by Meg Maguire
“I want it so bad.”
Not half as bad as she did. She felt parched, as if Ty were the only thing that could quench the ache. Her body screamed for her to go to him, to fix this strange transgression, stop being a voyeur, join this man, her partner, and explore every inch of what he was offering. Her mouth was a desert, her hands shaky.
“Last chance, Katie.” Ty’s arm pumped hard, his hips tensed and eager.
She held her tongue. She was certain that if she tried to speak nothing would come out, anyway. Before her, beyond the camera, Ty was coming undone.
“Oh, Katie…” His head rolled back, the muscles of his chest and abdomen clenched one last time, and then—
Nothing.
He stopped. His hand stilled and even on the tiny digital screen, Kate could make out the trembling of his fingers. After a few panting breaths, he hiked his shorts back up his thighs and over his erection and stood. Kate stood, as well, lowering the camera. She saw him in all the color and intensity of reality again, and the sheen of sweat made his body look at once powerful and desperate. His eyes were lit up bright and hot as the fire. She smelled him, as well—his need. He’d suffused their tiny, shared space with the musk of raw sex.
“I hope you’re happy,” Ty said, breathless. He barely broke eye contact as he bent down for his jeans and tugged them back on, rethreaded his belt with an air of aggressive finality. He turned and gripped the shelf above the stove with both hands, seeming to fight to regain his composure. Or his dignity.
Kate shivered, too shaken to respond. She set the camera on the card table and clasped her hands to hide their shaking. Across the room, the muscles of Ty’s back flexed, and the motion of his ribs told her just how quick his breaths were coming. The rush of conflict and arousal had fled her bloodstream and she felt uncomfortable now, shifty. Her jeans had only half-dried and their dampness made her skin crawl. She got up and dug through the frame pack for her nylon hiking pants and changed into them.
Ty turned around after a couple of minutes’ recovery. There was a cocky, threatening quality to his face when he stared at her, and it caught her off guard.
“You hungry, Katie?” It sounded like a double entendre at first, but he passed her to rummage in the pack, split her orange in two with his hunting knife. He handed her the larger half.
“Thanks.” She took it distrustfully, holding it in both hands like the spoils of the last couple of hours’ strange, tiny war. Or perhaps it was a peace offering. She ran her thumbnail around the inside of the rind, hypnotizing herself with the activity so she could ignore Ty, standing a few feet away with his back to her.
Her body hummed. The throbbing of her pulse extended beyond her throat and heart and wrists—she felt it everywhere. Her eyes darted to the camera, the unassuming black device looking like Pandora’s box, a bringer of secrets and truths and the regret that came hot on their heels. She swallowed. The mental image of what Ty had just shown her was indelible. No matter what did or didn’t happen from this moment forward, it would stay with her. Haunt her, punish her. It would punish her for not trusting him to begin with, and haunt her with what she’d chosen to miss out on for the sake of her pride and anger.
TY WANDERED TO THE WINDOW to check on the storm. Against the glass the snowflakes tumbled, the biggest he’d ever seen, and he’d seen some serious snow since he’d left Australia. Staring at the flakes whirling in the wind, he tried to zone out, to make his mind go blank so he could begin to get over the ache pounding between his legs and strangling his heart.
Clearly all the time he and Kate had spent pretending to be indifferent to one another’s bodies had been building up to this. Only a few short hours ago they’d not even kissed, and now he’d been within a dozen strokes of coming in front of her. On camera. She could be ruthless when she was after something, but what had just gone on was beyond that—a side of Kate Ty hadn’t been prepared for.
He did trust her, of course. He’d trusted her with his life without a moment’s hesitation countless times in the past couple of years, and he trusted her not to use that video against him, no matter how pissed she might be right now. Ruthless or not, she was a good woman. A good person. Ambitious, no doubt, but not a heartless opportunist by any stretch of the imagination.
It had been an undoubtedly creepy exchange, though, indicative of how desperate they’d become in such a short time, but so painfully different from how they’d always been, as a pair, up until this point.
