Off Limits(43)

She smiled, bringing her hand up to rest over my heart, her voice thick and syrupy with desire. I pulled back and drove into her again. Shudders rippled through her body with the feeling. We fell into a fast, hungry pace, demanding from each other everything the other had. My right hand was still wrapped with her ponytail as I drove into her over and over, our eyes locked on each other as our passion built. I'd never found a woman like Abby before, whose genuine desire matched my own in perfect harmony, rising to meet me and pulling me in for more and more.

My orgasm built quickly within me, and I didn't care. I could tell she was on the edge as well. I knew it—and knew there would be other times for gentleness and tenderness. This was about laying claim to each other. I was determined to make her mine.

Faster and faster, my hips rose and fell while I pinned Abby to the blanket, my hand tight in her hair and her fingers raking down my back. I felt the steely fire of my skin tearing as her fingernails cut furrows in my back, but the pain fueled my passion even more, and my hips pounded into her even harder. "Yes, yes, yes," she cried, biting her lower lip. "Fuck me!"

We raced each other toward our orgasm, my body trembling and covered in sweat from the exertion and the heat of the early summer day. With a trembling growl, I plunged my cock into her one more time, her legs tightening as Abby's orgasm swept through her, her fingers digging in harder than they ever had. The feeling of her * clenching and massaging my cock that last time was the trigger I needed, and I exploded, letting out a powerful, feral growl.

When I was finally done, and my body relaxed into the boneless happiness that is the wonder of a post-orgasm glow, I leaned down, kissing Abby tenderly and rolling both of us onto our sides. "I think I’m falling in love with you, Abs."

“Me too, Dene," she said. When I cocked an eyebrow, she smiled and traced my face with her fingertips. “In my studies, I ran across the word that the old English used for the Viking warriors. They called them Dene, or what eventually became Dane. I thought it appropriate for you.”

I kissed her softly, my heart warming. “It’s fitting, given what I’ve turned to religiously. I'll treasure it, Abs. Maybe I can get it tattooed on my body somewhere."

"I was thinking of maybe having it tattooed on mine," Abby replied with a smile. “And what do you mean? Are you into Norse mythology or something?”

I shrugged and shook my head. “I don’t know—kind of. I started looking for something to believe in after my conviction. But it started a little before that.”

"Tell me about it," Abby said softly, rolling back and pillowing her head on her arm. "I want to know everything about you, even the dark parts."

I nodded and rolled onto my stomach, tenting my chin on my hands and looking out at the river beyond. "I guess part of it was my upbringing. My family was one of those weekly churchgoing families—every Sunday, like clockwork. But there was nothing happening despite all that praying. It continued in the Army, as some of the biggest *s I knew were also some of the most churchgoing. Still, I tried to keep at least a little bit of faith, but after what happened in Iraq, I practically gave up on it. So I thought about it, and I picked Norse mythology because it seemed to fit what I was going through. It's a religion where everything pretty much goes to hell, and the good guys get screwed in a major way. Kinda fit in with my outlook on life back then."

"And now?" Abby asked. "Do you still think that life sucks and then you die?"

I rolled to my side and kissed her nose, shaking my head. "I don't know for sure, but things do seem to have taken a turn for the better.”





Chapter 13





Abby





Unfortunately for our desires, regardless of how long we wanted to stay there, I had to go home eventually. As it was, we stayed until the sun started to go down, then had a casual dinner at a little country barbecue place. "I never realized just how voracious an appetite you have," I said as he came back from the buffet with his third plate. "Have you been starving yourself or something?"

Dane grinned and shook his head. "No, but I did work up quite an appetite this afternoon. And it’s a bit of an old habit that I've not quite worked past yet."

"What's that?" I asked, enjoying the rich pork myself.

"Until recently, I mostly just ate to live," Dane said simply as he used his plastic fork to split a biscuit in half. He took forkfuls of the spicy barbecue and put it on the halves, making an open-faced sandwich that he started consuming in efficient, neat bites. Despite it being his third plate, and the barbecue being soaked in nearly an obscene amount of sauce, his shirt was spotless, a far cry from my own.

"Luxury for my family was getting eighty-twenty ground beef to go into our mac & cheese casserole. The Army was the same way, and Leavenworth . . . well, you can guess what that was like. In any case, during all that time, I ate enough to not be hungry, but I hated a lot of what I had to put in my mouth. On the rare occasions that I was able to have delicious food, I ate as quickly and as much as I could. I never knew when I'd get another chance to indulge in it again."

"Well, now that you won't have that issue, it’s a habit I suggest you look at breaking unless you want to end up the size of a small elephant," I teased.