by Vonna Harper
“I can smell you.” His breath tickled her face.
“I…can’t help it.”
“I love it, that and how you’re shaking.”
Before she could fasten her thoughts on what he’d just told her, he ran his tongue along her temple while pushing a finger as far as he could into her. She opened her eyes but couldn’t see anything.
Pleasure rushed through her to swamp her mind and shake her confidence.
I don’t know what’s happening. Please, help me understand. But she didn’t dare admit that if she had any hope of retaining a shred of self-control. Perhaps he understood how scant the space between sanity and insanity was when he pulled out a little. Concerned he meant to leave her, she tightened her inner muscles while clamping her thighs around him.
“Don’t you dare!” she yelled. “If you think I like being teased—”
“Easy, easy. You’re all right.”
How soft his voice, how compassionate his tone. Heat burned her eyes, causing her to blink repeatedly. He wasn’t leaving her. What had made her think he would? “I know I am.”
“Do you?”
Unable to keep her muscles contracted, she relaxed them. To her relief, his finger remained where she needed it.
“What was it?” he asked in the same caring tone. “Something freaked you?”
“Not that.” I didn’t want to lose you. “I just, hell, that’s enough foreplay.”
Chuckling, he kissed the tip of her nose. “Isn’t it the man who’s supposed to have the hair-trigger?”
The distraction of his lips on her nose only lasted a moment, yet in that time, he slipped his forefinger into her to join the one that was already there. Her tissues stretched, happily accepting the increased invasion.
“Tell me something,” he said. “Did my mentioning your smell bother you?”
He’d let go of her shoulder, but because that hand was now spread over her lower back, she still wasn’t at risk of falling backward. She could have let him support her but rocked forward until his body again flattened her breasts.
“Sex isn’t neat and clean,” she muttered, “so, no, I haven’t taken offense.”
“Good. Now I’d appreciate getting your reaction to this.”
She’d guessed he intended to further excite her before the upward pressure on her pussy started. Instead of rising in response, she sagged until the back of her thighs touched her heels. The side of her head rested on his chest and her arms fell to her sides. Relief burned through her shoulders then died a barely noticed death.
His fingers withdrew a little only to again reach for her womb. Once more, he started to slip out, followed by a search of her core that curled her toes.
Her head filled with heat. Electricity touched her everywhere, and her breasts throbbed. Her outer thighs burned because she kept scratching herself there. The contrast with the loosening, leaving sensation in her pussy sent a delighted cry to her throat. She again closed her muscles around him.
“Say something,” he whispered. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“There aren’t any…”
“Then it’s good?” He pulled free and swiped his hand from the back of her pussy to the front. “All good or are there things you wish I would or wouldn’t do?”
She saw nothing beyond a male form highlighted by the light’s yellowish cast. “Perfect.”
He took hold of her labia and drew down. “Then you want this to go on forever?”
“No!” Shaken by her outcry, she wrapped her arms around him and held on with all her strength.
Chapter Four
#xa0;
Ranger straddled her but he’d positioned her so her head hung over the side of the bed and she couldn’t see him. Her head pounded. Waiting for him, she replayed the last few moments.
After holding her with his right hand against her buttocks, he’d stepped away. Her vision had cleared enough so she was able to watch as he picked up the condom and put it on. Next time, she’d do the honors. Next time, hopefully, she’d be the one in control.
“On your back,” he commanded. “Sideways on the bed.”
She started to comply when he grabbed her ankles and moved them over the side opposite her head. The mattress was so soft she nearly rolled onto him as he climbed on beside her. Unable to stop from shaking, she didn’t resist when he stretched her arms out from her body.
“You’re trembling.” His ass settled on her thighs and his hands cupped her breasts.
“Just happy to see you.”
“Happy to meet you too, ma’am.” He gave her breasts a shake she felt throughout her. “And mighty glad to have proof of your willingness to engage in this mutually advantageous activity.”
He thumbed her nipples and she slipped between anticipation and laughter. Thanks for lightening the mood, she nearly told him.
After releasing her breasts, he stretched out over her. His cock slipped between her thighs. She lifted her head.
“Brought a welcoming present, did you?” she asked and let her head hang again.
“Why yes, that’s exactly what it is.” He pushed his cock against her core. “If you have enough of an appetite for—”
“I do! Damn it, I do.”
He whispered something she didn’t catch. Before she could decide whether to ask him to repeat himself, he sat up. Wanting to meet him thrust for thrust, she forced her buttocks off the bed, but the strain made her tremble even more.
“It’s not going to work this way, is it?” he asked. “Onto plan B.”
He slid off the bed, grabbing her knees and pulling her toward him so he was between her legs. His fingers walked from her knees to her thighs.
With her head no longer dangling, she was content to let the mattress support it as she concentrated on the form above her. No way could she deny that she was shamelessly displayed.