Ty had been on the opposite end of a camera from Kate hundreds of times, but they’d always been on the same side. He didn’t like this unexpected new power dynamic one bit. The competitive streak in him wanted to see the conflict through and to emerge the victor, but being pitted against Kate made him sick to his stomach. He wished there was a second chair so he wasn’t doomed to stand. He wanted them back on par. He wanted normality restored. He wanted his partner back and he wanted her now, period.
7
“SAY HELLO TO THE VIEWERS at home, Katie.”
Kate glanced up from the bed, turning her eyes from the musty deer hunting magazine to the blinking red light where Ty’s eye should have been. He was lounging in the folding chair with his legs crossed, camera fixed on her. They hadn’t spoken in nearly an hour and the sky outside had grown dark, leaving only the stove for light.
During the silence Kate had calmed, though the image of Ty’s naked body and intimate actions seemed burned onto her eyes, lingering like a sunspot wherever she looked.
“So tell me, Katherine Jean Somersby,” Ty said in a talk-show tone. “What’s the most challenging part of being trapped in a shack in the middle of nowhere with hunky survival show host Dom Tyler?”
“Losing my job,” she snarled, trying to ignore him and refocus on the incredibly boring article she’d been reading.
He lowered the lens. “Kate.”
“What?”
“This sucks.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. But I’m not the one who landed us in Saskatchewan, if you’ll recall. That was your dart.”
“You know what I mean,” he said. “This sucks. Us, like this. Why are we being like this?”
“I’m already sick of this conversation, Ty. There’s nothing left for us to say to each other that we didn’t cover already.”
He set the camera on the rickety card table and walked over to sit beside her, his weight making the bed creak, and sink and tilting her against him.
“I did what you asked,” he murmured.
She didn’t reply.
“Was that really just a test, Kate? Or did you want that?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know…. Sometimes I reckon you want that. Like when we kissed, before you freaked out on me. But other times, I don’t know… In light of how little time you insist we’ve got left as partners, I feel like I may as well tell you now that I want it.”
She couldn’t resist the bait. “Yeah?”
He leaned in close to rest his chin on her shoulder, his mouth very close to her ear. “Yeah.”
“For how long?”
“I dunno…forever. And it’s gotten worse the longer we’ve been a team,” he said. “I see.”
“I think you feel that way, too, Katie.”
“Oh do you?”
“Yeah.”
She mustered a small, contemptuous laugh, but her heart wasn’t in it.
“Am I right?”
She exhaled. “Yeah, you’re right.”
He sat up straight, glanced around the cabin as if contemplating the next logical step. “Well,” he said, clapping his hands with finality. “We ought to do something about it, then.”
Kate raised an eyebrow. “Oh, ought we?”
“Yeah. And no more dodgy power games.”
She held her breath as he shifted to face her, cupping a hand over the back of her neck. He turned her head, leaned in and kissed her. A soft kiss, and brief. Heartbreaking. Kate’s private synapses had just begun firing again wh
en he pulled away to say, “I know you hate me a little bit right now.”
“Yes,” she agreed, the word airy and vacant with distraction.
“I know you hate me, but I’m not apologizing for my decision about your job.”
Her stomach squirmed.
“Maybe we should treat this experience as a therapy session,” Ty went on.
“What do you mean?”
“Would you like to smack me around?”
Kate blinked. “God, that’s kinky.”
“No, not like that. Unless that’s what you’re into,” he added, the corners of his mouth twitching. “No, just…give me a slap. It might make you feel better.”
“That’s a stupid idea.”
“Go on. Smack me. You did it before and I bet it felt pretty bloody good.”
She crossed her arms over her middle. “No.”
“C’mon. I dare you. You just watched me beat off an hour ago, for God’s sake.”
She flinched at his brazen acknowledgment. “Not all the way.”
“So let’s see your balls, then. I dare you,” he repeated.
“That’s infantile.”
