10. Rowan
If my arms weren’t both occupied, I’d slap myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. That this—Evie in my arms, soft and warm, nibbling her way along my jaw—is real, and not a hallucination.
Hard to believe I carried her to my cave like this only two days ago. Hard to believe that she’s here again, up on my mountain; that she came searching for me after I let her down so badly last night.
God knows I don’t deserve the grace she’s shown me. But mark my words: I will earn it. From this day on, I will never waver like that again. I’ll never choose the coward’s path and run away from love. I’ve always been a fighter, damn it—I just lost my way lately. But Evie’s brought me back to life. Back to myself.
And I’ll prove how much this woman means to me, day in and day out, until she never questions that fact ever again.
Ever.
“I’m starting to think this is a kink of yours.” Evie flicks the top three buttons of my shirt open and slides her hand inside, resting her palm against the steady thump of my heart. “Carrying damsels off to your cave.”
My legs are strong beneath me, stepping across tree roots and rocks. My head has never felt so clear.
“Just the one damsel, actually.” When I squeeze her, Evie laughs. And it’s somehow the longest walk of my life to get back to the cave, even though the whole journey must take less than twenty minutes all told, both of us chatting happily the whole way.
“Wait, the stick—”
Too late. The icy waterfall dunks us both as I step inside. Evie slaps at my chest, spluttering, and my grin makes my cheeks ache as I stride to the brown pelt by the fire.
“Oh, you jerk! I’m soaked to the skin!”
I know. Evie’s nipples are hard, pressing against the thin cotton of her tank top, and my mouth waters as I set her down.
“I’ll warm you up again, city girl.” With a bath, yes, but first—this.
She huffs in response, but she’s not mad really. She’s playing along, all while staring at me with hungry eyes.
I light a fire. For the first time in years, my hands shake and I drop a match. I’m too eager to get back to her; too worked up and trying to rush.
“Amateur hour,” Evie says.
Pausing, I turn and raise an eyebrow at her. She grins and wriggles on the pelt, and fuck, when did she peel that top off?
Because Evie’s bare from the waist up, her skin milky in the dim cave, and her pink nipples are hard little beads. As I watch, goosebumps raise on her chest and arms, and she’s squirming even worse now, biting her lip under my perusal.
The fire catches. Thank god.
Tossing the burned match onto the logs, I stand and tug my shirt off in one go, then fling it into the shadows. My boots go next, kicked off one by one.
Fuck ‘em. I’ll wear them in town, I’ll blend back into society for my future wife, but there will always be part of me that longs for the mountain breeze on my bare chest. That wants packed dirt and tree roots beneath my feet. And I won’t hide that side of me, not from her—and especially not when Evie giggles with delight and shimmies her leggings down.
We undress in a clumsy blur of limbs, pieces of clothing flung all around the cave. One of Evie’s hiking socks lands perilously near the fire, but neither of us care enough to stage a rescue.
Can’t do anything now except crash to my knees on the pelt, my legs throbbing from the hit of uneven stone, and drag my woman closer by the ankles.
“Rowan!”
Yeah.That’s what I want: my name on her lips. When I press her thighs wide, Evie spreads easily beneath my touch. Her hips tilt up, trying to draw my gaze down to the thatch of auburn curls between her legs.
She’s pink and swollen and slick down there, glistening in the firelight. Already so needy for me. It calls to some ancient instinct of mine to sink deep inside her and pound my troubles away until I forget the whole world.
But first…
Settling down on the stone ground, I don’t care about the chill that seeps immediately into my body. Don’t care about the lumps and pebbles beneath the pelt. All I care about is shouldering my way into position, tossing her ankles over my shoulders, and leaning down to breathe on Evie’s slit.
“Oh–oh!” Her back arches, body rolling on the pelt. Haven’t even touched her yet, and already she’s writhing. Evie peers down her body at me, both turned on and alarmed. “What are you…?”
“I’m going to taste you here.” A single finger taps on her pubic bone, and Evie twitches again, choking back a yelp. “I’m going to lick you and suck you and make a fucking mess of you, sweetheart. And when you come, I’ll feel every vibration on my tongue.”
Her breath quavers. Evie plucks at the brown fur pelt where the tufts tickle her hips, and she seems… shy.
“Okay. But you should know, I’ve never… Any of this, I haven’t…”
Her words trail off as I lean down, pressing an open mouthed kiss against her inner thigh. She’s never been touched this way? Never lain with a man before?
Red hot hunger and possessiveness spiral in my gut at that thought, clenching tight. My skin heats a few degrees, and the chill of the stone floor is long forgotten.
Christ, I could eat this girl alive. Could swallow her whole.
Because she waited for me.
And she’s mine.
My hot breath pants against her slit. Evie’s squirming again, wriggling on the pelt, gripping the fur even as her heels dig into my back, urging me on. And the fire cooks my left side, the shadows dancing on the cave wall as I duck down and taste her.
Finally.
“Oooh god.” Evie’s head tips back, her slender throat shifting as she swallows. “Oh god. Oh god. Yes. Rowan! Like that.”
She’s salty and sweet, her body warm and slick beneath my tongue. With every lick and lave and nibble on her clit, Evie bucks beneath me, her strangled cries bouncing off the stone walls, and my jaw clicks but I don’t care. Don’t care. Don’t care.
Who needs a tongue anyway? I’ll keep going until mine drops off if that’s what it takes to get her there. I’ll keep rubbing my whole goddamn face against my girl, my nose nudging her clit as her soft thighs clamp around my ears. Don’t need anything but this.
When I slide a finger inside her, Evie lets out an animal groan.
And when I crook that finger, rubbing the sensitive spot on her inner walls, she thrashes so wildly beneath me that she nearly bucks me off. But she’s panting and moaning, kicking me closer with her heels, and something tells me that if I stopped now she might truly never forgive me.
“Rowan! Please. Please.”
My heart burns with the heat of a summer wildfire.
I drag it out, because I’m a bastard. I make her moan; make her beg. Work her with my mouth and hands into a sweaty, trembling heap, and only once a fierce blush covers Evie’s whole neck and chest do I zone in on her clit with a relentless rhythm.
She hisses, bucking, and I press her back down to the pelt with one arm across her hips. Her cry echoes around the cave, the sound so fractured and sweet. It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.
And when she stiffens up, her whole body rigid and her eyes squeezed shut, my own pulse races in triumph.
Red waves glint in the firelight where they’re splayed across the pelt. This morning’s braid is long gone, undone by Evie’s thrashing, and now her loose hair mingles with brown fur and spills onto the stone floor.
The fire pops, a log shifts, and a small flurry of sparks burst in my peripheral vision.
After an impossibly long time and no time at all, Evie sucks in a desperate breath and collapses back onto the pelt, boneless and quivering.
Pressing one last kiss to her clit—she whimpers—I push up just enough to crawl along her flushed body. Evie loops her arms around my neck, blinking at me in a daze.
Mine.
She’s really mine.
How did I ever get so goddamn lucky?
I kiss her long and hard and deep, stroking our tongues together, letting her taste herself. Letting her catch her breath and wake up beneath me once more, coaxing her to life like the ashy embers beneath the fire, until her hips roll against mine and her nails score hot lines down my back.
“You want more?” Resting our foreheads together, I rock my head from side to side. This close, her cinnamon scent pulls into my lungs with every inhale. “We can wait if you want, sweetheart. Don’t need to rush.”
My girl snorts, reaching between us to wrap a hand around my cock. Just that simple contact makes me grunt, hips pitching forward to fuck her fist.
“Don’t you dare, Wild Man.” Evie licks my neck. “Now get inside me.”