First to Fight Box Set: Books 1-5 Read online

  The need to get ever closer consumes me until I crawl up his body, forgetting that I’m still wearing panties. Gabriel reaches down and with a sharp tug, divests me of that barrier. His hands go around me and he undoes the bra’s clasp. I tug it off my arms and toss it behind me. His cock rubs against my sensitized clit with gentle thrusts from his hips. Each time the tip brushes against me, a little sound erupts from my chest.

  I lean backward against the blanket, his arms cradling me. The angle shifts and he hunkers down around me, his eyes blazing. He continues the gentle back and forth, his cock cradled between the lips of my pussy and pressed against my clit, in a way that makes me see stars.

  But this time, I need more. I disengage, angling my hips so that his next thrust presses against my entrance. His shoulders lock under my hands and choke on a swift surprised inhalation.

  “God, that feels so good.”

  “So good,” he agrees.

  His face distorts and I peer up at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Condom,” he chokes out. “I’m clean, regular checks.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I need to have you on a bed. My bed.”

  My body wants him anywhere I can have him, but I agree. He lifts me from the blanket and we both dress quickly. Mindlessly, I follow him back up to the house, through the kitchen where the scent of our meal still lingers and then, finally, into a darkened bedroom.

  I’m covered in gooseflesh from the cool air and when he turns to lay his hands on my shoulders, I shiver. We both climb on the bed and I curl up to him as he wraps the covers around us both.

  “We don’t have to do this right away,” he mumbles into my hair. “If it’s too soon, we can wait.”

  “You would wait?’

  “Not happily, but I would.”

  “That’s sweet.” I nip at his lips. “But completely unnecessary.”

  And then I dive under the covers.

  Gabriel

  She licks down the skin of my abdomen, pausing to bite my hip. My hands clutch by my sides so that I don’t grip her hair to move her mouth exactly where I want it. When she nuzzles my groin, her cheek brushing against my cock, I tug on the covers, pulling them up so I can watch her work between my legs. The sight is almost more than I can handle.

  Her dark hair is falling around her naked shoulders. She needs to be naked like this all day, every day. As wet heat surrounds the head of my cock, I make a promise to myself that I will do everything in my power to convince this woman never to leave.

  “Yes…” I hiss.

  Her eyes peer up and I’m entranced by the glide of her mouth over me. She grips the base and my hands lift to guide her head. Not with force, more as an encouragement, because, honestly, there is nothing she could possibly do to drive me even more out of my mind.

  As she catches a rhythm, I lift my hips to match her movements. The gentle flicks of her tongue and the soft suction of her lips increase and her eyes flutter closed. Her obvious enjoyment turns me on as much as the erotic sounds coming from her chest. My abdomen tightens and I thrust one, two, three times before I pull back. It feels too good.

  “Stop, stop, stop.”

  Her mouth slicks up one more time and releases with a pop. She smiles and leans over me, her body now warm and pliant against mine. I capture her lips with mine and grab her generous ass, molding and shaping it at my whim. She rubs up against me like a cat and takes my earlobe between her teeth. Heat streaks through me and I fumble with my side table for a condom.

  My breath stutters through my lips and I fumble putting it on. Her fingers reach back and take my length in her hands. She arches up, breasts tipped in a rosy pink so delectable that I take one into my mouth for a taste as she lowers herself down onto my length.

  Normally, I need to be in control, but with my leg, I doubt I’ll be able to do any missionary anytime soon. I change my mind as soon as her heat slicks over me. Girl on top is my new favorite position. We groan in unison and she arches her back, her hands coming to my shoulders to balance her weight.

  Her hair falls in a cascade around us as she looks down to watch her pussy taking me. The tight grip of her velvet heat is so much better than I’d imagined. She bottoms out, her ass resting on my legs and I’m seated deep inside her. Her tongue comes out to lick a line around her lips and I want to taste that, too. I capture her mouth with mine and use my hands to lift her hips.

