by Tarah Scott
“Hawk,” she breathed.
He pressed close to her side, and she became aware of the heavy jeans that separated his cock from her naked thigh. With trembling fingers, she reached between them and grasped the top jeans’ button. The sucking on her breast stilled. She froze.
“Don’t stop,” he murmured against her breast.
Liz shifted her gaze to the sliver of moonlight that fell across the space between them and worked free the buttons. She shoved the shirt tail up and out of the way, then pulled back the front of his jeans. A large bulge pressed against white boxer briefs. Her mouth went dry. It had been three years since she’d had a man, and forever since she’d had a man like Hawk. She grasped the waistband and gingerly pulled the fabric past his shaft.
His long, thick cock sprang free, aimed directly at her abdomen. Heart pounding, Liz wrapped a hand around the girth. He pulsed between her fingers. Excitement swelled on a rising tide through her. He felt so good, so hard…so male. It had been too long since she’d touched a man. Just as it had been too long since she’d tasted one. What would he do if she took him in her mouth?
Before she could talk herself out of it, Liz shoved him onto his back. She brought her face to his rod, and he remained motionless as she grasped the root and ran her tongue around the corona.
A growl reverberated from his chest, and he tunneled his fingers into her hair. Liz quelled the nervous tightening in her stomach and took him into her mouth. He thrust inside, slowly, gently, letting her set the rhythm. She resisted the urge to close her eyes, kept them wide open, watching his length disappear inside her mouth, then reappear as she pulled back. She hollowed her cheeks, caressing the velvet steel while sucking hard on the upstroke.
His fingers tightened in her hair. “Liz.”
The word came out a hoarse groan, and she was startled at the realization that she was driving him over the edge—and with little effort. She increased her rhythm. To her shock, his cock hardened further. She breathed deep, reveling in the male scent, the feel of his engorged staff filling her mouth. He’d said he would make her come so hard she saw stars. She wanted to make him come so hard he wouldn’t soon forget this night, or Liz Williams. She sucked more of his length, swirling her tongue around the root.
He abruptly seized her shoulders, and she found herself on her back, him over her. He kissed her—long, hard, and demanding—then broke away and shucked his shirt, jeans, and boots. He pulled something from the back pocket of his jeans. She heard the quiet tear of paper, then he reached toward his erection and she realized it had been a condom he’d pulled from his pocket and he was fitting it to his cock.
Suddenly, Liz felt like a fool. “Do you carry condoms around in your pocket?”
His head jerked in her direction. A heartbeat of silence passed before he said “About six months ago, I was involved with a woman. Our schedules didn’t mesh, and I didn’t like not being prepared. I prayed to every Native American god I knew that there was one still in the glove box.” She heard the sheepish note in his voice. “I could have gotten creative, but I want to be inside you so badly it hurts.”
In the next second, he was over her again, kissing her with a passion that had her head spinning. His weight crushed her breasts with exquisite discomfort, marbling her nipples against his smooth flesh.
“Do you want me as badly as I want you?” he murmured against her lips.
Her clit throbbed with a need unlike any she’d ever experienced. Her fantasies during those hours of digging were dim versions of the reality. Yes, she wanted him.
Liz answered by shoving a hand between them and grasping his erection.
Hawk pushed onto his elbows and allowed her to position his cock at her opening. Slowly, he eased inside so that only the tip stretched her tight channel. Then he stopped and lifted his head to meet her gaze. His features were hidden in shadows against the moon that watched from beyond the window, its darkened valleys eyes that stared like a lewd voyeur. He lowered his weight onto her, cupped her face, and kissed her with a gentleness that nearly brought tears. He eased deeper. Pleasure trickled through her at the feel of the invasion. She gripped his shoulders.
He stilled. “You all right?”
She slid a hand up and threaded her fingers through the hair at his nape. “Don’t stop.”
He gave a gravelly laugh and surged hilt deep. She cried out and dug her fingers into his flesh. He eased out, then in again. She lifted her legs, bracing her feet on the car floor, and raised her hips to meet his slow thrusts. Hawk trailed hot licks down her neck. Sizzles skittered across her flesh. She shivered, her fingers tightening in his hair.
