When he came closer and put his fist beneath her chin, tipping her face up, she couldn't deny the sincerity in his searching gaze.

"Yeah. But if you go into dumbass mode again, I reserve the right to kick your ass with your own foot until you snap out of your funk. Deal?"

"Deal." He grinned.

She nodded then went onto her tiptoes.

He met her halfway, kissing her full-on despite their friends and family not more than a hundred feet away. She'd missed the support of his arms around her and the heat of his lips sweeping across hers. Too much more of that and she'd be running inside for that vibrator Shari packed.

Lucas noticed her hesitance and separated them, but didn't let go of her. The public display of affection was as good as a promise ring in the eyes of their friends.

Unsurprisingly, a chorus of catcalls, whistles and hollers echoed from the gathering, in appreciation of their little show.

"I think that's our cue to pack up." Mason clapped his husband, Tyler, on the shoulder even as he hugged their wife, Lacey, to his chest.

But it wasn't until Julie began to sing "Uncle Lucas and Aunt Ellie, sitting in a tree..." that the two of them finally broke apart, grinning like fools.

Chapter Thirteen.

Ryan, Shari, Ben and Julie had been the first to arrive and they were the last to leave. Ellie's brother took a long time saying goodbye to his beloved sister. No one could doubt his devotion to Ellie. He'd raised her, risked his life for her and been forever changed by the experience himself.

Ben hovered nearby with a sleeping Julie resting against his massive shoulder. The clutch Ryan had on Shari's hand as he said farewell to Ellie made it clear how tough it was for him. After nearly losing her once, this had to be killing him. Hopefully Ben and Shari would help him through it.

It was the only time Lucas saw Ellie waver in her resolve to aid in the takedown of the robbers.

When the four of them, who would make a pretty awesome family in Lucas's opinion, piled into the golf cart that would take them back to the secret entrance to his property, Ellie called to her brother one last time, "I love you. It'll be okay."

"Better be." Ryan glared at Lucas.

Spending time around their friends had made Lucas realize he had essentially no tie to Ellie, or her to him. Even their lip-lock would be easy to blow off if things went south after this. It bothered him. By the time they were alone again, the need to claim her coursed through his blood.

He'd never felt that way before about a woman, though it didn't surprise him that she would be the first. The only. Their bond had seared away everything but her while they fucked. It also made her opinion count when he'd never given a shit about what people thought of him in the past.

And that was why he'd fucked up so royally the night before.

Lucas took Ellie's hand and tugged gently, leading her to a soft blanket he'd laid out under the most enormous oak tree back there. It was close enough to the lake's edge to have a great view and even be in range of hearing the soft laps the gentle waves made as they kissed the shore.

When he sat beside Ellie, he scratched around the top of his liner, which had gotten soaked while he was horsing around with the guys earlier.

"Why don't you take that stuff off if it's bothering you?" Ellie asked with feigned nonchalance. Here they went again. "It's still warm and bright enough out here that it'll dry in no time."

He hated when she made sense, especially when he had other priorities at the moment.

"Maybe I'd rather remove some other things, like your clothes," he growled as he leaned in and captured her mouth in a kiss rougher than he usually gave her unless they were in the middle of sex. For the first time, he didn't doubt her ability to handle him.

She'd faced the full brunt of his temper, even when it had been unfairly aimed at her. Could she withstand the heat of his unshielded attraction?

They were about to find out.

Lucas buried his fingers in her hair and she tipped her head back, parting her lips so that he could sip from her as he liked. But when he toyed with the buttons on her dress, she slapped his hands away.

"Nope." Ellie shook her head.

"What kind of game is this?" He could see her eyes changing from cerulean to the deep, stormy blue that accompanied her body's transition to her ultra-aroused state. She wanted this. Him.

So why was she stopping them?

"I'm not stripping until you do. You're going to end up with a rash or sores if you leave that thing on wet." She knocked her heel into his prosthesis. "Be a good boy and I'll make sure you get a treat. Otherwise, we're both going to suffer for your stubbornness."

She walked her skirt up her long, slender thighs. As much as it killed him to see her and not have her, it bothered him far more to know that she would let herself ache with unfulfilled desire if he didn't do what she asked of him.

