Chapter Six
Over and over, the world whirling, Sienna fell down the slope, rocks and sticks jabbing into her.
She felt something catch on the fastening of the armor panel covering her side and then the carbon fiber was ripped away. Dammit. She rolled again and landed on something hard, a sharp pain piercing her unprotected side. But she kept rolling and the fall felt like it went on forever.
Then she came to a jarring stop.
With a grunt, she landed hard on her back. She stayed there, stunned and dazed, trying to pull air into her winded lungs. God, she hurt. Despite her armor taking the brunt of the fall, her body was an explosion of aches and pains.
Sienna took stock, moving her arms and legs. It hurt, but nothing was broken…she hoped.
She heard a crashing noise, and her pulse leaped. Damn, she’d forgotten about the raptor. She scrambled around, looking for her carbine, but didn’t see it anywhere.
Suddenly, a big body landed beside her. She spun, lifting her fists.
Theron knelt near her. His face was scratched and bleeding.
“Theron.”
He crawled over to her. “Sienna. Are you okay?” He gripped her shoulders, powerful hands curling around her.
“A little battered, but I’m fine. Have you seen the raptor?”
Theron looked behind her. “I don’t think he’ll be a problem.”
She turned her head, feeling a sharp pain slice her neck as she did. Her gaze settled on the motionless raptor lying a few meters away. His body was bent at an unnatural angle, his back broken.
She looked back at Theron and groaned. “God, I hurt.”
His hands ran down her sides. “Anything broken?”
“I don’t think so.” She reached down and touched the burning pain on her side. She grimaced and pulled her hand away. “I think I’m bleeding somewhere.”
“You lost a piece of your armor.”
“Yes.” Then her gaze moved to Theron’s chest and she gasped. “Theron!”
He glanced down at the sharp stick that was poking right through a joint in his armor and into his chest.
“It’s not deep.” He grabbed the stick, and yanked it out with one pull.
She gasped. “You shouldn’t have done that.” She pressed a hand over the hole, felt the stickiness of blood.
“It’s fine. Priority is getting out of here.” He pressed a finger to his ear. “Roth? Arden? Do you copy?”
In her own earpiece, Sienna didn’t hear anything. She looked back up the slope of the ravine. To the east, she could see stars appearing in the night sky. To the west, the last of the daylight was slowly dying away.
“The ravine’s blocking our comms,” Theron said, his tone frustrated.
“They’ll find us.” Roth Masters and Squad Nine never left anyone behind.
Theron helped her to her feet. “We need to move away from here, in case any raptor scum come searching for their friend.”
“Any sign of my carbine?” she asked.
They took a few moments to scour the area, but her weapon was gone. Sienna squelched a flash of disappointment. She was used to the weapon, had broken it in, and it had saved her life too many times to count.
Together, she and Theron moved away from the raptor body. Every step was agony for Sienna, but she sucked back the complaints.
“Maybe we’ll find somewhere where we can climb up,” Theron said.
Sienna eyed the slope. She loved climbing, but the thought of it right now made every part of her ache and throb. “It’s too dark. It’s far too risky to climb that when we can’t see.”
Theron nodded. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”
The shadows turned to dense darkness at the bottom of the ravine. She wanted to turn on her flashlight, but knew they couldn’t risk it. Soon her hip and leg started to protest. She limped, biting back the pain.
A strong arm wrapped around her, taking a lot of her weight. Whatever did or didn’t happen between her and Theron, she knew she trusted him with her life.
Their earpieces crackled to life.
“Theron? Sienna?” Roth’s deep voice, distorted by static.
“We’re here,” Theron answered.
Through the comm line, Sienna heard Roth’s heavy breathing and the sound of carbine fire. “We’re under attack. Raptor reinforcements arrived.”
Dammit. Sienna’s hands curled into fists. Her friends were fighting, and she and Theron weren’t there to help.
“We are in a ravine west of the scrapyard,” Theron said. “We can’t climb back up. We’ll need an evac.”
“Acknowledged.” A tense silence followed, and Sienna pictured their leader, and the rest of their squad, fighting. “Shit. Another raptor patrol just turned up. The Hawk is inbound. You guys sit tight.”
Sienna stared up at the stars. “I hope they’re okay.”
“They’ll be kicking raptor ass,” Theron said darkly.
But she heard the same worry in his voice. He wanted to be up there taking down raptors. “How did you end up falling down the slope, too?”
His hazel eyes were shadowed. “I didn’t fall.”
She sucked in a breath and bit her lip. He’d come after her. “You shouldn’t have done that.” Pride tilted her chin up. “You’ll be late back to Michelle now.”
