Liz turned to face the man who had his body keeping hers against the counter. His eyes dark with desire and lust. Good, they probably matched hers. Leaving the sponge on the counter, she gripped the edges of her sweatshirt and pulled it over her head, mindful of her injury.
A low rumble left him as he zeroed in on her breasts. She didn’t make him demand again, just hooked her thumbs in her waistband and pushed down her workout pants. While she hadn’t worn a bra, she did have panties on. Nothing fancy, just a plain light-yellow bikini.
“Fuck,” he said, eyes narrowing.
With a little shimmy, she removed her panties and waited.
His moan wasn’t far on the heels from her clothing hitting the floor.
The cabin hadn’t warmed up yet and her skin pebbled from a mixture of the chill and his possessive gaze. Oh yeah, this is what she needed.
Cullen’s sea-green gaze deepened further and he reached out, hefting her breasts in his hands, thumbs swiping over her pointed nubs. His calluses were rough against her skin. “You have a fucking heart.”
She dragged her tongue along her lower lip. “Take a closer look.” It wasn’t her tattoo he was talking about, no. She had a tiny heart over her pussy and no other hair down there. “Definitely.”
He dropped to his knees before her.
She trembled as his breath fanned over her exposed pussy. The heat offsetting the cold, yet making goosebumps rising even more.
He skimmed her legs with his hands as he nuzzled the small heart. “You smell so fucking good,” he rasped.
“Touch me,” she begged.
He ran his hands up over her ass before dropping his touch to her pussy. Her breath caught. Cullen slid a finger up the slit and spread her. She shifted, widening her stance, offering him more access to her. Fuck, she wanted him to touch her, lick her, make her scream.
“I’m going to. Promise.”
His voice had gotten even thicker with his southern accent and the need threading along his timbre. Exposing her clit with one hand, he pushed a finger inside her. He flicked his tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves.
“Holy shit,” she cried out, hips bucking pushing her closer to him.
He didn’t speak, just continued laving his attention on her clit as he pumped a finger inside her.
Liz gripped his hair, grinding her pussy into his face, needing more. Desperate for him to give her what she asked for.
Cullen wedged his shoulders between her legs so they were over his shoulders then he stood, releasing her clit.
She whimpered her frustration.
He lifted her so her ass was on the counter. “Lie back,” he ordered.
There wasn’t tons of room and the cold had her inhaling sharply but it swiftly turned into a needy moan as he dipped his head and took control of her pussy once more. His hands were beneath her hips, bringing her to his mouth. Swiping, licking, thrusting his tongue deep within her, she was nothing more than a crying mess as she held him tight to her.
“Cullen!” she screamed as she came hard.
He backed away and was bending over her, sharing his heat with her. His cock probed at her pussy.
“Yes, please. Oh, god yes.”
He pushed slowly into her as he captured her mouth, sharing their mingled tastes with her. He held her gaze as he filled her. Her eyes fluttered but he shook his head and pinched her clit.
She gasped, belly tightening as she began that climb to the precipice once more. Bolts of pleasure shot through her.
Cullen slipped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her upright a bit, as he withdrew until the large head of his cock rested in her pussy. “Whose pussy is this?”
“Yours if you fuck it and stop asking me questions.” She’d let go of his hair and now she dug her short nails into his forearms.
“Mine is right.” He thrust forward with a single flex of his hips.
Liz arched further into him. Fuck, yeah.
Cullen made her forget everything but him. Even with what was going on with them he never forgot about her injury as he never touched it, but she didn’t feel as if he was treating her with kid gloves either.
αβ
Cullen stirred at the vibration from the phone. It took a moment for things to click into place for him. He wasn’t in a hotel room but a cabin. The phone wouldn’t be from the staff, it would be from his employer with hopefully, the needed information to figure out who was after them.
Them.
Liz. She was with him, curved against him, naked beneath the blankets as well. After the kitchen, they’d made their way to the living room and eventually back to one of the two bedrooms. Stopping long enough to pull fresh linens out of the storage bags, they’d made a bed and piled it high with blankets before they proceeded to mess it up with their sexual encounters.
He glanced to the woman tucked into him. She slept on her uninjured side. He’d changed her bandage once more before they finally crashed.
Reaching for the phone, he stole a look outside, still furious fat flakes falling. “Yes?” he answered the phone, a bit surprised that Liz hadn’t woken up.
“Makhumd Pajari.”
Fuck, any and all amorous feelings for Liz vanished in a heartbeat. His entire body stiffened and not in a good way.
“You there, Cullen?”
He blinked. “Yes, sir.”
“I’m guessing you don’t need any more information then.”
“No sir, that’s all I need.”
“Figured as much, but I do have a bit more for you. Do with it, as you will. We can come and help.”
Cullen listened as Gray filled him in on the intel he had. When he hung up, the woman beside him stirred and glanced at him.
“What’s the news?”
He brushed a hand over her face. “They’re after me and I need to get you out of here.”
Her expression soured in a second but he didn’t dwell on it. He lifted her to a sitting position, doing his best to ignore her bare breasts and that sexy hummingbird tattoo she had on one. “I need you to get dressed. Quickly and quietly.”