“That’s us,” Ty said, which was true.
“Fine,” she submitted, and before he could respond she slapped him hard—as hard as she had that afternoon—right across the mouth.
“Bloody hell.” He grimaced. “I bit my tongue…. Okay, good one. Do it again, now.”
“No.” Kate tried to keep the angst up but her laughter gave her away and dissolved her combative feelings. Like a hard drink, Ty’s proximity wrecked her defenses. He’d always been her favorite vice, and it felt too good when they were like this to let rational thought get in the way.
“Come on,” he said. “Leave a mark.”
“I’m not hitting you again.”
“What are you, chicken?”
“What are you, ten?” she said softly, and gave him the tiniest slap on the cheek. Then another that earned her one of those smiles that melted Kate like a spring thaw. She took his jaw in her hands and kissed him. He let her lead for a few fleeting moments before he tilted his head and deepened it, until Kate felt the forceful glide of his tongue between her lips. She opened herself and let him explore. God, that mouth. She’d lain awake so many nights trying to imagine this…. His palms felt warm and rough on her neck, his voice a low hum full of hunger. The kiss deepened, growing needier and harsher. She hoped the rest of his body would feel this right—raw and gruff and fearless. She hoped she might be about to find out.
She pulled back an inch. “Let me kiss you back.”
He complied and Kate got lost in him, tasting and exploring and getting herself drunk on him. She tore her lips from his to kiss his ear, his throat, his collarbone. A low moan rumbled from his chest as she dragged her short nails down his arms. Beneath the thin cotton of his shirt she felt the raised scar on his bicep where she’d given him stitches two years ago. She dragged her tongue along his neck, wanting to memorize this man she knew so intimately in so many ways.
His hands held her shoulders, tight and possessive. “Christ, Kate.”
With a swing of her leg she straddled him, tangling her fingers in his messy hair. She felt energy crackling between their faces, saw fire in his eyes. “I wanted to watch you come earlier,” she whispered.
Ty smirked. “I wanted to let you…. But that wasn’t about us. This—” he said, grabbing her hips and pulling her tight against his waist. “This is us.” His mouth crashed down to take hers. “As long as you’re touching me,” he said against her lips, “I’ll do anything you ask.”
“Ty,” she moaned.
He smiled between kisses. “Did you like watching me?”
She swallowed. “Yeah.”
“Good,” he whispered. “You don’t know how many times I’ve done that, fantasizing about you.”
Pride bloomed hot in her chest. “What were we doing?”
“God, everything. And every time I came, I imagined I was with you. Inside you. That you were begging me to.”
She got lost in the fantasy herself for a long moment, got lost in Ty’s kisses as she contemplated what the rest of his body could do. She pulled away again to stare at him. “We’re going to have sex tonight, aren’t we?”
He stroked her hair, studied her face, then broke into a grin. His dimple appeared for the first time since the early morning, the little lines at the edges of his eyes bunching in the way she loved. “Jesus, I hope so. What’s your birth control situation?”
She frowned. “MIA. When’s the last time you saw me in danger of getting any?”
“Bugger.”
“No condoms, then?”
“Nope. After two and a half years, I’d sort of given up hope,” he admitted. “What’s your time of the month?”
“Pretty safe, but probably not entirely advisable.”
“Right…we better decide now to be good, and pray one of us remembers it when things get serious.”
She smiled. “Deal. I’ll draw up a waiver—”
His mouth took hers, shutting her up. As they kissed, his hands slid up her waist to her breasts, making her light-headed, making sex seem brand-new again.
He broke away to ask, “What do you like, Katie?”
“With you? Anything.” She admired his face in the firelight. His masculine beauty was like a punch in the stomach, knocking the breath from her lungs. And he was infinitely more than a gorgeous face and a body to match…. He was Ty. And he was hers, finally, if briefly.
