“You’re absolutely stunning.” His voice was no more than a hoarse whisper. He could barely speak.
Elle let out a breath and realized she’d been holding it in; such was her anxiety at his reaction to her. Now she could breathe and immerse herself in the sensuality of his gaze.
“So are you, my sexy mountain man.” She smiled with appreciation at his hard body, reaching up and placing her palms against the clearly defined abs that seemed to present themselves to her for no other purpose than her enjoyment.
Smelling the distinctive scent of her arousal, Jarrad growled with pleasure. Elle felt the vibration through her palms. Her eyes widened. Then she growled right back at him.
“Grrrr! Come on then, show me what you’ve got.”
Her hands quickly went to his belt and she undid the buckle then started work on the button of his waistband.
“Wait,” Jarrad commanded. “I haven’t finished with you yet.” He pulled her hands from his pants, which were straining with his arousal and pinned her arms above her head as he leaned into her and crushed his mouth onto hers, forcing her lips to part with the passionate exploration of his tongue.
Her neck arched as she opened her mouth to receive him, showing him wordlessly that she gave every inch of herself to him. In every way possible. In that moment, she cared not that they had only just met or that they hardly knew each other. None of that mattered. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t going to evaluate and overthink. She was going to enjoy and share a moment of pleasure with the man with the soulful eyes and the sinful body.
Snaking his arms behind her back, Jarrad deftly unhooked her bra, casting it aside before cupping each breast in turn with his generous, strong hands. Her back arched and she moaned into his mouth with unrestrained pleasure at his touch. The firmness of his hands aroused her relentlessly, coaxing her nipples to hypersensitive peaks under his fingertips.
“Suck them,” she demanded, breathlessly.
Trailing kisses across her smooth cheek and down her graceful neck, Jarrad paused at the nape of her neck to graze her with his teeth, eliciting a purr of delight before he continued to his instructed destination.
As he took one of her hardened pebbles in his mouth, Elle lifted her thigh in search of his hardness. When she found it, she began to massage it with her leg, almost in time with the way he rhythmically sucked of her nipple. When he moved to the other breast, he took a moment to tease the surrounding areola. Immediately, the little bumps signaled her arousal and enjoyment of his tongue work and he wondered if that might indicate her hope that he would continue to pleasure her that way. He sure hoped so.
Unable to hold himself back, Jarrad sat upright so he could relish the view for a moment. He loved every inch of this beautiful woman and wanted to show her just how much. Slowly, he hooked his thumbs into her panties and began to draw them down. Very slowly. Inch by inch until her smooth pussy was exposed to him and its scent fully uncovered for his bear to enjoy.
Finally, he removed her panties and looked her in the eyes, once again. He never tired of looking into her spellbinding brown eyes. Then his gaze was drawn down to her silky smooth pussy and he followed his gaze. All the way down. With his tongue.
Elle almost screamed with pleasure when Jarrad’s lips brushed against the folds of her pussy. She half expected him to take her, but not like this. This was too much. A fire ignited in her belly and the heat flowed brazenly down to her sex. She wanted him to devour her. Yet, he continued to trail teasing little kisses and nibbles up the insides of her thighs and across the top of her pubic bone. Sometimes, he would allow his tongue to flicker across her folds, skirting her hooded clit, causing her to raise her hips seeking more.
“Stop teasing. Please…”
He liked it when she begged. He rewarded her by parting her folds with his tongue and exploring her depths, enjoying the taste of her sweet nectar as he did so.
“Ohmygod!”
Her back arched to take him deeper as she fisted handfuls of his hair in an effort to receive more of his special brand of pleasuring. Jarrad was only too happy to oblige.
“Please! Don’t stop!”
Sliding a finger inside her slick entrance, Jarrad worked it toward her clit, playfully working it from its hiding place. His efforts were rewarded as the pink bud emerged to meet the tip of his flickering tongue. As Elle’s eyes rolled back and her gaping mouth released a sound she didn’t recognize, Jarrad’s finger slid deep inside, exploring her as his tongue continue to whip her clit into a frenzy.
Finding her sensitive area with his finger, Jarrad began to work his tongue and finger like a well-orchestrated machine as he used his free hand to gently rub her belly and occasionally pull her folds back to expose her clit even more.
Writhing and moaning, Elle felt the sensations building until she knew she couldn’t let him stop. She grabbed the back of his head with both hands and rode his face with delirious abandon, not caring that her juices were flowing uncontrollably.
“Oh fuck! Oh fuck!” Was all she managed to scream before her entire body erupted with spasms and her vision became nothing but darkness and flashing lights.
Her orgasm tore through her like a wave from head to foot, leaving her breathless and convulsing as Jarrad rested his head on her stomach and held her close, like he never wanted to let her go.
Chapter 22
“That was … I don’t even know what that was, but it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t even know what to say.” Elle twirled her fingers through Jarrod’s hair as she spoke.
“You’re welcome.” Jarrod threw her a cocky grin. “I wanted to do something special for you. I thought it might help take your mind off things and relieve some stress.”
“Is that what it’s called up here? Stress relief?”
