7. Maverick #2
I smile, and Corinne squeezes my arm. It feels so damn good.
“Well, I’m going to take Blaze for a walk to the stream. Why don’t you head up to the lookout? As I was saying, the views can’t be beaten.” He winks at me and then pats my shoulder as he leaves.
“Nice guy,” Corinne says as Heath whistles for Blaze. “Can’t imagine what it must be like jumping out of helicopters to fight fires.”
I grunt reflexively, thinking only about Corinne’s arm wrapped around mine.
“Let’s go.” Corinne tugs at my arm. “I’m dying to check out the view up there.”
I look at her, hair fluttering in the light breeze as the setting sun bathes her in golden light. I’m not sure my view right now can be beaten. But I smile and tell her, “Okay.” She runs off, leaving me breathless as I watch her take the steps two at a time.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when she leaves.
“I’m exhausted,” Corinne huffs, falling onto the couch when we finally make it home. “And I smell like death,” she adds, sniffing herself and making an exaggerated peeeee-yew.
I slide onto the chair next to her. “Can’t say I’ve smelled death, but if it smells like you, then it smells pretty good to me.”
The words come out before I can even think. And when my brain catches up, I don’t care. It’s the truth. Corinne’s scent is intoxicating. Perfect. And I’m tired of holding back, especially since she’s leaving tomorrow.
The color in her cheeks deepens, spreads down her throat and across her chest, which is rising and falling a little more rapidly. What I wouldn’t give to drag my tongue down her throat. Across her chest. All over her body.
Corinne smiles, turns over on the couch to face me. “I smell so bad, I’m surprised Hank hasn’t shown up to rifle through me, looking for trash to eat.”
I snort. “He’s still busy with his lady. Not sure we’ll be seeing him tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow.”
“You mean I won’t be able to say goodbye to him?”
I try to swallow the lump forming in my throat, but I can’t. I wait a few moments, unable to break my gaze away from Corinne. “You could always come back after the wedding.”
She worries her bottom lip with her teeth, and I imagine taking it into my mouth. Tasting it. Tasting her. Feeling her soft, torturous curves beneath my callused hands. What I wouldn’t give…
“You want me back.”
It comes out less as a question than a sudden realization. The expression on her face says as much, too. I want to collapse onto my knees in front of her, cradling her face in my hands as I kiss any doubts she has in her mind.
“Of course,” I rasp, my voice feeling jagged in my throat. “Why wouldn’t I?”
She works that bottom lip again, and it’s riling something up inside me. She has no idea what she’s doing to me. What she has been doing to me from the moment I saw her. Jesus, this woman is a miracle, and I’m not worthy of breathing the same air as her.
“I don’t know,” she says shyly as she shakes her head. “I figured a man like you enjoys being alone. You’re only putting up with me because you’re too nice to kick me out.”
“You give me too much credit. I’ve kicked plenty of wanderers off my property.
Never crossed my mind once for you. In fact, I’ve been pulling out all the stops to keep you here.
Make you want to stay. I didn’t hike all the way up to the lookout for my health.
And I certainly don’t cook for or play Scrabble with people I’m not fond of. ”
Her expression is indiscernible as she stares at me for what feels like an eternity.
All I hear is blood pounding in my ears.
My heart slamming in my chest. Tension coils everywhere as every muscle in my body clenches, waiting for a response.
Needing a response. Any sign at all that I’m not about to lose my girl for good.
A soft smile. A softer sound I hardly hear. And then…
“I could use a shower,” she says finally, pushing herself up. “What about you?”
It’s a simple question with a simple response, but the way my body reacts to it is anything but simple. I’m finding it hard to respond at all. But Corinne seems to find my newfound muteness entertaining, smiling at me as she stands.
She walks past me, and I turn as she pulls the hem of her shirt over her head and lets it fall to the ground.
Fuuuuuu…
There’s a sharp jab to my gut, and lightning strikes me square between the legs. I’m feeling faint as blood rushes below deck, my cock screaming against my jeans as though answering her question for me. Fuck yeah, we need a shower. Don’t fucking ruin this for me, Big Guy.
I swallow, watching Corinne as though in a haze. Is this a dream? Did I take a tumble on the mountain, and I’m really out there in the elements in the midst of some fever dream?
“Are you coming?” Corinne asks over her shoulder in the doorway.
Jesus. If she keeps this up, I will be.
Fever dream or not, I’m not missing out on this.
I grunt a response, standing and damn near tripping over the coffee table as I struggle to make my way over to the devil hiding beneath Corinne’s angelic exterior. It’s like something flipped inside her. Or something’s been removed. No more inhibitions. No more restraint.
I like it. I like her. I’ve never felt this way so fast or so strongly about anyone in my life.
I’ve had a few relationships in my life.
None of them started out like this. None of them felt like this.
Maybe that’s why they never worked out. This…
this feeling. That’s what was missing. I’d felt sparks of it before, but nothing like this.
It’s like an unquenchable wildfire inside me, consuming everything, growing, building, and hellbent on reaching one thing.
Corinne.
She slips through the door, and I follow. Everything but her blurs. She’s all I see. And all I feel is my need to claim her.
