Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge, #2)

by A.L. Jackson

My voice was nothing but a scrape as I murmured, “Let it go, baby. Let me see you fly. Come for me, Moonflower.” At my words, she split apart. Cracked wide open. I could feel the maelstrom of her pleasure batter the walls of the room. Bursting from her middle. A volcano erupting from her body. She was a hurricane in the middle of my bed. Sweeping me up in the cries that came from her mouth. “Otto…oh God…Otto. It feels so good. So good.” They were rasps. Barely intelligible. But I felt them all the way to my soul. “It’s all I want, Raven. Only thing I want is for you to feel good. Want to make you feel that way forever.”

feel…” Raven blinked up at me with that enchanting gaze. Her delicate throat bobbed when she swallowed. “I feel liberated, Otto. Different in the best way. Or like maybe I just found a piece of myself that I had been missing.” My thumb swept across the apple of her cheek. “It’s all I want, for you to be free.” “You make me feel that way.”

Then my entire body jerked when she ran her fingers over my dick. My dick that strained against the thin material of my underwear, though it was just then that I became aware that my throbbing head had broken free of the confines. “Fuck,” I hissed. My hand flew to her wrist to stop her. “Raven.”

She wrapped that sweet little hand around my shaft. “I want to touch you.” I choked, barely able to speak. “Raven…fuck…this isn’t supposed to be about me.” “Don’t act like you don’t want me to.” She stroked me once.

“Will it make you happy, jacking me off with that sweet little hand?” “Very happy.” And fuck, there was nothing I could do but sit up on my knees so she could get a better grip. I helped her, curling my hand around hers and guiding her, showing her she didn’t have to be timid. “Like it hard, darlin’. Don’t be shy.”

“Good because I think I like it hard, too.”

Shit, she was definitely going to do me in. She tightened her hold, adding a second hand, and the two of us started pumping me hard and fast. In a flash, I was grunting, pleasure stalking up and down my spine as she drove me straight toward ecstasy. Because I’m pretty sure that’s what she was. Ecstasy. A realm where I could never land. I thrust into her hands. A fiend who would never get enough. A twisted fuck who wanted to bury himself so deep inside her that I’d mark myself there forever. “Raven…fuck…I’m gonna come.” Nearly cried when she pulled one of those hands away, only she was peeling her tank all the way up, exposing her belly and bare tits. Sight of them nearly knocked me the fuck out.

Fury ripping through me when I saw the scars that marred the flesh of her stomach and hips. Uncountable circular burn marks that made me feel like I was the one standing in the flames. But it was the mangled one on her side that turned my guts to ash, the tattoo cutting through it where it was stamped on her side. I will make it to the sunrise.

Raven’s head shook on the pillow. No doubt, she knew exactly where my focus had gone. “Don’t, Otto. Don’t look at me that way. Look at me. At who I am. As a whole. As a person. As the woman who wants this with you.” “I’ve always seen you, Raven.” I’d just always wanted to protect that. Protect everything she was from me.

“Tell me you feel it, too, Otto. Let go, the way you asked me to.” And fuck, bliss gathered fast, her touch and her boldness, her aura taking me whole. A sweet fuckin’ moonflower. It hit me like a landslide. A storm of pleasure. I moaned as I jerked and spasmed, and Raven was writhing all over again, her eyes going wide with desire when I dumped myself on her flesh. And maybe I’d known it all along, but I knew right then that I’d met my match. This fucking gorgeous woman who was going to be the end of me. Because I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to let her go.

“What are you over there grinnin’ about?” “Grinning? I’m not grinning.” My fingers flew to my lips to trace the shape. Yep. Definitely grinning. “Uh, yeah, darlin’. The grin is real. Want to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

“I’m just grinning because my favorite person is now my extra favorite person.”

“Is that so? And here I was worried that little stunt might knock me down a peg or two.”

“Never,”

“You’re sure you’re okay?” My nod was shaky. “More than okay. I would have stopped you if I wasn’t.” A wistful silence stretched on between us. He finally broke it when he said, “It’s my honor, you know…that you feel safe with me.” “I always have.”

“Still having a hard time getting my head around the fact that you’ve never been touched before.” He let a bunch of speculation hang unsaid in the air. A twenty-five-year-old virgin wasn’t exactly a common thing. “Are you really that surprised? When I barely started dating a few years ago? After all the things you knew about me then?”

