Unleashing the Storm (21 page)

“You’re
warm,” he said when he realized she was staring at him.

“If I
go too long without sex, my body temperature soars. It’s going down now. But
I’m going to need more. Soon,” she said, and even though she didn’t avert her
eyes from his as she said it, he knew she wanted to.

“You’ll
get more. And then we’ve got to move out, make time.”

“Okay,”
she said.

“Can
you give me a few minutes now, or do you need me?” he asked.

“I
can give you a few minutes, but you’re not going anywhere, are you?”

“I’m
staying right here,” he assured her. “Can you stand?”

She
nodded, and he let her go so she stood in the waist-deep water in front of him.
She didn’t take her eyes off him for a second, and he didn’t blame her. The way
she’d looked when he’d found her was terrifying enough—he didn’t want to know
what kind of toll it had taken on her body.

He
stripped off his shirt and waded to where he’d left his bag, the water rippling
around him as he moved.

She
was right by his side. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m
fine.”

“Fine
doesn’t require stitches,” she pointed out. He didn’t argue any further, let
her clean his wound, first with water cupped in her hand and then with the
peroxide from his medic kit. He could see in her eyes that she was going to
need him again within minutes, but just touching him seemed to calm her enough
to wait.

With
her eyes still on him and her hands on his back, he quickly used the black
thread to close the wound. He healed faster than most people, and the stitches
would help that healing process along. A shot of antibiotics and he was
done—that was something he’d normally forgo and take the risk, but he couldn’t
afford to get sick now, not with Kira needing him.

She
caressed his back with one hand and undid the buttons on her BDU shirt with the
other. He could smell her urgency as she moved to his pants, which were still
unbuttoned, and pulled them down under the water. He stepped out of them and
she tossed them onto the dirt bank and dunked herself under the water, rubbed
her face to get rid of the dirt. Then she stood again in the waist-deep water,
her skin luminescent in the soft moonlight that managed to peek through the
trees.

It
was so quiet—he’d never heard it so quiet—and his mind slowed and everything
else was forgotten except the way her nipples tightened as she watched him and
he watched her.

He’d
never gotten to just watch her, appreciate the curves of her body and the way
she moved, lithe and sexy. So uninhibited when she was in this state.

“You’re
staring,” she said.

“Yes.”

“Do
you like what you see?”

His
throat was dry, and he blamed it on the day’s events, not her. It couldn’t be
her that made him feel like a stupid schoolboy. He nodded instead of answering
her directly.

“Come
here now,” she said, and although he bristled slightly at the command, he moved
toward her anyway.

She
needed the control—he got that, but shit, this wasn’t going to be easy.

“You
don’t like it when I tell you what to do,” she said, and he just stared into
her eyes. They’d already turned golden and his arm snaked out to grab her waist
and pull her tight against him.

“I
don’t like anyone telling me what to do,” he growled. “Never have, never will.”

She
accepted that, the corners of her full lips tugged up and he knew he was in for
it. “Then I guess you don’t want to put your mouth on my nipples. Because
that’s something I want right now,” she whispered. He raised her by her hips so
her breasts were level to his mouth and he suckled one nipple and then the
other until her moans filled the night air, until her back arched and she was
chanting,
“Can’t wait, can’t wait.”

KIRA’S
BODY THRUMMED WITH NEED so intense she figured she should glow. Tom had revived
her, but hours would pass before her body fully recovered, before her muscles
regained their strength, her temperature normalized and her organs stopped
cramping.

It
had never been this bad.

Hopefully,
Tom hadn’t noticed how ill she still felt, because she didn’t want to be
babied. She wanted him raw and wild, like the landscape around them, like the
scent of battle that still clung to his skin and drove her crazy.

He’d
fought for her and won, and she was more than ready to express her gratitude.

“Can’t
wait.” She wriggled down his slippery body until his erection slipped between
her folds and rubbed her clit.
“Can’t. Wait.”

Fingers
digging into her butt cheeks, he lifted her, settled her opening over the broad
head of his cock. His movement, smooth and sure, might have convinced her he
was okay, but the nearly imperceptible grimace at the corner of his mouth told
her otherwise. Blood oozed at the edges of his arm wound, the stitches torn by
the flex of muscles beneath his skin.

“No.”
Palms planted against the hard wall of his chest, she pushed roughly and
dropped her trembling legs back down to the riverbed. Her body screamed in
protest, but it would have to wait until she made it to the Volkswagen-sized
rock that jutted out of the water a few yards away.

“What
the hell?” Tom grabbed her arm, but she slipped out of his grip and stumbled
downstream.

Sharp
stones bit at the soles of her feet, but she didn’t care. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m
fine—”

Her
legs gave out, and she slipped beneath the water. Strong hands yanked her up,
and she sputtered, coughed, still clawing her way toward the rock.

“What
are you doing?”

He
sounded angry now as he held her tight against him, his cock nudging her
center, and all she wanted to do was ride him until she passed out again. “The
rock. Take me to the rock.”

Muttering
obscenities, he carried her there, steadied her when she couldn’t stand on her
own feet. His skin glistened wet in the moonlight, and she shivered with the
desire to lick every inch, to dip below the waterline and take him in her mouth
like she had earlier, but not tonight. She was too weak, too in need, and with
a pang she realized that she’d never be able to swallow one of his orgasms.
Semen was too precious during her season. And by the time the fever ended and
she had the time to make him come the way she wanted to, he’d be long gone.

“Take
me.” She lay back on the rock, welcoming the bite of cold, wet stone against
the raging heat of her skin.

