Soldier Mine Page 15

“Yes!” she gasps. “I want to come with you inside me.”

  The sense of being in the perfect place, of a connection deeper than our skin, too intimate to be natural, causes me to pause for a moment and gaze down at the face of a woman who somehow managed to claim my heart without me even realizing it.

  She wriggles against my erection with a grin. “Now, soldier,” she whispers.

  The moment snaps, and hunger takes over. I stop resisting the scream of my desire and kiss her hard enough to render her breathless before sliding into her body.

  This time, I don’t stop thrusting until she arches beneath me, and she’s crying my name with her climax. Her pussy undulates around my erection, and I come shortly after her.

  But it doesn’t stop there. It can’t. I need to experience every inch of her, to memorize how she moves when I touch her somewhere, to hear her gasp out my name again and watch her face flush when the orgasm takes her.

  I roll onto my back and pull her with me. She kisses me hungrily, and I thrust upward into her once more.

  The more I have her, the more I want her, and the consuming desire keeps us up almost until dawn. For hours we make love, rest and then make love again, learning each other’s bodies as I’ve never bothered to know anyone else’s.

  As we doze off before dawn, it hits me why sex is so different with her. It’s more than Claudia accepting me for who I am. It’s more than lust or physical need. The connection that’s startled me with its intensity is one I never really expected to be so humbling or satisfying or compelling, I can’t get enough of her. In all our interactions, it never occurred to me that I might be falling in love with her, that my joke about her stealing my heart wasn’t really a joke at all.

  Chapter Eighteen: Claudia

  Petr’s not there when I wake up after a long doze. Light pours in from the large windows facing the backyard. The snow is coming down hard. I snuggle under the covers for a moment, breathing in our combined scents. The fire has died down, but it’s warm and comfortable in the massive bedroom. He has a wall of photographs, awards and other memorabilia from his time in the service. The ledge over the hearth is packed with pictures of his siblings and him, and photographs take up the space around genuine paintings from the Renaissance.

  The wooden floor is covered with rugs of varying hues of blue. The accents and décor are in dark woods and blues. A seating area the size of my living room is near a massive walk-in closet, and there are two dressers and wardrobes along the walls. Cathedral ceilings feature wooden rafters and a smaller but similar wrought iron chandelier to the one in the foyer.

  The room is subtly luxurious and completely masculine, like the plain looking sheets I suspect are expensive and the bed that’s more comfortable than any I’ve ever slept in.

  Pushing myself up, I groan softly at the stiffness and soreness of my body. I’ve never had a night like last night. A smile spreads across my face as I consider how intense Petr’s felt for me for some time to consume me in his fire the way he did.

  I cross to the restroom and scrounge around for a new toothbrush. Cleaning up, I stop in front of the shower with its stone walls, glass enclosure and the rain shower ceiling. It’s not just a showerhead but a space about three feet by three feet filled with holes for water.

  I’ve never seen anything like it, but I immediately suspect I’ll never want to shower elsewhere. It’s controlled digitally by a panel outside the enclosure. I poke at the buttons until the stream comes on and stand back, amazed. The temperature is set to a hundred and two. I hesitate to change Petr’s setting, knowing how much I dislike it when Todd changes settings on my phone or anything else.

  “Well, it’s on, Claudia,” I murmur and then grin. Opening the door, I walk in – and almost melt. The gentle streams of water are heavenly, the shower floors heated and Petr’s woodsy scent everywhere.

  Sighing, I close my eyes and lean my head back, letting the hot water wash over me.

  “You, uh, want company?” Petr calls a short time later.

  I smile, my whole world brightening once more at his deep voice. “Depends on who’s asking.”

  He laughs. “I’m equally happy watching you.”

  My body flushes with warmth from the tips of my ears to the tips of my breasts. I open my eyes and see him leaning against the counter, shirt off and sweatpants on, his incredibly sexy frame relaxed. He’s smiling. His tender, amused expression leaves me rattled once more, even after our long night together.