His brow creased. “Michelle?”
They stared at each other, tension filling the air between them.
“Theron? Sienna?” Roth was back. “We can’t make it down to you guys in the dark. Hole up, and take shelter. Arden says there are no signs of any raptors in the ravine. We’ll be back in the morning.”
Sienna blew out a breath. She’d suspected as much. The important thing was that their friends were safe and headed home.
“Roger that,” Theron said. “See you tomorrow.” He looked down at Sienna, and gave her a grim nod. “We’re on our own. Let’s find some shelter.”
With an arm around each other, they limped through the trees. With each step, Sienna felt the flex of his muscles around her torso. But for once, she was too tired and sore to picture what those muscles would look like without his clothes on.
Soon, a familiar sound caught her ear, and she lifted her head. Running water? They came out of the trees, and ahead, Sienna saw a long, narrow waterfall tumbling from above, down into a small pool.
“There’s an overhang over there.” Theron pointed just adjacent to the spray. “And I think we can risk a flashlight for a bit.”
They moved toward the water, and Theron set Sienna down on a rock. With her gaze level with his chest, she could see his wound was still bleeding.
“We need to take a look at your injury.” She pulled out the field first aid kit on her belt.
“And I want to check your side. You’re favoring it.” He flicked on his flashlight, orienting it toward the overhang. “Then we’ll eat and get some rest.”
She wrinkled her nose. Food meant the ready-to-eat meals that they all carried in their field emergency kits. “Won’t be very tasty.”
“No, it won’t. But it’ll help us get by until they come and get us.” He moved to the pool, and she watched as he crouched by the water. He carefully peeled his upper armor off. He was wearing a sweat-soaked black T-shirt underneath, and he gripped the back of it and yanked it over his head. Even in the dim light, she had a perfect view of his bare chest.
Every inch of him was muscled. She knew he worked out a lot, and had his beloved punching bag and some weights in his room. Before the invasion, he’d been on the Army boxing team. Not her idea of recreation, but she couldn’t argue that she didn’t enjoy the results.
As he scooped up some water and splashed it on his chest, she felt her mouth water. She watched one rivulet run down his pecs, over the ripped ridges of his stomach and into the waistband of the cargo pants he’d been wearing beneath his lower armor.
Dragging in a deep breath, Sienna snatched up her first aid kit and moved over to him. The field kits only had the basics, and she took out some antiseptic wipes and knelt down beside him.
“Let’s see that injury, Big T.”
He stayed still as she dabbed at the puncture wound on the top right of his chest.
“That must hurt.” She tried to focus on the blood and ragged injury, not his sleek skin.
He grunted. “I’ll survive.”
Sienna cleaned the wound and probed it a little. He didn’t make a sound. “Thank God. It isn’t too deep.”
“Told you.”
“Yeah, well, you aren’t always right, and I know how stubborn you are.” Their gazes clashed for a humming moment, before she looked back at his chest. She pulled out a sealer bandage that would adhere to his skin, and pressed it over the wound. “There you go.”
“Now you,” he said.
She stood and, with practiced moves, took her upper armor off, stacking it by her feet. She lifted the hem of her beige tank up. Well, it had been beige once. The lower half was now soaked with blood. She winced at the sting. “I think I grazed my hip during the fall.”
“It was a hell of a fall.” Theron bent down, his face close to her bare belly. She looked up, staring at the dark trees.
“Scrape goes lower. You’ll have to take off your trousers.”
Great. With methodical movements, she took her lower armor off, and then flicked open her cargo trousers. Theron had bandaged her wounds plenty of times before. This was no different.
Matter-of-factly, she shoved her trousers off, leaving herself standing there in her tank and panties. He seemed frozen for a second, before he gestured to a nearby rock. She sat down, and when Theron moved between her legs, she tried to control the vicious surge of desire that rocketed through her.
He started dabbing at the graze with antiseptic wipes. It stung, and she hissed out a breath. With long, gentle swipes, he followed the graze from her hip down to her left thigh. His touch was gentle. She’d noticed that about Theron. He had big, strong hands, and could be rough and strong when needed, and at other times, so gentle.
He dabbed some more. “Open your legs. This scratch goes down your inner thigh.” His voice was thick and raspy.
She closed her eyes and trembled. She couldn’t believe she was so turned on by him tending her injury. It was wrong.
She let her legs fall apart.
She sensed him go still. She opened her eyes, looking down at his dark head. He was staring at her black panties.
The breath rushed out of her. “Theron.”
***
They were simple black cotton panties. They weren’t sexy or provocative, and yet Theron had never seen anything so tempting in his life.