“Think I’d chosen to believe that you’d moved on. That you’d found your way outside of me—the way it was supposed to be.”

“How, when this is the way it’s supposed to be? It’s always been you, Otto. You have always been my safe place. My secret place.”

“I wish I could be more, Raven. Wish I could be everything.”

“For tonight, let’s just be, Otto.”

Hesitation billowed through him before he gave, plopping down so he was lying on his side next to me. Laughter rolled out of me, joy uncontained. I scratched my nails through the scruff on his jaw. “You’d better be careful or you’re going to toss me right out of this bed.” He curled one of those massive arms around me and pulled me close. Two of us face-to-face. His voice went soft. “Never.” I wanted to claim that forever. I snuggled closer, clinging to the light, to the smile that couldn’t be erased. “Good. I’d much rather you tie me to this bed than toss me from it.” A groan rumbled through his massive chest, and his lips tweaked into a grin. “You really do want to be the death of me, huh?” “Death by orgasm?” He chuckled low, and those big fingers threaded through my hair. “Death by your brother is what it’s likely to be, but I’m fairly

certain it would be worth it. Seeing your face when you came around my fingers. I’m never going to forget it.”

“Are you sure that was worth it? I could think of a few ways I could make it even better. You know, risk to pleasure ratio. Because I don’t know about you, but I’d really like to see your face when you come a few more times.”

“You are worth it, Raven. You are worth everything. But I don’t want to wreck what we are.” “What are we, Otto? Because this feels like us to me.”

I didn’t look up when Otto slowly stood, and I remained hunched over the counter as he edged up behind me. A giant in the tiny room. His presence overwhelmed. A shudder ripped down my spine when he leaned in and murmured against the sensitive flesh at the nape of my neck. “Fuck, Raven. I wish you understood. Wish you understood I would give anything to be right for you.”

River exhaled in discontent, though I could tell that he was giving in. “Know she’s in no better hands than with you,” he told Otto. “But are you sure you want to take this on?” Otto looked at me. Energy thrashed. Alive in the space that separated us. “Never have been so sure about anything. You know what she means to me. The lengths I’ll go.”

Pain coated River’s expression when he looked in my direction. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?” “Of course,” I told him. He guided me around to the far side of an old Ford truck, his voice quieted as he turned around to face me. “Did something happen that you don’t want to tell everyone else about? Don’t want to push you, Raven, but I need somethin’ to go on if I’m going to be able to hunt this asshole down.” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. “I truly don’t.”

“We’re going to take care of this, Raven. I promise you, all of us are right here, and we won’t let anything happen to you.” He looked over to the rest of the guys who had their heads together, clearly trying to come up with a plan from across the garage. His attention dipped back to me. “Is this where you want to stay? I support you, whatever you want.” “I think staying here is for the best.” I probably said it a little too fast. His nod was tight. “Okay. Just…be careful, and don’t do anything reckless. Know you want to do your own thing, but it’s not safe for you to be off by yourself right now. Just until we get this sorted, then you can find a place of your own. But for my sanity, let’s put that on hold right now, yeah?” “I can do that.”

“Good. I’m going to head out, see if I can pick up anything along the drive. We’re going to find this bastard.” He reached out and squeezed my arm. “Promise you.” “I know.” “Text Charleigh. She’s beside herself. She wanted to come to make sure you were okay, but we thought it best not to bring Nolan over here until we knew the area was safe.” “I will.” “Can’t stand for you to be goin’ through this.” He pulled me into a tight hug. “Love you so damn much. Need you to be safe.” “I won’t let anything happen to me because I know you need me here with you,” I whispered back, a semblance of the promise he had always made to me. His chuckle was deep and sorrowful. “Only thing I ever wanted in this life was to take care of you.” “And you have, and now it’s time for you to let part of that go.” He nodded against my head, and I had to wipe away the tears that blurred my eyes when we both pulled back. “Now look what you did…you made me cry.” “You deserve it after the way I panicked on my way over here,” he razzed,

“Who’s after you?” I basically croaked the words, unable to keep the desperation from bleeding into them.

“I truly don’t know.”

“What about someone else you’ve dated the last couple years?”

