by Angel Payne
She shook her head. “No, no. Shockingly, Gunter doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
He firmed his stance, though now her discomfort crawled through him, too. “Okay.” He did his best to keep his tone encouraging.
“I stopped at Franz’s house.”
A long moment ticked by. She still bit her lip like she’d sold state secrets to terrorists. “Ummm…okay?” he repeated.
“I was worried.” She gave him a tentative glance. “About Tait.”
He did his best to respect her solemnity, but a chuckle slipped out. “And you thought I’d be upset about that?” Her answering scowl, radiating confusion, grabbed his heart and squeezed. “Starshine,” he whispered, sprawling fingers across her jaw to ensure she kept looking at him, “the depths of your heart blow me away.”
He meant every damn word, an admission that scared him a little. Perhaps more than a little. But tonight, that fear felt…good. Really good. He wanted this fear if it meant having the woman who came with it.
“You’re really not mad?” Though the tension in her frame began to ease, her face still carried a crunch of bewilderment.
“Holy fuck.” He laughed again. “No.” After sliding another kiss across her lips, he went on, “Lani, he’s my best friend. My brother, remember? We may be going through a strange patch right now—a really strange patch—but I love the guy.” He brought up his other hand to caress her nape. “Your compassion for him doesn’t upset me. It moves me.”
She turned to kiss his palm. “You’re pretty incredible, Kellan Rush.”
Her admiration, especially over something so simple, made him feel higher than the moon. Giddy. And bold enough to break out a deep scowl at her, filled with his real vexation. “What does piss me off is the fact that you kept all this from me in the first place. I’m not your teenage brother, sweetheart. I’m a grown man, capable of processing things like one.”
A grin—of sorts—quirked her lips. “And the man wonders why I was worried.”
He dipped a hand to playfully bat her ass. Lani giggled and squirmed against his hold. The action, combined with the fact that she still stood here in nothing but her damp bikini, flared his irritation flared into a different kind of fire. He lowered his lips to hers once more, but took them with harder emphasis. After dragging away, he growled, “I really should spank your ass for that, naughty one.”
Her eyes went wide. The blue-silver depths had picked up brilliant flecks, instantly betraying the woman’s excitement at the idea. One side of her mouth kicked up. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“No?” He spun her around then locked her back against him, wrapping arms around her shoulders and waist. “I could and I would,” he growled into her ear. “And maybe I still will. It’d be a first for us both, but I guarantee you one thing: Tait’s shown me enough techniques that I’d know just how and where to redden your beautiful ass.”
She let out a little moan that hardened his cock and softened his hold. He slid both hands down to her thighs, caressing them from the inside juncture and out, setting his goal for the sweet swells that she rubbed straight up the shaft beneath his khakis…
Just before she bolted from him at a full run.
Her laughter rocketed through the air in her wake. “Spank me?” she teased over her shoulder. “We’ll see about that—if you catch me.”
He let out an answering growl, finishing it with a laugh. Lani squealed and quickened her sprint into the forest. Between the black ropes of her wet hair, the black lines of her swimsuit, and the shadows cast by the moonlight through the trees, it was natural for him to click into hunter mode, tracking his elusive she-panther through the jungle.
Tracking—but not catching.
After several minutes, the scenario hit him as a plausible, if incredible, possibility. “Damn,” he muttered, pausing in a clearing that was a little over halfway to Franz’s place. He’d been wrong to think he had the advantage here. He navigated terrain like this for the day job, but she’d been doing the same since she could walk.
Just when he considered finding a hiding place and waiting her out, Lani’s laugh rang out, reeling him forward once more. His senses sharpened, zeroing in on her location. He veered right, smiling.
She was getting cocky. And careless.
He answered her giggle with a snarl, playing up its frustrated edge. The tactic worked. Her next laugh shot through the trees, directing him back toward the left. As the sound of her footfall sliced through the trees, he altered his own, adopting the careful tread that his battalion mate, Ethan Archer, affectionately referred to as “snaky steps.” Going silent was infinitely easier without a rifle in his arms and a hundred-pound ruck on his back.
