Chapter Six

"Again," he ordered.

She gasped and whispered it to him just as he plunged deep into her body.

"Again!" he almost hissed it.

She gripped his shoulders, moaning the words in long, drawn-out syllables.

He'd let them finish dinner. He might have just been smacked with a verbal sledgehammer, but he knew they had to eat. So he'd watched her through disbelieving and unblinking eyes as she delicately chewed her pad thai. Some small part of his brain told him that he liked his curry. He liked how the spice was slow to heat up, that it built a lazy fire on his tongue that fizzled and burned hotter with each bite. She'd been right. He was a curry man. He paid the check without a word and took her by the hand to their SUV parked in the lot by the restaurant. Thank God for tinted windows, because he wasn't waiting another second for this, not even if it meant public indecency. He'd opened the back door, pulled them both onto the plush bench and started up a desperate make out session. He'd slid his tongue past her lips, heating her mouth with spices and unfettered passion. He'd picked her up and settled her firmly into his lap, pulling her legs wide across him. But his kiss never broke. He wouldn't release the lips that had whispered she loved him. No way.

"I need you," he groaned against her lips, he hands sliding restlessly over the material of her dress.

She arched into him, grinding her pelvis into his, letting her dress slide completely up her thighs and to her hips. She held his head in her hands and stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. "I need you too."

He lifted just enough to undo his jeans and push them and his boxers down to his calves. His erection sprang free and stood thick and impressively from his lap. Grace moaned at the sight and enveloped him in her warm hands, stroking him firmly. Quickly. Rigsby cursed, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a pleasurable wince.

"Lose the dress before I rip it off," he growled, pulling her to him, kissing her throat hungrily.

She shook her head. "No time. I need you now."

Instead she peeled her dress away from her thighs and up to her waist, exposing the black panties currently grinding into his lap. She pulled his head from her and leaned back, smiling at him as she slowly peeled the straps from her shoulders, down her breasts, down to her waist. Rigsby gasped and his cock jumped. There she was, naked, save for a red ribbon of fabric around her waist, like a bow. Gift wrapped. He felt his mouth water. He looked down at her panties, fingering roughly along their border. She felt his thick index finger trespass underneath and lightly trace her slick entrance. Her mouth dropped open and she instinctively pushed forward.

"Say it again," he whispered.

Grace didn't understand. Her brain was muddled with pleasure and she wasn't sure he heard him clearly.

"What?" she murmured, pushing harder, silently asking for more.

She uttered a noise of disappointment when his fingers pulled away. He grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her face within an inch of his. She suddenly felt so small in his arms. A slender redhead in a red dress against a powerful dark man in black clothes. As a child, her science book showed an illustration of a tiny red star being helplessly pulled into the well of an enormous black hole.

She felt that way right now. A tiny red star with no hope of escaping. She was in too deep, got too close. The attraction had been too much to withstand and she'd let that fact slip just before their food arrived. She'd told him. At the time, it seemed natural. At the time, it seemed fair. He had already confessed his feelings so many times, in so many ways. She'd kept a better lid on her affection, but it never meant that it wasn't there, simmering under the surface.

So she told him.

And he hadn't spoken since. Not really. He'd said a word or two in the Asian place and was whispering excitedly to her now, but he hadn't replied to her one little statement since she whispered it to him almost 45 minutes ago.

She figured he was processing.

Fair enough. She'd had almost seven months of processing since he'd first said it to her. So she accepted his silence and intense gaze during dinner. Now she felt his reply building in his eyes, a mere inch away from hers.

"Say it again."

Grace said nothing at first. She moved forward slowly, inching her knees on either side of his hips until the apex of their thighs were aligned. She reared up slightly, still letting him hold her shoulders, and gently moved her panties aside. Still silent, she grasped him firmly, positioning him underneath her. She sank slowly, letting herself adjust to the tight fit, watching his face as it contorted with pleasure. He fought to keep his eyes from rolling back. He wanted to look at her. He wanted her response. When he bottomed out inside of her, she cupped his cheeks and whispered to him.

"I love you."

It set him off. Having been so still and quiet underneath her, Rigsby suddenly exploded to life, gripping her hips and launching himself upwards in a desperate thrust.

"Again," he whispered, pumping wildly against her, using his legs and the bench as leverage to push up as hard and as fast as possible.