He
looked at her as if she’d gone insane, but she’d grown used to the expression,
had decided she liked being able to surprise this man who didn’t ruffle easily.
Moving in, he lifted her thighs around his waist and sank into her, the
lubrication from his earlier orgasm easing his entrance. Slow, gentle, exactly
what she’d tried to avoid. His palms slapped the stone on either side of her
head as he held himself over her so they touched only below the waist.

Remaining
motionless, he gazed down at her. “I’m sorry I was late.”

He
didn’t wait for a response, probably didn’t want one and the conversation that
might ensue. Instead, he rocked against her, his cock stretching her wide,
pushing deep where she needed it. His balls tickled the sensitive spot at the
base of her sex, and she shifted her hips, angling so his shaft stroked her
clit in exactly the right place.

The
river gurgled around them, swirling and frothing where their bodies locked
intimately. Cool water lapped at their skin and relieved the intense heat that
formed from the friction of their joining. The hoot of an owl rode in on a
breeze that smelled of pine trees and spring berries. She closed her eyes, let
the primal beast inside mate with her lover, with nature.

As
though he felt the same primitive tug, he slammed into her with the force she’d
wanted from the beginning. Each thrust drove her out of the water a little
more, made the waves lick her clit until she was ready to scream. Her breath
caught in shallow gasps that burned in her throat, and she closed her eyes, on
the precipice of a release she knew would take her apart physically,
emotionally…and beyond.

She
wasn’t ready to be alone in that, needed Tom to see the truth, all of it.
Tightening her legs around his waist, she dug her heels into his buttocks. He
grunted, ground against her because she wouldn’t let him pull back to thrust.
If she could hold him there inside her slick heat, where every ridge and bump
on his textured cock caressed her sensitive tissues without even moving, she’d
be happy forever.

“Kira,”
he rasped, “let me come.”

Opening
her eyes, she looked deeply into his, saw the feral gleam there, the one that
revealed so much about him simply because of how hard he tried to hide it. Man
and beast battled inside him, and she wanted the beast, the wild side of him
that acted on instinct and didn’t let human conventions interfere with what he
really felt.

“Dammit,
Kira. Stop fucking around. You need this.”

As if
to prove his words, her body bucked, wanting to break free of her restraining
willpower, but she ignored the way every cell had tightened to the point of
pain while they waited for the rush of hormones he could give her.

“I
do.” She dug her nails into his shoulders, raked them down his back, and he
hissed through clenched teeth. “But what do you need, Tommy?”

He
dropped down to his elbows so his chest hair rubbed her breasts, and his nose
touched hers. “I need to keep you alive.”

For
your agency.
She didn’t say it,
didn’t ask, didn’t want to hear it. It was the truth, but she wanted the other
truth right now, the one he didn’t want to admit.

“What
else?” She arched up, loosened her grip on his waist so she could ride him in
short, shallow strokes, not caring that the hard bumps in the rock tore into
her spine. Her climax hovered too close, too hot. “Do you want to know who I
really am?”

A
guttural sound ripped from deep in his chest, and he tried to drive his hips
hard, but she clamped her thighs together, holding him captive inside her.

“Fuck.”

“I’ll
take that as a no.” Her words came out as a moan, because his struggles had
been enough to take her to the very brink. Quivering with the need to come, she
grasped his face, and when he would have reared back—so stubborn!—she held him
firm until he stopped trying to jerk away. “You need to see.”

She
released her vice grip on his waist but kept her palms pressed against his
cheekbones. He lunged forward, taking her over the edge, and she battled the
impulse to close her eyes, to conceal what she’d always hidden, what no man had
seen.

Explosions
scattered her insides, tore through her in a series of bursts that brought her
off the river rock. She clenched her teeth, struggled to hold open her eyes as
her orgasm ripped through her.

“Yes,
Tom,” she gasped. “Oh, yes.”

He
drove into her, his breaths coming in ragged pants, and surprise flickered in
the depths of his eyes as he gazed into hers.

“Oh,
man,” he said, and it was her turn to be surprised, because he whispered, “
so
beautiful,
” and then dropped his forehead against hers and came, his hot
semen filling her and triggering another powerful orgasm.

When
she came back to earth, her mind could only reel at what he’d said. He’d seen
the way her pupils constricted and elongated into slitted cat eyes and had
still thought she was beautiful.

Not a
freak.

But
then he withdrew, much too quickly, like he needed the distance, though he
didn’t go anywhere. The sudden loss of their connection crashed over her as
though they stood in an ocean surf and not a gently rippling river.

“Are
you okay?” he asked gruffly, and she nodded, clenched her internal muscles,
desperate to prevent the stream from stealing his seed.

Silently,
he gathered her in his arms and carried her to the shore, where they dressed as
rapidly as possible, though she still moved like a slug, and he had to help her
put on her socks and boots.

“So,
um, what really happened out there?” she asked, and she saw in his eyes that he
knew she was talking about the bad guys. “How many were there?”

“Two.”

“And
you’re sure they’re…ah…”

His
gaze slid to hers, the fierceness there stopping her heart. “They won’t come
after us again.”

She
tried to keep her imagination from running wild, but his wounds, the blood on
his clothes that couldn’t all have belonged to him, the lethal knife he
carried…Criminy. Her mind took her to horrific places, and her heart started
again, in painful, spastic bursts. He seemed to know, covered her hand with his
in a rare tender gesture.

“Kira,
you did good. You sent help for me, and you hid like I asked you to. And you’ve
been so strong. I know men who would have fallen apart by now.” She clung to
his praise as he finished tying the laces on her boots and stood. “We have to
move. There’ll be more I-Agents, and we’ve got to put some miles between us and
them.”