Echoes at Dawn

She ran her hand over his brow, pushing at his hair. She stroked softly, hoping her touch was as comforting to him as his was to her. “Had you already walked away from Titan before you went to Rosalina?”

“I hadn’t decided fully yet. As I said, I was between missions. When she died, I quit and spent the next year hunting the bastard. And then after the confrontation with my family, I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. Couldn’t go back. It felt like a betrayal even though they didn’t acknowledge that I was alive. But even then, I didn’t join KGI for them. I did it for me. Because I wanted to be able to look at myself in the mirror each morning and recognize the person looking back at me. And be at peace with him.”

“Is that why you took the mission to come after me?” she asked curiously. “Was it penance? Did you feel like you had to make up for the past?”

Rio frowned and his expression grew fierce. He caught her chin in his hand and held her firmly in place as his stare blazed over her face.

“Fuck no. You’re not some object to assuage my guilt. Is that what you think? Because you

couldn’t be more wrong. I volunteered to find you because when I looked at you, I saw my future. It was like a flashbang grenade in the face. It all came together in my head. I couldn’t have walked away if I wanted to.”

She stared at him in utter bewilderment.

He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip and then leaned forward to kiss it. “I don’t expect you to understand it. Hell, I don’t understand it myself. But I do expect you to accept it. And me. Because, honey, whether you realize it or not, I’m going to be a steady presence in your life from now on. It’s just a matter of how and where I fit in when all of this is over with, but I’m telling you right now, I’m not going away.”

CHAPTER 24

IT amused Rio to see Grace so befuddled over his claim. He’d all but told her she was his and she had no choice in the matter. Not that she didn’t. He wasn’t good enough for her, and he damn well knew that. She needed someone far better than him. She deserved better. And if she told him to take a hike…Well, he’d be lying if he said he’d give in gracefully.

Some things were worth fighting for. Grace Peterson was one of them.

But he also knew they had a very lher.& face.ong road ahead of them. Hurdles both visible and not yet visible. It wouldn’t be easy and it wouldn’t be overnight.

As much as it amused him, however, it also pissed him off that she’d be so bewildered that someone would be so adamant about wanting her. She acted like she’d never really had anyone but her sister care for her.

Just the idea of her having those kinds of thoughts made his chest ache. It was high time someone appreciated what an amazing woman she was.

She touched his face again with those soft fingers and he couldn’t help it. He just reacted to her. His dick stirred and hardened. Since she was sitting on his lap, he couldn’t very well hide that fact from her. Hell, he was prodding her ass with the goddamn thing.

“I never know quite what to say around you, Rio. I keep thinking that none of this is real. That it’s some bizarre figment of my imagination and that I’ll wake up in captivity and all of this will have been a wonderful dream. Stuff like this just doesn’t happen.”

He laughed. “Honey, listen to what you’re saying. You’re being all skeptical and saying that stuff like this doesn’t happen. Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds coming from a woman with extraordinary abilities? It’s me who should be screaming shit like this doesn’t happen in real life. But the fact of the matter is that it does happen. To me. To you. I go on missions all the time. That’s nothing new. What’s different is being knocked on my ass by simply seeing a woman on surveillance footage and knowing that somehow her life is irrevocably entwined with mine. Now that’s the kind of stuff that doesn’t happen every day. Everything else? Completely normal.”

She kissed him. One minute he was talking to her and the next she slammed her mouth down over his and took him hungrily. He nearly lost his balance and fell backward, so fierce was she. She wrapped her arms around his neck, thrust her hands in his hair and balled up one fist, holding him in place. As if he’d actually move a damn muscle.

He’d sit here all night if she wanted to keep kissing him this way.

He almost whimpered when she pulled away. She continued to stroke his face and he felt like purring. He was such a goner. He wondered if she had any idea that all she’d have to do is pet him a little, look at him a certain way, and he’d lay the damn world at her feet.

It was insane. All of it. He’d never fallen for a woman. Certainly not in the span of a few days. Certainly not before meeting her.

But fuck it all, he had fallen hard for Grace Peterson.

She eased from his lap, and before he could protest, she lowered herself to her knees right between his thighs. She wrapped her fingers around his erection and slid gently up and down, staring avidly as he hardened further.

Oh hell, this was going to be torture. She looked for the world like she wanted to explore. Like she was checking things out and doing a little experimenting. Not that he had any objections whatsoever, but this would be a test of his endurance. If he got through this without embarrassing himself, he was going to deserve a medal.

“Rio?”

His name came out all breathy and hesitant but a little excited, which made him a lot excited. But he forced himself under control and tried not to think about the fact that his cock was wrapped up in her hand and she was driving him crazy with her every movement.

“Yes, honey.”

“I don’t really know how to do this. But I’d like to. I mean…”

She broke off, blushing madly, and ducked her headuckI don.

“Can you show me how to do it?”

Unless he was completely off by a mile, she was kneeling in front of him, hand around his cock, asking him to show her how to give him a blow job.

One side told him not to be an asshole and to pick her up, spread her out like a feast and show her how good his mouth could feel on her. No way he was going to get inside her when she’d been a virgin just an hour ago and was likely tender from the experience.

The other side, the side screaming at him inside his head, was telling him to show her exactly how he liked it in great detail.

What decided it for him was when she looked back up at him, those gorgeous blue eyes wide and imploring, and said, “I want to taste you, Rio. Like you were doing with me. I know guys like it but I have no idea what I should do or how I should do it.”