"Ellie, come on." He scrubbed his hands through his hair, deciding to be blunt. "I'm about to fuck you half into a coma."

"It's not like your dick was cut off. You don't need that hunk of carbon fiber to make love to me." She dared him to deny it.

Maybe he didn't, but it made him feel less awkward. Less like a freak.

But God it was really starting to itch now.

"What if you give yourself blisters or your skin breaks down into open wounds and you can't go with me to the casino?" She bit her lip.

Well, shit. That was all it took. No way would she go alone. But she was right-he could end up unable to wear his leg, and then what? He'd either have to rely on his forearm crutches or a wheelchair. Either one would make it pretty damn obvious for the crooks to figure out who he really was. Then Ellie would pay the price.

Lucas was slipping the strap out of his proximal lock in seconds flat. He would never do that to her. But she didn't know what she was asking for. Backing him into a corner made him feel jagged and rough. He hoped she could handle the result of his raw emotions when they were translated into actions.

As soon as he had his liner and socks stretched out in the sunlight and his leg toweled dry, he rounded on her. "Why are you still wearing clothes?"

"I thought you wanted to take them off me." She smiled softly at him, victorious.

"That was when we were playing nice." He lifted her hand to his mouth then bit her finger enough to sting. She sucked in a breath but didn't run from him. "Now I'm riled up and you're gonna get what you asked for. All of me. Tell me if that's not what you want anymore, E."

"I want you. Exactly how you are. No polish and no cover-ups," she said.

"Fine." He commanded her, "Take your dress off so I can watch; then I want you facing that tree, bent over at the waist. Put your hands on it to brace yourself. You're going to need something to hold on to."

If she'd shown a moment's hesitation, he would have changed their course.

She didn't.

Before he had finished his instructions, she climbed to her feet and dragged her dress over her head, letting it fall to the grass, forgotten. Completely bare beneath, her perky tits bounced enough to have him rearranging his cock in his shorts before scanning down her svelte stomach to her trimmed mound.

"Did I tell you to stop?" he asked.

"Ah...no"-she pivoted, showing him her ass and the colorful tattoo on her shoulder instead-"but you looked like you were enjoying the view."

"True. Not as much as I'm going to like being inside you again, though." He groaned just thinking about it. "You were so fucking hot. So tight and so wet."

Lucas couldn't say what inspired his dirty talk, but she moaned and wiggled as she settled into place, so he went with it. He reclined on the blanket only long enough to strip his shorts and briefs off then rolled to his knees.

Thankfully, he hadn't been wearing a shirt. Saved time.

The light breeze couldn't do anything to cool him off as it caressed his fully nude body. Out here, in the broad sunlight, he didn't care who or what saw him as he was, so long as they also noticed how he fit with Ellie. They belonged together. She had been made for him, and he for her.

He crawled between Ellie's legs like the animal she turned him into. She didn't seem to care how he got to her when he spread her pussy lips from behind then sampled the arousal he could already see making her glisten.

When her knees threatened to buckle, he wrapped his hands around her waist and suspended her above his head in midair until she could regain her balance. To know that he could impact her like that was potent.

Steady once more, she resumed her position, thrusting her perfect ass at him as if she offered him a present.

And she was.

Her trust and faith being the two most important of them.

Her indiscriminating affection being another.

And her body being the last.

Though it wasn't the most important of the treasures she shared with him, it was one he prized. And planned to take care of to the satisfaction of them both.

Lucas gripped her ass cheeks in either hand and spread her apart so that he could bury his face in her folds and drink deeply, flooding his mouth with her taste.

His cock pulsed, begging him to skip the warm-up, but he'd done that yesterday and he had something entirely different on the menu for this afternoon.

When she began to chant his name and rock so that she met his strokes, he paused, shifting his attention to her breasts, which hung beneath her, swaying in time to the flexing of her body.

Ellie cried out his name and begged him to give her relief.

"Oh, I will," he promised her. "Soon."

Lucas scooted back until he could suckle her breasts. He remembered how sensitive they were and how she'd unraveled for him a couple of days ago when he'd feasted on them. So he decided to start there.