  “I’ve never,” she mumbles against my lips, her breath coming in sobs. “God, it’s never felt so good. I want you so much, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “The only way you’re gonna hurt me is if you stop,” I say.

  I tease her with a drag of my cock against her soft folds and she squirms against me. It’s never been a big thing of mine to watch a woman getting off. But after seeing her face this morning, the only thing I could think about all day was doing it again.

  “Don’t make me get my handcuffs, Gabe,” she practically snarls after a few long, tortuous minutes of teasing. “Fuck me.”

  I laugh darkly and then thrust into her. She bares her throat to me and I latch onto her neck as I grind into her. She reaches a hand down to where we’re joined and my eyes follow the movement of her hand as she fingers my cock driving into her. I love that so much, I almost come from that alone. She brings her fingers back up to squeeze and roll her nipples.

  “That’s so fucking hot,” I growl. “So fucking sweet. I want to watch you.”

  Her cheeks flush and she blinks down at me. For a second, I think she’s going to balk and then she grasps my head in her hands and guides me to her breasts that are still shiny with her arousal. I tongue a nipple, tasting a combination of her and the salt of sweat.

  I glide in and out of her, adjusting her legs so that they are spread wide, and the sight of her is so goddamn explicit I groan just looking at her.

  I must hit some crazy good spot because her walls clamp down around me with each thrust and she goes statue-still. Noting her response, I shorten my thrusts until I’m working that spot with each movement. Her arms constrict around me and she alternatively pushes me and pulls me closer.

  “Gabe, what are you do-ohmiGod. Gabriel, please.”

  I nuzzle her throat and put my mouth to her ear. “I told you I was gonna make you scream.”

  She glares at me around a moan and I resist the urge to smirk in response. It’s all bravado, though, because she’s so fuckin’ tight around me now that I’m about to come, myself. I wedge a finger between us to flick against her now sensitive clit. It doesn’t take much for her to clamp around me with a keening wail. Her nails dig into my back and I work her through the aftershocks of her orgasm with soft, slow movements.

  I almost consider working her over the edge one more time, before the past twenty-four hours of foreplay grab me by the balls and I tumble right after her.

  Chloe

  My arms wrap around his wide shoulders. His solidity anchors me in the moment and I soak it all up like it’ll be our last. Our bodies are a slick mess and the scent of him is all over my skin. I rock my hips against his and he mumbles something against my shoulder.

  “Wanna take a shower with me?”

  He lifts up enough to peer at me contemplatively. “As long as you wash my back.”

  I laugh. “Deal.”

  We untangle ourselves from his sheets and stumble blindly into the bathroom. The water heats and then we shift under the spray, expressing twin moans of delight as the hot water beats down upon us. I gather his body wash and squeeze some on a loofah. As I scrub his back, I giggle at the fact that this badass man has a loofah in his shower. He can cook and he takes care of himself. The twinge between my legs reminds me that he can also take damn good care of me.

  I trace the lines of his body absently as I consider that thought. We hadn’t talked about where the attraction between us was leading. Now that we’ve had sex, what else is there left to say? I have a job, a life to get back to. He has his life here. Neith
er of us have mentioned anything long term and isn’t that the number one thing you don’t do with a man? Smother him?

  Especially after what we’ve been through.

  Gabriel turns in my arms, but I’m not able to look him directly in the eye for fear that I’ll give my thoughts away. Even if this is a one-time thing, it’s the best thing to happen to me in a long time. I don’t want to ruin it by forcing seriousness into the situation too early.

  I busy myself with thoroughly washing his chest. I ditch the loofah to pay homage with my hands. There are some things that I can’t resist, and a set of powerful shoulders and a non-manscaped chest are two of them. My fingers spread suds over his light dusting of hair and I play with the trail leading down to his cock. He makes a strangled sound in response and I grin inwardly.

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” he asks gruffly.

  “Hmm?”

