by L. B. Dunbar
“What about you?” she asks, pulling it on over her sweatshirt.
“I’ll be fine.” I don’t consider being modest as I slip from my bag and pull on my pants. I finish dressing quickly, tugging on a flannel but not bothering to button it. Then I grab my backpack and the battery lamp. Letty reaches for her pack.
“Ready?”
She nods before she follows me out the tent. Thunder cracks again, and Letty screams. I tug her to me.
“Sorry. I’m sorry,” she mumbles into my chest. Her trembling is unbearable. I don’t know what she’s apologizing for, but I walk us forward. I want to keep her pressed to me, but we won’t move fast enough with her wrapped under my arm. She must sense this as she slips from my side. “Just go.” She reaches for my hand, and I tug her along behind me, holding up the lamp to lead the way.
We haven’t made it ten feet before the rain pours from the sky. Thankfully, the heavy branches keep us relatively protected from the pelting drops. We race among the trees, Letty keeping up with me until we break into a small clearing with the old station. She shivers uncontrollably next to me as I fumble for the key hidden on the upper jamb. When I press the door open, she flings herself inside, tripping, and then scrambles to the wall opposite the door. The rain falls in earnest as the thunder and lightning increase in frequency. The storm is over us.
I drop my backpack and set the camp light on the floor. I want to turn it off to conserve the battery, but the fear in Letty’s eyes tells me to leave the soft glow on. I fall to my knees and crawl over to her. The old station has wood floors. Not hard wood, just uncovered boards. A single cot lines one wall while a metal desk and squeaky rolling chair stand on the other side of the room. The only other door in the place leads to a small bathroom. A kitchenette is next to the bathroom.
“There’s electricity here. I can go outside and find the switch.”
Her frightened eyes meet mine, wide and worried. “Please. Don’t leave me.”
I nod and continue to crawl closer. When I get to her, I shift to sit against the wall and slip an arm around her.
“Come here,” I whisper, forcing her pack off her back. She dips her head into my chest again. It isn’t enough. I need to distract her. I skim my hand down her side and then cup her hip. Repeating my command, “Come here.” I hoist her over my leg so she falls between my spread thighs. The wetness of the rain slicker soaks through my shirt, and if we don’t remove some of this wet clothing, the cold will be the new cause of shivers. I remove the jacket from her and shake it so some of the water releases. The inside is lined and warm, and I return the slicker over her like a blanket.
“Your shirt is soaked,” she says, and I press us forward. I tug the flannel plus T-shirt over my head and toss it to the side. My skin will warm her better anyway, I tell myself. She falls back against me, and my arms circle her waist.
Another roar of thunder. Another flash of light. Letty whimpers. My lips come to her neck, and I kiss her under her ear.
“Let me distract you.”
She nods, elongating her neck as she tips her head to the side. She has these fine hairs that curl along her nape, and they’ve teased me all day while she learned to throw an ax. I suck hard at her skin with my open mouth, marking her. She whimpers in response, and I lose control of my thoughts. I don’t hear the thunder or see the lightning. Only her. My hand roughly moves between her thighs.
“So warm,” I mouth into her skin, drawing my tongue down the side of her neck. Her knees spread, and I rub over the soft cotton covering her heat. I suck at her neck, latching on to the dip near those fine hairs. She whimpers under me, and I slip my hand under the waistband of her yoga pants, delving deeper to her center. My fingers brush over moist, lacy cotton.
“Fuck,” I mutter at her ear, and she shifts her hips to lower the pants a little, allowing me better access to her. She’s wearing another one of those thongs I found while rummaging in her backpack before we started this trip, so the material easily slips to the side, and my middle finger slides into her. She welcomes me by spreading her thighs wider. Her head tips back to my shoulder as she hums. She made the same noise last night.
“Always chirping.” I chuckle, nipping at her neck.
She bites her lip, and I worry she’ll stop making those sounds. I need the noise. I want to hear her satisfaction.
“Don’t you dare stop, Cricket,” I warn, adding a second finger to the first. Her head lolls forward as she moans.
“So full,” she whispers, and I smile, nipping her earlobe. My fingers slip back and forth, drenched in her essence.
“You’re so wet.”
“You do this to me.”
The comment startles me. There’s no denying I’m attracted to her, and her body’s response to me tells me she might feel the same. But this? This admission sounds like something more. Or am I projecting my feelings? Am I hoping for something…spontaneous?
I continue to coast in and out, adding my thumb to the nub outside her, the place I was so close to last night but didn’t dare to touch. Tonight, however, I’m all in, and there’s no going back. Her hips thrust forward, drawing my fingers into her. Softly, she moans, mumbles, and mutters. Her head rolls on my shoulder as she takes my fingers deeper and deeper.
“Giant,” she warns, humming along with my name on her lips, and then she clenches. Her knees come together, and she rides my hand pressed between her thighs. My fingers work her until she collapses. Her legs fall open as she relaxes, but I’m too worked up. I want this woman, and touching her wasn’t enough.
Quickly, I slip my fingers from her, the sound of slick suction and the scent of her fills our tight surroundings.