“Fuck that, what happened to doing this together?” She tightened her hold on the piles of blankets on them.
“That was before I found out who it was.”
“Gonna share or do I sit here naked as a jaybird for this fuck to arrive?”
Naked was his preference but this was serious. Cullen got out of bed and dressed in moments. He tossed her clothes to her but all she did was lay back down and burrow beneath the covers.
“Get up, Liz. He’s not a man to be taken lightly.” He wasn’t arriving, Cullen was taking this to him.
“So, talk and I’ll get dressed.”
He hated how calm she sounded, his heart was pounding with fear for her life. Not his own but hers. He’d done more than enough to warrant dying but this woman, light and happiness personified and he wasn’t about to let anyone take that from the world. “Get moving,” he snapped.
She narrowed her gaze but reached for her shirt and slowly shrugged into it. Earlier, she’d pulled it off without unbuttoning it but now, she put it on properly. Once it hung from her frame, she climbed from the double bed and moved to stand in front of him.
Cullen gulped as she ran her heated gaze over his naked chest.
She reached out with a trembling hand only to drop it before actually touching him.
He cursed, he craved her touch.
“Who is he?”
“You need to finish dressing.”
“No.” She probed at her wound and winced. “You need to tell me who this guy is and what the plan is.”
“Plan is to get you out of here asap.”
“No, it’s not. I’m not going. I don’t give a flying fuck who he is. We agreed to do this together, or have you forgotten that fucker sent me over that cliff as well?”
Unease churned in his gut and he dug in the bag for two pistols, loaded them and readied them to fire. One he shoved in the back of his jeans, and the second he handed to her.
She didn’t take it. “I’m waiting for this explanation.”
“Damn it, get dressed.” He thought long and hard about what he was up against and yet, through it all, he continually returned to the memories of her soft body sliding along his. The scent of her skin, her soft cries as she undulated beneath—and on top—of him.
“Who is this guy to you?”
“A man I thought I’d killed years ago.”
She stared at him, her stunning turquoise eyes holding his gaze, unwilling to drop. “It’s a start.”
“Dress.” He took a breath and cupped her cheek. “Please.”
“Talk.”
“We were on an op in Azerbaijan. Overlooking a shithole of a village, waiting for this bastard war lord to show up and purchase some weapons.” He clenched a fist then swallowed hard as she slowly drew on those little yellow panties she’d removed the previous night before he dropped to his knees and indulged.
She cocked an eyebrow at him as she stepped into her jeans.
Dam, he already missed her legs. “Nothing more than a farming village. But the man lined everyone up once he got there and shot them all in the head. He raped the women and children before he killed them. Did it in front of everyone. When his cock was flaccid, he raped them with objects. Then killed them. And we—we couldn’t do anything. We were under orders to let him get the weapons and leave, only once he was out of the village could we do anything.”
He could still smell the blood on the air that day, as it flowed from his victims.
“When did you kill him?”
“I tracked him down the next night. He was in a brothel indulging in his perverse fetish. He slit the whore’s throat in an attempt to have me stop and help her instead of pursuing him. I didn’t. I shot him in the head, she should have been dead.”
“And he knows who you are?”
“After I thought I killed him, I leveled his properties to the ground. Took everything from him, I didn’t want his people to have anything. I blew up houses and burned his cash stashes.”
“And now he wants you to pay for that.” She winced as she tried to put on a shoulder holster.
Cullen watched as she shoved it in the back of her pants. “Yes.” He walked to the bag and pulled out a Kevlar vest. Carrying it over to her, he carefully put it over her head.
Liz didn’t move nor did she stop watching him.
He fastened the straps ensuring to keep it as high as he could, protecting her vital organs. He knew they weren’t comfortable but she was a cop, she wore them daily.
Gripping her around the shoulders, he pulled her close and kissed her. He would be lying if he said there was no desperation in this kiss. Was it love? No, he wasn’t positive he was in love with her yet, but he believed that there was something much deeper between them and he needed her to stay alive, so he could figure out what that was exactly.
“And you know he’s coming here?”
“No, but I know where he is and I’m going there.”
“We’re going there.”
He didn’t respond. He wasn’t taking her there. No matter what she thought was going to happen.
He finished strapping up and looked around the cabin. He should leave her here but no, he couldn’t risk her being stuck out here while he went there. He could however, call Gray on the way and have him send someone to get her.
“Are you listening to me?”
“No,” he said, lifting her off the ground and taking her to the bed they’d just left. Before she knew what hit her, he snapped some handcuffs on one wrist and secured it to the headboard.
She pulled but there wasn’t any give from the metal she was attached to. “Don’t you fucking dare, Cullen O’Rourke. Don’t you fucking dare!”
“I know you’re pissed at me, Liz but I can’t risk your life like this. He’s going to have men around him and if he knows you mean something to me, he’ll kill you first. That’s something I can’t have. I’ll have someone come for you. There’s heat and you’ll be warm enough.”
He stepped right up to her and took possession of her mouth. She sagged against him and he drew back. “Hate me all you want but you’ll at least be alive to do it.” Right then, he knew, he was in love with her. One day that’s all it took for him to fall for the woman of his dreams. Cullen walked out with her raging, cursing and jerking on the headboard.
He didn’t look back.