Chapter 5
Rhylee
The next evening, I can barely contain my giddiness as Tucker and I weave back toward our campsite through the dense pine forest. After today”s groundbreaking field observations, every inch of my body is humming with adrenaline and exhilaration.
”Did you see the way that alpha male marked his territory?” I gush, practically skipping alongside Tucker”s long, purposeful strides. ”His roar was absolutely primal! I”ve never witnessed such raw, powerful behaviors firsthand before.”
A gruff chuckle rumbles from the man beside me. ”You”re damn lucky he was just bellowing warnings, Doc. The big toms don”t take kindly to having their space invaded.”
I shoot him a mildly reproachful look but can”t quite smother my grin. ”We followed every safety protocol to the letter. You know I would never recklessly endanger myself or the subjects.”
”If you say so.” The deep rumble of laughter in his chest sends a shiver racing down my spine that has nothing to do with the crisp mountain air. ”Lucky for you, I”ve got the reflexes to keep your dreamy ass from wandering straight into another ravine.”
I huff out a reluctant laugh, shaking my head in resignation. Tucker”s tongue is as deft and skilled as his hands, always leaving me flustered and off-kilter.
As we finally break through the treeline back at our camp, I pause to catch my breath, gulping in deep, cooling lungfuls of the thin alpine air. A pleasant ache has settled into my muscles from the day”s rigorous hiking and climbing, a dull thrum of weariness laced with profound satisfaction.
”I could definitely use a chance to freshen up,” I admit, plucking at my sweat-dampened shirt with a grimace. ”I feel positively grimy after all that scrambling around on my belly for hours.”
Tucker shoots me a wicked grin over the flickering flames. ”Lucky for you, I know the perfect spot for some scenic bathing that”ll have you squeaky clean in no time.”
With that cryptic remark, he turns and strides off into the thickening dusk without another word, leaving me gaping after his retreating form.
”Well?” he calls gruffly over his shoulder when I fail to move quickly enough. ”You coming, Doc?”
Curiosity overwhelming my confusion, I hustle after his long, confident strides.
We weave deeper into the dense forest for several minutes until a distant, rhythmic rushing gradually becomes audible through the trees. My brow furrows as I strain to pinpoint the source of the sound, but comprehension dawns as we finally break through a thick copse of brambles—
—and I”m greeted with the breathtaking sight of a crystal-clear mountain stream, its glittering turquoise waters churning over a rocky bed in a series of frothy white rapids. Soaring pines and firs ring the gorge, their needled branches reaching toward the dusky purple sky like a vast, sheltering canopy.
”Oh,” I breathe, awestruck. ”It”s magnificent!”
”Best bath spot in the whole damn Reserve if you ask me.”
My brow furrows slightly as he starts unbuckling his belt. ”Wait, you don”t mean...?”
Tucker pauses, his gaze finding mine. ”What, you”d rather have a sponge bath?”
His hands continue stripping away layers, each newly exposed swathe of bronzed skin igniting a fresh blaze of warmth inside me.
”N-no, I just...” I stammer, tearing my gaze away with monumental effort as a furious blush scalds my cheeks. ”I mean, are you sure we should be...?”
”Water”s plenty warm and deep for a nice, long soak to wash off that pent-up sweat and grime... amongst other things.”
His meaning is as clear as the sparkling waters behind him. And God help me, but that wicked glint in his eyes has me powerless to resist the lure.
With a trembling inhale, I give the smallest nod of acquiescence. A triumphant grin splits Tucker”s face at my silent assent. Then he”s stepping back, already shucking off the last of his clothing until he stands before me in all his rugged, naked glory.
My breath catches in my throat at the sight of him utterly bared. I can only gape, utterly transfixed, as Tucker saunters toward the rushing stream without the slightest hint of self-consciousness.
”You just gonna stand there and drool all day?” he calls over his shoulder with a wolfish grin. ”Or you gonna come join me already?”
