TWENTY-FIVE

Dog

Mel stretches out on the bike while I scroll through what feels like a million hits matching the type of store we’ve been given as a possible link to Hooch. Six days we’ve been riding around this fucking country, and inch-by-inch we’ve narrowed down where he might have gone.

“What area did the guy say the place was in?” I ask.

“Fulton.” She tosses an arm over her face to shield the midday sun from her eyes.

“Right.” I keep flicking the page until I find the listing I’m after.

All I need is the address of this liquor store and I’ll have a point of reference for Hooch. The last guy we spoke to remembered seeing the big idiot, but not the name of the shop he stopped off at. Lucky for us though, he’d struck up a conversation with the owner about his side business restoring car interiors, and he had a business card that at least narrowed it down to the small city just outside of Columbia.

I take a screen shot and pocket my phone as Mel swings her legs around and sits up in the seat.

“Far away?”

“Less than an hour.” I trap her against the bike, placing my legs on either side of hers. “You ready for this?”

She lifts her eyes to mine and sighs. “Yep.”

The past week since I gave Mel a shake-up in her room, she’s been so much more relaxed about everything. My constant check-ins and questions probably drive the woman nuts, but I can’t help but worry about how laid back she is. I expected her to be wrestling the keys off me in her haste to get to Hooch, but instead, I’m greeted with a calm indifference on how long it will take.

“What’s rattlin’ around in that head of yours?” I reach up and run my fingertips under her chin.

She turns her head to kiss my palm before she answers. “I was thinking how nice it’s been spending this time with you. The reason for us to be on the road? Not so great. But I’ve loved it just being the two of us, you know?”

Yeah—I do know. Because I’ve loved it too.

Stolen kisses in the morning, a cheeky slap on her ass before she gets on the bike, and the homely feel of her arms wrapped around my waist as we cut a path from clue to clue.

But I can’t deny the one thing that hangs between us—who Koen really is. Sure, I told her my real name, but she knows nothing about my family, nothing about my father, mother, or brother, and nothing about the reason I decided to reinvent myself away from their influence.

She knows only what she’s seen, and it makes me feel like a fraud.

“Tell you what, gorgeous.” She tips her head to the side, listening with a small smile tugging at her lips. “When this is over, when we have Hooch home safe and sound, how about we make a date for that hunt I promised you?”

“I’d love to …”

“But?” I tip my head the same way as hers to catch her eye.

“But, maybe it’s not the best timing. I mean, Hooch would only just be back, and what if he needs me? Maybe we should just let the idea hang for a while, yeah?”

My jaw grinds as I try to tamp down just how much that pisses me off. I get it, sure, but damn. When’s it going to be our turn? I’ve been waiting years for this woman to warm up to the idea that we’re suited for each other, and this slow burn is about ready to fuck me right up.

“Yeah, okay.” I lean down and take her lips with mine, relishing the minty taste of her gum. “Your brother better be in fine shape when we find him.”

She bumps her nose to mine. “Why’s that, Dog?”

“Because damn woman, if you make me wait to steal you away, I might just die of the worst case of blue balls Texas has ever seen.”

She giggles, hooking her heels around my calves. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“You wanna bet?” I reach between us, taking her hand in mine, and set it on the firm rod trapped in my jeans.

Her eyes darken as she peeks out from under her lashes. “Dog …”

“Woman, it ain’t no lie. Your kisses do it to me every time.”

Her slender fingers curl under mine, cupping the bulge in her hold. Blood surges through me as I sigh heavily out my nose, trying my best to keep my shit in check.

“Dog,” she pants. “We better go.”

“What’s another ten minutes, babe?” I rock my hips into her hold, my eyes closed at the heavenly feel of her tender palm pressing against my cock.

“We’re out in the open,” she feebly protests.

As though to prove her point, a semi rumbles past on the road fifty yards to our left. With a groan, I reach down and slide both hands under her thighs so I can pick this little lady up. She giggles as I heft her high on my stomach, tingles erupting in my legs when the apex of her thighs catches the painfully sensitive tip of my cock through my jeans.

“Where to?” I muse out loud as I carry her further into the roadside clearing.

The area appears to be nothing more than a dumping ground for the road workers, with piles of shingle and dirt lumped down at the far end of the grassy clearing. A hedge breaks the area from the fields beyond, the space between one of the shingle mounds and the trees perfect for what I have in mind.

“What are you up to?” Mel teases as she angles her head to leave a soft kiss on the side of my neck.

I drag in a long, steadying breath and set her down on the side of the shingle. She’s heaven and hell, wrapped up in one short little package. Her ponytail fans out over the stones, and fuck me, when she arches that back to get a sharp stick out of the way … damn.

“Pity I’m not in your clothes again, huh?” She wiggles her eyebrows, a sly smile on her lips.

“Why’s that, babe?” I drop to my knees between her legs and check to make sure that from this position we’re invisible to anyone on the road.

“Otherwise then you might think I still look fuckable.”

“Jesus, Mel.” I drag a hand over my face, the pressure in my groin ridiculous. “If it were up to me, you’d still be on that bike out there, and we’d be halfway done already.”

She reaches out for me, wrapping her fingers in the front of my cut. “Ten minutes.”

“You’ll be lucky if I last two with the way you’re lookin’ at me.”