  I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way he looks at me, through me, as if we’ve known each other our entire lives instead of meeting two months ago.

  I went from a nightmare to a fairytale. Overwhelmed by what that ultimately means for my future, I nonetheless know I’m exactly where I want to be with the man I want to be with.

  “Are you coming in?” I ask playfully.

  “Absolutely.”

  I wait anxiously, exhilaration racing through me. There’s nothing in this world that compares to his touch. Gentle yet firm, he has a way of making me feel both empowered and safe enough to be vulnerable.

  Petr opens the shower door and slides in. He’s wearing a black sleeve over his prosthetic leg. His hands find me immediately and slide over my wet skin. He’s the most affection man I’ve ever known. I never thought twice about a man who loves to touch me, but one night with him has convinced me I don’t ever want his hands elsewhere when we’re together.

  He nudges me until my back is to him and wraps his arms around me, hugging me into his body. Resting his head on my shoulder, he kisses my neck. His solid strength awes me, and I trace my hands down the thick biceps and roped forearms holding me against him. His hard erection is pressed to my bottom, and the combination of his strength and apparent arousal cause the hollow between my legs to ache for him again already.

  “How you doing?” he whispers. “No regrets?”

  “Never with you,” I reply and rest my head against his shoulder. “You?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well … I do have one regret,” I add. “I didn’t get you anything for Christmas.”

  “You’re the best Christmas present ever.”

  I smile and close my eyes, relishing the sensations of his warm frame, strength, and the grizzled jaw tickling my neck. This is perfect. Being in his arms makes me wonder why I’ve settled for being anywhere else my entire life.

  One of his palms shifts down my abdomen. “Or … we could give each other a special shower present,” he says huskily. “Start the day out right.”

  “I’m game,” I say breathlessly, already yearning for him. I relax against him completely, unable to recall the last time I was able to trust someone enough to close my eyes and simply exist … share a space with them.

  His hand rests over my pussy, and my breath catches. I wait with heady anticipation for the touch I know is coming. Kisses spread down the side of my neck and shoulder. His finger slips between my nether lips to graze my clit, and I reach back to touch his face.

  Twisting my head to kiss him, I almost moan when his fingers dip inside me then out, traveling the path between my core and my clit slowly before he begins swirling around the hard nub.

  “Too heavy? Too light? Just right?” he whispers against my mouth.

  “Perfect. Just don’t stop,” I reply and kiss him again. He keeps me trapped with my back to him while fingering me and toying with my clit. The sensations grow stronger as my orgasm builds quickly, and my inner thighs begin to shake. I grip his forearm, afraid of falling when I lose myself to the pleasure.

  “I got ya,” he murmurs. “Remember? I’ll catch you when you fall.”

  I nod, unable to muster a response. The tempo and pressure of his strokes varies, pushing me closer without letting me come quiet yet, and I stop thinking about whether or not he really can catch me and instead, dwell in the exquisite sensations.

  The orgasm builds slow and breaks fast. It slams into me with such intensity, my legs give out, and
I sag against him, panting.

  “I love seeing you lose it,” he murmurs and holds me, his fingers leaving my pussy. “I love knowing I’m the one you trust to make you come.”

  I listen to his desire-roughened voice and know the best part is yet to come. Waves of pleasure render me immobile as my body tenses and releases under their effects.

  He turns me to face him, one arm staying around me. By the sparkle in his eyes, he knows I can’t stand on my own. His erection is hard along my belly and the hunger on his face mirroring what I feel.

  Petr kisses me deeply, no longer content with patient exploration. He claims my lips, drives me back, renders me breathless with his intensity. The glass wall is cool at my back, and I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into me.

  He lifts me onto his hips and pierces my pussy hard and fast. I gasp and cling to him with my arms and legs, intoxicated by his scent and the way our wet skin glides against one another. His desire is hot and quick this morning, and he thrusts into me deep and fast, alternating between kisses that rob me of thought and pressing me into the shower wall. He fills me, stretches me with his size, impales me with his hardness until I feel like I melt around his dick and the strength of his chest.

