No Longer Lost: Secrets Of Stone: Book Nine Read online

  “I thought her name was Missy.”

  “Wh-Whatever.”

  I tried squirming away, but it was useless. And he was impossible.

  “Come with me.” Mac started tugging me away from the parking lot, toward the hospital’s main building.

  “No,” I declared—but kept stumbling behind him, following like a desperate rat behind the Pied Piper. “Stop. Where are we going?”

  He stopped long enough to swing back toward me—to impale my whole system with the hungry heat of his brilliant tiger eyes. “We’re going to go settle this bullshit once and for all. If I have to cancel every appointment I have for the rest of the afternoon, so be it.”

  I let my jaw drop, spluttering at him. “You—You can’t just—”

  “Watch me, baby,” he snarled. “Just. Fucking. Watch. Me.” His stare flashed brighter. His hold clenched me harder. “I’ll do it, and I won’t think twice. Because I’m going to remind you why you can’t be without me. And more than that, why I can’t bear to be without you. Not for one more goddamned second.”

  Chapter Four

  Mac

  Rage.

  Anger didn’t quite cover the intensity of the emotion I was feeling. Rage summed it up fucking nicely, though. When I left the hospital to get some files in my car, I saw that damn blood bank truck across the campus and was drawn to it like a magnet. I had no idea if she would be there or if she would stay away just to ensure she didn’t have to face me, but I started off in that direction without giving it much more thought.

  Or maybe I’d been spurred by seven hundred unanswered texts.

  Seven. Hundred.

  Shitty thing was, it probably wasn’t an exaggeration. Since my idiot-fest in Thermal, Taylor hadn’t answered a single one of my text messages or phone calls. The next step was likely going to be showing up at her apartment, but I’d played that hand before. This woman deserved better than a fucking do-over. She deserved unique. She deserved extraordinary. She deserved everything outside my usual arsenal.

  Then fate brought me the fresh approach, right in my lap. And I’d had nothing but pure intentions when I started toward the RV—okay, not true; it was rare that I had pure intentions about anything where she was concerned—but it had been a good start. But like I said, “pure” and I rarely got along when it came to this woman, and I was done apologizing for it. She craved me because of it. Now she just needed a reminder of what all that meant for her.

  A fucking huge reminder, if I had my way about this.

  And I fully intended to have my way.

  My cock was steel between my legs. I was grateful I hadn’t left my white coat in my office when I came outside. Storming across the hospital’s lobby, all but dragging my woman by her hair with my hard-on leading the way, probably wouldn’t sit well with the mostly senior crowd waiting for their appointments.

  Flash of brilliance. Even with my swelling dick making me half-crazy, I remembered there was an outdoor entrance to the stairwell that led directly to the hallway to access my office. I just needed to guess which unmarked door took me there.

  Tried the first one. Locked. I’d just come down that way a few minutes before and noticed a sign saying the door had to remain unlocked during business hours. Fuck.

  “Mac!” Her exasperated burst made me realize I’d snarled the word out loud. By this point, her little puffs of exhaled air were washing over me every time she tried to break free—which was about every ten seconds. “Let go, damn it. I can walk myself.”

  “I don’t trust you won’t run off. And we really need to set some things straight.”

  I turned to emphasize that before trying the next door handle—and was nearly knocked off my fucking feet. There was an aroused glow, almost flame-like, in her deep-blue eyes. Her cheeks had delectable swatches of pink coloring them. Her lips were a slightly darker hue, freshly wetted and slightly parted. Christ all-fucking-mighty. I longed to yank her jeans to the ground and claim her right here. Yeah, right here.

  And damn it, I almost did.

  Instead, I pressed her back against the hard stucco wall, caging her with hands cupped to each side of her neck. I wasted no time taking her mouth in a brutal, possessive kiss. Her moan was swallowed by my desire, and I thrust my tongue in when her sexy sound escaped. I swept from side to side inside her lush mouth, tasting her intoxicating flavor, before wrapping my hand all the way around her throat. I pulled back from the kiss and waited for her to meet my stare.

