Damn her skin is soft. Rip didn’t want to stop touching her. Quite the opposite in fact, he wanted to explore more. Remove those damn layers and seek out what lay beneath.
He couldn’t explain it but he wanted to claim this woman as his own in front of this group. There was no reason for it, other than because he wanted to. Rip tightened his hold on her when she moved like she intended to shift away from him. “Just a little weekend getaway with the fiancée.”
The others settled down around the fire and began drying off as they ate food from their bags.
Talk remained neutral and he guided Caitlyn to sit on his lap. He allowed his fingers to sweep idly along the small of her back once she settled.
By the time they were ready for bed there were eleven people hiding out in the shelter, seeking reprieve from the downpour which had yet to abate even the slightest bit.
When she rose to head up to the second floor, he and Abel followed close on her heels. Not that he minded watching that ass of her sway before him.
Bag in hand, he moved down toward where she was setting up to crash. She looked up at him and he could see the suspicion in her gaze from the faint light that came up from the fire below.
“Fiancée?”
He unrolled his sleeping bag next to hers and nodded. “Yep. Guess if that wild night of sex is still happening, I get to be included.”
Behind her, a few others climbed into the space and claimed an area.
She leaned against him as she stared up in his eyes. “Are you sure you can handle this?”
He dropped his head so his mouth aligned perfectly to her ear as he locked gazes with the first man who’d entered the shelter. “It’s gonna take a hell of a lot to get me to admit I can’t handle that. Anytime you would like to test out this theory, I’m game. Just so you know, I plan on holding on with both hands and then some.”
“Then some?”
He flicked his tongue along the whorl of her ear and chuckled, low.
Her entire body shuddered in response.
“I can’t wait to find out just how responsive you are to my tongue all over your body.”
This time, it was a small whimper that slid free.
The man watching them gave him a grin.
In response, Rip slipped his arms around her drawing her closer still, angling them away from prying eyes.
She gripped his sides and dug her short unpolished nails into him. “Don’t start something you aren’t willing to finish, Rip Walls.”
“Trust me, Caitlyn Schneider, I never do. I’m not only willing but ready to finish you off.” Her body quivered in his arms and he couldn’t help himself when she looked up at him with her full lips parted. He claimed them.
Soft and pliant, she opened beneath him, welcoming his tongue with a flick of her own. His responding growl rose up from the depths of his chest to pour from his throat. Spreading his hands wide, he eagerly touched all he could of her. She held him as tight as he did her and he loved that, how it expressed without words how much she desired him.
The low growl from Abel snapped him from the haze of passion that had surrounded them both. Regretfully, he backed off from her mouth and curves, loving the pleasured expression filling that adorable heart-shaped face.
“Damn,” the prying man said. “I was about to suggest that we all sleep down there.”
“Wouldn’t argue with you if you did,” he replied to the man. “Can’t blame me though, can you?”
“Not at all.”
Even though his focus remained on the woman still in his arms tight against him, Rip still watched the others up here and remained cognizant of each person’s position. He didn’t mind the slightest when she buried her face against his shirt. “Good night,” he said before turning her toward the beds laid out for them. With a subtle hand gesture for Abel, he put the dog between them.
The others all seemed to settle down for the night. Only then, did he allow all his attention to be placed on Caitlyn.
As they settled into their bags, she smiled and gave a small laugh.
“What?”
“This is weird, you have to admit. Us running into each other out here and you claiming what you did. Hell, I didn’t even think you knew my name.”
“I knew your name from the first day I laid eyes on you.”
“Never would have believed it if you hadn’t actually said my name earlier.”
“Cop,” he whispered the word against her lips.
“Arrogant ass,” she muttered back.
“Is that any way to speak of your fiancé?”
“Apparently so, as I’m doing it.”
“Full of sass aren’t you?” For a moment there, he thought she was about to answer him. Nothing came.
She rolled away from him and burrowed down into her sleeping bag. “Night, Rip. Pleasant dreams.”
The dreams weren’t going to be his issue—it would be the part where he wasn’t able to act on them. Dreams where they shared a bag and he got to sink his cock between her firm thighs. Those kind of dream like thoughts were playing hell on his libido and would keep him up in more ways than one—all night.