  When he comes, it’s with a growl. He sinks into me one last time, and I squeeze my hips around him to keep him there while he braces himself with one arm against the wall behind me. His pants mix with the soft sound of rainfall. We remain in place, frozen after our ecstasy, enjoying the sensations of warm skin, water and the profound pleasure of our joining.

  “I want you inside me forever,” I groan, unable to get enough of him. “How is that possible?”

  “I’m not the only one who thinks this is a little crazy?” He lifts his head and peers into my eyes.

  “No. It’s not normal at all,” I agree. “But it’s also …”

  “Natural,” he supplies. “Like we were made for each other.”

  The thought does the same thing to me as a look this intense from him: scrambles my thoughts and sends my emotions tumbling.

  “Yeah,” I murmur.

  He nuzzles my cheek then neck. “Will you stay the weekend?”

  “Yes.” I’m about to tell him I’ll stay forever but fear his reaction. “Oh, god. I forgot to tell Todd where I was.”

  “I told him.”

  “Oh. That I slept on your floor?”

  “Nah. He’s a teen boy. He would’ve seen through that. I told him if he needed us, we’re in my room.”

  I smile. Todd is growing up. Petr and me being together will make him happy.

  “Ready for breakfast?” Petr asks. “I went to grab it and came back to find you in the shower.”

  “I’d love breakfast.”

  He kisses me intensely once more before easing out of my body and stepping back. I lower my legs. He steadies me, and we leave the shower.

  Petr dries me off then hands me one of his tshirts. I pull it on while he tugs on his sweatpants. My eyes move hungrily over his muscular torso. He catches the look with a wink.

  “I can guess what we’re having for dessert,” he says and catches me around the waist. He hugs me to him, and I melt. “C’mon. Breakfast is waiting.” Stooping over, he lifts me and carries me out of the bathroom and to the bed and sets me down. A breakfast tray is on the bench at the foot of his sleigh bed. He lifts it and brings it to the bed beside me. “We have strawberry crepes, sausage, bread basket and coffee.”

  “It smells amazing.”

  Petr climbs behind me and sits, straddling me. I lean back against his chest and sigh. He hugs me.

  “Can I ask you about what you were running from?” he murmurs. “I know there’s no good time to discuss it.”

  “But you’re worried I’ll flip again and change my mind,” I guess.

  “I don’t think it’s possible for either of us to walk away after last night.”

  “No,” I agree softly.

  “I want there to be nothing between us. I want to know what scared you, so I can help protect you from it. I want … us, Claudia, and everything that entails.”

  My eyes water at the words. With mixed feelings, I debate what to say. I fear discussing the past only because of all the horrible memories and emotions it contains. “Okay,” I whisper hoarsely. “And then you’re making love to me again to cheer me up.”

  “As many times as it takes,” he replies and squeezes me.

  I lean forward to grab a piece of toast and nibble on it. “I met Jake when I was eighteen. He was everything a girl that age dreams of: smart, sexy, and charming. I was naïve and gullible and totally enamored by him. I fell hard, and I didn’t know how unhealthy our relationship was for about a year. He slowly curbed what I did, where I went, who I spoke to. Who I looked at. He would fly into jealous rages at the drop of a hat then apologize profusely later. I learned the best way to keep him happy was to do what he wanted.

  “I stopped seeing my friends, stopped going to college and talking to my mom. I became really lonely, and whenever I confronted him, he grew increasingly upset until the day he hit me for asking if I could go to my brother’s elementary school graduation. He told me if I didn’t behave, he’d take it out on Todd next time. I thought love meant I needed to sacrifice, but I couldn’t deal with the fact he hit me. At that point, two years in, I realized there was an issue but not how to get out. I couldn’t talk to anyone, and he went through my computer every day so I couldn’t google how to get help. I was afraid to leave the house …” I stop, eyes blurring as I recall the horror of my life at that point.

