Matthias

The look of sheer panic on Jade’s face ripped out my guts. I had just spooked the hell out of her. She was on fear overload and obviously running through every goddamn scenario that had us ending in disaster. My fingers tightened around the tumbler. She was giving all the signs of having zero faith in us, in me. I ground my teeth, leaned back in my chair and reminded myself that I needed to be patient because Jade’s early life conditioned her most primal reactions.

Patient, yes, but I wasn’t backing down. I was gonna get this done.

“So now you’ve got all the facts you need,” I said. “You know everything about me.”

“Not everything.” Her eyes shifted uneasily between her glass and I.

“You’ve got the highlights,” I said. “Who am I, what I do. So I need you to make up your mind, ’cause I’m done, Jade. I’m not playing games anymore.”

Jade’s shoulders tensed. Her fingers tightened around her flute. Her pulse flickered violently at the base of her neck. I was gonna guess she hadn’t been this frightened when she’d faced Kumbuyo. Nowhere to go but onward.

I set my drink aside, braced my elbows on my knees and leaned forward. “Here’s the deal. You wanna go for Rem’s plan? Okay. We go for it. But I’m in charge of safety and security. Your safety and security. I call the shots, when, how, where, and with who. It’s the only way I can see to do this.”

Her gaze scoured my face. “Keep talking.”

“This could be hard,” I said. “I know how much you hated it when you were confined to the station. It could happen again. You’d have to put up with whatever security procedures I deem necessary. The station is the only place in Africa where I can guarantee your safety. And if I can’t, you’ve got to be prepared to leave African on short notice.”

Her throat rippled with a swallow. “Do you really think all of that is necessary?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “I’m willing to do this. I’m willing to support you a hundred percent. But I want something in exchange. Something big. I’ll commit to you, but you’ll also commit to me.”

Her voice came out in a squeak. “How?”

“You know how.”

Her lips pressed tight together and her eyes avoided mine. Shit. I couldn’t abort the mission now.

“The thing is,” I trudged on with the subtlety of a lowlands gorilla. “I don’t want you to regret anything when you wake up tomorrow.”

Her brows drew together and her forehead furrowed. “Regret what?”

“Us.” I motioned between us. “There will be no bolting in the morning, no sudden disappearances, no excuses and no changing your mind.”

She winced. “That’s a lot of noes to remember.”

“I mean it, Jade. I’m done waiting around. And this isn’t some fleeting affair. I’m serious about you.”

The only version of Jade capable of reacting to a statement like that was the most cynical of all. “You’ve known me for all of three weeks.” She flashed a bitter smirk. “What if we suck together? What are you going to do then? Wish you’d kept a parachute handy?”

“I’m not bailing,” I said. “And neither are you. The way I see it, two people stay together by working out their problems as they come. We’re life compatible. Check. We’ve got chemistry, maybe too much chemistry. Check. The rest we’ll hash out on the way.”

“Jesus.” She fidgeted with her purse. “How could you know all of that?”

“I trust my gut.” I leaned back in my chair and kept my eyes on Jade. “You’ve got an important decision to make. You can take me or leave me. But if you say yes, you’re stuck with me, come hell or high water. You ought to know that, now, before you decide.”

Fear flared in her eyes, but there was something else too, desire that prickled my spine and tugged at my groin. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. Knowing that kept me going.

“And so that you don’t feel cornered,” I said, reading her mind, “this is what’s going to happen: You’re gonna go up to the room and think about everything I said. There’s a key to another hotel room in the top drawer. If you’re not in our room in twenty minutes when I come up, we’ll fly back to the reserve tomorrow, no questions asked. We’ll continue working together in whatever capacity you choose and you’ll never have any trouble from me again. That’s a promise.”

She opened her mouth and closed it. She began to say something, but her voice died in her throat. She downed the rest of her champagne in one gulp.

“Go ahead, get going.” I jerked my head toward the hotel. “And if per chance you decide you want to say yes, then I have a special request.”

She questioned me with her eyebrows. “A special request?”

“If you decide to stay,” I said, “wait for me in the hammock.”

“Is that all?”

