23. Indiana
I jumped to my feet and rushed to Tyler’s side. Clark’s cry faded as he fell, and when it abruptly stopped, I gasped.
“Bloody hell!” I slapped my hand over my mouth.
“Fuck.” Tyler’s eyes were massive as he clutched his head and peered down the cliff. “I can’t believe he did that.”
“Me neither.” My voice broke, faltering under the gravity of what I’d just witnessed.
Tyler draped his arm over my shoulder and tugged me to his side. “He was terrified.”
A shadow of pain flickered over his eyes.
“Not terrified of dying, though.” My chin wobbled.
“Hey.” He tugged me tighter. “I’m sorry you saw that.”
“It’s not your fault. You were trying to give him a lifeline.”
He frowned, and as he stared across the ocean, the moon glimmered in his eyes. “I thought Zǐháo Chui was evil, but whoever is running the show now has everyone shitting their pants.”
I wrapped my arm around his waist, and as the warmth of our bodies molded together, I trembled.
“Hey, it’s over now.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I peered up at him through blurry vision. “Is it?”
“Yes, we are safe now. Thanks to you. You’re brave. So damn brave.” The pad of his thumb caught a stray tear, and the softness in his touch unraveled another piece of the tightly wound fear knotting my insides.
“Thanks. You were incredible, too.” It was impossible to convey my awe over his fighting skills. “You’re the one who saved us.”
“We both did.” He smirked. “And your amazing boobs.”
I giggled, and he hugged me to his side as we peered across the beautiful vista. Moonlight danced across the still ocean like it was reminding me that no matter what happened, life went on. People died, yet every day was a new day, a new beginning.
I still couldn’t believe Dad was gone. It had happened so quickly.
Tyler ran his hand up my arm, and the move was so touching and familiar that my heart wept.
I had a weird feeling that Tyler and I were destined to meet. Dad had spent very little time with Tyler and yet Tyler had made such an impact that Dad mentioned him in his final words.
I had lost every single thing I owned, but with Tyler’s arms around me, I didn’t feel that loss anywhere near like I should. It was like his presence filled me with something that my loss took away. Strength, maybe, or stability. Or hope.
But our incredible view proved we were a long way from safety.
And that damn beeping that was drilling into my skull was a rude fucking reminder that some asshole could still be tracking our location.
I eased back from Tyler. “That beeping is driving me nuts.”
He dragged his gaze away from the ocean, frowning like he hadn’t heard the noise until I mentioned it.
He marched to the items he’d pulled from Clark’s tactical vest and picked up the utility knife.
“What are you doing?”
He tipped the hard drive out of the plastic bag. “Seeing if I can remove the tracker.”
He turned on Clark’s flashlight and wedged it into a nook on the cave wall so it rained light on the giant boulder. He turned the device over in his hands, then resting it on the boulder, he wedged a sharp knife into the tiny slit in the side of the plastic case.
Tyler’s intense concentration was a stark contrast to what was going through my mind. It was like my exhaustion was reminding me of everything we’d been through. Diving down to that plane wreck, the skeleton with its missing eyeballs, the moldy cash, the drone attack, the explosion, and Dad dying in my arms.
It was all too much.
Stepping back, I rested my butt against the other giant boulder and removed my scuba booties. As I massaged my feet, Tyler worked with methodical precision, prying the blade into the hard drive’s casing with a rhythm that matched his regimented demeanor. While he needed order and precision, I thrived on chaos.
We were worlds apart, and yet everything about him fascinated me.
With a cry of triumph, he pulled the two sides of the device apart. Turning to me, he wriggled his brows. “Can you shine that light for me?”
Standing again, I pulled the light from the wall and directed the beam onto the guts of the hard drive.
He used the tip of the knife to pull up certain wires, tracing them until he found the one attached to the tiny red light that blinked in time to the beeping.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Shush,” he growled as he lifted a red wire.
My breath trapped in my throat, and the air stilled around us.
