Chapter 47
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Lara squeezed the trigger. The pistol fired, its report echoing through the chamber, and her arms jerked, but she maintained her grip and leveled the barrel quickly. Her ears rang despite the earplugs Ronin had given her.
He tipped his head forward, brushing her shoulder with his chin. His solid presence at her back was a big help in controlling the gun, but knowing what to expect made even more of a difference. She’d learned a lot since taking that shot at him back in Cheyenne.
Not that her aim had improved much.
“One foot, two inches to the left and ten inches down from your mark.” Ronin’s voice was clear through the earplugs, thanks to the tiny electronics he said were inside them. That he could measure the distance so accurately was as amazing as it was discouraging.
She glared at him over her shoulder.
He met her gaze and smirked. “It’s a little closer than before.”
“By what? An inch?”
“Five-eighths of an inch, actually.”
Lara rolled her eyes and faced her target—a small circle Ronin had drawn on a wooden board twenty feet away. She couldn’t tell her latest shot from the other holes in the board, but she trusted Ronin’s assessment.
Taking a deep breath, she aimed and pulled the trigger. The pistol boomed again. Wood splintered at the top left corner of the board.
“Closer,” Ronin said. “Only—”
“What’s the point?” Lara clicked on the safety and lowered her arms. “What kind of damage can this do?”
“None, if you don’t start improving your aim.”
She turned toward him, narrowing her eyes. “Ronin.”
“It depends on what you’re shooting at.”
“You know damn well I’d be shooting at a bot.”
“Not all bots are built like me.” He banged his knuckles on his chest. The solid thud was muted by his clothes and skin, but what lay beneath them wasn’t a mystery. “That pistol would barely put a scratch in my casing. But not all of Warlord’s gearheads are outfitted for war.”
“How much use am I going to be? I’m not a soldier, Ronin. Shouldn’t I leave the shooting to them?”
“You’re the one who insists on going. You know what use you will be, and if it goes as planned, you won’t have to fire a single shot.” Keeping his eyes on hers, he grazed the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “But I won’t have you separated from me without some way to defend yourself.”
“There will be soldiers with me.”
Gripping her shoulders, Ronin turned her back toward the target. He slid his hand slowly along her arm before settling it over hers. “None of them are me.”
Lara’s skin tingled at his touch. When he moved closer, pressing his body to her back, her breath and heart quickened.
In the two and a half months since they’d come to the base, their physical contact had been gentle, warm, and affectionate, but lacked the intimacy she craved.
She knew Ronin was worried about hurting her, and she hated that he thought she was so fragile, even after her splint had come off a week ago.
“Both eyes open.” His deep voice was so close to her ear that she could almost feel his non-existent breath against her skin.
“Point your whole arm directly at the target, in one straight line. Imagine that line continuing from the barrel and train it on the spot you want to hit. Then squeeze the trigger.”
There’s something else I’d rather imagine in my hands. And it’s not a trigger I want to squeeze.
She switched off the safety and took aim along the barrel. Ronin withdrew his hand. Lara squeezed the trigger three times, pausing between each only long enough to adjust for the recoil.
“Six inches low, two to the—”
“I’m done.” She plucked out the earplugs and dropped them into the pocket sewn on her skirt. Holding the pistol loosely, she turned to Ronin, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her body against his.
Ronin leaned forward and raised an arm, reaching behind his head to pluck the gun from her grip. He engaged the safety and returned the weapon to the holster on his thigh. “You’re never going to learn anything new if you allow yourself to get so frustrated.”
Lara grinned up at him. “I’m not frustrated.” Tugging him closer and rising on her toes, she brushed her mouth over his and nipped at his lower lip. “I’m distracted.”
Ronin released a groan. He banded an arm around her and slipped the fingers of his other hand into her hair as he cradled the back of her head. “What is distracting you, Lara Brooks?”
Lara trailed slow, sensual kisses over his jaw and down his neck. “Thoughts of your hands on my skin.” She flicked her tongue over the dip at the base of his throat. “Caressing my breasts, toying with my nipples. Your fingers as they stroke my clit.”
She pressed her pelvis against him, and she didn’t miss the hard bulge against her stomach. An ache blossomed between her thighs. She was bare beneath her skirt; he could be inside her with no effort. “Your body, and how I want to run my hands all over it.”
Skimming a hand down his chest and abdomen, she wrapped her fingers around his erection through his pants, gripping it firmly, and whispered into his ear, “I miss feeling your cock inside me.”
He shuddered. Lara took pleasure in him being as affected by their lack of physical intimacy as she was.
“You’re still healing,” Ronin said huskily. He brushed his cheek over her hair and dropped his hands to her hips, forcing their bodies apart.
She clasped his arms before he could pull away. She wouldn’t let him use that excuse any longer. “I’m not made of glass, Ronin.”
Slowly, he slid his hands toward her rear. “I know…”
“Then why haven’t you touched me?”
“I have,” he replied. “I am.”
Lara stepped closer. Ronin’s fingers flexed on her ass, squeezing it, and that ache in her core deepened into a fierce need.
Fuck, she wanted those hands everywhere. She wanted to feel him everywhere. Upon her, inside her. She wiggled her pelvis against his cock. “Touch me some more.”
“Lara…”
Drawing back, she smiled and reached for the buttons of her shirt. “I want you to touch me.”