When he took her nipple into his mouth and began to tease it with his tongue, he complemented the sensation by reaching between her legs. A few flicks of his fingers across her clit had her knees turning to jello. He grinned as he steadied her before doing his best to melt her bones.

Without removing her hands from the tree bark, she peered down at him, watching him play her body like some fine instrument. Focusing the skittering of his fingers over her clit into a gentle circular massage while increasing the suction on her breast made her moan.

Good thing he didn't have any neighbors or they would probably be outside jacking off as they watched how beautiful she was when she came.

Because there was no way she could hold back when he took his free hand and used it to pinch her other nipple.

Above him, Ellie quaked. She called out his name and rained her pleasure on his fingers. Before she'd even finished shattering, he took his drenched hand and moved it to her mouth, feeding her the result of their passion.

Ellie opened her mouth without hesitation. She drew his digits between her lips and sucked them clean as if she could read his mind. Or maybe their desires were simply so in tune they both wanted the same things.

"That's right," he whispered as he watched her draw on his fingers, her eyes slightly closed. "You're in sync with me. It hardly takes anything for you to come with me, does it?"

She moaned, already fidgeting as the arousal raging through her returned more fiercely than before. This time Lucas went farther, returning his hand to her pussy, though not only to toy with her clit. He used the combination of her slickness and spit to tunnel inside her with three fingers at once.

Unprepared for the invasion, she jerked.

He would swear she came on him again before he'd even fully embedded himself within her sheath. Wet, velvety heat distracted him momentarily. It felt so good to slide his fingers through it-feel her massaging his hand and know that soon it would be his cock-that he got a little carried away and gave her a couple more orgasms in a row.

It didn't matter, though-she still needed more.

Finally, he was starting to believe that she might just need him as badly as he needed her. Not because he was some random means to sate her Sex Offender-induced cravings, but because they had this impact on each other. Fuck, he knew for a fact his cock had never been as hard or eager to impale a soft pussy as it was when the cunt in question was hers.

Still, he refused to allow himself the indulgence.

Not until she was as desperate as he was.

If he was going to give in and show her all of him, she had to be ready to accept it. Better if she joined him in being fully naked to the soul. For her that meant embracing this new, incredibly sexy, wild side of her sensuality. And if it took making her mindless with delirious pleasure to get her there, he'd do it.

Gladly.

Every day for the rest of his life.

Lucas abandoned her breasts with a groan of regret, raking his teeth over her nipples one last time before edging toward her pussy. By now, he was supporting most of her weight, though he didn't mind in the least. And still she stayed where he'd put her, never once letting him down.

Maybe he'd have to talk to JRad and Lily about booking a session at their club to explore this side of her further, once they'd put this cops-and-robbers bullshit behind them.

This time, Lucas changed direction, sitting facing her body from behind her so that he could peek at her expression from time to time. She was so engrossed in the rapture assaulting her that she had closed her eyes and seemed to be drifting far away from where her body rested in his capable hands.

That was fine with him. Whatever she needed to do to maximize her experience, that was what he wished for her.

So he got back to work.

This time he allowed himself to lick her from clit to ass, swirling his tongue around her tight back passage a few times for the hell of it.

Ellie groaned and shoved against him, inspiring more wicked thoughts for another time when he was better prepared. That didn't stop him from lashing her with his tongue as he began to ram his fingers inside her, taking his cues on how hard and fast to set his pace by the rate at which she rocked back.

It felt savage at first, until he monitored her escalating cries and the orgasms that began to roll through her, one after the other, with no distinct end before her body surrendered to another.

Only when she shouted his name and begged did he consider allowing his stiff, leaking cock to finally take what it wanted.

"Please, Lucas," she cried. "I need you inside me. Give me your cock. Please fuck me, please."

How could he resist a plea like that?

When he shifted, she began to sink to the blanket, maybe expecting to ride him or somehow help him fight gravity while he fucked her. "Hell no, E."

He smacked her ass a bit harder than he'd intended, though her resulting howl made him think the pleasurable pain had tipped off yet another climax.