“How’s that?” he asks, lips brushing my earlobe. “You want it hard or soft?”
“Just like this,” I pant, squeezing at his raspy voice on my neck. “Fuck me just like this. I want to come all over your dick.”
“Fuck, Maeve. You’re going to make me come again.”
“Come with me then. I want you inside me.” A small scream rips through me and Lincoln makes a guttural noise in return. “My clit, more clit. Faster,” I say, closing my eyes.
He obeys and gives me exactly what I need. My legs tingle, and pleasure washes over my entire body. Biting his neck, I bury the moans of the life-altering orgasm. It goes on and on, and Lincoln pushes into me one more time and he comes apart, shaking as he juts his hips in time with each pulse of his own orgasm. Inside me. Deep inside me. Watching him come apart is almost as enjoyable as my own pleasure. I hold his head tight to my chest as he catches his breath. His shoulders rise and fall at a harried pace.
“That was amazing,” I whisper. He leans his head up to look at me and there’s so much emotion there, that I put my head down, burying my face in the tan flesh of his shoulder.
Where the top of his bone frog tattoo resides. The tattoo that only Navy SEALs have. A symbol of everything they stand for. Everything, that in the past, I’ve stood against. Maybe against isn’t the right word, but I’ve definitely tried to avoid it. The bone frog stares at me. It’s like a damn boomerang.
Gently he pulls out of my body and hisses. “Thank you for that,” he says, kind of chuckling as I stumble when I’m on my own two feet. “You feeling a little faint from all of that action?”
I smirk. “I’ll be sore for… a while. That was mind-blowing. Thank you for that,” I return, rubbing between my legs. His cum is on my fingers when I draw them away to wash it off in the shower.
“Sorry for that, ah, cum, but you said the IUD and, well, I wanted to make sure you knew I was all in.”
I raise on my toes to kiss him. “Literally you are all in, huh?”
Lincoln nods, a dreamy look on his face.
“Good. I’m all in, too. I don’t have anything to put in you though. To like properly claim you as mine.”
He laughs against my mouth, but doesn’t stop kissing me. It’s insanely hot, and my stomach does that thing where it sinks and floats at the same time. “You don’t need to put anything inside me to claim me. Maybe food or something? In my mouth?” He’s making a joke, but we both flinch when we hear a door close. “Stay here. I’ll check on Turner.” His whole demeanor changed at the prospect of his son catching us.
I nod, but the water is getting cold so I reach a hand out and grab a towel and wrap myself.
“Maeve,” Lincoln says.
Peeking my head out of the curtain, dread hits. “Yeah?” Though I don’t need to ask. In blood, on the steamy mirror is a pair of lips. The word, Mine written in the mix of steam and blood. Elation morphs into sheer terror. The blood is running down the mirror and vomit rises up my throat. “Turner?” Someone was in here during our most sacred moment. Someone was listening. Someone wants something I’ve claimed as my own.
“He’s perfectly fine—sleeping. Get dressed. We need to call the police.”
I nod, eyes wide, unable to draw them away from the mirror. The warning. A chill runs down my spine. “How did they get in here?” Tears prick my eyes. One of the happiest moments of my life is now tinged with blood.
The police looked into my car tires being slashed, but I admit that it didn’t seem threatening. Not like this. Even the coyote being dismembered in my side yard didn’t hit like this. Or perhaps this horrible feeling is the culmination of the three incidents that now can’t be construed as anything but an admonition of what’s to come if this person isn’t stopped.
“You’re safe.” He puts his hands on my shoulders and cuts my view with his face. “Maeve. I have you. We’ll catch this person. I can’t leave you or Turner to go investigate right now, but I will make sure they don’t hurt you. I won’t leave you.”
My breath catches and I meet his eyes. All of the fears I lock away, bubble to the surface. Abandonment. The core at which all of my insecurities bloom. “Never?” My voice trembles.
He seems to be thoughtful about his answer—he hesitates, opening and closing his mouth, gaze dancing over my face. He shakes his head. “Never.”
I hug him around his neck because I believe him, and I also recognize that this right here is my lifelong dream turning into another nightmare spiraling out of my control.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MAEVE
Aspen clicks on her keyboard so loud and fast, it’s the only thing I can concentrate on as I linger near reception. She pauses, then says, “With the drama at the horse ranch, I didn’t want to bring it up, but I wanted to tell you something. About Lincoln.”
That gets my attention big time. “What?”
“Do you remember when you sent me to the Amazon store at the mall? You wanted some random book and I picked up lunch while I was there?”
I narrow my eyes and nod. She goes on, “I saw Lincoln at the jewelry store while I was there. The fancy one, not like the chain one. Not that it matters, diamonds are diamonds, am I right? But, yeah, he was there.”
It seems like a lifetime ago when I try to recall the day she’s referring to. That was the night my tires got slashed at his house. Now I remember—the day he was running errands when I called him. “So, I mean he