“No, ma’am, there’s something else.” I threw my dice and laid it all on the line. “Wait for me in the hammock. Naked.”

* * *

Jade

I’d never faced a choice quite like the one that Matthias had just given me. He didn’t want a hook up. He wanted more, a lot more. There were too many issues outstanding between us, too many reasons why this couldn’t work. And yet as I climbed the stairs to our room, I was totally and completely turned on. Matthias had a sure way of stoking the heat in me. Talk about a reckless all or nothing plan.

My hands were actually shaking. I could barely manage to insert the key into the hole. I stepped into the room and considered the dresser. I yanked open the top drawer. Sure enough, sitting atop my panties was a fancy key with a different room number. He wasn’t bluffing, but I’d known that all along.

I slammed the drawer shut, squeezed my temples, and groaned. Matthias was asking a lot from me, from the restless wanderer who didn’t stay put for long, from the cynical child who, having witnessed her mother’s drug-induced demise, didn’t trust life’s gifts. A gift. A temporary reprieve in my luck. That’s what Anita and Joseph Romo had been to me. That’s what Matthias felt like to me. Could I be twice lucky?

But deep down inside, I didn’t feel like I deserved any gifts or reprieves. Part of me was that fearful, unlovable street kid that stole Little Debbies from the convenience store and sat locked in the closet playing stolen videogames while her heroine-addicted mother serviced her johns. The feral child in me was still stuck in that closet. Anita and Joseph had put up with me, but Matthias? He deserved so much more than defective, skeptical me.

I grabbed my duffel. Where the hell were my boots? I stalked around the room, collecting my things. The battle raged inside of me. The grown up I’d become fought against the neglected kid. But it was Jade, the marine, who tackled Jade, the skeptical. It was an all-out war.

Goddamnit, marine, get your act together, forget that pitiful crap and get yourself some sweet game warden ass. What the hell are you doing, thinking about packing your crap? You’ve got a top-notch specimen out there watching your six. He’s offering you something you want—don’t argue with me—you want that hunk for yourself and you know it. You want a goddamn future with him, even though you wouldn’t admit it under interrogation if they sliced off your nipples and set your tits on fire. He’s smart, he’s honorable, and he’s fucking hot. What the hell are you waiting for?

The marine in me had saved my life more than once. I ought to listen to her.

The duffel fell out of my hand. I abandoned it on the floor and ambled out to the balcony where the moon inked a trail on the sea, a path of light that stretched to the horizon. The pink and purple bougainvillea casing our balcony danced in the balmy breeze, leaves rustling secrets.

You already love him.

Holy crap. My stomach clenched. Was I really capable of love? Could I love him well, as he deserved?

Saddle up, marine. Time’s up.

Standing against the railing, I reached to the back of my neck and undid the single clasp that held my halter in place. The silk rushed against my skin, dropped along my body and pooled at my feet. I stood there for a moment, pressing my bare belly to the railing’s cool metal, feeling out this new world, a world in which I was willing to take on Matthias and he was willing to take a chance on me.

Slowly, progressively, the thought began to feel right, as if I had the right stuff for this, as if I had just tapped into huge reserves I didn’t know I had. I rolled my panties down my legs. It was a crapshoot but I was so going down.

By the time the key rattled in the door, I sat on the hammock sideways, head cradled on one side, legs dangling over the opposite side. My feet didn’t reach the floor, but every so often, my toes pushed off the nearby chaise, maintaining the motion that gently rocked the hammock. As to the rest, I’ll have to figure it out later. For now, I was naked, exactly as Matthias had asked.

The door creaked open. I sensed a wave of fear hit the room—why not? Heroes had fears like everybody else. What made them different was what they did in the face of fear. Like Matthias. Act of valor number one: He wanted me, the feral creature I was, the wildness in my heart, the wilderness in my head. Act of valor number two: He’d set everything up to give me a choice even if it went against his grain. Act of valor number three: He feared I’d taken the out and yet he still climbed those steps and opened that door.

Yeah. He’d earned his medals tonight. The half-packed duffel abandoned in the middle of the room probably told him the story. Had it been the other way around, I would’ve run in the opposite direction, as far and fast as I could go. I still kind of wanted to do that. But lust won out and kept me in the hammock. A few moments passed. Next I knew, his figure cast a long shadow as he came out to the balcony.

