“Hunter?”
“Just exploring, Annie. For now. I told you before. You make me want too many things. Not all of them are going to be nice or easy. Have you ever—”
“No,” she answered quickly. As soon as the word flew from her mouth, she regretted it, curious now about what he’d wanted to ask. Had she ever what? Had a finger there? A cock? A toy? It didn’t matter. The answer to all of the above was still no. But now she was left wondering where his thoughts were taking him.
Hunter bent over her back and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. The sweet gesture was in direct contrast to his next words.
“I’m going to fill that pretty arse of yours with lube and fuck it.”
She swallowed heavily.
“Would you let me do that, Annie?”
She nodded, her throat too clogged to speak.
He kissed her again. “God, I love you.”
The words had come easily, blending in with the moment as Hunter returned to kneeling between her legs. She wasn’t even sure he knew what he’d said, but that didn’t stop the words from shaking Annie to the core.
The sound of a condom wrapper crinkling distracted her. Then she felt the head of Hunter’s cock as it pressed into her pussy. She’d been right. His fingers hadn’t even begun to stretch her as much as his huge erection was. She hissed, breathing through her mouth as she tried to assimilate her body to his gorgeous invasion.
Hunter sensed her discomfort, slowing his entrance. His fingers drifted around her waist, playing with her clit until more moisture filled her pussy, allowing him to burrow deeper. He played her body to perfection, using his touches on her clit, his sweet words, his soft kisses along her spine to turn her to pure, molten jelly. Once he’d lodged himself fully inside her, he stopped moving.
“Okay?”
She nodded. Then shook her head. Tears sprang to her eyes. She tried to hide them but Hunter was too observant.
“Hey.” He leaned over her body. “Am I hurting you?”
“No. I just…”
What the hell could she say? She’d just realized she’d fallen head over heels in love with him. Not a crush or infatuation. Not mild attraction or lust. She was fucking heart-thumping, sweaty palms, pulsing cunt in love with Hunter Sullivan. A stockman from Australia. What the fuck was she supposed to do with that?
Rather than speak what was in her heart, she lied. Sort of.
“You feel so good inside me. Would you…I mean, could you fuck me hard? Really hard?”
In her fantasies, she’d dreamed of being tied down, taken from behind. He’d brought her this far. There was no going back now. She needed him. Wanted him. She’d take her shattered heart back to New York and count the pain well worth it if only he’d finish what they’d started.
Hunter pushed back to his knees and took her farther than she’d ever dared to go in her dreams. Each pounding entry shook her frame, each sliding retreat an agony as she waited for his return. He thrust inside her harder and deeper, the pressure building until she screamed her release.
He didn’t stop, didn’t offer a reprieve. He pummeled faster, hitting places that had never known the touch of a man. Her second orgasm came quicker, rattling her bones, causing her teeth to chatter.
Hunter froze as she came. He hadn’t shared her release. While her hazy brain knew he’d held back, she couldn’t formulate the question to ask why.
She collapsed to her stomach, the motion pulling her away from Hunter’s still-hard cock. Reaching up, he released her hands from the tie, helping her pull them down to her sides. He gently massaged her shoulders and she groaned as he eased the muscles until the pins and needles prickling in her hands subsided.
He slowly turned her onto her back. She cupped his dear, beloved cheek and smiled.
“Was it everything you wanted?” he asked.
“And more,” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse from screaming. Thank God his mother had gone away. Otherwise she would have beat down the door, thinking Annie was being murdered.
“My turn.” He nudged her legs apart once more. “My way.”
She remembered his desire to make love to her. He slowly pushed his cock back into her body. Once he was seated to the hilt, he kissed her. Deep, drugging, soul-stealing kisses.
Her subconscious mind had convinced her to ask for the dirty fantasy. Had she really thought the request for rough sex would protect her from this? She’d thought the bondage, the hard claiming would keep her heart safe. She’d been a fool.