He snuck through the trees until he spotted her again, fifteen feet away. So close…damn near within pouncing distance. And close enough to hear what she muttered to herself.
“Shit, shit, shit. Where’d he go?”
Her moment of hesitation was his instant of opportunity. He sprinted, catching her unaware. Lani shrieked, laughed, and dodged, but made the move too late. He scooped a foot beneath hers, forcing her to topple toward a bed of moss. Before she took a full header, he caught her by the waist, controlling her descent. That was a good thing, since he went down with her. In seconds, they were surrounded by the lush knee-high plants, with the cool, thick grass as a makeshift bed. And goddamnit, what the combination of this woman and any bed did to the shackles of his sexual control. This time, it was even better. She was pinned against him once more, her ass slammed to his crotch, her skin damp and gleaming, and her body shuddering with the force of her breaths.
He leaned in, scraping his teeth along her carotid. She shivered harder, lurching against him. He tightened his hold and let out a low rumble. Their struggle turned him way the hell on—not a confession he’d normally be proud of, except that her throat was right under his mouth, enabling him to feel the needy mewl that vibrated up the silken column.
A question filled his mind. He wondered, with every new beat of blood to his cock, how she’d react to it. “Did I scare you?”
“A little,” she finally rasped. “Y-yes.”
He dropped his teeth to her shoulder. She writhed and pushed back at him again. He widened his knees and held on harder, digging his fingers into her pliant curves. This push-and-pull between them, an erotic wrestling match, was something he’d never attempted with a woman before, something he’d never even dreamed of trying.
Because he’d never met a woman like her before. Lani, who matched him strength for strength. Lani, who’d almost outrun him in a jungle chase. Lani, his perfect island goddess—now his gorgeous, vigorous captive.
“Are you still scared?”
She swallowed hard before arching her spine, trying to struggle with him again. She was either really alarmed or really aroused. Kell guessed a little of both. “Do…I have something to be scared of, Sergeant Rush?”
He switched up his tactic. Instead of yanking her back against him, he pushed her onto the ground, pinning her there, both his hands over her wrists. “Maybe you do, Miss Kail.”
“Are you…still going to…spank me?”
“Hmmm. Good question,” he drawled. “Though I wonder why you raised it.” After drawing up his knees to make his body hover inches over hers, he slid a hand down to the perfect hills of her backside. “Could it be that you want to be spanked?”
Lani whined softly but didn’t shift position. Kellan studied her a moment longer. Was the sound a legitimate protest, or just a whimper of confusion?
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting it, sweetheart,” he murmured. “A lot of women like it, you know. Even crave it. Endorphins are a nice high.”
“Oh, God!” The high little cry verified her standing. She was conflicted. And scared, too. Most of all, of herself. During the few times Kell had accompanied Tait to the Bastille club as an observer, he’d seen this more than enough to recognize it. Thinking about one’s kinky side was one th
ing. Acting on it was another.
Time to drag this she-panther back to territory she knew.
“Perhaps I’ll make you wait for that spanking, little girl.” He skidded his fingers under her bikini bottom, rolling her soft flesh between his fingers before giving her a sensual pinch. Lani squealed against the ground as he repeated the nip on her other buttock. “After all,” he continued, dipping his hand between her cheeks in order to tease the rim of her vagina, “anticipation can be just as excruciating as execution.”
A gasp burst from her. “Kellan!”
“Hmmm?”
“Ohhhh…Kellan…yesssss…”
The sight of her like this, shivering and squirming beneath him, was fucking exquisite. His cock pulsed a thousand times harder than during their impromptu WWE show. Damn, he loved doing this to her…controlling her very breaths with the subtle movements of his fingers. The mental rush was just as powerful as considering his hand smacking her ass.