“That’s it, sweetheart.” He thrust hard.
She gasped at the pleasure that rocketed through her.
“You like that?” he asked.
Liz pulled his mouth to hers. He increased the speed of his thrusts. She wrapped her legs around his waist. A tickle began in her core. Her heart jumped into warp speed. Harder, deeper, he drove into her. Emotion tightened her chest. His pubic bone bumped her pleasure point. Pleasure ripped through her. She angled her hips for more direct contact. He drove deeper, harder. His head rammed into her cervix. Her clit tightened, and she cried out in her release.
“Fuck,” Hawk muttered.
His arms slid beneath her, crushing her as he pounded into her. She couldn’t think. A second orgasm crashed over her. Her channel walls milked his cock. His hoarse groan pierced the desire that blanketed her brain. He pumped faster, his breath coming in labored gasps in her ear until he threw his head back, muscles straining with his climax. Liz arched into him, and he growled, thrust deep twice more, then collapsed on top of her, heart thundering so hard she felt the powerful beat against her breast.
Hawk slid to her side and hugged her close. “Give me five minutes, sweetheart, and we’ll do that again.”
Chapter Eight
Hawk’s eyes snapped open. Awareness danced across his nerves. He pushed onto an elbow and peered through the window at the road. Headlights cut across the night a mile up the road. This wasn’t the first time he’d had cause to thank his ancestors for the supernatural sense that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. The way things were going tonight, it wouldn’t be the last. The vehicle disappeared around a bend in the foothills, but he had recognized the headlights as belonging to a large vehicle like the SUV that had rammed his Chevy the night before—not that he’d needed confirmation.
“Liz.” He gave her a hard shake while reaching for his boots.
“Hmm?”
“There’s a car coming. Get up.”
She bolted upright and swiveled in the direction he stared, but the car was hidden from view amongst the hills. Hawk stuffed his foot into a boot.
Liz looked at him. “What time is it?” Then before he could answer, she asked, “Who would be coming down this road this time of night? Are there homes out here? I don’t recall seeing any when I drove out.”
“No.” He grabbed the second boot. “We’ve got to get out of here. They’ll be here in less than a minute.”
She scooted to the end of their makeshift bed and grabbed her boots. After he’d made love to her a second time, he’d insisted they dress. He’d hated not feeling her soft body against his, but the temperature was dropping, and there had been the possibility Reid’s men might come back. He hated being right.
Hawk crawled to the door and got out. He scanned the road. The car hadn’t come around the nearest bend yet, but they couldn’t be more than seconds away.
“Put on that jacket,” he ordered and grabbed the rifle and cooler.
“Would Reid’s men come back?” she asked.
“It’s an SUV.”
Hawk slung the rifle over his shoulder, then, cooler in hand, he slammed the door closed and grasped Liz’s hand. The SUV appeared around the last bend.
“Come on.” He started them at a run in the direction of the dig.
They neared the decline as the v
ehicle veered off the road a hundred feet away, headlights dead on them. Hawk pumped his legs faster and nearly flew down the hill. Relief swept through him when Liz kept pace. Headlights cut a path across the desert over their heads. Car doors slammed an instant later.
They reached the farthest cluster of pillars when a voice shouted, “Come on, Professor, you know we saw you.”
The Beanstalk.
Hawk pushed Liz behind him and peered around the pillar. Two figures stood on the rise. Jack and his sidekick, The Beanstalk.
“Come on, Professor,” The Beanstalk called. “We only want to talk.”
Hawk turned and grasped Liz’s shoulders. “You moved pretty damn fast. The hills are a hundred and fifty yards. Think you can amp it up a bit?”
She swallowed, but said in a strong voice, “Kick-boxing three days a week and Stairmaster four.”
He grinned. “You’re in damn good shape. We’re going to make for the saddle.”
“You don’t want anything to happen to your lady friend, do you, Professor?”
Liz’s head snapped in the direction of The Beanstalk’s voice.
