He groaned down my throat and one of his hands went between us, working at the waistband of his shorts.
“Are you ready?” he asked roughly.
I’d been ready for weeks. “Yes!”
I felt King smile against my mouth right before he thrust inside. My head rolled back as he filled me and my entire body clenched.
King growled, his head dipping down to take one of my nipples in his mouth.
When I tried to roll my hips again, his hands grasped my hips to hold me still.
“King!”
He used his weight to hold me against the glass as he tormented my breasts until I was panting and close to begging.
I grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up. “If you don’t move now, I’m going hurt you.”
King chuckled wickedly before his mouth crashed down on mine. Then he moved.
It had been so long and I was so worked up, that it started building immediately. With each slam of his hips, I got closer and closer to the precipice. Then it hit me.
I cried out, my body bucking wildly against the sliding door. “Oh my God!”
King groaned, his thrusts growing short and jerky until he finally lunged inside me one last time before he stopped moving.
My arms were draped over his shoulders and my legs loosely crossed behind his back. I felt limp and wrung out.
I gasped as King and I slid down to the floor, still connected. The wood was cold against my heated skin and hard beneath my hip, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it.
“I love you, Alaric Sloan,” I murmured against the damp skin of his chest.
He ran his hand down my spine and answered, “That’s the first time I haven’t hated hearing you say that name.”
I giggled. “So you really hate that name, huh?”
“Yep.”
“So, when I wanna piss you off I should call you Alaric?”
He smacked my ass lightly. “Let’s not do that now. I feel too damn good to ruin it.”
I laughed again and nodded. “We’ll save it for the next time you make me mad.”
“I also didn’t mention that, as much as it pisses me off, hearing you call me Alaric makes me wanna fuck you until you beg me to stop.”
“Well now I definitely have to do it,” I retorted.
He chuckled and shifted us, slowly pulling out of me and pulling his shorts back up. I snagged my panties and pulled them up my legs, then sat up and dropped the t-shirt over my head.
King helped me to my feet and guided me over to the couch. He sat down and pulled me over to straddle his lap. “We need to talk about something,” he stated.
At his serious words and expression I felt my heart pick up speed. “What’s going on?”
“I haven’t talked to you about this because you’ve been dealing with the fallout of Katie’s shit, but there’s two things we need to discuss.”
I nodded.
“First, we’re getting married. Not tomorrow, but I’m not waiting until next year either. I figure we can do a beach wedding in the Caribbean sometime in the next couple of months. We’ll keep it small. Us, your mom if you want, Tia, and Wick.”
“Uh, don’t you think you should ask me?” I honestly didn’t care if he asked or not, but I couldn’t seem to resist giving him a hard time, even about this.
King shook his head. “I’m not gonna ask when I already know the answer.”
Since this was true, I just shrugged. “Good point.”
He gave me a suspicious look. “That was easy.”
“I’m feeling mellow. I’ll give you more shit later.”
Shaking his head, King murmured, “That’s my girl.”
“What’s the second thing?” I asked.
King sighed. “This isn’t as good. We need to talk about Renaldo.”
The mellow feeling I mentioned a few moments ago vanished. “What about him?”
“He’s making moves, preparing to take us on. Larry wasn’t lying when he said this guy was unpredictable and brutal. He’s moving in on the drug dealers and pimps first, either getting them to agree to his terms or making an example of them. He considers Wick small potatoes, so he’s saving us for later.”
My eyebrows lifted. I couldn’t imagine anyone considering Wick small. He was a scary dude, one I wouldn’t want to mess with on my best day.
“But he will be coming for us. We already know he won’t hesitate to go after those we’re close to, so that means you will be in danger again.”
My heart stopped as memories threatened to overwhelm me.
King’s hands cupped my face. “Jena, don’t go there. Stay with me.”
I blinked and suddenly I was back.
“I can see that the thought terrifies you, darlin’. I’ll arrange for you to go somewhere safe. You won’t have to worry about this shit touching you,” he murmured.
Steel made my spine straighten. “No.”
“Jena, babe, you don’t have to put on a brave face. You’ve had a really bad exp-”
I interrupted him for a change. “No. I’m staying here,” I insisted. “I can’t run every time something scares me. If I leave, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. We’re talking about getting married. That’s for better or worse. So, this is the worst. That means it can only get better.”
King studied me closely for a few seconds. “How likely is it that I’ll change your mind?” he asked.
“You know the answer to that,” I responded.
He sighed, but smiled a little. “Okay, but no arguing when I do whatever is necessary to keep you safe.”
I nodded. “I think I should train with Tia too,” I said suddenly. “I’ll feel less…weak.”
It was King’s turn to nod. “I think that’s a good idea.”
I bit my bottom lip, looking down at him. “I’m scared, King.”
He pulled me close and kissed me. “You’d be stupid if you weren’t. Fear in this situation is normal, darlin’.”
“Are you scared?” I asked, pulling back to look at him.
“Yes,” he admitted.
Amazingly, that made me feel better. King was a badass. If he was afraid, then I wasn’t weak for feeling that way too.
“But we will be fine,” he insisted. “Wick is the smartest man I’ve ever met and he’s already got a plan in motion. This will all be over before Christmas.”
I hoped he was right.
I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him, tucking my face into his neck. “I love you, King.”
I felt his lips brush my shoulder. “Love you too, darlin’.”
Soaking up his strength and his love, I felt hope that we were all going to be fine.
Epilogue
Tia
“Damn, Tia, not only can you kick ass and look good doing it, you make a damn good drink,” Lana yelled, lifting her martini glass in a mock toast.
I paused in wiping down glasses and looked up, grinning at her. “I’ve had lots of practice.”
And I had. From the time I was old enough to read until I left at seventeen, I’d been mixing my mother’s drinks. I’d started making martinis at age seven, so I’d had twenty-four years of experience.
The bar was closed and Lana demanded I make her a martini, just like she did every night. She said it was good practice for me and I went along with it because she was a lot of fun to work with. King didn’t seem to mind if she had one while we closed up. In fact, he would join us for a beer from time to time if he stayed that late.
I finished with the glasses and went out on the floor to wash tables. I was about halfway done when the atmosphere in the bar changed. It felt as though the air were suddenly charged with electricity.
Every hair on my body stood up and I lifted my eyes to see Wick sitting at the bar, watching me. Lana was standing behind him. I could tell by her posture that she was trying to flirt with him, but Wick wasn’t really paying attention to her.
Our eyes locked and I knew tonight was the night.
We’d been dancing around each other for two months, like fighters looking for a weakness to exploit. Only the pounding Wick wanted to give me wouldn’t involve blood and bruises, but moans and orgasms.