  Petr kisses my temple and whispers something I don’t catch, because I’m too deep in the memories.

  “Anyway, things got worse. One day, after he’d hurt me more than usual, I just left and went to the police. They took a report, told me I needed to get help – and spoke to him. That’s it. Told him I talked to them. That did not go over so well. I couldn’t walk for a couple of days after that round. I’d always had a love-hate relationship with my mom, but she knew something was up. She slipped me a note during one of my supervised visits where Jake was with us. The next time we met, I gave her a note telling her what was going on.

  “Jake, of course, eventually found out, and I wasn’t allowed to see her anymore. He started picking up Todd from school and telling my mom if she did anything to help me, Todd wasn’t coming home one day. Four years ago, I just … snapped one day. He went to work. I took my car, my cash and what clothes I could carry, went to Todd’s school, and drove away as fast as I could. Called my mother a month later. She was certain we were dead. She gave me the number for an old attorney friend of my father’s, Simon.” I pause, regretting the whole mess and wishing I’d had a better plan or way out. I’d done what I knew to do, which was simply to get away.

  “Is your mother okay?” Petr asks. There’s a note of controlled anger in his tone. He’s holding me gently, but he’s tense, too.

  “Yeah. Jake … liked her. Or maybe he knew I’d always call her someday, and that’s how he could find me. He never hurt her, just threatened her against going to the police. He was involved with some really bad stuff, drug trafficking and such. I told Simon everything I had learned about his operations during the time I was with him. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to tip off the federal authorities that were missing pieces of the puzzle about who was doing it. Long story short, they started investigating.

  “I imagine that’s another reason why Jake won’t just leave me alone. He figured out pretty fast I sold him out. He found us twice the first year and once the second, once the third … twice this year,” I drift off. My breathing is off, and I find myself reaching for my face and the bruises that were there five months ago, before desperation led me out of Jake’s comfort zone of the south and here to Massachusetts. “He just won’t stop.”

  “These are defensive wounds,” Petr says, taking one wrist and rolling it to display the scars along my forearm.

  “Yeah. He used a k
nife last time. He was trying to get Todd. I don’t even really know how we got away … I was in such bad shape.”

  “You’ve been waiting all this time for the investigation to put him away.”

  “Yeah. I called Simon yesterday, because I …” I drift off, a little embarrassed.

  Petr kisses me on the cheek. “Why?”

  “Because I’m tired of running. You make me want to take a chance and live, and I couldn’t do that until Jake was off the street,” I say in a trembling voice. “Because I really, really wanted to go to dinner with you.”

  He’s quiet, holding me against his strong frame.

  “Is that stupid? I wanted my nightmare to be over, so we could go to dinner?” I ask.

  “No, Claudia.”

  With effort, I steady my breathing and stop shaking. Petr is patient and quiet, allowing me time to recover.

  “I’ve never been drawn to someone like I am you, Petr,” I say when I’m calm enough once more. “You’ve been so good to Todd, and you’ve been so patient with me.”

  He chuckles. “You’re worth waiting for.”

  I twist in his lap to see his face. A shadow hangs over his features, and there’s anger in his gaze. He manages to smile at me. I touch his scruffy cheek.

  “I’m sorry if I upset you,” I whisper, admiring his profile.

  “Thank you for telling me.” He touches his forehead to mine. “Thank you for trusting me.”

  “I want an us, too, Petr. This is the first step.”

  “I’m sorry for your pain, Claudia. I won’t let anything happen to you again. Ever.”

  I smile at him. I’m raw once more, in turmoil after reliving the nightmare of Jake and so filled with warm, joyous emotion towards Petr, I can’t process it. I don’t like feeling vulnerable or out of control, but with Petr, I feel safe.

  Our relationship is beginning and already feels permanent and too natural not to last.

  He holds me for a while longer. I can tell what I’ve revealed troubles him. I don’t know what to tell him to make it better when it disturbs me equally as much. The only victory I have is knowing The Monster will be in jail come Monday, and my life will Petr begins today.