“Not enough, Letty,” I warn as I press at her shoulder blade to move her forward. She scrambles up to her knees and then falls to her hands, similar to the position when she tripped over the rock. I follow her and hold her hips, pressing her bare ass against the front seam of my jeans. I thrust forward, and Letty collapses to her elbows. She struggles to tug her pants to her knees with one hand and then slips them to her ankles.
“Letty?” I question although my chest hammers and my dick strains.
“Please,” she hisses. I’ve never done anything like this, taken a woman without regard, without thought, without knowing her a little better. But my only thought is how much I want in this woman. How spontaneous this act is. How raw, and wild, and uncontained. I’m grateful I left my belt behind when I fumble to undo my pants. Pushing the sides to my knees, I tug my briefs along with them. My dick twitches, slapping Letty on the ass. The warm skin-on-skin contact makes us both sigh.
I’m not a noisemaker during sex. I’ve always kept it quiet, but I have a feeling this woman is going to make me roar. I drag my tip along the seam of her ass and then lower, finding her soaked folds. As I coat the head of my dick, my legs tremble with anticipation. She’s more than ready for me, and I eagerly thrust into her. Letty makes her purr-like hum as I still, seated deep within her.
“Letty,” I rumble like a beast inside me has come unleashed. She moans in answer, and I exhale deeply. My God, she’s so warm, so tight, so wet. One arm wraps around her waist while my hand grips her hip. Looking down at our position, I watch myself slide free but keep the tip inside her. Then I rush forward, filling her until my pelvis hits her ass.
“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod.” Her breath hitches on each praise. As I pull back again, she follows me, greedy to keep me buried within her, and I don’t disappoint, but I tease. I draw out to the edge and then slam forward. She hums louder as her hands fist.
“Again.” The word echoes through the small room, and I repeat the motion. Skin slaps, grunts grow, and Letty clenches around me. My balls tighten. My lower back pinches, and I fill this woman with every drop of my seed. The only movement for a moment is me pulsing inside her as the largest orgasm I’ve ever known takes me.
I collapse over her, forcing us to the ground. It all happened too fast, and my breath comes ragged an
d restless. Quickly, I pull out of her and flip to my back. Staring up at the ceiling, I flop an arm over my forehead as my chest heaves, and stars dance before my eyes.
What just happened?
The weight of her eyes presses on my heated cheeks, and I roll my head to face her.
Please don’t let her be disappointed.
I don’t know why that’s my first thought, but when I find her eyes in the dimming glow of the battery light, she slowly smiles.
“So tired,” she whispers as she lays flat on her stomach, her head tilted in my direction. “Thank you,” she mutters before closing her eyes. She drifts off to sleep, but I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight. Not with this beautiful woman next to me who just breathed life back into my hollow lungs.
10
Cold night and shoulder
[Letty]
I’m drifting to sleep when Giant rolls to his side once again, giving me his back. The storm has passed, but a different one rumbles through my chest. I want to scoot into him and press against him, but I fight the urge. Actually, I’d like him to hold me, wrap his arms around me and draw me into his chest like he did before we left the tent. Still, I shouldn’t fool myself into thinking anything other than sex is happening between us, but it would be nice to be held for a few minutes before he dismisses me again—before he rolls to his side and forces a wall between us instead of his arms around me.
I remind myself he took care of me during the storm. He sensed my fear and tried to comfort me, tried to distract me. Maybe sex is simply a distraction for him. I wish I could be so casual. He’s the first man I’ve slept with since Hudson. I probably shouldn’t have slept with him, yet I wanted nothing more than to feel him inside me, blocking out the thunder and my thoughts. Pulling my knees up to my chest to add another barrier between us, I brush away the dangerous desires.
I wake to heavy footsteps on the decking outside the station, and Giant instantly rolls over me, covering me like a blanket while his eyes stay trained on the door. It swiftly opens, and a man stands just behind my head, pointing a gun at us.
“Fucking hell,” the man swears.
“Stand down, James,” Giant yells.
The man slips his gun into the back of his jeans. From my upside-down angle, I see he’s tall, leaner than Giant, and has more salt than pepper in his hair. A patch of scruff dusts his jaw, and his eyes match Giant’s—dark and dangerous—but intensely blue instead of brown.
Giant peels himself off me, and I press myself up slowly, shaking as I go. I’m not a fan of guns, and the reality of a man standing over me with one catches up to me. I twist and scoot back toward the wall where Giant and I first sat upon entering the station.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” the man named James asks as Giant kneels and then easily unfolds to stand to his full height. His pants are righted on him. It occurs to me that neither of us removed our boots during what we did last night. I curl my arms over my middle, not wishing to think of the raw sex we had, how much I enjoyed it, and how Giant then turned away from me again.
“I’m camping.”
James glances at me and back at Giant. “This isn’t a campground.”
“I fucking know that,” Giant snaps. “We were over by the stream, but a storm rolled in. It was too much for the tent.” I’m thankful he doesn’t rat me out by exposing my freak-out over the thunder.
The man steps forward and offers his hand. “I didn’t mean to scare you. As this oaf won’t introduce us, I’m James.”
