The Devil’s Reward: An Opposites Attract Romance (The Devil’s Soldiers)
The Devil’s Reward: Chapter 40

I’m going insane and no judge or jury would convict me if I strangle him.

He promised me that I would pay, and he is living up to his promise. I put a pillow over my face to scream into it in frustration. His tongue is wicked on my pussy, pushing me towards release and then backing off when I get close. It’s maddening, and my body is strung so tight with arousal that I feel like I’m going to break.

“Shadow,” I plead when he backs off yet again, and I pull the pillow away from my face. “Please. Please, let me cum.”

He chuckles. It’s low, and with him still so close to that throbbing center between my legs, it makes my entire body shudder. That mouth should be outlawed. “Are you not having fun, gorgeous?” he asks me wickedly, leaning forward and swiping his tongue up my center, lazily lapping my clit, and making me gasp and arch into him. “Because I’m having a lot of fun.”

“Sadist,” I grit out, my fingers clenching into the pillow so tight I’m surprised I’m not tearing it.

Another chuckle, and I moan in defeat. The man isn’t going to be satisfied until I’m a writhing puddle of goo on the bed. Or, until I finally snap and murder him. Either way, I’m going insane, and no judge or jury would convict me.

“Poor baby,” Shadow coos, pressing a kiss to the top of my mound. “Are you sorry for laughing at me? Taking my picture?”

I groan. “Yes,” I lie, desperate.

“Mmm, no I don’t think you’re telling the truth,” he says wickedly. “Better grab that pillow, Quinn,” he suggests. He gives me a smug smirk. “You’re going to need it.”

I don’t get another warning before his mouth is back on my pussy, driving me insane. I put the pillow over my face and scream into it as he thrusts his tongue inside me, fucking me hard and fast before he brings his fingers up to rub at my clit. My body bows into his ministrations, racing towards that peak that’s just out of reach.

Unable to get enough air, I push the pillow off my face, reach down, and weave my fingers into Shadow’s hair, gripping his head tightly and trying to angle him right where I need him, desperate for relief.

“Uh-uh,” he scolds with a smirk on his face, lifting his head and pulling my hands from his hair. “Hands on the pillow, gorgeous.”

“They’re going to be around your neck if you don’t let me cum,” I threaten.

“I never realized you had a violent side, Ms. Holt,” he teases. “Too bad it only makes me harder.”

“Fuck,” I curse, a sob in my throat. “Please, Shadow. Please,” I beg.

He must realize just how close I am to losing my damn mind, because he gives me a smug smile and drawls, “Well, since you asked so nicely.” In the next breath, he’s putting both hands under my ass and lifting me to his mouth, moving his tongue fast over my clit, and then down to thrust inside me. I barely pull the pillow over my face before I scream.

It’s like he’s struck a live wire, and my body is no longer my own. I babble nonsense into the pillow, moaning and grinding my pussy into Shadow’s face as he pushes me closer and closer to that edge. My inner walls contract hard to the point of pain, desperate for release.

Somehow holding me up with one hand, he moves the other between my thighs and thrusts them hard and fast inside me. Between that and his mouth on my clit, it’s all I need to finally, finally, go over the edge.

I sob with relief as my orgasm washes over me. I go deaf and blind, stars bursting behind my eyelids. Wave after wave crests inside me, until I can’t take it anymore and I have to pull the pillow from my face so I can get a fresh gulp of air, and push Shadow away. He pulls back, wiping his face on the inside of my thighs, and then puts his fingers to his mouth to lick them clean. I groan.

Why is that so hot? I seriously should be seconds away from passing out, not begging for another round.

I stare up at him, taking in the way his hair stands on end from my hands gripping the strands, the wetness of his beard, and the sweat beading on his forehead. His eyes are bright with lust, his breathing harsh. I glance down and see that his cock is red and angry looking, and I can only imagine the control it took for him to do all that for me.

I sit up quickly, reaching for him, but he pushes my hand away and says, “As much as I love your hands and mouth on me, gorgeous, right now, I can’t let you. When I come, it’s going to be inside you. Understand?”

“Then why are you waiting?” I ask him, voice husky. I move until I’m kneeling in front of him, our bodies just brushing. I bring my hand to his chest, over the Grim Reaper in the center, and up to his neck.