He curled the knife beneath the wire and gave it a hard tug. The wire, the tiny light, and a small green board with tiny gold dots all over it flipped out of the box.
Grinning like he’d found treasure, he waggled the contraption. “Got it.”
Resting the part against the rock, he bashed the tracker to smithereens with the butt of the knife.
Silence filled the air, and my ears seemed to sigh. “Thank God.”
He put the two halves of the hard drive back together, returned it to the plastic bag, and heaved a massive breath like the weight of the world was off his shoulders.
“What do we do now?” I asked, turning off the flashlight. As my eyes adjusted to the moonlight again, our breaths seemed to synchronize. Our eyes met, and a flutter danced through me at how stunning he looked in this light. Hunger filled his eyes, and not just from demolishing that beeper, his hunger was for me.
I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him so bad, lust gnawed at my insides.
I parted my lips, hoping he would close the distance between us.
His eyes searched mine in an unspoken question that captured me so completely I nearly imploded. Desire was perfectly etched onto his face, and I wondered if I was dreaming.
Finally, he stepped to me, cupped my face, and studied me before he planted his lips on mine.
This was not a dream. His kiss was raw and wild, and exquisite.
I kissed him back and drove my fingers through his thick hair, drawing us closer.
He glided his hand around my back, tugged me to his chest, then released the knot on my bikini top. As I traced my hands over the incredible planes of his back, my fingers brushed over the brutal scar left of his backbone that I’d been dying to ask him about all day.
As our tongues slipped and glided against each other in a perfect dance, his hand cupped my breast, stealing all thoughts from my mind.
My body hummed.
I released the knot at the back of my neck and tossed my bikini aside.
Tyler curled my hair over my shoulder and kissed my neck. I moaned at how gentle he was. For a man made of muscle, his touch was tender, but it was more than that, each press of his lips on my flesh was like I was the air he needed to breathe.
Closing my eyes, I fell into a trance that was controlled by his lips and hands. He returned his lips to mine, claiming the curve of my mouth and my tongue. He didn’t just kiss me, he gave his body to me, and we moved as one.
He swept his hand down my waist and hooked his thumbs into the strings at the sides of my bikini bottom, tugging them down. The flimsy fabric slipped to my ankles, and with our mouths locked together, I kicked them free.
Using his foot, he nudged my feet apart, and as I braced for his hand between my legs, he dipped his head forward and sucked my nipple into his mouth.
“So beautiful.” His words vibrated across my nipple, and gasping, I rolled my head back.
As he sucked and licked and glided his tongue around my nipple, he squeezed and caressed my boob.
Gentle breezes teased my clit, and I begged for him to touch me.
“Oh, Tyler.” His name sounded absolutely perfect on my lips.
“Yes,” he murmured, tracing kisses from my nipple to my neck.
I clawed my fingers across his back and reached down to squeeze his ass. “Get your shorts off.”
His lips found mine again, and as our tongues competed for attention, he tugged his trunks off and kicked them away.
He curled his fingers into mine and squeezed our palms together in a grip that was so strong it was like our souls were coming together as one.
I reached between his legs and cupped his hot balls in my hand.
A primal moan tumbled from his throat, and he snapped his lips from mine. His eyes reached into my mind. His intensity devoured me.
I curled my hands around his balls, feeling their weight.
“Indy.” He crushed his mouth to mine.
I swept my hand to his cock, stroking his length.
His hand finally cruised between my legs and glided up my inner thighs. As I explored the length of his rock-hard cock, I dipped my knees, and Tyler pushed a finger inside me.
Gasping, I nearly crumbled, but he wrapped his arm around me, holding me in place. He moved with a rhythm that defined him. . . confident, masculine, a man in control. He drove his finger deeper, twisting and touching something inside me that radiated pulses through every cell in my body.
A wild moan tumbled from my lips, and his cock somehow grew thicker.
He parted my knees more, and I dipped with his movement. He clutched me to his chest and stroked my slickened core. His thrusts were wild yet in control, and an orgasm released from my body that was like nothing I’d ever had before.
