by Tatum Throne
The crux of the climb was still to come. She had to pull it together.
“You got this, Wynn. Just a few more holds to crank out!”
He was right. She moved smoothly through the route after that. She topped out, pulling the rope up between her legs as she did. Wynn sat on the edge of the cliff, enjoying the wide open view of the gorge.
Wynn was breathing hard as she rested her hands off her knees. They were red and swollen from the workout. Chalk still dusted them in patches. A long scratch she didn’t remember getting skipped down her arm. She loved the feeling that came just after a hard climb. It was the ultimate high and an almost orgasmic release. It was that way for most climbers.
“You okay?” Kade called.
“Yeah, off belay!”
“Belay off,” Kade said.
“Rope!”
Wynn dropped the rope over the side of the cliff, and Kade stepped back out of the way as the rope fell to the ground. She circled around the cliff edge, finding an easy place to down climb the cliff.
Then it was Kade’s turn.
She took on the role of belayer by clipping into the rope. She watched him work his way up the side of the cliff with an animal ease that most hard-core rock climbers had. When he topped out, he down climbed, taking out the cams as he went.
Kade was grinning with a boyish charm as he stepped back onto the ground. “Have you seen the waterfall?”
“No. It’s close?” she asked.
“It’s just a short hike along the cliffs.”
They packed up their gear, and Wynn switched into her hiking shoes. Kade carried their gear as they hiked. The heat and humidity of summer faded as they stayed within the shade of the cliffs. Wynn heard the sound of the waterfall before they rounded the cliff, seeing it.
“Oh, wow!”
Kade grinned. “I know. Take off your shoes.”
Water rushed over rocks, highlighting the green algae growing on boulders. The water rushed into a lagoon deep enough to swim in. Kade dropped their gear and started kicking off his shoes. He looked around before dropping his climbing pants to the ground.
Wynn’s mouth dropped open when he walked naked to stand beneath the waterfall. He washed and rinsed his body. A rainbow of colors reflected through the water onto the hard lines of his muscled body. He purposely kept his backside to her. Wynn kept her clothes on as she walked over the rocks and under the overhang that created the waterfall. Kade turned and pulled her close. Wynn gasped as his erection hit her solidly in the belly.
“I’ve been dying to know if you’re wearing a thong under your climbing pants,” he said.
“Have you now?” she asked.
Mist from the water quickly wet her clothes. Kade ran his hands down her hips, hooking his thumbs into her pants. He rolled them down over her hips and groaned when he caught sight of her white-and-purple polka dot thong. He smoothed her pants down to her ankles and she stepped out of them.
“Come swim with me,” he said.
Wynn left her thong and sports bra on as she took Kade’s hands. He led her into the deep end of the lagoon, behind the falls. She sensed that he didn’t want sex. There was something more he needed from her right now, and truthfully, there was more she needed from him. The intimacy should’ve frightened her, but it didn’t. A small part of her knew she wasn’t ready to give her heart over to him.
Below the water, Wynn reached out and stroked Kade’s shaft. He groaned and settled her hips around his thighs. Wynn didn’t let go of his throbbing rod.
“Tell me about your work with the Secret Service. Did you protect the president?” she asked.
“No. I was assigned to a diplomat in Greece.”
Kade’s eyes closed, and his hands came around to grab her ass. She stroked him again. “Why’d you leave?”
“I missed living in the US full-time. I got injured in the line of duty, too.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“I was shot.”
She had noticed the scar on his abdomen but never imagined that it could be a bullet wound. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. It changed my life for the better. If I was still in Greece, I never would’ve met you.”
She tightened her grasp on his cock as she stroked it down to the base and up to the tip. She didn’t to want to look at what he said too closely. Not when she was lying to him with every move she made.
“Kade...we’re just having fun.” She saw something dangerous flash in his eyes, so she started polishing his cock with more enthusiasm. “Just some fun.”
“Yes, we are.”
His cock flexed hard within her hands. She reached down with her left to cup his balls. Kade leaned back against the rocks, bringing his cock out of the water. He flexed it up, teasing her into kissing him. Wynn stayed half in the water as her mouth sought his throbbing cock. The large round head was plumped purple. She licked out, tasting the salty texture of his pre-cum. He growled, and she sucked the head of his cock into her mouth.
A sudden desperation consumed Wynn. She wanted to be memorable to Kade. After their relationship was over, she wanted him to think of her often and always wonder, what if? She didn’t just want to be one of his summer climbing partners he fucked on the side. The intensity of her feelings frightened her greatly.
Wynn lowered her mouth onto his cock, using her hand to grip him around the base as she sucked. She was hungry for him, and she made sure he knew by the way she licked down his shaft to suck his balls. He held perfectly still as she bobbed her head. Kade’s breathing deepened with his muscles, flexing to the point of steel. He laced his fingers through her hair, making her moan as he guided her head down his shaft and back up.
