Lockdown: A Veiled Alliance Story Read online

  “It’s not fair you look so damn good,” she groused. God, had she just said that out loud?

  “It’s a dream,” he said, climbing the porch steps. “No place for secrets here.” He turned toward the lake, his gaze scanning his surroundings. “It’s nice.”

  He didn’t belong here. Not in her special place. “I don’t want you here. You’re strictly off limits.”

  He unbuttoned his coverall and pushed it down his legs. The boxers beneath quickly followed.

  Gillian’s chest lifted around a swift gasp. His body was perfectly formed—broad shoulders, lean abdomen, chiseled cuts bisecting the muscle layered down his belly in perfect rows. His cock was gorgeous as well. Long and straight with a pretty tapered crown. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Getting comfortable. Preparing to give you what we both need.”

  “I don’t need to see you naked,” she said huffily.

  “Then close your eyes.”

  “As if. You’re a murderer.”

  His lips curled in that feline smile of his. “Things aren’t always what they seem. And this is only a dream.”

  “I suppose you’re innocent,” she said, her voice catching.

  His head canted, and he sat on the wooden step beside her. “That didn’t sound like sarcasm. That was pain.”

  She shook her head. “It’s none of your goddamn business.”

  “And I don’t really have the time. But hold that thought. Pain works for me, too.”

  “What are you talking about?” she said, growing alarmed at his mention of pain.

  He turned suddenly, his hands coming down on either side of her, his body rising over hers and pressing her to the porch floor.

  Her hands came up between them. “Get off me.”

  “Do you really want me to? Don’t you want to see whether you can orgasm inside a dream? Have you done it before?”

  “I usually wake up,” she said, then groaned at admitting something so personal.

  “What if I promise it won’t happen this time.”

  “You’re still a goddamn convict. I shouldn’t be with you, even if this is just a dream. I don’t want you in my head.”

  “Then find someone else to fuck when you’re awake. Right now, I need you every bit as much as you need this. So, just shut up.”

  His lips slammed into hers, grinding the soft tissue inside against her teeth. She tasted blood.

  Some dream.

  But that was all it was. A dream. She could do this. Follow it wherever it led, and no one would ever know.

  “That’s right,” he said, lifting his mouth from hers. “Just you and me.”

  Gillian looked up at him, at the need stretching his skin tautly across his sharp cheekbones and lending a harsh edge to his solid jaw. At the tension in his shoulders and arms as he held himself. Waiting.

  For her to accept this? For her to give him permission to proceed. “I don’t like that you can see inside my mind.”

  “I won’t do anything you don’t want,” he said softly. “From here on out.”

  “Why do you need this so badly?”

  “I feel your hunger, your loneliness—your pain. I don’t know where it comes from, but I need it to fill me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I need emotion to sustain me. Bad times are coming. I have to be strong.”

  “What about me, and what I need?” she whispered harshly. “This is my dream, my body, you’re getting ready to take.”

  “You’ve already thought ahead to what will happen?”

  “I know I want to you to fuck me. See if it’s possible to do what you said.”

  “Come inside your dream?”

  She almost smiled as his lips curled, lending his hard features a surprisingly whimsical expression.

  “Tomorrow,” he said, leaning down to press a quick kiss to her forehead, “you’ll watch me and feel a little nostalgic, a little sad that this didn’t really happen.”

  “Tomorrow, when I watch you shower,” she bit out, “I’ll probably be disappointed that I didn’t get the details right.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “And maybe you won’t.”

  Needing to erect an emotional barrier between them, she lifted her chin. “I have my eye on another man. Someone more suitable.”

  “Hedron?”

  She wasn’t surprised this time that he’d guessed so accurately. He was just an extension of her subconscious after all. “Yes. And he’s built like a goddamn bull.”

  One side of his mouth quirked upward. “Trying to make me jealous?”

  “Is it working?”

  “Yes. Now, shut up.” His hands gripped the edges of her sleeveless cotton blouse and ripped it open.