He stopped before me, naked as I was. His eyes narrowed on my face with an intensity that sent shivers all over my body. I sat up in the hammock and took him in, his feet, bare against the terracotta; his legs, a wondrous fusion of biological and technological engineering; his body, so lean and balanced, so beautiful to my eyes; his cock, fully engorged and as impressive as the rest of him.

He bent over the hammock and kissed me, a wet, warm, contact of lips and affection. I kissed him back in reply, a taste of dark rum and lime that made me drunk with his flavors. And then I was done waiting, doubting, thinking. Instinct took over. I leaned back on the hammock, parted my legs and offered myself to him.

There was no pretense between us, no hesitation. He stepped closer and led his cock to my pussy. For a moment, he perched on my opening, allowing me to get used to his presence, dipping his cockhead in my well and spreading the moisture around. Then he pressed and broke into my body with a quiet groan.

The pleasure of that first glide was more than I could take. I could’ve come right there on the spot. Instead, I held back, closed my eyes, and moaned, a sound that came from the bottom of my throat.

“Jade,” he rasped, leaning over me, breath hot against my mouth. “I know it wasn’t easy for you to stay, but I swear, I’m gonna make it worth your while.”

I curled in my hips and pressed myself against him, taking more of him, taking all of him that I could. How could he know me so well? It was as if his mind was connected to my brain. He lowered his lips to my breast and nursed on my nipple, persuading me with his mouth to accept more of him.

The feel of him was divine. He was a large fit and hard as steel but also silky and flexible. My pussy was stuffed to the rim and pulsing like an angel’s song in high heaven. His strokes were firm and demanding and his balls bounced quietly against my sex with satisfying claps that echoed in the balcony and joined the sound of my breaths, coming in sharp, short pants. I gasped when his hand landed on my sex. His thumb found my clit, circled it and rubbed it until I was out of my mind.

“I’m going to come,” I rasped, writhing under his stare. “I want to come, right now.”

“Well, that isn’t a bad thing.” He smiled down on me as he thrust in and out, leaving behind a thorough trail of pleasure. “But,” he added, with a devilish twinkle in his eye, “I’d like for you to hold on for a sec, given I have some things I wanna say to you.”

“Now?” I gasped and groaned at the same time. “Not now. Later, please?”

“Now,” he said. “Can’t think of a better time. Try it, please?”

“Okay,” I said but I sounded like petulant child.

“I told you I was serious about you and I mean it. You’re mine. From now on, I’m the only one you fuck.” He brushed his lips against mine. “Say it.”

As if I wanted to be with anyone else in the world but him. “You’re the only one I fuck, but…”

He froze in place. “But what?”

“I’m the only one you fuck.”

He grinned. “Absolutely.” He plunged in me, filling my every corner with his heavy, satisfying bulk. “If you’re horny, you come to me. If I’m horny, I come to you.”

Shit, shit, shit. I gasped for air. He needed to stop talking.

He withdrew before he glided back with a stroke that made me both replete and complete. “If you’re sad, when you’re happy, whatever you need, you come to me.” He thumbed my clit until he had me hissing with pleasure. “We deal with stuff together. Are we understood?”

“I come to you, yes.” I lifted my head off the canvas and nodded, eagerly, desperately, because I was hanging on by a very thin thread and it could snap at any time.

He leaned over me again and kissed me. I swear, having his tongue and his cock in me at the same time was the most exquisite feeling I’d ever felt. I clasped my legs around his waist and pulled him deeper in me. His thrusts quickened. His eyes were narrow but bright. His lips were white, straight, and beautiful.

“One last thing,” he said.

“Yes?” I said, delirious with need.

He planted his root at my root. “I want you to be my forever woman.”

I squeaked. “What?”

“I know, cliché, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a forever stamp.”

“A forever stamp?”

“Years from now, I’m gonna be there for you and you, you’re gonna be there for me. And one day, not too far into the future, you’re gonna marry me.”

I croaked. “What?”

“Yeah, Jade. Mark my words. You’re gonna marry me.”

