by Leslie North
“You keep that up, suyeta, and I won’t last.”
Reluctantly, she let him go and slid her fingers up into his hair instead, clutching the silky mass tight in her fingers. “We can’t have that.”
Vann chuckled and kissed his way along her neck to her breasts. “No. We can’t.”
As he took one of her hard nipples into his mouth, she arched against him, needing more, so much more. “I want you inside me, mon cher.”
“You’ll have me, suyeta.” He took her other nipple in his mouth, lavishing the same attention on it before continuing to slide down her body. “But first….”
He nudged her thighs apart then licked his tongue over her sensitive folds. As turned on as she was, the soft nuzzle of his tongue against her hard clit had her going over the edge into a mind-blowing orgasm within seconds. Still, he continued to lick and suck her, adding two then three fingers inside her slick channel, preparing her body for his. Soon, she teetered on the brink once more. Never had she come so hard or so frequently with anyone else. It was as if Vann had discovered a map to all her erogenous zones that no one else had ever known.
As she tumbled over the edge again, she called his name, her breathless whimpers joining the bluster of the storm outside. Slowly, she drifted back to earth and found him staring at her. She reached up to glide her finger over the ridge of his straight nose, smiling. “Inside me now please, mon cher.”
He fumbled in the side pocket of his backpack to pull out a condom then returned her smile with a wicked grin of his own. “Patience is a virtue, suyeta.”
“So is assertiveness.” Mercy barely waited until Vann got the condom on before she locked her legs around his lower back and dug her heels into his butt, urging him closer. “Please.”
Hard as it was to wait, Vann forced himself to halt just as the head of his cock rested against her wet entrance. He wanted her assurance she wouldn’t quit on him and if this was the only way to get it then so be it. “Confidence is a virtue too.”
“I’m confident I’m going to go insane with lust if you don’t take me right here, right now.” She growled and tugged his head down for a hard kiss. “Does that work?”
“Where is this same fierceness during your lessons, suyeta?” he asked, nibbling her jaw.
“Seriously?” She sighed and dug her heels into his butt cheeks. “This is up for discussion now?”
“No. But I also don’t want you to quit.” He kissed his way up to her ear, nuzzling that sensitive spot just below her lobe that seemed to drive her wild. “Give me what I want and I’ll give you the same.”
Panting, she scored her nails down his back, not hard enough to hurt, just hard enough to make his already hard cock ache with need. “Blackmailing me with sex?”
“Never.” He cupped her cheeks and forced her to meet his gaze. “Don’t give up on yourself. Promise me you’ll stay through the end of this trip and give it everything you have. One more day. That’s all I’m asking.”
She arched against him once more, the turquoise of her irises nearly obliterated by her dilated pupils. Aroused as much as she was, Mercy bared her teeth as the head of his cock penetrated her. “One more day.”
With that, he thrust into her hilt-deep in one long stroke. Vann gave a long sigh of satisfaction and Mercy purred with delight beneath him. She was so hot, so wet, so tight and her body fit his so perfectly. Slowly, he moved within her as she rose to meet his strokes, driving their passion higher and higher.
Soon, they were both breathless and close to orgasm.
He’d never expected to find this kind of connection with her, had thought he’d imagined the decadence of that night at the cove, but he’d been wrong, so wrong.
Mercy seemed like the missing piece to his puzzle, the yin to his yang, the light to his darkness. Her body went taut around him and her breath hitched. Vann reached between them to stroke her clit gently, whispering, “Are you close, suyeta?”
“Yes,” she said, her tone drenched in need. “So, so close.”
“Me too.” He kissed her deeply and drove hard into her once, twice, the tingling in his groin signaling his impending climax. Finally, he bucked hard, his body going whipcord tight as he came hard inside her.
Mercy gasped, clutching tight to him, her inner walls milking him hard as she climaxed for the third time around him. “Mon cher.”
Drowsy, they held each other, Vann’s head resting in the valley between her breasts as she combed her fingers through his hair. He struggled to keep his eyes open, not wanting this moment to end so soon. “Do you like having a big family?”
She chuckled, her hand halting for a moment against his scalp. “That’s a weird question right now. But yeah. I love my family. Even if they make things difficult sometimes.” She stroked his hair again, her voice quiet and tired. “What about you?”
“I’m an only child. So it’s just me and my parents.” He kissed her stomach then slid to lie beside her, spooning her from behind as he tugged her sleeping bag up over them both. “I’ll tell you another secret too, suyeta. I hate the water as well.”
“You do? I figured an ex-SEAL probably loved the wet stuff.”
“Nope.”
“But how did you make it through all those tests without drowning?”
“Oh, I know how to swim. Couldn’t have made it through Hell Week without that skill. But I don’t enjoy it. Now, Mark, he loves the ocean. Goes surfing every chance he gets. Me? I prefer the dry land. Much safer that way.”
“Agreed.” She snuggled back into him and sighed. “I’m glad I met you, Vann, regardless of how all of this turns out.”
“Me too, suyeta.” He kissed her temple then nuzzled his nose into her hair, savoring the floral scent of her perfume and warm woman. “No quitting?”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “If you insist.”