His hand curled around her thigh, and he was careful not to touch the nasty graze that marred her skin.
He lifted his head and big brown eyes looked back at him. In that second, he knew he’d give her anything.
“Sienna—”
“I’m burning up,” she murmured.
He saw the flush on her face in the low light. It would be so easy to touch her. To take care of her, to pleasure her, to ease her ache.
His fingers dug into her skin. It would be so easy to take her. And then what? Where would that leave them?
Jesus, she was hurt, and they were stuck here, just the two of them. He shouldn’t be thinking of getting Sienna Rossi naked and sliding his hard cock inside her.
He wasn’t going to touch her.
She bit her lip, her shoulders slumping. “I can see the ‘no’ in your face.”
“Sienna—”
She shook her head, some curls escaping from her ponytail to frame her face. “Forget it, Theron. I think I’d just like to suffer in silence.”
Dammit. When she tried to move away from him, he gripped her thigh and held her in place. “We don’t fit.”
She tilted her head, studying him. “I disagree.”
“I’m not the right kind of guy for you.”
“You don’t think I deserve a steady, quiet, grounded guy? Who knows me better than anyone else? Who I care about?”
He blew out a breath. “I told you I was adopted.”
She frowned and nodded.
“My birth mother was a prostitute and a drug addict.”
Sienna gasped. “That’s terrible. I’m glad you ended up with your parents.”
“I was with her for five years, Sienna.” He looked down at the hand on her thigh. “I have her hands. Big hands. And she had this horrible laugh.” He forced his gaze back to hers. “They took me off her when she tried to sell me.”
“Sell you?” Horror was all over her pretty features.
Yeah, in Sienna’s big Italian family, kids didn’t get sold by their mothers.
Now hot color flooded her cheeks. “She tried to get rid of you? To sell her child? That’s reprehensible!”
Theron let out a harsh laugh. “She wasn’t trying to get rid of me. She was trying to sell me for sex. To men who liked little boys.”
Now, Sienna’s face went white. Her hand clamped over his. “No.”
“Children’s Services got me out before anything happened. That’s how I ended up with my parents. My real parents.”
Sienna released a breath. “That just makes me more proud of the man you’ve made yourself, Theron. Not less.”
Damn. “I have this darkness inside me, Sienna. It’s not good or bad, it just is. You have no darkness. You’re good and—”
“Sweet. Ugh. I get it.” Her fingers dug into his. “I’m not this paragon of light and virtue you’ve made me into, Theron. You know me. I fight, I get covered in blood and gore, and contrary to what you might think, I have sex. I like it.”
“I like rough sex, Sienna. That’s my preference. That’s what turns me on. Regular sex…it’s no more exciting to me than jerking off.”
She blinked. “Lots of people like rough—”
He shook his head. “I don’t mean against the wall or doing it doggy style. I mean places most people don’t go. I mean holding a woman down, spanking her ass until it’s pink, I mean tying her up.”
Her eyes went round. “You’re into BDSM.”
“No.” He cursed. “I couldn’t care less about all the rules and complications. I just know I like it rough.”
“Why?” she asked quietly. “Why do you like it?”
He shrugged, feeling like he was fucking walking naked through the dining room at the Enclave. “Does there have to be a why? Sure, life started out shaky, but I had a great family, parents loved each other. I just knew pretty early I liked things a little different when I jacked off while imagining tying up my first girlfriend and ordering her to go down on me.”
Sienna swallowed. He saw her trying to process everything and he was so damned glad not to see horror and disgust on her face.
“Do you imagine doing that to me?”
He jerked. Jesus Christ. “Sienna…it doesn’t matter. We aren’t going there. You’re my friend, one of the closest I’ve ever had. I won’t touch you.”
Beneath his hand, her leg tensed. “Maybe I’ll like it.”
Quiet words that burrowed under his skin and speared into his gut. He wanted. Oh, yeah, he wanted. But he yanked on the leash he’d put on his desire for Sienna. It was fraying, but it held.
“Show me, Theron,” she murmured.
And the leash unraveled a little more, holding on by the tiniest thread. No. He wouldn’t touch her, but he could still take care of her, give her something, even if he tortured himself in the process. Just this once.
He let his fingers brush a small circle on her thigh. He watched her squirm a little, her breathing increasing.
“Me touching you turns you on?” he asked, his voice barely more than a growl.
“Yes,” the answer came out of her in a rush.
He loved that she was so responsive. “Are you wet?”
She licked her lips, her eyes darkening. “Yes.”
“Show me.”
She hesitated for a second.
“Show me, Sienna.” He let the command bleed into his voice.
She let her legs fall open even wider. She stared at him, waiting for his next order.
