Within Range

by Em Petrova

  “I came with Nash and Linc.”

  She couldn’t imagine the worry he and Nash must have been under all the way to the hospital. Linc was in bad shape.

  Reaching over, she caught Shaw’s hand in her own. “At least he’s stable and will get top-notch care in DC.”

  “He fucking better.” His lips were set in a firm, no-bullshit line, and a shiver trickled through her, like someone squeezing a wet sponge over her head. What she knew of Shaw when he was friends with her ex—that he was capable of taking care of whatever business was thrown his way—was amplified since he’d gone from Texas Ranger to Ranger Ops.

  She wouldn’t ever want to be on this man’s bad side—she’d seen firsthand what he was capable of with the guy at the park. The expression Shaw wore told her without a doubt that if Linc didn’t receive what he needed as far as care went, Shaw would be paying somebody a visit.

  In the dark of night.

  She tightened her hold on his hand as she led him to where her car was parked in the doctors’ lot. When they reached her vehicle, he turned to her. “Mind if I drive?”

  She shook her head. If driving gave him what he needed—control, distraction—she was all for it. She rummaged in her handbag for her keychain.

  When he closed his fingers around it, he stared into her eyes. “You should always have your keys out and at the ready so you’re not standing in plain view and giving somebody more chance to attack you.”

  She blinked. “I think we’re relatively safe here in the lot. Even at night, there’s plenty of lighting.”

  He gave a noncommittal grunt and opened her door for her first. She slid in, and then he climbed behind the wheel. Drawing her hand to his lips, he brushed a kiss over her knuckles that seared a scorching-hot path to her belly… and lower.

  “Everything is going to be okay this time,” he said.

  Her stomach pitched at his words. “I made a bad choice in men the last time, and I have no intention of making it twice.”

  What could only pass as a smile ghosted over his rugged features. Then he released her hand and put the car in drive.

  When a siren sounded, he swung his head toward it, but they were too far away from the source.

  “You know you can talk to me, right?” she asked.

  “Already been debriefed.” He gave her another smile.

  “Okay… While I love seeing that smile on your face, I can’t help but be a little worried about you. Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “I’m on American soil, there’s an American flag flying on practically every city block and we all got home with our lives. I’m about to stand under the hot water for half an hour and then I’m going down on my girl and lick her pussy till she’s soaking.”

  Her insides clutched at his words, and her nipples drew up tight.

  His blue eyes burned her way. “And while she’s still coming, I’m going to push my hard cock into her and fuck her” —he drew out the words— “till she’s hoarse from screaming.”

  After a pounding heartbeat, she found her voice. “Then what?” She sounded out of breath.

  “A pizza.”

  She tossed her head back and laughed. Damn, it felt good too. She was happy to see the man she loved less conflicted—dare she say carefree?

  No, she wouldn’t go that far. He still bore creases between his brows that seemed etched there since the last time they’d been together. She couldn’t even guess at what extreme measures he’d taken to get Linc back.

  In time, she hoped he grew to trust her enough to tell her these things if it granted him ease.

  “Tell me what you’ve been doing since I saw you.” He sliced a heavy-lidded glance her direction.

  She tucked her knees together to quell the need he raised in her. “I’ve sort of forced a project on my mother.”

  “What sort of project?”

  “She had a hoarder room.”

  He grunted a laugh. “A hoarder room?”

  “Yes. I didn’t realize how awful it was, because I never have a reason to go into that space. So we’ve been slowly sorting, purging and organizing. Just when I think we’re getting to the finish line, we unearth more boxes of junk, though now I think we’re almost finished. She was supposed to do a few more things this week, but I have a feeling she’s been off playing tennis with her girlfriends at the club.”

  “Can’t blame her.”

  “It’s no fun, that’s true. But it has given me something to do.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, Atalee. I know you’ve been worrying.”

  She nodded. “Now I’m looking forward to…” she ran her finger suggestively over his palm, “pizza.”

  “I’m ready to eat.” He arched a brow, turning her inside out with want. They couldn’t reach his house fast enough and when they got out, she hurried to keep up with his long legs. She proved too slow for him, and he grabbed her into his arms, making her squeal, and carried her through the door.

  He crushed his mouth over hers, steering her through the house, managing not to bump into any furniture and peeling off her workwear at the same time.

  Inside his bathroom, he stopped, and with hands on her upper arms, said, “Step out of those panties.”

  The order sent slick need between her legs, and she quivered as she hooked her thumbs in her panties and let them fall.

  His gaze, hot and hungry, washed over her. Bare naked, she stepped up to him and took hold of his shirt hem. He watched her intensely as she stripped it over his head and then went for his belt buckle, not the one that bore his name as she was used to, but a simple military issue. The front of his cargo pants swelled outward to meet her touch as she lowered his zipper.

  As soon as her fingers moved over his erection, he let out a groan. She branded him with her touch, following the coiled length in his boxers to the tip and then freeing it from his underwear.

  “Step out of those pants and boxers,” she ordered.

  A smile tipped the corner of his mouth but vanished as soon as it appeared when he bent to untie his boots and kicked the entire mass of clothing to the corner of the bathroom.