He snarls, and then he’s on me, his control close to evaporating. The kiss is primal, and I want more. I moan into his mouth, hands running down over his shoulders, nails scoring along his back and down to his ass, pressing myself as close as I can to him and rubbing my body against him, letting his cock brush against my mound.

The sensation has me gasping into his mouth, and he growls in his throat as he pushes me back down onto the bed as he rips his mouth from mine. I make a sound of protest but it dies in my throat when I see him reach for the condom he put there earlier, quickly sheathing himself and then crawling up the bed so that I’m pressed back against the pillows and he spreads my legs as wide as they’ll go.

“Last chance, Quinn,” he grits out as he lines himself up to my center. My breath catches at the feel of him pressing against my entrance. “If you don’t want to be mine, now is your time to say so. After this, you’re mine. I’ll never let you go.”

“Yes, Shadow,” I breathe. “Yes, make me yours.” I don’t care if I sound like I’m pleading, because I have no shame. I want Shadow, and I want him with everything in me.

He doesn’t wait or ask any more questions. Slowly, carefully, he pushes inside, rocking his hips until he’s fully seated. He groans, the sound echoing through the room. He holds himself still, eyes closed like he’s savoring the sensation. “Fuck, you’re perfect,” he breathes. “So hot. Tight.” He opens his eyes and stares into mine.

“Please, Shadow,” I whisper, my hands coming up to grip his forearms. “Please.”

He adjusts himself slightly, moving my hands off his forearms and then scooping my legs up and over them instead, changing the angle and going impossibly deeper. I suck in a breath at the fullness I feel, but he doesn’t pause. He pulls back until he’s almost out and thrusts right back in, making me cry out before I abruptly cut it off.

Shadow doesn’t hold back with me once he sets up a steady rhythm. The bed creaks with each thrust, but I don’t care. The only thing that I care about right now is Shadow and the way he’s fucking me into the mattress.

I’ve never been an overly sexual person, but after this, I’m changing my tune. I’ll gladly become perpetually horny with a man like Shadow in my bed. I watch him, mesmerized by the sight.

His body is slick with sweat, his abs flexing with each thrust of his hips, muscles bulging. His biceps flex as he adjusts his hold on my legs, pushing them wider and higher, and I moan when the angle of his thrusts changes and he hits my G-spot. “Yes, right there,” I gasp, body clenching down on him, trying to keep him there to hit it again and again.

“I got you, gorgeous,” he gasps out, increasing his pace and making me see stars. “Fuck, you’re so fucking tight,” he grits out as his balls slap against my ass. “I’m not going to last long with you like this.”

I’m so close that I can feel it burning in my blood, tightening my muscles and making my toes tingle. “I’m so close, Shadow,” I rasp.

“Touch your clit, Quinn,” he orders, speeding up even more. “Get yourself there. Show me.”

I would normally never do that, too shy to even consider it, but my mind is elsewhere and I do as he asks. I bring my fingers between my legs, swirling them around my clit, making me moan as I move faster and faster. Desire is swamping me, and I’m desperate for release.

“That’s it,” Shadow praises as he pounds into me. “Keep going, Quinn. Rub that pretty clit until you cum. Let me feel it.” My inner walls clench hard around him and he hisses out a breath as my orgasm swells, just within reach. “Fuck, Quinn,” he snarls when I finally peak.

“Shadow,” I gasp loudly, and he swiftly takes my mouth with his and drinks down my cries as my orgasm consumes me. It’s heaven and hell all rolled into one, and I don’t want it to ever end.

Shadow continues to pound inside me, chasing his own release, until he snarls into my mouth and presses tightly inside me as he cums. When he finally stills, he pulls his mouth away and presses his sweaty forehead to mine. He carefully releases my legs and I let them fall to the bed, my breathing shallow as I try to catch my breath.

We lay there like that for a few moments, neither of us wanting to move or speak. To break the connection between us.

Finally, Shadow presses a quick kiss to my lips and then carefully pulls out, making me groan as he retreats leaving me swollen and sensitive. He climbs out of the bed to dispose of the condom but quickly returns to me. “Damn, gorgeous,” he breathes. “I think you almost killed me.”

“Me?” I reply with a husky laugh. “You’re the one that decided to torture me,” I remind him righteously. “Only serves you right.”

He chuckles, pulling me into his arms and rolling us until I’m laying on top of him, my head on his chest. His hand lazily strokes my back, soothing me. “It was worth it,” he tells me.

