by Bec McMaster
“Oh, God,” she moaned, wilting in his touch. His tongue darted over her sensitive flesh as if he knew exactly where she wanted to be touched. One finger slid inside her, and her whole body locked hard around it.
"Fuck," he groaned. Heat flared to life in his eyes.
Cupping her hips, he wiggled her panties down. The sensation made her eyes open wide, a hint of nervousness prickling her skin.
“It’s okay,” he whispered, kissing his way lower. “All you have to do is tell me to stop if you don't want to.”
His mouth nuzzled into the soft blonde curls at the base of her thighs as he encouraged her out of the water, her back pressed hard against the rock walls of the cavern. Riley couldn’t have denied him – or herself – if she’d wanted to.
A breathy cry died in her throat as his tongue darted into the slit between her thighs. Fingers clenching in his hair, she tried not to shudder, to lose her balance, as his hot tongue swept over her sensitive flesh. Giving a little wriggle, she felt her panties drop to her ankles, and then Wade was cupping her bottom, titling her pelvis toward his mouth as he sucked hard.
Riley nearly screamed. “God,” she whispered, looking guiltily toward the mouth of the cavern. If Jimmy heard her....
Wade suckled her clit, his tongue diving deep inside her. Slipping first one shoulder beneath her thigh then the other, he forced her legs wider, both thumbs sliding up to bare her to his touch, in a way that made her feel utterly vulnerable, completely exposed. And then he kissed her. Really kissed her, as if he were trying to lay waste to her. Riley's fingers curled in his hair, as if she could control it, even in some small way, but it was just a conceit. He controlled her. He gave her what she wanted. She was used to the type of men who took, but this was entirely outside her realm of experience, and it was getting her off in a major way. She was so close, every muscle in her body tensing, her toes curling a little. Just a little more....
The sensation of his stubble against her sensitive flesh undid her. Riley shoved her fist against her lips, trying to force back a scream. Wade took advantage, tonguing her deep, tearing her apart. Her eyes went wide as sensation streamed through her. All she could see were his blue eyes as he watched her, his mouth buried between her legs. The thought tore another orgasm through her until she was shuddering, her knees going out from under her. The world narrowed and she collapsed in his arms, whimpering gently as her body flinched at the invasion of cool water between her hot thighs.
Long moments of bliss. No thought. No pressure. Just sensation. The feel of a man’s arms cradling her, her head resting against his shoulder.
Wade cradled her from behind, breathing deep into her wet hair. His hips flexed, an earthy reminder that this was not done. The tip of his cock breached her clenched thighs, rode over the shivering flesh. Riley stilled. Another choice. Another moment that would change her life forever.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, his hand tracing her breast. “So strong. So wild. I want to tame you.”
“Do you think you can?”
"Maybe that's the fascination. Knowing what I want to do to you, and knowing that you can never be tamed." Their eyes met as she turned her head. He kissed her lips, let her taste the musk of her own body, then bit her lower lip, rubbing it between his teeth gently. There was a slight hesitation in him. A tension within the hard steel of his arms. “You don’t have to do this,” he told her bluntly, letting go of her lip.
A complex man. One who had given her every choice to turn away from him, as if he expected it. As if he was already steeling himself against it.
And she knew then what her choice was going to be.
Her hand slid between them, down the wet glide of his abdomen. Wade sucked in a harsh breath as her fingers wrapped around the silken head of his cock, then squeezed lightly.
“I know,” she replied.
The tension in his body changed. Fierce desire radiated in his voice. “So be it. Remember, this was your choice, and yours alone.” He bit her throat, her neck, then thrust his cock against her bottom.
Riley groaned, her hand fisting around the smooth skin. Wade shuddered, his teeth grazing her jaw. She loved that she could do this to him. Make him so vulnerable. Humanize him.
But he didn’t want to be humanized. He grabbed her hips, jerked her back against him. “I’m going to fuck you hard,” he whispered in her ear, biting the fleshy lobe. “I want you to know that. This is not about saving the boy, about what you owe me... This is just what you want. What I want. You want this, don’t you?” His hand tightened in her hair, creating a fist. “You want me?”
