Page 24 of Cipher

“That’s it,” I growled against her lips, rolling the tight little point between my fingers while her hips lifted toward the hard pressure of my cock. “Let me hear what my hands do to you.”

Her answering moan came out breathless and sweet, feeding every filthy image I’d been carrying since the wedding. Bex rolled her hips again, catching my erection hard enough to drag a rough sound from my chest. Her hand moved down my stomach, slipping beneath the waistband of my sleep pants before her fingers wrapped around the thick base of my cock. The first stroke nearly destroyed the reason I’d promised myself I would stop, and I caught her wrist against my abdomen before she could do it again.

She stilled beneath me, confusion mixed with hurt filling her pretty eyes. “You want me to stop?”

“No.” I brought her hand to my mouth and bit lightly at the pad of her thumb, watching the concern turn back into heat. “But I have shit I’ve gotta handle, and I don’t want any other interruptions when I finally get you naked.”

I lowered my mouth to the pulse beating beneath her ear and let my teeth scrape lightly over it, giving myself one more taste before control became a memory. “First time I take you, I’m going to need hours, baby. Once I start, not gonna stop until I know every inch of this sexy body.”

Bex’s skin turned pink again, and a visible shiver moved through her, tightening the hand I still held while her legs slid higher around my hips. “Okay.”

I ground my cock against her once more, hard enough to make her breath break, then forced myself off the bed before the heat in her eyes convinced me otherwise. “Get in the shower before I change my mind.”

She pushed herself up on her elbows, my shirt hanging off one shoulder while her hair spilled around her flushed face. “You could join me.”

“I could also fuck you against the tile before we make it past the soap.” I caught the shirt where it had slipped and dragged it back into place, although covering her did nothing helpful for my throbbing cock. “Not gonna do that our first time, Bex. Separate showers.”

Bex smiled as she climbed from the bed, brushing her body deliberately against mine while she passed. “For someone who insists on making all the decisions, you don’t seem very happy with this one.”

“I’m not,” I growled as I caught her around the waist, pulled her back against my chest, and put my mouth beside her ear while my cock pressed into the curve of her ass. “But you’re not gonna change my mind, baby.”

Apparently, my warning had accomplished the opposite of discouraging her. Her eyes brightened with challenge, and I growled again as I turned her toward the bathroom and smacked her ass to get her moving.

Years of honing self-discipline were all that kept me from joining her in the shower. I used one of the guest bathrooms, then headed to the kitchen to start breakfast. Bex entered a little while later in fitted jeans and a soft green shirt, with her damp hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders. She set the tablet she was carrying on the table and squinted under the recessed lights, which were on full brightness.

“Does your kitchen always look like it’s trying to force a confession out of breakfast?” She slid onto one of the stools at the island.

I stopped and looked around. The black counters, steel appliances, and hard white lighting did make the room look more suited to extracting state secrets than scrambling eggs. “Fuck. You’re right.”

Bex laughed. “You never noticed?”

“Usually looking at the food.” I set her coffee in front of her and let my gaze travel slowly over her. “This morning, I had a better view.”

“Can’t complain about the view from over here either.” A grin slipped onto my face, and she paused with her mug halfway to her mouth. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that before.”

“Never had a reason to before now.”

Her eyes brightened. “I’m just going to go ahead and assume that reason is me.”

“Thought that was pretty clear, baby. Now stop distracting me so I can make you breakfast.”

Her laugh followed me as I cooked, warming a room I’d never considered cold before she entered it. She searched through the tote beside her stool, frowned, then checked the side pocket again. “I can’t find my charger.”

“Side pocket of the smaller suitcase.”

She sighed. “That would be more useful if the suitcase wasn’t upstairs.”

I opened a drawer by the pantry and retrieved one of the charger cables I kept stored there. Then I plugged one end into her tablet and the other into the outlet at the end of the island.

Bex’s eyes were warm when she murmured, “Thank you.”

I shrugged and began plating our meal, my mind already shifting to make a mental list of tasks I needed to complete. Most of them centered around making Bex feel like this house was her home.

After breakfast, I led Bex down the rear hallway to the part of the house I used most when I wasn’t sleeping. The study came first, a broad room with built-in shelves, two deep leather chairs, a large desk facing windows overlooking the back of the property, and a long worktable positioned beneath them. I handled household security, personal accounts, reading, and anything else that didn’t need to disappear behind steel in there, while the reinforced door set into the far wall led to the secure office housing Black Castle systems, club intelligence, and information belonging to people who trusted me to keep it buried.

Bex stepped farther into the study, turning slowly as she took in the shelves and the security monitor mounted beside the windows. Her attention eventually caught on the biometric lock built into the reinforced door across the room. “What’s through there?”

“My secure office. Black Castle and club systems.” I placed her class materials on the worktable and met her curious gaze. “Nobody goes through that door but me, Stryker, and Hawkeye.”