Do it, just do it!
Another lighthearted comment from him might have released the tension gripping her, yet the instant his cock head touched her entrance, she became content. Ready. Willing.
She tried to grasp his hands only to give up as he slid them under her buttocks and lifted. Giving herself entirely to his leadership, she cupped her breasts. Her awareness locked on her pussy.
There was nothing tentative about Ranger’s invasion, no slow entrance. He took her hard, his length plowing into her so she slid away from him. She let go of her breasts and dug her fingers into the sheet.
He pulled one hand out from under her ass and pressed his palm against her groin.
Lost! Pressure all around. A man’s cock claiming her.
“Remember what you said about wanting to come together.”
His voice was sandpaper rough and laced with fire. It swirled around her, touched her skin, slipped beneath the surface. That, plus his rapid-fire thrusts, rendered her mute.
“I want this mutual thing to matter,” he continued, grunting with each word. “But, hell, it doesn’t. Not now.”
It’s all right. Think of yourself, climb your mountain. Jump off it.
Captured by an image of Ranger at the edge of a cliff with his arms outstretched and freedom transforming his features, she went in search of her own peak. Her shoulders burned and her fingers threatened to cramp, but damned if she’d let go of the sheet. They were locked together and united in sex. Heat far different from what was in her arms swept over her pussy. Head back and lungs heaving, she struggled to give as good as she was getting, but it was so damn hard.
His hand left her mons and moved toward her pussy, but his cock was in the way, right? He couldn’t—
Oh shit!
Glory, ecstasy coming from the fingers on her clit.
“Oh, god! God damn!”
He came at her, one, two, three then countless trusts hammering her. A whirlpool caught her and sent her spinning. Her nails clawed at cotton. She clamped her legs against his.
Came.
* * * *
The bottom sheet had wor
ked loose, but Ranger couldn’t pull himself together enough to do anything about it. He and Charli were still naked with the top sheet covering them from the waist down and the fan holding humidity at bay.
She was asleep. He figured he’d come some five or six seconds after she had which as far as he was concerned was close enough to qualify as mutual. Not trusting his legs to support him, he’d pulled off the condom and slid onto the bed next to her. They hadn’t said much, mostly the equivalent of job well done followed by both of them drifting off.
Because there was no clock in the room, he didn’t know what time it was, somewhere in the middle of the night. Accustomed to spending his so-called sleeping hours subconsciously on alert, he made no effort to go in search of oblivion. He didn’t envy her.
Her. His latest conquest.
Even as he tried out the concept, he knew it wouldn’t hold because Charli was different in ways he didn’t comprehend but needed to.
She was smart and sexy, sexually adventurous and responsible, easy to talk to and not hesitant about showing off her brains and sexual appetite. Those things appealed to him, and yet she wasn’t the only woman he’d slept with who had such attributes.
Why are you making this impact on me? Is it deliberate? Maybe it’s coming from me.
The thought stopped him. Pulled him inward.
Since coming to Soco Island that first time, he’d been more aware of himself, more in need of something to fill the inner spaces with.
No, it was more than that. There was the sense that Soco itself was responsible for the changes. Stifling a sigh, he turned onto his back, placed his hands under his head and studied what he could see of the fan. He’d turned off the lamp, but some of the moon’s glow slipped through the window. Maybe if he studied the fan long enough, its movement would lull him back to sleep.
No, it wouldn’t.
This aliveness had slipped over him the moment Soco had come into view and yet he’d kept a lid on the sensation until he’d stepped into the preserve. That’s when he’d stopped thinking of himself as a modern man.
He became something new and old at the same time, almost as if he’d walked out of the present and into—what?
The past? Why, when history had never held any appeal for him?
“You’re awake,” Charli whispered.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s all right. Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Just some stuff I’m trying to figure out.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Her fingers rested on his belly. When his cock twitched, he thanked it for the distraction he wanted, or was it needed?
“Right now”—taking hold of her wrist, he drew her hand to his growing erection—“I’m more interested in something that doesn’t involve talking.”
She slid warm, soft fingers over his length. “But later.” It wasn’t a question.
“Maybe.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say that,” she whispered and sat up.
After positioning herself on her hands and knees, she leaned down and licked his chest. Shivering, he grabbed her hair only to release it when she crawled on top of him with her ass on his thighs and his cock against her belly.
“I don’t want morning to come.” She stroked him with warm, gentle fingers.
Blood rushed into his cock. “I bet you say this to all your conquests.”
“They aren’t conquests, damn it, and no, I don’t.”
Why? he needed to know, but she’d already stripped the word from him and when, minutes later, she placed him inside her, he felt the same way.
Morning be damned.
Sex with this woman—everything.
* * * *
“I don’t know which I prefer,” Charli said, “sunset or sunrise. Each has its own magic.”
