Nick UnCaged: Sanctuary, Book Four

by Abbie Zanders

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He took care of the shirt while she made good use of her hands and mouth. Once the offensive material was removed, she pressed her upper body against him, taking pleasure in the feel of masculine hair against her sensitive breasts.

  She continued working her way downward. He inhaled sharply, his abs tucking inward, when she tongued around his navel.

  “Bree ...” Her name was a whispered prayer on his lips.

  “Shh ... unless you really want me to stop.”

  She held her breath, genuinely hoping he did want her to continue. When seconds ticked by and he said nothing more, she happily moved southward. With the weight of her upper body resting on his muscular thighs, she undid the clasp of his jeans and slowly pulled down the zipper, thrilled to discover he’d gone commando after his swim.

  Anxious as she was, she took a few moments to lick along the exposed skin of his hardened shaft and tongue the tip.

  He groaned and raised his hips, lifting her in the process. She laughed at his impatience, understanding his blatant nudge so well. She tugged the jeans down over his hips. When his cock sprang free, she forgot about his jeans and eagerly wrapped both hands around it. Velvety soft skin around hot, hard iron. That was what it felt like. Desire once again flared, making her mouth water and her pussy wet at the same time.

  “Boots,” he bit out. “Off.”

  Taking pleasure in the fact that her soft-spoken trail guide had been reduced to barking single-worded commands, she was willing to comply. But first ... she leaned down, took him into her mouth, and sucked hard, the way he had done with her breasts. His hips bucked, and he growled in warning.

  She loved that sound.

  She relinquished him with a pop and turned around, so she was straddling him, facing away, and set to work on his boots. Another sound, this one deep and guttural, hit her ears just before his hands gripped the sides of her hips and pulled her backward and over his face. Once again, she was treated to the ecstasy of those talented lips and tongue at her center.

  Forgetting the boots, she leaned forward and began her own onslaught. It felt so good, pleasuring him while he was pleasuring her, an erotic dance of give and take. The only thing that could possibly feel better was having that iron thickness deep inside her. Surging forward, she tried to do just that.

  “Stop,” he commanded, his powerful hands preventing her from getting where she needed to be. “As much as I would love to be inside you, I don’t have a condom.”

  Shit! She’d been so caught up in her own lust, wanted to impale herself on him so badly, that she hadn’t thought about safety.

  “I ...” She wanted to tell him that she didn’t care. That she was clean. That she trusted he was, too, but he had been right. Having unprotected sex wasn’t a good idea, especially since she wasn’t on any form of birth control.

  Instead, she resumed her task with renewed gusto. Before long, they were both tensing and grunting and riding the highs of spectacular Os.

  “Come here,” he coaxed softly.

  Without hesitation, she turned her body around and tucked her face into his neck as his arms wrapped around her. Neither of them said anything for a long time, but that was fine. Bree was content to float back down to earth right where she was.

  Eventually, she took pity on him. Lying on the hard platform with her weight atop him couldn’t feel good on his back despite the fact that he hadn’t complained.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to see much of the meteor shower,” she said, dragging herself off his warm, comfortable body.

  “I’m not,” he told her with a roguish half-smile. “My view was much better.”

  She felt the heat rising in her cheeks, which was ridiculous based on what they’d just done. What was she supposed to say to something like that?

  “So,” she said, reaching for her clothes, “does this conclude the field trip?”

  His eyes were unreadable. “Not necessarily.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “There’s more?”

  “Have you ever slept beneath the stars?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Cage

  Cage didn’t think she’d go for it. She seemed to be in a hurry to get dressed, and she was avoiding his gaze. And why wouldn’t she? They’d just sixty-nined in a fucking tree house.

  Not that he was complaining. He’d thoroughly enjoyed every second, but he hadn’t missed the flash of disappointment in her eyes when he had to stop her from sinking onto his cock. It might have been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do.

  In his defense, he hadn’t expected things to get hot and heavy. It demonstrated an appalling lack of preparedness on his part. What kind of man didn’t have a condom at the ready when spending the day with a beautiful, sexy woman?

  The kind who makes s’mores and shows her his telescope in his tree house.

  He jammed his legs into his jeans. Jesus. Some things never changed. He might not be the skinny red-headed half-Irish kid sitting in the corner with his Nintendo while his tough-guy cousins made fun of him anymore, but he was still such a fucking nerd.

  “No. But ... I’d like to.”

  Cage’s gaze snapped toward her. “You would?”

  “Well”—she bit her lip and offered him a secret smile—“I’ve enjoyed everything else you planned, so why not?”

  Warmth spread through his chest. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at this after all.

  He re-covered the scope and helped her down the rope ladder. The fire had been reduced to glowing coals, so he added a few more logs for good measure.

  She eyed the hammock uncertainly. “So, how do we do this?”

  “You can have the hammock. It’s more comfortable than it looks.”

  “Where will you sleep?”

  “By the fire.”

  Her lips turned downward. “Can’t we both use the hammock?”

  That had been the idea, but he’d hesitated suggesting it. There was no chance of separate sleeping space in a hammock, which meant she’d be tight against him all night long. “Yeah. Of course. If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Cage got into the hammock first. Then, with one of his legs on the ground to keep it steady, Bree crawled in beside him.

