Something up?”

I feel dumb as fuck asking another dude about love and romantic shit, but I know Tap’s been in my shoes. He’s head over heels in love with my sister. I feel like he might be one of my few friends who will understand what I’m going through and not rag on me about wanting to discuss it.

“I need to talk to someone about Adelyn.”

“Okay. Shoot.”

“When did you know you loved Lawry?” A smile tugs at my friend’s lips, the same smile that always appears when he’s with Lawry. As if he can’t help himself, his whole body relaxes.

“Well . . . I knew I liked her a lot after our Savannah visit. I think it was six or eight weeks after that trip when I left her a note that told her I was falling for her and hoped she felt the same. I wasn’t quite ready to say those three little words but then a few days later I got a note from her saying she loved me. I read those words and I knew for sure. So I called her that very minute and told her I loved her.”

“No doubts?”

“Not a one.”

“I told Adelyn I was falling for her but I couldn’t say ‘I love you.’ The two feel different to me.”

“I agree, they’re two separate things and shouldn’t be confused.”

The Russ Martin incident was two weeks ago. We’ve not spent a night apart since. I would never say I’m glad that fucker assaulted Adelyn but it definitely jumpstarted the growth of our relationship. I don’t regret that part.

I haven’t heard a fucking peep out of Russ since my birthday party. I expected something from him. And so did Adelyn. She’s been so on edge. Jittery. Jumping at every little sound. She beat me home from work one night and nearly sprayed me with pepper spray when I entered the house through the garage door. She felt so horrid after she realized what she had nearly done to me.

I’m furious Russ Martin’s ass isn’t rotting in prison. I understand why Adelyn didn’t pursue pressing charges, but it doesn’t mean I like it. Blackmailing that fucker may have seemed like a good idea four years ago but it’s a lose-lose. It ties her to him.

And I hate that so fucking much.

I want to cut those ties. Burn them. Incinerate the fuck out of those bastards.

And I’m going to. But I have to see my attorney first so I’ll know what can be done about Russ. Legally.

Adelyn doesn’t know it yet but she’s done with this blackmailing bullshit. Train stops here.

Yeah. I’m pulling my alpha card outside of the bedroom. And by God, she better not give me shit about it.

My feelings for Adelyn grow every day. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I’m on the cusp of being there. I feel it happening.

Porter pecks on Tap’s office door. “Looks serious in here. Guess y’all heard about Russ Martin.”

I hear that fucker’s name and my body reacts without permission. My muscles tense. I’m instantly on edge, ready for a fight.

“Haven’t heard a thing. What’s going on?” I’m grateful Tap asks. I’m not sure I can discuss him civilly.

“He’s in the hospital. Don’t know all the details, but I don’t think he’s doing too good.”

“What happened?”

“Fight with his girlfriend’s brother or something like that.” He has a girlfriend? And he still came after Adelyn? Touched her. Told my girl to marry him. Told her he was going to put a baby inside her. What. The. Fuck?

“The girlfriend’s brother beat the shit out of him. He has swelling of the brain and a serious spinal cord injury. His doctors are saying he’ll never walk again. That’s if he survives the head injury.”

Adelyn mustn’t know yet.

“I’m about to head over to the hospital if y’all want to ride with me.”

“Of course.”

I’d bet money Russ beat up the sister so her brother was taking care of his ass and went too far.

Like I would have done had Adelyn not stopped me.

I don’t have a choice. Tap and Porter are oblivious to what the fucker has done. He’s one of our biggest clients and a good friend as far as they know. How could I not have known he was so fucked up? How had he hidden such depravity? I have to put in an appearance at the hospital or face questions I’m not ready to answer. “Yeah. I can go.”

Adelyn Maxwell

Prognosis confirmed. Russ Martin is conscious and will survive. But as a paraplegic.

No motor function from the waist down. Seems too good to be true. “You’re sure?”