  “I’ve missed you so bad. So fucking bad,” I grated out.

  She swallowed hard, turning me on in a thousand more ways as her larynx undulated against my hand. “I…oh…I…”

  I stopped her by kissing her again. Hard. And rough. And thoroughly. Finally, I pulled back. Not far. I only needed enough distance to husk out one vital question.

  “What the hell are you doing to me?”

  Her eyes flared wide. “What am I doing to—”

  “I don’t know how to control myself, Taylor. Taylor. I want to fuck you right here, out in the open, so every other man on this planet knows who you belong to.”

  She gulped again, such an unknowing tease against the light pressure of my palm. Her eyelids dropped lower, nostrils flared, as she tried—again, unsuccessfully—to form some sort of coherent comeback.

  “Don’t bother saying anything,” I injected. “You can’t deny this insanity any more than I can. Don’t insult either of us by trying anymore.” I leaned closer again, kissing the side of her jaw, trailing kisses toward her ear. I couldn’t stop myself from adding tiny bites to that journey, craving to mark her creamy skin with my filthy intent. She wanted that possession too. I could feel it in every breath she took, in the movement of her facial bones under my teeth as she let out a sweet whimper. I reached up with my forefinger from where I held her throat and spread the saliva I left behind into her skin to soothe the bite.

  “Oh, Mac,” she finally pleaded, making my knees weak with the sweet sound. “Please!”

  “What, baby? Tell me what you need. I’m your slave. Don’t you understand that?” I pressed my forehead to hers, waiting with held breath to hear more of her sweet begging.

  “Just…”

  “Just what?”

  “Take me somewhere and fuck me, Mac. I can’t take another minute of not feeling you inside me.”

  Pride and lust swelled through my chest as I released my grip on her slender neck and grabbed her hand instead. I guided her trembling fingers directly to my cock and pushed into her hand through my slacks.

  “You’re going to still feel me a week from now by the time I’m done with you. Do you understand me?”

  She sketched out a nod before I yanked away, tugging her toward the next door. I was thrilled when it instantly opened. The stairs led up to the medical offices, and if I could climb the flights with the woody I was sporting, it would be a physical feat for sure.

  Time to make that feat happen.

  Once we were on the next floor, I stuck my head out of the stairwell into the main hall leading to my office. The last thing I wanted to do was embarrass Taylor—or myself, for that matter. The coast was clear, so I hauled her behind me until we were halfway down the hall. I wasted no time in sliding my hospital identification through the reader, my pulse speeding up as soon as the lock disengaged.

  I held the door open, letting Taylor hurry inside while I scanned the hall one more time. As soon as I’d followed her in, I rammed her against the wall. As soon as I had her right where I wanted her—as in, right now—I pressed in and then consumed her with my lips.

  And sucked at her.

  And devoured her.

  And hungered for her.

  With an eager mewl, she stripped my white coat from my arms, letting it fall to the floor where we stood. Simultaneously, I tugged her T-shirt from the waistband of her jeans and yanked it up over her head. I wasn’t interested in savoring anything. Not right now. I needed her skin exposed and as quickly as possible. I
was starving for her taste, for her smell, her sounds. I was obsessed with losing myself in the paradise of her. With forgetting the past month and a half and starting to rebuild our future. I needed her. It was that simple; it was that goddamned beautiful.

  The button on her jeans was already open, and I pushed my hand into her panties without preamble. Her heated skin felt like fire as I skimmed over her mound and slid my forefinger into her wetness. Her sexy scent, getting stronger as I turned her on more, tickled my nose and made my mouth water.

  Finally, I couldn’t take the wait any longer. I felt like a kid in school, watching the clock through the last sixty seconds before summer break. Swear to God, I was as hard as a fucking teenager too. My dick pulsed even more as I broke away far enough to dictate, “Take these goddamned things off, woman. Now.”