Grace cried out as her legs were pushed open wider, as her inner muscles pulled taut against this new position. "I love you."

He was possessed. His speed increased, and yet there was no telltale sign of him overstimulating. His frenzied pace would have sent almost any other man over the edge after a few short minutes. But he didn't slow down, nor was his finished with his demand.

"Again!" he roared at her, pulling her forward and pulling one of her aching nipples into his mouth, sucking and swirling his tongue around the pebbled flesh.

"Ah…God!" she writhed on top of him. Her hands found the buttoned sides of his shirt and she didn't even think before she ripped them apart, flaying the fabric to either side and running her hands greedily over his hard chest. "Wayne, I love you."

His lips moved to her other breast, his tongue working its magic over her aching skin while his hands held her firmly in place on his raging cock.

And yet he still would not slow down as he thrust rapidly.

"AGAIN!" he nearly screamed it. It echoed loudly in the close confines of the car as Grace's sobs punctuated it in smaller, softer notes.

She pulled his head from her breast and kissed his mouth. Despite their desperate rutting, she made her kiss soft. She moved her lips slowly over his, tasting their exterior before gently plumbing into his mouth. Her tongue followed the rows of his teeth, to soft walls of his cheeks, finally to the firm sweetness of his tongue.

Her gentle explorations slowed Rigsby's pace. He suddenly seemed to come back to himself, to come back to her. She saw more than raw need and wonder in his eyes now. She saw Wayne. She continued to kiss him deeply for a moment longer before fulfilling his request.

"I love you."

A whisper against his lips. Barely audible. Their movements slowed even more and they now gently pushed against each other in deep, languid strokes. He held her head in his hands, starting unflinchingly into her eyes, but they remained clear. She placed her hands over his heart. It thumped against her palm as if acknowledging her presence. She smiled. "Such a good heart," she murmured, turning her head into one of his hands and kissing his palm.

A ragged and broken sob left his body. She whipped back to face him and her hands instantly left his chest and cupped his jaw. His sob made his entire body convulse under hers, and yet his thrusts did not stop. Tears sprang in his eyes, his head dropped in her hands and away from her gaze. His arms went around her and she was pulled into a tight bear hug. He only cried out once, but his shuddering muscles continued to undulate under her like violent ocean waves. She held him tightly, refusing to let him go. Something had just happened inside that spiky head of his and she was going to let him take what he needed until he told her what it was.

He suddenly stiffened and arched against her. His head snapped back and he roared. Grace felt him spasm and come deep in her womb and she couldn't help her moan of primal lust as he exploded in her body.

He clutched her to him for a long time, his head lodged firmly at the base of her throat. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed tiny kisses on his temple while she murmured soft, meaningless words in his ear, like she would to a child. The words were muted, calming, unheard. The low, feminine tone of her voice made his vice-like grip on her lessen and the tension in his arms slowly melt away. At some point, she wasn't sure when, she'd started rocking them. Very slowly. Like how tree branches sway in the breeze. She held his head, murmured her love, and rocked him soothingly.

When he pulled back, he gazed at her in defeated awe.

"Again. Please?"

He broke her heart. His question was so small, so frightened. His eyes held terrified joy. How could this big man be so afraid of her little sentence? Of her little heart? How could they reduce him like this? Almost break him like this?

She felt overwhelmed with power. A little princess suddenly given the keys to a kingdom and told she must be queen. The acres of her lover that she was so eager to explore were suddenly handed to her. Her kingdom. And the weight of that trust, of that responsibility, amazed her. Looking at him now, she felt nothing but honored and unworthy. Did he always give so much of himself to his lovers? Were all of the women in his life made to feel this...bound? That was it, the word she was looking for. She felt bound to him. Intertwined. They were locked together, swirling and joined like an ancient Celtic knot. No beginning, no end. Separate pieces braided into each other. Even now, the metaphor was reality, their bodies still locked together, their arms encircled. She shook her head slowly before giving him a dazzling smile.

"I. Love. You." She punctuated every word clearly, slowly. There would be no misunderstanding. No way.

He blinked. And slowly, very slowly, his own smile grew and matched her own. "I love you too."

Grace couldn't help it. Wanting to keep him smiling more than anything, she flipped her hair and shrugged her shoulders like he'd said the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh."

Laughter peeled from the SUV as Rigsby tickled her without pity.