“There doesn’t need to be an either or.”
They were sitting on the deck chairs inside the screened porch, watching morning slip over their small section of the world. Too worn out from sex to go in search of breakfast, they’d gotten as far as a joint shower followed by getting dressed. Ranger wore the same clothes he’d had on yesterday while she’d been able to put on a fresh outfit.
He’d positioned their chairs so they could hold hands. His warmth spread up her arm and over her breasts, making concentrating difficult.
There was one thing she could focus on.
“What brought you back to Soco?” she asked, not looking at him because, maybe, it would be easier for him to answer this way.
“I’m not sure,” he said after a moment. “I had this sense I had unfinished business here.”
“Something to do with your career?”
“No.”
“Then…? I’m sorry, I feel as if I’m interrogating you. Ranger, is that part of your job, interrogating people? You’re some kind of cop?”
“No.”
Just when she feared she’d blown it, he squeezed her hand, and she knew she’d been right to go in search of answers. Sensing his gaze on her, she turned toward him. The birthing light painted his face in a pink glow and yet his dark eyes remained.
“I don’t tell many people what I do. It’s better that way.”
“Safer?”
“Most of the time there’s nothing dangerous about what I do. But the potential’s there. I never forget that. Besides…”
“Besides what?”
“My clients want to maintain low profiles. I do the same.”
Suddenly, there wasn’t enough air in her lungs. “Are you a hit man? A hired gun?”
“No.”
Thank god. “Then—”
“You deserve the truth,” he said and her lungs filled. “I want you to know.”
“I appreciate that.”
He slid his fingers between hers. “My growing up included firsthand experience in dropping out of sight. My parents got themselves in one tight spot after another. They could pack up and move in a few hours, usually after dark. I thought all people were like that, no roots or ties.”
His explanation wasn’t enough. She needed to know so much more about him, but it had to be on his terms and on his time.
Don’t let what we’ve started end, not so soon.
“Once I struck off on my own, I realized I’d learned some valuable skills. One of my first bosses wanted to find an employee who’d disappeared with the company payroll. I tracked him down and recovered most of the money.”
“Law enforcement—”
“The people I work for don’t want to involve cops. For them, finding someone they believe has done them wrong is a private, personal matter.”
“Oh,” she managed. “So, if I… How would I find out about your service? Are you online?”
“No. I can be reached but only by someone who knows how to find me. Word of mouth keeps me employed.”
“Is that why you aren’t married?” The instant the question was out of her mouth, she wondered if she’d made a mistake. “Because of the security?”
“I have to consider how much I want to involve a woman in my life, but I haven’t backed away from relationships because of that.”
“It sounds as if you’re like me. So intent on your career that other things get pushed aside.”
“And because I don’t have anything except that career—at least I didn’t before coming here.”
She was still trying grasp what he’d just revealed when he stood. “Come with me.”
* * * *
“Orchids.” Charli pointed with her free hand. “I never expected to see these here. What’s that, Spanish moss?”
Although Ranger looked in the direction she’d indicated, most of his attention remained on her. When he’d told her he wanted them to go to the preserve, he thought she might decline in favor of breakfast or her agenda. Instead, she’d all but raced him to it. Now, she stood with her shoulder against his and her warmth distracting him from the day’s growing heat
.
“Yes. The moss is hanging from a Royal palm. From its size, I’m thinking the palm is hundreds of years old. You’re more likely to find moss on a cypress. What impresses me is that palms, cypress, pines, even mangroves all grow here.”
“What are you, a horticulturist?”
“Far from it.” He turned his gaze on her. “After I first came to the island, I researched. Yesterday, I found everything I hoped I would.”
“Why was that important?”
Although he wanted to answer, he needed to first frame his response. He filled that time by indicating they should start walking again. Even before they reached the next turn on the path, he recalled that there was a pond off to the left nearly hidden by vegetation. Unseen frogs croaked.
She squeezed his hand. “I love that sound. I suppose they’re in there.” She pointed in the direction of the pond.
Head cocked, he concentrated on the erp-erp-erp. “Those are green tree frogs, so if we want to see them, we need to look there.”
She stepped in front of him, grasped his other hand, and brought both to her throat. “You can tell what kind of frog it is by the sound? Another of your mysterious skills?”
She’d touched on what, in part, had mesmerized him during his solitary journey here. Not only had he been able to differentiate between the various croaks, he’d known where to look for a great blue heron nest. He’d spotted an otter sliding into water, several box turtles, a yellow and black snail, a golden orb spider, a corn snake, raccoon prints, and, most exciting, a pair of sandhill cranes. The library and Internet had taught him about the life cycles of those living organisms. What research hadn’t been able to do was guide his legs, eyes and ears. That talent, if that was the name to give it, had come from within.