I was a fucking animal.

I didn’t even get Katie naked, didn’t even strip her pants off so I could lavish her pussy with attention. I just yanked the tight, stretchy, teasing piece of fabric she wore down her legs and pushed her knees up and apart as far as I could, giving me enough room to finally see what I’d been dreaming about for weeks. To look over what I was about to claim.

Pink. So much pink. A small strip of dark curls—close-cropped and neat—practically pointed to the promised land, but the rest? Bare. Slick and swollen and so damn soft-looking.

Fucking mine.

“Your cunt is so pretty, princess.” I dropped down to tease her, running my nose along the flesh of her belly on my way to her pussy. Letting the scrape of my beard on her flesh raise goose bumps like I knew it would. “Just as pink and wet as I’ve been dreaming about.”

“Gage, please.” Katie grabbed my hair and tugged, trying to direct me where she wanted me. Trying to drive this train. Not yet, though. Not quite yet. I needed to take a breath and enjoy the moment for what it was. A start to something. An ending to the past and a new beginning. Fuck yeah, I was all in on that.

Katie moaned and tugged and arched into me, though. Trying her hardest but holding back her words. That wouldn’t do. The girl babbled when she was nervous—she’d probably said a million words to me, most of them nonsense. I wanted her to say what she meant, what she felt and thought and needed. I wanted her words so badly; the need had created a pit of yearning in my soul too deep to see the bottom of.

As I stroked her inner thigh and brushed my beard across her pale skin, I wondered if that was how she felt around me. All pent up and craving some fucking words, some syllables and sounds. I held my tongue around her because I knew if I spoke, the filthiest shit in my imagination would come out. Things like how I liked that she was small enough for me to hold up and fuck against the wall. How I wondered if her pussy would let my cock in easy or if I’d have to take it slow at first, if I could pound her right away or if I needed to go gentle until I had her good and warmed up. If I let go, I would have told her how I dreamed of licking up every drop of her pussy, that thoughts of what she tasted like when she was close to coming tended to overtake my mind and force me to jack off two and three times a day.

I didn’t need to say that last one anymore because I was about to find out. The rest? Well, maybe it was time to let her hear a little from me.

“Fucking dreamed of this,” I said, unable to hold back for another second. “Stripping you bare and spreading you out like a feast for a king. Your king—the only man who gets to partake of this bounty. And it is a bounty, sweet princess. All that pink skin, so soft and swollen and wet for me. Fuck baby, I’m going to come just from looking at that beautiful cunt. I’ve been dying to taste this pussy. I’m going to lick every fucking inch of you.”

So I did, and the taste of her, the heat on my tongue and the way she responded to my touch, was as perfect as I’d known it would be. I licked her from opening to clit, teasing the little bud before dropping back to where I started. Refusing to ease off but not ready to go flat out on her clit and make her come just yet. Not ready to give her what she needed to get off. She wanted to, though. That was for sure. She bucked and tugged my hair, whispering my name and all those beautiful words I’d long wanted her to say like please and more and good and fuck. My beautiful, filthy girl.

As she grew louder and the curse words flew more freely, I held her down and doubled my efforts. Kept my hand on her hips and her thighs spread around me. Kept my mouth sucking on her pussy and my tongue lashing at her clit as I passed it. Weeks…I’d been obsessed with being exactly where I found myself for weeks. No fucking way was I taking a shortcut now. No fucking way was I missing a single fucking second of tasting her.

I wasn’t rushing this either. Instead, I took my goddamned time, lavishing her with slow licks and sucks. With brushes of my beard against her flesh and plunging my fingers deep inside her to tease even that hidden little bundle of nerves I knew would have her screaming in no time. I lapped every drop of wetness she gave me, licking up all her juices and causing more as I teased and fucked and suckled. And in between those moves, when I knew she needed an extra little push toward her impending orgasm, I’d head up to tease her clit. To suck hard on the little bud and attack it with my tongue. She liked that for sure. She’d moan and cry out, grab my hair tighter, and rock her hips against me. Riding my fucking mouth as if this was the best pussy-eating she’d ever had. Good, because now that I’d claimed her cunt? Now that I’d seen it, felt it, tasted every inch? I’d be the last bastard to ever give her this. The only one to know just how sweet what she hid between her thighs truly was.

I was a lucky fucking man.

“I can’t wait for you to ride my face,” I said before flattening my tongue against her clit for a good, deep lick. “I want to see your hips rocking, taking what you need from me. Want to drown in your wetness, princess. Do you have any idea how soaked you are right now? All from me. It’s dripping down onto this table thing. Such a waste. I’d rather drink it all down. Let you sit right over my mouth so I don’t miss a drop.”

I sucked hard on her clit, twisting my fingers inside her and thrusting deep. My hips rocked, my body unable to stop. I couldn’t wait to get inside her, to plunge my cock deep into her cunt and feel her tighten all around me. The need to bury myself in her warmth so strong. The want to fuck her pussy almost too much to resist. Almost. Because there was no way I wasn’t making my girl come on my mouth first.

