Chapter Thirteen
Just when Hawk thought he couldn’t get hard…after several rounds of the hottest sex of his life…he was.
What they’d done in that tent last night made his teen years look like the pre-season warmup. Waking with her in his arms had stirred his already half-hard cock to full mast. But before he could act on his desire, she slipped out of his arms to start their day.
While dressing, she threw him a coy look and told him that they did have a goal in sight.
Her words only reminded him of all the terms of his contract he’d violated so far. And how many times.
He knew the clause flagged in red. No personal relationships with the client. No exceptions. The kind of language that existed for good reason, the kind he’d nodded along to without a second thought back before he ever heard the name Sinead Winthrop.
Now he’d broken the terms, and several times. Another dark thought struck, and he rubbed his eyes.
He’d have to report his violation to Carson and take whatever punishment the agency handed him. Even if they dismissed him, he’d earned it.
After they ate breakfast, he cocked his head, listening.
“Do you hear that?” he asked.
She listened, and her eyes brightened. “Water?”
He nodded and the sound pulled them both away from the camp. They followed the noise downhill until the trees opened onto a small pool, fed by a narrow waterfall tumbling clean over a shelf of rock. Sunlight scattered silver across the surface.
Sinead immediately bent and started working at her boots. “Oh, we’re doing this.”
“Doing what, exactly?”
“Swimming. Obviously.” She peeled her shirt over her head without waiting for his answer, and any argument he might have made died somewhere in his throat.
They waded in together, the water shockingly cold against their overheated skin, but by the time they reached the deeper section near the falls, he stopped caring.
He pulled her against him, her bare skin slick and cool beneath his hands, and kissed her slow and unhurried, water lapping gently around them both.
“This might be the best decision we’ve made all week,” she murmured against his mouth.
“Debatable, but I’m not arguing right now.”
She laughed, and he kissed her again, deeper, her arms looping around his neck—
The boulder hit the water beside them with a violence that shattered the moment and sent a spray of icy water drenching them both, the wave from the impact nearly knocking Sinead off her feet.
He swept her behind him in one quick move, body braced in front of her as he scanned the area for a threat that might have come from above. That rock could have been pushed.
He stilled, listening hard to their surroundings. There wasn’t so much as a scuff of a boot on stone, and the birds were still chirping, a sign that nothing strange had joined them in the forest.
After several minutes, Hawk let out a breath and heard Sinead’s sigh rush out behind him.
Gently, he gathered her close and they stared at the spot where a rock easily the size of a car door had just crashed into the pool inches from where they’d been standing.
Then they looked at each other, both of them breathing hard.
“Officially getting out now.” Sinead’s voice shook, somewhere between fear and disbelief.
They scrambled for the bank, laughing and giddy from the adrenaline rush that came right after a near miss, hauling themselves out dripping and half-dressed.
“The mountain’s really trying to kill us.” Hawk worked on his clothes over his wet skin.
She threw him a wide-eyed look. “It can stop now.”
They made it back to the cabin without anything else coming at them, but he wasn’t taking any chances and cleared the cabin as safe before they entered.
He and Sinead moved around the interior, seeming to orbit each other as they scoured every inch for anything they could have missed. When he crouched to sweep some dust and cobwebs from the corner to get a better look at the floorboards, Sinead stretched on tiptoe to scan the doorframe.
Several minutes passed in the same rhythm as they searched for a carving or a folded scrap of paper tucked between the cracks in the wall.
He ran his thumb over a rough bit of wood, squinting to see if it was created by a tool or if what he was seeing were the angled marks of the alphabet.
He heard Sinead’s light footsteps as she shifted to a new spot, and he automatically glanced up to check on her.
At the sight of her bent over the table, her round ass pointed his direction, his cock was all hard steel, pulsing and raring to go.
He didn’t tell his body to move—it did that on its own. But in two steps he was sidling up behind her. When he planted his hands on her hips, she issued a rough gasp and stilled.
Placing his lips to her ear, he pressed a fluttering kiss there. “I think that journal entry did say boobs.”
She sucked in a sharper breath, leaning into his lips teasing her earlobe. “Oh?”
“I think the ink was smeared. It really said that boobs are in my future.”
She let out a throaty laugh, the sound enticing. “Maybe it said books. You’re supposed to read more.”