  “I hate to tell you to take off your glasses—they’re so damn sexy.”

  Pleasure ran over her as she slipped the frames off her face and set them safely on the counter.

  “Turn on the shower.” His command rolled off his lips, rolling over her as well. Nipples puckered, she turned her back to him and made a show of leaning over to switch on the water, jutting her backside his direction.

  “Damn, I’m gonna claim that ass of yours one of these days. I know you’ve never been touched there.”

  She went still, heart beating loudly over the rush of water flowing into the shower. Johnny hadn’t been all that into sex after marriage and he surely wouldn’t have asked for anal sex.

  The idea of it with Shaw, though… Her breaths came faster.

  When he planted his callused hands on her waist, spreading his fingers down over her belly and then lower, sinking his fingers into the curls on her mound, she leaned back against his hard chest with a sigh of pleasure.

  His hard cock pressed against her ass, and he growled low in his throat. “You don’t know what fighting does to a man. I’ve been hard a dozen times since walking away from you, and there’s so much cum built up in my balls that I’m going to keep my dick in you a long time.”

  Each word rumbled past her ear sent new fire to her pussy, and she wiggled against him. He lashed an arm around her waist and drew her back as he eased one hand down to cup her pussy.

  Juices squeezed from her. He ran a finger down her seam to her drenched hole and back up to her clit, taking his time to drive her crazy. Breathing fast, she widened her stance to give him total access. When he dipped a fingertip into her pussy, she flooded again.

  Suddenly, he lifted her over the lip of the shower and under the spray. Water poured over her hair and down her shoulders, the warmth zigzagging over her curves. Shaw stepped in
behind her, flattening her to the wall. With his big body trapping her and his hard lips hovering over hers, she was close to coming.

  She looped her hand around his nape and pulled him down.

  * * * * *

  Shaw’s mind skipped over and over—soaked, she needs me, taste her. He let himself go and allowed only sensations and emotions to take over. On duty, he was a machine, following orders and sticking to protocol. But here, alone with Atalee, they were free.

  He planted himself between her thighs and reached to the ledge for the soap. The pump dispenser came in handy, and he prided himself on that decision on his last shopping trip.

  With a palm full of soap, he looked into her eyes before very pointedly rubbing his soapy hands together. She trembled and bit into her lower lip, tugging at the flesh in a way that told him she was on edge.

  Fuck, it turned him on. He’d keep her riding that ledge as long as possible before he let her come.

  Starting at her shoulders, he ran his hands in small circles down her chest to her breasts, circling each nipple until it puckered into a hardness he ached to feel on his tongue. Then lower—to her stomach, splaying over her hips and finally he dipped one hand between her legs.

  He soaped her pussy with slow movements that were driving her wild. She arched upward, and he latched his mouth onto her neck, nibbling up and down as he eased one finger and then two into her tight heat.

  She clamped around his invasion, almost sucking him in. He plunged his fingers higher, feeling her drench him with juices again. “Give me your mouth,” he grated out.

  She tipped her head up, and their lips collided in a long, tongue-tangling kiss as he plunged his fingers into her again and again and again. She rose onto tiptoes, emitting tiny moans into his mouth. He hardened another fraction.

  He slipped his thumb over her clit, depressing it lightly. She cried out and curled forward as her first orgasm hit.

  But there were many more to be had.

  He drew it out with soft flicks of his thumb and finished by pumping his fingers in a slow rhythm as she came down from her high. As she slumped against the wall, he gave her a crooked smile and reached for the soap again.

  This time he scrubbed himself from head to toes, washing all the grime of days in the field down the drain. With his cock jutting out, he reached for her once more.

  As he lifted her against him, she wrapped her arms and legs around him. His cock head rubbed at her slick folds, and she rocked downward, taking him inside her in one quick glide.

  His balls throbbed, tucked tight against her body, and he planted a hand on her ass to hold her in place as he began to move.

  He needed all the control he could get.

  “Shaw,” she breathed against his lips. Love shone in her eyes.

  “I’m never giving you up again.”

  “I love you.”

  Her words hit him. His heart swelled and his cock lengthened as the first jet of cum shot up. He gripped her tight and pumped out another. She tightened around him with her own orgasm, and her throaty cry echoed off the shower walls.

  His release went on for what felt like minutes, with his mind floating in euphoria and his woman in his arms. He dipped his tongue between her lips, and she kissed him back as they came down together.

  Suddenly, all his sleepless nights caught up to him, and he sagged. He lifted her off his cock with another kiss promising more as soon as he recovered and let her slide down to her feet.

  She dug her fingers into his shoulders, kneading at his sore muscles. He issued a groan and let his forehead drop to the wall over her head.

  “Let’s get out,” she said.

  “You sapped the last of my energy.”

  “I plan to sap a lot more, so grab those towels and take me to bed.”

  They managed to towel off and make it to his bed which, thanks to his cleaning lady, had clean sheets. When he collapsed onto the mattress, his eyes instantly shut.

  Then he felt it.

  Atalee’s hot mouth moving over his thighs.

  When she reached his balls, gently mouthing him, he tangled his fingers into her hair and guided her lips up and over his hard cock.