My body was out of control.
Every part of me clenched and tingled and throbbed, and it was exhilarating and terrifying because I knew that I had given myself fully to him.
My knees crumbled, and Tyler caught me, again.
I tilted my head, and as he kissed me like I was the very air he breathed, I wrapped my hand around his cock.
“Careful,” he growled into my mouth.
I pressed my hand to his chest, easing us apart so I could see him. His skin glistened in the moonlight like he was a god. I lowered my gaze to his groin.
“Wow.”
He is a god.
A breath left my throat as I turned around, pressed my hands onto the boulder, and angled my ass toward him.
Tyler released a noise like I’d stolen every thought from his mind. He draped his hands around my hips, then guided his cock into me in one smooth, glorious thrust.
A gasp tore from my throat as he filled me so completely.
He held me in position like he was preparing for the ride of his life.
I pulsed my pussy, letting him know I felt him right up inside me.
A growl thrummed in his throat, and his fingers dug into my flesh.
He eased his cock out, all the way to the crown, then he plunged again, deep and hard.
“Yes,” I gasped.
With methodical precision, he did it again and again, each time plunging deeper.
My body came alive. My mind melted.
His thrusts grew harder. His groans became deeper.
I pushed back against him, wanting him . . . needing him.
Another orgasm developed inside me, and it was so swift I couldn’t breathe. He slammed his cock into me and held me there with his hands trembling.
I pushed back just a fraction, and Tyler cried out as he thrust into me over and over. My orgasm ripped through me, wild and raw, and so mind-blowing stars danced across my eyes.
He released a primal groan and slammed into me deep and hard with one final thrust that shuddered inside me.
As our ragged breaths became one, Tyler removed his grip on my thighs and rubbed his warm hands over my lower back. His tenderness was so incredible it was like he was caressing my heart.
He pulled out of me, and I turned to him.
We wrapped our arms around each other, and it was so incredible it would be easy to believe that we’d been lovers for decades.
We didn’t talk; we didn’t move. We just breathed.
His pounding heart was a perfect melody in my ear, and I wanted this moment to last forever.
I’d had sex many times in my life, but I’d never had a man hold me afterward. Tyler’s embrace said so much more than any words could say. This extraordinary, brave, glorious man had done something no lover had ever done before: he’d found a way into my heart.
When his arms finally released me, it was like breaking a spell.
He cupped my cheek, and his eyes filled with concern. He dipped his head forward, pressing our foreheads together. “You okay?”
“Yes,” I breathed out. I didn’t think I had ever been more okay than I was right now. Considering what we’d been through, that was a miracle. “Are you?’
His hands slipped into mine, and our fingers laced together. “That was incredible.”
I nodded, and my heart thundered.
He released a hand and turned to study the cave behind us. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll sleep like a log.”
I giggled. “Same.”
We pulled our clothes back on, and Tyler checked that no spiders would share the cave with us.
Moonlight cast long shadows into our nook as he found a spot against the wall. He lay on the dirt floor on his side, and I curled into the space next to him. He draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me tighter to his chest.
As we spooned each other and our breathing settled, the sounds of the ocean crashing into the shore all the way down the cliff somehow drifted up to us.
He glided his hand over my hip to rest on my thigh, and his fingers found my scars, tracing the lines of the jagged wounds.
“Will you tell me about these someday?” His hot breath whispered across my ear.
I grabbed his hand, curled it up to my lips, and kissed the back of his palm.
“Yes. You can ask me anything.” I shifted his hand to my chest and held him there. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but you’re the first cop I ever wanted to know everything about me.”
He kissed my shoulder. “I hope one day you’ll stop thinking of me as a cop.”
I huffed. “I already do, Tyler. I already do.”
He tugged me closer, and the warmth of his chest on my back was the lover’s embrace I’d been craving my whole life, yet I hadn’t known it.
As the waves and the moon provided the perfect backdrop, I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of the man who had changed my life forever.
He almost makes me forget that we’re stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere. . . with no rescue on the way.