“I thought you went by Ranger now,” Giant bites, clearly upset that James has approached me and holds out his hand. I reach up to shake it, and I’m surprised when he tugs me, forcing me upright to stand. His eyes roam down my body and then he turns to Giant. “I’m impressed.”
“You’re an ass,” Giant says, stepping forward and slipping an arm around my waist to drag me behind him.
“Uhm, excuse me, but the woman doesn’t need to be shoved around like a rag doll.”
James’s brows rise, and his mouth crooks up in the corner. “Oh man.” He chuckles, warm and rich, and not half as menacing as his overall appearance, which includes heavy black boots, like one would wear on a motorcycle, along with washed-out jeans and a leather jacket with a light gray crew-neck sweatshirt underneath.
“And you are?” James addresses me.
“Letty,” I say from behind Giant’s back at the same time Giant counters, “None of your business.”
“Don’t be like this,” the motorcycle man speaks to Giant.
“Then come home.” Giant’s gruff demand startles me. Are they friends? Related possibly? The longer I look, the more I see the resemblance. The shape of their noses. The set of their mouths. James turns his head away from Giant and stares out the open door.
“You know I can’t,” he whispers, and something in his voice resonates with me. Heartbreak. Loss.
“What are you doing here?” Giant questions again.
“I needed a break.” James meets Giant square in the face.
“You know I get that,” Giant responds, his voice softening as his head slowly shakes. He looks at me over his shoulder. “We’re set to go. The storm is over.”
His tone is curt, and I nod without a word, leaning down to pick up Giant’s jacket and his shirts. I hold the flannel out to him, and James’s brow lifts again. There’s a twinkle to his dangerous gaze. He’s correct in his assumptions. Giant and I had sex. Raw, unadulterated, dirty sex. I loved it even if I hate him a little this morning.
Giant slips on the flannel and balls up the T-shirt before shoving it in his backpack. He lifts one strap over his shoulder while picking up mine.
“James.” Giant gives the man a sharp nod and heads for the door.
“Nice meeting you,” I mumble as I pass James and exit the ranger station after Giant. We barely clear the porch steps when he finally speaks to me.
“I’ll take you back.” Something in his tone has my Spidey-senses rising, and I glare at his broad back as he leads us into the trees.
“Back to camp?” I clarify. He’ll escort me to the site by the stream and return for some unfinished business with James.
“Back down the mountain.”
I stop walking and cross my arms. “You’ll do no such thing.”
He spins and stalks back to me. “It isn’t safe if James is up here.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s my brother.”
“He can’t be the mayor,” I state, surprised at my judgmental tone but questioning whether a mayor would look like a motorcycle thug. “Is he the pub owner?”
“No, this is another brother.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Three and one sister, and none of this is relevant. Down the mountain we go,” he firmly states.
“Is this because of last night?” I blurt. “We had sex, and now you’re done with me.”
“What?” Giant’s eyes widen as his arms cross his chest. “No. No, I’m protecting you.”
“Well, the only person I feel threatened by right now is you.” I’m fuming without a real fuse. I don’t know why I’m so upset. Maybe it’s because deep down I’m not ready to leave the mountain or the man who brought me up here.
“Me?” Giant grumbles. “Now you’re afraid of me?” He’s aghast at the notion. His fists clench at his sides as he looks off into the distance a moment and then turns back to me with narrowed eyes. For the first time, he looks scary. “Forget it. I don’t need this headache. We’re going back.” He turns back for the woods, but I stand firm.
“That’s right, turn your back to me like you’ve done each night.”
Giant pauses and twists back to face me. “Woman, what are you talking about?”
“First night, we…” I point between us. “And then you give me your back.” My voice cracks, and I swallow, forcing unwanted tears to retreat. “And then last night, we…again…more…better…” I close my eyes, embarrassed to admit how
much last night meant to me. “And you just dismissed me.”
Giant doesn’t owe me anything, but I’d have thought he’d open up a little bit. Thought we’d continue to learn more about each other, discover each other. We did have sex after all, but maybe that’s why he’s ready to take me down the mountain. Sex? Check.
Giant’s brows pinch. “I didn’t dismiss you. We went to sleep.” He’s serious. Something in his tone tells me that holding me wasn’t even a thought. We finished, and he rolled to his side of the bed. How very Hudson of him.
“You know what? You’re right. Forget it.”
“Right. Down the mountain we go,” he states as he waves a hand to emphasize his point.
“No can do,” I say, brushing past him. “It hasn’t been three nights.”
“You’ve had enough nights.”
“Nope. I get one more, then we talk. I’m not leaving without fulfilling my part of the deal.”
“We talk?” he questions, pausing a reflective moment. His expressions shifts darker. “About the land.” His voice falters as realization dawns. The quieter tone concerns me more than his gruffness, but I’m not backing down. I need this property. I need the commission.
“Yes, the land,” I yell back at him. Should there be another reason to stay? He isn’t giving me one.
He shakes his head. “You’re delusional.”
“And you’re…you’re standoffish-ish.” It’s a weak retort. I don’t know why I say it. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not good with on-the-spot comebacks.
“I’d keep her if I were you.” I twist to find James leaning against a column holding up the overhang covering the small porch and realize we have an audience.
