Bounty Hunter (18 page)

“I’m trying to protect you. Risking my life for it.” He stabbed the knife back into
the wood over her head, and released her hands. Pressing his hands on the wall on
either side of her face, he leaned closer to her, so their lips were barely a breath
apart. “You say you trust me, little sun.”

He felt tremors begin to rock him too. His will to see this through close to disintegrating.
He let his
gaze drift from her eyes down to her lips, then back up. “I need to be able to trust
you too.”

Elizabeth felt as if he’d welded her to the wall, the heat in his eyes was so intense.
His concentration on her was profoundly ardent, so much so that she only now realized
her hands were still pressed to the rough wood above her head. “You can,” she whispered.
“You can, Hawk.”

Her lips parted in anticipation of feeling his mouth on hers. Lord knew the coil of
need he’d aroused in her had gone from exquisite to downright violent. A low moan
tore from her throat when she realized he wasn’t done with her yet. His lips hovered
just above hers. He didn’t kiss her. He kept his hands flat against the rough planking
as he moved closer, crowding her tightly to the wall, pinning her hips beneath his
thighs, pressing his own into her belly. His arousal was full and hard.

“Say it again,
Da’bEntcotc.
Little sun, say my name.”

“Eyes of the Hawk.”

He groaned, his hips bucking against her, and she thought he would surely take her
mouth then. A sound somewhere between a cry and a whimper escaped her throat when
he did not.

“What’s wrong, little sun?” he demanded, his voice low and provoking.

“You’re killing me.”

He shifted, rubbing his chest back and forth just enough to peel the shirt from her
breasts. The sudden
feel of his smooth, hot flesh against her painfully swollen nipples made her moan
loudly.

Then it hit her. He was stronger, far more powerful than she, could easily take what
she was so obviously ready and willing to give. But he didn’t. He had her so aroused,
it had taken her a while to figure out why.

She let her hands drop to his shoulders. Another low groan rumbled in his chest, barely
escaping his tightly compressed lips. Encouraged, she moved her fingers slowly over
the deep, rounded contours of his muscles. He shivered as her fingers slipped into
the silky black hair that lay long against his neck. She moaned and dug her fingers
deeper into his hair until she could grip his head between her hands.

His eyes blazed so hot, she thought she would catch flame, his rigid arousal twitched
and throbbed, rubbing the denim of his jeans against her belly. Otherwise he kept
utterly still. She could feel his sweat trickle down the center of his chest and into
the crease formed by her breasts. She could smell the musky scent of him.

Elizabeth had never felt so alive, so completely aware of her body, her senses, her
sensuality. And the knowledge that Kane was experiencing the same thing was intoxicating.
His self-restraint had forced them to a point of such heightened sensitivity, she
wasn’t sure she’d survive it. Nothing in her life had ever come close to this. But
then, she’d never known a man like Hawk.

Her grip tightened, and she slowly brought his
mouth down to hers. The first touch of his lips was electrifying, like a thousand
bolts of energy zapping each and every nerve ending. She teased him with her tongue,
pushing it just inside his mouth then retreating. He didn’t follow her lead, simply
went on letting her kiss him.

That only served to heighten her desire to an even greater pitch. She thrust her tongue
deeply into his mouth, twining it with his, dancing with it, flirting with it, demanding
that he respond to her.

“Hawk,” she pleaded against his lips when he still refused to take the initiative.

“What?”

“Kiss me back, damn you.” She was past being shy. Past worrying about how she sounded.
She knew damn well he wanted her as fiercely as she wanted him. “You told me there
was a time for reckless behavior,” she ground out. “Well, if this isn’t that time,
I don’t know what is.”

He pulled against her grip, moving his head just far enough away to look into her
eyes. Shockingly, he smiled. A full smile, a devilishly wicked smile.

“Oh, I’d say you’re being far more reckless than you realize right now.” His smile
faded, desire crowding out any last trace of humor. “I just wanted you to understand
that everything—trust, desire, power, vulnerability—it all goes both ways between
us.”

His quietly spoken words zeroed straight to her heart. She looked deeply into his
eyes, trying to see if his soul was reflected there, knowing it made no
difference any longer. She loved this man. Her dark warrior with a heart that deserved
to be cherished.

“Oh, yes,” she whispered. “I understand.”

“Good.”

Elizabeth moved in the same instant Kane did, his hands dove into her hair, hers framed
his face. She met his lips halfway across the breath of space between them. They joined
fiercely, roughly. Softly, wetly. She took his tongue into her mouth and bathed it
with her own, he pulled it back then took hers, pulling on it, drinking from it.

She writhed against him, the ache between her legs overwhelming her, screaming at
her for release. She pushed against him, glad for his weight pressing on her, knowing
if he stepped away now, she’d slide to the floor in a boneless heap. He moved his
hands down to her shoulders, then leaned away so he could cup her breasts.

She cried out when he rubbed a callused thumb over her engorged nipple, then again
when his mouth and tongue followed. He teased and soothed one while his fingers tortured
the other until she thought she’d explode.

Suddenly he grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up the wall. When he pressed against
her again, she felt him hard, heavy and throbbing. It was excruciating, it was exquisite.
Instinct guided her, and she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. He groaned
into her hair and rocked against her. Her face was buried in his neck and when his
body began to establish a steady rhythm she sunk her
teeth into the tight skin stretched across his shoulder.

He didn’t even flinch, but she was barely aware of anything at this point except the
overwhelming need to remove the barriers preventing them from completing what they’d
begun, to put out the inferno they’d started or go up in flames with it. Something,
anything, or she was going to die.

