Born to Fight (Can't Resist You Book 1)

by Brittany Anne

  And worse, she lied to him. Again. He asked her a direct question and she lied right to his face. But how would Hunter react if he knew the truth? He might think she was a spy, he might reject her completely, and the others? They’d kill her if they found out the truth. If not with their own hands, then with their orders when they sent her back to him as bait.

  Rain wanted all the hurt to stop. She didn’t want the pain of the past or the worry for the future. She wanted it gone. She wanted… Hunter.

  She slowly rose from her bed, stood and walked toward the door. She took a deep breath and made a decision. She pushed forward.

  When she got to Hunter’s door, she froze. Suddenly, she didn’t know if she could enter, if she could say goodbye to all the chaos in her mind and just be there with him. She just wanted to forget it all, and Hunter… he could help her forget.

  Just as she was getting ready to chicken out and retreat back to her room, the door opened. Hunter stood there, wearing only sweatpants that hung low on his hips. He used one arm to lean on the doorframe, his massive muscles still somehow managing to surprise her.

  Rain looked up at him, noting just how much he towered over her. When somebody thought of the word strength, they thought of Hunter.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked her, voice even lower than usual.

  “Did I wake you?” She hoped not.

  “No. I’ve been having trouble sleeping,” he said, turning from the door and walking into his room.

  He sat on the large, plush chair he had in there and just looked at her. She took it as an invitation.

  Rain walked into the room, shutting the door behind her and leaning her back against it as Hunter watched her.

  She took a deep breath, then slowly released it as she pushed off the door and walked toward him. He held her gaze, his face tired.

  When she finally got to him, she placed her hands on his shoulders. She stood there a moment, feeling his strong muscles and warm skin. Her left hand climbed up his neck and began playing with his hair.

  He just continued to hold her gaze.

  She could feel her heart rate picking up, every nerve in her body telling her to run.

  She didn’t.

  Instead, she let all the air out of her lungs moved even closer to him. And then, she did something that shocked even herself. She got on top of him.

  “Rain…”

  “I want you, Hunter.”

  His lip quivered for a second. “I don’t want to keep hurting you.”

  “Everything hurts, Hunter. Every day hurts. I just want to feel something that isn’t pain or worry. I want to be in this moment. With you. Right now.”

  Hunter’s hands knotted in her hair and pulled her towards him. Their lips came together and passion exploded between them. The kiss was rough and raw, their lips moving in unison, their tongues exploring each other, their bodies getting so close they just might melt together and become one.

  “Just right now,” Hunter breathed against her lips. He kissed her again. “That’s all I can promise.”

  Rain licked his lower lip and felt her nipples tighten at the growl that escaped him. “Right now,” she whispered, pressing her sex against his hard length.

  In a second, he was standing, effortlessly holding her as he walked towards the bed. He dropped her down, leaned over her, pressed kisses to her neck that drove her absolutely wild.

  She pushed against his chest, sitting up and pulling her shirt over her head. She threw it to the side.

  He pulled her leggings down, revealing her lacy black panties, a gift she’d found in her new bedroom.

  He seemed to like them as much as she did, pressing kisses up her thighs and then pressing one on her right through the panties.

  When he rose, Rain took the opportunity to grab for his pants. She pulled them down, revealing his length. Rain felt the sudden urge to give Hunter the same kind of pleasure he’d given her. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the head of his cock.

  “Baby…”

  She opened her mouth and took him inside, licking and sucking and working her hands on the rest of him. His hands were knotted in her hair, and it turned her on even more. His moans of pleasure fueled her, making her move faster, take him deeper, moan herself.

  He released her hair and pushed her away.

  “Not yet,” he breathed. “Need more.”

  He pushed her down on the bed and kissed her neck. Then he took her nipple in his mouth, cupping the other with his hand. Rain couldn’t take anymore.

  “Stop,” she said.

  Hunter immediately pulled back.