I went off like a nuclear explosion. I rattled in that hammock, nails digging into the canvas, legs shivering, voice hoarse as I cried out my pleasure. My pussy squeezed around his cock and every molecule of my being rejoiced with the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, I’d found my match, the one person in the entire universe who’d been meant for me. I had a chance at my first, last, and only forever man.

* * *

Matthias

Jade was still in the throes of her orgasm, unhinged and lost in the waves of pleasure racing through her body, when I lifted her, turned on my heel and plopped down on the hammock. I did this without severing the exquisite connection giving me such an epic bliss. No way was I letting her go now.

She landed on my lap with a sexy groan. I grunted at the feel of my cock surging inside her. Christ help me. I almost lost it. The breach taught me a new angle of shocking pleasure. My cock claimed brand new territory deep inside of her. I clutched her hips and urged her to move, sliding her back and forth on my lap. I curled my hips and thrust in her, caught in her body’s moist, addictive pleasure.

Her tight channel accepted me, stretching to accommodate my increasing width, gorging on me with the same hunger I had for her. I journeyed through her body, slick with her moisture, a trip that sent waves of pleasure to challenge every ounce of my strained control. She rose above me like a majestic swell. Nothing I could do but relish the thrill of surfing in her body and hang on for dear life.

“Jesus, babe,” I rasped. “You’re so goddamn wet and tight. I love your body. I love the way you move. You’re goddamn spectacular.”

I caressed Jade’s ass, separated her cheeks and circled her tight little back entrance. At the same time, I kneaded her clit and suckled on her delicious breast. Her hard nipple tightened against my palate, generously stretching as I suckled her, hard and hungry. I wanted to give her the same extraordinary pleasure she was giving me. I egged her on, bouncing her on my lap to give her more motion, more thrust, everything that she needed, everything that I’d wanted to give her, everything that she deserved and more.

She braced on my chest, hands splayed over my pectorals, grounding her tight, wet pussy against my groin. My balls contracted, my dick lurched, and I hung on, but only barely. She leaned over me and kissed her way up my neck, nibbling on the cusp of my Adam’s apple. She trailed her mouth across my chin and found my lips. I surged up, engaging her tongue and devouring her mouth.

I drank in the look on her face: her irises, sparkling with emerald fire. Her pupils dark and dilated as she rode my body’s cadence. Her breasts flailed a sexy dance. Her ass slammed against my groin like hands on a drum. She used her own weight as leverage to intensify the sensations raking my body, sliding up and down my shaft, pleasure on the up, pleasure on the down. Snared on my shaft, she closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky as she started to come again.

Christ help me. I was shocked by the intensity of her orgasm, by the sheer power of her pussy squeezing my dick, by her body’s ability to lift my pleasure to a higher level. I’d had my share of women along the way, but Jade? She had the capability of elevating sex to an art form, to transform pleasure into bliss. She was the woman of my lifetime.

As soon as she finished coming, I pulled her down and clutched her hard to my chest, gliding my cock in and out. Her breaths came in short rasps. Her nipples tickled my pecs. She tilted her head and looked up at me, meeting my gaze, riding me like a jockey in a steeplechase. I splayed my hand on her ass, quickened my pace, and watched as a third wave of pleasure lit her wide eyes. It was my cue. I curled my hips, arched my back, and fired my come with a final groan.

We fought through the orgasm together, punching through layers of pleasure that took me higher with every breath. I held on to Jade through the journey. Bright flashes of light illuminated her face as I came. For a few moments, we breathed, felt, and soared together.

Afterward, I remained hooked on her, my body limp but satiated, emptied of everything but brimming to the rim with the scents, sights, and sounds of Jade. For a few minutes, I was unable to move, utterly devoid of coherent motor skills but happy to stay just as I was for the rest of my life. After a few moments, I gained enough traction to turn us, so that she laid on her side cradled against me, with her head on my shoulder. The hammock enveloped us in a canvas cocoon. Christ. I never wanted to leave this hammock and this woman.

Danger lay ahead. I had no real assurances of a future with Jade, but I was on a high and I had confidence in myself. I’d taken the first step to make Jade mine and she? She’d made me hers.