“None of them were really anything. A couple dates here and there. A kiss on the cheek. Most of them got bored and stopped texting when they realized I moved way too slow for their tastes.”

“Anyone at the shop set you on edge? A customer or a supplier? Someone who might have gotten obsessed?” She gulped, and she was barely able to shake her head with how tight I was holding onto her. “I don’t think so. No one has given me the gut sense that something was off.” “Anyone in your past?” I grasped for anything.

“No. There’s no one.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.”

“If you think of anything…absolutely anything…I need you to tell me, Raven. Trust me with it. Because I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you. Of letting some asshole get to you. I need to stop this.” “And I hate that something in my life has brought this on you,” she rasped. “I hate that you were hurt because of me.”

“You think I wouldn’t stand in front of every bullet for you? Take every blow for you? Suffer any consequence?” “It’s not your place.” Even coming from her mouth, it sounded like a lie. Both my thumbs brushed under the dark hollows beneath her eyes. “Isn’t it? Isn’t standing for you what I’m supposed to do? Isn’t it what I’ve always been meant to do?”

“Maybe you are meant for me. In every way.” She answered my demand in that throaty lilt. Pushing even farther into the perilous territory I’d been toeing.

“Raven.” Her name was a warning.

“Tell me to stop. Tell me not to touch you. Tell me you don’t want this,” I demanded.

“The only thing I’ve ever wanted is for you to touch me. Haven’t you heard my body begging for it?”

“Touch me again,” she rushed, her voice so low, her breath skating my face and infiltrating my senses. “I don’t want it once. I want to feel it again and again.”

“You want me to touch you again, Moonflower?” “Yes. So bad. I need it. I need to feel you. Whole and safe. I was so scared⁠—” Before she could get the confession I was terrified of her saying free, I crushed my mouth against hers. A promise that she was going to make it through this. A promise that I’d take the brunt of whatever was meant for her. Stand in the way of any motherfucker who would dare to do her harm. A promise that I was going to take care of her…in every fuckin’ way. Only the second our lips touched, a roll of pleasure hit me so hard that I couldn’t see. Motherfucking bliss.

The woman kissed me back like that was exactly what she was made to do. Meeting me lick for lick, her tongue stroking and tangling with mine. My cock hardened to steel, and my free arm looped around her waist so I could tug her delicious body against mine. All that soft against my hard. “Otto,” she rasped against my mouth, every bit as delirious as me, and I was hoisting her up into my arms, no care to anything but this. On instinct, her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms wound around my neck, though she jerked back far enough to see me. Concern was carved on every line of her expression.

“Not that I haven’t fantasized about you tossing me over your shoulder and carrying me off to have your way with me, but you’re hurt.” I grunted in return, diving back in for that mouth, though I was rumbling against her lips, “Doc said I will be just fine.” “And he also told you not to overexert yourself.” “You think carrying you three feet is gonna hurt me?” My voice dipped between a tease and coarse, raw need. “You think these arms weren’t made to hold you? You think I’m not made to carry every-fucking-thing that you are?”

“You need to come, sweet girl, and I’m not about to leave you wanting.”

“You mind if I get you naked? Been dying to see every inch of this body.” She choked a surprised sound before seduction went barreling through her demeanor. “All yours, Otto Hudson.”

“Look at those fuckin’ perfect tits. Number of times I felt them pressed to my back while you clung to me on my bike. Wondering what it would be like if I ever got to see them like this. Last night it was a dream. And this…seeing you like this in the light of day?”

“You good?”

“Yes.” It was a breath. “Good. Then hook your heels on the table and spread your knees wide.” I rumbled it low. Raven didn’t hesitate to comply, and I nearly fuckin’ died at the sight. Her pussy was pink and drenched and swollen, so needy I could almost see it throb. “Knew your pussy was going to be just as gorgeous as the rest of you.” I took a single digit and pressed it all the way in to the knuckle, pumped it twice, before I pulled it out and circled the tip of my finger around her engorged clit. She jerked and whimpered, “Yes, yes, I like that even better. Keep that up, and you’re definitely going to be my very favorite person.” She attempted the tease, though the words were strangled. Would have laughed if it weren’t for the roil of possession that held me hostage. “You’re already mine, Raven. You’re already mine.”