You made the right call on that, man. She wasn’t ready for the spanking.
He’d just been preparing to start a finger fuck Lani would never forget but stilled his hand. If a freight train slammed the forest that second, it wouldn’t equal the jolt from the voice crashing in his senses.
You made the right call.
Inside seconds, he knew why the affirmation had felt so strong. He and Lani weren’t the only ones out here. His nerve endings sizzled with the certainty of it, exactly how they did when he was about to squeeze the trigger on a dead-perfect shot. He raised his head and peered through the trees, needing to know if his intuition was on the mark…terrified that it would be. Wondering if he’d really find the one person on this earth with whom he shared a connection so strong, it bordered on a psychic mind meld at times.
Times like this.
When his gaze locked onto the eyes, deep and gold and more familiar than his own, he swallowed. And wondered if there was still a way to summon the freight train, instead.
Logic stomped on his alarm. If Tait was going to mess this up for he and Lani, the guy would have done so already. Instinct as sure as his heartbeat assured him of that, the same way he knew Tait had his six on the decision to hold off on spanking Lani. He tossed a thankful smirk at Tait. His buddy returned the look, his way of not only apologizing for the asshat behavior of the other morning but submitting his approval about fulfilling the goddess in any and every way she needed.
While he watched from where he was.
Ohhhh yeah. That assurance was written across Tait’s face, too. Kellan saw it in the rigid set of T’s jaw, the brightened glints in his gaze. He wondered exactly what had gone down when Lani visited the guy this afternoon. The two of them hadn’t screwed; the stark longing on T’s face wouldn’t be so pronounced otherwise. Whatever had gone down, it turned Tait into tonight’s eager voyeur, staring at Lani like a forest butterfly who’d lead them to a plant that cured cancer. The heights of her journey were the key to his happiness. Tait gave a slow but firm nod confirming that fact, openly encouraging Kellan to go on.
Kellan gave his buddy a sardonic salute. If T was up for this, he sure as hell was.
There was just one more approval box to have checked off here. The most important one.
“My starshine.” He made it a verbal caress to go with his gliding knuckles down her spine. He kept his other hand between her legs, gently stroking the moist petals there.
“Mmmm?” she queried, trembling from head to toe again.
“So, no spanking. What am I going to do with you, sweetheart?”
She gave him a coquettish peek over her shoulder. “You could just chase me again.”
He responded with a low growl, slipping both hands back to her waist again. She broke into a yelp as he tugged back hard, raising her ass to the level of his cock. Holy hell, did his body get on board with that geometry lesson. His dick pushed against his fly, clamoring for the fastest way to angle its way straight inside her. With gritted teeth, he sent his balls to detention.
Get out the chalk and start writing, guys. “I will not think of fucking her this soon…I will not think of fucking her this soon…I will not—”
“Nope. No more chasing, sweetheart. I think I just want to fuck you.”
He was never good at detention.
“Ohhhh.” Her answering moan was tinged with a little bit of lingering fear and a lot of burgeoning arousal. “That…sounds like an interesting plan.”
“Interesting is only half of it.”
“Oh?” She let the end of that trail into a meaningful sigh, staring over her shoulder as he tore off his shirt and tossed it into the ferns. He couldn’t resist slamming his chest to her spine once more, then dropping a hungry bite into her shoulder. A savage hiss exploded off her lips. She reared against him, inciting his cock with her ass again. When she started rolling her hips with sensual abandon, desire tore at his control.
“Fuck,” he rasped. It seemed their hunter-and-prey adventure turned her on more than he thought. Sure enough, when he slipped his grip inside her bikini top, her nipple stabbed his fingers, so beautifully stiff. It hardened more as he adored it with reverent squeezes. Lani stilled as he teased her there, erupting in another high, needful sigh.
“Mmmm. Your tits tell me you like the idea of ‘interesting,’ sweetheart. Of letting me take you here in the middle of the jungle…of fucking you like an animal on the ground.”
