Chapter 14
The road back to camp was quiet, the kind of quiet Riley had missed. Talon’s hand was warm against hers on the console, steady and grounding in a way she hadn’t realized she still needed. The hum of the truck filled the silence, and for once, she didn’t feel like she had to fill it with words.
At the gate, she should have stepped out. Should have wished him goodnight and walked back into the cocoon she’d built for herself in the months since she’d returned. But instead, she looked toward the low-lit road leading to the housing block and heard herself say, “You want to come in?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “I do, if that’s what you want.”
“Turn off the SUV, Talon.”
Her apartment was small, with just two neat rooms. A few of her favorite books sat stacked on the shelf.
A mug she hadn’t bothered to wash waited by the sink.
Her soft blanket placed over the arm of the couch was the only touch of luxury she’d brought with her.
The air carried the faint citrus scent of the candle she’d blown out before dinner.
She toed off her shoes, setting her keys in the chipped ceramic bowl by the door. “I’d offer you coffee, but I’m pretty sure anything in my kitchen would be an insult to your taste buds.”
His voice was low from behind her, a thread of heat running through it. “I’m really not here for the coffee.”
Her breath caught before she could help it, and she stepped closer. The room felt smaller, the air warmer as he wrapped his arms around her. She’d waited long enough. All her questions were answered. She wanted to know him. To feel him.
Her hand found the front of his shirt almost without thought, fingers resting against the beat of his heart. “I missed you,” she whispered.
His hand caught hers, holding it there. His other hand slid to her jaw, calloused fingers warm against her skin. “Missed you, too, beautiful.”
The first kiss was soft, slow, like neither of them was on firm ground yet. It was a little unsteady, a bit of a testing moment. The second kiss, well, that one stripped away any hesitation, leaving her breathless.
Somehow, they ended up on the couch. She tried to catch her breath between kisses as his mouth traced a path lower, and those kisses set her nerves alight with a fire that consumed her.
His touch wasn’t rushed. God, no, it was deliberate.
His fingers were calloused, yet every brush felt like a promise.
The nerves she’d had the first time they’d met dissolved into hope and anticipation.
Every one of his kisses answered questions she’d been carrying for months.
When he pulled back just enough to look at her, she cupped his face with her hands.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked, voice lighter than she felt.
“I can’t believe you’re real.”
The words hit deep, warming places she hadn’t let herself touch in months. “I’m real. I’m here, in your arms, and I want you.”
He pulled away a bit. “We can wait.”
“I don’t want to wait. I want you.” She swallowed hard. “Don’t you want me?”
He leaned forward and the answer was obvious as his hard, stiff cock rested against her stomach.
“Never doubt how much I want you, but I need you to be sure. This is the long game for me. Yes, I want to make love to you, but only if it feels like the right time for you. I will wait as long as it takes for you to know that I’m yours, I’m not going anywhere, and I love you. ”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Ah, hell, I fucked something up.”
She shook her head. “No, no. You did something completely right. I love you, Talon. I fell in love with your words, with your heart, and with your humor. Make love to me.”
She laughed when he sprang to his feet and swooped her off the couch. It only took three steps to get to the bedroom, but in that time, her laughter shifted to need as his lips descended on hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
After he laid her on the bed, they spent time touching and learning each other.
She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it aside.
His chest was muscled, and the tan lines from his neck to his chest were her first focus.
She kissed the curve of darker skin as he worked her shirt off, only stopping for the moment it took for him to pull it over her head before she found his lips and pushed his shirt off his shoulders.
The fire heated in equal measure to the amount of skin bared. What she thought had been an electric chemistry the last time they’d kissed was nothing compared to the nuclear energy plant that had developed under her skin.
She was hypersensitive to his every touch. She reached down and unfastened his jeans. As soon as she unzipped them, she cupped his cock with her palm. He jerked into her touch and broke their kiss.
His voice was gravelly and sexy as hell. “Careful, beautiful. It’s been a long time. I’m working with a hair trigger.”
