Chapter 17
ALEX
Rafe didn’t go above the speed limit until we were several miles down the highway, trees encasing us on either side as we made our getaway. He found a logging road about twenty minutes out and took the turnoff.
“Where are we going?”
“We need to get lost for a while.”
Disquiet ate away at my nerves as Rafe navigated the increasingly rough gravel road, taking random turns at the forks as they arrived.
Apparently, he’d meant getting “lost” in the literal sense.
But I was okay with it. The last thing I wanted was to return to the island.
Unfortunately, we only had the clothes on our backs, so we couldn’t get lost for long.
We traveled the unpaved road for about fifteen miles before he pulled into a small clearing that overlooked the hilly terrain.
Darkness existed as far as the eye could see.
On the trip up the mountain, the clouds had opened again, and a steady barrage of rain pelted the windshield.
He cut the engine, casting the space between us in comfortable solitude.
“C’mere,” he said, voice husky as he unbuckled and pushed the driver’s seat back as far as it would go.
I couldn’t get out of my seatbelt fast enough. Scrambling over the gearshift, I plopped onto his lap, thighs straddling his, and pressed against him. He wrapped his arms around me, one hand twisting in my curls, tilting my head back, and his mouth met mine.
And I was home.
Because home was with Rafe—whether at his side in a tunnel or chained to his bed in a safe house or on his lap in a vehicle in the middle of nowhere. The bittersweet reunion streaked down my cheeks in hot, salty tears, and he broke the kiss long enough to catch them on his tongue.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Not more than I love you.”
His hands came up to frame my damp cheeks. “You’re my hero, Alex. You harbor so much strength inside your heart.” His lips pressed against mine for a few brief seconds. “I’m in awe of you.”
“Why?”
“Because you were strong enough to put Zach where he fucking belongs. You got away, baby, and your tenacity saved my ass.”
“I’m crazy about your ass.”
He gripped my bottom, hips thrusting upward until his hard-on rubbed me through our clothing. “Everything about you drives me crazy.”
As I worked the button on his pants free, a keening whine escaped me. “I need you.”
His hand covered mine, stalling me as I moved to unzip him. “I’m covered in blood and dirt.”
“I don’t care.”
“I care. Let me get out of these clothes.”
Scooting my ass onto the center console, I waited while he removed his jeans and tank, then I attacked him, urgency simmering my blood. I needed to feel him inside me, his cock snug where it belonged, filling me with the reality of his presence.
With the reality that we’d made it, had found our way back to each other, and now I needed him to erase the horror of these past few days.
As if he heard my mental plea—shared in it, even—he pushed me against the steering wheel, and the horn blared, echoing off the deserted landscape.
Our eyes locked and held, sparking with mutual desire as he tugged my pants down my thighs.
I shrugged out of the muddy denim, and he reached for the hem of my tee, yanking it over my head until I sat on his lap in nothing but my undergarments.
Instead of clearing my arms of the shirt, he used it to restrain my hands above my head, and a furrow formed between his brows as his attention lowered to the space between my breasts. Keeping one hand on the shirt holding me hostage, he fisted the key dangling in my cleavage. “This belongs to me.”
“So do I.”
He frowned, knuckles going white as he clutched the key that meant so much between us. Uncertainty infused his eyes as he searched my face. “We don’t have to do this right now.”
The reasons for waiting were plentiful. I still felt Zach’s imprint on my soul, could fucking smell the memory of him on me, wafting off my skin in a phantom scent that made me nauseous.
Rafe and I had things to talk about, and new scars that needed time to heal, but maybe the biggest reason lay in the secret I had yet to spill.
“I want you,” I whispered, pushing all the reasons to the back of my mind to be dealt with later. Right now, I needed him, thirsted for the anesthetic of his punishing love. “Fuck me…and don’t be gentle about it.”
Imparting a low, sexy growl, he let go of the key, and it dropped between my breasts again.
He finished removing the shirt trapping my wrists, and I lowered my palms to his chest as he unhooked the back clasp on my bra.
Inching the cups down, leaving the straps hanging off my shoulders, he took my sensitive nipples between thumb and forefinger and applied pressure until I squirmed on his lap.
“Are you wet for me?”
“God yes.”
He swiped my panties to the side, cock teasing my opening, and again, he gave me that look.
The one full of hesitation and apology.
“I want you inside me, Rafe.”
With a quick thrust, he pushed into me, and our chests came together, skin-to-skin.