We’re quiet for a while, but of course, that means my brain has a chance to intrude. Doubts start to slide in. I open my eyes to study him as he lays there, eyes closed. He’s so damn handsome, and I can’t believe he’s in my bed. But am I moving too fast? We only went on our first date yesterday, and here he is, already in my bed. What does that say about me? Will he think I’m easy? Or so hard up that I’ll welcome just anyone into my bed without much of an effort?

“What’s got that mind of yours going a million miles a minute?” Shadow asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

My face flushes in embarrassment. “Nothing,” I mutter.

“Uh uh,” he replies, eyes opening and holding mine. “It’s obviously something. I can’t help alleviate any worries you have if I don’t know what they are, Quinn,” he points out gently.

I sigh. “I’m sorry, I’m ruining this,” I say morosely.

“Gorgeous, you could never ruin this,” he scolds with a shake of his head. “Are you having doubts about us? Or do you think we rushed this?”

I hesitate to answer, but the way he watches me holds no judgement, only curiosity and concern. I bite my lip and tell him, “I just worry that you’re going to get bored with me. We’ve moved kind of fast, and I worry that you’re going to change your mind one day and leave me heartbroken. And not just me, Macy. She’s already attached to you after only a couple of days, and if we don’t work out, she’ll be the one hurt the most.”

“Quinn, neither of us knows what the future holds. But I know that I want you, and I want Macy. I want to see what we can do with this, and I want to be in your and Macy’s lives. For the good and the bad. When she’s being a little con artist, and when she’s screaming the house down because she’s not getting her way.” He trails off, and my heart pounds in my chest. Finally, he says, “I want a family of my own, Quinn. I watched a couple of my brothers already replace their women, replace their happiness. I’ve been looking for years, but any woman that caught my interest didn’t keep it enough for me to consider a life with them. Children. A home.

“Growing up, I didn’t have a family like yours, and when I found my team in the Forces, it felt like I finally found what I was missing. Then I lost them. Until Bullet found me in that bar and showed me that I could have another family, I just had to prove I wanted them enough. I busted my ass for that first year, did the grunt work, dealt with the hazing, and realized pretty quickly that I wanted everything they had to give me. Rose mothered me, to the point that it was almost too much, but I didn’t realize then how much I needed it.

“She’s the one who got me in therapy for my PTSD. Without her, I’d probably be drinking myself into the ground to self-medicate. I didn’t want to talk to the shrink at first, but after a while, it helped. The nightmares decreased, and I had a different perspective on life. A better one. And then I decided that I wanted a woman of my own. I saw Bullet and the way he interacted with Rose. She drives him insane, but he loves her fiercely, and he protects her with everything in him. I want that. With you,” he adds, staring into my eyes. “I want that with you, Quinn.”

Tears fill my eyes. Has anyone ever said those words to me? Bobby used to tell me he wanted me all the time, but that was for sex and a hot dinner. He didn’t stare at me with such intensity that it felt like he was stealing my breath. Like his words were wrapping around my heart and squeezing. “Why?” I whisper.

He reaches up and wipes away a stray tear that falls on my cheek. “Because you’re everything I fought for. Everything I survived for,” he murmurs, cupping my cheek. He sits up, making me slide down, but he pulls me back up so I’m straddling him and our faces are close to each other. “I did a lot of bad things over there, all of them needed,” he continues, his tone low and serious. “I killed people for my country, fought off the bad guys, and every time I came home, I wondered what I was fighting for. Sure, I had my team, and I fought for them, but it wasn’t the same. Some of my teammate’s parents would welcome us back, but I had no one waiting for me.

“No one of my own flesh and blood, or one of choice, to say they were proud of me. I told myself there had to be a reward for this somewhere in life. And now I know it was you. I fought like hell to replace you, Quinn, and I can’t let you go. I know it’s fast, and I know you’re probably overwhelmed, but I’m not going anywhere. I learned to fight in the Forces, and I never give up. I didn’t give up when my team died in that firefight, and I’m not going to give up on you and me. Because you’re my light in the darkness, Quinn. You’re my reward in this life.”

Tears pour from my eyes, and I nod slowly. I don’t have the words to give him back so I press my mouth to his to let him feel them for himself.

I just slid headlong into love, and I’m not sure if I should be elated or terrified. I just hope if Shadow feels I’m his reward, he won’t be disappointed.