Maid to Order (Man Maid Book 4) Page 20

  His brothers in arms had given him a second chance at life by ensuring that he made it back on to American soil in one piece. A free man who could do as he pleased in a country that allowed him to be whatever he chose.

  Danny Carlton had reminded him that there were still people, even here in the states, that needed someone to stick up for them. Other men like Danny needed that too from a person with authority and options to offer… maybe like a retired Master Sergeant in the United States Army.

  And Amy… she’d… God, she’d breathed life back in his deflated soul. As if the mere thought of her was enough to conjure her up from the wind, he watched as she ran in through his front door, stopping a few steps from him.

  She carried the very notepad he’d written goodbye on the first night she’d called him to say hello and then demand that he keep on keeping on. A string of emotions crossed her beautiful face before she slung the notepad at his brothers and launched herself at him.

  Wrapping her arms around his neck for a brief second, she squeezed him harder than a little thing like her should be able to. Pulling back from him, she just stared at him. He hated seeing the hurt in her eyes, the fear and… the anger. Then she hit him with two flattened palms against his chest while gritting her teeth.

  “I thought you… I thought…” she said angrily through her tears. Then she again wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her.

  “Don’t ever even think about leaving me, Rusty. No matter how mad we get at each other… what one of us might say in anger. Fights we have, bad days we experience and painful mistakes we make are only temporary. Death is permanent. Never, ever leave me permanently… swear it, Rusty. Swear it right now,” she ordered.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said quietly, gathering her close in an attempt to comfort her. She was shaking like a leaf in his arms.

  “We’re going now, but this conversation isn’t done yet, Sir,” Seth advised him and headed for the door.

  Within moments all three of his buddies were gone. Ian pulled the front door closed behind him as the last person out.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” he breathed in her hair. “I’m sorry if I scared you but...”

  “Say it, Rusty,” she interrupted while backing up and staring at him. Her tears were a sight he hoped to never experience again. “Tell me that you don’t want to be without me either. You are my life… you and Danny.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. I swear it. I don’t want to be without you or Danny either,” he replied, sliding his hands into her hair and rubbing his thumb across her cheek to catch a couple of stray tears. “I wrote that note weeks ago. I won’t lie and say I never have bad days anymore or that meeting you has fixed everything for me, but it’s given me the will to go on.”

  “Danny’s going to be getting his own apartment soon. My mother introduced me to a stranger and called him my brother. With your help… he’s become a person to me… a friend. You did that for us… you gave me my brother back,” she said. “If he’s off living his life and you were gone… what about me? Who would be there for me?”

  “Danny being on his own doesn’t mean he won’t be there for you, Amy. He’s your big brother,” he replied. “As for me… God help me, woman, but I’ve somehow fallen in love with you. I didn’t mean to let that happen but from that first night you read me the riot act on the phone for not jumping to obey your every command… I was lost. Then I meet you and you’re so damn pretty, and smart and that body of yours… had me begging for mercy. I tried to force myself to stay away from you… only to miss you within seconds of being gone. Then you order me back in line… back into your life… and I’m like a new recruit snapping to attention ready to do your bidding. The worst part is that most times… I like it.”

  “Then why do you always argue with me?” she asked, again stepping close and pressing that sweet body of hers against his. She felt amazing… all warm and soft in his arms. His body reacted to her nearness, her smell… her love. How’d he ever get lucky enough to catch the attention of such a sweetheart?

  “Because you’re not always right…” he managed to reply. He felt her stiffen in his arms. “Besides, I’m used to being in charge… and I’m good at it. It takes some getting used to, that some little blonde coated in icing, has the power to give me back my life. You saved my life that night, Amy. Do you know that? I wrote that letter the night you called me. I was just minutes from finishing the job. But by the time I got off the phone with you, I knew… I knew that my life would never be the same. And that gave me hope… then meeting you and reconnecting with Danny… I got a side order of purpose to go with that hope and here I am. Looking forward to the next time I can go toe to toe with you. I think I like arguing with you almost as much as I enjoy having you wrapped around me.”

  “Don’t try to change the subject by saying all that sexy shit to me, Rusty,” she said, once more pulling away from him and searching his eyes for the truth. “I need to know that you will be here for me… that you won’t…”

  “I love you, Ms. Carlton,” he replied. “I’ll be here long after you’ve had your fill of me.”

  “That’ll never happen. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you,” she replied. “Because somewhere in all that arguing and you constantly butting into my business I’ve fallen in love with you too. You’re so handsome, strong, and sexy and with that take charge attitude… you just showed up one day and took over my heart. You‘ve given me love like I’ve never experienced before. That means that you don’t get to quit now. I agreed to find Danny an apartment and I’m going to need help dealing with once again being without him. Danny needs help learning more about how to live independently. I can’t teach him that because, dammit… I’m not ready to let him out of my sight just yet. I’m afraid it will be another twenty something years before I see him again. I know that sounds crazy but when he was under my care… under my control… I was damn sure going to get to see him whenever I wanted to. Nothing and no one could keep him from me. I don’t want to be alone anymore! He may want a quiet life by himself… with just his records. But I don’t… I want someone to come home to… someone to be there when life is too much. I need you to teach me how to let him go.”

