Axel (Carolina Reapers 1)

“Yes,” she nodded, arching her hips so my cock bumped against her entrance.

I didn’t ask again.

My hips rolled and I sunk inside her with a long, hard thrust that ended with me seated fully inside my wife and her crying out my name.

My lips crashed into hers, kissing her with carnal abandon as she stretched around me, adjusting. I wasn’t exactly a small man, and keeping things proportionate meant she still needed a second, even months later. Maybe she’d always need it, and I’d always give it to her.

Once she swirled her tongue around mine and her hips around my cock, I took over.

I kept one hand on her ass and the other I used to cushion behind her shoulder blades so I’d take the impact, not her soft skin.

Then I fucked my wife against the wall.

There was always an element of making love when I took her, that moment when our souls felt like they could melt into one. And it was there as I looked into her eyes, watching them glaze and dilate with pleasure. But there was also an element of pure, primal fucking that had us here, with her moans answering my growls as I thrust over and over into her tight, welcoming pussy.

Her legs locked around me as she tensed, and her cries escalated in pitch. Any minute she would—right there. That was it, the soft, keening whimper she made when her pleasure had her so wound that all she needed was a touch.

I gave it to her, angling my hips so I rubbed hard against her clit with my next thrust.

She came, trembling in my arms as she made my name echo around the cavernous rooms in our home.

Her pussy locked down on my cock, holding me in a stranglehold, and I thrust once. Twice. Three times. Then I came apart in her arms, coming so hard I had to lock my knees to keep her from falling to the ground.

Our breaths were haggard as I held her there against the wall.

“I missed you. In case you were wondering,” I said with a grin as she looked at me with a lazy smile.

“I can tell.” Her eyes danced as she licked her lower lip.

I groaned. “I love you so fucking much,” I growled against her mouth. Then I kissed her again. I kicked off my shoes and stepped out of my pants and boxer briefs, and carried my wife up the sweeping staircase to our bedroom, and our upgraded, massive, sturdy bed where I made love to her again and again.

I never gave her the chance to respond.

Somewhere deep in my mind, I knew she wouldn’t say it back.

So I convinced her body while she went to battle with her mind.

Here, I was certain I could win.

14

Langley

“Damn it,” I snapped in the back of the car as I checked the time on my phone for the sixteenth time.

“Ma’am?” the driver asked, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

“Sorry,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I’m fine. Just incredibly, tragically late.”

“I’m taking a shortcut to the event.”

“Thank you for that,” I said and smoothed out my long black dress. I’d barely had time to do my hair beyond a quick braid and twist into a bun on top of my head.

A horrible libel article had hit the media this morning in response to all the amazing press the Reapers’ had earned lately. Nothing like a firestorm of hard-earned, well-won success to draw out the trolls. And I had to squash the slander before it caught fire.

It had taken the entire day, a dozen calls, and four threats before I’d gotten the piece of trash taken down and a retraction printed. I did my job, but it had made me late for Harper and Noble’s helmet launch—their baby. They’d worked together to revolutionize a brand new kind of athletic helmet, and while the Reapers’ had first dibs and had been wearing it all season, it was now launching live to the public. Noble’s dream—to let everyone have access to the safety standards they had set.

And Axel. It was New Year’s Eve and I was supposed to be his date to the event. He’d had to show up solo, and if I didn’t get there within ten minutes, I’d miss the countdown and the midnight kiss I’d thought about all day.

I resisted the urge to chew on my lip the whole drive over, not wanting to mar the red lipstick I’d managed to slide on while rushing out the door.

I love you so fucking much.

His words echoed in my head, over and over again. Like every second I was late, I risked the chance of never hearing him say it again.

Or get a chance to say it back myself.

I’d been a coward, but at least I was an honest coward. I was terrified to allow Axel to own my heart like that, regardless of how much I adored that man and everything we’d built these last few months.