His gaze dipped, and he stared at her chest as the shirt parted, baring her breasts. Cool air brushed over the hard buds of her nipples. His grip on her ass tightened, and he drew her more firmly against his cock.
Lara cupped his jaw, and his eyes met hers. His pupils expanded, nearly overtaking the green of his irises, his entire focus solely on her.
“I want you to fuck me, Ronin. Make love to me. Like before.” Flattening her hands on his chest, she stood on her toes and leaned forward until her lips were a hair’s breadth away from his. “You won’t hurt me. I—”
The distance between their bodies vanished as he claimed her mouth with his and grasped the backs of her thighs, lifting her against him.
Heart pounding, she caught his face between her hands and wrapped her legs around his hips, her skirt bunching high at her waist. Cold concrete pressed to her back.
Ronin slanted his mouth over hers, and Lara opened to him, moaning as his tongue ruthlessly conquered her own. She kissed him back in desperation, driven by a burning need stronger than she’d ever experienced.
Too long. She’d gone too long without this, too long without him.
He ground his cock against her exposed pussy, and Lara gasped as pleasure unfurled from her core.
“Fuck,” she rasped against his mouth, arching into him, clutching at his hair. “I need you. I need you so fucking much.”
Ronin slapped a palm against the wall. “Put your arms around me.”
The moment she did, he pinned her to the wall, and one of his hands slipped between them, deftly unfastening the remaining buttons of her shirt and exposing her breasts fully.
He cupped one, kneading it firmly, and rolled her nipple between forefinger and thumb.
It was like a direct link to her clit, causing it to twitch as pleasure rushed through her.
“Ronin…” Lara moaned, tipping her head back, but she refused to let her eyelids fall shut, refused to look away from his dark, smoldering eyes.
Keeping an arm around his neck, she slid the other between their bodies and worked at opening his pants. It was difficult, and her fingers were clumsy, but the moment she drew down his zipper, his cock, hard, thick, and ready, sprang free. She grasped it and guided its blunt head to her wet center.
“Now, Ronin,” she whispered.
He didn’t hesitate.
He drove into her, filling her utterly. A gasp tore from her throat at the white-hot sensation that flashed through her. It burst over every part of her, making her skin tingle.
Ronin touched his forehead to hers. “Lara.”
Tightening her legs around him, she drew him closer, deeper, loving the way his cock stretched her, loving how close they were, loving the feel of him inside her. Loving...
She caressed the side of his face as she stared into his eyes. “I love you.”
“My wife... I will not lose you.”
Dropping his hands to her ass, he braced her as he drew back, and before his cock had fully pulled out, he slammed into her eager body. Lara cried out, and he plunged into her again and again.
Reality melted away, leaving only sensation; his earthy scent, the feel of his warm, solid body, the pressure of his fingers against her skin, the delightful friction between them.
He was all she needed to feel alive.
She closed her eyes and clung to him, panting in time with his thrusts. Each stroke of his cock, each furious pound of his hips, stimulated her clit with a burst of pleasure. That pleasure coiled in her core, winding tighter until she could take no more.
Her climax struck like a bolt of lightning, quick and forceful, and her cries echoed off the concrete walls. Ecstasy swept through her, lifting her higher and higher. Her fingers curled into his shoulders as she bit her lip to muffle her screams.
“Lara,” Ronin groaned. His perfect rhythm faltered, and for an instant, she thought she heard machinery inside him whirring.
He stiffened, going completely still. His cock vibrated, pulsing through her, triggering another orgasm from her.
All she could do was submit to it, her body locking up, her pussy contracting around his shaft as liquid heat flooded her.
Then he sagged forward, burying his face between her neck and shoulder, and braced a hand against the wall for support.
Panting, with her skin damp with perspiration, Lara smiled and brushed her fingertips over the short hairs on the back of his head. His cock remained deeply embedded within her, and she was tempted to have him take her again.
“I missed this.” She opened her eyes and kissed his temple.
“One of these times, my system isn’t going to recover.”
Lara laughed.
Ronin lifted his head and looked at her, smirking. “Is this all I have to do to hear that sound from you?”
Smile fading, she caressed his cheek. “We haven’t had much to laugh about, have we?”
“We’re both alive. That’s something to celebrate, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
She kissed him, and he held her close, his lips moving gently over hers, a far cry from their desperate kiss from before.
They were both alive, but that did nothing to diminish her fears.
It would’ve been so easy to stay here at the base, take on their share of work, and live their lives in peace. Yet how would Lara sleep at night knowing the people of Cheyenne suffered while she lived in security and comfort?
Going back to Cheyenne was the most dangerous choice she could make…but it was also the right one.
Besides, Ronin was her happiness, her strength, her inspiration. With him by her side, there was hope. They could make a difference.
Breaking the kiss, Lara drew back with a smile. “By the way, did you call me wife?”
A grin spread across his lips. “I did.” He took hold of the hand upon which she wore the ring and brought it to his chest, stroking the band with his thumb as he stared into her eyes. “You are mine, Lara. My wife. And I am yours until the end of time.”
Tears burned in her eyes as she traced his brow with her fingertips. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He settled his palm over her cheek and brushed his thumb over the tiny scar. There was impossible strength in his hand, but she knew he’d never misuse it.
She tightened her legs, unwilling to relinquish him. Moments like this were rare, and though her need was satisfied, her craving persisted.
The scrape of the metal door was the only warning that their privacy had come to an end.