Stroking him, she purred, “So am I. I want you. Now.”
He pulled away to remove his jeans, and she stripped out of hers just as quickly. Talon settled over her. “Shit. Condom.”
“You don’t need them. I’m on the pill, and I don’t have …” She blinked. “They didn’t …”
He put his finger over her lips. “They aren’t welcome here.
You’re mine. You’re beautiful and a precious gift.
” He lowered his lips to hers, and she let herself fall into his kiss and his touch.
When they finally came together, it wasn’t just need.
It was a year of longing fulfilled. It was an answer to that quiet ache of wondering if he was as invested in their unusual relationship as she was.
It was physical, and God, the way he felt when he entered her was almost magical.
Tight, hot, and so wonderfully perfect. She arched up, and he settled deep inside her.
His forehead dropped to hers. “Babe, you feel so good.”
She moved her hips, and the base of his cock put pressure against her swollen clit.
She moaned, and her fingers curled, her nails digging into his skin.
He arched his back, and his hips moved. The sensations grew so big.
This was more than a physical act. Dropping his hand between them, he found her swollen nub, and she gasped as his fingers moved.
Her body convulsed, her core clenched, and she rolled through the wave of unbridled sensation.
His hands anchored her, grounding her, while every movement unraveled the distance they’d survived over the last year.
She clung to him. The sound he made when he came was the thread that kept her from disappearing completely and floating to heaven.
His forehead against hers, she felt the steady rhythm of his breath, the way he held himself off her so she could breathe and the effort that took.
She reached up and touched his cheek. His vivid green eyes opened, and he stared down at her.
“I love you,” she whispered. They were reverent and real, almost too precious to say aloud.
Lowering, he kissed her. “I love you,” he answered, kissing her again and again. “I’ll be right back.”
He lifted away and headed to the bathroom, coming back a moment later with a warm washcloth to wipe her clean.
If it had been in any other situation, any other circumstance, the intimacy of his act would have been too much, but as he dropped the cloth and got back into bed, pulling her closer, she reveled in that closeness.
As they laid together, the world narrowed to the hum of the camp generators outside, the cool cotton of the sheets beneath her, and the weight of his arm across her waist.
She drifted in that quiet, her head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat slow beneath her ear. “You’re staying, right?” she murmured.
“Hell yeah,” he said without pause, his voice low and certain. “I’m staying.” She smiled and relaxed against him. He was staying.
The soft gray light against the blinds pulled her awake first. Then the warmth. Talon’s heat wrapped around her from behind, his breathing deep and steady against her shoulder.
She didn’t want to move. Not yet. She wanted to memorize the feel of his arm heavy across her waist, the scent of his skin, the quiet peace that wasn’t something she got to keep often.
But then he shifted, his lips brushing her temple. “Riley. Time to wake up, babe.”
She made a soft sound and burrowed closer. “Too early.”
“Always is,” he said, but she could hear the faint smile in his voice.
Her eyes opened reluctantly. “You’re leaving.”
“SRF scenario starts at 0700,” he said, already sitting up. “I’ve got a team to break in half before breakfast.”
A laugh slipped from her before she could help it, soft and fond. “You sound so proud of that.”
“Not proud,” he said, pulling on his jeans. “Necessary.”
She pulled the sheet around her, sitting up as the cooler morning air brushed her skin. The small apartment felt different with him moving through it—more alive, more like a home.
“Coffee?” she offered as she caught the length of the sheet, lifting it so she could pad barefoot to the kitchen.
Talon called from behind her, “Don’t have time to drink it.”
She shook her head. “Then I’ll make you one to take,” she said, already reaching for the travel mug.
It was instant—and probably not to his standard—but she wanted to give him something.
Sue her. She wanted to have that connection, too.
Besides, today would be hard. It would be another day of digging for clues while covering her tracks.
She needed every good feeling she could gather.
What she was doing wouldn’t win her any favors from her father.