  She jerked against him but stopped trying to fight him. When his hands tugged her shorts down her hips, and the lacy scrap that passed for underwear with it, she mewled.

  Then he was on her, inside her, shoving his perfect cock deep. She was already hurtling high and hoping like hell the phone wouldn’t ring and pull her away, because she thought that just maybe he’d do it. Bring her body to orgasm.

  But suddenly, something else started to happen inside her. Something that sucked away her breath, her will, left her quivering and shaken because she couldn’t break free of the grip of whatever it was thrusting straight inside her chest and mind. But the pressure in her chest couldn’t compete with his luscious assault further down her body.

  His cock stroked steadily, so fast she couldn’t lift her hips to meet the strokes, could only tilt upward to give him access as he slammed inside. Her pussy clasped around him, trying to hold him, but he was too fast, too strong. Moisture seeped from inside her, drenching his cock, her thighs, the crease between her buttocks as he hammered on.

  She watched him strain above her, his cheeks darkening, his lips pulling away from his teeth in a feral snarl. Then a dark heavy curtain fell over his eyes, like a crocodile’s eyelids, covering the golden brown of his irises and the gleaming whites. She saw herself reflected in the fierce black lids, saw her mouth gape in horror as she catapulted over the edge of the precipice, her body shuddering in the throes of an orgasm so strong, she knew it wasn’t just a dream.

  She screamed—and suddenly she was awake. Alone in her bed, with her legs splayed, her body damp with sweat, and fluids leaking into the warm sheets beneath her.

  * * *

  Gillian woke again around mid-afternoon, feeling groggy and disoriented. Then she heard it—a knock at her door. She jackknifed off the bed and groaned, surprised by the delicious ache between her legs. She grabbed her robe from the back of her bathroom door and headed to the front door.

  She opened it before she peeked through the peephole. A mistake.

  Officer Hedron stood on her stoop, wearing sweatpants and a tee that stretched tight around his bulging biceps.

  Not something she wanted to notice after her torrid dream. “How’d you know where I live?”

  He smiled. “It’s a small town. A cousin of a friend was your realtor.” His gaze swept her face, the thin robe, and the bare legs beneath it. “Thought you might like to stretch your legs. Go for a run.”

  Part of her daily routine, but she usually preferred running alone because it was quiet time for her. The endorphins it produced allowed her to zone out, meditate, gain her bearings and her center. If she ran with this guy, she’d be ogling muscle.

  Why couldn’t she get sex out of her mind?

  “I don’t know,” she said. Trying to get her mind to work, but she was still sleep-fogged.

  He stepped closer, raised an eyebrow, and she stepped back, letting him inside. “Like what you’ve done with the place,” he murmured.

  She snorted. She hadn’t done a thing with the living room. Hadn’t even thought about furniture. Her bedroom had been the first priority. Before she had the chance to take that thought back, she imagined his body, so wonderfully defined by the soft material clothing his muscled frame, naked an
d stretched across her sheets. She could do worse. If the taut, rounded buttocks were any indication, he’d be a powerhouse.

  She tried again, her hand still gripping the doorknob. “Maybe another day.”

  He turned back to her and lifted his hand, gently closing the door. “Get changed. I’ll wait.”

  She liked the way he offered that gentle command. Because she sensed it wasn’t something he did often. Be gentle. Especially with a woman. Her hand closed the gap in her robe atop her chest. Her heart beat hard. She had to get some space between them or the arousal still thrumming through her body from her dream would explode, and she’d be all over him.

  “I’ll be back.” She hurried to her bedroom, slammed open drawers, and drew out a miniscule pair of running shorts, a baby tee, and socks. She’d be giving him an eyeful, but maybe that little bit of exhibitionism would take care of the reckless emotions surging through her.

  After she pulled on her shoes, she headed back to the living room. He hadn’t moved from the spot next to the door. His eyes widened on her, and she saw a telltale stirring of his sex against the soft material cloaking it, before she dropped her gaze.

  “So where do you want to go?” she asked.