“Hold on to me,” he commanded, swallowing her positive response in another heated
kiss.

She locked her ankles behind his back. He grabbed her hips and pulled her against
him as he turned away from the wall and stumbled to the bed behind them.

He sat down so she was in his lap, never once letting his lips leave hers. He ran
his hands up her back and down her arms, peeling the tattered remnants of her shirt
from her body. Then he pushed her back. “Let me look at you.” His voice was raw, barely
intelligible.

The light had grown dim, but she could plainly see—and feel—how arousing her nakedness
was to him. Her response was innate. She reached up and cupped her breasts in her
hands, even daring to let her fingertips brush provocatively over her nipples.

“Sweet God, you’re incredible,” he intoned, then continued to talk to her, telling
her what she made him feel, at some point slipping into his native tongue.

She understood it all, there was no mistaking his
meaning. She reached for his hands and placed them on her, then let go to caress him
as well.

He drew his hands up to her face, framing her cheeks. “I need you. Beneath me, over
me, through me. With me. No threats of the past, no promises of tomorrow. We know
only here, control only what happens between us now.”

Elizabeth felt a sharp stinging behind her eyes. She wanted desperately to tell him
she loved him, wipe the doubt from his mind, make him believe in the power they shared
only together. Except she knew he would believe it was her agitated state of arousal
talking.

Instead she let everything she felt for him shine in her eyes as she repeated his
words back to him. “I need you too. Beneath me, over me, inside me. No threats of
the past …” she paused, but couldn’t force the rest out. Because she couldn’t lie
to him. “If you want nothing from me past today, Hawk, I will grant you that freedom.
But I won’t lie to you, because if I have any control over tomorrow, I will try to
make it as special as today.”

A great shudder ripped through him, and he yanked her to him, burying his face against
her neck as he wrapped his arms around her. She thought she felt a hot warmth on her
shoulder, but she didn’t have time to think about it, because in the next instant
she was flat on her back and they were clawing each other’s pants off.

In the tumult, they rolled from the bunk to the floor. Kane cushioning her with his
big, hard body.
She gasped as her legs tangled with his, his bold erection thrusting between her newly
bared legs. He moved swiftly onto the pile of mangled cotton and denim they’d just
discarded. “Annie—”

“Yes!” She tried to shift under him to ease the fierce ache clawing at her, but couldn’t.

“Slow—I … need … to …” His words ended in a harsh gasp as she arched under him.

She was beyond comprehending his words, only that she had to have him inside her.
Now.

“Sweet mother of—” His rough words were broken off as he groped for his pants, which
were pinned under her shoulder, struggling briefly, cursing loudly, then finally freeing
his wallet from the back pocket.

Kane barely managed to protect himself before Elizabeth was tugging at his shoulders,
pulling his hips into the cradle of hers. The tip of him nudged her, and she buried
her face against his chest; kissing him, licking him, biting him.

“Hawk,” she panted, wrapping her legs around his hips.

“Little sun,” he responded, then thrust into her, fully and completely.

She sunk her fingers into his back, immediately moving against him, pushing as hard,
arching as high as she could, unable to get enough of him.

He shook, his forearms showing the strain as he locked them into place above her shoulders.
Then he released a mighty groan and began to move, faster, harder. Deeper with every
thrust.

Elizabeth met his every stroke, her own cries becoming louder and louder. The pressure
built higher, faster, tighter until she screamed with it.

He kissed her, swallowing her screams into his throat, giving her back a few of his
as he continued the relentless pace they both demanded.

Then he suddenly shifted his weight back. Gripping her hips, keeping them joined,
he moved to his knees, resting his weight on his heels.

“Look at me!”

Her eyes flew open, she hadn’t even remembered shutting them.

“Almost there, little sun.”

Pinning her with his hot black gaze, never breaking the steady pounding rhythm, he
slipped one hand from her hip and let it slide into the tangle of blond curls at the
juncture of her thighs where his flesh met hers. He pushed his thumb against her,
and she bucked wildly.

“Yeah, come apart for me. For me.”

And she did. Like a million fireworks exploding simultaneously, she climaxed, clenching
him tightly with spasms that rocked her over and over.

He reached for her shoulders, pulling her up to him and wrapping his arms around her
to hold her tight to his chest.

“Hold me,” he rasped against the hair tangled at her temple. And with her legs and
arms locked tightly around him, his lips open on hers, he came apart in her. For her.

Kane opened his eyes for the second time since Annie had fallen asleep in his arms.
Judging by the slant of the moonlight coming through the small bunkhouse window, it
was past midnight. Her breathing was deep and steady as it had been several hours
earlier when he’d woken and lifted her to the cot. When she didn’t awaken, he’d slipped
outside to run a quick check on the grounds. No new tracks.

He lifted a hand to the wild tangle of red curls that lay across his chest, smiling
when he tried to picture her with hair the same shade of blond as the other sweet
nest of curls. He’d thought about moving her—them—to the main house, but she was sleeping
so soundly when he’d returned from his little mission, he’d been unable to resist
sliding back under the thin blanket and wrapping himself around the warmth of her
body. She’d curled right into him, and he’d fallen asleep without even realizing it.
Until now.

His hands absently loosened one curl, then another, untangling them, then twining
one around his finger. What in the hell was he going to do now? To say things were
different was a laughable understatement. Only he wasn’t laughing. Never in his wildest
dreams had he come close to imagining their joining would be so powerful, so consuming.
The idea of walking away from her seemed beyond impossible now. He’d just found her,
dammit.