He took it when she offered, his fingers brushing hers. His gaze was steady, and for a moment, she felt like he could see right through her.
“You’ve got that look,” he said quietly.
She arched a brow. “How do you know my looks already?”
He took a sip of the coffee and barely contained the shudder that ran through him.
“Is it that bad?”
“I’ve had much worse.” As if to prove the point, he took another sip. No shiver of disgust this time. “And I’m not letting you redirect the conversation. What’s on your mind? You didn’t tell me at the restaurant. You started to but then chickened out.”
She smoothed her smile into place, the one she used on stubborn stakeholders. “It’s nothing. Just a full day ahead. Inspections and the daily grind.”
“Dangerous stuff,” he said dryly as he reached for his shoes.
“You have no idea,” she whispered quietly.
At the door, she caught his hand. “Tonight?”
“Tonight,” he promised, and for a moment, the certainty in his voice steadied her.
The door closed behind him, and she stood for a minute in the quiet. The scent of his cologne lingered faintly in the air. She pressed her fingers to her lips, then turned back to her day, the weight of what she hadn’t said still heavy in her chest.
The apartment felt emptier after Talon left. His cologne still lingered faintly in the air, the faint dent of his weight still on her bed. Yet there wasn’t time to linger.
After showering and dressing, she made the short walk to the ESG office. The air was already warming with the promise of another punishingly hot day. Overhead, the pale sky was cloudless, washed out by the kind of sunlight that bleached color from everything.
The morning started the same way. She started the coffee and then went to work. She checked the air quality monitors first and logged dust levels against the previous week. There were slight fluctuations, but nothing outside the expected range.
Next came the tailings pond pH readings and water treatment discharge data. She compared them to last month’s environmental baselines, making quick notations for the quarterly report.
Her tablet pinged with a calendar reminder: Stakeholder briefing in three weeks.
By midmorning, the heat pressed through the walls, the ceiling fan stirring the heavy air as she moved to the export compliance dashboard.
It was the same interface she’d looked at a hundred times, the same one she’d been in last night before leaving to meet Talon at the gate.
Her cursor hovered over the Special Mineral Compounds line item, her pulse quickening despite herself.
She pulled her gaze away, focusing on the environmental compliance summary she’d need for the quarterly report.
She told herself to stick to the job in front of her, to keep her actions clean, her requests justifiable.
Her phone buzzed. It was Marisol from logistics, confirming delivery times for the week.
Riley kept her voice light, efficient, and professional.
By early afternoon, she’d made her rounds to the community liaison office, signing off on the next supply run to the clinic, then walked the perimeter of the water treatment facility.
The faint, acrid smell of chemical reagents hung in the air, sharp enough to sting the back of her throat.
She noted the readings on the flow meters, which were higher than she’d like. The readings could be explained by high seasonal rainfall. It could also be explained by overprocessing. Damn it.
Her thoughts drifted back to Talon. Not the quiet of his voice when he’d told her Tonight, but the way he’d looked at her when he said she had that look.
He wasn’t wrong.
By the time she returned to her office, the afternoon light had shifted, turning the walls a pale gold. The hum of the air conditioning was the only sound. The workers had left for the day, and the quiet was a blessed balm to her exhausted mind.
She set her tablet on the desk, staring at the data that had become a shadow she couldn’t escape.
She couldn’t keep circling this forever.
But if she was going to pull Talon into it, she had to be sure.
She glanced at the clock, her thoughts sliding to tonight.
She’d see him again tonight and tell him her suspicions.
If he saw it, then she’d know she wasn’t seeing conspiracies like her father had claimed.
She closed her eyes. Prayed she wasn’t imagining this.
She prayed this wasn’t another issue she needed to overcome.
She looked down at her plastic ID badge holder and the thumb drive she now carried behind her ID. No, that was bullshit. Thinking like that was exactly what her father wanted her to do. She had proof she wasn’t making this up. So, where does that leave me?
Riley shook her head and squared her shoulders. “No, that’s not the question. The question is, where does that leave my father?”