  “How about we start in your neighborhood and see how far we go?”

  She gave him a curious glance, but if he’d meant it as an innuendo he hid his agenda well. With a shrug, she opened the door. As soon as they stepped onto her drive, she took off.

  He let her set the pace, keeping up easily.

  “Sorry if this is slow for you, but you’ve got the advantage here,” she said glancing down at his longer legs.

  “I’m heavy. Nice and easy works for me.”

  “Glad to hear it,” she said smiling, and opened up her stride, laughing softly as he chuckled behind her.

  They ran with the sunshine hitting them between the trees that draped over the streets, running past houses where children played in backyards and dogs barked behind chain-link fences.

  Gillian loved to run. She was glad she hadn’t tied back her hair because it fluttered behind her, lifting with the breeze they created as their feet ate up the pavement. When they’d made a circle, a short mile by her estimation, she began to slow, halting at the edge of her drive. His pickup, a black monster on oversized tires, had no gate on the back of the bed, so she hopped up to rest, dragging in deep reviving breaths. “That was enough for me for today.”

  “Want to do it, again?”

  “Tomorrow?” she asked, wishing she hadn’t sounded quite so eager.

  “Same time?”

  “Sure,” she said smiling. “So, Officer Hedron, is that your idea of a date?”

  His lips curved into a smile, and he glanced away. “Maybe.”

  Before she could think better of it, she blurted, “Want to come inside for a drink? I have juice, Gatorade…”

  “I’m not thirsty,” he said quietly, his gaze locking with hers long enough to tell her he was just as aroused as she was.

  Gillian paused, and then took a deep breath. “Hungry?”

  His gaze landed on her. “You move kinda fast.”

  She didn’t even try to pretend she hadn’t meant it that way. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”

  He leaned a hip against the truck and folded his massive arms over his chest. “Sorry about how I acted yesterday, but you surprised me.”

  “Why? You didn’t know the new officer was a woman?”

  “I didn’t know I’d want you.” At her sharp indrawn breath, he shrugged. “Didn’t figure you’d mind some straight talk.”

  “I don’t.” She drew a deep breath and locked on his narrowed eyes. “I’m just wondering if you’ll think I’m a complete slut if I ask you inside to fuck me.”

  “Jesus.” His hand dropped between his legs, and he winced as he rearranged himself. “Would you consider me a man-whore if I said, let’s get it on?”

  Gillian grinned. The kind of cheeky, carefree stretch of lips that she hadn’t felt like giving anyone in a long, long while. She jumped off the tail bed of his truck and led the way to her front door, which she’d left unlocked, it being a small town and all.

  The walk to her bedroom was as slow as she could manage. She didn’t want him knowing how badly she wanted this. He’d think her completely desperate.

  But when she crossed the threshold, he was already stripping. Just as eager, just as breathless as she was.

  The sight of his bared chest left her gasping. Wide-set shoulders with thick mounds of muscle on top and at the corners of his shoulders. Breasts bulging, rippling as he flexed involuntarily with the clenching of his fists. “You sure about this?”

  Maybe he asked because she’d halted, and her mouth was hanging open. She toed off her shoes, stripped her tight tee over her head and unclasped her sports bra before she looked at him again. A good thing, because he was naked, and the lower half of him was equally ripped, equally breath-stealing. His huge, ridged cock made her mouth water.

  It turned upward, as thick and imposing as the rest of him. She couldn’t wait to feel the pinch of his girth stretching her from the inside as he crammed inside her. But first, he rolled a condom down his length.

  She shoved down her shorts and briefs and headed straight for the bed, pulling back the coverlet and exposing the clean sheets she’d swapped for the drenched set she’d woken in earlier.

  Here was a more appropriate, licentious fuck. She didn’t have to feel guilty about wanting it. Didn’t have to worry about losing everything she valued, including herself respect. She climbed onto the bed, knowing he was staring at her ass and rolled to her back, before slowly spreading her legs in invitation.

  A low groan, sounding more like an animalistic growl, rumbled from him, and she smiled and reached down to trace the edges of her folds.

