Night Is Darkest

snapped up. “You’re a virgin?”
The shock on his face jumpstarted her instincts. He couldn’t stop now! She acted before it could morph to indecision or even denial. “Not for long.”
With a moan, she sealed her lips over his and coiled her legs tight around his trim hips. Then she flexed her thighs, digging her heels into his firm ass. The motion impaled her on his steel-hard shaft. The last barrier between them ruptured.
Of course, she’d expected some pain but the burning snap in her abdomen stole her breath for several heartbeats. Tyler held himself stock still as he studied her expression with a combination of wonder and fear. Then he distracted her from the ache with a long, lingering kiss. His tongue slithered inside her mouth and teased her with gentle laps.
The atmosphere changed from desperate desire to tender loving in an instant. Though she would never have admitted it, she was grateful for his perceptiveness. A moan escaped between sweet kisses. When her pussy clenched around him, she shivered in delight at the novel sensation.
“Are you all right, little one?”
“God, yes.” And it was true. The pain had morphed into a delicious inferno. “I want to please you.”
“I’ve never been so hard in my life. Seeing you fly was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. I need to do it again. Are you ready for me to move?”
“Please.” She could only manage one word.
He cradled her beneath him as he began to rock his hips. Any residual discomfort evaporated as he attuned his sensual flair to enhancing her pleasure. When his lips travelled to her breast while he continued the long, measured pace of his fucking, the sweet pressure between her legs began to mount once more. She sighed in awe when her muscles squeezed the length of Ty’s cock, resulting in mind-blowing pleasure that multiplied exponentially until she hovered on the edge of orgasm.
In all the times she’d fantasized about sex she had failed to realize the greatest pleasure could be derived from the unity it generated between two souls. Their synchronized heartbeats caused his cock to throb where it locked in her pussy, reassuring her she wasn’t alone. The revelation amplified her ecstasy.
Tyler played her body like a sexual virtuoso. The angle of his penetration shifted until she rewarded him with a moan. He locked onto the motion that pleased her most then repeated the stroke with the accuracy of a precision instrument. He calibrated his penetrations to meet the specifications of her ardor. Every tap and glide of his cock head against her inner muscles nudged her closer to heaven.
“You’re ready to come again for me, little one?” A pleading note tinged his gravelly question.
“Yes, Ty. Please come with me. Together.” She ground her hips against his the next time he returned, forcing his balls to nestle in the valley of her ass. When he groaned in response, she timed her motions to match his. Strange yet perfect sensations infused her with wonder. The arc he travelled stroked her clit across the flat muscle above his cock and his appreciative moans sealed the deal.
She fell over the edge and flew into another earth-shattering orgasm.
“God, yes. Lacey!” His cock jerked inside her a moment before the hot pulses of his semen washed over her inflamed tissue, soothing her even as it triggered a renewed round of spasms.
The look of pure devotion in his eyes as he spilled his desire made a permanent imprint on her memory. With trembling hands, she smoothed the bunched muscles of his arms and back. His fingers tangled in her hair as he repeated her name over and over. Between harsh pants, he rained sweet kisses on her neck, shoulder, ear and the side of her face from his spot on the pillow beside her.
When he had recovered, Tyler settled her against his chest as he tugged the covers over them. Exhausted, she closed her eyes to sleep for the first time in three days, secure in the shelter of his tender embrace.
Her short, humorless laugh shattered the silence.
“What’s that for, little one?”
“I never thought the best and worst days of my life would be the same one.”
“I heard that. It’s been a hell of a day.”
“What’s going to happen tomorrow, Ty?” She hated the frailty in her voice.
“Let’s not worry about it ’til morning. That’s soon enough. Sleep now, sweetheart.”

Chapter Three
A rustling against the pillow roused Lacey from her restless slumber.
“Tyler?” Her voice, strained from both wails of despair and passionate cries, rasped out.
“Shh.” Comforting lips brushed her forehead in a chaste kiss. The pre-dawn gloom obscured his expression. What would she see on his face after the night they’d shared?
Grief and pleasure had paled beside the horror of her nightmares. But all through the blackest hours, he’d been there to catch her when images of her brother’s bloody corpse interrupted what little shuteye she’d managed to grab. Rob’s gentle face had seemed crazed, crimson drops sprayed in slow motion from the sliced vein in his neck and the familiar yet repulsive tang of copper had burned her nose when he issued the order to stay safe.
The last thing she remembered was the security of Tyler’s embrace placating her.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart.”
Disoriented, she reached out a hand to locate him on the bed but encountered a crisp sheet of paper instead of the firm warmth she expected. She crumpled the note in her fist as her brain began to function. Several blinks cleared the grit deposited by her evaporated tears. Enough to realize he stood beside the bed, fully clothed in his now rumpled uniform. The deliberate space between them turned her cold. “You’re leaving me?”
“Mason called. He’s got a lead on the case. I have to get down to the station.”
“Don’t lie to me. What did you write here?”
“Read it in the morning.”
“It is morning.”
“Shit, Lace. You need to rest some more.” The first rays of morning silhouetted Tyler as he scrubbed his broad fingers through his