  “Why don’t you switch places with him for a while?” he offered.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You could move in here and let him have your apartment. It’s close enough to AmyCakes that he can walk to work, or you can pick him up and take him. You can drive him home after work… it guarantees that you get to see him at least five days a week and you’ll know where he’s at and how he’s getting along there. If it works out for him, then great, if not, then you’re not locked into a lease agreement for him somewhere else. Besides he’s already familiar with your place,” he replied.

  “Are you asking me to move in with you… Sir?” she responded, a seductive grin melting him on the spot.

  “You said you didn’t want to be alone… Danny wants his own apartment. This fixes both issues,” he argued, attempting to ignore the way she rubbed herself against him. All those sweet curves at his fingertips. It was maddening.

  “I also said I didn’t want to be alone… So does that mean that if I get scared, I can come in and sleep with you, Rusty? I mean… Sir?” she asked, looking at him from under her eyelashes, her sexy grin widening, giving him a full-fledged boner. “I’ll stay on my own side of the bed…”

  “The hell you will,” he replied, dragging her forward and then kissing her. He’d like to consume her like one of her damn cupcakes and was finding it hard not to. So instead he simply drank from her lips. Nipping and sucking at that mouth of hers, making himself even more out of control.

  The idea of waking up with her in his bed every morning was a high like he’d only ever experienced while making love with her. Sharing his life… maybe someday sharing his name with her… was it even possible? Hell yeah, it wasn’t just possible… it was going to happen… if she would allow it. Never in hi
s life had someone mocking him turned him on. With Amy it took him from fifty to a hundred in an instant.

  Trying to calm himself was next to impossible when she slid her hands down his back to cup his butt and pull him closer to her. His kisses became more forceful no matter how much he tried to tame them. At this rate he was going to bruise that smart mouth of hers, so he forced himself to stop kissing her all together.

  Not one to back down easily, she snuggled up close until he could feel every inch of her plastered against him. He groaned when she gently bit his neck and then whispered in his ear, “Will you give me oral pleasure again, Rusty… Sir? You’re really good at that… then when you’re done with that can you bend me over and…”

  He backed up and cut off the rest of her unladylike talk by capturing her mouth once more in a ruthless kiss meant to punish her for setting his body on fire. Instead the result was a whimper that he was learning meant that she was almost there. Good God, she made him into a wild beast… forcing him to do her bidding.

  Hell if he didn’t like it too.

  Just as he was about to once more take her to his bed, she finally broke his kiss to ask, “Wait… what about Danny?”

  “You had your chance to seek the protection of your brother… instead you chose to start talking dirty to a Sergeant in the United States in Army. Now it’s too late. Leave the man alone, Amy. You’ll survive the next hour or two without having him under your thumb,” he replied before gently biting her neck. “Now… I can’t very well wash your mouth out with soap because then I’d taste that instead of you, but I’ve got ways to make you reconsider that kind of talk in the future.”

  “Is that right?” she asked. Then, to his surprise, she paced away from him and, within minutes, stripped off her clothes right there in his living room.

  She was closest to the couch and he damn well wouldn’t make it to his bedroom. Hell, he couldn’t wait another second. Approaching where she stood with her back to him, showing him the perfection of her backside, he grasped her by her upper arms and guided her over to the couch before turning her around to face him.

  Then he pushed gently on her shoulders to direct her to sit down. Dropping to his knees in front of her, he slid his hands underneath her bottom and pulled her forward so that she was reclining back.

  Gently he lifted her legs to place her feet on the edge of the couch and then pressed on the inside of her knees to spread her open. Then sitting back, he looked at her while sticking his fingers in his mouth. Sucking them briefly, he ran them along her wet folds and rubbed them in a circle around all that softness.

  She was already wet just from teasing him. He would never want another woman like he wanted this one. He bent forward and replaced his fingers with his mouth. This was better than any dessert she could ever invent.

  Soon enough she was writhing, moaning at him, and pulling his hair while begging him to make love to her. Finally her body lifted up to meet his mouth as she cried out her enjoyment.

  Unable to resist her any further, he put her feet back on the floor. Standing up, he pulled her to her feet and guided her to the arm of the couch. Bending her forward over the arm of the sofa, he managed to remove his clothes as he watched her there, waiting for him. Wanting him. Then he stepped up behind her and moved her enough to get one hand between her and the couch so he could touch her some more.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, looking back at him, her face flushed from her earlier release and her eyes shining with a small bit of trepidation.

  Then he guided himself into her and she bucked back against him as he slid into her warm, wet body.

  “Following orders, Ma’am,” he ground out, his breath hitching at the vision she presented. Controlling himself with her draped over his furniture, spread eagle and glistening, was next to impossible.

  He found an easy rhythm, joining his body to hers while his hand rubbed between her legs in perfect harmony. Bending forward, he sucked the back of her neck into his mouth, releasing it to create the same smacking noise as when he’d gave her the ‘oral pleasure’ she’d asked him for.