“Yes.” Her acquiescence was a rough sough on the air. The raw need in it thickened every drop of his blood, especially the stuff pounding harder in his dick. “Yes,” she echoed, renewing her sexy hip rolls, making him pound even harder, “take me like this, Kellan. Fill me. Fuck me!”
Holy shit, the woman talked nasty like nobody he’d ever met. Her dirty pleas made him bring his other hand around so he could unhook her swimsuit and set her breasts free. The swells burst into his hands, stuffing them full. Her erect nipples felt fucking incredible against his palms. He rolled and tugged on the hard stems until she bucked harder. Her passion drove his head down, diving at her neck, suckling until he found his way to her ear again.
“What was that?” he teased. “You want me to fuck you? Rut hard on you right here?”
“Yes. Dear gods, yes!”
“Even if that means other creatures may be watching us?”
“Other…creatures?” She practically panted the words. “Like the animals?”
He skimmed one hand down toward her pussy again. “No, sweetheart. Like…another man.”
She went still for a long moment. Her head raised a little. He watched the silver swirls of her gaze as she darted it through the ferns—but he’d bet his left nut that she wouldn’t see a thing. The art of subterfuge was as natural as walking to a Special Forces soldier. Tait had already blended himself with the forest.
“He’s here, starshine,” he finally murmured. “You can’t see him, but you can feel him, just as I can, right?”
“Wh-who?”
“You already know the answer to that.”
He leaned in again, trailing his mouth along the elegant line of her jaw while once more dipping his fingers between her thighs. Her face rumpled, caught in a battle between astonishment and arousal. “Shit,” she whimpered. “Oh, shit!”
Maybe she needed a little help with her vacillation. Who was he to leave a damsel in distress, especially this one? But genteel wasn’t the proper tactic for this moment. She had to be shown how the night would proceed, if she was going to give her consent about things moving on from here.
Without preamble, he wrapped her hair around a fist and pulled her head to one side. She gasped in deeper surprise, and he had to admit to shocking himself a little with the action. While he’d always liked dancing at the edge of his inner Dom, he’d never fully pulled on the boots and let himself stomp to the primal beat of that commanding force—until tonight.
It was kind of…incredible.
Maybe more than incredible.
All right, it was fu
cking awesome.
But he wasn’t an idiot. His sexual high was possible only because of the woman in his arms, answering his aggression with breathtaking fire. Her nipples beaded even harder. Her eyelids drooped in arousal. Her lips parted, gleaming like strawberries, inviting him to taste as deeply as he desired.
He hesitated about two seconds before succumbing to that temptation.
She tasted amazing. Even better than the first time he’d ever claimed her lips, during that magical night in the rain. This moment was drenched in so much more meaning, sweetened by the nectar of her surrender, perfected by the comprehension that Tait watched it all. He heard every needy cry that escaped her throat…smelled the tangy musk of her spiraling need…saw every gleam of the moonlight on her nearly naked body, so bronze and beautiful and ready to be fucked. And he shared every second of torture that Kellan endured in holding back from doing so.
He let out a hard groan. His pants felt like a goddamn iron cage, every movement taunting his cock. The denim was already damp from his pre-cum, which seemed to have tapped a bottomless pool somewhere in his balls. Dandy.
“You know why he’s here, right, starshine?” He saw that she did, smiling a little when her breathing audibly hitched. “He wants to watch me fuck you. He wants to watch me drive my cock into your cunt like an unthinking beast. And sweetheart, that’s what I’ll become if we go any further.” He kissed her softly. “The choice is yours. I think you can guess where my vote goes.”
She attempted a trickling laugh at that, but was drowned by her obvious torment. Kell didn’t blame her for the indecision. He even understood it. That didn’t mean he could wait on it a lot longer. If he wasn’t inside her soon, then the alternative was a long, cold dunk in the ocean. Either alternative had to happen fast.
Maybe he could help her reach this verdict, too.