Her fingers stroked his chin and the stubble of his neglected jaw, enough days’ growth that it was soft, not scratchy. She slipped her palm through the gap between his shirt snaps to assess his chest hair—also soft. His breathing turned shallow and when he shifted his hips she could feel how hard he’d grown for her. She conjured the mental image of his cock from earlier, thick and ready, as big and powerful-looking as the rest of his body. Her hands trembled at the thought and she let herself feel small in comparison. For once, knowing she was the weaker one didn’t send her scrambling for her invisible armor. In fact, she wanted nothing between them. She fairly ripped his shirt open, frantic with curiosity, needing to feel his naked skin against hers. She shoved his button-up off his shoulders and tugged off his undershirt, then yanked her own top over her head. Before she was even free of it Ty’s hands found her breasts again.
“Sweet Jesus, Ty.” She got to her feet and stepped back a pace. “Get your jeans off.”
He obeyed, standing to ditch his belt and pants. He grabbed her by the waist and turned her around, sitting her down between his spread thighs. His chest was warm and slick, plastered to her back, his erection stiff against her butt. His fingers tugged at the drawstring of her hiking pants. She held her breath, glancing around the shadows of this strange place—
“Oh,” Kate said, and it wasn’t a sweet nothing.
“What?” His fingers pulled at her waistband, slackening it.
“The camera’s still on.” Its little red light was blinking, the lens aimed right at them.
“Of course it is,” he murmured. “We’re documentary makers.”
She frowned. “Ty…”
“Don’t go getting shy on me now. You still get the footage,” he added, his hand sliding into her pants and wrecking her ability to think. As two fingers stroked her through her panties, Kate sent caution scrambling into the corner for cover.
“Yes,” he whispered, his fingertips finding the alreadyhard nub of her clit through the fabric. His free hand cupped her breast, kneading her, then plucking at her nipple through her bra, fingers slipping against the stretchy fabric. Kate’s body tightened with desire so powerful it scared her. With his strong arms encircling her, hard thighs flanking her softer ones, his hot breath heating her temple, she felt possessed by him. Controlled. The things she feared most, and right now, the things she craved from him, the one man in the world she did truly trust.
He circled her flashpoint with a
cruel thumb, his fingers moving lower to part her.
“Ty.”
He moaned, touching her deeper. “You’re already wet for me, Katie.”
She held his wrist, wanting to be his partner in this exploration, as she’d been in everything else for so long, everything but this. He tugged her bra down to expose her breasts to the crisp air. He took his hand away from her breast to wet his fingertips with his mouth. She gasped as the touch returned, slippery and explicit.
“I want you so much,” she mumbled, breath tight in her chest. Two and a half years’ worth of longing had flooded her body, making her feel intoxicated.
“I want you, too,” he whispered. “Can you feel how much I want you?”
“Yeah.” She could feel his cock pulsing against the small of her back with insistence. “How do you like to do it?” she asked, a question she’d speculated about on who-knew-how-many lonely evenings.
“Doesn’t matter, as long as it’s you,” he murmured, a smile in his voice. “You, bossing me around. You can ride me till I’m sore and begging for mercy. Or I can be on top, following every order you want to bark. Hell, we’re stranded in the bloody wilderness. Maybe I’ll take you hard from behind, like an animal—” He pressed against her, rough.
“Ty.”
“Is that what you like? Wait, no… We don’t have a mirror, and I need to see you, Katie. Face-to-face.” His thumb stroked her faster. “I’ve waited so long for this. I need to see it, and watch us. I want you to see. I want you to see it, so you’ll never forget what my dick looks like, coursing in and out of you.”
Kate blushed at his words, crass but exactly what she wanted to hear. The hand teasing her breast snaked down to her lower belly as the other eased inside her panties, his first two fingers slipping against her wet folds. Ty swore, the word swallowed by a groan. “I never guessed you’d feel this good, sweetheart.”
His fingers delved deeper, swept over her clit to make it slick then dipped back inside, his thumb picking up its torturous refrain. His chest pushed against her shoulders as he adjusted, angling his arm so he could touch her deeper still.
