Chapter Seventeen
Chloe
I fought to control my breathing as I moved through the trees and underbrush. I heard the slight rustle of leaves, but that was my only warning that Lachlan was on my trail. The man barely made a sound as he followed me through the woods. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake him.
I spotted a flash of grey out of the corner of my eye and turned my head to look. There was nothing there.
Adrenaline surged through me and I took off in a dead run. Lachlan had been stalking me for nearly a half hour. Every time I thought I caught a glimpse of him, he would disappear. When the wind shifted, I could smell him, so I knew he was nearby, but it was disconcerting not to be able to see or hear him.
Suddenly, he was right in my path, his eyes brilliant even in the shadows beneath the trees. I turned, skidding a little in the leaves that littered the ground, and tried to dodge him, but it was no use.
Lachlan lunged for me, his arms closing around my waist before I could get more than a couple of feet away from him. I twisted against him, bracing my hands against his shoulders in an effort to leverage myself free. Before I could decide the best way to get loose, my back hit the trunk of a tree, the bark scraping the bare skin of my shoulders.
“Lach, what are you—” The expression on his face made the words die in my throat. Any thought of fighting him vanished.
His eyes gleamed beneath his lowered brows and his hands gripped my thighs, opening them so his hips fit in between. I felt him then, rigid against my pussy. He was hard and long.
I stared up at him in shock as his hand wrapped around my braid, tugging my head back.
“Lachlan,” I began.
He snarled at me, a warning. My heart sped up in my chest, thumping so hard and fast that I knew he could hear it.
Lachlan lowered his head, his nose nudging my neck. “You could never hide from me, you know that?” he murmured in my ear. He inhaled deeply. “Peaches and honey. I’d recognize your scent anywhere.”
I shivered as his words rolled through me. He growled, grinding his hips against mine, and I trembled again. I turned my face toward his neck and drew his smell into my lungs. He smelled…aroused.
Lifting my face, I pressed back harder into the tree trunk. “Lachlan,” I repeated, trying to get through to him. He was in the throes of something I couldn’t comprehend and he was dragging me with him. My skin heated as I drew more of his scent into my lungs. His desire ignited my own, feeding the fire within me.
Once again, he stopped me before I could say anything else. This time it was with his mouth on mine.
I was utterly lost.
The sensation of his mouth against my own, his tongue sweeping across my bottom lip, it was like something out of one of my dreams. I couldn’t resist the temptation to discover if the reality lived up to the fantasy.
As our tongues tangled, my hands moved up to cup his head. I missed his long hair and beard, but I loved being able to see his face. Lachlan’s hands left my thighs, one winding behind my back to wrap around my hips and the other moving up my torso to knead my breast through the thin fabric of my sports bra.
I gasped into his mouth, winding my legs around his waist and gripping tightly. He groaned, rocking against me. My hips jerked instinctually as I felt a tug on the material binding my upper body and heard it tear. Then his palm was against my skin, his fingers rounding over the curve of my breast. My nipple beaded tightly as he massaged my flesh.
Lachlan released my mouth and hefted me higher. I barely felt my back scraping against the tree as he closed his lips around one of my nipples, sucking me deep. I cried out, my head falling back as he tugged and laved at the tip of my breast before moving on to the other.
I felt his hands yanking at my hips and heard another ripping sound. My fingers dug into his shoulders as he tore the top of my leggings away from my body. The strength went out of my legs and they loosened until I slid down his body a few inches.
Lachlan growled against my breast, his teeth sinking into the inner curve just deep enough to surf the edge of pain. His hands came back to my hips, keeping me aloft after my thighs weakened.
Feverishly, my palms moved over his bare skin, touching his pectorals and trailing around his ribs to his back. When his finger slid inside my pussy, I shuddered and dragged my nails up his back.
He growled and yanked me away from the tree. In a blink I was on my hands and knees in a bed of leaves with his body draped over me. The skin of his chest was scorching as it rubbed against my shoulder blades and I trembled. His hand returned between my legs and he slid two fingers inside me, his thumb circling my clit in quick, firm circles.
I threw my head back and moaned. It felt as though fire spread through my body from every part of me that he touched. Heat coursed through my veins and sweat broke out on my skin. My muscles clenched around his fingers as he stroked deeper and I knew I was close to coming.