He groaned. “Oh yeah, baby, we like it all right.”

She smiled. “Then show me.”

He slid his hand over the top of her head and then dove his fingers into her hair. With his other hand, he gently took his dick from her grasp and pumped a few times until he was rigid.

“Up higher on your knees,” he directed.

She braced both palms on the tops of his thighs and pushed herself upward.

He rubbed his hand over her nape, gently squeezing and caressing to put her at ease. He positioned his cock so it was in line with her mouth.

“Now open,” he said gently. “Lick the head. Don’t take it in just yet. Tease me. I love to be teased. Think of it like flirting. Give me just a taste of how good it can be.”

Her pink tongue slid over her lip and tentatively touched the tip of his cock. He sucked in his breath harshly and called back the groan of agony. Goddamn it felt so good and she’d barely touched him.

“A little more,” he encouraged.

She circled the head with her tongue and then gave him a little extra stroke to the underside. Ah shit but he loved that. It was his favorite place.

He grasped his dick with a firmer hand and pulled back. She frowned and looked so dismayed that he was kicking himself.

“Was I doing it wrong?”

“Oh, hell no. I was going to tell you how right you were doing it.”

He lifted and ran his fingers up the length to the tightly stretched underside right below the angled tip of the crown. “You’re sweet spot is your breasts. This is my sweet spot. I love to be touched there. Sucked, licked, whatever you want to do, I guarantee I’ll love it.”

“Oh,” she said with a smile.

He clutched at her hair and guided her back. “Open again.”

This time she took more initiative. She licked teasingly over the top and then around, pausing to give extra attention to the area he’d pointed out. He closed his eyes and let her play for a moment.

“Now take me deeper. Real slow. Watch your teeth and make it tight. Suck lightly as you take me in but not too hard.”

He eased his length deeper into her mouth. All the while, her gaze was locked with his. She watched him closely as if gauging his reaction to each touch, each suck, and each time she moved her tongue sensuously over his length.

“We’ll take it nice and slow. I don’t want to overwhelm you,” he said. “As you get used to it, I’ll show you more. For now, find your rhythm and find a way to breathe. Suck in through your nose when I’m deep. As I slide back out, you can breathe around me. In a minute, I mnd 2019;ll want to go as deep as you can take me. I don’t want you to panic. You’re in the driver’s seat. You’ll take as much or as little as you feel comfortable doing, okay?”

She nodded, the motion sliding her tongue up the underside of his erection.

“Get a little higher on your knees so you’re above me. Then I’m going to move my hand and you take me. I’m just going to lean back and let you do what you want for a little while.”

She cast him an anxious glance but he smiled reassuringly at her. Hell, she didn’t need any instruction, but he had to admit, it was a hell of a turn-on to have an almost virgin between his thighs, listening to his every instruction on how to please him.

She was pulling fantasies out of his head that he hadn’t realized he had.

As soon as her hand slid over his, he loosened his hold and allowed her to take over. He leaned back, bracing himself with his palms on the mattress while she rose up and over him.

“Move your hand in time with your mouth,” he said. “When you suck in and take me inside, work your hand down to the base. As you let out, work your hand back up and make it tight.”

“Like this?” she asked innocently.

She tightened her grip around his cock and then slowly sucked the crown inside her mouth, but she didn’t stop. She rolled her hand down and followed with her mouth, taking him deep while exerting pressure with both her hand and her mouth.

Holy shit.

“Exactly like that,” he rasped.

He felt her smile around his erection and then she let back up, gliding her warm, moist mouth over his length. At the top, she stopped and held the head on her tongue and then swirled it around, laving the bottom and teasing the area with a series of licks and swipes.

“You’re an awful quick study,” he said from behind clenched teeth. His entire jaw was set tight, bulging outward as he struggled not to orgasm.

She pulled her mouth away but continued to stroke him with her hand. She looked up, her lips swollen from the attention she was giving him.

“I like the way you taste,” she said in a sweet, shy voice that had him groaning all over again. “You’re so hard but yet completely soft. It’s so interesting.”

“Interesting?” he croaked.

“What does it taste like when you come?”

He coughed and leaned upward again. “Uh, as I’ve never tasted it, I can’t really answer that one for you.”

She laughed. “Do you mind coming, in my mouth, I mean? Or is it too soon? I’ve heard that it takes a long time for guys to…you know…rebound after having sex. I’ve read that women can orgasm much more quickly and don’t require as much recovery time between.”

“What the hell have you been doing, checking out library books on the subject?”

“You can find anything on Google,” she said with a grin. “Do you mind?”

An anxious note had crept into her voice, and he nearly shouted hell no but he managed to control himself. Barely.

Mind? She had to be kidding. He’d shock the hell out of her if she could see into his mind at the moment because he was holding on to a particularly vivid image of him being so deep inside her mouth that his balls rested on her chin while he came.

He even managed to sound calm when he finally re-sponded.

“I don’t mind at all. I just want to make sure this is what you s iweet,want.”

She nodded as she continued to stroke him. “I do. I like the idea…I mean I guess it sounds stupid, but there’s something so…intimate about it, don’t you think?”

He closed his eyes and merely nodded because, at this point, if she kept this up, he’d never make it to her mouth before he started coming.

And to think she was worried about recovery time. He didn’t know whether to be insulted or amused. It was obvious she really didn’t know that much about sex but had tried to remedy it and have as much foreknowledge as possible for when she made love the first time.