Foreheads touched, green eyes locked on green eyes.
Deep moans rent the air between us, sparking the atmosphere with a union so sacrilegious, I wondered if we’d spontaneously combust. My heartbeat doubled, and I exhaled in shallow puffs with each drive of my hips.
There was no better high than becoming one with Rafe.
Slowing the pace, he brushed his lips against mine in a kiss full of sweet longing. Of apologetic sorrow. “I’m so sorry I left you there.”
“Stop apologizing,” I said through gritted teeth. “I don’t want your sorrow. I want you to make it hurt.”
“Why, baby? You need to talk to me.”
“I can’t.”
His eyes shuttered, and even in the dimness of night, I detected the slashes of self-flagellation on his face. “What did that bastard do to you?”
I shook my head, firmly planted in the land of denial. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It fucking matters.”
“It doesn’t. Just fuck me.”
Pulling the lever on the side of the seat, he reclined, then he grabbed me by the hips and bounced me on his cock, each forceful downward angle designed to plunder and bruise. It was rough and animalistic, and I groaned with every thrust—a cross between pain and pleasure.
“Is this how you want it?” Frustration laced his tone, though I wasn’t sure if it was directed at me or himself.
We both knew that after the dust settled from this frenzy, and the real world coalesced with the bubble we’d created, we would be forced to confront the shit neither of us wanted to face.
Arching his hips, he made me take his entire length, hands holding me immobile as he stalled inside me. “I asked you a question.”
“Yes!” I cried. “Don’t stop.”
“Tell me what he did to you.”
Shaking my head, I tried crawling off of his lap, but he wouldn’t allow it, and his cock stayed right where it was, planted deep inside me.
So deep I couldn’t ignore the connection between us. Couldn’t avoid or escape it.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
“He fucked me.”
Rafe tugged me down by the hair, and my trembling mouth almost met his. “No, sweetheart. You’re using the wrong word.” Tone a soft caress on my lips, he framed my cheeks between warm hands. “Zach raped you.”
I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe. Blinking rapidly, I did my damndest to stave off the threat of fresh tears, but my composure fissured, guilt sprouting from the cracks. Burying my face in the crook of his shoulder, I gave in to the sobs wracking my soul.
“He made me come,” I choked out, heart cracking at having to admit that to him.
His breath hitched. “Is that why you’re punishing yourself?”
“I deserve to be punished.”
“You survived.”
Barely. If not for Zach’s over-confidence, I might not have found an opportunity to take him down. The outcome would have been horribly different, and I would have been somewhere else right now, facing Zach and his sick obsession for the rest of my life.
A shiver traveled through me, and Rafe tightened his arms, banding his love and strength around me until I had no hope for escape.
Not that I wanted to.
Our bodies were still joined—still wet and hard despite the sorrow of our hearts—and we couldn’t help but respond to the desire floating under the surface, begging us to dive in and find comfort in each other.
To begin healing.
He guided my hips with sure hands, nudging me past the guilt, bringing me all the way home, and I moaned against the feverish skin on his neck as the pressure inside me built. But I wasn’t ready to take the next step into renewal.
“Don’t let me come.”
“You need to.”
“No.”
He pulled on my hair, bringing us face-to-face again. “Who’s in charge of your orgasms?”
“You are.”
“Then come for me.” His fingers traced the seam of my mouth before dipping inside, leaving his salty taste on my tongue. “Don’t let him take this from us.”
The hot sensation of our joined bodies won out, and I let my eyes drift shut, submitting to the urge to just feel.
“Babe, look at me.” Slipping his fingers from between my lips, he palmed my cheek as I lifted my lids. “Stay with me.” His plea held a raspy edge that zapped straight to my core, and God, it felt so fucking good when he was inside me like this.
I was tempted to pinch myself, to make sure I was actually here and not back on the island enslaved to Zach.
“He said I’d never feel you like this again.”
“He can’t hurt you anymore. I’m here, Alex. I’m with you every step of the way.”
A shudder born of trauma, heartache, and ecstasy roiled through me, and I claimed his mouth, needing that intimate connection as I allowed the heat between us to combust. I contracted around his cock, my orgasm seizing my limbs for several long and blissful seconds I hoped would never end.
For a while, I thought they wouldn’t. The waves were endless, toe-curling, soul-consuming. Rafe followed on the tail end of the first crest, arching up to meet me as our unbridled cries vibrated in the tangle of tongues.