Chapter 36 Harper-Rayn
HARPER-RAYN
Itake off like a fucking bolt of lightning, a laugh tearing out of me and echoing through the woods as Knight waits behind, giving me a chance to get away.
My heart booms in my chest, and if it pounds any harder, I don’t doubt it will lead him straight to me, and while I want to be a good little huntee and at least make it hard for him, I also can’t wait to be caught.
“Ten,” he calls from the shore.
Oh shit. I get a countdown.
“Nine.”
I push myself faster, skipping over the twigs before realizing that every crunched leaf beneath my foot is a beacon calling to him, giving up my location, and I slow my pace, taking each step with purpose instead of reckless bounding.
The deeper into the woods I wander, the thicker the trees get, and it becomes more than clear that this is not something I’d ever do on my own, but I trust Knight implicitly. If I were to get lost, there’s not a single doubt that he would move heaven and earth to find me.
“Eight.”
I grin. His voice is starting to sound farther away, and I can’t help but wonder just how far I’ve gotten.
I take a right and then a left, not wanting the hunt to be too obvious.
Hell, I even consider climbing the trees, but let’s be honest, I can barely manage a simple hike without tripping over my own feet. I wasn’t built for climbing trees.
“Seven,” he says, his voice hitching a little higher as if experiencing the same thrill that I am, and shit, I can just picture the way he’d be pacing the shore, barely able to keep himself in check and cut this countdown short. “Six, doll.”
Fuck, I’ll never get past the way he calls me doll.
“Five. Four.”
A soft laugh ripples through my chest that I hope like fuck he can’t hear as I discreetly push myself deeper into the thick woods.
It takes my full attention to avoid tripping over the fallen branches and stray rocks.
I brace against the trees, using them to keep me upright as my lungs heave for oxygen.
It’s only been a short run, yet the rush of the run and the thrill of the chase have me remembering just how shitty my fitness levels are.
It wouldn’t be the first time in the past few months when I’ve been reminded of my failing fitness.
Perhaps I need to start going on runs with Knight. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. That is, until I pass out from lack of oxygen, and he has to carry me on his back the whole way home.
“You’re running out of time, Morticia,” he says, that hint of excitement in his tone doing wicked things to me. “Three.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’ve never been so conflicted. I want to win this. I want to be the best damn hider there ever was, but damn it, I need him to find me and put out this fire that’s burning through my body.
“Two.”
Everything clenches, my chest heaving.
“One. Ready or not, my sexy little vixen, I’m coming for you.”
Oh God. Yes.
A soft groan slips through my lips, and I pause among the trees, listening to see if I can track his movements, but apart from the sound of the birds in the trees, the raging waterfall beyond the shore, and the hundreds of insects minding their own business, I’ve got nothing.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Knight is trained to be a ghost. He knows how to get from one place to another undetected, he knows how to track, how to hunt, and how to finish exactly what he started.
As the seconds tick by, I’m still met with silence, and my excitement quickly begins morphing into an anxious nervousness. Where the hell is he? Did he take off in the opposite direction, or has he caught my scent like a damn vampire?
My heart races, and I go to take another step when I hesitate, suddenly having no fucking idea where to go. Left or right? Forward or backward? Any direction could land me directly in his path, and while I want my prize at the end, surely he knows I’m going to make him work for it.
Unable to figure out a game plan, I fold myself against the trees, keeping as hidden as I possibly can, all while my heart continues to race, pumping pure adrenaline through my veins.
The seconds turn into minutes, and without even a hint of Knight, I start to wonder where the hell he could be.
I suck in a quiet breath and slowly peer around the edge of the tree, searching the area around me.
As I gaze through the trees, I see him standing barely twenty feet away, his sharp stare locked and loaded on me, and judging by his casual stance, he’s been waiting me out for quite a while.
“Oh fuck!” I squeak, my eyes widening as I shove away from the tree and begin running for my damn life.
I weave in and out, terrified to look back in case I come nose to trunk with one of these big bastards.
I weave like a goddamn ninja, skipping over fallen branches while trying not to slip on the foliage.
It’s a wild ride; my pulse is pounding in my ears as loud squeals continuously pour out of me.