Hawk grasped her jaw and turned her face toward his. “You trust me?” She nodded affirmation and he said, “Good, then do as I say. We’re going to run for it, but if they start shooting, I’m going to cover you while you make for the hills.” She opened her mouth, but he cut her off. “If you get shot, there’s no way I can get you to a doctor.” He gave her a smile. “Don’t worry. I plan on us making it—together.”
She nodded and he released her.
“Professor, you’re scaring your lady friend,” The Beanstalk called.
Hawk’s heart hammered. The Beanstalk had started down the hill. “Grab that cooler and be ready to run,” he ordered Liz.
In one fluid motion, Hawk swung the rifle from his shoulder and aimed as he stepped from around the rock. Then he fired. Both men dropped with shouted curses and began to roll down the hill. Hawk whirled, grabbed Liz’s hand, and raced across the open desert.
They were halfway across when a shot rang out.
“Run!” Hawk pushed Liz forward.
He whirled, swung the rifle up, sighted The Beanstalk, and fired again. The big man stumbled as if he’d tripped, then crashed to the ground. Hawk swung the barrel toward Jack and pulled the trigger as he dived for cover. Hawk pivoted and came up short at finding Liz standing twenty feet away.
“God damn it, Liz. Run!”
Hawk reached her in two seconds. He seized her hand and shot forward. She tripped. He yanked her to his side, her feet righted, and they raced forward. Another shot rang out. Dirt kicked up to Liz’s right. Red hot fury rammed through him. He hugged Liz closer and dove for the narrow saddle as another shot echoed around them.
They hit the ground, Liz on top of him. Hawk ignored the pain that radiated up his arm and pushed her from him as he rolled onto his stomach and pointed the rifle in the direction of the men. They were running at breakneck speed toward him and Liz. The Beanstalk pointed his pistol.
Hawk sighted The Beanstalk’s leg and fired. The Beanstalk dove to the right while Jack dropped.
The Beanstalk rolled and came up on his belly like Hawk. “I’ll kill you, motherfucker.”
Hawk fired, then pushed to his feet and hauled Liz up with him. “We’ve got to keep moving.”
He pulled her forward, and they broke into a run for the next hill. They rounded the slope as more gunfire sounded. Hawk shoved Liz down and peered around the side. God damn it, the men were nearly halfway to where he and Liz were. Hawk faced her. His gut wrenched at the stark fear on her face.
“Can you keep going?” he demanded.
She nodded, and they jumped up and started forward. This time, there was no saddle. They had to go over the top of the large rise. How far were Jack and The Beanstalk going to follow them? The two men weren’t equipped for getting lost in the mountains.
“Come on,” Hawk urged. “We’ve got to get over that rise before they get around the hill behind us.”
Seconds later, they started up the incline. Hawk glanced back. The men weren’t in sight. “Think Stairmaster,” he coaxed through heavy breaths.
Liz was breathing heavier than she had been when they’d started up the hill, but she nodded and picked up speed. Damn, the woman could move. They neared the top, and Hawk looked back in time to see that the men had nearly reached the bottom of the hill behind them. Hawk pulled Liz to the ground. She cried out.
“Crawl,” he ordered. She started to look back, but Hawk grabbed her arm. “Keep going.”
She crawled forward, and they were over the summit in three seconds. They jumped to their feet and raced to the bottom where Liz came to a halt, breathing hard.
“I need,” she drank in more air, “to rest.”
“I know. Soon.” He pulled her forward.
They moved as fast as they could to the next saddle, where the hills were twice the size they had been when they’d first fled into the foothills.
Shouts went up farther away behind them, and Hawk knew the men were losing ground fast. He and Liz slowed but didn’t stop until moonlight dimmed within the deepening shadows of even larger hills.
At last, Hawk brought them to a halt. He listened but heard only silence. “I think we lost them.”
A quiet sob broke from Liz.
“Sweetheart.” He pulled her into his arms.
“I thought they were going to follow us all night,” she cried against his chest.
“They were damned persistent,” he agreed.