Hunter could have insisted on complete celibacy and she’d still be right here. Looking into the bright green eyes of the only man she’d ever loved.
He must have noticed something change in her face. What did he see? Sadness, fear, excitement, joy? They were all there.
He gave her one more quick kiss. “It’ll be all right, Annie.”
The words soaked into her skin like a balm. She nodded. Then she gave herself up to his embrace, the moment, as he slowly made love to her.
When her climax came again, Hunter was with her. And when he pulled her into his arms, spooning her as they drifted off to nap, it was his last words that granted her peace.
It’ll be all right.
Chapter 8
Annie sat behind the wheel of Hunter’s ute. She’d parked at the edge of the landing pad as Hunter expertly brought the helicopter to rest in the field.
Dylan was home.
He’d called out of the blue twenty-four hours earlier to say he was coming back to Farpoint. Annie wasn’t sure what had happened between him and Monet, but his hasty return indicated it hadn’t ended well.
Since making love to her, Hunter had taken their relationship from zero to sixty. He’d made her breakfast in bed, placing a bunch of acacia, what he called “wattle”, in a vase on the tray. Yesterday he took her for another picnic by the billabong. This time, she’d accepted his invitation to skinny dip and they’d had sex in the cool water—twice.
Hazel had decided to stay with Aunt Joyce for a couple of days, only returning earlier this morning. Annie wasn’t sure if Hunter had asked his mother to stay away or if the woman had a sixth sense about their budding relationship. Either answer was completely plausible.
Hunter had invited her to come with him to pick up Dylan at Sydney International, but Annie wasn’t willing to depart Eden, not even for a few hours. She’d gotten spoiled by the absence of paparazzi. She’d turned him down, more than happy to use her fear of flying as the excuse.
She rubbed her palms against her jeans nervously. Hunter said he’d explained things to his brother. In their haste to get into each other’s pants, Annie had failed to nail down exactly what those things were. What had Hunter said? That they were dating? Fucking? Friends with benefits?
Regardless of Hunter’s romantic gestures, neither of them had ventured into the feelings realm and, because of that, Annie had dismissed his declaration of love the other night as a slip of the tongue. It was a common enough thing to say when in the midst of sex.
She suddenly wished she and Hunter had talked about what was happening between them. It would be a difficult discussion on its own, but with Dylan at the station, it would be even more awkward.
She watched the propellers slow to a stop then Hunter climbed out. Her breath caught. He’d only been gone ten hours and yet, she’d missed him terribly. She stepped out of the ute and waved, smiling from ear to ear. He looked good enough to eat. She started to walk toward him, but stopped as Dylan came around the helicopter.
Mutt, spotting his owner, leapt out of the truck bed and ran over to Dylan, barking loudly. Dylan stopped to pet the dog. Annie wondered how he managed to stay upright when the huge dog jumped up, placing his enormous paws against Dylan’s chest. Dylan laughed as he rubbed the dog’s ears affectionately.
Hunter made a comment she was too far away to hear and Dylan laughed. She knew they were identical, but seeing them side-by-side drove home just how much so.
Both men looke
d at her as they crossed the field.
She and Dylan stared at each other for a moment before she broke the silence. “Hi, Dylan.”
“Annie?”
She nodded. No doubt he’d expected to glimpse the American girl he’d seen through Skype. In one short week, that pale woman had disappeared, replaced by the tan one standing before him in tatty jeans and boots, an Akubra on her head. Her nervousness grew worse. Hunter, God bless him, must have noticed. He stepped away from Dylan, closer to her. She struggled to read the look on his face, and again she was struck by the likeness between him and Dylan.
“You look like your brother.”
Dylan grinned. “Nah, I’m the good-looking one.”
Annie smiled. The response was so typically Dylan. The Dylan she’d come to know and consider a friend.
Hunter rolled his eyes and muttered, “idiot,” but there was no malice in his voice. In fact, Annie could sense the affection, the love they shared for each other.
“So, you and Hunter, eh?”
