Danny's Main

His lips touched hers gently at first, a tentative greeting after a long absence. Then his tongue breached her mouth, his hands gripped her head, and the kiss went from sweet to seductive, tender to ravenous in a blink. Julie felt her insides melt into a puddle right there on the side of a quiet road somewhere between North Carolina and Maryland.

“Fuck,” Da

Feeling weightless in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist, and he pressed her against the cool metal of the Ranger.

“Feels like we’ve been straight to hell and back, Julie.” He nipped her earlobe while grinding his hardened groin to her sensitive one. “Now the only place I wa

Oh my God, his words, they undo me every single time. Her hips undulated against his. The groan that came from deep in his body vibrated through his chest, making her smile, but not as much as the car that sped past, honking.

“Fuck,” he repeated, although his meaning was significantly different than the first time. His eyes slid shut before he slowly placed her feet on the pavement. “Lost my goddamn mind. Jesus, Julie, I’m not sure I would’ve stopped had we gone much further.”

Her heart thrummed with excitement. Da

“Shit, honey.” Da

“Mmm, you are hard.” She stroked him twice through his jeans before pulling her hand away. “It took me how long to make out with you in public?” She shook her head as a smile stretched across her face. “No way am I going to have sex with you where others can see. Nope.”

Da

She hadn’t heard that tone more than a few times, but she’d named it his don’t-fuck-with-me voice. When he used it, he was dead serious.

“Look at me, baby,” he said. “I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world. Men stare at you and wish you were theirs. You are not; you’re mine. You chose me, and that makes me one lucky motherfucker. Will I kiss you in public? Touch you in public? Fuck yeah, I will. That’s me claiming you. However, you chose me. Your sex is a gift you give to me. Only me. That’s something I cherish, and I don’t share things I cherish, Julie. I worship them.”

His molten gaze turned her muscles into mush as her knees slowly gave out. Da

Before closing the door, he said, “Honey, I’ll make it my mission to let any man know just how damn lucky I’m getting, but they’ll never see anything more than we’re both willing to show. Got it?”

She blinked twice, then nodded.

“Words, honey. I need words.”

“I understand,” she answered softly, unable to form anymore syllables.

A devilish grin split Da

“You okay, baby?” Da

Was she okay? Her nipples were drawn into sensitive pebbles that sent goose bumps down her legs each time she twisted in her seat. Her panties were wet with arousal from both his delicious friction and his dirty words, and her heart was pumping overtime from the knowledge of how deep his love went. She was a beautiful disaster about to come undone, and she wouldn’t fray unless she took him with her.

She licked her lips. “Yeah, I’m better than okay.” She smiled as a plan formed in her mind.

Once Da

“You starting something you intend to finish?”

“Yep.” She popped the p at the end of the word before popping the button on his jeans and releasing his erection from his underwear.

“Nice.” Da

When the bass line of George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” pounded through the speakers, Julie took Da

“Fuck me,” Da

Chapter Nine

Wanderlusty

AFTER RETURNING HOME from North Carolina, Da

He entered the café where he and Julie had pla

“How’d it go?” Julie asked, already sitting at a small table with his coffee waiting.

He shrugged, approached the table, and kissed his wife’s soft cheek. “Actually, it was easier than I thought it would be.” Straddling the empty seat she’d saved for him, he quickly recounted what had happened at the station, and how the captain suggested grief counseling. When the Captain said, “If you truly love the job, Marcus, you can’t just walk away,” it hit him yet again how little love for it he actually had.

A proverbial light bulb glowed above his head as a plan began to take shape. “Jules, you and I never went on a honeymoon because I started at the academy immediately.” Another thing, looking back, that he could kick himself for. What’s that saying? Hindsight is 20/20.

“I know.” She winked and picked up her mug to sip what he knew was decaf with too much creamer and too much sweetener.

They had gotten married in a simple service at the Baltimore County Courthouse, attended by no more than his father, Neal, and Chester, followed by lunch at a nearby restaurant. Even though the occasion hadn’t been marked with frills and cake, it had been the most important day of his life.

He’d never forget the sheer bliss, followed almost immediately by complete anguish, on her face when he went down on bended knee before her.

“There’s nothing I want more than to marry you, Da

“Honey, if you’re so happy, why are you so sad?” Rock-hard fear gripped his gut.

“I’m go