Held tight in his arms, she was giddy with happiness. He kissed her with so much intensity it left her breathless. He consumed her lips, possessing every crevice of her mouth. As if stamping his own brand over her, he licked and nipped at her lips and jaw.

They moved toward the front of the SUV, and he pulled off her top. Parting only long enough to allow the removal of the material, he continued devouring her lips. Her breasts filled his hands. He immediately set his fingers on squeezing and tweaking the taut tips.

She moaned and tugged on the T-shirt he wore, ready to tear it if it didn’t come off soon. He pulled off the shirt. He shoved her pj bottoms and panties down her legs.

She latched her lips on to his nipple, her tongue flicking across the flat disk. He groaned.

Happy to drive him wild, she dipped her hand into his jeans and rubbed on the length of his hard cock.

“Jesus, woman.” His groan was enough to push her on.

She nipped at his tight little bud, smiling when his cock jerked in her hand.

“Fuck. That’s good.”

He spread her pussy lips, two digits going straight for her hungry pussy, and his thumb flicked her sensitive clit.

“Andrew, yes, fuck me.”

She rolled her hips on his fingers and moaned, tightening her muscles around them. All she needed was for him to fuck her with his fingers a few times and she’d go over.

He pulled out of her so fast, she almost screamed in frustration.

She looked up at him.

He lifted his fingers to his mouth, curled his tongue around the digits, and sucked on her juices. “You’re mine.”

Grabbing her hands, he turned her to face the hood of the truck. He felt the metal for heat then pushed her to lean forward. Her nipples grazed the warm steel. She looked over her shoulder at him. She wiggled her hips and smiled when his eyes filled with passion.

“Alexandra.” Dark and possessive once again, his voice made her knees weak.

“Hmm?” A whimper escaped her. She continued to watch his hooded gaze.

“You have been a very bad girl.” Oh, good God, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Her head whipped up and down in agreement. Arousal grew as she waited to see what he’d do next.

Slowly, he caressed her ass cheeks, his hands squeezing at her rounded globes. He tapped her left side with his palm. The light sting was minor, just enough to make her moan.

“Instead of leaving, you should’ve stayed and talked to me.”

Slap. The pressure from each tap fanned the flames inside her and ratcheted up her need. She moaned and thrust her ass out for further punishment.

“For hours, I was worried about you, was unable to reach you.” The deep timber of his voice fascinated her; his words held her enthralled.

Slap. His hands alternated sides, caressing the heated skin of her ass after each tap. Biting her lip, she groaned and lowered her head to the hood of the truck. The blunt head of his cock speared her sex and entered her cunt. She moaned and propelled back against him, seating him fully inside her in one quick slide.

Slap. Pussy squeezing, her vaginal muscles contracted around his thick length with each tap on her cheeks.

“You decided to believe the worst of me after I had already told you I didn’t want anyone else.”

“I’m sorry.” Truly, she was, especially when she heard the hurt in his voice.

He groaned and thrust his cock into her pussy violently. She’d have ended up draped over the vehicle if he hadn’t hauled her back. She marveled over his loss of control when his thrusts became harsh, fast, and demanding. His hands gripped her hips, and he plunged into her in quick, hard thrusts.

The skin slapping joined in the music created by her pants and his groans. He caged her with his body. Between her thighs, his hand moved to thrum her clit. He pinched her nub, turning her moans into full-blown begging for more. Fucking her with the force of an animal, he rammed his cock harder into her.

Tense and shaking, her walls gripped his cock while she screamed his name and came hard. She shoved her ass onto his still driving cock.

Her hair and hip in a tight grip, he groaned out a curse and then he jerked behind her. The tension in his frame heightened while he quickened his thrusts and filled her with his seed. Warm semen coated the neck of her womb. Aftershocks racked her body and sucked him deeper.

Moving her hair to the side, he kissed the back of her neck. He fixed his pants, picked her up her clothes and then her, and carried them into the cabin. She sighed with pleasure and nuzzled his neck. There was no questioning it; she was his.

When the cabin door closed behind them, Nina hollered out from another room, “Lucky for you the cell phone signal is non-existent in this place or you would’ve been giving a show to the first responders.”

Alex hollered, “You said fifteen minutes.”

“That was five minutes ago,” her cousin replied.

Alex smiled up at Andrew. He shrugged. “I tried.” He carried her to the bathroom. “You get cleaned up and dressed and I’ll go out to find a signal to call the police. It’s going to be a long night.”

Alex sighed. She agreed, but the idea of having her boss’s dead body a hundred feet from the cabin was enough to keep her awake all night.

On the way to his black SUV, Andrew glanced at the front license plate: AROB 1. With Alexandra in his life to stay, he’d have to change it to A&A ROB or AAROB. He wasn’t good coming up with cutesy things. He had no doubt his new love could take care of that.

Pulling out of the small parking lot, he turned the direction Jen had when she left. He was somewhat lost, having never been to the area before, but if he stayed on one road then he’d figure out his way back.

Andrew had been so consumed with thought of Alexandra on his way to the national park, he’d not paid much attention to the narrowing roads and steep inclines. Now that night had settled, he realized how dark the area was with no streetlights or moon shining through the trees choking the roadway.