  * * * * *

  She knew what love wasn’t—she’d lived that once before. And looking at Shaw propped against the sofa with his long legs stretched in front of him eating pizza, she knew what it was.

  After her failed marriage, she imagined herself living a single life, working, finding exciting hobbies to busy herself—and taking a lover now and then to break up the monotony.

  Never did she believe she would find something that felt like this… so right.

  As Shaw brought his slice of extra-meat topping pizza to his lips, she watched him. God, he was even hot as hell when he ate. That chiseled jaw moved in all the ways that would drive a woman insane with want.

  She tucked her legs up as she reached for a second slice.

  “You need to catch up. I’m on my fourth.”

  “I didn’t just slay dragons and you did.”

  He cocked his head. “You do every day, baby doll. Don’t you realize how much you help people?”

  Pride rose up, but she also let out a giggle. “You never sat on my couch long enough to talk through anything and know how much I can help.”

  “We don’t need a couch. We take care of it in bed.”

  Warmth slithered through her, and she smiled before taking a bite. The garlic and tomato flavors mixed on her tongue, and she enjoyed each bite. She enjoyed the view of her man more.

  “I want to take you out,” he said out of the blue.

  She straightened. “Okay.”

  “What do you say about heading to the ranch with me?”

  “I’d love that. I haven’t done anything outdoors except run in a while.”

  “My dad’s still got a few horses. We could ride out to the creek. Pretty deep in some places, and in one, a natural dam makes a pool big enough for swimmin’.” He wagged his brows. “Maybe skinny-dippin’.”

  She grinned, but her smile eased into an expression of concern when he gave a wide yawn that seemed to encompass his entire body, right down to his curling bare toes.

  “You’re still exhausted.”

  “Yeah, it was worse than hell week as a Navy Seal, from what I hear of the Seals. No sleep, full out tests at every turn.”

  Reaching over, she placed a hand on his. “But you came out on top.”

  “We weren’t leaving till we got Linc back.” He yawned again.

  “Why don’t you hit the sack and I’ll put the pizza away.”

  “Do you promise to come lie next to me for a bit?”

  Love bloomed in her core. “I’ll be right in.”

  After she watched him get off the floor with surprising grace for a man of his size, she closed the lid of the pizza box and padded to the kitchen on bare feet wearing only his T-shirt. She put the box into the fridge and placed their glasses in the sink. By the time she got to the bedroom, she stopped in the doorway, staring at the huge special ops man face down on the mattress, dead to the world.

  A smile touched her lips even as his light snore touched her heart. It frightened her how much she loved Shaw. If something ever happened to him, if by chance he didn’t come back one day…

  She closed the door on those thoughts and tiptoed to the bed. As soon as she curled up against his side, he flipped over enough to anchor an arm over her. She wasn’t exactly tired but being close to a sleeping man made her drowsy even as his scents worked under her skin and stirred her libido.

  Her eyes wandered over the scar on his chest she could see a hint of. Shaw carried so much on his shoulders. As a therapist, she might bring up the option of resigning from Ranger Ops.

  He’d have more calm on some levels, but she also knew he’d return to the Texas Rangers, which dealt with their share of crimes. Why couldn’t she have fallen in love with an accountant? Somebody who came home in the evening and kissed her at the door… play
ed baseball in the back yard with their children.

  Under her hand, his skin was warm steel. And she knew if she shook him awake, he had to ability to be wide-eyed and alert in a blink, because he was trained to. She followed the line of his shoulder down his arm, over the bulge of biceps and the cords and veins snaking to his wrist. So powerful, so tender. The juxtaposition had her thighs flexing together to stave off her need.

  He needed his sleep.

  But she needed him, to turn to her and touch her and make her feel loved before he went off again on another mission.

  He gave a heavy stutter of breath, and in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to wake him from the sleep he so badly needed. She cuddled him close.

  * * * * *

  When daylight broke through Shaw’s eyelids, he woke instantly. Leaning up on his elbows, he looked around. His bed, his room, his house.

  No danger.

  No Atalee. Where was she?

  Hell. It all rushed back. He’d promised her a date and then passed out for hours on her. Not the kind of impression he wanted to leave with her regarding their relationship. If he was going to keep her—and he goddamn well was—then he needed to step it up.

  Jumping out of bed, he reached for some clothes—jeans, T-shirt and socks. After brushing his teeth, he grabbed his cowboy boots and hat on the way out of his room. “Baby doll?” he called out. “Atalee?”

  He found her sitting on the couch swiping through images on her phone. She looked up with a smile and he was relieved to see no darkness in the depths of her beautiful eyes. He leaned in and kissed her. She moved into the caress, raising a moan from him.

  “What are you doing?” he asked when he broke the kiss.

  “Looking at things to help my mom finish organizing this room of hers. We planned to finish it over the weekend. If we don’t display everything in a way she can see what she has, she’ll only go buy like twenty more mascaras and stuff them in some box where she’ll never find them again.”

  He sank down next to her. “What do you say we eat some cold pizza for breakfast and then get to the ranch?”

  She giggled. “You just want to get to the skinny-dippin’ part, don’t you?”