Wynn felt her pussy contract and her thong wet from her juices. She twined her legs around Kade’s as she licked over his shaft. He was too large to take completely into her mouth, but she knew how to ride him right. She sucked the tip of him harder, pulling her lips tight around his head. The veins in his shaft tightened, and Wynn knew his cum was ready to shoot from his cock. Wynn licked her way off of him and looked up into his eyes. There was heat sparked within his eyes that sent an erotic chill down her spine.
“Bend over the rock.”
“Not a chance,” she said.
She dove back in a swan dive through the waterfall but didn’t make it far. Kade grabbed her by the ankles beneath the water and pulled her up around his waist. The hard, rounded tip of his cock hit her right between her ass cheeks.
“You’re not leaving me like this,” he said. “I know you want this.”
“Kade...”
She gasped as she felt his fingers dive under the thin cotton of her thong and up into her wet pussy. He dove deep, bringing her to orgasm with three short strokes along her G-spot. They groaned together as her body contracted around his fingers. Wynn arched back in his arms as she rode the wild waves. Kade pulled the strip of cloth aside and thrust up inside her hot pussy in one forceful stroke.
“Look at me. Look at me as I take you,” he said.
Her eyes flashed open. Water from the falls poured over both of their shoulders as he pounded her sex. He was owning her in a way no man had ever dared. He braced her back against the rocks as he thrust deeper, grinding his hips in circles. He reached between them and found her swollen clit. He rubbed and pinched the nub, sending her into another round of orgasms. Wynn dug her fingers into Kade’s shoulders. She felt Kade’s balls bunch up tight, and his sex tighten to the point of steel. Pleasure and pain had her pussy popping off again.
“Kade...”
“Tell me I’m the only one that can fuck you like this...say it now.”
She moaned as his big hands pinched her ass. “You’re the only one, Kade. Only you fuck me.”
A tortured animal growl erupted from his body as he unloaded himself deep within her pussy.
“You’re mine. Mine. I don’t want any other man having you.”
Kade’s words were erotically hot against her
ear. She held on tight to Kade as uncertainty wormed its way through her heart. He kissed his way over her shoulder and neck. Then he took possession of her mouth in a territorial way. She felt marked by Kade. Claimed.
He pulled out but held her close. Wynn brushed her fingers through the dark hair on his chest.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” he said.
She lifted her gaze slowly to his. She wasn’t good at lying. “Can’t. I have plans.”
He kissed her sweetly. “Maybe another time?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
Wynn knew she was pulling away from Kade emotionally. She tried to hide the shift from Kade, but she was certain he could pick up on the tension between them. They were both a sweaty mess from the hike back to their cars. Kade stowed his gear in his truck and turned to her.
“I work tomorrow,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m busy, too.” She had to work tomorrow, too.
“I’ll call you later,” he said.
Deep down, she hoped he wouldn’t call. Wynn was starting to care about Kade. When she cared too deeply and too fast, men tended to leave before her skirt had time to settle back down around her hips. This time, she’d be the one walking away before he had time to button his fly. That shouldn’t have bothered her but it did.
Chapter Ten
Kade was out on patrol. That meant he made lots of stops to check vehicles parked off the side of the road. Ninety-nine percent of the cars checked were climbers’ vehicles. It was that one percent that were drug smugglers that he had to be on the lookout for.
The Wrangler parked off the side of the road was Wynn’s. He looked around. She was nowhere to be found. This area was known for its illegal activities. Kade reached for his radio out of muscle memory.
“43-50 to Central.”
“Go ahead 43-50.”
“10-66. I’ve got a broken down car parked on Tunnel Ridge Road. A half mile south of 77. I’m going to check it out.”
“10-4.”
The hood to Wynn’s Jeep was propped, and steam billowed from the engine. He rolled up behind Wynn’s Jeep and parked, lights off. He got out and took a moment to look around. He frowned, wondering if Wynn walked into something she shouldn’t have. The grass and gravel around her Wrangler wasn’t disturbed. That was a good sign. No other cars were here recently.
He looked in the backseat of her Jeep and saw her backpack sitting on the seat. There was nothing else in the back that would give him any detail about what the woman liked. Kade ground his back teeth at the way he was like a starved dog chewing on a bone.
He saw a pathway cut through the tall grass on the other side of the embankment and knew Wynn had taken that pathway into the field. A field that often led to cash crops of marijuana.
There were things about Wynn that he wanted to know. The more he dug, the more questions he had about the woman. That was the thing. Each time they were together, she got him talking about himself and his life in the Red. Why was she so interested in him?
Kade wanted to trust her completely. No, he needed to trust her without hesitation.
Why was she out here? Not many would know how to find this spot without direction. It was probably coincidental. Jeep overheated, and she walked out into the field to use a tree. That must have been it. The guys that knew how to get here were normally the growers. Kade hadn’t pegged her as a farmer, and that bothered him. Was he blinded by his feelings for her? Whatever those feelings were turning out to be.
Warning bells were going off in his head despite what he knew to be true of Wynn. He took a parallel line out to the field where Wynn’s tracks led. He caught sight of her through the tall grass and brush that was nearly six-feet high. She was walking around and squatting down around the pot plants as though she were tending a garden.