αβ
His eyes flew open and he struggled to figure out where he was and why he was crashed on a hard floor in a sleeping bag. It hit him a few seconds later.
The Appalachian Trail and a shelter with…Caitlyn.
He sat with a jolt. Where was she? Where was Abel? That dog rarely left his side. Rip rose easily to his feet.
The rain had passed overnight, and they’d been blessed with a near cloudless day, as the sun shone down on everything making it glisten with the lingering drops of moisture. He climbed down the ladder, noticing that everyone else’s things were gone and Caitlyn’s were by the entrance, packed and ready.
Leaving the shelter, he took care of his most pressing needs then went to find the woman who was still around here somewhere. Or…so he hoped.
In the open space near the shelter, he found her. Not just her but with Abel. They were playing fetch. She bent to pick up the stick and heaved it for his dog who took off like a shot. She laughed and shook her head. That’s when he saw it. Beneath the black top layer of her hair, was a soft pastel rainbow display, the colors may have been pastel but this glimmered in the light as she moved.
For a moment, it took his breath away. He shook his head and strode over to her.
Caitlyn faced him as she watched him move closer to her.
Rip didn’t slow, didn’t hesitate, just made his way up to her where he grabbed her close and claimed her mouth once more. Unlike last night, this wasn’t an exploratory kiss. This demanded, presumed, dominated.
It didn’t matter. Not that her taste instantly shot lead to his cock. Not that her curves had him believing she’d been made for him and him alone.
What did happen though, was her response didn’t waver from last night. She still opened for him and met his questing tongue thrusts with some of her own. Her arms slipped up around his neck and she jumped, latching her legs around his waist.
Allowing her to hold on and keep herself up, he drove his hands into her hair, purring as the silken wave cascaded around his skin. “You’re fucking beautiful,” he rasped when he dragged his mouth from hers. Hands still wrapped by her hair, he tugged on it a bit and cocked an eyebrow in silent question.
“I love rainbows.” She shrugged.
“I love it on you. Christ, I can’t get enough. Where’s everyone else?”
“Gone.”
“Yet, you stayed?”
“Figured it would be wrong of me to up and leave when you’d gone through so much to keep me safe last night.”
“That the only reason?”
“God no. I was hoping you’d wake up soon and fuck me.”
He froze for a half a second before another rumble raced from his throat. His cock instantly hard, he pushed it against her, smiling when she whimpered and ground into him. “Hell yeah.” He claimed her mouth in a brutal kiss,
He sought her skin beneath the long sleeve Henley she wore to combat the morning chill. Devouring her mouth, he closed his eyes at the softness beneath his fingertips. So many emotions he’d thought dead rose to life. Ones that had been buried the day he stood over his wife’s dead body as it was covered with a white sheet as if that would stop his memories of all the blood staining her and the asphalt.
There was a moment’s hesitation within him before he realized it wasn’t a memory he held in his arms, but flesh and blood woman. And she was seeking something he was happy to share.
Making sure she was secure in his arms, he strode with determined steps back to the shelter where he ignored the ground floor and carried her up the stairs to the second to his bedroll he still hadn’t put away yet.
He sank to his knees, her legs tight around him as she rocked against his cock. His body took control from his mind, as he focused on one thing. Her and making her scream his name with pleasure.
Their clothes were gone in a flurry of frantic tugs and pulls, until he had her. Naked. Against him. Below him.
She threaded her fingers in his hair and bucked up, grazing her core along his cock making it ache all the more with a single-minded purpose. He needed to be buried deep within her slick heat.
“Rip.”
That was it. One word. His name but the way it rolled off her tongue with that raspy slow southern drawl, sank into him, in ways he never knew a single would could.
He didn’t wait, couldn’t any longer. Lined up his cock and thrust deep inside her with a single flex of his hips. Her pussy was snug and hot as it gripped him in a vice like grip.
“Fuck yes,” she hissed, body trembling.
“Damn it, you’re fucking tight. Christ, I’m ready to come right now.”
She lifted up and nipped at his lower lip. “Me too. It’s been too long since I’ve had a thick cock inside me.”