Desperate, harshly whispered words.
“Say it,” he hissed. His cock ground against her hips, the hair on his thighs tickling against her bare legs.
Riley’s nipples tightened. “Yes,” she whispered.
Some madness had taken over her mind, her flesh. She felt herself rubbing against him, his cock brushing between her thighs. Wade sucked in a sharp breath.
“No. Not like this.” He turned her around, forcing her to look at him. His blue eyes burned with need. “Look at me,” he snarled. “You look at me. You see me. Know that it’s me. Inside you.”
Riley’s back hit the rock, his fingers intertwining with hers. Water rushed down his body as he half-rose out of the water, his cock sliding between them, her legs parting around his hips. He pressed against her, the blunt head of his erection slipping inside her wet opening.
She’d almost expected him to thrust home, to shove himself inside her roughly. But he paused, a strange expression crossing his face. Hands clasping hers, he lowered his head slowly, their eyes meeting.
And then he kissed her.
Softly. Slowly. His mouth dancing over hers so lightly. Riley sucked in a sharp breath, trying to stifle a moan. The man knew how to kiss. She wanted to sink her hands into the thick mat of his black hair and draw him against her, but she was pinned to the rock, his own callused hands clenched in hers. All she could do was surrender.
Wade’s tongue darted inside her mouth. Tasting her. Tempting her. Riley kissed him back, their tongues dueling for one precarious second. He still wouldn’t kiss her hard enough, as if he wasn’t sure how much of himself he could give. How much she would let him take.
“More,” she whispered, the word a caress against his wet mouth.
His hips rocked, another inch of his cock spreading her. Riley gasped, her fingers clenching around his at the shock of the invasion. He was a big man, and it had been a long time, but she bit his lip, rocked her hips. Anything for more. She needed him to take her. To give her everything he could.
“More.”
Another inch. His hips thrusting lightly against hers. So in control. Riley threw her head back. “Please,” she whispered.
His lips slid down her throat, teeth grazing along her windpipe. “God, you’re so fucking tight.” A shiver ran over his skin and his elbows bent, his chest pressing against hers. He pinned her to the wall, brushing his lips against her throat. Tasting her. The rasp of his stubble sending shivers through her. “Damn you.”
He thrust deep, filling her to the core. Riley gasped, her voice echoing in the cavern. Their bodies fused, his branding hers within, and she shuddered, the tremble running all the way through her. She was so close. Just the thought of what he was doing pushed her to the edge.
His mouth found hers, taking it roughly. Riley met it with a hunger she couldn’t hide. She felt like she was chasing something she'd never known before. Oh, she'd fucked herself to orgasm with her own fingers, but this was more. This was... being consumed. Being eaten alive by a force she couldn't control. And wanting more. Always more. Another long, slow slide as he withdrew, then thrust hard, driving her back against the wall.
“Yes,” she whispered, clinging to him.
He took her mouth, a punishing kiss that owned her. Each slow thrust of his hips was punctuated by the dart of his tongue. Wade kissed as if he made love to her entire body, as if the thrust of his
hips were but one part of it, as if he couldn’t get enough. And she burned, writhing beneath his body, pinned to the wall with his exquisite strength.
Her teeth left white crescent-moon imprints on his shoulder as the heat inside her started to tighten, to push her closer to an edge she wanted to throw herself off. It was like rappelling, only this time, there were no ropes to break her fall, and the terror of that unknown leap only heightened all of the sensation.
Wade drank of her mouth, his hips thrusting urgently, as if he could sense it. His cock rode over something sensitive deep inside, and Riley shuddered.
It spiraled through her, as hot and sudden as an electrical storm, lightning strikes shattering across her nerves. She cried out, dug her teeth against the carved column of his throat, her fingers clenching in his. His hard body anchored hers, driving her against the cavern wall, forcing the storm to build within her until she was shuddering with an override of pleasure as she came. She could feel the tension in his arms, the way his body shook. Knew he was close.