  She sat up and pushed him over so that he rolled onto his back. Rain rose to her knees and then straddled him once more, placing her hands on his chest.

  His hands found their way to her hips and his cock pressed against her. She saw want all over his face, but he waited for her. She smiled and pushed down, taking all of him inside of her. They both gasped at the sudden movement, his hands squeezing her as his hips surged upwards.

  She began to rock back and forth against him, and he matched her motions. His hands worked their way up her body, cupping her breasts and massaging her nipples. She worked as hard as she could to quiet her moans, but the pleasure was getting to be too much, and she simply couldn’t contain it.

  “If you don’t… slow down… I’m going to…” There was no way she could slow down, now. Not when it felt so good. Rain knew he was getting close, she could feel his body tensing, hear his breath come quicker, see the pleasure etched all over his face.

  She kept going, and he pulled her down to his chest. He grabbed for her hips as she continued riding him. Rain could feel her own pleasure growing, could feel the pressure building within her and begging for release.

  She screamed his name as the orgasm hit her, pounding through her entire body and making her shutter. Hunter continued thrusting into her, and she felt his explosion hit. He yelled out, anchoring her hips down so that he was deep inside of her as his seed pumped into her.

  It only made her own pleasure more intense. She dug her nails into his shoulders as the waves of orgasm continued to rock through them both.

  Slowly, Hunter’s tight grip on her loosened, her sex stopped throbbing, her breath slowed down. She stayed on top of him, laying there with him inside of her, with his arms around her, and couldn’t help but think about how wonderful forever would be if they got to do that every night.

  Hunter’s lips pressed against Rain’s forehead as her brain drifted off into thoughts of a life with him that she could never have.

  Chapter Ten

  “SO YOU REALLY THINK we can take the compound?”

  Hunter grinned at Derek. “Fuck yeah, I do.”

  Derek, Sawyer, and even Hayden all broke out into wide smiles.

  Sawyer put a hand on Hunter’s shoulder, squeezing it as his smile grew wider. “Can’t say I doubted you, but… Shit, man. This is incredible.”

  Hunter basked in the glory of his plan and enjoyed the moment of joy with his brothers. He knew they’d all want to beat him in a few moments when he shared the next part.

  “Okay,” Derek started, “So we’ll need thirty men. We have fifty. Do you really think going with the lower number is better?”

  “Yes,” Hunter responded immediately. “Too many men will cause chaos. I don’t want anyone getting in the way of each other or the plan. We need our best thirty and the others can be on standby several hundred yards out.”

  “Should we have Christopher with us, in case anyone gets hurt?”

  “No way. He’s too valuable to us. If we lose him, we have no doctor.” Hunter thought for a few minutes. “We can bring Kayla.”

  “No,” Sawyer suddenly piped in. “Not happening.”

  “Listen, man,” Hunter started, “Kayla trained under Christopher, she knows more than anyone else in this building besides him.”

  “So you deem her expendable?”

  Hunter leaned back in his ch
air. “Hell, no. She’ll be with twenty trained fighters hundreds of yards from the compound. She’ll be safer than she is here on an average day.” He paused. “We don’t force anyone to do anything around here. I’ll give her the option and she can make her own choice.”

  Sawyer was agitated. Hunter ignored him. “We should leave five of our fighters here, just in case. We don’t want to leave the others with no protection.”

  Hayden nodded. “It’s important to cover all our bases. It’s risky enough having all of us together in the field.”

  “Screw one of us staying back. We got here together, we started this whole thing together, and we are ending this together,” Derek leaned over the table. “We can’t do it if we’re not a unit. We need to be willing to lose just as much as our men or what the fuck are they fighting for?”

  “I wasn’t protesting, just noting it was a risk.”

  “A necessary one.”

  Hunter agreed.

  “So who is heading each unit?” Derek asked.

  All eyes went to Hunter. This was the part he was dreading…

  “Listen, guys. I… things have changed a bit for me.”