She began to tremble, and he realized the adrenaline that had kept her going was wearing off. She was going to fall apart. He scanned their surroundings. They’d climbed to an open area against the incline of a gentle rise. He scanned for snakes among the tiny ground shrubs and found none.
“You need to rest.” Hawk pried loose the cooler she gripped, then dropped it to the ground and urged her down as he sat beside her. He laid the rifle beside them, and she melted into his arms, tears flowing in earnest.
“It’s all right.” He stroked her hair.
“I thought they were going to kill you,” she sobbed.
Hawk gave a quiet laugh. “That’s what had you scared?”
Her head snapped up. “It’s not funny.”
“I know. You weren’t just a little worried they might kill you?”
“You were the one they were shooting at.”
Hawk remembered the shot that had gone wide to her right. They hadn’t been shooting at him that time. “I told you to keep running.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you to get hurt or captured. They would have killed you.”
The determination in her voice didn’t surprise him, but the tightening in his chest did. She meant it. She would have put her life on the line for him, just as she had last night when she’d confronted him. It took guts for a woman to stand up to a man his size in a deserted parking lot. And stand up to him she had, even after he’d backed her against the truck and… His cock jerked at the memory of her lush body trapped between him and the truck.
She’d responded to him even then. He hadn’t missed the hardening of her nipples against his chest. And he’d responded to her, despite thinking she’d been sent by Reid. What would he have done if she’d been on the wrong side of this fight?
Hawk startled at the feel of her palm flat against his chest. His heart jumped into high gear as the hand slid upward. Her slender fingers made contact with his neck, and his shaft thickened.
“Liz,” he rasped.
She answered by drawing his mouth down to hers. Warm lips met his, and he knew the answer to his question. If she’d been on the wrong side of the fight, he would still be right here with her body pressed close to his. Her tongue slipped past his lips and stroked his. Lust coursed through him like a river of lava. She reached between them and fumbled with his belt.
He broke the kiss. “Liz, if they show up—”
“You said we lost
them.”
“I know, but if I’m wrong—”
He broke off. She’d gone stock still, except for the tremble in her fingers he knew was more from fear than lust. Damn, he was an idiot. She needed him, as much to make her feel safe as she did to allay her fears about their burgeoning relationship. He glanced in the direction they had come. How long had it been since he’d heard sounds of pursuit, forty-five minutes, an hour? At least that. The men weren’t going to find them.
Hawk crushed Liz to him. She pushed at his chest.
“Shh, sweetheart,” he soothed. “I need you as much as you need me.”
“You said—”
“I’m an idiot.” He pulled her across his lap and covered her mouth with his. His cock pulsed when her rounded ass pressed down on his fast-growing erection. Any minute the damn thing would burst past his button fly and dive straight for her.
She melted in a shuddering mass against him. The kiss turned violent, a slash of sucking lips, tangled tongues, and grazing teeth. Hawk pushed aside the lapel of her blue jean jacket, then fumbled the buttons on the coveralls and palmed her lush breast through the lacy bra. She moaned. He bent his head and sucked the peak through the lace. She clutched his shoulders and arched into his mouth. He sucked harder. She gasped.
He pulled loose the remaining buttons on the coveralls and sank his fingers into the hot moisture of her sex. Liz cried out. Blood roared through his ears, and his cock hardened to the point of agony. She slid a hand up his neck and speared her fingers into his hair. He rammed a finger inside her wet pussy, still sucking her nipple. She tugged hard on his hair.
Need coursed through him with startling heat, but he forced himself to slowly insert a second finger and gently stretch her. She was so damn tight. The thought of ramming his engorged cock inside the small opening sent a dizzying wave of lust through him. He sawed his fingers in and out of her silken passage.
“Hawk,” she whimpered.
The need in her voice tightened his chest. He moved to the other breast while fucking her harder with his fingers. She pulsed against the digits. The action bumped her buttocks against his erection. Sweat beaded across his forehead and instantly cooled in the night breeze. Her breath hitched, and he knew she was close to climax. Desire to be inside her clenched body nearly overwhelmed him, but he wasn’t done with her yet, not by a long shot.