Each thrust became hard, violent. His face buried against her throat, Wade came with a harsh exhalation, a soft cry. His hips flexed as if he sought to drag out the pleasure, his breath rasping over the sensitive skin of her throat.
The world stilled. All she could feel was the burning brand between her thighs where Wade’s hips were nestled, and the love-bruises on her skin. The silence of the cavern was punctuated by harsh gasps, and the steady drip of water from her hair.
Wade let her hands go, his own sliding under her ass. “Christ...” he whispered hoarsely. “Christ.”
Bit by bit, the world started to intrude. And with it, guilt.
As if he sensed it, could feel her body withdrawing from his, he looked up through passion-glazed eyes. “Just let me,” he murmured. “Just let me hold you for a minute.”
Then he curled his strong arms around her, sinking down into the water. The cold bit at her in places and Riley wilted in his arms, her wet hair strewn across his shoulder as she hesitantly rested her cheek on it. Her heart was pounding. Bad enough admitting that she was attracted to him – but a fuck was a fuck. This... It left her feeling extremely uncomfortable, as if she was letting in something that she hadn't agreed to.
Or maybe even wanting a little of it herself.
It was easier if Riley told herself just to enjoy the sensation, the aftermath of being deliciously taken. Slowly, she trailed her fingers down his arm, tracing a water droplet and marveling at the powerful strength of his body.
A body that held her with exquisite gentleness, his own hands stroking her lower back and spine. For a moment, she could almost forget who held her in his arms. A part of her yearned to stay there, to let him hold her like that forever. Someone who admired her strength, who not only let her help him but expected her to pick up a gun and watch his back. It was only there, in his arms, that he asked for softness, asked her to be his lover.
And she liked that feeling.
Riley stared at the water patterns, lulled into a hypnotic bliss by the stroke of his hands. They chased away the guilt, the doubts, and left in their wake one burning question.
Why did it have to be Wade?
Six
HE KNEW THE moment she withdrew from him.
Brushing at his hands, Riley swam backward, cold water chasing over his skin where her body had been nestled. Glancing down, her cheeks stained with pink, she started wading toward the shore.
The smooth line of her back lifted out of the water, then her hips, the pear-shaped curve of her ass. A woman’s body, sleek and lithe, with just enough softness to it for a man to admire. In another time, another place, where the rationing of food wasn’t as strictly controlled, she might have held a fuller, hourglass figure. A thought, swiftly detailed, flashed into his mind of taking her there. South. Letting her eat and drink to her heart’s content, whilst he pushed her down amongst the pillows and made love to her.
A fool’s dream.
Lucius looked away, slapping the water with his knuckles. From the stiffness in her shoulders, he knew regret was coming in to ride her hard. She’d fucked a monster. And from the bite mark on his shoulder, the soft cries she’d whimpered in his ear, she’d liked it.
“No regrets,” he said softly. “This was your choice, darlin’.”
He’d made sure of that.
A withering glance over her shoulder stirred his anger. Both careless and yet fully aware of her nudity, she wrung out her panties and wiggled into them, giving him another view of that full ass. One hand cupped her breasts as she fought with the wet cotton, trying to drag it up over her long legs with one hand.
“Christ,” he muttered. “It ain’t as if I haven’t seen it... or had my fucking mouth all over it.”
Heat blistered her cheeks. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Lucius stalked forward, the water sluicing off his body. She glanced down then tore her gaze away, and his scowl darkened. His cock bobbed like a battering ram, barely sated. Years without a taste of female flesh, and it wanted more.
Hell, he wanted more.
But more than this.
Good enough to fuck once, but not good enough to mean anything to her. And that thought was a damn minefield.
You knew this couldn’t be.
You know you can’t have a woman.
But the sudden yearning took him by surprise. Grief hit him like a punch to the throat, an emotion he thought he’d long since dealt with. He’d walked away from Abbie, from his family... from everything that had ever meant anything to him. He’d even put a gun in his mouth, and thought about pulling the trigger.