  The sound reminding her that she wanted him… begged him… to do this to her. Then she was coming for him, her body clenching his tightly. His need for her took over his sanity. Unable to resist the temptation she presented he grasped her waist in his hands and pounded into her until he found his own release. Only then did he realize she was yet again taking her own pleasure.

  “I’ll never leave you… making you feel good… like this right here… is my promise of that. I’ll never get enough of you either, Amy. Ever. I warned you about teasing me and you didn’t listen. So now you’re all mine. That means that if you decide to climb in my bed you better be prepared to stay there… for a lifetime,” he said breathlessly as he pressed kisses along her shoulders and on the back of her neck.

  “Yes, Rusty,” she replied just as breathlessly.

  “I’m a hard man to live with, Amy. You may want to think that over before giving me an answer,” he said, pulling out of her body and helping her to stand up.

  “I know what I want… and I want you,” she replied, pausing long enough to tap him on his nose before heading down the hall to the bathroom to clean up. “Besides, my brother said I can hang out with him and listen to records whenever… life… gets to be too much. That’s what big brothers do… or so he says.”

  Then she disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Grabbing his clothes, he headed down the hallway himself, toward his bedroom.

  Stopping halfway, right outside of the bathroom, he said loud enough for her to hear him through the door, “I’ll expect that in writing, Ms. Carlton. The sooner the better. Your signature on a marriage license will do.”

  He couldn’t help but smile upon hearing her small squeal followed by a giggle filtering through the door.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Nothing compared to watching him sleep so peacefully. Lying there really sleeping, with deep even breaths and a satisfied smile on his handsome, pleasure giving mouth. He was by far the best looking man alive.

  Having loved her once more, face to face while whispering promises of devotion and a lifetime of pleasure in his arms, ensured she would follow him into whatever battle life threw at them. He wanted to marry her!

  She almost hated to move for fear he would wake and, after the emotional events of the evening, she would hate that more than anything, but she needed to check in on Danny. Slowly moving toward the edge of the bed, she managed to move the sheet aside and sit up. It was already pretty late and tomorrow promised more painful conversations regarding Rusty’s well-being.

  As soon as she thought she would try to stand up, she heard him say, “What part of being prepared to stay in my bed once you got here, did you not understand, Ms. Carlton?”

  She jumped at the sound of his voice and then between giggles managed to say, “I have to get back… Danny’s there alone and I’m sure he’s wondering about me… and you for that matter.”

  “I spoke to your brother while you were in the shower earlier. He invited his new friends, Addie Clark and Caleb Lewis to come over and hang out for a while. Addie texted me to let me know she intended to stay over there with him since tomorrow is a teacher in service day anyway or some such nonsense,” he replied. “No one is expecting you… so stay here with me.”

  She should also let Ronnie, Seth and Ian know that he was okay after having given them such a fright. But how did a person resist the promise in Rusty’s voice? Against her better judgment she risked glancing back at him. His eyes were like the sky on a clear summer day and his lopsided sexy grin threw her heart into overdrive. He could disarm someone just from staring at them with that hungry stare of his.

  “Not to worry… Ronnie, Seth and Ian will be on my doorstep bright and early in the morning looking for an explanation from me. Their version of early differs greatly from most people’s,” he said, his voice giving away the fact that he wanted her yet ag
ain. She felt the bed dip and then she felt his lips and tongue pressing gently against the middle of her back. With a warm breath that she felt all along her spine he said, “Anything else you’re worried about? If not, then lie down and let me touch you until I fall asleep.”

  “I thought you were sleeping,” she admitted, attempting to close her mouth which had gone slack from the shivers that were racing up to her neck from the feel of his mouth on her back.

  “Soldiers sleep when they can… with you lying naked next to me… sleep is the last thing I want to be doing,” he said against one of her shoulder blades.

  Then he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back on the bed. Knowing she couldn’t resist his touch, she lay back down beside him on her side so that he could spoon her. Instead he pushed on her shoulder, forcing her to roll onto her stomach.

  Then he ran the backs of his fingers from below her butt across each check, then along her lower back and finally all the way up to her neck and she moaned his name.

  “Shhh… quiet now, Ms. Carlton,” he whispered into her hair. “Close your eyes and relax.”

  The next thing she knew she was hearing voices and, opening her eyes, she realized it was morning. Rusty had managed to sneak out on her without getting caught… She quickly got up and pulled on her clothes, trying in vain to find her panties and finally giving up and going commando.

  Sneaking down the hallway, she made it to the bathroom where she managed to find a rubber band that she used to pull her hair up into a knot and brush her teeth with a bit of toothpaste and a finger. Then, after washing her face and attempting to look like anything besides a woman who’d been thoroughly sexually satisfied, she gave up on that idea as well.

  Stepping into the open living and dining room area, she was shocked to find all of Rusty’s Army buddies and their wives sitting around the room. Most of them were drinking coffee. Upon seeing her standing in the opening of the hallway, Ronnie gave Rusty a knowing look and a grin.