Leave it to Dylan to take the bull by the horns.
She nodded slowly, wondering if that was the right reply.
Dylan’s green eyes radiated warmth and affection, but none of the lust Annie had grown used to seeing in Hunter’s. “Well, I suppose we better go ahead and make sure fate was right.”
Annie frowned, confused. But Dylan didn’t give her a chance to question him.
He placed his palms on each side of her face and pulled her toward him for a kiss.
Shock held her still for three heartbeats, four, and then she joined the experiment. She softened her lips and let Dylan lead the kiss. She tried—really tried—but after several seconds, her suspicions were confirmed. Dylan appeared to come to the same conclusion as well. He released her.
“Had your fun?” Hunter’s voice held a tinge of annoyance, maybe even a bit of fear, but no real anger.
Dylan’s easy smile returned. “Bit like I imagine kissing Linda would be,” he said to Hunter. Glancing back at Annie, he explained, “A cousin from Perth we rarely see.”
As easily as that, the ice was broken. Annie gave Dylan a friendly hug that he returned. He even picked her up and spun her around a couple times.
“Damn, it’s good to finally meet you, Annie. Has my brother been taking good care of you?”
She blushed before she could stop herself and Dylan laughed loudly. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Hunter tugged Annie away from Dylan’s embrace, wrapping his arm around her shoulders in a sweetly possessive gesture. “We weren’t expecting you home so soon. Sort of got the feeling you were taking a fancy to New York.”
Annie couldn’t imagine Dylan actually enjoying city life. Every time she’d tried to picture Hunter traveling to New York, she realized it would be like placing a wild stallion in a pen, never allowing it to run free. That unnerving thought had woken her up from a sound sleep the previous night. Her first week in Farpoint had passed far too quickly. This time next week she’d be the one standing near the helicopter, preparing to return to the States or—as she’d come to think of it—hell.
“New York was all right.”
“And you met Monet?” Of all the people Annie had left behind, Monet was the one she missed the most.
Dylan nodded, his easy smile fading a bit. It confirmed Annie’s fears. Whatever had occurred between her best friend and Hunter’s brother, it hadn’t ended well. “I did.”
He didn’t offer more. Annie looked at Hunter, but his expression proved he was just as in the dark as she.
“I guess we better get you back to the house before Mum stomps out here on her own to see you.”
Dylan quickly accepted his brother’s reprieve. “Much as it pains me to say, I actually missed the old duck.”
He slung his pack over his shoulder and headed for the pickup truck, climbing into the bed with Mutt.
Annie looked toward Hunter for an explanation, but he merely shrugged. “Whatever happened, he’s not talking.”
“Maybe he just needs time.”
Hunter nodded, grasping her hand and leading her to the truck. His expression told her he didn’t believe time would help Dylan any more than she did.
* * * *
Five days passed and Dylan still wouldn’t talk about his hasty departure from New York. Annie stopped pressing for details as other anxieties began to creep up on her. She was scheduled to return to New York the day after tomorrow.
Annie lay staring at the ceiling of Hunter’s bedroom, listening to his soft breathing while fighting off a growing panic attack.
Her Scarlett O’Hara approach to her relationship with Hunter had been a huge mistake. She was running out of tomorrows.
“I thought I was the early riser.”
She glanced to her left to find Hunter awake and looking at her.
“Trouble sleeping?”
She nodded. “I leave soon.” For days, she’d fought against announcing the obvious. Their days had fallen into an easy routine that Annie was too willing to cling to. She’d been pretending her time here was reality. She couldn’t live that lie anymore.
Hunter sighed. “I know. It’s been on my mind pretty much twenty-four-seven since you got here.”
“Really?” He’d never mentioned it, never let on he was bothered by her imminent departure. Maybe she wasn’t the only one trying to stop time by living in fantasyland.
He reached over, pulling her to her side, facing him. It was a position she was becoming addicted to. He kissed her softly. “Of course I have.”