  He stomped forward, staring down at her sex, then gripped her ankles hard and pulled her toward the edge of the bed. When her legs draped over it, dangling toward the floor, he knelt between her thighs, spread her with his fingers, and bent to run his tongue along her damp slit.

  Gillian closed her eyes on a sigh and lifted her legs over his broad shoulders, snuggling her bottom closer the end of the bed as he continued to lick and suck, his teeth capturing an inner fold and nibbling on it for a moment before his tongue stroked into her entrance and swirled.

  She moaned, and her chest rose faster with her labored breaths. Like she’d run miles. When fingers joined the teasing strokes, she heard the wet sounds as her inner lips clasped moistly around his thick fingers, and then she smiled because he burrowed deeper at her body’s lewd invitation, pumping inside her, stretching her with a third, and then a fourth finger.

  When his lips latched onto her clit, she couldn’t suppress the cry he surprised from her. Thick digits continued to sink inside her, stretching her, making her pussy pulse as she began to undulate her hips, climbing toward the apex.

  But then he pulled out of her and backed away, abandoning her when she’d been ready to let go. He gripped her hips hard and shoved her up the bed. His knees landed on the mattress between her spread legs, and she lifted them high, but he nudged her bottom roughly to scoot her higher. When he was satisfied, he grabbed her legs and urged them around his hips, then prodded her sex with the blunt, round head of his cock. His gaze locked with hers, his hands flattened on the mattress beside her shoulders. When he had her undivided attention, he took a deep breath and stroked deep.

  She was wet, ready, but not prepared for his size. She cried out, and then bit her lip, not wanting him to stop or even slow the forceful motions that thrust his cock deeper and deeper into her body, until his balls slapped her tender perineum.

  There was nothing smooth, nothing easy about the way he made love. He powered into her, grunting at the end of each thrust, forcing an equally unfeminine grunt from her lips that pleased her primitive, primal core.

  She’d feel bruised, sore, used when he was done, but satisfied like she
’d never been before.

  Her arms wound around his shoulders, and she pressed her cheek against his hot throat, feeling tears leak from between her tightly squeezed eyelids. She didn’t know why she cried, but he forced powerful emotions from her just as he forcefully, brutally took her body.

  Her bed thudded heavy against the wall, the sound pulling her away, giving her something else to think about rather than how shattered she felt, and she laid back her head, opening her eyes to meet his fierce gaze.

  “Did I hurt you?” he growled.

  “Yes. Please don’t stop.”

  A gust of laughter shook his chest, and he hiked her legs higher around his waist and slammed harder, his strokes shortening, quickening.

  She couldn’t catch her breath. And she was quickly flying apart. She raked her fingers down either side of his spine, digging deep.

  He grunted again, gathered his knees closer to her, laying his chest on top of hers and resting his forehead on the mattress beside her face.

  Gillian skimmed her lips along the edge of his ear, licked a trickle of sweat sliding alongside his cheek and nuzzled closer, waiting, waiting….until the tension he built with his hard, sharp strokes finally coaxed her orgasm into full bloom. She gasped into his ear, clung hard to him, and gave a keening howl as it ripped through her.

  His release came quickly on the heels of her own. His choked breaths and gasps added texture to the slowing staccato of his last strokes. Then he was falling over her, wrung out, his cock jerking inside her as his breaths rattled through his chest.

  When he’d recovered somewhat, he came up on his elbows, a lop-sided grin on his face. His large hands cupped her cheeks tenderly, and he bent quickly, covering her lips for a surprisingly gentle kiss.

  Gillian’s eyes filled again, and she opened her mouth, touching the tip of his tongue with hers, and then sliding deeper as they pressed closer, hungry again.

  When they drew away, still breathless, they both laughed.

  “Don’t take this wrong,” he said, his expression turning serious. “But if all you want to do is run tomorrow, just turn me toward my truck when we’re done. Because if I come through that door, I’m not leaving until this bed’s a pile of sticks.”