  I watched her getting tempted to fling back something saucy but quelled that bullshit at once with a dark and demanding look of my own. The tiny shiver she gave me in response, taking over her form from head to toe, robbed my breath more than going zero to sixty in three seconds. After that, my gorgeous girl had no trouble complying with my decree as fast as she could, shimmying out of the denim as quickly as the fabric would allow. But oh, how I noticed that she’d purposely left her cotton underthings right where they were. Rebellious imp. Did she think that’d be an issue for me, once all was said and done?

  And done.

  And done…

  My desk was just beyond the small entranceway in which we were still crowded. There wasn’t much on top of the thing since it was clinic day, so I finished the kiss by hoisting Taylor off her feet, growling in satisfaction as she wrapped her legs around my waist. She continued kissing my face and neck, nipping and licking and sucking, as I walked us over to where I sat to work on any other day.

  After plopping her ass down on my desk, I fell back into my rolling chair. She looked at me and grinned, her imagination rapidly catching up with my plan. Her smart mouth had been unusually quiet, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I didn’t want her to get too caught up in her head the way she had a tendency to do, so I sat back in my chair and waited for her full attention.

  “Yo, medicine man.” Her adorable face scrunched up in mock panic. “You’re not leaving me hanging here, are you?”

  “Not a chance, baby. I’m just looking at you first. I want to commit this image to my memory.”

  “And what image would that be, exactly?” she quipped, taking my breath away as she let her knees fall open, blatantly teasing me to the point of pain. Christ, her pussy already smelled so good. “Me distracting you at work?”

  “No,” I growled. “You sitting in the middle of my desk like you belong there. Taunting me with your sexy skin and deep, thoughtful eyes. I want to make sure that every time I sit down here, I’m reminded of you exactly like this.”

  Her face pursed, betraying how she retreated to the exact place I didn’t want her dwelling, before she seemed to snap out of the fast funk with another carefree grin. “You know I’d rather skip all this sentimental shit, right? Can’t we just fuck?” She gave a careless shrug as she finished her thought.

  Holy shit, how easy it would’ve been to simply accommodate her brazen little decree. But if I wanted easy, I could roam anywhere in this building and just crook my finger. I knew about the nursing staff’s weekly pool, betting on who would be able to get me horizontal first. I wanted none of those women. I could barely remember those women—and I worked with many of them on a daily basis.

  So, no. There wouldn’t be any “just fucking” happening, no matter how delectable she looked while tossing out the offer. Oh, the woman would get her wish. Eventually. Just not yet.

  Not right now.

  Ohhhh, especially not right now.

  “Ahhhh.” I made sure my extended drawl communicated as much. “There she is.”

  “What?” With eyes gone wide as a cartoon nymph, Taylor snapped her legs together. She shot her stare to the door and then back to me. “Where? Who?”

  I snickered. It couldn’t be helped. “You, knucklehead,” I chided. “The sassy girl I’ve missed. And adore.” I sobered quickly, impaling her with the new intensity of my stare. “And love.”

  She swallowed hard. The movement emphasized the flush creeping up her neck. So fucking lovely. I longed to see that same rose hue extend all the way down her body.

  “Yeah,” I grated. “Her. The one who tells me to ‘just fuck’ her and then tries to shrug it off as humor. The one who hides every emotion she’s feeling with smart-mouthed comebacks instead of the honesty she knows I’m going to ask for. To demand.”

  As I spoke, I pushed at her knees and spread her legs wide again. At the same time, I rolled my chair between them until I was flush up to the desk. She gasped and blushed deeper. I grinned—and then gripped her hips, hauling her to the edge of my desk, where her pussy was positioned right in front of me. Though I inhaled the heady, heavenly scent of her arousal, I didn’t stop watching her face—even as I loosened and then freed my tie from the collar of my shirt. Taylor giggled when I chucked it carelessly over my shoulder.

  Only then did I notice another perfect gift from fate herself. The scissors on my desk gleamed in the afternoon sun coming in through the tinted windows, catching my eye. At once, I reached over and snatched them from the little pencil holder they were in. I held them up, smirking as I clicked them a few times, clearly conveying what I planned.

  “Mac!” she bit out. “No! Don’t do it. What will I wear home? Mac!”