He would have said more. She knew he was willing to talk it out with her, but once again, her fear kicked in, overwhelming her common sense. She lifted her leg around his waist, grinding her pelvis against his erection. Hunter had teased her last night, claimed she was insatiable. She’d taken it as a compliment, pushing him to his back and riding him in true jillaroo fashion.
She tried to kiss him, but Hunter held her back, his hand on her cheek. “Annie, don’t you think we should—”
“No,” she interrupted. “Not now. Not yet. I can’t…I want…”
Hunter had become adept at reading her face, her emotions. She couldn’t remember there ever being another living soul who was so in tune with what she was feeling.
He let her kill the conversation with kisses, touches. They slept naked, neither of them wanting even the thin cotton of a t-shirt between them at night. Hunter pushed her to her back and entered her in one smooth, well-practiced thrust. They’d dispensed with condoms that day by the billabong when Hunter had taken her in the water.
His kisses grew harder and she sensed the desperation behind them. She felt it. Shared the same fear. She gripped his hair, fisted it tightly. Hunter hissed but didn’t break away. Reaching up, he took her hair as well, mimicking her actions, pulling on her tresses in the way he knew drove her wild.
It was always like this with Hunter. This all-consuming need to hold on to each other so tightly, they’d never fall apart. Annie wrapped her legs around his waist and forced him deeper.
Hunter bent his head, bit her neck, leaving his mark. She cried out with pleasure, scratching his arms, drawing on his body as well. She’d make sure he never forgot her. Never forgot…
Panic consumed her once more, throwing her into action. She shoved at his chest, indicating she wanted him on his back. She followed him over, pounded herself up and down, up and down on his turgid flesh. Hunter’s fingers gripped her hips, guiding her, pulling her toward him harder. Using his strength to drive her.
“Fuck,” Hunter muttered. “More.”
He sat up, pulling her off his cock. With strong, sure hands, he pushed her facedown over his mattress as he knelt behind her. Then he was there, inside her again, thrusting so deeply she feared they’d break the bed.
Annie took his pummeling blows, increasing the impact by meeting him halfway. Still it wasn’t enough. She crawled forward slightly, flipping to her back once more. Hunter upped the ante,
standing then dragging her body until her ass hovered at the edge of the mattress. She wrapped her ankles around his neck and Hunter accepted the invitation. He drove into her hard and she bit her lip to keep from screaming.
If anyone else was already awake, there was no way they wouldn’t know what was going on in Hunter’s bedroom. Typically, they kept their lovemaking in the house quieter, calmer, only indulging in the loud, kinky stuff while way out of earshot of other people.
So much for discretion.
Hunter grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed the ultra-sensitive flesh. She groaned, her fingers fisting in the sheets.
“More!” she demanded.
Hunter’s gaze darkened as he quickened his pace. Twice he pinched her nipple, causing her to buck beneath him, her back arching on the bed. Then he rubbed her clit and her control was utterly destroyed. The white-hot lights of her orgasm blinded her. It was only here in this moment that the real world disappeared and her anxieties subsided.
Oh how she wished she could call this perfect place home.
Hunter slowly lowered her legs until her feet hit the floor. It was only then she realized he hadn’t come.
She opened her eyes, her gaze eating up his handsome face, his muscular chest, the light sprinkling of hair that adorned it. “Hunter?”
He looked away from her, toward the nightstand. Opening the drawer, he pulled out a tube of lubrication. Though he’d promised to take her ass, he hadn’t breached her with anything more than his finger.
“Say no, Annie, and this goes away. I won’t do anything you don’t want.”
“I want it.” The words fell from her lips without a second thought. She wanted every part of Hunter she could get. Wanted to create a thousand memories of him so she could take them out later, on the lonely nights, and remember.
“Roll over.”
She turned easily, catching a second wind, her heart starting to race. What he was about to do seemed wicked, like something they should only attempt during the darkest hour of night. Not now, when the bright morning sunshine was just starting to flood the room.
Outback Princess Page 11