Fuck, his cock was hard. He stared at the juncture of her thighs, that sweet part of her hidden by that damn scrap of cotton. Ignoring the voice screaming at him to get up and take a dive into the cold water nearby, he stayed right where he was. “Pull your panties aside.”
Her breathing was ragged now, and her hand traveled down her taut belly before reaching the black cotton. She pushed it aside and he hungrily looked at her. She was pretty and pink, and wet and glistening. He wished the light was better so he could see more of her.
“So pretty.” His cock was as hard as steel and throbbing under his armor. Need pounded through him and he forced himself to focus on her. “Touch yourself.”
This time she didn’t hesitate. Her finger moved through her folds, sliding up to circle her clit.
“That’s it.” God, he wished it was his hand on her, his mouth. “You like that I’m watching you, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Her touch grew bolder and she started rubbing herself vigorously.
He sucked in a breath. “Put a finger inside yourself.”
Sienna arched a little, sliding a digit inside her. Her gasp echoed in Theron’s ears. This was Sienna. His Sienna. He’d imagined the sound of her gasp and cries so many times. “How’s that feel?”
“Full. Good.”
He’d fill her more. Stretch her more. He easily imagined the feeling of sliding inside her. “Faster. Rub your clit.”
She did as he ordered, her hips moving. “I’m close.” Her white teeth bit down on her plump lip.
“Come, Sienna. Come for me.”
She bit down harder, moaning. Then her back arched and her body shook as she came.
She was so damn gorgeous. Theron forced himself to stay where he was, letting the aching throb of his cock be his punishment for letting things go this far.
When she finally blinked and looked at him, he saw her gaze was hot and slumberous.
He shot to his feet. If he didn’t move, he’d touch her. “I’ll go clean up. Then we’ll eat.”
He headed for the water. He needed to dunk his head. Hell, maybe his entire body.
“That’s it?”
Sienna’s voice made him pause. Fuck. He should never have done this. He didn’t look back at her, his hands clenching into fists. “That’s all I have to offer you.”
“You are so damn stubborn, Theron.”
He heard her footsteps, and then he felt her push up against his back, her full breasts pressing into him.
“When are you going to stop lying to yourself? You want me.”
“I care about you. About us and our friendship.” He could smell the sweet smell of her. Not quite vanilla, but something else that made him think of baking and delicious things. His control, already stretched thin, wavered.
“We both want to be more than friends, and you know it.” Her hands smoothed up his arms. “You enjoyed that little moment we shared. I enjoyed it. I want you to show me more.”
Theron spun fast and heard her gasp. He gripped her chin, forcing her gaze up to his. He had to do something to get her to back off. Because it wouldn’t take much to drive him over the edge. Then he’d be pushing her down into the dirt and taking her every way he wanted to.
“I might play with good girls, but they don’t do it for me.”
He felt her stiffen.
“For me, being with a sweet, sexy thing like you is just foreplay. It doesn’t hit me, not deep down where it matters.”
She flinched and pulled away from him.
As he stared at her face, he knew that once again he’d wounded her. Far worse than the graze on her side.
He turned and stomped down to the water. Crouching down, he splashed the cool liquid onto his face. He wanted to dive in, but he wouldn’t risk it. He looked up at the top of the ravine, lost in the darkness above. Who knew where the raptors were? He wouldn’t leave Sienna unprotected.
Besides, he couldn’t risk being naked around her.
When he headed back to their makeshift camp under the overhang, she was dressed and sitting with her back against the rock, her knees drawn up to her chest. She was munching on the tasteless field rations. Another packet was sitting near his things.
“You rest first,” he said. “I’ll take first watch.”
There were no smiles or teasing remarks. She simply nodded. When she’d finished eating, she found a flat spot on the ground, turned away from him, and faced the rock.
Theron sat nearby and clicked off the flashlight. He stared out into the night. He’d hurt her. The very thing he’d wanted to avoid.
Shit, she messed him up and left him so turned around he didn’t know which way he was facing.
The hours ticked by, and the night turned surprisingly cool. It was the middle of summer, and he’d expected it to be warm.
He heard a small noise and looked over to see that Sienna was shivering. He stared upward, telling himself to leave her. Calling himself all kinds of names, he made his way over to her and lay down beside her. He curled his body around her.
“Theron?” Her voice was drenched in sleep.
“Just rest.”
She stayed still for a moment, but didn’t pull away. Then he heard her breathing even out again. He tightened his arm on her. She was so small and so tempting and so damn trusting.
Holding her, he stared at the rock wall and fought for the last dregs of his control that were slowly crumbling away to nothing.