Katie groaned something that sounded like my name, writhing under my touch. Tugging hard on my hair as she rocked her hips against me. As she fucked my face hard.

I groaned and slid another finger inside her, working that third digit in to give her a little more pressure. “Fuck, princess. You’re so tight and soft. Your sweet little cunt is going to crush my cock, isn’t it? It’s going to take me hours to break in this pussy enough to take all of me, isn’t it?”

Katie’s eyes met mine, so bright and hot—hooded with lust and need and desire. I couldn’t look away. I slid my fingers out and back in, pressed my thumb against her clit to give her what she needed to get off. And when I had her staring, when her body trembled and arched into my touch, when she was riding my hand without hesitation or embarrassment, I took my thumb away, leaned down, and sucked her clit into my mouth.

She came with a yelp that turned into an almost wordless sort of chant. Almost, because my name was definitely in there a handful of times, making me feel like a king as I pushed her through every second of her orgasm. I kept teasing her, kept dragging her through it as her cunt pulsed around my fingers, as I dreamed of that feeling around my cock. As I fought off my own need to come so I could make sure she got hers first.

Besides, my cock needed to stand the fuck down. I wouldn’t be fucking her in this kitchen. Not for our first time. I wanted her relaxed and warm, naked and comfortable. I wanted her in my bed, to be honest. My bed…at my cabin. Not the one I borrowed at Bishop’s place. Not his couch where I wouldn’t be sleeping again if I had my way. And definitely not on some stainless-steel counter in the kitchen of her restaurant where she’d just watched me kill two fuckers a few days before. That wasn’t going to happen, so I’d have to control myself.

My dick was none too pleased with that decision.

“I can’t,” Katie said, her voice all breathy and soft as she pushed me off her. As her clenching turned to quivers and her muscles finally quieted enough not to try to strangle me. I pulled my hand from her but wasn’t ready to let her go completely, so I snuggled against her lower belly and kept my hands on her thighs. I even kissed her hip bone.

The little shiver she gave at that almost made me laugh. “You okay?”

I felt the vibration of her chuckle more than heard it. “Yeah. Okay works for how I feel right now.”

Good. I’d take that. I tickled my fingers up and down her thighs, taking a moment to just be. To allow myself to feel her against me and enjoy the taste of her lingering on my lips. To feel her heat and know that I did that—I had gotten her hot and bothered, had worked her pussy well and made her come all over me. Had owned that fucking cunt as a good man should.

My pussy.

My princess.

My heart.

Katie groaned after a while, though, pulling herself to sitting and forcing me to give up my spot. “I think you killed me.”

I placed one last kiss on her thigh before helping her to sit up. “I’d prefer to keep you alive.”

“Yeah, well…” The mood shifted, her brow furrowing and her smile dropping. She hopped down off the counter, tugging her pants into place as soon as her feet hit the floor. Covering up. I hated that, but her mind was already elsewhere.

“You think they’ll come back for me, don’t you?”

They. The Soul Suckers. I grabbed her wrist, needing to touch, being careful with her damaged hand, though. “I think they’re sick bastards.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

No, it didn’t. “I won’t let them near you.”

She gave me a frustrated sort of scowl, but I wasn’t having it. I grabbed her other wrist and tugged both, wanting her closer. Needing to feel her again. Always. I pulled her arms around me and settled them so she held me close. And when I had her pressed against me, when she practically melted into me, I leaned down to get a taste of her lips. Just one. A sweet one. I’d eaten her out like an animal, but I could be gentler with her. I should be.

Katie smiled when we broke apart, bringing her hand to the side of my face. Scratching her fingers into my beard. “You need a trim.”

I…wasn’t expecting that. “I do?”

Her eyes went wide, and I knew she’d be babbling before she even opened her mouth.

“It’s not that I don’t like the mountain man thing you’ve got going on”—her face flushed when I raised my eyebrows at that one—“it’s just that you’re so wild looking. Sometimes, I can’t see your expression, so I don’t know what to think about…well, anything really. But that wouldn’t bother me except you look so big and hard.” Silence. For one beat, nothing but silence as her face went red and she seemed to realize just what she’d said. “Oh my god, not big…there. And hard not like hard…you probably are, though, aren’t you? And I didn’t do anything to fix that or to help you out because I was too lost in my own thing. I’m so sorry, I’m the worst fuck buddy in the history of the world because—”

I pressed my lips to hers, fighting hard not to laugh. The girl was adorable when she felt flustered. And this time, I wasn’t gentle. I kissed her deep, slicking my tongue against hers to get a taste. Holding her body against mine and letting her feel just how big and hard I was. For her. Always for her.

When I finally backed away, released her mouth from my attack, I kissed the tip of her nose and murmured, “I’ll get it trimmed.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. I want to.”

The smile she gave me was everything. “Okay.”

Okay. That was enough to make me feel like I’d done something right for her, like I was a king making sure my queen had everything she needed. Like I was a man and had pleased my woman. Fuck, this curvy little girl wrecked me, and I loved every second of it.