  “You’ve got that crease between your eyes. I’ve noticed it means you’re thinking hard about something. To be honest, it kind of pisses me off—if I had the energy to be pissed off that is.”

  I smile up at him. “You’re always pissed off.”

  He slaps my ass and I squeak. “I am not. I just have a low tolerance for bullshit. In any case, don’t try to distract me. The fact that you even have energy leftover tells me that maybe I didn’t do a good enough job. Do I need to give you something else to think about?”

  His fingers glide up my thigh and he plunges two inside of me. I’m so sensitive that their soft intrusion has my vision flashing to white.

  “Now I’ve got your attention,” he murmurs, slowly fingering me into complacency, “tell me what’s wrong?”

  “N-nothing!” I gasp as his fingers surge inside of me.

  It takes no time at all for my body to shake with an impending orgasm. I grip his shoulders and roll my hips in an effort to bring me to the edge.

  But instead of going faster, harder, his fingers retreat and he touches my folds softly, delicately, and asks me again, “What’s wrong? And don’t lie to me.”

  “I was thinking about how sad I’m going to be when I have to go home.”

  He cups my cheeks in his hands. “I’m going to miss you, too,” is all he says.

  Then he pins me against the wall and there is something about being near helpless and vulnerable to him that makes me come harder than I ever have in my life. It’s not until I’m near sleep twenty minutes later, wrapped up in his arms, that I realize he never gave me any assurances one way or the other.

  Gabriel

  “Gabe?”

  I shake my head and snuggle back into the pillow, trying to drift back to sleep. The combination of exhaustion, stress, and sex is a potent one and I’m going to need a week of sleep to recover.

  “Gabe, Rudy’s barking,” Chloe grumbles.

  “He’ll be fine,” I say.

  For a few minutes I drift back to sleep and then Rudy starts barking again and this time it sounds like he’s trying to claw his way through the door. With a curse, I throw the covers off of my legs and reach blindly for a pair of sweats that are, generally, always on the floor beside my bed. I slip them on and stumble for the bedroom door.

  I find Rudy outside my bedroom and glare at him. “Next time I’m going to lock you up in a cage when we go to bed,” I tell him.

  He pants happily as we walk through the dark hallway to the patio door. I yawn as I yank it open to let him out and he races across the lawn to his favorite bushes.

  While he’s doing his business, I figure I might as well get something to drink because the marathon sex gave me a powerful thirst. As I make myself a glass of ice water, I consider how to play the morning after, so to speak.

  It’s probably too early to start talking commitments and considering both of our romantic histories, one of us is likely to balk if we start moving too quickly. The best option is for us to take this slowly. Hell, that’s probably what people call dating. The thought makes me frown, but fuck it. If that’s what I have to do to keep her coming back, I will.

  I drain the glass of water and immediately make another. I chug that one as well and by that time, Rudy’s done outside and is scratching to come back in.

  “You’re lucky you’re cute,” I tell him as I close the door behind him.

  When I look up, I catch a movement in the glass and I only have a few seconds to duck before the gun the man is holding discharges and a bullet shatters the glass. My leg screams in pain as I crouch down and glass rains down around me.

  “Get up,” the man shouts.

  “I’m about fucking sick of people pointing guns in my face,” I say as I get to my feet. I feel wetness on my thigh and my feet are probably sliced to hell, but I’m done.

  The man flicks on the dining room light where the dishes from our dinner still sit and I nearly fall backward when I realize who the man is.

  It’s the captain. The one no one’s been able to find since Jones threw him overboard that night. He sure doesn’t look dead.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I ask, trying, and failing to keep my voice level.

  “I’m here to finish what that idiot couldn’t.”

  “Finish…” I trail off. “What are you talking about?”

  “He never was good enough for my daughter,” he says.

  “Daughter?” I repeat numbly. “Your daughter.”

  “Shelia,” he says. “He never appreciated her, but man, I never thought he was stupid as well as useless.”