He brought his lips over the leaping pulse in her throat and made a humming noise. “Hm. Is that what you want?”
She covered his hand where it rested on her hip and moved it to the hem of her top.
Taking her cue, he slid the fabric up with both hands, over the silk of her torso to cup her breasts through her bra. Her hips rocked back against him, nestling right over his hardness.
As he teased her nipples into stiff peaks, he kissed her throat, finding all the spots that made her moan.
“Is this…” she panted, “legend…or prophecy?”
“What?” he rumbled against her flesh. “Me taking you over this table? I’d say it’s destiny.” He slid his hands down to her waistband and in seconds had her pants down. He worked his own fly open and curled his fingers around his cock.
“Hurry!” Her urgent whisper stroked his senses.
He ran his fingertip over the slick seam of her pussy, lightly strumming her clit and pulling a cry from her.
“Hands on the table, darlin’.”
An uneven breath escaped her, but she leaned forward, palms flattened to the rough-hewn surface.
Then he wrapped his arm around her waist, angled her ass up and guided his throbbing cock to her soaking folds.
In one shove, he filled her. Sensation swallowed him. His balls clenched tight against his body, heat blooming along his spine at the feel of her tight walls gripping him.
A growl built in his throat, and he bit it back, taking her earlobe between his teeth and giving it a light tug.
“Legend or prophecy doesn’t matter. This…” he withdrew in a long, slow stroke, “is mine.”
“Heath!”
She went wild in his arms, bucking, pushing back to meet his every thrust. He churned his hips, grinding on her deepest point. The dark need between them built with each heartbeat.
She twisted her face toward him, and he caught her mouth under his as he pounded her. With each thrust, the legs of the table grated against the floor.
If the ship of his career was going down, he would go down with it in a blaze of bliss.
But more than desire throbbed between them. When he woke with her in his arms, his throat grew tight with emotion. He still didn’t know how to interpret what it meant, only that it lived deep in his chest.
Her body clamped on his cock as he plunged inside her again. Her round ass cradled his every thrust and drove him closer, deeper, faster.
Suddenly, he swung his hips back and pulled free of her pussy. She let out a moan, voice ragged when she said his name.
He whirled her and set her on the edge of the table. Their gazes locked for a full beat. Then Sinead cupped his face and brought his mouth to hers. They shared a groan, tongues tangling as he worked off her boots and stripped her fully.
When he filled her with his cock again, she melted against him. He dropped his forehead to hers, breath mingling as he settled deep inside her.
“You make me feel…” She broke off, as if catching the words was like snatching a star out of the sky.
He nodded, nose brushing hers. “I know, darlin’,” he rasped. “I know.”
Cradling her head, he claimed her mouth and her body.
But he finally learned what the sensation in his chest meant.
He wanted to keep her.
Not for a job, not for a contract, not for however many days this trail gave them—but keep her the way a man kept something he decided he couldn’t live without.
The realization hit harder than anything he’d felt in that tent, harder than the ache of wanting her body, because this wasn’t want. This was need, plain and terrifying and impossible to walk away from now that he’d named it.
He pressed his lips to her temple, breathing her in, and let himself have this moment before the world outside the cabin found them again.
* * * * *
With every thrust of Hawk’s cock, her body tightened, her senses snapping as the wild storm of sensation claimed her.
He angled his head, deepening the kiss and taking it to another level. The passion flowing through her left her dizzy and her heart rushed with warmth.
She curled around him, dragging him closer, needing to feel every inch of him.
“More,” she rasped, lips skimming his rough beard growth.
“I’m close.” His jaw set in a firm line.
She dug her fingers into the hard planes of his ass, lost in the feel of his muscles flexing. When she felt his body stiffen, she tightened her inner walls around his length, urging him to give himself up to her the way he made her do over and over again.
He held her stare, showing her things in the depths of his eyes that he hadn’t revealed before. Things she couldn’t put a name to but that made her strain toward him.
When he reached between their bodies and stroked his thumb over her clit, electric need spiked in her core. She lost herself in her lover, and he took over, driving her to the brink.
She climbed higher and higher. Suddenly, a white streak of stars burst within her vision. Her lips parted on a silent cry, and Hawk captured her mouth with a low growl.