A flash of proprietary emotion slammed into him, the thought of another man lying between her thighs didn’t sit well with him. He nearly snapped at her that no one else would ever be there but him. Somehow, he managed to keep that command contained.
Instead, he focused on her eyes and facial features as he began to stroke within her, making sure to pay attention to each nuance to learn what she liked and how much she liked it. He went fast and slow, shallow and deep.
She released his hair and dug her fingers into his shoulders, nails biting the skin, creating another burn within him.
Caitlyn didn’t lie beneath him making him do all the work. No, she was an active participant. She met his thrusts, encouraging him to go deeper. Her heels dug into his back as she undulated with him.
Through it all, he never released her gaze. Locking in on that gaze, the color of buffed pecan shells, he allowed it to draw him in deeper and deeper until she’d snared his heart. Whether or not she’d meant to didn’t matter—she had.
Her eyes fluttered and he drew back until only the head of his cock was inside her. “Watch me,” he ordered, not ready to release her stare.
She opened her eyes further and he leaned closer to kiss her. Only when his tongue twined around hers did he allow his own gaze to shut.
She flexed around him, milking his cock as he powered within her.
Shit. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to last.
Maneuvering a hand between them, he sought her clit, flicking it with his finger, determined she find her release before him.
She shuddered and clenched harder on his cock as well as digging her nails deeper into his skin.
There would be marks later but he’d wear them with pride.
He felt her body splinter beneath him. She stiffened seconds before her eyes flew wide, the color deeper than before as everything about her softened. From her expression to the hold, she had on his shoulders.
Gentling the kiss, he powered into her three more times before he came with a low roar, spilling his seed as deep inside her as he could. Then he stopped and tried to catch his breath. She trembled and he could feel the mini orgasms moving through her.
It took him a bit but he managed to maneuver them inside the warmth of his sleeping bag. Lying on their sides, he pulled her tightly to him. Easy to do as the bag forced a closer existence.
For a while, they didn’t talk, just touched, and allowed their heartrates to return to normal. As that happened, his cock began to harden once more. Yeah, he wasn’t finished with her yet.
Her full lips twitched and she curled her fingers around his shaft. “This time,” she whispered. “I’m on top.”
αβ
Three hours later, Caitlyn walked along a trail, Abel running around them. She and Rip were side by side, as they moved. Not touching but she felt close to him in ways she hadn’t to anyone else. And not in a sexual way, just on a personal level.
This was the calm that she’d gotten when she and her father had taken their trips. There wasn’t need to talk, although she and her father did, but the silence with her and Rip sat well with her. Hands in her pockets, she closed her eyes as she allowed her head to drop back. When she opened them again, she saw nothing but the clear blue sky. Any clouds from this morning had moved on. It wasn’t warm by any means but it was a beautiful day.
His lips kicked up in a smile. “What are you thinking about?” He reached out and threaded his fingers through her hair.
Yes, she knew it was from the colors in her hair. He spent a great deal of time stroking her hair and enjoying it. Not that she’d minded, his touch there was intoxicating. Caitlyn shrugged. “Just remembering my father.”
Rip’s smile was gentle but he didn’t say anything else.
She didn’t need him to. When they reached the place where they’d spent last night and this morning learning and enjoying each other’s body, she rocked back on her heels.
He whistled for Abel who came back instantly.
She reached out and captured the canine’s broad head in her hands before pressing a kiss to the top of his skull. “Keep him safe, Abel.” Her whisper was only for the canine. The brush of his rough tongue along her cheek made tears burn the backs of her eyes. She really liked this dog, damn it. Looking up at the dog’s owner, she said, “Thanks, you know. For everything.”
As his brow furrowed, she turned and jogged off, ignoring him calling her name. Her plan was sound. Right up to the point where he caught up to her and spun her back to him.
“Excuse me? Do you truly think this is how we end this?”
She swallowed hard. “Look, it was a thing. That’s it. No reason to make more of it than it is.”
He clenched his jaw.
Caitlyn took the time to remove his hand and walk off. This time, she tried hard to ignore the pain this parting delivered to her heart.
It’s better this way.