  “Yeah, no shit. You’ve been weird as hell ever since you came home.” Sawyer was still agitated.

  “What’s going on, Hunter?” asked Derek.

  “After this run, after this mission… I don’t think I can do it anymore.”

  The room went silent. Eyes widened. Hunter stood his ground, elbows on the table in front of him, no emotion crossed his face.

  “What are you saying?”

  Sawyer and Hayden were silent.

  “I’m saying that after we do this, successful or not, I’m throwing in the towel.”

  Sawyer slammed his hands onto the table and stood up with so much force it knocked his chair back and onto its side.

  Hunter stayed still and watched him pace back and forth.

  “It’s the girl, then,” Hayden said quietly. “You want to give her something more.”

  Hunter exhaled. “Yes.”

  “Bullshit!” called Sawyer. He stormed closer, placing both hands on Hunter’s shoulders and staring at him with fury in his eyes. “You’re quitting for some girl?”

  “She deserves more than what I can give her in this position. I’ve fought for years. I’ve been a robot for years.” He tried to hold his composure, maintain his stoicism, but despite his best effort, he felt the feelings flood to his face. “Maybe I want more than this.”

  Sawyer straightened his back and walked away from him, a sarcastic laugh coming from his throat. Then he turned back and looked at Hunter again, face hardened. “You know, brother, your dad must be rolling in his grave right now.”

  Hunter flew from the chair and right towards Sawyer, pounding his fist into his friend’s face. His knuckles ached for a moment, but he shook it out with ease.

  Sawyer smiled as a line of blood dripped from his lip to his chin. He lifted his hand, motioned for Hunter to try it again, and in a blink, they were on the floor. Hunter could hear Derek and Hayden scolding them, but neither dared to get between them.

  For two trained soldiers, they must have looked pitiful on that floor. They fought like children, shoving and jabbing and rolling around gracelessly.

  Either one of them could’ve been harsh, calculated. They weren’t.

  Either one of them could’ve dipped into their bountiful bag of battle skills and done some real damage. They didn’t.

  Either one of them could’ve gone in for the win and had it. Yet as Sawyer’s open palm shoved into Hunter’s chest and Hunter retaliated with a barely forceful kick to the thigh, it became clear as day that this wasn’t a fight either of them wanted to win.

  This was a tiff between brothers, both desperately hoping that the other would come around and give in.

  Sawyer snaked his hand around Hunter’s bicep, locking it behind his back as Hunter tried to think rationally about the situation.

  He was an adult.

  He was an idiot.

  He would not continue to fight his brother.

  He tried to pull back and regain his composure, but Sawyer grabbed him and locked him down. Hunter thrashed against him, tried to escape, but Sawyer was stronger than he was. He always had been.

  “Why do you get to say goodbye to all this and be happy?” Sawyer whispered in his ear, loud enough for only Hunter to hear. “Why do you get to be the lucky one?”

  Hunter stopped fighting. Sawyer released him and he jumped to his feet, putting several feet of space between the two of them. Both of them were panting, their breath the only noise that filled the room.

  “Think on it,” Sawyer finally said. “Maybe you’ll change your mind.”

  Hunter stared at him, his brother. For a moment, he realized that there were parts of Sawyer he didn’t know, and that worried him. Sawyer had been by his side for nearly two decades, and if Sawyer had parts of him that Hunter didn’t know… what did that mean for everyone else?

  Hunter felt a sinking feeling in his gut that he couldn’t seem to shake.

  Then he nodded. “I will give it more thought.”

  “Thank you, brother.”

  Hunter nodded, turned, and left the room.

  ***

  Kayla’s fingers lightly brushed over Rain’s arm. “I hope you’re not upset about what I said the other night. I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

  Rain smiled at her. “I know you were just looking out for me,” she said. “And I appreciate it,” she quickly added.