Vann grinned. “I do.”
Her breath evened out into the patterns of sleep and he soon gave up the fight as well.
11
Mercy yawned and stretched, blinking her eyes open. She’d slept more soundly than she could ever remember and there was something deliciously warm pressed tight to her back. Rain still pattered softly on the tent, though the harsh winds and lightning had passed.
Soft breath tickled the hair near her temple and a firm weight wrapped tight around her waist, preventing her from moving away. Slowly, she turned her head slightly to see Vann’s sleeping face near hers. He was so handsome he nearly took her breath away—dark and dangerous and thoroughly male.
Twice now, they’d slept with each other and twice it had been better than any sex she’d had before. Never mind the fact that both times he’d brought up the program and made her promise not to quit. Both times, she’d agreed in the heat of passion.
Now, she wasn’t so sure.
Sighing, Mercy eased onto her back and stared up at the tent roof above them. Gently swaying tree branches above were silhouetted against the nylon, drawing her deeper into her thoughts as she watched their hypnotic dance.
Until now, quitter wasn’t an adjective she would have associated with herself. After all, she’d battled her way through the toughest classes in college to prove she was just as smart, just as business savvy as her brothers. She’d worked hard at Queen Antoinette’s as the COO to make sure the business side of operations ran as smoothly as her brothers’ genius recipes delighted the customers on the culinary side of the company.
She frowned and toyed with the edge of her sleeping bag. In fact, now that she thought about it, the majority of her twenty-five years on earth had been spent trying to best her siblings, trying to prove to her parents that she was just as good, just as worthy as her brothers were. Was that really why she was here? Was this just one more competition in a long line of family rivalries?
No, she realized. This time had been different. She’d really wanted that international position within the company, not to prove she was better than everyone else was, but to have a chance to explo
re the world, experience different cultures and new people. To expand her horizons beyond anything she’d ever dreamed possible and learn new skills. She’d wanted this just for her this time.
Sudden sadness ached in her chest and her frown deepened.
Too bad, she’d blown her chance.
“Why so serious, suyeta?” Vann asked, his deep voice rough with sleep. “You okay?”
Mercy gave a small nod and forced a smile. No sense rehashing this now.
She’d made her decision and needed to live with the consequences.
He reached over and ran the tip of his finger along the ridge of her nose, then traced the backs of his fingers over her cheek. “Did you sleep well?”
“I did.” She looked back at him, her smile genuine this time. He looked adorable, his dark eyes still clouded with slumber, his black hair tousled and sexy, his soft lips so close she could reach over and…. She kissed him then leaned back slightly. “How about you?”
His arm around her waist tightened, hauling her over the top of him to sprawl across his body. “Never had sweeter dreams in my life, suyeta.”
“How quickly things change. Guess our lovemaking wasn’t a mistake after all, huh?” Mercy giggled and nuzzled his chest, feeling a now familiar hardness pressing against her thigh. “Feels like someone’s ready to go again, mon cher.”
“Always, when I’m with you.” He pulled her toward him and kissed her deep, his tongue stroking hers and tasting of coffee and Vann. By the time he pulled back, they were both breathless. “I have an idea.”
“I bet you do.” She winked and started to reach for his hard length when he grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “What?”
“C’mon.” He threw off the sleeping bag and rose to his knees, extending his hand down to her.
“Where are we going?”
“Outside.”
“Uh, we’re naked.” She stared at his hand like it was a live grenade.
“There’s no one around here for miles. Trust me, I checked earlier.” He grinned. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a bath.”
She shook her head. “Now I know you’re trying to kill me. What about the currents?”
“I found a special place a little ways up the shore line. No currents. Except the ones you send rippling through my body when you look at me like that, suyeta.”
Well, damn. Mercy bit her lip and tried to drag her eyes away from all the glorious prime beefcake on display before her and failed miserably. She’d told him how much she hated the water and why and he’d shared his secret dislike of it with her. Still, maybe they could both get over their aversions with the right incentive.
“You’re sure no one will see us?”
“Promise.” He waggled his fingers. “C’mon.”
Given these past days had all been about her breaking out of her comfort zone and learning new survival skills, this would be one more in her arsenal, right? She took Vann’s hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. After all, a girl should know how to find a proper place to bathe in even the harshest conditions, yes?
“Grab those towels,” he said as he unzipped the tent flap. “I don’t suppose you brought flip flops?”
“They were on the list.” She grinned as she pulled them out of her backpack. Grabbing the towels, she crawled to the entrance and slipped her feet into the cheap plastic shoes before following him outside. Even during some of the wilder frat parties, she’d been to in college; Mercy had never run around naked in public before. There was something both incredibly wicked and incredibly freeing about it.
For his part, Vann didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed or ashamed of his nudity. He secured the tent then took her hand once more and led her down a trail away from camp. She glanced back over her shoulder at their outpost. “Are you sure our stuff will be okay?”
“Stop worrying, suyeta.” Vann held some branches aside for her. “I think that’s a major part of your problem. Overanalyzing situations. Think too long and too hard when danger strikes and you’ll be dead.”