The adrenaline is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve been in horrendous situations, most of them over the past few months, and the adrenaline has never felt like this.
It’s usually laced with fear, my hands sweating as I try not to die.
But this adrenaline . . . shit, I could get down with this any day of the week.
My lack of fitness comes screaming back in full color, and as I barrel around the trunk of a huge tree, I glance back, searching for Knight through the trees, but there’s no sign of him.
My brows furrow. He’s much faster than me.
Stealthier. Chasing me through the woods should be child’s play to him.
He should have caught me in seconds, but—
A hand clamps down over my mouth, and I’m pulled back against a hard chest, a scream muffled as it rips from deep within me.
“Gotcha, doll,” Knight murmurs in my ear, his lips rough as they come down at the base of my throat, his free hand cupping my drenched pussy over my tiny shorts. “And now you’re all mine.”
Oh God.
He pulls me through the woods, my back still pressed against his chest, while refusing to release his hand from my mouth. We come into a small clearing, barely big enough for the two of us, but allowing for more space than anywhere else these woods have to offer.
Foliage litters the hard ground, and the trees above create the perfect canopy. We’re the only two souls out here for miles, and I can’t help but feel protected by the privacy that canopy offers.
Knight presses my chest up against the trunk of a thick tree, his body hard against mine as his hand remains cupped at my pussy. “I can feel your heat through these damn shorts,” he growls. “Do you have any idea what they’ve been doing to me all fucking day?”
I press my ass back against him, and he grinds his raging erection against me in response. “Are you gonna talk about my shorts, or are you going to fuck me like a goddamn animal?”
A deep rumble vibrates through his chest, and it’s as though my words have flipped a switch within him as he digs his thumbs into the waistband of my shorts and tears them down my thighs, taking my thong along with them as I hastily try to step out of them, unable to move quickly enough.
“Fuck, Knight,” I pant, desperate to feel him slamming inside me, stretching me and filling me to the brim.
I reach for my workout crop, struggling with the damp fabric as I try to yank it up over my head and taking far too long. Knight steps in, ripping the rest of the tight fabric over my head and throwing it down as though its presence has personally offended him.
Without skipping a beat, he pushes my body up against the tree once again as I feel him behind me, reaching into his shorts and freeing that glorious cock against my ass. “You better be ready for me, doll.”
I push back against him again, tilting my hips just right, letting him feel just how ready I am, but he’s no fool.
With our height difference, he knows this isn’t going to work, and not a moment later, he grips my waist and lifts me off the ground, the bark from the trees catching on my nipple piercings, but he warned me this was going to get rough.
If I’m not covered in blood by the time this is over, then we didn’t do it right.
“Shins on my thighs, doll.”
I do as he asks, one hand braced against the tree in front of my chest, the other reaching higher and gripping onto a small branch for stability as I sit back on my heels.
Knight inches away from the tree, giving me just a little space as I lean into the tree, lining us up just right.
He takes my hip, his fingers already digging in just like he said, and in the same moment that I feel him at my entrance, he thrusts deep, slamming that thick monster cock straight into my needy cunt until he bottoms out.
I cry out as he stretches me wide, my walls trembling around his sheer size as he holds my hip tighter, keeping me still. “Fuck,” he grits through a clenched jaw as my body grows weak.
My eyelids flutter, my grip tightening on the branch. “More.”
Knight thrusts again, pulling me back against him to take him impossibly deeper as his other hand curls around me, diving between my spread thighs. His fingers roll over my clit, my hips instantly jolting with intense pleasure.
He fucks me like a beast, taking me deep and rough, sticking to his word like a goddamn vow as I arch my back, desperate for more. He gives it to me hard, and my walls clench around him as his fingers continue working my clit, rubbing tight, firm circles and driving me wild with raw need.
“Oh God,” I cry out, throwing my head back as my arms shake against the tree.
Everything tightens within me, and I don’t even get a second of warning before my orgasm explodes within me, claiming everything in its path as it rushes through my body with hot pulses, my pussy erratically spasming around his thick cock.
“Goddamn, doll,” Knight groans, feeling exactly what he does to me.