  “Is this okay?” she asked, her head tucked beneath his chin. Her soft, warm body was snuggled against his, assisted by gravity and the ingenious design of the hammock itself.

  Okay? It was perfect.

  * * *

  Cage’s eyes snapped open to find Heff grinning down at him. “Looks like someone had a good night.”

  Bree shifted in his arms. Draped half on his body, half off, there was no way to get out of the hammock without waking her. He lifted his finger to his lips.

  “Tori needs the horses back at the ranch,” Heff said quietly.

  Cage nodded his agreement.

  “Also, Kate said you should bring Bree in for breakfast before she heads back.”

  Heff slipped away as quietly as he’d come. Before long, Cage heard soft snorts and the rhythmic clomp of hooves as Heff took the horses away. Bree yawned and stretched.

  “Good morning,” Cage said. “Sleep well?”

  “Like a rock. Maybe there is something to this mountain-air thing. I’d kill for a toothbrush and indoor plumbing right now though.”

  She’d been such a good sport that he decided to come clean.

  “Then, I’ve got one more surprise I think you’re going to appreciate.”

  After carefully getting out of the hammock, Cage led her through the trees to his trailer. Unlocking the door, he ushered her inside.

  “This is yours?” she asked, her tone even and ... kind of scary. “It’s been here the whole time?”

  He nodded. She made a growly sound and pushed past him, making a beeline for the bathroom. It occurred to him then that maybe he should have told her earlier.

  “Are you angry with me?” he asked when she came out.

 
She sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked fierce and damn sexy when she did that. “I haven’t decided yet. I feel played.”

  “I wasn’t playing you. I wanted to give you a real outdoor experience.” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “It wasn’t all bad, was it?”

  “No,” she admitted. “But a flushing toilet wouldn’t have ruined the experience for me. Just saying.”

  He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have told you. But you seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

  “Hmmph.” She narrowed her eyes and glanced toward the small kitchen. “Does this mean we can make coffee?”

  He grimaced. He didn’t even have a coffeemaker. “I’ll do you one better. We can head over to the main building for breakfast. Sam makes incredible coffee.”

  “As wonderful as that sounds, I’m not fit for public appearance.”

  “You look beautiful, Bree,” he said without thinking.

  Her eyes softened. “I look like I spent the night in the woods, and I smell like a horse.”

  He disagreed. She smelled—and tasted—like pure woman.

  “Wait, what happened to the horses?”

  “They’re fine. Someone came for them this morning.”

  A rosy flush painted her cheeks, and another possibility occurred to him. Maybe she didn’t want to eat in the dining room because she felt embarrassed about spending the night with him.

  “I could run over and bring something back.”

  She considered this. “Can I use your shower while you’re gone?”

  He withheld a groan at the thought of Bree wet and naked in his trailer and him without condoms. Maybe while he was getting breakfast, he’d hit Heff up for some. Cage was pretty sure the guy ordered them in bulk. Regardless, hitting a drugstore was high on his priority list, just in case, by some miracle, another opportunity with Bree presented itself.

  “Sure.”

  “Then, okay. And ... thanks.”

  Cage left Bree in his trailer and double-timed it to the main building. Doc, Smoke, Sam, and Church were in the dining room; it didn’t look as if Heff had yet returned from taking the horses back to the ranch. With a brief wave, Cage went into the kitchen to get some boxes and to-go cups.

  “How’d it go?” Sam asked as he hurriedly began to scoop scrambled eggs, potatoes, and ham into the containers.

  Remembering what she’d said at the diner about healthy eating, he added some freshly diced cantaloupe and honeydew, too, and opted for whole-grain toast over a bagel and cream cheese

  “Good, I think,” he answered honestly.

  “Where’s Bree?”

  “At the trailer. I’m just grabbing some food to take back.”

  Church frowned. “You left her alone in your trailer?”

  “She said she didn’t think she was fit to be seen in public after last night.”

  Smoke grunted. “You showed her your telescope, didn’t you?”

  Doc smirked. “Yeah, he did. Both of them, I bet.”

  Cage felt the heat rising in his neck, even as Church’s frown deepened.

  “Do you think that’s wise? Leaving her in your place, unsupervised?”

  “Everything’s secure.”

  Church’s lips thinned. “I hope so.”

  Slightly unsettled by Church’s lack of confidence, Cage gathered the food and coffee and hurried back to the trailer.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Bree

  For a guy’s place, it wasn’t bad. Clean but cluttered with tech and components. What would have normally been a living area looked more like a tech warehouse. It made sense, she supposed, since he was the IT guy, but it also made an interesting contrast to someone who liked swimming in lakes and sleeping under the stars.

  As badly as she wanted to get a shower, her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know more about the man who’d given her such a unique and memorable experience. He was a string of contradictions. Shy yet passionate. Geeky yet rugged. Despite how different their lives were, there was this underlying sense of connection she couldn’t explain.

  After a quick check out the window to ensure he wasn’t right outside, Bree started poking around. She wasn’t sure how far his trailer was from the main building, but she figured she had a few minutes at least.