What I didn’t love was hearing the bell over the front door peal.

Katie stiffened when she heard it, reaching out to grab hold of my sides. “Did you—”

“Nope.” I grabbed my gun out of the holster under my arm but almost immediately put it back. Alder was not a stupid man, and he had a voice that carried well.

“Gage. It’s Alder and Shye. We’re coming back.” Alder opened the door from the dining room slowly, making sure he had my attention before swinging it wide and ushering Shye inside the kitchen. “Hey, man. Sorry—I saw your truck out back and figured you two would be in here. I used my key without thinking about it.”

He could have gotten himself shot for that one, not that I needed to remind him of that. He wouldn’t have apologized if he hadn’t already realized his mistake. “What’s up?”

By the way he glanced at Katie, I knew I wouldn’t like what he had to say.

“I’ve been texting, but you didn’t answer. They need you at the job site.”

Definitely didn’t like that. “No.”

Alder’s blue eyes went hard, his irritation at being challenged obvious. “The delimber’s down again. The crew can’t finish the harvest without it, and no one on your team can figure out what’s wrong with the thing. Hunter said something about some parts that came in yesterday, but I didn’t want him trying to replace them without your guidance. We’ve got two more days max of work left to do, and then we can shut the site down. Help us out here.”

For about a second, I wasn’t sure which to be more pissed about—that I had to leave Katie’s side, or that someone had touched that delimber and likely messed it up worse than when they started. And Hunter—I’d kick his ass if he tried to replace those fuel injectors. He could make the entire engine seize if he fucked that up. Katie won out as the thing I was most pissed about, though. And the thing I was most concerned about as well.

“You backing me up?” I ran my hand up Katie’s arm, making sure he got my point. That he knew what was at stake.

Alder didn’t seem to need the reminder. “I’ll handle it.”

I shot a look at Katie, unable not to. She was my weakness—I’d admit that any day of the week—but she made me stronger too. More focused. I’d wreck the fucking world to protect her.

Alder Kennard had better be ready to do the same.

“Be sure, boss,” I said, holding Alder’s gaze. Setting my challenge, my rules, at his feet. He couldn’t waffle on this—if I was going to leave, he needed to be prepared to lay down his life for not just his girl but mine. Hard thing for an average man to agree to.

Alder wasn’t average. “I’ve got your back. No matter what.”

That was the best I’d get.

Turning my back on Alder and Shye, I grabbed Katie and pulled her close. Needing to get my fill before I had to leave her. “I have to go to work.”

“Okay.”

Her voice sounded anything but okay, and the tremble in her hands didn’t argue that. She might not have been babbling away, but she was nervous. So was I, to be honest. Leaving her was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Alder will take care of you.” Whether I was soothing Katie or myself, I couldn’t tell. Didn’t seem to work, though. She simply grabbed me tighter, and I curled over her. Covering her with my body as much as possible. Holding her tight.

Fuck, this was a bad idea.

Katie simply repeated herself, though. “Okay.”

Still not good.

“You’re killing me, princess.” I picked her up and carried her into the walk-in refrigerator, closing the door behind us so we had a little privacy. Even if that privacy came with a bit of a chill. I knew how to keep my girl warm. I wrapped myself around her smaller form and pulled her in tight. “Will you be okay without me here? Tell the truth.”

“Of course I will.” But she wasn’t looking at me. That shit had to stop.

I ran a finger up her throat and along her chin, lifting until those hazel eyes met mine. Until they had to. “You can come with me. It’s wet and dirty and in the middle of a fucking forest, but you can watch me work if that helps.”

She sighed, still not looking completely comfortable. “I have too much to do. Besides, I’ll be fine. Alder will be here with me.”

My girl had her game face on for sure, but I saw through it. Probably because I felt the same unease she did. Alder wasn’t me—he wouldn’t take as good care of her as I did. Or at least, that’s what my instincts screamed at me. But the sooner I left, the sooner I could get back to her. And then, I wouldn’t let her leave my side again.

“Okay,” I said, reaching up to brush the side of her breast where I knew her phone was tucked away. Those sinful pants she’d been wearing didn’t have pockets. I still loved them, though. Mostly because of the way they hugged her ass. “Text me if you need anything. Anything at all. You hear me?”

She nodded once, but that fear—that gleam in her eyes—was too much. I leaned down and kissed her deep, licking my way into her mouth for one last taste. One solid promise that I’d be back for more.

And then I let her go before I couldn’t.

I tugged her behind me as I stalked back through the kitchen, glaring Alder’s way with every step. Making sure he knew exactly what was coming if he didn’t live up to his promise. The man stood solid and sure, his girl tucked against his side, his eyes not leaving mine. An oath in his stance.

One I was going to be forced to take at face value.

I kissed Katie one more time as I directed her into her little cooking area, and then I said the only words left to say.

“Rex, guard.”

Without a backward glance, I walked out of the kitchen and through the back door without my girl or my dog at my side. Just a heavy boulder in my stomach and a clock counting down in my head.