She snorted. “I thought my problem was I was too small physically.”
Vann turned back suddenly and kissed her fast. “You are perfect physically. But you are petite, and that makes you a more vulnerable target.”
They rounded a bend in the river and a small oasis appeared. Cut into the side of a large rock wall stood a tiny, placid pool of crystal clear water complete with a waterfall. It looked like something out of a fairy tale and Mercy couldn’t hide her gasp of surprise. “Oh, Vann. It’s beautiful.”
He slipped his arm around her waist, the heat from his bare skin warming hers. “The best things lie on the other side of your comfort zone.”
She gazed up at him, seeing a flicker of shadow flit through his dark gaze, gone before she could decipher it. Vann blinked and looked away from her, pointing toward an area of flat rock near the edge of the pool. “We can leave our things there.”
“Okay.” Mercy followed him down and dropped the towels on the ground before kicking off her shower shoes. “It’s not super deep, is it?”
“Like the deep end of a pool.” He stretched, showing off every inch of his muscled physique and still semi-hard cock, to perfection. “If anything goes wrong, we’ll save each other, okay?”
With that, he dove into the pool, his lean body slicing through the water like a scalpel. For a guy who said he hated water, he sure as hell knew what he was doing in it. She sat on the edge of the flat rock and dipped her toes in the cold water. A shiver ran through her before she could stop it. This was nuts. If she had any sense at all, she’d grab her shoes and her towel and head back to camp. If she—
A warm, strong hand wrapped around her ankle, jarring her back to reality. “Get in, suyeta.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she pulled against his grasp, trying to get free. “I think maybe I’ll just sit here for a while.”
His gaze narrowed and he moved closer, the contours of his chest brushing against her bare calves and sending jolts of awareness through her. “You’re thinking too much again.”
“No, I’m not.” She looked away from him, away from temptation. She needed to get her mind back on work, back on how she was going to salvage this situation once she got home and had to explain to her parents how she could still perform the duties of the new position without a certificate proving she could defend herself. All of that was way harder to contemplate, however, when his work-roughened hands slid up her legs from her ankles, parting them so his water slicked body could fit between her thighs. Desire sizzled through her bloodstream and a fresh wave of moisture gathered in her core as his fingers gently kneaded the soft flesh of her inner thighs. “What are you doing?”
Vann’s slow, wicked sexy grin should’ve been her first clue. “Scoot closer to the edge.”
“Oh, I—” Her protest was severed when he put his hand on her lower back and nudged her forward where he wanted her. He kept his gaze locked with hers and he spread her legs wider and bent his head until his hot breath fanned over her wet folds and stole what was left of her resistance. “Vann, I don’t think—”
“That’s right, suyeta. Don’t think. Don’t do anything except feel. Feel what I’m doing to your body, tell me what you like.” He pressed his lips against her core, his tongue sweeping out to tease her throbbing clit, and Mercy was lost. Head back and eyes closed, all she could do was cling to Vann, her hands fisted deep in his thick black hair, holding him close for fear he’d stop the exquisite things he was doing to her and if he stopped she felt like she might die. He chuckled against her sensitive flesh, his words the only cool spot on her heated skin. “Like that?”
“Yes,” she said, more groan than speech. “Please, don’t stop.”
“Never.” He nuzzled her again, stroking her clit with his thumb while pleasuring her with his lips and tongue. She arched as he inserted first one, then two fingers inside her, filling her, stretching her, before pressing against that special spot an inch or so
inside her slick walls, notching her closer to orgasm with each thrust. “Let go for me, Mercy. Give all of yourself to me. I’ve got you.”
She moaned low and pressed herself harder against him. Close, so close to fulfillment, so close to ecstasy. “Yes, mon cher. Yes.”
“I love it when you call me that,” he said, nipping her thigh playfully.
“And I love the way you make me feel.” Pressure built inside her, stronger, harder, until the pleasure overwhelmed her and she climaxed hard.
“So beautiful, suyeta.”
As she came down slowly from her release, Mercy pulled Vann up to her and kissed him deeply, tasting her arousal on his lips. The naughtiness only made her hotter. “You next.”
“I don’t—” She slipped off the rock wall and into the crisp, cold water, wrapping her body around his and turning him so that his back was against the rock edge. “Mercy.”
“No. I want to make you feel as good as you make me.” She reached down and took his rock-hard cock in hand. “Up you go, mon cher.”
Vann wasn’t sure if it was her use of the French endearment or her plea that did it, but he hoisted himself up onto the flat rock at the pool’s edge, breath held as Mercy took his aching cock into the warm wetness of her mouth.
Jesus H. Christ. Had anything ever felt so amazing?
He groaned low and slipped his hands through her red curls, gently guiding her and showing her what he liked best. Her soft tongue licked him just right, from base to tip and then circled his sensitive tip, pausing for a moment to flicker at that ultra-sensitive spot just beneath, the one that made his toes curl and his hips buck toward her, wanting more, so much more.
“That feels amazing, suyeta.”
She let his cock pop free of her mouth and smiled, taking his balls into her hand and fondling them. “You taste amazing, mon cher.”