Jarrad laughed. “No, we already have climbing, hiking and fishing for that. Up here, we just call it sex.”
Sitting upright, having recovered from the single most mind blowing orgasm she’d ever experienced, Elle sat up and returned her attention to the task of unbuttoning the pants that held captive the magnificent cock she brushed against earlier.
“What are you doing?” He pulled back, out of her reach.
“It’s your turn. You ready?”
“Not now. I don’t want to do anything, seriously, we should rest.”
“Said no man ever!”
After buttoning his pants, Jarrad threw another log on the fire to keep them warm while they slept.
“I’ll get some pillows. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
Elle drilled him with a cold stare that would freeze vodka.
Watching him stand and walk to a nearby chest to retrieve the pillows, Elle sat stunned and bewildered.
He doesn’t even want me to touch him. What’s wrong with me?
Jarrad was bewildered. Yet again. He thought she’d be alright with him pleasuring her. He thought she’d simply enjoy it and be happy that he wasn’t taking advantage of her. He thought he was doing the right thing.
He thought wrong.
She wasn’t looking at him like she was happy. Pretty far from it, actually.
What the fuck did I do wrong? What’s her problem?
Slowly, though, the pieces of the puzzle where coming together for Jarrad.
Of course!
She wasn’t from around here. She was a big city girl who didn’t know that mountain men were really gentlemen at heart and were quite set in their ways when it came to bonding with a soul mate. To her, it was just sex. A bit of fun, and then move on to the next guy.
But that’s not how it worked when a mountain man set his sights on a potential soul mate. Up here, they bonded for life and never claimed a woman sexually unless she was a perfect soul mate. And even then, there were rituals to be followed.
How was he to explain all that to a city girl who wanted to fool around with a guy she barely knew and only just met? That’s when it hit him. Like a freight train. The
one thing he hadn’t thought of up until now. Jarrad smacked himself on the forehead, something that had become a regular habit during the past 12 hours.
Geez, I haven’t even told her she’s The One!
Returning to the warm glow of the fire with the pillows, Jarrad sat alongside Elle as she slipped the hoodie back over her head.
“I need to tell you something,” he began.
“I need to sleep.” Elle turned away from him and began to fluff her pillow, ready to lie down.
“But I want to—”
“Really, Jarrad, it doesn’t matter. I want to sleep. We need to be ready to make a plan and get out of here in the morning. I’m not spending the rest of my life playing Grizzly Adams in a mountain cabin with no hot water, electricity or shoes.”
“All I wanted—”
“Goodnight, Jarrad.” Her tone was final and didn’t encourage a response.
Chapter 23
Next morning, Jarrad, stoked the fire and began to prepare oatmeal from a couple of MRE—Meals Ready to Eat ration packs for breakfast. Oatmeal in a vacuum sealed foil bag. That brought back a lot of memories, good and bad, for Jarrad who had survived for weeks on end eating nothing but Rat-Packs in the desert.
“What’s that?” Elle asked, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the beige sludge in the small bag.
“Breakfast, army ranger style” Jarrad answered proudly. “Oatmeal” He handed her the foil bag and a small plastic spoon.
“Wow! You sure know how to show a girl a good time.” She sniffed the open foil pack and her entire face screwed up in disgust. “Seriously, this is what you eat up here?”
With a shrug of his shoulders, Jarrad ploughed into his Rat-Pack like it might be his last meal. A big man burns a lot of calories and Jarrad had sure burned a few last night trying to please Miss Fancy-Pants. “This is what we eat,” he responded between mouthfuls, “when someone nukes our house and we’re on the run in the high mountain region in a rescue hut with the private army of some warlord after us.”
“This looks gross. How can you even eat that?”
“You need to eat it. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover this morning and it’s going to be cold. You’ll need the energy.”
With another look in the bag, Elle gagged and looked at Jarrad. “No honey to squirt on top?” she pleaded.
He just shook his head and nodded toward the oatmeal, indicating that was all there was and she should eat it. Quietly, he thought to himself, but he are not say so out loud.
Taking another mouthful of the survivalist breakfast, Jarrad gestured to the door of the small timber hut. “We’re following the stream down the mountain until I can get a signal on my cell, then I can call Spider for an evac.”
“Evac?” Elle questioned.
“Evacuation. We need to get airlifted out of here. We need somewhere safe to hold up, clothes, food and some tech.”
“What kind of tech?”
“The kind that’ll help us find what’s left of your car and we need to get online, too.”
“You sound like you have a plan.” Elle looked at him expectantly.
“The first thing I learned about commanding men in the field was that even if you don’t know what the hell you’re going to do, never let them know that. The leader has to lead and to do that, he has to always look like he knows exactly what he’s doing and sound confident.”
“You don’t have a plan for getting out of this mess, do you?”
Jarrad shook his head solemnly. He couldn’t look her in the eyes.
Digging into the foil bagged sludge with the cheap plastic spoon, Elle’s eyes began to fill with tears, which she tried to mask by taking a mouthful of the gooey paste.
“By the way,” she said with her mouthful, “there’s no point looking for the car. I think it’s totaled.”