  My brain, still hazy with sleep, takes a second to piece things together. When I do, my first thought is of Chloe, who’s still in the other room. If she isn’t awake by now, it’d be a miracle.

  “You’re—”

  “That’s right. Sheila’s father. Phillip Langford.”

  “We saved you,” I say.

  Phillip spits on the floor by my feet. “You ruined me. My daughter is dead because of you.”

  I shake my head, but the images of Samuel Jones and his wife, both still, so goddamned still, surface in my brain, distracting me even as the gun twitches in Phillip’s hand.

  “I never meant for anyone to get hurt,” I tell him. I start to back up into the backyard. I don’t even feel it as the shards of glass bite into the soft soles of my feet.

  “I give a fuck for your intentions. Now shut the fuck up and get that bitch out here, too.”

  I make it across the doorway and take the first step onto the back porch. He jerks the gun at me.

  “Don’t take another step,” he says as he moves toward me, “or I’ll fucking shoot you right now.”

  “I won’t let you hurt her,” I tell him.

  He takes a step closer. “Too bad,” he says.

  Then he jerks forward with a sound of surprise and I find Chloe behind him, with a bat she must have found in my closet, poised over him.

  “Are you okay?” she asks breathlessly.

  Chloe

  “I don’t think we can see each other anymore,” I tell Gabe once the furor dies down.

  He looks at me, too exhausted to react. “Why’s that?”

  “Your life is much too exciting for me,” I say emphatically.

  Laughter dances in his eyes, even though he can barely keep his head up. “That so?”

  Somehow, our hands find each other. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision on our part, or if we’ve somehow forged a link through tragedy that can never be broken. Either way, I don’t want to let go.

  “Yes,” I say, once I manage to find the words. “I think I’m over the excitement. After this, only boring dates from now on.”

  Gabe grunts as he shoulders through the paramedics working on him to sit beside me in the ambulance. Red and blue lights play over his face. “So this was a date?”

  I chew on my bottom lip and look down at my feet. Shit, was I wrong? Was this too soon? I knew I should have kept things casual. I shake my head mentally. I never learn. After Thomas, you think I’d be a pro at knowing when
a man wants to ditch me.

  He thumbs my chin up. “I don’t know if I could call this a date,” he says. When I start to pull away he holds me captive. “What I feel for you goes past the normal get-to-know-you stage, Chloe. I don’t have a name for it, but I do know I want to see you again. I don’t want this to end.”

  My spine straightens and I wrap my uninjured arm around my waist to contain the urge to jump up and tackle him. “You don’t?”

  Gabe shakes his head and his hand slides down to cup my cheek. I find myself leaning into his touch despite my better judgment.

  “Of course not.”

  “But what about—”

  He kisses me and then leans his forehead against mine. There are paramedics, policemen, and even F.B.I agents darting around us. It’s chaos, but when he moves even closer to nuzzle my cheek with his own, the world spins away until it’s just the two of us.

  “Hey, Gabe,” Tyler interrupts, breaking the moment.

  I try to contain my frustration and blow a piece of hair out of my face. Gabe’s fingers tense against my cheek, and if I weren’t so close, I would have missed his low growl.

  “What is it?” he asks.

  Tyler’s knowing smile splits his face. “Gotta couple questions for you. Paperwork.”

  Gabe’s fingers knot in my hair. I burst out laughing. Tyler chuckles along with me.

  “Swear to God, man, if you don’t disappear, I’m banning you from the shack.”

  The smile fades from Tyler’s lips. “That’s low,” he says.

  “So is interrupting me when I’m in the middle of something. Again.”

  Tyler ignores Gabe’s fierce scowl and holds up a hand to me. “Nice to see you again, Chloe,” he says.

  I take his hand and shake. “You, too.”

  “Five seconds,” is all Gabe says.

  Tyler laughs. “Good luck with this jackass. He’s a handful.”

  Glancing back at the jackass in question, I just smile. “I think I can handle him.”