As I careened toward my release, he stopped and removed his hand. I twisted my head to snarl at him, my body aching with desperate need. He stared at me, his eyes nearly feral, as he yanked down his shorts. Then I felt the head of his cock glide over the flesh between my legs and I bit my lip. Once he was in position, he thrust inside me, deep and fast.
I shook violently. Every dream I’d had about him, every fantasy I’d entertained, paled in comparison to how his cock felt inside me. I moaned and struggled to keep my upper body braced up by my arms. Lachlan leaned over me, wrapping my braid around one hand and placing the other on the ground to hold his weight.
Then he moved. In and out, hard and fast. When I tried to move with him, to match his pace, he growled, tugging a little on my braid. I never thought I would like for a male to pull my hair during sex, but as everything else Lachlan did, it felt deliciously dark and sexy.
I moved again, seeking my climax, and his growl grew louder, rumbling from his chest into my back, spreading throughout my body. Then I felt the edge of his teeth in my shoulder. Not hard enough to break the skin, but just enough that I knew he was close to losing control.
My pussy spasmed at the sensation but the rest of my body relaxed instinctively. I gave in to the feeling, letting him have control. When I did, he growled again, this time in approval. He released my hair and let go of my shoulder, his right hand reaching around my hip to find my clit.
All I could do was take what he gave me, which was everything. Though he no longer held my hair, I kept my head arched back, desperately seeking relief for the tension that wound tighter and tighter within me. As his fingers circled my clit rapidly, my thighs shook. My climax built beneath his touch until I could no longer contain it.
My body tightened as the waves washed over me, growing in intensity until I cried out and my arms collapsed beneath me. Lachlan’s hands gripped my hips, holding up my lower body he pounded into me. A few moments later, he slammed into me a final time and his body shuddered as he came.
We stayed in that position for a long while, our lungs heaving as the clamoring of our bodies died down. Slowly, Lachlan withdrew from me, collapsing into the leaves on his side. I turned toward him as I stretched out on the ground, keeping space between us.
He had one arm thrown over his face as he struggled to catch his breath. I could see the pulse in his neck and reached out to put my hand on his chest, wondering if his heart was thundering as hard as mine.
As soon as my fingers touched his skin, he tensed. A new scent drifted into the air between us, one I recognized even as it made my heart ache.
Regret.
I pushed myself into sitting position, refusing to let myself think or feel. If I allowed the emotions to push to the forefront, I would break. I removed my shoes and socks, tugging off my ruined leggings. It was unnerving, my sudden modesty around Lachlan. Somehow, his presence made me feel more naked than before.
“Chloe,” he murmured behind me.
This time it was my turn to interrupt him. “We can talk about it later,” I stated, proud of the steadiness of my voice. “Right now, we need to get back to the cabin.”
Without turning to look at him, I gathered my ruined clothes, leaving the tatters of my sports bra on my shoulders. I stood, aware of the twinge between my legs, and walked back toward the clearing where I’d left my phone and water bottle.
After I retrieved them, I turned and found Lachlan standing near me. Though I knew what he was going to say and I wanted nothing to do with this conversation, it seemed I would have to endure it anyway.
“I’m sorry, Chloe.”
Unable to stand the idea of listening to him give me all the reasons why what we’d just done was a mistake, I tried to speak. “It’s okay, Lach. I—”
He lifted a hand. “Let me finish,” he demanded.
I clutched my clothes tighter to my chest and bit back my angry response.
He moved closer to me, his expression unreadable. “I shouldn’t have behaved that way with you. I…” he trailed off for a moment. “I lost control.” His voice lowered. “I could have hurt you.”
“I’m fine, Lachlan.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“Look, you don’t have to explain anything to me. We were both running on adrenaline and we did something we regret. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Lachlan didn’t respond. He put his hands on his hips and lowered his head to stare at the ground.
Without waiting to see what else he might have to say, I set off back toward the cabin.
Once I was inside, I went straight to the bathroom and locked myself inside. I dropped my clothes on the floor, turned the water on, and climbed inside the tub before it was even warm.
As the bathtub filled, I curled into a ball, wrapping my arms around my knees, and I cried.