“We’re not after the car,” Jarrad responded with a mischievous grin, “just that tiny SD card.”
“I was almost glad it was gone, to be honest. It’s brought nothing but trouble since I stole…found it.”
“Speaking of stealing, want to tell me about the embezzlement charges being filed by your old boss? I think there was mention of grand theft auto, if I recall correctly.” Jarrad raised an eyebrow inviting Elle to fill in the gaps.
“It’s not how it sounds, but do I look like a thief?”
Jarrad remained silent. He’d learned his lesson with this girl.
“Alright, I did steal some money from the safe, but it was dirty money and I needed it to get away. It was in the overnight bag in my trunk. I couldn’t risk them finding me by tracking my ATM withdrawals and credit card transactions. I was going off the grid. Old school.”
“And how did that work out for you?” Jarrad couldn’t help himself.
Elle went on to explain how she’d taken a hundred thousand of the cartels money from her bosses safe and taken off in the car that she’d negotiated as part of her salary deal. The more she talked, the more she realized how ill-conceived and poorly executed her plan was. She was surprised that they hadn’t caught up with her sooner.
Jarrad listened patiently and let her finish her tale. He wanted as much information as he could glean from her before he started planning a counter attack.
“I have a question for you, while we’re on the subject of full disclosure,” she said as she finished her story.
“Fire away.” Jarrad opened his hands in front of him, suggesting he was an open book.
“I get why they call a guy named Webb ‘Spider’, but where did your call sign come from? Preacher? Surely not because of your diminutive stature or timid personality?”
“I was an Army Ranger Sniper. I had the highest kill count in my unit. They used to say that if an insurgent was in my cross hairs, he was about to meet his maker. Some smartass decided to give me the call sign Preacher because I helped them find God, and it’s stuck ever since.”
Elle was silent as she weighed up the repercussions of that disclosure. Tall, ripped, handsome, protective and dangerous. Somehow, that made him even more attractive and desirable. But the heightened feelings of attraction and arousal were offset by the memory of him pulling away from her last night. Life had dangled this gorgeous man before her only to cruelly snatch him away after she’d had a small taste of the possibilities that the future might hold for her. For them both.
Chapter 24
As the chopper descended into the small clearing, Jarrad, with Elle in his arms, ran toward it. He ducked low to avoid the spinning rotors. Most people did that out of habit, even though they were nowhere near tall enough for the blades to pose any threat. Not so in Jarrad’s case.
Spider had already been briefed by Jarrad earlier, as soon as he could get reception on his cell. No flight plan had been filed and the evac was carried out completely off book. Their lives were at stake, now, and that included Spider. The three of them against a formidable enemy.
“Just like old times, Preacher.” Spider could barely contain his enthusiasm.
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it,” Jarrad responded into his mic as he tried to turn around to make sure Elle was buckled in the back securely. She gave him the thumbs up.
“What can I say? I miss the action.” Both men made eye contact. They both missed it, each in their own way.
“Well, how was she?” Spider jerked his thumb toward the back of the helicopter.
“How did you—”
Spider rolled his eyes. “Come on, man, I saw the way you looked at her when we picked her up. Don’t tell me you two love birds didn’t hook up all alone up there.”
“We didn’t…well, I couldn’t…”
“Oh shit! You didn’t? You mean—”
“Yeah, I think she’s the one.” Jarrad looked right into Spider’s eyes when he told him.
“Are you sure?”
“I wasn’t so sure at first, but now I am. She’s my soul mate.”
“Congratulations. Took you long enough. Rosie and I were
sure you’d given up looking.” Spider gave Jarrad a good natured punch in the arm to make his point. “Seriously, though, you have told her?”
“I can’t. She doesn’t want me and you know how it is, I can’t have sex with someone who doesn’t want to bond with me. I think I might have stuffed things up, like I always do. The whole thing’s totally FUBAR.”
“Hello!”
Elle’s voice crackled through the intercom. Spider and Jarrad looked at each other. Then turned to look at Elle as she fiddled with the volume control on the headset she’d found on the adjacent seat and put on, like she’d been shown during her previous flight.
“Would one of you like to explain to me what in the hell you’re both talking about?”
Chapter 25
“Well, don’t all talk at once …?” Elle glared at them both, making it clear she wasn’t letting this go and demanded answers.
Jarrad didn’t know where to start. He looked to Spider for backup. The look that crossed Spiders face made it clear that even their friendship, hardened in the fierce heat of battle, wasn’t going to draw him into the fray. Jarrad was very much on his own.
“We’re landing in ten minutes. I’ll explain everything once we get squared away and we organize something more appropriate for you to wear.”
“And shoes. I need shoes!” she shouted into the mic.
Jarrad recoiled and pulled the headphones away from his aching ears.
What passed as a town in the Big Bear Mountain region looked more like a movie set from an old Western movie to Elle. There was a post office, the HQ of the Mountain Rescue Service, a general store, an outdoor clothing store and a diner. All in one small wooden building. Above the diner was a small Bed and Breakfast catering to those not interested in camping or climbing. Elle would have cried if she’d not been so desperate for some warm clothing, a hairbrush and a decent pair of boots.
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