She pulled a camera from her pocket and started taking photos and counting plants. Now wasn’t she the perfect little gardener? There was something about the methodical way she moved that reminded him of law enforcement. The ball cap on her head made her look like law enforcement, too. Was she?
Kade stepped on a stick, and the snap sound echoed within the field. She looked his way, and he ducked down. He wanted to confront her, but not before he knew how deep this cell went. He didn’t want to accuse her of anything unless he had concrete proof she was involved. Wynn wandering around the field wasn’t enough to make an accusation. She could’ve found it by accident. That had to be the case here.
The sound of her cell phone ringing had him snapping out of his thoughts. He’d wait to confront her until he hunted down the other leads he had on the pipeline first. He doubted she was involved. She had secrets. He was sure of it. Those secrets had nothing to do with drugs, though. The secrets she was keeping had everything to do with her not trusting him completely.
Kade headed back to his vehicle to wait for Wynn to hike it out of the field. He listened as her voice carried across the wide open space. Her laughter made him smile.
That had him thinking about what he wanted and what he could have with a woman he barely knew. Kade always imagined that he would one day get married and have two point five children. Work with the Secret Service made that impossible. Loneliness was one of the reasons why he left. Women didn’t wait for a man that was halfway around the world two hundred and fifty days of the year. Kade leaned back against his patrol vehicle.
He caught sight of her before she saw him, and his heart beat a little bit faster in his chest. The wind teased her long hair around her face, and the sun worshiped her naturally pale skin, turning it momentarily golden. She was stunning and everything he always wanted in a woman and lover. Wynn was a natural beauty that didn’t focus on her good looks the way some women did.
Kade thought about his grandmother’s ring sitting in the safety deposit box at the bank. He always imagined proposing one day to the woman he loved with the two-carat Tiffany ring. Was Wynn that woman?
The sun created a halo around her hair. It was then that Kade knew she was the one.
Chapter Eleven
Wynn walked deeper into the field, heading away from the crop she just found and into an abandoned cornfield.
Wynn had parked her Jeep off the side of the road and hopped out, unlatching the hood. She propped it up and then took a sip of water before pouring it onto the engine. Steam had billowed up like a bad teenage attitude.
There wasn’t just corn in the field in front of Wynn. Her dark ball cap kept the sun from beating her down. She lifted her binoculars and scanned the meadow. Butterflies fluttered through a field of wildflowers across from the cornfield. She adjusted the military-grade binoculars as she scanned deep into the maze.
She was alone, but she didn’t feel alone. She looked around at sound of branch snapping, but no one was there.
Wynn hiked out through the field and into the maze of corn. She was about a hundred feet in when she got to more marijuana plants. There were thousands. She took more pictures. The team would have to hit the field this week if they were going to get it cleared out. The crop was almost mature enough to harvest. Wynn popped in a piece of gum.
Her cell phone rang for a second time. The first had been her boss. It was her sister, Jen, this time. “Hey, Roo, what’s up?”
“I need a huge favor.”
Wynn heard the stress in her voice. Seven months pregnant could do that to a woman that owned her own bakery. “Anything, what do you need?”
“I need your help Saturday. I’m short-staffed.”
“Sure. What time?”
“Can you come to the shop around one to help me make deliveries?” she asked.
“Of course.” Wynn was hiking back along the cornfield to the Jeep when she saw that Kade had rolled up behind her Wrangler. “Hey, I can’t talk now. Can I call you later?”
“You still on that undercover gig out at the Red?”
“Actually, I am. I’ll call you later.”
She secured her cell phone in the pocket of her cargo
s before she came around the side. Her heart fluttered when he stepped from the side of his vehicle. Since she saw him last, he’d gotten a haircut, too.
“Car trouble?” he asked.
“Overheated. I just added some water.” She jumped behind the wheel and started the engine then shut it off. “Sounds good.”
She got out as he looked around the engine and lowered the hood. His dark shades hid his eyes. She sensed rather than saw the hard look he was sending her way. The one that said he didn’t completely believe her story.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” she asked.
“We’ve had some problems with drug smugglers. They’ve been known to use the fields around here for planting.”
Wynn’s heart started to race. “Is there anything else I should know about?”
He stared out over the field and the pathway she carved through the long grass to get to the dirt aisles of corn. She couldn’t read him when he was in work mode.
“Just be careful when you’re out here alone, okay?”
“I will be.” Kade came around the side of the Wrangler as she hopped inside. “What are you up to tonight?”
“I’m working late,” he said. “You?”
She had to send out a report to the team. “This and that.”
“Can I call you later?”
“Sure. I’ll be up.”
He gave a quick kiss on her lips. “Be safe, Wynn.”
Chapter Twelve
He called that night, but she didn’t call him back. Wynn wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. It’d make her job easier if he stayed away. She should’ve been relieved, but she wasn’t. She was running scared. Kade wasn’t a man that would let her go easily. She was certain he’d give her space, but how much was he willing to put up with?