  “Snoop now, shower soon,” she murmured to herself. Bonus: if she was still in the shower when he returned, perhaps she could convince him to join her. One more for the road, so to speak, since her time in Sumneyville was quickly drawing to a close.

  The thought was disappointing. For the first time since she’d arrived, the idea of returning to San Diego didn’t fill her with anticipation. Who would have thought a week could pass so quickly?

  Nick’s bed was neatly made. His drawers held cotton T-shirts, jeans, flannel—all folded with precision. No less than a dozen Bankers Boxes were stacked in short towers, clearly labeled in legible, block letters. She opened a few, verifying the accuracy of the contents—or at least, she tried to. Most of the stuff was unfamiliar to her, but it looked impressive. She did recognize a box of small, mountable surveillance cameras and wondered again if they’d had problems with people trespassing.

  On the table was more tech in various states of assembly—does he build his own stuff?—and half a dozen laptops and monitors lined up on a workspace, which was created from more boxes and inch-thick wooden planks. Some screens were blank; others appeared to be on but in sleep mode. On impulse, she tapped some keys and found them all to be digitally locked and secured.

  After giving the place a quick but thorough once-over, she had no deeper insight. There was nothing to indicate that he was anything more than what he’d said he was.

  Feeling an odd sense of relief that she didn’t quite understand, Bree extracted her phone, set it atop one of the wireless chargers lying around, and went into the bathroom to shower. The stall was on the small side, which didn’t bode well for shower sex, but she did appreciate the hot water and the scent of his soap. A unique, heady mix of sandalwood and pine, it was already ingrained in her sensory memory—an exclusive association with Nick.

  She tamed her riotous hair into a ponytail and, after a brief internal debate, swiped one of his T-shirts and a pair of drawstring sweats. It was presumptuous perhaps but preferable to putting her horse-scented jeans back on until she absolutely had to.

  Clean and absurdly comfortable, she pulled out her journal. Her hand flew over the page as she jotted down notes in her abbreviated shorthand, images and observations and emotions flooding her mind, unwilling to be lost. None of the personal details would be included in the article, of course, but the raw beauty and connection with nature was part of the healing magic of Sanctuary, she was coming to realize. After leisurely riding a horse along the trails, sitting on an overlook to watch eagles and hawks, and sleeping under the stars, she was feeling pretty rejuvenated herself. The screaming Os hadn’t hurt either.

  Before long, Nick returned, balancing two covered plates and two ginormous cups of coffee. He scanned the space, his expression one of relief when he spotted her. Had he expected her to bail?

  His relief changed to amusement when he saw what she was wearing. Amusement and ... a flash of heat?

  “I hope you don’t mind. I borrowed some of your clothes,” she said, rising to take the cups from him.

  “Not at all. But I’m thinking I should probably get a shower, too. Go ahead and get started before it gets cold. I’ll just be a minute.”

  He didn’t have to tell Bree twice. Whether it was the mountain air, as he’d suggested, or the heart-pumping activities they’d engaged in, she was absolutely ravenous. Since the table was filled with expensive-looking components and she was unwilling to take the chance of spilling anything on them, she settled onto the floor. A flipped-over, empty cardboard box provided an excellent makeshift table.

  True to his word, Nick’s shower was a quick one. She’d barely started on her breakfast
when he returned, smelling of the same spicy male soap she’d used and wearing fresh jeans and a clean men’s undershirt. His wet hair was combed back, but he hadn’t taken the time to shave. The dark-reddish shadow covering his jawline incited a different kind of hunger as she remembered the feel of that stubble against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. Now that it had filled in some, she wondered if it would feel softer.

  She lifted the cup of coffee to her lips, wrenching back those thoughts. “You were right. This coffee is incredible.”

  He grinned and joined her on the floor. “Sorry about the mess. I’m not accustomed to having female company.”

  The thought thrilled her. “No problem. This is what I’m used to. I do most of my eating in front of my computer, too, usually from takeout containers.”

  “Workaholic, huh?”

  “I suppose so. And I’m not much of a cook.”

  “Something else we have in common,” he said.

  It seemed like an odd thing to say since, up to that point, they didn’t appear to have much in common at all.

  “I’m not sure that’s true.” She dug into the fluffy eggs with gusto. “You live in the mountains; I’m a city girl. Unless, of course, you’re talking about a healthy appreciation for good oral.”

  He choked on his food and reached for his coffee.

  “Sorry.” She smirked. “Too bold?”

  “No, just unexpected. And I suppose you’re right. We don’t appear to have much in common, but it feels like we do.”

  Her heart stuttered as she recognized the truth of his words. “It does,” she agreed.

  There did seem to be some inexplicable, intangible thing that connected them. Something that made her feel oddly comfortable around him, almost as if they shared a common bond. But that was ridiculous. Their lives were vastly different, and very soon, they’d be parting ways. In a little more than forty-eight hours, she’d be back in her apartment in San Diego, albeit with some good memories.

  The thought dampened any ideas of more sexy times before she headed back to Sumneyville. As appealing as the idea was, it would just make it harder to say good-bye.