  “Sssshhhh,” I reproved. “You can wear your jeans. They’re right over there, Sassy. Safe and sound.”

  “But—”

  “Sssshhh.”

  “But—”

  “Sit still so I don’t stab you.”

  “Oh, dear God.”

  “Sorry. He’s unavailable right now. They’ve patched you through to his supervisor. How can I help you, ma’am?”

  “You can start by not—”

  “Sssshhh.” I dotted that one with a waggle of my eyebrows, and she giggled again. Damn, that had to be the sweetest sound on the planet. If that’s all I ever heard from now on, morning, noon, and night, I would die a happy man. Hearing joy in her voice was a medal of honor to my soul—though there’d be a dent in that thing forever, now that I knew how much pain I’d caused her. Weeks ago, I vowed to do whatever it took to make her happy again.

  Now was the moment to activate that plan.

  Snip. Snip.

  A quick slice through each side of her panties’ waistband, and the cotton fell away from her body—freeing her trimmed V to my view.

  So. Fucking. Beautiful.

  Pink. Glistening. Glorious. Exactly how I remembered.

  No. Better.

  Hastily, I yanked the ruined material from beneath her and dropped it to the floor. “Lean back on your elbows,” I directed, barely keeping my shit together for a steady tone. Thank fuck she complied without hesitation or sarcasm, though maybe she already knew the move would push her shiny folds that much closer to me. Little minx. Not that I cared if she was playing with me as thoroughly as I baited her. We were good together, and we both fucking knew it. And soon, so very soon, we were going to be even better.

  I reached down to cup her ankle with my corresponding hand. I lifted her leg, placing her foot on the arm of my chair, before repeating the motion on the other side. Every inch of every move was gentle but teasing, filled with all my little nips and caresses and strokes, until Taylor pushed out a frustrated huff at my deliberate dawdling.

  “Mac! Jesus with the fêng shui already!”

  Since I’d already anticipated such a line, I whipped my gaze back to her at once. Just as swiftly, she snapped her mouth shut with an audible clack.

  I settled my posture in the chair.

  Drawing her out. Making her wait.

  And anticipate…

  Once more, she groaned.

  Once more, I grinned.

&n
bsp; And then, not letting up on my deliberate moves, leaned forward and swiped my tongue up the inside of her thigh, just at the apex of her leg and pussy. I left an unusually wet trail behind, letting the air conditioning of my office cool every inch of that line…knowing the beautiful bumps it would bring out against her perfect flesh. I moved to the other side and did the same thing, holding her hips in place when she gyrated with a blatant invitation.

  “Hmmm. Look how wet this pussy is.” I slid the tip of my finger through her folds, spreading her open with my teasing touch. I ran my finger around her labia, barely contacting the juicy flesh, until a greedy, guttural moan escaped from deep in her throat.

  “Please, Mac!” she all but shrieked. “Please, just do it!”

  “Hmmm.”

  “No. No. No ‘hmmmm.’ Do it. Now!”

  “I think I need some promises first, sassy girl.”

  “Y-Y-You…what?”

  “Promises. I need them from you. And I’m just not sure you’re ready to make them yet.”

  I pushed my finger into her but only up to the first knuckle. It was barely enough intrusion to ease her ache. My own resistance was faltering so fucking fast. I needed to taste her. I whispered my lips across her mound but held off on using my tongue. I wanted to drive her mad before I broke her.

  “You’re making me crazy, Clown. I can do this shit to myself. Put your mouth on me, goddamnit!”

  She was going for imperious at the totally wrong time, considering the physical position we were in. I instinctively bit into her when she used that smart tone with me, and my teeth scored her outer pussy lip. I didn’t bite hard, but it was so enticing to have that warm meaty flesh between my teeth. But as soon as she let out a high and breathy keen, the need to mark her deeper became a demanding drum in my psyche.

  As soon as she stilled, I added a little more pressure. Testing her tolerance…her acceptance of the pain.

  “Oh, my God. Mac. I’m…I’m going to come if you keep doing that. Uggghhh. Fuck! Ohhhh, what are you turning me into?” she moaned.