His words snap me out of my trance, and I force my fingers to begin undoing the fastenings of my own clothing. Layer by layer, I peel them away, each newly exposed inch of my skin prickling with gooseflesh and delicious, terrifying vulnerability in the open air.
By the time I stand naked before the gently lapping waters, I”m shivering violently—though from the crisp chill or the intensity of Tucker”s devouring stare, I couldn”t say. He crouches at the stream”s edge, water sluicing over his waist and lower still, leaving nothing to the imagination in the most devastating way.
Emboldened by the naked hunger blazing in those feral eyes, I tiptoe forward into the shallows, gasping at the shock of icy water lapping at my calves. The bone-deep chill seems to strip away the last of my reservations, my insecurities and inhibitions melting away like so much morning mist.
In this moment, I feel more powerful and alive than I ever have before. More feminine and utterly in touch with some long-suppressed, ravenous hunger inside me.
And so, with an impish grin, I let my hands trail down the soft slopes of my breasts in a slow, sensual tease before dipping below the water. ”You just gonna stand there and drool all day?”
Tucker growls deep in his broad chest, the sound reverberating straight to my core. Then he”s on me—
His powerful arms banding around my waist crush me against that searing expanse of muscle and heat as our mouths crash together in a frantic, ravenous kiss. My fingers rake through his sodden hair, clinging to him like he”s the only lifeline in a raging sea.
”Fuck, you taste so sweet,” he rasps, trailing a path from the hollow of my throat down to the swell of my breasts with lips and tongue and teeth.
I keen softly as he latches onto one pert nipple, swirling his tongue in maddening strokes until the tight bud is a taut, throbbing peak. Sensation rockets straight to my core, stoking the ravenous ache between my thighs.
”Please,” I hear myself whimper, my nails scoring down the planes of his back. ”I need—”
”I know what you need, darlin”,” he purrs, his voice a gravel-rough caress against my fevered skin as his hands roam lower. ”You’ve been driving me half-mad with hunger all day.”
Under the water, one thick finger circles my clit in a teasing brush and then slides back toward my entrance. A desperate whine tears from my throat as it slips inside, crooking in just the right way to have me arching into his solid bulk. He chuckles darkly, his free hand banding around my nape to angle my mouth back to his in a devouring kiss.
My whimpers and cries are swallowed by his ravenous mouth as he works another finger inside, stretching me wide.
”That”s it,” he murmurs against my lips. ”Let me hear those sweet sounds.”
He punctuates the words with a sharp thrust, burying his fingers to the last knuckle. My back arches, breasts crashing against the solid wall of his chest as a broken cry of rapture spills out.
”Tucker, please...” I pant, scrabbling at the flexing muscle of his shoulders and biceps as my release hovers maddeningly out of reach.
His eyes, dark and intense, hold mine as he thrusts his fingers in a relentless rhythm. ”I got you, baby.” His voice is a rough growl against the heated skin of my neck.
With a twist of his wrist, his thumb finds my clit, circling and stroking until my entire world whites out in a blinding rush of ecstasy. I shatter with a broken sob, convulsing around the thick stretch of his fingers as waves of shattering bliss crest over me again and again.
Tucker doesn”t relent, prolonging the dizzying raptures with firm strokes until I”m a boneless, quivering mess in his arms. Only then does he withdraw, his eyes blazing with naked hunger as he brings those glistening fingers to his lips for a slow, deliberate taste.
”Delicious,” he rumbles, his voice like gravel against raw nerves.
I can only watch, entranced, as a fresh gush of arousal floods my core, my body already thrumming with a renewed ache to be filled and claimed and possessed by this wild, virile man.
Then he”s hauling me against him once more. I’m weightless under the water, and I wrap my legs around his waist until I feel the thick, heavy length of his cock rubbing against my entrance.
With a powerful surge of his hips, he buries himself to the hilt in one slick thrust. I cry out, nails scoring down those broad, heaving shoulders as he stretches and fills me to the brink.