She gives me enough of a tug to put me off balance, and I shoot my hand out to save from falling on top of her. The warm gusts of her breath tickle the ends of my hair that have fallen into my face as I stare deep into her honest eyes and find everything I’ve always wanted.

It ends here.

The late nights, the nameless women, and the reckless antics all in the name of getting a laugh. None of that matters anymore. Not when I’ve got something so much better to spend my time on.

I tilt my head and lean down to taste those plump lips one more time. Her back arches, those goddamn tits pressed tight against my chest as she wraps her arms over my shoulders and pulls me closer. Our bodies lie flush on that pile of shingle, and to be honest, it could be a bed of nails for all I fucking care—I don’t think I’d feel it either way.

“Off,” she utters, wrestling with my cut.

I rear back and slide the leather off, laying it down gently beside us before yanking my T-shirt over my head and piling it on top. Her eyes are positively hungry as she bites that bottom lip of her and makes a content little hum.

“Damn, Dog.”

Hearing her use that name, sounding like one of the club sluts … I can’t stand it.

“Koen,” I say quietly.

She stills, a soft smile spreading over her lips. “Koen.” Her eyes light up, the corners crinkle as she reaches for me once again.

I lower myself over her and kiss a trail from the point of her jaw, down her throat, to where the neckline of her shirt sits over the line of her cleavage. I want nothing more than to peel the cotton off her and see what’s underneath, but I’ve also got a hell of a lot more respect for her than that. We’re outside, in a relatively public place. We get busted, a guy with no shirt on is nothing too unusual. But a woman getting around in her bra? Nope.

Her hands creep up the back of my neck to my head as I kiss my way back up, her fingers channeling through the lengths of my hair before she curls them and gets a good grip. A sigh slips from her lips as I take the bottom one between my teeth and give it a little tug.

“Gotta stay quiet, remember?” I whisper in her ear as my hand trails a path down her side.

She twists underneath me, her hips rolling and pressing up against my own as she gives me a small groan of acceptance.

I skim my fingers around the waist of her jeans, sliding them back and forth from her back to her front before finally slipping them inside. A guttural groan erupts from Mel as she throws her head back, the shingle making a scraping noise beneath her head as she pushes it back. I wriggle my hand to get beneath the edge of her panties and then relish the way she screws her eyes shut as I stop just shy of breaching the edge of her folds.

I’ve waited years to get to this point with her, one of those believing she was most likely dead and the chance was a lost one. Have to say the reality lives up to the dream. I’ve had some damn fine women in my time, but nothing rivals the beauty of a woman who is truly lost to her passion, drowning in her lust for the moment.

I could hold her here forever and never tire of the sight: Mel as she finally lets everything go.

“Come on,” she whines, those dark brown eyes snapping open on me. “Don’t tease me.”

“You ain’t the only one being teased, babe.” Pretty sure my pre-cum has left a wet patch on my zipper by now.

She tilts her hips toward me, greedy bitch making my fingers slip into the tempting wet mess that is her pussy. I curl my digits a little, stroking her heat and lean down to take her mouth with mine as I slide first one, and then two inside of her.

It’s fucking heaven condensed into one little wet pocket of fun.

She moans through our kiss, her hands tracking a path over my shoulders and back as I pump my fingers in and out of her, imagining how sweet she’d taste if I could strip those fucking jeans off and get my face down there too. Like honey, I bet.

“Pull your shirt down,” I grind out, twisting my wrist to get my thumb on her clit.

Her thighs clamp hard on my arm as she shudders. “Damn, Dog … fuck … I mean, Koen.”

“Say it again.”

She palms her tit, pushing the V-neck of her T-shirt under the plump swell. “Koen.”

“Now tell me how much you like it,” I demand, eyeing that tight little bud waiting to be sucked. “And don’t forget my name.”

She gasps, sucking air in hard as I suck her nipple equally so. I flick the tip with my tongue, fingers still making a right mess of her cunt as she finally finds her voice again.

“You make me wanna come, Koen.” Her words are breathy and forced, her eyes shut tight as she grips onto my upper arms with a death grip. “Oh my God, yeah, like that.”

I switch it up from slow, even strokes, to short, hard thrusts as I feel her pussy clamping down. Bitch hasn’t been fucked in over a year—no prizes for guessing how tight she is.

Fucking wish it was my dick she was choking, though.

“You have no idea how bad I want to fuck you until you scream, right now,” I grind out as she damn near pretzels herself trying to get my hand deeper. “Flip you over, grab that ass, and slam my cock home, baby.”

Her legs quiver, her response a garbled mess. Seems sweet little Mel likes the dirty talk …

“You want that?” I tease, licking her lobe. “My dick in your cunt, hittin’ you so hard your fuckin’ tits bounce with each stroke?”

“I … I can’t …” Her head comes off the ground, her teeth pinched tight in her bottom lip as she comes apart over my hand. “Fuck … Koen …”

Girl almost has me coming right along with her.

I curl my fingers inside of her as her walls tighten around them, pressing hard on her swollen clit with my thumb as her legs shake through her release. Only when she finally lays back and opens her eyes, the biggest smile on her face, do I pull my hand free and lick the evidence clean.

Fucking honey.

“Now, let’s go get your goddamn brother so we can wrap this up for real.”