The Missing Read online

  They hadn’t been together at all since before Taige had gotten shot and Cullen had killed her uncle. The few weeks that followed, she’d been healing up from her injuries. Then when she’d tried to start anything between them, he’d pulled back. The first time, he had laughingly said that she had to make an honest man out of him.

  She hadn’t taken him seriously and thought he was still worrying she wasn’t up to it. But then he’d presented her with an engagement ring that next night over a romantic little picnic on the beach. Well, it had been intended to be romantic, but then Jillian had shown up, Robert trailing after her with an apologetic smile.

  Cullen had proposed to her with his daughter playing in the sand ten feet away and his father crouched in the surf hunting for shells. She’d said yes without hesitating, and then she’d leaned in with a suggestive whisper. But he’d told her no.

  Now, she was damn nervous, and the longer he waited, the worse it was going to get. Romance, nice as it was, just wasn’t something she was comfortable with. But obviously Cullen didn’t have a problem with it, she mused as he closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms.

  He moved her around to some unheard music, staring down at her like she was the only thing in his world. “You look nervous,” he said.

  “Wow. You’re observant,” she said sarcastically and then she winced. “Sorry. I sound like such a bitch. I’m just . . .”

  Cullen laughed and said, “Nervous?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he kissed her.

  “Hmmmm . . . nervous about what?” she asked when he lifted his head a few minutes later. Not nervous at all, just very, very hungry. Lowering her gaze to his lips, she wiggled her hips a little and said, “You must be good for my state of mind. I feel a lot better now.”

  He trailed a hand up her side, finding the hidden zipper in the side seam of her dress. “You’re getting ready to feel even better than that, I promise.”

  “Better than this?” As he lowered his head to kiss her bare shoulder, she sighed dreamily. “Damn, does it get better than this?”

  He tugged the zipper down and leaned back, watching as her dress fell to her waist, lingered on her hips for a second, and then fell the rest of the way to the deck. Under it, she wore nothing but a thong of ivory silk. The strapless bra the seamstress had tried to force her into had been sheer hell on her healing wounds, so she had gone without. The dress had been designed to work without a bra as well as with one, and Taige was much in favor of not wearing it.

  His eyes slid down her face, fastening on her naked breasts. “A lot better,” he muttered hoarsely. “It just got a lot better for me, at least.” Bending his knees, he dipped down and slid an arm around her waist. When he straightened, her body weight was supported by the arm at her waist, and the hard length of him pressed against her front.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes,” she whispered against his lips.

  With a pained groan, he said, “Self-preservation. A wedding night should be romantic, right?”

  Taige looked around at the flowers, the soft lights, the privacy of the beautiful little yacht. “I think you already hit the romance quota, Cullen. Besides . . . I don’t need romance. I only need you.”

  His eyes flashed hot—so hot her skin seemed to sizzle.

  Cullen stared down at her beautiful face and felt his heart clench. The sincerity in her eyes, the need that shook her voice, it was enough to lay a strong man low—and he wasn’t feeling particularly strong in that moment.

  “I love you,” he muttered, sliding a hand up her naked back, over her neck, and then fisting it in her hair. His mouth covered hers as he carried her across the deck. He didn’t make it far, though. His hands in her hair, his tongue in her mouth, it wasn’t enough; he needed to be inside her body, inside her soul. Sinking to the deck, he took her with him. He lay down on his back and stared up at her. In the faint, golden light her skin gleamed. Her eyes met his, and a small, feline smile curled her lips as she straddled his hips and braced her weight with her hands on his chest.

  The most perfect sight he’d ever seen in his life, Cullen knew. Until she reached up and pushed her hands through the sexy, tousled curls. Her breasts lifted with the movement, and Cullen’s mouth went dry. “I need you,” he whispered, sliding his hands up her torso, one stopping to cup her breast, the other curving over her neck and pulling her down to meet his lips.

  “Then have me,” she sighed against his mouth.

  It only took seconds to free his cock, seconds to lift her up and then push inside her, and it was still too long. She was soft, silky wet, and strong, wrapping around his cock like a silken glove, and he needed it to last. Forever.

  With his hands on her hips, he rocked up into her. Her lips clung to his, but neither of them closed their eyes. This moment—they’d been waiting for it for years, their entire lives, it seemed. Closing their eyes meant missing out on something, a sigh, a flutter of lashes—anything. Nothing could be missed, not then.

  So they watched each other as they made love, Taige riding him while he filled his hands with the sweet curve of her ass, her hips, her breasts. Everything that he could touch, he touched. Every part of her that he could taste without breaking contact, he tasted.

  Like any perfect moment in life, the ending came rushing up way too soon, and Cullen gritted his teeth, tried to hold back. He could feel how close she was to coming, but still, he didn’t want this first time over with so fast. His body, though, and his heart, they had other plans.

  Sliding his hand between her thighs, Cullen touched her, traced the skin of her pussy where she was stretched so tight around him, then her clit. At the first touch on that hard little bud, she moaned. “Come for me, baby—I don’t want come alone,” he whispered, staring at her face, even though the sight of her hovering on the brink was almost more than he could handle.

  She screamed out his name and came, hard, fast—once—then, as he bucked under her and started to drive upward, shuttling his cock in and out in hard, rapid succession, she came again. That time, they fell together.

  And when it ended, they remained sprawled on the deck in the cooling night air, wrapped in each other’s arms, together. A faint smile curved his lips as he stared up at the night sky.

  Turning his head, he kissed her temple. “I’ve been waiting for just this. Seems like I’ve been waiting for it my whole life.”

  “Hmmmm . . . me, too.” She lifted her head just an inch and gave him a smile that damn near stopped his heart. Happiness and satisfaction gleamed in her eyes, and she whispered in a teasing voice, “It’s a good thing I’m a patient woman.”

  Cullen laughed. “Patient, my ass.”

  “Okay. Maybe not.” Then she squirmed a little, pulling an arm free. Cullen groaned in disappointment, but she reached up, touching her finger to his lips. “Maybe I’m not patient. But you were worth waiting for. You made me whole again, Cullen.”

  Kissing her finger, he whispered, “No. We made each other whole.”