  Kayla smiled and let out a sigh of relief. They continued walking and then turned into a small, familiar room on the left. This was the first room Rain had ever seen of the Resistance.

  The doctor’s office.

  Dr. Christopher was standing at the counter when they came in. His face lit up when he saw them.

  “Girls! Girls! So good to see you,” he said, slowly making his way over to give each of them a hug. “How are we doing today?”

  “We’re doing great! I wanted to stop by and say hi. I never really got to thank you for everything,” Rain said.

  The doctor just smiled that infectious smile of his. A smile so infectious it rivaled Kayla’s.

  “Oh, don’t be silly. You don’t need to thank me.”

  “My dad really loves his job,” Kayla smiled. Her… what?

  “Wait, your-” Rain paused. “I didn’t know you two were family.”

  Christopher laughed. “Silly us! We don’t get newcomers often, didn’t even think to mention it.”

  “Yeah,” Kayla agreed. “It didn’t really seem like vital information.”

  “Huh.” Rain could see it, suddenly. The wide smiles, the upbeat personality, the nurturing nature, the pretty blue eyes. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t put those two pieces together before.

  Rain opened her mouth to comment on it some more, but the door slammed open and Hunter barreled into the room like he was on a mission.

  “Kayla, Sawyer needs to speak with you. Preferably, now.”

  Kayla shifted her weight to one foot, her smile dimming as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why?”

  “I’m sure he’ll happily tell you when you find him.”

  Kayla stood there in silence, obviously taking the hint that Hunter did not have the time nor patience for kindness.

  Rain wondered what was going on with him. In the back of her mind, she convinced herself that he had found out the truth. Rain’s stomach felt tight and knotted, and right then and there, she made a decision: she was going to tell him the truth, no matter how much she didn’t want to. He deserved the truth from her, and it wasn’t right to withhold it.

  As she tried to find the words to ask him when they could talk in private, he turned to her, jaw hard and eyes inhumanly empty. On his left cheek, the skin was pink and swollen, as if a he’d just been hit and a bruise were forming. The knot in Rain’s stomach grew tighter.

  “Rain, I need to speak with you.”
<
br />   Yes! Perfect! “When?”

  “I’ll meet you in your room. Thirty minutes. No, give me an hour.”

  She nodded and Hunter immediately left the room. He was gone so quickly, she didn’t even hear his footsteps echoing through the hall.

  “I wonder what stick he has up his butt,” Kayla said after a moment of silence.

  All three of them laughed, and then Christopher lectured Kayla on her language. Rain just chuckled to herself.

  She had so much to tell Hunter, and if she was going to get it all out, she needed time to prepare.

  “I’m going to go get some things done, but it was great seeing you both!” she said to Kayla and Christopher.

  They both smiled and said their goodbyes.

  As Rain moved to exit the room, another thought entered her mind. She turned back to the doctor. “By the way, were the pills that Hunter and I found the ones you wanted?”

  Christopher raised an eyebrow. “I never asked for any drugs.”

  “We were sent out to go and get some, though.”

  “Not by me,” Christopher shrugged.

  Rain bit her lip and considered that information, but with everything she had going on, she didn’t have time to give it any more thought. She shrugged it off and walked from the room, terrified but determined.

  ***

  When Kayla walked into the leader’s meeting room, she couldn’t help but feel nervous. She hadn’t seen Hunter act emotional for a day in his life, and she’d known him for years. Hunter was a good man, but he was shut down, and seeing him fuming like that was something very new to her. Based on him sending her to Sawyer, she couldn’t help but think she had something to do with it.

  Or, at least, Sawyer had something to do with it.

  He was sitting at the desk, elbows on the table and hands knotted in his hair. It seemed like he didn’t hear her enter.

  She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, but he jumped, grabbing her hand and standing within a fraction of a second. Kayla’s heart leapt into her chest, but when Sawyer’s eyes met hers, he relaxed.

  His fingers lingered on her wrist.

  “Did Hunter send you?”