Fishing his phone from the center console, he pushed the side button to bring up the screen. The signal strength across the top looked more like a thin line than a bar. “No Signal” sat where the blue usually covered.

He flipped his headlights to bright and stepped on the gas to get out of the tree-filled zone. The longer this took, the longer he was away from Alexandra.

The bar grew to the right, meaning a signal was found, but before he could stop, it disappeared. He backed the SUV, careful not to slip into the ditch. After several yards of nothing, he shifted back into drive heading in the direction of the small town he remembered passing through with the Piggly Wiggly store.

Taking a sharp curve too fast, he fumbled the phone in his hand trying to get control of the steering wheel. Stepping on the brakes, he slowed the vehicle, staying on the road, then leaned over to fish for the phone on the floor.

Dammit. The problem with having a lot of room in an SUV was that there was a lot of room. His phone could be anywhere from under the seat to the pedals.

Searching for the interior light switch, he glanced down the side panel by the door, feeling for buttons or toggles. Movement outside the windshield at the edge of his headlights caught his attention, but not in time to keep from hitting the moose or elk or giant deer darting across. He slammed on the brakes, but the SUV’s front end bashed against the giant creature’s hind quarters, sending it sprawling on the road.

White-knuckled fingers clenched around the steering wheel, Andrew sat stiff-armed, choking down breath while he stared wide-eyed at the downed critter. After a few seconds, the four-legged animal sprang up and rushed back into the forest.

Heart pounding in his head, Andrew let off the brake and rolled forward. Thank God he hadn’t killed it. He’d had enough death and surprises to last a lifetime.

Pulse still ringing in his ears, he stopped the truck again and patted the floor mat with his fingers until touching the hard plastic of his smartphone. Snatching it up, he laid the device in his lap and proceeded much slower than he originally had.

Coming up suddenly behind him, headlights in his rearview mirror reflected into his eyes. Before he realized, the lights were on his ass. For a second, he thought the vehicle was going to crash into him. At the last second, the car veered into the other lane, revealing a bigger truck behind it.

The duo were so close together, he didn’t know there were two until the first pulled to the side and zipped past. The larger truck had barely missed his bumper as it slid to the side and raced by.

Damned for going too fast, damned for going too slow. He needed to get back to the cabin.

The racers’ taillights disappeared around another curve and Andrew breathed a sigh of relief. When coming out of the forest, his phone beeped, indicating a signal. Thank God. He pulled off to the side and dialed 911. After fifteen minutes of describing where he was and where the cabin was and how he knew about the emergency if he wasn’t at the cabin, he had to find a place wide enough to turn his boat of an SUV around.

Continuing along the road, he saw flashing lights ahead on a straight section of blacktop. A second car with siren and lights stopped at the site. Andrew slowed and drove by.

The side of the road had a steep drop-off where the emergency vehicles had stopped. In the gully, a car laid on its hood, smashed against a tree. With four first responders on their way down the side, it looked like the rescue would be over momentarily.

He wondered if the car was one of the two racers who passed him several minutes ago. Served them right for wrecking, as long as no one was injured too badly. Those two could’ve killed someone or some animal easily.

With the accident scene behind him, he kept his eyes looking for a side road or driveway. Moments later, a fire engine buzzed past. Finally seeing a scenic pull-off, he did a three-point turnaround and retraced the road on the opposite side. This time, he could see the wreck site a quarter mile from the location, bright flames lighting the area.

He stopped when reaching the site, a man in a brown officer’s uniform scowling at him from the lane. Andrew rolled down the window.

The officer came up to him. “Good evening, sir.”

“Good evening, Officer,” Andrew replied.

“Did you by chance see anything concerning this accident?” the officer asked.

“I’m not sure if it’s related,” Andrew started, “but a couple vehicles nearly ran me over chasing each other not too long ago. One was a car and the other was either a dark truck or SUV.”

The officer nodded. “Everything fine with you?” he asked.

Andrew was taken aback with the question. Did the man know about all the hell he’d gone through this evening at the cabin? “I’m good. Thanks.”

The officer glanced at the front of Andrew’s SUV and nodded. “Drive carefully on the roads, sir.”

Andrew inched by, watching the firemen douse the flames that had engulfed the tree the car was wrapped around. Not seeing an ambulance or any sign the driver was pulled to safety, he assumed the worst. He sighed. Another death tonight.

Arriving at the cabin, he noted two of the state park’s SUVs parked out front. Response times rivaled those of the city. But then, when someone called saying there had been an animal mauling, that tended to create some concern, he was sure.

Inside, the girls sat on the small sofa while one of the rangers stood asking questions. Alexandra got up to greet him with a hug while Nina continued with their story of the evening.

“Thank you for going out to make the call,” Alexandra whispered to him.

He kissed the top of her head. “You’re welcome, love. Is there a second park ranger here?”

Alexandra nodded. “She went out to find Sholes’s body.”

He cringed inside with the thought of what she’d find. Alexandra took his hand and led him to one of the upholstered seats and they settled in for a marathon of Q and A.