”Fuck, you feel so good,” he groans, his forehead pressed against mine. I can feel his pulse pounding, matching the frantic rhythm of my own heart.
He withdraws almost completely, before slamming back into me, again and again. We move together in a wild, untamed frenzy, all civilized constraints shed in the sanctity of this ancient forest. His harsh grunts and my broken keening fill the air, echoing off the towering pines.
Tucker is everywhere, overwhelming every sense in a dizzying onslaught of pure masculine force. His musk, earthy and primal, surrounds me like the wilderness itself. His rough palms and searing mouth blaze across my skin as he claims me with every punishing stroke.
His hands roam my body, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. They cup my breasts, pinch my nipples, and grip my hips as he pounds into me. The water around us churns and splashes with every sensual movement.
His teeth scrape my earlobe, sending a jolt of pleasure down my spine. ”You”re gonna come for me again,” he growls, his voice low and commanding.
His hand snakes between our bodies, his skilled fingers finding my clit. He circles and flicks the sensitive bundle of nerves, sending me hurtling toward the peak once more.
”Tucker, I...” I whimper, my body tensing as the pleasure builds and builds.
”I know,” he murmurs, his mouth pressing soft, fevered kisses down my throat. “Me too.”
His fingers press down on my clit at the same time his cock slams into my core. And the world explodes around me. My climax rushes up to meet me with shattering force, tearing a guttural roar from my very core that”s swallowed by his devouring kiss. Tucker follows a heartbeat later with a feral growl against my neck, his thick release pulsing deep inside of me.
We cling together in the aftermath, chests heaving and skin sheened with sweat as the stream”s gentle currents lap at our tangled limbs. I”m utterly insensible, lost in a blissful haze of bone-deep rapture that leaves no room for anything but Tucker”s scorching presence surrounding me.
At some point, he gathers me up and carries me from the shallows, depositing me in a trembling heap on the plush, mossy bank. I whine in protest at the sudden loss of his searing heat, my eyes fluttering open in a daze.
”Easy there, darlin”,” he rumbles, already lowering that magnificent body beside me to gather me close. ”I gotcha.”
I melt into his powerful embrace with a contented sigh, nestling my face into the solid strength of his chest. One rough palm trails up and down my spine in a gentle caress that somehow gentles the wildfire blazing beneath my skin.
”You’re magnificent, you know that?” he murmurs, pressing a lingering kiss to the crown of my head. ”A goddamn vision.”
”I”ve never felt so free,” I confess in a hushed whisper, as if speaking the words too loudly might somehow shatter this moment. ”Like I”ve been sleepwalking through my entire life until you...”
I trail off, at a loss to articulate the profound shift that”s occurred somewhere deep in my soul. As if Tucker”s scorching intensity has burned away every lingering shred of my former self—the bookish, socially awkward academic who spent so long denying her most primal needs and desires.
In her place is someone else, someone new. A woman in touch with the raw, untamed essence that”s been simmering beneath the surface all along, merely awaiting the right spark to set it ablaze.
”You feel it too, don”t you?” I murmur, reaching up to trace the harsh, beloved planes of Tucker”s rugged features.
His mouth curves in the hint of a smile, somehow both wolfish and unbearably tender as he cradles me impossibly closer. ”Hell yes, I feel it,” he rasps in a voice like gravel over raw silk. ”Been feelin” it since the moment I first laid eyes on you.”
I blink in surprise, but a soft, wondering smile blooms across my lips at his candid admission.
”And now that I”ve had you, been inside that sweet, silken heat...” He shakes his head, letting out a low rumble from somewhere deep in his broad chest. ”Ain”t nothin” in these mountains gonna sate this hunger for you.”
His scorching confession steals my breath, my heart thundering in my ears like the distant roar of a waterfall. Because I know, deep in the wildest places of my heart, that there”s no going back.
That I”ve found what my soul has been craving all along.
A wildness to call my own.