Eight years should have been long enough to come to terms with the choices he’d made. Taking the gun out, he’d changed his mind. He’d do it one day, he’d pledged, but he’d see McClain in Hell first. McClain, Colton and Cane.
Vengeance was all he had left to live for.
And then... what? He’d never thought about it before, but the thought was a sudden knife to the chest. Years of hunting for any sign of McClain, following whispers and rumors. Years of fending for himself, hunting alone. He’d gotten good at pretending he didn’t give a damn, but the human part of him – the man – longed for company.
And not just any company. He shot Riley a guarded look, horrified at the direction his thoughts were taking. One hit of human flesh and he was like a goddamn craver, strung out for the next hit. Wanting her to turn to him, to smile at him like she meant it, to stroke his face in a tender way. A need so strong it scraped him raw. Maybe this had been a mistake, for now he knew exactly what he was missing out on.
It wasn't just a dull memory anymore.
He choked the urge down ruthlessly. He had a job to do. There was no point even thinking about the future until McClain and the pair of wargs were dead, and no matter how much he liked her spirit, Riley wasn't going to be part of that future.
Riley dragged her shirt on – his shirt – and wrung the water out of her hair. The black cotton fell to mid-thigh, draping her lush curves in fabric. Lucius’s gaze ran down her. He could smell his own scent on her skin. Her throat was grazed from his teeth, and the rough stubble along his jaw. He couldn’t have marked her up any better. Some part of him had wanted his own brand on her.
A longing he’d best bury deep. It was time to focus his mind on the job in front of him. He’d thought it half-over, an ambush where he’d killed all of Cane’s men, then locked him and Colton inside a cabin. One flick of the match and the house had burned merrily. He’d even toasted a fucking rabbit in the coals. Got himself drunk-sick on the bottle of vodka he’d been saving for the occasion.
Obviously, they’d gotten out somehow. This time, he was going to put a bullet between their eyes, or better yet, take an axe and decapitate them both. Make sure they were dead.
But McClain first.
Riley glanced over her shoulder as if she sensed him watching her, her dark eyes shadowed and oblique. Lucius realized he was standin
g there naked, just staring at her. Like a desperate man.
Forcing a dark little smile onto his face, he snatched his jeans off the sandy floor and shook them out before slowly dragging them over his wet legs. The worn denim was butter-soft and fit him like a glove. Taking extra care with the buttons, he kicked her own jeans up into his hand and held them out for her.
“It’s the least I can do,” he said, with mock gentility. “Considering I was cock-deep in you a few minutes ago.”
She snatched the jeans out of his hands with a thin-lipped look. “You’re an asshole.” She dragged them on, fumbling them over her tanned thighs.
Time to shake out of this mood. He’d fucked her. Gotten what he wanted. That was enough. It had to be. Still, his gaze stayed with her, enjoying the sight of her naked skin for as long as he could before he shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“No doubt.”
She wiggled the jeans over her hips and that was the end of it. No sign of their encounter, beyond the red marks at her throat and the aching echo of her teeth in the heavy muscle of his shoulder.
Knotting her long hair into a plait, she tied it off with a strand of cotton she picked from the sleeve of her shirt. Brown eyes met his. “You don’t have to wait for me.”
“Your shirt’s gaping,” he told her, excuse enough. But the desire for human company – her company – lingered. Pathetic son of a bitch. He scraped a hand over his tired face. He obviously needed more sleep; the few hours he’d snatched were evidently not enough.
Riley made a growling sound in her throat and pushed past. “You breathe a word of this, and you’ll regret it.”
“Who am I goin’ to tell?” The sad fucking truth.
He followed her up the sandy passage, away from the pool and the play of memories.
The kid was awake, trying to drag himself into a sitting position with a wince. Bruises blackened both his eyes, and someone had broken his nose.
Lucius peered at him. “You look like a raccoon.”
The kid went red. Not a great look with his flaming hair. “Fuck you.”