She unhooks her bra, letting it fall to the floor as I grab at the bottom of my shirt, ripping it off with one hand and tossing it aside as Corinne disappears into the bathroom, the image of her tits bouncing seared into my mind.
Taking them in my hands. In my mouth. My body’s burning adrenaline as primal urges surge through me. The shower turns on as I step inside the bathroom. Corinne peeks from behind the curtain, covering her sweet body as my cock pulses.
She doesn’t even need to touch me. I could come just by looking at her. One smile would do it. A single breath against my skin. She’s all I want. The only thing I need. A damn goddess gracing me with her presence.
“It’s a little cold.”
She drags her teeth against her bottom lip, and I groan. Another twitch. Fucking lightning between my thighs. The things this woman does to me…
The things I want to do to her.
That I will do to her.
Here.
In bed.
Every single surface of this cabin.
The wildfire’s hunger for Corinne will never die unless I do. But I don’t plan on that any time soon.
“I can warm you up.”
It doesn’t even feel like my voice. Too rough. Too strained. Primal. And Corinne feels it too. The way she’s looking at me says as much.
“I’d like that.” Her voice takes on that same edge as mine, and I feel each syllable in my core.
She dips behind the curtain as I unbuckle my belt with one hand.
I step forward, moving to my jeans next.
It feels like I’m having an out-of-body experience.
I’ve died, and I’m watching my fantasies play out in front of me.
But that little laugh behind the curtain tethers me back to earth.
I may not be going to heaven just yet, but I’m about to have my first taste of it.
Corinne moans behind the curtain as my mind goes wild, imagining every stream and bead of water caressing her body. Every curve. Every mound. Every fu—I bite the inside of my mouth as I step out of my jeans. You know I’m gone when I’m jealous of fucking water touching my girl.
“This feels so good.”
You’ll feel even better soon. I promise.
“But I’m getting lonely in here. Don’t be shy, Maverick, why don’t you—” She pulls back the curtain and sees me standing there, buck ass naked, my cock like a damn telephone pole aimed at her.
Her flush is immediate. Molten. So damn hot I can feel it on my bare skin.
“Not shy at all, sweetheart.”
She swallows.
“I-I can see that.”
I grab the curtain, shove it aside so hard that the damn rings nearly snap.
Stepping into the tub, I damn near lose my footing when I see Corinne.
Jesus. Sweet baby Jesus, she’s perfect. I damn near spill at the sight of her heavy, soapy tits.
That slick stomach. The tuft of hair peaking out from between her thighs.
“Fucking hell,” I rasp as I brace myself against the wall, shoving the shower curtain back in place.
Corinne smiles at me, her hands gliding across her lithe body, every inch of her perfection.
“Glad I’m not the only one blushing.”
Blushing? I’m steaming. I’m scorched, scalded, and seared, seeing her like this. And seeing her smile lengthen as she slowly takes in the length of me sends my pulse rocketing. Take it in. Take all of it in. It’s yours.
She turns around, and my knees go weak, seeing that pert ass, slick with suds and water.
“Could you get my back?”
I don’t think. I move, taking the soapy washcloth from her as she glances over her shoulder at me. A wicked grin. She knows exactly what she does to me, and she’s enjoying it.
I slide my hand onto her shoulder, gripping as I move closer. She exhales harshly as I slide the cloth along her back softly. Up and down, along the curve of her ass, and then around her side.
She gasps as I wrap one hand around her stomach, the other moving to the hollow of her throat.
“Corinne,” I rasp, pulling her into me as I shove my face against the nape of her neck, breathing her in like a maniac. She whimpers, rubbing her fucking ass against my cock as I rivet her in place, water pounding on both of us.
“Jesus, Corinne.” My teeth sink into her soft neck, and then I kiss her. Savor that first fucking taste. “You’re killing me.”
I drop the cloth, fingers digging into her abdomen as I pull her closer, my cock slipping in between her thighs. Back and forth. Torturing me.
“I think you like it.” Her voice is soft and breathy. She slides her hand down, fingers slipping along the underside of my cock as I strangle another groan.
“No, Corinne,” I growl, molding my hand over her tit, perfect little mound that fits squarely in my palm.
“I love it.” I slide my hand down her belly.
She gasps as my middle finger finds her slick folds, her sensitive nub, already throbbing for me.
I nip at her as she shivers against me, her fingers still working against my shaft.
“And I fucking love you.”
The words come out of me effortlessly, and I mean each one.
From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew it.
Felt it. Lived it. This girl is the one.
The only one. There will be no others except for her.
And if she doesn’t want me, I’ll be a broken man, but that won’t change a thing.
There’s no one else in this world for me but her.
“W-what?” she breathes as I work my finger against her. She’s breathing heavily, grinding against me. Needy. Hungry.
“I love you, sweet girl. I’ve known it from the moment I laid eyes on you. This isn’t a one-time thing. This isn’t something I ever do. This…” I feel like I need to drop down to my knees, worship Corinne as she deserves, but it won’t be enough. Words can’t begin to describe the way I feel for her.
“You’re the only one for me.”
She doesn’t speak. Doesn’t move.
My heart shatters, and it’s taking everything inside me not to crumble.